‘You come save Missee Adele?’ Won Lungh asked him.
‘Yes,’ confirmed Cobb, puzzled by the question.
Won Lungh slowly lowered the gun until it was pointing at the floor. ‘Good. I thought Missa Quist just want Missee Adele back to be his witch, like her mother. I never thought he would harm her. She like a daughter to me, I no let her get hurt. I help you save her!’
Cobb was astonished. He guessed Adele had been right after all when she had said that Won Lungh would never allow her to come to harm. It seemed that when the chips were down, he had chosen Adele’s side against Quist’s. He told him, ‘If you really want to help, you stay here and don’t let anyone come down. Keep the guards away from us. Okay?’
Won Lungh nodded and told Cobb, ‘Go down stairs, they in room at end of corridor.’
Cobb muttered his thanks and went down the stairs. There was a short corridor leading to a single heavy oak door. Cobb strode up to it, pulled the gun from his belt and threw open the door.
Endgame
Cobb stepped through the doorway into a large cellar. His eyes were immediately drawn to Adele, strapped to a chair in the centre of the room. On a tripod in front of her was suspended a contraption of some kind, made of metal and glass, vaguely like an oil lamp, with two prisms either side of it, spinning slowly.
A purplish, sparkling, stream of light was emanating from the centre of Adele’s body and flowing towards the glass contraption, where it seemed to be collecting in the device, it was already three quarters full. From a lens on the other side, the purplish light was projected down to the floor where it shone on what looked like a crystal pyramid. From there it shone out either side to other pyramids, then on to others and so on, until the stream of light connected all the pyramids and made a large circle around the room, inside which Quist and Adele sat.
Adele seemed exhausted; her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat. But she was still conscious, her eyes swung in his direction as he walked into the room and she smiled weakly at him.
‘Ah Cobb, good to see you,’ Quist’s cheery voice greeted Cobb. Quist was sitting in a comfortable armchair, one leg casually crossed over the other, a glass in one hand and puffing on a cigar. He pressed a button on the arm of his chair, the door swung shut behind Cobb and there was the THUNK of concealed bolts slamming shut. ‘Electricity, isn’t it wonderful?’ said Quist.
Cobb went to the door and tried to open it but it was sealed tight. He turned back to Quist, ‘You were expecting me?’ he asked.
‘Yes of course. I’ve been waiting for you. I wanted you to be here at the finish.’ Quist was sitting, relaxed in a chair, smoking a cigar and sipping a drink.
‘How did you know I would get here?’
‘You’re an intelligent resourceful man. I knew you would get here in time. In time to see my greatest triumph … and your greatest failure!’
‘What are you doing to Adele and what is that?’ said Cobb, pointing at the tripod.
Quist just smiled and carried on smoking.
Cobb raised his gun, ‘Let Adele go! Let her go or I shoot!’
Quist looked about him as if searching for something. He eventually settled on the cork of the bottle that he had filled his glass from. He put down his glass, pulled the cork out of the bottle and threw it in Cobb’s direction. Several feet from Cobb, as it reached the circle of light, the corked just flared up and vanished. ‘Look around you Cobb. On the floor. It’s a pentagram. There is an impenetrable wall of Magick around me. Nothing can get through it. Not you, not your bullets.’
‘But you don’t have any Magickal powers!’ exclaimed Cobb.
‘Ah, alas no. But we can thank dear Adele for the pentagram.’ Quist got up and walked over to Adele. He swung the device, suspended on the tripod. ‘You see this? It is the invention of a scientist acquaintance of mine. Poor fellow died before he could patent the design, incidentally, so I have the only plans of it. I acquired it several years ago for just such an occasion as this.
‘It has the ability to drain Magick out of witches, enabling an ordinary person like me, to use that Magick as if it were their own. Currently it is drawing the Magick out of Adele. I drew the pentagram on the floor and to activate it I simply spoke the right incantations whilst directing her Magick through the device to those artefacts you see before you on the floor. They in turn generate the Magick field. Adele’s Magick is keeping the wall up. You can thank her for my safety.
