The Devil in Green (46 page)

'Did you get hit on the head?'

'For God's sake, it covers nearly the whole compound now.'

Warwick helped lever him off the table. 'You'd better go and have a lie
down, old chap. I'll mix you up a sedative.'

Warwick propelled Mallory towards a room at the back. It had a very
high ceiling that gave it a restless air, a mood exacerbated by the lack of
windows; torches burned in plates atop tall struts amongst the beds that
lined both walls. It was too hot despite the time of year, and had the
unpleasant aroma of the sick. Many of the men tossed and turned
feverishly, though some lay still, as if dead.

'Mallory!'

He recognised Daniels' voice immediately. He was propped up in a bed
at the far end, waving. As Mallory approached, he could see stained
bandages covering the upper-left quarter of Daniels' head.

Mallory sat on the end of the bed, aching too much to stand any longer.
'What happened to you?'

'Lost an eye.' Daniels' hand half-went to the bandages, then stopped. 'It
caught me a glancing blow, but it felt as if someone had rammed a carving
knife into the socket.' His good eye closed for a second.

'I'm sorry.'

'We count our blessings, right? I was lucky to get out of there with
my life. We all were. Gardener got me back. He's a good man.' He leaned
forwards to slap Mallory on the arm with comradely good nature. Mallory
winced. 'But what about you!' Daniels said. 'I was convinced you'd
shuffled off the mortal coil in your usual iconoclastic, curmudgeonly
manner. Should have known you've got too much piss and vinegar in you
to give up the ghost, Mallory!'

'I had a good go, believe me. I got Miller back, too, you know?'
'Really? Thank the Lord. How is he?'

'He was in a bad way. I thought he'd be in here.'

'This is the walking wounded. The slackers. They've got another ward
for the serious. What about Hipgrave?'

'Dead, I think. At least, he's not back yet. I found a severed hand.
Gardener's in one piece?' Daniels nodded. 'Then it must have been
Hipgrave's. I don't think he could have lost a hand out there and not bled
to death.'

'Shame. He was a detestable little shit who couldn't lead a drunk to the
bar, but, you know . . .'

Mallory nodded, although he had to admit to himself that he didn't feel
even that little bit of charity. They sat in silence for a moment, repressed
memories of that night suddenly rushing back. Bizarrely, Mallory remembered the smell the most, like a wet dog, though sourer, with a rubbery
under-odour.

'What was that thing?' he asked from his daze.

There was more silence, and when he looked up, Daniels had tears in his
eye. 'Sometimes I think we've got no right to be here, do you know what I
mean?'

'I met someone on the way back,' Mallory began tentatively, not sure
how much he should give away. 'They told me something had noticed us.'

'What do you mean?'

'Some
force
...
I don't know, exactly. I got the sense it was incredibly
powerful .
. .
ancient. Evil.' He stared at the hissing torch as he recalled
Rhiannon's world. 'That thing we met on Bratton Camp was linked to it in
some way.'

'The Adversary,' Daniels said.

'I don't think so. The way she spoke, this was something else
. . .
something even worse, if that's possible. It sounded as if she was saying it
was on the other side of the universe
...
it crawled up from the edge of
Existence
. .
.
but it's moving this way.'

'It's nothing to do with the Adversary?' There was a dim note of despair
in Daniels' voice.

'I don't know.'

'Who told you all this?' Daniels asked.

Before Mallory could answer, they were both hailed in a gruff Geordie
accent. Gardener strode towards them, beaming in a manner Mallory had
never seen before. 'Bloody hell, lad, I thought you were—'

'Yeah, yeah, we've just been through all that.'

Gardener cuffed him genially on the shoulder and Mallory winced
again.

'You landed a few bruises then,' Daniels said, with what Mallory
thought was unnecessary brightness.

'They're from our friends here. The Inquisition. I gather you haven't
had the pleasure yet.'

Daniels looked uncomfortable. 'Sorry, Mallory. I heard about them, but
they left us alone. I think they were too surprised we actually made it
back . . . plus my injury . . .'

Mallory laughed. 'You don't have to make excuses, Daniels. I know they
don't like the cut of my jib. If there's some shit going around, I'm the one
who's always going to get the first helping.'

'Well, as long as you know it, laddie,' Gardener joked.

Mallory's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. 'What I don't get is
what the hell's happened and why nobody will talk to me about it.' He eyed
them hopefully, urging them to understand his meaning.

Daniels and Gardener both looked across the beds uneasily to make
sure no one was listening. 'We had the same thing when we got here,'
Daniels whispered. 'They don't know, Mallory. They think everything's
normal.'

'They've been affected by whatever caused it,' Gardener said. 'They all
think the place has always been like this. I tell you, I tried to explore the
madhouse a few times, but it seems as though it's bigger than . . .' He
picked his teeth rather than finish the sentence, so Mallory said it for him.

'Bigger than the land it's on.'

Gardener nodded, but didn't meet Mallory's eye.

'And the layout keeps changing all the time,' Mallory continued.

Once again Daniels looked unaccountably gloomy. 'I like things to make
sense—'

'Then why are you neck-deep in religion?' Mallory said bad-
temperedly.

'—and there's no sense to this at all. There's no sense to anything in this
world any more. No rules. That's the one rule - there are no rules. And I
hate it! How are you supposed to understand things if it can all change
while you're sleeping?'

'It's either the Devil's work, or it's God's,' Gardener said bluntly. 'It's
up to us to find out which. Personally, I'd plump for the latter. This is
hallowed ground. The Devil can't have any influence here.'

'Do you think you can come up with a more simple explanation?'
Mallory said tardy.

Daniels lay wearily back on his pillow and closed his good eye. 'Look,
we've all got different beliefs here - there's no point arguing amongst
ourselves. If we're the only ones who can see the truth, we've got to stick
together until we find out what it means.' He gave a low laugh. 'And it's
not as if you can run away, Mallory.'