Chapter 74 - The Kraken Gate
Inigo and I stole back into the mansion. We collected a small, oil lantern from the pantry and made our way back along the secret passage. When we got to the other end, the corridor under the hunting lodge was silent. By now, Overstrand would have been discovered, so the absence of any disturbance meant that the search for us had moved elsewhere.
We turned left and found the access hatch that Rigsby had spoken of. Inigo opened it and we both climbed a short set of rungs at the top of which was a long, brick tunnel running west to east. It had a flat, dusty floor and an arched ceiling that was so low we could only crawl along it on our hands and knees, and two pipes, the size of my waist, that ran the length of the tunnel made it so narrow that we could only progress in single file.
I was glad to let Inigo take the lead. It meant that he bore the brunt of the cobwebs, and he had to carry the lantern, which would have made it hard for me with my bad arm.
‘What did you say?’ Inigo stopped and looked over his shoulder. Naturally, he was at ease in the narrow confines.
‘Please ignore me,’ I said. ‘I might be hallucinating.’ I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the fatigue, but only managed to smear grit into them instead. Damn, you’re an idiot Connie! That stings! Inigo was getting ahead, taking the only light with him. I gritted my teeth and scrambled after him.
We reached a door, three-foot high, made of wood and heavily reinforced. Happily, the mortice mechanism was accessible from our side. Inigo stuck his switch-knife into the square socket and turned it and pushed the door open enough to allow us a view from above the topmost gantry. We edged out cautiously and peered down into the cavernous engine room. Here, the pipes we had followed plunged down towards the flagstone floor and split into a bewildering tangle of narrower pipes with valves, pressure gauges and other appendages. From the ceiling, a large metal chute descended to a coal-dust-streaked hopper right between the two steam engines. The technicians had to be working shifts, because two of them were busy, even though it was now gone two bells of the morning. One was inspecting the pipework on one of the behemoths while another other was poking at the flywheels with an oilcan.
‘Good!’ I whispered, pointing to the pipes we’d followed. ‘These must be the ones bringing water from the lake.’
Inigo squeezed past me and went back up the tunnel a short distance to avoid us being overheard. I caught up with him.
‘What are you thinking?’ I asked.
‘We could wait here until they fire the engines up and then light a fuse.’
I nodded. ‘It’s the simplest plan, but we won’t know when the engines will be at their hottest.’
‘Which is when the gate is about to open,’ Inigo pointed out. ‘So, what we need is to run a wire from the control room.’
‘Have you seen how many wires there are in there, Inigo? I don’t think even you will be able to work out which is the right one.’
‘No. You’re right. In that case, we need to tap into one of the wires from the portal room. We can hook it directly into the gate’s wiring loom.’
‘The only problem with that is getting it done without being spotted.’
‘Chief, the portal chamber won’t be busy all the time. Sure, it’ll be full of people when they open the gate to get the measurements they need, and there’s always some repair work, but in between times, there will be several bells when all that’s happening is the batteries recharging.’
‘Fine. We’ll sneak in after they get the next trig point.’ It sounded risky, but I didn’t have a better suggestion.
A few turns later, we’d agreed how much dynamite was needed and figured out a route for the wire, which was out of the access hatch, down the corridor and into battery room. From there, it would have to run the length of the battery room, and into the portal chamber through the wall where the power conduits punched through.
‘Give me the key to the lockup, chief. I’ll go and fetch what we need.’
One person was just enough to carry the supplies that we needed. I offered to go with Inigo, but he insisted I stay behind, rest, and consider the placement of the charges. As I’d put him in charge, overruling him would have sent the wrong message. Furthermore, he had two more arguments that demonstrated his brilliance; he insisted that one person would have an easier time avoiding capture, and that if he was caught, I could act as a backup running a second attempt. I gave Inigo the key and reminded myself to thank my father when I saw him next.
Inigo was gone a long time. I lay down on the floor of the tunnel, wondering when I would next get some sleep. Above me, a spider was also exploring the brickwork. It tapped its forelegs, feeling its way forward. Behind it, stretched a single silken threat, anchored at various waypoints. As I watched, its forelegs found the mortared join. It remained stock still for a while, as though considering what the gap meant. I almost expected it to scratch its head with one spidery foot, but it didn’t; it crossed the gap and patiently resumed its inexorable task. I decided that I wouldn’t allow a spindly creature, no heavier than my little fingernail to show me up, so I drew a few deep breaths and used the time available to choose where the explosives would go.
When Inigo did return, he was breathing hard. He’d had to sprint down the corridor to avoid being seen by the marines who were now searching for us. We tied the explosives to the pipes, and as we were finishing, we heard the steam engines starting up. A series of slow chugging sounds built up speed until they sounded like the distant thunder we were familiar with.
‘They’re charging, getting ready to go for the second trig point.’
I said, ’They’ve started their shift very early.’ Harman was in a hurry, maybe because he knew that Chancellor Gordon would return soon. He was banking on presenting the Council with a fait accompli. If he was smart, and leaked news of what he’d done to the newspapers, Emberland would hail the old man as a hero, and the Council would have to pretend they’d sanctioned the whole venture.
‘Are you alright, chief?’
‘Yes, sorry. Let’s go. We’ve got to run this wire as far as we can and get back to the others. Two bells is up soon.’
The corridor was deserted, so we climbed from the access hatch and ran the wire along to the crypt. There wasn’t much light and the floor was dusty, so I wasn’t worried that it would be found. The crypt where we’d been locked up was also empty. I wondered where Harman and the others were searching for us. Although his country estate was large, he had more than thirty marines and dozens of staff he could throw into the effort. It wouldn’t be long before they did another sweep of this place, so Inigo and I hurried along to the end of the battery room, laying wire from our roll as we went.
‘Don’t touch the terminals,’ warned Inigo, eyeing up the thick brass bars where all the battery leads finished. ‘The batteries are being charged. I don’t know what would happen if you did touch one, but it wouldn’t be good.’
Maddison’s technicians hadn’t been overly concerned with filling in the various holes they’d made in the process of hooking everything up, so Inigo cut the wire from the roll leaving enough to thread it through to the other side of the wall. He wiped his dusty hands on his trousers and pushed his hair out of his eyes.
‘A shame we can’t finish the job now.’
‘I know, Inigo, but we’ll have to come back when it’s all quiet.'
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