Faerie Wars 03 - Ruler of the Realm (45 page)

'We'll soon be back there anyway,' Woodfordi said in a conciliatory tone.

Pyrgus wheeled the craft around and increased speed to maximum, ignoring the spell-driven voice that claimed it wasn't safe.

Henry stared at him. 'How do you know Blue's been implanted?'

'You just told me,' Mr Fogarty said.

'I wasn't under,' Henry said.

'Oh yes you were, sunshine - deepest trance I've ever seen. You'll remember soon - I gave you the suggestion, but it sometimes takes a minute or two to kick in.'

'But you were right, Henry,' Madame Cardui said.

She must have joined them while he was in a trance. It was spooky: he hadn't even noticed. He licked his lips.

'Right?' he echoed.

'The story about Beleth wanting you to mate with Blue, deeah. It was all a nonsense.'

'It was?' Henry asked. There were maybe about a hundred more appropriate emotions at this moment, but the one he actually felt was relief.

Madame Cardui smiled. 'Just a story they implanted in Blue's head and yours to distract us from the invasion.'

'None of it really happened?' Henry asked. But Mr Fogarty was right. He was beginning to get little flashes now. 'I wasn't put in a bedroom with Blue?'

'No.'

'I didn't kill a demon?'

Mr Fogarty snorted. 'Thought that was a bit farfetched from the start.'

Madame Cardui said kindly, 'I expect you could easily have killed a demon, deeah, but none of it actually happened. Blue didn't kill hers either - she didn't have her stimlus with her. Those were all false memories.'

'So I didn't kidnap Blue?'

'You kidnapped Blue all right,' Mr Fogarty said. 'The way it worked was Beleth had you kidnapped and implanted. Then they programmed you to kidnap Blue and implanted her as well. The business about the demons breeding half-human babies is true enough, but it won't work in the Realm - the DNA is too dissimilar. But they gave you and Blue the same false memories and sent you back as a distraction from their real plans. Cunning little ploy.'

It was coming back to him now, exactly as Mr Fogarty said. He could remember the implant and the creepy, slimy feeling as black-eyed demons in white lab coats carefully layered the false memories into his brain. He started to feel guilty about the kidnap all over again. Because of him, Blue's brain had been tinkered with as well. The thought of it left him agitated. Actually quite a lot agitated.

'You have to get that thing removed,' he said.

'My deeah, it's already
been
removed. That's why you lost your memory completely.'

'Not me,' Henry said urgently. 'Blue. You have to take the thing out of her head.'

'Blue's asleep now,' Madame Cardui told him. 'I shall make arrangements to have her implant removed first thing in the morning when she's rested. Then Alan can hypnotise her too and restore her proper memories.'

'No, now!' Henry insisted. He wasn't quite sure why, but it was vital they removed the implant at once.

'Henry, deeah, what's wrong?'

He didn't
know
what was wrong, but he could feel the panic with a vengeance. They couldn't wait until morning because if they waited until morning -

He didn't know what would happen if they waited until morning. Something bad would happen, but he didn't know what. Something bad would happen to Blue. Something bad would happen to the Realm. The panic was so strong now he could no longer sit still. He pushed himself out of the chair.

'Henry -' Mr Fogarty said.

'Something bad -' Henry began. Then the memories flooded back and he stopped, his eyes wide. 'Oh my God!' he said. He launched himself abruptly through the door.

'Henry, what's
wrong?'
Madame Cardui called after him.

But Henry was already outside, running full tilt towards the Purple Palace.

One of the best things Pyrgus ever did was to appoint Henry a Knight Commander of the Grey Dagger. It allowed him to pass freely through the Purple Palace and often earned him salutes from guards.

He crashed down the corridor of the imperial quarters and gasped breathlessly, 'I must see Queen Blue at once!'

The guards saluted to a man, but their Captain said apologetically, 'Afraid she's not in her rooms, sir.'

'Where is she?' He had a horrified feeling he already knew the answer.

'Couldn't say, sir. She refused an escort.'

'When did she leave her quarters?'

'Little while ago.'

It had to be! It had to be! 'How was she dressed?'

The Captain blinked. 'Dressed, sir?'

'Dressed, man - dressed!' Henry shouted into his face. 'What was she wearing?'

The Captain looked at him in bewilderment. 'Nice-looking gown, sir. Like she was off to a party. Not the sort of thing she usually wears.'

Dear God, he was too late! He'd remembered too late!

The Captain frowned. 'Is something wrong, sir? Sir -'

But Henry was already racing back down the corridor. How could this have happened? How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he remembered sooner? Blue could be lost by now - lost for ever.
And it was all his fault!

Savagely, Henry pushed the guilt and self-pity out of his mind. There might still be time. But he needed a clear head. If he managed to catch up with her in time, he could stop the whole disaster, even if he had to force her. He'd kidnapped her before. He could do it again. Once they got the implant out, she'd be fine. And she'd understand.

