Modern Magick

Royalty and Ruin: 2

I was in no way surprised to find the Royal Court of Mandridore tucked away so close to London. Back in the bad old days of a few hundred years ago, London was rapidly becoming the centre of England and beyond, even if geographically speaking it was nothing of the kind. (And really, what's changed?). If you had to found a new centre of government in a hurry, where else would you put it? And it wasn't so far from the site of old Farringale, either — no more than sixty or seventy miles.

The more interesting question was: how did it fit? For London has sprawled out a long, long way over the centuries, swallowing everything in its path. But the magickal Enclaves and Dells are funny like that. It's like they occupy their own little bubbles of space, which aren't quite on the same plane of reality as the rest of Britain. There's a way in, or two, and once over the magickal threshold it's like you are in a different world.

Maybe you literally are. We've been making some odd, and enlightening, discoveries in that sort of direction lately.

Anyway. Being a magickal Dell (I guessed) as well as a Troll Enclave, Mandridore had all the usual hallmarks. There was that tantalising scent in the air, of the before-mentioned fruit and flowers, together with some indefinable but glorious aromas that made my head spin, they were so intoxicating. The air shimmered with the soft, silvery glow of twilight on the approach, though Britain proper was still bathed in bright sunshine. Tall, shapely shrubs occupied nooks just off the road; they looked like topiaries, posed in the shapes of animals or well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, but I think they were more than that. I could swear I saw one wave at us as we passed. We drove under perfumed arbours twinkling with starry lights, wove through a maze of rose-scattered hedgerows, and by the time we drew to a stop the sky had settled into a most intriguing configuration: one half was sunlit day, and the other lay dreaming under a silver moon.

'I may never leave,' I said as the Baron drew the car to a stop. We had passed several sets of ornate, silver-or-gold gates rising majestically into the skies; the Baron had paused at the sixth or seventh of these, waited as they slowly opened for us, and turned in to a sweeping, paved driveway before a handsome Elizabethan mansion. The place was built from brick, as was common for fine houses of that period; but these bricks were faintly bluish, which wasn't at all. The house had two spacious wings poised either side of a central hall, with big diamond-paned windows and those fabulous twizzly chimney pots. And it was, of course, enormous — not just in the sense of the ground it covered, but in the height and breadth of the doors, too. This mansion had been built by trolls, for trolls.

'Is this the Court?' said Jay as he got out, and stood staring doubtfully at the house.

I saw his point. Handsome as it was, it was by no means a palace, and had none of the imposing grandeur one would typically expect of a royal residence.

'No,' said Alban. 'This is Their Majesties' private home.'

'What?'

'They asked that you be brought here first, for a private audience. You will see the Court later.'

'So it's a secret assignment.' Jay did not sound pleased.

But I was. 'The best kind,' I told him.

He frowned at me.

'Oh, come on. All the most exciting things happen when you're doing things you aren't supposed to.'

The Baron spoke firmly. 'Their Majesties would never ask you to do anything lawless.'

I patted his arm. 'You said that with such total confidence. It's beautiful.'

He grimaced. 'The life of a diplomat.'