The Purple Emperor fw-2

by Herbie Brennan

  'How should I know?' Comma muttered. 'Maybe this isn't the main service area. Maybe it's just a connecting passage. You wouldn't need lights in a connecting passage.'

  'What do you think, Nymph?' Pyrgus asked.

  'Does anyone know how we got here?' Nymph asked in her turn.

  'I did it,' Henry blurted.

  'Henry,' Blue said, 'I don't -'

  But Henry was sick to his heart with the need to confess. 'I did it,' he repeated. 'One of the torches – I was fiddling with a lev-Look, when we were coming down the stairs I noticed the torches were fake. I mean, I don't know about this stuff, but I was fiddling with one of them and it turned out to be a lever and I pulled it and the stairs opened up and we all fell through and I killed Ochlodes.' He finished close to tears.

  To his astonishment, nobody started shouting blame. Pyrgus said, 'A lever?'

  Henry nodded. He was watching Blue out of the corner of his eye, but she didn't seem upset by what he'd done.

  Pyrgus said, 'This must be a service tunnel. The engineers would know about the lever, but they wouldn't use it without a ladder or a portable suspensor spell.'

  'And a light,' Comma put in brightly.

  'But I ki-' Henry bit back the rest. He was learning that life and death were treated very differently in the Faerie Realm to the way they were at home. Ochlodes was just one more bit of guilt to add to his personal store. He thought briefly of Flapwazzle and shuddered.

  'OK,' Pyrgus said, 'let's see if Comma's right and this corridor leads to a machinery bay. But be careful. We don't know for sure yet. There could still be traps, so keep your eyes open.' He hesitated. 'But if this really is a service corridor then we've survived the maze and that's something we have Henry to thank for.'

  Henry blinked. He'd killed Ochlodes, and Pyrgus was saying he'd saved them all. In the turmoil of his emotions he found himself thinking he didn't belong here, in this Realm. He didn't have the courage or the toughness, or -

  Comma said, 'If it's a service tunnel there'll be a way out.' He grinned, happily.

  They began to move as a group down the corridor. Without any further discussion, they left Ochlodes's body where it lay.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY EIGHT

  It was incredible. There were Forest Faerie everywhere, swarming in the branches, squeezing in endless files of two or three from the boles of the larger trees. You could hear the tramp of their feet on the overhead roadways.

  There were hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands, ranging across the forest floor, arranging themselves rank on rank in clearings. All of them were armed: with bows, with javelins, with swords, with their ubiquitous, lethal little elf-bolts and, to Fogarty's great surprise, with ice cannon, disruptors, stone crackers and other heavy magical ordnance he didn't even recognise. It reminded him of the milling crowds at Dunkirk, except the faerie were less noisy. All the same, there was a steady hum throughout the forest, like a giant hive of bees.

  'She did this because I told her I had a feeling about Pyrgus,' Fogarty whispered, bemused. There was an army massing in the forest, one big enough to overthrow a kingdom. If these people ever decided to leave their beloved forest, no throne would be safe.

  'Don't flatter yourself, my deeah,' said Madame Cardui kindly. 'Queen Cleo has been teetering on the brink of attacking Hairstreak for weeks now. The only thing that's really held her back was the old worry about attracting attention. I expect she hoped Pyrgus might sort things out without any major forest involvement, but she never had much faith in the commando raid. All you did was tip the balance – it would never have taken much. I'm surprised she's held back so long.'

  'I'm not,' Fogarty sniffed. 'Her trees are safe unless the Hael portals open again. That may never happen.'

  'Oh, it's not just demons that worry her, Alan, whatever she said. She was never happy about Hairstreak building in the forest. He simply commandeered land and cut down trees. She was afraid it might start a fashion – others seizing land and building. She asked my advice about it at the time.'

  'What advice did you give her?' Fogarty asked curiously.

  'To wait and see.'

  Fogarty stared at the massing troops. 'Looks like she got tired of waiting.'

  CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE

  Harsh light flared, reducing Nymph's glowglobe to sudden insignificance. Henry started and both Pyrgus and Nymph raised their weapons in alarm, but Comma only crowed, 'I told you so!'

