Molly and I finally ended up in the main dining room at the back of the Hall. It was completely deserted, in between shifts, the rows of tables standing silent and waiting under their pristine white tablecloths. It was hard to believe that eighteen months has passed since we were last here. Molly and I sat down facing each other, and I suddenly realised I didn’t have a single clue what to say. What do you say when the woman you love is dying?
“It’s not like we haven’t been here before,” Molly said kindly. “Remember when you were infected by the strange matter, and we both thought you only had a few days to live? We didn’t sit around crying our eyes out; we just got on with business. We survived that. We’ll survive this.”
“How do you feel?” I said. “I mean, really; do you feel any…different?”
“I can feel…something else inside me,” she said slowly. “Like after a large meal. A feeling of… heaviness. As though there’s more of me now. My standard magical protections are containing it, for the moment.” She smiled briefly. “But then, I would say that, wouldn’t I? If I were already a Loathly One drone, in mind as well as body.”
“No,” I said. “I’d know the difference. I could tell if you weren’t…you.”
“Yes,” she said. “You probably could.”
“Let’s talk about something else, just for a while,” I said. “Give us a chance to sneak up on the main subject, maybe catch it by surprise.”
“All right. What did you have in mind, Eddie?”
“Well…what was all that business with Heaven and Hell, and I’ve been around?”
“Ah,” said Molly. “Yes … I suppose that had to come out eventually. You’ve been very good, Eddie, really you have; not asking too many questions about what I did, and what I promised, to gain my magical powers. Possibly because you were afraid of what the answers might be. Well, relax, sweetie, I haven’t sold my soul to anyone. I made a series of pacts and deals down the years, with various Powers. Some Infernal, some Heavenly, a few alien… And I paid for my magic with years off my life. Don’t look like that, Eddie; I never wanted to grow old anyway. Now, of course, it would appear the whole question has become irrelevant. My various debtors were paid with years from my putative old age, and now it seems more than likely I won’t get that far. The thing growing inside me will take me long before my allotted time.”
“Not while I’m here,” I said. “I’ll never give up on you, Molly. There must be something we can do. This is Drood Hall; we work miracles for the world every day. I have the right to expect one small miracle, just for you. You know … I could get you a torc. Strictly speaking, it’s forbidden for anyone not of Drood blood, but I’m sure Strange would help. I probably wouldn’t even have to explain why. He’s very understanding, for an inexplicable other-dimensional being.”
“It’s a nice thought, Eddie, but I don’t think it would work. The torc didn’t help Sebastian, except to help him hide his condition.”
“Okay, scratch that idea. How about the Armourer? He’s created enough wonders for the family; he can create one more for me. For you.”
“But then we’d have to tell him everything. How much can we trust him? I don’t want to end up in a cage, like the others. Not while there’s still work to be done.”
“Do you feel up to fighting in the field?” I said.
“When I don’t, then you’ll know there’s something seriously wrong. Physically, I feel fine. No different at all. My magic is insulating me from whatever changes are beginning. Mentally…” Molly cocked her head slightly on one side, as though listening. “It’s like there’s another voice in my head, me but not me, distant but distinct, faint but insistent.”
“What’s it saying?” I said, as casually as I could.
“Smoke crack and worship Satan. No, I can’t tell. It’s too far away. It doesn’t sound like anything…bad.”
A sudden rush of helplessness ran through me. I wanted to get up and run around the room, overturning the tables and kicking the chairs out of the way. I needed to be doing something, anything…but I made myself sit there, quiet and calm. I couldn’t let Molly see how worried I was. So we just sat there, together, facing each other across the empty table.
“What are we going to do?” I said finally. “We can’t tell anyone. We can’t trust anyone. Not with this.”
“We stay calm and focused,” said Molly. “Actually, I think I’m coping with this rather well, don’t you? I thought I’d be having panic attacks by now, and hyperventilating into a paper bag. You’re the one who looks like you might break down into hysterics at any moment.”
