The Purple Emperor

'I volunteered to join with you because of your political connections,' Cyril said. 'You've worked for Lord Hairstreak, you've met Prince Pyrgus and Princess Blue, you're a wealthy man who moves in high social circles. You can get us places no one else could.'

Chalkhill wasn't so sure of that, but he carefully shielded his thoughts from the wyrm. 'Do the others you've linked with know about your plans for revolution?'

There was a long pause before Cyril said, 'Not all of them…'

'How many of them?'

There was another long pause. 'Just a few. We have to pick them carefully. It's a matter of trust.'

'Why pick me, then?' Chalkhill asked suspiciously. He couldn't imagine why anybody in their right mind would decide to trust him, given his track record.

'You're one of the few we've found who hasn't any scruples whatsoever,' Cyril told him cheerfully.

CHAPTER FIFTY

The endolg Flapwazzle climbed a smooth sewer wall to peer into a drainage passage. 'Know what?' he said. 'I think we're l thought you remembered the map,' Henry said accusingly.

T do, but this part of the system doesn't seem to be on the map. I think we're lost.'

Henry said, 'Doesn't matter – we're trying to get to the river anyway. We'll just do what you said and follow the flow until we reach the outlet.'

Flapwazzle slid back down again to floor level. 'I like you, Henry,' he said. 'I thought you were a nice-enough sort the first time I met you, even if you were a dreadful liar. But now I've got to know you better, I think you're even nicer. Not many people would take getting lost so calmly. They'd scream and shout and try to blame me for everything. You know we endolgs have a proverb – Blame the endolg. Three of the truest words ever spoken. Everybody blames the endolg. But not you, Henry. You stay calm and never lose your common sense and take things as they come. I really like you, Henry. I think you and I could be good friends.'

'Well, I like you too, Flapwazzle,' Henry said, which was actually true. They'd been wandering in the sewers for over an hour now and his companion had been unfailingly cheerful and entertaining. He could see why so many faeries took to keeping endolgs. Their truth-sense was useful, but their personalities were great.

'Look down before you say that,' Flapwazzle told him in a comic drawl that suggested he was imitating some Realm celebrity Henry didn't know.

'Pardon?'

'Look down,' Flapwazzle said in his normal voice. 'Then tell me if you still like me.'

Henry looked down. 'What am I looking for?'

'Something that isn't there,' Flapwazzle said. 'The flow we've been following.'

'It's dried up!' Henry said. 'What do we do now?'

'Keep moving,' Flapwazzle said. 'Hopefully we'll soon find somewhere that looks familiar.'

They moved forward together. The tunnel loomed endlessly before them. After a few hundred yards, Henry said, 'Why do you think it dried up?' The liquid flow had been pointing their way to the river since they entered the main tunnels.

'That's what I don't like,' Flapwazzle said. 'Only time the water withdraws is when they're about to do a flush.'

Henry stopped, his heart suddenly thumping. 'You mean you think they're about to flush the system now?"

'I can't tell a lie – I think they may be.'

From somewhere behind them, Henry heard a distant rumbling sound. 'What are we going to do?' he asked in sudden panic.

'Get out of the main tunnels,' Flapwazzle said, swivelling his eyes to look behind. He'd obviously heard the same sound Henry had. 'We've some chance if we're in a drain or something.'

Henry looked around him wildly. 'I don't see any drains.'

Flapwazzle said, 'Neither do I.'

The roaring sound was getting louder.

'So what do we do now?'

'Run,' suggested Flapwazzle.

Henry ran. The echo of his footsteps was swallowed by the roaring noise behind.

He'd covered several hundred yards before he realised he was alone. He stopped. 'Flapwazzle?' he whispered.

There was no sign of Flapwazzle.

'Flapwazzle!' he called, loudly this time. But with a mounting sense of horror he knew there would be no answer. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He should have realised endolgs couldn't move nearly as fast as human beings. They had no feet. They crawled along by wriggling their whole flat little bodies like a snake. He should have picked Flapwazzle up and carried him. With a surge of guilt he realised it would have been so easy: Flapwazzle couldn't weigh much more than a few pounds. But Henry had been so concerned about his own safety he hadn't even thought of it. He'd taken off like a frightened rabbit and left Flapwazzle to… to…

'Flapwazzle!' he screamed, and began to run back down the tunnel.

Then he saw the wall of water rushing towards him.

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

'What do you think you're playing at?' Blue hissed furiously.

They were alone together in a small, insulated antechamber off the Great Hall. The Queen had assured them their privacy was guaranteed.

'We can't attack Lord Hairstreak,' Pyrgus said. 'He's… he's

…' He shook his head helplessly.

'He's what?' Blue snapped. 'Come on, Pyrgus, pull yourself together.'

'He's working with our father now!' Pyrgus blurted. He actually looked as if he might be about to cry.

'He's not working with our father!' Blue snapped. 'Our father is under his influence – it's not the same thing. This is a great opportunity, can't you see? If the Forest Faerie help us, we can put paid to Lord Hairstreak once and for all. Didn't you notice what those elf-bolts can do? Once we have Hairstreak out of the way, we'll have Daddy back. We can nurse him back to health, get him the best medical treatment. He can take the throne again – Comma will step aside, you know he will, and if he doesn't we'll make him, or Daddy will make him. Daddy will be Purple Emperor again, just like he was before. It'll all be like what it was before; only better, because nobody will have Hairstreak to worry about.'

Suddenly Pyrgus seemed to collapse in on himself. He looked grey and small. 'It won't be like it was before,' he said quietly. 'It can't be like it was before, not now, not ever.'

'Pyrgus, it can\ We'll make plans. We'll call on the whole forest army if need be. We'll -'

'Blue, Daddy isn't ill – he's dead. It's not nursing or medical attention -' Pyrgus waved his hands helplessly. 'He's dead\ That's why Hairstreak can control him. Whatever we do, it won't make any difference – he's still dead?

After a moment, Blue said, 'It's going to be all right, Pyrgus. We'll make it all right. We'll get Daddy away from Hairstreak – that's obviously the first step. We'll bring him back here – here to the forest. We can hide him here and take however long it needs to get him back to normal. Queen Cleopatra will help.'

She climbed to her feet and there was a steely glint in her eye. 'It's time we went back to the others,' she said.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

Henry flattened himself against the wall of the side drain and waited. He'd no idea if he was going to survive the next few minutes and part of him hardly cared: he felt so guilty about what he'd done to Flapwazzle. But another part, a greater part, cared very much indeed. More than anything else, he wanted to get out of these filthy sewers alive so he could find Blue and help Pyrgus out of the mess he was obviously in.

The rush of approaching water was so loud now it was almost deafening. The entrance to the main sewer tunnel was more than thirty feet away – far enough, he hoped, to keep him clear of any backwash. If he was right and he was lucky – if he was very, very lucky – the main force of water would sweep past so quickly that the side drain, which was on a higher level, might stay dry. But if he was wrong, he was dead.