The Devil's Looking-Glass Part 24

*I am sure the High Family care little for us at this moment,' Will murmured in reply. *Greater matters must now occupy their minds.' He nodded to Meg and Launceston, and they forced Mandraxas to his knees in front of the mirrors. The Earl pressed the tip of his dagger against the nape of the King's neck.

*They are here to pa.s.s judgement,' Will said to Carpenter. And to witness an execution? He wondered how much Deortha had told the other members of the High Family. He watched Jenny look along the row of Fay lords, her face cold, and knew there was no love lost there. She took Grace's hand in her own, perhaps an unconscious desire to protect her sister from these predators.

A faint click echoed from the shadows behind them, but as Will peered into the gloom Mandraxas turned his face towards his siblings and uttered, *You will not judge me. I am King.'

*King.' Deortha shaped the word with cold precision. *You keep the Golden Throne safe for our Queen at the pleasure of the High Family. It is a privilege.'

Mandraxas's brow knitted as he looked along the row of emotionless faces. Silence swaddled the chamber. After a moment, Will realized that the cold-faced Fay were communicating in some manner beyond speech. The King's features darkened, and he flashed a threatening look at Deortha before he glanced back at Will.

*I will not be your prisoner,' he said.

It was then that Carpenter cried out, stifling the sound with a trembling hand. Will turned to look at the man. It was not in his nature to be scared of any Fay, Will thought, not even one with the power of a King. Yet tears now streamed down the man's face, and his brow was beaded with sweat. Muttering under his breath, he lurched out of sight behind Will as the latter turned back to the mirrors.

Deortha's pale eyes shone like the moon, urging the spy to complete their agreement and take the King's life. Will felt Jenny's apprehensive gaze heavy upon him too.

With a hard smile, Mandraxas was saying, *Nothing is left to chance.' As Will struggled to understand the context of the King's words, he glimpsed Meg's brows snapping together and heard Grace's startled gasp. Movement flashed on the edge of his vision.

Dagger drawn, Carpenter lunged. The blade shimmered as he thrust it towards Will's right eye.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE.

THE GLINTING STEEL filled will's vision. And one thought seared: Carpenter's great betrayal had doomed them all. He jerked back in antic.i.p.ation of the blade's sinking into his skull, just as he sensed a flurry of movement and a sudden impact. His attacker spun away. The deflected blade ripped through the flesh above his cheek and tore into his tangle of black hair. Blood dripped on to the flags.

In agony, he stumbled back, wiping at the burning wound with his sleeve. His gaze fell upon Carpenter, who was sprawled across the stone floor, pinned down by Launceston. *Kill me,' Carpenter pleaded, staring into the aristocrat's pale, impa.s.sive face. *Do it now, as you vowed.' When the Earl didn't respond, Carpenter blinked away tears and wailed, *If you do not end my life, I will betray you again and again until I have slain you all. You will not leave this place.'

Will saw Meg hovering over Mandraxas with her dagger drawn, Grace and Jenny beside her, all of them gripped by Carpenter's plight. Blood trickled between his fingers. He saw the truth in the treacherous spy's words. Sooner or later, Carpenter would attack them again. With a surge of bitter regret for the friend he once knew, he drew his own dagger from his boot.

As he levelled the blade, Launceston caught his wrist to block the strike. *Let him live,' the Earl said, his voice quiet but his eyes flashing a warning.

*From his own mouth he has d.a.m.ned himself, Robert. We will never escape with a traitor in our midst.'

*He is no traitor.' The aristocrat pointed a wavering arm at the ghastly figures watching from the mirrors. *They have infected him with their vile magics.'

*Is this true, John?' As he spoke, Will winced in pain from his wound.

*Some foul creature crawls inside my head,' Carpenter replied, his voice a ragged whine. *It rides me like a Barbary mare, forcing me to do its bidding, and, G.o.d help me, I cannot resist. Whatever it demands, I must do a even murder my friends.' He screwed up his eyes to hide the tears of shame and regret.

*It seems our King has long since set his own schemes in motion,' came Deortha's voice. *The Caraprix can only work its spell when it has been accepted freely.'

