Danjers"s valet was famous among servants for his ability with shoe polish, champagne, and a secret oil. So neither he nor anyone else in the belowstairs parlor was much surprised when the Chief Minister"s nephew sought him out with a pair of shoes in hand. The valet was a little more surprised to find a note inside the shoes asking him to go out to the village and secretly send a telegram, but as the note was wrapped around four double-guinea pieces, he was happy to do so. When he"d finished his duties, of course.
Back in his room, Nick dressed hastily. As he tied his bow tie, his hands moved automatically while he wondered what else he should be doing. All kinds of plans raced through his head, only to be abandoned as impractical, or foolish, or likely to make matters worse.
With his tie finally done, Nick went to his case and took out a large leather wallet. There were three things inside. Two were letters, both written neatly on thick, linen-rich handmade paper, but in markedly different hands.
The first letter was from Nick"s old friend Prince Sameth. It was concerned primarily with Sam"s current projects and was ill.u.s.trated in the margins with small diagrams. Judging from the letter, Sam"s time was being spent almost entirely on the fabrication and enchantment of a replacement hand for Lirael, and the planning and design of a fishing hut on an island in the Ratter-lin Delta. Sam did not explain why he wanted to build a fishing hut, and Nick had not had a reply to his most recent letter seeking enlightenment. This was not unusual. Sam was an infrequent correspondent, and there was no regular mail service of any kind between Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom.
Nick didn"t bother to read Sam"s letter again. He put it aside, carefully unfolded the second letter, and read it for the hundredth or two hundredth time, hoping that this time he would uncover some hidden meaning in the innocuous words.
This letter was from Lirael, and it was quite short. The writing was so regular, so perfectly s.p.a.ced, and so free of ink splotches that Nick wondered if it had been copied from a rough version. If it had, what did that mean? Did Lirael always make fine copies of her letters? Or had she done it just for him?
Nick stared at the letter for several minutes after he finished reading it, then gently folded it and returned it to the wallet. He drew out the third thing, which had come in a package with the letters three weeks ago, though it had apparently left the Old Kingdom at least a month before that. It was a small, very plain dagger, the blade and hilt blued steel, with bra.s.s wire wound around the grip, the pommel just a big teardrop of metal.
Nick held it up to the light. He could see faint etched symbols upon the blade, but that was all they were. Faint etched symbols. Not living, moving Charter Marks, bright and flowing, all gold and sunshine. That"s what Charter-spelled swords normally looked like, the marks leaping and splashing across the metal.
Nick knew he ought to be comforted. If the Charter Marks on his dagger were still and dead, then the thing beneath the house should be as well. But he knew it wasn"t. He"d seen its eyes flicker.
There was a knock on the door. Nick hastily put the dagger back in its sheath.
"Yes!" he called. The sheathed dagger was still in his hand. For a moment he considered exchanging it for the slim .32 automatic pistol in his suitcase"s outer pocket. But he decided against it when the person at the door called out to him.
"Nicholas Sayre?"
It was a woman"s voice. A young woman"s voice, with the hint of a laugh in it. Not a servant. Perhaps one of the beautiful young women he"d seen arrive. Probably a not very successful actor or singer, the usual adornments of typical country house parties.
"Yes. Who is it?"
"Tesrya. Don"t say you don"t remember me. Perhaps a glimpse will remind you. Let me in. I"ve got a bottle of champagne. I thought we might have a drink before dinner."
Nick didn"t remember her, but that didn"t mean anything. He knew she would have singled him out from the seating plan for dinner, homing in on the surname Sayre. He supposed he should at least tell her to go away to her face. Courtesy to women, even fortune hunters, had been drummed into him all his life.
"Just one drink?"
Nick hesitated, then tucked the sheathed dagger down the inside of his trousers, at the hip. He held his foot against the door in case he needed to shut it in a hurry; then he turned the key and opened it a fraction.
He had the promised glimpse. Pale, melancholy eyes in a very white face, a forced smile from too-red lips. But there were also two hooded men there. One threw his shoulder against the door to keep it open. The other grabbed Nick by the hair and pushed a pad the size of a small pillow against his face.
