Eight Kings (The King's Watch Book 6)

by Mark Hayden

  ‘You do not know what you’re missing,’ said Erin. ‘This is delicious.’

  ‘She’s got a point,’ said Saffron. ‘It’s been a long day.’

  ‘Not me,’ said Mina. ‘I am going to take some cheese up to the suite and get my trainers. We’re going to take Scout for a walk and then go to bed.’ She turned to me. ‘Please tell me you are not going to get up before dawn and go riding.’

  ‘Nope.’

  When Mina had gone and Saffron had joined Erin at the dessert trough, I did ask Jane Kershaw for a favour.

  ‘Of course I can get you a hip flask,’ she said with a wink. ‘You deserve it for looking after the Smurf.’

  It wasn’t Dawn’s Blessing, but it would do. It had been a long day. I was looking forward to bed.

  34 — Bump in the Night

  ‘Arff! Arff! Arff! HOWWWWWW!’

  ‘Mmm Ugnh?’

  ‘Shh.’

  ‘Arff!’

  I don’t sleep with a gun under my pillow; I sleep with one next to the bed. I grabbed it and stood up, putting my back to the wall and ready to shoot at anything that threatened Mina. I could already feel a huge wash of Lux around the room. There was a little light from the curtains, and that told me it was still the middle of the night. Outside our room, Scout was still giving it the full Hound of the Baskervilles and I could feel his fear. It was that, more than his barking that had woken me.

  The door started to glow, and then Mowbray came through it. Right through it. Or his Spirit did.

  ‘Conrad! What’s happening?’ said a frightened Mina.

  She couldn’t see him. ‘Take my hand.’ I held out my hand and she grabbed it.

  ‘Ohmygod.’

  Mowbray was a silver horror – he glowed white without lighting up the room. His eyes were wild and searching for something, then they snapped into focus and locked on me.

  ‘Clarke! They’ve killed me. I’m dead.’

  The voice echoed in my head, directly and with no intervention from my ears.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘In the Lab. I … No. No. No…’

  His eyes locked on something I couldn’t see, away to the other side of the room. Then his Spirit sank down through the floor and disappeared. Gone. The room was black again.

  I pulled my hand out of Mina’s and reached for the light.

  ‘We didn’t dream that, did we?’

  ‘No.’

  Electric light washed over the room and its disordered contents. Last night’s clothes in a mess. The dressing table. No sign of Mowbray. Plenty of noise from outside, though.

  ‘Mina, get up and away from the door.’

  She flattened herself against the solid slate wall. Gun still in hand, I opened the door carefully. There was nothing in the sitting room except a psychotic Scout, running round the furniture and barking. I checked left and right and went to catch him. There was a movement behind me: Saffron’s door opening, and Saffron appearing with her spiked chain.

  ‘What the fuck?’ she said.

  I grabbed Scout and held him. I could feel his heart pounding under the fur, racing at a pace no human organ could cope with. ‘Easy, boy. Easy.’

  Mina had emerged, too. ‘We had a visit from the ghost of Mowbray,’ she said to Saffron. ‘He said that he had been murdered.’

  Scout went limp in my arms and spots appeared in front of my eyes. I felt myself sagging over and collapsed on the floor. All the strength in every muscle had gone and my eyes closed of their own accord. A wonderful feeling of weightlessness came over me. Next stop, the International Space Station…

  Wet tongue. Wet tongue on my nose. Urgh.

  ‘Come on, Scout, he’s waking up. Off you get.’

  It was Saffron’s voice. I blinked and I could see again. The back of the couch to be exact.

  ‘Conrad? Can you hear me?’

  I coughed hard as my lungs kicked back in to action and I had to breathe hard for a few seconds. I felt like I’d just run a marathon. ‘Yes. What happened?’

  ‘Familial Dissociation. You’re fine now, and so’s Scout. Can you get up?’

  ‘Where’s Mina and how long was I out?’

  ‘She hauled Erin out of bed and she’s getting dressed. You were gone for about two minutes. Nowhere near the danger level. Can you sit up?’

  I accepted her hand and dragged myself to a sitting position. Mina appeared, stuffing her feet into trainers. From the bathroom, I heard a groan.

