The Purple Emperor

In the old days he would probably have walked north on Mott Street, then turned right into the Bowery. But the Bowery wasn't what it used to be. There were still lots of down-and-outs, of course, but it might be difficult to find two he could actually use. The trouble was even the worst scumbags were better off these days. They had cheap wine in their paper bags. None of them touched the metholated spirit that thinned the blood so beautifully. He could spend all day taking samples before he found anybody suitable. And after that, there was the whole nuisance of killing them. No, best to spend a little of Beleth's funny money, put in an order and do it all the easy way.

He crossed the road and headed into Doyers Street, the dear old Bloody Angle. There were fewer people here, as if people somehow scented the horrors of its past. Brimstone plodded along, a benign expression on his wrinkled face, sniffing the air – such wonderful air, so full of fumes.

Moments later he had vanished into the lattice of streets and alleys beyond Doyers.

'You shouldn't have done that!' Nymph said sharply. 'You could have got yourself killed.' She was the first to join him.

'We had to make a move sometime,' Pyrgus said reasonably. The others were piling in at a run, led by Blue. He glanced at Henry, who seemed to be holding up all right, despite his recent brush with death.

They moved as a group round the side of the mansion, well away from the barrack wing where Hairstreak's soldiers had just disappeared. As they reached the rear, their luck still held – still no sign of any more guards. But perhaps that wasn't surprising: the wall was of smooth, massive stone and toweringly high. Hairstreak must have thought he was impervious to attack.

Pyrgus waited for Ziczac to catch up. 'What do you think?'

The little wizard looked around. There was a rocky outcrop that came close to the wall itself. 'That looks interesting.'

'It does?' Pyrgus frowned.

Ziczac chewed his lip. 'Typical formation,' he said, without explaining typical of what. 'Does anybody know if Lord Hairstreak built cellars?'

'Yes, of course he did,' Nymph said a little impatiently. 'Cellars and demon pits. That's why Her Majesty wants us to help Prince Pyrgus.'

'You don't know if he made them from a natural cavern, do you?'

Nymph looked at him blankly and Pyrgus shook his head. Blue said, 'You think there's a natural cavern underneath?' She glanced at the outcrop as well. 'It's the right geology…'

'Yes,' Ziczac said eagerly. 'Yes, it is.'

'What are you thinking of?' Pyrgus asked.

Blue smiled suddenly. 'He's thinking of taking us underneath the building! Aren't you, Ziczac?'

The little wizard nodded. 'Yes. Yes, I am.'

'Can you do that?' Henry asked.

'Oh, yes. Oh, yes indeed. We'll have to penetrate on a vertical axis rather than lateral, then move horizontally. It's a bit tricky, but I can do it. Provided you all keep still, of course. In fact, I think I'd like you all to link arms and stay together until we break through.'

'That means we can't use our weapons if we're attacked,' Nymph said sternly.

'This way, hopefully, we won't be attacked,' Ziczac told her patiently.

'What do you think, Prince Pyrgus?'

Pyrgus hadn't the least idea what the wizard was talking about, but he'd got them into the palace safely, so presumably he'd be able to do the same here. 'I think we should do what Ziczac says.'

Nymph shrugged resignedly.

Henry moved quickly beside Blue and waited for everybody to start to link arms. Blue gave him a fond look and said quietly, 'You all right?'

'Never better,' Henry said. He wanted to ask her what exactly was happening, but wondered if that would make him sound like a wimp. Or stupid. Or both.

It almost seemed as if Blue caught the thought because she said, 'Ziczac can get us through walls.'

'With magic?'

Blue nodded.

'Cool!' Henry exclaimed.

'Well, we'd better do it then,' Pyrgus remarked to no one in particular.

Ziczac did something and they all dropped into darkness.

CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO

They stepped into a roofless corridor. High walls and floor seemed to be made from obsidian blocks, but beyond where the ceiling might have been there was a vast open space, then, in the gloom, a vaulting dome of rock, as if the corridor had been constructed on the floor of a gigantic cavern.

'I don't like the look of this,' Pyrgus said at once.

The others said nothing. They stood without moving, looking around to get their bearings. The corridor ran straight in both directions, turned right at one end, turned left at the other. Floating high above them was some sort of platform, walled with opaque black glass.

'I don't have much sense of direction,' Henry said. And what little he did have had been completely confused by the passage downwards through apparently solid rock. But at least he didn't want to throw up.

'That's north,' said Ziczac confidently, pointing.

'Is that a suspensor spell?' Pyrgus asked, his eyes on the floating platform.

Ziczac glanced up. 'Yes.'

There was a light source, although it wasn't obvious. They could see each other quite plainly, yet there were no glow globes, no ornamental torches on the walls.

Blue said, 'I agree with Pyrgus – this place is creepy.'

She half turned. 'You can let go now, Henry.'

Henry released her arm sheepishly. To cover his embarrassment, he said, 'Can you hear something?'

They all stopped for a moment, listening.

'Like running water?'

Henry nodded. 'Yes. There may be an underground stream.'

Nymph said to Ziczac, 'Where are we? Do you know?'

'Under the mansion,' Ziczac said. 'We were right about the cavern.'

'Why are we walled in? I mean, why would Hairstreak build an open corridor on the floor of the cavern?'

'Maybe it's not finished,' Blue suggested, frowning.

'Looks finished to me,' Pyrgus said. He hesitated. 'There's something not right here. Can you take us through these walls, Ziczac?'

'Not sure,' Ziczac said. 'Depends on their thickness.'

'So we're trapped here?'

'Oh, no, Princess Blue,' Ziczac said. 'I can always take us down again and across. But I'd prefer a more direct route.'

'Through the walls?'

'Yes. I think I might try to find out how thick they are.'

'Nymph's right,' Blue said. 'I'd like to know why Hairstreak built this sort of structure on the floor of a cavern. And why use volcanic glass?'

'There's something about volcanic glass…' Pyrgus murmured. He looked at Ziczac. 'I think I'd better try to find out the thickness of the walls.' He drew his Halek blade.

'Can you do a mystical triangulation?' Ziczac asked.

Pyrgus shook his head. 'I don't know what that is.'

'Then I'd better do it,' Ziczac said. 'The best place would be at the corner. I think perhaps the rest of you had better stay put.' He began to walk briskly north, but halted abruptly after just four steps. 'There's some sort of force field here.' He reached out cautiously with both hands and patted the air in front of him.

I can't see anything,' Henry said foolishly.

'Neither can I,' Ziczac said, 'but I can feel it.'

'Come away, Ziczac,' Nymph said anxiously.

'It's all right – it's just a barrier. I can get us through it if I have to.' The wizard backed off and turned. 'Let's see if we're trapped the other way.' He walked past them, headed for the southern corner of the corridor.

'The rest of you -' Pyrgus began.