Nick tried not to breathe as he threw himself backward, losing some hair in the process, but the sickly-sweet smell of chloroform was already in his mouth and nose. The two men gave him no time to recover his balance. One pushed him back to the foot of the bed, while the other got his right arm in a wrestling hold. Nick struck out with his left, but his fist wouldn"t go where he wanted it to. His arm felt like a rubbery length of pipe, the elbow gone soft. Nick kept flailing, but the pad was back on his mouth and nose, and all his senses started to shatter into little pieces like a broken mosaic. He couldn"t make sense of what he saw and heard and felt, and all he could smell was a sickly scent like a cheap perfume badly imitating the scent of flowers.
In another few seconds, he was unconscious.
Nicholas Sayre returned to his senses very slowly. It was like waking up drunk after a party, his mind still clouded and a hangover building in his head and stomach. It was dark, and he was disoriented. He tried to move and for a frightened instant thought he was paralysed. Then he felt restraints at his wrists and thighs and ankles and a hard surface under his head and back. He was tied to a table, or perhaps a hard bench.
"Ah, the mind wakes," said a voice in the darkness. Nick thought for a second, his clouded mind slowly processing the sound. He knew that voice. Dorrance.
"Would you like to see what is happening?" asked Dorrance. Nick heard him take a few steps, heard the click of a rotary electric switch. Harsh light came with the click, so bright that Nick had to screw his eyes shut, tears instantly welling up in the corners.
"Look, Mr. Sayre. Look at your most useful work."
Nick slowly opened his eyes. At first all he could see was a naked, very bright electric globe swinging directly above his head. Blinking to clear the tears, he looked to one side. Dorrance was there, leaning against a concrete wall. He smiled and pointed to the other side, his hand held close against his chest, fist clenched, index finger extended.
Nick rolled his head and then recoiled, straining against the ropes that bound his ankles, thighs, and wrists to a steel operating table with raised rails.
The creature from the case was right next to him. No longer in the case, but stretched out on an adjacent table ten inches lower than Nick"s. It was not tied up. There was a red rubber tube running from one of Nick"s wrists to a metal stand next to the creature"s head. The tube ended an inch above the monster"s slightly open mouth. Blood was dripping from the tube, small dark blobs falling in between its jet black teeth.
Nick"s blood.
Nick struggled furiously for another second, panic building in every muscle. The ropes did not give at all, and the tube was not dislodged. Then, his strength exhausted, he stopped.
"You need not be concerned, Mr. Nicholas Sayre," said Dorrance. He moved around to look at the creature, gently tapping Nick"s slippered feet as he pa.s.sed. "I am taking only a pint. This will all just be a nightmare in the morning, half remembered, with a dozen men swearing to your conspicuous consumption of brandy."
As he spoke, the light above him suddenly flared into white-hot brilliance. Then, with a bang, the bulb exploded into powder and the room went dark. Nick blinked, the afterimage of the filament burning a white line across the room. But even with that, he could see another light. Two violet sparks that were faint at first but became brighter and more intense.
Nick recognized them instantly as the creature"s eyes. At the same time, he smelled a sudden, acrid odor, which got stronger and stronger, coating the back of his mouth and making his nostrils burn. A metallic stench that he knew only too well.
The smell of Free Magic.
The violet eyes moved suddenly, jerking up. Nick felt the rubber hose suddenly pulled from his wrist and the wet sensation of blood dripping down his hand.
He still couldn"t see anything save the creature"s eyes. They moved again, very quickly, as the thing stood up and crossed the room. It ignored Nick, though he struggled violently against his bonds as it went past. He couldn"t see what happened next, but something . . . or someone . . . was hurled against his table, the impact rocking it almost to the point of toppling over.
"No!" shouted Dorrance. "Don"t go out! I"ll bring you blood! Whatever kind you need-"
There was a tearing sound, and flickering light suddenly filled the room. Nick saw the creature silhouetted in the doorway, holding the heavy door it had just ripped from its steel hinges. It threw this aside and strode out into the corridor, lifting its head back to emit a hissing shriek that was so high-pitched, it made Nick"s ears ring.
