Herbie Brennan - Ruler of the Realm

He glanced around curiously. This was his first visit to the Situation Room and the twenty-minute descent by suspensor shaft had left him nauseous. But that did nothing to dull his interest. In the centre of the room was a huge Operations Table that somehow managed to display the entire geographical landscape of the Realm. The illusion was remarkable – clearly the very latest spell technology. It looked exactly like a model railway layout Fogarty had had as a child, right down to details like miniature buildings, roads and bridges, but impossibly larger. When your eye went in a particular direction, the landscape unfolded as if the Table somehow read your mind. Which it probably did. He found that simply thinking of a place brought it into focus. There were animated troop movements on many of the roads.

Fogarty tore his eyes away to look at the banks of crystal viewing globes. Most of them were focused on Yammeth Cretch, the heartland of the Faeries of the Night. About a third seemed to be trained on Yammeth City.

‘Notice the globes on the bank to your left,’ murmured Madame Cardui at his side.

Fogarty followed her gaze. Three globes showed alternate views of a vast subterranean cavern. Nighter soldiers were stocking it with munitions.

‘It’s directly underneath Yammeth City,’ Madame Cardui told him. ‘We only managed to smuggle three sensors inside.’

‘Looks as if they’re preparing for our attack,’ Fogarty said.

She nodded. ‘They know about the Countdown.’

‘We have to stop this,’ Fogarty said. ‘It’s madness.’

General Creerful detached himself from a tight group of uniformed women and walked towards them. He had the look of a man with scant time for interruptions, but he nodded politely enough.

‘Crown Prince. Gatekeeper.’ His face softened just a little. ‘Painted Lady.’

‘Get the other two over here,’ said Fogarty shortly.

Creerful blinked. ‘Pardon?’

‘Vanelke and Ovard. Get them over. We have to talk.’ Fogarty glared at him. In his experience, the only thing military men respected was toughness and in a situation like this he was prepared to give it to them in spades.

Creerful’s eyes flashed angrily, but his gaze broke after a tense moment and he turned on his heel. In a moment more he was back with his fellow Generals. Ovard was the one who decided to push his luck.

‘There’s a lot to do, Gatekeeper. I hope this is important.’

‘We can have a pissing contest next week, Ovard,’ said Fogarty shortly. ‘Right now I don’t have the time. I want you to stop the Countdown.’

If Ovard was taken aback, he didn’t show it. ‘You know we can’t do that, Gatekeeper.’

‘You can and you will,’ Fogarty told him firmly. ‘I’m ordering you to stand down all Lighter forces. I’m ordering you in my official capacity as Acting Emperor. And that order is confirmed by Crown Prince Pyrgus and Madame Cardui, as Head of the Imperial Espionage Service.’ He looked at the other two, who nodded confirmation.

Ovard sighed and allowed the tiredness to show in his voice for the first time. ‘You can wheel in the whole royal family if you want, Gatekeeper. It doesn’t change the law. The only faerie on the planet who can cancel an active Countdown is the reigning monarch. The last time I looked that was Queen Holly Blue.’

‘Queen Blue is in no position to cancel it,’ Fogarty said.

Creerful pushed forward slightly. ‘Which is the whole point of a Countdown, Your Acting Majesty – you know that. Or you should.’

‘I’ve discussed the situation with Madame Cardui,’ Fogarty said grimly. ‘Unless you comply with our demands, she will order her Service to withdraw all reconnaissance information.’

Creerful sighed. ‘I’m sure Madame Cardui will do nothing of the sort,’ he said, not looking at her. ‘But if she did, we would be forced to arrest her for treason.’

Another bluff called. ‘All right,’ Fogarty said. He glanced around to make sure there was no one else within earshot, then locked eyes with Ovard again. ‘Try this for size. The Faeries of the Night have a secret weapon, details on request from Prince Pyrgus, that means our people will be slaughtered to the last man before they can lift a finger to defend themselves.’

He waited, fully expecting arguments, doubts, demands for details. Instead, all three Generals looked at him with the eyes of old men who have seen far too much war and suffering. It was Vanelke who said softly, ‘You’re not of the Realm, Alan. We can’t expect you to understand. It’s a question of law and tradition. It doesn’t matter if we’re all wiped out.’ He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. ‘Unless Queen Blue returns to countermand her order, the Countdown must continue. At sunset tomorrow the war will begin.’

Blue stared at him. ‘With you?’

Henry looked hideously embarrassed. ‘It’s a bit complicated,’ he said.

‘Then you’d better explain,’ Blue told him.

Henry went across to sit on the bed, then jumped up again as if he’d been stung. ‘Sorry,’ he said, without making clear what for. He glanced at Blue and licked his lips. ‘They put a thing in my face.’

Blue waited. She wanted to put her arms round Henry and comfort him again, but she had to know what was happening and know it fast.

‘Go on,’ she said.

‘They pushed it through the side of my eye.’ He caught her expression and added quickly, ‘It’s like the way they can take you through walls with that blue light. It doesn’t damage your eye or anything, but it’s still jolly sore. And scary.’

‘Go on,’ Blue said again.

‘It’s a thing that links you with the Hellmind.’

She’d never heard the term before. ‘What’s the Haelmind?’

‘It’s the demon’s Internet.’ He caught her blank expression and said quickly, ‘It’s a sort of mental broadcast thing that lets their leader tell them what to do.’

Blue frowned. ‘You mean Beleth?’

Henry nodded. ‘Yes, Beleth. The Hellmind is his communications network.’

‘I don’t understand this,’ Blue said. She wasn’t sure if she should be feeling impatient. Henry could sometimes be very roundabout when he tried to tell you anything.

‘I’m not sure I do either,’ Henry said. ‘Not exactly, anyway. I think it’s some sort of mental network. I don’t know if it’s natural or something they invented. But it lets Beleth pass on orders very quickly.’ He hesitated, then added, ‘And makes sure you obey them.’

There was a long silence. Blue was wondering why nobody had told her about the Haelmind before. But perhaps nobody knew. Faeries of the Light avoided contact with demons and even the Nighters didn’t understand them entirely. Everybody knew demons were basically evil, but far more than that, they were different. Maybe faeries had never realised how different. Or maybe it was some new technology they’d invented, as Henry said.

Eventually she asked, ‘They put something in your brain that links you to this thing?’

‘They can activate it at a distance. It’s off now.’ He hesitated. ‘When it’s on, I’m a demon too.’

‘You mean you’re possessed?’ She remembered the horrid sensation of Black John crawling inside her skull.

‘It’s worse than that,’ Henry whispered. ‘I get changed completely.’

It was beginning to sink in, and making Blue afraid. ‘You become a demon?’

Henry nodded. ‘Yes.’

They were sitting together side by side on the hideous red bed. Henry held himself rigid, taking great care not to touch her. ‘There’s stuff you need to know,’ he said.

Blue watched him and waited.