'Will there be anything else, madam?'
She looked up. 'No, Ralph, thank you. It looks wonderful. Please thank the staff.'
He bowed, but she caught his surprised glance and almost smiled. Maybe she had changed. Maybe she was not quite the same haughty little girl any more.
When he had gone and they were alone neither of them spoke. Finn piled some food on his plate and then poked at it listlessly. Claudia couldn't face anything.
'It's strange. For months I've wanted to be here, at home, with Ralph fussing.' She looked round at the familiar dark — panelled room. 'But it's not the same
'Maybe that's because of the army outside.' She glared at him. Then she said, 'It got to you. What he said.'
'About hiding behind a girl?' He snorted. 'I've heard worse. In the Prison Jormanric hurled insults that would freeze that idiot's blood.'
She picked at a grape. 'He did get to you.'
Finn threw down his spoon with a clatter and jumped up. He strode angrily around the room.
'All right, Claudia, yes, he did. I should have killed him when I had the chance. No Pretender, no problem. And he's right in one thing. If we haven't cracked the Portal by seven then I will walk out, alone, because there's no way I'm having any of your people die for me. A women died once before because I could only think about my own Escape. I saw her fall screaming down a black abyss and it was my fault. It won't happen again.'
Claudia pushed a pip round her plate. 'Finn, that's exactly what he wants you to do. Be noble, give yourself up. Be killed.' She turned. 'Think! The Queen doesn't know about the Portal here — if she did this place would be rubble by now. And now that you remember who you are . . . that you're really Giles, you can't just sacrifice yourself. You're the King.'
He stopped and looked at her. 'I don't like the way you said that.' 'Said what?'
'Remembered. Remembered. You don't believe me, Claudia.' 'Of course I do
'You think I'm lying. Maybe to myself.'
'Finn . . .' She stood but he waved her away.
'And the fit. . . it didn't happen, but it was coming. And it shouldn't be. Not any more.'
'They'll take time to go. Jared told you that.' Exasperated, she stared at him. 'Stop thinking about yourself for a minute, Finn! Jared is missing — god knows where he is. Keiro’
'Don't talk to me about Keiro!'
He had turned and his face was so white it scared her. She was silent, knowing she had touched a raw nerve, letting her anger simmer.
Finn stared at her. Then, quieter, he said, 'I never stop thinking about Keiro. I never stop wishing I'd never come here.'
She laughed, acid. 'You prefer the Prison?'
'I betrayed him. And Attia. If I could go back... ' She turned, snatched up her glass and drank, her fingers trembling on the delicate stem. Behind her the fire crackled over its logs and plasticoals.
'Be careful what you wish for, Finn. You might get it.'
He leant on the fireplace, looking down. Beside him the carved figures watched; the black swan's eye glittered like a diamond.
In the heated room nothing moved but the flames. They made the heavy furniture shimmer, the facets of the crystals glint like watchful stars.
Outside, voices murmured in the corridor. The rumble of cannonballs being stacked came from the roof. If Claudia listened very hard she could hear the revelry from the Queen's camp.
Suddenly needing fresh air, she went to the window, and opened the casement.
It was dark, the moon hung low, close to the horizon. Beyond the lawns the hills were crowned with trees, and she wondered how many artillery pieces the Queen had brought up behind them. Sick with sudden fear she said, 'You miss Keiro and I miss my father.' Sensing his head turn she nodded. 'No, I didn't think I would, but I do. . . Maybe there's more of him in me than I thought.'
He said nothing.
Claudia pulled the window shut and went to the door. 'Try and eat something. Ralph will be disappointed otherwise. I'm going back up.'
He didn't move. They had left the study a mess of papers and diagrams and still nothing made sense. It was hopeless, because neither of them had any idea what they were looking for. But he couldn't tell her that.
