Sapphique

‘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, gri

‘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 Fi

Behind him, Keiro gasped.

Fi

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 pe

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

‘You haven’t seen anything yet,’ Fi

‘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.

‘Fi

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.’ Fi

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.’ Fi

‘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.

Fi

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.’ Fi

‘This is not the Prison!’

‘So you keep telling me.’

‘You don’t need to be so savage.’ Keiro shrugged. ‘Too late. This is me, Fi

And I’m free. Free to do whatever I want.’ He headed for the stairs.

‘Where are you going?’

‘That bath, brother. Those clothes.’ Fi