*They tricked me,' Carpenter raged. His voice caught and he choked, *I am too weak. I wanted an escape from this life. I should have resisted.'

Will sighed. More than anyone he understood the manipulations of the Unseelie Court. *Robert, the outcome is still the same. John cannot be trusted. We cannot take him with us.'

*No,' the Earl spat, his face alight with a rare show of pa.s.sion. *I will be his keeper.'

*That burden may be too great, even for you, Robert.'

*I will watch him like a hawk, and whenever that enchantment drives him to commit traitorous acts I will be there,' Launceston said, his grey, blank eyes fixed on Will.

*Take my life, I implore you,' Carpenter begged again, his voice cracking. *I cannot bear to live this way, with a life that is not my own.'

The Earl peered into his friend's tear-flecked eyes for a long moment. Will wondered what thoughts turned in that unreadable mind. He could barely hear when Launceston spoke. *You have saved me. I will save you. I can do no less.' Turning back to Will, he added, *This is my burden now, for all our days if necessary. I am prepared. You must trust me.'

Will watched Carpenter in his torments and nodded. *You are a good man, Robert, for all your weaknesses.'

A sharp cry of pain echoed across the chamber. Will whirled round. He was a fool; he had allowed himself to be distracted for too long. Mandraxas had made his move and taken Meg by surprise, knocking the dagger from her grasp, and now his long fingers were clamped around her wrist. One touch, no more. But it was enough. The Irish woman's face had drained of blood. Where the King's hand gripped, her skin was marbling. Mandraxas smiled in triumph at Will, knowing he could never reach him before the graven transformation had spread to the point of death.

Will drew his sword as the beautiful Irish spy swooned. Yet he had barely moved when shock flared in the King's face. Meg tumbled from his grasp. The Fay King staggered back, grasping at the dagger embedded in his thigh.

Ashen-faced, Jenny stepped back, her hand shaking. Mandraxas stared at her, a look of such sadness and disbelief that it could only have come from a broken heart.

When Will reached him, the King had barely moved, seemingly drained of all resistance by his love's blow. One clout from the hilt of the spy's rapier and he fell to his knees once more. *Stay back,' Will warned Meg, who had staggered to her feet, shaking her head as she fought to gather her thoughts and rubbing furiously at the skin on her arm. *He is mine and mine alone.'

Yet the Fay's gaze remained fixed on Jenny, weighted with infinite grief. Will hated what he saw there. He thought of Mandraxas and Jenny's long years as consorts, of caresses and shared moments, of gentleness and intimacy and joy. And love. How much easier it had been when he had thought his love simply stolen. What a stew of confused emotion this was; how bitter it tasted. His sword at the ready, he circled the stricken King, imagining what it would feel like to skewer the one who had torn the heart out of his life so long ago. In his mind's eye, he saw the gout of blood and the death-rictus on Mandraxas's face. Hatred seared his chest. He wanted vengeance.

Around them, the chamber had grown silent. He could feel Deortha's gaze upon him, willing him to complete their pact: execute the King who had betrayed his own people, for power, yes, but for love too.

*Deortha. Once the deed is done, I would not wish to tarry here. Which way?' Will called, his eyes not leaving the Fay King.

*On the far side of the chamber there is a door,' the sorcerer replied, triumph creeping into his voice.

Will's hand shook. The tip of his rapier nicked the King's flesh. For a moment, simmering rage hardened his face and then he sucked in a deep breath and calmed himself. Jenny turned away, sickened by what she feared was to come.

*You can keep your worthless life,' Will growled, putting up his sword. Mandraxas twitched. Incomprehension crossed his pale, refined features. From the corner of his eye, the spy glimpsed cold rage beginning to glow in Deortha's face. *I am not you,' he continued. A deep calm settled over him, and his sombre words were tinged with sadness. *Nor am I the man that others think me. Not England's greatest spy, nor the rake driven solely by selfish urges. The truth is harder to define, even for me. More than anything under Heaven, I want my revenge for what you did. But that would sacrifice all men and women to the righteous fury of the Unseelie Court, and even as cold-hearted a knave as I could not plumb those depths. And yet . . .' He waved his index finger in the air. *And yet . . . I saw an opportunity here for a clever man . . . or a reckless gambler, one or t'other.'

