Chapter 31

"The perlstone's not big enough!" cried Tiera desperately. She pointed to the tiny grey bead on Thonn's necklace, gifted to him by Willowmere of the elves. "He's never going to drive the dragon away with that little thing."

"She's right!" said Spadell. "We're gonna need a bigger antidote!"

"Wait, did you say perlstone?" Fearing he was already too late, Father M desperately dug around in his robes. He found what he was looking for, and brought out Queen Therstie's necklace with its big perlstone pendant. "Here! Catch!" he said, tossing it to Thonn.

As you'd expect from a wizard, it was a lousy throw, and the necklace landed on the ground at the farm boy's feet. Wren didn't hesitate. She crouched to gather it up, even though the dragon was now so close everyone could pick out its scales.

There was a terrible roar as it belched flame directly at them.

"Too late!" groaned Tiera, and she buried her face in Spadell's neck, waiting for the end. By the time the girl picked up the necklace and gave it to Thonn, she knew the flame would engulf them all.

But it wasn't over yet. As Wren's fingers closed on the perlstone, she felt a jolt of power surging through her veins, so strong she was almost blinded. She could feel the people around her, even Clunk, with his metal heart. As for the dragon, that was an overwhelming life force almost as strong as the magic power coursing through her body.

Almost as strong.

With a mental command, Wren sent out a blast of indescribable power. Most went straight up, towards the dragon, but there were enough weak echoes of the blast to knock everyone around her clean off their feet.

The oncoming jet of dragon breath was extinguished in a split second, whipped away as though it never existed. Then Wren's shockwave smashed into the dragon head-on, blasting it into a thousand meaty fragments.

Then… silence.

Slowly, marvelling at their survival, everyone sat up, feeling for any new injuries.

"That's my leg," said Therstie, pulling it away from Runt. Then she noticed the chunks of raw dragon flesh dotting the field. Wide-eyed, she surveyed the bloody mess, and then, slowly, she licked her lips. "Someone fire up the coals, for we feast on dragon this day!"

"Never mind the dragon," said Wren, her voice loud enough to shake the ground. "Everybody, eyes on me!"

They all turned to look, and what they saw left them open-mouthed in shock. The skinny urchin stood before them, looking much as before, but now she radiated boundless power. "The fighting between our races is over!" said Wren, and everyone knew it to be so. "There will be peace for all time, and your leaders will now swear to it. First, the elves."

Slimbough looked around, then realised he was now king. Surreptitiously, he edged away from Tyniwon. "I swear it," he said solemnly.

"The dwarves speak next!" intoned Wren.

There was a round of grumbling from the dwarves as Stonesmasher stood tall, or as tall as he could, but they were quickly silenced. "You have my word," he said.

"The humans!" cried Wren.

"This'll be good," said Runt. "I count five or six factions, and they'll never agree on a leader."

Hal stepped forward. "I'm not from around here, so I guess I can speak for them all."

"Who died and put you in charge?" demanded Father M.

"Come closer, and you'll be the first," retorted Hal.

"It should be a military man," said Captain Borosin. "As the ranking naval officer—"

"And they're just getting started," said Runt, rubbing his hands together.

"Silence!" said Wren, and they obeyed, much to Runt's annoyance. "There is one amongst you who is human, yet not human. His word I will accept."

Everyone looked around, mystified.

"I speak for the human race," said a calm voice, and then Clunk stepped forward. "They will not fight each other, nor others. This I swear."

"Acceptable," said Wren. "The treaty is signed by all. The Old Kingdom is at peace forever more." Then she staggered, and before anyone could catch her, she collapsed on the turf.

Tiera hurried over, and while she felt Wren's forehead with her right hand, she palmed the perlstone necklace with her left. She'd seen what perlstone had done to Thonn, and a piece this large would kill the girl in days. That, unless the girl went mad with power and killed them all first.

Wren was out cold, but still alive, so Tiera made her comfortable and stood up. She looked around, and saw hundreds of Branche citizens streaming from the city to collect fresh dragon meat. Queen Therstie was right, there would be a huge feast that night. Speaking of the queen, she and Hurm were reliving their recent combat, acting out the fights blow by blow, and they seemed to be perfectly matched even though the barbarian only spoke one word for the queen's every hundred.

Hurm and Therstie, Tyniwon and Allyance, her and Spadell… at least some good things had come from all of the chaos and death.

