Live and let Drood

CHAPTER THREE

Egypt? said Molly, a bit dangerously. And just why do we have to go to Egypt so damned urgently? What could there possibly be in Egypt that s so important we have to go there right now?

Something we need, I said. Something that will help me track down my missing family. Something that the Armourer once told me about, in an unguarded moment, in strict confidence so rare and secret and important that it should only ever be sought after in a real emergency. I m pretty sure this qualifies.

What, exactly, are we talking about here? said Molly.

A particularly useful item that my family put to one side and hid somewhere very remote and very safe, for just such an occasion as this, I said. You have to understand, Molly; my family has plans drawn up for every conceivable emergency that might ever arise.

You re saying your family even had a plan in place for something like this?

Oh, especially for something like this. Even when everything seems lost and all hope gone, you can be sure the Droods still have something in hand to fall back on. When a family has been around as long as ours has, we have time to consider all the possibilities. So we always have one last ace up our sleeve to confound our many enemies. A hidden weapon, one last dirty trick, or an unexpected ally waiting in the wings. Or in this case, a very useful item, hidden away.

I might have known, said Molly. Your family is too sneaky and underhanded for words. But even assuming this hidden item can help us, why do we have to go to Egypt, of all places?

Because that s where it is.

I hate it when you go all cryptic, said Molly severely. You re never more smug than when you re being cryptic.

The item in question is tucked away safe and secure in Egypt, I said patiently. So that even if the entire family was abducted, snatched away, disappeared without trace or fell through some hole in space and time as long as one of us remained, there would still be a chance to get the family back. A way to locate them, wherever they were.

Molly sniffed loudly. She didn t seem particularly convinced. How are we supposed to get to Egypt, with every bad guy and his dog out looking for us? We can t just book a weekend in Cairo in some backstreet bucket shop and just hop on the nearest plane. We should go to Brighton and talk to my friend. See if she can get us in to see the Regent of Shadows.

The Regent can wait, I said. What good will it do to have the Regent s support if we ve no way of finding my family? Besides, who needs a plane when we have the Merlin Glass?

I retrieved the hand mirror from the pocket dimension I kept it in and held it out before me. The silver frame shone almost supernaturally bright in the sunshine. Molly looked at the Glass and then back at me, and if anything, looked even more dubious.

I don t know, Eddie. That s not our Merlin Glass. It s from a whole different place. You really think we can trust it?

I m still not convinced we could trust the original, I said. But it s not like we have much choice in the matter. Unless your teleport capabilities have improved a hell of a lot since the last time we had to use them

My teleport capabilities are deliberately limited, Molly said sternly. You ve never understood the risks involved in travelling through the spaces that connect spaces. The farther the trip, the more you open yourself up to all kinds of dangers. Physical and spiritual. There are things that live in the places between places, and they re hungry. You have no idea how powerful the Merlin Glass must be to keep you safe as it transports you back and forth.

We have to go to Egypt, I said patiently.

To pick up the special little something my family hid there. We need it, Molly. Think of it as a form of insurance, put aside for a very rainy day. And before you ask again, Why Egypt? my family wanted it hidden as far from the Hall as possible, where no one would ever think to look for it.

You have moved beyond cryptic into seriously annoying, said Molly. What is it? A weapon of some kind?

Something far more useful, I said.

Something useful, hidden in Egypt, said Molly, thoughtfully. I used to be so good at crossword puzzles. Is it contained in a mummy s sarcophagus? Or perhaps an old oil lamp that needs cleaning? An ancient flame that bestows eternal youth? Tana leaves?

You re just being silly now, I said.

Wait, wait don t tell me. I ll get it! Is it a special kind of torc connected to all the other torcs?

Nice try, but no. We changed all our torcs remember? when we replaced the Heart with Ethel. My ancestors always knew that might be a possibility someday. Even if they were very careful never to mention such a thing anywhere, the Heart might overhear them. No. My family decided, quite rightly, that we needed something more basic.

Other families have skeletons in their closets, said Molly. Your family has whole boneyards. All right. Say we go to Egypt and pick up this thing. Will it enable us to go get your family?

Think of it more as a compass, I said. Something to point us in the right direction.

It s not strong enough to get us there on its own? Molly considered the question for longer than I was comfortable with. Is there anyone else that you know of who has anything like Alpha Red Alpha? A dimensional engine powerful enough to take us where Alpha Red Alpha took your family?