He was moving by instinct now, twisting and turning through palace passageways he'd never seen before. Except it wasn't really instinct, however it felt. He knew he had to be following the memory of the instructions the demons had planted in his head. He knew where Blue was going, because he was supposed to go there with her. And if his implant hadn't been removed, that's exactly what he'd have done. But now maybe he could turn Beleth's own plan against him.

He was in the old quarter of the palace now, running like a demon himself. Pyrgus once told him this part of the building dated to a time before faeries ruled the Realm. It contained chambers that hadn't been opened in millennia and there were rumours of ghosts. Most palace residents avoided it, but Henry was too desperate to feel any unease.

Part of him hoped he might catch up with Blue before she went too far, but by the time he reached the corridor that housed the little door there was still no sign of her. A horrid thought struck him. What if the door was locked? Beleth's demons had given Blue the key, but as far as they were concerned, Henry had no need of one since he would be with her. But now ... what happened if she'd closed the door behind her?

Henry skidded to a halt. The door
was
closed, but when he tried it, he found it unlocked. He almost groaned with relief as he hurled himself down the narrow spiral staircase.

But his relief was short-lived. Even before he reached the bottom, he could hear the howling. Blue had begun the obscene ceremony that would finally unlock the gates of Hell.

Pyrgus overrode the safeties as the flier reached Imperial Island. He sent out a single burst of code that would neutralise the palace security system, then pitched the nose of the craft towards the lawn outside the main entrance doors.

'Straps,' he ordered. Nymph and Woodfordi were immediately secured to their seats by body-netting. Woodfordi's knuckles showed white where he gripped the arms. 'Dive,' Pyrgus muttered.

There was an elemental scream as the flier went into a steep descent with no loss of speed. Pyrgus kept his eyes firmly fixed on his target, a level area between two flowerbeds. The ground rushed towards him with indecent haste. He waited, heart thumping, until it seemed he could almost reach out and touch it, then commanded, 'Land!'

The flier attempted to comply, but Pyrgus had left things far too late. The
tulpa
thought-forms built into its propulsion system read the situation in an instant, reinstated the safeties and hurled the craft back upwards. It banked, struck a tree branch and cracked open like an egg. Pyrgus fell out to drop in a heap on the ground. Nymph and Woodfordi dangled from their netting.

'That was exciting,' Nymph remarked. She pulled a knife from her boot and cut herself free, holding on to the seat with one hand. Then she clambered on to the branch and released Woodfordi.

'Thanks, Miss,' he murmured gratefully. 'I thought I was a goner for sure.'

'So did I,' Nymph told him. She swung from the tree and dropped nimbly to the ground, leaving Woodfordi to his own devices. Pyrgus was already on his feet, limping towards a running guard contingent that had just emerged from the palace.

'I'm all right!' he called over his shoulder.

Nymph smiled a little to herself.

'Escort us to Queen Blue!' Pyrgus called grandly to the approaching guards. He suddenly noticed a tall figure on the palace steps. 'Mr Fogarty, can you arrange to get Blue and the Generals together - and Madame Cardui. There's news.'

To his surprise, Mr Fogarty ignored the urgency in his voice and came down the steps towards him. The guards fanned out and surrounded them both, then parted to allow Nymph and Woodfordi through.

Fogarty said, 'Christ, it's all happening tonight.' He looked beyond Pyrgus at the wreckage in the tree. 'Have you any idea what those bloody things
cost!'
He looked back at Pyrgus. 'Henry's just gone off his head as well.'

Pyrgus gripped his arm and leaned across to whisper, 'Beleth's army is an illusion! The portals aren't real either. There's no demon invasion and Uncle Hairstreak's marching all the Nighter forces into the desert.'

Fogarty stared at him blankly for a moment, then shook his head. 'Em getting too old for this,' he said.

Beleth was shifted into his most powerful form. Curling ram's horns grew out of his forehead. His teeth were smiling fangs, his body knotted muscle. Only his height was curtailed, perhaps because of having been encased in the altar: he was little more than six feet tall. A blood-red cloak swept from his shoulders to his ankles. His feet were bare and Blue could see that each toe ended in a wicked talon. His eyes bored into hers.

Beleth shook himself as if to throw off any remnants of the porphyry block. The brass wall at his back was changing, each plate flowing liquidly into its neighbour before sliding downwards. For just the barest instant Blue wondered if the pentagram circle might contain him, but he threw back his cloak and strode towards her.

Blue took a step forward and threw herself into his arms.

'My darling,' she whispered breathlessly as she stretched up to kiss him.

'Nooo!'
Henry screamed. Beyond Blue and the devil, the wall had disappeared so that the chamber opened up, impossibly, on to a scene that chilled his blood. He was overlooking a vast metallic plaza, surrounded by squat, black buildings underneath a lowering sky. Set to one side of the plaza were twin thrones carved from obsidian and ornamented with complex inlays of what might well have been gold. Ranged before the thrones, row upon row, were thousands, tens of thousands, of horned demons. All were on their knees.

Henry ran. He had no weapon, but he struck Beleth with his shoulder so violently that the creature staggered. 'Leave her alone, you bastard!' Henry screamed. He punched and kicked the demon with a flurry of blows.