‘It’s the same for The Heart of Infinity. There are certain archaic rituals that have to be carried out before you can even attempt to break through the stone, to what lies inside. With the help of this invention, I carried out the rituals a few hours ago, empowered by Adele’s Magick. It’s like having your own little Magick battery.’ He bent down and looked at Adele. ‘I think she is good for another hour or two and I should be all finished by then.’
Cobb didn’t waste any more time or words. He raised his gun and fired at Quist until the gun was empty. Each bullet hit the wall of the pentagram and just flared into nothingness. Cobb threw the gun on the floor in disgust.
‘Told you didn’t I?’ gloated Quist.
‘If you hurt her, I promise I will kill you,’ said Cobb.
‘Why Cobb, I do believe you’ve fallen for Adele! Well, that’s priceless! Too bad she’s going to die. I offered her the chance to work for me, like her mother did but she refused. All she had to do was use her powers to give me information, on people, events that were to happen, to look at places and tell me their weaknesses, that sort of thing. Not much to ask but she wouldn’t do it. So now she is helping me, whether she likes it or not.’
‘But you don’t have to let her die!’
‘No, I don’t. But I’m going to anyway … chiefly because you want her to live. Well Cobb, what would the playwright Oscar Milde have said? “To lose one love is unfortunate but to lose two is downright carelessness!” ’ he laughed at his own joke.
‘So, you’ve failed again, Cobb. You’ve always been a failure. Never succeeded in sending me to prison, did you? But you were always a thorn in my side. A minor aggravation, it’s true, but an aggravation nevertheless. So I kept a watch on you over the years, waiting for the right time. I told you we would meet again. You’ve no idea how much I enjoyed watching you slowly come apart after your wife died.
‘And then when the opportunity came along to involve you in this little caper, I just couldn’t resist it. Adele stealing the stone put my schedule back by several weeks I’ll admit but it gave me the chance to involve you in the situation and that was too good an opportunity to miss. Oh the irony, you are not only here to experience your biggest failure and to witness my biggest triumph but you’re actually instrumental in bringing it about!’
‘Is that what this is all about? Getting your revenge on me?’ asked Cobb.
‘Don’t flatter yourself Cobb, it was just an added bonus. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must see how my little science experiment is getting along.’ He donned some dark goggles and went over to a bench at the rear of the room, it was shielded with dark, tinted glass. The electric cables coming into the room ran to a large metal and glass tube on the bench. From what Cobb could make out through the glass, the tube was projecting a very thin beam of light, which was painful to look at directly, onto The Heart of Infinity, which appeared to be giving off steam or smoke. The Heart seemed much smaller than when Cobb had last seen it. It was now barely larger than the black stone at the centre.
Quist peered through the goggles at what remained of The Heart of Infinity. There was barely anything left of the energy barrier surrounding the Dark Matter. The intense beam of light was slowly eroding the solid energy, which rose off the Heart as a thin wisp of steam.
Cobb, his mind racing, paced slowly around the pentagram like a caged tiger. Only this tiger was outside the cage, trying to get in! ‘Are you going to tell me what that thing is?’ he challenged Quist.
‘You wouldn’t understand. It’s to
do with science.’
‘Try me.’
Quist took off the goggles and looked at Cobb, ‘All right then. This thing, as you call it, is a device for amplifying light. A “Strong Light Generator” it’s called. It was invented a while ago by another scientist in my employ who coined the phrase. Poor fellow died and left it to me in his will. Fancy that.’
‘What’s Strong Light?’ asked Cobb.
‘Did you ever hold a magnifying glass up to the sun and focus its rays on to a piece of paper? The light from the sun can create enough heat to burn the paper. Now imagine that light increased a thousand times, a million times. You could project a spot of light on the moon or cut through steel at close range.
‘The electric generator in the stables powers this electric light which shines into the ruby at this end. The ruby focuses the beam of light into this metal tube, which is filled with gas, where the light is bounced backwards and forwards countless millions of times. I don’t pretend to understand all about it but every time it bounces, the “croutons” or “won-tons” or whatever they’re called, become more agitated. Each time it bounces, the beam of light becomes more powerful until it comes out at the other end, strong enough to cut through a diamond.’
