Текст книги "Sapphique"

Автор книги: Kathryn Fisher

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

The door clicked slowly shut.

He stared at its wooden boards.

28

How will we know when the great Destruction is near? Because there will be weeping and anguish and strange cries in the night.

The Swan will sing and the Moth will savage the Tiger. Chains will spring open. The lights will go out, one by one like dreams at daybreak.

Amongst this chaos, one thing is sure.

The Prison will close its eyes against the sufferings of its children.

LORD CALLISTON’S DIARY

The stars.

Jared slept beneath them, uneasy in the rustling leaves.

From the battlements Finn gazed up at them, seeing the impossible distances between galaxies and nebulae, and thinking they were not as wide as the distances between people.

In the study Claudia sensed them, in the sparks and crackles on the screen.

In the Prison, Attia dreamt of them. She sat curled on the hard chair, Rix repacking his hidden pockets obsessively with coins and glass discs and hidden handkerchiefs.

A single spark flickered deep in the coin Keiro spun and taught, spun and caught.

And all over Incarceron, through its tunnels and corridors, its cells and seas, the Eyes began to close. One by one they rippled off down galleries where people came out of their huts to stare; in cities where priests of obscure cults cried out to Sapphique; in remote halls where nomads had wandered for centuries; above a crazed Prisoner digging his life-long tunnel with a rusty spade. The Eyes went out in ceilings, in the cobwebbed corner of a cell, in the den of a Winglord, in the thatched eaves of a cottage. Incarceron withdrew its gaze, and for the first time since its waking the Prison ignored its Inmates, drew in on itself, closed down empty sections, gathered its great strength.

In her sleep Attia turned, and woke. Something had changed, had disturbed her, but she didn’t know what it was. The hall was dark, the fire almost out. Keiro was a huddle in the chair, one leg dangling over its wooden armrest, sleeping his light sleep. Rix was brooding. His eyes were fixed on her.

Alarmed, she felt for the Glove and touched its reassuring crackle.

‘It was a pity you weren’t the one to say the riddle, Attia.’ Rix’s voice was a whisper.’! would have preferred to work with you.’ He didn’t ask if she had the Glove safe, but she knew why.

The Prison would hear.

She rubbed her cricked neck and answered, equally quietly.

‘What are you up to, Rix?’

‘Up to?’ He grinned. ‘I’m up to the greatest illusion anyone has ever performed. What a sensation it will be, Attia! People will talk about it for generations.’

‘If there are people.’ Keiro had opened his eyes. He was listening, and not to Rix. ‘Hear that?’ The heartbeat had changed.

It was faster, the double-thump louder. As Attia listened the crystals in the chandelier above her tinkled with it; she felt the faintest reverberation in the chair she sat on.

Then, so loud it made her jump, a bell rang.

High and clear it pierced the darkness; she jammed her hands to her ears in a grimace of shock. Once, twice, three times it rang. Four. Five. Six.

As the last chime ended, its silvery clarity almost painful,. the door opened and the Warden came in. His dark frockcoat was strapped with a belt and two firelocks. He wore a sword, and his eyes were grey points of winter.

‘Stand up,’ he said.

Keiro lounged to his feet. ‘No minions?’

‘Not now. No one enters the Heart of Incarceron but myself. You will be the first – and last – of its creatures to see Incarceron’s own face.’ Attia felt Rix squeeze her hand. ‘The honour is beyond expression: the magician muttered, bowing.

She knew he wanted the Glove from her, right now. She stepped away, towards the Warden, because this decision would be no one’s but hers.

Keiro saw. His smile was cool, and it annoyed her.

If the Warden noticed anything he made no sign. Instead he crossed to the corner of the room and tugged aside a tapestry of forest trees and stags.

Behind it rose a portcullis, ancient and rusted. John Arlex bent and with both hands turned an ancient winch. Once, twice, he heaved it round, and creaking and flaking rust, the portcullis rose, and beyond it they saw a small, worm-eaten wooden door. The Warden shoved it open. A draught of warm air swept out over them. Beyond, they saw darkness, pounding with steam and heat.

John Arlex drew his sword. ‘This is it, Rix. This is what you’ve dreamt of.’ As Finn came into the study Claudia glanced up.

