The whole time, the metallic voice of Dr Spawforth was scraping in the background.
‘Subject seems to be experiencing fear.’
The little disc was being lowered to his chest. He felt the tiny hooks scrape his skin and there was a plunge and Edward kept telling himself, don’t scream, don’t scream, and he didn’t.
And then the tube retracted. Edward could feel blood welling out of his chest. He couldn’t sit up, he was strapped so tightly. There was a commotion of some sort going on.
‘Christ! What is that!’ said someone.
‘What are they doing in here? Get them out!’
‘Phipps, why aren’t you doing anything?’
Edward could make out confused rustling noises. Then he heard Lady Anne saying, ‘You! You remember … you remember how to … Damn you, Ferdy!’
‘Edward, are you OK?’ Someone leant over him. It was Guy. He quickly unstrapped Edward. Mrs Phipps wafted over to him, slowly revealing black and brown teeth. Edward could see Lady Anne, furious. She looked trapped.
Mr Lane Glover ran to the bed, and Mrs Phipps flew from it as if she were made from muslin, and billowed away. Guy shrank back as she passed.
‘Urgh!’ He put his hand over his nose and mouth. ‘Get out!’
‘You don’t have to tell me that,’ Edward said, and leapt off the bed.
‘Come on!’ said Guy. ‘Follow me!’ He ran to his father, and Edward with him. Mr Lane Glover was concentrating very hard, and a light was shining from him. Phipps floated towards them once more, but Edward saw that she was repulsed by the light.
‘Hold off! Hold off!’ shouted Guy’s father. He was straining. Doctor Spawforth was rooted to the spot; he looked terrified. Lady Anne was seething. She said a few words which made the light dim, but Mr Lane Glover responded by making it brighter. ‘Now! Go!’ he shouted, and the two boys ran out as the light got so bright it was blinding. Edward didn’t stop to wonder how Lady Anne had known Guy’s father. And neither, for that matter, did Guy.
Fifteen
Mr Lane Glover followed the boys out of the operating theatre. He pulled the doors to, and to Edward’s relief nothing came out after him.
‘I knew it!’ said Guy’s father. ‘Now come on. We haven’t got much time. They won’t try anything again for a bit.’ They all raced down the corridor.
‘What were you doing in there, Dad?’ said Guy.
‘Getting the foul fiend off my back,’ replied his father. ‘This is kind of hard for me to explain. I … we … we used to mess around, a lot, with things that we didn’t really understand. Old books … powers. Not magic, because it isn’t. It’s more getting to know how the world works and then learning how to bend the rules a little … There are forces that you can manipulate. I just learned how to do that.’
‘Dad, that’s awesome! Why don’t you do it more often?’
‘You shouldn’t do it for your own gain, Guy, that’s something I learned very quickly, but something that –’ Mr Lane Glover stopped, and didn’t seem to want to carry on.
‘Never mind. You all right, Pollock?’ said Guy as they ran.
‘I’m fine,’ Edward panted.
‘I knew it!’ said Guy’s father, again.
They ran through the corridors and into the lifts. As the doors closed behind them, they caught their breaths.
Guy turned to Edward. ‘My dad’s got a lot to tell you.’
The lift came down to their floor. The passage was empty. It was early morning, sunlight filtering through the windows as if nothing had happened. The sounds of the hospital waking up could be heard–trolleys being trundled, nurses saying cheery good mornings. They slipped quietly into Mr Lane Glover’s room. It was even messier than it had been earlier.
Mr Lane Glover was in his towelling dressing gown. Guy spoke. ‘When you went to bed, Dad was really upset, and spent ages scrabbling around. I heard you shouting. I am not his yet. Something Dad said. I guessed something was up. I scoped out the corridor and saw them pushing you away, and Dad looked out and saw Lady Anne and he went crazy. We came after you as fast as we could …’
‘This Book that you’ve told Guy about,’ said his father. ‘It’s what I was looking for.’ He tightened his dressing gown.
‘So you know all about it?’
‘Everything in this room is a result of my research … it’s all here.’
‘So do you know what the Other Book does?’
