Felix landed at their feet. The leaden light made his fur seem grey.
‘Do you see them?’ Taggie shouted as they began to run again.
‘Yes, ma’am.’ The squirrel scampered alongside, panting. ‘They are Ethanu, servants of the Karrak Lords.’
‘How did they find us so quickly? How did they know we are here? Taslaf said it wouldn’t let anyone follow us.’
‘I don’t know. But we have to stay ahead of them. Fortunately they can’t run like us. Their legs are slow. But they have considerable stamina: they can pursue you for days at a time without rest.’
The three of them pelted along the narrow street and burst out into a broad square with a clump of tall trees in the small central park, surrounded by tall iron railings. It was as deserted as the street behind. Night had come swiftly, reducing the buildings to faint dark outlines.
‘Too quick . . .’ Taggie murmured. When she paused to take a breath, something made the hairs on her arm prickle, and she instinctively knew the loss of light wasn’t natural. The sensation was the same as the one back in the palace garden. This was a shadecast.
She raised her hand, and the coat fell away from her wrist, exposing the charmsward. The bands were already turning of their own accord, and once more the eye symbol was next to the sun symbol. ‘Derat al-tooman,’ she called in a clear voice.
A weak twilight broke through the darkness, bathing the square in a cold pink glow. Taggie looked round and gasped. On the other side of the little central park, barely twenty metres away, Lord Golzoth stood behind the railings watching them. Taggie hadn’t realized how tall he was before; now she could see he was at least Mr Anatole’s height. But so much more intimidating with his eerie cloak that swirled like dense smog as it curled protectively around him. The hood thinned at the front to allow his pale skull-head to emerge, a pair of wrap-around sunglasses were perched on his thin nose with its single nostril.
‘Where are you going, little princesses?’ the Karrak Lord taunted in a voice which sounded more like a growl.
‘Away from you!’ Jemima shouted back across the park.
‘But why?’ He sounded genuinely curious.
Taggie let out a grunt of contempt. ‘You snatched my father.’
‘We brought him back to the Realm which so desperately needs him,’ Lord Golzoth said, his voice changing to a smooth croon.
‘You’re going to kill him,’ Taggie snarled.
‘Oh, my dear princesses, what lies you have been fed. How awful for you to be brought up on such a diet. But I’m sure your father believed his lies were good for you. Were they?’
‘I . . .’ Taggie couldn’t be disloyal to Dad, no matter how upset she was with him for not telling her about the realms. ‘Why did you take him, if not to claim the shell throne for your own? You sent Rannalal knights to kidnap him.’
‘They are an honour guard, nothing more. Your father misunderstood. I deeply regret the squabble that ensued at the roundadown. That is why I personally intervened, so that no one would get hurt.’
‘You’re claiming the shell throne as your own; I know you have your own King. Lord Jothran, who calls himself the King of Night.’
‘A caretaker only. My brother stepped in to stop the anarchy which bloomed across the First Realm at the passing of the Queen of Dreams. We simply wish to help. That is why we invited your father to join us. The First Realm needs him. Prince Dino turned his back on everyone when he left, he was ashamed of them and abandoned them. Why do you think he did that?’
‘I . . . don’t know,’ Taggie muttered.
Lord Golzoth’s long fingers grasped the park railings, his bejewelled rings glimmering in the soft twilight as he leaned forward and spoke earnestly. ‘Your father knows only too well that the First Realm would never change, that it always crushed progress and enlightenment. But now things are changing. The Karrak people, my fellow Lords and Ladies, are making progress, and we are welcomed by all. We wanted to show your father the hope we have brought. Why, even as we speak he dines in the palace with my brother, Lord Jothran. He sees now the role he must play in the rebirth of the First Realm, and welcomes that. We are joyful, because we need him. We need you as well, sweet princesses. Come. Come with me. Join us. Together we can rebuild the First Realm into something worthwhile. Something modern, where all types of people can live together peacefully.’
‘Felix?’ Jemima whispered. ‘Is he right?’
‘Pay him no heed, Princess. A Karrak Lord’s words are as treacherous as those of any Outer Realm politician,’ Felix said with a snarl.
‘You would believe someone embittered by his family’s curse rather than me?’ Lord Golzoth asked in silky surprise.