Her eyes were red-rimmed. He wondered if she had been crying. Certainly she was furious with frustration.

‘Look at it!’ she snapped. ‘Hours of work and it’s still a mystery A total, incomprehensible mess!’ Jared’s papers were in chaos. Finn set down the tray of wine Ralph had insisted he bring and stared round. ‘You should take a rest. You must be making some progress.’ She laughed, harshly. Then she stood so quickly the great blue feather propped in the corner lifted into the air. ‘I don’t know! The Portal flickers, it crackles, sounds come out of it.’

‘What sounds?’

‘Cries. Voices. Nothing clear.’ She snapped a switch and he heard them, the distant, faintest echoes of distress.

‘Sounds like frightened people. In some big space.’ He looked at her. ‘Terrified, even.’

‘Is it familiar?’ He laughed, bitter. ‘Claudia the Prison is full of frightened people.’

‘Then there’s no way of knowing which part of the Prison that is, or …’

‘What’s that?’ He stepped closer.

‘What?’

‘That other sound. Behind...’ She stared at him, then went to the controls and began to adjust them. Gradually, out of the chaos of hissing and static, emerged a deeper bass, a repeated, double-pounding motif.

Finn kept still, listening.

Claudia said, ‘It’s the same sound we heard before, when my father spoke to us.’

‘It’s louder now’

‘Have you any idea …’ He shook his head. ‘In all my time Inside I never heard anything like that.’ For a moment only the heartbeat filled the room. Then from Finn’s pocket came a sudden pinging that startled them both. He pulled out her father’s watch.

Startled, Claudia said, ‘It’s never done that before.’ Finn flicked open the gold lid. The clock hands showed six o’clock; the chimes rang out like tiny urgent bells. As if in response the Portal chuntered and went silent.

She came closer. ‘I didn’t know it had an alarm. Who set it?

Why now?’ Finn didn’t answer. He was staring gloomily at the time.

Then he said, ‘Perhaps to tell us there’s only an hour left till the deadline.’ The silver cube that was Incarceron spun slowly on its chain.

‘Take care here, both of you.’ Jared climbed over the rooffall. He turned and held up the lantern so that Caspar could manage. ‘Perhaps we should untie his hands?’

‘I wouldn’t advise it.’ Medlicote prodded the Earl with the firelock. ‘Quickly, sire.’

‘I could break my neck!’ Caspar sounded more irritable than worried. As Jared helped him over the pile of stones he slid and swore. ‘My mother will have both of you beheaded for this. You do know that?’

‘Only too well.’ Jared peered ahead. He had forgotten the state of the tunnel; even when he and Claudia had first explored it it had been in a state of collapse, and that had been years ago. She had always meant to have it repaired, but had never got round to it. There was nothing false about its age or the frequent crumbling of its walls. A brick vault loomed over him, green with dripping slime and infested with mosquitoes that whined around the lantern.

‘How much further?’ Medicote asked. He looked worried.

‘I think we’re under the moat.’ Somewhere ahead an ominous plopping noise told them of a leak.

‘If this roof comes down … Medlicote muttered. He didn’t finish. Then he said, ‘Perhaps we should go back.’

‘You may go back any time you wish, sir: Jared ducked through hanging webs into the dark. ‘But I intend to find Claudia. And we would do well to be out of here before the cannon start firing.’ But as he pushed on into the stinking darkness he wondered whether they had started already, or whether the pounding in his ears was just his own heartbeat.

Attia walked through the small door and staggered, because the world was tilted. It straightened itself under her feet, so that she almost fell, and had to grab Rix to keep her balance.

He, staring upwards, did not even notice.

‘My god!’ he said. ‘We’re Outside!’ The space had no roof, no walls. It was so vast it had no ending, nothing but steamy mist through which they couldn’t see.

In that instant she knew she was tiny in the face of the universe; it terrified her. She edged close to Rix and he grasped her hand, as if he, too, was moved by that sudden giddiness.

Swirls of steam curled miles above them like clouds. The floor was made of sonic hard mineral, the squares of it enormous. As the Warden led them forward their footsteps were loud across the shining black surface. She counted. It took thirteen steps to reach the next white square.

