happened.'
'But you also said there was a burning man on the Underground platform. Was he burning when you saw him that day?'
'No. He was normal, like anyone else.'
'There you are, then. Yes, she showed you the past — your past — but your brain interprets that in its own way. It inserts imagery and assigns meaning, even where meaning doesn't exist. Some things just are, Niall. They don't mean anything.'
'She couldn't make me forget, could she?'
'Angela?'
'Kareesh. She couldn't bring me there and then make me forget?'
'Why? Why would she do that?' Blackbird spread her hands in frustration. 'She didn't even know who you were until I introduced you.'
I tried to sift through the tangle of images and things I knew. If Angela's vision was true then who was the burning man? No, it was like looking into a distorted mirror. But what if I had met Kareesh and Gramawl before Blackbird had taken me to her?
'You didn't answer my question,' I said.
'Which question?'
'Could Kareesh make me forget meeting her and Gramawl so that I didn't even know it had happened?'
Blackbird stared at me for a long moment. 'You know quite well that your perception of the world is governed by your senses and your senses can be manipulated, by glamour and other magic. You have to trust what's true, though. You have to find the truth and hold on to it. Otherwise you will mire yourself in a tangle of speculation and you will never get free.'
'But she could have done it?'
'Yes,' she confirmed. 'Even I could have done it.'
'Did you?'
'Niall.' She was exasperated. 'That is exactly what I just asked you not to do.'
'Sorry. It's just… There's something going on. All this stuff about 'the sun will rise' means something. Garvin won't reveal what he knows and Teoth was probing Angela about it. Something important is going to happen and I'm involved.'
'That may be true,' she said, 'but you can't rely on prophesy. 'The sun will rise' — a literal sun? A particular day? Another sun? Not a sun as in sunshine but a son as in a child? That's clearly what Deefnir thought.'
'Maybe he knows something too.'
''And they shall fall'? Who will fall, Niall, and why? How far will they fall? Will that be a literal fall or a metaphorical fall… it's all useless until it happens, and you're only messing with your own head thinking about it.'
'So you don't think we should try and find the book?'
'What book?'
'The one with the pages open to show the six symbols.'
'There may not even be a book,' she said.
'I'd bet money on it.'
'You want to look for a book — one among how many? Millions? You don't know what it's called, or who it's by, or where it's kept.'
'It was in a library.'
'Well that narrows it down.' She shook her head.
'It was old, and the person reading it was using lamps. That means it'll be even older now.'
'There are a lot of old books, Niall. Some are in private collections. Some are in museums, galleries, libraries, private houses… you need somewhere to start looking.'
'There was a design in the middle with four shields in a circle. Three symbols to each side of it.'
'There are entire books filled with symbols, the sole purpose of which is to get their readers to contemplate what they might mean. They were meant to provoke and inspire, to get people thinking about eternity and their place in it. They were not meant to be interpreted as literal truth.'
'You were an academic, though. You know how to research things in books, don't you?'
'You mistake my meaning. You're not talking about a needle in a haystack now, so much as a piece of hay in a haystack, among other haystacks, when you don't even know what field it's in.'
'But if I could prove that Angela's prophesy was worth something, that it gave us a vital clue to what is happening, then maybe Teoth would accept her into the courts. At the moment he's dismissing her out of hand.'
'The problem is not the prophecy but whether you can change the attitude of the courts. At the moment they want their cake and eat it — bring in the part-fey humans, but reject them when they're not fully fey. They can't have it both ways,' she said.
'How long do you think she's got?'
'Angela? You can't save everyone, Niall.'
'I brought her here.'
'And you think that makes you responsible? The responsibility lies with those taking the decisions. You've said your piece. You can't blame yourself if they overrule you.'
'She wouldn't be here but for me.'
'Garvin would have sent someone else, and how that would be better?' she asked.
'Maybe I wouldn't feel so responsible?'
'It wouldn't prevent it from happening. You need to learn to accept what you not going to be able to change.'
'Perhaps, or maybe I need to stop being part of something that I think is wrong,' I said. 'You said yourself that this all comes with strings. You said we should leave.'
'I did, but think about this. You and I are the only ones challenging the status quo. If we leave, there's no one to gainsay them. They will continue as they always have. Maybe we are here for a reason, and maybe that reason is to be the thorn in their thumb.'
'I think Garvin would say pain in the arse.'
'Now that,' she smiled, 'is a noble cause in itself.'
THIRTEEN
Alex leaned over the wall and looked down on the people walking below. 'It's pretty busy,' she said. 'I've never seen so many tourists.'
'They'll thin out towards the end of the day,' said Eve. 'They have coaches and trains to catch. The guards will stay, though.'
'It's not the police we're dealing with here, is it? These guys are military,' said Alex, looking at the soldiers in red uniforms and flat black hats posted around the courtyard and in front of the White Tower.
Eve sat on the edge of the wall and conversationally pointed out the guards posted at the gates and those leading gaggles of tourists around. 'They're military,' she said, 'but at the end of their careers. This is a cushy number for them. They just have to stop tourists from poking their noses where they're not wanted and there's almost no chance of getting shot. It's a better gig than Afghanistan.'
'Beefeaters, aren't they?' said Alex.
'They're called Yeomen Warders. Beefeaters is a nickname.'
'My dad's a Warder,' Alex spoke before she meant to, eliciting an inquiring look from Eve. 'He's in security,' she said dismissively, 'he spends all his time looking after people with too much money.'
'Interesting,' said Eve. 'You must get to meet lots of famous people.'
'Nah,' said Alex. 'This is old money. They keep it amongst themselves and they're totally stuck up. They don't mix with normal mortals.'