Dorrance staggered after it for a moment, then returned and flung open a cabinet on the wall. As he picked up the telephone handset inside, the lights in the corridor fizzed and went out.
Nick heard the dial spin three times. Then Dorrance swore and tapped the receiver before dialing again. This time the phone worked, and he spoke very quickly.
"h.e.l.lo? Lackridge? Can you hear me? Yes . . . ignore the crackle. Is Hodgeman there? Tell him "Situation Dora." All the fire doors must be barred and the exit grilles activated. No, tell him now . . . "Dora" . . .Yes, yes. It worked, all too well. She"s completely active, and I heard Her clearly for the first time, speaking directly into my head, not as a dreaming voice. Sayre"s blood was too rich, and there"s something wrong with it. She needs to dilute it with normal blood . . . What? Active! Running around! Of course you"re in danger! She doesn"t care whose blood . . . We need to keep Her in the tunnels; then I"ll find someone . . . one of the servants. Just get on with it!"
Nick kept silent, but he remembered the dagger at his hip. If he could bend his hand back and reach it, he might be able to unsheath it enough to work the rope against the blade. If he didn"t bleed to death first.
"So, Mr. Sayre," said Dorrance in the darkness. "Why would your blood be different from that of any other bearer of the Charter Mark? It causes me some distress to think I have given Her the wrong sort. Not to mention the difficulty that now arises from Her desire to wash Her drink down."
"I don"t know," Nick whispered after a moment"s hesitation. He"d thought of pretending to be unconscious, but Dorrance would certainly test that.
In the distance, electric bells began a harsh, insistent clangor. At first none sounded in the corridor outside, then one stuttered into life. At the same time, the light beyond the door flickered on, off, and on again, before giving up in a shower of sparks that plunged the room back into total darkness.
Something touched Nick"s feet. He flinched, taking off some skin against the ropes. A few seconds later there was a click near his head, a whiff of kerosene; and a four-inch flame suddenly shed some light on the scene. Dorrance lifted his cigarette lighter and set it on a head-high shelf, still burning.
He took a bandage from the same shelf and started to wind it around Nick"s wrist.
"Waste not, want not," said Dorrance. "Even if your blood is tainted, it has succeeded beyond my dearest hopes. I have long dreamed of waking Her." "It, you mean," croaked Nick.
Dorrance tied off the bandage, then suddenly slapped Nick"s face hard with the back of his hand. "You are not worthy to speak of Her! She is a G.o.ddess! A G.o.ddess! She should never have been sent away! My father was a fool! Fortunately I am not!"
Nick chose silence once more, and waited for another blow. But it didn"t come. Dorrance took a deep breath, then bent under the table. Nick craned his head to see what he was doing but could hear only the rattle of metal on metal.
The man emerged holding two sets of old-style handcuffs, the kind whose cuffs were screwed in rather than key locked. He quickly handcuffed Nick"s left wrist to the metal rail of the bed, then did the same with the second set to his right wrist. "It has been politic to play the disbeliever about your Charter Magic," he said as he screwed the handcuffs tight. "But She has told me different in my dreams, and if She can rise so far from the Wall, perhaps your magic will also serve you . . . and ropes do burn or fray so easily. Rest here, young Nicholas. My mistress may soon need a second drink, whether the taste disagrees with Her or not."
After shaking the handcuffs to make sure they were secure, Dorrance picked up his still-burning cigarette lighter and left, muttering something to himself that Nick couldn"t quite hear. It didn"t sound entirely sane, but Nick didn"t need to hear bizarre mumblings to know that Dorrance was neither the harmless eccentric of his public image or the cunning spymaster of his secret ident.i.ty. He was a madman in league with a Free Magic creature.
As soon as Dorrance had gone, Nick tested the handcuffs, straining against them. But he couldn"t move his hands more than a few inches off the table, certainly not far enough to reach the screws. However, he could reach the pommel of his dagger with the tips of three fingers. After a few failed attempts, he managed to get the blade out, and by rolling his body, he sliced through the rope on his left wrist, cutting himself slightly in the process.