‘Yes,’ said Guy’s father. He flapped his arms, a hawk on a falconer’s wrist. He told how the Other Book was used to influence the pattern of history and bring about the greater glory of mankind. It was the source of power of the de la Zouches. It was intertwined with them, part of their genetic coding. Years touched with gold hung around the Manor, from Saxon times before the Conquest, until the days of Charles II. All–except one–used it wisely, bringing beauty, knowledge, science and song to the land, keeping a small enclave of light even when all else was dark around.
But its other use–and its most important use–was against the creatures of the Other World, that howls around ours. The de la Zouche family was destined to guard the boundaries, the price they paid for the Other Book.
Wentlake had thought that he could merge the two worlds. He believed that there was a greater power in the Other World, which he would be able to control. He had gone far towards furthering his aim, but Merlin had prevented him at the last minute.
‘How do you know all this, Mr Lane Glover?’ said Edward.
‘Ferdinand, please. Believe me, I’ve read a lot about it. Funny that it was you … I remember something about a maiden finding it …’ He rooted around again. ‘Now come on. We should get going.’ He went behind a Chinese screen. The dressing gown appeared, flung over the top, and then his pyjamas. ‘Guy, hand me my clothes!’ Guy rushed to give them to him.
‘And how does Lady Anne fit in?’ said Edward.
Ferdinand stiffened at the name. ‘There is a poem by Tennyson in Idylls of the King, which started it all off for us … for me. It’s about Merlin and Vivien, and how Merlin was trapped in a tree for eternity by the enchantress.’
‘I know it!’ The poem rose from a dusty fold of Edward’s mind. He remembered that day by the river when Lady Anne read it to them. ‘Thou read the book, my pretty Vivien! … O ay, it is but twenty pages long … And every square of text an awful charm … And every margin scribbled with comment … And none can read the text, not even I; and none can read the comment but myself.’
‘That’s right!’ said Ferdinand, pulling on his trousers. ‘The book in the poem is the Other Book. But how did you come across the Book?’
Up till now Edward had kept it secret. It was a wrench for him. Talking to a dream knight is good evidence for lunacy. To his surprise, when he told them about Tristram de la Zouche, they didn’t even flinch.
Instead, Ferdinand seemed deliriously happy. ‘I came across him, too,’ he said. ‘But only in a manuscript. And you’ve been in direct contact with him … this is wonderful!’ He gave another whoop, and kicked his heels together. Guy looked at him and rolled his eyes, but he seemed a lot happier now. ‘But why didn’t you say this earlier? What did he tell you?’
‘He said it was my destiny to guard the Other Book, and to return it to the rightful owner.’
‘And did he tell you who that was?’
Edward shrugged. ‘Beats me.’
‘Well, they’re certainly hiding themselves from Lady Anne. Right, we’ll have to get this sorted out now. Let’s go.’ Edward noticed him looking pensively at Guy, who was lying on the bed on his back with his head hanging down to the ground.
Ferdinand was filled with a new purpose. His madness had evaporated.
‘We’ve got to get you out of here. We’ve got to carry out your task. Merlin and Vivien chose the Manor as a stronghold from where the Other Book could be used by their descendants–the Guardians. That is where we must go. In fact,’ he said, struggling with a tie, ‘the oak tree at
the Manor had the same parent as the one Vivien trapped Merlin in. It was planted as a reminder of Vivien’s seduction of Merlin, to warn all future Guardians against excess. For they both transgressed.’
Edward remembered Idylls of the King–the old wizard letting his emotions get the better of him, the seductress allowing her power-lust to take over.
‘They realised that there has to be a balance. So they poured their powers together. And now we must restore that power.’
Edward didn’t say that Tristram had left it up to him, that he was only a messenger from someone or something else. For the first time in his life he had felt truly powerful, with this magic in him. It didn’t bother him that it was someone else’s power. It would be hard to get rid of it. It would be painful for Lady Anne to get the Other Book out of him. It would be even more painful to see it given away or destroyed.
‘Right,’ said Ferdinand, throwing Edward an old jumper, ‘I’ll distract the nurse, and you two can slip out. Run and hide in the car. Here are the keys, OK?’
