himself in a room that covered the entire floor of the tower, and on a table in the centre was the Shield.
As he made to grab the artefact, a trapdoor into the room burst open. A queasy feeling of dread filled the space. As his senses skewed, shadows flew, accompanied by a distorted noise that reminded Will of crows in a winter sky. The dank, underground smell of loam. He knew what was coming, and however much Dee prepared him to deal with the disorienting qualities of the Unseelie Court, he was never ready.
Grey figures surged. Will caught only the briefest impression of hateful eyes and churchyard faces amid a pooling dark before he was enveloped in a furious battle.
His perceptions slid around the room's new occupants. All he could do was slash and lunge with his sword in wild abandon, feeling some blows parried, others tearing through bodies. One of the Enemy fell at his feet. Another thrust a blade that tore open the flesh on Will's neck. The Enemy were faster than most men, their stamina greater, and though Will's swordskill was more refined, the fight was unequal.
Briefly, Will glimpsed Cavillex, red-rimmed eyes flaring, his contempt too strong to contain, but it felt like the dark was closing in from every side. Somehow he managed to keep himself between the Shield and his opponents.
Three of the Unseelie Court moved around him like ghosts at twilight. But they were substantial. He laid one down with a thrust through the heart, but the other two surged forwards from opposite sides. Will parried the first, rolled quickly out of the way of the other.
As the second drove a sword towards his chest, Will dropped to his knees and flipped backwards. When he came up, he caught the toe of his boot under a stool, thrashing it viciously into his opponents' faces. The crunch of shattering bone echoed across the room and one of them went down. As the other attacker sprawled over the falling body, Will laid open his throat with the tip of his sword, following through with two heart-thrusts to end their lives.
Another attacker ran forwards. Will didn't even attempt to confront him. Stepping to one side at the last moment, he rammed his hand at the back of his enemy's head, propelling it into the window, and through it. As the broken glass ripped open his opponent's face, Will heaved both elbows onto the back of the neck, driving the shards at the base of the window through the throat.
The elemental fury that consumed Cavillex was so potent Will could barely look at him. 'How honourably you kill.' The voice, like stones dropped on a coffin, echoed from all parts of the room.
'There is no honour in any of this,' Will replied. 'Only survival.'
As Cavillex stalked forwards, Will levelled his sword and said with a humourless grin, 'We have business, you and I.'
'Why, we have been in business for a long while,' Cavillex said enigmatically. A bone white hand gestured towards the Shield. 'You transported that item to the place where we needed it to be.'
Will laughed, but Cavillex's oppressive aura sucked any humour from his voice. 'You try to make a cake out of crumbs.'
'I make the truth out of shadows ... shadows to you. What safer place for the Shield than here? If we had kept it in Edinburgh, you would not have let us rest. With it here, we could go about our work untroubled, knowing the item we valued most was ready for us when the time was right.'
Another manipulation. Was he that easy to direct?
'You always do our bidding,' Cavillex said, as if he could read Will's thoughts. 'You, your fellows. We know what makes your hearts beat faster. We understand your fears and sadnesses. We see the crack in the door, ready to be pushed wide.' The weight of his attention became unbearable. 'We run you, like you run the animals in the field.'
Keeping his sword trained on Cavillex, Will fumbled blindly until his fingers closed on the Shield. 'You could set the Silver Skull loose, destroy all of London, perhaps all of England. Why do you need the Shield?' he asked.
'Because we do not wish to destroy all.' His presence sucked every glimmer of light from the room. Will felt as if he was standing in the deepest dungeon. 'Dartmoor looms large in the minds of my people. And there are greater punishments than death, as you well know.' An icy smile, challenging Will to deny it.
A clatter rose up from the stairs. Cavillex didn't look, but his smile grew broader as if he knew exactly who was coming. Without taking his eyes off Will, he gave a languorous summons with the fingers of his left hand, and the Silver Skull climbed through the trapdoor.
'Mayhew. You are a traitorous bastard-' Will began emotionlessly, until he was interrupted by another figure behind the Skull.
'Grace.' His eyes flashed to Cavillex. 'If you have harmed her-'
'She has not been harmed. See?' Pale fingers eased under Grace's chin to raise her head. She blinked dreamily, her gaze finally alighting on Will.
'Will ... it is so good to see you,' she said.
'Our entrance to the palace would have been much more difficult without her help,' Cavillex said.
Other members of the Unseelie Court bustled into the room, surrounding Grace. It was impossible for Will to get to her. Backing away until his heel was on the first step of the flight he had descended, Will moved his sword back and forth, ready for the first attack, but he could never overcome the weight of numbers.
'We shall go from this room, and take your queen and infect her with a disease that will eat away her skin, her bone, her senses, yet keep her alive,' Cavillex said. 'She will suffer unimaginable agony, without respite.'
Will thought he saw Mayhew flinch.
'Once we have her, we will release a plague across all London,' Cavillex continued. 'An entire city will die in a moment. With the Shield, we will be untouched by the whirlwind of disease unleashed by the Silver Skull, and we will walk through it, alongside your queen so she can see the corpses rotting in the street. Then we will take her to our home, to live on with the memory, and the pain.'
Will was stunned by the cruelty of Cavillex's scheme; the unnecessary death and suffering, purely because their supremacy had been challenged.
'Your nation will be crushed by the magnitude of the blow struck against you,' Cavillex added. 'And that will only be the beginning of your country's agonies.'
Will examined the Shield in the palm of his hand. 'So, without this arte fact you cannot unleash the full fury of the Skull and survive. You will be corrupted too, here at the heart of the whirlwind.'
Will backed up the stairs another step. 'The cost of this item is high,' he said, holding the Shield up so Cavillex could see it. 'How many of your lives will buy it?'
'You are a lesser creature and you have already taken too many of our lives,' Cavillex replied. He gently led Grace forwards. 'As you value life so lightly, your friend's death will be meaningless to you.'
Will hid his concern. 'If you wish to barter the girl's life for this trinket, think again. That route has already been tried. My loyalty lies with queen and country ... and seeing the destruction of your kind.'
'You misunderstand. I do not barter. We will take the Shield from you when we slaughter you. The loss of this girl's life is a punishment for your brutality. The sight of her dying-the consequence of your actions-will be the one you take with you to the grave.'
Will stepped forwards, but the other members of the Unseelie Court closed around Grace. He would never reach her.
'You claim to be the injured party, but slaughter comes easily to you. If you kill without regard, if you murder your own, even, over arguments about religion and politics, if morals do not guide you, then how can you expect us to act any differently?' Cavillex continued.
'You have forced us down to your level.'
Cavillex's laughter was harsh and mocking.
'Again, this is about survival,' Will said. 'We do not have the luxury of morals or gentility when we are being preyed upon.' Even as Will spoke, he could hear the hollow ring to his words.
Tired of Will, Cavillex turned to Mayhew and said, 'Make her die, now, in a way that will scar his mind forever.'
In Mayhew's hesitation, Will saw a chink and acted quickly, 'Do not do this, Mayhew. Grace is an innocent. Kill her and you will be damned for eternity.'
'He is already damned,' Cavillex said lightly. 'That is the least of his concerns.'
'Mayhew,' Will pressed. 'Do not ally yourself with these monsters. Whatever rewards they have promised you, they are not enough to tempt you to turn your back on your fellow man, or on your own humanity.'
