Vega Jane and the Rebels’ Revolt

by David Baldacci

  I pointed at Petra. ‘But she can see this place. She’s inside it. So logically speaking she can’t be a Maladon.’

  Pillsbury’s visor swivelled around to Petra. He looked her up and down. A moment later he swivelled back to me.

  ‘I think you might have a point,’ he conceded.

  ‘I think I might,’ I said smoothly.

  Lord Pillsbury lowered his sword. ‘’Tis a bit delicate, though. Our anti-Maladon warning enchantments are normally quite accurate.’

  ‘Your best one being that this place is hidden from them?’ I said.

  His visor nodded. ‘Quite right. Well, absolutely no sense in allies fighting among themselves.’

  I relaxed and lowered my wand. Something he’d said made me curious.

  ‘Lord Pillsbury, you said you had never been wrong about Maladons being in your midst. But if they can’t see this place, how could a true Maladon ever come to be here?’

  ‘Ah, well, that was before, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Before what?’

  ‘Before the war. Before they started calling themselves the Maladons,’ he said derisively.

  I still didn’t completely understand, but I was curious about something else. ‘And you’re . . . what, exactly?’

  ‘I’m part of the rear guard, left behind to do our best to prevent the Maladons from finding any of our kind. To do whatever we can to wreak havoc on the blasted creatures. We’ve been quite successful with the first part.’

  ‘And the wreaking-havoc-on-the-Maladons part?’ I enquired.

  ‘No luck at all, I’m afraid. But it’s early days yet,’ he added confidently.

  ‘Early days!’ Delph blurted out. ‘It’s been about eight hundred years, mate.’ He frowned and nodded to Petra, who was still in his big arms, much to my annoyance. ‘She’s bleeding, by the way, Vega Jane.’

  ‘Holy Steeples,’ I cried out. I ran past Lord Pillsbury, dashed down the hall, grabbed the Adder Stone from my cloak, ran back and waved it over Petra, thinking good thoughts. Her cuts and gashes instantly vanished, along with the blood.

  I looked at Delph. ‘I think you can let her down now, Delph,’ I said, trying to sound as casual as possible, though I wanted to rip her out of his arms.

  ‘Right.’

  He nearly dropped poor Petra on the floor.

  I turned back to Lord Pillsbury, who was staring at me closely.

  ‘Did . . . did this young gentleman call you Vega Jane?’

  ‘Well, that is my name.’

  ‘Do you mean to say that you’re a Jane?’

  ‘Yes. And this is Delph Delphia and Petra Sonnet and my dog, Harry Two. We were in the town of True; do you know it?’

  His helmeted head swivelled back and forth. ‘No. But then again, we never leave this place.’

  ‘Which might be why you haven’t managed to wreak havoc on the Maladons,’ I replied gently.

  ‘Once more, I believe you have a point, milady.’

  ‘How many more of you are there?’

  ‘About four dozen, if you count the outside staff and the lads in the cellar.’

  ‘Are you all suits of armour?’

  ‘Oh, no. I’m the only one of those. The major-domo, as it were. The rest are a mishmash of lamps, the odd bit of furniture, various household instruments, that sort of thing. Some of the portraits, though they don’t get around much, being hung on a wall and all. They do add a bit of style, I’ve always thought. And five marble statues, three rakes, two wheelbarrows and a scythe that take care of the grounds. All good blokes.’

  Petra said, ‘Well, the grounds are in pretty bad shape. Maybe you should spend more time tending them rather than trying to kill your guests!’

  ‘Petra,’ admonished Delph. ‘They didn’t know.’

  ‘They didn’t ask either. They just stormed in here and commenced attacking me!’

  Lord Pillsbury nodded his visor. ‘I do apologize for our, well, our unseemly behaviour. Regarding your observation about the grounds, there’s been no real reason to keep them up, having no one staying here who can enjoy them.’

  ‘How did you all come to be?’ I asked.

  ‘Our masters bewitched us long ago. Long before the war. We served them faithfully.’ He added sombrely, ‘Right up until the end.’

  ‘When I mentioned the Endemen bloke, you seemed to know who he is.’

  ‘We’ve seen him lurking outside and heard his men refer to him by name. He knows something is here; he just doesn’t know what . . .’ He paused. ‘And we’ve also seen him kill. People. And he kills animals for pleasure.’