There were new friendships, too. All around her, various permutations of elf, dwarf, human and halfling shook hands, introduced themselves, and… in Runt's case… even avoided picking everyone's pockets.

Yes, thought Tiera, Wren's little declaration of peace seemed to have worked. Things looked bright for the inhabitants of the Old Kingdom. They could return to their homes, rebuild, and forge ahead with their new lives.

And then a sour note was struck.

"Well, that was a close shave and no mistake," said Father M. "It makes you wonder, though."

Tiera frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well… you have to admit everything's been strange around here since he showed up." Here, Father M indicated Clunk. "We've been at peace for centuries, and then look what happened."

People stopped what they were doing, and a few of them muttered under their breath.

"You're at peace now," said Clunk reasonably.

"At what cost? Palaces destroyed, cities burned, dozens… maybe hundreds killed. And it all started with you, when you killed the High Priest at Chatter's Reach."

"That was an accident!" protested Clunk. "I fell from the sky, with no means of propulsion to alter my course!"

"Yes, that's what they all say."

Everyone edged forward, hemming Clunk in until the robot was surrounded. Whether it was the heady smell of fresh dragon, or the latent effects of Wren's power, there was a dangerous edge to the crowd. The muttering got louder, and the happy mood was gone.

"The mechanical man has unnatural skill with the sword," Sur Loyne told them. "He bested me with trickery."

Wiltred joined in. "A mechanical man such as this… it's not natural."

Spadell grunted. "He can break leg irons and doors like they were made of straw."

"He's too tall for my liking," said Runt.

"Exactly!" said Father M. "It's far too dangerous to have him around."

"They had the right idea back in 243 A.F." said Sur Kah. "In those days, they—"

"We don't need a history lesson," said Slimbough quickly. "But I can tell you right now, the elves will not welcome this abomination into our lands. Why, we'd sooner offer the hand of friendship to an evil sorcerer and his army of gorblins!"

"He's not coming to our lands," said Stonesmasher.

Therstie crossed her arms. "The Mollister border is closed."

"He's metal," said Oxley. He eyed the blade he was holding, then hid it behind his back. "We don't allow metal in Bark lands. He must leave."

The madness was spreading, and Clunk heard people taking up the chant. "Leave! Leave! Leave!"

"Yes, he must leave, or we will make him!" cried Slimbough. He prodded Clunk in the chest. "Why don't you leave this place, metal man?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" said Hal, stepping between them. "Clunk's all right, you long-haired, pointy-eared freak. And that goes for all of you. If you want to get rid of him, you'll have to go through me first!"

— ♦ —

It was two days later, and Hal was aboard the Stalyan warship Intrepid once more, bound hand and foot. The only difference this time was that he was tied to Clunk.

The ship was anchored off Chatter's Reach, in sight of the cliffs and the walled city. The shattered bell tower was visible in the distance, one side caved in where the meteorite had smashed into it days earlier, killing the High Priest.

Hal and Clunk hadn't been treated badly, all things considered. At their trial they'd been blamed for everything from the price of wheat to Queen Therstie's morning sickness, and the guilty verdict hadn't exactly been a surprise.

Hal had expected the robot to fight back, busting them both out of captivity before heading into the wilds, but Clunk had done nothing. After all the accusations and finger-pointing, the life had gone out of him, and he obeyed every shouted order without question.

Both of them were shocked at how quickly the inhabitants of this world had turned against them, but Clunk had taken it much harder than Hal, for Hal had little faith in people at the best of times.

Still, Hal kept trying. "Are you hungry?" he asked the robot.

No reply.

"Manemol flange!"

"Don't touch things you don't understand, Mr Spacejock," said Clunk, before lapsing into apathy.

Hal heard footsteps, and he looked up to see Berry and Borosin coming towards him. "Come to set us free?" he asked them.

Berry shook his head.

"Are we going to Methusia? Or Stalya? You said you wanted Clunk to visit, remember?"

"Clunk is not visiting our nations," said Borosin, "and neither are you."

"Look, we didn't do anything," said Hal. "Just let us go, and we won't bother you."

"Impossible," said Borosin.

"We made a commercial agreement," explained Berry. "Our nations will transport goods to this place, and on the return voyage we will take local goods back to Methusia and Stalya. It's called a cargo business."

"That sounds like a plan," said Hal. "Let me go, and I'll help you set it up!"

