I would have liked to stand around for a while and watch him
suffer, but I didn’t have the time. So I stepped forward and punched him out.
The strength behind the golden fist almost took his head off, and he crashed to
the floor, barely twitching. Molly disappeared the rats with a gesture. I stood
over the Sarjeant-at-Arms, looking down at him, and it felt good, so good, to
have finally avenged myself for years of pain and scorn. Now he didn’t look
nearly as big as I remembered him. He was still conscious, just.
"How many children did you whip for running in the hallways?" I
said. "How many did you flog for being late or not being where they should be?
For answering back? For daring to have minds and hopes and dreams of their own?"
The Sarjeant stirred painfully, blood running out the corner of
his torn mouth as he smiled. "It’s a hard world, boy. Had to toughen you up so
you could survive it. You learned your lessons well, Edwin. Proud of you, boy."
"We were just children!" I said, but he was unconscious and
couldn’t hear me anymore.
"Your family do love their mind games, don’t they?" said Molly.
"Not now, " I said. "Please."
I stepped into the Sarjeant’s security alcove and opened the
emergency alarms locker. It was keyed to open to anyone wearing a torc. I looked
at all the switches set out before me, grinned, and then hit every single one of
them. Interior alarms, exterior alarms, fire, flood, witchcraft, and Luddites.
(Some of our alarms go way back.) Bells and sirens went off throughout the Hall,
ringing and howling and clanging in an ungodly cacophony of noise. Lights flared
and flashed, emergency doors slammed shut, steel grilles came crashing down, and
members of the family ran wildly this way and that, driven mad by the whooping
alarms. I always said we needed more emergency drills.
I walked confidently through the hallways and corridors with
Molly at my side. People rushed by, shouting and gesturing, but none of them
paid me any attention. To them I was just another Drood, anonymous in my armour.
And if Molly was with me, well, then she must be just another authorised guest.
In an emergency, people have time to see only what they expect to see.
I led Molly deeper into the Hall, and she oohed and aahed as she
took in all the luxurious furnishings, the portraits and paintings, the statues
and works of art, and all the other marvellous loot my family has acquired down
the centuries. I grew up with it all, so I still mostly took it for granted, and
I had to smile as Molly went ecstatic and rapturous over this rare piece or
that. I actually had to drag her away from a few things she wanted to examine
more closely. We had to keep moving; time was not on our side. Molly pouted
rebelliously, but she understood.
"Colour me majorly impressed," she said. "I’d heard stories
about this place, but…I had no idea. There are things here they haven’t even got
in museums! Paintings by major artists that aren’t in any of the catalogues! So
many beautiful things…and probably wasted on you, you philistine. No wonder
Sebastian had such excellent taste…I’m not leaving here without stuffing a few
things in a bag."
"Later," I said. "We have to get to the Armoury."
"Why?"
"Because there’s something there I need. Something I can use to
bring the house down."
The Armoury should have been closed, shut down, sealed and
guarded, according to the emergency protocols. I’d half expected to have to
fight my way through armed guards and force the blast-proof doors open with my
armoured strength. Or have Molly use her magics. But in the end the heavy doors
stood wide open, entirely unguarded, which was…unheard of. I edged over to the
blast-proof doors and peered cautiously through into the Armoury. It gave every
indication of being deserted. I insisted on going in first, and Molly made her
disapproval clear by crowding close behind, almost stepping on my heels.
The cellars were deserted, all the workstations shut down. The
quiet was eerie. None of the usual fires or explosions or sudden surprised
cursings. One man was waiting for us, sitting at ease in his favourite chair
right in the middle of everything. He watched, smiling wryly, as Molly and I
cautiously approached him. A tall middle-aged man with a bald pate and tufty
white eyebrows, wearing a stained white lab coat over a T-shirt bearing the
legend Guns Don’t Kill People—Unless You Aim Them Properly. The Armourer. My
uncle Jack. I should have known he would stand his ground when everyone else had
fled.
"Hello, Eddie," he said calmly. "I’ve been expecting you."
He held up something in his right hand. A simple clicker in the
shape of a small green frog. He snapped it once, and my armour went back into my
collar, just like that. I gaped at the Armourer, shocked speechless, and he
laughed softly.
