"That's okay. I couldn't have you drawing attention to us, could I?"

"You are such a gentleman." She looked at me. "You look...pretty s.h.i.t yourself, Eddie. How's the arm?"

"Worse without the armour."

"The poison's spreading, isn't it?"

"Yes. The pain's moved beyond my shoulder and into my chest as well. Are we far from your next rogue agent?"

"Not too far. I was heading in the right general direction all along. We can walk it from here."

"Good. Let's go see the Mole in his hole."

"Funny you should say that," said Molly.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Home Alone I wasn't keen on going back down into the Underground train system again, but Molly insisted. It did seem to me that every time I'd gone underground recently, bad things had happened to me. But then, above ground hadn't been that safe either. Molly and I walked back the way we'd come, heading for Blackfriars station, and it was like walking through a war zone. Crashed cars, shops on fire, damage and wreckage everywhere. People stumbled around, dazed and confused, crying and clinging to each other. And bodies, in the road or dragged out onto the pavement from burnt-out premises, sometimes decently draped with a coat, more often not. I felt stunned, sickened. This wasn't supposed to happen. In all the secret wars I ever fought, I never once let them spill over into the real world. I never, ever let civilians get hurt.

"Stop that," Molly said quietly. "None of this was your fault. Manifest Destiny is responsible for what happened here, the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"We let them chase us," I said.

"What was the alternative? Stand our ground and die quickly, if we were lucky? I don't think so. You can't allow yourself to be taken, Eddie. You can't let Manifest Destiny get their hands on a weapon like your armour. And besides, you have to stay free because you know the truth. You have a responsibility to do something, to stop Manifest Destiny and your family from running the world like their own private preserve. You're the only hope these people have."

"Then they're in serious trouble," I said after a while.

"That's better," said Molly. "Don't let the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds grind you down, Eddie."

The entrance to Blackfriars station was crammed with people, refugees hiding out from the mayhem on the streets. They were all gabbling and yelling at each other, but it was clear none of them had a clue as to what was really going on. Molly and I eased our way through the crowds on the stairs and down towards the escalators. I had been concerned that Manifest Destiny or my family might still have agents down in the stations, watching for us, but in a crowd this size Molly and I were just two more people. Even the stalled escalators were full of shocked and baffled people, some of them crying, some of them comforting or being comforted. None of them understood what was happening, only that something much bigger and nastier than them had intruded on their peaceful, everyday lives. The very thing I'd spent my life fighting to prevent.

I felt like I'd failed them, and that mattered much more to me than failing my family ever had.

Down on the crowded platform, Molly and I un.o.btrusively made our way over to a soft-drinks vending machine with an OUT OF ORDER sign on it. We glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and then I pulled the vending machine forward. The machine moved smoothly and easily to show the hidden door in the wall behind it. I had to smile. There are a great many hidden doors down in the London Underground, many of them concealed behind OUT OF ORDER vending machines. It's a secret sign, for those in the know. That's why so many of these machines are always, apparently, out of order. The doors lead to all kinds of interesting places that the general public are much better off not knowing about. Molly muttered a few words at the concealed door in the wall, and it swung smoothly open before us. Molly and I slipped through into the darkness beyond, and the door quietly shut itself behind us.

Molly summoned up a handful of witchfire, and the shimmering silvery light spat and crackled around her upheld hand. A dark, dank tunnel stretched away before us, showing curving brick walls and a low ceiling sloping steadily down into the earth. Molly's witchlight didn't penetrate far into the gloom, and the shadows were very dark.

"Is that glimmer really the best you can do?" I said.

"No. But this is as much as I'm prepared to risk. This isn't a place where you want to attract undue attention."

"Where exactly are we going? Tell me we're not going down into the sewers again."

"We're not going down into the sewers again."

"Oh, joy."

"You're starting to get on my t.i.ts, Drood. This tunnel will lead us down into the systems beneath the train system. Places left over and abandoned by the railways. Old stations that no one goes to anymore, discontinued lines, workings that were never completed. That sort of thing."

I nodded. I knew where we were, and where we were headed; I just wanted to show Molly that I was back to myself again. I could hear the roar of trains pa.s.sing by not that far away. The sound faded as Molly and I headed down the sloping tunnel and into the dark.

