We? said Crow Lee, lazily. What s in it for me?
I will have his armour. I want it. And then you ll have a Drood in full armour as your ally. I want that armour!
Well, you can t have it, said Crow Lee.
I m going to strip it off Eddie and then destroy it. Then the Droods really will be gone from this world. Of course, I might decide to keep it for myself. You know how much I enjoy playing with new toys. Where did you get that?
From the Armageddon Codex, said the traitor.
Where all the Droods forbidden weapons are kept. I took it with me before I left the Hall, before it was sent away. It wasn t difficult. I was there when they built the Codex. I helped design the locking systems. Who has a better right to this weapon than I?
What better weapon for a traitor, said Crow Lee, than Oath Breaker?
I couldn t help but react to that, at the thought of one of our most dangerous weapons in the hands of a traitor. I must have made some kind of noise, because Mr. Stab turned around and looked at me. I held myself very still, and he went back to looking out the window.
You have nothing that can stand against me as long as I hold Oath Breaker, said the traitor.
Don t be too sure of that, Crow Lee said steadily. You d be surprised at some of the Objects of Power I ve acquired here and there. But this is no time to be falling out, when we ve achieved so much together! Let us think of our partnership as a balance of power and move on. Come with me, into the study. I want to see Eddie brought down by another Drood.
I quickly eased the hearing aid out of my ear and slipped it back into my pocket dimension. And then I did my best to look surprised when Crow Lee strode back in with the traitor Drood at his side. I didn t recognise him at all. He was a very ordinary-looking man, nothing remarkable about him at all. He did look sort of familiar, but I couldn t place him. It s a big family, the Droods.
You don t know me, do you? said the traitor. Even though we ve spoken many times in passing. But then, that s the point. I m never anyone important or significant, and I don t stand out. I m always just there in the background, perhaps some useful functionary, just another Drood doing a necessary job poisoning the wells in the quiet of the night. Adrian Drood, at the moment. Not my real name, of course. But then, I ve had so many names and identities down the centuries.
You re the Original Traitor, I said.
The one who s undermined and betrayed us over and over. Why?
Because the family has moved away from what I intended it to be, Adrian said calmly. I was the very first Drood. I was there when the Heart first fell to Earth. I made the original pact with the Heart for power and armour. I made the Droods possible! Everything they are came from me! I set us up to be shamans and protectors, shepherds to Humanity but it was never meant that the sheep should forget their place.
The family forced me out of power because I wouldn t go along with their changes. Exiled me, made me the first rogue Drood. So I disappeared, went away, walked up and down the world, hugging my rage and hatred to my cold, cold heart. I spent a lot of time with the Immortals, a family much like mine. I gave their leader the idea for immortality, having begged it from the Heart for myself as part of the deal I made. Centuries later I returned to the Droods. Killed some small nonentity and took over his identity. The Immortals showed me how to do that.
And ever since I have always been there, hiding in plain sight in the background, doing my best to nudge and persuade the family back to what it should be. Just a quiet, influential voice advising and guiding those in positions of power. And removing those who got in my way. Those who wouldn t listen. Nothing like a good accident to stir things up and move people around.
You killed the Matriarch Sarah, I said. So my grandmother Martha could take over.
So I did! Pushed her down a flight of stairs. And then stamped on the back of her neck when she didn t have the decency to die straight away. I have always been well served by accidents.
Why the hell did you bring the Loathly Ones into this world? I said. Did you know what you were doing?
Of course. The Droods have always needed someone or something worthy to fight, to keep them sharp. To keep them the warriors I always meant them to be. I could see the War wasn t going to last much longer, and I wanted to be sure there d be a new villain in place afterwards. Who could have foreseen the Cold War? I was having such fun then, running endless agents and intrigues back and forth across the world that I quite forgot about the Loathly Ones. The Droods really were getting soft by your time, Eddie. I never intended my family to be peace- loving shepherds.
Why ally yourself with Crow Lee? I said.
Because I ve finally grown tired of the Droods, said the Original Traitor. Your wiping out the Immortals was the last straw. I always had more in common with them than my own family. I finally realised that the Droods were never going to be what I wanted them to be. And if I couldn t have them, why should anyone else? But now I think I ve answered enough of your questions, Eddie. It s time for you to answer some of mine. Starting with: Where did you get your armour? I can tell it isn t the strange-matter armour you got from Ethel, but it can t be the old style, with the Heart destroyed. So where did it come from?
I found it in the hedge Maze, I said. It s Moxton s Mistake.
Adrian Drood s face actually went pale for a moment.
You fool Do you know what you ve done? I put that abomination in the Maze! Do you know what you ve let loose on the world?
A weapon, I said. To use against you.
And I reached into my pocket dimension and brought out the other little gift from Armourer Patrick: the skeleton key that could unlock anything. I jammed it right up against my torc, and the power in the key fought the power holding my armour inside my torc. The bone key turned slowly, relentlessly, in my grasp, and then snapped round in a complete circle. And just like that, my armour came to me. It surged out of the torc, covering me in a moment, cutting me off from my pain and injuries and weakness, making me strong and secure again. I rose to my feet to confront Crow Lee and Adrian Drood, and they both fell back before me. Mr. Stab studied me thoughtfully from the window but made no move to intervene.
Now, I said, to my enemies before me. For all you ve done. For all the pain you ve caused me and so many others, now it s time for me to get my hands bloody.
I have an answer to your armour, Crow Lee said steadily. He held up his huge hand, and in it was the Hand of Glory made from a monkey s paw. Bloodred flames rose steadily from the candlewick fingers. Crow Lee nodded, satisfied. I never throw anything useful away, and I always know where everything is.
When it comes to who s got the best toys, I said, always bet on the Droods.
I started towards him, and he thrust the monkey s hand at me while shouting some particularly nasty Words. The influence from the monkey s hand hit me hard, like walking into an invisible wall, but still I pressed forward, all the power in my armour driving me on. Thinking of what Crow Lee had done to my family. Of what he d ordered Major Michaels to do to my Molly. Thinking of my hands around Crow Lee s throat. My golden armour began to seethe and boil, and then to melt and run away, falling off in large golden clumps of semiliquid metal. But I kept going. Even as the monkey s power hit me again and again, hurting and pounding me even through my dissolving armour, I kept going. Taking everything he could throw at me, because nothing mattered, nothing else mattered except getting to him.
And finally I stood there, right before him, half my armour gone and more falling away, and I snatched the monkey s paw right out of Crow Lee s hand. The tiny withered thing twisted and writhed inside my grasp, and I shook it hard until all its candles blew out. And then I threw the nasty thing on the floor and stamped on it hard with my golden foot two, three times. Crushing it with all my armour s strength. I heard the little bones crack and break. And my armour reformed around me, smooth and untouched.
Mr. Stab! screamed Crow Lee. Time for you to do your duty! You shall have everything I promised you! Everything! Just stop the Drood!
I turned unhurriedly to look at Mr. Stab as he moved slowly forward from the window, a long blade suddenly in his hand, glowing bright.
I can reach you inside your armour, said Mr. Stab. My blade can cut anything; that s part of what was given to me. And you know you can t hurt me. You tried to kill me before, after I killed Penny. Cut my head right off and I just put it back on again. You can t stop me, Eddie, because nothing can. That s what I bought all those years ago
