Chapter 16: The Greddylick Returns
The Greddylick lifted Stella with ease. She could feel the sharp ridges of its forearm prickling out of the torn sleeve of its coat. It leapt three steps at a time to the apex of the pyramid and flung Stella onto the stony plateau at the top. Stella slid along the shiny marble blocks until she thumped into the cylindrical slab that stood in the centre.
Shaken and battered, Stella used the monument to lean on as she clambered to her feet. The surface was a smooth, amber type of rock. Up close, it looked more like a translucent gem than a stone slab. Stella felt a strange vibration under the palms of her hands as she touched it. She could hear a rushing in her ears, quite apart from the insistent whine of the storm barrier. Her fingertips followed a groove that seemed etched into the side of the stone. As she followed the path of the carving, a golden light threaded along the lines of it. It traced the shape of a seven-pointed star, with an ‘S’ carved in the middle. It was the exact likeness of Stella’s crystal pendant.
“The Doom Gate!” Stella murmured, in a grim realisation.
Her touch appeared to have ignited a light inside the stone, the surface started to glow with a reddish gold, and Stella thought that she could see shadows inside the stone. She could just make out a face in the surface staring back at her as if through tinted glass. As the darkness lifted, Stella could see that it was the face of a Greddylick. Its face horribly contorted into a vicious snarl.
Stella leapt away from the Doom Gate, but the creature didn’t follow. It seemed frozen in the rock, like a fly caught in amber. The glow in the stone grew brighter to reveal a deep chasm, and Stella’s gaze was sucked further and further in. She was looking into a window that revealed thousands of Greddylick, all caught motionless, like waxwork dummies.
“It knows you!” the Greddylick growled. “Of course! It knows the touch of a Calridian. It knows the touch of its creator!” It gave a harsh cackle that sent a shudder of dread through Stella’s body.
“See what your betrayal has cost you, Earthling?” the Greddylick crooned.
Stella noticed for the first time the huddled figure of Tom. He was crouched as far away from the Greddylick as he could get. He had obviously been hit in the face recently, as he had a large purple bruise on his cheek, and a trickle of blood flowed from his lip. His gaze pleaded to Stella.
“I’m sorry, Stella. I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“You brought me here?” Stella exclaimed. “How?”
“I thought they were toys at first. Your dog was always playing with them. But they can move from one place to another at a blink of an eye. They’re kept as slaves. Their minds are wiped so they’ll dig those tunnels all day. One of those things was captured on Earth. It remembered Helix, and since Helix is always with you, I sent it to lead a bunch of them to bring you here.”
“So you betrayed me again?”
“No! No, I didn’t. After what happened in the skull cave, I knew the Greddylick has no intention of letting my gran go. I told those teleporting things to hide you in a tunnel. I tore the sleeve off my shirt and put it on those head things so you’d know how to open them.”
Stella looked at what was left of Tom’s shirt and recognised it as the same material as the rag fluttering by the wheel she’d turned to get through.
“The Greddylick kept the mind-squeezer close to it all the time. I wouldn’t have had a chance to make a run for it, but I was looking out for you. When I spotted you at the bottom of the pyramid, I kicked the mind-squeezer down to you. I thought you could escape and everybody would get their memories back.”
“This Dodds must like the company of simpletons!” the Greddylick grunted and swiped one of its hands at Tom again, who managed to duck his head away. “It’s lucky that your bungling stupidity has proved useful, otherwise I would gut you right now.”
The Greddylick’s talon clicked out from its forearm, completely shredding away the last remnants of a tattered sleeve. “Your pathetic attempt at disloyalty has led the key to the swarm’s freedom straight into my hands.”
The Greddylick pounced at Stella and caught hold of her wrist. “Do you know how long I have waited in exile? The ages I have skulked in dark places, always hungry, picking off the weak to feed? I have learnt to be patient, ready for the moment I could free us from our bondage. But I never dared wish for a chance of revenge. Never dared hope that I would have one of our jailors in my grasp.”
