“London is huge. He could be anywhere in the city!” growled Malcolm.
Jane rose to her feet, staring at Malcolm with tear-stricken eyes. “I know where we can find him.”
Chapter 22
They ran up out of the cellars at Somerset House where the portal was located in London and into the grand courtyard. They had allowed only enough time to collect and reload weapons before slipping into the portal hardly twenty minutes after Gaios had vanished from the front of Hartley Hall. Nothing seemed amiss on the street outside the gateway arch. Traffic streamed along the Strand as normal. A few heads turned to peer at the strangely disheveled group, particularly given the fact that the women were dressed in inappropriate buccaneer leathers and wore heavy weapons and strange contraptions. Simon noted a passing unit of the militia on the street.
Malcolm supported Jane by the elbow because the woman was still shaky from her first passage through the portal. “What’s our first move?”
Just as they exited under the classical front, they felt a shaking beneath their feet. They all stopped dead. Jane clutched Malcolm’s arm. Her face was frozen, trying to hide the dread she felt. She was unsuccessful, but probably no less than any of them.
A deep rumbling sound rose from the earth. Windows shattered all around. Church bells began to ring out in raucous disharmony as steeples across London swayed in the tumult.
People in the courtyard stumbled like drunkards and many hit the ground. Some managed to reach out for anything solid in an attempt to hold themselves up. Seconds passed that seemed like minutes. The quaking intensified and the surprised people who hung on to cracking stone balustrades or clutched the trembling bricks started to show fear.
The rolling of the ground lessened. A blessed stability returned. Those who had just been thrown about gaped in shock or grasped loved ones. They started rising from the cracked uneven ground hesitantly, as if not trusting their feet. The air was filled with shouts and crying and the sound of horses. The militia attempted to calm and gather people out of the buildings.
Simon stopped to set a pram right on its wheels. He inspected the squalling baby quickly as Kate helped the mother to her feet. Simon handed the child, who was more surprised than hurt, to the woman and continued weaving through stragglers.
They started off on foot eastward along the Strand. The traffic was nearly at a standstill, with many cries of alarm, but little cursing or aggression, as if the earthquake had shocked the impatience out of citizens. Crowds streamed out of shops and offices, gathering in clutches to discuss the event. Broken glass and shattered bricks littered the walkways. Those unlucky enough to be struck were tended by others. The bells of St. Mary’s and St. Clement’s were still clanging as they passed. The venerable old arch of the Temple Bar was intact, but the congestion was extreme. It took anxious minutes for them to navigate their way through the melee.
They made better time on wide Fleet Street when the ground began to shake again. Screams erupted all around. The vibrations were violent and wracking. The coaches swayed and horses reared in terror. Chunks of stone cornices cracked from rooftops and smashed to the ground on both sides of the street. Figures fled in random directions, unsure of how to find safety.
“These poor people!” Jane alternated gripping Malcolm’s arm and reaching out to the frightened crowd.
Simon couldn’t help but run to a man who knelt on the sidewalk with blood running down his face. The man pointed toward a pile of rubble, so Simon shoved aside the heavy wreckage to find a woman trapped beneath. She was alive and the bloody man embraced her. Simon called for a nearby lad to come to their assistance, which he did with no hesitation.
He stared around him at the staggering crowds, distraught and frightened. Men and women and children lay injured and crying. People shouted for help. Simon wanted to go to each of them.
Kate took his arm. “Come on, Simon. I know what you want. I want it too. But we can help best by stopping Gaios. Others can assist these people. Only we can stop him.”
They were just reaching the environs of St. Paul’s when a huge explosion roared from the south. They all turned, as did everyone in the vicinity, and felt heat on their faces. A massive red-and-black fireball rose over the Thames.
“The gasworks,” said Penny.
Several members of the militia spurred their horses toward the south, for all the good they could do. At least they were trying.
Kate watched the smoke rising in the distance. “Where the hell is Ash? Isn’t there something she can do with all her power?”
Simon shook his head. “She’s gone. There is no way under heaven that she is still in London. We’re on our own.” He took her hand. “As always.”