The Hunting of the Princes

by Peter F. Hamilton

  Sophie dived down and snatched Felix clean out of the water.

  ‘Move!’ Sophie bellowed as she dropped Felix on the rocks next to Jemima.

  Taggie and Lantic started swimming desperately for the rocks at the edge of the cave. Sophie hovered overhead, her crossbow aimed down at the water as she stared down intently.

  Every stroke was a huge effort. Taggie could barely move her arms, they were so cold and heavy. Her saturated clothes added to the difficulty, but sheer panic kept forcing her to push one arm ahead, then another, in what amounted to a feeble paddle.

  A crossbow bolt streaked down into the water barely a foot from Taggie. Something brushed against her leg. She screamed, and forced her leaden arms to move a fraction faster. Bubbles erupted behind her.

  A serpent’s head reared up next to Lantic.

  Felix flung a firestar. The bright circle expanded as it flew through the air and sliced into the serpent’s skull. Blood spurted out. The ruined thing sank below the surface.

  Long dark shapes produced slick ripples as they raced towards it. Then the water churned vigorously as they began their feeding frenzy.

  Taggie was almost at the rocks. Her feet touched something solid, and she was scrambling up out of the freezing red seawater, sobbing in relief.

  Sophie fired her crossbow again. Then Lantic was crawling up out of the glowing water, shaking so badly his limbs almost didn’t work.

  ‘Use the dark gate,’ Sophie shouted. ‘Get us out of here.’

  Taggie just grunted. Her teeth were chattering so much she couldn’t talk. Numb fingers scrambled at the bag hanging round her head. She couldn’t even pull the crude lace fastenings open. Jemima leaned forward and simply sliced through the fabric with a small dagger. Taggie managed to pull out the black and gold ring with frigid fingers. Sophie sank down out of the air and grabbed hold. Everyone else gathered round.

  Taggie thought about Mum’s kitchen. ‘Caravaz el thrain,’ she groaned.

  The middle of the black and gold ring blinked to show the wonderfully familiar room with its shiny cupboards and polished floor.

  Two serpents emerged from the water and began to slither up the rocks. All Taggie could think of was how unfair that was. They were sea serpents!

  Felix flung another firestar. It was so bright Taggie could barely see anything.

  ‘Seseeamie.’

  The five of them landed on the kitchen floor amid a spray of icy water and sea-serpent blood. They lay there for a moment like fish that’d been emptied out of a trawler’s net. Water started running out of their clothes, forming a huge puddle that spread right across Mum’s pristine tiles.

  Taggie groaned with all sorts of dismay. Then she was fumbling with the laces on the Fourth Realm coat, desperate to get her icy clothes off. Felix was shaking himself like a dog, scattering droplets everywhere, much to everybody’s consternation.

  ‘Everyone OK?’ Taggie asked. Something about how ordinary the kitchen was made it seem as if she’d simply woken from a bizarre dream. One second she’d been in fear of her life fleeing Karraks and Zanatuth and sea serpents in a dark frozen Realm, the next she was at home with the warm afternoon sun flooding through patio doors.

  ‘Well,’ Lantic said as he wheezed down some air. ‘At least we know why Lord Colgath didn’t use that escape route.’

  Taggie shuddered. It was the closest she could come to a laugh right now.

  ‘Bags me the shower first,’ Jemima said through chattering teeth.

  SIGHTED

  An hour later Taggie joined everyone else back down in the kitchen. They’d either had a hot shower or a decent soak in a hot bath. Lantic and Jemima had covered the tiled floor in towels while Taggie made everyone hot chocolate.

  ‘So now what?’ Lantic asked as they sat on the stools along the breakfast bar.

  Jemima found a packet of biscuits, and started handing them round. She showed Lantic how to dunk them in his hot chocolate.

  ‘Now we make Lord Colgath an offer he can’t refuse,’ Taggie said as she sipped from her mug. She hadn’t felt like this before. Now the fear had faded, there was a flame of anger deep inside her that powered a determination greater even than the time she’d faced the usurper Lord Jothran to battle for the throne of the First Realm. She wasn’t going to creep about meekly any more as if she’d done something wrong.

  ‘Er, what sort of offer?’ Sophie asked.

