The Hunting of the Princes

by Peter F. Hamilton

  Given its bulk, the helicopter was surprisingly fast, and considerably more agile than she’d anticipated. Bullets sprayed through the air around her as she zipped about like a dragonfly, changing direction, diving, soaring high, dropping. The Karrak Lord was a good pilot, and he kept up with her.

  It wasn’t long until they were out over the Thames itself. A big white dome was perched on the opposite bank. Sophie had no idea what it could be, but tall yellow pylons stuck up out of it at an odd angle. As she zoomed towards it through the swirling wind she could hear the thumping music Taggie and Jemima liked to listen to. Coloured lights were playing around the dome. There was some kind of concert inside. There would be a lot of people attending. And the Karrak Lord wouldn’t care about that, wouldn’t care where the bullets struck the ground. Sophie desperately altered course again as the machine gun fired once more, curving round the yellow pylons and heading up so the vile gun would be aimed into the air. Up ahead was an even larger white pylon on the side of the river. An identical one rose up from the opposite bank, with a slightly smaller third pylon beyond that. Sophie grinned fiercely and hurtled forward.

  The spider lowered Lantic to the ground in front of the tower’s three revolving doors. It was very dark in the square; he could just make out the shadowy figures of the Blue Feather officers fighting the Ethanu along the side of the park. Glowing sapphire-blue swords struck against swords that simmered like amber flames, spraying out rainbow sparks as their enchantments struggled against each other. He squinted up to see Taggie’s dark silhouette on the front wall of the tower, still not quite yet halfway up.

  The helicopter came charging over the neighbouring building, and turned sharply. Somewhere in the air close to it, the little illuminious bird that Lantic had released earlier poured out all of its stored light in one gigantic flash, directing it at the front of the helicopter. In its cockpit, the Karrak Lord screamed, and twisted his head aside as his smoke cloak seethed in reaction to the terrible penetrating light. The helicopter bucked in mid-air as he thrashed about, veering away back over the square, narrowly missing the skyscraper on the other side.

  ‘Go on, Taggie,’ Lantic bellowed. ‘Go for the top.’

  He wasn’t sure, but she seemed to be pedalling even harder. The helicopter was flailing, but the Karrak pilot would recover soon enough, he knew. So Lantic, Prince of the Second Realm, flung his arms wide and cast the cleverest and most powerful enchantments he could conceive.

  The woeful little skymaid had led Lord Quinadox a merry dance over the river, always flitting about just outside the target sight of the helicopter’s machine gun. He really liked the destructive power of the bulky Outer Realm machine, but the clever people who had designed its efficient killing systems had never anticipated it would be chasing a nimble flying girl.

  He fired off burst after burst of gunfire at the skymaid with her red looping contrail. But every time, she annoyingly managed to elude the gun’s flaming muzzle. She was making him very cross. Killing her would be a pleasure.

  Now finally he was closing on her as they both curved away from the white dome on the south bank of the river. She must be tiring after such a demanding flight; she was certainly slowing down.

  At last, right above the wide dark river, she stopped and hung motionless in mid-air as the wind surged round her. The helicopter hovered as its targeting lasers and heat sensors locked on to her. Lord Quinadox’s long bone fingers flicked the red safety cover off the missile control button. Then he laughed in scorn as she aimed her pathetic crossbow at him. He even caught a glimpse of the violet glow shining from the bolt’s tip as it flew ridiculously off target, soaring high over the helicopter.

  ‘Missed,’ he sneered.

  Sophie watched the bolt flash above the helicopter, perfectly on target. The glimmering magic tip cut effortlessly through the cable stretched over the Thames between the twin white pylons. A cable thick and tough enough to carry large cable cars back and forth across the water. Quinadox hadn’t seen it because the cars weren’t running in the high wind.

  The severed cable fell directly on to the helicopter hovering below it. Long powerful rotor blades were instantly tangled and shredded. The fuselage spun helplessly as the writhing cable chopped into it. Ammunition and fuel detonated in a violent explosion.

  Sophie streaked upward as fast as she had ever gone, teeth gritted with effort, fists together to punch through the air, keeping ahead of the debris hurled out by the awesome fireball. Behind her, the flaming wreckage plunged down into the black water of the Thames.