  They were in a control room – no doubt about it. The machinery was like nothing Henry had ever seen in his life, but it was definitely machinery. Much of it comprised tangles of transparent piping carrying different-coloured fluids and mists, but there were gleaming metal cabinets as well, some with switches and levers, and a massive semi-circular desk supporting banks of flashing lights. Above the desk was an illuminated plan of the maze flanked by screens showing segments of the structure itself. Henry noticed at once that one of them displayed the open staircase through which they'd fallen when he fiddled with the wall torch.

  'You're right,' Pyrgus said to Comma. 'This has to be a service area.'

  'A control room,' Blue said, half to herself. 'We could sabotage Hairstreak's whole set-up.'

  'Inadvisable,' Nymph said shortly.

  Blue rounded on her furiously. 'Why is it every time I say something you contradict me?'

  Nymph shrugged. 'I'm not sure I do, but in this instance I don't think your plan is advisable.' She met Blue's glare steadily.

  'I think there's something in that corner,' Henry whispered.

  There was a movement in the shadows between two cabinets. A hideous thought occurred to him. Supposing, despite all appearances, this wasn't a service area? Suppose it was still part of the maze, a cunning, subtle secret level designed to throw people off their guard? The control panel could be booby-trapped. All sorts of monsters could be hiding in the cupboards. More than anything, anything at all, Henry wished he knew how to use the sword they'd given him.

  They turned to stare. For the barest embarrassing moment, Henry wondered if he might have imagined it – his nerves were strung out, after all – but then the movement came again.

  'There is something there!' Blue hissed.

  'Yes,' Nymph agreed, stepping a pace to the right so that she was between the dark corner and Pyrgus. Pyrgus quietly moved around her.

  'What is it?' Comma asked. He didn't seem the least frightened, but then he'd treated the entire maze as if it were an entertainment.

  'It's probably a giant spider,' Henry muttered sourly. It would be just his luck to meet another one.

  But the thing that hurled itself from the gloom was not a giant spider.

  CHAPTER NINETY

  This was fun, Brimstone thought. With Beleth here, the demons did exactly what they were told in order to construct the second portal.

  And what a portal it was! In his whole life, Brimstone had never seen anything remotely like it. For a start it was big. Most portals allowed people through one or two at a time. But already there was a vaulting archway in the nave that would allow perhaps ten abreast. Beleth was obviously planning a full-scale invasion.

  The demons were working like… well, like demons. Bizarre wooden structures went up in an eye blink and were pulled down just as quickly. Brick thudded on brick, stone slammed on stone, metal discs were cemented home and copper wiring snaked through the entire structure. It was a new design. Beleth must have created the prototype in Hael and instructed his team exactly how to build it.

  Three demons dragged a cable from outside the church and attached it expertly to the new portal. They scampered across to prostrate themselves at Beleth's feet.

  'Finished, Your Gloriousness,' one said.

  Beleth reached out to throw a switch. A massive blue-white bolt of lightning crackled along the cable. As it reached the portal, the wire mesh flared and melted, leaving a shimmering green forcefield between the pillars.

  The ranks of armoured demons began to march towards it.


  CHAPTER NINETY ONE

  Palaemon raised his lance and Nymph stepped forward with her bow.

  Henry gave a panic-stricken scream. 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' But it was already too late to shoot. Flapwazzle was clinging to him like a hairy chest and anything that hit Flapwazzle would hurt Henry too. 'It's Flapwazzle!' Henry shouted, hugging the endolg. 'It's Flapwazzle!'

  'Relax,' Pyrgus said. 'It's an endolg.' He grinned. 'Hi, fella!'

  Both Palaemon and Nymph reluctantly stood down.

  'It's Flapwazzle,' Henry said again, beaming. 'I thought you were dead, Flapwazzle. What are you doing here?'

  'Saving your hide as usual,' Flapwazzle told him sourly.

  Henry hung on every word as Flapwazzle told them what happened. The tidal wash in the sewers had carried the endolg past Henry's refuge and along the main pipework until the system took a right-hand bend. At that point, Flapwazzle was smashed into the brickwork. When he regained consciousness, he was floating in the river.

