‘But if she knows, others must know! They could be here at any time! We have to leave!’ Perroquet was flustered and not a little frightened. ‘John! John!’ he called.
John came from the room Perroquet had just left. He stopped and eyed Jenny. His look was cold, and when he spoke, his voice was colder still.
‘I was afraid you might put things together, though I am surprised you did so as quickly as this. I’m sorry you did, Jenny. I do not bear you any ill will. In fact, I’d have liked very much to have you as an apprentice – though I’m sure you wouldn’t accept. Perroquet, we’re leaving. Now.’ He kept his eyes on Jenny but spoke to Jack. ‘Where are you taking her?’
‘To see your father, of course!’ Jack laughed. ‘She’ll finish her apprenticeship before even starting it!’
John turned wordlessly and went to pack.
‘He lied,’ Jenny said. ‘Did he tell you that the astrolabe was the major key or the minor key?’
John stopped. ‘What do you know of it?’ he asked.
Jenny ignored the question. ‘Which did he tell you?’
Perroquet’s face appeared over John’s shoulder. ‘The major key.’
Jenny shrugged. ‘He didn’t lie, then. I thought he would. He must be very sure you don’t have the middle key. Perhaps you do.’
Perroquet pushed past John and grabbed Jenny by the shoulder. Jack tried to pull her back but Perroquet held on. There was a hint of panic in his voice.
‘What do you mean, the middle key? There is no middle key! You’re lying!’ he shouted.
‘Of course I am,’ said Jenny. ‘May I see Master Antrobus now?’
Perroquet let go of her arm. He seemed uncertain.
‘She’s trying to trick us!’ he shouted. ‘Now she would have us believe that there isn’t a middle key!’
‘Of course there isn’t, you fool!’ John yelled at Perroquet. ‘Can’t you see what she’s doing? Jack, take her down to my father. Let them die together.’
Perroquet grabbed Jack’s arm. Jack sneered and pulled his arm away.
‘You will not take her until I know!’ Perroquet cried. He turned on John angrily. ‘I have spent twenty years of my life trying to finding this! I’ve spent my fortune and that of anyone else I could cheat. I’ve taken lives. I’ve brought Cleve to the brink of war. I will not risk being wrong when I’m so close!’ His face was contorted with rage. He reached under his cloak and drew out a dagger with a long, narrow blade and waved it at John. ‘You’ve only spent a few years. I have spent my whole life seeking this! You were nothing but a tool to get at your father. I can discard you as easily as I picked you up!’ He pointed the knife at Jack. ‘Get Antrobus up here!’
Jack looked querulously at John. The young man studied Cleve’s alchemist. Jenny shivered at the cold indifference in his gaze. Perroquet’s rage was fear and panic and noise. John’s anger was dispassionate, ruthless and quiet. He was a head shorter than Perroquet but John seemed to loom over his accomplice.
Jack watched, almost amused. John turned to him.
‘Do it,’ he said evenly.
‘Milly!’ Jack shouted. Milly stepped into the crowded hallway. ‘Bring the old man,’ he ordered. ‘And tell Seth and Walt to get ready to leave.’ She raised her eyes and shrugged, then went to get their prisoner.
John looked at Perroquet. He spoke quietly. ‘You promised that he would never know what I had done. I hoped we would be able to let him live, but if not, then I would rather he die not knowing I betrayed him. Now, you let this slip of a girl fool you and I have to face my father just to prove you’re an idiot! You’ve broken your word, Perroquet. I can’t trust you. I shall have to decide what to do about you.’
Perroquet had recovered some of his self-control. He stood close to John, and looked down on him. ‘Do you threaten me, Antrobus?’ he blustered. ‘You’re just a boy! Careful, or you’ll have no place to go! Cleve welcomes you because I asked that they do!’
John didn’t look up. He glanced past Perroquet’s shoulder and gave a single nod. Jack let go of Jenny. His right hand dipped to his belt and he drew his dagger. In almost the same motion, he thrust it into Perroquet’s back, right to the hilt. It was a practised movement. Perroquet dropped the saddle pouch and crumpled. He was dead before his body touched the floor.
John looked down at the body.
