The Lion Lies Waiting Read online

  “We ’ave to try. Maybe we can convince ’is army to stand down.”

  “They’ve no reason to listen to us.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Robin said, looking about. “Although, they might listen to ’er.” He pointed at Edwin’s mother. “And she’ll only listen to you.”

  Edwin shook his head. “No. No, we’ll do it without her. I’m not…I’m not asking her for help.” He turned away. “Let them lock her up for her part in all this, it’s no more than she deserves.”

  “Edwin. It’s not about you. It’s not even about your brother. I’m sorry, but it’s not. Lives are at stake ’ere. The longer those people are with Mudge, the more time ’e ’as to twist their minds, like ’e’s done to your mum.

  “You really think he’s done that?”

  “Does all this sound like somethin’ she’d be involved in willingly?”

  “A little bit, yes,” Duncan said.

  He’d obviously been eavesdropping and Robin shot him a look.

  “It’s clear she’s been taken in by ’im, fooled by ’is charms. ’E seems to ’ave that effect on some people.”

  Robin directed the last part squarely at Duncan.

  “Look, there are no easy answers ’ere. There’s no cure for what’s wrong with your mum and there’s nothin’ anyone can say to change what she did. All we can do is acknowledge the past and try to find a way to move forward. And that’s what I’m ’ere for.”

  “It’s what we’re here for,” Duncan corrected. “It’s what friends do.”

  Edwin hesitated. It was asking so much of him and he didn’t know if he’d have the strength to do it. No, he knew he wouldn’t, not without Robin and Duncan there, right by his side. He took a deep breath and crossed the busy road slowly to where his mother standing. She was still shaking slightly and flinched at the movement around her.

  “Mum.”

  He took out a handkerchief and scrunched it into a ball and held it out to her.

  “For your head,” he said.

  She looked confused for a moment, then she put a finger to her left temple and winced. There was blood. She took the cloth and held it to her head.

  “Are you…do you understand what’s happened?” he asked.

  She looked around her. The fire, the people, the noise, the smoke.

  “There was an accident,” she said.

  Edwin shook his head. “No, Mum, no. It wasn’t an accident. Baxbary Mudge tried…he tried to kill you. He made sure you were on the stage with the council. He was using you.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, Mum. He was. He got you to be his voice in Gull’s Reach, in the Roost, probably so he could deny having any part in raising an army if it all went wrong. You were just an interloper he could hang all his schemes on. He wanted to get rid of you because you weren’t any use to him any longer and, I suspect, because he knows the people of the Roost will listen to you.”

  He ran his hand across the back of his head.

  “I don’t…I haven’t forgiven you, I can’t forgive you, but there’s something I need you to do. Baxbary’s army, his foxmen, they’ll be at the council building by now. You need to talk to them.”

  “No, no I won’t,” his mother said. “I’m not helping you, you walked out on me, left me to that woman, that hateful woman. Do you know what she did after you left? She screamed at me, Edwin! She hit me! She did this!”

  Sylvia held out the bloodied handkerchief to her son. Edwin shook his head.

  “Mum, you just got the injury in the explosion. You’re confused again. There’s going to be a lot of trouble in this town very shortly and you’re the only one who has a chance to stop it peacefully. Do you remember the first Midwinter without Ambrose? Do you remember how hard it was? All our traditions went with him, all the things that brought us happiness. Nothing was the same without him. Well, if you don’t help there’s going to be a lot of families who’ll go through the same loss, the same shattering of normality. Look, I don’t know if you’re…if you know what you did to Ambrose, if you really understand, but if you do, if there’s any part of you that feels any shame, then please help me. You can stop anyone else from losing a loved one tonight. You’re the only one who stands a chance, Mum. We need you. I need you.”

  He held out his hand.

  “Please. You have to try.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  THE SIGHT OF councilmembers Rabbit, Badger and Magpie storming through the streets of Port Knot in the company of a half-dozen watchmen armed with staffs was enough to rouse the curiosity of many a townsperson. By the time the troupe had reached the railings surrounding the town hall, they’d amassed quite a sizeable crowd of onlookers. A pair of Baxbary’s foxmen had taken positions by the doors and they shifted about nervously when the crowd approached.

