CHAPTER EIGHTY EIGHT
It was incredible. There were Forest Faerie everywhere, swarming in the branches, squeezing in endless files of two or three from the boles of the larger trees. You could hear the tramp of their feet on the overhead roadways.
There were hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands, ranging across the forest floor, arranging themselves rank on rank in clearings. All of them were armed: with bows, with javelins, with swords, with their ubiquitous, lethal little elf-bolts and, to Fogarty's great surprise, with ice cannon, disruptors, stone crackers and other heavy magical ordnance he didn't even recognise. It reminded him of the milling crowds at Dunkirk, except the faerie were less noisy. All the same, there was a steady hum throughout the forest, like a giant hive of bees.
'She did this because I told her I had a feeling about Pyrgus,' Fogarty whispered, bemused. There was an army massing in the forest, one big enough to overthrow a kingdom. If these people ever decided to leave their beloved forest, no throne would be safe.
'Don't flatter yourself, my deeah,' said Madame Cardui kindly. 'Queen Cleo has been teetering on the brink of attacking Hairstreak for weeks now. The only thing that's really held her back was the old worry about attracting attention. I expect she hoped Pyrgus might sort things out without any major forest involvement, but she never had much faith in the commando raid. All you did was tip the balance – it would never have taken much. I'm surprised she's held back so long.'
'I'm not,' Fogarty sniffed. 'Her trees are safe unless the Hael portals open again. That may never happen.'
'Oh, it's not just demons that worry her, Alan, whatever she said. She was never happy about Hairstreak building in the forest. He simply commandeered land and cut down trees. She was afraid it might start a fashion – others seizing land and building. She asked my advice about it at the time.'
'What advice did you give her?' Fogarty asked curiously.
'To wait and see.'
Fogarty stared at the massing troops. 'Looks like she got tired of waiting.'
CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE
Harsh light flared, reducing Nymph's glowglobe to sudden insignificance. Henry started and both Pyrgus and Nymph raised their weapons in alarm, but Comma only crowed, 'I told you so!'
They were in a control room – no doubt about it. The machinery was like nothing Henry had ever seen in his life, but it was definitely machinery. Much of it comprised tangles of transparent piping carrying different-coloured fluids and mists, but there were gleaming metal cabinets as well, some with switches and levers, and a massive semi-circular desk supporting banks of flashing lights. Above the desk was an illuminated plan of the maze flanked by screens showing segments of the structure itself. Henry noticed at once that one of them displayed the open staircase through which they'd fallen when he fiddled with the wall torch.
'You're right,' Pyrgus said to Comma. 'This has to be a service area.'
'A control room,' Blue said, half to herself. 'We could sabotage Hairstreak's whole set-up.'
'Inadvisable,' Nymph said shortly.
Blue rounded on her furiously. 'Why is it every time I say something you contradict me?'
Nymph shrugged. 'I'm not sure I do, but in this instance I don't think your plan is advisable.' She met Blue's glare steadily.
'I think there's something in that corner,' Henry whispered.
There was a movement in the shadows between two cabinets. A hideous thought occurred to him. Supposing, despite all appearances, this wasn't a service area? Suppose it was still part of the maze, a cunning, subtle secret level designed to throw people off their guard? The control panel could be booby-trapped. All sorts of monsters could be hiding in the cupboards. More than anything, anything at all, Henry wished he knew how to use the sword they'd given him.
They turned to stare. For the barest embarrassing moment, Henry wondered if he might have imagined it – his nerves were strung out, after all – but then the movement came again.
'There is something there!' Blue hissed.
'Yes,' Nymph agreed, stepping a pace to the right so that she was between the dark corner and Pyrgus. Pyrgus quietly moved around her.
'What is it?' Comma asked. He didn't seem the least frightened, but then he'd treated the entire maze as if it were an entertainment.
'It's probably a giant spider,' Henry muttered sourly. It would be just his luck to meet another one.
But the thing that hurled itself from the gloom was not a giant spider.
CHAPTER NINETY
This was fun, Brimstone thought. With Beleth here, the demons did exactly what they were told in order to construct the second portal.
And what a portal it was! In his whole life, Brimstone had never seen anything remotely like it. For a start it was big. Most portals allowed people through one or two at a time. But already there was a vaulting archway in the nave that would allow perhaps ten abreast. Beleth was obviously planning a full-scale invasion.
The demons were working like… well, like demons. Bizarre wooden structures went up in an eye blink and were pulled down just as quickly. Brick thudded on brick, stone slammed on stone, metal discs were cemented home and copper wiring snaked through the entire structure. It was a new design. Beleth must have created the prototype in Hael and instructed his team exactly how to build it.
Three demons dragged a cable from outside the church and attached it expertly to the new portal. They scampered across to prostrate themselves at Beleth's feet.
'Finished, Your Gloriousness,' one said.
Beleth reached out to throw a switch. A massive blue-white bolt of lightning crackled along the cable. As it reached the portal, the wire mesh flared and melted, leaving a shimmering green forcefield between the pillars.
The ranks of armoured demons began to march towards it.
CHAPTER NINETY ONE
Palaemon raised his lance and Nymph stepped forward with her bow.
Henry gave a panic-stricken scream. 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' But it was already too late to shoot. Flapwazzle was clinging to him like a hairy chest and anything that hit Flapwazzle would hurt Henry too. 'It's Flapwazzle!' Henry shouted, hugging the endolg. 'It's Flapwazzle!'
'Relax,' Pyrgus said. 'It's an endolg.' He grinned. 'Hi, fella!'
Both Palaemon and Nymph reluctantly stood down.
'It's Flapwazzle,' Henry said again, beaming. 'I thought you were dead, Flapwazzle. What are you doing here?'
'Saving your hide as usual,' Flapwazzle told him sourly.
Henry hung on every word as Flapwazzle told them what happened. The tidal wash in the sewers had carried the endolg past Henry's refuge and along the main pipework until the system took a right-hand bend. At that point, Flapwazzle was smashed into the brickwork. When he regained consciousness, he was floating in the river.
'Endolgs are quite difficult to drown,' he told them seriously. 'We don't use much air at the best of times and we can actually extract a little oxygen out of water, like fish. We die underwater eventually, but it takes a while.'
'What did you do then?' Henry asked excitedly. 'After you woke up in the river?'
'Swam for shore,' Flapwazzle told him. 'What do you think I did?'
But the nearest shore, as it happened, was Palace Island. Flapwazzle dried himself out in the sun -endolgs are slow movers when waterlogged – then returned to the palace in the hope of finding Henry.
'That was very brave of you,' Henry said, smiling at Flapwazzle. 'Considering Quercusia wants to lock you up.'
Flapwazzle made the rippling movement Henry took for a shrug. 'She has the attention span of a lettuce. Besides, she's locked up again herself now.'