I don't know what I expected to see on the grounds of Colchester Castle, but I wasn't prepared.
Éven stood in the middle of the park with a hundred Horseshoe agents lined up around him in a half-circle, all with their weapons drawn. A night-black horse stood beside him, and Éven calmly stroked its muzzle, apparently unmoved by the trouble he was in. Powerful winds tore through the air, and a canvas of black and purple clouds hung over our heads, pulsing with a rumbling light.
We were just a moment before the storm.
Éven looked like a true prince, regal and calm amid the menace. He wore a black shirt and silver-grey waistcoat, and a long jacket embroidered with swirls of dark lace. His britches were tucked into leather boots. His skin was as silver as the moon. The shadows across his face were thick and black.
I focused my vision to see what magic was at play here, and I drew a sharp breath. The rippling light and shadow of the clouds was reflected in two vast black wings that spread out from Éven's back. He was the night's angel.
Éven looked up, and his eyes shone in the darkness like wet stones. He scanned the faces of his enemies, and it took me a second to realise that he was looking for a friend. He was looking for me. His eyes settled on mine, and sadness pulled at his features.
I was glad he didn't smile.
I feared I might forgive him if he smiled.
Operator Jhabvala addressed him through a loudhailer.
"Lord Éven of the Shade, you are under arrest for violation of the Horseshoe Accords."
Éven's expression hardened.
"I do not recognise that authority," he said.
I heard a whistle as he spoke—not in his words, but behind them, like faint music passing between the leaves of a tree. That whistling seemed to linger on the wind.
"It is time to throw those old pieces of paper away," he said. "It is time to build a new accord."
A helicopter threw a spotlight on him. Éven raised an arm to shield his face, and the wind intensified. I saw the rifles of the Horseshoe agents twitch, and Jhabvala lowered the loudhailer to whisper orders into her radio.
Éven cast his eyes hatefully across the assembled soldiers. I wondered how his beauty could be so unchanged, but his manner so different. Was there one Éven, or two? Was he both the boy I cared for and the terror they feared?
"Lord Éven, I have been authorised to use lethal force," said Operator Jhabvala. "If you do not settle this storm, if you use any further magic, if you so much as straighten a stray hair, my men will fire."
Éven smiled, and it looked so sinister on him that I found no forgiveness in it after all.
"You might as well ask the night to shed its shadow," he said. "The magic is in me. It breathes in me, as it will once again breathe through the bones of this ancient land."
"I need you to hand over the reed you stole from the vault, your lordship. Set it on the ground and step away."
Éven shook his head.
"I cannot do that."
"Éven, please."
The words came from my mouth before I knew I was saying them. I hadn't been loud, but I felt like everyone heard me. Éven raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards me.
"I don't want them to hurt you," I said. "I don't want it to end like this."
"This is not the end, Ben. Not for us. I need you to come with me."
I thought my heart would stop.
Danny was suddenly at my side, his rifle raised and fixed on Éven. I thought he'd want to give me a look of anger or disappointment, but all his rage was focused in one direction. He glared at Éven like he didn't care what he could do. Danny would fight the storm for me.
"You keep your clammy hands off my brother," he shouted.
"Settle down, private," said Operator Jhabvala. "Lord Éven, we're not going to let you near Mr Frazer. If you don't have the reed, tell me where it is."
"It is here, with me," he said. "I cannot give it to you. I told you; the magic is in me. The magic whistles through my words."
Jhabvala set her jaw and squared her shoulders. She turned her back to Éven and spoke into the radio.
"Did you get that?"
A pause.
"Yes, ma'am."
Operator Jhabvala turned back.
"Put your hands on your head and walk towards me. Do not speak. Do not say a word. If you speak, I will open fire. Nod if you understand."
I could feel tears welling in my eyes. Éven was so proud and determined, and he made me so afraid. I didn't want him to get hurt, and I didn't want him to hurt anyone else, but I couldn't see a way out of this that didn't end one of those two ways.
Operator Jhabvala wasn't bluffing. If Éven so much as spoke, this would turn into a firefight. Everything hung on what he chose to do next.
Éven looked right at me with his dark, shining eyes, and I put a trembling finger to my lips, willing him not to say a word.
He opened his mouth.
I heard that sound again, that strange, bright whistle.
"I am sorry," he said.
"Fire on target."