  ‘Is he okay?’ said Mina.

  ‘Looks like it.’

  I reached out and touched Scout. I felt fear and need. I let him come to me and held him, Lux flowing faster than it would at a distance.

  ‘What shall we do?’ said Mina. ‘Should Saff and I have gone looking for Mowbray?’

  ‘No. You made the right call. You had a man down and you put the right person on to deal with him. You got Erin up and got ready yourself. Exactly what I’d have done.’

  A bleary eyed pale-faced Erin appeared from the bathroom. ‘Did I hear you right? Is Mowbray dead?’

  Saffron spoke. ‘Probably. From what Mina’s told me, that was a trauma projection.’

  ‘A what?’ I said.

  ‘Sudden death causes a pulling away from the material world. It’s a bit like pulling your hand back from a hotplate you didn’t know was switched on. Powerful Mages can sometimes keep their Imprint together, and that’s what Mowbray did. Whoever killed him knew this and pulled his Spirit back down to finish the job.’

  I let go of Scout and held out both hands. Saffron and Mina helped me get up.

  ‘Oh god I feel sick,’ said Erin. ‘I didn’t know your leg was that bad.’

  ‘Can you function?’ I said to her. She pressed her lips together and nodded. ‘Good. Mina, I want you to take Erin and go to the Daughters of the Goddess. Round ’em all up and take statements. What time is it?’

  ‘Three forty,’ said Saff. ‘You don’t suspect them, do you?’

  ‘I suspect everyone not in this room. Erin, get dressed. And stick close to Mina. She has the Ancile.’

  ‘Right,’ said Erin.

  ‘Saffron, do you think there’s any chance that Mowbray is still alive and in need of help?’

  ‘No. He’s either past all help or his Spirit escaped and is beyond us.’

  ‘Then we tackle the Mowbrays first. We can examine the scene of crime later. Agreed?’

  ‘Yes. 100%.’

  ‘Good. Quick as you can.’

  ‘I hate to spoil the moment, but I really need to pee before I get dressed.’

  ‘As do I. After you.’

  Mina was using the extra minute to put her hair in a ponytail. I handed her my SIG in its holster.

  She held it in her hand for a second, then nodded and looked at her tunic and leggings. She grabbed one of my spare belts and her phone. ‘I shall go and kick Erin’s arse in to gear.’

  ‘All yours,’ shouted Saffron. Time to move.

  The tour of Pellacombe on our first visit hadn’t included the family bedrooms. Saffron and I slipped down the back staircase as quietly as we could and into the only part of the private quarters I knew, the dining room. From there, a solid looking door blocked the way further.

  Saff ran her hands over it. ‘Locked. Magickally. I can’t open it.’

  I pulled my lip and gave it some thought. While I did, Saff flicked her torch around and found the light switches. When the lights came up, the answer was staring at me from a side table. I picked up the internal phone and dialled 0.

  It rang for so long that I was beginning to panic, and then a sleepy Jane Kershaw answered.

  ‘Hullo?’

  ‘This is Conrad Clarke. Where are you?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘In the duty bunk, off the main kitchens.’

  ‘There’s an emergency. Can you get to the private family dining room without entering the bedroom area?’

  ‘Yes. What’s going on?’

&nbs
p; ‘Please, Jane, this really is an emergency. Get here as soon as you can, with your keys, and I’ll explain.’

  She stumbled into the room less than a minute later, still dressed from last night and clutching a large gold key. She pulled up short when she saw us in uniform.

  ‘Lord Mowbray is dead,’ I said. ‘He’s been murdered in the Lab. We need to tell the family. And check them off.’

  ‘Dead? Mowbray? How? And how do you know? Have you been in the Lab?’

  ‘Mina and I saw his Spirit. We need to get in there.’

  Her face had gone white. It now flushed an angry scarlet. ‘I can’t let you in there. They’ll be vulnerable.’

  ‘To what?’

  ‘To … Let me call one of them. Lena and Ethan. Or Eseld.’

  ‘We’re not a hit squad, Jane. We’re here to help. You know it. Open the door and show us where Eseld’s room is.’

  She looked at us. She looked at the key in her hand. I don’t know what went through her mind at that moment. It might have been trust. It might have been fear of us. It might have been fear of dealing with the situation on her own.

