Faerie Wars 03 - Ruler of the Realm (32 page)

Blue's tongue felt too large for her mouth and all her teeth hurt. Her lips were swollen to twice their normal size. 'Ooo ahs Prus, Am Siya?'

Madame Cardui reached out to place a soothing hand on her forehead. 'Don't try to talk just yet, Blue deeah. Here's Chief Wizard Surgeon Healer Danaus now. I expect your test results are in - yes, they are: see, he's nodding. You'll soon be feeling so much better, and while Chief Healer Danaus does his work, I'll try to bring you up to date - all right?'

Blue wondered why even sensible people like Madame Cardui felt obliged to treat you like an imbecile the minute you felt ill. She could see Chief Wizard Surgeon Healer Danaus now, a tall, fleshy figure with the shaven head and blue robes of his profession. He was carrying an energy globe in one hand and a vial of miniature elementals in the other.

'Try to let go, Majesty,' he boomed. 'A relaxed body cannot harbour a negative emotion.' A professional smile creased the full moon of his face. 'We'll soon be feeling better, I assure you.'

Blue wondered vaguely if she could order him beheaded. All the same, when he cracked the vial and allowed the little elementals to swarm into her body, she did indeed begin to feel better almost instantly.

Madame Cardui clearly noticed the difference for she laid a warning finger on Blue's lips (no longer swollen now, incredibly) and said gently, 'Perhaps delay our conversation until we are alone ...?'

Blue nodded and waited. Chief Wizard Surgeon Healer Danaus checked his handiwork, pronounced himself satisfied, warned Her Imperial Majesty not to overtire herself, then withdrew backwards, bowing awkwardly.

As he closed the door, Madame Cardui said, 'I've had this room secured - we can talk freely.'

Blue said, 'That was rough. Where's Henry? Did he get through?' His idea had been to use the demon transporter to beam her directly back to the palace. Then, when she was safe, he was going to try to set it on automatic so he could follow her.

'He was right behind you,' Madame Cardui said a little grimly. 'Where did he take you?'

Blue pushed down on the bed to help herself sit up and was surprised to discover she was no longer feeling weak. 'I'm not sure. Somewhere cubed.' The truth was, despite the elementals in her bloodstream, her mind was still foggy. But Henry had made it through, so that was all right.

Madame Cardui frowned. 'What do you mean -cubed?'

Blue shook her head. 'It's not important.' She was very definitely feeling stronger. She pushed back the bedclothes and swung her feet on to the floor. 'Where are my clothes?'

'What you were wearing has seen better days, I'm afraid,' Madame Cardui said. 'I had them destroyed. There some fresh things in the wardrobe.' She hesitated, but no more than a fraction of a second. 'You
do
look much better, deeah, since Danaus unleashed his little helpers. I certainly don't want you to overdo it, after all you've been through, but there are one or two rather
pressing
matters ...'

'In a moment,' Blue said firmly. She had to get her mind clear. She had to call her people together and explain to them about Beleth's plan. 'Where's Pyrgus?' she asked.

'He's not in the palace just now, deeah. We had to send him -'

Blue cut her off. 'Where's Henry?'

'In the dungeons,' said Madame Cardui. 'I had him arrested, of course. He's currently awaiting execution on a charge of treason.'

'Who the hell are you?' Fogarty asked crossly. He was in the forest, just about to start another round of talks with Queen Cleopatra, and resented interruptions. Especially now things were going well. She'd already agreed to help in the raid on the time flowers - couldn't leave them in Hairstreak's hands, even if Blue was home now. Given a bit more of the Fogarty charm and she might even agree to a formal alliance.

'Nyman, sir,' the intruder told him. 'Madame Cardui's new dwarf, sir.'

Fogarty frowned. 'Where's Kitterick?'

'Still missing, sir. Whereabouts unknown. Herself promoted me
pro tern
on account of the Emergency. I was always good at running errands, taking messages, that sort of thing. I expect it's back to the kitchens for me when Kitterick turns up again, but in the meantime it's a hike in pay, a change from peeling spuds and here I am, sir.' He smiled, showing a missing tooth.

'And what do you want?' Fogarty asked, still frowning.

Nyman glanced around, then jerked his head and scuttled into the shade of a large oak. 'Confidential, sir, Herself says,' he remarked when Fogarty caught up with him. He began to make little jumps up and down.

'What are you doing?' The creature was insane.

'Trying to get on a level with your ear, sir, yourself being a fine big tall man and me being vertically challenged as you might say.'

'Oh, for God's sake!' Fogarty exploded. He bent down until his ear was at the level of Nyman's head.

'Herself says you're to get back right away, sir,' the dwarf whispered. 'Bit of a problem, like.'

'What sort of a problem?'

'Ah, Herself would never tell me that, sir. Nothing dangerous or too confidential on account some miscreant might squeeze it out of me. I'm not what you'd call stoical under pressure, sir.'

'You're not a Trinian, are you?' Fogarty said.

'Indeed and I am not, sir, as a fine, big, clever man like yourself could probably tell by the colour. Don't hold with those lads at all, to tell you the truth: far too well organised. I'm what you might call a Lep.'