  In the midst of his ferocious swordfight, Captain Feandez saw two of the Ethanu turn and walk towards a figure that had appeared from nowhere in front of the tower’s entrance. He blinked, recognizing the slim young man he so disapproved of back in Shatha’hal. ‘Prince Lantic,’ he called in warning. An orange blade came slashing for his neck, which he just parried amid a burst of scarlet sparks. Black fingernails scratched down his leg, and bit into the armour’s knee joint. Captain Feandez wailed at the hot pain stabbing into his flesh at the back of his leg, and chopped down with all his might. His sword sliced through the Ethanu’s arm, and the pain dulled a little. The Ethanu fell to the ground, emitting a high-pitched shriek.

  Captain Feandez turned to see magical light streaming out of the prince’s fingertips, creating long waving lightning threads that played over the two bronze lion statues. The prince was oblivious to the two Ethanu closing on him.

  ‘No!’ Captain Feandez cried. He hobbled towards the prince as fast as he could on his damaged, agonizing knee. All he could see was Queen Danise’s face as she entrusted him with bringing her last son home alive. Now the stupid, wretched ana-nerd prince was lost in some crazy enchantment while Blue Feather officers were fighting and dying to protect him.

  The Ethanu closing on the prince raised their arms.

  ‘Look out!’ Captain Feandez shouted, knowing it was all hopeless. He brought his sword up, ready to fling it at one of the Ethanu – the ultimate futile gesture. How could he ever face his Queen again?

  Something slammed into his side, sending him tumbling to the ground, his sword skittering away. He twisted round in time to see the prince finish whatever enchantment had obsessed him. Then the glimmering orange blade of an Ethanu’s sword appeared above him, poised to stab down. Captain Feandez snarled his defiance at the dark creature, then gasped in shock.

  Two paces behind the Ethanu, the bronze lion on the plinth that guarded the entrance to the tower slowly stood up and shook out its mane. The Ethanu, still with his sword poised above Captain Feandez, turned his head at the most peculiar motion.

  The lion roared so loudly that Captain Feandez could hear nothing at all. Then it swiped a hefty metal paw at the Ethanu, smashing him clean across the road, claws ripping through coat and flesh alike.

  The two Ethanu closing on the prince turned as fast as they could. Not that speed was ever going to save them. The lion sprang at them. Huge jaws opened.

  Captain Feandez started laughing hysterically. Animating a statue was utterly impossible, a myth beyond the greatest anamage houses. But somehow the prince had done it. He watched in newfound humility as Lantic thrust a victorious arm into the sky, rigid finger pointing up the tower. ‘Kill!’ the prince cried.

  Taggie was pedalling as hard as she could, heading right for the top of the tower, which was only a few floors away now. She heard the helicopter coming back, and tried to move her legs even faster. The olobike wasn’t built for speed. She was so close. ‘Come on,’ she moaned. ‘Please.’

  The helicopter flew directly overhead, turning neatly above the tower. One of the spheres on its nose swivelled round. A scarlet targeting laser stabbed out, sweeping round as it sought her out.

  Then Taggie heard the oddest noise from somewhere behind her. Glass was crunching, as if someone was hitting it with hammers. Repeatedly.

  A huge bronze lion sprinted past her, running straight up the side of the tower, ignoring gr
avity as easily as her olobike. Taggie gave it an astonished gasp, hardly believing what she saw.

  The lion reached the top of the tower, and jumped. It crashed into the helicopter above, paws clawing savagely at the fuselage. They tore through as if it was made of cardboard. The helicopter whirled round and round as the pilot lost all control. Taggie saw it vanish behind the tower. Then there were some huge banging sounds. The engine noise cut out. Several seconds later she heard an awful crunch as it landed on the side of North Dock Station, followed by the painful crump of an explosion as the fuel tanks erupted in a furious fireball.

  Completely out of breath, Taggie pedalled up the last few metres to the top floor of the tower. Her destruction spell blew out a wide pane of glass. Yet more crystalline shards tumbled down on to the road far below. A curtain fluttered out of the gap Taggie had made. She eased herself triumphantly round it.