‘Pieces on a chessboard: Keiro voiced her thoughts.

‘As Outside, so within,’ the Warden murmured, amused.

And there was silence. That was what scared her most. The heartbeat had stopped as soon as they passed the door, as if they had somehow entered its very chambers, and here, so deep within itself, no sound lived.

A shadow flickered on the clouds.

Keiro turned, quickly. ‘What was that?’ A hand. Enormous. And then, a beam of light moving over feathers, vast feathers each taller than a man.

Rix stared up, bewildered. ‘Sapphique,’ he gasped. ‘Are you here?’ It was a mirage, a vision. It hung in the clouds and rose like a colossus into the sky, a great being of white shimmers and drifts of steam; a nose, an eye, the plumage of wings so wide they could enfold the world.

Even Keiro was awed. Attia couldn’t move. Rix muttered under his breath.

But the Warden’s voice, behind them, was calm.

‘Impressed? But that too is an illusion, Rix, and you don’t even spot it?’ His scorn was rich and deep. ‘Why should mere size impress you so much? It’s all relative. What would you say if I told you that the whole of Incarceron is actually tinier than a cube of sugar in a universe of giants?’ Rix tore his eyes from the apparition. ‘I’d say you were the madman, Warden.’

‘Perhaps I am. Come and see what causes your mirage.’ Keiro pulled Attia on. At first she was unable to stop staring back, because the shadow on the clouds grew as they moved away from it, rippling and fading and reappearing.

Rix, though, hurried, after the Warden, as if he had already forgotten his wonder. ‘How tiny?’

‘Tinier than you could imagine.’ John Arlex glanced at him.

‘But in my imagination, I am immense1 I am the universe.

There’s nothing else but me.’ Keiro said, ‘Just like the Prison, then.’ Ahead of them the steam cleared. Alone in the centre of the marble floor, pinpointed by a ring of spotlights, they saw a man.

He was standing on a platform reached by five steps, and at first they thought he was winged, the plumage black as a swan’s. Then they saw he wore a Sapient’s robe of darkest iridescence and it was threaded with feathers. His face was narrow and beautiful, shining with radiance. Each eye was perfect, the lips held in a smile of compassion, his hair dark.

One hand was lifted, the other hung at his side. He did not move, or speak, or breathe.

Rix stepped up on to the lowest step, staring up. Sapphique he murmured. ‘The Prison’s face is Sapphique’s

‘It’s just a statue,’ Keiro snapped.

All around them, as close as a caress against their cheeks, Incarceron whispered, No, it isn’t. It’s my body.

The Portal said something.

Finn turned and stared at it. Wisps of grey, like curls of cloud, were moving over its surface. The hum in the room modulated and changed. All the lights flickered off and on.

‘Get back.’ Claudia was already at the controls.

‘Something’s happening inside.’

‘Your father, he warned us ... about what might come through.’

‘I know what he said!’ She didn’t turn, her fingers playing on the controls. ‘Are you armed?’ He drew his sword, slowly.

The room dimmed.

‘What if it’s Keiro? I can’t kill Keiro!’

‘Incarceron is cunning enough to look like anyone.’

‘I can’t, Claudia!’ He moved closer.

Suddenly, without warning, the room tipped. It spoke. It said, My body …

Finn staggered, slamming against the desk. The sword clattered out of his hand as he grabbed at Claudia but she slid back with a gasp, missing her footing, crashing into the chair, falling back into its seat.

And before she could stand up, she was gone.

Rix moved. He snatched the sword from the Warden’s belt and swung it to Attia’s neck. He said, ‘It’s time to give me my Glove back.’

‘Rix ...‘ Beside her was the right hand of the statue. Small red circuits rippled at its fingers ends.

Do what you have to, my son, the Prison said eagerly.

Rix nodded. ‘I hear you, Master.’ He pulled Attia’s coat open and snatched out the Glove. He held it up in triumph and from all sides the beams of light swivelled and focused on it, throwing swollen replicated shadows not only of the statue now but of all of them, great cloudy Keiros and Attias on the clouds.