  ‘Me, or his big brother and the War Emperor,’ she said without hesitation. ‘His choice.’

  Sophie nodded in approval. ‘Nice one.’

  Taggie looked round the kitchen to see if anyone objected. Lantic and Jemima gave her a thumbs-up; Felix twitched his wet black nose, sending his whiskers swishing about.

  So Taggie picked up her mobile and made the call.

  ‘Taggie!’ Prince Harry exclaimed. ‘Heavens above, what have you been up to?’

  ‘Trying to stop a war,’ she replied levelly.

  ‘Ah well, no wonder you’re so unpopular. You know Manokol has practically accused you of treason? Andrew’s told us the Gathering has issued a proclamation that you appear before them to answer their questions.’

  ‘Oh really? I’d like to see them try and make me.’

  ‘That’s the spirit. So as you’re sort of persona non grata, as it were, I definitely should not be telling you to be careful. There’s a lot of magical folk stomping about the Outer Realm looking for you.’

  ‘No, you’d better not tell me that at all.’

  ‘I won’t then, because there’s a lot of them, and some of them really aren’t pleasant. Filthy tempers and no manners, and that’s just the ones on our side.’

  ‘I can imagine.’

  ‘So what can I not do for you?’

  ‘I don’t need a favour,’ Taggie said. ‘Just over an hour ago someone called my mobile number. I really don’t need to know exactly where that call came from.’

  ‘I’d better not tell you then. I won’t call you back in five minutes after MI1 hasn’t run a trace through the phone company records.’

  They got ready while they waited for Prince Harry to call back. Not that there were a lot of clothes left in the sisters’ wardrobes. Taggie put on jeans and a dark sweatshirt, then combed back her hair and wove it into a thick braid.

  ‘We’re being sighted,’Jemima said suddenly. ‘I can feel it. A seer is searching for us. Do you want me to cast a wardveil?’

  ‘No, not yet. And why are you wearing Mum’s sunglasses? It’s going to be dark in a couple of hours.’

  Jemima who had chosen combat trousers baggy enough to cover her athrodene armour along with the black denim jacket she always wore for Laser Quest (complete with all her game badges), gave her a defiant look. ‘There’ll probably be a big fight when we find Colgath. And action heroes always wear dark glasses.’

  ‘Fine. Whatever.’

  Sophie was wearing yet another of Taggie’s oversize fleeces, along with a disgruntled expression as she folded her wings and shrugged into it. Lantic had to make do with a pair of Mum’s jeans – Jemima cut a few inches off the bottom of the legs and promised him frayed edges were fashionable in the Outer Realm, just like belts holding the waist up.

  ‘I’ve got good news and bad news,’ Prince Harry said when he phoned back.

  ‘Go on,’ she told him.

  ‘Well, the good news is we tracked the call to a mobile here in London; it was made from Canada Square in Docklands. The bad news is that the phone was bought for cash eleven months ago, there’s no record of who bought it.’

  ‘Can you send me the address?’ she asked.

  ‘Texting it to you now.’

  ‘Thank you, Harry.’

  ‘No probs. Do you need backup?’

  ‘No. But I do need to keep the police away if anything goes wrong. I don’t want ordinary people getting hurt.’

  ‘Leave it with me.’

  Taggie drove to Stamford station in Mum’s second car, an ancient Mercedes A-Clas
s. She was a lot more confident behind the wheel now.

  Just as they turned into St John’s Street a police car started following them. Taggie watched it in the mirror for a minute, then clicked her fingers. All four of the police car’s tyres burst simultaneously, and it veered into a row of parked cars.

  At the station she stood in front of the ticket machine and used Mum’s spare credit card to buy four first class tickets to London.

  ‘Do you want me to cast a wardveil?’ Jemima asked as the machine spat out the tickets.

  ‘Not yet,’ Taggie told her.

  ‘But we’re still being sighted.’

  ‘Trust me.’

  They climbed aboard the next local train to Peterborough station. Fifteen minutes later they got off at Platform 5, and made their way up the stairs to the bridge that spanned all the platforms. ‘Now you can cast that wardveil,’ Taggie told Jemima. ‘There are trains going all over the country from here. No one will know which one we take.’ A couple of minutes later, they caught the express down to King’s Cross station in London.

