Jemima glanced round the junction, then shut her eyes and took a determined breath. She pointed down one of the black stone corridors. ‘This way.’
‘Then that’s the way we’ll go,’ Dad said warmly.
Taggie stood in the junction as the others dashed after Jemima and Dad. The torches in one of the corridors now revealed an approaching horde of gnomes riding on rats. She squealed in disgust and pointed her hand.
‘Droiak!’
More chunks of rock came tumbling down, obliterating the gnomes and rats. She turned to the next corridor. Amid its darkness, small orange circles advanced inexorably.
‘Droiak!’
The third passage.
‘Droiak! . . . Droiak! . . . Droiak!’
The little junction was filled with cloying clouds of dust as she brought all but one of the corridors down with her destruction spell.
‘That should stop them for a while,’ she coughed as she jogged after the others.
At the next junction, Jemima sensed soldiers approaching along only two of the passages. They hurried into an empty one, which led them to a choice of just one clear passageway. Taggie brought down the whole junction behind them.
‘Where now?’ Taggie asked Wenuthi as they hurried along yet another stone-lined corridor.
The ranger chief’s anxious eyes peered out of his dust-caked face. ‘I’m not sure, Majesty. Perhaps if we can shake off our pursuers, an escape route might be found. But for now we have to stay ahead of them.’
‘Exactly what was the plan?’ Dad asked.
‘We just wanted to get you out,’ Taggie said. ‘After that, I don’t know. I didn’t want to summon an army and go to war, which everyone wants me to do. So many people would be killed. I was hoping you’d know what to do instead. Mr Anatole said I had to sit on the throne, but he didn’t know how to get me into the throne room. It’s the best protected place in the First Realm, he said.’
‘Yes . . .’ her dad said slowly. ‘It is.’
The next crossroads was a lot bigger than the previous ones. Prince Dino glanced around at the worn frescoes on the walls and grinned. ‘I know where we are!’ he cried, and headed straight for a set of stairs leading down.
‘Are you sure?’ Taggie asked. Down didn’t seem to be the way they should be going to get out of the palace.
‘Mr Anatole might be right,’ Dad replied. ‘The Karrak Lords cannot stand sunlight – at least not for very long. None of their kind from the Dark Universe can. If I could control the moonclouds properly, I could bring about a daylight which would last until they were forced to retreat back to whatever depths they came from. Without them, their followers – all the soldiers and spies and vermin who have flourished under their reign – would be lost.’
Taggie wondered why Dad had refused to come back and help the First Realm when Mr Anatole had first asked him to. He certainly sounded like a confident ruler.
There was no sound of pursuit as Prince Dino led them down the curving stairs. The furry strands of frost fungus hadn’t reached this far. They were in complete darkness now. Felix held up his hand, and the ring shone with a pale gold light. The bottom of the stairs brought them out into a huge empty chamber with tall pillars around the walls. Two dozen tunnels led out of it, breathing a dry warm air gently over the little group.
‘But, Dad,’ Taggie said, looking round nervously. ‘We can’t get to the throne room. It would take an army to break through the walls at the centre of the palace.’
‘You’re quite right – it would,’ her dad said in a voice that sounded suspiciously amused. ‘But you’re forgetting one thing.’
‘What?’ Jemima squeaked.
‘I grew up in this palace. And there’s nothing a boy likes to do more than explore. Especially the secret places . . .’ He strode confidently across the chamber, leaving the others no choice but to follow. ‘There is a way out beyond the palace walls from here that only Usrith’s ancestors know of,’ he said as he stopped by one of the mighty carved pillars. ‘But there’s also another route, one that will take me right into the throne room. I’m going to go there and sit on the shell throne, I am still a Prince of this Realm, and I have that right.’
‘Yes, Daddy, you are a prince,’ Taggie said calmly.
‘Right then. Felix, Wenuthi, I’m entrusting you to take my daughters out to safety, please.’
‘Yes, sire.’
‘But I am the Queen-to-be,’ Taggie said quietly; all her disapproval of the title had vanished. ‘I serve the First Realm now.’
‘Absolutely not. Taggie Paganuzzi, you will do as you’re told and leave right now.’