*And you were always both,' he heard Meg whisper.

Still clutching at the wound in his thigh, Mandraxas looked bemused. Will turned to Jenny, his voice growing more intense. *A slim chance to achieve the two ends to which I have dedicated my life a to save you and to deal the Unseelie Court a crushing blow that might set them back years, if not for ever.' He took a deep, juddering breath and smiled at his love. Returning his attention to the Fay, he raised the tip of his sword and held it against the King's chest. *If you are allowed to live and return to your people, the Unseelie Court will be riven by strife as factions battle for supremacy. Those who support you, and those, like Deortha, who wish to see the return of their true Queen. For how long?' He shrugged. *For those such as you for whom time is meaningless, it may well be an eternity. Divided, you would have little time for your war against men.'

*You are mistaken,' Will heard Launceston's hushed voice. *You are indeed England's greatest spy.'

Her eyes sparkling, Meg beamed. *You might well have ended this war we all thought would last for ever.'

Will held up a bloodstained hand, hardly daring to believed it himself. He looked round. Jenny and Grace were both smiling in disbelief, tears of relief glistening in their eyes. Jenny mouthed, *Thank you.' He refused to consider why she was thanking him. There would be time for that conversation later.

Fury finally ignited in Deortha's face. *Lies and deceit. I should have expected no better from a man.'

*True,' Will replied with a shrug. *We are worse than beasts in the field.'

*Have you no honour?'

Placing a finger on his chin, Will feigned a moment of reflection. *Honour? What is honour? Does it buy me good sack in the Mermaid? I have saved my love and ended a war. I leave honour for better men than I. I am happy to remain a b.a.s.t.a.r.d.'

Deortha's snarl echoed across the chamber until it was drowned by Mandraxas's laughter. He stood, pushing away the tip of Will's rapier with a slender finger. *So you refuse to kill. And yet on that hot night soon after I took from you the thing you valued most, I saw you slay an innocent man.'

Will felt the eyes of all there fall upon him. His breath caught in his chest as years of self-loathing bubbled up. Finally he nodded. *'Tis true, though I have never spoken of it to anyone.' He glanced at Grace, noting the lines of worry in her face, and sighed. Bowing his head, he confessed, *When Jenny disappeared that afternoon, I barely held on to my wits. I searched every byway around Arden and in the depths of night came across a man struggling with Jenny beside a hedgerow. Blinded by fury, I leapt from my horse and beat him to death with my fists.' His head flooded with the sensations of bones breaking under his knuckles and blood flowing over his fingers. He felt the weight in his heart that he had carried since that night.

*But when he lay lifeless at my feet and I turned to embrace Jenny, I saw it was not her,' he continued. *It was one of the silly village girls, known for her easy ways. The man was a footpad, so not a good man, and the girl was grateful that I had saved her from the fate he had intended.' He swallowed. *But in truth, yes, I had killed an innocent man.' He looked to Grace, expecting accusation or disgust, but he saw only pity. *That night when you came to me at the well I was washing the blood from my hands, though I could never clean the stains from my mortal soul. That night . . . the course of my life changed. I learned that I am not a good man. And though I have tried to make amends for my crime, I know I never will.'

Grace ran to his side. *It is not true. You are a good man and you have proved it time and again.'

Mandraxas gave a cold laugh at the subtle blow he had struck. But as his amus.e.m.e.nt drained away, he pointed a threatening finger at Will. *You think yourself clever, but the schemes of mortals rarely turn out as planned. And I have nothing but time to take the prize.' He glanced at Jenny, but turned away quickly so Will could not see his expression. Then he grasped the hilt of the knife in his thigh, and, with a grimace, slowly withdrew it. Tearing off a strip of cloth from the hem of his cloak, he began to bind the wound. Jenny hesitated, glancing at Will, and when he nodded she hurried to help the one who had been her consort for so long. The Fay King watched her as she tenderly tied the cloth round his thigh, but if he felt anything it did not show on his face. When she had finished, Mandraxas muttered something that Will could not hear, and then turned quickly and limped towards the stone steps leading out of the chamber of mirrors.

