Green Monkey Dreams (27 page)

‘There are people downstairs demanding to check out of the hotel because there are supposed to be wild animals in the streets, and at the police station there was a woman trying to report fairies in her hotel swimming pool. I told them there was a dead man by the pool and they all but yawned and told me they had been getting reports of bodies all night long. Seven so far, and it was obviously a hoax because the bodies were not there when they investigated. I guess the other bodies were the ones Savid mentioned. The Dakini must be disposing of them. I gave up trying to explain because probably they have already shifted Savid's body, and those police looked like they wanted to gaol me.'

‘Well, if the police won't listen we'll have to . . .' Raven's eyes blazed wide. ‘Of course. If the magic is manifesting itself in real ways around the Valoria, all we would have to do to find it is look for real magic rather than illusion.'

Gerhardt did not know what to say. It was incredible and yet in a mad sort of way, it fitted. But he was a physicist. He didn't believe in parallel dimensions and magic. There must be some logical explanation for the way in which Signe had aged.

His eyes flickered to the bedroom door, and Raven shuddered. ‘Every minute we stand here talking, she's dying. I have this horrid vision of going in and finding her lying there dead and withered. I have to try and find this thing. You can stay here if you want.'

‘We will go together,' Gerhardt said.

• • •

It was a night of black velvet, soft and warm with the moon a mere sliver of silver. They stopped at the bottom of the steps to let a fat man with a beatific look on his face walk past. The woman following him looked puzzled and annoyed.

‘What do you mean you saw the grail, Ernest?'

Raven and Gerhardt exchanged a look and they turned in the direction from which the pair had come. At the front of Treasure Island Casino, Gerhardt stopped, remembering what the manager had said about the wild beasts. Maybe it was a sign that the magic was here. Even the name of the place seemed to offer a coy clue. After all, wouldn't a treasure island have treasure?

‘It has to be somewhere where nothing has changed for years,' Raven murmured as they entered the foyer. ‘After all, Signe said the stone wouldn't let itself be built on.'

Gerhardt glanced at an ornamental pool and was flabbergasted to see a small greenish face look up at him and grimace. ‘I suppose it will be pretty small given that they had to wait all these years before the rift was big enough for people to come through . . .' She looked up when Gerhardt made no response. ‘What's the matter?'

Gerhardt grabbed her hand and pulled her back behind a bank of poker machines. ‘Look.'

It was the man they had seen stab Savid: a Dakini. It occurred to them both simultaneously how broad and heavily muscled the man was, and how long and flat his face. Raven was reminded of pictures she had seen of the ferocious Mongolian tribesmen commanded by Genghis Khan, but the thought of Signe's pale desperation made her square her shoulders purposefully.

‘At least we know we're in the right spot. Signe told me they would not be able to touch the stone or even get too close, because it would begin to exert the same pacifying influence over them as it did in her world. She said they would probably guard it from a distance to make sure no one else gets it either until the rift collapses.'

Gerhardt frowned. ‘What exactly do you suppose will happen when this rift collapses?'

‘I don't know, but we don't have much time before we're going to find out. Come on.'

They went carefully, weaving in and out of people and poker machines. There were less people than usual, and most were staring at their cards or machines with glazed concentration, unaware of the clouds of butterflies that fluttered about over their heads, or of the wildlife roaming along the carpeted aisles. Some sort of antelope was rubbing the velvet off its horns on the edge of the bar, and a monkey was seated on a stool beside the poker machine. The man on the machine alongside was punching in coins, oblivious to the nature of his hirsute companion.

They passed a roulette table where a man was swearing that the dice had changed their spots in front of his eyes.

At last, they reached the rim of the jungle again. ‘We found Savid just out there,' Gerhardt said. ‘Logically that suggests . . .'

‘It definitely can't be here, because the Dakini killed Savid here and the stone is supposed to suppress violence.' She frowned. ‘Unless it has to be close to affect them, or they might need to be around it for a long time to be affected from a distance,' Raven said.

‘I think these animals . . . Uh-oh.' Gerhardt had spotted another of the Dakini on the other side of some blackjack tables. The man turned as if he sensed their attention.