‘I have already directed the moonclouds, so I know I can do it.’
‘When?’ Dad snapped. ‘Karrak wizardry controls the moonclouds now. Only the power of the shell throne itself can best them.’
‘It was the day I saved you from the Rannalal knights. You were playing football with your friends in the palace gardens. Do you remember?’
Prince Dino swayed back as if she’d hit him. ‘That was you?’ he croaked in shock.
‘I told you then that you would know who I was one day. Now you do.’
‘But . . . how? That was seventy years ago.’
‘The Great Gateway Arasath, sire,’ Felix said. ‘It was playing rogue that day, as it always delights in doing. It sent us back through time. I was there too, if you recall.’
‘Yes . . . yes, the Weldowen, I do remember.’ Prince Dino gave Jemima a forlorn look. ‘And you, my darling Jem, you were there as well, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, Daddy.’
‘I spent so long looking for you,’ he said wearily to Taggie. ‘So very long.’
‘Well, now you’ve found me,’ she replied with a smile. ‘And I’ve discovered who and what I am because of it. I am the Queen-to-be. I have to sit on the shell throne, Daddy.’
‘Yes.’ Her father nodded, though he looked desperately unhappy. ‘Yes, you do, my Queen.’ He looked round the Dolvoki Rangers. ‘May I have a sword? My magic is not strong – I will need something sharp to help protect my daughters.’
Wenuthi Jones handed him a sword he’d taken from one of the dungeon guards, bowing graciously.
‘I thank all of you for coming to rescue me. Now we must do what we can for the rest of this realm. Our realm, which I was so foolish to leave.’
Prince Dino led them along the chamber to a pillar on the wall furthest from the stairs. ‘Elraf,’ he said, and a rectangle of stone at the base of the pillar swung back silently.
Taggie followed her father into the tunnel beyond. It was only just high enough to stand up in, and so narrow they had to walk in single file. The light of Felix’s ring was barely enough to stop her cracking her head on low snags of rock.
It must have taken them an hour to walk through the tunnels cut into the bedrock deep beneath the palace. There were endless junctions and flights of stairs. Prince Dino never hesitated in guiding them, but by the end, Taggie was starting to feel the weight of rock pressing in around her. She longed for wide spaces and light.
At the foot of the final staircase, Prince Dino gathered them around. ‘The throne room has three doors,’ he told them. ‘All are big and ancient – they’re part of the original castle, so they have sturdy bolts as thick as my leg, and are saturated with shielding enchantments. If we can close these doors, we should have a little time before the Karraks and their followers can break through. Hopefully enough time for Taggie to sit on the shell throne and open the moonclouds wide.’
‘There will be guards,’ Taggie said. ‘There have to be.’
‘Yes there will, but the cellars and dungeons are being searched as everyone hunts for us. And there are enough passages and vaults down here to swallow up entire armies. I’m hoping the remaining guards will be outside the doors to prevent us getting in,’ Dad said, and held up his new sword. ‘If not, the rangers and I will take care of them while you run for the shell throne – that’s all that ma
tters now.’
‘What if it doesn’t open for me?’ Taggie asked, suddenly anxious.
‘Taggie, darling . . .’ He gave her a kiss on the forehead. ‘The shell throne will open for you. I promise. Now, are you ready?’
‘Yes.’
They started up the last stairs, curving round and round in a spiral. At the top, Felix covered the ring with his paw. In the pitch black, she could hear her father whisper an enchantment, and a section of the smooth stone wall swung open.
Taggie knew the throne room well enough from her dreams. It was circular, with a black-and-white marble floor. Raised on a dais, the ancient shell throne itself faced the three doors. Benches filled tall alcoves around the walls, so courtiers could sit while the Queen received her guests.
It was one of those alcoves that served as a hidden door to the secret stairs. Prince Dino and Felix emerged first, looking round cautiously. It was almost as dark in the throne room as it was at the top of the stairs. None of the lightstones in the huge candelabras hanging from the ceiling had been lit. Above them, a feeble grey light seeped through the wide smears of frost fungus that grew across the domed crystal roof. Shadows ruled the circular chamber, smothering the walls and absorbing all sound. Taggie could barely see her own feet on the floor, let alone the dais with the shell throne. Her boot made a soft squelch as she stepped forward. She suspected it was yet more frost fungus – the air certainly reeked of it.