‘Behold,’ Rix murmured. ‘The greatest illusion the Prison has ever seen.’ The sword tip whipped away from Attia’s neck. She moved, but Keiro was quicker. Diving forward he batted the blade aside and punched Rix hard in the chest.

But it was Keiro who cried out. He was flung hack jerking with shock, and Rix laughed, his gap-tooth grin wide.

‘Magic! How powerful it is, my Apprentice! How it guards its master!’ He turned to the image, lifted the Glove towards its sparking fingers.

‘No!’ Attia cried. ‘You can’t do this!’ She turned to the Warden. ‘Stop him!’ The Warden said quietly, ‘There is nothing I can do. There never has been.’ She grabbed at Rix but even as she touched him the shock burnt into her nerves, an electric spark of recoil that screamed in her own voice. Then she was on the floor and Keiro was standing over her. ‘Are you all right?’ She crouched over her burnt fingers. ‘He’s wired up. He’s beaten us.’ Rix. Incarceron’s order was urgent. Give me my Glove. Give me my freedom. Do it NOW.

Rix turned, and Attia rolled. She shot out her foot and the magician tripped and fell, crashing on the white floor, the Glove falling from his hand and skidding over the shiny marble, Keiro diving after it and grabbing it with a whoop of joy.

He scrambled back, out of reach. ‘Now, Prison, you get your freedom. But from me. And only if you do what you promised. Tell me I’m the one who gets to Escape with you.’ The Prison laughed, ominous. Do you really think I keep such promises?

Keiro circled, gazing up ignoring Rix’s howls of anger. He showed no disappointment. ‘Take me or I wear the Glove You would not dare.

‘Watch me.’ The Glove will kill you.

‘Better than living in this hell.’ Their stubborness made them equal, Attia thought. Keiro turned, a slow circle. He slid his metal fingernail towards the Glove’s opening.

I will torment you. Incarceron’s voice was a high metallic whine. I will make you pray for death.

‘Keiro, don’t,’ Attia whispered.

For a second he hesitated. And then from behind her the Warden’s cool voice cut the air. ‘Wear it. Put it on.’

‘What?’

‘Put it on. The Prison won’t risk destroying its only way Out. I think the result will surprise you.’ Keiro stared at him in surprise, and the Warden stared back. Then Keiro slipped his fingers deeper.

Wait. Incarceron’s voice thundered. The cloud flickered with invisible lightnings. I will not allow that. No. Stop. Please.

‘You stop me Keiro breathed. A spark leapt between his metal nail and the Glove. He gasped with the pain. And then he was gone.

There was no light, no blinding brilliant flash. Instead, as Finn stared at Claudia he saw she was no longer there. She had become a vacuum of herself, a shadow, a negative image. And as he watched she re-emerged from the darkness, pixel by pixel, atom by atom, the reassembly of a fragmented being, all its thoughts and limbs and dreams and features, and it wasn’t Claudia, it was someone else.

He groped for the sword, his eyes blinded by what might be tears, the blade whipping up to the face that stared at his, the amazed blue eyes, the dirty blond hair.

For a long moment Finn was still, both of them were, face to face, and then Keiro reached forward and took the sword from him and turned the point to the ground.

The door burst open. Jared took one look around the Portal and stood stock-still. His heart was hammering so hard he was breathless, and he leant back against the wall.

Behind him Medlicote pushed Caspar in, and they stared.

They saw, facing Finn, a stranger in a filthy red coat, his eyes blue with triumph, his muscled hand tight around the hilt of a sharp sword. There was no one else in the room.

‘Who are you?’ Caspar demanded.

Keiro turned and gazed at the shining breastplate and splendid clothes.

He levelled the blade an inch from Caspar’s eyes.

‘Your worst nightmare,’ he said.

The Winged Man

 29

Did he Escape? For there is a rumour that is whispered in the dark, a rumour that he remains, trapped deep in the Prison’s heart, his body turned to stone; that the cries we hear are his cries, that his struggles shake the world.

But we know what we know.

THE STEEL WOLVES

Jared stepped forward and grabbed the Glove from Keiro’s hand, flinging it down on the floor as if it was alive. ‘Did you hear its dreams?’ he said. ‘Did it control you?’ Keiro laughed. ‘Does it look like it?’

‘But you wore it!’