  That foul man. I automatically put out a hand and scratched Harry Two’s one remaining ear.

  ‘What would you do if he finally overcame the enchantment and was able to see this place?’

  ‘We would of course fight to the death. Those were our instructions. We would gladly give our lives – well, whatever it is we actually have – to defend this place.’

  I looked around. ‘What exactly is this place?’

  ‘Why, if you’re truly a Jane, you should know.’

  ‘Know what?’

  ‘Empyrean is your ancestral home, Mistress Vega.’

  9

  A HEART REVEALED

  ‘My . . . ancestral h-home?’ I spluttered.

  Lord Pillsbury nodded. ‘Absolutely. Empyrean belongs to you. The last Jane in residence was Mistress Alice Adronis – Alice Jane, before she married Gunther Adronis and he came to live here with her. You might have seen his portrait. He was quite big-hearted, was Master Gunther.’ He added sadly, ‘Perhaps too big-hearted.’

  ‘So you knew them?’ I asked.

  If a suit of armour could show emotion, Lord Pillsbury did then.

  ‘I had the honour of serving them, yes.’

  ‘What were they like?’ I asked. I well remembered the dying Alice Adronis. She had seemed noble and brave and all those good things. But I also knew that Alice was one of the fiercest warriors we had, killing Maladons left and right.

  ‘They were very kind, Mistress Vega. Very kind indeed. They wanted no part of a war. But they fought because they had to.’

  It was as though the metal bloke had read my mind.

  ‘That’s good to know, Lord Pillsbury.’

  ‘Please, call me Pillsbury; the “lord” part is just for show. It would bring all of us staff much joy to be able to once more serve the House of Jane. The outside staff is champing at the bit to get the grounds up to snuff, I can tell you that. Now they have proper reason.’

  I glanced at Delph and Petra. They were standing there open-mouthed.

  I turned back to Pillsbury. ‘Well, all right, Lor— um, I mean, Pillsbury. If you’re sure.’

  He clicked his metallic heels. ‘Quite sure, milady. Now, as it is rather late, I would suggest that you all return to your bedchambers. That will give us time to spruce up the place. We were not expecting company, you see. Would you like to convey your breakfast orders now? Mrs Jolly is a fine cook.’

  ‘Mrs Jolly?’ I said. ‘We made ourselves dinner, but we didn’t see anyone in the kitchen.’

  ‘Well, the fact is, Mistress Vega, we couldn’t see you! Gave us quite a turn when doors started opening and pans, knives and plates started floating through the air. Mrs Jolly was quite naturally hiding in the broom closet half frightened out of her twigs.’

  ‘Out of her twigs?’ I said. ‘What exactly is Mrs Jolly?’

  ‘A broom, hence the broom cupboard. But she does a steak and kidney pudding that is – well, if I required food, I’m sure I would enjoy it very much. Now, your breakfast orders?’

  Delph spoke up at once. ‘I’ll have, well, pretty much everything.’

  Pillsbury swept a long quill from the inside of his visor and wrote this down on the metal palm of his hand. ‘The full breakfast, outstanding.’ He looked up at Delph. ‘Yes,’ he said appraisingly. ‘I would imagine it takes quite a lot of wood to keep your chimney hot, young sir.’

  His
visor came to rest on Petra. She scowled back at him.

  ‘You tried to kill me.’

  Pillsbury said in an apologetic voice, ‘Yes, miss, I did. Ever so sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. Now, what can we arrange for your breakfast?’

  She suddenly looked uncertain. ‘I’m not sure.’

  I said, ‘Perhaps you might be able to suggest something for Petra?’

  Petra shot me a grateful look while Pillsbury said delightedly, ‘Oh, absolutely, milady. Some eggs, perhaps? Mrs Jolly does a wonderful omelette with bacon and tomato with just a touch of the freshest basil. A few croissants, some porridge – and the sausages really are worth trying.’

  ‘That . . . that sounds wonderful,’ said Petra.

  ‘Smashing,’ said Pillsbury, turning to me. ‘And you, Mistress Vega?’

  ‘I’ll have what Petra’s having,’ I replied.

  Pillsbury wrote all this on his palm. ‘Excellent. Well.’ He looked at the pulverized door. ‘Mistress Vega, perhaps you might be able to rectify this?’

