Herbie Brennan - Ruler of the Realm

‘I wasn’t under,’ Henry said.

‘Oh yes you were, sunshine – deepest trance I’ve ever seen. You’ll remember soon – I gave you the suggestion, but it sometimes takes a minute or two to kick in.’

‘But you were right, Henry,’ Madame Cardui said.

She must have joined them while he was in a trance. It was spooky: he hadn’t even noticed. He licked his lips.

‘Right?’ he echoed.

‘The story about Beleth wanting you to mate with Blue, deeah. It was all a nonsense.’

‘It was?’ Henry asked. There were maybe about a hundred more appropriate emotions at this moment, but the one he actually felt was relief.

Madame Cardui smiled. ‘Just a story they implanted in Blue’s head and yours to distract us from the invasion.’

‘None of it really happened?’ Henry asked. But Mr Fogarty was right. He was beginning to get little flashes now. ‘I wasn’t put in a bedroom with Blue?’

‘No.’

‘I didn’t kill a demon?’

Mr Fogarty snorted. ‘Thought that was a bit farfetched from the start.’

Madame Cardui said kindly, ‘I expect you could easily have killed a demon, deeah, but none of it actually happened. Blue didn’t kill hers either – she didn’t have her stimlus with her. Those were all false memories.’

‘So I didn’t kidnap Blue?’

‘You kidnapped Blue all right,’ Mr Fogarty said. ‘The way it worked was Beleth had you kidnapped and implanted. Then they programmed you to kidnap Blue and implanted her as well. The business about the demons breeding half-human babies is true enough, but it won’t work in the Realm – the DNA is too dissimilar. But they gave you and Blue the same false memories and sent you back as a distraction from their real plans. Cunning little ploy.’

It was coming back to him now, exactly as Mr Fogarty said. He could remember the implant and the creepy, slimy feeling as black-eyed demons in white lab coats carefully layered the false memories into his brain. He started to feel guilty about the kidnap all over again. Because of him, Blue’s brain had been tinkered with as well. The thought of it left him agitated. Actually quite a lot agitated.

‘You have to get that thing removed,’ he said.

‘My deeah, it’s already been removed. That’s why you lost your memory completely.’

‘Not me,’ Henry said urgently. ‘Blue. You have to take the thing out of her head.’

‘Blue’s asleep now,’ Madame Cardui told him. ‘I shall make arrangements to have her implant removed first thing in the morning when she’s rested. Then Alan can hypnotise her too and restore her proper memories.’

‘No, now!’ Henry insisted. He wasn’t quite sure why, but it was vital they removed the implant at once.

‘Henry, deeah, what’s wrong?’

He didn’t know what was wrong, but he could feel the panic with a vengeance. They couldn’t wait until morning because if they waited until morning -

He didn’t know what would happen if they waited until morning. Something bad would happen, but he didn’t know what. Something bad would happen to Blue. Something bad would happen to the Realm. The panic was so strong now he could no longer sit still. He pushed himself out of the chair.

‘Henry -’ Mr Fogarty said.

‘Something bad -’ Henry began. Then the memories flooded back and he stopped, his eyes wide. ‘Oh my God!’ he said. He launched himself abruptly through the door.

‘Henry, what’s wrong?’ Madame Cardui called after him.

But Henry was already outside, running full tilt towards the Purple Palace.

One of the best things Pyrgus ever did was to appoint Henry a Knight Commander of the Grey Dagger. It allowed him to pass freely through the Purple Palace and often earned him salutes from guards.

He crashed down the corridor of the imperial quarters and gasped breathlessly, ‘I must see Queen Blue at once!’

The guards saluted to a man, but their Captain said apologetically, ‘Afraid she’s not in her rooms, sir.’

‘Where is she?’ He had a horrified feeling he already knew the answer.

‘Couldn’t say, sir. She refused an escort.’

‘When did she leave her quarters?’

‘Little while ago.’

It had to be! It had to be! ‘How was she dressed?’

The Captain blinked. ‘Dressed, sir?’

‘Dressed, man – dressed!’ Henry shouted into his face. ‘What was she wearing?’

The Captain looked at him in bewilderment. ‘Nice-looking gown, sir. Like she was off to a party. Not the sort of thing she usually wears.’

Dear God, he was too late! He’d remembered too late!

The Captain frowned. ‘Is something wrong, sir? Sir -’

But Henry was already racing back down the corridor. How could this have happened? How could he have let this happen? Why hadn’t he remembered sooner? Blue could be lost by now – lost for ever. And it was all his fault!

Savagely, Henry pushed the guilt and self-pity out of his mind. There might still be time. But he needed a clear head. If he managed to catch up with her in time, he could stop the whole disaster, even if he had to force her. He’d kidnapped her before. He could do it again. Once they got the implant out, she’d be fine. And she’d understand.

He was moving by instinct now, twisting and turning through palace passageways he’d never seen before. Except it wasn’t really instinct, however it felt. He knew he had to be following the memory of the instructions the demons had planted in his head. He knew where Blue was going, because he was supposed to go there with her. And if his implant hadn’t been removed, that’s exactly what he’d have done. But now maybe he could turn Beleth’s own plan against him.

He was in the old quarter of the palace now, running like a demon himself. Pyrgus once told him this part of the building dated to a time before faeries ruled the Realm. It contained chambers that hadn’t been opened in millennia and there were rumours of ghosts. Most palace residents avoided it, but Henry was too desperate to feel any unease.

Part of him hoped he might catch up with Blue before she went too far, but by the time he reached the corridor that housed the little door there was still no sign of her. A horrid thought struck him. What if the door was locked? Beleth’s demons had given Blue the key, but as far as they were concerned, Henry had no need of one since he would be with her. But now… what happened if she’d closed the door behind her?

Henry skidded to a halt. The door was closed, but when he tried it, he found it unlocked. He almost groaned with relief as he hurled himself down the narrow spiral staircase.

But his relief was short-lived. Even before he reached the bottom, he could hear the howling. Blue had begun the obscene ceremony that would finally unlock the gates of Hell.

Pyrgus overrode the safeties as the flier reached Imperial Island. He sent out a single burst of code that would neutralise the palace security system, then pitched the nose of the craft towards the lawn outside the main entrance doors.

‘Straps,’ he ordered. Nymph and Woodfordi were immediately secured to their seats by body-netting. Woodfordi’s knuckles showed white where he gripped the arms. ‘Dive,’ Pyrgus muttered.

There was an elemental scream as the flier went into a steep descent with no loss of speed. Pyrgus kept his eyes firmly fixed on his target, a level area between two flowerbeds. The ground rushed towards him with indecent haste. He waited, heart thumping, until it seemed he could almost reach out and touch it, then commanded, ‘Land!’

The flier attempted to comply, but Pyrgus had left things far too late. The tulpa thought-forms built into its propulsion system read the situation in an instant, reinstated the safeties and hurled the craft back upwards. It banked, struck a tree branch and cracked open like an egg. Pyrgus fell out to drop in a heap on the ground. Nymph and Woodfordi dangled from their netting.