Felix took a small step forward, his fur bristling as he jumped on to the top of the railings to face the Karrak Lord. ‘And why did you curse my family, eh? Can your weasel words explain that away, you deceitful monster.’
‘Taggie?’ Jemima appealed urgently to her big sister.
Taggie looked round. The six Ethanu appeared, walking steadily down the narrow street behind her. Deep in her mind, memories were stirring. Dark memories of magic used for fighting; powerful magic that could maim and burn and kill. Her ancestors had used such death spells long ago, in terrible wars. These tiny glimpses made Taggie shiver. She didn’t want to use such awful things against anyone. Besides, she guessed the Karrak Lord knew some equally vile magic of his own, and would not hesitate to use it against her.
‘Come with me,’ Lord Golzoth said, his voice now a compelling melody. ‘You do not want a life spent in conflict and pain. A union of our great dynasties would bring about a new age of enlightenment across the First Realm. And you are a pretty thing. Lord Jothran would shower such a bride with gifts and wealth. Your life would be lived in unimaginable luxury.’ His arm stretched out. And his long fingers seemed so close, as if the park had shrunk to bring him closer to the sisters.
‘Eeeuw!’ Taggie squealed. ‘A bride? I’m twelve! What kind of weirdos are you?’ She started searching through other memories the charmsward had opened for her, hunting for something else that might help.
On the other side of the little park, Lord Golzoth let go of the railings, and straightened up. If anything, that made him appear even closer. ‘You are weak,’ he snapped. The tricky softness of his voice vanished, and he began to growl again. ‘Worse than the heretic, Lord Colgath. Such pitiful sentiment is of no use to us. You are in our way, princesses, a pair of scuttling cockroaches to be crushed.’
Golzoth’s hands rose up, allowing the swirling smoke cloak to flow back down his long arms. The silver and crystal rings on his strange fingers began to glow with malevolent red light.
Taggie knew that he was gathering a death spell to strike her with. Her memories were becoming very clear; too many of her ancestors had seen such evil flung at them before. She needed something she could use to deflect Golzoth, and the square was filled with stately old London plane trees. The tree spirits in this Outer Realm were not as quick and lively as those in other Realms, her ancestors remembered, but still, a tree was huge and strong. ‘Quazeene,’ she whispered to the trees as her charmsward bands twirled, bringing the earth symbol round with the leaf and arrow. ‘Dollfor caroin.’ An enchantment of affection and awakening. Something a Karrak Lord would never use, would never understand.
Golzoth’s puzzlement when he heard her words was obvious, even on his skeletal face. He laughed harshly. ‘You love plants? Who cares? Weak, stupid, children.’ The power of the death spell lit up both of his arms like blue neon signs.
Just then a thick branch came slashing through the twilight above him. It hit him on the side of his swirling cloak with a nasty wallop. Golzoth went flying through the air, shrieking in pain and fury. He landed in a crumpled heap on the road, his smoke cloak billowing wildly around him. Giving a cry of pure anger he clambered to his feet, raising his arms once again.
‘Your death pain will last for a century,’ he shouted fu
riously. ‘I will see to that.’
Another branch from a different tree came slashing through the air. Golzoth was struck again, sending him tumbling down the road. He skidded along until he thumped into a wall covered in ivy. The ivy strands writhed like a nest of snakes, coiling round him. Their dark sooty leaves fluttered against his face as if they were angry moths. He spluttered and coughed as he thrashed about, becoming even more entangled. All around the square, trees shook and rustled their leaves as if they were applauding.
‘Princess!’ Felix said in surprised admiration. ‘Well played.’
Taggie glanced over her shoulder at the relentless Ethanu. The six of them had now reached the square. ‘Run!’ she shouted.
ANOTHER PRINCESS
Taggie spotted another street leading off the little square, and headed straight for it. Behind her she could hear Lord Golzoth tearing at the ivy, growling out terrible curses. The Ethanu turned to follow them.
‘They’re going to kill us,’ a terrified Jemima cried.
‘We just have to stay ahead,’ Taggie reassured her as they sprinted into the new street. The terrace houses on both sides were closed up, their doors shut and their tape-crossed windows dark. ‘How did Golzoth find us so quickly?’ she asked Felix.