‘Run!' Raven cried.

Sprinting towards the jungle path, they heard a shout from the other side of the foyer. They could hear pounding footsteps close behind. Without warning Gerhardt almost wrenched Raven's arm out of its socket, pulling her sideways into the bushes and pushing her onto the ground so hard he winded her.

‘Sh!' he hissed urgently as she gasped for air.

She pressed her lips together, hearing boots clump by. She thought two men had run by, but there might have been more. She made herself relax, letting her lungs fill with air. More boots.

‘They must have gone through,' someone growled in a flat gutteral accent, frighteningly close. ‘We must keep them from the witch egg, else they will take it to the sorceress and she will bewitch us again.'

They departed and Raven turned to look into Gerhardt's face. ‘Bewitched?'

He leaned close so he could speak softly. ‘Signe said the Dakini invaded their land and that they were violent and bloodthirsty. So her people made this thing and used it to pacify them. I guess that qualifies as bewitching from their point of view.'

Raven frowned. ‘Signe's people were simply protecting themselves the best way they could. Look how much smaller they are than those brutish Dakini. They didn't kill them.'

‘Maybe if Signe's people had used their magic to communicate with the Dakini instead of pacifying them, they would have had the opportunity to grow beyond brutes.'

‘Maybe you're right, but we can't let them just slaughter Signe's people. Maybe we can get this Valoria and give it to her on the condition that she agrees to try and find some other way to deal with the Dakini.'

‘Let's get it first.'

‘But the Dakini . . .'

‘Can't go near it apparently. We need a distraction to clear the way. Wait here.'

He pushed his way through the bushes, heading back towards the gambling area.

Fifteen minutes later, they sat watching from under a rubber plant on the fringe of the jungle, as uniformed police and SWAT men poured in through the doors. Some of the gamblers noticed, but the majority kept on playing until police roused them.

‘Did they say how many bombs?' one policeman asked another.

‘Ten, set to go off in half an hour.'

‘But we can't possibly do a full search of this place in that time. My god, we'll barely have time to get the people evacuated.'

‘Our instructions are to evacuate the building. These damn Mafia have gone too far this time. Hallucinogenic gases to make people crazy so they'd keep the authorities occupied and they could plant the bombs. The FBI are on the way now . . .'

They moved out of earshot and Raven turned to look into Gerhardt's eyes with admiration.

He grinned and tried to look modest. ‘There were so many calls and alerts I thought they would take no notice unless it was something big enough to explain everything else. I thought they would jump at a logical explanation. Look!'

Three SWAT men appeared, dragging one of the struggling Dakini.

‘How did they know to go for the Dakini?' Raven whispered.

‘I said they looked like foreigners and I described them as savages in suits. It's not like they blend in exactly.'

The Dakini's muscles bulged with his efforts to free himself, and the SWAT men were swearing and looked as if they were on the verge of calling for reinforcements.

Gradually the hall emptied out and when the coast was clear, Gerhardt and Raven made their way silently to the exit door. Outside, the air was alive with butterflies diving and swooping in jewelbright swaths among the foliage surrounding the pool. The water seethed with creatures that were demonstrably not human.

‘It's got to be somewhere out here,' Raven said.

‘No,' said a deep voice behind them, and they whirled to find another of the enormous Dakini emerging from the bushes, his eyes bright with malevolent intelligence. Like the others, his hair was cropped close to his skull and his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. ‘The Valoria is with the catbeasts. So does the witch egg protect itself. But you do not have such protections.'

‘Wait!' Raven cried as, he drew out a great serrated blade. ‘We want to help you . . .'

The man smiled showing filed teeth. ‘I need no help from you.'

‘It's no good,' Gerhardt said in a low voice. ‘I'll distract him and you get back inside and get the stone. It's our only hope. Once you have it, bring it out and maybe it will start pacifying him. It obviously needs to be closer in this world than in theirs.'

