“No it isn’t,” said Molly. “I’ve thought about it a lot, every time your family has really pissed me off. Whoever it is, we have to stop them. Before they do any of the things I’ve thought about.”
“Eddie . . . ,” said Ethel, “the Matriarch is getting ready to authorize the Alpha Red Alpha Protocol.”
“Oh shit,” I said.
“What?” said Molly. “What Protocol? Eddie, why are you looking like that?”
“In the worst emergency situation,” I said, “the family can activate the Alpha Red Alpha mechanism by remote control and use it to drop the whole Armoury into another dimension. So that whatever appalling thing is happening, it won’t reach the Hall. We can always build another Armoury.”
“Listen to me, Eddie,” said Ethel. “I’ve been thinking about this, and you really need to—”
Her voice cut off.
“Ethel?” I said. “Ethel! Talk to me! What is it I need to do?”
But there was nothing; only the uninterrupted hush of the deserted Armoury. I looked to Molly.
“Okay, I am seriously worried now.”
“What could be powerful enough to silence Ethel?” said Molly.
“Nothing I know of,” I said. “But then . . . whatever it is, it’s been hiding from her all this time.”
“And it’s in here with us right now,” said Molly. “Maybe we should leave. We’re not exactly operating at our best. And . . . I don’t like this situation, Eddie. Far too many unknowns. It’s not running away when you’re retreating in the face of far superior numbers.”
“Are we?” I said.
“Sure as hell feels like it,” she said. “Someone’s running a game here, and we don’t even know the rules. So let’s be sensible, just for once, and refuse to play the game.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said.
I held up the Merlin Glass, but before I could order it to take us anywhere, the hand mirror tore itself out of my grip and leapt up to hang on the air before me. It grew quickly to Door size, of its own volition, while still remaining a mirror. I’d never seen it do that before. The full-sized mirror stood before me, showing me my reflection. But there was something wrong with it. It was my face staring back at me, but I didn’t like the look on my face. And then I realised that while Molly was standing right beside me, she wasn’t in the mirror. My reflection stirred and smiled unpleasantly at me. And then it stepped forward, out of the mirror; to stand before me.
“Well,” I said, because I had to say something. “I really wasn’t expecting that.”
“He looks like you, Eddie,” said Molly, “But he looks wrong. He doesn’t feel like you.”
“I should hope not,” said my double, still smiling his smile, and for a moment all I could think was, Do I really sound like that? “I’m not Eddie; I’m my own man. I am Edmund Drood. Your equivalent, Eddie, from the Other Hall. You remember the Other Hall from the Other Dimension, the one that briefly replaced yours. The Hall from another world, where all the Droods had been wiped out. I did that. I had my family members killed; watched them be overrun and put down like the rabid dogs they were. I had them all slaughtered, and I gloried in it. Come on, Eddie . . . Don’t tell me you never thought about it. After everything they did to us . . .”
“You killed your own family?” said Molly.
“Well, not me personally,” said Edmund. “Not on my own. I put together an army, and then turned it loose on the Hall. After I’d sneaked in first and shut down all the defences and protections. The way I did here.” He smiled reflectively. “My poor family . . . They never knew what hit them. It was easier than you’d think, to build my army. I had no idea there were so many other people who hated my family almost as much as I did.” He laughed quite happily. “I wanted to be free of my family. Free of all its unreasonable demands and expectations, and the stifling weight of its history. Imagine my surprise when at the height of my triumph—when the massacre was over and I was busy dancing in the ruins—my Hall was suddenly transported here, and me with it!
“I didn’t know what was going on, so I hid inside the Merlin Glass. I knew its protections would be strong enough to conceal me from everyone. From inside the Glass, I could see everything and learn all about this amazing new world I’d arrived in. It took me a while to understand what had happened, and a while longer to learn how to use the Glass to send me anywhere in the world I wanted. Imagine how I felt to discover a whole new Drood family, still alive . . . And someone who looked just like me, but wasn’t anything like me. So, I stayed hidden. I knew what your family would do if it found out who I was and what I’d done. And besides, I had plans to make. To deal with this new family.”
“You’ve been hiding inside the Merlin Glass all this time?” I said.