‘Cleve welcomes me because another wishes it, Perroquet,’ he whispered to the corpse. ‘Now that Cleve has a new alchemist, you are not required.’
Milly returned, leading Antrobus. Jenny nearly wept when she saw him; he was dirty, ragged and thin. His eyes were still adjusting to the light but he saw John and his eyes gleamed with hope.
‘John! Thank –’ said Antrobus. And then John killed his father’s hope.
He silently signalled Jack. The outlaw pinned Jenny from behind and laid his dagger, still dripping with Perroquet’s blood, across her neck. John looked at his father.
‘Tell me the truth. One question, one answer. If it’s the wrong answer, Jack will slit her throat.’
Antrobus struggled to comprehend. He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I-I-I don’t understand ... What have you to do with this, John? What are you doing with Jenny?’
‘Cut her. Just a little,’ John ordered Jack.
Jenny felt a hot, stinging pain as Jack nicked her throat.
‘Now do you understand?’ he said to his father. Antrobus looked at him blankly. John gave a sigh of exasperation. ‘Then listen. I – and my dead best friend there – have been behind everything. We haven’t much time – I really do have to go – so listen carefully. Master Perroquet was the one who had Uncle William killed. He followed William’s travels quite closely, and told me that the night he succeeded in stealing Morien’s manuscript was both the best and worst night of his life. He was overjoyed at getting the manuscript but then dismayed to find he couldn’t decipher it. But he also couldn’t take the chance that William had copied the manuscript. If he had, and then found the key, Perroquet wouldn’t be the only one with the secret. The power of knowledge diminishes with each person who shares it. And that definitely didn’t suit our plans. It was easier, then, to kill William.’ John smiled grimly. ‘Our family is apparently tough to kill. William survived several attempts.
‘Then you started looking for the key. By that time, other things had happened in my life. I approached Perroquet. He always thought it as the other way round, but we – my other partner and I – sought him out. He was the tool, not me. Once I had allowed him to persuade me to enter into a partnership with him, it was easy to convince him that it was simpler to let you find the key, and then steal it from you. I knew you were smarter than Perroquet and were much more likely to succeed than him. And I was right. So we asked Jack here – who has been very useful to us on other matters – to steal the key.’ John glared at Jack. ‘It seems, though, that Jenny was a little too much for some of his men,’ he said pointedly.
*
Frida was staring at the front of the house on the corner. It had been almost ten minutes since Jenny had gone through the front door and the sun had almost set. Perhaps she was now a prisoner. What had possessed her to go into the house? What did she expect Emily and her to do? Was she waiting for her friends to do ... something? But what? Frida couldn’t stand it any longer.
‘I’m going to have a look,’ she said to Emily. ‘I’ll go round the back.’
‘Frida! You can’t!’ Emily protested. ‘Not without me!’
*
Jenny couldn’t bear the pain and the disbelief she saw on Antrobus’s face as he listened to John. If Milly had not been holding him, he would have crumpled to the floor. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.
John also saw his father’s pain. ‘I never set out to hurt you. But there’s too much at stake. You know far more than I’d imagined. I thought you had no secrets from me, but you did. I should have known. I even told Jenny that night at dinner. The habit of secrets runs deep in every
alchemist.’
‘But why –’ Jenny started but Jack pressed the knife slightly to silence her.
‘No, Jack. Let her speak,’ John said.
‘But why try to kill Master Antrobus in Queerwood? He didn’t even have the key then!’
John stared scornfully at Perroquet’s body. ‘Because he was a fool who thought he was clever. He thought he could kill two birds with a single stone. With my father dead, I could take his place. Whoever my father was dealing with to get the key would come to me. And it would suit the other plans to cause distrust between Cleve and Vale. Then Emeric and Montebray would think it had to do with my father’s efforts to find out how Cleve was killing Vale’s crops.’
Jenny saw her master struggle to gather his thoughts. It must have taken all his will to turn his thoughts from the pain of John’s betrayal.
‘There was no threat to the crops, was there?’ Antrobus said weakly.
