‘That Leviathan was low,’ mused Gabby as he unhooked something from the jagged edge of the armoured car’s shattered body. He laid the scrap of leathery material across his arm, where it changed colour to match his skin. He laid it across my skin and it darkened almost instantaneously to match mine.
‘Scraps of Leviathan skin fetch a good price on the Cambrianopolis black market, I’ve heard,’ said Wilson.
‘If the Emperor’s men find you with this your head will be off,’ said Gabby. ‘It’s better to let it go.’
And so saying, he released the section of skin, which floated off into the air like a helium balloon.
‘Leviathans are lighter than air?’ I said, amazed at what I was seeing.
‘How else do you think something so large could fly?’ asked Gabby, then added: ‘We’d better get going. With a bit of luck we can get to the edge of the Empty Quarter before something considers that we’d make a fine breakfast. And Jennifer?’
‘Yes?’
‘I think you’ve still got some puffins inside your jacket.’
It was true. They seemed to have taken a liking to the pockets, and had to be carefully removed.
We walked in silence for the next three hours or so, now and then pausing to hide from danger, drink from a mountain stream or nibble on some wild radishes. Eventually we came across the now-dormant marker stones that denoted the edge of the Dragonlands and the northern edge of the Empty Quarter. The stones were covered with a thick crust of lichen, and appeared forlorn and forgotten. Llangurig would be only a few miles away.
Gabby called a halt.
‘Any particular reason?’ I asked.
‘Breakfast.’
‘You have some?’
‘No,’ said Gabby with a smile, ‘but they will.’
He pointed towards a stunted oak. The roots had grasped one of the marker stones tightly, and the overhanging branches partially hid a small group of people. A quick leg count told me this was a group of five people and I was suddenly suspicious until I realised that six of the legs belonged to one creature – a Buzonji – and that the other legs belonged to Perkins, and Addie. I blinked away some tears. I had convinced myself I would not see them again.
Friends reunited
‘Heigh-ho!’ said Addie cheerfully as she walked into the clearing. ‘How are my tourists?’
I must say that I have rarely been so glad to see someone safe and well. Perkins, that was, and Addie a close second.
‘Hey, Jenny,’ said Perkins, and he gave me a long hug, taking the opportunity to whisper in my ear how much he’d missed me. I returned the compliment gladly and unconditionally, but I must confess that his increased age – he’d put on ten years with Ralph’s Genetic Master Reset, remember – was not something I was going to get used to quickly.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked. ‘Not harmed in any way, I mean?’
‘I’m fine,’ he said, ‘but I can’t say the same for the kidnappers.’
‘Dead?’
He didn’t say anything, but just looked at me and raised his eyebrows.
‘Hail, fellow,’ said Addie to Gabby, grasping his hand and shaking it warmly, ‘good to see you again.’
‘You know each other?’ I asked, surprised, but unsure why I should be.
‘He’s my secret weapon,’ said Addie. ‘Everyone should have a Gabby to look after them.’
‘You sent Gabby to keep an eye on us?’ I asked.
‘Only to remain on standby in case anything happened.’
I looked at Gabby, who shrugged.
‘I should have said something, I suppose,’ he said, ‘but I didn’t know until two minutes ago that Addie was okay, and, well, I’m just in it for the rescuing.’
I thanked him, and Addie quizzed Gabby further. Safe jeopardy tourism – any tourism, actually – I had decided, was all about information. The more of it you have, the better the decisions you can make.
‘I found them two clicks north-west of the pod poles,’ said Gabby when Addie questioned him. ‘They’d lost their transport and were about to be emptied by a Lifesucker. I brought them here by way of the Dragon’s lair.’
‘Was that wise?’ asked Addie.
‘Perhaps, perhaps not,’ said Gabby, ‘but we made it without loss.’
‘Except Ralph,’ I said, ‘who tried to attack a Cloud Leviathan while it was on a low-level feeding run. I think he had an exciting ride while it lasted.’
‘And the others?’
I explained that Curtis had stolen the half-track with my ‘handmaiden’ on board and Addie agreed Curtis would be heading towards Llangurig, almost certainly to sell Laura, as Wilson suggested.
She didn’t yet know, of course, that Laura was anything but a handmaiden – but for now, while an odd one, she was a handmaiden nonetheless. I also told her Ignatius was dead.
‘Flesh-eating slugs?’ she asked. ‘He never was a fast mover.’
‘He tried to escape to the border in a rowing boat and was shot down by anti-aircraft fire.’
‘Wow,’ said Addie, ‘I would never have seen that coming.’
‘Neither did he.’
‘If you don’t need me for anything more,’ said Gabby, ‘I’ll be off. I’ve got some raw recruits to train in the risk management business. Staff turnover is savagely high these days.’
We all shook hands. I thanked him again and after politely refusing an offer of breakfast, he was off at a brisk walk and was soon lost to view over a rise.
We sat on the warm grass, and a picnic breakfast never tasted so good. There was tea in a billycan, too, boiled up over the residual Thermowizidrical energy emanating from the runic markings on the fallen marker stones.
‘So what’s the deal with Gabby?’ I asked.
‘He’s exactly what you see. Someone who assesses risk of death, and steps in to intervene if the right conditions prevail.’
‘Why didn’t he save Ralph if he works for the insurance companies? Someone like that wouldn’t come out here without adequate life cover.’
‘Ralph wasn’t human,’ said Addie, ‘and Gabby’s instructions are clear. If he was rescuing non-humans, where would he draw the line? Tralfamosaurs? Rabbits? Ladybirds?’
‘He was definitely a rum cove,’ added Wilson thoughtfully. ‘He never ate or drank, and I didn’t see him sleep last night. He was still awake as I nodded off, and awake before me.’
‘And me,’ I said. ‘And he never took off his backpack. I only saw him struggling with it once, when he returned to camp this morning.’
‘Listen,’ said Addie, ‘Gabby is what Gabby does and it’s best not to ask too many questions. There are some things out here that defy ordinary explanation, and Gabby, well, he’s one of them.’
‘So … what about the kidnappers?’ I asked, helping myself to another bread roll, but this time with peanut butter. I saw Perkins and Addie exchange looks.
‘If you’d rather not—’ began Wilson.
‘No, we should tell you,’ said Addie. ‘I tracked them to a camp about five miles from Cambrianopolis,’ she continued, taking a sip of tea, ‘and then waited until dawn before walking into their camp. I told them my word of death was in the steel I carried, and that they could stay there alive if they relinquished Perkins, or stay there dead if they did not. I knew they wouldn’t give him up, but it’s traditional to offer some sort of deal.’
‘Three against one?’ I said. ‘No offence or anything, Addie, but you’re not even half their size. Did you think you had a chance?’
‘What I lack in weight I make up for in savagery,’ she said, ‘and no offence taken. I weighed my chances in at about seventy/thirty in my favour. It would have been a hard hand-to-hand struggle, but I would have won out eventually. I would have left them to the flesh-eating slugs, set free their Buzonjis, and returned with Perkins. They knew I would have to do this when they took him. They would have expected me to come for them.’