The Purple Emperor

'Shouldn't worry,' Harold Dingy said. 'They don't come near the house.'

They waited at the bottom of the broad stone steps until a white-gloved, bewigged footman teetered down in high-heeled boots. 'His Lordship will be pleased to see you now,' he announced, staring out a little way above their heads. He handed Dingy a luminous green labyrinth coin and stepped aside. 'Go on! Go on!' he said impatiently. 'You know His Lordship hates to be kept waiting.' He gave Chalkhill a sidelong glance and smiled.

Dingy favoured him with a sour look, but flipped the coin. It hung in the air for a moment, then moved away up the steps. Dingy and Chalkhill followed hurriedly.

The great oakwood doors swung open at their approach. As they stepped into the entrance hall, there was a surprised squawk behind them. The doors were closing again, but they just had time to see the footman carried off in the haniel's claws.

Chalkhill looked at Dingy.

Dingy frowned. 'Never saw that happen before,' he said.

They followed the labyrinth coin through a warren of corridors until they reached an antechamber hung with silken drapes. The coin dropped to the ground with a muffled thud.

Chalkhill found the room vulgar. The drapes were indigo with a narrow scarlet trim and the illusion of leering demons. Why people used demons as art was quite beyond him. Fearfully ugly creatures. If he'd been decorating this room, he'd have used cherubs. Sweet little naked cherubs, all pink and cuddly.

'It's been a while since I saw His Lordship,' Chalkhill said by way of conversation.

'Hasn't changed much,' Dingy grunted.

Nor, when he arrived, had Cossus Cossus, Hairstreak's Gatekeeper. His head still looked too small for his body and he walked as if there was a ramrod up his back. 'Jasper,' he acknowledged, nodding briefly towards Chalkhill.

'Cossus,' Chalkhill nodded back. Neither of them smiled.

'I trust you're in good health?'

'Mustn't complain,' said Chalkhill. He sniffed, then added, 'Despite the prison food.'

'Not what you're used to, I suppose,' Cossus said sympathetically. He waved an airy hand at Dingy. 'Go away now, Harold – you've done your little bit.'

Dingy gave him a glare that would have withered grass, but walked off mumbling just the same. Cossus took Chalkhill's arm in an unusually friendly gesture. 'Now, Jasper, His Lordship wants to see you privately. He's waiting in the little Briefing Room.'

The little Briefing Room was a book-lined study with seven layers of permanent privacy spells that gave it the smell of old leather. Chalkhill had been there only twice before – once when he joined Lord Hairstreak's service, once when Hairstreak required him to kidnap Holly Blue, the Princess Royal.

Cossus left him at the doorway. 'Your ears only,' he murmured cheerfully. Then, surprisingly, 'Good luck.'

Lord Hairstreak was staring intently through the window, but turned the instant Chalkhill entered. 'Sit,' he said sharply. He was a small, slight man, dressed as always in black velvet.

Chalkhill sat. Despite his claim that they were bosom friends, he was actually terrified of Black Hairstreak. The man oozed ruthlessness from every pore. Chalkhill folded his hands in his lap and waited. Beyond Hairstreak he could see through the window what His Lordship had been watching – his footman being devoured by the haniel.

'You failed me, Jasper,' Hairstreak said quietly. 'You allowed that stupid child to beat you.'

Chalkhill felt his body chill. The 'stupid child' was Princess Blue, of course, who'd certainly got the better of Chalkhill in the past. He opened his mouth to voice a few excuses, then closed it again. It was safer to let Lord Hairstreak do the talking.

'I should have left you to rot in jail, you incompetent crud,' Hairstreak hissed furiously. 'Your bungling cost me much.'

With an enormous effort of will, Chalkhill stopped himself from trembling. There was a chance Hairstreak had brought him here to torture him to death, but he was inclined to believe Dingy's reassurance that there was another job. Or was that just wishful thinking? Would Hairstreak trust him with another job when he'd failed in the last? Outside, the haniel took off from the lawn, carrying the remains of the footman's body. At a height of fifteen feet, the head dropped off and rolled under a rose bush.

Black Hairstreak's demeanour changed suddenly. He straightened his back and glanced towards the bookshelves. Chalkhill followed his gaze. He seemed to be looking at the twenty-seven volumes of Maculinia's Dreams of Empire.

Hairstreak said, 'I've decided to give you an opportunity to redeem yourself.'

Chalkhill said, 'Thank you, Lord Hairstreak.'

'Oh, don't thank me yet. It's a dangerous mission.'

Chalkhill said, 'Yes, Lord Hairstreak.'

'If you fail, you die.'

Chalkhill said, 'Yes, Lord Hairstreak.'

'But you won't fail this time, will you, Jasper?'

Chalkhill said, 'No, Lord Hairstreak.'

'Good, Jasper, good. Do you know anything about this mission I have for you?'

Chalkhill licked his lips. 'Your -' He hesitated. What the hell was Dingy's title? He wracked his brains, but nothing came. 'Your, ah, man, mentioned you might not, ah, want young Pyrgus Malvae to become Purple Emperor.'

Hairstreak rounded on him, eyes glittering. 'I want young Pyrgus Malvae dead – that's what I want! I want him assassinated. I want to make an example of him, Chalkhill. I want him killed publicly and horribly. I want it to happen at the moment of his greatest triumph, just before the Archimandrake crowns him at his Coronation. I want the world to know what happens to those who stand against Lord Hairstreak – and steal his valuable birds. That's what I want, Chalkhill. The question is, are you the man to give it to me?'

He wanted Pyrgus killed in the middle of his Coronation? That was a suicide mission. Kill the Emperor Elect in the Cathedral with all his guards around him and ten thousand people watching? It might just be possible, but getting away afterwards certainly wasn't. The killer would have a score of swords thrust through him before he took three paces. No way! No way!

Gripped by those glittering eyes, Chalkhill said, 'I'm your man, Lord Hairstreak!'

'What's this, Your Lordship?' Chalkhill asked hesitantly. It looked like a bubble wand, but he didn't imagine it really could be. Black Hairstreak was a serious man, and a bubble wand was little more than a child's toy.

'It's the weapon you will use to kill Prince Pyrgus,' Hairstreak told him grimly. 'It's called a blowpipe – I had it brought in specially from the Analogue World. Looks a little like a bubble wand, doesn't it?'

'Yes, it does, Your Lordship.' Chalkhill handled the artifact cautiously. It seemed no more than a short, wooden tube with primitive poker-work designs along its surface, but he wasn't familiar with Analogue magic and didn't want to set the thing off accidentally.

'That's the point,' said Lord Hairstreak. 'We need something that will pass unnoticed through Cathedral security. What better than an innocent bubble wand? Sparkling spheres to celebrate the Coronation of a brand new Emperor. I expect quite a few members of the congregation will be carrying them.'

Chalkhill looked at the tube. 'But this isn't a real bubble wand?'

'No.'

'It's a weapon of some sort?'

'Yes.'

It was terribly short and had absolutely no feel of a magical charge. Chalkhill said, 'How will I get close enough to the Emperor Elect to use it, Your Lordship?'

For the first time Hairstreak actually smiled. 'Ah, Chalkhill, faithful Chalkhill, you actually think I'm sending you to your death, don't you? Some sort of suicide mission, is that what you suspect?'

'No, Lordship, of course not!' Chalkhill protested. 'Nothing could have been further – I wouldn't -Lordship, it never occurred -'