Not that I know of, I said. There are all kinds of dimensional doors and hellgates scattered around that can give you access to all kinds of other worlds and far-off realms some of them in the hands of friends, like the London Knights, some in the hands of enemies, like the Crimson Brotherhood of Peng Tang, and a hell of a lot more in the hands of private individuals with more money than sense. But we can t approach any of them without revealing why we want them, and we can t have the whole world finding out what s happened to the Droods. Looters would be just the start of it. And, anyway, I doubt very much anything out there would be as powerful as Alpha Red Alpha. It s always been thought of as unique, because no one else would be crazy enough to build something that dangerous. And then live over it. Alpha Red Alpha was designed to send you beyond space and time, into dimensions and realities we don t even have proper names for. That s why we never used the damned thing until I persuaded my family we needed it.

It s supposed to have been reverse-engineered from the stardrive of an alien ship that crashed in a field in Wiltshire in 1855. Personally, I ve always thought that if you re going to reverse-engineer alien tech, pick it from something that hasn t actually plummeted from the sky and crashed. Doesn t exactly fill you with confidence, does it?

We re proposing to send you through unknown dimensions, using an engine derived from something that fell from the skies and we had to dig out of a field. Yeah, right after you.

Do you know which alien species the ship belonged to? said Molly. Your family is supposed to keep track of all the aliens currently playing tourist behind what they think are cunning disguises. Maybe you could contact them, and

Rather worryingly, we have no idea who the ship belonged to, I said. No bodies anywhere on board, no record systems we could recognise or understand, and nothing in the tech that looked at all familiar. There are always a few Visitors who don t want to play nice. This particular starship was apparently like nothing we d ever encountered before. Word is, just looking at the ship too long or studying the technology too closely was enough to drive unprepared human minds right over the edge. After we d ripped out the stardrive, my family broke up the ship into small pieces and then dropped them in the deepest parts of the various oceans. Just to be on the safe side

Could anyone else have gained access to this technology? said Molly. Through the traitor in the family, perhaps? Yes, I know you don t like to talk about him, but think, Eddie. Could someone else have their own version of Alpha Red Alpha that we could make use of?

Unlikely, I said. The family Armourer who designed Alpha Red Alpha was half-crazy when he started, and all crazy by the time he d finished it. Supposedly the family had to lock him away for everyone s safety. They left him alone to die, but there are stories that he didn t die. Couldn t die after what exposure to the stardrive had done to him. That he s still locked up somewhere in the Hall

None of this is filling me with confidence, said Molly. Though I will take a moment to say Your family in a very disapproving voice. Eddie, if they were the only ones to possess a dimensional engine that powerful how can we hope to go get them, even if we do get our hands on this compass of yours?

One step at a time, Molly, I said. You have to have faith.

How long ago was this Egypt thing set up? she said suddenly. How far back are we talking about?

Oh, centuries, I said. At least. My family s been around long enough to think up plans and responses for pretty much every situation you can think of. Everyone knows some of them, and I know more than most because I used to run this family. But I d never heard anything about this particular backup plan until Uncle Jack took it upon himself to tell me. Apparently not everyone else thought I needed to know. They didn t think I d be in command long enough for it to matter. And as it turned out

Are you sure this thing is still there? Molly said bluntly. I mean, hidden in Egypt for all this time?

If it isn t, we re screwed, I said. So think positively.

I held the Merlin Glass up before me, and Molly and I both regarded it thoughtfully. It looked very much like the hand mirror I remembered, but there was definitely something different, even off, about it. I remembered my uncle Jack telling me he was half-convinced there was something, and perhaps even someone, trapped inside the mirror. And that whatever it was could be glimpsed sometimes in the background of a reflected image. An extra face in a group, or peering out from behind something I looked carefully, but all I could see was Molly and me looking dubiously back at ourselves. So that was a problem that could wait for another day.

Just as long as it didn t turn out to be some blond-haired Victorian child called Alice. I d already encountered a giant white talking rabbit in the Old Library.

I reached out cautiously to the Merlin Glass through my torc and told it where we needed to go. My torc now had rogue armour in it, and this wasn t the Merlin Glass I was used to, so it did occur to me that all kinds of things could go wrong but in the end the Glass jumped out of my hand just like always, and grew to the size of a door in a moment. It hung on the air before Molly and me, dangling unsupported above the grass. Our reflections were gone. Instead the Glass showed nothing but an impenetrable darkness. Molly edged closer very cautiously and peered into the dark.

That is not exactly promising, said Molly. Where, exactly, are we going in Egypt, Eddie?

To a very secret hiding place, I said. Which I don t feel comfortable naming out loud.

Oh, come on! said Molly. Look around you! There s no one here. We re on our own, deep in the Drood grounds. Who could possibly be listening?

You heard the Road Rat, I said. All our shields and protections are down. So, theoretically, anyone at all could be remote viewing the Hall and its grounds and listening in on our every word. Very definitely including Crow Lee.

I think we should get going, said Molly.

