Chapter 16: The Wolf
Less than an hour after the phone call, a car arrived to take us to Whitehall. Selkie had managed to find some clean socks that fit me, god knows where from, but other than that I was still wearing the clothes I had all but ruined mucking about on the south coast. Apparently, after just sitting around for hours before calling anyone, there was no time for me to go home and change. I did have to grudgingly admit though, as we climbed into the back of the car, that I felt a lot better after Selkie's infusion.
We were taken to the same underground car park I remembered, and then up the same lift to the same office. The same man, John Weatherby, sat at the same desk. On the sofa by the door sat a different man, he was older, and immaculately turned out in a suit and bow tie, there was no need to ask who he was, the moment Selkie saw him she cried 'daddy' and leapt into his arms.
Affectionate family greetings completed Lord Angus Lepusstrom shook my hand in a vice like grip. 'And you,' he said, 'must be the Mitchell Wallingford I've heard so much about.'
'Must I?' I said.
'I understand I owe you a debt of thanks for saving my daughter's life.'
'To hear Selkie tell it,' I said, 'I was nothing but a pawn in her own master plan to save herself.'
Selkie punched me playfully in the arm. Her father put a hand protectively on her shoulder and she snuggled backwards into him.
'So,' he said, 'I suppose you are worried about your mother.'
'A bit,' said Selkie.
'Well we have her under observation,' he said, 'she seems to be part of the Black Goat once more, and they seem to be heading towards the east coast.'
'How?' I asked.
'They stole a bus.'
'They stole a what?' I said.
'A bus, luckily they did not hurt anybody in the process but it was rather an amateurish move for them. I've had to intervene to keep the police at bay. We're tracking them by helicopter right now.'
'I figured they just walked everywhere.'
'Only if they're not in a hurry.'
'What's on the east coast?' I asked.
'Who knows,' he said, and then steered Selkie down on to the sofa with him. I sat down at the chair in front of the desk, nodding to Weatherby as I did.
'Bauer and Cholderton?' I asked.
'In the helicopter,' Weatherby confirmed.
'So,' I said to Lord Lepusstrom, 'I gather this is all your mess.'
'Yes,' he said wearily, 'in my defence it was a very long time ago I made the deal, and I only asked them to make Britain great again, I certainly did not expect them to raise any dead kings.'
'What did you expect?'
'Well it was the seventies,' he said, 'so I did think they had fulfilled their part when Maggie got elected.'
I looked at him, but no words came to mind to adequately express what I was thinking.
'Joke,' he said holding his hands up defensively, 'I suppose you're another Guardian reading liberal like my daughter.'
'Hey,' said Selkie, 'I read the Telegraph.'
'Only to annoy your mother.'
She shrugged and said 'true.'
'Actually,' I said, 'I buy the Independent more often than anything else.'
'Worse,' said Lord Lepusstrom, 'a tabloid.'
'So,' I said, 'what do we do?'
'We wait,' he answered.
And so we waited, and talked. Lord Lepusstrom, or Angus as he insisted I call him, was good company. I got the impression of a professional conversationalist, a man who made his living putting other people at their ease. It turned out the O.W.F.G. as he called it, took up very little of his time, mostly he worked for a Lords committee on European trade or some such thing. 'I'm supposedly retired,' he said, 'but somehow I actually seem to work more.'
'I gather you and Weatherby had a run in with the great Mog Ruith,' he said at one point.
'Yes,' I said, trying to convey through a look just how much fun the encounter had not been.
'His real name was Niel Peacock,' said Angus, 'before becoming a druid he used to sell women's underwear.'
'You're kidding?'
'No, worked as a salesman.'
'That's hard to imagine.'
'He has changed a bit, but not as much as you might think. I gather you did pretty well with him.'
'I was a mess,' I said. 'I couldn't remember a thing about it.'
'Yes, he was always good at that. Poor old John here was in a right state.'
'Your wife, sorry your ex-wife had to cure me.'
'Actually we're still married.'
'You are.'
'We never got around to the formalities,' he said.
I looked at Selkie, who seemed bored by the whole conversation. 'I thought the authorities didn't know his real name,' I said, 'Mog Ruith I mean.'
'Officially,' said Angus, 'we don't.'
At that moment the telephone rang. Weatherby picked it up, said a few quick words, and then put it down. 'They've stopped near Woodbridge,' he said.
'Woodbridge,' said Angus, 'what the hell's near Woodbridge.'
Weatherby and I shrugged. 'Sutton Hoo,' said Selkie.
Angus looked at her. 'Is Sutton Hoo important?' he asked.
'It might be,' she said, 'if you're trying to raise an Anglo Saxon king from the dead.'
'Good point,' he said, 'there's a helicopter standing by on the roof, we should be there in an hour or so. Give them a bell Weatherby, tell them to warm it up.' He held the door open and led the rest of us out. 'This is exciting,' he said, 'terribly James Bond.'