'Ah,' said Fogarty, without the slightest idea what a Lep was. 'Well, now, listen, Mr Nyman, I want you to get back to Hersel-- to Madame Cardui - and tell her I'm in the middle of some very delicate negotiations -' He stopped: Nyman was shaking his head solemnly. 'What is it?'

'Herself said you might be a bit troublesome, begging your pardon, sir, and if you was, I was to tell you one thing -' He beckoned Fogarty to bend over again and when he did, whispered, 'There's big trouble, sir. Regarding Henry.'

It was brilliant leading a commando raid. Pyrgus was wearing full camouflage fatigues with a helmet sporting so much greenery than it looked like a vegetable patch. His face was painted in olive and brown stripes. But that wasn't the really good bit. The really good bit (as he wriggled on his stomach through the undergrowth) was that there were twenty heavily armed men right behind him, all tough as nails, all ready to lay down their lives for the mission.

And every one of them called him
sir.

'Freeze!' Pyrgus ordered in a whisper.

'Sir!'
they snapped in whispered unison; and froze. It was so, so
cool.

He wished Nymph could see him now.

Or maybe not. He raised his head carefully above the level of the grass to discover he was still lost. The problem was that crawling on your stomach changed your whole perspective. Things that looked one way when you were standing up looked completely different when you were lying down and peering through a shrub. But what was he to do? He couldn't just march his men down the main avenue of the Ogyris Estate. This was a raid, not a frontal attack. You didn't mount a frontal attack with twenty men, no matter how tough they were.

Besides which, a frontal attack would start a war and they'd only just averted one now Blue was back to stop the Countdown. But at least Mr Fogarty and Madame Cardui hadn't called off the raid. So Pyrgus got to lead
twenty men.

He hadn't told them they were lost, of course. Wouldn't want them demoralised so early in the mission. Besides, he had to concentrate on meeting up with Nymph. How good was that? The Forest Faerie had agreed to send some people and Nymph was leading them. Blue back safe, no war, he was leading twenty men and going to meet up with Nymph again. Life could not get better than this.

He was about to bring his head down and press on regardless when he caught a glint of something from the corner of his eye. He swung his head round. Water! It was sunlight glinting on water. The lake! If they got to the lake, he could find his bearings eventually. He was bound to. He'd been able to follow the lakeside path even in pitch darkness, so daylight had to be a doddle, even crawling.

'Left turn!' he hissed, and swung himself round.

'Sir!'
his men responded and fell in behind him.

Blue said, 'Have him released, Madame Cynthia. And get that thing out of his head.'

Madame Cardui frowned. 'My deeah, you
do
recall it was Henry who kidnapped you?' She hesitated. 'What thing?'

Blue was sitting on the edge of the bed pulling on her boots. 'Henry didn't know what he was doing,' she said firmly. 'He was taken over by Beleth.'

'Beleth?' Madame Cardui exclaimed. A look of sudden comprehension crossed her face. 'I
wondered
if that was a demon transport beam. My deeah, I think you'd better tell me everything.'

Blue told her. It took surprisingly little time.

'Poor Henry,' Madame Cardui said when Blue had finished. She moved to the door and gave instructions to one of the guards outside. When the man hurried off, she turned back to Blue. 'I've ordered Henry released. He'll be taken directly to the infirmary to have Beleth's implant removed.'

'Thank you,' Blue said. She had almost finished dressing.

Madame Cardui sat down heavily on the bed. She seemed suddenly very old. 'I'm losing my edge, deeah. I was looking in the wrong place.'

Blue glanced at her, but picked up her meaning at once. 'So was I, Madame Cynthia. I thought Uncle Hairstreak was behind all our troubles. Not that he wasn't behind
some
of them.'

Madame Cardui said, 'Speaking of which, you need to cancel the Countdown.'

'Yes, of course. I'll do it at once.'

Madame Cardui hesitated. 'There's one thing ...'

'Yes?'

'I'll make this quick, deeah,' Madame Cardui said; and told her about the time flowers.

'So that's how Henry got me out of Hairstreak's mansion - he never told me. I thought it might be some sort of stasis spell.'

'The thing is,' Madame Cardui went on, 'when you disappeared with a Countdown in place, we - that's to say Gatekeeper Fogarty and myself - decided we could not possibly permit the Faeries of the Night to retain such a powerful weapon - you can easily imagine the military implications, of course. So we ordered a commando raid to destroy the flowers. Pyrgus is leading it as we speak.'

'Why Pyrgus?' Blue asked quickly. He was her older brother, but she'd always been protective of him.

'Pyrgus knows exactly where the flowers were being grown. I just hope this is the
only
place they're being grown.' She waited.

After a long moment, Blue said, 'You did right, Madame Cynthia. Flowers that stop time would change the entire balance of military power. How many men has Pyrgus taken?'

'A score of our finest,' Madame Cardui said, 'but he's meeting with an equal number of the Forest Faerie.

Alan persuaded them to help us.' Rather surprisingly, she thought; but it never did to underestimate Alan.

'I suppose the Forest Faerie are being led by that Nymphalis creature?' Blue said sourly.

Madame Cardui smiled slightly. 'I imagine they might be. I'm not yet privy to the arrangements.'

'Where is Gatekeeper Fogarty?' Blue asked. 'I should like to know more about this raid.'