Blackbird shook her head. “It’s worse than you think. The safe in your office has been taken, along with the contents. The knives are lost, and the only horseshoes are the one in your flat, and the one in your bag. The rest have gone with the knives.”
“That’s bad news,” said Claire. Again, Blackbird could hear the evasion in her tone.
“Claire has told us the ceremony did not go as it should,” sad Blackbird to Alex, “and that the Remembrancer stumbled on his words, and yet she says that everything was as it should be. Even so, the Seventh Court are here, when they should not be able to cross until the solstice, which is still days away.”
“They must have come here at the equinox,” said Claire. “Maybe they’ve been here all the time.”
“That may be true,” said Blackbird, “and yet something isn’t right here. When I told you the safe had been taken, you barely reacted.” She watched Claire closely.
“Jerry and I did everything as we should,” said Claire. “You can’t blame us.”
“For what? What is there to be blamed for?” asked Blackbird.
“I meant for the Seventh Court being here,” she answered, but there was that twist of evasion again.
“Very well,” said Blackbird, getting to her feet. “Thank you for the warning. We will do what we can. I wish you luck. Keep moving. Don’t stay in any place too long. You already know to take precautions.” She glanced significantly at Claire’s handbag. Even with it tucked out of sight, she could sense the iron of the horseshoe in the bag. It was disrupting her sense of truth and falsehood in the room, but not enough to miss that Claire wasn’t being entirely forthcoming.
“What about me?” asked Claire.
“I’d like to help you,” said Blackbird, “but you’re holding something back. You may have your reasons for that, and I respect your secrecy, but until I know what the problem is, I can’t help.”
“So what can I do?”
“You can finish it,” said Blackbird. “You just need to make a proper job of it this time.”
“I can’t kill anyone!” said Claire. She glanced again at Alex as if wondering how anyone could do such a thing.
“Then you’d better start setting your affairs in order,” said Blackbird, “because whoever came after you won’t have any such compunction.”
“Why can’t she come back with us?” asked Alex. “She could stay at the courts.”
“That’s not a good idea,” said Blackbird.
“Oh, come on,” said Alex. It’s not like she doesn’t know about us, and there are loads of empty rooms still.”
“No, Alex,” said Blackbird.
“I don’t want to be an imposition,” said Claire.
“It’s not safe there,” said Blackbird, meeting Claire’s gaze, “not for you.” Alex sent Blackbird a questioning look, and Blackbird gave the merest shake of her head.
“Where then?” said Claire. “I can’t keep living out of motels.”
“If you keep moving you’ll be harder to trace,” Blackbird remarked. “Don’t stay in one place more than a day. Never go back to the same place twice. Don’t do anything to attract attention — ditch your bank accounts, credit cards, drivers licence — anything that links back to you. You don’t want to leave a trail that can be followed.”
“They’re not in the safe,” said Claire.
“What?” said Alex.
“The horseshoes and the knives. They’re not kept in the safe all the time — only in the days close to the ceremony,” said Claire.
“You understand,” said Blackbird, “I am not offering you sanctuary. I am simply offering to help you find a way out.”
“I can’t live like that.” Claire fished into her bag and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue which she proceeded to twist. “You have to help me.”
“It may not be enough,” said Blackbird.
“It will be something. It’s better than sitting in hotel rooms waiting for the money to run out, never trusting anyone, waiting for a knock on the door, or the click of a lock.”
“Tell me about the safe,” said Blackbird.
“It was supposed to be a secret,” said Claire. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone.”
“Someone knows,” said Blackbird, “or you wouldn’t be where you are now.”
Claire gathered herself, moving her bag, pushing back her hair. She leaned forward in the chair. “You must promise not to tell anyone,” she said.
“No,” said Blackbird.
“You must!” said Claire.
“I won’t make a promise I might break,” said Blackbird. “That’s not my way. We’re beyond that.”
Claire, looked first at Alex and then at Katherine.
Blackbird followed her gaze. “They’re both in on this, though they may come to wish that they were not… you may as well tell them.”
Claire looked from one to the other, then resigned herself. “Since Jerry retired there’s been a bit of a hiatus. I had this idea I was going to choose a successor — a new clerk for a new Remembrancer — and semi-retire myself. I’ve been going through the journals of the past clerks at the National Archives, looking at how previous clerks have chosen their successors. Looking for clues.”
“How does this relate to the contents of the safe?” asked Blackbird.
I’m getting to that. This goes back to the beginnings of the ceremony,” said Claire. Establishing the barrier took time. There were… incidents. Like Rome, the barrier wasn’t built in a day. Sacrifices had to be made.”
“What kind of sacrifices?” asked Katherine, moving around to sit at the other end of the sofa.
“The usual kind. You have to understand that as the barrier grew stronger the Seventh Court became aware of it. They took steps to prevent the ceremony being performed. They killed successive Remembrancers — bribed them, threatened them, kidnapped their children, murdered their families. But the crown was committed. One king after another made sure that the ceremony was performed. The first ceremony was in 1067,” said Claire. “With just the two knives. The date was kept secret, the venue was changed, people were switched at the last minute. As the barrier got stronger the Seventh Court became more desperate. Still they came. The cost in human lives became difficult to hide. There were… reports.”
“Reports?” said Blackbird.
“This was the time of Plantagenet rule. Anything which undermined the King’s sovereignty was ruthlessly suppressed. Anything which compromised it was dealt with.”
“Only this wasn’t dealt with?” said Blackbird.
“Oh, it was. The barrier was established, and for a while there was peace. The Seventh Court could not cross. It held, and the courts and the crown were united. We had succeeded.”
“In the year 1244 something went wrong. The Remembrancer didn’t perform the ceremony. There were extenuating circumstances — sickness, a bridge collapsed, a servant was compromised. The ceremony failed and the Seventh Court broke through. There was an attack on the King — an all-out assault to remove the figurehead and destroy the barrier forever. They nearly succeeded.”
“But they didn’t,” said Blackbird.
“There were rumours,” said Claire. “The Feyre… there was infrequent communication before that time — a dialogue, albeit at diplomatic levels. After that night, nothing was heard from them for years.”
“An all-out assault…” said Blackbird.
“Pardon?” said Claire.
Blackbird hesitated, and then relented. “You are sharing secrets, and it is only fair that we should share some of ours. There was a time long ago when the Seventh Court broke through in an effort to eliminate all of the half-breed fey, all those of mixed race, in a single night. I have heard it referred to, but no one talks about it. There are enmities that go back to that time that exist today.”
“The King escaped,” said Claire, “with the help of a cadre of hand-picked elite knights. They fought with heavy steel and iron. Many of them died, but they saved the King. He was smuggled out in the chaos while those that protected him stood against the Seventh Court. It was a massacre.”
“Human knights are no match for wraithkin,” said Blackbird.
“They didn’t need to defeat them,” said Claire. “They only needed to delay them long enough for the King to escape. In that they succeeded, thought the cost was high.”