She was shaking with fright as she refreshed the shield enchantment. Then it was a slow limp towards the moss-covered wall where the rider had gone over. By the time Taggie reached it, she was in no mood to waste time clambering over.
‘Droiak! ’
A wide section of wall exploded as her destruction spell hit it, sending smoking chunks of stone shooting up into the air. Mum and Dad were always telling her not to use magic here in the Outer Realm, but right now she decided normal rules didn’t apply. Besides, technically she was a Queen, so she could do whatever she liked – although that never seemed to count for as much as you’d think with either parent.
Taggie stepped through the gap, and looked around for her assailant. But there was no sign of the black-clad rider. The meadow spread out ahead of her, with a flock of very startled sheep staring at her. There was nowhere for anyone to hide. ‘What? How—’
Another death spell came streaking down out of the sky, hitting Taggie’s shield right in front of her face with a fizzing burst of brilliant blue light. Again she went tumbling backwards, smacking into the remnants of the wall. ‘Oww!’ she cried. Her hand automatically went to her stinging nose. When she took it away there was blood on her fingers. The sheep were running away as fast as their spindly legs could manage.
Above her a huge black eagle swooped round in a fast curve.
A shapeshifter! Taggie realized in alarm. This was an incredibly complex magic that she’d never even tried to master. Anger finally overcame her fear. She stood up and snarled as she faced the eagle, which was soaring round to line up on her.
‘OK then,’ Taggie snapped. ‘If that’s the way you want it.’ She hadn’t asked for this battle, but if someone was stupid enough to try and kill a Paganuzzi with an unprovoked attack, they were going to have to learn the hard way what a seriously bad idea that was. Taggie licked her lips in determination as the charmsward’s bands slid round obediently.
The eagle began its dive. Magic crackled around its talons.
‘Ti-Hath,’ Taggie chanted. Halfway between her and the eagle a wide circle of air turned rock hard.
The eagle smacked right into the patch of enchanted air at considerable speed. Its head crunched to one side, the rest of its body and wings followed, whacking into the solid sheet of air with equal force. ‘Urrgh!’ a girl’s voice exclaimed. And for an instant the eagle was spread out wide in mid-air.
The dark bird slid vertically down the invisible barrier to the ground and flopped about on the meadow grass. A couple of feathers drifted down gently above it.
Taggie pointed her finger at the befuddled bird. ‘Quillazen.’ A general counter-charm – that really ought to work on a shapeshift spell . . .
It did. The eagle shimmered, turning to a ball of seething black mist. And for a moment Taggie thought she was going to see a Karrak Lord emerge, the effect was so similar to the smoke cloaks they always wore to protect themselves from any kind of light.
Instead, a girl of about seventeen was revealed, wearing the black biker leathers. She was short and slender, with skin a shade darker than Taggie’s, but with hair exactly the same rich chestnut. The nose was slightly flattened and the lips were thin. But it was the intense brown eyes that startled Taggie. It was like looking into a mirror.
The girl wiped a hand across her mouth, staring harshly at Taggie. ‘You stupid little brat, you’re ruining my reputation,’ she said haughtily.
‘Reputation?’ Taggie’s hand was still pointing warily at the girl, charmsward bands locked for another destruction spell. Taggie had never actually used a death spell but she was starting to think today might just be the day.
‘I always kill quickly and cleanly and leave no sign of my presence.’ The girl gestured angrily at the smoking stone wall. ‘Now look!’
‘Yeah, I’m really sorry about that,’ Taggie said sarcastically.
The girl took a step closer, her back arching as if she was about to crouch then pounce. Taggie wished she’d just try it. Two years of martial arts lessons with Mr Koimosi, her sensei, had taught her a lot about physical combat. Especially when it came to brash arrogant people who thought they were superior because of their size and strength.
‘Who are you?’ she asked.
‘The last person you’ll ever see.’
‘Oh dear. Did it take you a long time to come up with that? Or was it out of a Christmas cracker?’ Taggie retorted.
The girl snarled. She clicked her fingers and another death spell came flashing out of her hand. It broke apart on Taggie’s shield. Taggie flung her destruction spell, which the girl parried. Magical light flared and danced through the air between them. As it cleared, Taggie screamed. A massive snake was hurtling towards her. Taggie hated snakes. She stumbled backwards squealing in fright, but the snake just kept coming. Its head was as big as hers, while the sinuous body with its black and livid-green scales was thicker than her leg. Jaws parted wide to reveal fangs as long as fingers, while a nasty forked tongue flicked out amid a piercing hiss.
