Ruler of the Realm

by Herbie Brennan

  ‘Who?’ asked Pyrgus quickly.

  ‘Somebody they call the Fluid Dark. I’ve never heard of them before – have you?’

  Pyrgus shook his head. ‘Probably another tribal grouping. Not our fight. Unless we get caught up in it.’

  ‘I don’t think Nagel’s planning to fight – he’s hoping to avoid one. He wants us to keep low, keep under cover and keep still whenever he gives the signal.’

  ‘Suits me,’ Pyrgus said.

  The order to keep low and keep still came nearly fifteen minutes later. Pyrgus found himself crouched behind a rock with Nymph. He peered cautiously around, but could see nothing of the Fluid Dark. All the same, every Trinian seemed to have vanished. The way they blended with this countryside was uncanny. He wondered suddenly how they lived here. Since he stepped into the wasteland he’d not seen a single plant; nor animal, come to that, except for the thing Innatus was supposed to have made.

  Nymph said casually, ‘Did you mean it?’

  ‘Mean what?’ Pyrgus asked.

  Nymph said soberly, ‘That we were engaged to be married.’

  Pyrgus felt a flaring of emotions, not least of them panic. ‘I, ah – I, ah – I, ah …’ he said.

  ‘Oh, I know you only said it to save me from Nagel and Innatus, and that was very chivalrous of you.’ She hesitated. ‘But I was wondering …’

  ‘You were wondering?’ Pyrgus echoed.

  Nymph nodded. ‘Yes, I was.’ She held his eye.

  When he realised she wasn’t going to say anything else, Pyrgus said, ‘I, ah …’ He licked his lips and then surprised himself. ‘I’d … like to.’ He grinned sheepishly and felt like an idiot and didn’t care. If this went any further, Blue would kill him. His grin widened. He still didn’t care.

  ‘What about Gela?’ Nymph asked him.

  Pyrgus’s grin disappeared. She already knew about Gela, so denial wasn’t possible. He sorted quickly through a hundred lies, then heard his mouth say something that was very nearly true. ‘Nothing happened.’

  ‘But you were attracted?’

  ‘Yes, but nothing happened.’

  ‘So you didn’t …?’

  ‘Oh, no. Oh, no, definitely not.’ Then, because truth between them was suddenly important, he said, ‘Well, I kissed her once, sort of, and she …’

  The ghost of a smile was playing across Nymph’s lips. ‘Kissed you back?’

  ‘Punched me on the nose,’ said Pyrgus; and this time they both laughed out loud.

  Eighty-four

  They were hand in hand as they crept to the top of the rise to spy out what the Trinians called the Fluid Dark.

  Pyrgus froze. Beneath them, stretched for miles across the desert plain, were Beleth’s demon legions. They stood waiting with inhuman patience, armed and armoured. Hell hounds crouched by every foot. Lines of giant transport beetles carried heavy armaments. A city of tents provided shelter.

  The red reflection of the magma flows on metal surfaces made it look as if they’d never left their native Hael.

  Eighty-five

  Blue asked, ‘Do you trust him?’

  Fogarty shook his head. ‘Hairstreak? Of course I don’t trust him.’

  Madame Cardui said, ‘Except he’s telling the truth about Beleth’s legions. They’ve already entered the Realm.’

  Blue stared at her in surprise. ‘Why didn’t I know about this?’

  Madame Cardui said mildly, ‘Pyrgus only called in and confirmed it a few minutes ago. After Lord Hairstreak arrived. From his description, it’s not just a few demons. It sounds like the entire demon army – a much stronger attack force than anything they’ve ever mustered here before. With that amount of help from Beleth, the Faeries of the Night will win the war. Probably within weeks.’

  Blue felt the entire weight of her office pressing down on her. This was a mess. It was getting worse. And a small voice deep inside her kept insisting it was all her fault. If she hadn’t put a Countdown in place, her uncle might not have ordered the Nighters to attack. But if she hadn’t gone to see her uncle in the first place, the demons might not have had a chance to kidnap her and she wouldn’t have learned about their plans.

  Except she didn’t know enough about their plans. She couldn’t remember Henry saying anything about whether Beleth’s plans involved the Faeries of the Night. Or when he planned to attack. She needed Henry here to make it clear, if he could. In the meantime …

  ‘You don’t believe Lord Hairstreak then?’