‘No. I didn’t.’ Keiro was too amazed to think about the Glove. He flicked Caspar’s coat—collar with the sword tip.

‘Nice material. And just my size.’ He was glowing with delight. If he felt sick or dazzled by the room’s white light he didn’t show it. He took in everything – the four of them, the cluttered Portal, the huge feather – with one avid sweep of his eyes. ’So this is Outside.’ Finn swallowed. His mouth felt dry. He glanced at Jared and almost felt the Sapient’s dismay.

Keiro tapped Caspar’s breastplate with the sword. ‘I want that too.’ Finn said, ‘It’s different here. There are wardrobes full of clothes.’

‘I want his.’ Caspar looked terrified. ‘Do you know who I am?’ he stammered.

Keiro grinned. ‘No.’

‘Where’s Claudia?’ Jared’s agonized question cut the tension.

Keiro shrugged. ‘How should I know?’

‘They changed places Finn kept his eyes on his oathbrother.

‘She was sitting in the chair and she just dissolved. Keiro appeared. Is that what the Glove does? Is that the power it has? Can I put it on now, and...’

‘No one puts it on until I say.’ Jared moved past him. He went to the chair and gripped it, leaning on its back. His face was pale with weariness and he looked more anxious than Finn had ever seen him. Quickly, Finn said, ‘Master Medlicote, pour some wine please.’ The fragrant smell filled the air. Keiro sniffed it. ‘What is that?’

‘Better than the Prison muck.’ Finn watched him. ‘Try some. And you, Master.’ As the drink was poured he watched his oathbrother prowl round the room, exploring everything. It was all wrong. He should be happy. He should be so elated to have Keiro here. And yet there was a deep dread inside him, a shivery, sickening terror, because this wasn’t how it should have happened. And because Claudia was gone, and suddenly there was a hole in the world.

He said, ‘Who was with you?’ Keiro sipped the red liquid and his eyebrows rose. ‘Attia.

The Warden. And Rix.’

‘Who’s Rix?’ Finn said, but Jared turned from the screen instantly. ‘The Warden was with you?’

‘He told me to do it. He said, “Put the Glove on.” Maybe he knew . . .‘ Keiro stopped, instantly. ‘That’s it! Of course he knew. It was his way of getting the Glove out of the Prison’s reach.’ Jared turned back to the screen. Placing his fingers on it he stared sadly into its darkness. ‘At least she’s with her father’

‘If they’re still alive.’ Keiro glanced at Caspar’s tied wrists.

‘What’s going on here, anyway? I thought this was where people were free.’ Turning he saw them all staring at him.

Medicote whispered, ‘What do you mean, if they’re still alive?’

‘Use your brain’ Keiro sheathed the sword and went to the door. ‘The Prison is going to be very, very angry about this.

It may have killed them all already.’ Jared stared at him. ‘You knew that might happen, and you still...’

‘That’s how it is in Incarceron,’ Keiro said. ‘Every man for himself. As my brother will tell you.’ He turned and faced Finn. ‘So. Are you going to show me our kingdom? Or are you ashamed of your jaibird brother? That is, if we’re still brothers.’ Finn said quietly, ‘We’re still brothers.’

‘You don’t seem so pleased to see me.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s the shock. And Claudia ... she’s in there.

..‘ Keiro raised an eyebrow. ‘So that’s how it is. Well, I suppose she’s rich, and enough of a bitch to make a good Queen.’

‘That’s what I’ve missed about you. Your tact and courtesy.’

‘Not to mention my quicksilver wit and devastating looks.’ They stood face to face. Finn said, ‘Keiro. . .‘ A sudden explosion rumbled over their heads. The room shook, a plate sliding to the floor and smashing.

Finn swung to Jared. ‘They’ve opened fire!’

‘Then I suggest you get the Queen’s beloved son up to the battlements,’ Jared said quietly. ‘I have work to do here.’ He exchanged one swift look with Finn, and Finn saw the discarded Glove was in his hand. ‘Be careful, Master.’

‘Just stop them firing. And Finn.’ Jared came over and gripped his wrist. ‘Do not, on any account, leave this house. I need you here. Do you understand me?’ After a moment Finn said, ‘I understand.’ Another rumble. Keiro said, ‘Tell me that’s not cannon-fire.’

