Caroline dragged him to his feet. 'Are they all right?' he asked.
George quickly inspected them. 'They're breathing. Some blood, not much.'
'What's happening?' Caroline asked, but Aubrey didn't have to answer. The wall boomed again, but this time it gave way, screeching and splitting open under the impact. A clawed foot the size of a cow thrust into the office. It was scaled and a dull, muddy green-brown. Aubrey clapped his hands over his ears as they were assaulted by more frenzied bellowing that rocked the whole office. The foot jerked, stuck in the split metal, shaking the entire wall as if it were made of paper. Then it withdrew, nearly dragging the side of the building with it.
Aubrey, George and Caroline stood staring through the gap and the mountainous shape that was moving away from them. Twenty feet or more tall, it stalked on two tree-trunk legs, swinging a massive tail like a club. Gunfire only seemed to annoy it. It moved like an avalanche toward its attackers, pursuing men who wisely decided that fleeing was the best course of action.
Stunned, Aubrey was glad to see that the creature wasn't interested in them. The size of the monster!
'Another ancient Lutetian animal?' Caroline said. 'A dinosaur?'
He let out a long breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. A creature from the very dawn of time, a king of beasts, to be sure. To think that it had once been a man. 'It means that the Heart of Gold must be near.'
'In the hands of another poor unfortunate by now,' George said. He picked his way over scattered papers until he could peer out of the hole in the wall. 'If we want to leave, this would be a good time.'
George stepped through. Aubrey followed Caroline. His jacket snagged on a splinter of metal and it tore when he tugged it away. His heart was still racing, and this time he thought it had good reason.
Outside, he paused. The strong, magical beat that signalled that the Heart of Gold was close rolled over him. Without realising it, he swayed. 'Over there.' He pointed across the road to a workshop. The large double doors were rolled back and Aubrey could see three lorries parked inside.
The dinosaur was stalking with murderous intent in the direction of the airfield. Panicked masses of men were streaming across the tarmac, and the sounds of small arms fire was continuous. The sole dirigible had been floating close to the ground, having been fuelled and provisioned ready to take the Heart of Gold to Marchmaine, Aubrey surmised. Now, it was endeavouring to pull away, despite its lines still being anchored. In the middle of the confusion, enough discipline remained that the lines were being systematically loosed, while the engines of the airship were firing up to assist its ascent.
Aubrey readied himself to lead the way and dash across the road to the workshop, but before he could take a step, a titanic blast erupted in the hangar behind him. Aubrey was flung to the ground. He lay there, for a moment, his ears ringing, and watched as the air was replaced with a cloud of dust and smoke. George and Caroline had been by his side, but he couldn't see them anywhere. He rolled onto one elbow and desperately tried to get up.
George appeared, coughing and shaking his head, waving both arms so it appeared as if he were swimming through the smoke. He helped Aubrey to his feet. 'Things are getting well out of hand here,' he managed to say over the roar of a massive blaze taking hold in the hangar. 'A good time to be careful.' A dull thud and a further, smaller explosion made them both duck, but apart from a shrill whistling, nothing came their way.
Caroline emerged from the smoke and Aubrey's rising panic settled. 'Von Stralick's here.'
'What?' Aubrey blinked through the drifts of oily smoke.
'Von Stralick. I just saw him at the head of a band of soldiers, fleeing the hangar and heading toward the airfield.'
'Ah. That'd be who set off the explosion, then.' Aubrey couldn't imagine the Marchmainers blowing up their own facility. Unless they did it by accident.
They hurried across the road and into the workshop. Aubrey's nerves jangled with every step, as he expected to be confronted either by angry Marchmainers or the Holmlanders who'd blown up the hangar. Neither was a desirable encounter.
Aubrey almost ran into the wall of the workshop, so thick was the smoke. With George and Caroline close, he found the door. Another magic pulse struck him, and he had to steady himself against its power. It's definitely coming from in there, he thought, and gestured to his friends. He pushed the door back on its rollers and, heart racing, he stepped inside.
A let-down. It was a motor pool or repair shop, chains hanging from rafters, racks of spare parts covering the walls. Beyond the three lorries was another, jacked up and with its engine cover open.
Aubrey's gaze slid over these mundane details and locked on the rear wall of the workshop. It was unlike the plywood-lined walls on the other sides. It was a heavy, riveted steel barrier that wouldn't have been out of place on a battleship. The magical waves were rolling straight through it. 'Strongroom,' Aubrey said.
'A strongroom's not much use with an open door,' Caroline noted.
Aubrey nodded. 'George, can you make sure no-one comes in from outside?'
'Will do, old man.'
'Caroline –'
'I'm coming with you.'
'You're coming with me.' Aubrey saw by the set of her face that arguing would be useless. 'All right. But stay behind me and be ready to run.'
'You be ready to run, too.'
Aubrey jumped. A groan had come through the open door of the strongroom.
'Someone's in there,' Caroline said.
He nodded, not wanting to speak with a throat was suddenly dry. He licked his lips, then inched through the doorway.
'Saltin!'
The Gallian airman was sitting on a wooden stool in a windowless room lined with metal bars. His face was sweating and contorted. Another groan burst through his gritted teeth and his eyes rolled back in his head. Magic was dense in the air, strong enough to make Aubrey dizzy.
With bone-white hands, Saltin clutched the Heart of Gold in his lap.
Saltin was suffering. Aubrey reached out a hand, but then let it fall. It was clear that the Marchmaine plight had become desperate. Perhaps Gabriel had run out of volunteers and dupes. Saltin, the poor fool, had stepped forward and now here he was, tormented as the artefact wreaked its power on him.
'Saltin!' he shouted but the airman didn't respond. His head sagged, then lolled backward, the whites of his eyes showing.
Aubrey drew back and bumped into Caroline. Her horrified gaze was on the Gallian airman as his features began to writhe like warmed clay, twisting in the grip of the ancient magic. He gave a wretched cry, the whimper of an animal caught in a trap.
'Wait by the door,' Aubrey said to Caroline. Wideeyed, she nodded.
Aubrey took a deep breath. It had come to this. All the actions, events and happenings of the last two weeks had led to this – Monsieur Caron and his letters, the Marchmaine independence movement, Bertie's genealogy, Dr Romellier, the desires, wants and wishes of so many people had been tumbled together, caught up in the flood. A thousand futures radiated out from this point, each one dependent on what Aubrey did next.