At the door she paused. 'Listen, Finn. If we don't succeed and you walk out like some hero the Queen will destroy this house anyway She won't be content now without a show of force. There's a secret way out — a tunnel under the stables. It's a trapdoor, under the fourth stall. The stable boy, Job, found it one day and showed Jared and myself It's old, pre-Era, and it comes up beyond the moat. If they break in, remember it, because I want to be sure you'll use it. You're the King. You're the one who understands Incarceron. You're too valuable to lose. The rest of us are not.'
For a while he couldn't answer her, and when he turned he saw she'd gone.
The door clicked slowly shut.
He stared at its wooden boards.
29
How will we know when the great Destruction is near? Because there will be weeping and anguish and strange cries in the night. The Swan will sing and the Moth will savage the Tiger. Chains will spring open. The lights will go out, one by one like dreams at daybreak.
Amongst this chaos, one thing is sure. The Prison will close its eyes against the sufferings of its children.
LORD CALLISTON'S DIARY
The stars.
Jared slept beneath them, uneasy in the rustling leaves.
From the battlements Finn gazed up at them, seeing the impossible distances between galaxies and nebulae, and thinking they were not as wide as the distances between people.
In the study Claudia sensed them, in the sparks and crackles on the screen.
* * *
In the Prison, Attia dreamt of them. She sat curled on the hard chair, Rix repacking his hidden pockets obsessively with coins and glass discs and hidden handkerchiefs.
A single spark flickered deep in the coin Keiro spun and taught, spun and caught.
And all over Incarceron, through its tunnels and corridors, its cells and seas, the Eyes began to close. One by one they rippled off down galleries where people came out of their huts to stare; in cities where priests of obscure cults cried out to Sapphique; in remote halls where nomads had wandered for centuries; above a crazed Prisoner digging his life-long tunnel with a rusty spade. The Eyes went out in ceilings, in the cobwebbed corner of a cell, in the den of a Winglord, in the thatched eaves of a cottage. Incarceron withdrew its gaze, and for the first time since its waking the Prison ignored its Inmates, drew in on itself, closed down empty sections, gathered its great strength.
In her sleep Attia turned, and woke. Something had changed, had disturbed her, but she didn't know what it was. The hall was dark, the fire almost out. Keiro was a huddle in the chair, one leg dangling over its wooden armrest, sleeping his light sleep. Rix was brooding. His eyes were fixed on her.
Alarmed, she felt for the Glove and touched its reassuring crackle.
'It was a pity you weren't the one to say the riddle, Attia.' Rix's voice was a whisper.'! would have preferred to work with you.'
He didn't ask if she had the Glove safe, but she knew why. The Prison would hear.
She rubbed her cricked neck and answered, equally quietly. 'What are you up to, Rix?'
'Up to?' He grinned. 'I'm up to the greatest illusion anyone has ever performed. What a sensation it will be, Attia! People will talk about it for generations.'
'If there are people.' Keiro had opened his eyes. He was listening, and not to Rix. 'Hear that?'
The heartbeat had changed.
It was faster, the double-thump louder. As Attia listened the crystals in the chandelier above her tinkled with it; she felt the faintest reverberation in the chair she sat on.
Then, so loud it made her jump, a bell rang.
High and clear it pierced the darkness; she jammed her hands to her ears in a grimace of shock. Once, twice, three times it rang. Four. Five. Six.
As the last
chime ended, its silvery clarity almost painful,. the door opened and the Warden came in. His dark frockcoat was strapped with a belt and two firelocks. He wore a sword, and his eyes were grey points of winter.
'Stand up,' he said.
Keiro lounged to his feet. 'No minions?'
'Not now. No one enters the Heart of Incarceron but myself. You will be the first — and last — of its creatures to see Incarceron's own face.'
Attia felt Rix squeeze her hand. 'The honour is beyond expression: the magician muttered, bowing.
She knew he wanted the Glove from her, right now. She stepped away, towards the Warden, because this decision would be no one's but hers.
Keiro saw. His smile was cool, and it annoyed her.
If the Warden noticed anything he made no sign. Instead he crossed to the corner of the room and tugged aside a tapestry of forest trees and stags.