‘I don’t know,’ the white squirrel admitted, as he bounded along the pavement beside them, his tail held parallel to the ground. ‘You were right to say Taslaf would never allow him passage. There must be some other Great Gateway of which we know nothing, one who is helping the Karraks. It has allowed them to follow you through time. Karrak Ladies have a reputation as strong seers, they will be searching for you continually now they know you exist.’
Memories flashed through Taggie’s brain like a video on fast forward. She tried to think how to cast a charm that would block a seer’s sight.
‘Oh no,’ Jemima cried.
Taggie came to a dead halt, staring through the gloom at the building blocking their way forward. The street was a cul-de-sac, a dead end.
She whirled round. A wave of darkness was creeping along the road towards them, flowing over the pavement and walls beside the Ethanu as they approached at their steady unstoppable pace.
‘What do we do, Taggie?’ Jemima begged.
Felix drew his sword, its green light shimmering softly along the blade. His teeth chattered in determination, and his tail twitched defiantly upright even though he was just an ordinary-sized squirrel.
The memories in Taggie’s mind began to clear. She knew now she would have to cast some of the worst spells her ancestors knew. It was a dreadful thing, but she didn’t have a choice. Besides, somehow she didn’t feel too bad about slaying the Ethanu. However, behind them would be Golzoth, and that would be a very different fight.
An engine’s heavy grumbling grew louder just as Taggie prepared herself to utter the harsh words of a death spell. Then suddenly a pair of narrow headlight beams were cutting through the dark shadows that swamped the cul-de-sac. They flashed across the six Ethanu, who turned in surprise.
Brakes squealed, and the engine thrummed. Taggie and Jemima held their hands across their eyes, trying to see past the glare. It was some kind of big truck jammed into the end of the cul-de-sac.
One of the Ethanu hooted in its own language. There was a violet flash. It showed Taggie a small woman in a khaki army uniform standing beside the truck. She was surrounded by a ball of fading violet light as it withered into the tarmac without touching her. When the last of the flickers had dwindled away, she pointed a rod at the Ethanu and yelled: ‘Korruth’tu.’
The rod began to spit out tiny globes of sharp blue flame as if it was some kind of machine gun. A deafening crackling filled the cul-de-sac. Some of the blue flames zinged through the air just above Taggie’s head. She and Jemima dived for the ground, covering their ears against the hideous sound.
Abruptly it was quiet again. The shadecast was broken, and the cul-de-sac was fully illuminated by the truck’s headlights. Taggie raised her head. All six Ethanu were lying on the ground, their leather coats smoking.
The woman in the army uniform was walking towards them. She was quite young, Taggie saw, probably still a teenager; with dark curly hair sticking out from the edge of her peaked cap. And she had a lovely welcoming smile. ‘Hello there,’ she said in a very posh voice. ‘That was a close call. You chaps are lucky David called me. These Ethanu are beastly difficult to track down. One is always on the look-out for them.’
‘D-David?’ Taggie mumbled in a daze.
‘The jeweller. He doesn’t often see coins from the First Realm. So when he does, he knows there’s some kind of shenanigans afoot.’
‘Please . . . who are you?’ Jemima asked.
The woman stuck her hand out for Taggie to shake. ‘Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. But that’s just my cover, I’ve actually been raised to the Grand Order of Mage Knights. Jolly nice to meet you.’
Taggie let out a groan of shock as she realized who their rescuer was. ‘You’re Princess Elizabeth,’ she exclaimed.
‘Huh?’ Jemima grunted. ‘You mean, she’s—’
‘Yes!’ Taggie interrupted, hopefully stopping Jemima from saying anything too stupid.
‘And who are you chaps, exactly?’ Princess Elizabeth asked with a wink.
‘Taggie Paganuzzi. Er, actually, I’m a princess, too. Of the First Realm. And so’s my sister Jemima. We’re just totally honoured to meet you, ma’am.’
‘Poor Papa is frightfully busy fighting the rathwai most nights,’ Princess Elizabeth told the sisters. They were all perched on the worn seats of her big army truck, bouncing their way along London’s half-empty streets.
