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Beside her, Fellstamp was laid with his head in the lap of one of the female stewards, his eyes closed. In normal circumstances he'd be enjoying that sort of attention, but he lay quite still, eyes closed. She held a cloth pressed to his forehead, murmuring down to him. There was an acrid smell of burning plastic and another smell I couldn't identify.

People were bringing in bowls of warm water and blankets. They didn't seem to know what else to do.

"What the hell happened to you?" I blurted out.

Fionh pushed the glass away. "Your daughter and her friends, that's what."

"Alex did this?" I was incredulous.

"Her friends did. We underestimated them badly. They looked peaceful enough and we went in hard. Fellstamp took one of them hostage. We thought we had it under control but there was some sort of electrical discharge, I've never seen anything like it. It caught Fellstamp full in the chest. He hasn't moved since."

"Perhaps it was an accident. They don't have much control."

"You joke!" said Fionh. "While one of them was throwing fireballs at me, the other did something to the floor of the building. It was like quicksand, dragging me down."

She coughed and Garvin gave her some more of the water. When she could speak again she continued.

"The leader is a girl, not much older than Alex. She was carrying a bag slung across her chest and a metal arrow, it looked like silver. She had a book as well, but she put that in the bag as soon as she realised they weren't alone." She coughed again. "When the others had gone, she leaned down at the edge of the pit that was dragging me down. She watched me struggling as I was sliding slowly backwards. She didn't offer a hand, or even blink."

Fionh's gaze turned inwards at the memory.

"She said to pass on a message. She said not to come after them. She said if we did she would take a city and do the same with that as she was doing to me. She said she would drag all of it down and send it to hell, which was what it deserved. Then she stood up and walked away without a backward glance."

"And you left Alex with these people?" I asked.

"Your daughter?" She laughed without humour. "She's in on it — one of them, calm as you like. They had a bit of a tiff when the leader thought she'd given away their location, but she went with them all the same. She's one of them, Niall."

"She can't be. Alex wouldn't associate with anyone like that," I protested

"She's changed, Niall. She has tattoos all down her arms now, and wears her hair jet black. She probably calls herself Dementia or something."

"She's just playing along with them."

"No, Niall. She's one of them."

Mullbrook arrived, bringing in two stewards with a makeshift stretcher made from a tabletop, which they guided down beside Fellstamp.

"He hasn't moved since he was hit," said Fionh, watching them carefully lift him onto the low wooden platform. "I had to carry him down the Way."

Naturally pale, his skin looked like it had been powdered white under the soot and the grime.

"You need to rest," said Garvin. "When you feel up to it we'll get you cleaned up. You'll feel better when you've had some sleep."

"I don't want sleep," she said. "I want revenge." She tried to push herself up, but Garvin rested his hand on her shoulder and gently pressed her back down.

"That's why you're not going after them," Garvin said. "It'll take a cool head and careful planning. I'll take Amber and Tate. We'll do what needs to be done."

"What about me?" I asked.

Garvin looked up at me. "My instructions will be to kill on sight. I don't think I can ask you to do that, Niall."

He paused.

"Not when it's your own daughter."

SEVENTEEN

"We've got to do something!" I paced up and down in front of Blackbird. "They're going to kill her."

"They'll have to find her first," said Blackbird, reasonably.

"They've already found them once. How long before they give themselves away? This time they won't give them chance to draw breath. They'll just kill them all and have done with it, Alex included."

"I thought Alex didn't do anything?"

"She didn't. It's guilt by association. And when I said that to Garvin, he said that she didn't lift a finger to help them either."

"That's no reason to kill someone."

"That's what I said, but you know what Garvin's like."

"Indeed I do," she remarked, "he thinks he's judge, jury and high executioner, and unfortunately he's not disabused of that by the High Court."

"I have to try and find her." I said. I found myself dry-washing my hands, and stuck them in my pockets to stop myself.

"Where would you start? You've been looking for her for days and you haven't found her yet. For that matter, how did Fellstamp and Fionh find them?"

"They were tipped off. Apparently the building where they were squatting is part of a territory given to one of the fey in Teoth's Court. They were spotted entering and leaving and a complaint was raised with the courts. Garvin realised who it was that was disregarding territorial boundaries…"

"…and sent Fionh and Fellstamp in heavy-handed," Blackbird finished.

"Apparently Fellstamp took one of them hostage — sounds like he picked the wrong one."

"And that worked out well, didn't it?" she said. "How is he?"

"His condition hasn't changed. Half the female stewards are walking around as if they're in mourning, and the other half are looking as if they've had a lucky escape."

"He's such a rogue."

"You're smiling. Don't tell me you're smitten too?"

"You have to admit, he is very charming," said Blackbird, off-handedly.

"Not at the moment, he's not."

"He'll come around, you'll see." She could see I was worried about him.

"I hope so. I don't know what Garvin will do if he doesn't pull through. He's very protective of his people."

"Apart from you," she said.

"The same with me. Up to a point."

"Quite."

"I only seem to cause him trouble," I admitted.

"And that's your fault, is it? You do this deliberately?"

"Of course not."

"Then he can hardly punish you for it, can he?" she said.

"It's not me he's punishing."

"Isn't it? He must know how you feel about them going after Alex. She is your daughter."

"He knows, but it doesn't change anything. He says she's brought it on herself."

"The excuse of the despot throughout history — they brought it on themselves; they forced my hand; they made me do it."

"I have to find her," I repeated.

"Perhaps there is a way. You said that this girl had a silver arrow with her?"

"Yes, and a book."

"Then it's time we went to see Gregor again. We know they have a key and a feather. Perhaps he can shed some light on what they're doing, and from that we might be able to figure out where they are before Garvin does."

Alex was backed against the wall in the alley. "I didn't tell them anything, I swear." She looked from Eve, to Sparky, to Chipper, and back to Eve. "You can tell I'm not lying, dammit!"

Sparky rubbed his neck thoughtfully. "They found us somehow, didn't they? And I damned near got my throat slit."

Alex folded her arms. "So you automatically blame me."

"You knew them," said Eve. "None of the rest of us knew them."

"They're Warders, I told you. Everyone at the courts knows them, at least by reputation," said Alex.

"But you know them personally," said Eve.

"My dad works with them. He's sort of in the same bit of the courts. They all work for Garvin."

"And what does Garvin do?"