He was trying to move his left ankle up toward his hand when he heard the first distant gunshots and screams. There were more, but they got fainter and fainter, lending hope that the creature was moving farther away.
Not that it made much difference, Nick thought as he rattled his handcuffs in frustration. He couldn"t get free by himself. He would have to work out a plan to get Dorrance to at least uncuff him when he returned. Then Nick might be able to surprise him. If he did return. Until then, Nick decided, he should try to rest and gather his strength. As much as the adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream would let him rest, immobilised on a steel operating table in a secret underground facility run by a lunatic, with a totally inimical creature on the loose.
He lay in silence for what he estimated was somewhere between fifteen minutes and an hour, though he was totally unable to judge the pa.s.sage of time when he was in the dark and so wound up with tension. In that time, every noise seemed loud and significant, and made him twist and tilt his head, as if by moving his ears he could better capture and identify each sound.
There was silence for a while, or near enough to it. Then he heard more gunshots but without the screams. The shots were repeated a few seconds later, louder and closer, and were followed by the slam and echo of metal doors and then hurrying footsteps. Of more than one person.
"Help!" cried Nick. "Help! I"m tied up in here!"
He figured it was worth calling out. Even fanatical Department Thirteen employees must have realised by now that Dorrance was crazy and he"d unleashed something awful upon them.
"Help!"
The footsteps came closer, and a flashlight beam swung into the room, blinding Nick. Behind its yellow nimbus, he saw two partial silhouettes. One man standing in front of another.
"Get those shackles off and untie him," ordered the second man. Nick recognised the voice. It was Constable Ripton. The man who shuffled ahead, allowing the light to fall on his face and side, was Professor Lackridge. A pale and trembling Lack-ridge, who fumbled with the screws of the handcuffs. Ripton was holding a revolver on him, but Nick doubted that was why the scientist was so scared.
"Sorry to take so long, sir," said Ripton calmly. "Bit of a panic going on."
Nick suddenly understood what Ripton had actually been trying to convey with his quick glances back in the guardroom. His uncle"s words ran through his head.
It is watched over quite carefully, I a.s.sure you. "You"re not really D13, are you? You"re one of my uncle"s men?" "You"re not really D13, are you? You"re one of my uncle"s men?"
"Yes, sir. Indirectly. I report to Mr. Foxe."
Nick sat up as the handcuffs came off, and quickly sliced through the remaining ropes. He was not entirely surprised to see the faint glimmer of Charter Marks on the blade, though they were nowhere near as bright and potent as they"d be near the Wall.
"Can you walk, sir? We need to get moving."
Nick nodded. He felt a bit light-headed but otherwise fine, so he guessed he hadn"t lost too much blood to the creature.
"Sorry," Lackridge blurted out as Nick slid off the table and stood up. "I never . . . never thought that this would happen. I never believed Dorrance, thought only to humour him . . . He said that she spoke to him in dreams, and if it was more awake, then . . . We hoped to be able to discover the secret of waking mental communication . . . It was-"
"Mind control is what Dorrance thought he could get from it," Ripton said, interrupting him. He tapped his coat pocket. "I"ve got your diary here. Mind control through people"s dreams. And you just went along with whatever Dorrance wanted, you stupid sod."
"What"s actually happening?" asked Nick. "Has it killed anyone?"
Lackridge choked out something unintelligible. "Anyone! It"s killed almost everyone down here, and by now it"s probably upstairs killing everyone there," said Ripton. "Guns don"t work up close to it, bullets fired farther back don"t do a thing, and the electric barrier grilles just went phhht phhht when it walked up! As soon as I figured it was trying to get out, I doubled around behind it. Now I reckon we follow its path outside and then run like the clappers while it"s busy-" when it walked up! As soon as I figured it was trying to get out, I doubled around behind it. Now I reckon we follow its path outside and then run like the clappers while it"s busy-"
"We can"t do that," said Nick. "What about the guests? And the servants-even if they do work for D13, they can"t be abandoned."
