Ruler of the Realm

by Herbie Brennan

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ Blue said.

  ‘I know,’ Henry nodded. ‘Beleth didn’t think even humans could be that stupid, but one of his advisors drew up a strategy. Instead of hiding, demons kept appearing to humans, but in silly forms. Leprechauns and boggarts and stuff like that. Anything that sounded dim. Lately it’s been little green men from outer space. Nobody takes them seriously.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Blue interrupted. Something he’d said earlier was niggling her. ‘If breeding with humans was so tricky, why didn’t they just implant people the way they did with you?’

  ‘New technology,’ Henry said. ‘They simply didn’t have it when Beleth drew up his plan. They’ve started using implants now, of course. The British Prime Minister and the American President both have one. But the demons have to be careful. These things show up under X-rays. If humans found out what was really happening, it could sink the whole plan. Beleth doesn’t want that – it’s been working far too well already. So you see,’ Henry added.

  After a moment, Blue said, ‘See what?’

  ‘Why we’re here,’ said Henry.

  Blue saw nothing of the sort. She wanted to take Henry and shake him, but she controlled herself.

  ‘Why are we here, Henry?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘Infiltration,’ Henry said. ‘It’s worked so well in my world, they want to try it in the Faerie Realm.’ He hesitated, turned his head away from her and murmured, ‘Starting with our child.’

  Sixty-four

  Travelling up in a suspensor shaft was a lot less intimidating than travelling down. You didn’t have to step into space at the beginning of the trip for one thing.

  As they floated side by side, Pyrgus said uncertainly, ‘Do you think the Generals mean it?’

  ‘They mean it,’ Fogarty told him. He turned to Madame Cardui. ‘Have you contacted the Ferals?’

  ‘I do wish you wouldn’t call them that, dahling.’

  ‘Have you contacted the Forest Faerie?’ Fogarty said tiredly.

  ‘You really think it will come to war?’

  ‘You heard the boys in uniform. We’ll be at war from sunset tomorrow. We’ve tried to avoid it, Cynthia. The trick now is to win it. You’ve been in touch with Cleopatra, haven’t you?’

  Madame Cardui lowered her eyes and nodded. ‘I got a message to her in the night. She was kind enough to send an immediate response.’

  ‘Which you didn’t tell me about.’

  ‘My deeah, when did I have the opportunity? You were still in bed when Pyrgus arrived with his news and then we went directly to the Situation Room.’ She shrugged. ‘In any case, it gets us no further. Queen Cleopatra sends her profound regrets, but believes the present situation is a matter for the Faeries of the Light and the Faeries of the Night. It has no bearing on or relevance to the Forest Faerie and consequently she has formally declined to put her forces at our disposal.’

  Fogarty snorted. ‘Can you arrange for me to meet Queen Cleopatra later today?’

  ‘You won’t change her mind, Alan: I know her very well.’

  ‘I’m not trying to change her mind,’ Fogarty said. ‘If she won’t join us, she won’t join us. But she might have some ideas where Blue has gone – the foresters know a lot about hiding places. And she might help us capture the time flowers. Or destroy them.’

  They arrived at the surface and stepped out of the suspensor shaft. Pyrgus was suddenly animated.

  ‘You mean a commando raid, Mr Fogarty?’

  ‘Something like that.’ Fogarty caught Madame Cardui’s expression and added, ‘Look, we’ll be at war tomorrow. We need to start thinking about ways to win it.’

  ‘That’s a brilliant idea!’ Pyrgus told him enthusiastically. ‘I’ll lead the raid!’

  ‘No you won’t!’ said Fogarty and Madame Cardui together.

  Sixty-five

  ‘They want us to have a child?’

  Henry nodded miserably.

  Blue stared at him for a long, long time. There were so many questions boiling in her mind, but at the end of it all she simply asked, ‘Why us?’

  ‘You’re Queen,’ Henry said, a bit too quickly. ‘If you had a demon child, it would automatically be in a position of power. When it grew up.’

  He was hiding something. ‘Why you?’ Blue asked. ‘Why not –’ she thought of Black John with his fur and his tail and his clawed hand in hers, ‘– a real demon?’

