The Purple Emperor

CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE

It was nice to be back in New York. Brimstone looked up at the Church of the Transfiguration, marvelling at how accurately the potion had translated him to this spot. There was a woman screaming a few yards away from him, presumably because she'd witnessed his sudden appearance. Brimstone shouldered his bag and smiled at her. Thank God for New Yorkers. They thronged past, ignoring the screaming woman, ignoring him, ignoring the green-domed architecture of this delightful church, avoiding eye contact, locked in their own beleaguered worlds. If the woman told what she'd just seen, they'd think she was mad. But if they didn't, they still wouldn't care.

There'd been some massive renovation on the church since the last time he'd translated, but the people streaming in suggested they were still holding a daily Mass. For a moment he was tempted to slip inside -the quaint attempt at white magic always entertained him – but decided to get business finished with before he took in any of the city's fine diversions. Besides, he still hadn't quite decided how he would carry out his mission.

In the old days he would probably have walked north on Mott Street, then turned right into the Bowery. But the Bowery wasn't what it used to be. There were still lots of down-and-outs, of course, but it might be difficult to find two he could actually use. The trouble was even the worst scumbags were better off these days. They had cheap wine in their paper bags. None of them touched the metholated spirit that thinned the blood so beautifully. He could spend all day taking samples before he found anybody suitable. And after that, there was the whole nuisance of killing them. No, best to spend a little of Beleth's funny money, put in an order and do it all the easy way.

He crossed the road and headed into Doyers Street, the dear old Bloody Angle. There were fewer people here, as if people somehow scented the horrors of its past. Brimstone plodded along, a benign expression on his wrinkled face, sniffing the air – such wonderful air, so full of fumes.

Moments later he had vanished into the lattice of streets and alleys beyond Doyers.

'You shouldn't have done that!' Nymph said sharply. 'You could have got yourself killed.' She was the first to join him.

'We had to make a move sometime,' Pyrgus said reasonably. The others were piling in at a run, led by Blue. He glanced at Henry, who seemed to be holding up all right, despite his recent brush with death.

They moved as a group round the side of the mansion, well away from the barrack wing where Hairstreak's soldiers had just disappeared. As they reached the rear, their luck still held – still no sign of any more guards. But perhaps that wasn't surprising: the wall was of smooth, massive stone and toweringly high. Hairstreak must have thought he was impervious to attack.

Pyrgus waited for Ziczac to catch up. 'What do you think?'

The little wizard looked around. There was a rocky outcrop that came close to the wall itself. 'That looks interesting.'

'It does?' Pyrgus frowned.

Ziczac chewed his lip. 'Typical formation,' he said, without explaining typical of what. 'Does anybody know if Lord Hairstreak built cellars?'

'Yes, of course he did,' Nymph said a little impatiently. 'Cellars and demon pits. That's why Her Majesty wants us to help Prince Pyrgus.'

'You don't know if he made them from a natural cavern, do you?'

Nymph looked at him blankly and Pyrgus shook his head. Blue said, 'You think there's a natural cavern underneath?' She glanced at the outcrop as well. 'It's the right geology…'

'Yes,' Ziczac said eagerly. 'Yes, it is.'

'What are you thinking of?' Pyrgus asked.

Blue smiled suddenly. 'He's thinking of taking us underneath the building! Aren't you, Ziczac?'

The little wizard nodded. 'Yes. Yes, I am.'

'Can you do that?' Henry asked.

'Oh, yes. Oh, yes indeed. We'll have to penetrate on a vertical axis rather than lateral, then move horizontally. It's a bit tricky, but I can do it. Provided you all keep still, of course. In fact, I think I'd like you all to link arms and stay together until we break through.'

'That means we can't use our weapons if we're attacked,' Nymph said sternly.

'This way, hopefully, we won't be attacked,' Ziczac told her patiently.

'What do you think, Prince Pyrgus?'

Pyrgus hadn't the least idea what the wizard was talking about, but he'd got them into the palace safely, so presumably he'd be able to do the same here. 'I think we should do what Ziczac says.'

Nymph shrugged resignedly.

Henry moved quickly beside Blue and waited for everybody to start to link arms. Blue gave him a fond look and said quietly, 'You all right?'

'Never better,' Henry said. He wanted to ask her what exactly was happening, but wondered if that would make him sound like a wimp. Or stupid. Or both.

It almost seemed as if Blue caught the thought because she said, 'Ziczac can get us through walls.'

'With magic?'

Blue nodded.

'Cool!' Henry exclaimed.

'Well, we'd better do it then,' Pyrgus remarked to no one in particular.

Ziczac did something and they all dropped into darkness.