  She crossed the room and held up the key. ‘This only works on the outer door. Eseld’s room is at the far end, as far away from the others as possible. When we get there, she’ll have locked it. When the doors are locked by the family, the key only sounds an alarm inside. Like a doorbell.’ She checked to see that we’d understood and placed the key against the door. She pushed, and it opened silently on to a corridor that ran right and left. She turned right.

  We followed her along a corridor lit by ankle lights and past several unmarked doors, turning left at the end. This new branch was short and ended in a black door, the only surface in the whole space that hadn’t been painted light grey.

  ‘She specified black when Pellacombe was being designed,’ said Jane nervously. ‘A black door: real teenage stuff. It’s been repainted twice. You know what she’s like.’

  ‘Please,’ I said.

  Jane pressed the key to the door. She waited and pressed again, and then a third time. She pressed her ear to the door and said, ‘She’s coming.’

  ‘Good soundproofing,’ said Saffron. ‘Much better than Cherwell Roost.’

  ‘Total,’ said Jane. ‘You could …’ Her imagination wouldn’t let her finish that sentence.

  With a whoosh of air, Eseld flung back the door. ‘Where’s the fucking fire? Do you … Oh. Conrad?’ She was wearing a black silk dressing gown over nothing at all, and instinctively pulled it tighter. She looked at the three of us for a second and stood back to let us in.

  ‘Do you want me?’ said Jane.

  ‘Go straight back to the kitchen and put some coffee on,’ I replied. ‘Lots of coffee.’

  ‘Miss Eseld?’ said Jane. ‘Shall I go?’

  ‘What? Yeah. Go on.’

  Eseld had more than a bedroom, but not much. Behind the door was a small sitting room with a desk against the window. I could see her bedroom off to the left. The room smelled strongly of her scent, bright and zingy, mixed with a waft of stale smoke. She moved quickly, shutting the door to her bedroom and opening the window. She fished for the dressing gown cord and fastened it with her back to us, then turned round.

  ‘Sit down, Eseld,’ I said. ‘Please.’

  She planted herself in the desk chair and swivelled it to face us. Her face was smudged and blurred. Despite wearing less makeup than normal last night, there were still black smears and smudges around her eyes.

  ‘Eseld, I’m so sorry. There’s been an incident. We believe that your father has been killed.’

  She blinked. ‘You are the biggest fucking wind up merchant ever, Conrad.’

  Saffron joined in. ‘I am so sorry, Eseld. It’s true.’

  ‘No. I don’t believe you.’

  It was my turn again. ‘We’ve seen his Spirit, Eseld. Mina and I. And Scout.’

  She slipped off the chair, and before I could do anything, she’d grabbed Scout by the scruff of his neck. She stared at his mismatched eyes. ‘Is it true? Have you seen my Daddy?’

  He struggled and whined and his claws slipped on the rug. She let go and rocked back and forward for a second. ‘How?’ She was talking to the empty floor where Scout had been. He was now hiding behind me.

  She turned and looked up. ‘How? How did he die?’ Before I could answer, she sprang up and grabbed her cigarettes. She used a burst of magick to light one and drew in.

  I took it slowly. ‘He said he was murdered. In the Lab. His Spirit was dragged back down before he could say who had done it. You’re the first person we’ve told over here. Mina and Erin are dealing with the Daughters.’

  She smoked for a second, still standing by the desk. With a jerk, she jabbed the cigarette into the ashtray and ran through to her bedroom, leaving the door open and heading into a bathroom.

  ‘Saff?’ I said.

  ‘Right.’

  Eseld hadn’t stubbed her cigarette out properly, and I must confess that I took a few crafty drags while I watched Saffron standing outside the bathroom. She was nearly knocked flying when Eseld emerged, now completely naked.

  Eseld started grabbing clothes and struggling into them. Saff stood back and let her get on with it. I’d have done the same.

  When she was dressed, Eseld went to an antique painted wardrobe. It was bright red, covered in gold stars and looked like a Victorian stage magician’s prop cupboard. She ran her hands over the doors and the lock clicked open.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I said.

