The Devil's Looking-Glass Part 4

Cecil gulped like a codfish. *You are never to speak of that thing!'

*Why? We are among friends, are we not?' Will swigged back his sack and tossed the flask aside. Cecil squirmed under his cold gaze. *Despite the play you make to the world, there are no heroes here. We are all tainted.'

*England had no choice, you know that. Our "betrayal", as you define it, was a matter of survival-'

*And that is justification?'

*Yes!' Cecil roared. *The survival of our Queen, of England, of us all, a life free from the shackles of fear. That is worth any action. And you know, too, that the Faerie Queen is the heart of Dee's defences. The power that rages within her like a furnace burns the night away from this land.'

Will's thoughts returned to the story as he had been told it, his own Queen Elizabeth meeting the Faerie Queen on windswept Dartmoor to seal a pact that might end the long years of conflict between the two races who lived side by side on England's green land, though one in day and one in night. The meeting had been hard-won, the mistrust both sides felt barely overcome. But after that night the Unseelie Court would never trust the mortals again. England's forces emerged from their hiding places among the gorse and granite, slaughtered the Fay cohort and took their Queen prisoner. And in her meagre cell she had resided for more than thirty years, her miserable incarceration keeping England safe. Will shrugged, fighting to contain his simmering anger. *Let us not squabble,' he said, pretending he cared little when in truth he found it harder by the day to tell friend from foe.

Cecil rested both arms on the table and released a weary sigh. *Oh, for your simple world, Swyfte, where the only concerns are fresh wine, doxies and a bowl of the ordinary.'

The Secretary of State searched through the heap of yellowing charts until he found the one he wanted. Will recognized the outline of Europe stretching to the far Orient. *We now know the Unseelie Court have been planning for this moment for many a year. Word has reached me of the Enemy's maintaining positions of influence in the great courts. One of those fiends advised the rebel leader Severyn Nalyvaiko as he led his Cossacks through Galicia, Volhynia and Belarus in his struggle against the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. Another has the ear of the Doges in Venice and Genoa. Philip of Spain, I fear, is still troubled by Malantha of the High Family. The story is the same in Hungary, in the whispers that prompt the Serbs to rebel against the Ottomans, in Tuscany, Austria, Malta, even in Rome itself. All around us, they move their pieces.'

*Their aim?'

*To burn this world. After the indignities they have suffered a yes, at our hands a they have decided the time of man has pa.s.sed.'

*Then all of humanity will pay for England's grand betrayal.'

*Leave it be!' Cecil's spittle flew across the stained chart as he roared. *If I did not know better, I would think you revel in the suffering about to be inflicted 'pon us. That is treason.' The spymaster sagged. The hopelessness he had tried to contain rose in his features and he flapped a feeble hand towards Will. *Enough. This tires me. I do not know why you wish to provoke me in this dreaded hour, but . . . enough.'

Calming himself, Will walked round the table to the fire, remembering all the times he had seen Dee trying to warm himself but never being able to drive the cold from his bones. *I hear plenty about the monstrous acts of the Unseelie Court,' he murmured, prodding a log with the toe of his Spanish leather shoe, *but never anything about what manner of beings they are.'

*What do you mean?'

*What is their true nature? Their essence? What do we know of them?' Will turned back to the spymaster, tugging at his chin hair in thought, but he kept one eye fixed on every subtle movement Cecil made. *Do they love? Do they care for their children? Do they have children? Or art and poetry and learning-'

*They are monsters who wish us all dead,' Cecil interrupted. *That is all we need to know.'

*And you are aware of nothing more? They are what they seem, these pale creatures of the night?' Will narrowed his eyes, watching the faint muscle-tremor around his master's mouth.

*I know nothing more.' The spymaster looked away at the last, unable to hold Will's unflinching gaze. He turned back to his charts and pretended to sift through them while he sought to change the subject. *For all your many flaws, you have a sharp wit, Swyfte, and you have played your public and private role well in service to the Queen. Tell me your thoughts, for at this moment I would clutch at even a thread to draw me out of the dark.'