The three main doors were just visible fifty paces to her left; ghostly arches amid the black shadows. All the hairs on her spine pricked up. The dark enchantments that swarmed through this part of the palace were thick and oppressive.
Now she could make out the tall doors, she knew roughly where the shell throne was. Her father’s hand closed on her arm. ‘I don’t think there are any guards,’ he whispered into her ear. ‘You go for the throne. We’ll get the doors.’
Taggie nodded before she realized how useless that was in the dark. She started walking carefully across the marble flooring, wincing every time she put her boot down on another strand of squishy frost fungus. Her heart was racing at the prospect of sitting on the throne. She thought about how the peoples of the First Realm would welcome the uncaging of the sun; how they would rejoice.
‘You see, brother,’ Lord Golzoth’s voice said from the thick shadows. ‘I told you if we just waited, she would come to us.’
THE THRONE ROOM
Taggie spun round, her arm lashing out. ‘Droiak!’
The spear of lightning which was her destruction spell shattered against Lord Golzoth’s protective enchantments, forming a web of little glaring tendrils that screeched harmlessly around his smoke cloak. Even so, he swayed backwards from the force of the spell.
Taggie gasped in surprise. The Karrak Lord was hanging upside down from an alcove, with long bony toes just visible above the hem of his cloak as they gripped at the carvings along the top. He let go, and flipped round in the air to land in a crouch. ‘You’re a strong little thing, aren’t you?’ His hand rose, and a neon-blue light streaked down his slender arm to burst from his fingers. The death spell broke apart on the shield Taggie spun around herself, but she felt her boots slide back several centimetres across the floor as it struck.
‘Where does that strength come from, I wonder?’ Golzoth continued. ‘Certainly not this feeble clown, Prince Dino. Your grandmother, perhaps?’
‘Does it matter?’ another voice asked from behind the shell throne. The shadows began to withdraw from the alcoves, and Taggie let out a groan of utter dismay. Karrak Lords and Ladies were hanging upside down in every alcove.
One by one, they began to lower themselves to the floor. The smoke cloaks of the Lords swirled as they righted themselves, while the silver mist the Ladies wove around themselves flowed like gowns of mercury. The Dolvoki Rangers held their shields up resolutely as they closed in a protective circle around Sophie and Jemima. Taggie stood next to her father, staring at the tallest Karrak Lord, the one she knew must be Jothran. The hood of his smoke cloak flowed back as he tipped his head to one side in order to study her. Like his brother, Lord Golzoth, his sickly-white skin was drawn so tightly over his head he looked like an animated skull. Wrap-around sunglasses were perched on his blade-like nose, with its single nostril flaring as if he was sniffing her scent.
The hem of his cloak swished about, licking the marble tiles as he slithered forward. When he reached the shell throne, he parted his milky lips to show off pointed silver teeth.
‘I’m impressed, Queen-not-to-be,’ he said in a sarcastic purr. ‘Using treachery and deception to get into the palace, then sneaking through secret passages to steal what you desire. You’re clearly learning the new ways of this realm. Too bad you tried to use them against me. You had so few options, they were all very predictable. I doubted that anyone would be so stupid as to try and rescue Prince Dino from my dungeon, but Golzoth convinced me you were just as weak as the deluded and disgraced Lord Colgath. Hard to believe, but he was right – as always.’
‘My pleasure to serve, brother,’ Golzoth said slickly as he glided over to Jothran’s side.
The Karrak Lords and Ladies had completely encircled Taggie and the desperate rangers. There must have been at least twenty of them, she thought. Torches flared in the long cloisters beyond the throne-room doors, revealing columns of soldiers led by Ethanu officers heading towards them.
‘What do you want?’ Taggie demanded.
‘Oh I think you know that, my dear Queen-not-to-be,’ Jothran said. A forlorn green light trickled down his long fingers as he held his arm out. Then it dripped down to spread little phosphorescent streams over a stone altar that had been set up next to the shell throne. As it was revealed, Taggie heard Jemima whimper in terror behind her.
