'Oh, Henry!' Blue exclaimed and kissed him on the mouth.
The pain was just as bad and he still couldn't move, but Henry suddenly felt a whole lot better.
Henry pushed himself to his feet. He could see clearly now, could even remember – more or less – what had happened, although what had happened didn't make a lot of sense. He thought perhaps he'd been struck by lightning: a huge fireball had rushed towards him just before he blacked out. But if it was lightning, he'd somehow survived.
Amazingly, his chest had stopped hurting. Even the tightness was easing now, so he could breathe properly. He remembered the Silk Mistresses and how they'd tried to help him, but now Blue was here as well, and Pyrgus. He wondered what was going on.
He smiled at Blue who'd just kissed him. (She'd just kissed him!!)'Hello, Blue.'
'Hello, Henry,' Blue said.
'Hello, Henry,' Pyrgus said.
There was a pretty girl in a black uniform standing to Pyrgus's right and two others in black behind her. Both Pyrgus and Blue seemed to be wearing black as well, for some reason. They were all carrying weapons and had that nervous, alert look you used to see in television reports of occupying soldiers.
Henry took a deep breath. He no longer felt he might fall down at any minute. He no longer felt shaky at all. There was a pleasant warmth in his chest and it seemed to be giving him energy.
'Hello, Pyrgus,' he said. 'What's happening?'
The girl beside Pyrgus said, 'Prince Pyrgus, time is short. We need to be moving on.'
'Henry comes with us!' Blue said fiercely.
'This is Nymphalis,' Pyrgus said, gesturing towards the girl in black.
Nymphalis said, 'If he's able. Of course he -'
Blue said, 'Henry's coming, whether he's able or not.'
Henry felt pretty able. His whole body was warm now and he was experiencing a remarkable surge of energy. He reached out his hand and said, 'Nice to meet you, Nymphalis.'
'We have to find my father,' Pyrgus said. 'I'll explain as we go along.' He glanced at Nymphalis. 'Of course Henry's coming.'
'Are you all right?' Nymphalis asked Henry, frowning.
But Henry was frozen, staring in astonishment. He had multicoloured hands.
CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN
Cossus Cossus met Chalkhill at the steps to the main doorway. 'Nice to see you again, Jasper,' he said tightly.
'He wants you to behave normally,' said the wan-garamas Cyril. 'No mention of wyrms. Hairstreak has listening devices throughout the mansion.'
'How do you know?' Chalkhill asked mentally.
'Had it from Bernadette, of course.'
'Who's Bernadette?'
'The wangaramas in Cossus Cossus's bottom.'
'And you,' Chalkhill said to Cossus, following the instruction to behave normally.
'You've come to report to Lord Hairstreak,' Cyril prompted.
'I've come to report to Lord Hairstreak, Cossus,' Chalkhill said.
'His Lordship is not currently in residence,' said Cossus woodenly. 'I would suggest you come inside and wait.'
He followed Hairstreak's Gatekeeper up the steps and into the mansion. Cossus strode off down a corridor, setting such a brisk pace that Chalkhill found himself struggling to keep up. He was relieved when a suspensor tube finally carried them into a comfortable open-plan suite furnished in the old-fashioned Nighter style, complete with closed shutters and low-level lighting.
'My private quarters,' Cossus said. 'You can speak freely here. I have programmed a golem to feed random conversations into the listening devices, otherwise they broadcast as if in an empty room.'
Chalkhill blinked. 'A golem? Isn't that illegal?'
'Yes,' said Cossus shortly.
'And hideously dangerous?' He looked around, half hoping to see the creature, half fearing he actually might.
'Would you like a drink?' Cossus asked.
'I think I would,' said Chalkhill.
He was admiring an admirable picture when Cossus approached him with a silver tray and two glasses. Behind each glass was a hypodermic needle.
'What are those for?' Chalkhill asked, frowning.
'Hold out your arm,' Cossus ordered.
Suddenly Cyril was thrashing about inside his bottom and his mind. 'Don't let him do it!' the wyrm screamed.
But Cossus already had one of the hypodermics in his hand. He moved with extraordinary speed and Chalkhill felt a painful prick as the needle entered his arm, followed by a sudden surge of warmth as the plunger was pressed.
The room began to revolve slowly around him and his eyes lost focus. 'What have you done to me?' he yelled.
Cossus smiled grimly and picked up the second hypodermic.
Cossus plunged the needle into his own arm.
'What are you doing?' Chalkhill shrieked. He watched, fascinated, as the liquid emptied into Cossus's veins. Cyril, the wangaramas, had stopped thrashing about, thank heavens, so Chalkhill no longer desperately needed a loo. The momentary dizziness was gone as well, but it was replaced by a weird sort of… emptiness, as if there was a hole in his head.
Cossus withdrew the needle and dabbed at a tiny, welling drop of blood at the site of the puncture. 'I'm ensuring we can talk privately. How's your bottom?'
Chalkhill bristled. 'I'll thank you to keep your nose out of my bottom.'
Cossus closed his eyes momentarily and sighed. 'I merely meant to ascertain whether your wyrm has ceased to function.'
'It has, as a matter of fact,' Chalkhill said, frowning. 'But I'm answering no more personal questions until you tell me what's going on.'
T need to talk to you,' Cossus sighed, 'so I've put our worms to sleep. They'll be out cold for an hour or more, which should be ample. I've put a little lethe in the mix, so they won't even remember anything untoward has happened to them.'
Chalkhill stared at him suspiciously. 'What do you want to talk to me about?'
'Perhaps I should answer that,' said a familiar voice behind him.
Chalkhill's heart rocketed into his throat, his scrotum tightened alarmingly and a wave of icy chills passed through his body. He didn't want to move, didn't want to see who was standing behind him, but his feet moved anyway, turning him slowly of their own accord. He gave a sickly little smile.
'How nice to see you again, Lord Hairstreak,' he said.
CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT
'Where are we going?' Henry asked. He was stunned by what Pyrgus and Blue had just told him – particularly the fact that you could bring people back from the dead.
'We have to get my father out of Hairstreak's clutches,' Blue said soberly.
'He's here in the palace? Your father? With Hairstreak?'
'They were both here when Comma sent us away.'
Henry had only met Comma once, briefly, and disliked him on sight. Now Hairstreak had put him in charge of the whole Realm. Or at least had made him a figurehead.
'There may be fighting,' Blue said. 'It would be safest if you stayed at the back.'
Henry blinked. He'd never been one for fighting with anybody very much, except possibly his sister, but he realised things were different in the Realm. There was no way he was going to skulk like a wimp at the back of any party that had Blue in it. 'I'd prefer to stay at the front,' he said. Then risked adding, 'With you.' He gave a small, shy smile.
Nymphalis said, 'You have no weapon.'
Both Henry and Blue glared at her, but Pyrgus put in mildly, 'Better give him one.'
Nymphalis shrugged and handed Henry her sword. It was a lot heavier than it looked and his arm dipped suddenly. To cover his embarrassment, he said quickly, 'Won't you need it?'
Nymphalis looked at him without expression. 'I am trained in open-hand combat. Besides, I have my elf-darts.' Her eyes dropped to the dangling sword. 'Do you know how to use it?'