As if in a trance, Will watched him go, still barely believing that he had plucked some kind of victory from the direst of situations. Once the King moved into the penumbra beyond the circle of candlelight, he turned, beckoning the others to follow him. *Come, my friends, we must make haste,' he said.

Yet barely had he taken a step when a sharp gasp brought him to a halt. He spun round to see Mandraxas staggering back down the steps, one hand clutched at his chest as blood fountained between his fingers. Will gaped in shock. The King half turned, his yearning gaze finding Jenny for one moment, and then he fell to the flagstones, dead. Jenny rushed to him with a cry of despair.

In his mirror, Deortha was smiling.

*What is this treachery?' Launceston said, menace curdling his voice.

A figure stepped out of the shadows from the foot of the stairs, holding a blade that dripped gore. It was Strangewayes. The red-headed spy looked across at his companions with a cold face and said, *The only treachery here is yours. And now there is an end to it.'

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX.

*OH, TOBIAS, WHAT have you done?' grace cried with a sob, running to where Jenny knelt by Mandraxas's lifeless body.

Strangewayes stepped over the King and swaggered towards the guttering candles. He pointed his rapier towards Will. *You, sirrah, should not have ignored me when there was an opportunity to prevent this outcome,' he said in an icy voice. *Too long have you placed Grace's life at risk with your reckless behaviour. But no more.' He beckoned to Grace to join him. *Come a I will take you away from here.'

Dismay spreading across her face, the young woman shook her head slowly, taking a step back.

*Come to me,' Strangewayes snapped. *I am here to make you safe.'

*No, Tobias, not safe,' she said in a small voice, *for you have doomed us all.'

Stung, Strangewayes glared at Will. *She is still under your spell, I see, but soon she will learn.'

*You know not what you have done,' Will began, his voice hushed. He shook his head, appalled, then let the words drain away. *We thought you dead.'

*You wished me so.'

*Never, Tobias-'

*I have saved Grace. From you.' The young man's gaze skittered towards Deortha, and in the look that the two exchanged Will glimpsed the truth. It must have happened when Strangewayes was taken prisoner at the fortress gates. The scheming sorcerer had seen an opportunity to use the pitiful spy in case Will should fail to kill Mandraxas. He cursed himself for a fool. If only he had heeded the click of the door opening into that chamber before Carpenter's attack.

*Whatever the conjurer has promised you, it is a lie-' he began.

*Quiet,' Strangewayes roared. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a trembling hand. Will saw only a boy, reeling from events far beyond his ability to deal with them. *The King is dead,' the red-headed spy said to Deortha. *I have done all you wished. Now let me take Grace away from here.'

In the strange mirror, they saw the sorcerer steeple his fingers, thin lips twitching. *Ah, but the terms of our agreement have been breached.'

Strangewayes gaped. *What is this trickery?'

*Unless you reached another deal with this devil,' Will said, *the agreement was free pa.s.sage if I killed the King. I did not.'

*You fool,' Carpenter roared suddenly, turning his hopelessness into rage. Pushing Launceston to one side, he s.n.a.t.c.hed out his rapier. *We were free. And now you . . . you . . . have doomed your girl as surely as if you wielded the dagger yourself.'

*No,' Strangewayes croaked, his face pale with disbelief. *I saved her.' He looked to Grace for support, for her to confirm that what he said was true, but found only dismay and disillusion. He sagged, his rapier loose in his hand. A last drop of the King's blood fell from the tip, colouring the stone slab.

*The traitor has been deposed.' In a triumphant tone, Deortha addressed the other Fay in their ethereal mirrors. *Though the pa.s.sing of a brother is a time of sorrow for the High Family, now we may achieve what we have desired for so long, the return of our true Queen. Let our vengeance rain down on the world of men. Bring fire, and blood. Cleanse this world of the corruption of man, and bring our Queen home.'

One by one the mirrors misted as the Fay of the High Family departed until only Deortha remained. Will felt chilled. Only horrors beyond imagining lay ahead. Realizing what he had done, Strangewayes dropped his rapier with a clatter. He held Grace's gaze for a moment, perhaps hoping for forgiveness, and when he saw none he turned and ran into the shadows.

