'Is that possible? We have few reserves of energy.'
'Yes and they're all wasted on palaces for the rich, and keeping the sky blue, and trapping the poor and forgotten in a Prison run by a tyrannical machine.' Savagely she swept up the last feathers and stood. 'Master, my father is gone. I never thought it possible, but I feel like half of me is gone with him. But I am his successor, and if anyone is Warden of Incarceron now, it's me. So I'm going to the Academy. I'm going to read the Esoterica.'
She turned, not wanting to see the alarm on his face.
Jared said nothing. He gathered up his coat and followed her out, and as they crossed the threshold of the door they both felt again that strange shift; as if the room straightened itself out behind them. Turning, Claudia stared at its white purity; the place that existed both here and at home, as her father's study.
Jared swung the gates closed and fastened the chains across. He clipped a small device to the bronze. 'This is just a safeguard. Medlicote was down here this morning.'
Claudia was surprised. 'My father's secretary?'
Jared nodded, preoccupied.
'What did he want?'
'He had a message for me. He took a good look round. I think he's as curious as everyone else in the Court Claudia had always disliked the tall, silent man who
worked for her father. But now she said, quietly. 'What message?'
They had reached the stairs. She dumped the sack of feathers for some servant to clear; Jared stepped back with perfect Protocol to let her go first. For a moment, as she swished up under the cobwebs, a silver of fear came to her, a fear that he would lie, or evade her question. But his voice was normal. 'A message from the Queen. I'm not sure what it's about. She wants to meet with me.'
Claudia smiled sweetly into the dimness. 'Well you should go. We need to know what she's up to.'
'I have to say I find her terrifying. But yes, you're right.' She waited for him at the top; as he emerged from the doorway he caught the frame and breathed in sharply for a moment, as if a spark of pain had stung him. Then he caught her eye and straightened. They walked along the panelled corridor in silence, turning into a long hallway lined with hundreds of blue and white vases each as high as a man, filled with ancient potpourri that mouldered mustily. Under their feet the wooden boards creaked.
'The Esoterica are kept at the Academy,' Jared said. 'Then I'll have to go there.'
'You'll need the Queen's permission. And we both know she does not really want the Portal reopened.'
'Master, I'll go, whatever she says. And you'll have to come with me, because I won't understand any of what I find.'
'That will mean leaving Finn here on his own.'
She knew that. She had been thinking about that for days. 'We'll need to find a bodyguard for him.'
They had reached the Honeysuckle Court. The sweet scent of its tangling flowers was like a wave of summer, it made her feel happier. As they walked out into the maze of formal paths the evening sun lit the cloisters of twisted crystal and gold; tiny mosaic pieces glittered, and a few bees hummed in the clipped rosemary and lavender.
Far off, the clock on the high tower began to chime a quarter to seven. Claudia frowned. 'You'd better go. Sia doesn't like to be kept waiting.'
Jared took out the watch from his pocket and checked it.
Claudia said, 'You always carry that now.'
'Your father gave it to me. I think of myself as its guardian.'
The timepiece was digital and accurate. Inside its gold case it was purely non-Era, and that had always amazed her, because her father had been meticulous about detail. Gazing now at the fine silver chain, the tiny cube that hung from it, she wondered how the Warden was coping with the filth and poverty of the Prison. But then he knew it well enough. He had been there many times.
Jared clicked the watch shut. He held it still a moment. Then, his voice very soft, he said, 'Claudia, how did you know I was to meet the Queen at seven?'
She froze.
For a moment she couldn't say anything. Then she glanced at him. She knew her face was flushed. 'I see,' he said.
'Master, I . . . I'm sorry. The note was lying there. I picked it up and read it.' She shook her head. 'I'm sorry!'
She felt ashamed. And somewhere, annoyed at her slip.
'I won't say I'm not a little hurt,' he said, buttoning his coat. Then he looked up and his green eyes were fixed on her. Urgently he said, 'We must never doubt each other, Claudia. They will try to divide us, try to turn us against each other, you and me and Finn. Never let them do that.'
'I never will.' She was fierce. 'Jared, are you angry with me?'
'No.' He smiled, ruefully. 'I have long known you are your father's daughter. Now, I'll ask the Queen to let us ride to the Academy. Come to the tower lat
er, and I'll tell you all about
it.'
She nodded, and watched him walk away, bowing as he passed two ladies-in-waiting who curtsied and watched his slim dark shape appreciatively. They turned, and saw Claudia. She fixed them with a cold stare; they hurried away.
Jared was hers. But however much he tried to hide it, she knew she had hurt him.
At the corner of the cloister Jared waved back at Claudia and turned into the archway. As soon as he was out of her sight, he stopped. Leaning his hand on the wall he took deep breaths. Before seeing the Queen he would need his medication. He took a handkerchief out and wiped his forehead, letting the sharp spasm subside, quietly counting the pulse rate under his finger.
He should not be so upset. Claudia was right to be inquisitive. And after all, he had one secret even from her.
He took out the watch and held it till the metal grew warm in his hand. For a moment back there, he had been about to tell her, until she had given herself away about the Queen. And what had stopped him? Why shouldn't she know that he held between his fingers the tiny cube that was Incarceron, the place where her father, and Keiro, and Attia were imprisoned?
He let it rest on his palm, remembering the Warden's voice, mocking his horror.
'You are like a god, Jared. You hold Incarceron in your hands.'
Beads of sweat smeared it; he wiped them away. He shut the watch up and plunged it in his pocket, and hurried to his room.