Taggie stared defiantly at the King of Night. ‘Is that the best light you can conjure up? Let’s take a better look, shall we?’ She tipped her head back and snarled at the black clouds swirling above the palace. Deep inside herself she could feel magic building; it was different to the enchantments and spells of her ancestors in the charmsward. This was powered by her fright and anger. It was her own magic, and it yearned to be free. She let it loose. ‘Go away!’ she yelled furiously at the storm.
In the city of Lorothain, people knew something important was happening. They could hear it in the new creaking of the mighty storm that spun overhead. They heard it in the angry cries of the rathwai that came diving out of the clouds and snow. They saw it in the sizzling lightning that snapped down to strike the towers of the palace.
At first they peered out of their windows and saw squads of soldiers belonging to the King of Night marching hurriedly along the streets. It was like watching ants from a nest that had been kicked over.
Braver residents started to venture outside, wrapped up against the dark and cold. They stood pressed against the walls of their homes as the soldiers marched past in the snow. It was clear to all that the self-proclaimed King of Night was calling his forces to him. Nobody was left to impose his authority on the city’s population.
More people began to emerge from their houses. Questions were whispered along the streets and boulevards and frozen canals. ‘What has happened?’ They asked one another. ‘What has upset the King of Night?’
‘The usurper fears the Queen-to-be,’ a single gurgling voice declared in the middle of the central market square.
The nervous crowd turned to see a tall old Shadarain dressed in the striking robes of the royal palace. He was standing on a cart, surrounded by men in the unmistakable tunic of the Dolvoki Rangers. Around the cart a squad of four-armed Holvans cast away their cloaks to show their palace guard armour.
‘She is our Queen-to-be,’ Mr Anatole declared passionately. His arm thrust out, pointing accusingly at the palace on the other side of the river. ‘And that is her throne.’
The crowd roared its approval. Privately Mr Anatole was very worried that something had gone badly wrong. The Karrak Lords we
re clearly in disarray, but the skyfolk hadn’t yet appeared carrying the rescue party to safety.
‘If she needs help taking it back, then I will gladly give her that help. I ask all of those here today to join me.’ He jumped down from the cart and walked purposefully towards the broad boulevard leading out of the market square, and towards the Majpan Bridge, which was closest to the palace. The Dolvoki Rangers and palace guard fell in around him. Then the crowd surged along, following them and cheering wildly. Mr Anatole was heartened by the heavy thudding footfalls of trolls among them. A surprising number of people were carrying weapons; swords and daggers and shields were held up and shaken defiantly at the storm overhead as they marched along to challenge the King of Night.
Above the palace, the entire cloud mountain writhed in torment as Taggie’s cloudbuster magic reached it. Huge blasts of wind rose from nowhere and tore the entire swirling mass to shreds.
Far, far above, a single tiny crack appeared amid the blackened moonclouds. A lone beam of sunlight streamed down.
It struck the crystal dome roof of the throne room. Frost fungus boiled, then burned. And the centre of the throne room was suddenly as bright as a summer’s day.
The wild wailing of the Karrak Lords and Ladies was deafening as they cowered away from the vast column of sunlight beating down. Taggie and the rangers had to clamp their hands over their ears the noise was so piercing. She watched smoke cloaks foam and thicken to impenetrable black as the dark creatures shrank back against the walls. Silver gowns rippled with reflected sunlight as the Ladies twisted about in distress.
All of them had recoiled – apart from Jothran and Golzoth. They stood their ground as their cloaks grew dense, protecting them from the unwelcome light. The edge of the sunlight was barely metres from them, causing the matting of frost fungus on the floor to shrivel and smoulder.
‘Is that the best you can do?’ Lord Jothran taunted. ‘A single sunbeam in a whole realm of night-shadow? My night.’
Taggie struggled to smile back at him. She’d expected the sunlight to send the Karraks fleeing from the throne room, allowing her to sit on the shell throne. Instead, the King of Night continued to stand between her and it as if nothing had happened. He was so strong that her very best spell left him unmoved.