  Madame Cardui sighed, shook her head, then shrugged. ‘I simply don’t know. None of this is making much sense. The Nighters have been allied with Hael for generations. Why should it be any different now?’

  ‘Why would Hairstreak claim it’s different now?’ Gatekeeper Fogarty put in. ‘He says the demon invasion has nothing to do with him or any of the Nighters.’

  ‘My deeah, I would not believe a thing Lord Hairstreak said if he swore it on his mother’s grave.’

  ‘Neither would I normally,’ Fogarty agreed. ‘But that man is frightened and I’ve never seen him frightened before. You heard what he said. He doesn’t just want peace between the Lighters and Nighters – he’s asked for an alliance against Beleth. He’s never done that before.’

  ‘Or ever needed to,’ Blue mused thoughtfully. She looked at Madame Cardui. ‘Get Henry here.’

  ‘Henry, deeah?’

  A horrifying thought leaped into Blue’s mind. ‘You have released him, haven’t you? He’s not still under sentence of death?’

  ‘No, of course not, deeah. He’s in the infirmary recovering from his little operation.’

  ‘Then bring him here now, Cynthia,’ Blue hissed impatiently. ‘He’s the one who can tell us if this offer’s genuine. He’ll know exactly what the demons are planning – he was linked to the Haelmind.’

  ‘What’s the Hellmind?’ Fogarty asked.

  Blue ignored him. She was still looking at Madame Cardui. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘I’m afraid Henry will be under sedation.’

  Much as she loved Madame Cardui, Blue could have killed her. But murder was a luxury she couldn’t afford at that moment. ‘When will he wake up?’

  ‘Probably not soon enough,’ said Madame Cardui. ‘It may be that we’re going to have to make this decision without him.’

  Blue fought hard to get her anger under control. ‘Very well. Send somebody to check. In the meantime, what’s your opinion?’

  ‘Beleth’s forces are massed in the Eastern Desert,’ Madame Cardui said. ‘Exactly where they need to be to aid Yammeth Cretch.’

  ‘Or invade it,’ Fogarty pointed out. He parked his backside on the arm of a chair and said, ‘Let’s just look at what we’ve got, see if that makes it any clearer. OK with you, Blue?’

  Blue nodded.

  Fogarty began to tick points on his fingers. ‘First, Beleth’s army is camped in the Eastern Desert. His whole army; a massive attack force.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Lord Hairstreak says this has nothing to do with him. He didn’t call on Beleth, he didn’t ask for Beleth’s help, he didn’t know the Hael portals had reopened. When he found out the demons were there … what? … he decided Beleth was about to attack him and came here to ask for our help? That doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Which is what I said, deeah. Surely if your old ally turns up again, you race out to welcome him with open arms? Why did His Lordship not do that?’

  ‘Is Hairstreak still in the palace?’

  Madame Cardui nodded. ‘Refused to leave, even after Blue dismissed him. He’s in an antechamber now, hoping we will talk to him again.’

  Fogarty said, ‘Then let’s ask him.’

  Hairstreak, when he entered, looked as if he hadn’t slept for months, but he still managed to retain his composure.

  ‘Have you seen sense yet?’ he snapped at Blue.

  Fogarty cut across him. ‘When you discovered Beleth had arrived, why didn’t you send someone to meet him?’ he a
sked bluntly. ‘He’s your old ally, after all.’

  Hairstreak gave a small, cold smile. ‘Oh, I did. Of course I did. I assumed he was here to help our cause – the Nighter cause, that is. So I sent Burgundy to greet him, escort the demons into Yammeth City.’ The smile turned into a chill, hollow laugh. ‘It seemed like an extraordinary piece of luck.’

  After a moment, Madame Cardui said, ‘And what happened?’

  Hairstreak looked her directly in the eye. ‘He sent me back Burgundy’s head in a sack.’

  Eighty-six

  It was strange, Blue thought: Hairstreak suddenly looked small. He was still the same man, but he seemed strangely shrunken, as if life was leaking out of him like a punctured balloon. As Mr Fogarty said, there was fear in his eyes. She’d never seen her uncle afraid before.

  Madame Cardui said, ‘They have not attacked Yammeth City …?’ She was speaking of Beleth’s demon hordes. It was half musing, half a question.

  ‘Not yet,’ Hairstreak said.

  ‘Or anywhere else in the Cretch?’