"I think not," said Borosin, looking down his nose. "You are clearly unsuited to this line of work."

"A disaster in the making," agreed Berry.

"However," continued Borosin, "in return for the trade deal…"

"We agreed to dispose of you," said Berry. "We need to get this over with, so please stand up."

"I'm fine just here," said Hal quickly.

Unfortunately, he was tied to Clunk, and when Clunk stood up, he dragged Hal with him.

"Now you must walk over here," said Borosin.

"Right over to the side," added Berry.

Hal looked from one to the other, expecting a punchline, but he realised they were serious. Their eyes were curiously blank, and he realised they were still gripped with the madness that had spread like a virus after Wren's massive power blast. It was almost like they were being controlled by a powerful mind, which was something Hal had never been troubled with. Worse, the mind was evil, and vengeful, and it clearly had it in for Hal and Clunk.

"Please walk to the rail," said Berry.

Hal struggled with all his might, but Clunk strode along, dragging him so easily it was as though he wasn't there. They reached the very edge of the deck, where the railing had been taken down.

"Now step off," said Borosin.

— ♦ —

Tiera and Spadell were standing amongst the ruins of her house, and she felt a stab of anger as she eyed the damage. The evil mechanical man was to blame for this, she just knew it!

"You had a garden?" Spadell asked her. He'd been to her house before, but she'd never let him in the back way.

Tiera nodded, and showed him to the tiny courtyard. The water pipe was a blackened pile of ash, and the tank had emptied itself into the dirt. Nearby, she saw a patch of white powder, the remains of the death mask Thonn had broken up. "Poor old King Larch. He would live still, if it were not for that monster, Clunk."

"Relax, they'll have dealt with those two by now."

"I hope so, for they were a foul weight on our land." Tiera dug her hands in her pockets, and her fingers encountered the perlstone necklace. She pulled it out, and her eyes glittered with anger. "Like him, this foul thing must be destroyed!"

So saying, she laid the perlstone on the ground, and, picking up a rock, she smashed the grey gem into powder. There was a bright flash, the fog gripping her mind lifted, and all of a sudden everything came flooding back. The way they'd treated the metal man, after all he'd done for them… it was horrible!

Mortified, Tiera looked up at Spadell, and she saw he was just as unhappy. "Oh Zephyr, what have we done?" she groaned.

— ♦ —

"Since we cannot throw the metal man back to the stars, we must throw him back into the ocean," intoned Berry. "Thus our world is cleansed of evil. Thus we are spared."

"Thus we are spared," intoned Borosin.

"Guys, we can still talk this though," said Hal. He was standing on the very edge of the Intrepid's deck, firmly tied to Clunk, and the pair of them were about twenty feet above the ocean waves. Looking down, he could see the water was deep, and he knew there would be no escape once they went over the side.

"And so, we commit our enemies to the deep," intoned Berry, and then he and Borosin gave Hal and Clunk a hefty shove.

For Hal, time slowed.

He felt himself tipping, and he was still staring into Berry's eyes when the man blinked once, twice. Then, like lightning, a new expression flooded Berry's face: shock, surprise, regret, guilt.

Hal was still tipping backwards, way past the point of no return, and as he fell his gaze flicked to Borosin. He too looked stunned, and even as Hal plunged towards the ocean, the Methusian captain stretched out his hand in a futile attempt to bring him back.

Somehow, the spell had been broken. Somehow, the evil, controlling mind had lost its grip over the men, and, presumably, over all the other crazies who'd condemned Hal and Clunk to death.

And, of course, the spell had been broken about five seconds too late.

"Nooooo!" went Borosin.

Splash, went Hal, with a resigned look on his face.

He held his breath as they sank like a large pair of stones, hoping against hope the Stalyans would toss an anchor after him, or dream up some other rescue attempt in the next thirty seconds or so. Meanwhile, he kept his eyes open, and he frowned as he saw something lying on the sea bed, maybe forty feet below him. It was a big metal sphere, at least fifteen feet across, and it was mottled with moving streaks of sunlight filtered through the waves above. There was also a large round hole in the side, and as Hal sank towards it, he thought he could see a pair of seats inside the sphere.

He felt a flash of hope. If he could make it to the thing, maybe get inside and close the door…

But no. Still attached to Clunk, there was no way he could swim to the sphere, or even to the surface. Plus he was starting to black out, and his lungs hurt.