After you, I said.

Through an unknown Glass, into complete darkness and a place you can t even bring yourself to name? Do you ever want to see me naked again, Eddie?

I ll go first, I said.

I stepped briskly over the bottom frame and through the Merlin Glass into pitch-darkness, and then stepped quickly to one side so I wouldn t be run over by Molly as she came storming through right after me. She liked to make her point, but she never wanted to be left out of anything. Immediately both of us began to cough and choke. The air was bad. It smelled strongly of spices and rot, and air that had been left undisturbed for far too long. I should have expected that. I called my golden face mask out of my torc, and the moment it slammed into place over my face, I could breathe again. I looked quickly round at Molly, but she d already conjured up a bubble of fresh air around her head. The edges of the magical field shimmered in the gloom. She glared at me, and I shrugged apologetically.

Bright sunlight streamed through the open Merlin Glass behind us, summer sunshine falling through from the Drood grounds, illuminating an enclosed stone chamber no more than twenty feet square with no obvious door or other openings and an uncomfortably low ceiling. Dust thrown up by our sudden arrival swirled back and forth in the stream of light. I asked Molly to call up some witchlight, and she nodded quickly. A few muttered Words later and a warm and cheerful amber light radiated from her left hand, held up above her head. I immediately shut down the Merlin Glass. It fell back to its usual size, cutting off the sunlight, and I tucked the Glass away in my pocket. Molly s witchlight illuminated the chamber well enough.

And I didn t want something as powerful as the Merlin Glass announcing our presence to anyone who might be watching.

There was nothing in any way interesting about the stone chamber the Glass had delivered us to. Square, dusty, entirely enclosed. No obvious way in or out. Thick dust jumped up from the floor with every small movement Molly and I made, forming clouds in the air before falling sullenly back again. The four walls were completely bare, featureless; just basic blocks of dark stone put in place God alone knew how long ago. My family hadn t made this place. We just took advantage of it.

Are you sure we re in the right place? said Molly. I m not seeing anything useful. In fact, I m not seeing anything worth looking at.

I gave the Glass the right coordinates, I said.

The place isn t important; it s just a repository for what we re looking for.

Then where are we? said Molly. Her voice, and mine, sounded very flat and very small in the ancient enclosed surroundings. I am officially not impressed by any of this or the fact that I ve got to maintain a goldfish bowl of fresh air around my face. So, tell me exactly where we are right now or I am divorcing you.

We re not married.

Eddie!

We are in the Valley of the Kings, where ancient Egypt buried their most revered dead, I said. Or at least we are currently deep underground, underneath the Valley of the Kings. In a secret compartment of an undiscovered tomb. And, no, I don t know whose. There are still quite a few undiscovered tombs buried deep under the shifting sands, ready to be dug up. And given some of the things the old-time pharaohs had to bury or imprison everything from djinn with bad attitudes to animal-headed gods that had got a bit above themselves it s probably just as well that no one s found them.

Molly looked at me for a while, realised that I d said all I was going to say on the subject and gave me one of her looks.

You really do get on my tits, sometimes, Eddie. You know that? We re here somewhere, in someone s tomb, looking for something. I ll bet my sister Isabella knows more about this place than you do. More than your whole family, probably.

I wouldn t doubt it, I said generously.

Molly sniffed and looked about her, trying to find something worth looking at. Isabella would love this. Much more her thing than mine. Louisa; who can say? Wait a minute. Did you say deep underneath the Valley of the Kings? How deep, exactly?

Probably best not to think about it, I said.

I stepped up to one of the bare, featureless walls and studied it carefully. Molly moved in beside me, holding the witchlight up to give me better lighting. I moved quickly along the wall, searching for Drood sign. Dust was falling from the ceiling in slow steady streams. Almost certainly not a good sign.

I still don t see anything, said Molly.

No hieroglyphics. No loweroglyphics. Not even any Egyptian graffiti, like Cleopatra does it with ducks. And I certainly don t see any trace of a very useful Drood item. I don t know what your family left here, Eddie, but it is clearly long gone. Somebody else got here first and beat you to it.

Not necessarily, I said. According to what my uncle Jack told me, this chamber was deliberately left empty, to give just the impression you ve described. To discourage anyone who might have stumbled on our secret location. Now if I remember correctly

I went over the whole wall, studying it from top to bottom, through the expanded and augmented Sight of my golden face mask. Top to bottom and side to side, and then on to the next wall. Where a brief flash of light finally caught my golden eye; a sign left for Droods to see. I leaned in closer and there, barely halfway up the wall, a small but very significant sign had been delicately carved into the rough stone. I gestured to Molly and she squeezed in beside me. She picked out the sign even faster than I had. Molly s a first-class witch, and she s always been able to See more than me when it comes to the hidden world.

