Herbie Brennan - Ruler of the Realm

Hairstreak shrugged. ‘Perhaps he is waiting for you to do his dirty work.’

Fogarty leaned forward. ‘Assuming I believe you, why should he turn against his old friends? Faeries of the Night and Hell have been pals for centuries. Beleth has provided you with demon servants, demon labour, God knows what else, in return for…’ He trailed off, suddenly unsure.

‘Not quite an accurate assessment, Gatekeeper Fogarty,’ Hairstreak said coldly. ‘Beleth never willingly gave us anything. Generations ago, our wizards developed techniques for compelling demons into certain pacts. The filth have been our servants ever since. Faeries of the Light could have had the same benefits, but they elected not to do so out of some… misplaced sense of morality, I suppose. I’ve never understood the thinking myself.’ He turned his attention back to Blue. ‘I’m no historian, but I understand it was the demon question that caused the split between us in the first place.’

‘I don’t suppose you can compel them now?’ Blue asked suddenly.

Hairstreak smiled coldly. ‘There are more than a million demons in the Eastern Desert. That is a number well beyond compulsion.’

‘So you think this is his revenge for centuries of exploitation?’ There was a wicked glint in Fogarty’s eye.

If her uncle had a sense of humour, it didn’t show. ‘Oh, I don’t think it’s us he’s after,’ he said soberly.

‘Very well,’ said Fogarty briskly. ‘What do you think he’s planning?’

Hairstreak looked from one to the other. ‘I think he was waiting for war to break out between the Faeries of the Night and the Light.’

‘Which it has,’ Blue put in. ‘Thanks to your preemptive strike.’

Hairstreak’s eyes flashed. ‘I was not the one to instigate a Countdown, niece.’

Madame Cardui said smoothly, ‘Perhaps we should allow your uncle to continue, Majesty. After all, he has more experience of demons than we have.’ She glanced at Hairstreak and smiled sweetly.

‘Go on, Uncle,’ Blue said shortly. ‘Beleth’s plans…?’

Hairstreak said, ‘I do not believe he will intervene in the war. I think it is completely irrelevant to him who wins it. When the war is finished, he will attack the victor, confident in the knowledge that the victor has been weakened by the conflict. In that way, Beleth plans to take the entire Realm.’

It sounded hideously plausible. But then many of Hairstreak’s most devious schemes had seemed hideously plausible too. Blue still wasn’t sure she trusted him.

‘How do you think we can stop him?’

Hairstreak shrugged. ‘You know my proposal. An immediate military alliance between the Nighters and the Lighters. Our combined forces can then attack Beleth in the desert and, hopefully, drive him back to Hael where he belongs.’

Gatekeeper Fogarty suddenly asked, ‘Why don’t you use your time flowers against him?’

‘What time flowers?’ Hairstreak asked.

‘Do you believe him?’ Gatekeeper Fogarty asked as soon as they were alone.

‘I don’t know,’ Blue said. ‘I wish Flapwazzle was here.’ A thought struck her and she asked, ‘Where is he? Did he get away from Lord Hairstreak?’

Madame Cardui nodded. ‘Came back safely, then went out hunting. They do that when they’re tense. I think the business with Henry and the vampire unnerved him. He’s terribly fond of Henry.’

‘Light’s sake, isn’t Henry awake yet?’ Blue demanded.

‘Soon, deeah, I promise.’

Gatekeeper Fogarty said impatiently. ‘We can check with Henry later. In the meantime, do we believe Hairstreak?’ He looked from one face to the other.

Madame Cardui said slowly, ‘I suspect I do.’

They turned to look at her. ‘Including the bit about the time flowers?’ Fogarty asked.

‘I’m not sure about that, Alan. But I suppose what he says could be true. Pyrgus had his information from Ogyris’s daughter, who’s scarcely more than a child – not the most reliable of sources. Perhaps Merchant Ogyris was growing the flowers for his own use. Perhaps he planned to sell them to the highest bidder.’

‘Perhaps the highest bidder was Beleth,’ Blue suggested. In the present situation, almost anything seemed possible.

Fogarty blinked. ‘Henry used a time flower to kidnap Blue. We assumed he had it from Lord Hairstreak, but we know now that Henry was working for the demons. He had to have it from them, which means Ogyris was supplying Beleth.’

Madame Cardui shuddered. ‘If that’s the case, we are all lost.’

Blue said, ‘This is ridiculous. We need Henry. How can I be expected to decide something like this when he can tell us the answer? I’m going to the infirmary myself to see if his sedation has worn off. If it hasn’t, I’ll order the wizards to wake him.’

‘We’ll go with you,’ Fogarty said hurriedly.

They found Henry wandering the corridors outside the infirmary. He had a bandage on his nose and a vacant expression on his face. He smiled shyly when he saw Blue.

It took them less than a minute to discover he had no memory of anything that had happened to him after the demons inserted their implant.

Blue sighed deeply. ‘Tell my uncle he’s going to have to wait until tomorrow for his answer. I think we need to sleep on it.’

Hairstreak left the palace in a fury. How dare that stupid child treat him in this manner! How dare she refuse to listen when the future of the Realm was at stake! Time was running out – couldn’t she see that? The demons might attack at any time, perhaps in an hour, perhaps tonight. Yet he was supposed to wait another day before he could act – or however long it took the brat to make up her mind. No wonder the Empire was in such a mess. No wonder Beleth had decided to seize his opportunity.

The thought of Beleth increased his anger. The treachery of the creature was almost beyond belief. Except that he should have anticipated it. You could never trust a demon. But self-recriminations were pointless. The question was, what to do now?

His escort fell in around him as he left the Purple Palace. Hairstreak was under no illusions: the situation was grim, far more grim than young Queen Blue realised. The trouble was, Lighters never appreciated the truth about demons. Demons were dangerous. You could never afford to forget they had their own agenda. Which was exactly what he’d done himself. It was going to take some very fancy footwork to avoid paying dearly for that small mistake.

He ordered his transport to be flown directly to the caverns – the western entrance was just big enough for him to land. If anything resembled a stroke of luck in the present sorry circumstances, it was the fact that Hamearis was now dead. Not that Hairstreak wouldn’t miss him – they’d been through a lot together – but with Burgundy out of the way, Hairstreak was now unequivocally in charge of the entire Nighter military effort. No one would question his decisions. Or his orders.

He left the flyer and strode out on to the main cavern floor. The Nighter reinforcements were stretched before him, waiting as patiently as the demons in the desert. There was much less of a bustle than the last time he’d been here. All the preparations had been made, all supplies and armaments laid in and readied. It was an army awaiting final orders, as close to action as a drawn bow. The question was, what order to give.

So far, Hairstreak had held this vast army in reserve. But he would have to commit it soon. He was furious with Blue. If she’d only understood the urgency of the situation, his decision was made. An alliance against the demons was the only sensible course. Everything else was madness. Yet that madness might be forced on him. Could he afford to wait until tomorrow? And what if Blue decided to reject a treat? Should he throw the rest of his forces against the Faeries of the Light? Or should he turn them first on Beleth’s legions?