The boys nodded. Ferdinand cast his eyes around the room. ‘I can come back for all this later.’ He looked at himself in the mirror. He looked so different from when Edward had first seen him that it was hard to believe it was the same person.
They stepped out into the corridor. It stretched out on either side, empty. The only noises were the continual whine of the televisions, and the laughing of the inmates. It was half past eight. Ferdinand strode on ahead, confident, radiating sanity. He burst through the double doors and marched up to the desk. Another nurse had replaced the one Edward had seen before.
‘Good morning,’ said Guy’s father. ‘How are you?’ He asked her something which made her bend over the computer. Guy and Edward took the opportunity to slide round to the doors which led to the stairs. They were just going to burst through them when the doors flew open and Lady Anne and the Reverend stormed in. They were squashed against the wall behind the doors. Edward felt slightly ill.
‘And look! There is Ferdinand Lane Glover himself.’ Lady Anne was restrained, coiled. Her wrist flashed with jewels, points of light gathered at her throat. The boys held on to the door like limpets.
Ferdinand turned round, and with mock servility, said, ‘My Lady. How lovely to see you again.’ He reached out and took her hand, and she let him lower his lips to it, then retracted it slowly.
‘You have something of mine,’ said Lady Anne.
‘OK,’ said Edward quietly. ‘On the count of three … One … two …’ and on three he and Guy slid out and ran for it, banging the door behind them.
‘And there it goes,’ Edward heard Lady Anne say. ‘It’s time we solved this, Ferdy.’ The rest was cut off.
The boys pelted down the stairs and came out into a foyer. This one was a lot busier than the one upstairs, and seemed to be at the centre of the hospital. Hundreds of signposts leading to mysteriously named departments showed the way down a labyrinth; but they looked for one sign only, and that was the Exit. It wasn’t hard to merge into the crowd of people bustling around. They left the hospital. It was exquisite for Edward to breathe the clear air again.
They found the car park easily. Guy recognised his father’s sports car immediately, and they were soon in the back, looking out towards the hospital entrance, waiting for Ferdinand to appear.
‘Do you think he’d let me drive this?’ said Edward.
‘No way!’ said Guy. ‘He wouldn’t let God drive this car.’
As they caught their breath the hospital door swung open several times, and eventually Ferdinand came out, walking purposefully.
But behind him were Lady Anne and the Reverend, and they were making straight for the car. Mrs Phipps was floating behind them, a monstrous bat.
‘Quick,’ said Guy. ‘Help me.’
He started to pull at the back seat, and Edward tugged at it too, and they shifted it and pulled it and jigged it until it seemed they couldn’t jiggle it any more, and finally it came loose as Ferdinand was approaching, and they dived into the boot and pulled the seat back into position just as he opened the front door of the car.
‘Anne, I can assure you, I will not be able to help you, whatever you may offer me. And look, it seems the boys have run off, anyway.’
They sat, hunched up in the boot, Edward’s leg stuck in an awkward position beneath him, his elbow feeling as if it were about to break.
Ferdinand got in.
‘Thank you, Anne. I’m feeling a lot better. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve got to go and do something very important now.’
They were so squashed in the boot that Edward felt as if all his bones were going to be shattered. He didn’t know if it was because Guy’s legs were bent underneath him, or if when Edward shifted his weight from one elbow to another he knocked against the back of the seats, which in any case they hadn’t shut properly, but he found himself crushed, and suddenly the weight was too much for his elbow, and he was sprawling across the back, in full view of Lady Anne and the Reverend, peering through the window.
‘And who might this be?’ said Lady Anne.
Ferdinand didn’t stop to answer, but started the engine and put his foot down on the accelerator. As Edward scrambled into a more comfortable position he saw Lady Anne making ineffectual gestures at the car.
‘Forcefield,’ said Ferdinand. ‘Should last a bit. Well, that was cutting it bloody fine.’
Guy pushed Edward aside to climb on to the front seat.