Gunfire exploded all around me, a deafening rattle filled the air, and the wind kicked into a powerful rage. The inky feathers of Éven's wings burst out in all directions and hid him from my view, and before I could refocus through them, Danny slammed me against the side of a cabin.
"Stay here," he yelled.
Danny was gone immediately, and I couldn't see where he went. The sky filled with so much dust and grit that I could barely keep my eyes open. All I could make out were ribbons of magic carried on the wind, the same rich black as the feathers of Éven's wings.
Queen Zorya had called Éven by many names: Twilight Prince; Shadow Hand; Lord of the Night's Storm. I had a good understanding of the first two; now I understood the last as well. The weather was his to command.
Perhaps if I had known about magic back on that May Day morning, I'd have seen a similar sight when Éven put Hastings to sleep.
Yet no-one here was asleep. Shadowy figures moved through clouds of dust. Gunfire shook the air. People yelled. Sleep seemed like the best way for Éven to take down the soldiers, but he wasn't doing it. What was he waiting for?
Just as I thought this, the wind crashed against one of the soldiers so hard that it picked him up off his feet and slammed him into the wall of the cabin behind me. Another soldier tumbled past me. I realised then that the wind wasn't hitting me with the same force as everyone else. I stretched out an arm and the night-black ribbons danced away from me.
The wind was filled with magic, and I was immune.
"Come with me, Ben."
I squinted against the dust and found a silhouette that I knew belonged to Éven, standing exactly where he had stood before, with his hand outstretched. A swarm of black dots spun in the air around him. He had caught every bullet that had been fired at him, and now he held them in a whirling vortex.
Nothing could touch him.
Éven's spell in Hastings borrowed magic from Jack-in-the-Green. His magic today had a different source, a falcon spirit; an elemental power that could change the fate of nations. That power was Éven's to command, and his mastery was so absolute that this little army didn't pose any threat.
I moved towards him.
A soldier stepped between me and Éven; he crouched low against the wind with his feet planted as firmly as he could manage. It wasn't enough. The wind caught him and flipped him—just as he discharged his rifle, sending a spray of bullets whizzing past my head. I sank to the floor against the wall of the cabin.
Magic proof. Not bullet proof.
"Cease fire," I heard Jhabvala shout. "Cease fire, cease fire, cease fire."
The soldiers followed orders. The rattle of gunfire stopped. The storm continued, and Éven still stood his ground, surrounded by his swarm of spinning bullets.
A soldier lay next to me, bleeding from her leg. All around me, soldiers had been felled by either the wind or the whizzing bullets.
A light scythed across my eyes and I looked up.
One of the floodlights toppled towards me like a felled tree. Someone leapt in front of the floodlight and it exploded against his back, sending sparks flying over us.
I looked up into a face of craggy grey stone. Hari barely looked like himself. He looked terrifying.
"You OK?" Hari asked.
I nodded. The wind dropped, and for one strange moment it seemed as if it had been replaced with hail. It wasn't hail. Bullets fell from the sky, bouncing off the roofs of cars and the cabin behind me and skittering across the tarmac paths.
Soldiers lay groaning on their backs; the wreckage of the storm. Hari was one of the last men standing. He helped me to my feet.
Éven was still standing too.
He walked towards us. One of the soldiers tried to get up off the ground. Éven made a tiny gesture and a gust of wind rolled the poor man away.
"Are you hurt, Ben?"
He looked worried; upset. I shook my head. I didn't know what to say to him.
"I am sorry," he said. "These men opened fire on me, and I had to protect myself. I didn't mean to put you in harm's way. Come with me, Ben. Let these people tend to their wounded."
"Don't," said Hari. There was a growling edge to his voice. "Don't come another step closer."
Éven hesitated, and then smiled.
"What will you do, little mountain?" he asked, his voice rich with disdain. "A great beast moves through me. A traitor like you can't stop me."
"Might be fun to try," said Hari.
"Stand down, Private Sharma."
Operator Jhabvala coughed the words through a lungful of dirt. She got to her feet and tugged at her shoulder-mounted radio with her right arm. Her left arm hung limp at her side. Blood trickled from her sleeve.
"This is Jhabvala. We need immediate medical support. At least forty agents with gunshot wounds, broken bones, concussions."
Éven shook his head. "Your men must not approach until Ben and I are gone."