The snake lunged forward. Taggie jumped back and collided with the big oak tree on the side of the road. Before she realized what was happening, the snake coiled around her and the oak trunk, binding her to the tree, pinning her arms at her side. Her enchantment shielding prevented the snake’s scales from actually touching her, but the thick coil contracted, squeezing tight. Little purple cracks spread across the shielding. Taggie groaned at the pressure. She could barely breathe.
The snake looped a second coil of itself around her and the tree. Another patch of her enchantment shielding creaked as the purple stress-lines multiplied. Now most of Taggie’s chest was a mass of slender glowing purple streaks.
Slowly the snake’s head rose up in front of Taggie. The horrible tongue vibrated out between the fangs, which dripped gooey venom from their tips.
‘They warned me you were strong,’ the girl’s voice said. ‘But even so, you’re hardly a match for someone with my superior skill.’
Taggie didn’t dare try to channel any magic into an aggressive spell. It was taking all her strength to keep her enchantment shielding in place. And that was gradually failing under the terrible pressure the snake was applying. She looked round desperately for something that could help.
The snake’s head snapped forward, trying to close its jaws around Taggie’s neck. It was only just repelled by the enchantment shield. Purple light rained across Taggie’s face.
Taggie caught sight of something moving through the meadow. It gave her an idea. One which was stupid, a completely mad idea. But she hadn’t got anything else. ‘Cozal-wo.’ She sent out a tiny courage enchantment that needed hardly any magic to make it work.
The snake’s head withdrew, its red and green eyes studying her in puzzlement. ‘So, you need bravery to face your doom?’ the girl’s voice sneered. ‘Fancy having to use magic to give that to yourself.’
Taggie sucked down a breath. ‘Yes. I don’t suppose you need anything to reinforce your cowardice.’ She was looking behind the snake’s head to the meadow, where the ram from the flock of sheep began to run towards them. It was a big animal, with dirty-yellow horns curling up from its head.
The snake hissed angrily and its head snapped forward again. Taggie thought her shield would fail this time, but it held against the hammer blow. Just. Only a couple more strikes like that would break it now.
‘I am no coward,’ the girl claimed. ‘My profession is among the most noble in all the Realms.’
‘What Realm calls ‘thug’ a profession?’
As Taggie expected, her provocation made the snake pull its head back, ready to strike again. The jaws opened wide and the enraged hiss began. The hiss abruptly changed to an astounded wail of surprise and pain. The snake’s huge head twisted round, and Taggie felt its body turn rigid with shock. The ram’s horns had stabbed it, and Taggie was abruptly surrounded by writhing black mist again. Then she found herself face to face with the girl who was hugging her and the tree
. She had an expression of wide-eyed suffering. The ram backed away, withdrawing his curving horns from the girl’s bottom.
Taggie didn’t waste time forming a spell. She headbutted the girl. Hard. Never mind how unregal that was.
Her assailant tottered back, letting out another anguished wail. Taggie held out her arm. It was tempting, but today wasn’t going to be the day for a death spell after all. ‘Israth hyburon.’
Magical orange light flared once again. The air warped as it smashed forward, and the girl went somersaulting backwards to thud down on the road.
‘Who are you?’ Taggie demanded, closing in on the prone figure in black leathers. ‘Who sent you?’
The girl growled wordlessly at her. Then with an impressively fast motion she sprang back to her feet like a gymnast coming out of a difficult manoeuvre. She looked over Taggie’s shoulder and pressed her lips together in annoyance. ‘Still need Mummy’s help, do we? What a Queen you make.’
‘I . . . what?’
The girl’s hand made an impatient gesture, and the big black motorbike lifted itself upright. The engine burst into life, and she leaped on to its saddle.
‘Hey!’ Taggie yelled. Some part of her was desperate to know who she was dealing with, but an altogether more sensible part was extremely glad the terrible girl was leaving.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll see you soon enough, Queen of Dreams,’ the girl sneered, and twisted the throttle.
‘Not if I see you first,’ Taggie shouted in a shaky voice. It was a good comeback, but she didn’t think the girl would hear her above the engine roar. And anyway she was already riding off, speeding away down the lane.
Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960 and still lives in that county. He began writing adult science fiction and fantasy in 1987 and since then has sold over two million books in the UK alone and is the UK’s bestselling science-fiction author. He has two young children who inspired him to write for a younger audience. The Secret Throne is the first book in the fantastic The Queen of Dreams children’s fantasy trilogy.
First published 2014 by Doubleday as The Queen of Dreams
This edition published 2015 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2015 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-8866-4
Text copyright © Rutland Horizon Ltd 2014
Illustrations copyright © Rohan Eason 2015
Cover illustration by Rohan Eason
The right of Peter F. Hamilton and Rohan Eason to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Peter F. Hamilton, The Secret Throne
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