  ‘What? Oh, right, I’ll fix it.’

  I pointed my wand at the shards of wood, recalled the proper incantation Astrea had taught me and said, ‘Assemblage.’

  The pieces of wood flew back together into a door that hung itself neatly back on the hinges.

  ‘May I say, very nicely done, Mistress Vega,’ said Pillsbury.

  ‘You don’t have to call me that, you know.’

  ‘As a Jane, you are now the mistress of this house. We are here to serve you.’

  ‘How do you know I really am a Jane?’ I said curiously. ‘I just said I was. I could be lying.’

  He pointed at my wand. ‘That is Mistress Alice’s wand. I will never forget it. It was also her—’

  ‘Elemental,’ I said, cutting in.

  ‘Precisely so. Only a true Jane could wield magic with it.’

  I glanced at the re-formed door. ‘So that was a test, then?’

  ‘I do apologize. But one can never be too careful in such troubled times, milady. Now I’m off. I hope you sleep well. If at any time you need anything, you only need to say my name and I shall appear.’

  And with that, he turned and lumbered out of the room.

  We all looked at one another.

  Delph gasped, ‘Pretty unbelievable.’

  Petra was looking around in awe. ‘Of all the luck.’

  Delph yawned. ‘I’m off to bed. See you at breakfast.’ He ambled off.

  Petra sat on the bed, looking defiantly at me. There was a strained silence.

  ‘I’m not one of those Maladons,’ she said at last. ‘I don’t care what their blasted enchanted whatsit says.’

  ‘No, I don’t believe you are.’

  ‘Yes, you do!’ she shot back. ‘I see the way you and Delph look at me. Even Harry Two there watches me closely, like I’ll attack you given the chance.’

  ‘Don’t be silly.’

  ‘Silly! One of your servants just tried to kill me!’

  ‘And I stopped them. Why would I have done that if I thought you were a Maladon?’

  ‘I’ve got Maladon blood in me, haven’t I? That’s what they were sensing.’

  ‘So what? You can see this place, can’t you? Even if you have a bit of Maladon blood in you, it’s obviously been outweighed by, well, the good stuff.’

  I sat on the bed next to her. I knew what it was like to feel different. I’d felt that way back in Wormwood when I discovered I had powers that no one else there did. I also wanted to know things about my past. I wanted to know what was beyond the Quag. Other than Delph, no one in Wormwood was interested in any of that. It made me feel like an outsider, like I didn’t belong.

  ‘Petra, you have no way of controlling who your ancestors were, or what they did. Same as me.’

  ‘But at least your ancestors were good. Mine were evil. Just like that Endemen bloke.’ She looked away so I wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes.

  I put a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’re not evil, Petra. Without you we wouldn’t have made it here. You were brave and strong and you fought against the evil. Not for it.’

  ‘But what if . . . what if I change?’

  Her eyes were fixed on mine. I knew what she wanted me to say: that she could never become evil. That she could never truly become a Maladon. But I couldn’t say that. I could only tell her the truth.

  ‘I trust you, Petra. I’ve trusted you with my life before. And I will trust you with my life again.’

  ‘You really mean that?’

  ‘I really mean that,’ I answered.

  Our eyes met for a long moment. Then she touched my hand with hers and said, ‘I trust you too, Vega. You’ve saved my life, more times than I can count.’

  ‘We have to be there for each other. We’re both magical. Delph isn’t. We can’t let anything happen to him.’

  ‘I’d die before I let him come to any harm,’ she said immediately.

  This both pleased and bothered me.

  ‘Get some sleep,’ I said.

  She nodded and slid under the covers.

  As I reached the door, I turned back to see her watching me.

  I closed the door behind me and walked slowly back to my room with Harry Two beside me.

  I shut and locked my door and climbed under the covers.

  I took out my wand and stared at it. It had led me here – to Empyrean. The home of Alice Adronis.

  Alice and her husband, Gunther. Uma Cadmus. Her father, Bastion. All the others in those portraits. They were my past. Some were my family. And, so it seemed, my future too.

  10

  UMA AND JASON

  A polite rap on the door woke me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up in bed.

  ‘Hello?’ I said groggily.