Will felt the weight in his chest lighten. Everything was unfolding as planned. *We feared Dr Dee had been stolen by the Irish. We came close to losing the mad alchemist to the Unseelie Court, but his transformation saved us from that fate, while at the same time denying us the opportunity to reclaim him. But we must not lose sight of the fact that, at the moment, Dee is free-'

*Yes, somewhere in the wide Atlantic!'

*Nevertheless,' Will replied, throwing his arms wide, *he is, for now, at large, and with a fair wind at our backs and the will to achieve it, we can bring him back.'

*How so?' Cecil snorted. *Do you know where in the New World he travels? Or why?'

Warming to his performance, Will smiled. *I know we are in a race, Sir Robert. The Unseelie Court will be in pursuit. Whoever finds Dr Dee first, wins.'

Cecil weighed the words, his furrowed brow revealing the hopelessness he felt.

*Dee's carrack will have need to take on supplies for the long ocean voyage,' the spy continued, *and the vessel I saw bore no comparison to our own race-built galleons. Across the stretch of that vast ocean, we can catch up. And,' he added, *I may . . . perchance . . . be able to uncover some clue as to the course Dee's vessel takes.'

The spymaster's eyes narrowed. *Even if you found the route the doctor has taken, you would have to fight off the full force of the Unseelie Court. You, and a handful of mere men. That is madness. You would be sailing to your deaths.'

*My life means nothing,' Will said in all honesty.

Cecil paced around the table, kneading his hands together in thought. *But can we prepare a galleon for an Atlantic voyage at such short notice? The cost of food and munitions a England's coffers are already bare a the shortages of meat and grain after this long, plague-ravaged summer . . .'

*You will be counting gold when the Unseelie Court arrives at your door?' Will said with a wry smile.

*The Tempest is moored at Tilbury. Our best s.h.i.+p-'

*Not the Tempest. You may need her to defend London, should I fail. Requisition another s.h.i.+p, in the Queen's name. After the poor trade of this year, there must be many a merchant keen to be reimbursed.'

*I will see what I can do.'

*One other thing.' Will strode to the window and peered out across the moonlit roofs of the Palace of Whitehall. Not far away, a faint crackle of emerald light sparkled in the sky. *If I am to risk my neck, I would arm myself with any information that might help.'

*A reasonable request. Ask of me what you will.'

*Not you. There is one other who has all the answers I could ever need.' Will rested an arm on the window frame and pressed his forehead against the cool gla.s.s. *Take me to the Lantern Tower. I would question the Faerie Queen herself.'

CHAPTER TEN.

EMERALD FLAMES CRACKLED around the tiled roof of the stone tower like marsh lights. Far below, a swaying lantern echoed that glow as a knot of six men processed across the courtyard. Beneath the gentle soughing of the night-wind, the click of their leather heels on the cobbles was the only sound in the still palace. At the oak door studded with black iron, the group came to a halt. The four armoured guards gripped their pikes, their stern faces revealing that they had no notion what was contained within the Lantern Tower. Sir Robert Cecil lowered his eyes, but Will gazed up to the spectral display, his brow knitted. His great gamble began here.

*Do not let anyone else inside the tower,' Cecil barked at the guards, looking each man in the face in turn. *Defend it with your lives.' He removed a large iron key from a velvet pouch and unlocked the heavy door. The tumblers clanked into place. Taking the swaying lantern, he stepped inside and closed the door behind Will. The candlelight illuminated stone steps spiralling upwards into the dark. *Dee's magical defences have been disarmed,' he whispered. *We are safe to proceed.'

*Safe. An odd choice of word.' Will began to climb the steps. The air was dank and smelled of tallow and burnt iron.

*Do not concern yourself. She cannot escape.'

*None of us can escape, Sir Robert.'

The spymaster did not query his charge's enigmatic response. Perhaps he understood, for he was no stranger to prisons and bars and duty and fear.

They climbed through floor after floor, with the Secretary of State growing more anxious with each step. *Who feeds her?' Will asked.

*She takes no sustenance as you and I know it,' the spymaster muttered. *In the early days of her imprisonment, I am told attempts were made to bring her meals, but the food rotted in the bowls and was returned untouched.'

*She has guests?'

*Rarely. Though Dee has ensured his sigils and spells keep her trapped in place, still all who encounter her fear her power. Sometimes . . .' Cecil smacked his lips with distaste. *Sometimes you can feel her words deep inside your head, like a maggot burrowing. Only that fool Spenser has dallied here awhile, until my father sent him away for fear he had fallen to her wiles.'