"So," I said after a while. "What do we do if we run into trolls?"

"I plan on running. Try to keep up."

"Someone told me they're getting ready to swarm again."

"Happens every five years, regular as clockwork. The trolls overpopulate the tunnels, exhaust the food supply, and eventually the sheer pressure of numbers and hunger forces them up towards the light, and people. So every few years the bounty hunters get to make good money by going down into the tunnels and culling the herd back to an acceptable number."

"I don't see why we don't just wipe the ugly b.a.s.t.a.r.ds out," I said.

"Oh, we can't do that," said Molly. "Every species performs a function in nature, even if we can't see what it is. Wipe out the trolls, and something much worse might step forward to fill the gap. Better the ugly b.a.s.t.a.r.ds you know than the ones you don't."

We moved from one tunnel to another, and then another, always heading down, deeper into the earth. The air became hot and sweaty, almost humid. We splashed through pools of stagnant water on the floor, and more dripped from the ceiling. Fungi flourished in the hothouse atmosphere, sprouting in thick white clumps where the wall met the floor and scattered in puffy fleshy ma.s.ses on the ceiling. Huge mats of green and blue moss covered the walls, two to three inches deep, stretching away for as far as I could see. Long slow ripples moved across the surface of the moss, as though it was disturbed by our presence.

"There are those who say if you eat or smoke the moss, it will grant you visions of things unseen and other worlds," said Molly.

"I don't need moss for that," I said. "That's business as usual for me. Have you noticed...there aren't any rats down here? Anywhere."

"Yes," said Molly. "I had noticed. The trolls must have eaten them all. And if they've been reduced to eating rats, it can only be because they've already eaten everything else. They must be really close to swarming."

"Maybe we could come back and see the Mole some other time," I said.

"You're really quite chicken for a Drood, aren't you?"

"Cautious," I said. "I prefer the word cautious."

"Look; the authorities are bound to have sent bounty hunters down here by now."

"Yes," I said, stopping. "I think I've found one."

We both knelt down to study the wreckage of what had once been a human body. It lay on its back in a pool of blood that had already dried enough to be tacky to the touch. Its leather armour had been torn to ribbons, and the chest had been smashed in, to get at the meat beneath. The arms and legs had been torn off, with only the gnawed bones remaining, lying scattered on the stone floor. The face had been eaten away right down to the bone, leaving empty eye sockets and grinning blood-smeared teeth.

"Any idea who it might have been?" I said. The state of the body didn't bother me. I've seen lots of bodies.

"No," said Molly, scowling. "The only bounty hunter I know is Janissary Jane, and that isn't her armour."

"You know Jane?" I said, surprised.

"We've worked a few cases together. I keep telling you, Eddie: the world isn't as neatly divided into black and white as your family wanted you to believe."

I picked up a machine pistol lying abandoned not far from the body and examined it closely. "Doesn't look like she got a shot off. But...where are the rest of the weapons? I can't believe any bounty hunter would go after trolls with just the one gun."

We looked around, but there was nothing else on or around the body. Molly and I looked at each other.

"They couldn't have taken them," said Molly.

"Why not?"

"Trolls are just animals! They don't use tools or weapons."

"Animals evolve," I said. "Particularly under pressure from outside forces. Trolls who've learned to use weapons; now, that is seriously scary."

"We need to get moving," said Molly, rising to her feet and looking quickly about her. "Get in to see the Mole and get out again before the trolls swarm."

"Relax," I said. "They can't touch us. I've got my armour, and you've got your magic."

"Your armour might protect you from direct attack, but a whole swarm of trolls could knock you on your a.r.s.e, carry you away to their deep larders, and just keep you there till you had to come out of your armour. And then..." We both looked at the half-eaten bounty hunter.

"There's a limit to what I can do with my magic now," Molly said reluctantly. "I've used up most of my stored resources. Anything big would wipe me out."

"You couldn't have mentioned that before we came down here?" I said.