  CHOICES

  Breathing hard and sweating badly, Taggie pushed past the fluttering curtain and looked round. The top floor was a huge single room with the concrete lift shaft in the centre. Red-and-yellow-striped OUT OF USE tape criss-crossed the metal doors. Gauzy black curtains covered all the windows. Half of the floor was empty and undecorated. The other half was somebody’s lounge: an enormous flatscreen television was stuck on the lift shaft wall, showing a live European Cup football match; big expensive speakers made the crowd’s chanting and cheers sound very lifelike. A black globe chair was perched in the middle on the thick carpet.

  Taggie gave the chair a disapproving look.

  ‘Is this really much better than Red Loch Castle?’ she asked.

  The football match vanished and the chanting faded away. The globe chair slowly rotated so its open side faced her. Lord Colgath was sitting inside it. There were no sunglasses on his shockingly white face; instead, his eyes were patches of perfect silver. Scarlet and green ripples wiggled across his smoke cloak, as if it was a phosphorescent sea. ‘The food is certainly much improved,’ he said smoothly. ‘As is the entertainment.’

  ‘And is that how you measure your life now? Volpas kebabs and the number of subscription channels you can stream? You’re the brother of the Grand Lord.’

  ‘I was wrong, Queen of Dreams,’ he said, as his cloak’s colourful ripples sped up, swirling and clashing like a miniature storm. ‘You don’t live up to your reputation, you exceed it – by a long way.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She gave him a jaunty grin. ‘So, how did you escape?’

  ‘Some of my old supporters managed to smuggle a file up with a meal. It took years, but I eventually cut through one of the window grilles. My rathwai flew me away.’

  ‘Ah. That was Lantic’s guess.’

  ‘An astute young man, despite what everyone says about him. And how about you, Queen of Dreams, how did you escape?’

  Taggie tried to sound nonchalant. ‘Blew up the toilet and slid down the sewer.’

  Lord Colgath’s laugh was like the chimes of a particularly resonant bell. ‘You survived the sea serpents’ nesting cavern? Well done.’

  She sighed and took a few steps into the big empty room. ‘I need your help, Lord Colgath. We have to stop the war.’

  ‘Are you giving me a choice?’

  ‘Actually, yes, a small one. But it is yours to make. I’m not going to force you to come with me, but if you do you’ll be safe in the First Realm.’ She gestured at the flimsy curtains fluttering in the wind that came in through the missing window. ‘Unless you have somewhere else you can hide away in fear? I’m guessing your brother sent the helicopters.’

  Lord Colgath stood up, his smoke cloak churning round him. Eyes that were perfect mirrors focused on Taggie. ‘He would have done, yes. My estranged brother is rather well connected with Outer Realm weapons manufacturers.’

  ‘I suspected as much. So, your choice?’

  Lord Colgath strode past her to the broken window, his opalescent smoke cloak swirling behind him. He looked out across the shimmering haze of London’s artificial light that stained the night sky. The vast grid of sodium streetlights was reflected in his eyes. ‘So many people live in the Outer Realm. So many lives, innocent and otherwise. I grew to hate the killing. It never solved anything. Not for us. Not really. We will always be foreigners in this universe. So what is your plan?’

  ‘Find Mirlyn’s Gate, and open it so you can go home.’

  ‘Oh, youth’s foolish optimism! Do you know where Mirlyn’s Gate is?’

  ‘No. Not yet. But I’ll find it,’ she said with more confidence than she had any entitlement to. She went over to stand by Lord Colgath’s side. ‘Many of your people died in the First Realm when I took back the throne last year. I’ve been to the Fourth Realm and seen what you’ve done to it. Yet here we are talking instead of fighting. I know it’s a small thing, but isn’t it a start? Trust has to begin somewhere. Only that can banish the fear.’

  Lord Colgath turned to her, and said, ‘I spoke out when I grew weary of the eternal conflict my brethren wage against this universe. For that I was accused of heresy and condemned. I did not fight them, I surrendered to their judgement. Now I do not live any more, I skulk in the shadows, forever fearful. That is not how the son of a Grand Lord should live. Perhaps I should be searching for my courage again.’

  Taggie nearly laughed at that. ‘I’ve come to learn that courage is a dangerous companion.’

  The lift doors dinged softly.

