The Purple Emperor

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

There was something wrong with Pyrgus. He was skulking in his quarters when they found him and Fogarty had seen healthier-looking corpses.

'You OK?' Fogarty asked at once.

Pyrgus looked at him with dark-rimmed eyes. 'Yes.'

'Sure?'

Pyrgus nodded. 'Yes.'

Fogarty sniffed. 'Don't look it.'

Blue said, 'He's right, Pyrgus – you look awful.'

Pyrgus shrugged. 'Didn't get much sleep last night. Look, can we talk about important things? Have you told the Gatekeeper what's happening?'

'About our father's body and the assassination plot? Yes.'

Pyrgus glanced behind them. 'Didn't Henry come with you?'

'He's following on,' Fogarty said. 'Any developments?'

Pyrgus licked his lips nervously. 'I questioned the guards. They saw nothing to account for the disappearance of my father – nothing. At one inspection the body was there, at the next it wasn't.'

'Magic?' Fogarty asked.

'Don't see how,' Blue said. 'I've never heard of anything that would spirit away a body.'

'Neither have I,' Pyrgus said. 'But we're not wizards, so there could be a spell we don't know about – maybe something recently developed. I think we should assume it's something of that sort, some unknown magical intervention, and since there's nothing we can do about that at the moment, I don't think we should waste any more time investigating. I think we should wait until whoever did it shows their hand.'

'You think whoever did it might want a ransom for the body?' Blue said.

Pyrgus nodded. 'Probably.'

He was lying. Fogarty was sure of it. What he didn't know was why.

'I think we should concentrate on this assassination story,' Pyrgus said. 'I hope you don't mind, Blue – I've asked your friend Madame Cardui to brief the Gatekeeper directly.'

'No, of course I don't mind,' Blue said. 'Is she here or do you want Mr Fogarty -'

'She's waiting in the anteroom. I asked her to join us as soon as Mr Fogarty arrived. I'll – ah, here she is now.'

Fogarty turned as the door beside him opened. Something struck him like a thunderbolt.