"Some of these agents are seriously injured. I need my triage teams on site, and I need them now."
"Then we should go quickly."
Éven looked at me expectantly.
I didn't know why he needed me. I didn't know where he wanted to go. All I knew for certain was that going with him was a bad idea. It was also my only chance to talk to him. My only hope to save him.
I didn't know what to do.
"We need a medic," shouted Abigail. "We need a medic right now. This man is badly injured and there is no way we can move him."
Abigail crouched over a fallen soldier with her hands pressed to his collar. Hari raced to join her. He placed his hands over the wound so that she could unpack a medical kit. I moved closer to see if I could do anything to help, and I saw the soldier's face, and my legs almost collapsed underneath me.
Danny.
His eyes were open, but he was struggling to breath. He opened and closed his mouth as if he wanted to talk, but no words came out. Blood soaked through his shirt and spread over his neck and chin.
"The bullet passed right through," said Abigail. "He's lost a lot of blood. He needs medical attention, and not five minutes from now; he needs it now."
I knelt on Danny's other side and took his hand. He was cold.
"You'll be OK, Dan," I said. "Abigail is a drama queen, don't listen to her."
I could sense Éven behind me, his shadow cast by a spotlight.
"Save him," I said to Éven, without turning to look at him. "Please; you have to save him."
Éven's voice was distant. "I do not have that power, Ben."
I had to turn to look at him then. I had to make sure he could see me.
"Then what good are you?" My tears felt hot on my face. "What good are you to me? This is your fault, Éven. You did this."
Éven hesitated.
"They...they fired on me."
"They fired on you because you're a monster!"
I knew that I had hurt him. I saw it in his face. I didn't care.
His answer came softly.
"I am not a monster."
"My brother needs help. If you can't do it, leave so someone else can."
"I will not leave without you, Ben. My people's future depends on it."
Danny's hand slackened in mine and I saw his eyes flicker shut.
"Eyes open, Frazer," said Hari. "You stay with us. Help is on the way."
Danny opened his eyes again, but barely. He stopped moving his lips.
Abigail whispered to Operator Jhabvala; "I can take the shot, ma'am. You know I can."
"I'm not risking anyone else." Jhabvala looked up at Éven. "Your lordship, will you at least let the doctors help this one man?"
"You will send in a witch with some trick to stop me," said Éven.
"I give you my word that we will not. We just want to save our...we want to save Ben's brother."
"Come with me, Ben."
I snapped at Éven. "I'm not leaving him."
Éven moved towards me.
Abigail reached for her sidearm. A blast of wind struck Abigail in the chest and flung her thirty feet. To my amazement, she twisted in the air and landed like a cat.
Operator Jhabvala took a step and found herself pinned against the cabin wall.
Hari did not flinch. He stayed with Danny, applying pressure to his wound.
"This is everything I have worked towards," said Éven. There was a tremor in his voice. He was afraid. "Please, Ben."
He reached for me again.
All the queen's men and women couldn't stop him. The most secure locations in the kingdom were no challenge to him. He could fight giants and outwit maniacs and evade the best that the fey and human worlds could throw at him. Yet I had managed to hurt him. He was a bruised and vulnerable boy, begging for my hand.
"Do what you have to do, Mr Frazer," said Operator Jhabvala. "We'll look after your brother."
"I don't want to leave."
"Go, Frazer," said Hari. "We'll save your brother. We'll get you back."
I squeezed Danny's hand and whispered in his ear; "Stay strong, Danny. Someone has to look out for me."
I let go. Éven took my hand and drew me away. The black ribbons of the wind whirled in front of me, and I heard the thunder of hooves approaching. The sound stopped behind me, and the horse snorted against the back of my neck. I turned around. It was a beautiful creature, its coat so dark that it seemed flecked with purple.
Éven helped me climb up, and he climbed on behind me. He put his arms around me. There were no reins to hold.
The horse galloped forward; its hooves sparked silver on the ground. The ribbons swirled around us, splashing against the horse's coat, and then they hung in the air and slipped into the form of two great wings, exactly like those that Éven had worn before.
The horse raced towards Colchester Castle, and its hooves no longer beat against the ground. We were airborne. The ground peeled away from us.
We passed above the castle and up and up into the air.
"Where are we going?" I asked, my voice a whisper.
"London, Ben," said Éven. "We're going to London to raise the final nail."
* * *