Faerie Wars 02 - The Purple Emperor

by Brennan, Herbie

  'The direct portals aren't working any more,' Beleth corrected him. 'Demons can no longer reach the Faerie Realm - you're quite correct in that. But what's to stop a two-stage journey?'

  It hit Brimstone all at once. Beleth wanted him to open up a second portal! Not between Hael and the Analogue World, but between the Analogue World and the Faerie Realm. Or maybe more than one. Maybe dozens - scores - of portals between the Analogue World and the Faerie Realm; and probably a few more between the Analogue World and Hael.

  It was so simple! That way Beleth could invade the Faerie Realm any time he wanted to. All he had to do was send his troops via the Analogue World. And since nobody would suspect the existence of the new portals until they were actually used, Beleth and his demons could lay to waste the entire Realm before anybody even realised what was happening. It would be a disaster of the first magnitude. It would mean the end of the Faerie Realm as they knew it.

  'What's in it for me?' Brimstone asked.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN

  They stared down at the body.

  'We can't just leave him here,' Pyrgus said.

  'Yes, we can,' Nymph said firmly. 'Ochlodes was forest-born and soldier-trained. Any soldier who dies in the forest expects to be left where he fell. The trees take care of the body. That way his soul becomes part of the forest itself.'

  Henry chewed his upper lip. 'There aren't any trees down here,' he said. He was feeling ill. Ochlodes's death had been his fault.

  Nymph glared at him. 'It's still Ochlodes's belief.'

  Blue looked at Pyrgus. 'It's not as if we have any option.'

  Pyrgus moved away from her and turned to take in his surroundings. 'Is this the second level? Does anybody know how we got here? Did we fall into a trap?'

  Henry's mouth had gone dry. 'I think I -' He swallowed.

  Blue moved beside her brother and followed his gaze. She shook her head. 'This isn't the second level. It isn't any level.' She blinked. 'At least it doesn't look like a level to me.'

  'It's a service tunnel,' Comma said.

  They turned to stare at him.

  'Well, just look at it,' Comma said defensively. 'Look at the heating pipes on the walls. I bet if we follow this corridor, we'll find machinery that runs bits of the maze. Uncle Hairstreak would do it that way - it's cheaper than using spells all the time.'

  Blue glanced at Pyrgus. 'What do you think?' she asked quietly.

  'Why aren't there lights?' Pyrgus demanded aggressively. 'You wouldn't have a service tunnel without lights - it doesn't make sense.'

  '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.' Sh
e 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.'