I smiled briefly. “Never could hide anything from you, could I?”
Molly put out her hands to me, and I took them both in mine. She looked at me earnestly. “I need you to be strong for me, Eddie, so I can be strong. We can beat this. We can.”
“You know,” I said, just a bit wistfully, “when I saved the family from the Heart, and put an end to all the old evils, I really thought things would improve. I should have known better. What are we going to do, Molly?”
“We destroy the Loathly Ones, and all their works,” Molly said firmly, squeezing my hands hard. “And along the way, we keep our eyes open for something we can use as a cure. Failing that…you kill me, while I’m still me. Before I become something we’d both hate.”
“I couldn’t do that,” I said.
“You have to, Eddie. Just in case I’m not strong enough to do it myself.”
We looked at each other for a long time, holding onto each other the way drowning men clutch at straws.
“Why haven’t you turned me in?” Molly said finally. “Why haven’t you told everyone that I’m infected, and a danger to the family? You know you should. It’s your duty.”
“I’ll decide what’s my duty and what isn’t,” I said. “The most important thing for me is to save you. I brought you here, made this possible, so it’s all my fault.”
“Oh, Eddie. I never knew anyone so ready to blame themselves for everyone else’s problems.”
“I will do whatever it takes to save you, Molly. If you believe nothing else, believe that. There has to be an answer.”
“And if there isn’t?”
“Then I’ll make one.”
We talked some more, but didn’t really say anything. Just the normal, reassuring things you say when you’re afraid in the dark. And in the end we had to leave so I could go about my business. My whole family was depending on me, not just Molly. And I’ve always known my duty to my family. Damn them. I sent Molly down to the Armoury, to Uncle Jack. She could talk about the problem to him, in general terms, and see what he had to say.
And I… went to see my grandmother.
According to Harry, she was ill, too ill to see anybody, but that was an old trick where the Matriarch was concerned, and she just didn’t feel like talking to anybody. So I made my way up to her private suite on the top floor, and wasn’t all that surprised to discover two more of Harry’s overmuscled thugs standing guard outside the door. They took one look at me approaching and both of them armoured up immediately. It would seem word had already got around as to what I’d done to the other bullyboys. I strolled up to the two guards, armour down, doing my best to radiate casual unconcern. They both moved slightly but definitely to block my way.
“Sorry,” said the one on the left. “The Matriarch is not to be disturbed. We have our orders.”
“Not to be disturbed at all,” said the one on the right. “Under any circumstances.”
“I just said that, Jeffrey,” said the first guard.
“Well, I never get to say anything,” said the second. “You’re always leaving me out of things, Earnest.”
“Look,” said Earnest, “can we please talk about this later?”
“You never want to talk about anything, you.”
Earnest sighed loudly behind his golden mask. “You’re not still mad about that party, are you?”
“Party? What party?”<
br />
“You are; you’re still mad about it.”
“You went off and left me all on my own!” Jeffrey said hotly. “You knew I didn’t know anyone else there!”
“I’ve said I’m sorry, haven’t I? What else can I say?”
“You could let me do the threats. You never let me do the threats.”
“That’s because you’re no good at them,” Earnest said patiently.
“I could be! A bit of practice, and I could be very good at them!”
“All right! All right, then. You go ahead and do the threats. I’ll just stand here and watch. Maybe I’ll pick up a few tricks.”
“Excuse me,” I said.
Jeffrey turned to confront his partner. “You’re going to make remarks, aren’t you? Loud and sarcastic remarks.”
“No, I won’t!”
“Yes you will! You’re always criticising, you. You never let me do anything fun!”
“I’m letting you do the threats, aren’t I? Look; I’ll even let you hit him first. How about that?”
“Really?” said Jeffrey. “I can hit him first?”
“Course you can! Go ahead, enjoy yourself!”