*Tobias, come with us,' Grace called after him, but Will caught her arm.

*You cannot save him, and you will only condemn yourself,' he said, wincing at the hurt he saw in her face. But she stifled her grief and nodded, allowing herself one last glance into the gloom as she went to her quietly sobbing sister where she knelt beside Mandraxas's body.

From his mirror, Deortha levelled his gaze at Will. The spy saw no triumph there, no contempt, not even superiority, only the icy satisfaction of a long-gestating plan finally come to fruition. Breaking the stare, Will looked from Meg to Launceston and Carpenter and nodded. The silent communication was more than enough and his three colleagues went in search of the door out of the chamber.

Will hurried to the two sisters. *Jenny, I am sorry. Truly I am,' he said, his voice gentle. She looked at him. Her face was unreadable a pale, tear-stained. *And for you, Grace. But we must all grieve later.' He swept his left arm out to direct them to the end of the chamber. Grace ran ahead, but Jenny turned back and pressed her lips close to Will's ear. *I remember . . .' she breathed, and paused. *I remember a kiss. Under the great oak on an autumn evening when the leaves were turning gold. Our first kiss.' And in her eyes he saw the Jenny he knew. She hurried after her sister before he could respond.

Carpenter and Launceston waited either side of a low, arched door. In a tunnel beyond, Meg had found and lit a torch and was beckoning to Grace and Jenny to join her. Will saw unease in the Irish woman's stare. So close to victory they had been, and now they could all feel the winter chill of impending doom enveloping them, he thought bitterly.

He turned to Carpenter, but before he could speak the other man snapped, *No pity. For now, I have my own wits about me.'

*Good. Then it is like old times, John.' Will touched his torn cheek before clapping a friendly hand on Carpenter's shoulder. He flashed a searching glance at Launceston, who gave a curt nod of rea.s.surance. Ahead, the golden glow of Meg's torch washed across the glistening stone walls, and the three men plunged into the gloom in pursuit.

As they scrambled along the low-ceilinged tunnel, they could hear the dull tolling of the alarm bell reverberating ever more clearly, each throb seeming to match the beat of their hearts. Torchlight flickered across faces struggling to contain hopelessness and dread.

*Why run when those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds know which path we take?' Carpenter growled. *They will never let us leave. We are already dead.'

*It is the only way out of here,' Will replied. *And we died a long time ago a the moment we set foot in this cursed place. Every breath we take now is a boon.' Visions of Unseelie Court galleons sweeping out from the New World flooded his mind, each one filled with more horror than any man could bear.

*And if we escape,' Carpenter continued bitterly as if he could read Will's mind, *what do we escape to? An England made h.e.l.l? Better we die here.'

Will stopped suddenly, catching the other man's arm as he turned. *Is this the John Carpenter who fought his way out of Muscovy alone, after I had abandoned him to a fate worse than death? In all our time in service to the Queen, we have never given up, though we faced overwhelming odds. Even if all the Unseelie Court and their night-terrors snap at our heels, we fight on, until the last drop of blood flows from our bodies and our rapiers fall from our dying hands.'

At first Carpenter would not meet Will's eyes. But then he nodded in apology. *Aye, Will, let us die as we have lived. For the Queen, for England. Let those pale b.a.s.t.a.r.ds come and we shall see how many I send to h.e.l.l afore me.'

Will nodded in approval. As he turned to continue along the cramped tunnel, Meg called back, *I see light ahead.'

Moments later, they stepped out on to a wide stone balcony protruding from a sheer cliff face towering above their heads. Will saw it was a lush garden of some kind, with creepers, shrubs and blooms in sickeningly unnatural blues, blacks and purples cl.u.s.tering around the low enclosing wall. He forced his way through the vegetation to the edge and peered over. A series of further gardens cascaded down the cliff into the mist far below. In the distance, he could just discern a black basalt tower thrusting up from the dense forest with a glowing orb on top of it. It could only be the Tower of the Moon, the beacon that kept open the way between worlds.