"Monday's Dayroom. May I help you?"
"Sneezer, it's Arthur. Put Dame Primus on please, straightaway."
"Very good, sir."
"Lord Arthur?"
The snake on Arthur's arm jumped as Dame Primus's voice echoed through the room. Not for the first time, Arthur wondered why all the superior Denizens did that on the phone. It was probably just so they sounded important.
"Yes. I haven't got much time, so listen carefully. I want every available Commissionaire Sergeant, Metal Commissionaire, Midnight Visitor, the former Overseers from the Far Reaches, the regular sailors, and all our superior Denizens to come through to the Citadel in the Great Maze with weapons and as much Nothing-powder as is available, as quickly as possible. Oh, and Dr Scamandros and anyone else who might be useful in a battle, including you. There'll be an elevator in the Lower House. Any questions?"
"Yes, Lord Arthur, I have numerous questions," said Dame Primus in a peevish tone. "What is going on? Are you planning to fight Sir Thursday? That would not be a sensible course. Even with all our forces, we would be no match for the Army –"
"I have the Key and Part Four is free," interrupted Arthur. "Sir Thursday is under arrest –"
"And will be judged!" blurted out the snake.
"And we are about to be attacked by a vast army of New Nithlings led by the Piper. So hurry up, will you?"
"Indeed," said Dame Primus, her tone quite changed. "It shall be as you say, Lord Arthur. I do not know how quickly we can come, but we will do our best."
"That's that, then," said Arthur. "Let's have a look at the battlefield, and while we do that, somebody can find a big white flag. And an olive branch. You could do that, Marshal Noon. Lead on, Marshal Dusk."
As they walked to the door, Arthur lifted his hand and took a surreptitious look at his crocodile ring. He did not need to hold it close to see that the gold had washed past the fourth marker and was a third of the way towards the fifth.
Twenty-seven
HIGH ON THE battlements of the Star Fort, it was easier to see just how much trouble the Citadel and all those who sheltered behind its walls were in. There was a blackened, churned-up borderland that stretched for about three hundred yards beyond the western bastions. After that, there were numerous diagonal trenches dug in a complex pattern that ran for miles to the west and to the north and south. These trenches were heavily populated by New Nithlings and New Nithling siege equipment, including scaling ladders, bundles of fascines for filling trenches, battering rams, and many large mantlets that were like portable roofs they carried to protect themselves from arrows and musketry.
"So that's what seventy-five thousand New Nithlings look like," said Arthur. He tried to sound nonchalant, but there were so many of the enemy, and everything about their position looked so organised, from the trenches to the way that each unit was formed up within the earthworks, each with its own colourful banner above it, spread by the breeze and bravely lit by the afternoon sun.
"More like ninety thousand," said Dusk, looking at a strip of parchment in his hand. "The Borderers report another column has just arrived. There – you can see its dust in the distance."
Arthur looked where Marshal Dusk was pointing.
"How far away is that?"
"Four miles," said Dusk. "Off the fixed tiles. They'd normally be moved far away at sunset."
Arthur didn't say anything, but everyone glanced at the downward-lurching sun, and there was an unspoken note of regret that the mission to destroy the spike had failed.
"They're preparing for another assault," said a colonel at Dusk's side.
"That's unusual," said Dusk. "They've only just failed in their last attempt. Normally they wait a day or so, to really build up their numbers. I wonder why the hurry now?"
"They were close to taking the southwestern corner bastion," answered the colonel. "Perhaps they think a quick assault will finish that task."
"I had best go see to the defences, sir," said Dusk. "If I may suggest, sir, it would be wise to send Marshal Noon there too. He is a tremendous fighter and always greatly cheers the troops."
"We'll all go," said Arthur. He licked his lips, which had become suddenly dry.
Just the wind, Arthur thought.
"I'll go out with the truce flag," he said. "I don't suppose the Piper will be there … though I guess he can probably use the Improbable Stair too … so maybe he will be …"
Arthur paused for a moment, thinking before he continued.
"I'll ask for him. If he's not there and they're prepared to talk, it will win us some time. If he is, I'll try to drag things out as long as I can, to give Dame Primus time to get the reinforcements here."
I just pray she's not as slow and bureaucratic as she normally is, thought Arthur. He hoped this doubt did not show on his face.
"They may simply try to kill you," said Marshal Dusk. "The Key will protect you to some extent, but we do not know the extent of their Nothing-based sorcery or powers. And the Piper … I know little about him, but he was always rumoured to be a most powerful and unusual sorcerer himself."
"When did you last hear about him?" asked Arthur.
"We do not pay much attention to what goes on elsewhere in the House or the Secondary Realms," Dusk explained. "But of course new recruits bring rumours, and letters come from their civilian homes. Now that I think on it, I suppose I have not heard anything of the Piper's exploits for several hundred years at least."
"And now the Piper's back, apparently from Nothing, with an army of New Nithlings."
"With your permission, I will personally choose and lead your bodyguard," said Dusk.
Arthur shook his head and pointed down.
"I'll go alone. To the middle of the firewash-burned zone there, between those two bastions. You can cover me from there. If too many of them come for me, I'll back off. But I hope when they see the white flag, they'll send just one messenger. They are very military … I think they'll do the right thing."
"They are good soldiers," Dusk said slowly, as if it were hard for him to say this aloud. "Perhaps they will send a herald. But in case they do not … we have a troop of the Horde here, sir. So, again with your permission, I will have them stand ready near the southwest sally port. In the event a rescue is required."
"Sure," Arthur said. "But no one is to do anything unless I give a clear signal or I'm being literally dragged away or attacked. I don't want everything to go off the rails because someone shoots the herald or something."
He hesitated, then spoke again.
"You'd better assign soldiers to watch the Piper's children too. The Piper might be able to make them do things. I don't want any of them hurt or locked up or anything. They should be allowed to carry out their duties. Just have them watched, and if they do act strangely, they can be restrained. But not hurt, all right?"
"Yes, sir," said Dusk. "Here is Marshal Noon, with the truce flag."
Noon stomped grumpily out onto the battlements, a staff with a furled white flag in his hand.
"Thank you, Marshal." Arthur felt a bit guilty for sending the Marshal to get a white flag. It was because the Denizen had annoyed him, and he felt ill that he had behaved in such a way. His mother and father would be horrified at his misuse of power. If he wasn't careful, Arthur thought, he'd not only turn into a Denizen, he'd turn into one like Sir Thursday. "I should have sent a junior officer. I apologise."
"Yes, sir," said Noon stiffly. "Do you have further orders, sir?"
"I want you to take personal charge of the defence of the outer bastions," said Arthur. "I am going to try to get us time by talking, but it may not work, and the New Nithlings are apparently preparing to attack again."