“I’m taking you back to Earth,” I said. “At the beginning of the twenty-first century AD.”
Giles just shrugged. “Sorry, means nothing to me. I’m from the centre of the empire, Heartworld, in the thirty-second century of the New Age. And before that, from a small colony world out on the rim.”
“And you used to work for the emperor?” I said carefully.
“Well, still do, officially. I am Warrior Prime, by popular acclaim leader of the Emperor’s Host in battle. The emperor will take me back, once we’ve put this little…misunderstanding behind us.”
“Won’t he miss you?”
“Ethur? He’ll be glad to see the back of me, for a time. Give him a chance to cool down, let my supporters make reparations behind the scenes…and then he can summon me back to court without losing face. Some emergency will arise that only the Warrior Prime can deal with; something always does. And then he’ll welcome me back with open arms. He’ll have to. He needs me. He might rule the empire, but I’m the one who keeps the peace.” He looked at me thoughtfully. “You can get me back again, can’t you?”
“Oh sure,” I said immediately, trying hard to sound confident. “That’s the joy of time travel. We can return you to your exact departure point in space and time, give or take a few seconds.”
“I’d rather you allowed a few months,” said Giles.
“No problem,” I said. “Right, Tony?”
But he wasn’t listening to me, still crooning to his engine. I searched for something else to say, to change the subject.
“So…why a sword, Giles?”
“Because it’s an honourable weapon,” said Giles, as though the answer should have been obvious.
“Oh wonderful,” said Molly. “We’ve picked up a looney.”
After various incidents and adventures, we all came home again. The Time Train came roaring out of Merlin’s Glass and screeched to a halt back inside the hangar at the rear of the Hall. Home again, in a cloud of something very like steam. The engine shut itself down, shaking and shuddering, and was finally still, the black steel ticking loudly as the metal slowly cooled. The Merlin Glass shrank down to its usual size and tucked itself almost coyly back into my jacket pocket. I had to wonder which of us was making the decisions these days. I really needed to read the instruction manual, once I had a minute to myself. I helped Molly descend from the cab, and she leant tiredly against me. Tony was already down, worriedly studying the long rent in Ivor’s side. The engine was making sad little parp parp noises from his funnel. Giles jumped down from the cab and looked interestedly about him. I started to explain what the hangar was, and then stopped as I realised the place was even more quiet and deserted than usual. No enthusiasts working on their projects, no one fussing around a particular device; no trace of anyone, anywhere.
Which strongly suggested we hadn’t returned to the hangar just a few seconds after we left, after all.
Two men appeared in the hangar door and headed straight for us. They both looked very familiar, and then a chill ran through me as I realised they both had the same face. It was the living Jacob and the ghost of Jacob, walking side by side. Someone had clearly taken the living Jacob in hand and introduced him to modern clothes. He was now wearing faded drainpipe jeans, a T-shirt bearing the legend I’m Not Dead Yet, and a black leather motorcycle jacket. It seemed to suit him. The ghost of Jacob had given up on his suit, and was back to baggy shorts and a T-shirt saying Ghosts Do It With Spirit. He looked pretty solid, but bits and pieces of him seemed to fade in and out, and his flyaway hair still drifted as though he were underwater. Both the living and the dead Jacob looked very serious. They came to a halt before me, and I looked from one to the other.
“Okay,” I said. “This is seriously creeping me out.”
“What?” said the living Jacob, scowling. “Oh, us. Turns out I’m the only one I can trust around here.”
“Right,” growled the ghost of Jacob. “Things have seriously deteriorated in your absence, boy.”
“Where the hell have you been all this time?” said the living Jacob.
“How long have we been gone?” I said.
“Eighteen months,” said the ghost.
“What?” I spun around and glared at Tony. “You swore you could get us back only a few seconds after we left!”
“It’s not Ivor’s fault!” Tony yelled right back at me. “He was injured by the energy beam! It’s a wonder he got us back safely at all!”
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said. I turned reluctantly back to the two Jacobs. “Eighteen months? Really? Jesus wept…All right, fill me in on what’s been happening. No, wait a minute; what do I call you both? You can’t both be Jacob.”
“We worked that out ages ago,” said the ghost. “I’m Jacob. He’s Jay. And since you left, everything has gone to hell in a handcart. The Loathly Ones have worked with Truman’s new and invigorated Manifest Destiny organisation to build nests and towers all across the world. There are thousands of them now. The family, under Harry’s leadership, has been working hard to stamp them out, but for every one we destroy a dozen more spring up to take its place. Soon the Loathly Ones will begin their mass summoning and bring the Hungry Gods through into our reality.”
“And then we’re screwed,” said Jay.
“Hold it, hold it,” I said. “What was that about…under Harry’s leadership?”
“With you gone, he took control of the family,” said Jay. “With the backing of the Matriarch. They dismissed the Inner Circle, and Harry’s been running things pretty much single-handed ever since. Him and his friend, the hellspawn.”
“And the family is losing the war,” Jacob said grimly. “Tell me at least you brought back powerful new weapons from the future.”
“I’ve got an energy gun,” I said, just a bit defensively. “The Armourer should be able to reverse engineer something useful from it… And I have brought back this gentleman, to advise us; the Warrior Prime Giles Deathstalker. He knows a lot about fighting wars.”
“Never lost one yet,” Giles said cheerfully. He nodded to Jacob. “Pretty good hologram, that. Though I think your focus needs fixing.”
“Don’t tell him,” I said quickly. “I think we need to introduce him slowly and carefully to the stranger parts of our family. Now, how bad are things, really?”
“Really bad,” said Jay. “The family is scattered all over the world, stamping out nests as fast as we can locate them, but there are just too many of them. Even with our new armour, it’s a hopeless task. We had no idea just how many Loathly Ones there were, or how many underground nests. They’ve been planning this for decades.”
“How long before they can begin their summoning?” said Molly.
“Three, four days, tops,” said Jacob. “You got back just in time for the end.”
“Well…couldn’t we use the Time Train again, go back in time another eighteen months?” said Molly. “Stop all this happening?”
“Ivor’s not going anywhere,” Tony said flatly. “I’ve got months of work ahead of me before he’ll be fit to go out again.”
“So,” I said. “I am left with just a few days to stop the bad guys from destroying the world and save the family from itself. If I hadn’t already done this once before, I might be seriously worried.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
A Circle Full of Secrets
“Sorry, Giles,” I said. “But it looks like you’re going to have to hit the ground running. I don’t have the time to give you a proper briefing and a guided tour of the Hall. So just do your best to pick it up as we go along.”