  ‘I enchanted that lift myself,’ Lord Colgath said in surprise, turning around to look at it. ‘Only I can use it.’

  Taggie instinctively strengthened her enchantment shield as the lift doors slid open.

  Katrabeth stood inside, wearing an elegant red silk dress, posing as if she was a model at a fashion show.

  ‘Hello, cousin,’ Katrabeth said pleasantly. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’

  ‘Cousin . . . ?’ Lord Colgath asked in confusion.

  Katrabeth clicked her fingers. The blue-white lightning of a death spell smashed across the room. Taggie was ready for it, bracing herself. It struck Lord Colgath instead. His enchantment shielding protected him, but the impact of the spell sent him stumbling back; wisps of colour escaped from his boiling smoke cloak, stretching out in his wake. The flimsy fluttering curtains were the only thing behind him. He tore through them, and screamed as he fell through the open window.

  Katrabeth raised a finger to her lips. ‘Ooops,’ she mocked. ‘Was that all of your hopes and dreams that just went out of the window?’

  Taggie didn’t say anything. Didn’t fling her own spell in retaliation at the diabolical girl. Instead, she simply turned and dived out after the Karrak Lord.

  Taggie fell headfirst with the air blasting at her face, and actually smiled as she stretched her arms out wide. She was at peace with herself as she hurtled towards the ground, because this was what she knew she had to do. Her mind was clear, and resolute. ‘Adrap.’

  The shapeshift spell bloomed around her in a seething layer of magic, transforming arms to wings, skin to feathers, feet to talons. All of it white. This time she had pictured the beautiful snow eagle she’d seen in the Fourth Realm, graceful and dignified, enduring all the heartache which had befallen its world. It was adorable. Perfect. This was her choice, what she believed in, not the predatory black eagle that was Katrabeth’s form.

  Taggie twisted her wings, beating them in short powerful bursts to accelerate her fall. She was halfway to the ground now, which was rushing up to strike her very quickly. There, almost directly below her, was Lord Colgath, still screaming as he scrabbled manically at thin air. She altered the direction of her fall with a simple flick of her tail feathers – how simple and delightful flying was!

  She reached out with her talons and grabbed the terrified Karrak Lord round his shoulders. Taggie flung her wings wide, and felt a huge pressure pummelling against her as they curved out of the fatal plunge. They swooped over the glass-littered road, slowing to land. She let go of Lord Colgath as his feet touched the paveme
nt. He crumpled to the ground, his gaudy smoke cloak churning wildly.

  Taggie alighted elegantly, and dismissed the shapeshift spell. Her body reverted to human form as the exotic magic fumed around her.

  ‘Taggieeee!’ Jemima squealed. One of the trees along the side of the park had wrapped its branches around its trunk as if they were furled sails. They unwound to reveal Jemima and Felix sitting on a branch twenty feet up. Jemima’s athrodene armour was shining, surrounding her in a starlight halo.

  ‘I saw that,’ Jemima yelled as she scrambled down. ‘You did it! You shapeshifted, Taggie. You really did.’

  ‘Yes. I did. Didn’t I? Amazing how you can focus when you really have to.’ She laughed.

  Lantic came running over to her, followed by the second bronze lion. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked desperately.

  ‘Yes, are you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  They looked at each other for a long moment, then hugged.

  ‘You were amazing up there.’

  ‘You too.’

  ‘I love the lions you animated.’

  ‘You became a snow eagle!’

  ‘Yes,’ Taggie said, suddenly realizing what she was doing, the way she was pressed up against him.

  Lantic realized at the same time. They broke apart, looking anywhere but at each other.

  ‘Well done.’ Lantic cleared his throat.

  Taggie squeezed her hands together, examining them intently. ‘Thank you.’

  Sophie sank down out of the night sky. She looked round Canada Square in bemusement. The once-neat park now resembled a ploughed field. Several Ethanu were lying on the ground, three of them looking weirdly broken. Four more were bound up in spider gossamer, with a bronze lion and five surviving Blue Feather officers standing guard over them. Captain Feandez was sitting with his back to an empty plinth, with a bandage round his knee. And a Karrak Lord in an oddly colourful smoke cloak swayed about as he regained his feet. ‘Everyone OK?’ she enquired.