For a moment, the Drudge was distracted by the growing numbers of waxy, fungal growths that had sprouted from the damp walls. Manifestations of neglect were spreading through the appointments of the House. Orderliness would have to be restored and imposed.

The intruder had forced the lock and swung the iron gate open.

Beyond the gate, the north atrium lay in darkness. The stranger lifted a lamp from the wall and, holding it high, made his way into the darkness.

As the Drudge reached the gate, there was an exclamation and a small splash as the intruder discovered that the atrium was flooded.

The pool of lamplight reflected on the water in which he was standing. It threw huge ripples of light up across the atrium's ceiling. He waded deeper, clinging along the wall, his fingers groping at the carved wooden panels, searching for something. Ahead, a row of coracles bobbed and clunked on the black water.

At a signal from the Drudge, a section of the ceiling further back towards the gate opened silently. A carved bracket descended through the gap. From it hung a looking gla.s.s shaped like an eye. The gla.s.s swivelled to catch the perpetrator of this encroachment.

Mirror by mirror, the image was thrown and caught, one to another, up and along the covert belvedere arteries of the House. At last the urgently reflected revelation came to rest on the gla.s.s of a dressing-table mirror. Opposite the mirror, sat a figure in an ancient rocking chair, dozing beneath a veil of dusty cobweb.

Whisper softly.

No one would dare To waken the old one From her rocking chair.

A host of whispering voices in the air. The intruder in the atrium heard them too, for he stared round in alarm. Then he rapped one of the wal panels and it swung open, almost eagerly, as if it recognised the signal, to reveal a smal cupboard.

The Drudge sent an angry reprimand to the errant cupboard and the ashamed panel tried to close itself. But the stranger held it forcibly open and extracted several items which he slipped into his pockets. The ceiling mirror reflected into the Drudge's thoughts as well. Through the gla.s.s, it could make out a number of small metal spheres and a triple-stemmed object that its long and house-proud memory recalled with irritation to be a catapult: the plaything of younger disorderly Cousins. The result of its a.s.sault could mean intricate repair work to the Drudge's wooden skirts, overlaid by coats of fresh varnish.

From over the dark water came a growl and a heavy splash.

The stranger hurriedly started to wade his way out of the flooded atrium. He faltered as he saw the mirror bracket ahead of him. He quickly slipped the catapult from his pocket, loaded one of the metal spheres and let fly at the mirror. The gla.s.s smashed.

As the bracket retreated into the ceiling, its broken pivot spinning wildly, the Drudge heard the stranger mutter, 'Seven lives' bad luck.'

The Drudge withdrew into the shadow. It waited for him to pa.s.s the gate and then ordered the lamps to light.

The pa.s.sage was immediately diffused with a golden glow. The intruder saw the Drudge immediately and raised the catapult in warning. As it advanced, he loosed a metal ball, which pinged off the Drudge's shoulder leaving an unsightly abrasion.

He darted for cover, but the gate slammed against him. The Drudge saw him take aim at a large fungus puffball grown from the wainscot. 'Happy landings,' he called.

The catapult tw.a.n.ged and the fungus exploded in a cloud of white powdery spores which caught the Drudge full in the face.

Dust, its bitterest enemy; loathsome, unending scourge of any House, it choked the servant's vision. The Drudge flailed out its carved arms, its wooden shape crunching blindly against the walls.

It heard its persecutor dodging past. It collided with something it could not see and toppled to the ground.

56.'Happy landings mean a happy House,' called the voice as the stranger scurried away like an escaped tafelshrew.

The Drudge lay uselessly p.r.o.ne, waving its arms like an overturned beetle, too rigid to right itself.

In its mind, it heard the startled voice of the Keeper of its House.

The smashing of the mirror startled the old woman in her chair. She shuddered, trying to rouse herself from a sleep overgrown by tangled dreams.

'The Hand of Souls,' she croaked. Her ancient hand gripped the chair like a claw.

Her dreams opened to her like soft, gaudy flowers. They reeked with a heady perfume in the warm sunlight of her memories. Calling her back.

