Incarceron Part 99

Finn said,

"What is it?"

Claudia bit her lip. She suddenly realized she had no idea how to do this. There had been no portal on this side, no chair or control panel; she had simply found herself in that empty cell. And she didn't know the way back there, even if the place was important.

"She can't do it," Keiro said. He came and stared closely at her, and though it annoyed her, she stared calmly back.

"At least I have this."

She took the Key from a pocket and held it out. They saw it was identical to the one they knew, though its workmans.h.i.+p seemed better, the eagle perfect in its stillness.

Finn put his hand to his pocket. It was empty. Alarmed, he turned.

"It's here, fool boy."

Gildas grabbed at the wall and pulled himself upright. He was gray, his face clammy. He held the Key so tightly in his knotted hands that the skin around his knuckles was white as the bone beneath.

"Are you really from the Outside?" he breathed.

"I am, Master."

She walked toward him and reached out her hand for him to feel.

"And Sapphique did Escape. Jared discovered that he has followers out there. They call him the Nine-Fingered One."

He nodded, and they saw there were tears in his eyes.

"I know that. I have always known that he was real. This boy has seen him in visions. Soon I will see him."

His voice was gruff but there was a quaver in it Finn had never heard before.

Oddly scared he said, "We need the Key, Master."

For a moment he thought the Sapient would not let go; there was a brief interval when both his and Gildas's fingers grasped the crystal. The old man looked down.

"I have always trusted you, Finn. I never believed you were from Outside, and I was wrong in that, but your visions of the stars have led us to Escape, as I knew they would, ever since the first day I saw you lying curled up on that cart. This is the moment I have lived for."

His fingers opened; Finn felt the weight of the Key. He looked at Claudia.

"Now what?"

She took a deep breath, but it was not her voice that answered. Attia was in the shadows behind Keiro; she did not come forward, but her words were sharp.

"What happened to the pretty dress?"

Claudia scowled. "I shredded it."

"And the wedding?"

"Off."

Attia's arms were wrapped around her thin body.

"So now you want Finn."

"Giles. His name is Giles. Yes, I want him. The Realm needs its King. Someone who's seen outside the Palace and the Protocol. Someone who has been right down into the depths."

She let her annoyance out in her words, channeled it into anger.

"Isn't that what you want too? Someone who can end the misery of Incarceron because he knows what it's like?"

Attia shrugged.

"It's Finn you should ask. You might just be taking him out of one prison into another."

Claudia stared at her and Attia stared back.

It was Keiro's cool laugh that broke the silence.