Claudia stared gloomily at her feet. For a moment she had almost hated herself; now she told herself not to be stupid. She had to get back to Finn. The news of the proclamation would be hard for him. As she walked quickly through the cloister she sighed. Sometimes in these last few weeks, when they had been out hunting, or riding in the woods, she had had the feeling that he was on the brink of fleeing, of turning his horse's head and galloping away into the woods of the Realm, away from the Court and the burden of being the Prince who had come back from the dead. He had wanted so hard to Escape, to find the stars. And all he had found was a new prison.
Beyond the cloister were the mews; on a sudden impulse Claudia ducked under the low archway into the dusty hail. She needed time to think and this was her favourite place in the crowded Court. Sunlight fell through a high window at the far end of the building; the air smelt of old straw and dust, and the birds.
They sat, tethered to posts, all the noble hawks and falcons of the Court. Some wore tiny red hoods that covered their eyes; as they tossed their heads or preened small bells rang, a miniature plume rippled. Others stared at Claudia as she passed down the aisle between their enclosures, the great owls with their wide eyes twisting their necks soundlessly, the sparrowhawks with a fierce tawny gaze, the merlin sleepily. At the far end, tethered by Leather jesses, a great eagle glared arrogantly at her, its beak yellow and cruel as gold.
She took a gauntlet down and pulled it on; tugging a fragment of meat from a hanging bag, she held it out. The eagle turned its head. For a moment it was as still as a statue, watching her intently. Then its beak snatched; it tore
the sinewy flesh between it
s talons. 'A true symbol of the
Royal house.' Claudia jumped.
Someone was standing in the shadows behind a stone screen. She could see his hand and arm in the slant of sunlight, where dust motes floated. For a moment she almost thought it was her father, and a stab of feeling she couldn't guess at jerked her hand into a fist.
Then she said, 'Who is that?'
A rustle of straw.
She had no weapon. No one was here. She took one step back.
The man came forward, slowly. The sunlight slashed on his tall, thin shape, his greasy hair hanging scraggily, the small half-moons of his glasses.
She breathed out, angrily. Then she said, 'Medlicote.'
'Lady Claudia. I hope I didn't startle you.'
Her father's secretary made a stiff bow and she dropped a brief cold curtsy. It struck her that though she had seen the man nearly every day of her life when her father was home, she had probably hardly ever spoken to him before.
He was gaunt and had a slightly hunched look, as if the hours spent labouring over a desk had begun to bend him.
'Not at all she lied. Then, hesitantly, 'Actually, I'm glad to have the chance to speak to you. My father's affairs... '
'Are in perfect order.' The interruption astounded her; she stared at him. He stepped
closer. 'Lady Claudia, forgive
my discourtesy, but we have little time. Perhaps you may recognize this.'
He held out ink-stained fingers and dropped something small and cold into the gauntlet she wore. The slash of sunlight fell across it. She saw a small metal token; a running beast, its mouth open and snarling. She had never seen it before. But she knew what it meant.
It was a steel wolf.
6
'I
could breathe fire on you,' the wirewolf growled.
'Do it,' said Sapphique. 'Just don't throw me into the water.'
'I
could gnaw your shadow away.'
'That's nothing, compared with the black water.'
'I
could crush your bones and sinews.'
'I
fear the terrible water more than you.'
The wirewo
l
f flung him angrily into the lake.
So he swam away, laughing.
THE WIREWOLF RETURNS
The Glove was too small.
Horrified, Attia watched how the material stretched, how small tears opened at its seams. She glanced at Rix; his eyes were fixed in fascination on the Winglord's fingers.
And he was smiling.
Attia breathed in; suddenly she understood. All that pleading for them not to touch the props —
he had wanted this all along!
She glanced at Quint
us. The juggler held a red ball
and a blue ball, alert. Behind, in the gloom, the troupe waited.
Thar held up his hand. In the darkness the black glove was almost invisible, as if his limb had been severed at the wrist. He barked a harsh laugh. 'So now. If I snap my fingers do gold coins tumble from them? If I point at a man does he fall dead?'
Before anyone could answer he had tried it, turning and jabbing his forefinger at one of the bulky men behind him. The thug's face went white. 'Why me, chief?'
'Scared, Mart?'
'I just don't like it, that's all.'
'More fool you .' Thar swung back and stared at Rix contemptuously. 'I've seen better props under a waggon wheel. You must be some showman to make anyone believe in this junky
Rix nodded. 'So I am. The greatest showman in Incarceron.' He raised his hand.
lnstantly, Thar's scorn flicked off; he glanced down at his gloved fingers. Then he howled in agony.
Attia jumped. The echo of the cry rang in the tunnel; the Winglord was yelping and clutching the glove. 'Get it off me! It's burning me!'
'How very unfortunate,' Rix murmured.
Thar's face was red with fury. 'Kill him,' he roared.
His men moved but Rix said, 'Do that and you'll never get it off.' He folded his arms, his thin face unmoved. If it was a performance, Attia thought, it was masterly. Slowly, so no one noticed, she slipped over into the driver's seat.
Thar was swearing, tearing desperately at the Glove. 'Acid! It's eating into my skin!'
'If you will misuse the things of Sapphique, what can you expect?' There was an edge in Rix's voice that made Attia glance at him. The gap-toothed grin was gone; he had that hard look of obsession that had alarmed her before. Behind her the juggler, Quintus, made a nervous click with his tongue.