The Greddylick bent over Stella, its face so close she could smell its fetid breath. Stella tried not to gag, as the Greddylick whispered into her ear. “Struggle, Calridian. Struggle all you wish. I should let you keep your mind and let the swarm feed on your flesh, but I think a pet Calridian, using Parhelian’s flame for the swarm, would be much more useful.”
The Greddylick lifted up the mind-squeezer, opening it into a claw once more. Stella cried out and tried to twist her head away. The Greddylick ignored her and lowered the mind-squeezer down, but before the twitching fingers touched Stella’s scalp, it hesitated.
“No, not yet. That would be too kind. First, your eyes shall see the Greddylick return. The hands of your people fashioned our prison, and it will be your hand that sets them free.”
The Greddylick dragged Stella to the opposite side of the Doom Gate. Stella couldn’t tear her eyes away from the Greddylick swarm inside it. She felt numb with the idea of so many of them freed. It was almost as if her gaze was frozen inside with them. A flash of light snapped her out of her reverie. Stella recognised her pendant inset into the side of the Doom Gate. It had been slotted into a carving that fitted its shape exactly. The crystal was glowing with a light that was almost painful to look at.
“I got that idiot Earthling to place the Key inside the lock, but the door would not open. I see now why that is. Why I could not even touch the cursed thing. Other races have forgotten, but the Greddylick remember the truth of your people. I should have known that it would take a Calridian to open a Calridian cage.”
The Greddylick stretched Stella’s arm towards her pendant. She knew that she should be struggling, bunching her hand into a fist. Anything to stop her touching the crystal star. The rushing in her ears, however, almost drowned out all else, and she felt a compulsion to grab hold of the pendant. It felt like the right thing to do; it was hers, after all. She was almost stretching her hand out with the Greddylick. Her fingertips longed to touch the blazing crystal. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Tom had hurled himself at her, and then she felt herself sliding across the floor, knocked out of the Greddylick’s grasp.
Her first thought was one of outrage, ‘Why had Tom taken away her crystal? Again!’ She quickly came to her senses as she saw Tom standing defiantly in front of the Greddylick. He had flung himself between it and the pendant. He fumbled at the star-shaped lock and managed to prise loose the crystal.
“Stella! Run!” he yelled, tossing the star towards her.
It clattered onto the marble floor and slid past her outstretched hand.
“I have lost my patience with you, Earthling. When the swarm feeds on your grandmother’s withered carcass, you will not shed a tear, as you will not recognise her at all,” the Greddylick said, and it plunged the opened claw of the mind-squeezer onto Tom’s head.
Tom’s eyeballs span upwards until only the whites were showing, and he fell to the floor, screaming. The Greddylick turned to face Stella, the tattered remnants of its overcoat hanging loosely over its spindly frame. It uncurled from its habitual crouch to its full height, and its mouth stretched into a sneer. It beckoned at Stella with the serrated talon protruding from its forearm. The nostrils on its fingers were sniffing furiously.
“You must know there is nowhere you can run,” it hissed.
Stella scrabbled for the crystal pendant beside her, but the Greddylick got there first. A gnarled foot, with streaks of mud caked on the edges of a dirty talon, stood between Stella and her necklace. She was about to dart her hand towards it when she heard a loud
barking. Both she and the Greddylick turned towards the sound. Stella saw Helix bounding up the steps of the pyramid. Prince Fawcus clung onto his back, desperately trying to keep a grip on Helix’s fur with one arm, and the other held Wendell’s string. Wendell was flashing a deep blue colour and had swelled to double his normal size.
As Helix jumped the last steps of the pyramid, Fawcus catapulted off Helix’s back, still holding onto Wendell’s string. Carrying the dangling Telallamorph prince, the Nebuloid flew straight at the Greddylick’s face, screaming, “Aaaaarrrggghh!”