The sudden flash of broken gla.s.s glinted like droplets of soft rain on the leaves when she was a girl. Flashed like black ribbons in her hair.

A board was creaking. Somewhere away from here, beyond the windows of her dreams, a clock was chiming.

She let the warmth envelope her. She drifted down, sinking through the canopy of flowers. But now the flowers had spines. Whispers of waking tangled with sleep and unwelcome daylight winked through the thinning webby leaves.

57.

Chapter Eleven.

t.i.t for Tat

'I must apologize, my dear Madam Leela. It was a lamentable error.'

'He shot my dog,' said Leela. She sat awkwardly, the correct way one sits in company, just as Andred had shown her. The chair was deep and too comfortable.

'And I a.s.sure you, the captain will be severely disciplined.' Her host reminded her of a serpent. It was the way he sat, coiled in his own comfortable chair, unmoving, about to strike.

'His punishment is up to the Castellan, not you,' she said. This Time Lord looked like an elderly man, but on Gallifrey that meant very little; once elderly, twice, thrice elderly. He had a grizzled beard and wore a black skullcap and a black robe trimmed with fur. His room was an old man's room too. It was gloomy despite the large window overlooking the Capitol. Its walls were built of huge and ancient stones. It was filled with ancient relics, compa.s.ses and pyramids with eyes - symbols of a history she did not know.

His serpent mouth widened in a cold smile. 'I'm sure you understand that the Castellan, your... ah, consort, has an extremely responsible position to maintain.'

'You mean he's important,' Leela said. She was already tired of being spoken to as a primitive.

'Hmm. And what you did today placed that position in extreme jeopardy.'

'Let me speak to him then. He wil understand.'

The Time Lord leant towards her. 'Did Castellan Andred give you those security clearance codes?'

'No.'

'No?'

'If you do not believe me, old man, I wil submit to your mind probe test.'

The serpent Time Lord laughed. 'That does sound very barbaric.'

'Yes,' Leela said.

There was an uncomfortable pause. Until now, she had a.s.sumed that they were determined to trap her, but perhaps it was Andred they were really seeking to destroy. Or perhaps it was both of them.

'Tell me how you gained access to the entire panotropic net on just one portal,' the Time Lord asked.

'My dog did it.'

'This is the computer registered as K9?'

'He was my friend. And you destroyed him.' She got out of her chair. 'Who are you? You will not hold me here. I demand to see the Castellan!'

'The Castel an has no jurisdiction here,' he said. 'He is only a Chancellery lackey.'

She moved towards him and hit a force wall. The jolt of the air barrier stunned her for a moment. She fell back into the chair.

The Time Lord remained absolutely calm opposite her.

58.'You are from the Celestial Intervention Agency,' said Leela slowly. 'Andred has warned me about you.'

'Has he indeed?' said the Time Lord. 'And what does he say?'

'He says you have no faces. That no one other than the President knows who your leaders are. And she is bound by law not to say. But I know your face now, old one. I do not forget.'

The Time Lord nodded. 'Then you will know that once you are detained under the Agency's jurisprudence, no plebeian appeal or litigation can overrule our judgement.'

Chancel or Theorasdavoramilonithene, resplendent in Patrexes purple, was in no mood to be argued with. 'The Agency has breached al laws of hospitality,' she stormed, her hands clasped so tightly under her chin that her bony knuckles outshone her rings of office. 'We cold-summoned the Director of Al egiance to the Presidential suite. Apparently he does not see fit to grace us with his presence and sends you in his stead.'

Almoner Crest Yeux placed his gla.s.s of tea on the Chancel or's desk. He had scarcely been briefed about this summons, when he was suddenly transducted, complete with his chair and the tea he was drinking, directly into the Presidential suite. An unnerving and discourteous experience.

'Director of Al egiance Lord Ferain presents his compliments to the President,' he said.

