Herbie Brennan - Faerie Wars

Henry had a brief confused impression of crystal globes with moving pictures flickering in their depths and an enormous table that seemed to have a landscape modelled on its surface.

'They've definitely stopped,' a voice said. It came from a broad-shouldered man in uniform who Henry didn't recognise. 'The demons are no longer coming.'

'They can't have stopped!' another voice exclaimed.

'They've stopped all right, Tithonus,' Pyrgus said.

Tithonus spun around, a stunned expression on his face. 'Pyrgus!' He caught himself and added more formally, 'Crown Prince. How good to – '

'No longer Crown Prince,' Pyrgus told him coldly. 'Do you acknowledge your new Emperor?'

'I -, Pyrgus, of course I – Majesty, I – '

Pyrgus cut across him by turning to one of the men in military uniform. 'General Ovard, do you acknowledge your new Emperor?'

'Of course, Purple Emperor,' Ovard said promptly.

Pyrgus said, 'General Ovard, please place Gatekeeper Tithonus under arrest.'

'Pyrgus!' Blue exclaimed.

'As you command, Purple Emperor,' Ovard nodded, his face wooden. He motioned to the guards who moved to surround Tithonus.

'Pyrgus!' Tithonus spluttered. 'Majesty, what is the meaning of this?'

Pyrgus strode forward until he was no more than eighteen inches from Tithonus. 'You are a traitor, Gatekeeper,' he said quietly.

Blue said, 'Pyrgus, this is Tithe!'

Tithonus said, 'It was necessary I took the title Regent, Majesty. You were missing. Comma is too young. The realm was under attack. It was important there was someone in command.'

A chill half-smile played across Pyrgus's lips. 'Beleth told me everything when he had me hanging in his cage,' he said. 'Including your treachery.'

'Treachery?' Tithonus echoed. He turned towards General Ovard. 'You can't believe this!' His eyes flickered to the other military men. 'Creerful, Vanelke – you must know this is nonsense.' They stared back at him without a word.

'Take him away,' Pyrgus ordered.

The guards dragged Tithonus struggling from the room. They almost knocked over Comma who was coming in as they did so.

Comma looked from Pyrgus to Blue, then briefly to Henry and back to Pyrgus. 'What's going on? What are they doing to Tithonus?'

'He was a traitor,' Pyrgus said simply. 'He was the one who tried to kill me. He was the one who arranged our father's death.'

Comma's eyes flickered towards the doorway. He managed to look guilty and frightened at the same time. 'How do you know?'

Pyrgus said soberly, 'Beleth told me. When he thought I couldn't escape and was going to die, he told me everything to make me suffer.'

'What did he say about me?' Comma asked quickly.

Pyrgus stared at him severely. 'Nothing, brother. Should he have said something?'

Comma shook his head violently. 'No. No, of course not. I – I was just…'

'Wondering?' Pyrgus finished for him.

Comma had the look of a trapped rabbit, but said nothing. The silence in the room stretched to breaking point.

'Why?' Blue asked to cut the tension. 'Why did Tithonus betray us? He's known us since we were babies. He's known our father for ever.'

'His sympathies were with the Nightside,' Pyrgus told her simply. 'He believed they could win.' He sighed. 'Beleth promised him he would be Emperor.'

'Tithonus? Emperor?'

'Don't get too excited,' Pyrgus said. 'Beleth promised Hairstreak he would be Emperor as well. And Silas Brimstone. And probably a hundred others we don't know about. Beleth lied to everybody – it's his nature. What he really wanted was the Realm of Faerie for himself. But Tithonus was the key. He was Gatekeeper, the one we trusted.'

Blue shook her head. 'I can hardly believe this.'

'Tithonus kept a demon hidden in the palace,' Pyrgus said. 'He used it as a sort of courier to carry messages to Beleth. That's how they planned the demon invasion.'

Henry asked curiously, 'How come the demons stopped invading?'

'You stopped them, Henry,' Pyrgus said.

Henry looked at Pyrgus, then at Blue, then back at Pyrgus again. 'I did?'

'You stopped them when you stamped on The Book of Beleth,' Pyrgus said. The book was the main control portal between Hell and the Realm of Faerie. Once you destroyed it, all the other portals ceased to operate.'

'What, between this world and mine?' Henry asked in alarm.

Pyrgus shook his head. 'No, just between this world and the demon world. Beleth set up the control device centuries ago and disguised it as a book so nobody would think to close it down. The rituals were psychotronic triggers so it could be used for conjuration, but its real purpose was to keep the portals open so demons could have easy access to the realm.'

'Good grief,' Henry said.

'It must have been Tithonus's demon who made Henry's friend kill Daddy,' Blue remarked.

'Yipes!!' Henry shouted, jumping to his feet.

They swung round in alarm. 'What's wrong? What's the matter?'

'Mr Fogarty!' Henry exclaimed. 'There was so much going on I forgot about him completely. We left him in the cell – getting ready to be hanged!'

'Then we must get him out,' Pyrgus said. He turned to one of several aides who hovered on the edges of the conversation. 'See to it.'

'Yes, Majesty.'

Yes, Majesty, Henry thought. His friend was an emperor. The new Purple Emperor.

Blue groaned. 'That was my fault,' she said to Henry. 'You wanted me to let him out, but I thought he was a murderer.'

'That was what you were meant to think,' Pyrgus told her. 'Mr Fogarty may have been a murderer technically, but it was the demon driving him to do it.'

Henry said, 'I don't think Mr Fogarty did murder your father, even technically – I think he fought off the demon.'

They both turned to him. 'Why do you say that, Henry?' Pyrgus asked him soberly.

'Just before you… you know, appeared in the triangle, there was this demon thing turned up – '

'I forgot to tell you,' Blue put in.

'I was scared when I saw it,' Henry said, 'but it was confused and I don't think it could see properly. It thought it was talking to Beleth some of the time and it kept saying it couldn't make somebody do what they were told. And it also said Kill the Emperor a couple of times. I think that must have been the demon Tithonus was hiding in the palace, the one that was supposed to make Mr Fogarty kill your father. Only I think when it tried to take over his mind, he drove it mental. He's a bit odd – Mr Fogarty,' he ended weakly.

'He is a wise and powerful man,' Pyrgus said seriously. 'I plan to ask him if he will serve as my new Gatekeeper.'

Blue said, 'If your friend didn't kill Daddy, who did? The demon wouldn't actually have been there, would it?'

'My guess is Tithonus,' Henry said. 'Mr Fogarty was locked up fighting the demon in his head. I think when he saw Mr Fogarty wasn't going to do it, he took the gun and shot your father himself, then blamed Mr Fogarty. Mr Fogarty was too confused even to contradict him.'

'I'm sure that's right,' Comma put in suddenly. He almost managed to smile. 'I'm sure everything was down to Tithonus. Just Tithonus. On his own.'

Pyrgus looked unbelievable in the full formal regalia of the Purple Emperor. The heavy robes and towering mitre-crown made him appear far taller than he was, while the ornate, multi-coloured Peacock Throne lent him a surprising dignity. Holly Blue was seated on a smaller throne beside him, dressed entirely in white and looking absolutely – Henry swallowed and dragged his eyes away. He was already in enough trouble for ogling the Princess Royal. All the same, she gave him a small, encouraging smile.

The throne room was hung with golden banners and thronged with courtiers in bright costumes. A stone-faced military guard in full dress uniform formed a colonnade along the centre of the chamber. Henry had to walk between them and the prospect scared him witless.