He held the goggles up to his eyes again, ‘And … it’s almost done its work.’ The wisps of steam had almost died away and as they both watched, they stopped completely. The Dark Matter was completely exposed now, freed from the shell of energy that had kept it imprisoned for eternity. Quist pulled a lever, the Strong Light Generator switched off and the beam of light died.
‘Well, I’ll just leave that to cool for a while and then I’ll begin. This plan has been in operation for many years. Just a few more minutes now and then the world will change … forever!’
Quist went and poured himself another drink. ‘A toast, Cobb. To the future. My future! Which I can shape … in … any …way … I … desire! I’ll be able go backwards and forwards in time, travel to other dimensions and even rule them. Too bad Cobb, if you’d have been a bit more corruptible all those years ago, you could have been a part of it. I could have given you back your wife! How about it Cobb? It’s not too late … join me now and I’ll give you back your wife. Think of that. Work for me and I will bring her back to life for you.’
Cobb’s heart started pounding and he felt the blood drain from his face. To have Esme back! He took a deep breath and gave Quist the only answer that he could possibly give.
‘Get stuffed!’
‘Ha! I thought you’d say that. You don’t have the sense to seize an opportunity when it is offered to you. I didn’t mean it anyway; it was just my little joke. Instead, I may just see to it that you never even meet her. Yes, I think that would be more amusing.’
‘You’re a bastard, Quist!!’
Quist raised his glass and replied. ‘Thank you,’ he said amicably.
‘But,’ said Cobb, ‘you’re forgetting one thing.’
‘Oh really?’ said Quist, sceptically. ‘And what is that?’
Cobb prayed to the Gods that if he could rely on nothing else about Harlequin, it was his flair for the dramatic. ‘Him!’ he said, pointing across the room. Sure enough, right on cue, right where Cobb was pointing, Harlequin materialised before them.
May the Gods bless you, thought Cobb. He figured that Harlequin had been in the room all the time but remaining invisible, so he could watch what was going on.
‘You!’ gasped Quist and dropped his glass. It was the first time in all the years that Cobb had known Quist that he had seen him rattled. ‘What are you doing here? I thought my men had killed you!’
Harlequin just bowed and said, ‘Apparently not.’
‘What do you mean, you thought your men had killed him?’ asked Cobb, with an awful suspicion mounting inside him.
‘For years now this clown, has been interfering in my plans. My men have reported numerous instances of him appearing and trying to disrupt my operations or contacting them and trying to get them to sell out to him. I’ve never been able to track him down so I could put a stop to him. When I put this ultimate scheme into operation, I decided I couldn’t take the risk of him ruining my plans. So I took certain steps to try and forestall him. I’ve been having my men eliminating all the clowns in Londum, in the hope that he is one of them.’
‘You’ve been killing all the clowns? That’s insane!’ said Cobb incredulously.
‘I couldn’t take any chances on him interfering, you see. You have to be meticulous to ensure success you know, Cobb. If you had been more meticulous all those years ago, you’d have caught me and I’d be rotting in prison now. That’s the difference between you and me.’
‘The difference between you and me is you’re barking mad!’ snapped Cobb.
‘You think so?’ said Quist. ‘Maybe … maybe, but I’m the one standing inside the pentagram, with the Dark Matter. In a moment I will have ultimate power in the Universe. How mad is that?’
‘Well what you don’t know about our friend here, is that you can’t kill him. He’s a agent of the Gods and therefore immortal.’
Quist had regained his composure, ‘Oh I see, that explains a lot. So how does that affect me?’
‘So … he can stop you and your plans with a click of his fingers,’ lied Cobb, clutching at straws.
Quist laughed, ‘I’m afraid not Cobb. I’m a bit of a scholar you see and I have quite a large collection of ancient scrolls and books regarding the laws of Magick and the rules of the Universe. How do you think I found out about The Heart of Infinity? And I happen to know that the Gods or their agents cannot interfere directly in the affairs of Man. He can’t do anything to stop me. He can’t even break through this pentagram.’