  Agatha Samble was incensed. Her palms stung from balling her fists so tightly. She had never liked Baxbary, but his actions were lower than she ever thought him capable of.

  “Baxbary!” she called. “Explain yourself!”

  Two glass panelled doors opened on the second floor and Baxbary stepped out on a stone balcony. He licked his lips and shook his head before leaning on the wall and sneering down at the assembled crowd.

  “Rabbit!” he called. “And my dear friends Magpie and Badger! So pleased to see you escaped unscathed. I was ever so worried.”

  “What, exactly, is your plan, Baxbary?” she shouted. “You can’t possibly think this puts you in charge.”

  “Actually, I do,” he replied. “I’ve got the council chambers, I’ve got the support of the people, I’ve got the weapons. It certainly feels like I’m in charge,” he said, laughing in the horrible, self-satisfied way which never failed to cut through Rabbit like a knife. “Although come to think of it, there is one thing missing.”

  He nodded to one of his foxmen at the gates who stepped forward, holding a sword to Agatha’s chest.

  “Give it over,” the guard said.

  Agatha knew exactly what he meant. Her cheeks flushed with anger as she undid the bow at the back of her head and handed the Rabbit mask to the guard.

  TOWARDS THE REAR of the town hall, Duncan, Edwin, Robin, Vince and Sylvia were creeping through snow-topped hedges.

  “What’s to stop Baxbary from just shooting all of us?” Duncan whispered.

  “Won’t do it himself and I doubt his army will have the guts,” Vince said. “There’s a difference between taking arms and using them. They’re not fighters, they’re just normal people pushed to the edge.”

  “What’s the point of an army who won’t fight?” Edwin asked.

  “Plan was to intimidate the council into resigning. Don’t think the foxmen knew about blowing up the stage. Mudge probably had Percy and Hickory move the gunpowder late last night. Mudge isn’t used to dealing with the foxmen directly, he always worked though Missus Farriner.”

  “Or you,” Robin said.

  “Or me. But won’t be long before he has them doing what he wants.”

  They descended a set of steps and entered a small, arched tunnel. Vince fumbled in his overcoat and produced a little key.

  “Come on. Quietly.”

  “Quietly?” Duncan repeated.

  “Problem?”

  “Um, it’s just…Robin doesn’t do anything quietly,”

  “’Ang on, I don’t—” Robin started, before his shoulder accidentally knocked a lantern from the wall. The copper light clanged on the cold, wet, stone floor and echoed around the empty corridor.

  “Cack-handed oaf!” Sylvia hissed.

  They all stood motionless, waiting for a response from the people occupying the town hall. None came.

  “Where does this lead?” Duncan asked.

  “The cellar you were held in,” Vince said.

  “Why aren’t there any guards?”

  “Nobody knows about it, except Mudge and his men. He thinks Percy and Hickory have taken care of me in the Lion Lies Waiting. He’ll pr
obably have guards on the inner door, though.”

  He led the way, past the empty cellars, to the door into the town hall proper. Two pairs of feet shuffled about on the other side, blocking the light underneath. They were not the actions of experienced watchmen, standing to attention, but rather those of ordinary people who had gotten involved in an extraordinary situation. However, they were armed and desperate and dangerous.

  Vince motioned for the others to stay back. He watched the shadows moving back and forth, back and forth, waiting for the right time. When the shadows came together, he threw himself forward with all his considerable strength. The enormous bulk of the bruiser exploded through the door, reducing it to splinters and flattening the two foxmen. He punched both of them in the back of their heads to make sure they stayed down.

  “Come on!” he called.

  Edwin hesitated for just a moment, checking the downed men were still breathing as Vince made short work of two more. Robin still held his bandaged fist close to his chest, but he heaved the other and brought it crashing down on the jaw of a third guard, apologising as he did so.

