The men and women before me didn’t look much like fighters at the moment. Most of them looked pretty shell-shocked, as though someone had just punched them all in the gut, after hearing so many unpleasant and unsuspected truths one after the other. They looked at each other uncertainly, and then back at me, until finally a voice at the back of the crowd said:
"What do you want us to do?"
"I want us to do what we were born to do! I want us to be what we were always supposed to be: shamans to the tribe, protecting people from all the evil forces that threaten them! Only now the tribe is humanity, and we have to be warriors of the world, fighting the good fight; not for ourselves, but just because it’s the right thing to do! We have to earn the right to be proud to be Droods again!"
"But…how can we fight, without our torcs?" said another voice.
I smiled and let one hand rise to the silver torc at my throat. "The Heart is gone, but fortunately I’ve found a new sponsor for the family." And I subvocalised, Show them, strange matter.
The new armour flowed over me in a moment, encasing me completely in shining silver. The crowd cried out; some even applauded. A great voice spoke to them then, the strange matter addressing the family through me, its voice full of peace and calm and good fellowship:
"Long and long have I pursued the creature you knew as the Heart, across all the many dimensions, to punish it for all its terrible crimes. Now it is gone, I will stay here to help undo the evil it did. I will be your new protector, and there shall be torcs for all."
"How long do you plan on sticking around?" said a practical voice.
"Until I’ve taught you all how to be strong without armour," said the voice. "You have no idea of your true potential."
There was a lot more murmuring in the crowd about that.
"But what price do we have to pay for this new armour?" said another voice in the crowd. "The Heart wanted our children. Our unknown brothers and sisters. What do you want?"
"Just to help," said the voice. "That’s my job. And you’ve already paid me, by destroying the Heart. You have no idea how long I’ve spent chasing that damned thing. I’m just glad it’s finally over…I’m entitled to some leave, so I think I’ll spend it here. Just for a few millennia. Fascinating dimension, fascinating people. You’re really going to have to tell me more about this sex thing you do…"
"Later," I said quickly, subvocalising. "You know, I can’t keep calling you ‘strange matter.’ Don’t you have a name I can use?"
How about Ethel? said the voice in my head. That’s a good name.
"We’ll discuss that later, too," I said. "Now get this armour off me, please."
Oh sure.
The silver armour disappeared back into my torc, and I looked out over the family again. "Follow me, and you’ll all have armour again. And we will all be…what the family was supposed to be, before we lost our way."
"Under your leadership?" the Matriarch said loudly, her voice harsh and unforgiving.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," I said. "Never wanted that. Too much like hard work." There were a few chuckles from the crowd.
"No; we’ve had enough leaders. They can’t be trusted. You all agreed to the Heart’s bargain, Grandmother; generations of Matriarchs agreeing to the slaughter of generations of children."
"We had no choice!" she said fiercely. "We had to be strong, to fight the forces of darkness!"
"You always had a choice," I said. "We never did. We never agreed to the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters, Grandmother."
And there must have been something in my voice, because she looked away and did not answer.
"I suggest an elected council," I said to the crowd. "You can sort out the rules. Except that all current members of the council must be banned. They were part of the conspiracy. Part of the lies. I’ll see things through the transition, and then…I’m out of here. Back to being a field agent again. That’s where I belong."
"If you’re planning to run out on the family, why should we listen to you?" said a female voice in the crowd, only to duck her head down again as Molly looked at her thoughtfully.
"I’m not leaving the family," I said firmly. "Just going back to doing what I do best. Kicking the bad guys’ arses, and making them cry like a baby. Manifest Destiny’s still out there and all the other monsters who’d attack us in a minute if they thought we were weak."
"We are weak!" said the Matriarch. "You’ve shown them our defences can be broken!"
"We became weak under you, because you allowed the family to split into factions," I said, and once again she looked away. "We have to be strong, united. Shepherds to the flock, not wolves. Hell, if fighting evil was easy, everyone would be doing it. But don’t worry, Grandmother; from now on there will be no more fanatics. Just men and women of good will, fighting the good fight. And anyone who can’t or won’t go along with that can hit the road. Without torcs."
The Armourer stepped forward. "This is Edwin Drood. He took on the whole family and won. Who better to lead us? To make us strong again? To make us what we were always supposed to be? I am the Armourer, and he has my support."
"And mine," said the ghost of old Jacob.
"And mine," said the Sarjeant-at-Arms.
The crowd looked at the Matriarch. She looked slowly around her, taking in what she saw in their faces, and finally her proud shoulders slumped, and she turned away.
"I’m tired," she said. "And Alistair needs me. Do what you want. You will anyway."
She turned her back on me and walked away through the crowd, pushing out blindly with her hands, and again the people opened up to let her pass. No one said anything; no one jeered. She was the Matriarch, after all. And even after all that had happened, after all she’d done, to me and so many others, it still hurt me to see her humbled and broken. She was my grandmother, and she always gave me the best toys at Christmas when I was little, and nursed me when I was sick.
"Edwin leads us now!" said the Armourer, grabbing my hand and holding it over my head like a prizefighter. "The greatest field agent of all time! The truest, bravest son this family ever had! Edwin! Edwin!"
The crowd took up the chant, yelling my name, working themselves into a frenzy as the great chamber filled with the sound of the family cheering me, over and over. I found it just a bit scary. I’d never wanted to lead the family, but it seemed I wasn’t being given any choice. So I’d stick around for a while. Do what I could. And run away again, first chance I got. I eased my arm out of the Armourer’s grasp, turned to Molly, and grinned at her.
"It’s been a crazy few days, hasn’t it?" I said. I had to raise my voice to be heard over the din of the crowd. "Who would have thought we’d end up here, eh?"
"I’m glad for you, Eddie. But where do I fit into all this?"
"Wherever you want. The family is going to have to reach out to many of those who were once our enemies. I’ve seen for myself that the distance between us and the bad guys isn’t as clear and distinct as I was brought up to believe. We have to learn to work together against the real threats. Like Manifest Destiny. And who better than you to be our emissary?"
She smiled. "That the only reason you want me to stick around?"
"No," I said. "I need you here because…I need you."
"So," she said. "We are having a relationship, after all?"
"Looks that way," I said.
And that’s how I ended up running the family business. It’s a strange old world sometimes.