Is there a curse attached? she said suddenly.

There ought to be a curse attached. You know, something like,

Death shall come on swift wings to all those who seek to steal that which belongs to Droods! That sort of thing

Almost certainly not, I said.

Ought to be a curse, said Molly, pouting.

It s not proper tomb robbing unless there s a curse involved.

We are not tomb robbing! I said. We are simply recovering something that my family happened to leave here long ago. For safekeeping. Now, there should be a second stone chamber, right next to this one. On the other side of this wall.

I armoured up my right arm from shoulder to fingertip. The golden metal slipped down from my torc and encased my whole arm in just a moment. I was getting used to the cold. Hardly shuddered at all. I flexed the fingers of my golden gauntlet. I felt strong, capable, ready for anything. Like I could punch a hole through steel plate, never mind an old stone wall. Molly looked at me thoughtfully.

Why aren t you wearing your complete armour, Eddie? Normally, you can t wait to slip the whole thing on and do your superhero thing. So why settle for just the one arm now? Eddie, are you afraid of your new armour?

No, I said immediately. I m just concerned that a display of Drood power in such an out-of-the-way place might draw unwanted attention. I don t want anyone knowing we re here.

Are you back to that unseen-watchers bit? said Molly. We are not at home to Mr. Paranoia! Who could possibly know we re here?

Good question, I said grimly.

I turned away from her and struck the stone wall a good solid blow, and my golden fist punched right through the stone and out the other side. Molly cheered and clapped her hands loudly. I laughed out loud at the sheer ease of it. Jagged cracks radiated out across the wall from the hole I d made, but the wall itself remained, holding itself together. I wriggled my wrist around, but the hole didn t widen. I tried to pull my hand back and found I couldn t. My wrist was stuck in the hole. I was glad I had my mask on, so Molly couldn t see how embarrassed I felt. I struggled to pull my hand back, but it wouldn t budge. It was wedged in place.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Molly trying hard not to laugh.

Really not a subject for humour, Molly, I said sternly. If I get this wrong and bring the wall down, this whole chamber could collapse around us.

I am reminded of a little Dutch boy said Molly.

Don t go there, I said. Really. Don t.

I raised one foot and planted it firmly against the wall and pulled steadily on my trapped hand, throwing all the armour s strength against the hole. And soon enough my golden hand jerked back out. I stepped back and braced myself, ready for the wall to decide enough was enough and just fall to pieces but apart from a few more radiating cracks, everything was still. Some more dust fell from the ceiling, but I was getting used to that. Egyptians knew how to build things to last in those days.

I went back to the hole in the wall and carefully worked the edges, a few inches at a time, crushing the stone with my powerful fingers and throwing it aside. And inch by inch the hole grew bigger.

You are sure it s in there? Molly said helpfully. Whatever it is we re looking for that you still won t talk about.

There is quite definitely another chamber on the other side of this wall, I said patiently. The object in question was sealed in there. For protection.

I m not Seeing any magical protections.

Well, that s probably because there aren t any. The feeling was that any magical shields in such an out-of-the-way location would only draw people here to find out what there was that was worth protecting. We just have to hope that the traitor in my family didn t give up the secret of this location to our enemies. Though he might not have known about it; this was one of our most important and most restricted secrets. We can t be sure what the traitor does or doesn t know until we know who he is.

First things first, sweetie, said Molly. Do you think you could speed up the wall destruction just a bit? I really would like to get out of this tomb sometime this week, preferably.

Why the rush? I said. Somewhere else you have to be?

I don t like it here, said Molly.

There was something in her voice as she said that so I armoured up both arms, and widened the hole with savage speed, tearing chunks of old stone away from the edges of the hole, while still being careful not to do anything that might bring the wall or the ceiling down. Even with my full attention focused on the task, on the wall, I could still feel Molly watching me. I knew what she was thinking, but she was wrong. I wasn t afraid of my new armour. That wasn t why I was doing it this way. I was just being cautious.

Finally, I stood back and studied the larger hole I d made. I d opened up a good-sized gap some three to four feet in diameter. It had felt good to be breaking something, to smash the stone in my golden hands. To inflict my will on the world and make it follow my needs I clamped down hard on that feeling. I couldn t trust my feelings while I was wearing any part of the rogue armour. I couldn t hear its voice in my head or sense its presence looking over my shoulder but I had no doubt it was still there. I wasn t afraid of Moxton s Mistake. I had no doubt my torc gave me control over it. But I was afraid of what I might do if tempted. I still remembered what I d done that night in the Wulfshead when I struck down old friends just because they were in my way. When I beat the Indigo Spirit half to death because he wouldn t let me do what I needed to do. I d done my penance at Castle Shreck. That had to count for something. But I was damned if I d ever give in to that kind of anger again. So I had to be careful when using the rogue armour. I had to be cautious.

