Holly winked at Artemis. ‘No need to tell me twice, sir.’
‘I’ll bet there isn’t,’ grunted Root, with only the barest hint of a smile playing about his lips.
The motley band trudged south-east by moonlight until they reached the railway line. Walking along the sleepers was the one place they could be safe from drifts and suck holes. Progress was slow. A northerly wind snaked through every pore in their clothing, and the cold attacked any exposed skin like a million electric darts.
There was little conversation. The Arctic had that effect on people, even if three of them were wearing coil-heated suits.
Holly broke the silence. Something had been nagging at her for a while.
‘Tell me something, Fowl,’ she said from behind him. ‘Your father. Is he like you?’
Artemis’s step faltered for an instant. ‘That’s a strange question. Why do you ask?’
‘Well, you’re no friend to the People. What if the man we’re trying to rescue is the man who will destroy us?’
There was a long silence, broken only by the chattering of teeth. Holly saw Artemis’s chin drop on to his chest.
‘You have no cause to be alarmed, Captain. My father, though some of his ventures were undoubtedly illegal, was. . is. . a noble man. The idea of harming another creature would be repugnant to him.’
Holly tugged her boot from twenty centimetres of snow. ‘So, what happened to you?’
Artemis’s breath came over his shoulder in icy sheets. ‘I. . I made a mistake.’
Holly squinted at the back of the human’s head. Was this actual sincerity from Artemis Fowl? It was hard to believe. Even more surprising was the fact that she didn’t know how to react. Whether to extend the hand of forgiveness, or the boot of retribution. Eventually, she decided to reserve judgement. For the moment.
They passed into a ravine, worn smooth by the whistling wind. Butler didn’t like it. His soldier’s sense was beating a tattoo on the inside of his skull.
He raised a clenched fist.
Root double-timed until he caught up.
‘Trouble?’
Butler squinted into the snow field, searching for footprints. ‘Maybe.
Nice spot for a surprise attack.’
‘Maybe. If anyone knew we were coming.’
‘Is that possible? Could someone know?’
Root snorted, breath forming clouds in the air before him. ‘Impossible.
The chute is totally isolated, and LEP security is the tightest on the planet.’
And that was when the goblin hit squad soared over the ridge.
Butler grabbed Artemis by the collar, unceremoniously flinging him into a drift. His other hand was already drawing his weapon.
‘Keep your head down, Artemis. Time for me to earn my salary.’
Artemis would have responded testily had his head not been under a metre of snow.
There were four goblins flying in loose formation, dark against the starlit sky. They quickly rose to three hundred metres, making no attempt to conceal their presence. They neither attacked nor fled, simply hovered overhead.
‘Goblins,’ grunted Root, pulling a Far shoot neutrino rifle into his shoulder. ‘Too stupid to live. All they had to do was pick us off.’
Butler picked a spot, spreading his legs for steadiness. ‘Do we wait until we see the whites of their eyes, Commander?’
‘Goblin eyes don’t have whites,’ responded Root. ‘But even so, holster your weapon. Captain Short and I will stun them. No need for anyone to die.’
Butler slid the Sig Sauer into its pouch beneath his arm. It was next to useless at that range anyway. It would be interesting to see howr Holly and
Root handled themselves in a firefight. After all, Artemis’s life was pretty much in their hands. Not to mention his own.
Butler glanced sideways. Holly and the commander were pumping the triggers of various weapons. Without any result. Their weapons were as dead as mice in a snake pit.
‘I don’t understand it,’ muttered Root. ‘I checked these myself.’
Artemis, naturally, was first to figure it out. He shook the snow from his hair.
‘Sabotage,’ he proclaimed, tossing aside the useless fairy handgun.
‘There is no other alternative. This is why the B’wa Kell needs Softnose weapons, because it has somehow disabled fairy lasers.’
But the commander was not listening, and neither was Butler. This was no time for clever deductions; this was a time for action. They were sitting ducks out here, dark against the pale Arctic glow. This theory was confirmed when several Softnose laser bursts bored hissing holes in the snow at their feet.
Holly activated her helmet Optix, zooming in on the enemy.
‘It looks like one of them has a Softnose laser, sir. Something with a long barrel.’
‘We need cover. Fast!’
Butler nodded. ‘Look. An overhang. Under the ridge.’
The manservant grabbed his charge by the collar, hoisting him aloft as easily as a child would lift a kitten.They struggled through the snow to the shelter of the overhang. Maybe a million years ago the ice had melted sufficiently for a layer to slump slightly, then freeze up again. The resulting wrinkle had somehow lasted through the ages and could now possibly save their lives.
They dived underneath the lip, wriggling backwards against a wall of ice. The frozen canopy was easily thick enough to withstand gunfire from any conventional weapon.
Butler shielded Artemis with his body, risking an upward glance.
‘Too far. I can’t make them out. Holly?’
Captain Short poked her head from under the frozen ledge and her
Optix zoomed into focus.
‘Well, what are they up to?’
Holly waited a beat, until the figures sharpened.
‘Funny thing,’ she commented. ‘They’re all firing now, but. .’
‘But what, Captain?’
Holly tapped her helmet to make sure the lenses were working. ‘Maybe
I’m getting some Optix distortion, sir, but it looks like they’re missing on purpose, shooting way over our heads.’
Butler felt the blood pounding in his brain. ‘It’s a trap!’ he roared,
reaching behind him to grab Artemis. ‘Everybody out! Everybody out!’
And that was when the goblin charges sent fifty tonnes of rock, ice and snow tumbling to the ground.
They nearly made it. Of course, nearly never won a bucket of squid at gnommish roulette. If it hadn’t been for Butler, not one of the group would have survived. Something happened to him. An inexplicable surge of strength,
not unlike the energy bursts that allow mothers to lift fallen trees off their children. The manservant grabbed Artemis and Holly, spinning them forward like stones across a pond. It wasn’t a very dignified way to travel, but it certainly beat having your bones pulverized by falling ice. For the second time in so many minutes, Artemis landed nose first in a snowdrift. Behind him,
Butler and Root were scrabbling from beneath the ledge, boots slipping on the icy surface. The air was rent by avalanche thunder, and the pack ice beneath them heaved and split. Thick chunks of rock and ice speared the cave’s opening like bars. Butler and Root were trapped.
Holly was on her feet, racing towards her commander. But what could she do? Throw herself back underneath the ledge?
‘Stay back, Captain,’ said Root into his helmet mike. ‘That’s an order!’
‘Commander,’ Holly breathed. ‘You’re alive.’
