The real unanswered questions about these horrible foes, is what is their goal and purpose, what creates them and how, if any, are they controlled? Was this a virus which led to an uncontrolled wild animal, or were they being commanded by a greater force? The last question of which was a real concern, was that it appeared that all of these beasts used to be human. Therefore, could they infect others to make more like them?
Clearly there was plenty more to learn in this situation, hard questions which would inevitably provide even more difficult to accept answers. Holmes knew that whatever
Moriarty’s scheme was, a large part of it revolved around a location in Switzerland, and that the threat to that location was enough to provoke a war. We did not know the
location nor reason for the importance of Switzerland, but Holmes was adamant that continuing to travel towards the country would be enough a bluff to goad Moriarty in
to giving up more information than he realised. Having left instructions with the police earlier that day, we could only hope that the authorities would arrest Moriarty before he could board a vessel. Unfortunately, we would not know the result of this mission until we could reach land and a wire operator.
It only struck us as we were now in flight that in the rush to leave Mr. Fogg’s residence we had left my roll bag behind which contained our swords, a foolish mistake, but
a minor one in the scheme of things. With any luck my good friend in Brussels was just the right man to replace them with weapons of at least equal quality. In fact, I would gladly replace my sword for something with a better cutting edge at a time like this. My sword had always been average at best for the tasks it was required, though it was
the issued pattern and therefore what I carried. It really saddened me to have lost such a sentimental item, though survival was far more important, and should we survive
this adventure, I knew well where to return to find it.
CHAPTER FOUR
Despite the drama and suspense of the day we had made our way over French soil. It was truly miraculous that we had escaped the war zone that was now England, and equally astonishing that after hundreds of years of peaceful land, war should be upon us without just cause or reason.
“Put us down at the first opportunity sir, we must make our way on land from this stage,” Holmes said.
Holmes knew that Moriarty would expect him to follow his foe to the ends of the earth in order to end his life of crime, hence the open war along the English coast, a mere precaution against Holmes crossing the Channel. Mr. Fogg got to work in lowering our altitude, we were safely over the Channel but with no means to communicate with England, or with any realistic chance of having any in the near future.
Over the last twenty minutes Holmes had contemplated how Moriarty had borne such a force down upon us in such a short space of time. He did not believe that it could have been hidden secretly away for this occasion, but more created in a time of need. The theory certainly seemed to fit the problem, and speaking purely as a doctor, this appeared to have spread like disease, and yet, that would not give our enemy any control over these beasts. If this was the case, then we now potentially faced a risk to humanity beyond any man had seen in our existence, for these beasts could truly lead to the destruction of the human race. I could only hope that the police and militias were quick in both understanding and controlling the situation.
The actions of this day would rather suggest that the foul beasts were attacking indiscriminately, which they likely were, but what of the previous night’s events. Those creatures knew who to attack and when, not alerting the authorities to any problemby the larger public disturbance that they now presented. The question remained, were those creatures the night before shepherded in our direction, or were they working from a kind of directive or control?
Clearly we needed a lot more information, but we had one strong element in our arsenal, we had Moriarty in the dark. For all his intelligence, he clearly was very concerned about what Holmes could either know or do. For all of Moriarty’s strengths, he was evidently worried enough to leave England in order to protect whatever assets he may have abroad, which were evidently vital to his operations.
I was glad Holmes had some skeleton idea of a plan, for the one thing that bounced around my brain was the sheer lack of firepower we now held. What occurred to me at this stage was my old friend in Brussels, he was an avid firearms collector and we would be passing within a short distance of his home on our route to Switzerland. Should we find him at home, he would provide a worthy ally.
We were descending at a slow but steady pace now, the open fields being a welcome sight after the horde infested streets and plains of the England we had left. A metal bracket next to me pinged as if under pressure, not a pleasant experience when we were dangling from the sky at heights which would inevitably lead to our deaths should we drop. We looked around for what had caused it, before we could speculate on the issue, a second sound rang out, something struck the frame of the basket and ricocheted across the interior around us. At this point we realised the harsh reality that our latest plight was not mechanical malfunction, but gunfire deliberately made against us.
Already on the way to the ground, we had no choice but to get to land and move on from there, as the dirigible could easily be pursued at the slow speeds it travelled. Every few seconds a bullet struck the basket, we all lay low on the floor, just hoping to remain uninjured. Nine shots had struck out, waiting upon the tenth and likely last, we all remained motionless. The shot rang out, it whistled and pierced the basket, striking the arm of Passepartout, who barely made a sound. I could see the rip of his jacket and blood just visible beneath the fabric. Moving over to the valet I checked his arm, the bullet had skimmed the flesh of his arm, causing nothing more than a painful flesh wound, a lucky turn.
We were just seconds now from impact to the ground, coming down slightly harder than would be ideal, bracing for the impact we took hold of the frame of the basket. We struck the farmland hard and one corner of the basket buckled, causing part of the frame to break, we were thrown about and tumbled eventually to a halt.
“Out!” shouted Holmes.
We were made, with little ammo and the further disadvantage of not knowing our location or terrain. The only conciliation in this regard was that the sparse population and open fields had shown us that the surrounding area was void of the hordes of beasts that had caused us so much trouble in England.
Stumbling out of the wreckage of what was an outstandingly created and treasured device of science; we knew that we had to cover distance quickly if we were to stay free and clear of whoever was now hunting us, likely Moriarty or a henchman of his. Leaving the Marlin behind as it was now useless, we began to move carrying nothing more than our handguns, as they were all we now had left besides the clothes on our backs.
“Mr Holmes,” Fogg spoke in a surprisingly relaxed tone.
“This villain has no quarrel with us, in fact, he owes me a sound apology. You continue with your task and leave this concern to me,” the eccentric Fogg explained.
Holmes quickly evaluated the situation, and understood. Fogg was no threat to Moriarty, and to spend any more time in his company would be a disservice to two men that had already done us a good turn. Fogg being the odd fellow he was may well talk his way out of Moriarty’s grasp, as no man could think he was guilty of anything but silliness.