  'Endolgs are quite difficult to drown,' he told them seriously. 'We don't use much air at the best of times and we can actually extract a little oxygen out of water, like fish. We die underwater eventually, but it takes a while.'

  'What did you do then?' Henry asked excitedly. 'After you woke up in the river?'

  'Swam for shore,' Flapwazzle told him. 'What do you think I did?'

  But the nearest shore, as it happened, was Palace Island. Flapwazzle dried himself out in the sun -endolgs are slow movers when waterlogged – then returned to the palace in the hope of finding Henry.

  'That was very brave of you,' Henry said, smiling at Flapwazzle. 'Considering Quercusia wants to lock you up.'

  Flapwazzle made the rippling movement Henry took for a shrug. 'She has the attention span of a lettuce. Besides, she's locked up again herself now.'

  Comma said, 'Mother's been locked up again?' He looked, if anything, relieved.

  'What happened?' Henry asked.

  'I'm not sure.' Flapwazzle had slid down from Henry now and was talking to them from the floor. 'Somebody said the order came from Cossus Cossus, Lord Hairstreak's Gatekeeper.'

  Pyrgus looked at Blue. 'Hairstreak must have found her more trouble than she was worth.'

  'She's mad. She's been mad for years. You can't have a mad woman on the loose, giving orders. I can't believe Comma let her out in the first place,' Blue said.

  'She's not mad,' Comma said. 'You've always had it in for her.' He sounded sulky, but not altogether convinced.

  'Well,' Pyrgus said, 'one less thing to worry about.'

  'What happened, Flapwazzle?' Henry asked quickly. 'When you went into the palace to look for me?'

  'The Sisters of the Silk Guild told me what had happened to you. I knew you wouldn't find the Purple Emperor in the palace -'

  'How did you know?' Pyrgus interrupted Flapwazzle.

  'Overheard some guards talking. They'd taken the Emperor to Hairstreak's mansion. I figured you'd find out eventually, so I came here.'

  'Yes, but how did you know we were in the maze?'

  'I didn't,' Flapwazzle said. 'I got lost and ended up in the ventilation ducts. I was trying to back out again when I saw you on one of the view screens.'

  Henry couldn't stop grinning. 'That was clever of you, Flapwazzle.'

  'Anyway,' Flapwazzle said, 'once I got here and figured out the controls, I tracked you and switched off traps wherever I could.'

  Nymph said, 'I don't suppose you know a way out, do you, Flapwazzle?'

  And Flapwazzle said, 'Oh, yes – that door there.'

  CHAPTER NINETY TWO

  'Now we're quits,' said Beleth.

  Brimstone watched the marching soldiers disappear ten abreast through the gigantic portal. This was no commando raid: it was a full-scale demonic invasion. It occurred to him he needed to get back to the Realm as quickly as possible. Apart from anything else, he wanted to watch the fun.

  'Can I go now?' he asked Beleth sharply.

  Beleth stretched and metamorphosed into his huge, red, muscular, horned form. Presumably he planned to join the fun himself. 'Your work for me is done. Go!'

  'Use that?' Brimstone asked, nodding towards the portal.

  'If you wish.'

  Brimstone gathered his belongings and joined the next rank of marching soldiers. As he reached the portal, he wondered suddenly where it opened in the Faerie Realm.

  'This is what I call style,' said Fogarty, grinning like a ten-year-old. He was being carried in a sedan chair by two burly Forest Faeries, who must have been using spell assistance to judge from the cracking pace they kept up.

  The entire forest floor throbbed beneath the feet of Forest Faerie, thousands upon thousands of them dressed in military green. Every face seemed to hold a look of calm determination. 'I think it's more of an extermination,' Fogarty said.

  'A lot of troops… ' Madame Cardui said, looking around again.

  'I think,' said Fogarty, 'the idea is to raze Hairstreak's mansion to the ground.'

  'Yes, I know. He has guards, of course, but I'm not sure I understand why we need quite so many soldiers. We must outnumber his people several hundred to one.'

  Fogarty wrinkled his nose. 'As I understand it, Queen Cleo wants to strike hard and fast, win in as short a time as possible. Then the mansion is demolished brick by brick – she can't burn it down because of the trees – demolished, maybe even buried. Now you see it, now you don't. After that her people melt back into the trees, leaving behind a mystery. She's hoping a disappearing mansion will discourage anybody else from building in her forest.'