Alone, in a cell, for so long. How hot must her rage burn, Will thought. How terrible would be her vengeance if she ever escaped.

The steps ended at another heavy oak door marked with mysterious whorls and symbols inscribed in red paint. Cecil hesitated, looking up at the portal with dread. Will thought his trembling master was about to fall to his knees and pray for their salvation. The silence was heavy, but it was not the silence of emptiness. Will sensed that the cell's occupant waited on the other side of that door, listening, dangerous, poised, perhaps, for any opportunity that might arise.

*Go, then. Ask what you will,' Cecil whispered. He held up the lantern so that Will's shadow swooped.

The spy leaned in, his nose almost brus.h.i.+ng the wood. He couldn't imagine the prisoner's terrible beauty, though he had heard stories: a beauty that could drive a man mad or blind. But he imagined her lips parting in a dark smile.

*Your Highness,' he began.

Her laugh sounded like an echo in a deep well.

He dabbed the side of his right hand to his nose where a droplet of blood had formed. *My name is Will Swyfte,' he continued. *I am in the employ of Queen Elizabeth of England, and I have dedicated the last ten years of my life to fighting your people for the tragedy you inflicted upon me.'

Another uncaring laugh punctuated by a low sc.r.a.ping. Will pictured her drawing her long nails over the rough oak, perhaps imagining, in her turn, his skin peeling, his eyes being drawn out.

*I have killed your kind,' he said.

Silence.

*You think yourselves greater than mortals, but your lives still pa.s.s on the end of cold steel,' he continued.

After another moment's lull, her musical voice rolled out. Though m.u.f.fled by the wood, her words were laced with humour but had a cold, cold core. *You speak boldly. Would you do the same if you stood beyond the protective sigils, deep within my cell?'

*I would. For I speak truly.'

*Very well.' Her voice hardened. *Is the indignity of my imprisonment not enough, that you have come to taunt me further?'

Will reached his fingertips towards the surface of the door. Just as they were about to brush the wood, something crashed against the exact spot on the other side and he s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand back involuntarily. *I have no interest in cruel sport,' he replied. *That is the province of the Unseelie Court. I hold myself to higher standards.'

*Indeed, you do think highly of yourself. That a mere man should speak to a Queen of the Unseelie Court like an equal,' she mocked. *Were you here beside me, I could, if it suited me, peel away your flesh to the rough construction that is your essence. But we are craftspeople, delicate and skilled, and we can find subtler ways to teach harsh lessons.'

*I have seen some of those ways. One whisper in an ear that can turn thoughts in such a way that it drives a man mad.'

*We see the weakness in all men's hearts. That one flaw that we can prise apart with a few words until it becomes a yawning chasm. I see into your heart.'

Will glanced back down the steps to his master, a.s.suring himself that Cecil could not overhear the conversation. *I know my own heart well enough.'

*No, you do not. No man does. You only think that is the case, and that is why the truth drives you from the illusion you all hide behind to stay sane.' Beyond her muted words, he heard a faint sc.r.a.ping as if she were stroking the door. He imagined a lover's caress and s.h.i.+vered, despite himself.

*You waste your breath-'

*I see sadness, a deep, abiding sadness.' The Queen rolled the words around her tongue with pleasure. *I see the pain of loss and separation, a life that has become corrupted by mystery to such a degree that it can no longer be lived. You would rather know the truth and be destroyed than live in this twilight world any longer.'

Will raised his head in defiance. *And I feel anger,' he replied in a low voice, *for you stole from me the only thing I ever valued.' He shook his head and his blood spattered across the door.

*I hear the impotent cry of the wounded child.' Her breathy words sounded low and closer still. He presumed she had pressed her cheek against the wood. Now they were barely separated, like two lovers teasing towards an embrace, her seductive voice luring him in. The hairs on his neck tingled as if she had brushed his skin. He should break the enchantment and leave that place without a backward glance, he knew, but the rage in his heart held him fast. He sensed her smiling. Yes, she knew his weaknesses well.

*You see sadness,' he whispered, *you see rage, I know, but you do not see fear.'

