The Beasts of Clawstone Castle

The children never forgot the sight that met their eyes. They were in an experimental chicken house but the birds, each in a separate cage, were not really like chickens. They were much larger, and a flap of skin had formed across their claws so that they had become web-footed. But the horrifying thing was their beaks. Their beaks had been stretched and on some of the birds a strange, shovel-like protrusion had been grafted on.

‘But what is it? Why are they like that?’ asked Madlyn.

Rollo was shivering.

‘I know why. I know what the experiment is for. They’re trying to turn the chickens into dodos.’

Slavek nodded. ‘Yes. Yes. Dr Manners he makes dodos because they are not any more.’

‘They’re extinct,’ put in Ned.

But the dodos were only the beginning. Slavek’s key now unlocked a steamy room in which a small alligator lay on the edge of a shallow pond. He was absolutely still and pressing down on his snout was a heavy weight. A clamp fixed it and it was connected to a pressure gauge.

Even Rollo did not know what was happening here.

‘They make heavier and then more heavy, so snout is flat. Make new animal.’

The creature lay still, unable to move; its yellow eyes were dull. It was completely helpless.

Rollo had connected now. ‘I know. A gavial. They’re becoming extinct. They have these long flattened snouts. Oh God, the poor beast can’t move.’

But that was not nearly the end.

They passed through two double doors into an aviary. The grey parrots who sat there were chained tightly to their perches. Their eyes were shut. One had fallen over sideways and could not right itself. And all the time, relentlessly, they were being squirted with jets of dye from a computerized spray: jets of crimson, of violet, of blue ...

‘Here he makes – how do you call it? – Imperial Parrot. Not any more in jungle, all gone. So people want and they come and buy. Buy for much, much money.’ Slavek shook his head. ‘Many die, but they get more.’

Now came the worst of all. A gorilla, lying slumped in the corner of his cage. One foot was bandaged, his eyes were glazed, his breath came in shallow gasps.

‘He’s going to die,’ said Rollo.

‘Yes. They try to take foot and move it so toes go other way. They try to make – how do you say? Abominable Man.’

‘An Abominable Snowman,’ said Ned. ‘A yeti. Their feet are supposed to be back to front.’

Slavek locked the door of the room and turned to the children.

‘There is more,’ he said. ‘It is for money, money, money ...’ He made a gesture rubbing his fingers together. ‘People come – they want what is not. They pay and they pay and they pay and Dr Manners he grow very rich.’

‘A centre for making extinct animals,’ said Ned. ‘It’s incredible.’

But they could believe it. People paid fortunes for rare and unusual animals. How much more would they pay for animals which were extinct – or mythical?

Back in the hut they saw that the Mundanians’ few possessions had been packed away. There were only three bags on the floor, which seemed to contain their worldly goods. The women wore their shawls, the men had buttoned up their jackets.

‘You must go quick and tell police,’ they said again. ‘We could not – we haf no money, no papers, we were as slaves, and now we go home. But you will tell.’

‘But how will you get home without money?’ asked Madlyn. ‘What will you do?’

The men smiled. ‘We haf plan,’ said Slavek, tapping the side of his nose, and the others nodded and said, ‘Yes, we haf plan.’

It was only now that Rollo was recovered enough to ask the question that burned him up.

‘But what about the cattle?’ said Rollo. ‘What will happen to them? Why have they brought the cattle here?’

Remembering what he had seen, he began to shiver again.

The Mundanians exchanged glances.

‘We do not know,’ said Slavek, ‘but it is big what will happen to the cows. It is very big, very important. It is big and it is soon. He waits for the boat to bring him what he needs, and now the boat has come.’

His brother nodded. ‘It is big with the cows,’ he said. ‘I think perhaps it is tonight.’

Then they shook hands one by one. ‘You can rest here,’ they said. ‘But soon you must go back and tell.’

And the children were left alone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Mundanians had gone. The three children huddled together in the empty hut, stunned by what they had seen. They had to get back to the mainland and tell the world about this evil place – and quickly.

Ned opened the door a crack.

‘There’s no one about. If we drop down on to the beach and go round by the shore we should make it.’

They hadn’t gone far when they heard a sound which brought them up short: the desolate yet frantic mooing of a cow who has been separated from her calf. Then men shouting orders, the stamping of hooves ...

‘It is big what will happen with the cows,’ the brothers had said. ‘It is big and it is soon. Perhaps it is tonight.’

Without hesitation, the children turned and ran back towards the buildings.