‘None at all,’ John admitted. ‘Crops sometimes fail. But we started the rumours, and whispered in the right ears. There are other interests at stake; those whom it suits to create tension between Vale and Cleve. So, the attack in the forest was merely meant to lead the Duke and the chancellor to the conclusion that their information was correct and that Cleve was trying to get rid of the one person who could interfere with those plans. And it had the added benefit that it would distract you from the key. Unfortunately, I think Perroquet hated you so much that it affected his judgement. We had agreed that Horn was supposed to frighten you, not kill you, but Perroquet gave Jack different instructions.’
‘Other interests?’ Antrobus asked. ‘What have you got yourself caught up in, John?’
‘Emeric should never have become Duke,’ John said. ‘I met his uncle, Charles, you know. When I went away to university. He didn’t disappear. He’s just been ... busy.’
Antrobus stared at him.
‘Now,’ John said brusquely, ‘we haven’t got time for any more. My horse will be here in a minute or so. Answer the question. Is there a third key?’
Jenny raised her left hand. Jack’s left arm circled her, his hand resting on her shoulder. Softly, she patted Jack’s hand.
‘Oi!’ Jack yelled, more in surprise than pain. He let go of Jenny and looked at his hand where she’d touched it. A small spot of blood bubbled up from the flesh between his thumb and finger. ‘What did you do?’ he hissed. He spun her round and held the knife under her chin.
‘Killed you,’ Jenny said calmly.
She held up a tiny thorn for Jack to see. Then, with her other hand, she held up a red berry that looked to have a little black cap, like an acorn.
‘It’s a rosary pea. You’ve probably never heard of it, but I’m sure John has. Ask him.’ She raised the berry higher, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.
Jack’s eyes went to John. ‘What’s she on about?’
John stared at the berry and his eyes narrowed. ‘Where did you get that? They don’t grow here.’
‘My mother grows them,’ Jenny said lightly. ‘You know where my mother was from, don’t you? She brought many things with her when she left; and these are one of my favourites. They’re so pretty. You wouldn’t think they were so deadly, would you?’
‘You tell me what this here rosary pea is, Antrobus!’ Jack yelled. He was starting to get nervous – and angry. The knife was now pressed against Jenny’s throat.
It was Jenny who answered. ‘The first thing he’d tell you is that it is fatal. It is. In fact, it’s deadlier than any snake or spider. You have about three minutes to live, and your death will not be pleasant.’
Jack glanced at John and he saw in his eyes that Jenny spoke the truth.
‘You! If you’ve killed me, then I’ll kill you!’ he roared. His face contorted with rage. ‘I’ll not slit your throat – that’ll be too quick. I’ll slice you open and let you die slowly!’ He took a step back and dropped the point of the knife from her throat to her belly.
‘Not if you want to live!’ Jenny cried. Jack was almost too enraged to hear what she had said but he understood enough to hesitate.
‘The second thing he’d tell you is that there’s no cure for its poison,’ Jenny went on quickly. ‘He’s wrong. There is, and I know what it is.’ She reached into her pouch and pulled out a handful of dried herbs. ‘Let us go, and I’ll fix these for you. But you have no more than a minute before it’s too late.’
*
Emily followed Frida through the alley to the rear gate. They got there just as Kurt entered the alley with the horses. The outlaw saw the two shapes and he reached down and rested his hand on the knife in his belt. Warily, he came closer. The shapes began to take form and he relaxed. Just two girls.
The taller of the two came closer and he could just make out her face. Not bad, he thought. Not beautiful, but pretty enough, and curved just right.
Frida kept walking towards the end of the alley. She bowed her head and raised her eyes at Kurt as coquettishly as she could. He smiled, and found himself wondering whether he had a minute or two. He couldn’t see the second one but it didn’t matter. The first was good enough.
‘Evenin’, lass,’ he said.
Frida brought her head up and smiled. ‘Good evening,’ she said. ‘Fine horses. They look powerful and strong-willed. Must take a good man to ride them.’
‘That it does, that it does,’ said Kurt, grinning lecherously. ‘But they know who’s master.’
‘That’s plain for all to see,’ Frida said, looking directly into his eyes. Kurt licked his lips.
