The Purple Emperor

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Bright sunlight caught Blue unawares, so that it took moments for her eyes to adjust. She seemed to be in an enclosed space, a cramped little garden of some sort. Quickly she reached around and felt between her shoulder-blades. No wings! At least the filter had worked properly. She gave a sigh of relief. All the safety texts told you to check for wings. If you shrank, you grew wings – that always happened. It's what happened to Pyrgus when the House Iris portal was sabotaged. And while it was sometimes difficult to decide on your size in a strange environment – the question of scale was always relative, the texts insisted – you either had wings or you hadn't. She hadn't, therefore she hadn't shrunk either. One hurdle crossed.

The next hurdle was whether or not the portal had remained open. She glanced behind her and there it was, a smaller area of flame at this side and no sign of the pillars, but definitely there. She didn't want to think about going back through that blue inferno, but at least the way was open.

Now, was she in the right place? Everybody said the portals never varied. You set the Analogue coordinates and that's where they took you. But there was always the possibility of sabotage or human error. She didn't think there was much chance of sabotage now, not with all the security in place, but human error could happen any time. So was she at Gatekeeper Fogarty's Analogue World home?

The shrivelled little lawn was a far cry from the lush gardens that surrounded his lodge at the Purple Palace, and the house beyond looked mean and gloomy -somebody had actually stuck brown paper to the lower windows. But she remembered both her father and Pyrgus remarking on the peculiarities of Mr Fogarty's Analogue lifestyle.

Blue gave a strangled squawk. Something warm and hairy had just rubbed against her leg. She looked down and saw an overweight tomcat polishing her ankles. He stared at her with luminous eyes and gave a little whirr.

Blue relaxed at once. Of course it was Mr Fogarty's home – this had to be the famous Hodge. 'Hello, Hodge,' she said quietly, and he whirred again. 'Are you going to show me where Gatekeeper Fogarty is hiding?' As if he understood, Hodge trotted off in the direction of the back door. Blue followed him with a little smile on her face.

'Mr Fogarty!' she called as she pushed the door open.

There was somebody inside, but it wasn't Mr Fogarty.

'Henry!' Blue exclaimed.

Henry jumped visibly. He'd been staring at something in his hand, a funny little black device with rows of numbered buttons on it. Now he glanced at her in surprise and what might have been delight.

'Blue,' he said breathlessly. 'What on earth are you doing here?'

'Looking for Gatekeeper Fogarty,' Blue told him simply.

Henry's eyes went back to the device in his hand. 'They've put him in jail,' he said in a small, astonished voice. 'He's just called me.'

Blue blinked. 'Who's put him in jail?'

Henry looked at her blankly. 'The police. He went out to make some arrangements about his house and now they've put him in jail.'

'They can't put him in jail,' Blue said imperiously. 'He's a Gatekeeper of the Realm.'

'Over here he's just an old-age pensioner who used to rob banks. They can put him in jail all right. He's in a cell at Nutgrove Police Station.'

'I don't have time for this,' Blue snapped. 'We'll have to get him out.'