James Henry

THE CURIOUS CABINET – CHAPTER THREE

The creature lunged, and Rosa hurled herself to the right, feeling the rush of air as it shot past her, its open mouth missing her by just a few inches. There was a crunching sound as the bottled dragon display halted its momentum and a slick of foul-smelling liquid spread across the brick floor from the shattered bottles.

Gary had recovered from his shock now, and was heading straight for the arched entrance to the gallery. Rosa charitably assumed he had gone to get help rather than simply abandoning her, though the monkey’s motives quickly became irrelevant when the creature seemed to sense its departing prey and lashed out a great tail with terrifying speed. This monstrous caterpillar wasn’t just large, and hungry – it was fast as well. Gary smashed against the wall, then slid down it, coming to rest beside a display of stuffed goblin-like humanoids, each with a backward-jointed legs like that of a chicken. For a moment, Gary’s eyes were as glassy and unfocused as the goblins’, Rosa thinking the worst, then he coughed, and shook his head in confusion.

The caterpillar reared up above the monkey, opening its mouthparts wide, then closing them again in astonishment as a jar exploded against the back of its head. It turned, hissing, and Rosa was pleased to see Gary seizing the opportunity to crawl discreetly towards the entrance. One of his wings was outstretched at an odd angle, and he was having to crawl through a puddle of oil, broken glass and bits of baby dragon, but at least he was alive.

Rosa hurled another jar at the caterpillar, then another, until Gary was safely through the gallery entrance. Then the flaw in her plan became clear: she was now the sole target of the monster’s attention, and it was now between her and the only known way out of the gallery.

She picked up the last jar, and made as if to throw it, all the while backing further into the gallery. The creature seemed to know time was on its side and dropped low to the ground, following her one short, stubby foot at a time. Every time Rosa backed past a cabinet she hoped against hope it would contain something she could use against the monster, but to no avail. She even considered trying to dodge past it to reach the polar bear’s long-handled axe, but quickly realised she would never be able to pick such a weapon up, never wind wield it.

The caterpillar came remorselessly onward, and Rosa felt her fear changing slowly into simple desperation as it backed her further and further into the gallery. Surely one of these displays would hold something she could use against her pursuer? But instead there was just case after case of dusty, moth-eaten fauna. Bandersnatch, INSERT OTHER ANIMALS; all watched her with sad, blank eyes, but could offer no means of aid.

Suddenly, Rosa backed into something. Reaching behind her, she felt a cold face against her fingers. Her heart pounded. Had some ally of the monster’s used her distracted to creep round behind her? Risking a quick peek, she saw instead a small grey statue of a boy. He looked rather sad, and held in his arms a muddled collection of walking sticks, and other, stronger-looking staffs. Rosa wondered if the sadness came from being used as an umbrella stand, which seemed rather a dull job. The caterpillar hissed, and Rosa decided to stop empathizing with statues and get on with the more important job of self-preservation.

The caterpillar was raising itself up to strike now, and Rosa had to think quickly. Grabbing a long grey staff, she fumbled slightly, the end banging noisily on the ground. The creature hesitated, and to her surprise, a crystal, buried deep in a knotty tangle at the staff’s point began to glow: dimly at first then so brightly Rosa could hardly look at it. The sudden bright light seemed to shift the creature’s attention away from Rosa, and the huge head began to weave from side to side as she waved the staff in increasingly wider arcs.

Suddenly, Professor Scrubb and T’Maugh burst through the entrance to the gallery. T’Maugh was growling fiercely, and her fur must have been standing on its very end, as she looked bigger than Rosa had ever seen her. The Professor had buckled a sword over his cardigan (which looked rather odd) and had notched an arrow to the string of a rather ancient-looking bow.

The creature screeched at this interruption, but seemed to realise even as did Rosa that the newcomers were too far away to prove any real threat. An arrow sprouted from the creature’s flank, but the hide was too thick, or the vital organs buried too deeply, and it hardly seemed to notice. However it did buy Rosa the half-second she needed. Hurling the glowing staff to her right, she dove to her left. The caterpillar instinctively followed the light, then seemed to realise its mistake and swung its tail around, knocking Rosa off her feet and sending the statue crashing to the ground, spilling sticks and staffs across the floor.

