by Raquel Lyon
“I was unable to retrieve it. I fled for my life.”
Septamus’s strike was swift. “Coward!” he shouted, watching his soldier skim across the stone flags, gradually crumbling to dust as he travelled.
He caught the nearest onlooker by the collar. “Clean that up,” he said, thrusting the bewildered man towards the mess before turning to address the room. “And let that be a lesson to you all. Cowardice will not be tolerated under my command.”
Flinging his cape to the side, Septamus set off towards the mines, his anger surging with every step he took on the winding path up the mountainside. He should have made the journey to the Third himself. He needed that box. Not because he had been ordered to retrieve it, but because of his desire to learn why it was of the utmost importance to the king. The boy had been cast to the Genicerem without trial, his treasonous crime kept secret by the king, and his escape kept secret from the queen. They were secrets he was determined to unmask, and yet he had entrusted the crucial task to his men—two of his best men who had failed to do their duty to retrieve one small item. It was not as if he had presented them with a difficult task. The oracle had been quite specific in her instructions, but she had made no mention of seeing a girl in her vision. A girl of the Third who had no right to be wearing the skin of his enemy. How had she acquired it? Who was she? Was she even from the Third or was she, as he had begun to suspect, the original transporter of the box—an accomplice to the boy he now sought to interrogate?
*****
Rixton cursed the cuffs weighing down his wrists as he drove the pickaxe into the cliff for the hundredth time that day. How he wished he could blast the rock with his magic to uncover its treasures, but the iron bands, welded tightly in place, prevented that. The other workers—those whose magic was weak or had deserted them—had chosen their trade willingly. He had not. He should have been at home, delighting in the comfort of a home-cooked meal by the kitchen fire, and the hope that, one day, he would regain that pleasure was the only thing that kept him going. He wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to push away memories of the refreshing evening dips he and Lambert often took before a night at the tavern as an unwelcome face appeared at his side.
His body tensed as he stared up at his tormentor. “If you have come to torture me again, your trip has been wasted. My answers will not alter.”
“Is that any way to greet the man able to grant your freedom?”
At the word ‘freedom’, a glimmer of hope flickered in Rixton’s chest, but it vanished without taking hold. “I am certain that is not the reason for your unexpected visitation.” He raised his axe again, wishing he could sink it into the general’s head instead of the cliff side, but Septamus caught the handle.
“Rest awhile. Hard work... mining. Man’s work. As is soldiering. Though soldiering comes with valour and certain benefits women find appealing.”
“Your small talk does not interest me.”
“Even if it involves a certain flame-haired beauty I hear you enjoy the company of?”
“I enjoy the company of a lot of women,” Rixton lied.
“And does she know this? Is she aware you call upon other women to do your bidding, too?”
Rixton propped his axe on the floor and leaned on the handle, staring at the general, unsure as to what he was referring.
“The twitch of your eye says not,” the general continued. “I wonder... do you imagine she is missing a man’s arms much as you miss hers? Perhaps I will pay her a visit tonight? Show her a little comfort.”
“You stay away from her. She is innocent.”
“Oh, I doubt that. Agreeable, is she?”
“Touch her and I’ll kill you.”
“I hardly think you are in a position to offer such a threat.”
“What do you want?”
The general smiled slyly. “It will please you to hear that your friend has been located.” He paused as if waiting for a reaction.
He was bluffing. He had to be. The queen had given her personal guarantee that Lambert could not have been taken to a safer place.
The general stared at his hand as he rubbed his fingertips together. “Tell me about the other girl.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
WITH TEN MINUTES TO SPARE, Piper arrived at the bank. She leaned on the counter for support as she fought for breath.
“I’d... like to see... Mr Smithers, please,” she said, panting.
Unconcerned at Piper’s condition, the clerk regarded her with an indifferent expression. “Certainly. I’ll just take your details, and we’ll give you a call to schedule an appointment.”
“I need to see him,” she gasped, “now.”
“That will not be possible, I’m afraid. We are about to close.”
“I realise that... but it’s important.” She clasped her hands in prayer. “Please?”
“I’m sorry, madam.”
Piper looked up at the clock on the wall, the big hand slowly creeping towards the twelve. “But you don’t understand...”
“What name is it?”
“Piper Hayhurst, but,” she took the key from her pocket and dropped it into the hollow of the slot, “how about this?”
“You wish to access your box?”
Bingo. Her assumption about the key had been correct. “Yes.”
“Also too late. By the time we’ve checked the paperwork—”
“I don’t need long, and we’ve already wasted time talking.”
“If you’d like to call back in the morning, we would be only too happy to assist you.”
“But I told you, it’s important.” Piper turned at the sound of a man clearing his throat.
“It’s all right, Wendy,” Mr Smithers said, collecting the key from the metal hollow. “You can finish up. I’ll deal with Miss Hayhurst. Follow me please, Piper.”
Piper offered him a smile of gratitude as he held the door leading to the back corridor open for her.
“You understand that what I am about to do is not our normal procedure,” he said, “but for a dear friend, I am making an exception.”