  ‘’Tis Pillsbury with your breakfast, Mistress Vega.’

  ‘Oh, OK. Come in, then.’

  Harry Two popped up when the door opened, and there was Pillsbury, his metal gleaming so brightly that I suspected he might have polished himself up during the night. He was carrying a short-legged wooden table, upon which sat several dishes covered with pewter lids.

  Pillsbury placed the little table over my lap.

  He uncovered the dish lids, revealing a wonderful array of food, all smelling delicious.

  I looked up at him and said in a near moan, ‘This is fantastic, Pillsbury.’

  ‘Mrs Jolly will be so pleased.’ He uncovered one more bowl, which had a divider. One half was filled with food and the other with water.

  ‘I took the liberty of preparing Harry Two’s meal as well.’

  He set this on the floor, and Harry Two jumped down, gave a bark of thanks and dug in.

  Pillsbury unrolled my cloth napkin and handed it to me, and then poured out a steaming cup of tea.

  ‘I hope everything will be to your liking, Mistress Vega.’

  ‘I’m sure it will. I’ll come to the kitchen and tell Mrs Jolly myself.’

  ‘She would be extremely pleased and honoured if you did,’ he said. ‘When you’re done, you need only say “Pillsbury” and I will return to collect the dishes.’

  As he turned to leave I said, ‘Uh, Pillsbury?’

  He immediately pivoted. ‘Yes, milady?’

  ‘I had a visitor in my room last night. Her name was Uma.’

  ‘Oh, dear. I had no idea. I thought she might have left us. It has been a very long time since I’ve seen her.’

  ‘I know she’s Bastion Cadmus’s daughter. I saw her grave in the Quag at Wolvercote Cemetery.’

  He gave a sharp intake of breath. ‘You . . . you saw her grave?’

  ‘Yes, I did. The tombstone said . . .’ I paused, thinking back.

  Pillsbury said sombrely, ‘The Strength of Love, the Fallacy of Youth. We knew the Cadmuses well. They visited often when Mistress Alice was alive. Such happy times. It was so very sad what happened.’

  ‘What did happen?’

  He said imploringly, ‘Please, miss, your food will
grow cold.’

  I looked down at the tray. Curiosity wrestled with hunger, and hunger won.

  ‘OK, but when I’m done, will you tell me?’

  ‘You need only utter my name,’ he said a bit grimly.

  He left, and I instantly started to eat. The food was wonderful. I thought I could hear myself purring.

  Twenty minutes later I was done. I pondered what to do next. I moved the tray aside and opened the door next to my bed. This was a bathroom, like at Morrigone’s back in Wormwood.

  I did my business, cleaned up, changed into fresh clothes, left my room and knocked on Delph’s door.

  ‘Delph? Are you decent?’

  The door opened, and Delph stood there, fully dressed in some of the clothes we had nicked from Saint Necro’s back in True. A white shirt with a collar, a waistcoat, a tweed jacket and trousers, and sturdy shoes. He had cleaned up and washed his hair, which was long, thick and smelt wonderful.

  ‘Have you finished eating?’ I said.

  I saw that Pillsbury had brought in an entire rolling table to accommodate Delph’s breakfast. I could also see that every plate and bowl was clean.

  ‘Yep,’ he said. ‘That Mrs Jolly knows her way round the kitchen, she does.’

  ‘Come to my room. I want to ask Pillsbury about something that might be important.’

  ‘OK. What about Petra?’

  I glanced down the hall at Petra’s door. ‘After last night, let’s just let her have a lie-in,’ I said.

  Back in my room, I said the name ‘Pillsbury’.

  He instantly appeared at the door, as though he could perform the Pass-pusay incantation.

  ‘Yes, Mistress Vega? All done, are we?’

  ‘Yes, Pillsbury, and it was absolutely amazing. Now, I want you to tell Delph and me about Uma Cadmus.’

  Pillsbury shuffled forward. ‘Yes, miss, of course.’ He hesitated. ‘Now, where to begin.’

  ‘Perhaps at the very beginning?’ I suggested.

  ‘Yes, yes, of course.’ He cleared his throat as Delph and I settled down in two comfortable chairs to listen.

  ‘Bastion Cadmus was the leader of our people, and he and his wife, Victoria, had only one child, Uma. She was everything to them.’