The Kingdom of Night (Book 3)

Twenty-Six - In the Land of the Living

George

Three days later, I found myself in the small seaside village of Wexford, on the east coast of Ireland. Lieutenant Potts had told me to ask around for a man called Archie, one who could get me to the edge of the Burren easily. He had a plane, he said, much easier than, say, a lorry.

I wandered through town, up and down the high street and asking around for an Archie with perhaps a lorry, or a vehicle of some sort. I was diverted down many different routes, because, as it turned out, there were about five different blokes all with the name Archie, and they all had a vehicle. The one I wanted was Elemental. Lieutenant Potts must have figured me out without even having to ask.

But when I finally found him, pointed towards what looked like a sports pitch, he was sitting under the shadow of a two-seater Hawker Typhoon, just like the one I flew my first daylight raid in.

'Er...Archie?' I said, ducking around the prop.

'Yeah?' he asked, scratching his head and looking at me. 'That'd be me. Who's askin'?'

'Haywood. Wing Commander George Haywood. Lieutenant Craig Potts sent me.' I didn't mention that I'd given Potts a completely different name, and they'd probably be plenty confused if they ever swapped stories.

At that he slapped his palms against his knees and got to his feet. 'I know him.'

'He tells me you can get me to the Burren.' I hoped he couldn't see how antsy I was to get a move on. Every minute wasted here was another minute I wasn't en route to finding Cousin Al or rescuing Uncle Henry.

'I can.' He raised a bushy black eyebrow at me. 'What'll you be wantin' up there, kid? Strange happenings thereabouts, especially lately.'

'You're Elemental, aren't you? You should know, and if you don't, it should start being important to you right about now.' I stalked closer to him, backing him up against the flank of the plane. 'Do I make myself clear?'

He hesitated for a second, but must have thought better of it, because he nodded, slowly and then more surely. 'Right, mate. Keep your 'air on. Go on, get in. I'll get 'er started.'

I nodded, just a sharp jerk of the head, before turning to climb in. I didn't care if I seemed rude or cold.

I'm coming for you, Wittenberg. Even if it's the last thing I do.

||

We flew for what seemed like hours. Every time I looked down, I saw a patchwork quilt of fields, gold and green. There seemed to be quite an abundance of them here. By the time we passed over a lake, which Archie identified as Lough Derg as we began to descend, my legs were jittery and I could hardly sit still. The plane dipped lower and lower until I could see the Burren, a mess of rugged flat rocks interspersed with patches of grass. I had to wonder exactly where Wittenberg could have found a cave in this place. It was certainly bloody remote enough.

Archie skillfully guided the plane to a smooth gliding land in a field near another lake he called Rockforest Lough, hopping out before me when we'd come to a stop.

'I'd suggest waitin' a day to try an' venture in,' he said when I finally climbed out.

'Why should I?' I asked so sharply he flinched.

'Turn into a hell of a time tryin' to get out at night. You'd be mad to try and go in at this hour.' He got it all out in a rush. Must have thought I'd interrupt him again, but his logic made sense. It was already half-past noon, and night fell pretty quickly, especially in this remote location. I had no doubt my search would take hours.