The Purple Emperor

Blue stared at him with dawning realisation. The wyrm would have allowed her father's body to function far more effectively, would have created the illusion of health and life, would have allowed Hairstreak to maintain the fiction that the Purple Emperor had never died. 'Chalkhill was carrying the wyrm?'

'Yes.'

'It was Chalkhill who told you what Lord Hairstreak planned to do?'

'Yes.'

'So you cut off Daddy's head.'

'Yes. Yes, yes, yes!'

'What are we going to do?' Blue asked.

Pyrgus looked at her. 'Nothing. It's done now. I should never have brought him back – I know that now. It was horrible for Daddy and a disaster for the Realm. But I've put it right now. Daddy's dead, properly dead. Hairstreak can't bring him back again. Nobody can.' He suddenly moved across to take her hands. 'Blue, I have it all worked out,' he said earnestly. 'We'll use Hairstreak's story against him. He's put it about that Daddy never died, just went into a coma then revived. We'll say Daddy never fully recovered, that he hung on for a little then died from his original injuries. Hairstreak won't dare to contradict us – he can't without admitting his involvement. I'll go ahead with the Coronation. When I'm Purple Emperor, I'll tear up the stupid pact Hairstreak made Daddy sign.'

Blue shook her head. 'You can't. The treaty is binding on Daddy's heir as well as himself. Hairstreak was taking no chances – you're mentioned in the wording by name.'

Pyrgus waved her objection aside. 'I'll think of something. I'll put things back the way they were. Outside of you and I, nobody need know anything illegal happened.'

'Comma knows,' Blue said.

They called a Conference of Friends. Pyrgus didn't want to, but Blue insisted. Mr Fogarty was there. Madame Cardui was there. Henry was there. Pyrgus wanted Nymphalis there too, but Blue vetoed that promptly.

'We don't know her well enough,' she said. 'Besides, she owes her loyalties to the forest, not to House Iris. I'm sure she's wonderful, but this is too delicate to take the slightest risk.'

When they were all in the Orchid Room and the door securely locked and spelled, Blue outlined the problem, holding nothing back. They listened attentively, sober-faced, saying little, nodding occasionally. When she'd finished, Blue said, 'I'd like to know what you think.'

No one spoke until, eventually, Henry said, 'But Hairstreak already knows what you did, Pyrgus -wouldn't Gnoma have told him?'

'Yes. Yes, he did,' Pyrgus said. 'Gnoma definitely told him. But Hairstreak can't admit to that, otherwise everyone will know he was lying about Father never having died and the new agreement and everything.'

Mr Fogarty glanced across at Pyrgus. 'It would nearly be worth owning up to everything. To drop Hairstreak in it.'

Pyrgus started to say something, but Blue cut in quickly. 'There's no question of Pyrgus owning up.'

'Why not?'

'I told you – resurrection is forbidden.'

'So what are they going to do to him?' Fogarty asked impatiently. 'Have him say five Hail Marys?'

'Hang him,' Blue said starkly.

There was a long moment's silence in the room. Then Fogarty said, 'Are you serious?'

'That's the penalty.'

'Even for an Emperor Elect?'

'Only the Emperor is above the law – a properly crowned Emperor. The Emperor Elect can be tried like anybody else.'

Mr Fogarty sniffed. 'Should have waited, shouldn't you?' he said to Pyrgus. He turned back to Blue. 'But would it actually happen – a trial? Who would bring the charges?'

'The priesthood,' Blue told him. 'It's a spiritual issue.'

Henry said, 'What happens if it gets out that Pyrgus, you know, cut his – ah, killed -'

'A resurrected body is an abomination,' Blue said. 'There's no penalty for sending the soul back to its proper home.'

'Except your father's body isn't supposed to have been resurrected,' Henry said gently. 'Hairstreak's story is that the Emperor never died and you've decided to support that, haven't you? If you don't, then Pyrgus will be hung for resurrecting him.'

Blue and Pyrgus looked at one another.

Madame Cardui said, 'He's right, Crown Prince, deeah. But if we stick to Hairstreak's story and Comma tells what he saw, you could be facing a charge of murder in place of a charge of resurrection. I'm afraid that's hanging again.'

'Simple answer,' Fogarty said. 'We bung Comma in solitary until you're made Emperor.'

Madame Cardui raised an eyebrow. 'A little rough on the boy, wouldn't you say, Alan?'

Fogarty shrugged. 'Could have Pyrgus crowned in a week. A week's not too rough in solitary: I've done it my-' He stopped himself and coughed, then added lamely, 'Solves the problem, doesn't it? They're not going to hang their Emperor for murder.'

'Ah,' Blue said.

'Why are you saying Ah?' Mr Fogarty asked sourly. 'What's Ah?'

Blue looked strained. 'When I said the Emperor is above the law, there's one exception…'

'Murder?'

'Not exactly,' Pyrgus said. 'Just murdering the previous Emperor.'

'That's right,' Blue confirmed. 'Realm Law holds that the Purple Emperor owns his subjects and thus can dispose of them as he wills – he can execute someone, which is just another name for murder, or have somebody carry out a murder, or pardon somebody who's committed murder. But the one exception to all of that is the previous Emperor, who is not defined as a – I forget the term, but it means he's not defined as being owned.'

'You can see why,' said Madame Cardui cheerfully. 'It stops the royal family murdering their way to the throne.' She hesitated, smiled, then leaned forward to say quietly to Blue, 'The word is chattel, deeah.'

Fogarty said, 'So if Comma talks, Pyrgus hangs -threats may keep him quiet for a while, but if we don't sort out something permanent, we all know Comma will talk, sooner or later.'

'I'm not having you kill him,' Blue said sternly. 'He may be a pain in the neck, but he's still our baby brother.'

Fogarty looked at her in mild surprise. 'Actually, I was thinking more of bribery. Offer him something he wants – few toys, money, a fancy title, seat on the Government… whatever it takes, just so long as he has no real power. Make sure he knows it all disappears if Pyrgus isn't Emperor.'

'Trouble is Pyrgus doesn't want to be Emperor,' Blue remarked quietly.

'I think I may have an idea about that,' said Henry.

After he'd told them, Henry looked from one face to the other, waiting for a reaction.

Pyrgus shook his head. 'It's not possible, Henry.' His expression might have been one of regret.

'It's not legal,' Blue echoed.

'Actually it is,' said Madame Cardui. 'The legislation has been in place for a very long time, although you seldom hear about it.' She smiled a little. 'The real problem, Henry, is that it couldn't possibly work.'

'It works in my world,' Henry said. 'All the time.'

'Is that true, Alan?' Madame Cardui asked.

Mr Fogarty shrugged. 'I'm not sure works isn't a bit of an exaggeration.'

Henry looked at him in disgust.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ONE

The State Barge pulled away from Palace Island with the pink light of dawn glinting on the golden filaments that were strewn across its surface. The initial movement was matched by the first rumblings of a 101-impact thunder spell salute, the traditional signal to the population of an impending Coronation. It seemed, however, that the population had little need of it: crowds had already begun to line the processional route by midnight.

The barge turned north-west at once to avoid interfering with traffic across the Official Ford (which had been particularly heavy for days) and hugged the northern bank of the Wirmark below East gate. At the first cheer of the dockland crowds, wizards on the barge combined their efforts to float up two gigantic illusions, one depicting the Peacock Crown, the other the butterfly emblem of House Iris.