Attia’s hands were sore on the leather reins.
She fought the horse to a standstill.
In the eerie silence the faintest whisper of wind crusted the snow. She could not look down at the dead men; instead she gazed up at the distant roof and felt a shiver of wonder, because for a moment she thought she saw thousands of tiny points of shimmering light in that black firmament, as if the stars that Finn had told her of were there.
Keiro said, ‘Let’s get out of this hell-hole.’
‘How?’ she muttered.
The tundra was a web of crevasses. Under the broken ice water was rising, an ocean of metallic grey. And the glistening specks were not stars, they were the outlying skeins of a silver fog, slowly circling down from Incarceron’s heights.
The fog came down into their faces. It said, You should not have killed my creatures, halfman.
Claudia stared at the huge central stalk of the feather, the great blue barbs linked stiffly with each other. Carefully she reached out and touched the fluffy plumes at the end. The feather was identical with the tiny one Jared had picked up from the lawn. But gross, swollen. Wholly wrong.
Amazed, she whispered, ‘What does it mean?’ An amused voice answered her. ‘It means, my dear, that I am returning your little gift.’ For a moment she couldn’t move. Then she said, ‘Father?’ Finn took her arm and turned her. She saw, appearing on the screen very slowly, pixel by pixel, the image of a man. As the picture completed itself she recognized him, the severity of his dark coat, the brushed perfection of his hair, tied elegantly back. The Warden of Incarceron, the man she still thought of as her father, was looking down at her.
‘Can you see me?’ she gasped.
There it was. His old, cold smile.
‘Of course I can see you, Claudia. I think you would be surprised what I can see His grey eyes turned to Jared.
‘Master Sapient, I congratulate you. I had thought the damage I had done to the Portal would be enough. It seems, as ever, that I underestimated you.’ Claudia linked her hands in front of her. She straightened up, the way she always stood rigidly upright before him, as if she was a small child again, as if his clear gaze diminished her.
‘I return the materials of your experiment: the Warden said drily. ‘As you can see, the problems of scale remain. I would advise you strongly, Jared, not to send anything living through the Portal. The results might be fatal to all of us.’ Jared frowned. ‘But the feathers arrived there?’ The Warden smiled and did not answer.
Claudia couldn’t wait any longer. The words burst out of her. ‘Are you really in Incarceron?’
‘Where else?’
‘But where is it? You never told us!’ A flicker of surprise crossed his face. He leant back, and she saw he was in some dark place, because a glimmer like flamelight reflected briefly in his eyes. A soft pulsing sound came from somewhere in the darkness. ‘Didn’t I? Well I’m afraid, Claudia, that you must ask your precious tutor about that.’ She glanced at Jared. He seemed embarrassed, not meeting her eyes.
‘Can you really not have told her, Master?’The mockery in her father’s voice was clear. ‘And I thought you had no secrets in your little partnership. Well, it seems you should be careful, Claudia. Power corrupts all men. Even Sapienti.’
‘Power?’ she snapped.
His hands opened elegantly but before she could demand more Finn elbowed her aside.
‘Where’s Keiro? What’s happening to him?’ The Warden said coldly, ‘How should I know?’
‘When you were Blaize you had a tower full of books! The Prison’s records of everyone.You could find him. .
‘Do you really care?’ The Warden leant forward. ‘Well, then I’ll tell you. At this moment he is fighting for his life with a monstrous creature of many heads’ Catching Finn’s shocked stillness he laughed. ‘And you’re not there to watch his back. That must hurt. But this is where he belongs. This is Keiro’s world, without friendship, without love. And you, Prisoner, belong here too.’ The screen flickered and spat.
‘Father. . .‘ Claudia said quickly.
‘So you still call me that?’
‘What else can I call you?’ She stepped forward. ‘You’re the only father I know.’ For a moment he gazed at her, and she noticed in the disintegrating image that his hair was a little greyer than it had been, his face more lined. Then he said quietly, ‘I am a Prisoner too now, Claudia.’
‘You can Escape. You have the Keys...’
‘Had.’ He shrugged. ‘Incarceron has taken them The image was rippling. Desperately she said, ‘But why?’
‘The Prison is consumed with desire. Sapphique began it, because when he wore the Glove he and the Prison became one mind. He infected it.’
‘With a disease?’
‘A desire. And desire can be a disease, Claudia: He was watching her, his face shivering and dissolving and reforming. ‘You are to blame too, for describing it all so well.
And so Incarceron burns with longing. For all its thousand eyes there is one thing it has never seen, and it will do anything to see.
‘What?’ she breathed, already knowing.
‘Outside,’ he whispered.
For a moment no one spoke. Then Finn leant forward.
‘What about me? Am I Giles? Did you put me in the Prison?
Tell me!’ The Warden smiled at him.
Then the screen went blank.
There is a growing terror in speaking with the Prison. My secrets seem small and pitiful. My dreams seem foolish. I begin to fear it can see even into my mind.
LORD CALLISTON’s DIARY
The fog slid between them. It was icy A mist of millions of droplets. Attia felt it chill her skin, condense on her lips.
Remember me, Attia? it whispered.
She scowled. ‘I remember.’
‘Ride,’ Keiro muttered.
She urged the horse on, gently. But it slithered and the ground tilted, and she knew Incarceron had them trapped here, because the temperature was rising fast and the whole Wing was melting around them.
Keiro must have felt it too. He snapped, ‘Leave us alone.
Go and torture some other Inmates.’ I know you, hafman. The voice was close, in their ears, against their cheeks. You are part of me, my atoms beat in your heart, itch in your skin. I should kill you now. I should melt the ice and let you drown here.
Suddenly Attia slid down from the horse. She stared up into the grey night. ‘But you won’t. You’ve been watching me all the time. You wrote that message on the wall!’ That I would see the stars? Yes, I used the fool’s hand. Because I will see them, Attia, and you will help me.
Light was gathering. It showed her that through the fog two great red Eyes were being lowered on cables. They gleamed like rubies, one so close to Keiro its hot glare scorched him. He slid down hastily, close behind her.