The Purple Emperor

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

The Great Hall was huge and Fogarty had not the least idea how they'd reached it. He was beginning to feel real admiration for these Forest Faerie: they had tricks up their sleeves nobody else seemed to have dreamed of. Besides, you had to admire a tribe that could hide away for generations without anybody suspecting they existed. Anybody except Cynthia, that was. He threw a fond glance in the direction of Madame Cardui, who was seated almost opposite him across the conference table. She threw a fond glance back.

To the right of the Painted Lady sat Cleopatra, the Faerie Queen. Pyrgus was seated on the Queen's right, the traditional place of honour. To his right was Blue, her face expressionless. Then a pale Forest Faerie named Limenitis, who'd been introduced as Queen's Counsel, then Fogarty himself and finally the muscular Porcellus Hawkmoth, who'd led the assault on the ouklo and was obviously a military man. Fogarty noticed with some surprise that the Queen's Consort, Gonepterix, had no place at the table at all, although he was in the room. He stood near a window that presented an illusory view of an angry sea and was the only person in the room permitted to bear arms – the familiar hunting bow of the forest people. He was watching the Queen intently and, from his expression, warmly. Fogarty guessed they had a good relationship, although there was no doubt who was boss.

'What now?' asked the Queen, to no one in particular. It was an interesting opening, Fogarty thought.

'Ma'am,' asked Pyrgus quietly, 'are we your guests or your prisoners?'

The tone was polite, but the question unexpected. Fogarty glanced across at him in surprise. The boy hadn't talked to Cynthia yet, so he didn't know. All the same, it was an intelligent opening that went right to the heart of things. Maybe Pyrgus had more political nous than he got credit for.

The Queen smiled.

Madame Cardui put in a little hoarsely, 'My deeahs, Queen Cleopatra ordered your rescue at my request.'

'You are our guests,' the Queen said.

Fogarty had a lot of other questions he wanted answered. Who exactly were these Forest Faerie who'd managed to stay hidden for so long? How had Cynthia known about them? And how was it she had persuaded the Queen to risk her subjects' lives – and, more importantly, the secret of their very existence – in a rescue bid?

'The question we must decide now,' Madame Cardui was saying, 'is what to do next.' She was looking at Blue rather than at Pyrgus, but it was Pyrgus who answered.

'What made you think we needed rescuing, Madame?'

Fogarty suppressed a grin. The operation had been harder on Pyrgus than the rest of them. He'd been knocked out cold by one of the forest soldiers.

Madame Cardui's eyes swung back towards him. She'd changed out of the hooded cloak into one of her more flamboyant gowns. The spell coating of rainbow serpents was in huge contrast with the sober outfits elsewhere in the room. 'Hairstreak did not intend to let you live, whatever your poor deluded half-brother may have wished. He sent soldiers after you.' She looked soberly from one face to the other. 'If the Forest Faerie hadn't acted, you would all have been dead within the hour.'

Pyrgus's head was whirling. Not for the first time he felt swamped by the situation he was in. But the Forest Queen was right. The question was what now} Before he could speak, the Queen said, 'Our friend the Painted Lady has explained your situation. My people are willing to help.'

Why? Pyrgus wondered.

'How?' Mr Fogarty asked.

The Queen gave him that odd sidelong glance of hers. 'In any way necessary, Gatekeeper. Up to and including military assistance.'

Pyrgus felt himself stiffen. Military assistance? The Realm had only recently avoided civil war. Now they were talking about another one. He couldn't allow it. But he couldn't allow the present situation either. He'd known that all along, however little he wanted to face it. Even as Comma had sent them into exile with their father's authority, he'd known he must do something. But he had assumed he would have time to make his plans in Haleklind.

'Why?' asked Mr Fogarty, echoing Pyrgus's earlier thought.

'Why?' repeated the Queen. She sighed and her gaze moved from Mr Fogarty to Pyrgus. 'Crown Prince Pyrgus, for generations my people have cared nothing, nothing at all, for the conflict between your Lighters and Nighters. We have used our arts to remain hidden. And most successfully. The deep forest is a dangerous place – few from the outside venture far into it. Any who did saw only what we wanted them to see – a handful of Forest Faerie living rough, surviving as brigands.' The smile came again, tinged with a steely glint in the eye. 'We became known as feral faerie, little better than the other wild animals of the forest.'

'Queen Cleopatra, no -'

She waved Blue's words away. 'No offence was meant – I understand. It is of no consequence. These ideas suited our purpose. They meant no one knew the truth, no one envied us, no one investigated us, no one made war on us. We were left alone – a precious gift indeed; at least a gift my people hold precious. But we will not be left alone much longer. One of your nobles has recently built himself a forest estate. We tried to discourage the move, but there was a limit to what we could do without revealing our presence. The estate is extensive, but might have been tolerated – there is still a very great deal of forest for us to hide in – but this noble has opened up hell pits beneath his new home, and that we cannot permit.'

'Hell pits?' This from Blue, leaning forward, frowning.

The Queen's voice grew heavy with disgust. 'Some form of entertainment.' She shook her head. 'The forest cannot tolerate demons. They would wreak havoc in our living space. We have guarded the periphery for centuries, but this… creature has introduced the possibility of an invasion from within.'

'The Hael portals are closed down,' Blue murmured.

The Queen nodded. 'Yes, and this has given us a little time to make our plans. But they will not remain closed for ever and when they reopen, we fear for our ancient habitat.' She glanced at Limenitis. 'My Counsel and I were discussing what to do when Madame Cardui approached us with a possible solution.'

'You want us to help you destroy the hell pits in return for your help in restoring Prince Pyrgus to his throne?' Mr Fogarty suggested.

'Both objectives seem to be the same,' the Queen told him bluntly. 'The noble with the hell pits is Lord Hairstreak.'

' "The enemy of my enemy is my friend",' quoted Mr Fogarty and grinned.

Pyrgus said carefully, 'Why don't you simply attack the Hairstreak estate yourself? From what I've seen of your army, you would have little problem razing the place to the ground.'

The Queen's expression did not change. 'Two reasons. The first, as I've said, is that we prefer to show ourselves as little as possible. If we are to help you, you will be under gets to tell no one of our origins. The second is that my advisors and I do not believe our security can best be assured simply by attacking Hairstreak's forest estate and closing the pits. We have to remove Hairstreak from the picture altogether. That can only be achieved through an alliance with you.'

Mr Fogarty nodded. 'Makes sense.'

For the first time since they had left the palace, Blue actually began to smile. She glanced appreciatively at Madame Cardui, then looked back at the Queen. 'Your Majesty,' she said formally, 'your offer of help could not be better timed. I think you can take it that my brother and I -'

But Pyrgus was already on his feet. 'Thank you for your offer, Forest Queen,' he said shortly. 'But a joint attack on Lord Hairstreak is out of the question.'