“Yes, I understand. And I’m really sorry for keeping you, Mr Smithers, but you see, I only just found the key, and I think I might burst if I don’t find out what Dad left for me.”
“Well, we can’t have that, now can we?”
As they entered a room with metallic, checked walls, Mr Smithers angled the key to check the number, and then walked over to the far corner, where he stuck both it and one from the bunch he took from his pocket into the door of box 237. He opened it, removed a box from inside the slot, and placed it onto the central table. “I’ll give you a minute,” he said as he walked to the door.
“No need,” Piper said, lifting the lid and pausing, only for a second, before scooping out the entire contents and stuffing them into her bag. “I’m done.” She ran over to him and held on to his arm to lift to her toes and plant a small kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
Piper clutched her bag to her chest as she hurried back to the Towers. It now held precisely three things: a small box, an envelope with her name on, and a pouch containing something which rattled as if it were full of stones. The impulse to discover what they and the other two items were ate away at her, but she couldn’t risk opening them in public. That could only be done well away from prying eyes.
Impatience forced her into a sprint for the last stretch of her journey, and she ran up the stairs to her room and kicked the door shut. After shucking off her jacket, she tipped the objects from her bag onto the bed. All the way home, she’d been thinking about the letter, curious as to whether her father would explain his actions, but looking down at the items, it was the pouch that called to her first. She pulled open the ties and emptied the contents into her hand. Darn it. She prodded the white and gold enamelled fragments with her finger. Whatever it used to be, it was broken. She placed the pieces on the bedspread and turned her attention to the box.
Unable to contain a squeal of exc
itement as she lifted the lid, she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, afraid her mind was playing tricks. For so long, she’d imagined how it would look in the flesh, and now here it was, its elaborate swirls nestled amongst folds of purple satin. She picked up Lambert’s key and clenched it in her fist. Her eyes closed again and tears prickled behind her lids as her elation quelled. What use was a key without its lock? She had no right to be happy—not yet—not until the two were reunited and Lambert could walk free. Until then, she had to stay focused and keep to her plan.
There was one item left. She picked up the envelope, but as she hooked a finger under the flap, she heard a tapping noise, and the hairs on her arms stood to attention. Forgetting the envelope, she tucked Lambert’s key into her bra and went out onto the landing. There it was again. Someone was knocking on the door.
She crept down the stairs, debating whether to answer it, and her feet slowed. Grateful that she’d locked the door on her way in, she considered the possibilities. It would be rude to ignore the caller, but what if the visitor were hostile? What if it was the other warlock come to avenge his comrade? Her fingertips tingled, as if her magic was reminding her of its existence, and she rubbed them together as she crossed the hall. She had this.
Telling herself it was probably just a delivery guy, she turned the key, opened the door gingerly, and hooked her head around it before throwing it wide. There was no one there. She ran out onto the steps to search the driveway. Whoever it was had vanished pretty quickly; either they were hiding or they weren’t human.
“Who’s there?” she shouted. “Show yourself.” Her eyes scanned the grounds looking for any sign of movement, but all she saw were the treetops swaying in the wind.
Backing slowly inside, her eyes still searching the area, she swung the door to a close, but couldn’t shake a feeling of being watched. When she turned to go back to her room, her hand flew to her chest and sparks prickled from her fingertips.
“Maddie? What the...? How did you get in?”
“Well, when you didn’t answer, I had to come in through the kitchen drainpipe. Not one of my favourite places, I have to say. It stinks.” Her eyes dropped with a frown. “You’ve singed your top, by the way.”
Piper pulled her hand from her chest and stared at it. Had she really just produced sparks? “That was you knocking?”
“Of course. I knew you had to be here, but when you didn’t come to the door, I panicked. I thought something had happened to you, and I’m already in trouble because you were attacked this afternoon.”
“That wasn’t your fault. You weren’t there. How could you know? Come to think of it, how do you know?”
“Dad told me—or should I say bellowed it at me, along with a few choice words about my incompetence and how my assignment would be changed to something more suitable to my inexperience.”
“And how did your dad find out?”
“He’s on the area’s clean-up committee. Listen, can we talk?”
“Sure.” Slightly irked at the intrusion, Piper plastered on a smile and beckoned for Maddie to follow her. She clearly had something on her mind, and knowing Maddie, it was probably boy trouble, which was the last thing Piper wanted to discuss when her mind was occupied with a totally different kind of boy trouble, but still... With an inevitable, long journey to another dimension pending, she was sure a few minutes wouldn’t make any difference. “Come upstairs. We can talk in my room.”
“This place doesn’t get any less creepy the more you visit,” Maddie said as they climbed up to the third floor.
“Unfortunately, I’m all out of accommodation options at the moment. So... what’s on your mind?” Piper said, inviting her friend inside.
“I have good news and bad.”
“Go on.”
Maddie glanced nervously at the things on the bed and perched on the end of it. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again as she stared at the collection of items.
“There’s something missing from that line.”
“I know.”
“I know where it is.”
“What? How?”