“At first, I was in the Glass from the Other Hall,” said Edmund. “But then your Armourer merged my Glass with yours, when yours was damaged. And I went with it. Which allowed me to follow your activities very closely. I’ve been popping in and out of the Glass ever since, going back and forth in the world and walking up and down in it. Making all kinds of useful contacts.”
“You’re why the Glass has been defying me!” I said.
He smiled modestly. “A man’s entitled to a little fun.”
“But why did you have Dr DOA poison Eddie?” said Molly.
“Haven’t you got it yet?” said Edmund. “I am Dr DOA! I had to do something in this world, to raise enough money and power to help me take down this new family of Droods. The Glass meant I could go anywhere, get to anyone . . . But after a while, I just couldn’t stand it any more. I wanted Eddie dead. Because I knew he’d be the only one who could stand against me and prevent the destruction of his family. The only real threat to my continued existence. You could call it self-defence. And anyway; you had to die, Eddie. For not being like me.”
“But what’s your grudge against this family of Droods?” said Molly. “Whatever the members of your family did to you . . . they’re all dead! These are new people.”
“They’re still Droods!” said Edmund. “I’ll never feel safe while a single Drood is left alive.”
“Why reveal yourself to me now?” I said.
“You started looking for me,” said Edmund. “I suppose that was inevitable, once I poisoned you. But you were never supposed to last this long . . . At first I was content to just let you stumble around, because you weren’t getting anywhere. But it occurred to me there was always the chance you might talk to the wrong person, pick up some clue, find some way to stop me . . . So I contacted the Psychic Surgeon and gave him a message to pass on to Roxie Hazzard in the Deep Down Pit. I always knew where you were, as long as you had the Merlin Glass. I brought you to the Hiring Ground, just so you would dispose of the Psychic Surgeon. I knew you’d want to, and he had outlived his usefulness. And then my little note brought you home, after I’d prepared the ground. I didn’t want us to be interrupted. So here we are, Eddie and Edmund. Face-to-face at last. Because I want this over and done with.”
“How have you stayed hidden from everyone?” I said. “From Ethel?”
“I made an accommodation with the Merlin Glass,” said Edmund. “Or rather, with Something I found inside it.”
“Something?” I said. “Or Someone?”
“That’s my business,” said Edmund. “The point is, I’ve been able to keep my presence hidden from all manner of prying eyes. Including that dimensional parasite you all bow down to.”
Molly stepped forward suddenly, fixing Edmund with a fierce, dangerous look. “You must have a cure for the poison you use. That’s all I care about. Save my Eddie, and I give you my word I won’t kill you.”
“A cure?” said Edmund. “Are you mad? There is no cure! I brought the poison with me from my world. Just a little something I used to have fun with. I never even looked for a cure. Why would I?”
&
nbsp; Molly made a low, defeated sound. I understood how she felt, but I still had work to do.
“Well,” I said. “I guess everyone has to face their evil twin at some point. You brought me here. Now what?”
“You were supposed to be dead long before this,” said Edmund. “I’m still not entirely sure why you’re not. Must be something to do with your armour having a different source than mine.”
“Where does your armour come from?” I said. “When I searched the Other Hall, when it was here . . . the Heart had already abandoned it. And you never had an Ethel.”
“Like I’d tell you,” said Edmund. “All that matters is, I can’t bear to have you around any longer. Your mockery of me, your very existence, offends me.”
“Funny,” I said, “I feel the same way about you.”
“Thought you might,” said Edmund. “Come on, you know some things are just inevitable.”
We both armoured up in a moment and went for each other. Molly backed quickly away, but I barely noticed. All I could think of was getting my hands on Edmund. My shadow self; my murderer. We slammed against each other with the force of living mountains. Golden fists pounded featureless masks, with a sound like golden bells dying. I couldn’t hurt him, and he couldn’t hurt me . . . but we tried. With all our strength and passion, we tried.
We each struck terrible blows that would have shattered walls and brought down buildings. We beat and clubbed at each other, and our armour took it all. We fought and wrestled, equally strong, equally matched. I grabbed up a workstation and broke it over his head. He threw me through a metal tower. We raged back and forth through the Armoury, breaking everything we touched and smashing through everything that got in our way. Now and again we’d snatch up some abandoned weapon and try it on each other. But though the air shimmered with strange energies, and fires started up all around, we never came to any harm. We were Droods in our armour, and nothing could touch us. We rampaged up and down the length of the Armoury, sometimes wrapped in explosions from the things we destroyed, like the only real things in a paper world.