‘A whole regiment of it,’ Caspar said, smug.

Finn pushed him away and turned to Keiro. ‘Look. We’re beseiged. There’s an army out there and we’re outgunned and outmanned. Things are not good. I’m afraid you haven’t come into some paradise. You’ve come into a battle.’ Keiro had always been an expert at taking things in his stride. Now he looked curiously up the sumptuous corridor.

‘In that case, brother, I’m exactly what you need.’ Claudia felt as if she had been broken apart and reassembled, badly, piece by piece. As if she had been forced through some barrier of mesh, a matrix of collapsing dimensions.

She was standing on a great bare floor of black and white tiles.

Facing her father.

He seemed utterly dismayed. ‘No!’ he breathed. And then, almost like a cry of pain. ‘No!’ The floor rippled. She steadied herself, arms out, and then breathed in, and the stink of the Prison overwhelmed her, the stench of endlessly recycled air and human fear. She gasped, and put both hands over her face.

The Warden came towards her. For a moment she thought he would take her hands in his cold fingers, print her cheek with his icy kiss. Instead he said, ‘This shouldn’t have happened. How could this happen!’

‘You tell me.’ She glanced round, saw Attia staring at her, and a tall ragged man who seemed utterly astounded, his hands knotted and his eyes deep hollows of awe.

‘Magic,’ he breathed. ‘The true Art.’ It was Attia who said, ‘Keiro’s vanished. He vanished and you appeared. Does that mean he’s Outside?’

‘How am I supposed to know?’

‘You have to know!’ Attia yelled. ‘He has the Glove!’ The floor rippled, a wave of cracking tiles.

‘No time now for this.’ The Warden pulled out a firelock and gave it to Claudia. ‘Take this. Protect yourself against whatever the Prison sends.’ She held the weapon limply, but then she saw that behind them the whole vast space was flooding with clouds that swirled and blackened and sparked lightning. One flash cracked into the floor beside the Warden. He swung round, staring up. ‘Listen to me, Incarceron’ This is not our fault!’ Then whose fault is it? The voice of the Prison seethed with fury. Its words were crackled and raw, dissolving into hisses of static. You told him to do it. You betrayed me.

The Warden said coldly, ‘Not at all. It may look that way, but you and—’ Why should I not burn you all into ash?

‘Because you would damage your delicately-made creation.’ The Warden stepped close to the statue; Claudia stared up at it in awe as he pulled her after him. ’I think you are too astute to do that.’ He smiled. ‘It seems to me, Incarceron, that things have changed now between us. For years you have done what you wanted, ruled as you liked.

You controlled yourself. I was Warden only in name. Now the one thing you want is beyond your grasp.’ Claudia felt Attia jump up on the step behind her. ‘Listen to him,’ the girl whispered. ‘This is all about him and his power.’ The Prison laughed, a sinister chuckle. You think so?

John Arlex shrugged. He looked at Claudia. ‘I know so.

The Glove has been taken Outside. It will be returned to you only by my orders.’ Your orders? Indeed?

‘My orders, as Clanlord of the Steel Wolves.’ He was bluffing, Claudia thought. She said aloud, ‘Do you remember me, Prison?’ I remember you. You were mine and you are mine again. But now, unless I have my Glove, I will close down the lights and the air and the heat. I will leave millions to suffocate in darkness.

You will not the Warden said evenly, ‘or you will never have the Glove.’ He spoke as if to a child, with a clear severity. ‘Instead, you show me the secret door that Sapphique used.’ So that you and your so-called daughter can release yourselves, and leave me trapped here? The voice was clotted with sparks.

Never.

The Prison convulsed. Claudia staggered and fell against Rix. He grabbed her arm, grinning.

‘My father’s anger,’ he whispered.

I will destroy you all now.

The black squares of the floor rolled back and were holes.

Out of them rose cables with open mouths of venom. They kinked and curled like snakes of power, cracking and spitting.

‘Up the steps.’ The Warden climbed quickly to the feet of the winged man, Rix shoving Claudia after him. Attia came last, glancing round.

White vivid shocks split the darkness.

