'By the looks of it, Ashdown Castle is lying in wait,' said Jay.
'For us,' I groaned. 'This is what Alban meant, when he said Ancestria Magicka had some kind of a spy at Court. They knew we were headed out here.'
'And they hoped we would be coming out with something priceless.'
'Which we are.'
'We can't let them get hold of those plans,' said Jay.
'But that's why they're here. And they've got Alban and Emellana and Mir. They must do. And they're waiting for us to walk right into the trap, which we are presently in the process of doing.'
'Hostage situation?' said Jay.
'Right. They'll try to trade our friends for our loot. And ordinarily I wouldn't hesitate to go for a trade like that, but this is no ordinary loot.' I backed up until Ashdown Castle disappeared from sight, then dumped my bag on the floor and crouched over it, rummaging through the contents. 'Mauf, speak,' I said, locating my precious book at the bottom. 'Tell me you've got a grip on that scroll.'
'I have done my best, madam.'
That would have to be enough. 'The fate of the world rests in your hands,' I informed Mauf as I drew out the scroll.
'Regrettably, I have no hands,' Mauf pointed out.
'Your capable pages, then,' I said, but absently, for I was busy eyeballing the scroll. 'Or, maybe not entirely. Jay, got your phone handy?' I'd let mine fall into the depths of my jumbled bag of paraphernalia, and it could take way too long to find it.
Jay however whipped his out in seconds, and was already snapping pics the moment I had the scroll unrolled. 'But this isn't helpful,' he objected. 'Keeping our own copies is good. Giving Ancestria Magicka the original is unthinkable.'
'I know.' My hands trembled as I gripped the aged vellum of that priceless scroll, and I had to take a moment to get a grip on myself. What I was about to do went as badly against the grain as defacing library books, or torching Orlando's lab.
It took very little power, in the end. I watched sadly as the inked lines of Torvaston's elaborate drawings began to fade.
'Ves, no—' Jay began, but it was already too late. I held a blank sheet of parchment in my hands. The original plans for the Heart of Hyndorin were gone forever.
Quickly, I rolled the scroll back up and secured it, then placed it back into the bag with Mauf. 'Guard that phone with your life,' I told Jay, and without speaking he zipped it into an inside pocket in his jacket.
'Right,' I said, straightening up. 'It's time for an exciting game of chance. Are you ready?'
'You're going to bluff your way through a hostage exchange?' Jay said.
'Do you have a better idea?'
Jay looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Again. I felt a twinge of disappointment, for it had been a while since he'd looked at me with such naked horror. I'd thought I was making some progress in his esteem.
Well. I had just callously erased the contents of a priceless academic artefact. And if we didn't play our collective cards right, we'd either get our friends back but lose all trace of the plans, or we'd lose the lot. Including Alban, Em and Mir.
I tried not to think that way. Ancestria Magicka may be thoroughly unscrupulous, but they'd yet to show signs of murderous tendencies.
Still, the stakes were high. Dangerously high.
'Are you with me or not?' I said, skipping over the soothing platitudes. I wanted Jay to trust me, but we didn't have time for long, self-justifying conversations just then.
'Lead on,' said Jay briefly, without the professions of faith and loyalty I was hoping for.
Oh well. When I set off in the direction of Ashdown Castle, Jay came with me, and that was the important part.
'Are we just going to walk right up to the door?' said Jay a moment later, as we approached the castle in full view of the windows.
'Why not? They knew we'd come. They are waiting for us.'
'It doesn't seem right. No sneaking? None?'
'What would be the point? It's very hard to sneak past a castleful of people on high alert, looking specifically for you. Anyway, I want them to think they've won. That's the whole point.'
'Right.' I detected more than a trace of doubt in the word, but Jay strode on beside me. 'Where did Pup go?' he said.
'That... is a very good question.' I'd momentarily forgotten about Pup's headlong gallop, while I was grappling with the morality of erasing an irreplaceable scroll versus leaving my friends to an unknown fate. What had Goodie been haring towards?
Then something barrelled into me, something heavy, and knocked me flat. 'Ves!' said a familiar voice. 'Don't go in there!'
'Zar?' I pushed her off me, and tried to sit up, but she shoved me back down again. She had contrived to do the same to Jay, and we all three lay prone in the grass.
Something tickled my ankle. When I lifted my head to investigate, I beheld a bundle of tufty yellow fur and an enormous nose, the latter in pursuit of an enchanting scent relating to my left foot.
Ah. Pup had caught a whiff of Zareen on the wind, and boldly tracked her down.
'Zar,' I said again. 'What the dickens are you doing here?'
'Same as you,' she said. 'I was drawn here by wicked, deceitful arts, courtesy of our best friends Ancestria Magicka.' She spoke with a vicious bitterness most out of character for her, and when I looked at her I beheld her usually calm face creased into a dark scowl. Her green-streaked hair was in a state of wild disorder; deep shadows under her eyes proclaimed her exhaustion; and she was pasty-pale, which wasn't usual for her either. She'd had a hard week, clearly. But she was alive.
I felt a knot of tension ease somewhere inside. I'd been worried about Zareen for some time, but with no idea where she had ended up and no way to follow, I hadn't been able to do anything about it. 'What happened to you?' I said, but when I tried to sit up she pushed me back down again.
'Ves, you can't let them know you're here. That's what they want. They're waiting for you.'
'We know.'