"There"s nothing we can do," said Ripton. He no longer appeared so calm. "I don"t know what that thing is, but I do know that it has already killed a dozen highly trained and fully armed D13 operatives. Killed them and . . . and drunk their blood. Not . . . not something I ever want to see again . . ." "I know what it is," said Nick. "Somewhat. It is a Free Magic creature from the Old Kingdom. A source of Free Magic itself, which is why guns and electricity don"t work near it. I would have thought that bullets coming in from farther away would at least hurt it, though . . ."
"They bounced off. I saw the lead splashes on its hide . . . Here"s a flashlight. You go in front, Professor. Get your key ready."
"We have to try to save the people upstairs," Nick said firmly as they nervously entered the corridor, flashlight beams probing the darkness in both directions. "Has it definitely already got out of here?"
"I don"t know! It was through the second guardroom. The library exit might slow it more. It"s basically a revolving reinforced concrete-and-steel slab, like a vault door. Supposed to be bombproof-"
"Is there another way up?"
"No," said Ripton.
"Yes," said Lackridge. He stopped and turned, the bronze key gleaming in his hand. Ripton stepped back, and his finger whipped from resting outside the trigger guard to curl directly around the trigger. "The dumbwaiter!" Lackridge blurted out. "Dorrance has a dumbwaiter from the wine cellar below us here, which goes up through his office to the pantry above."
"What time is it?" asked Nick.
"Half eight," said Ripton. "Or near enough."
"The guests will be at dinner," said Nick. "They won"t have heard what"s going on down here. If we can take the dumbwaiter to the pantry, we might be able to get everyone out of the house before the creature breaks through to the library."
"And then what?" asked Ripton. "Talk as we go. Head for the office, Prof."
"It"s not a Dead thing, so running water won"t do much," said Nick as they broke into a jog. "Fire might, though . . . If we made a barrier of hay and set it alight, that could work. It would attract attention at least. Bring help."
"I don"t think the sort of help we need exists around here," said Ripton. "I"ve never been up north, but I know people in the NPRU, and this is right up their alley. Things like this just don"t happen down here."
"No, they don"t," said Nick. "They wouldn"t have happened this time, either, only Dorrance fed his creature the wrong blood."
"I don"t understand," Lackridge said, puffing after them. Now that they were heading for a possible exit, he had gotten more of a grip on himself. "I didn"t believe him . . . but . . . Dorrance thought the blood of one of you people with the Charter brand would rouse the creature a little, without danger. Then when we got you to come in for the Forwin Mill investigation, he saw you had a Charter Mark. The opportunity was too good to resist-"
"Shut up!" ordered Ripton. As Lackridge calmed down, the policeman got more tense.
"Dorrance worships the creature, but I don"t think even he wanted it this active," snapped Nick. "I can"t explain the whole thing to you, but my blood is infused with Free Magic as well as the Charter. I guess the combination is what got the creature going so strongly . . . but it was too rich or something; that"s why it"s trying to dilute it with normal blood . . . I wonder if that means that the power it got from my blood will run out. Maybe it"ll just drop at some point . . ."
Lackridge shook his head, as if he still couldn"t believe what he was hearing, despite the evidence.
"It might come back for a refill from you as well," said Ripton. "Here"s the office. You first, Professor."
"But what if the creature"s in there?"
"That"s why you"re going first," said Ripton. He gestured with his revolver, and when Lackridge still didn"t move, he pushed him hard with his left hand. The bulky ex-boxer rebounded from the door and stood there, his eyes glazed and jowls shivering.
"Oh, I"ll go first!" said Nick. He pushed Lack-ridge aside a little more gently, turned the door handle, and went into Dorrance"s office. It was the room he"d been in before, with the big leather club chairs, the desk, and the liquor cabinet.
"It"s empty-come on!"
Ripton locked the door after them as they entered the room, and then he slid the top and bottom bolts home.
"Thought I heard something," he whispered. "Maybe it"s coming back. Keep your voices down."
"Where"s the dumbwaiter?" asked Nick.