  'Mmm,' said Madame Cardui. 'Perhaps.'

  Fogarty glanced at her sideways. 'What's worrying you, Cynthia?'

  'Oh, I'm not exactly worried, deeah. Perhaps… a little concerned. It's just that in my experience, once one sets a force this size marching, one always finds some reason to keep it going.'

  Fogarty peered through the trees ahead. 'Well, we'll soon find out,' he said. 'I think we're nearly at the mansion now.'

  Colias, the anaesthetic wizard, dropped two cones and broke a third before he managed the spell. God alone knew what was wrong with the man. Anaesthetics weren't exactly rocket science. You cracked a cone -the damn things were self-starting – and aimed it in the right direction. That was it. A trained monkey could do it.

  Chalkhill watched the sparkling cloud wind sinuously across the room to descend first upon the Purple Emperor, then on himself. He sighed deeply as the tiny pinpricks of light penetrated his body. In a moment the anaesthetic would kick in, carrying him out of his body on clouds of bliss while the surgery was carried out. Soon it would all be over. He'd be rid of the garrulous Cyril -

  'This will kill you, mark my words,' Cyril murmured, but without much force or conviction.

  – and Hairstreak would once again be in his debt. There were worse places to be in. Much worse. He waited.

  He was still in his body.

  He waited.

  Still no clouds of bliss. But of course time always crawled when you were in a state of anticipation.

  He waited.

  An errant thought occurred to him. That old idiot, who ruined three spell cones before he even managed to crack one, had probably made the cones in the first place.

  'That should do,' said Hairstreak abruptly. He nodded to Mountain Clouded Yellow. 'You can start the operation now.'

  Chalkhill pinched himself. It hurt like hell. He tried to sit up, but the straps restrained him easily. He tried to shout, to warn the surgeon he was nowhere nearly ready, but a sunburst of fear caused the words to gurgle in his throat.

  The psychic surgeon, Mountain Clouded Yellow, moved with terrifying speed to plunge his hands into the abdomen of the Purple Emperor and rip the bloody opening that would become the new home of the wyrm.

  The Purple Emperor screamed.

  They were in the vast natural cavern, but outside the obsidian maze. Pyrgus looked around him with a curious tightness in his stoma
ch. Above him, huge rafts, hung by sensor technology, floated below the ceiling, each accessed by a branching suspensor shaft. One of them supported a vast room with transparent walls: obviously an observation chamber where spectators could watch death stalk the maze. Beside it -

  'There's something moving up there,' Blue said quietly.

  Pyrgus suddenly realised how vulnerable they were. When the party emerged there had been a general flood of relief that they had escaped from the obsidian maze at last, but now they were exposed – a small, tightly-bunched group on the featureless sweep of the cavern floor. If they were discovered, Hairstreak's men could pick them off in minutes.

  Nymph must have had the same thought, for she said, 'Crown Prince, we need cover.'

  Pyrgus said, 'We need to get out of here. Hairstreak won't be holding my father underground. It's dangerous to talk to -' He stopped abruptly, licked his lips.

  'Can any of you see a way out?'

  'I think that's a staircase over there,' Henry said.

  He was right. 'Keep low and keep moving!' Pyrgus said. 'Henry, grab Comma's hand. All of you – quietly as possible.'

  As a party they made a run for the cut-stone staircase. They had almost reached it when a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the cavern.

  'That's Daddy!' Blue exclaimed at once.

  CHAPTER NINETY THREE

  It was hideously dangerous, but they crowded into the suspensor shaft. (Henry spotted the entrance to that one as well: Henry was getting very good at spotting things.) Standard suspensor spells were set to lift a maximum of three people with a ten per cent margin of error, besides which there was the probability of meeting Hairstreak's guards either in the shaft itself or when they stepped out.

  But after the single scream no one hesitated. For an instant the spell strained, lifted, trembled, then shot them upwards abruptly. Comma squeaked in alarm, but only seconds later they reached a floating platform that fanned out a network of walkways. One led to an empty observation chamber. Another wound towards an open archway, through which appeared a horrifying scene.