Menagerie - Martin Day [44]
The monkeys pointed to another rope that extended down vertically from the darkness in the roof to a metal hoop set into the ground. The crowd began to cheer.
'Don't worry,' said Diseaeda. 'I'll let you down.' He undid the knot and, taking the strain of the man's weight, began to let the rope slip slowly through his hands.
The man ascended into the roof. Even Zoe was forced to smile at the Newtonian anomaly on display. The more rope Diseaeda released, the higher the clown went.
Diseaeda theatrically scratched his head and let go of the rope. The man disappeared from sight. The crowd hooted with laughter. Experimentally, Diseaeda began pulling on the rope, grimacing at the great weight he was moving.
The clown began to descend, this time tied by his hands and with a monkey hanging head-first from his feet.
'Just what is going on?' shouted Diseaeda over the roaring crowd.
Zoe closed the curtain.
'He's good, isn't he?' said Reisaz.
'A star performer,' agreed Raitak.
'And Diseaeda's not bad, either,' said Reisaz.
In Cosmae's absence Defrabax had taken to talking to himself. He found the habit a worrying one.
He sat at his desk, working through some calculations. A moth fluttered around the lamp before being consumed by the flame. Defrabax blew his nose, and tried the sum again.
A different result this time.
After several more attempts he crunched the paper into a ball and hurled it across the room. 'Where is that dratted boy?' he shouted. 'Everything is in place, but I still need that key!'
He'd checked with the house where Cosmae normally stayed when he was annoyed about something and had discovered that he'd been there for breakfast only. It was getting late, and Cosmae had still not returned. Whilst Defrabax had been serious about Cosmae getting the key back, he would never have sent the lad out if he'd known that there was any danger involved.
He got to his feet and paced the room, rubbing his rheumatic knee and muttering darkly. Then he pulled a long cloak around his shoulders and walked to the front door, locking the rear room. 'It's always me who has to pick up the pieces, isn't it?' he grumbled.
He walked out into the street and slammed the door. It was raining again. Damn this rain-sodden place.
A little way up the road he heard the sound of his door being broken down again, but chose to ignore it. 'Someone is forcing my hand,' he said gravely.
He continued his long walk towards the castle.
Cosmae watched as Jamie ran for the stairs which descended into the main cavern, and then quickly followed him. Jamie shouted his battle cry halfway down and, as the brotherhood turned at the unexpected intrusion, he hurled his dirk towards the large man.
The desperately thrown dagger caught the fat man in the shoulder. He dropped the hammer and held his shoulder to staunch the bleeding. Cosmae wondered if Jamie was as expert as he seemed or if he'd just been lucky.
Cosmae and Jamie started to run towards the altar, but they slowed as it began to dawn on them both that they had no weapons and no plan. The brothers turned to look at them, their faces blank shadows beneath the robes.
'You dare to intrude?' screamed the man in the golden mask. 'You dare to violate a meeting of the Brotherhood of Rexulon?'
Cosmae joined Jamie in backtracking towards the stone stairway. He believed in fighting valiantly for love, but not against such overwhelming odds. He assumed that it was Zaitabor behind the mask, but he couldn't be sure. 'What do we do next?' he whispered urgently.
'I don't know,' said Jamie. 'I get the feeling that we've walked into a trap.'
The man in the insect mask suddenly hurled a grey pellet towards Cosmae and Jamie. As it hit the ground it broke open, releasing clouds of stinking gas.
Cosmae turned to run but was immediately overtaken by the gas. He placed a hand over his mouth and tried to hold his breath but something dry and powerful flooded into his lungs. He struggled for breath, his chest held by a giant fist.
Choking, he fell