The Greddylick swung its blade into Wendell’s balloon, and it burst open with a loud pop. A glittering gas substance poured from the split plastic, and Wendell swirled around the Greddylick’s head. Fawcus used the momentum of Wendell’s charge to vault onto the Greddylick’s hand. He stretched himself over the Greddylick’s fingers, and it looked like it was wearing an absurd plastic mitten. The Greddylick tried to shake its hand free by using the blade on its forearm, but Fawcus was still covering it. This gave Helix the time he needed to bound to the top of the pyramid and across the plateau. Stella had never seen the husky so angry. The dog leapt at the Greddylick, who tried to fend him off with its other arm. It wasn’t enough to stop Helix’s attack, and his jaws sunk into the Greddylick’s neck. The Greddylick fell to the ground and tried to beat off the crazed dog with its fist.
Stella used the opportunity to grab her pendant. It felt reassuringly warm, and she was surprised at how much she had missed it. It took her a few attempts to get to her feet. The knocks to the ground had winded her, and she was feeling dizzy. A glittering fog buzzed in front of her, and she heard Wendell’s voice whisper in her ear.
“Stella, get out of here. We can’t keep it busy for long.”
Stella was about to protest, but Wendell whispered, “Go!”
Stella breathlessly stumbled forward to the edge of the pyramid. She was about to try to climb down the steps, but she turned to look at her friends.
After the initial surprise and ferocity of Helix’s attack, the Greddylick was starting to get the upper hand. It had managed to crawl to its feet and was fending off Helix with swipes of its uncovered forearm, whilst trying to unloose Fawcus. There was a loud squeak as the Greddylick finally managed to free the blade on its other arm. The talon had sliced clean through Fawcus, and he dropped to the marble floor in two separate pieces. One bit of him formed back into his lower body and legs, and the other his torso, arms and head. Helix didn’t see the uncovered blade until it was too late. The Greddylick slashed its talon onto the dog’s unprotected flank, and Helix slumped to the floor with a whine.
Stella knew she should run, but she couldn’t. Wendell was swirling around the Greddylick’s fingers, causing them to writhe in discomfort. But it was only an irritation to the Greddylick, who was swatting the Nebuloid away like a troublesome fly.
Stella knew she should try to get away, the gap in the storm barrier was still there. In fact, it looked as if it had widened. However, she couldn’t look away from the carnage around her. Tom was writhing on the floor, struggling against the mind-squeezer. Prince Fawcus was using his arms to try to inch his body towards his legs, which were kicking helplessly on the other side of the plateau. Helix was slumped on his side, unnaturally still, his white coat smeared with a streak of blood. Stella couldn’t run away. These were her friends, and if she could help them, she would.
“When will you creatures learn?” The Greddylick cackled as it stepped over Helix’s limp form. “The Greddylick is master.”
The rushing in Stella’s ears was becoming deafening. That could have been the reason for the strange calmness that rose within her. She stepped aside from the edge of the pyramid and turned to face the Greddylick.
“Not running anymore?” the Greddylick mocked.
Stella lifted her eyes towards its sneering elongated head and gripped the seven-pointed star in her hand.
“No.” Stella lifted the pendant, and a beam of light shot from it, blasting the Greddylick backwards onto the Doom Gate.
Instead of crashing into the slab of rock and falling to the floor, the Greddylick seemed to sink inside the gate. The creature thrashed to escape, but the rock moulded around it like molten wax. The Greddylick began to screech in fear and rage, but the more it thrashed to free itself, the faster it seemed to melt into the amber-coloured rock. Stella stared dumbly into her hand. Her crystal was still glittering, but now it felt cooler to the touch. A change in the cries of the Greddylick brought her gaze back upwards.
Although the Greddylick was almost totally submerged inside the cylindrical stone, its squawks of rage had now turned into shrieks of exultation. It took Stella a moment to realise why. The other Greddylick behind it had started to move. She could see the fingers of countless Greddylick starting to twitch. The spiky limbs, frozen for millennia, were thawing out and starting to move. The light within the Doom Gate got brighter by the second, and with it, the Greddylick were waking up.
Just a moment before, Stella had felt invincible as she had blown the Greddylick into the gate. She could now only stare at the nightmare that unfolded before her. She pointed the star at the Doom Gate and squeezed her eyes shut in concentration. She tried to fire another beam of power into the gate, but nothing happened.