Theora shook her head slowly. The miracle of rococo styling that const.i.tuted her labyrinthine hairpiece was una.s.sailable. It defied gravity and description in about equal measure. 'What about the Lady Leela?' she demanded.

'It is my understanding, madam, that the Lady Leelandredloomsagwinaechegesima has breached the security of the panotropic network in the Capitol. Not normal y an Agency area, I grant you, but she is the consort of the Castellan -'

' My My Castellan,' said the Chancellor. Castellan,' said the Chancellor.

'And his involvement with the suspect would make his judgement unreliable,' continued Yeux.

'Furthermore, she is an unGallifreyan, which is very much an Agency concern, despite the ancient and outdated laws of hospitality.'

The Chancellor lifted a doc.u.ment from her desk. 'This order, signed by President Romanadvoratrelundar, grants the Lady Leela diplomatic immunity and the protection of the Presidential Retinue.'

He waved the doc.u.ment away. 'Regrettably, madam, such immunity can only be granted by the vote of the Inner Council.'

Theora replaced the paper. 'In which case, the Lady Leela will be afforded the status of Alien Amba.s.sador to Gallifrey.'

'And that issue would have to be laid before al the Cardinals of the High Council... as have the applications for all the other newly acquired Amba.s.sadors. The Lady Leela must be exceptional y highly regarded to be elevated so quickly. An Amba.s.sador from a primordial planet whose location is not even registered? Oh no, I think not.'

Theora smiled cool y. 'Not registered? Surely there can't be an oversight in the Agency's data catalogues.'

'Ah,' he said, folding his hands over his generous stomach. 'Perhaps the President should advise me on that matter herself. Or isn't she available at the moment?'

'Regrettably, she is busy,' said Theora.

'How comforting to know that, like Lord Ferain, she is untiringly devoted to her duties wherever they take her.'

Yeux sipped his tea. It was cold.

59.'And Lady Leela?' Theora reminded him.

'Unfortunately the Lady Leelandredloomsagwinaechegesima has been detained for using illegal codes in an attempt to contact the former President.'

'Do you mean the Doctor?' said Theora.

'Apparently so. I daresay our current President might explain the attraction. She knows the Doctor rather better than the rest of us. How unfortunate that she isn't here. Do you know if she wil be away for long?'

'But I am here,' said a voice.

Yeux turned and saw the diminutive figure of President Romanadvoratrelundar standing behind him. She was wearing a simple white robe and her hair was loose about her shoulders. He had not heard her enter and was unsure exactly how long she had been standing there. 'Madam President,' he bl.u.s.tered, 'Lord Ferain presents his compliments to you.'

Romana walked round to the Chancellor's side of the desk. 'Almoner Crest Yeux,' she said gravely, 'while I respect your cover as a senior official in my Intervention Agency, I am most displeased by the conduct of the Director of Allegiance in the matter of the Lady Leelandredboomsagwinaechegesima.'

'He is carrying out his duties, Madam President. The Lady Leela has committed a number of crimes defined under the laws as unGallifreyan activities.'

'Nonsense,' snapped Romana. 'I am also aware that a guest of mine, who was travelling to Gallifrey under Presidential protection, has been hijacked in transit. She is also being held illegally by the Intervention Agency.'

Yeux shifted awkwardly in his chair. 'On that matter, I cannot comment, Madam.'

'Not good enough.' Romana turned to her Chancellor. 'Theora, please inform Lord Ferain that until both the Lady Leela and the Earth woman, Dorothee McShane, are released from Agency custody, we shall be holding Almoner Crest Yeux here as our guest.'

'Very good, Madam,' said Theora with a smile.

'Madam President, this is preposterous!' exclaimed Yeux.

't.i.t for tat.' The President smiled. 'I'm sure a little cooperation isn't too much to ask. But if I don't get it, I shall enforce it!'

'Are you unhappy on Gallifrey?' asked the Time Lord.

Leela sat back in her chair. 'Why am I being held prisoner?'

Her interrogator ignored her. 'If you do not cooperate, I can have you deported as an unwelcome guest on our world.'

Leela watched him without a word.