In the helicopter I said 'it can't be that bad can it, King Arthur waking I mean, isn't that supposed to be a good thing.'
'That all rather depends,' said Angus. 'There seems to be a good chance they will reanimate an unstoppable zombie Anglo Saxon war leader, in which case we can only hope that he finds the country to his liking and goes back to sleep, because I'm not quite sure what we'd be able to do about it if he did not.'
I looked out of the window and thought about that. Selkie reached across and tapped me on the shoulder. 'Hey,' she said, 'you flew all the way to Scotland in one of these?'
'Yes,' I said.
'Cool.'
It was dark again by the time we arrived, next to an identical helicopter on a remote deserted airfield. A thick fog swirled around in the downdraught from the rotors.
'Is it magical?' Shouted Angus to his daughter over the sound of the helicopter slowly winding down.
'Is what magical?'
'The fog.'
'What's the difference?'
'Was it created by magical means?'
'It's fog,' she said, 'I don't know how it's normally created.'
'Water condenses when air cools,' I said. They both looked at me as if I was mad. Then Selkie shot me an amused smile.
I recognised Bauer waiting by a car holding the door open, and said hello. 'Blimey,' he replied, 'it's all four of you.'
'Did you know,' I said, 'that they were father and daughter?'
'On general principle Mister Wallingford,' he said, 'I can't tell you anything, and just in case I might, they don't tell me anything.'
Lord Lepusstrom got in the front passenger seat and the rest of us climbed in the back. 'You must have known,' I said to Weatherby.
'I'm afraid I swore him to secrecy,' said Angus, 'and besides, you were an unknown quantity at the time and that was definitely not the sort of information we could afford to tell anyone.'
We drove slowly through narrow country lanes, the car's headlights picking up little but a swirling corridor of dense fog. 'They've disappeared into a forest by the river,' explained Bauer, 'Choderton's there with some special forces guys we brought in, they're under instructions to watch the forest but not to go in.'
'What's coming is already coming,' said Selkie, 'they're probably just here to greet it.'
'Do we have any idea what this thing is?' asked Angus.
I shook my head. 'Something from under the sea,' said Selkie, 'something that's been waiting.'
'How near to Sutton Hoo are they?' asked Angus.
'Who what?' said Bauer.
'Sutton Hoo, the ancient burial mounds.'
'History was never really my thing,' said Bauer, 'where are they?'
Angus turned around to look at his daughter, who just shrugged. 'Somewhere near here,' he said, 'have you got a map.'
Bauer handed Angus a road atlas who handed it straight to Weatherby. 'Where are we going,' said Angus.
'East bank of the Deben,' said Bauer, 'about ten miles down from Woodbridge.'
'There's nothing there,' said Weatherby.
'But is it near Sutton Hoo?' asked Angus.
'Within a few miles,' said Weatherby, 'they're both on the eastern side of the river.'
'Good enough,' said Angus, 'take us there Mister Bauer.'
'Yes sir,' said Bauer and drove on, soon he spotted a brown national trust sign for Sutton Hoo baring the stylised design of the carved dragon head of an Anglo Saxon long boat. 'Oh I know the place,' said Bauer, 'it's that Viking burial mound.'
'No,' said Angus, 'it's not a Viking...' then he stopped talking.
'What enemy,' said Selkie slowly, 'would an Anglo Saxon king recognise.'
The car turned into the Sutton Hoo National Trust site and pulled up before the locked gate to the car park. We left the car and climbed over the gate in a sort of collective daze, walking a little way in to the site. Our long shadows cast by the bone white glow of the car headlights moved like ancient ghosts over the burial mounds and the fog curled around us like the softest fingers.
'Selkie,' said Angus, 'how many dead Vikings do you suppose there are underneath the sea.'
'Quite a lot,' said Selkie.
'You know,' I said, 'looking at the grass covered hemisphere of earth in front of me, 'if the occupant of any of these graves are going to rise, I'd rather not be around to see it.'
'Selkie,' said Angus again, 'do we know any way to stop that happening.'
'A binding maybe,' she said, 'I'd rather try stopping the Vikings.'
We looked out towards where fog concealed the dark river that slopped lazily at the mud banks, oozing towards the sea fat with the previous weeks rainfall.
Angus said 'do we even understand how they called them here?'
'We have one really good clue,' said Selkie, 'they required an offering, but not a sacrifice.'
'How do you mean?'
'I was offered,' she said, 'but was not killed. Yet they are still coming.'
'That's true,' he said, 'you got away. Maybe they are not coming.'
'They are coming,' said Selkie, 'they are very close.'
'Oh,' he said.
'I don't understand,' I said, 'what does that tell us?'
'Mainchenn thought they were offering me to the sea in order to release the Vikings,' she said, 'but the sea did not take me. In fact they were offering me to the Vikings. They required a bribe to come, they are at peace now, they have no argument with Britain, no reason to leave Valhalla.'
'So?'
'We give them me, and they leave without a fight.'
I think both Angus and I reacted at the exact same time, we both said 'no way.'