  ‘I am a real demon when they activate that thing. It’s just my shape that stays the same. They thought you wouldn’t … accept … something in demon form. Actually, they thought you might know it was a demon in my form. That’s why they deactivated my implant.’

  ‘They could have forced me,’ Blue said coldly.

  ‘No, they couldn’t,’ Henry said earnestly. ‘Not something like that. The implants don’t work on faeries.’

  That was a bit of interesting information. But they wouldn’t have used an implant on her anyway – they wanted a faerie mother, not some demon who looked like one. All the same, the demons could get into your mind, whether you were human or faerie. Why couldn’t they control her that way?

  Hesitantly she asked, ‘What about … possession?’

  ‘Possession won’t let them push faeries to do something against your deepest moral principles,’ Henry said. ‘They can only hold you still and make you walk and things like that. It’s different with humans – they can make us do anything they want.’

  Mr Fogarty was possessed by a demon when he killed her father. They could make humans do anything they wanted. Up to and including murder. Blue shifted uneasily. She still had the feeling Henry was holding something back.

  ‘Why did they pick you, Henry?’ she asked again.

  Henry’s face flared bright scarlet. His eyes went down to the floor and he drew away from her stiffly. For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he mumbled quietly, ‘They think you might be in love with me …’

  Blue wanted to hold him then, but it clearly wasn’t the time. Besides which, her fury at the demons was consuming her.

  ‘They think all they have to do is put us in a room together and we’ll make a child just because I’m in love with you?’

  Henry glanced at her strangely. After a moment he said, ‘They don’t really understand people.’

  ‘No, they don’t.’ It was almost laughable.

  ‘Of course –’ Henry began, then stopped.

  Something in his tone alerted her at once. ‘What? Come on, Henry, I need to know everything before they turn you back into a demon. It’s the only way we can survive this.’

  Henry said slowly, ‘If we don’t … if we don’t … you know … if we don’t, I mean of our own accord, they’ll … they’ll …’ He swallowed. ‘They’ll force you. They’ll hold you down.’

  It took her a second to realise what he was saying. ‘And you would …?’ she asked, outraged.

  ‘They’ll change me back into a demon!’ Henry wailed.

  Suddenly, in the middle of it all, she realised what he must be going through. She softened her tone. ‘So they’ll try that anyway, if we don’t … of our own accord?’ She almost added, Because I love you.

  Henry nodded. ‘Yes.’

  She sighed, stood up and walked across the room to the viewscreen. ‘That’s what this thing’s for, isn’t it?’ she said, stroking the screen. ‘To see what we do.’

  ‘Yes.’

  She was holding herself together with a massive effort, exhibiting a calm she didn’t feel because she had to be strong enough for the two of them.

  ‘What happens if I don’t conceive?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Henry said. ‘They’ll know that right away – they have some sort of probe that tells them. If you aren’t pregnant, they’ll invade the Realm.’

  Blue stared at him. ‘The portals are all closed,’ she said foolishly.

  ‘They’ve opened new ones,’ Henry said.

  Sixty-six


  The approach to the suspensor shaft involved a series of heavily guarded checkpoints. Fogarty, Madame Cardui and Pyrgus were all known by sight, so formalities were minimal, but it still meant their conversation went in fits and starts.

  ‘The thing is,’ Fogarty was saying to Madame Cardui, ‘with the Forest Faeries’ spell technology, we could get into the Ogyris Estate undetected. I think they can travel direct from tree to tree. Are there any trees near your crystal flowers?’ he asked Pyrgus.

  ‘It makes sense for me to lead the raid,’ Pyrgus said. ‘I know the estate. I’ve been there. And I know where the flowers are. They’re very difficult to find, you know.’

  ‘And even if they can’t,’ Fogarty said stonily, ‘we know they can pass through solid surfaces far better than we can. More men, less danger.’

  ‘It certainly makes sense, deeah,’ Madame Cardui said uncertainly. ‘It’s just that Cleo may not agree.’

