She said, ’If you went Outside, you could tell them about Finn. You could be a witness for him. Don’t you see, you could tell them that you took his memory, that you put him here.’ He stood slowly, and dusted what looked like rust from his gloves.
‘Prisoner, you assume too much.’ He looked at her, a steel-
cold gaze. ‘I care nothing for Finn, or the Queen, or any of the Havaarna.’
‘You care about Claudia. She could be in danger too His grey eyes flickered. For a moment she thought she had stung him, but he was hard to read. He said, ‘Claudia is my concern. And I fully intend to be the next ruler of the Realm myself. Now bring me the Glove.’
‘Not without Keiro.’ John Arlex did not move. ‘Don’t bargain with me, Attia.’
‘I won’t let him be killed.’ Her breath came short and it almost hurt to speak. She prepared herself for some great anger.
But to her surprise he glanced aside as if consulting something and then shrugged. ‘Very well. Release the thief.
But hurry. The Prison grows impatient for its freedom.
And—’ There was a crack, a spitting of sparks.
Where he had been, only an echo blinded her eyes, a faint smell of burning hung.
Attia was startled, but she moved quickly, stooping and picking up the Glove, feeling again its heaviness, the warm, slightly oily texture of its skin. She turned to Rho.
‘Send someone to get Keiro. And show me the way down.’ It happened so quickly Claudia almost thought she imagined it. One minute she was huddled miserably in the chair outside the guarded door gazing down the gilded corridor, and in the next moment the corridor was a ruin.
She blinked.
The blue vase was cracked. Its marble pedestal was painted wood. The walls were a mess of wires and faded paint. Great damp patches soaked the ceiling; in one corner the plaster had fallen and drips cascaded in.
She stood up, astonished.
Then with a ripple so subtle she felt it only in her nerves the splendour came back.
Claudia turned her head and stared at the two soldiers guarding the door. If they had noticed anything strange they weren’t showing it, their faces carefully blank.
‘Did you see that!’
‘I’m sorry, madam.’ The left-hand one’s eyes kept straight ahead. ‘See what?’ She swivelled to the other. ‘You?’ He seemed pale. His hand was sweaty on the halberd. ‘I thought.. . but no. Nothing’ She turned her back on them and walked up the corridor.
Her shoes clattered on the marble floor; she touched the vase and it was perfect. The walls were gilt panelling, beautifully ornamented with cupid masks and wooden swags. Of course she had known that much of the Era here was illusion, but she felt that for a moment she had been granted a vision, a glimmer of the world as it really was. It was hard to breathe.
As if, for that instant, even the air had been sucked away.
The power had flickered.
With a crack that made her jump the double doors opened behind her and the Privy Councillors surged out, a grave, chattering straggle. Claudia grabbed the nearest.
‘Lord Arto. What’s happened?’ He disengaged her hand gently. ’It’s all over, my dear. We are retiring to consider our verdict; it must be presented tomorrow I must say I myself have no doubts as to ...‘ Then, as if remembering her fate was involved, he smiled and fluttered a bow and was gone.
Claudia saw the Queen. Sia chatted with her ladies, and a foppish youth in a gold coat who was rumoured to be her latest lover. He looked hardly older than Caspar. The dog had been dumped in his arms; Sia clapped her hands and everyone turned.
‘Friends! We have such a tiresome wait for the verdict, and I hate waiting! So tonight there will be a masked ball in the Shell Grotto, and everyone is to attend. Everyone, mind!’ Her colourless eyes met Claudia’s and she smiled her sweetest smile. ‘Or I will be very, very displeased.’ The men bowed, the women dropped curtsies. As the entourage swept past Claudia breathed out in dismay, seeing the Pretender follow, surrounded by a group of the most fashionable young men. He was already gaining supporters, it seemed.
He bowed graciously. ‘I’m afraid there’s no doubt about the verdict, Claudia.’
‘You were convincing?’
‘You should have seen me!’
‘You don’t convince me.’ He smiled, a little sadly. Then he took her aside. ’My offer still stands. Marry me, Claudia. We were betrothed a long time ago, so let’s do what our fathers wanted. Together we can give the people the justice they deserve.’ She looked at his earnest face, his perfect confidence, his concerned eyes, remembering how just for a second the world had flickered around her. Now she had no idea again how much was false.
She removed her arm from his and bowed. ‘Let’s wait for the verdict.’ He seemed to draw back, and then he bowed too, coldly. ‘I would be a bitter enemy, Claudia,’ he said.
She didn’t doubt it. Whoever he was, wherever the Queen had found him, his confidence was real enough.
She watched him rejoin the courtiers, their silk clothes brilliant in the flashes of sunshine through the casements.
Then she turned and went into the empty Council Room.
Finn was sitting on the chair in the centre.
He glanced up, and she saw at once what a struggle it had all been. He looked drained and bitter.
She sat on the bench.
‘It’s over,’ he said.
‘You don’t know that.’
‘He had witnesses. A whole line of people — servants, courtiers, friends. They all looked at us both and said he was Giles. He had answers to every question. He even had this.’ He rolled up his sleeve and stared at the eagle on his wrist. ‘And I had nothing, Claudia.’ She didn’t know what to say. She hated this powerlessness.
‘But do you know what?’ He rubbed the faded tattoo with his finger, gently. ‘Now, when no one else believes me — maybe not even you — now is the first time since I came here that I really know I’m Giles.’ She opened her mouth and then closed it.
‘This mark. It used to keep me going, in the Prison. I used to lie awake at night and dream of how things would be Outside, of who I really was. I imagined my mother and father, a warm house, having enough to eat, Keiro in all the splendid clothes he wanted. I used to look at this and know it must mean something. A crowned eagle with its wings spread wide. Like it was about to fly away.’ She had to snap him out of this. ‘We needn’t wait for their stupid verdict. I’ve made plans. Two horses will be ready for us, secretly saddled, at the edge of the Forest, at midnight.
We can ride for the Wardenry, and use the Portal there to contact my father.’ He wasn’t listening. ‘The old man in the Forest said that Sapphique flew, in the end. Flew away to the stars.’
‘And the Queen has ordered a masked ball. What better cover.’ His eyes lifted to her and she saw the signs Jared had warned her of; the whitening of the lips, the strangely unfocused gaze. She hurried across to him. ’Stay calm, Finn.
Nothing is over. Keiro will find my father and—’ The room vanished.
It became a chamber of grime, of cobwebs, of cables. For a second Finn knew he was back in the grey world of Incarceron.
Then the Privy Council chamber gleamed around him.
He stared at her. ‘What was that?’ Claudia pulled him roughly to his feet. ‘I think that was reality, Finn.’ Keiro spat the last wet rag out of his mouth and gasped in air. Breathing was a great relief he allowed himself a few vicious swearwords too. They had gagged him to keep him from talking to them. Obviously, they knew he was irresistible. Quickly, he pulled his chained wrists under him, dragged his feet through them, the muscles in his arms straining. He stifled a groan as his bruises ached. But at least his hands were in front now.
The cell swayed under his feet. If the place really was wicker he should be able to hack a way through. He had no tools, though, and there was always the chance that there was nothing below but empty air.