|
|
It sounded like a plan to me. I wondered if my brother had the wherewithal to make it work. As it turned out, I was not disappointed. Nether put thumb and forefinger into each of the pockets on the greasy puce waistcoat he wore and drew out a couple of cardboard boxes with a theatrical flourish. They were glamour boxes, slightly worn and slightly squished from being carried around for ages, but undoubtedly intact and ready for activation. He held them up to me for inspection. The box in his left hand was a simple smoke bomb, cheap and readily available. A magic to make smoke without fire, no doubt intended to give the impression that the firebomb was still burning. I nodded in understanding and took the little package from his hand. The second glamour was much more sophisticated and gave every impression of being a custom product from some specialist supplier. I squinted at the crabbed runes on the cover. It was a mimic; a magic capable of imitating us as if we were all still in in the bar - complete with coughs, shouts and screams, gunshots even - but without the obvious repeats that a simple looping recording would give. I wondered where Nether got this kind of thing from. I shouted to attract Gumshoe's attention, then waved him over. He scurried across the floor, bent double, holding his automatic so as to be as far away from me as possible. "Put the gun away, Gamshack," Nether instructed softly, "We won't be needing it just at the moment." Gumshoe looked uncertain, but holstered his piece without comment. Nether then beckoned to Rosie, so that we were all huddled at one end of the bar counter. "We're getting out of here. Gamshack, follow my lead, and look after Rosie," I whispered, "But first we all need to make as much noise as possible." "Make like we're panicing," Nether added, "Maybe getting burned. Coughing from the smoke, that kind of thing." "That won't be too hard to fake," Gumshoe rumbled. "And Findo, squeeze off a couple of shots as well." I nodded again and drew my revolver from my coat pocket. Nether held up the mimic glamour in its box. "On my signal," He said, "Three, two..." He waved his hand and mouthed silently a few words, and the lid of the cardboard box popped open. We all did a very credible imitation of chaos, panic and confusion for about twenty seconds, which included me firing my gun in the direction of the already broken window, then Nether held up his hand to signal us to stop. But the noise didn't stop. To my ears, it sounded convincingly like we were all still acting flat out. From all around us came the sounds of frightened and panicking humans and Goblins, interspersed with occasional gunshots apparently from a number of different weapons and calibres. The spell appeared to be working. Nether dropped the little box where we stood. I took my cue, read the invocation from the other spell box then tossed it across the room to a spot close to where the firebomb had landed. Black billowing smoke started emerging, unnaturally quickly, and was sucked out of the broken window. It must have looked very convincing from outside. "Okay, move!" Nether hissed urgently, "Follow me." As I expected, we hurried to the back of the building, to the storeroom which also housed the hidden entrance. We piled into the stockroom and closed the door behind us, then I moved to the exit. "Not that one," Nether said, "They probably know about it. Or at least strongly suspect. There's a better way." He made some subtle gesture with his hand that I could not fully follow and the entrance to his hidden rooms faded into view. Rosie seemed unfazed by the sudden appearance. I assumed she had been inside Nether's lair before. It would only be polite, of course. Inside, Rosie's head brushed the ceiling and Gumshoe, despite his modest height by human standards, had to crouch down in an uncomfortable fashion. "Over here," Nether called, moving to stand in front of a patch of blank wall behind the easy chairs. He ran his hand carefully over the expensive wallpaper and another secret entrance appeared. Goblins always feel much more comfortable when they have an escape route. In any case, if Nether had been resident in this bar for a hundred years or thereabouts, then he would have had plenty of time to install all kinds of features and facilities. And if he had plenty of money, of course. Once again, I wondered where Nether was getting all his money from? The escape tunnel was magical in its entirety, utilising the same technology used for the transit tubes underground. There was no physical connection between the two ends of the tunnel; it was almost like stepping though a door from one place to another. A moment later, we emerged into a dark alley. We could all hear the tell-tale sirens in the distance as the local forces responded to reports of flames and gunshots. Rigg's goons no doubt disappeared into the alleys as soon as the human police turned up; there was no report either Gumshoe or I could find that told of any arrests on that night. But it wasn't the goons we had to worry about. Rigg himself was standing at the end of the alley; quite a distance away, beyond the range of my protective glamour. Which was a shame since, as we emerged, he turned sharply and raised two large and nasty-looking handguns, taking careful aim in our direction. " I've been expecting you, Gask," Rigg shouted. Nether yelled something I didn't catch. His voice was drowned by the roar of Rigg's pistols. My glamour definitely wasn’t working But I could see, in the direction Nether was pointing, a suggestion of a slivery light tracing an outline. "Move!" I yelled at Rosie and Gumshoe, pushing the bulky humans with all my considerable strength, assisted by Nether. As one, we dived headfirst at the blank brick wall opposite.
|
Part 63