“Thanks, Earnest. That means a lot to me. You’re a good friend…”
“Oh get on with it, you big softy. Kick his head in.”
I decided I’d heard about as much of this as I could stand. I took out the Merlin Glass, shook it out to full size, activated the teleport function, and then clapped the mirror over both of the guards in turn, sending one to the Antarctic and the other to the Arctic. Then I shook the mirror down and put it away, and smiled at the empty corridor.
“If you bump into the Vodyanoi Brothers,” I said, “say hi for me.”
I knocked politely on the Matriarch’s door, and tried the handle, but it was locked. I waited for a while, but no one opened it. I knocked again, putting a bit more effort into it, and then the Matriarch’s voice came from the other side of the door.
“Who is it? Who’s there?”
“It’s Eddie, Grandmother. I’m back. Can I come in and talk with you?”
“The door is locked. And I don’t have a key.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “All right, Grandmother. I’ll soon have the door open. Stand back.”
“Don’t you dare break my door down, Edwin Drood! It’s a valuable antique!”
I sighed quietly, just to myself. “All right, Grandmother. Give me a moment.”
I knelt down and studied the lock. Old-fashioned, sturdy, no problem at all. I armoured up my right hand, concentrated, and a thin extension of the golden strange matter slipped forward into the lock, shaping itself to fit the interior exactly, moulding itself into a key. The tasks and skills of a Drood field agent are many and varied. I unlocked the door, armoured down, pushed the door open, and entered into the Matriarch’s waiting room.
She was standing right in the centre of the antechamber, all alone. The room seemed very big and empty without the usual attendant crowd of family and friends and well-wishers. The Matriarch herself seemed somehow smaller, diminished. She was doing her best to stand tall and proud, as always, but for the first time I could see the effort. She was dressed formally, but her long mane of gray hair hung carelessly down, instead of being piled up on top of her head. She nodded stiffly to me, a stick-thin old lady with nothing much left but her dignity.
“Edwin. It’s good to see you again.”
“And you, Grandmother. May I ask; how did you come to be locked up in your own rooms?”
“I have been held prisoner!” she said angrily, almost spitting out the words. “Harry has kept me under guard for months, forbidden to communicate with the rest of the family.”
“Why would he do that?” I said.
“Because I found out what he is.” Martha looked at me suspiciously. “Did you know, Eddie? You always know things you’re not supposed to… No, of course not. You would have told me, something like that. Come into my private rooms, Edwin. I don’t feel safe talking out here; you never know who might be listening, these days.”
She led me through into the bedroom. The curtains were still drawn, keeping the room comfortably gloomy. Alistair was still lying flat on his back in bed, still wrapped up in bandages like a mummy. A single blanket covered him, hardly rising at all as he breathed. He didn’t react at all as Martha and I came in and shut the door. Martha looked at him expressionlessly.
“Don’t worry; he’s asleep. Doesn’t even know we’re here. He sleeps most of the time now. It’s getting harder and harder to wake him long enough to take his nourishment. He really should be down in the infirmary, but I hate to think of him lying there alone, with tubes in him. Everyone else is just waiting for him to die, but they don’t know my Alistair. He’s strong. A lot stronger than anyone ever gave him credit for. You’ll see; one day he’ll just wake up, and be himself again. Like a butterfly emerging from his cocoon. Sit down, Edwin.”
We sat down on comfortable chairs by the empty fireplace, facing each other. The Matriarch studied me intently for a long moment.
“You look… different, Edwin. Older. But then, you’ve been through so much, haven’t you? You’ve grown up. I knew it would happen eventually. It looks good on you… But so much has happened while you were away. A year and a half, Edwin! Where have you been all this time?”
“Travelling in time, Grandmother. I went into the future, and found a mighty warrior to bring back to aid the family. I was supposed to return only a few seconds after I left, but…”
The Matriarch sniffed loudly. “The Time Train. I might have known. There are good reasons why we never use the stupid thing. I could have told you it wasn’t dependable, but you didn’t ask anyone, did you? You were so sure you knew better… I should have ordered it dismantled years ago, but for this nagging feeling that someday the family might just need it…”
“What happened to you, Grandmother?” I said patiently.
