eyes met. Claudia said, ‘Listen, have you seen my father?’ Keiro let his breath out in a silent whistle. Glancing at Attia he said, ‘So it’s true? He’s Inside?’ Her voice sounded small. ‘Yes. He took both Keys but the Prison has them now. It’s got this fanatical plan. . . It wants to build . .
‘A body. We know’ Keiro enjoyed the brief silence of their astonishment, but Attia snatched the box back and said, ‘Is Finn all right? What’s happening there?’
‘The Warden sabotaged the Portal.’ Jared looked strained, as if time was short. ‘I’ve made some repairs but . . . We can’t get you Out yet.’
‘Then …’
‘Listen to me. The Warden is the only one who can help you. Try and find him. How are you seeing us?’
‘Through a musical box.’
‘Keep it with you. I might ...’
‘Yes, but Finn!’ Attia was pale with anxiety. ‘Where’s Finn?’ Around her the nursery suddenly rippled. Keiro yelled in alarm. ‘What was that?’ Attia stared. The whole fabric of the world had thinned.
She had a sudden terror that she might somehow fall through it, down, like Sapphique, into the eternal blackness. And then the grimy carpet was firm under her feet and Keiro was saying, ‘The Prison must be furious. We have to go.’
‘Claudia!’ Attia shook the box, seeing only herself in the mirror. ‘Are you still there?’ Voices, arguing. Noise, movement, a door opening. And then a voice said, ‘Attia. This is Finn.’ The screen lit, and she saw him.
She couldn’t speak.
Words eluded her; there were so many of them to say.
She managed his name. ‘Finn...?’
‘Are you both all right? Keiro, are you there?’ She felt Keiro standing close behind her. His voice, when it came, was dark and mocking.
‘Well,’ he said. ‘Look at you.’
14
None of us know who we are any more.
Finn and Keiro stared at each other.
Years of reading his oathbrother’s moods told Finn this one was savage. Knowing Claudia and Jared were watching he rubbed his flushed face. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Oh I’m just as you’d expect. My oathbrother’s Escaped. I have no gang, no Comitatus, no food, no home, no followers.
I’m an outcast in every Wing, a thief who steals from thieves.
I’m the lowest of the low, Finn. But then, what else do you expect from a halfman?’ Finn closed his eyes. The dagger of the Steel Wolves was in his belt; he felt its edge against his ribs.
‘It’s not all Paradise out here.’
‘Oh really?’ Arms folded, Keiro surveyed hini. ‘You look well set up to me, brother. Hungry, are you?’
‘No, but …’
‘Sore? Dead-beat? Bleeding from fighting off a chain of monsters?’
‘No’
‘Well I am, Prince Finn!’ Keiro exploded into rage. ‘Don’t stand there in your golden palace asking for my sympathy.
What happened to your plans to get us Out!’ Finn’s heart was beating too loud; his skin prickled. He felt Claudia close up behind him; as if she knew he couldn’t answer she said firmly, ‘Jared is doing everything he can. It’s not easy, Keiro. My father saw to that. You’ll have to be patient.’ There was a snort of scorn from the screen.
Finn sat on the metal chair. He leant forward, both hands on the desk, towards them. ‘I haven’t forgotten you. I haven’t abandoned you. I think about you all the time. You must believe me.’ But it was Attia who answered. ‘We do. We’re all right, Finn. Please don’t worry about us. Do you still get the visions?’ The concern in her eyes warmed him a little. ‘Some.
They’re trying medicines, but nothing helps.’
‘Attia.’ It was Jared who interrupted, his voice intrigued.
‘Tell me, are you near any object that might be emitting power? Any part of the Prison’s systems?’
‘I don’t know.. . We’re in some sort of. . . nursery’
‘Did she say nursery?’ Claudia whispered.
Finn shrugged. All he was, watching was Keiro’s silence.
‘It’s just …’ Jared was puzzled. ‘There are some peculiar readings coming in.As if some potent source of energy was very close to you.’ Attia said, ‘It must be the Glove. The Prison wants—’ Her voice stopped, abruptly. There was a scuffle and a mutter, and the screen tilted and flickered and went black.
Jared said, ‘Attia! Are you all right?’ Muffled and angry; Keiro’s voice hissed, ‘Shut up!’Then, louder, ‘The Prison’s unstable. We’re getting out of here.’ A muffled yelp. A whiplash of steel.
‘Keiro?’ Finn leapt up. ‘He’s drawn his sword. Keiro!
What’s going on there?’ A clatter. Distinctly they heard Attia’s hiss of fear. ‘The puppets,’ she breathed.
Then nothing but static.
She’d bitten Keiro’s hand; now he jerked it away from her mouth and she gasped. ‘Look. Look!’ He turned, and saw. The puppet on the end of the row was moving. The strings that worked it were taut from the roof’s darkness, and its head was lifting, turning smoothly to look at them.
One lank hand rose and pointed. The jaw clacked.
I told you not to betray me, it said.
Attia backed, holding the musical box tight, but it gave a broken clank in her hands and the mirror cracked into pieces.
She threw it down.
The puppet jerked upright, knock.-kneed, rickety as a skeleton. Its face was some ancient harlequin, the nose hooked and hideous. It wore a striped jester’s cap and bells.
Its eyes were red.
‘We haven’t,’ Keiro said rapidly. ‘We heard a voice and came to find out what it was. We’ve got the Glove safe and we’re still bringing it to you. I didn’t let her tell them about it. You saw that.’ Attia scowled at him. Her mouth was sore where he had clamped his hand over it.
I saw. The wooden jaw opened and closed, but its voice, with its faint echo, came from nowhere. You interest me, Prisoner. I could destroy you and yet you defy me.
‘What’s new?’ Keiro’s drawl was sarcastic. ‘You could destroy us all, any time.’ He stepped up to the puppet, his handsome face to its ugliness. ‘Or is there some twisted remnant of your programming left? He says, the Sapient out there, that you were made to be a Paradise. We should have had everything. So what went wrong? What did you do, Prison? What turned you into a monster?’ Attia stared at him, appalled.
The puppet raised its hands and feet and danced, a slow, macabre caper.
Men went wrong. Men like you, who seem so bold and are in fact riddled with fears. Crawl back to your horse and ride on my road, Prisoner.
‘I’m not afraid of you.’ No? Shall I tell you then, Keiro, the answer to u’hat torments you? It would end the pain for ever, because you’d know. The puppet’s face bobbed mockingly before him. You’d know how far the circuitry and plastic reaches into your body, how much of you is flesh and blood, how much of you belongs to me.
‘I already know.’ Attia was shocked at the whisper his voice had become.
