they knew, though its workmanship seemed better, the eagle perfect in its stillness.
Finn put his hand to his pocket. It was empty. Alarmed, he turned.
'It's here, fool boy.' Gildas grabbed at the wall and pulled himself upright. He was gray, his face clammy. He held the Key so tightly in his knotted hands that the skin around his knuckles was white as the bone beneath.
'Are you really from the Outside?' he breathed.
'I am, Master.' She walked toward him and reached out her hand for him to feel. 'And
Sapphique did Escape. Jared discovered that he has followers out there. They call him the Nine-Fingered One.'
He nodded, and they saw there were tears in his eyes. 'I know that. I have always known that he was real. This boy has seen him in visions. Soon I will see him.'
His voice was gruff but there was a quaver in it Finn had never heard before. Oddly scared he said, 'We need the Key, Master.'
For a moment he thought the Sapient would not let go; there was a brief interval when both his and Gildas's fingers grasped the crystal. The old man looked down. 'I have always trusted you, Finn. I never believed you were from Outside, and I was wrong in that, but your visions of the stars have led us to Escape, as I knew they would, ever since the first day I saw you lying curled up on that cart. This is the moment I have lived for.'
His fingers opened; Finn felt the weight of the Key.
He looked at Claudia. 'Now what?'
She took a deep breath, but it was not her voice that answered. Attia was in the shadows behind Keiro; she did not come forward, but her words were sharp. 'What happened to the pretty dress?'
Claudia scowled. 'I shredded it.'
'And the wedding?'
'Off.'
Attia's arms were wrapped around her thin body. 'So now you want Finn.'
'Giles. His name is Giles. Yes, I want him. The Realm needs its King. Someone who's seen outside the Palace and the Protocol. Someone who has been right down into the depths.' She let her annoyance out in her words, channeled it into anger. 'Isn't that what you want too? Someone who can end the misery of Incarceron because he knows what it's like?'
Attia shrugged. 'It's Finn you should ask. You might just be taking him out of one prison into another.'
Claudia stared at her and Attia stared back. It was Keiro's cool laugh that broke the silence. 'I suggest we sort all this out in the brave new world Outside. Before the Prison quakes again.'
Finn said, 'He's right. How do we do this?'
She swallowed. 'Well ... I suppose we ... use the Keys.'
'But where's the gate?'
'There is no gate.' This was hard; they were all staring at her. 'Not... as you think.'
'So how did you get here?' Keiro asked.
'It's ... difficult to explain.' As she spoke her fingers moved on the hidden controls of the
Key; it hummed, lights moved inside it.
Keiro jumped forward. 'Oh no, Princess!' He snatched it from her; she jerked after it, but he had his sword drawn and pointed at her throat. 'No tricks. We all go together or not at all.'
Furious, she said, 'That's the plan.'
'Put the weapon down,' Gildas snapped.
'She's trying to take him. And leave us here.
'I'm not—'
'Stop talking about me as if I was some object!' Finn's snarl silenced them all. He rubbed a hand through his hair; his scalp was wet and his eyes prickled. His breath seemed short. A fit now would be impossible, but his hands were shaking and he felt it creeping over him.
And then he knew he was falling into it, he must be, because behind Gildas the wall shivered away, and looking out of it, huge and shadowy, was Blaize.
The Sapient's gray eyes surveyed them; his image was enormous in a white room of clean walls. 'I'm afraid,' he said, 'that
Escape is not as easy as my daughter seems to think.'
They were still. Keiro lowered the sword. 'So that's it,' he said. 'And look how pleased she is to see you.'
Finn watched Claudia turn to the image. He saw now that though the Warden's face was familiar, the scabs had left it; it was thinner, and there was a refined tension about the eyes.
Claudia looked up at it. 'Don't call me your daughter.' Her voice was hard and cold. 'And don't try to stop me. I'm bringing them all out and you—'
'You can't bring them all out.' The Warden held her eyes. 'The Key will bring only one person out. Their copy, if it works, will do the same. Touch the black eye of the eagle. You will disappear, and reappear here.' He smiled calmly. 'That is the gate, Finn.'
Appalled, she stared at him. 'You're lying. You brought me out.
'You were a baby. Tiny. I took a chance.' There was a voice in the room; he turned, and
Claudia saw Jared behind him, standing pale and tired. 'Master! Is it true?'
'I have no way of knowing, Claudia.' He looked unhappy, his dark hair tangled. 'There's only one way to find out, and that's to try.'
She looked at Finn.
'Not you.' It was Keiro who moved. 'Finn and I are going first, and if it works I'll come back for the Sapient.' He whipped up his sword as Claudia drew hers. 'Drop that, Princess, or I'll cut your throat.'
She gripped the leather hilt tight, but Finn said, 'Do it, Claudia. Please.'
He was looking at Keiro; as she lowered the blade she saw him step closer and say, 'Do you really think I'd go and leave them? Give her back the Key.
'No way.'
'Keiro ...'
'You're stupid, Finn. Can't you see this is a setup! You and she would vanish and that would be it. No one would bother coming back for the rest of us.'
'I would.'
'They wouldn't let you.' Keiro stepped up to him. 'Once they had their lost Prince, why bother about the criminal Scum? The dog-girl and the halfman? Once you're back in your palace, why think of us?'
'I swear I'd come back.'
'Sure. Isn't that what Sapphique said?'
In the stillness Gildas sat down abruptly, as if his strength had gone. 'Don't leave me here, Finn,' he muttered.
Finn shook his head, utterly weary. 'We can't keep Claudia here, whatever the rest of us decide. She came to rescue us.'
'Tough.' Keiro's blue eyes were relentless. 'She was a Prisoner once—she can be again.
I go first. To find out what's waiting out there. And if it works, like I said, I'll come back.'
'Liar,' Attia snapped.
'You can't stop me.'
The Warden laughed softly. 'Is this the hero you think is Giles, Claudia? The man to govern the Realm? He can't even control this rabble.'
Instantly Finn moved. He tossed the Key to Claudia; catching Keiro off guard, he grabbed for the sword. Anger roared in him; anger at all of them, at the Warden's smirk, at the fear and weakness in himself. Keiro staggered back; recovering fast, he whipped the blade up and they both had it; then Finn had torn it from his grip.
Keiro didn't flinch as the blade flickered in his face. 'You won't use that on me.'
Finn's heart pounded. His chest heaved. Behind him Attia hissed, 'Why not, Finn? He killed the Maestra. You know that, you've always known it! He had the bridge cut. Not
Jormanric.'
