Herbie Brennan - Ruler of the Realm

He reached into his pocket for the pass and his hand closed over the crystal flower. As he began to draw it out, one of the soldiers shouted, ‘Watch out – he’s got a weapon!’

Half a dozen men hurled themselves upon him again. Pyrgus’s arm jerked and his hand tightened convulsively. The bloom dissolved into glittering dust beneath his fingers.

All movement stopped. The guards stood frozen as if turned to stone.

The demons carried Blue into a different room.

There was a strange bed with a bright red counterpane and ridged metallic tubes snaking from its underside to disappear into the floor. Glowglobes in the ceiling were set low to a soft pink light so that shadows crawled out of darkened corners. There was a viewscreen set into one wall. There was nothing else.

The demons withdrew. Henry collapsed in a heap on the floor.

‘Oh God, Blue,’ he wailed, ‘I’m so sorry!’

Blue’s paralysis broke and the slime of Hael control slipped from her mind. She spun round as the door slid shut. Henry was weeping now, but it was the old Henry, the one she knew, not the thing that had been talking through him. She knelt beside him, hesitated, then placed one hand on his shaking shoulder.

‘What happened?’ she asked softly.

For a moment he couldn’t answer, couldn’t even look up. Then he turned his tear-stained face towards her.

‘They made me do it, Blue,’ he said.

Blue cradled his head like a child. ‘I know, Henry. I know.’

They stayed like that, huddled together on the floor, for a long time. Eventually the weeping stopped and Henry pulled away gently.

‘I’m fine now. I’m better.’

Blue said, ‘I need to know what’s happening. I need to know what’s going on.’ She hesitated. ‘Do you know?’ She wasn’t sure how much he’d remember.

Henry started to climb to his feet. He looked wretched, almost ill. For some reason he avoided catching her eye.

‘They told you about their breeding programme,’ he muttered.

Blue shuddered, thinking of Black John. ‘It won’t happen,’ she said firmly. ‘I’d kill myself first.’ She caught his expression. ‘What’s wrong? You can’t believe I’d…? With a demon?’

Henry said, ‘It’s not with a demon, Blue. It’s with me.’

‘The flowers stop time!’ Pyrgus announced dramatically. He could hardly believe it himself, but he was excited and frightened all at once. The only problem was he still didn’t know where Henry had taken Blue. But now he knew how and maybe they could work it out from that.

Mr Fogarty, still in his nightshirt and bedsocks, glared at him. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he asked.

‘They stop time!’ Pyrgus repeated. ‘I was surrounded by guards and I crushed a flower and it stopped time. The guards froze, but I could still move. That’s how I got away.’

‘Stasis spell?’ Fogarty frowned.

‘No,’ Pyrgus said excitedly. ‘The flowers stop time. Time stops for everybody except the person who crushes the flower. I just walked away, got into my flyer and zipped back here.’ He looked at Mr Fogarty, grinning like an idiot. ‘The trip back took five minutes! But that’s because time was stopped for most of the journey. That’s how I knew it wasn’t a stasis spell. It’s like the flower surrounds you with a bubble and the bubble’s outside everybody else’s time and you can race about and do things while they’re all waiting for the next clock tick. If it hadn’t worn off before I got here, I wouldn’t be able to talk to you now.’

Fogarty said, ‘Guards…’

Madame Cardui said, ‘You got into trouble with Merchant Ogyris’s guards?’ She looked away from him towards the window and smiled. They were in a private room of the palace, overlooking the rose garden.

‘Another diplomatic mess,’ said Mr Fogarty dryly, although he didn’t look displeased either.

Madame Cardui turned to Pyrgus. ‘By the bye, deeah, what did you do with Kitterick?’

‘Ah,’ said Pyrgus, suddenly embarrassed.

‘Ah?’ asked Madame Cardui, one eyebrow raised.

‘I sort of… left him,’ Pyrgus said.

‘Was that because he was outside your time?’

Pyrgus wasn’t at all sure how he should put this. Eventually he said, ‘No, actually, Madame Cardui. I mean, he probably was – outside my time – I didn’t check. I just…’ this was definitely the tricky bit, ‘… sort of forgot about him.’ It was hideously embarrassing, but no more than the truth. He’d had a lot of things on his mind when he left the Ogyris Estate. He looked sheepishly at Madame Cardui, waiting for the outburst.

But all she said was, ‘Will he be all right?’

He will if Merchant Ogyris doesn’t come home unexpectedly, Pyrgus thought. Aloud, he said, ‘He’s probably on his way back now. Kitterick can look after himself.’

‘Well, yes, that’s certainly true.’

‘How long does it last?’ Fogarty asked suddenly. He was looking at Pyrgus.

Pyrgus looked at him blankly. ‘What?’

‘The time-stop,’ Fogarty said impatiently. ‘That’s what we’re talking about, isn’t it? How long? A minute? Five minutes? A couple of hours?’

‘I don’t know,’ Pyrgus said. ‘From my point of view it wasn’t any time at all.’

‘How many of these flowers were there?’

‘Oh, dozens,’ Pyrgus said. ‘Hundreds. Maybe a thousand.’

‘I don’t suppose you brought any back with you?’

Pyrgus shook his head. ‘No, Mr Fogarty.’

‘I don’t suppose you destroyed the rest?’

Pyrgus thought of the wreckage of the great glasshouse. ‘I… sort of broke the place they were growing in, so I don’t think Merchant Ogyris can grow any more until he fixes it. But the flowers didn’t wilt or anything. I think the worst it would do is stop them growing. I’m sure they won’t really die, at least not quickly – they’re made from rock crystal.’

Mr Fogarty didn’t seem to be really listening. ‘I don’t suppose you found out where Blue is?’

Pyrgus said eagerly, ‘Not exactly, but now we know how Henry took her away. He must have crushed one of those flowers and the bubble must have taken in Blue as well as him. Once you’re in the bubble, you can go anywhere, do anything. Nobody can stop you.’

‘Why would he have taken Blue?’ Madame Cardui mused. ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t harm her. Don’t you think so, deeah?’

Fogarty stood up abruptly. ‘OK, you two, come with me.’

‘Where are we going, dahling?’

Fogarty’s face looked grim. ‘I want you with me as Head of the Espionage Service, Cynthia. And you, Pyrgus, as Crown Prince or the Queen’s Brother or whatever your official title is now. We’re going to see the Generals and try to talk them into stopping the Countdown. If the Faeries of the Night have flowers that stop time, it would be suicide to attack them tomorrow. Our forces would be wiped out to the last man.’ He strode towards the door.

‘Alan…’ said Madame Cardui gently.

‘What?’ Fogarty growled impatiently.

Her eyes travelled over his nightgown and bedsocks. ‘I think you might be more impressive if you changed into your Emperor’s robes, deeah.’

All three Imperial Generals – Creerful, Vanelke and Ovard – were in the Situation Room deep beneath the bedrock of the palace. Their uniforms were immaculate, but they looked as if they hadn’t slept in days. The place was a hive of activity. Messengers scurried to and fro carrying documents and updates. Military wizards crouched over concave mirrors. Soldiers in full combat gear guarded every door. They snapped to attention as Gatekeeper Fogarty entered.