‘We went to the PM with our plan,’ Reid continued, ‘but he refused to reach an accommodation. He had to be… removed.’ He saw the looks on Hunter and Mallory’s faces and added with annoyance, ‘If he’d been allowed to do what he wanted, the human race would have been extinct. How could that be right?’ He loosened his tie, took a deep breath. ‘You were the only real threat to everything. You Brothers and Sisters of Dragons.’
‘There’s no logic in what you’re saying,’ Hunter stated. ‘If we defeat the Void, you won’t have to reach any accommodation.’
‘We weighed up that option, and for a while it was certainly a possibility. But in the end we decided that the risks were too great. The chances of outright victory seemed extremely thin, and anything less would likely result in complete eradication. So-’
‘So you decided to get us out of the way.’ Hunter tried to ignore Mallory, who was pacing the confines of their prison like a tiger, occasionally rattling the bars or attempting to prise open the security gates with his sword.
‘There was no attempt at violence.’ Reid looked horrified at Hunter’s implication, completely ignoring the irony that he was complicit in the assassination of the country’s leader. ‘Your young friend, Mister Campbell — Hal, wasn’t that his first name? I feel quite sorry for the way we had to use him. He’s a rather naive chap. Not cut out for any of this business.’
Hunter’s temper flared. ‘What have you done with him?’
Reid chewed his lip for a second, and it appeared that he wasn’t going to answer. Then he changed his mind. ‘Once we realised you were a Brother of Dragons, our route to controlling you was easy. Your long friendship with young Hal was obvious. We were able to use him to direct you to where we needed you to be.’
‘Here,’ Hunter said. ‘So you could trap us.’
‘Exactly. We framed him for the assassination in a very clumsy way, knowing that he would realise I had organised the plot. When we allowed him to escape from custody, we knew he’d go directly to your hiding place, and that once he met up with you, he would identify me or someone in the Government as the chief suspect. Then when we let his young female friend accidentally discover information about his impending execution, we knew you’d realise that I would do anything to hide my complicity. Kill him even sooner to silence him. And so you would rush here to save him, even though all sense would tell you to stay away from my base of power and concentrate on the more pressing task of locating the Void. You’re very easy to manipulate, Mister Hunter.’
‘Not as easy as you think.’ Hunter was relieved to discover that Reid still hadn’t found out that Hal was the fifth, the real reason all of them had rushed to Brasenose. ‘Is Hal dead?’
‘The execution was set to take place half an hour ago.’
‘Have you seen the body?’
‘Two men with guns. One young, frightened, bookish man. Do I really need to?’
Hunter turned to the others and said quietly, ‘There’s still hope. Don’t give up.’
Reid must have guessed what Hunter was saying, for he added, ‘I’m sorry, but you really mustn’t think you stand a chance. I don’t know what it is about the Pendragon Spirit that makes you a threat to such a vast, unknowable force as the Void, but here you are close enough for it to work its ways on you, yet, unfortunately for you, not close enough to harm it.’
‘That was always the plan,’ Hunter noted.
‘That was always the plan,’ Reid confirmed.
Kirkham emerged from the grey background. With a cough to gain Reid’s attention, the chief scientist said, ‘It’s time.’
Reid nodded to him. Pulling a torch from his pocket and shining it ahead of him, Kirkham proceeded towards the growing gloom emanating from the door behind which the Void existed. As he drew closer, he began to shake from the extreme cold. Frost began to form down his front.
‘What are you expecting to get out of this?’ Mallory shouted. ‘What do you think the Void’s going to give you?’
‘A new world,’ Reid said. ‘The Void’s world.’
‘A world ruled by the opposite of life?’ Mallory was incredulous. ‘How could anyone exist in that?’
‘You think this one is any better?’ Reid said. ‘The country’s falling apart-’
‘People still have their lives, their freedom,’ Mallory replied, urging Reid to change his mind.
‘There’s magic everywhere,’ Caitlin continued. ‘Wonder. Endless possibilities. All the things people hoped for before the Fall-’
Reid cut her dead with a cold stare. ‘It’s unpredictable, uncontrollable. We can’t govern. None of the things we had before the Fall can thrive here. You can’t work hard to better yourself. You can’t have rules and regulations. You can’t have a strong society producing for the common good. No one’s going to get rich here, or fat, or live out their lives in luxury. This isn’t the world we spent thousands of years of human civilisation trying to form.’
‘What’s the Void’s world going to be like?’ Mallory shouted. ‘Constant night? Blood? War? Death? Hopelessness?’
Reid merely gave a faint smile, then a shrug. ‘Do it,’ he said to Kirkham.
‘There’s still hope,’ Hunter said to the others.
From the back of the faceless crowd of politicians and civil servants, the General made his way forward. He had a gun. ‘Time to stop this,’ he said.
Reid turned just as the General raised the pistol and fired. The bullet hit Reid directly between the eyes. His body slammed against the bars and then slumped down in an awkward jumble of limbs.
‘Come on,’ Hunter said under his breath.
‘I’m in charge now,’ the General said to the others. ‘Stop this nonsense immediately. Free these people.’
Hunter, Caitlin and Mallory watched, silently urging the crowd to obey the General. No one moved.
The General brandished his gun at the crowd. ‘I said-’
‘Kill him.’ The voice may have come from the deputy prime minister, or one of the Cabinet members, but it didn’t really matter which. The guards responded instantly, turning their weapons on the General and cutting him down.
‘Look at them,’ Mallory said sickened. ‘Like animals, fighting amongst themselves.’ The General’s blood flowed into Reid’s, mingled with it, formed an ocean that separated the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons from the small crowd huddled together against the gloom.
Mallory glanced at Hunter. ‘That’s it, isn’t it? All over.’
Shaking violently, Kirkham continued towards the frozen door that was now leaking darkness rapidly.
Hunter repeated his mantra, now a wish, a prayer: ‘There’s still hope.’
Kirkham’s palsied hand grasped the handle. Hunter guessed that the ice must be burning his flesh, but the scientist didn’t flinch; he almost appeared to be in a trance.
From somewhere that could have been far, far away or in the next corridor, an awful sound rose up that made all of them feel sick to their stomachs. It resonated deep into their bones, stabbing into their brains. They wanted to scratch at their ears, make themselves deaf. The howls of dogs joining together to form one note, one ringing chime of despair.
The blood drained from Caitlin’s face. ‘The Hounds of Avalon,’ she whispered.
For all the time they had been imprisoned, Sophie had stood silently, observing. Mallory stepped back to take her in his arms and when he saw her face, he realised the truth. ‘You knew. Why didn’t you say something?’
‘I couldn’t take the risk that the Void might discover the fifth.’ There were tears in her eyes, but no despair. She smiled. Mallory pulled her to him and they held each other tightly.
Caitlin closed her eyes and bowed her head, resting it gently against the bars.