We both looked around sharply. There were sounds in the darkness around us. Molly waved her witchfire back and forth, illuminating the dark mouths of tunnel openings ahead and behind us. From not far away came high-pitched hootings and howlings, and the slow sharp sound of claws and talons sc.r.a.ping against stone. We looked quickly up and down the tunnel, but the many overlapping echoes made it impossible to tell from which direction any sound was coming. Molly and I stood back to back, breathing heavily. And then from behind us, from back the way we'd come, there was the growing sound of heavy feet on the move, of heavy bodies thundering down the tunnel towards us. Molly sprinted off into the darkness ahead, and I was right behind her.

The deeper we went, the shabbier the tunnels became. The old brick walls began to crack and fall apart. Fungi and moss flourished, hiding human workings under rounded organic shapes. Tunnel openings were interspersed with rough holes smashed through the ancient stonework, dark gaps raw as wounds. Things moved in the darkness, hissing at us as we pa.s.sed. Molly and I ran on, pushing ourselves as hard as we could, not even glancing into the openings, and behind us came the thunder of the trolls, drawing steadily closer.

I could have armoured up and left them behind in a moment, but trolls were sensitive to magic. They could have tracked my armour easily, even in complete darkness. Even the small magic of the witchfire was a calculated risk.

"How much further to the Mole?" I said between panting breaths.

"I'm...not exactly sure," said Molly.

"What?"

"Hey, it's been a long time since I was last down here! And I may have got a bit...turned around."

Without slowing my pace at all, I reached inside my jacket and brought out the emergency compa.s.s the Armourer had given me back at the Hall.

"I know which way is north," said Molly. "And it really isn't helping."

"This particular compa.s.s is supposed to show me the best way out of any emergency situation," I said, trying to hold the thing steady as I ran. The compa.s.s needle flicked back and forth and then settled on northeast just as a new tunnel opening appeared in that direction. The needle moved to point right at the opening. "This way!" I said.

"Your family always has the best toys," said Molly, and we plunged into the new tunnel without slowing.

We ran on, following the needle from tunnel to tunnel. The hootings and howlings came from all around us now. The tunnels finally ended in a natural stone chamber complete with jagged stalact.i.tes and stalagmites. Strange mineral traces in the walls picked up the witchfire and glowed brightly, pushing back the dark. The compa.s.s needle swung back and forth, as though confused, and I stumbled to a halt while I waited for it to make up its mind. Molly leaned on me, fighting for breath. I wasn't much better off. My arm and shoulder were killing me.

"We're in trouble," said Molly.

"No, really?" I said. "You do surprise me. Show us the way to the Mole, you useless piece of c.r.a.p!" And I slapped the compa.s.s a few times, to show it I meant business.

"No," Molly said. "I mean, I don't recognise this place at all. I've never been here on any of my previous trips to the Mole's lair. Are you sure that thing is reliable?"

"Of course," I lied. The compa.s.s needle finally settled for pointing straight ahead. I looked at Molly. "Ready to run some more?"

She managed a quick grin. "I find the imminent prospect of being eaten alive tends to concentrate the mind wonderfully."

"I love it when you talk literary," I said.

And that was when a whole crowd of trolls burst out of a side tunnel just behind us, fighting and clawing at each other in their eagerness to get at us. Molly and I sprinted off again, following the needle, but neither of us were as fast as we had been. I'd got only one quick glimpse of the trolls behind us, but that was enough. I'd faced trolls before, and they hadn't changed. Trolls are huge, stooped creatures, bone white in colour, with long, lanky frames. Jagged claws on bony hands, vicious talons on elongated feet. Spurs and thorns of bone protrude from their backs, arms, and legs. Their heads are long, horselike, with muzzles crammed full of thick, blocky teeth. Their eyes are big and black and unblinking. They run on all fours, leaning on their knuckles like the great apes. They weren't bothering with the hooting and howling anymore, now they'd found their prey. Instead, from behind us came deep ba.s.s coughing sounds, urgent and hungry.

I didn't look back. I knew how fast they could move. And what they would do if they caught us.

They were close, and getting closer. My breath burned in my heaving chest, and my bad arm and shoulder shrieked with pain. I could hear Molly straining for breath beside me. We were slowing down, even though we knew it was death to do so. So I armoured up, grabbed Molly in my strong golden arms, and sprinted through the dark tunnels at supernatural speed. Molly didn't have the breath to make any protest, beyond one surprised squeak, and then she clung tightly to me as I flashed though the labyrinth of tunnels. She held the witchfire out before us, the light reflecting brightly off my golden armour.

