All the Druids exposed to the energies of the Heart underwent predetermined genetic changes, and from that point on all Drood children were born as identical twins. Soon after birth, one child was given to the Heart, which absorbed its body and its soul, so that the surviving twin might wear the golden armour and serve the family. When I wore the living metal, I was surrounding myself with all that was left of my sacrificed twin. The brother I never knew. Every time I armoured up, I was wearing my brother like a second skin.
How many twins, how many lives, had been sacrificed to the Heart, down the long centuries? How many innocent children denied their chance at life, so the Droods could be more than human?
The vision showed us more. It got worse.
As more and more babies were given to the Heart, the other-dimensional being grew brighter, stronger. The souls of the sacrificed children were held and sealed within the Heart, trapped there to generate the power that created our armour, that powered our magics and our sciences, that made our family strong.
I felt sick. Soiled. I had been brought up to revere and protect the Heart in its Sanctity, without ever knowing what it really was. An eater of souls. Just like those disgusting entities the Loathly Ones, but on a far greater scale. All those babies…all those generations of trapped souls, denied an afterlife, condemned to never-ending existence within the Heart, to make it powerful. Did they know? Were they aware in there? Did they suffer endlessly? Were they screaming all the time, behind the gleaming facets of that massive diamond?
The vision ended, and Molly and I fell back into our bodies. We both looked at each other, shocked speechless. I’d never felt so angry in my life. I rolled the scroll up very carefully, retied the ribbons, and set it back on its shelf. I couldn’t risk it being damaged. It was evidence of a crime. My anger burned cold within me, and I had never felt so focused, so determined. Molly reached out to me, and then stopped at the last moment. As though I might have burned her fingers. I don’t think she liked what she saw in my face, in my eyes.
"Eddie…"
"It’s all right," I said, though something in my voice made her flinch.
"I’ve always known my family was rotten to the heart."
I didn’t hear anything, didn’t see anything, but suddenly I just knew that he was there, standing behind me. And since I’m not at all easy to sneak up on, I knew who it was, who it had to be. I turned slowly, and there he was, with a gun pointed at me. Molly turned too, and then instinctively moved a little closer to me. The Matriarch had sent the greatest field agent of all to deal with me.
"Hello, Uncle James," I said.
He nodded, not smiling, tall and dark and handsome as ever, splendidly elegant in a formal tuxedo, the gun seeming almost out of place in his hand, as it covered Molly and me. He might have just come from a cocktail party or an ambassador’s ball. Some important occasion, where the high and the mighty gathered to discuss all the matters that mattered. Uncle James was always at home in the very best circles, when he wasn’t chasing the scum of the earth through backstreet bars or hidden lairs, the Amazonian rain forests, or the darkest canyons of the urban jungle.
"Hello, Eddie," he said, and his voice didn’t sound at all strained.
"You never would do what you were told, even as a child. I told you not to come back here. Told you I’d have to kill you if we ever met again. And yet here you are, and here I am. So…Aren’t you at least going to introduce me to your young lady?"
"Heavens," I said. "Of course; what was I thinking? Uncle James, this is Molly Metcalf, the witch of the wild woods. Molly, this is my uncle James. Better known in disreputable circles as the Gray Fox."
"Really?" said Molly, looking actually impressed for the first time since I’d met her. "The Gray Fox? Damn! Eddie, you never told me the legendary Gray Fox was your uncle! It’s an honour to meet you, sir. Really. I’ve followed your career for years, from a distance of course. You took on the Unholy Inspectres, the Bloody Beast of Bodmin Moor, and the Murder Mystics—"
"Not that last one," Uncle James said graciously. "My brother Jack took down the Murder Mystics. He never did get the renown he deserved."
"You have a gun," I said. "You could have shot me in the back the moment you walked in here, before I even knew you’d found me. It would have been the sensible thing to do, before I could armour up."
"Yes," he said easily. "I could have killed you and your young lady, but I didn’t. I needed to talk to you first, Eddie. I know you’ve opened the scroll, said the Words, seen the vision. When you broke the seals, that set off a silent alarm, and we all knew it had to be you. So I said I’d come down here and take care of things. How did you break the seal, Eddie?"
"I have Oath Breaker," I said, and showed him the ironwood staff.
"So you do. You’ve been to see Jack, haven’t you? Of course you have. He always was the softhearted one. I shall have to have words with him later. Put the staff down on the floor, Eddie. Very carefully."
I crouched down, laid the stick on the floor, and then straightened up again, never once taking my eyes off Uncle James.
"Who sent you?" I said. "The council, or the Matriarch? How deep does the rot go?"
"The council and the Matriarch," said Uncle James. "You’ve pissed off pretty much everybody, Eddie."
"Do you know the secret of the scroll?" I said. "The truth behind the armour, and the Heart?"
"Of course I know. It’s the first thing they tell you when you join the council."
I raised an eyebrow. "I wasn’t aware field agents were allowed to serve on the council."
"Exceptions are made, for exceptional people," said James. He wasn’t boasting, just stating a fact.
"What did you do?" I said. "When you found out about all the children who’ve been sacrificed so we could become what we are?"
"Oh, I was shocked," said Uncle James. "Horrified. But I got over it. Just as you will, in time. The original bargain was made in a simpler, more savage time, by savage people. But the family has become too important, too necessary to risk undoing the bargain. We don’t just protect the tribe anymore; we protect humanity. We have a duty, a responsibility, to stand between them and the forces of darkness that they must never know about. And the secret…is just part of the burden we have to bear so we can do the things that have to be done."
"Like ruling the world from behind the scenes?" said Molly. "Like stamping down hard on anyone or anything that doesn’t fit your narrow criteria of what’s acceptable?"
"Getting upset won’t change anything," said Uncle James, still looking only at me. "It won’t bring back your twin brother, or mine. They died so we could wear the armour, so we could be a force for good in a world that needs us now more than ever. We can’t tell everyone in the family, Eddie; you must know that. Most of them have no idea what it’s like out in the world. They wouldn’t understand…how necessary some things can be. That’s why only the Matriarch and the council know: those of us who’ve proven our worth through long service to the family. And to the world. We bear the burden of the truth so others don’t have to. So we can go on saving the world every day."
"That’s it?" I said. "The end justifies the means? Come on, Uncle James; you can do better than that."
"I insisted they send me down here," Uncle James said urgently. "Because I’m the only one who wouldn’t shoot you on sight. I needed to talk to you, Eddie, make you understand. I don’t want to have to kill you, Eddie. Not when you could still do so much for the family. You have so much potential…and you remind me so much of your mother."