The Greddylick were flickering into life, although they were moving slowly, as if caught in glue. The noise of them hissing and snarling in jubilation turned Stella’s stomach. The worst thing was that she knew that it was her fault; somehow she had opened the Doom Gate. The surface of the cylindrical rock looked almost transparent now, like the skin of water on a pond. Some of the Greddylick had noticed a chink of light in their prison, and those that could move more freely were flying up the chasm towards it. The original Greddylick that Stella had pushed through the gate turned around and waved to the rest of the swarm. It gave a high-pitched squeal to call them. First one, then two, then ten, then hundreds screeched back, and Stella could see them flying straight for her.
Stella shied away from the gate. Turning too fast, she stumbled over her feet. She managed to stay upright, but was now facing away from the Doom Gate. She spotted a figure at the bottom of the pyramid. They couldn’t know that a swarm of Greddylick were about to escape and terrorise the galaxy again. She was about to bellow at the figure to give them some warning. It was too late for her, but maybe the person below could manage to warn the Telallamorphs. The words stopped in her throat as she recognised the figure.
“Uncle Dodds!”
Doctor Dodds was sprinting along the base of the pyramid. Stella could make out his garish waistcoat, bushy moustache and umbrella. He lifted it above his head, and Persiminon launched into the sky, emitting a loud screech. The Pyxian bat soared up the side of the pyramid. Stella tried to warn her.
“No. There are too many of them,” she cried.
But if Persiminon had heard Stella, she ignored her and flew straight at the Doom Gate. As the bat flew above her, Stella saw that she was carrying something shiny in her hind claws.
The swarm of Greddylick were moving a lot more easily now, and most of them were flying very fast towards the Doom Gate. Persiminon saw the numbers, but she still swooped bravely forward, as if she were going to attack them all. Stella was sure the bat would be ripped to shreds, but at the last moment, Persiminon veered upwards and dropped the golden tin that she had been carrying in front of the Doom Gate.
Stella didn’t have time to look away, and she saw the can explode in an incandescent flash of light, and thousands of Pyxian bats suddenly fluttered around her. They all streaked into the gate and headed straight for the Greddylicks.
“Stella!” Doctor Dodds shouted, as he climbed the pyramid. “Stella. Use the star to close the gate.”
“How?” Stella shrieked.
She couldn’t see her uncle through the storm of bat wings.
“The lock, Stella. Put the Key in the lock!”
Stella scrambled to the Doom Gate. The s
urface of it was almost entirely clear now. She could see that the Greddylick had halted to fend off the attack by their old enemy. They were so enraged at first, they didn’t notice that although the bats were swooping at them, they never caught any of them with their talons, or that despite all the diving and gnashing of teeth by the bats, they were never touched. The Greddylick closest to the gate was the first to recognise that the bats were an illusion, when its talon sliced through one to no effect.
“It’s a trick!” it bellowed. “A trick.”
Stella got close enough to the Doom Gate to just make out the outline of the star-shaped lock. It looked like a shadow of a thing, traced on the air. Stella pressed her star towards it, conscious that she had very little time. The outline of the rock was fading fast, leaving an open portal for the Greddylick massing behind the gate to escape through. The Greddylick that Stella had blown away noticed what she was doing, but was the only one close enough to stop her.
“I’ll see you dead, Calridian!” it said and reached out to grab at the crystal. Its hand stretched through the Doom Gate and grasped hold of the pendant. There was a tendril of smoke as the star burnt the Greddylick’s hand. It let go with a shriek of frustration and pain, and Stella slammed her star into the lock.
The effect was immediate. The Doom Gate quivered back into its solid state, trapping the Greddylick’s outstretched hand in a skin of ruby stone. There was no other trace of the Greddylick swarm, as the Doom Gate had again turned into an opaque slab of cylindrical rock. Persiminon swooped down to the lock and lifted out Stella’s necklace. Diving over to Stella, she dropped it into her hand and told her, in a scolding tone, not to lose it again and then swooped back to her umbrella.
***