Free The Society of Dread by Glenn Dakin Page B

all meaning for me!’
    Hollister and Queasley exchanged a look, uneasy.
    ‘Time means nothing down here, Master,’ Queasley said with a cracked smile. ‘Survival comes by seconds, not years.’
    Silence followed, punctuated by the rumblings of the Furnace.
    ‘A world of lies,’ said Magnus musingly, edging closer to Dr Pyre on his battered old sticks. ‘Indeed. Well, I know of a good lie. A lie that sits before me.’
    Queasley and Hollister stepped back, as if expecting Magnus to be incinerated on the spot. To their surprise, Dr Pyre merely laughed.
    ‘I know your secret,’ Magnus said calmly.
    Dr Pyre suddenly arose, fragments of his ashy skin falling around him.
    ‘Enough!’ he shouted. ‘All the secrets will burn, now, and my great enemy will burn with them.’
    The terrifying figure gestured at the gleaming technology around him. ‘Behold, the Wonderful Machines,’ he said. ‘As large as life, and not a mere shadow of legend. I have a final, brilliant task for them, to purge and purify this world.’
    He advanced on Magnus.
    ‘I need a wiser, older head to help me when I go into the vault below to start up these ancient devices. You will serve me.’
    Magnus gave Dr Pyre a long look. ‘No,’ he said.
    Dr Pyre’s eyes glowed. Dark smoke curled from the cracks in his skin. He seemed about to burst into flame.
    ‘You
will
serve me!’ he repeated.
    ‘No,’ repeated Magnus calmly. ‘And, as you can see,’ he added, ‘I am far too old to be scared – even of you.’
    Smouldering, and shedding the occasional spark, Dr Pyre glowered at the cemetery keeper. Finally, he turned away.
    ‘Then I shall proceed alone,’ Dr Pyre snapped. ‘Without delay.’
    He headed for the doorway.
    ‘What – what shall we do with the old man?’ Hollister called out.
    ‘Take him,’ Dr Pyre muttered, ‘to the deepest dungeon.’

Chapter Sixteen
Phase Two
    ‘D id you hear that?’
    Theo looked around uneasily. He and Chloe were winding their way up a spiral staircase, hewn into the rock behind the fortress.
    A rumbling sound echoed down the stairway from above.
    ‘Vibrations, shaking the whole place,’ Chloe said. ‘I think I know why.’
    Theo forced his aching legs to keep pushing, taking him higher up in the darkness. He almost tripped over Chloe, who was crouched, waiting for him where the stairs ended.
    ‘Keep down,’ she whispered. ‘There might be guards.’
    ‘Guards guarding what?’ Theo asked. ‘Where are you taking me?’
    Chloe beckoned Theo to follow her throughthe stalagmites to a gap in the wall ahead. As Theo neared, he could see it was an arched and ornamented doorway, linking the stairway to a cavern.
    And the cavern was enormous.
    ‘Level Four,’ Chloe breathed. ‘The crelp argued about bringing me up here – to their boss. So, of course, we have to take a look.’
    Far away, through the darkness, a vast building loomed, like a nightmarish factory. A towering, monolithic chimney spewed black smoke high into the cavern roof. Lights flickered through the fumes, from a row of guard towers. Fires flared from beyond the Furnace’s fortress-like walls.
    ‘What is it?’ gasped Theo.
    ‘It’s enemy action,’ said Chloe, staring into the distance. ‘When those crelp were arguing about what to do with me, they kept talking about their master.’
    Theo looked across at the fiery edifice with awe.
    ‘It seems he’s the one who started up this ancient furnace,’ Chloe continued. ‘He’s the onewho released the crelp and I’m guessing he’s the one who’s captured Sam and Magnus.’
    Theo gulped.
    ‘So that’s where we’re going,’ Chloe said finally.
    Suddenly she bent down and started to rub ash into her face. ‘Do what I’m doing. It’s important to blend in.’
    Theo pulled a face. Throughout his childhood, Dr Saint had never let him get dirty at all. Even now, it was hard to defy his upbringing.
    He had lost his gloves in the battle at the refuge, cast aside and mired