They drove quickly. The radio was on full blast. Ferdinand didn’t seem to want to talk. His face was set in a grim expression, as if he was thinking hard. They were whizzing through places that Edward recognised–forests and fields that he’d often explored with his brothers and sisters. The names of villages on signposts were ones that he had read all his life, that were scored into his mental map. Their syllables were so friendly to see. It was such a relief to see these places again, after the sterile drabness of the hospital. Edward allowed himself some calm.
After they had been driving for about fifteen minutes, Ferdinand relaxed, and he turned the radio down. He let out a sigh of relief.
‘Field’s off. But they shouldn’t be anywhere near. Well,’ he said, turning in his seat to look at Edward, ‘you’ve seen that Lady Anne is a very dangerous person.’
‘How do you know her?’ asked Guy, with an edge of suspicion in his voice.
Ferdinand paused. His expression did not change. ‘I used to work with her.’ He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
‘When was that?’ said Guy.
‘A long time ago.’
They overtook a car, and the engine revved.
Ferdinand smirked. ‘It was fun, in the old days. And then Anne and I … we parted.’
‘Why? What happened?’
‘Stop your questioning,’ exclaimed Ferdinand, suddenly and fiercely, and Guy was cowed into silence–a feat Edward had never seen performed before.
It was lucky that they had both fallen silent, because Edward had been gazing intently at both of their faces, and now that a wall had been put up between father and son, he didn’t know where to look. So he laid his cheek against the glass of the window.
They were driving past a lay-by. In it was a brown car that he’d seen before at Oldstone Manor. As they sped by it, Edward saw seated in the front the malevolent Mrs Phipps.
‘Ferdinand!’ Edward said, fully expecting her to pull out.
‘What is it, Pollock?’ he said, shortly.
The car did nothing. Edward thought maybe it had been a trick of the light. How could it have been Mrs Phipps? he said to himself.
‘It’s … nothing,’ he continued out loud, lamely.
They drove on for a few more minutes, and soon passed another lay-by. In it was a hot dog van, and a few cars. Edward held his breath as they passed it. Sure enough, there was the car, and there was Mrs Phipps, blank-faced, buying a hot dog from the stand …
‘Er … Ferdinand …’ he said.
‘Something bothering you?’ said Ferdinand.
‘Mrs Phipps–I don’t know how she’s doing it, but she’s ahead of us. Even when we overtake her.’
‘Ahead of us?’
‘All the time–she’s been in the last two lay-bys.’
‘Oh dear God,’ said Ferdinand, and put his foot down on the accelerator. They drove into a narrow lane, which was more like a green tunnel than a road. They sped round a tight corner and came to a squealing halt. Mrs Phipps’s car was blocking the way. Edward was thrown forward against the front seat. Ferdinand and Guy had their seat belts on.
‘Get out, quickly, in case you have to run,’ said Ferdinand. ‘I’ll deal with her.’
Guy climbed out and Edward followed. ‘Stay behind the car,’ said Ferdinand. They hid themselves, but looked out over the bonnet to see what was going on.
A soft breeze blew on their cheeks. Some birds sang. Far off in the distance, cars zoomed by.
Mrs Phipps was much more like a human being than when she’d been in Edward’s hospital room. She was grim and determined, heading towards Ferdinand. Ferdinand stood firm and seemed to be drawing on some sort of power source, because Mrs Phipps hit an invisible barrier. She couldn’t get past, and floated up and down the edges of it.
‘What on earth is he doing?’ said Edward.
‘Looks like the same sort of thing he was doing in the hospital,’ said Guy. ‘Bending the rules, I guess.’
Ferdinand looked as if he wasn’t going to last much longer.
‘He’s weak,’ whispered Edward, straightening up, and he saw an expression of horror on Guy’s face.
Edward saw a jewel glinting, he smelled rich perfume in his nostrils, he felt expensive cloth on his skin.
Sixteen
Edward watched Ferdinand crumple to the ground, as if all the bones had been removed from his body. Guy had disappeared. There was a low muttering in his mind, coming from the Other Book. Again he wished that it could help him. He called for Tristram, but the knight did not answer.
The Other Book Page 14