The trolls couldn't match my augmented speed, but they didn't give up either. I could still hear them pounding along behind us. Cracked brick walls flashed past as I sped on, concentrating on the needle of the compa.s.s set flush into my golden palm. Molly suddenly cried out and pointed, and I skidded to a halt. Molly wriggled impatiently out of my arms as I set her down, and she ran over to a recess in a stone wall that looked just like all the others to me.

"This is it! This is the place! I recognise it...The door's right here, Eddie! Right here...somewhere..."

She leaned in close, running her hands over the rough stone surface. I couldn't see any door. I turned and looked back the way we'd come. I couldn't see any trolls, but I could hear them coming for us, out of the dark. They sounded really angry. Molly cried out again, and I turned back to see her tracing the outline of a door in the dark grimy stone.

"This is definitely it! Leads straight to the Mole!"

"Then you might want to open it," I said. "The trolls will be here any minute."

"I can't open this! Only the Mole can open it."

"Stand aside," I said. "I'll smash it in."

"No, you b.l.o.o.d.y won't," said Molly, grabbing me by one golden arm and glaring right into my mask. "The Mole values his privacy, and you can bet good money that door is protected by seriously heavy-duty security. You even look at it funny, and it could blow up this whole section. Let me talk to the Mole. There's a speakerphone here somewhere..." She went back to the stone wall. "Mole! This is Molly Metcalf; remember me? I got you the complete set of Desperate Housewives DVDs...Look, I've got the new rogue Drood with me, and we really do need to come in and talk with you! Right now!"

There was a worryingly long pause. The trolls were getting closer. I could feel the vibrations of their pounding feet through the stone floor. I sealed the compa.s.s away inside my armour and started to reach for the Colt Repeater. The trolls burst out of the tunnel mouth behind us, long spiked arms reaching for us. Molly yelled for me to close my eyes, and I squeezed them shut just in time as she hit the trolls with the same incandescent flare she'd used up in Paddington station. The trolls slammed to a halt, falling over each other as they clawed in agony at their blinded, light-sensitive eyes. I stepped forward and killed the first half dozen with my golden fists, smashing in their heavy skulls with my armoured hands. I pushed the bodies back into the tunnel mouth, building a barricade to hold the other trolls back. More of the creatures pushed hard from the other side, and it was all I and my armour could do to hold them back.

"Eddie! The door's open! Come on!"

I turned and ran for the narrow dark opening in the wall. Molly was already inside. She pulled me in, and then slammed the door shut in the trolls' faces, right behind me. The door didn't look like much, but it held firm, despite the pounding of heavy fists on the outside. The trolls hooted and howled, slamming against the closed door in frustrated rage.

"Should we brace ourselves for an explosion?" I said to Molly.

"The Mole knows what's going on now," she said breathlessly. "He's expecting us. Eddie, be nice to him. He's not used to visitors."

I followed Molly down the narrow tunnel lit by naked electric lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling at regular intervals. I reluctantly armoured down. As a rogue himself, the last thing the Mole would want to see was a Drood in full armour coming straight at him. It did feel good not to be running anymore, to get my breath back. I ma.s.saged my aching left arm, but it didn't help, so I just pushed the pain as far away as I could. I had more important things to think about. If the Mole was as crazy as Oddly John, he'd need careful handling.

The tunnel walls were strung with overlapping layers of multicoloured electrical cables interspersed with junction boxes and a whole bunch of technology that baffled me completely. Swivelling security cameras kept track of Molly and me as we made our way down the tunnel, and I did my best to smile back at them in a friendly and distinctly unthreatening manner.

"You've been here before," I said. "What's his place like?"

"Ah," said Molly, carefully not looking at me. "I haven't actually been here before. Not in person, that is. In fact, I don't know anyone who has. You should be very flattered he let us in. The Mole doesn't normally allow visitors. In fact, he tends to discourage them by killing anyone who turns up."

"Hold everything," I said. "You mean, there was a real chance he might not have opened that door for us? That he might very well have just left us out there to die?"

"Well, that was a possibility, yes. But I was pretty sure he'd be so curious about you that he'd let us in. Besides, he sort of likes me."