Driven by a rage not born of reason.
Until Molly suddenly yelled for both of us to stop. And there was something in her voice that commanded our attention. We broke apart, both of us breathing hard from our exertions, and turned to look. Molly was standing by a hidden control panel she’d uncovered in one wall. Her hand hovered over a big red button.
“This is the Armoury’s self-destruct control,” she said loudly. “For when the Alpha Red Alpha Protocol can’t be used, but the Armoury still has to be destroyed to protect the Hall. Your uncle Jack showed it to me, Eddie, because he thought someone outside the family should know. Just in case. He trusted me to do the right thing, when it mattered. The forces this button will unleash are enough to finish off even a Drood in his armour. They had to be, to ensure the Armoury was completely destroyed. So stand down, Edmund. Or I swear I’ll kill us all.”
“Now, why would you do that?” said Edmund. He sounded honestly curious.
“Eddie’s dying,” said Molly. “If you can’t or won’t save him, then I have no reason to let you live. And I don’t want to live, without my Eddie. At least this way I get to take you with us.”
Edmund armoured down. He smiled at me, and winked at Molly. “Nicely played. But the game’s not over yet. And you won’t kill me until you’re sure I’ve told you the truth about a cure.”
The Merlin Glass shrank down to mirror size. Edmund grabbed it out of the air, turned, and ran for the rear of the Armoury. I armoured down as Molly came running over to hold me. I clung to her like a drowning man. We were both shaking.
“Was that button really . . . ?” I said.
“Yes.”
“Were you bluffing?”
“I’ll never tell,” said Molly.
“We have to go after him,” I said, “before he can escape through the Merlin Glass.”
“How do you know he hasn’t already?” said Molly.
“Because he’s still got something planned,” I said. “He must have some kind of trap set up, just in case he couldn’t finish me off.”
“Then let’s go trigger his trap and break it over his head,” said Molly. “And then feed him the pieces.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said.
We went after Edmund, taking our time because we knew he wasn’t going anywhere. But when we finally caught up with him, at the far end of the Armoury . . . I was still shocked to see what he was doing. Someone had brought the Alpha Red Alpha mechanism up from under the Armoury. And Edmund was at the controls.
It looked just as big and complicated and unnerving as I remembered. A huge plunging waterfall of solid crystal, with glowing wires running through it like multicoloured veins. Etched from top to bottom with row upon row of ancient abhuman symbols. So old I didn’t even recognise the language. And inside all of that, a massive hourglass some twenty feet tall. Wrought in solid silver, with glass so perfect it was barely visible. The top half was full of shimmering golden particles, which Edmund had just set in motion. They tumbled into the lower half with slow, terrible purpose.
I moved cautiously forward with Molly close at my side, trying not to be noticed. Edmund, intent on the controls, didn’t even look up.
“What’s he doing?” Molly murmured.
“Nothing good,” I said quietly. “No one’s really understood how that mechanism works since Uncle Jack died.”
“Who knows what Edmund knew, in his own world?” said Molly.
A Doorway suddenly appeared, not the usual kind; it was more a tear in reality itself. Edmund left the Alpha Red Alpha mechanism and plunged through the new opening. I ran after him, with Molly racing along at my side, and all I could think was, I can’t let him get away. Not after all this . . . I ran through the Doorway, and then stopped so abruptly, Molly had to hang on to my arm to stop herself.
We were in the ruins of a wrecked and abandoned Armoury. I’d seen it before, in the Other Hall, from Edmund’s world. I heard a sound behind me, and spun round just in time to see Edmund slip back through the Doorway. Turning, he laughed once in my face, and then the tear in reality disappeared. Shut down from the other side.
“Open it!” said Molly. “We have to go after him!”
“We can’t,” I said numbly. “Look around. There’s no Alpha Red Alpha mechanism in this Armoury. We’re trapped here. He’s won.”
We stood together, in the Armoury of the Other Hall, in a different world. With no way home.
Shaman Bond
Will Return
in
MOONBREAKER
Simon R. Green is a New York Times bestselling author. He lives in England.
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