  There were lock spells and trip enchantments and Second Realm spygems, even an ordinary Outer Realm house alarm. Katrabeth simply glided past all of them, disabling them with her own powerful magic.

  She stood in the middle of the kitchen and frowned in disapproval at what she saw. The floor was covered in soaking wet towels, smelling like seawater. Strangely, they seemed to be glowing a very faint red.

  Katrabeth wrinkled her nose up in disapproval. ‘See what you can find,’ she told Nursy, who was hovering behind her.

  She found Taggie’s bedroom easily enough. Her eyebrow lifted in scorn at the frilly lace trim around the chest of drawers, the pink duvet and matching pillowcase, the childish blue ceiling with its painted clouds. She held up a flower-print skirt from an open drawer, and didn’t even bother to compare it with the scarlet silk dress she was wearing, it was so inferior. There were pebbles and shells lined up on the windowsill, obviously collected from various seaside holidays. She picked them up one by one, examining them, trying to gather the magical scent of her prey. There was one thing: a daisy chain in a scuffed toy jewellery box. It was old and dry now, but Taggie had obviously put a lot of effort into making it some distant summer, and she’d kept it. She had considered it precious at one time.

  ‘Oh, Nursy,’ Katrabeth called loudly.

  The old woman shuffled into the bedroom, her stiff dress rustling like dry leaves as she moved. She stopped abruptly when she saw the daisy chain dangling from Katrabeth’s finger. ‘Find her for me, Nursy, there’s an angel.’

  ‘No no, my sweet one,’ Nursy said fearfully. ‘Don’t make me do that. Please. The little princess has cast a wardveil around them. You know how it burns when I break through.’

  Katrabeth’s expression hardened. ‘Nursy, darling, you’re the very best seer in the Third Realm. If you can’t break a child’s wardveil, then what use are you to me?’

  The old woman seemed to stoop further down as she shuffled over to Katrabeth. She took the daisy chain, and wrapped it round her arthritic fingers. A soft muttering emerged from behind the veil as she rocked slowly from side to side. After a while, Katrabeth could hear sobbing.

  ‘Well?’ she asked impatiently.

  ‘A train,’ the old woman whimpered. ‘They’re all on a train to London. It travels like the wind. They are confident. Happy. They talk of seeing Lord Colgath in the city.’

  ‘Thank you, Nursy. You see, you are the best.’

  The old woman swayed, and crumpled on to the bed. Katrabeth ignored her and took out the ancient wooden box with the seeing crystal inside. The slithering green specks it contained flowed back to reveal the Grand Lord brooding on his chair of bones.

  ‘Have you found her?’ Amenamon asked.

  ‘She’s on a train to London to meet your brother.’

  ‘So that’s where he is.’

  ‘Apparently.’

  Amenamon let out a long growl. ‘Before the Abomination came to the tower without doors she may have visited New Aurestel. The trees are struggling against our winterfall enchantments. Something awoke them.’

  ‘Jemima!’ Katrabeth spat.

  ‘Most likely,’ the Grand Lord said. ‘It has encouraged my subjects in the town to become troublesome.’

  ‘I’m sure you can deal with a simple rebellion.’

  ‘Yes. But New Aurestel is where we manufacture the bullets.’

  ‘What! You mean Taggie knows about them? If she tells the War Emperor . . .’

  ‘It is unlikely she discovered them,’ the Grand Lord barked. ‘However, we cannot take the chance.’

  Katrabeth tilted her head to one side. ‘We?’ she asked sweetly.

  The Grand Lord’s teeth-flames burned a dangerous blue-white. ‘Do not mock me! If you do not accomplish this, then my agreement with your mother will be over.’

  ‘It wasn’t an agreement, as I recall, but a bloodbound promise, and not even you can elude that.’

  ‘We shall see. Eliminate the Abomination before she finds Colgath. Those who accompany her must also be dealt with. No word of the bullets must escape.’

  ‘London is a hundred miles away, and we don’t have much time. You have more connections to wealthy individuals and companies in this Realm than I do. You’ll have to arrange some fast transport for me.’