“I have been kept prisoner in these rooms practically from the day you disappeared. Harry came to see me. He said it was necessary for him to take command of the family in your absence, and I was quite prepared to give him my blessing. You have to understand, Edwin; he said all the right things, promised me all the right things. He made me believe he embodied all the old traditional values of the family. Unlike you… But even though he was saying all the things I wanted to hear, I still didn’t entirely trust him. I’ve run this family too long to take anything or anyone at face value.
“So I had a quiet, very discreet word with the Sarjeant-at-Arms. Just to be sure. The Sarjeant didn’t want to tell me what he knew, but I made him tell me. And that was when I found out the truth about Harry. That he was a deviant, and an abomination! Bedding his own hellspawned half brother! And he dared look me in the eye and tell me he believed in the old family values! I summoned him here and confronted him with what I knew… He didn’t try to defend himself. Just sighed and shrugged, and said it didn’t matter. He had control of the family, and he didn’t need me anymore. He locked me in my own rooms, put his own guards at my door. They took care of all my needs, saw that Alistair and I never wanted for anything… but nothing I said or promised or threatened would sway them. They were Harry’s creatures. I haven’t spoken to another living soul in over a year.
“Oh, Harry sees that I’m kept informed about everything that’s happening. I get regular reports, and I’m invited to make useful comments… which I do. My duty to the family hasn’t changed. But you have to get me out of here, Edwin! Harry isn’t up to the job. The family is losing this war! You need my expertise and experience!”
“Yes,” I said. “We do. But I’m back, and I’m running things again, Grandmother. Running them my way. Are you ready to work with me, now?”
“Of course. I’ve had a lot of time to think about… things. You and I are never going to agree on many things, but the needs of the family must come first. And right now, it needs both of us.” She looked back at the still form on
the bed. “He won’t miss me. He doesn’t even respond to my voice anymore. Any nurse will do, until he wakes.” She looked back at me. “I haven’t forgiven you, for what you did to him. I never will. But duty comes first. I’ve always known that.”
“Then I think you and I should go down to the War Room,” I said. “So you can take charge there. You know how to run it far better than I ever could. And they could use some… direction.”
The Matriarch looked at me squarely. “I’ll run the War Room; you run the war. We can discuss… other things, after we’ve won the war.”
I grinned. “Looking forward to it, Grandmother. But let’s be clear with each other. You need me, now that Harry has… disappointed you. That’s the real reason you’re going along with all this. You haven’t forgiven me for removing you from power and changing the way the family does things. And I haven’t forgiven you for all those children sacrificed to the Heart down the years. We can work together, and we will, because the family and the world needs us to. But understand, Grandmother; you make one move to undermine my authority, or try and seize control again, and I’ll have you marched straight back here and locked in again. For the duration.”
She smiled at me, that old, familiar, cold smile. “You see, Edwin, you do understand how this family needs to be run. I’ll make a Drood out of you yet. I agree to all your conditions. For the duration.”
I shook my head slowly. “Even when I win an argument with you, it feels like I lost. One last question, before we go. It’s becoming increasingly clear that there has to be a long-standing traitor, set deep inside the family. Someone, possibly infected by the Loathly Ones, perhaps even the person responsible for bringing them back here in the first place. Do you have any idea who that might be? Any name come to mind?”
She stared at me for a long moment. I think she was actually shocked. “A long-term traitor? Unsuspected since World War II? Impossible!”
“Unfortunately not, Grandmother. Are you sure no one comes to mind?”
“No. It’s unthinkable… But then, so much has happened that I would once have considered unthinkable. I will consult the old family records. See if anything jogs a memory.”
Daemons Are Forever sh-2 Page 33