"Just a little toy I put together long ago and kept for myself.
After all, you never know when it might come in handy…When I heard all the
alarms go off at once, I knew it had to be you, Eddie. You always did have a
taste for the dramatic. Why did you come back? You know it’s death for you to be
here, now you’re rogue. And why have you brought one of your oldest enemies into
the most confidential part of the Hall?"
"I’m not sure who the enemy really is anymore, Uncle Jack," I
said.
"You know Molly Metcalf?"
"Of course I know who she is, boy. I know all the names that
matter. I was an agent in the field for twenty years, and I still leaf through
all the reports. How else would I know what to design for agents today? What is
the infamous Molly Metcalf doing here, Eddie?"
"Why does everyone keep using that word?" said Molly. "I am not
infamous!"
"She’s with me," I said.
The Armourer smiled suddenly. "Oh, it’s like that, is it? Well,
it’s about time." He grinned charmingly at Molly. "Delighted to meet you, my
dear. I’m afraid I only know you by reputation, and quite a fearsome reputation
it is."
"I earned it," said Molly. "Though I’ve always preferred to
think of myself as a fun person."
"Did you really turn the whole Berkshire Hunt into foxes for
forty-eight hours?"
"Of course," said Molly. "I thought it might give them a little
insight."
"Good for you, girl," said the Armourer. "Never did approve of
foxhunting. Barbarous sport, mostly followed these days by inbred aristos and
nouveau riche arriviste arseholes. So, Eddie…you finally brought a girlfriend
home to meet the family. I was beginning to worry about you."
"She is not my…well…" I said. "We’re still working on what we
are."
"Right," said Molly. "It’s…complicated."
"How do you feel about him, Molly?" said the Armourer, leaning
forward.
"I’m fond of him," she said thoughtfully. "Like a big shaggy dog
that no one wants, that’s come in out of the rain, and you haven’t the heart to
drive out again."
The Armourer winked at me. "She’s crazy about you, kid."
"Woof woof," I said.
"Now then, lad," said the Armourer, briskly back to business.
"What the hell are you doing here? And whatever possessed you to phone ahead?
The Matriarch went mad. She’s been beside herself, issuing orders for you to be
killed on sight. I’m committing treason against the family just for talking to
you like this." He sniffed loudly. "Like that’s going to stop me. I’ve never
needed someone else to tell me what’s in the family’s best interests. If you ask
me, Mother’s not all there, these days. But even so, you can’t expect me to
actually assist you in…whatever you came here for. You should never have come
back, Eddie. What did you think you’d find here, for God’s sake?"
"Armourer," I said, "I came here looking for the truth. Just
like you always taught me, Uncle Jack."
He sighed heavily and clicked his green frog again. "Oh, all
right; there’s your armour back again. I just know I’m going to regret this…I
always was too softhearted for my own good. Why did you come down here, Eddie?
What do you want from me?"
"I need to discover the real reason why I was made rogue," I
said slowly. "I was never a traitor to the family, Uncle Jack. You know that."
"Yes," the Armourer admitted. "I know that. Anyone else I might
have believed, but not you, Eddie. You were always so honest and open about your
doubts…I couldn’t believe it when they told me. Wouldn’t believe it, till they
told me to shut up and do as I was told. Something’s happening in the family,
Eddie, that I don’t understand. Factions, infighting, deep divisions over
arguments I can’t even follow…And now different parts of the family are actually
keeping secrets from each other. I’m being deliberately kept out of the loop, as
well, and that’s never happened before. Mother would never have permitted it…She
always used to trust my judgement. But things have changed dramatically in the
years since you left, Eddie, and not for the better. Do I really need to tell
you that stepping down as Armourer in favour of dear little Alexandra wasn’t my
idea? Thought not."
"I need your help, Uncle Jack," I said. "I need you to trust
me."
"I’m really not going to like this, am I?" He rose to his feet
and clapped me on the shoulder. "You’ll probably do less damage if I help you.
Look, if you want answers, you need the library. Everything’s in there,
somewhere." He fished a key ring out of his pocket, and took off one small key.
He handed it to me. "The library will have gone into automatic shutdown once the
alarms started, but that key will open all the doors for you. Take good care of
that key, Eddie; I want it back. Now get the hell out of here before someone
comes in and catches me talking to you."
