The Tied Man

Lilith shook her head.  ‘He didn’t want to play.  He only started drinking ten minutes ago, so he was just starting to get groggy.’

‘So how come he’s down there?’

‘I had to improvise.’  She wrapped the sheet around herself and fashioned a makeshift toga.

‘What, you did this?’  I pointed at the prone form at the foot of the bed .

‘Got my feet free.  But I think he’s stunned rather than finished, if you get my drift.’

As she said the words, Dalziell dragged himself to his feet.  ‘You fucking little slag,’ he hissed, and lumbered towards us.  ‘I’ll…’

He never finished the sentence.  Gabriel threw himself in his path to land a perfect right into Dalziell’s jaw and the ugly ginger twat hit the floor again.

‘Jesus Christ!’  Gabriel cradled his fist.  ‘If I’ve broken a finger, I’m killing him.’

I looked down at Dalziell.  He didn’t look like a man who was planning on waking up anytime soon.  ‘Nicely done, posh lad.’

‘Hey, any time, yeah?’ Gabriel said, shell-shocked all to hell as he inspected his hand for damage.  I guessed this was the first time he’d hit anything except a school gym punchbag.

‘Right, gentlemen.  Shall we return to the party?’  Lilith stood and smoothed down her makeshift dress, then linked her arm through mine. I took a step with her and my knee went from under me.  Just for a second I thought I was going to throw up right there on my shoes.

‘What happened, Finn?’  Lilith asked, and gave me one of those looks that suggested she already knew anything, so there was no need for me to even open my gob.

I was about to try a ‘Nothing,’ but Nat got there first.  ‘Coyle went all postal on his ass,’ he said.  ‘Booted him in the knee, the nutter.  I think it’s cartilage.’

‘Grass,’ I muttered.  ‘It’s fine, Lili.  Well, not fine exactly, but I’ll survive.  I promise, you can poke it around as much as you want, once we’ve got this sorted.’

I’d expected a bit of an argument, but to my surprise she just took held my arm a little more firmly, and nodded.  ‘Okay.  Just take it easy on the stairs.  And you’re not allowed to break anything else for at least a year, do you hear me?’

Lilith

Henry met us at the door of the Great Hall, and  I’d never seen him look so happy.  ‘Oh  thank goodness, you’re all safe! I was so worried, especially when those two monsters started to bid for Finn, and then Alasdair got Lilith, and… oh, for heaven’s sake, now I’m rambling.  Come in, come in – I’ve never seen anything like it!  It’s like a scene from Sleeping Beauty in here!’  He beckoned us inside.

‘Sleepin’ Ugly, more like,’ Finn said as we stepped over the threshold.

The place looked like a scene from a bloodless massacre.  Only five guests remained: Blaine was at the head of the table, dead to the world with her head resting on her folded arms, and Maxwell was next to her with his head tipped backwards over the back of his chair and his gentle snores punctuating the eerie hush.  Ellis and Chester had made it all the way to the sofa, where they now slumped against each other in oblivion.

‘It was amazing – a couple of them staggered off to their rooms, and then the rest just started to doze off one by one, whilst I stood here and watched.  Not a murmur from anyone!  What on earth did you give them?’ Henry asked.

‘Custom-made just for tonight, mate,’ Nat replied.  ‘I never got round to giving it a name, but basically it’s got a pretty heavy anti-psychotic foundation, combined with a muscle relaxant, and my esteemed client here,’ he nodded at me, ‘stipulated that any dreams should be bad ones, so I whacked in a hallucinogen on top.’

‘Good grief.’  Henry looked nervously at where Laura Fenworth had curled up on the rug.  ‘They will be all right though, won’t they?’

‘Hell, yeah,’ Nat said.  ‘I tried it on myself before I left – twelve hours, out for the count.  It wasn’t what I’d call the best night’s sleep ever, but there was no lasting damage.  The last thing I’d want to do is kill someone by accident.’

I glanced at Blaine.  Even when unconscious she was beautiful, but to my satisfaction a thin trail of saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth onto the linen tablecloth.  ‘I wouldn’t be too worried.  We could probably cover it up without too much difficulty; I should imagine the lake’s deep enough.’