  They all moved through the brightly-lit corridors of the town hall and found the council chamber with relative ease. It held the greatest concentration of foxmen. They’d gathered there presumably to hear Baxbary speak and put up little resistance to the intruders. Duncan was surprised to find the Rabbit mask sitting on the oval table in the centre of the room. He imagined Baxbary wearing it and it sent a chill down his spine. Baxbary was likely waiting until he had the entire town’s attention before donning it.

  “Everybody stay calm, we just want to talk,” said Edwin, holding out his hands. “No one else needs to get hurt today.”

  Suddenly, a deafening shot echoed across the room and Vince slumped heavily to the floor.

  “I disagree,” Baxbary said as he entered the room through a plume of smoke.

  He was reloading a flintlock pistol and was flanked by two of his foxmen, including the chestnut-haired man they’d seen in the Roost. He leaned over the table and triumphantly lifted the Rabbit mask, holding it up to the light.

  “At last,” he said, breathlessly.

  Robin knelt by Vince’s side, cradling his head in his arms. Vince groaned and held his wounded side. His woollen jumper was turning as red as the claret overcoat he wore.

  “Mrs. Farriner?” the chestnut-haired man said. “You’re alive? But Fox said…”

  “He said I was dead? Killed in the explosion? Counting his chickens before they’d hatched, he is,” Sylvia replied, spitting at Baxbary.

  “I wasn’t wrong when I said you were dead,” Baxbary said, raising his pistol again. “Just premature.”

  “Wait, Fox, stop,” the chestnut-haired man said. “You can’t just shoot her.”

  “Quite right, Arthur,” Baxbary said, lowering his weapon. “You do it.”

  Arthur swallowed hard and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

  “Go on. I insist.”

  His grin revealed each one of his flawless teeth beneath the snout of his mask.

  “He’s not going to shoot me, Baxbary. I’m the Voice of the Roost, remember? I’m the one they listen to. I’m the one who stood up for them.”

  “At my behest!” Baxbary called. He swirled around the room, addressing all of the gathered foxmen. “It was all my doing, you cretins! I put her in a position of power, I backed her every move. I’m the one who’s looking after you all!”

  “It doesn’t look that way from here,” Sylvia said. “From here, it looks like you’re using these people to get what you want. Just liked you used me. What happens when you don’t need them anymore? Are you going to blow them up, too?”

  The assembled foxmen became uneasy, exchanging glances.

  Their fingers opened and closed around the barrels of their rifles. Sylvia climbed onto the huge, oval table.

  “This isn’t what you all wanted. This isn’t what you were promised!” she shouted, her voice echoing slightly. “You were told of a glorious uprising, with the whole town behind you! You were told they’d join you in helping overthrow the council but look out there, look at the people of this town, do they look like they’re on your side? They’re afraid of you! You tried to kill the council! For all they know, you tried to kill them! How do you think they’re going to respond to the Stormlost now? This won’t end tonight, oh no. You’ll spend every day fighting to keep control. What happens to your families, then? While you’re here, gun in hand, trying to keep the town under your control, what happens to your loved ones? Who’ll feed them? Who’ll clothe them? You’re not helping your cause. Lay down your arms. End this.”

  The foxmen whispered among themselves.

  “Made a right mess of things, Mudge,” Vince said. “All that time spent working on the people of the Reach. Years, you’ve been at it! And it’s come to naught.”

  “Years?” Edwin asked.

  “Oh yes, years spent trying to get them on his side. Then the hurricane struck—a disaster for everyone except Baxbary Mudge. When the Stormlost gathered in Gull’s Reach, he knew their resentment towards the council would be useful to him. He encouraged the council to ignore them, convinced them the money should be spent elsewhere. Well, it just wound the people up even more, didn’t it?”

  Arthur pushed his mask up to his forehead as Vince talked.

  “Then Missus Farriner showed up. Started organising the Stormlost, complaining to the council, showing up at meetings. Mudge realised what he’d been missing—someone on the inside. Me, Percy, my lads—we were all too well known to have the ear of the people, too untrustworthy, but Missus Farriner was new, and a proper firebrand to boot.”

