Old Kingdom 04: Across the Wall by Garth Nix Read Free Book Online Page B

repeated a few seconds later, louder and closer, and were followed by the slam and echo of metal doors and then hurrying footsteps. Of more than one person.
    ‘Help!’ cried Nick. ‘Help! I’m tied up in here!’
    He figured it was worth calling out. Even fanatical Department Thirteen employees must have realised by now that Dorrance was crazy and he’d unleashed something awful upon them.
    ‘Help!’
    The footsteps came closer, and a flashlight beam swung into the room, blinding Nick. Behind its yellow nimbus, he saw two partial silhouettes. One man standing in front of another.
    ‘Get those shackles off and untie him,’ ordered the second man. Nick recognised the voice. It was Constable Ripton. The man who shuffled ahead, allowing the light to fall on his face and side, was Professor Lackridge. A pale and trembling Lack-ridge, who fumbled with the screws of the handcuffs. Ripton was holding a revolver on him, but Nick doubted that was why the scientist was so scared.
    ‘Sorry to take so long, sir,’ said Ripton calmly. ‘Bit of a panic going on.’
    Nick suddenly understood what Ripton had actually been trying to convey with his quick glances back in the guardroom. His uncle’s words ran through his head.
    It is watched over quite carefully, I assure you. ‘You’re not really D13, are you? You’re one of my uncle’s men?’
    ‘Yes, sir. Indirectly. I report to Mr. Foxe.’
    Nick sat up as the handcuffs came off, and quickly sliced through the remaining ropes. He was not entirely surprised to see the faint glimmer of Charter Marks on the blade, though they were nowhere near as bright and potent as they’d be near the Wall.
    ‘Can you walk, sir? We need to get moving.’
    Nick nodded. He felt a bit light-headed but otherwise fine, so he guessed he hadn’t lost too much blood to the creature.
    ‘Sorry,’ Lackridge blurted out as Nick slid off the table and stood up. ‘I never … never thought that this would happen. I never believed Dorrance, thought only to humour him … He said that she spoke to him in dreams, and if it was more awake, then … We hoped to be able to discover the secret of waking mental communication … It was—’
    ‘Mind control is what Dorrance thought he could get from it,’ Ripton said, interrupting him. He tapped his coat pocket. ‘I’ve got your diary here. Mind control through people’s dreams. And you just went along with whatever Dorrance wanted, you stupid sod.’
    ‘What’s actually happening?’ asked Nick. ‘Has it killed anyone?’
    Lackridge choked out something unintelligible. ‘Anyone! It’s killed almost everyone down here, and by now it’s probably upstairs killing everyone there,’ said Ripton. ‘Guns don’t work up close to it, bullets fired farther back don’t do a thing, and the electric barrier grilles just went phhht when it walked up! As soon as I figured it was trying to get out, I doubled around behind it. Now I reckon we follow its path outside and then run like the clappers while it’s busy—’
    ‘We can’t do that,’ said Nick. ‘What about the guests? And the servants—even if they do work for D13, they can’t be abandoned.’
    ‘There’s nothing we can do,’ said Ripton. He no longer appeared so calm. ‘I don’t know what that thing is, but I do know that it has already killed a dozen highly trained and fully armed D13 operatives. Killed them and … and drunk their blood. Not … not something I ever want to see again …’ ‘I know what it is,’ said Nick. ‘Somewhat. It is a Free Magic creature from the Old Kingdom. A source of Free Magic itself, which is why guns and electricity don’t work near it. I would have thought that bullets coming in from farther away would at least hurt it, though …’
    ‘They bounced off. I saw the lead splashes on its hide … Here’s a flashlight. You go in front, Professor. Get your key ready.’
    ‘We have to try to save the people upstairs,’ Nick said firmly as they