The Faeman Quest

Forty-Nine

Blue would kill him, Pyrgus thought, if ever she found out. And in truth he might deserve it. However informal the arrangements, the fact remained he was on a diplomatic mission. It was also a fact that he had ignored protocol, skirted sanctioned arrangements, evaded Madame Cardui’s official spy (delicately designated Personal Assistant to the Crown Prince), given his entourage the slip and disappeared to carry out a mission of his own. It was practically treason, but what could he do when the lives of thousands of innocent animals were at stake?

‘You never sent that wine you promised,’ Corin said, grinning, as they shook hands.

Pyrgus smiled bleakly. ‘I’ve been tied up. Bit of an emergency on, actually.’

Corin waved him to a seat and pulled up a second chair beside it. The gesture was typical; and not simply because he and Pyrgus were old friends. Corin was a man who disliked formality and never felt the need to sit behind a large desk in order to impress people. ‘There had to be trouble, otherwise you wouldn’t be back so soon. Is this about your niece?’

‘Not exactly,’ Pyrgus said. ‘She was in Haleklind – still is, we think – but that’s not the problem.’

‘I’m afraid there’s no news of your manticore,’ Corin said. ‘But I’m sure she’s safe. She’ll certainly have joined one of the major herds by now. They’ve spread all over the country.’

‘Actually…’ Pyrgus said uneasily. This was the point of no return. He was about to discuss Realm policy and military plans with a citizen of what might be classified an enemy nation. But he would have trusted Corin with his life. ‘Actually, it’s the manticores I want to talk to you about…’

‘I thought it might be. I assume you’ve heard the rumours?’

‘What rumours?’ Pyrgus asked quickly.

‘There’s been talk that the Table plan to use the manticores for military purposes. Turn them into war-horses or something.’

It occurred to Pyrgus suddenly that with all the talk of manticores as weapons, he’d never thought to wonder exactly how they would be used. ‘Do you imagine that’s true?’ he asked.

Corin shook his head. ‘Absolute nonsense. A soldier would have to do the splits to mount a full-grown manticore. And if he managed that, he’d never control it. These are wild beasts, Pyrgus. Magnificent animals, but you know how difficult they are. Difficult and unpredictable. One minute they’re grazing quietly, the next they’re ripping you to shreds if you aren’t careful.’

‘So you think there’s nothing in the rumours?’

‘I didn’t say that. I just said they couldn’t be used as mounts. They might still be used as weapons.’

‘How?’

Corin spread his hands in a helpless gesture and smiled broadly. ‘You think the Table of Seven let me know their plans?’ The smile faded and he added soberly, ‘But I can guess. At least I can tell you what I’d do if I wanted to use manticores as weapons.’

‘What?’

Corin took a deep breath and released it as a sigh. ‘I’d herd them into position, feed them St John’s wort, then stampede them into your army.’

Pyrgus stared at him. ‘My Gods!’ he exclaimed as the implications sank in. He found himself picturing the scene. St John’s wort sent manticores berserk. One great beast could kill a score of soldiers before it was slaughtered in its turn. A herd of them would decimate an entire army within minutes. The bloodshed would be unimaginable.

Corin shrugged. ‘May never happen, Pyrgus – it’s only rumours. May not be what the Table is planning at all. Haleklind is always full of gossip.’

Pyrgus said, ‘Did you know there’s a colossal herd massed on the Empire’s border?’

‘Of manticores? No, I didn’t.’ He looked seriously at Pyrgus, waiting.

Pyrgus closed his eyes briefly, reopened them and said, ‘We have intelligence that the Table of Seven plan to attack the Realm using manticores as their secret weapon. I don’t know exactly how they propose to use them, but after what you’ve just said…’ He let his words trail off.

Corin, who knew Pyrgus very well, was staring at him intently. ‘That’s not all, is it?’

Pyrgus shook his head. ‘The Realm may retaliate with a neutron spell.’ He could not quite bring himself to tell the whole truth, which was that Blue had no intention of waiting to retaliate. At the first definite sign of threat, she would order a pre-emptive strike.

There was silence between them. ‘Oh,’ Corin said at length. He looked away, as if unwilling to meet Pyrgus’s eye. ‘Neutron spells are illegal under international law.’

‘Nevertheless…’ Pyrgus said.

‘A neutron spell would kill the entire Haleklind army and wipe out the manticores.’

Pyrgus realised he would have to tell him. ‘Actually, it could be just the manticores. My sister may not wait for the Haleklind army to get involved.’

‘ Just the manticores?’

‘I know, I know,’ Pyrgus agreed. He reached out and gripped Corin’s arm. ‘We have to do something.’

‘How can I help you? How can the Haleklind Society for the Preservation and Protection of Animals help you?’ Corin glanced briefly towards the door. ‘Hael, we’re a subversive organisation now: there must be something we can blow up.’

‘I’ve had an idea,’ Pyrgus said. ‘How many men can you muster?’

‘Muster for what? Are we talking soldiers here for fighting? Or saboteurs? What?’

Pyrgus knuckled his eyes tiredly. ‘Corin, I don’t suppose you know how manticores might be safely herded? Large numbers of them. Without too much risk of stampede.’

‘Actually I do,’ Corin said. ‘You use torches made from rosemary.’

Pyrgus looked up. ‘The plant?’

Corin nodded. ‘Manticores don’t like fire, but they’re not nearly as afraid of it as other animals. You might shift them using torches, but they could just as easily turn on you. They don’t seem to mind taking a small burn if it allows them to disarm you – knock the torch away, I mean. But burning rosemary has a peculiar effect on them. They won’t come near it for one thing, so you’re safe from attack; and at the same time it seems to sedate them, so you can usually persuade them to move where you want them to without too much difficulty. Is this what you need men for?’

‘What worries my sister is the herd on the border. I thought if we could move it away…’ He sighed and made a helpless gesture. ‘It would buy us time, at least. But the operation would have to be quick and clean. If the manticores move towards the border…’

‘Queen Blue will use the neutron spell?’

‘She might. Dammit, she will! I know Blue.’ He looked at Corin. ‘Can you find enough men for the job? They’ll have to be sensible and quick off the mark and able to follow orders precisely and have enough initiative to deal with emergencies – if a manticore left the herd, for example.’

‘It’s a huge herd,’ Corin said, shaking his head. ‘We’d need an awful lot of good men.’

‘So you can’t do it?’

‘I didn’t say I couldn’t do it,’ Corin told him. ‘If you supervise the making of the torches, I’ll round up the men.’