Behind it rose a portcullis, ancient and rusted. John Arlex bent and with both hands turned an ancient winch. Once, twice, he heaved it round, and creaking and flaking rust, the portcullis rose, and beyond it they saw a small, worm-eaten wooden door. The Warden shoved it open. A draught of warm air swept out over them. Beyond, they saw darkness, pounding with steam and heat.
John Arlex drew his sword. 'This is it, Rix. This is what you've dreamt of.'
As Finn came into the study Claudia glanced up.
Her eyes were red-rimmed. He wondered if she had been crying. Certainly she was furious with frustration.
'Look at it!' she snapped. 'Hours of work and it's still a mystery A total, incomprehensible mess!'
Jared's papers were in chaos. Finn set down the tray of wine Ralph had insisted he bring and stared round. 'You should take a rest. You must be making some progress.'
She laughed, harshly. Then she stood so quickly the great blue feather propped in the corner lifted into the air. 'I don't know! The Portal flickers, it crackles, sounds come out of it.'
'What sounds?'
'Cries. Voices. Nothing clear.' She snapped a switch and he heard them, the distant, faintest echoes of distress.
'Sounds like frightened people. In some big space.' He looked at her. 'Terrified, even.'
'Is it familiar?'
He laughed, bitter. 'Claudia the Prison is full of frightened people.'
'Then there's no way of knowing which part of the Prison that is, or 'What's that?' He stepped closer.
'What?'
'That other sound. Behind... '
She stared at him, then went to the controls and began to adjust them. Gradually, out of the chaos of hissing and static, emerged a deeper bass, a repeated, double-pounding motif.
Finn kept still, listening.
Claudia said, 'It's the same sound we heard before, when my father spoke to us.' 'It's louder now' 'Have you any idea ...'
He shook his head. 'In all my time Inside I never heard anything like that.'
For a moment only the heartbeat filled the room. Then from Finn's pocket came a sudden pinging that startled them both. He pulled out her father's watch.
Startled, Claudia said, 'It's never done that before.'
Finn flicked open the gold lid. The clock hands showed six o'clock; the chimes rang out like tiny urgent bells. As if in response the Portal chuntered and went silent.
She came closer. 'I didn't know it had an alarm. Who set it? Why now?'
Finn didn't answer. He was staring gloomily at the time. Then he said, 'Perhaps to tell us there's only an hour left till the deadline.'
The silver cube that was Incarceron spun slowly on its chain.
'Take care here, both of you.' Jared climbed over the roof-fall. He turned and held up the lantern so that Caspar could manage. 'Perhaps we should untie his hands?'
'I wouldn't advise it.' Medlicote prodded the Earl with the firelock. 'Quickly, sire.'
'I could break my neck!' Caspar sounded more irritable than worried. As Jared helped him over the pile of stones he slid and swore. 'My mother will have both of you beheaded for this. You do know that?'
'Only too well.' Jared peered ahead. He had forgotten the state of the tunnel; even when he and Claudia had first explored it it had been in a state of collapse, and that had been years ago. She had always meant to have it repaired, but had never got round to it. There was nothing false about its age or the frequent crumbling of its walls. A brick vault loomed over him, green with dripping slime and infested with mosquitoes that whined around the lantern.
'How much further?' Medicote asked. He looked worried.
'I think we're under the moat.'
Somewhere ahead an ominous plopping noise told them of a leak.
'If this roof comes down . Medlicote muttered. He didn't finish. Then he said, 'Perhaps we should go back.'
'You may go back any time you wish, sir: Jared ducked through hanging webs into the dark. 'But I intend to find Claudia. And we would do well to be out of here before the cannon start firing.'
But as he pushed on into the stinking darkness he wondered whether they had started already, or whether the pounding in his ears was just his own heartbeat.
Attia walked through the small door and staggered, because the world was tilted. It straightened itself under her feet, so that she almost fell, and had to grab Rix to keep her balance.
He, staring upwards, did not even notice.
'My god!' he said. 'We're Outside!'