  Hairstreak shook his head. He was answering Cynthia, but his eyes were on Blue.

  Blue said nothing, watching and waiting. She was hoping against hope something would come out of the discussion that would clear her mind. But all she could think of was that here they were, holding a strategy conference with her uncle. Even as a child she’d been taught to think of him as her wicked uncle, like a character in a mythic tale. Now, suddenly, he wasn’t the enemy any more and nor were the Faeries of the Night. Or so it seemed.

  ‘Why do you think that is?’ Madame Cardui asked. ‘It seems he has his forces well in place. No more than an hour’s march from your city walls from what I understand.’

  ‘And why did he tip his hand by killing Burgundy?’ Fogarty put in. ‘Why not just accept your invitation, bring his whole army in from the cold and then attack you by surprise from inside your defences? That’s what I’d have done.’

  Hairstreak shrugged. ‘Perhaps he is waiting for you to do his dirty work.’

  Fogarty leaned forward. ‘Assuming I believe you, why should he turn against his old friends? Faeries of the Night and Hell have been pals for centuries. Beleth has provided you with demon servants, demon labour, God knows what else, in return for …’ He trailed off, suddenly unsure.

  ‘Not quite an accurate assessment, Gatekeeper Fogarty,’ Hairstreak said coldly. ‘Beleth never willingly gave us anything. Generations ago, our wizards developed techniques for compelling demons into certain pacts. The filth have been our servants ever since. Faeries of the Light could have had the same benefits, but they elected not to do so out of some … misplaced sense of morality, I suppose. I’ve never understood the thinking myself.’ He turned his attention back to Blue. ‘I’m no historian, but I understand it was the demon question that caused the split between us in the first place.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you can compel them now?’ Blue asked suddenly.

  Hairstreak smiled coldly. ‘There are more than a million demons in the Eastern Desert. That is a number well beyond compulsion.’

  ‘So you think this is his revenge for centuries of exploitation?’ There was a wicked glint in Fogarty’s eye.

  If her uncle had a sense of humour, it didn’t show. ‘Oh, I don’t think it’s us he’s after,’ he said soberly.

  ‘Very well,’ said Fogarty briskly. ‘What do you think he’s planning?’

  Hairstreak looked from one to the other. ‘I think he was waiting for war to break out between the Faeries of the Night and the Light.’

  ‘Which it has,’ Blue put in. ‘Thanks to your preemptive strike.’

  Hairstreak’s eyes flashed. ‘I was not the one to instigate a Countdown, niece.’

  Madame Cardui said smoothly, ‘Perhaps we should allow your uncle to continue, Majesty. After all, he has more experience of demons than we have.’ She glanced at Hairstreak and smiled sweetly.

  ‘Go on, Uncle,’ Blue said shortly. ‘Beleth’s plans …?’

  Hairstreak said, ‘I do not believe he will intervene in the war. I think it is completely irrelevant to him who wins it. When the war is finished, he will attack the victor, confident in the knowledge that the victor has been weakened by the conflict. In that way, Beleth plans to take the entire Realm.’

  It sounded hideously plausible. But then many of Hairstreak’s most devious schemes had seemed hideously plausible too. Blue still wasn’t sure she trusted him.

  ‘How do you think we can stop him?’

  Hairstreak shrugged. ‘You know my proposal. An immediate military alliance between the Nighters and the Lighters. Our combined forces can then attack Beleth in the desert and, hopefully, drive him back to Hael where he belongs.’

  Gatekeeper Fogarty suddenly asked, ‘Why don’t you use your time flowers against him?’

  ‘What time flowers?’ Hairstreak asked.

  Eighty-seven

  ‘Do you believe him?’ Gatekeeper Fogarty asked as soon as they were alone.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Blue said. ‘I wish Flapwazzle was here.’ A thought struck her and she asked, ‘Where is he? Did he get away from Lord Hairstreak?’

  Madame Cardui nodded. ‘Came back safely, then went out hunting. They do that when they’re tense. I think the business with Henry and the vampire unnerved him. He’s terribly fond of Henry.’

  ‘Light’s sake, isn’t Henry awake yet?’ Blue demanded.

  ‘Soon, deeah, I promise.’

  Gatekeeper Fogarty said impatiently. ‘We can check with Henry later. In the meantime, do we believe Hairstreak?’ He looked from one face to the other.