Raven nodded once, then pretended to lose her nerve and darted away into the bushes. The minute she was out of sight, she dropped to her knees and backtracked. Peering through the bushes, she saw the Dakini lunge at Gerhardt. If the Dakini had any sense, he would simply have guarded the door, but his aggressive instincts would not let him wait passively.

Reaching the wall, she inched her way out of the bushes towards the door. Unfortunately, Gerhardt's eyes flickered to her for a split second, and the Dakini whirled.

With a gasping scream, she wrenched the door open and threw herself inside.

She could not let herself think of what was happening outside. She had no illusions that the slender young German, for all his height, would be a match for the Dakini. Approaching the tiger enclosure, she stopped dead.

The white tigers were both stretched on the ground
outside
the enclosure. Had they been outside when she and Gerhardt had run by only moments before? It was a wonder the creatures had not attacked them. Now they merely watched Raven unblinkingly through impassive, lovely eyes. She had the strange feeling they knew exactly what was happening. Surely there must be some sort of magic about creatures like these. Their blood must resonate to the tingle of enchantment in the air, just as her own bones vibrated with an awareness that this was what she had spent her whole life waiting and longing for, without ever knowing it.

Somewhere in the jungle, a concealed bird let out a raucous cry, and she started violently. Twin pairs of ice-blue eyes watched her unblinkingly as she took a step towards them. Her hands were wet and she felt sweat crawl down her spine.

Now she could see into the enclosure. The butterflies were so thick they were like a storm of white blossoms. She looked back at the tigers and her heart lurched, for they had risen.

Her legs felt watery and she had a horrible vision of those great gleaming ivory teeth closing in on her, the spurt of blood and a moment later, the crunch of the bone.

Then it occurred to her. The stone suppressed violence, and eating her would be violence to her, so – perhaps she was in no danger. Unless eating did not qualify as violence . . .

She took a deep shaky breath and took another step. It brought her face to face with the tigers, and for a second, she could see her own reflection in four pale-blue eyes, feel the heat of their breath on her bare arms. She forced herself to squeeze between them, feeling the warm, coarse fur brush against her legs and thighs.

She walked unsteadily to the glass door, which stood ajar. The air felt strangely thick as she climbed inside. Her skin seemed to tingle as if the very air was effervescing against it. Butterflies pressed against her skin and the air was filled with the whispery beat of a million tiny wings. She could have felt claustrophobic with their wings brushing every bit of her bare skin, even her eyelids. She could see nothing for their fluttering whiteness, and she dared not open her mouth. But she was concentrating on following the feeling of magic to its source, reaching blindly down . . .

Butterflies! Butterflies so thick against her fingers now that she must move slowly lest she bruise them, if they were not killing themselves by straining towards . . .

She had it!

Her fingers closed on the jagged pebble and she backed to the door, fearing the harm she would do if she turned around. The butterflies followed. Unable to see where she was going, she stumbled and stumbled again. Then her leg brushed a more solid warmth. The tigers had come into the cage and were walking either side of her. Guiding her to the door.

Out of the enclosure, the press of butterflies lessened enough that she could see, albeit as if she were in a blizzard. The tigers followed her through the door, and through a fluttering rainbow she saw the Dakini bring his knife to Gerhardt's throat.

‘No!' she screamed, and threw the stone.

The Dakini whirled and raised his hands, then his expression changed to one of horror, and he was lost in the thick swirl of butterflies.

Raven ran forward to where Gerhardt lay, pressing his fingers to his stomach. ‘Are you . . .'

‘I won't die, thanks to you, though I have a few cracked ribs, I think,' he gasped. ‘I guess you found it.'

Raven nodded, squeezed his hand gently, then rose and went towards the Dakini. She could not see him, but again she followed the tingle on her skin. And at the eye of this storm of butterflies, she found the Dakini, crooning tunelessly and cradling the Valoria, and understood why Signe's people had used it. The man was utterly harmless now. But when she took the stone from his fingers, the Dakini looked at her with mindless eyes, and she shivered at what it had made of his intelligence. Obviously the Valoria worked immediately if you were in direct contact. She tried to imagine hundreds of men and women like this, and quailed.