I leaned forward and peered through the hole I d made. Molly immediately moved in close behind me, breathing hard on my neck.

Well? Well? What do you see?

Can t see a damned thing, I said.

Are you sure there aren t any mummies in there? said Molly. I ve always been just this little bit freaked out when it comes to mummies. Ever since I saw that old mummy film with Boris Karloff on late-night television when I was a kid.

I liked the Hammer version, I said, with Christopher Lee.

Blasphemer.

Listen for the beat of the cloth-wrapped feet. No, that was a later one. Wasn t it?

It s all about the bandages, said Molly, squeezing in close beside me so she could see into the hole, too.

The feeling that it was only the rotting bandages that were holding the mummy together

She brought her glowing hand forward and sent cheerful amber witchlight through the gap I d made and into the chamber beyond. It looked like just another stone chamber, but this time with a raised slab in the centre of the dusty floor that bore a small wooden box. I took my time looking the chamber over, but I couldn t see anything else.

That s it? said Molly. That tiny box is what we came all this way to find? Oh, is it a wishing ring? I ve always wanted one of those.

That is very definitely it, I said. Just as Uncle Jack described it to me. And, no, it is not a wishing ring. They re just myths and legends.

Lot you know, said Molly. Get out of the way.

She shouldered me aside and thrust her arm into the gap, reaching for the box on the raised slab. I stuck my face into the gap with her. It soon became clear that she couldn t touch the box. Every time her fingers came anywhere near it, they seemed to just slide away no matter how hard she tried, or how much she swore.

Told you, I said after a while. It s protected in a very small and subtle way; only Droods can touch it.

Molly jerked her shoulder back out of the hole, stretched her arm a few times and then glared at me. You did not tell me that, or I would have remembered. Why didn t you tell me?

I wanted to see if the story was true, I said.

There are a lot of stories about this place, about this box and what it contains. Once people found out that Uncle Jack had told me the secret, they couldn t wait to come forward and confuse the issue with all the different versions of the story they d heard. I needed to see if this box is what it s supposed to be, so I can be sure the thing inside the box can do what I need it to do.

So I m your lab rat? said Molly. Your canary in a cage? Are you about to use the words booby trap, by any chance?

I was pretty sure my being here would defuse them, I said. Anyway, I knew you could look after yourself. If you had to. If anything went wrong. Besides, I was here. I would have protected you.

You are so full of yourself, Eddie.

I m a Drood.

Same thing.

I reached through the gap and my golden fingers immediately locked onto the box. In fact, it seemed almost to leap into my hand, as though it had been waiting all these ages just for me. I pulled my arm back and held the box out on the palm of my metal hand. Molly leaned in for a really close look, while being very careful not to touch any part of it. I had to say, after coming all this way and placing all my hopes on it, it didn t look like much. Just a small, flat, square box made from some dark wood, with Druidic stylings carved into the lid. Molly finally decided enough was enough and reached forward to lift the lid. Only to find she still couldn t touch it.

Told you, I said. This is a Drood secret. Only Droods can access Drood secrets.

If I wasn t so eager to see what s inside the box and you weren t the only person here who could open it, I would drop-kick you right through that wall, said Molly.

I rolled the armour up my arms and back into my torc and then gently ran one fingertip across the lid of the box. It sprang open of its own accord, reacting immediately to Drood contact. Molly and I watched the lid rise, holding our breath. And there inside the box was an old-fashioned compass. Copper surround, glass top, ivory base and a lead needle. There were no markings anywhere on the ivory base.

A compass? said Molly. It really is just a compass? I may spit. We came all this way for a bloody compass?

Getting a bit loud there, Molly, I said. We don t want to disturb the neighbours.

What use is a compass with no directions? said Molly. Or is this supposed to be some kind of Zen thing?

Wait, I said, trying hard to sound confident. I tapped the clear glass with one bare fingertip and the needle immediately spun round and round before settling firmly on one direction. And then, no matter how much I shook the compass, the needle wouldn t nudge from its chosen direction.

Okay, I am seriously confused now, said Molly.

Tell me there is an explanation on its way, Eddie, or there is going to be serious trouble breaking out right here, right now.

When we finally have the means to go after my family, I said, This compass will point whatever device we end up using in the right direction. It will provide exact coordinates. That s what it s for. No matter where my family is now, no matter how far from our reality Alpha Red Alpha has sent them, they can t be hidden from this. It was created for this one vital purpose: to point to my family.

All right, I ll bite, said Molly.

How does it work? And why can t I touch it?