“Well... In a situation like yours, there’s always an investigation. A report has to be sent to the Assembly. And after Dad finished giving me a mouthful, I overheard him talking to Mum about the dead guy. He said they’d found a box in his coat pocket. I put two and two together.”
“But I thought... Never mind. This is great. When can I get it back?”
“That’s the bad news. They know what it is. It’s been quarantined, pending disposal.”
“What do you mean, ‘pending disposal’?”
“Piper, as soon as the paperwork’s done, they’re going to incinerate Lambert.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
THE ROOM CLOSED IN. Piper slumped against the nightstand. She braced herself to prevent her knees buckling and swallowed a lump in her throat. “They can’t do that. That’s murder.”
“They see it more as the disposal of an illegal alien—a convict, illegal alien,” Maddie said.
“But it’s not Lambert’s fault he’s here, and he’s done nothing wrong.” Piper clenched her fists to suppress the heat surging through her veins. “I have to stop them.”
“There’s nothing you can do. I’m so sorry.”
“You think I’m just gonna sit here and do nothing while they burn him alive? Where are they keeping him? I’ll go there and explain. They’ll have to let him go.”
“They won’t listen. All that will happen is that you’ll get into trouble, too, for being an accessory.”
“I don’t care. I’ve lost my Mum. I’ve lost my Dad. I’m not losing my brother, too!” Piper’s blood seared to boiling point, and she pushed away the pain slicing through her insides as she raised her hands in frustration. “Where is he, Maddie? Tell me,” she shouted as, this time, the sparks erupted into flames and transformed into fireballs.
Maddie jumped from the bed. “Whoa. I didn’t know you could do that.”
Piper stared at the blazing orbs cradled in her palms, transfixed. “Neither did I. I-I just got so angry.”
“I noticed.”
Intrigued by the new development, and eager to see if she could control it, Piper forced the flames down until they retreated under her skin, then called on her anger to bring them back. The flames sprang forth once more. She ran to the bathroom and thrust the fireballs into the tub, where they briefly erupted before fizzling out. Smiling, she stared at the scorch marks around the plughole. Her powers were getting stronger. “Tell me where they’re keeping him, Maddie,” she called as she turned to return to the bedroom.
“A secure facility near Carleigh.”
“Where... exactly?”
Maddie let out an exasperated sigh. “On the road out to Shelrigg Moor, but it makes no difference. They’ll never let you in.”
“Who said we were going through the front door?”
“We are not going anywhere.”
“Are you seriously expecting me to do this alone? You know more about the place than I do, and it will probably be dangerous. As my protector, isn’t it your duty to keep me safe?”
“Former protector—which, by the way, it’s clear you no longer need, anyway.”
Piper strode to the dressing table. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t need you, but it would be nice if you showed me some support. I’m going, Maddie, whether you’re with me or not.” She picked up the knife and tucked it down the waistband of her jeans.
Maddie gasped. “What are you intending to do with that?”
“Nothing, I hope, but it doesn’t hurt to have extra insurance.”
“So you’re going to go all lone wolf on this? Please don’t. You aren’t thinking straight.”
“What do you expect me to do, huh? Accept his fate? Go into mourning? I can’t do that. I won’t. I’m all he has. Honestly, why bother with the urgent trip if that’s what you thought? Why not just wait until they’d murdered him t
o tell me? That would have been the easy option, wouldn’t it? Or is it you who isn’t thinking straight?”
Maddie lowered her gaze. “I just thought you should know.”
“Yes, I should, so I can save him. At least you got that part right. Do you know what else happened today?” Piper glowered at her friend as she watched Maddie’s head shake. “I found his key.”
“What? Where?”
“Long story, but if you think I’m giving up now, you’re deluded. Last chance. Are you coming, or is this friendship over?”
“My parents will disown me if they find out.”
“Then don’t come.”
“Jeez, Piper. You’re a pain in the backside.”
“And?”
“And... I’m coming.”
*****
They made the journey in silence, wary of the taxi driver’s occasional glance into his rear-view mirror. Piper’s stomach churned as every bump in the road secreted the aroma of stale cigarettes from the upholstery. She concentrated on the figure of a dancing lady bobbing on the dashboard, not wanting to think about what lay ahead or what the outcome would be if they failed. Beside her, Maddie fidgeted and bit on her nails.
“Here will be fine,” Maddie said, as the taxi slowed for a bend in the country lane.
“You sure you got t’ right place, luv?” the driver asked, pulling to a stop. “This is t’ middle o’ nowhere.”
Piper handed him his fare. “Quite sure. We’re visiting a friend. She lives on a farm.”
Maddie turned to Piper as they stood waiting for the taxi’s taillights to vanish around the corner. “Nice improv,” she said.
“Thanks,” Piper uttered, surveying the moorland.
In the distance, the faint glow of lights pinpointed the low-level, boxy building with flat, metal walls nestled amongst the sprawling countryside—a great carbuncle defacing the beauty of its surroundings. Moonlight, escaping between the cloud cover, illuminated the long grass swaying in the growing breeze, which stretched across the ground they would have to cover.
“So... What’s the plan?” Maddie asked, following Piper over a dry stone wall.