‘It won’t harm the statue: the Warden murmured.

Attia glared. ‘You can’t be sure …’ High in the roof, a great rumble silenced her. The clouds were storm-black. Tiny hard pellets of snow were falling from them. In seconds the temperature was below zero and dropping fast, and Rix’s breath steamed as he breathed out.

‘It won’t have to damage it. It’ll just freeze us here to its feet: And each of the tiny flakes whispered as it fell, in millionfold anger.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

The first shot had just been a warning. The ball had sailed right over the roof and crashed somewhere in the woods beyond. But Finn knew the next one would smash through; as he ran up the last stair and out on to the battlements he saw through the acrid smoke the Queen’s artillerymen adjusting the angles of the five great cannon they had ranged across the lawns.

Behind him, Keiro gasped.

Finn turned. His oathbrother stood transfixed, gazing out at the pale dawn sky slashed with gold and scarlet. The sun was rising. It hung like a great red globe above the beechwoods, and rooks rose in clouds to meet it from the branches.

The long shadow of the house stretched over lawns and gardens, and on the moat light glimmered on the ripples the swans made as they woke.

Keiro walked to the battlements and gripped the stonework, as if to make sure it was all real. He gazed for a long moment on the perfection of the morning, at the scarlet and gold pennants flapping over the Queen’s pavilions, the lavender hedges, the roses, the bees that hummed in the honeysuckle flowers under his hands.

‘Amazing,’ he breathed. ‘Totally amazing.’

‘You haven’t seen anything yet,’ Finn muttered. ‘When the sun gets high, it’ll dazzle you. And at night …’ He stopped.

‘Go inside. Ralph, get him some hot water, the best clothes

…’ Keiro shook his head. ‘Tempting, brother, but not yet. First we deal with this enemy Queen.’ Medlicote came up behind them, a little breathless, and behind him the soldiers pushed Caspar, red in the face and furious.

‘Finn, get these ropes off me. I insist!’ Finn nodded and the nearest guard sliced the knot swiftly.

Caspar made a great show of rubbing his chafed wrists, staring haughtily around at everyone except Keiro, whose eyes he seemed too terrified to meet.

Captain Soames stared at him in disbelief. ‘Isn’t that . . . ?‘

‘That’s a miracle.’ Finn said. ‘Now. Can we get their attention before they blast us to pieces?’ The flag was raised; it flapped loudly. In the Queen’s camp a few men pointed; someone ran into the large tent. No one came out.

The guns were a row of dark muzzles.

‘If they fire …’ Medlicote said nervously.

Keiro said, ‘Someone’s coming.’ A courtier was galloping towards them on a grey horse. He spoke to the artillerymen as he passed, then galloped cautiously over the lawns to the edge of the moat.

‘You wish to surrender the Prisoner?’ he called up.

‘Shut up and listen to me.’ Finn leant over. ‘Tell the Queen if she fires on us she kills her son. Understand?’ He grabbed Caspar and hauled him to the battlements. The courtier stared up in horror, his horse prancing under him.

‘The Earl? But …’ Keiro stepped up to Caspar, one arm around his shoulders.

‘Here he is! With both ears, both eyes and both hands. Unless you’d like some proof to take the Queen?’

‘No!’ the man gasped.

‘Shame Keiro had a knife carelessly against Caspar’s cheek.

‘But I suggest you tell the Queen that he’s in my hands now and I’m not like the rest of you. I’m not playing any games.’ He tightened his grip and Caspar stifled a gasp.

Finn said, ‘No.’ Keiro smiled his most charming smile. ‘Run along now.’ The courtier turned his horse and raced for the tents. Clods of earth were flung up by the hooves. As he passed he yelled urgently at the men by the cannons; they backed away, obviously puzzled.

Keiro turned. He pushed the point of the knife very slightly into Caspar’s white skin. A small red spot swelled with blood.

‘A little souvenir he whispered.

‘Leave him.’ Finn came and tugged Caspar away and pushed the half-fainting Earl at Captain Soames. ‘Put him somewhere safe and have a man stay with him. Food and water. Anything he needs.’ As they took the boy away he turned on Keiro angrily.

‘This is not the Prison!’