Well, basically, I said. Very basically the compass locks onto Drood DNA. Our whole bloodline is unique. Right back to our beginnings. The Heart had to make subtle alterations in our DNA to make us compatible with our torcs and armour. To make sure no one without Drood blood could ever use them against us. Ethel did offer to change us all back when she gave us our new torcs, but she couldn t be sure what the side effects might be. So I said, Thank you, but no. Respect what works, and leave us the way we are.

So Droods aren t human? said Molly.

Think of us as more human plus, I said.

Yeah, said Molly. You would think that. Are you sure Ethel didn t make any changes to your family s DNA to make you compatible with her strange matter? I mean, that stuff nearly killed you the first time it got into your system.

She swears she didn t. And I don t see why she d want to hide it when she s been so open about everything else.

Yes, but

I know. We have to trust her, Molly. Because my family doesn t have any other source for our armour. Don t you trust her?

I like her. She s very likeable. But you ve always been far too trusting, Eddie.

That s not an answer.

I know.

We looked at each other for a long moment and then both decided that this was a subject for another time. We looked back at the compass, sitting there so quietly and patiently on my palm.

This compass is specifically attuned to our altered Drood DNA, I said. It s powerful enough to detect it and point to it, no matter where it may be. In this world or out of it.

What powers the compass? said Molly. I mean, there s not much of it.

I was afraid you were going to ask that. I did ask the Armourer, and he gave me a half-hour speech that had all my little grey cells lined up and kicking the crap out of one another. Let s just say one of our previous Armourers hit this thing with the science stick until it agreed to work and leave it at that.

Hold everything. Go previous. Hit the hand brake, said Molly. You said this whole scheme was cooked up centuries ago. Are you telling me Droods knew about DNA way back then?

Who knows what my family knows, or when they knew it? I said. Though I have a sneaking suspicion, from certain hints Uncle Jack couldn t keep himself from dropping, that time travel may have been involved at some point. I hate time travel; it really messes with your head.

And then both our heads came up as we looked around sharply. We stood very still, listening.

Did you just hear something? said Molly.

I was really hoping that was just me, I said.

What did you hear?

Something moving. Something that might have been footsteps

Listen for the beat of

Shut up!

We looked carefully around us, Molly holding her left hand high to spread the witchlight evenly around the chamber. She even raised the intensity of the light, making the shadows seem very deep and very dark. Molly moved her hand jerkily back and forth, and shadows jumped violently all around us. But there was definitely no one else in the chamber.

When I broke into the adjoining chamber, I said slowly, it is entirely possible that I broke all the original Drood seals and protections. In which case none of this is hidden anymore from the eyes of the world. The whole place probably lit up like a beacon. If someone was lying in wait, keeping an eye on things here

Then they just got an eyeful, said Molly.

Any chance this watching someone might be Crow Lee or one of his people?

Seems likely, I said. If he d learned enough about my family s secrets to remotely control Alpha Red Alpha, who knows what else he knows? You don t get to be the Most Evil Man in the World without keeping three steps ahead of everyone else. Whoever s watching knows what s just happened. They might not know exactly what was hidden here, but they must know it s out in the open now and vulnerable.

So they ll be coming for it, said Molly.

Seems likely, I said.

They re already here, said Molly.

That s what we heard. It s mummies. I just know they ve sent mummies after us.

Look on the bright side, I said. Might not be mummies; could be daddies.

Really not helping here, Eddie! I hate mummies! They re going to come crashing through the walls, I just know it, dusty old things wrapped in rotting bandages, and they ll wrap their horrible arms around me, and

Easy, girl. Easy! I can see years of therapy starting right here. I put my hands on her shoulders and gripped them comfortingly. Molly What are you so scared of? You re the wild witch of the woods, free spirit of anarchy and queen of all the wild places!

If fears were rational, said Molly, with some dignity, they wouldn t be fears. Would they?

How old were you when you first saw this mummy film?

Five. Maybe six.

Well, you re not five or six anymore. You re not a helpless child anymore. You are a very grown-up, very powerful, very adorable and only sometimes scary adult. Anything in bandages turns up, you set fire to it and I will stamp it into the floor. Okay?

Okay, said Molly. Thanks, Eddie. What are you afraid of?

Losing you.

She smiled. You say the nicest things, sweetie. And then she stopped and held herself very still, only her eyes moving. Look around you, Eddie. Are you seeing what I m seeing? Our shadows are moving and we re not.

In fact, I said, holding myself very still, too, there are far too many shadows in this chamber. The enemy is with us, Molly. On guard.