  ‘And I’m the only one who’s actually touched a time flower,’ Pyrgus said. Apart from Henry, who wasn’t here and anyway was the cause of half the trouble in the first place.

  ‘She’ll agree all right,’ said Fogarty with utter certainty. He lowered his voice as they passed through yet another checkpoint.

  ‘And I’m the only one who knows how to destroy them,’ Pyrgus said, wondering if they would fall for it.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ Madame Cardui asked Fogarty suspiciously.

  ‘Charm her,’ Fogarty said shortly.

  They emerged from the checkpoint corridor into the vast basement suite that abutted it. Madame Cardui gave him an endearing smile.

  ‘Well, you could certainly do that to any woman, dahling, but apart from charm …?’

  Fogarty said, ‘I thought of pointing out it’s hardly in her interests if they win – which they will if we don’t find Blue and destroy the time flowers. Hairstreak has already brought demons to the forest once. He could easily do it again, once he gets the upper hand. The Hell portals won’t stay closed for ever, you can be sure of that.’ He sighed. ‘I could also promise to leave them in peace if we win – that seems to be the one thing that really interests them. We could offer a treaty that guarantees it, both from us and the Faeries of the Night.’

  ‘Do you think the Nighters would agree?’

  ‘They will if we win – what’s left of them.’

  ‘You see,’ said Pyrgus, ‘you can’t just smash them up. I mean, I only crushed one flower and that stopped time for –’ he didn’t actually know how long it had stopped time for, but pressed on anyway, ‘– hours. If you smash up hundreds of them, there’s no way of telling how long time would stop for. You might stop it for ever. You might interfere with the very fabric of our univer—’

  Men in black appeared by the far entrance of the huge chamber. They assumed an arrow pattern and took up a fighting stance.

  ‘What are those yo-yos up to?’ Fogarty asked.

  Madame Cardui peered at them a little shortsightedly. ‘They look like Assassins’ Guild, deeah. I expect they’ve come to kill you and Pyrgus.’

  A large group of swordsmen appeared and hurled themselves on the intruders.

  ‘Think so?’ asked Fogarty.

  ‘Oh, I would imagine so, deeah. One tried to kill me yesterday.’

  ‘Really?’ said Fogarty, concerned. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Madame Cardui. ‘I had Lanceline with me.’

  The clash at the far side of the room was turning into something of a Battle Royal. Pyrgus noticed the swordsmen were concentrating on capturing the assassins rather than killing them – not altogether successfully, since the assassins themselves fought with suicidal intensity.

  ‘Who hired them?’

  ‘Lord Hairstreak’s man, the Duke of Burgundy, according to the one who attacked me.’

  Fogarty frowned slightly. ‘I thought you said Lanceline killed him.’

  ‘I interrogated the corpse.’

  Fogarty tore his eyes away from the fight. ‘I didn’t know you could interrogate a corpse.’

  ‘You can if it’s fresh.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Fogarty. He frowned again. ‘You should have told me you were attacked.’

  ‘I didn’t want to worry you, deeah. Besides, what more could you do? I ordered an immediate alert throughout the entire Espionage Service. We knew the Guild’s plans for you and Pyrgus and the Generals. As you can see.’ She waved her hand vaguely towards the mass of struggling men.

  The fight was almost over, its result a foregone conclusion. Madame Cardui’s men far outnumbered the assassins and were, in their own way, just as skilled. One or two bodies were dragged out. The remaining men in black were overpowered and led away.

  ‘You can see the logic of my position on this raid,’ Pyrgus said. He took a deep breath. ‘And besides which I outrank you, Gatekeeper.’

  ‘Do you indeed?’ muttered Fogarty.

  They had reached the bottom of the broad stone stairway that led to the upper levels of the palace.

  ‘You know I do,’ Pyrgus said impatiently. ‘I’m still Crown Prince. Sort of.’

  ‘And I’m still Acting Emperor. Sort of,’ growled Fogarty. His voice softened. ‘But you’re right. You found those damn flowers and you know where they are and you know more about them than anybody else, so it makes sense for you to take part in the raid.’

  ‘Lead the raid,’ Pyrgus said quickly.