She laughed again. *Fear is the sane response to us.'

*Then I am not sane, and proud of it. Tell me your weakness.'

*The very definition of insanity. You presume I would bare my throat to you.'

Will glanced back at Cecil who had retreated further down the steps. The spymaster quivered in the wan light of the guttering lantern flame. *You will tell me.' Will kept the confidence in his voice, luring her in as she had attempted to ensnare him. *For sport. A mere man is no threat, you have said so yourself. What have you to lose by indulging my desire to seek my own destruction?'

*You think yourself clever. Perhaps you are, by the standards of man. Yet there is much you do not know a about the Unseelie Court, about yourself, and your place in this world. Nevertheless, I agree. Our weakness is something your kind would never understand a honour. Our word is unbreakable, even though it mean pain, or loss, or defeat. Do you find any gain in that knowledge? Does your kind even understand what honour means? I think not,' she added with cold contempt.

Will folded the information away and continued lightly, *Is it true that you have made your home in the New World?'

*Would you visit my palace, O man?' she enquired. He heard a crackle of dark humour in her voice.

*I am sure you would offer me all the courtesies extended to every mortal who has crossed from this world of hard things into your moonlit realm.' He waited a moment and then added, *Yet perhaps I could offer a few common courtesies of my own.'

The Faerie Queen laughed. *Oh, what sport that would be. Would you wave your sword at us? Would you rage and curse and threaten? Before we fell upon you like wolves?'

*We have more steel in us than you imagine, Your Highness.'

*Then I extend an invitation to you, should you wish to prove yourself,' she replied with cruel glee. *d.a.m.n yourself. Sail to the New World. Cross the gulf between our realms, if you can find a gate, to the place where both lands exist as one, and then follow the great Orinoco until you reach the confluence with the Caroni. Along that river you will discover the fortress of the Unseelie Court.'

Will felt a squirming sensation deep in his head. He reeled away from the door as his mind's eye was flooded with a vision of startling richness. At first he struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. A monstrous black spider as big as Hampton Court Palace squatting on a verdant landscape, where green hills rose above the treetops of a mighty forest. Iron cartwheels wider than the grey Thames, revolving within a sphere. And then he found himself looking down on a grim fortress with soaring walls of black basalt and gold.

The Fortress Crepuscule, the Faerie Queen's voice echoed in his skull. Your kind will always find our home, should that be your wish. But it is much harder to leave.

His gaze drifted down a vertiginous cliff, across a stone labyrinth set in the forest to a high tower with a soft white glow emanating from the summit. He heard himself murmuring, *What is that?'

The Tower of the Moon. The beacon that illuminates the way between our worlds. As long as the light s.h.i.+nes, the paths remain open.

*Swyfte!' Will heard Cecil's strained voice as if it were rising from a deep well. *Take your leave now before she steals your wits!' The spy snapped out of his delirious vision into the cold grey of the Lantern Tower.

The Queen of the Unseelie Court sc.r.a.ped her nails down the door. *While you mortals are base lead, my people are gold.' For the first time Will heard a hint of yearning in her voice. *And our home is gold. A golden city, which the men of that hot land call Manoa. The wonders you would see there, mortal. It would drive you mad.'

*One day, Your Highness. One day I will sail there and bring the vengeance of the English to your doorstep.'

*And as your life ebbs away, try to read some meaning in the entrails of your suffering. There will be none.'

Will forced himself to break her spell and turned away from the door. *I have purpose in my life, Your Majesty. I will never be deterred from finding the truth.'

*Truth?' she repeated with dark humour. *Would you know the greatest secret of all? We are all in cells, to greater or lesser extent. This world you see around you is a prison, though the bars and locks are hidden. But who is the gaoler, ask yourself that? And what does it take to escape?' Her voice grew fainter. Will imagined her drifting away from the door into the confines of her dismal cell. *Even as we speak my people rise from their silent chambers under hill and under lake. I hear them in my heart, drawing nearer. One vow is on their lips: to stop you recovering the mad magician, who is your final hope. You will never set sail from this city. You will die here, all of you. The end is close. Say your prayers. Kiss your loved ones. The end is close.'

A laugh, like cold crystal, fading away into the lonely dark.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.