"Thanks for the key," I said. "But I need something else from
you."
"Oh, yes; of course! Molly’s a delightful young lady, Eddie. You
have my blessing."
"Not that! Well, thanks for that, but…I need something from the
armoury. To be exact, I need something from the Armageddon Codex."
The Armourer stopped smiling. "You want me to give you one of
the forbidden weapons?"
"Yes. I need Oath Breaker."
He looked at me for a long moment, and his gaze was very cold.
"Why in the name of the good God would you want that awful
thing?"
"There’s something rotten at the heart of the family," I said,
meeting his gaze steadily. "You know that as well as I do. I need the one weapon
no member of the family can hope to stand against. The one weapon they won’t
even think of challenging. It’s the only way I can be sure of avoiding
bloodshed, Uncle Jack."
"No, boy," the Armourer said flatly. "You’re asking too much."
"He has to," said Molly. "He doesn’t have time to be subtle. He
was shot with an arrow made of strange matter. It’s still in his system,
poisoning him."
The Armourer looked at me sharply. "Is this true, Eddie?"
I nodded stiffly. "Punched right through my armour. I thought
I’d healed the wound with a med blob, but the strange matter’s still in me. And
it’s spreading."
"Dear God…How long have you got, Eddie?"
"Three days," I said. "Maybe less."
"Oh, my dear boy…I heard about the arrow, but I never
knew…Strange matter. Cursed stuff. I destroyed the only samples I had. Let me
call up some old notes, see what I can do…There must be something I can do…"
"I don’t have the time, Uncle Jack," I said. "That’s why I have
to do this quickly, and that’s why I need Oath Breaker. You have my word I won’t
do anything with it that would hurt the family."
"I don’t know…" said the Armourer.
"I do," said a harsh, cold, and very familiar voice behind me.
"You get nothing, traitor, except what’s coming to you."
We all looked around, and there stood Alexandra, tall and proud
as ever. She was dressed all in black and carrying something awful in her hands.
Molly started towards her, and I grabbed her arm and held her back. The Armourer
grabbed her other arm.
"Don’t move, Molly," he said quietly. "She’s holding one of our
most dangerous weapons. She’s holding Torc Cutter."
"What the hell’s that?" said Molly, but she didn’t try to fight
us.
"Just what it sounds like," I said. "Hello, Alexandra. You’re
looking…very yourself. What are you doing with Torc Cutter?"
"I took it out of the security locker just for you, Eddie," she
said. Her voice was almost teasing, but she wasn’t smiling, and her eyes were
very cold. "Time’s up, Eddie. Game over."
"Would someone please tell me why everyone’s acting so
dramatic?" said Molly.
"The shears she’s holding are the only thing that can sever a
Drood’s torc," the Armourer said. "It breaks the lifelong connection between a
Drood and his armour. The operation is always fatal. Torc Cutter is a very
ancient weapon, older than family history. It’s only ever supposed to be used as
a last resort, to bring down a rogue who threatens the whole family, when all
else has failed. It hasn’t been used in centuries."
"They look like gardening shears," said Molly, and she had a
point. The shears were made of black iron, not steel, and looked like what they
were: a simple cutting tool. Bleak and functional, but to the eyes of any Drood
they were ugly with vicious significance. One of the few things absolutely
guaranteed to kill a Drood. I stood very still and made sure Molly did too.
Alexandra wouldn’t hesitate to use Torc Cutter. It occurred to me that I wasn’t
entirely sure why she hadn’t already used them. I would have. Perhaps…there was
just a chance that part of her wanted me to talk her out of using them. We had
been close, once.
"Don’t do this, Alex," I said carefully. "You know this is all
bullshit. You know I could never be a traitor. You were the one who knew me best
of all, once."
"I thought I did," she said. "But then you went away, and you
didn’t take me with you."
"I did ask," I said.
"You knew I couldn’t go! I had to make a new life for myself
here at the Hall. A life in which I have become very powerful, Eddie. And you
are most definitely a traitor, to the true spirit of the family. You’re a threat
to the family’s future, Eddie. And I can’t, I won’t allow that."