Navigator

XIX

Harry, with Abdul and Geoffrey, had been watching the display from a distance, with appalled fascination. The wooden bird in the sky especially was an awful, unnatural sight.

But when the fires began to erupt from the ground they all knew something had gone badly wrong. Abandoning all attempts to conceal themselves, they ran towards the party coming from the viewing pavilion.

They met the others not far from the entrance to the manufactory. The explosions had stopped now, but smoke still poured from the ground. No more monks clambered out of the hatches, and Harry wondered how many had died that day.

Diego Ferron was unmistakable, a tall, pale cleric. He was holding a woman by her hair, a wretched, skinny girl in a grubby white gown. Beside Ferron and his captive was Grace Bigod. She was a hard woman of nearly fifty, her face smeared with soot and twisted in fury. It was the first time Harry had met this remote cousin.

Ferron seemed surprised to see Abdul with two strangers, but his rage overwhelmed him. In accented Latin he cried, 'Ruined! Destroyed! Centuries of work lost!'

'Not lost,' said Grace, her voice trembling, 'Just delayed. We have lost our engines, but those in the field survive, and we have the designs-'

'Lost because of this Christian witch!' He twisted the girl's hair and threw her to the ground.

She lifted her head. She looked straight at Harry. Her hair fell away from a bruised face.

'Agnes!' He could not have been more shocked if his sister had been raised from the dead. 'But you are in your cell in York.'

'Evidently not,' she said. Her voice was a scratch, and she coughed, her lungs full of smoke.

Grace looked at Harry and Geoffrey. 'Who are you?'

Harry ignored her and spoke to his sister. 'And you – you caused this destruction?'

She whispered, 'You are a good man, Harry, a good brother. But you are not strong enough to do what is necessary. I prayed. God spoke to me. My mission was clear. It was worth breaking out of my cell for this, wasn't it?' She forced a smile, and suddenly she looked as she had when she was a little girl.

His heart broke. He stepped forward. 'Oh, Agnes-'

But Ferron blocked his way. 'Keep away. This witch is for the Inquisition. Keep away, I say!' And he brought his gloved hand slamming down on the top of Harry's head.

The world peeled away into darkness.