‘What are they?’ Jemima asked. She hadn’t stopped staring admiringly at Princess Elizabeth since they climbed into the cab.
‘Rathwai are the Karrak Lords’ air beasts, as big as elephants, with talons like swords and razor-sharp beaks stronger than a crocodile’s mouth. The diabolical things fly in with the Luftwaffe bombers; they cause so much damage, and then carry off children from the houses they smash up. Thankfully some olri-gi have offered to help us. Papa and the Knights of the Black Garter ride on them to fight off the rathwai. It’s so desperately hard, one worries terribly about him.’
‘Olri-gi?’ Jemima asked faintly.
Princess Elizabeth grinned. ‘Dragons, to you and me. But don’t ever call them that to their faces – they’re dreadfully quick to take offence, it’s like them calling us sacks of meat.’
‘There are dra— . . . olri-gi here, in the Outer Realm?’ squeaked Taggie.
‘Only while the war’s on, obviously,’ chattered Princess Elizabeth, oblivious to the sisters’ shocked faces. ‘They live in the Realm of Air normally. But wherever the Karraks come to spread their evil, good eggs band together to help one another.’
‘Thank you again for helping us,’ Taggie said. She was still trying to get used to the idea that dragons were flying over London as part of the Battle of Britain – and that people rode on them! It was strangely wonderful.
‘Always happy to help a Paganuzzi,’ Princess Elizabeth said. ‘But I am surprised we haven’t met before. I did visit the Queen of Dreams’ palace a couple of years ago, which was jolly lovely. She never mentioned any princesses. There was only her son, Prince Dino. He’s a funny little chap, quite mad about football, don’t you know. I promised I’d take him to a game at Wembley after the war is over.’
‘We’re not from this time, really,’ Taggie said cautiously.
‘Oh really . . . those wretched Great Gateways,’ Princess Elizabeth said. ‘Sometimes I think they’re more trouble than they’re worth.’
‘You might be right,’ Taggie agreed. ‘So you know about the Realms?’
‘Of course I do. One’s family is one of the anointed guardians of the Great Gateways in this Realm. Most of the Outer Realm’s original royal families are descended from the elder mages who forged the Great Gateways. So when the
Dark Lords and Ladies began to emerge from Mirlyn’s Gate we led the fight against them. Papa still does, along with various cousins and a few knights with some magic lore. But there are so few of us these days.’
‘That must be hard for you.’
‘It is one’s duty and destiny,’ Princess Elizabeth said proudly. ‘What about you? The Paganuzzi line has many obligations, I know.’
‘So it would seem,’ Taggie said with a sigh. ‘And to carry them out I need to get back to my proper time, which is your future. Could you drop us off at King’s Cross station, please? We’ll catch a train to Grantham.’
‘You’ll be wanting to use the Arasath Gateway at Orchard Cottage, then?’
‘Yes. It can undo the damage it’s done. I think. I hope.’ After everything that had just happened, Taggie didn’t want to think of what awaited her. She felt safe riding in the truck with Princess Elizabeth; it was a precious time where she could relax in peace.
‘I think it’s best if I drive you back to Orchard Cottage myself,’ Princess Elizabeth said with a friendly smile. ‘That horrible Karrak Lord is still on the loose. He must want you very badly to summon so many Ethanu. They normally creep about, spying and sabotaging the war effort. To lose so many in one night will enrage the Karraks in Berlin.’
‘Will we be safe travelling with you?’ Jemima asked urgently.
Princess Elizabeth patted the rod that was lying across her lap. ‘Nobody crosses a Mage Knight carrying a loaded sceptre. Not if they jolly well know what’s good for them.’
‘Is that what that is?’ Jemima asked. The rod had been carved from dark oak a very long time ago. One end bulged slightly, where it was inset with a trio of small blue jewels that glimmered from an internal light, as if each caged a star.
‘Yes,’ Princess Elizabeth said. ‘That gaudy thing, the Royal Sceptre, with all the big jewels which they keep in the Tower of London, is just for show. It’s worth so much money people think it’s tremendously important. Whereas this old beauty is a real one. One’s family has wielded them for many centuries. Legend says King Edmund Ironside brought them back after the Battle of Rothgarnal, where they’d been fashioned for him by Second Realm battle mages.’