  ‘All right – lead the raid,’ Fogarty said irritably. He glanced across at Madame Cardui. ‘We can send some of your people to keep him safe, can’t we? If they can sort out assassins, they shouldn’t have much trouble with Ogyris’s guards. I’ll try to get the Forest Faerie involved. Queen Cleopatra won’t begrudge us a small contingent. Might even send –’ He stopped.

  Madame Cardui was looking at Pyrgus. ‘What is it, deeah?’ she asked. ‘What’s the matter?’

  Pyrgus was looking up the stairs, his jaw slack with astonishment.

  Sixty-seven

  Blue sat beside Henry, put her arms around him and kissed him.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Henry gasped. He jerked away and stared at her in astonishment.

  Blue pulled him close again, but this time whispered in his ear. ‘They’re watching us. We need to make them think something’s going to happen.’

  ‘Why?’ Henry’s mouth was muffled by her hair.

  ‘To play for time, you idiot!’ Blue said in exasperation and kissed him again. After a moment he began to react as if he might be enjoying it. As they drew apart she murmured, ‘OK, let’s not overdo it.’ She manoeuvred so her body was between him and the screen. ‘Turn out your pockets.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Turn out your pockets!’ Blue hissed. ‘We have to get out of here and I want to see if you have anything that might help.’ A thought occurred to her. ‘Where is here, anyway? Do you know?’

  ‘We’re in one of the demon ships. A transport. On Earth we call them flying saucers.’ He began obediently to turn out his pockets.

  ‘Was that funny square room part of it?’

  Henry shook his head. ‘That was a storage cube in limbo,’ he said incomprehensibly. ‘The saucer picked us up from there.’

  Blue stared at him with a sinking heart. ‘Where is the saucer now – in space?’

  Henry nodded. ‘Yes, probably.’ He caught her expression. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘If we’re in space, we can’t escape. Unless you can fly a saucer.’

  ‘No, I can’t,’ Henry said. ‘But I remember how to work the blue light.’ He saw her blank look and added, ‘The light that pulled us out of the cube.’

  ‘We don’t want to go back to the cube!’ Blue hissed. Then, in a moment of uncertainty, ‘Do we?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Henry said. ‘But the light will send us anywhere, if I can figure the coordinates. There …’ He looked up at her and gave a little smile. He’d finished emptying his pockets.

  Blue stared at the lit
tle heap on the bed. There were several unfamiliar coins, a piece of paper with writing on it, a small white packet of something that might have been a snack and several pieces of string. Not exactly commando gear to break out of – what did he call it? – a flying saucer.

  She forced herself to think. The limbo cube place had been packed with demons, but she could only remember seeing three in the saucer – the two that accompanied Henry and the Black John creature. There were probably others – how many demons did it take to crew a saucer? She needed to know what she was up against.

  ‘What have you got?’ Henry asked in a whisper. He glanced around him. ‘You don’t think we should go back to … you know … kissing?’

  ‘What have I got what?’ Blue asked crossly, ignoring his second question. ‘Look, do you know how many demons are on this ship? Twenty? Thirty? A hundred? What?’

  ‘In your pockets,’ Henry said. ‘You might have something useful too. There’s just three.’

  Did he mean what she thought he meant? ‘Just three of a crew?’

  ‘It’s all you need. Most of the ship is automatic. And, of course, they have me when the implant’s activated.’ He shifted to block the viewscreen. ‘Go on, you must have something.’

  ‘I have this,’ Blue said; and showed him the slim, sleek shape of the stimlus half concealed in her hand. She was feeling suddenly elated. Just three. There was a chance they might get out of this yet.

  Sixty-eight

  ‘What is it?’ Henry asked.

  Stimlus, Blue mouthed. It suddenly occurred to her that even whispers might be overheard. There was no way she wanted to throw away the element of surprise.

  Stimlus? Henry mouthed back, frowning.

  Oh, for Light’s sake, Blue thought. She scrabbled in the pocket of her tunic for a writing tablet and found the ornate purple thing she was supposed to carry at all times as Queen. She held it away from the viewscreen and stroked the spell coating. Words began to crawl across the surface.