  He winced as a bolt of pain shot through his body.

  “She thought she was in control, but Mudge had been pulling her strings from the start. Holding secret meetings with her or getting us to talk to her. I’m, ah, I’m sorry for that, by the way, Missus Farriner. For my part in it.”

  “Oh, honestly, Vince, this is pathetic, coming from you,” Baxbary said.

  “You promised Missus Farriner you’d do whatever you could to help the Stormlost. You got her to use her connections with the criminal element among them to arrange a shipment of gunpowder to be delivered here.”

  “Wait, you helped arrange it?” Edwin asked, facing his mother.

  She avoided his gaze.

  “But why, surely there’s gunpowder on the island already?” Duncan said.

  “Not a lot,” Vince said. “And it would be missed.”

  “I thought you and your men were the criminal element?” Robin said.

  “Too close to Mudge. If anything went wrong, he needed to be able to deny any knowledge of it. And there’s the perverse pleasure he gets from manipulating people. He’s got Missus Farriner wrapped round his little finger.”

  “It’s what he does best,” Duncan said. “Why are you doing all this, Baxbary?”

  “How else was I ever to become Rabbit?” Baxbary said, as if the answer were perfectly obvious. “The council wouldn’t change their stupid law about always choosing someone poor, someone uncorrupted by privilege to rule the island. I tried to show them how unfair it was for those of us who happened to be born to money through no fault of our own to be denied the chance to rule, but at every turn, I was defeated. My hands were tied, Duncan. What choice did I have?”

  “It never occurred to you to simply be content with your role as Fox?”

  “Oh, Duncan, please. Content? Does that sound like me? I can rule this island better than anyone. Don’t I deserve a chance to prove it?”

  Arthur slowly lowered his rifle. As did the woman next to him. And the next person. And the next. Each one lay their weapon carefully on the marble floor.

  “Wait, no, no! What are you doing?” Baxbary screamed.

  “You set us and the council against one another for your own gain. You never cared a damn about us. It’s over,” Arthur said, as he pulled his mask off. It dropped to the
floor and he calmly lifted one boot and stamped on it, crushing it underfoot.

  “I did it for all of us!” Baxbary screeched. “It’s not over, nothing’s over! I order you to pick up your weapons!”

  “No one orders us,” Arthur said, looking first to Baxbary and then to Sylvia. “Not anymore. The people of this town will never trust us now. You’ve ruined us. You’ve ruined everything.”

  He strode out of the chamber, followed by the rest of the former foxmen who took off their masks and ripped them up, crushed them in hand or trod on them as they left. Baxbary watched, incredulous. His cool demeanour finally hit its breaking point and he took aim at Vince’s heart but swiftly found himself caught in Robin’s powerful grip. With his good hand, Robin clamped Baxbary’s throat and with the other he pushed into Baxbary’s forearm, shoving him hard against the rough stone wall. Duncan prized the pistol from Baxbary’s fingers and held it up. Edwin prized the Rabbit mask from his other hand.

  “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” Duncan said, aiming the pistol squarely at Baxbary’s head.

  “Oh, Duncan, Duncan, Duncan. Whatever were you thinking, coming here?” Baxbary said as Duncan waved the pistol in his direction. “Trying to make amends, are we? Something weighing on your conscience, perhaps?” he teased.

  “Stop it,” Duncan said.

  “Oh, but I have so much to say! I wonder what your friends will think of you when I tell them the truth.”

  “You’re too late,” Duncan said. “I already told them.”

  “What, really? You told them everything? About how you seduced my father? About how he killed himself because of you?”

  Robin nodded, not relaxing his grip one iota.

  “How very disappointing. I was looking forward to watching them abandon you. Honestly, Duncan, you just won’t rest until you’ve spoiled all my fun, will you?”

  “Is that what he told you?” Vince said.

  He winced as he tried to sit up.

  “Vince, shut up…” Baxbary said.

  “Malcolm Mudge didn’t kill himself,” Vince said.

  Duncan’s face dropped. “What?”