Can you imagine the pressure on my family, working to get this done quickly, knowing they had no Plan B? Either this worked, or insane Drood armour would break loose to run wild in the world. To kill and destroy, with no restraint or mercy. They d given up on Moxton by this time. They had no way of prising him out of the armour. He was a lost cause. And I m sure some in the family wanted him punished for what he d done. The only plan was imprisonment, for him and his armour.
When the hedge Maze was finally ready, they manoeuvred the stasis field into position at the entrance. And then they dropped the field, and a whole mess of armoured Droods surged forward and pushed Moxton s Mistake inside. They stood outside the entrance, ready and waiting, but the rogue armour never came out again. They could hear it crashing about inside, screaming with rage, but the sound grew gradually fainter as it wandered deeper and deeper into the Maze, and finally its terrible voice died away completely and was gone. Moxton and his mistake were trapped inside the hedge Maze together, forever.
And that is the story of the Maze. Not our finest hour, by any means. Now you know what s in there. I think the Maze was only originally intended as a temporary measure, until they could figure out how to destroy the rogue armour or make it safe, but they never did. Apparently the Heart did try to seize control from a distance, but Moxton had built his mistake too well. I do have to wonder if perhaps Moxton knew or suspected the true nature of the Heart and built his armour to be something strong enough to set us free.
Either way, the rogue armour stayed within the Maze, unable to find its way out, trapped in the ever-changing hedge runs. Moxton must have died at some point, but the armour kept going. Designed to go on forever, if need be. And eventually the whole story of Moxton s Mistake was forgotten, or more likely suppressed, and the Maze became just another of the family s mysterious secrets. The armour should have been destroyed when the Heart was destroyed, but I suppose Moxton just made it too independent.
You Droods, said Molly. It s not enough that your successes and triumphs should be so great; your failures have to be equally magnificent and memorable, as well. She looked into the entrance of the Maze. Can t see a bloody thing but I am feeling something. She shuddered briefly. This suit of homicidal armour. Could it actually be stronger than the strange matter Ethel gave you?
No way of knowing, I said. And given that I can t access my armour with Ethel gone it doesn t matter. I need armour if I m to do a Drood s work and bring my family home. This is the only Drood armour left in the world, in this Maze.
Hold everything, said Molly. Stand right there. Don t move! Are you crazy? Are you seriously proposing to go in there and try to persuade Moxton s murderous mistake to act as your armour? It ll kill you on sight! And even if it doesn t, how the hell could you hope to control it?
I can t, I said. But I think I can make a deal with it. Service for a while, in return for freedom.
Even if it should agree, which it won t, how are you going to get out of the Maze? It s designed to keep anything from getting out!
But it never met you and me, Molly. This is where you come in. You re going to be my beacon. I want you to connect us magically, heart to heart and soul to soul a bond that nothing can break. And then all I ll have to do is follow the thread back through the labyrinth to you. You can do that, can t you?
Yes, said Molly. I can do that. But I m not going to. I am not letting you walk into that death trap on your own, to face that murder machine on your own. You re too used to having your armour, to being untouchable. That thing hates Droods! It ll kill you on sight! You need me with you to protect you. To keep you alive long enough to negotiate with the bloody thing.
We can t force it to do anything, I said steadily. My only hope is to persuade it. One Drood on his own shouldn t seem any kind of threat.
Even if it does agree, it ll only be biding its time till it s free of the Maze, said Molly. Then it ll just stamp you into the ground and head off. Do you really want to be responsible for letting such a thing loose on the world? The only existing Drood armour, with all that strength and power, and nothing to restrain it?
Once I put on the rogue armour I ll take command through the torc, I said. My own little trap. It shouldn t suspect anything. They didn t know about strange matter back then. I m gambling the strange matter in my torc will give me some measure of control over the armour. Not for long, probably, but hopefully long enough to get my family back. And then there ll be the whole family, in strange-matter armour, to stand against it. We have Ethel now, not the Heart. That should make all the difference.
But
I know, Molly! I do, really. I don t like the odds, either. But what else is there?
You don t need armour to be a hero, Eddie. You never did.
That s sweet of you, Molly. But I need armour to be a Drood. The Last Drood, with all my family depending on me. And the Maze is where I have to go to find it.
I really don t like this, said Molly.
Far too many if s and maybe s Far too many things that can go wrong!
I don t like it, either, and it s my plan, I said. I ve spent all this time trying to come up with something else, but the family has to come first. The world needs my family, and only I can find them and bring them back. Anything for the family.
But what if the rogue armour is too powerful for you? What if it traps you inside it, like Moxton, and you can t control it?
That s where you come in again. While I m in the Maze, I need you busy out here, whipping up some kind of magic to give me the upper hand.
Molly nodded stiffly. I can do that. You d be amazed what I can do when I m motivated enough.
Look. I promise I m not going to be stupid about this, I said. If it clearly is too powerful or crazy to be controlled, I shall run like hell and leave it behind in the Maze. But I m pretty sure it ll talk to me. It hasn t spoken to a Drood in God knows how long. It s bound to be curious.
I don t think it s going to have anything to say that you re going to want to hear, said Molly.
What if it chases you back through the Maze? Drood armour can run a lot faster than any Drood ever could. What if you lead it out?
Then use your magic to seal off the entrance to the Maze, I said steadily. So that nothing can get out. Not even me.
Eddie! I can t.
Yes, you can! We can t risk letting it out, Molly. Do whatever you have to do. And if I m lost in action, go find someone else to help you bring the Droods back to this world.
I can t leave you in there! I can t abandon you!
You ll be saving the world, Molly. From the Droods last folly. When the time comes you ll do what s right. I have faith in you.
I ll never abandon you, Molly said fiercely. If I have to, I ll seal you and the armour inside the Maze and then I ll go find my sisters, Isabella and Louisa, and we ll all come back to get you out.
I had to smile. Of course you will. All three Metcalf sisters in one place, working together Even Moxton s Mistake couldn t stand against the three of you.
Molly stepped forward and hugged me hard. I hugged her back, like a drowning man clinging onto a lifeline. There was a part of me that wondered if I would ever hold her again. But I knew my duty. I ve always known my duty. Eventually we let go of each other, and I turned quickly away so I wouldn t change my mind and walked into the entrance of the hedge Maze. Behind me I could hear Molly muttering urgently, already working hard on her magic, forging the link between us to bind us together.