I armoured up, the cold metal rushing over me in a moment. I kept the compass enclosed with one hand inside the armour. Molly sent up a ball of witchlight from her hand to bob against the low ceiling, providing illumination while leaving her hands free to do more destructive things. We moved quickly to stand back-to-back, without having to discuss it. We d danced this dance before. I actually felt a lot better now that I had a proper enemy to confront. Shadows danced wildly all around the stone chamber, deep and dark and menacing. Full of an awful, inhuman life. They took on human shapes, distinct but distorted, the better to terrify us, and entirely separate from Molly and me leaping and jumping, stretched across the bare stone walls. They had nothing to do with Molly s witchlight; they were something from outside. No faces on their dark heads, not even any eyes, but still the shadows seemed to know exactly where Molly and I were.

They whipped around the chamber, circling us like sharks, darting in and out, peeling themselves away from the walls to threaten Molly and me with sudden sharp movements. Dancing like demons, jumping and stretching and moving closer to us with every attack. They swirled around us, leaping and looming. Mocking, maddening things.

Can I just quietly remind you that self-control would be a very good thing right now, I said quietly to Molly. One destructive blast in the wrong place might well bring this whole place down on our heads. And we really are a very long way underground.

Like I need you to tell me that, said Molly.

Self-control, carefully aimed destruction and brutality and viciousness at close quarters; that s what s needed here. Look at the stupid things jumping up and down and trying to be scary. We can handle a bunch of shadows.

I smiled briefly behind my mask. Of course we can. We are, after all, professionals.

And then all the shadows attacked at once, plunging in at us from every direction, striking like solid things with solid blows and supernatural strength. Suddenly they all had huge brutal fists and clawed hands and a lot of good that did them against my armour. Jagged claws clattered loudly across my golden face and neck and raised showers of sparks as they skidded across my armoured chest; doing no damage at all. I actually relaxed a little. I hadn t been entirely sure the rogue armour would be as strong and secure as the strange matter I d grown used to. Shadows smashed and slammed into me from every direction at once, and one dark force hammered into my chest like a battering ram, making my armour sound like a great bell. But they couldn t even rock me back on my feet.

The shadows retreated for a moment, shaken.

Molly filled the chamber with all manner of fierce and dangerous light, throwing mystic attacks at every moving shadow. Terrible energies flared around her hands, and the close air trembled with the impact of the Words she spoke. Dark leaping things exploded as her energies overpowered them, but most of the shadows just opened up holes inside them so that her magics flashed right through them without touching or affecting them at all. They came at her again and again, but she d already surrounded herself with a shimmering screen that kept them back. The shadows beat at it with their dark fists and cut at the screen with their barbed claws, and none of them even came close to breaking it. I could feel the presence of the protective screen even through my armour. A tingling, not unpleasant sensation.

The shadow shapes seemed only to have a physical presence when they chose to. I lashed out at them and my golden gauntlets passed right through them, as though they were just the shadows they seemed. I couldn t touch them, couldn t hurt them, and when I tried to grab them in my golden hands, they squeezed out like inky tar. And all the time they were hitting me again and again, harder and harder. And I couldn t help noticing that Molly s protective field was slowly shrinking under the outside pressure, closing gradually but inexorably in on her.

Eddie! This is not going well! said Molly.

I say we use the Merlin Glass and get the hell out of here! We ve got what we came for!

Already ahead of you, I said, thrashing wildly around me. But, unfortunately, some outside force is interfering with my access to the pocket dimension I keep the Glass in. I can t reach the damn thing!

Typical! I told you to leave it open in case we needed to make a sudden exit!

No, you didn t!

Well, you should have thought that I would! said Molly.

That makes no sense!

Can we argue about this later? Only I m just a bit busy at the moment.

The shadows lunged forward, falling on us both from all sides at once, wrapping themselves around us like huge shadowy snakes. They lashed our arms to our sides before we even realised what they were doing, and both of us staggered back and forth around the chamber, crashing into the walls and each other, struggling to break free. I set all the strength of my armour against the shadow snakes, but they didn t give an inch. I could see them tightening remorselessly around Molly s shimmering screen, forcing it right back against her body, so she had no room to move or manoeuvre. If not for the screen, the sheer pressure of the shadow snakes would have killed her. They tightened even further about me like constrictors. I heard my armour creak and even groan under the inhuman pressure, and I felt the touch of real danger. Because while physical force has limits, magic has none. The rogue armour was good, but it wasn t the impenetrable strange matter I was used to.

My mind flashed back to the half-melted Drood armour I d found at the entrance doors of the ruined Hall. He probably thought his armour would save him, right up to the moment when it didn t.

Sorry, Eddie, said Molly, just a bit breathlessly. Normally I d leave it to you to save the day with some last-minute miracle. I know how much you love to do that. But I don t think my shields will last much longer. I m going to have to try something.