  ‘Very well. My Lords Quinadox and Laythal are in the Outer Realm overseeing delivery of one of our contracts. I understand the company we deal with produces flying machines of some kind. They will collect you.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘And Katrabeth, I will instruct them to escort Lord Colgath back to the Fourth Realm. We do not require your assistance in that matter.’

  ‘Whatever you say.’

  ‘Now this is what I call a train,’ Lantic said as they sat in the big padded chairs around a table in the first class carriage, watching the flat Cambridgeshire countryside flash past. ‘Though I would like to be driving, like I did the steam engine.’

  The guard who came to inspect their tickets frowned at them. ‘No pets,’ he said, his finger pointing accusingly at Felix. ‘Especially no pets sitting on the chair arms. That thing should be in an authorized cage in the luggage car.’

  ‘How about I put you in a cage?’ Felix snapped back.

  The guard’s jaw dropped in astonishment.

  Jemima grinned happily as he fled down the carriage; he didn’t come back.

  ‘Yes,’ Lantic said. ‘This is definitely how trains should be.’

  Jemima’s smile suddenly dropped away, and she gasped. ‘Someone’s seen us,’ she said fearfully.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Felix asked. ‘That guard is hardly going to tell anyone what happened.’

  ‘Not that,’ Jemima said. ‘A seer broke through my wardveil. They saw us. They know we’re on this train, they know where we’re going.’

  ‘Who can do that?’ Lantic asked.

  ‘A very powerful seer,’ Taggie said uneasily. ‘Can you see them?’ she asked Jemima.

  Her sister shook her head, looking thoroughly miserable. ‘There’s just . . . dead daisies.’

  ‘Dead daisies?’ Felix asked in bewilderment.

  ‘Yes. That’s all I can see. I’m sorry.’

  Taggie put her arm round Jemima. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘They were always going to find us at some point. But we’re only thirty minutes away from London. That doesn’t give anyone time to do anything about us now.’

  A TOWER OVERLOOKING WATER

  It was dark by the time the escalator brought them up out of Canary Wharf station to a long plaza facing a line of hirebikes. The children gazed up at the skyscrapers and modern glass buildings standing around the plaza, which were all lit up from within to form tall mosaics of light against the night sky.

  There were quite a few people walking about, going in and out of the curving glass entrances to the huge underground station. Just about all of them seemed to be t
alking on their mobiles. Taggie spotted a couple of Ethanu. As she watched, one of them raised a mobile phone into the shadow below his silver glasses.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We’re not going to have long.’

  They hurried up the broad steps at the north end of the plaza, and crossed the road to Canada Square. The little park of grass and trees looked sad and out of place amid the huge skyscrapers around it. A strong wind was being channelled by the concrete and glass canyons, plucking at their clothes. Several people were leaning into it. Taggie opened the canvas bag she was lugging round, and Felix hopped out. Standing beside the weird blue disc sculpture in the middle of the grass, they all looked up at the forty-five-storey glass tower on the other side of the road. Even tipping her head back as far as she could, it was hard for Taggie to see the top. She consulted the screen on her mobile. ‘Prince Harry says the signal came from the upper floor,’ she said.

  ‘A tower overlooking water,’ Lantic said.

  ‘Told you,’ Jemima said with a sniff.

  ‘Now we just have to get up there,’ Sophie said. ‘Easy for me.’

  ‘Let’s try the obvious first,’ Taggie said, and they set off to the foot of the tower.

  The entrance lobby was in a smaller building on the side of the main tower. It had a set of three revolving doors guarded by three security guards and two full-size bronze lion sculptures. The security guards scowled at everybody who walked past.

  Jemima scurried up to one of them, a woman with a thoroughly disapproving expression.

  ‘Hello,’ Jemima said in her sweetest voice. ‘I was wondering, is there a public viewing gallery at the top? Somewhere I can look out across the river?’

  ‘What?’ the guard snapped in annoyance. ‘This is an office block. People work here.’

  Jemima widened her eyes to make herself utterly adorable. ‘Yes. So?’

  ‘So, you cannot go up.’

  ‘You’re having the top floor redecorated, aren’t you? How long has that been going on?’

  ‘Five years now,’ the guard said, then frowned, as if she didn’t understand where that reply had come from. ‘You go away, now. People work here. Hard work.’