With a final, desperate look at the metal sphere, and with spots flashing in his eyes, Hal gave up and let his breath out.

— ♦ —

The next second there was a FWOOM, and suddenly Hal was standing upright, water streaming off his clothes. He was in a large, polished cylinder, still tied to Clunk, and as he started coughing and spluttering and ridding himself of the seawater, a tall door opened in front of him with a whoosh.

Three people entered, two women and a man, all wearing helmets and dressed from head to toe in white overalls. Hal was in a daze, and he got even more groggy as one of them reached up to his neck and administered a sharp sting.

Then he passed out.

— ♦ —

When Hal opened his eyes, he was lying in a bed in a darkened room. He could hear a regular beep nearby, and there was a chrome metal stand holding a clear plastic bag bulging with fluid. The sheets were crisp and starched, and, to confirm his suspicions, there was a large bunch of grapes on the side table.

With a flash of insight, he realised he was in a sick bay. And from the ambient noise, he was aboard a… a space ship. He struggled to remember more, but his mind was still foggy.

"Ah, our patient awakes," said a voice.

Hal turned towards the sound, and he saw a nurse in a trim white uniform. "Wha—?" he said. He swallowed, and tried again. "Wha—?"

She spoke into a commset, then smiled at him. "Relax, Mr Spacejock. The doctor will be along shortly."

Hal sank back on the pillow. The bed was comfortable, and he felt serene and at peace. Then he remembered the near-drowning, and he sat bolt upright. "Where's Clunk? Is he all right?"

"I'm perfectly well, Mr Spacejock."

Hal looked across the room, where he saw the robot sitting in the shadows. "What's going on? Why are we here?"

"I can explain," said a female voice, and Hal turned to the door. A doctor had just entered, along with a man wearing a white jacket with gold epaulettes, and a very fancy peaked cap. "This is the cruise ship Ecstasy, and Captain Overly here picked up your distress beacon in the nick of time."

"We've been searching for days," said the Captain, in a deep, cultured voice. "You must have left the vicinity of your escape capsule, which any pilot knows is a huge mistake."

"It was underwater!" said Hal. "Anyway, neither of us knew where it was, or even what it was."

The Captain smiled. "Well, when you approached it, the beacon activated automatically, and we got a lock on you right away."

"I'm very glad you did," said Hal, with feeling. "By the way, what's a cruise ship?" he asked, looking around the sickbay. "Do you have cannon? Are we going to war?"

"Things will be fuzzy for a few days," said the doctor. "The criminals used a memory blocker on you."

"What criminals?"

"The men who stole your ship."

"I have a ship?"

"Well, you did." The doctor made a dismissive gesture. "It doesn't matter now. Just get some rest."

With that, she and the nurse left. The captain remained, and he took off his hat and gave Hal a polite nod. "The Ecstasy is on a two week cruise, Mr Spacejock. We'll put you up in a cabin, and you can enjoy all the facilities for free until we reach the next port. And tonight, you dine with me."

"Thanks! And thanks again for saving us."

"Don't mention it," said the captain, with a smile. "One day you might do the same for someone else." And with that, he left.

"Well," said Hal. "That made no sense."

"It seems we were the victims of a robbery," said Clunk. "We were flying our ship—"

"Flying?"

"Well, I was flying," corrected Clunk. "A group of criminals convinced you to let them on board, and then they overcame the two of us, removed my memory, administered a drug to suppress yours, and then placed us in an escape capsule and abandoned us on the planet below."

"The Old Kingdom, you mean?"

"Indeed. The planet is in an uncharted system, and it's now under quarantine."

"What does that mean?"

"Standard procedure for inhabited planets. These primitive civilisations must be allowed to develop at their own pace, and so it's forbidden to interfere with the locals."

Hal eyed the robot. "Did you get your memory back?"

"Not yet. Our ship has been recovered by the Peace Force, and with any luck my data cubes will be on board."

"So we've ended up with two weeks of luxury, as much free food as we can eat, and we still get our ship back at the end of it?" Hal rubbed his hands together. "This I can live with."

"Indeed, Mr Spacejock."

"Now pass me that menu, because I could murder a portion of dragon and chips."

While Hal selected two of everything, plus three mugs of strong coffee, the ship's engines fired and the huge liner left the system with a burst of near-infinite power.