Go for it! I said. I ve got nothing. If you ve got something, hit them with it, with my blessing!

You re so sweet. Okay, here s an old trick Walker taught me, said Molly. And no one knows the darkness like Henry. Fiat Lux!

Brilliant light sprang up out of nowhere, blinding and incandescent, filling the whole chamber and throwing back all the darkness. The shadows couldn t stand against it and were blasted out of existence in a moment. Molly s shimmering screen was gone, replaced by pure light, and there wasn t a bit of darkness anywhere. The light reached a peak almost unbearable to human eyes, even through my face mask, and then began to fade. At the farthest edges of the chamber, shadows started to stir again.

The Glass! Molly said urgently. We need the Merlin Glass!

I know! I said. I m on it!

I concentrated on the Merlin Glass, reaching out to it through my torc, and with no shadow attacks to distract me, my trained mind punched right through the barriers that had been put in my way. All Droods are trained in psychic as well as physical attacks. Or we wouldn t last ten minutes in the Hall, never mind out in the field. We ve always been a boisterous family. I thrust my hand through the golden metal at my side, into my pocket, and grabbed the hand mirror. I brought it out and shook the Glass to door size. Once again, bright sunlight poured through the doorway from the Drood grounds. Molly went straight through the Glass, with me hot on her heels. The moment I hit the grassy lawn beyond, I turned around and shut down the Merlin Glass. It shrunk to hand size and flew back to nestle cosily into my hand. I put it away. The Drood grounds were full of sunshine, not a shadow anywhere.

Where s the compass? said Molly. Tell me after all that, you ve still got the bloody compass!

Panic not, I said. Of course I ve still got the compass. I ve been holding it clenched in my hand all this time.

She didn t relax until I opened my hand to show her. I put it away in the same pocket as the Merlin Glass, while Molly breathed heavily and then stretched slowly in the sun, like a cat.

Good. Well done. Because I am never going back to that place, not ever. I hate mummies!

There weren t any mummies.

There might have been!

There s no answer to a statement like that, or at least none that won t get you into serious trouble with your girlfriend. I armoured down. And maybe it was only my imagination that seemed to feel a slowness, a slight reluctance, in the armour s return to the torc. I stretched, too, enjoying the warmth and light of the open grounds.

And then Molly and I sank down abruptly onto the good green grass and just sat there quietly, getting our spiritual breath back. I think if Molly hadn t been there, I might well have given myself over to the shudders. The grounds were very peaceful and the quiet was a comfort. Molly and I sat side by side, shoulder to shoulder, leaning companionably against each other. Drawing strength from each other.

It s been a long time since it s been that close, I said finally. If you hadn t had that last trick up your sleeve I don t know what those shadow things were, but they were hellishly powerful. I think they might actually have been able to crush my armour, and me in it, given enough time. And there s not much that can do that.

We ve won too many wars, said Molly.

Got too used to winning. Too many victories make you soft, make you sloppy.

Crow Lee had to have been behind them, I said.

Backing them up with his power. We still kicked their shadowy backsides, though.

What s this we? I was the one who called down the Light. You really think Crow Lee was behind them?

I hope so. I hate to think we might have another enemy that powerful after us. I looked at her thoughtfully. Walker? You know Walker?

Yes.

Henry?

Yes!

And?

And nothing! We worked together some years back on certain matters of mutual interest and profit. Cash up front, of course.

Of course. You never said

You never asked, said Molly in her most infuriatingly reasonable tone.

Some conversations, you just know they re not going to go anywhere good. I let it drop.

What time is it, Eddie? said Molly. It s starting to feel distinctly dinnerish.

I looked at my watch and then sat up straight. That can t be right.

What? said Molly, immediately sitting up straight, too. What can t be right?

I checked my watch right before we went through the Merlin Glass. Old habit from working in the field. And this is almost exactly the same time. We ve been back a few minutes, and my watch says this is just a few minutes after the last time I looked at it. The Merlin Glass brought us back to the exact moment in time and space that we left.

Okay, said Molly. That is spooky. If we returned to the exact moment we left, then right now we re also deep underground in the Valley of the Kings.

Yeah I said. That is spooky.

Could the old Merlin Glass do time travel? said Molly.

I never tried, I said. I don t think so, but then, I never did get around to reading all of the instruction manual Uncle Jack gave me. There was an awful lot of it. I think we should be very cautious about how we use this otherworldly Merlin Glass, from now on.

Suits me, said Molly. Can we go to Brighton now?

I should think so. Why do you want to go to Brighton?

So I can look up my old friend. Brighton will make a nice change. I can cope with Brighton.

And there are no mummies there, I said.

Lot you know, said Molly.