'It might be the only way,' said Selkie.
'Might,' I said, 'being the operative word.'
'There's no way,' said Angus, 'that I am going to let you do that. We don't even know if it would work.' Angus, Selkie, and I stood on top of one of the smaller barrows in a neat triangle, both Angus and I looking at Selkie. Beneath us, Weatherby and Buaer looked on.
'I think there is something we may be missing,' said Bauer.
We turned and looked at him. 'These are Vikings right,' he said, 'as in horned helmets and broadswords.'
'Actually,' said Angus, 'I do not think they really wore horned helmets.'
'No?' asked Selkie.
'I am pretty sure not.'
'That's kind of disappointing,' she said.
'Anyway,' said Bauer, 'the point is that warfare has advanced a little in the intervening two thousand years.'
'Actually,' said Angus again, sounding slightly apologetic, 'it's closer to one thousand.'
'That's hardly the point,' snapped Bauer, and then, 'sorry sir, but we do have twenty armed SAS encamped around the forest. Can they not deal with any hairy iron age warrior that comes down the river.'
'Actually,' Angus started, and then thought better of saying anything.
'How many ghosts have the SAS dealt with in the past?' asked Selkie simply.
Bauer looked from Weatherby to Angus, Weatherby looked at Angus. 'One,' said Angus, 'arguably.' And then seeing that everyone was expecting him to elaborate added 'they had to call in a priest.'
'As I understand it,' said Weatherby, 'there is a general rule that if they can harm you, you can harm them.'
'Actually it works better the other way round,' said Angus, 'if you can not harm them, they can not harm you.'
'And if they can harm you?' I asked.
'You may or may not be able to harm them.'
'That doesn't really help.' I said.
'No,' he agreed.
'So the problem,' said Bauer, 'is that ghost Vikings are going to land and do what?'
'I imagine,' said Angus, 'that they will do what they did when they were alive, rape and pillage.'
'And then,' said Bauer, 'as if this wasn't bad enough, if they do land they will wake a ghost king.'
'Yes,' said Angus, 'what he will do is completely unknown, but there is a good chance that he will be a lot more dangerous than the Vikings.'
'So better that we stop the Vikings,' said Bauer.
'Yes.'
'Then shall we at least try the SAS?'
'For that matter,' said Weatherby, 'we could call in the navy.'
'We may have another problem,' said Bauer, and he pointed to the space where Selkie had been standing. She was not there any more.
'The little...' said Angus.
I shook my head, looked around, and said 'how did she...?'
'She cast a spell,' said Angus.
I looked all around again, the fog was so thick I could barely see anything more than twenty yards away where the car's headlights were shining. Almost nothing anywhere else.
'Where would she go?' said Bauer.
'Towards the sea,' I said.
'That's past the SAS squad,' he said, 'I'll radio them to look out for her.'
'They won't be able to see her,' said Angus.
'They've got night vision equipment.'
'It won't make any difference.'
'What about us?' I said.
Angus looked at me. 'Good point,' he said, 'you really are a smart lad aren't you.'
'What do you mean?' asked Bauer.
'The spell won't work on Mitchell and I,' said Angus.
'Because you're close to her?' said Weatherby.
Angus looked at him with disdain, shook his head and said 'because she's close to us.' I took the opportunity to shake my head at him. When I had said 'what about us' I had only meant to ask what we should do, but was happy to act like I knew all about magic. In fact, so warm was the look Angus gave me, that I felt I could never really have fooled him, and I must actually be a smart lad.
'However it works,' said Bauer, 'if it works we can use it. There are two spots downstream from here we can get the car to before she will be able to make it. Ramsholt, near where the squad is, and Felixstowe Ferry.'
'Right then,' said Angus, 'Weatherby and I will go to Ramsholt and rendezvous with Cholderton and the squad, Mitchell and Bauer will continue down to Felixstowe Ferry and wait there. Bauer I take it you are armed.'
'Yes sir.'
'Good man,' he said, 'do not shoot my daughter.'
'One more thing sir?' said Bauer, 'bearing in mind we have no other way of preventing the Vikings landing, are we certain we want to stop her.'
'Yes,' said both Angus and I together.
In the car Angus steered me into the back seat with him while Weatherby sat in the front next to Bauer. Bauer drove with frightening speed down the narrow and fog wreathed country lanes, squealing tires around each turn. I saw Weatherby's knuckles whiten as he gripped the dashboard.
'Don't worry,' said Bauer, 'I'm a professional.' I did my seatbelt up.
'Listen lad,' said Angus quietly, taking hold of my arm, 'it's obvious Selkie likes you. If you can't persuade her not to do this. Give her this.' He rolled up his sleeve and, with some difficulty, removed a thin leather strap from his wrist. He pressed it into my hand and closed my fingers around it.
'What is it?' I said. It was like leather, but silky smooth.
'A family heirloom,' he said, 'it might do her some good.'
I put it in my pocket.