‘He’s right you know Cobb,’ muttered Harlequin who had come to stand beside Cobb.
‘So,’ said Quist, ‘you’ve played your trump card but it turned out to be a Joker,’ he said sarcastically, indicating Harlequin. ‘And … if you’ll pardon me mixing my metaphors, Check … Mate!’
Cobb moved up close to the wall of Magick emanating from the pentagram, as close as he dared, ‘There’s something else I forgot to mention.’
Quist stepped up to face Cobb. ‘A final show of bravado, eh? Okay then, I’ll buy it. What did you forget to mention?’
‘This!’ said Cobb and vanished.
Quist gasped in amazement and Harlequin smiled. That’s my boy, he thought.
Cobb re-appeared a second later behind Quist, in the centre of the pentagram. That was why he had lured Quist to the edge of the pentagram, to give him a few extra seconds before Quist realised where he was.
First he had to destroy that damned device that was draining all the Magick out of Adele before Quist could react. Cobb strode to the Adele’s chair and tore the glass lamp from the tripod. Throwing it to the floor he stamped on it, smashing the glass bulb. It exploded with a bright purple flash, throwing Cobb and Quist to the floor, as the room filled with the bright purplish, sparkling light and a howling wind.
The purple storm circled the room for several seconds as if looking for direction; it went towards Cobb and then Quist but recoiled from them. Strangely it avoided Harlequin. Then, as if recognising the Magick still contained within Adele as being part of itself, it flowed directly towards Adele. It struck her and poured into her body. Adele’s Magick, once released from imprisonment in the strange device, had found its way home. It washed over her like a wall of water, blowing her hair all over and forcing her back in the chair. When it had merged with her again, she slumped forward in the chair but only for a moment. She lifted her head and her eyes were bright and clear and Magick crackled around her like electricity.
Cobb looked around him. He could tell by the change in the air that the Magick wall had fallen as soon as the device was smashed. Quist had got to his feet and was heading for the Dark Matter. ‘Release her!’ Cobb shouted to Harlequin and pointed at Adele.
Quist was standing by the Strong Light Generator
and stretching his hand out towards the Dark Matter, a split second away from total mastery of the Multiverse. Cobb leapt forward and grabbed Quist’s arm, twisted it away and picked up the Dark Matter in his other hand.
All of a sudden, the world just sort of bulged … a wave of disturbance spread out from the Dark Matter, like a stone dropped in a pond causes a ripple to spread out in perfect symmetry from the centre. Out through the basement it went, out through the house, spreading out through Green-Witch, subtly changing everything in its path, until it subsided a few miles away. The changes it caused were numerous but only noticed by a few botanists and insect collectors because they were so small. For example, all clovers from then on grew four-leafed. Certain butterflies internal molecular structure mutated slightly and within weeks they had grown a new set of antennae. But on large objects like humans or animals the changes were so infinitesimal, that they went unobserved.
Cobb shook his head and said, ‘Did the world just taste Purple for a second, then?’
‘It’s the Dark Matter warping everything around it,’ replied Harlequin. ‘It will only get worse. If you care what happens to your planet and everyone on it, you must get it out of here, NOW!’
Cobb looked at Adele and she stared back, with a look that said, ‘Yes, I know it would have been good between us.’ Cobb smiled at her and did the only thing that he could think of to do … he jumped dimensions, taking Quist with him.
Cobb’s dimension shifts in the past had always occurred without any noise or disturbance. This time, perhaps because of the powerful substance he held in his hand, the very stuff of Creation, there was a bright flash and a blast of energy that threw Harlequin and Adele to the floor. When it subsided, Cobb and Quist had disappeared from the cellar.
They ended up in another Green-Witch, but one of an earlier period. There were wooden buildings all around them but Cobb could see the great river Isis in the background. The people around them screamed in shock and fell back, shouting of “Demons!” and “Witchcraft!” leaving them in the centre of a clear space. They were in the middle of a crowd who were watching three people being tied to stakes in the middle of the town square, while others stacked bundles of wood around them.