Ruler of the Realm

Seventy-two

Blue said, ‘Have him released, Madame Cynthia. And get that thing out of his head.’

Madame Cardui frowned. ‘My deeah, you do recall it was Henry who kidnapped you?’ She hesitated. ‘What thing?’

Blue was sitting on the edge of the bed pulling on her boots. ‘Henry didn’t know what he was doing,’ she said firmly. ‘He was taken over by Beleth.’

‘Beleth?’ Madame Cardui exclaimed. A look of sudden comprehension crossed her face. ‘I wondered if that was a demon transport beam. My deeah, I think you’d better tell me everything.’

Blue told her. It took surprisingly little time.

‘Poor Henry,’ Madame Cardui said when Blue had finished. She moved to the door and gave instructions to one of the guards outside. When the man hurried off, she turned back to Blue. ‘I’ve ordered Henry released. He’ll be taken directly to the infirmary to have Beleth’s implant removed.’

‘Thank you,’ Blue said. She had almost finished dressing.

Madame Cardui sat down heavily on the bed. She seemed suddenly very old. ‘I’m losing my edge, deeah. I was looking in the wrong place.’

Blue glanced at her, but picked up her meaning at once. ‘So was I, Madame Cynthia. I thought Uncle Hairstreak was behind all our troubles. Not that he wasn’t behind some of them.’

Madame Cardui said, ‘Speaking of which, you need to cancel the Countdown.’

‘Yes, of course. I’ll do it at once.’

Madame Cardui hesitated. ‘There’s one thing…’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ll make this quick, deeah,’ Madame Cardui said; and told her about the time flowers.

‘So that’s how Henry got me out of Hairstreak’s mansion – he never told me. I thought it might be some sort of stasis spell.’

‘The thing is,’ Madame Cardui went on, ‘when you disappeared with a Countdown in place, we – that’s to say Gatekeeper Fogarty and myself – decided we could not possibly permit the Faeries of the Night to retain such a powerful weapon – you can easily imagine the military implications, of course. So we ordered a commando raid to destroy the flowers. Pyrgus is leading it as we speak.’

‘Why Pyrgus?’ Blue asked quickly. He was her older brother, but she’d always been protective of him.

‘Pyrgus knows exactly where the flowers were being grown. I just hope this is the only place they’re being grown.’ She waited.

After a long moment, Blue said, ‘You did right, Madame Cynthia. Flowers that stop time would change the entire balance of military power. How many men has Pyrgus taken?’

‘A score of our finest,’ Madame Cardui said, ‘but he’s meeting with an equal number of the Forest Faerie. Alan persuaded them to help us.’ Rather surprisingly, she thought; but it never did to underestimate Alan.

‘I suppose the Forest Faerie are being led by that Nymphalis creature?’ Blue said sourly.

Madame Cardui smiled slightly. ‘I imagine they might be. I’m not yet privy to the arrangements.’

‘Where is Gatekeeper Fogarty?’ Blue asked. ‘I should like to know more about this raid.’

Madame Cardui looked at her fondly. One moment an injured girl, the next every inch a Queen. Blue was her father’s daughter all right – especially when there was the slightest danger to her family.

‘I’m afraid he’s still with Queen Cleopatra.’

‘Have him come to see me as soon as he returns,’ Blue commanded and stood up. ‘I think I’ll visit our Generals in the Situation Room. After I cancel the Countdown, we need some urgent talk about our Hael strategy.’

‘Perhaps not so urgent,’ Madame Cardui murmured gently. ‘The demons’ plans for you have failed abysmally.’

Blue looked at her directly. ‘Henry said if they didn’t succeed with me, they would invade the Realm.’

Madame Cardui blinked. ‘The portals are closed.’ She hesitated. ‘Aren’t they?’

‘That’s what I said,’ Blue told her. ‘Henry says they’ve opened new ones.’

After a moment, Madame Cardui asked, ‘Where?’

‘That’s the problem,’ Blue said. ‘We don’t know. What I do know is we need to contact Uncle Hairstreak and accept his offer of a treaty. We can’t afford to squabble amongst ourselves with Beleth at the gates.’

‘I agree entirely,’ Madama Cardui told her. ‘If you really feel strong enough, we can get that under way at once.’

But as they left the room, a military messenger arrived with news that turned their situation upside down.