CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

KINGDOM

 

 

EVELYN WAR WAS the first to volunteer to return for Dorothy Barker, but it was John Steel who went back for her.

She was still alive when he and Gertrude Harms carried her down the tunnel to Birkenstrasse. She was still alive when they arrived home at Friedrichstrasse. She had been unconscious for hours.

The platform at Friedrichstrasse had never seen so many Aux. The place was so warm, with the heat of their bodies, that the majority of the youngest and oldest Aux had given up clothes almost entirely. No fires were lit, and they sat in the darkness, crammed together, to listen to the newest of the tales.

Tales that would become legends.

Becky Sharp spoke for Tempelhof Pack.

“Atticus Flinch, him no Alpha dog. Me Alpha dam,” she said.

The Time of Ice was over, and things were changing. Things were changing everywhere, but Tempelhof Pack had seen a big change in a short time. There had never been an Alpha dam in any Aux pack.

Becky Sharp stood on the platform in her full war gear, with a rifle over her shoulder. She stood with the staff of office held lightly in her hand. On the top of the staff sat the charred head of one of Them.

“Zoo Pack, them left and then there was a pop, a bang, a fizz,” said Becky Sharp. “The lights, them died, and the Master’s Voice, him never spoke again. Atticus Flinch, him no Alpha dog. Him no Hearer. Him afraid.”

Becky Sharp lifted her staff and banged it down on the marble platform, hard. The head of the Them moved; its rings of teeth chattering. Some of the pups in the throng gasped and some tittered.

“Them!” exclaimed Becky Sharp. “Us, we found it on the rails, deader and dead. When Atticus Flinch, him Heard the Master’s Voice, us, we stay off the rails. The rails, them kill. The rails, them burn.”

Becky Sharp lifted the staff and slammed it down onto the platform once more.

“Them was on the rails. Them was deader and dead. The Master’s Voice, him deader and dead. Atticus Flinch, him finished. Becky Sharp, me Alpha dam!”

Becky Sharp, Alpha dam of Tempelhof, raised her voice to a shout. The gathered Aux, carried along with her fervour, cheered and whooped.

When the noise died down, Becky Sharp continued.

“Becky Sharp and Tempelhof lieutenants, us, we decided to make an alliance with Zoo Pack. There is strength in numbers,” she said. “Us, we track Zoo Pack. Hacker Pack, them send us to Track Nine. Tempelhof, we kill Them, deader and dead.”

Again, Becky Sharp’s final statement was delivered with gusto, and, again, the gathered Aux cheered and whooped, applauding the dam with fervour.

“What about us?” asked Ben Gun. “What about Zoo Pack? Us, we walked all-away around. Us, we made alliances. Us, we saved Walter Sickert. Us, we have no fiefdom. Us, we have no Ezra Pound, no Alpha dog.”

Becky Sharp’s brow ridge furrow deeply as she looked down on the Zoo Pack pup. The Them’s head on her staff of office quivered.

Holeman Hunt rose and stood on one side of her. Seeing the determination with which he joined the Alpha dam, Makewar Thackeray stood, and took a pace or two to stand on her other side. Hacker Pack and Hansa Pack were old allies, and Makewar Thackeray would further that alliance, especially after what he had seen on the battlefield.

“Zoo Pack, it has an Alpha dog,” said Holeman Hunt. “Zoo Pack, it has Oscar so Wild. Zoo Pack, it has a Hearer, it has Walter Sickert. Zoo Pack, it has our promise, it has our respect, it has our friendship. ”

There was a long pause.

“This day,” Holeman Hunt continued, “this alliance, we ousted Them from Track Nine. Tomorrow, us, we oust Them from Track Two. Tomorrow, us, we take back Zoo Pack fiefdom.”

Oscar so Wild stood and gestured for Edward Leer to join him. The Aux of Zoo Pack cheered and pounded their fists on the platform or slapped their hands against their thighs.

“Ezra Pound, him gone, deader and dead. Him a great Alpha dog. Him the stuff of legends, tougher and tough,” said Oscar so Wild. The second round of cheers from the Zoo Pack was louder and longer than the first, and the other packers joined in. They all knew what Ezra Pound had done in the tunnels.

“Edward Leer, him our tale-teller. Him told the old legends, him told them smart. Him has muscles in his head,” said Oscar so Wild. “Him knew when to listen and him knew when to spin a fable.”

Another cheer reverberated around the tunnel and died away.

There was silence.

Edward Leer knew what he must do.

“Gene the Hackman, top dog, him done the great Walk Around,” he began. “Not for him the darkness, not for him the cold, not for him the Time of Ice. Gene the Hackman, him got whet. Gene the Hackman, him got whet and walked the Earth, and him killed Them.”

He took a breath. The gathered Aux waited in silence for what would come next.

“This, it is a time for new legends to be made. This, it is a time to make new tales of alliances, of friendships, of loyalty between brothers and between packs. Once, us, we were fiefdoms. This, it is a time for change. Once, us, we were fiefdoms. Now, it is time for us to become a kingdom.”

Holeman Hunt drew his blades and brought them together in a ringing crash above his head, roaring with delight. Becky Sharp pounded her staff down onto the platform, making the Them’s head jump and dance, and Makewar Thackeray punched the air, bellowing.

The roar of the crowd turned into a rhythmic grunting of approval to match the pounding of feet and the clapping of palms on thighs and fists on marble.

They were ready.

They would need to be ready.

Evelyn War, sitting among the crowd, next to Ben Gun, looked at the pup beside her.

“Evelyn, you, are you all right?” asked Ben Gun, barely able to make himself heard above the din of the celebrating Aux.

“Them are coming,” said Evelyn War, so quietly that Ben Gun had to make her repeat herself.

“Them are coming!”

“Yes,” said Ben Gun. “Us, we know. Us, we fought Them, today. Us, we won.”

“Today, that was just a battle,” said Evelyn War. “The war, it is coming.”