  Madame Cardui said slowly, ‘I suspect I do.’

  They turned to look at her. ‘Including the bit about the time flowers?’ Fogarty asked.

  ‘I’m not sure about that, Alan. But I suppose what he says could be true. Pyrgus had his information from Ogyris’s daughter, who’s scarcely more than a child – not the most reliable of sources. Perhaps Merchant Ogyris was growing the flowers for his own use. Perhaps he planned to sell them to the highest bidder.’

  ‘Perhaps the highest bidder was Beleth,’ Blue suggested. In the present situation, almost anything seemed possible.

  Fogarty blinked. ‘Henry used a time flower to kidnap Blue. We assumed he had it from Lord Hairstreak, but we know now that Henry was working for the demons. He had to have it from them, which means Ogyris was supplying Beleth.’

  Madame Cardui shuddered. ‘If that’s the case, we are all lost.’

  Blue said, ‘This is ridiculous. We need Henry. How can I be expected to decide something like this when he can tell us the answer? I’m going to the infirmary myself to see if his sedation has worn off. If it hasn’t, I’ll order the wizards to wake him.’

  ‘We’ll go with you,’ Fogarty said hurriedly.

  They found Henry wandering the corridors outside the infirmary. He had a bandage on his nose and a vacant expression on his face. He smiled shyly when he saw Blue.

  It took them less than a minute to discover he had no memory of anything that had happened to him after the demons inserted their implant.

  Blue sighed deeply. ‘Tell my uncle he’s going to have to wait until tomorrow for his answer. I think we need to sleep on it.’

  Eighty-eight

  Hairstreak left the palace in a fury. How dare that stupid child treat him in this manner! How dare she refuse to listen when the future of the Realm was at stake! Time was running out – couldn’t she see that? The demons might attack at any time, perhaps in an hour, perhaps tonight. Yet he was supposed to wait another day before he could act – or however long it took the brat to make up her mind. No wonder the Empire was in such a mess. No wonder Beleth had decided to seize his opportunity.

  The thought of Beleth increased his anger. The treachery of the creature was almost beyond belief. Except that he should have anticipated it. You could never trust a demon. But self-recriminations were pointless. The question was, what to do now? />
  His escort fell in around him as he left the Purple Palace. Hairstreak was under no illusions: the situation was grim, far more grim than young Queen Blue realised. The trouble was, Lighters never appreciated the truth about demons. Demons were dangerous. You could never afford to forget they had their own agenda. Which was exactly what he’d done himself. It was going to take some very fancy footwork to avoid paying dearly for that small mistake.

  He ordered his transport to be flown directly to the caverns – the western entrance was just big enough for him to land. If anything resembled a stroke of luck in the present sorry circumstances, it was the fact that Hamearis was now dead. Not that Hairstreak wouldn’t miss him – they’d been through a lot together – but with Burgundy out of the way, Hairstreak was now unequivocally in charge of the entire Nighter military effort. No one would question his decisions. Or his orders.

  He left the flyer and strode out on to the main cavern floor. The Nighter reinforcements were stretched before him, waiting as patiently as the demons in the desert. There was much less of a bustle than the last time he’d been here. All the preparations had been made, all supplies and armaments laid in and readied. It was an army awaiting final orders, as close to action as a drawn bow. The question was, what order to give.

  So far, Hairstreak had held this vast army in reserve. But he would have to commit it soon. He was furious with Blue. If she’d only understood the urgency of the situation, his decision was made. An alliance against the demons was the only sensible course. Everything else was madness. Yet that madness might be forced on him. Could he afford to wait until tomorrow? And what if Blue decided to reject a treat? Should he throw the rest of his forces against the Faeries of the Light? Or should he turn them first on Beleth’s legions?

  There were close on a million demons waiting in the desert. The creatures had no fear of death. Once they marched, they were relentless as ants. They kept coming, wave after wave, however many you killed. More to the point, if Beleth had managed to portal in an entire army, he could portal reinforcements if the need arose. There were an awful lot of demons in Hael. Another million fighting demons would be nothing to him, or another two, or three or even ten. The possibilities were too hideous to contemplate. The only hope would be to score a fast, decisive victory, then close the portals before Beleth could react. Close them, sabotage them, keep them closed. For ever, if possible. The Nighters could do without their demon servants. The price had just grown too high to pay.