She blinked. 'Then what the hell are you doing?'
'Tell you in a minute. First, fill us in.'
She sighed, and let her head fall back into the grass. 'George and I were working on those trapped spirits in the castle, trying to calm them down. Get them together. Build them up for one last jump, to a permanent new location for the castle. Then we were going to release them.'
'I remember that part,' I said. 'No joy?'
'Actually, we were doing pretty well. Until Fenella Effing Beaumont showed up, with her miserable crowd of cronies. Apparently they remembered a few things.'
'Ah. Then Melmidoc happened?'
'Right. He got pissed, and banished the entire castle to the worst Britain ever, do not go there, I am not kidding. The entire castle, Ves, with me and George in it, and Fenella and co as well.' She paused for an instant, then continued, 'George declared himself "done" with being dragged around after me, and the "stupid" stuff we were doing, and abased himself before Fenella, who graciously welcomed him back into the fold. Which left me, hiding in the walls while the lot of them played hunt-the-chicken, and George tried to coax me to throw in my lot with them.'
That explained both her exhaustion and her anger. I sensed a lengthy rant pending, but Zar got a grip on herself. 'Long story short,' she said. 'It was some days before the castle could return to the fifth. In that time, I heard a few snatches of conversation between Fenella and some of her ratty disciples. They knew far too much about what you were doing, Ves. They probably knew about your current mission before you did. They had a plan to get hold of a certain scroll-case, which fell through; I didn't catch why. The new plan was to lie low for a while, let you do the work while imagining yourselves unopposed, then swoop in at the end and swipe the goods.'
'Which is where we're at,' said Jay, and gestured at the castle. 'Swooping in progress.'
'Yes, but you don't have to just walk in there like a pair of idiots! Why do you think I risked discovery, in order to wait here for you?'
I patted her arm. 'It was brilliant of you, Zar, and we're both grateful and admiring. But they have Alban, and Miranda, and Emellana.'
'Emellana. That the troll lady with the purple shirt?'
'Right.'
'Mm. That wasn't anticipated, I think. Did you have to leave three associates on the outside, standing around by themselves, just waiting to be kidnapped? They were sitting ducks.'
'Actually yes, it was necessary. We would have much preferred to take them with us.'
'Well, I hope whatever you got was worth it. They're all in there, and it won't be easy to get them out.'
'Yes, it will. We just have to do whatever they want.' With which words, I stood up again, resisting Zareen's attempts to render me prone, and dusted grass seeds off my clothes. 'Which I intend to do without delay.'
'You can't.' Zareen stared at me, appalled. 'I don't have a clear idea what you two got a hold of, except that it's game-changing.'
'World-changing,' I said, nodding. 'Don't worry. I have a plan.'
Zareen rolled her eyes.
'She's going to bluff,' said Jay.
'Bluff?' repeated Zareen.
'The timing will be tight,' I said. 'We need to make the trade, then get the lot of us out of there before they discover our sneaky double-cross.'
Zareen stared at Jay, as if to say, are you going along with this madness?
Jay shrugged. He'd gained his feet, too, and now fell in beside me. 'Onward, captain.'
Zareen groaned, and said distinctly, 'Fuck my life.'
'It's a good life,' I said, smiling. 'It may not feel like it right now, but someday you'll remember what food and sleep and friendship are like, and it'll be okay again.' I held out my hand to her, and with another muttered curse she grasped it, and permitted herself to be hauled up. 'How long has the castle been lurking out here?'
'A couple of days.'
'Right. Let's go.' We set off towards Ashdown Castle, me trying to walk like a woman of confidence and not like a woman whose legs felt like jelly and whose guts were churning with unease. What if I was wrong?
No time to worry about that now. I lifted my chin, and sailed towards the castle like I'd never heard the words reckless, mission-wrecking insanity in my life.
Some distance still lay between us and the front door. As we crossed it, walking at a brisk but leisurely pace, I had ample opportunity to observe the effects of repeated teleportation upon the crumbling old castle. It had been in poor shape to begin with, due to centuries of insufficient care. Three or four jumps across worlds had not been good for it. Some of its chimneys were gone, tumbled into pieces; windows were a mess of broken glass and warped leading; holes had opened up in the walls, where its mortar had crumbled and brown bricks had fallen away. A building on its last legs, so to speak. It wouldn't be long before the walls collapsed and ceilings caved in.
I tightened my resolve. Ancestria Magicka had no respect for history, magickal or otherwise. No doubt they would do their utmost to justify themselves, and cajole us into taking their side. They wouldn't receive an ounce of sympathy from me.
Throughout that nerve-wracking stroll, I had the prickly feeling of eyes upon me. Lots of eyes. And here came the proof, for as we neared the great oaken doors, they swung slowly open.
Fenella Beaumont herself stood upon the threshold, smiling graciously at us.
'Welcome, Miss Vesper, Mr. Patel,' she said smoothly. 'And Miss Dalir. How charming of you to join us at last.'
Zareen's scowl deepened. Before she could say anything, I cut in. 'Ms. Beaumont. How about we glide past the chit-chat, and get down to business? We're here to retrieve our friends.'
'Do you know, I thought you might be?' Her smile widened, and so did the doors. 'Do come in. They await you in the long drawing-room.'
Invoking my Nerves of Steel, I followed Fenella Beaumont into the depths of enemy territory, Jay and Zareen and Pup right behind me.