The space had no roof, no walls. It was so vast it had no ending, nothing but steamy mist through which they couldn't see.
In that instant she knew she was tiny in the face of the universe; it terrified her. She edged close to Rix and he grasped her hand, as if he, too, was moved by that sudden giddiness.
Swirls of steam curled miles above them like clouds. The floor was made of sonic hard mineral, the squares of it enormous. As the Warden led them forward their footsteps were loud across the shining black surface. She counted. It took thirteen steps to reach the next white square.
'Pieces on a chessboard: Keiro voiced her thoughts.
'As Outside, so within,' the Warden murmured, amused.
And there was silence. That was what scared her most. The heartbeat had stopped as soon as they passed the door, as if they had somehow entered its very chambers, and here, so deep within itself, no sound lived.
A shadow flickered on the clouds.
Keiro turned, quickly. 'What was that?'
A hand. Enormous. And then, a beam of light moving over feathers, vast feathers each taller than a man.
Rix stared up, bewildered. 'Sapphique,' he gasped. 'Are you here?'
It was a mirage, a vision. It hung in the clouds and rose like a colossus into the sky, a great being of white shimmers and drifts of steam; a nose, an eye, the plumage of wings so wide they could enfold the world.
Even Keiro was awed. Attia couldn't move. Rix muttered under his breath.
But the Warden's voice, behind them, was calm. 'Impressed? But that too is an illusion, Rix, and you don't even spot it?' His scorn was rich and deep. 'Why should mere size impress you so much? It's all relative. What would you say if I told you that the whole of Incarceron is actually tinier than a cube of sugar in a universe of giants?'
Rix tore his eyes from the apparition. 'I'd say you were the madman, Warden.'
'Perhaps I am. Come and see what causes your mirage.'
Keiro pulled Attia on. At first she was unable to stop staring back, because the shadow on the clouds grew as they moved away from it, rippling and fading and reappearing. Rix, though, hurried, after the Warden, as if he had already forgotten his wonder. 'How tiny?'
'Tinier than you could imagine.' John Arlex glanced at him.
'But in my imagination, I am immensel I am the universe. There's nothing else but me.'
Keiro said, 'Just like the Prison, then.'
Ahead of them the steam cleared. Alone in the centre of the marble floor, pinpointed by a ring of spotlights, they saw a man.
He was standing on a platform reached by f
ive steps, and at first they thought he was winged, the plumage black as a swan's. Then they saw he wore a Sapient's robe of darkest iridescence and it was threaded with feathers. His face was narrow and beautiful, shining with radiance. Each eye was perfect, the lips held in a smile of compassion, his hair dark. One hand was lifted, the other hung at his side. He did not move, or speak, or breathe.
Rix stepped up on to the lowest step, staring up. Sapphique he murmured. 'The Prison's face is Sapphique's
'It's just a statue,' Keiro snapped.
All around them, as close as a caress against their cheeks, Incarceron whispered, No, it isn't. It's my body.
The Portal said something.
Finn turned and stared at it. Wisps of grey, like curls of cloud, were moving over its surface. The hum in the room modulated and changed. All the lights flickered off and on.
'Get back.' Claudia was already at the controls. 'Something's happening inside.'
'Your father, he warned us ... about what might come through.'
'I know what he said!' She didn't turn, her fingers playing on the controls. 'Are you armed?'
He drew his sword, slowly.
The room dimmed.
'What if it's Keiro? I can't kill Keiro!'
'Incarceron is cunning enough to look like anyone.'
'I can't, Claudia!' He moved closer.
Suddenly, without warning, the room tipped. It spoke. It said, My body ...
Finn staggered, slamming against the desk. The sword clattered out of his hand as he grabbed at Claudia but she slid back with a gasp, missing her footing, crashing into the chair, falling back into its seat.
And before she could stand up, she was gone.
Rix moved. He snatched the sword from the Warden's belt and swung it to Attia's neck. He said, 'It's time to give me my Glove back.'
Sapphique - Incarceron 02 Page 25