A second arrow thunked into the back of the creature’s head, and this time the creature screeched in pain. The Professor had drawn his sword now, and was shouting some kind of battle-cry, while T’Maugh barked and growled like a thing possessed, but they were too far away.

Rosa could see only one staff that looked remotely like a weapon: in fact it looked more like a giant pencil, with an eraser at one end and a lethally sharp point at the other. But it was just out of reach. Instead Rosa plucked the nearest object off the floor. As the creature reared again to strike, she was a little disappointed to discover all she had picked up was an umbrella, although it did have an attractive, parrot-shaped handle.

Compound eyes fixed on hers, the mouthpiece unfolded, sharp teeth glistening in the electric light. Stepping forward, Rosa shoved the umbrella down its throat as far as it would go.

The monster froze in shock for a moment, then shook its head irritably from side to side. This seemed to work, as it then fixed its gaze back on Rosa. T’Maugh and the Professor began desperately attacking its flank, with sword and teeth, to no avail. Rosa shut her eyes and waited for the worst.

There was an odd ‘whoomph’ sound, followed by a rattling, choking noise. Rosa opened her eyes to see T’Maugh and the Professor staring up at the caterpillar, which seemed to have suddenly sprouted an oddly-shaped ruff around its neck.

“This way,” called T’Maugh, and Rosa shot past the creature, keeping in to the wall, although the caterillar paid her no notice at all, and indeed was now beginning to twitch and shudder in a most unpleasant way, as though it no longer had any real control over its own actions.

The three of them backed away from the dying beast, its choking sounds now turning into a sort of muted gargling.

“The umbrella must have opened inside its throat,” the Professor shouted, as the creature went into convulsions, its heavy body thrashing around uncontrollably, reducing a couple more display cases to splinters in the process. He had taken the arrow from his bow, Rosa saw, but kept his sword firmly in his right hand. It wasn’t a particularly large sword, or even all that ornate, but it sat easily in the Professor’s grip, and light flashed off the blade as though it was signalling its desire to be used.

When the caterpillar’s gurgling turned into a rattle, that moment came. Rosa looked away as the Professor stepped forward. There was the soft sound of metal entering flesh, a wrenching noise as the blade twisted, and then silence. The heavy body twitched once more, and was still.

The Professor wiped the blade of his sword on a handkerchief before gently sliding it back in his scabbard.

“I felt sorry for it,” said Rosa wonderingly. “Even though it was trying to kill me.” She realised to her surprise that she was crying, and it wasn’t entirely for herself.

The Professor went to lend her his handkerchief, then thought better of it, and pulled a ball of crumpled tissues out of his cardigan pocket instead. Rosa blew her nose.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” said the Professor. He patted her on the shoulder, a little awkwardly. “It was just an animal, of a sort.”

He frowned then, and to Rosa’s surprise, drew his sword from his scabbard once more, cutting a deep slit down the creature’s side.

“Is it still alive?” Rosa’s eyes were wide with fear, but the Professor shook his head reassuringly.

“Hold this a second,” he said, taking his cardigan off, and rolling one shirtsleeve up. To Rosa’s revulsion, he plunged his arm deep inside the creature, apparently in search of something.

“You don’t think anyone’s is in there, do you?” she asked. The Professor shook his head, but continued to grope around. The resultant squishing noises should have made Rosa feel rather ill, but to her surprise what she felt most was curiousity.

“Aha!” he said, finally, and withdrew his now-rather-slimy arm to reveal a handful of what looked to Rosa like tiny green slugs. They were moving, very slightly, and glowing, very faintly. The Professor took an empty jar from amongst the debris on the floor and dropped them into it.

“Teratogens’ he explained. Rosa looked blank.

“Monster-makers” said T’Maugh, who was.now scratching herself behind the ear as if nothing had ever happened. “Reptile tongues usually. Boiled, and shrunk, and moonlight added, and you have something you can feed to the tiniest creature and turn it into… something like that.”

“Well to be fair, you often get a creature with which you can have quite an interesting conversation over a nice cup of tea,” said the Professor mildly. “But I don’t think this was that kind of insect.”