  ‘Going to find him, and if he really has been murdered, I’m going to gut the bastard who did it.’

  ‘This is ours, Eseld. We need your help, yes, but you have to leave us to it.’

  She whirled round. ‘Wrong, wrong, wrong. Under the new Deed, regicide and treason are the only crimes reserved from the King’s Watch. Ask Cador if you don’t believe me.’

  Alarm flared in Saffron’s eyes.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ said Eseld. ‘Try to restrain me? Kill me? I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if you did that.’ She didn’t wait for an answer, and turned back into the cupboard. Now was the moment to stop her, and I couldn’t. Her father was the person she cared for most in the world. In many ways he was her world. If someone had tried to stop me avenging Mina’s death, they’d be in serious trouble.

  She emerged from the cupboard with her leather wristbands in place. She hooked a chain of Artefacts over her neck and zipped a training top over them.

  ‘What are you going to do right now?’ I said.

  ‘Go into the Lab. It’s me that could use your help, Conrad.’

  ‘You know the Laboratory. I don’t.’

  ‘Eh? Laboratory?’ She looked at me as if I were mad. ‘Lab isn’t short for Laboratory. It’s short for Labyrinth. He made a bet with Ginnar the Dwarf that he could build a better one. He won the bet.’

  ‘Give me a minute,’ I said. ‘I’ll get my dowsing rod.’

  She actually laughed. ‘What on earth for?’

  ‘It’s how I got round the last Labyrinth I escaped from.’

  ‘I’ve seen your magickal potential, Conrad. Dad is the greatest Geomancer of the twenty-first century. If you try and dowse your way out of his Labyrinth, you’re on your own. You’ll never be seen again.’

  ‘Then how?’

  She looked at Scout. ‘I was going to use magickal smell, but we’ve got an expert at the real thing here.’

  I weighed up my options. A Mage on the rampage is a difficult thing to stop without extreme violence. A bit like a bull on the loose. The best you can hope for is to guide them to somewhere safe and contain them.

  ‘Fine. Have you got a spare key, Eseld?’ She nodded. ‘Saffron, get everyone up, starting with Kerenza and working down. Before you do, send a quick text to the Boss.’

  ‘It’s Saturday,’ said Saffron. ‘She won’t look at it.’

  ‘Yes she will. And this is a direct order: don’t let anyo
ne else into the Lab and don’t follow us until or unless I contact you. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  I nodded to Eseld. She reached into a drawer and chucked a key at Saffron. I followed her back to the dining room and then down a level to the weird lobby with the portraits. I shuddered as we passed the stairs to the cottage and entered the short passage. The portraits now stared at me. One of them blinked. Scout barked.

  ‘Quick as you can, Eseld.’

  ‘Are my relatives creeping you out, Conrad?’

  ‘That would be a yes.’

  ‘I’m just checking for residual traces.’

  I turned to the Regency beauty on my right. The jet black hair and piercing blue eyes marked her down as a Mowbray even without the blue ribbon in her bonnet and the wild boar grazing in the background. Was she also a Mage? Yes. Witches in portraits have a serpent ring on their right hand.

  I leaned in. ‘Who went through the door tonight?’ I asked.

  Eseld grinned. ‘That would be too easy. These are Memorial portraits. One day you can listen to them, if you’re interested. The one you’re looking at is fascinating.’ She stood back from the door. ‘No trace of magick used to open the door. The only one of us who can’t get through on their own is Cador. Are you ready?’

  ‘Yes.’

  As Eseld opened the door, I wondered how Mina and Erin were getting on upstairs.

  35 — Into the Maze

  Behind the door to the Labyrinth was something I’ve only seen in passing – a fully equipped Mage’s workshop. I quickly scanned for threats and found none. Eseld had walked into the middle of the room and either she’d used her Sight or she simply hadn’t bothered to check.

  The room was square and lit by Lightsticks. I could tell from the layout of the upper floors that we were now properly underground, and during the day this room, like much of Pellacombe, would be lit by daylight. Those great clusters of chimneys I’d seen that first morning were mostly collectors for light tubes. It allowed them to give a natural feel to many of the corridors and save on electricity. I still thought there were too many chimneys, given the lack of open fires. Part of the answer was in here.