‘’Ere, why don’t yer friend just hold the horses fer a minute and I’ll show yer how to gentle a horse.’ He leaned past Frida and handed the reins to Emily. He started, then drew back in surprise.
‘Yer that brown girl’s friend!’ he exclaimed. ‘Wh––’
Frida hit him, hard. Kurt didn’t think a woman – a girl – no matter how tall, should be able to hit that hard. Her fist cracked into the side of his head and he staggered back against the horses.
‘You little –’ he started, then Frida’s fist hit him again. He yelped in pain as he felt his nose break. Screaming curses, he launched himself at Frida. She felt herself being pushed backwards, then she stumbled on the cobblestones and fell. She landed hard, Kurt’s weight crushing her.
Kurt pinned her with his knees. She wriggled and fought, but she couldn’t dislodge him. His eyes were murderous and his nose poured blood over her face and neck. She felt one of his hands around her throat, and the other squeezing her breast. She spat his own blood at him and he raised his fist to hit her.
Something looped round his neck, once, twice. He heard a slap, like a hand hitting a horse’s flank. His eyes went round as plums in panic, then he felt a searing pain in his neck as the reins tightened. He thought his head had been pulled off his shoulders as he was jerked back. He flew at least a dozen paces before he crashed on to the cobbles. The last sound he heard was the rhythmic drumming of hooves echoing in the alley.
Emily helped Frida to her feet. They watched the horses go round the corner, Kurt bumping and skipping behind them.
‘Thank you, Emily,’ Frida gasped. She wiped the blood from her face with her tunic. ‘Do you think he’s ...?’
Emily was trembling. ‘I-I don’t know. I didn’t mean to ... I didn’t think ...’
Frida hugged her and they clung to each other. Then Frida pulled herself upright and wiped her face again.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Jenny’s still in there.’
They walked quietly to the gate and listened. There was silence on the other side. It seemed no one had heard the commotion in the alley. Just as Frida pushed on the gate, both girls felt a hand on their shoulder. A big hand. A man’s hand.
‘Evenin’, ladies,’ said Pitch.
The warden suddenly found himself with the arms of two young ladies wrapped round his neck.
‘Pitch! You frightened me so!’ Emily said, with more gratitude than reproach.
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‘Tom told us you were ’ere. I should be angry at yer both. I am angry at yer both, but we’ll save that fer later.’ Pitch pointed down the alley where the horses had bolted. ‘Did you two ...?’
Frida and Emily nodded.
Pitch grinned. ‘Mebbe we should go back ’n put our feet up, Harcourt, ’n let these two ladies finish what they started,’ he said to the alley behind him.
Harcourt stepped out of the shadows.
‘I would, but then I’d have to face Rayker. I’ll face ten of whoever’s in there first,’ he said.
‘Rayker and Swift are round the front,’ Pitch explained to the girls. ‘You still countin’?’ he asked Harcourt.
The other man nodded. ‘I think that’s two hundred. Better go in now.’
Harcourt drew his sword. Pitch took a stout club and a knife from his belt.
‘Stay ’ere,’ he ordered the girls. ‘Unless we cry fer help. Then come and rescue us.’
Each man took a deep breath, then they pushed open the gate and crashed through the kitchen door.
*
John gave a snort of disgust. He moved to Jenny and grabbed the berry from her hand. He looked at it, rubbed the black from its end, and threw it on the floor.
‘Holly! A bloody holly berry!’ he yelled.
Antrobus groaned and sagged. Milly dug her elbow into his ribs and hauled him upright.
‘You mean I’m not going to die?’ Jack spat.
‘Not unless she isn’t dead in a few seconds!’ John shouted. ‘Kill her now, or I’ll kill you instead!’
Hatred for Jenny raged inside Jack. She’d made him show fear; a tiny slip of a girl had panicked him and the others had seen it. He’d show her. One hand shot out to grab her tunic. The knife in his other hand went straight for her throat.
Desperate, Jenny tossed the herbs in his face. Instinctively he flinched, then felt her toe catch his kneecap. It was a weak, glancing kick but it infuriated him even more. Then he saw her turn and throw herself on Perroquet’s body. Jack lunged at her and she rolled on to her back. In her hand was Perroquet’s dagger.
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