BLOOD PUDDLED ON the stone flags. Five bodies lay scattered across Queen Elizabeth's antechamber in the Palace of Whitehall, all good men and true, all despatched in an instant by the thing that had swooped through the open window on leathery wings. Cecil hauled himself on to shaking legs from the corner where he had cowered like a frightened child. His white ruff was now stained, and more blood speckled his right cheek, but he had survived, by little more than the grace of G.o.d.

As he wiped his face clean with his kerchief, he looked around the scene of slaughter and tried to compose himself. How close they had come to disaster this time. The door to Her Majesty's bedchamber flew open and a rush of bodies swept out: the Queen herself, wrapped in a cloak of midnight blue, her frail body hunched over, her face hidden in the depths of a cowl; Ess.e.x at her elbow, aglow in his white doublet and hose as he guided her towards safety; and three pikemen with faces like Kentish ragstone.

Ess.e.x flashed an anxious glance at the spymaster as he went. What pa.s.sed between them moved from desperation to dread. How much longer could they carry on this way was the question they asked each morn when the sun finally rose. The threat crept ever closer to Her Majesty's door. Soon they would not be able to repel it.

Once Ess.e.x had led the Queen out of the antechamber, silence settled, but only for a moment. Raleigh slipped in, the pink lining of his half-compa.s.s cloak looking unnecessarily flamboyant in that butcher's shop. *Gone, like the wind,' he said, going over to the open window and looking out across London. *Our Enemy never fail to find inventive ways to make us suffer.'

*You speak as if you envy them their skill in murder,' Cecil snarled.

*I respect a dedicated foe. That is the only way to find a means to defeat them.' The adventurer inhaled a deep draught of the cool air, scented with the coal-smoke from the first home fires of the day.

*One day the Queen will find you skulking around the palace, and then your only view will be of the rats in your cell in the Tower,' the spymaster muttered. He joined the other man at the window, relieved to see the first silver streaks of dawn. *Food is short and people starve. Fresh water is fouled and cows deliver young with two heads. We are a.s.sailed on all sides.'

*But spring is here. The winter cold is gone,' Raleigh replied wryly.

*At least the d.a.m.nable plague has finally departed. The order has been given to open the playhouses and inn yards so the Queen's subjects have something to take their minds off their miseries.'

Raleigh closed his eyes, enjoying the breeze. *This play would have long since ended if not for the School of Night, you know.'

Cecil gritted his teeth. Loath as he was to give any credit to the secret society, he knew the other man was right. *But still no news of Dee from Swyfte and his band. Even the great resources of the School of Night cannot keep us alive for much longer.'

*You plot and scheme from the shadows, as Walsingham did before you, seeing only the ends, but not the road that takes you there. How has that served you?' The adventurer pulled the cas.e.m.e.nt window shut and turned to inspect the bodies, his expression grave. *You and all your kind have lived a life of compromise,' he continued, moving to each corpse in turn. *You said, not long ago, that the Unseelie Court whittled us down by degrees. But you and Walsingham have done that to yourselves.'

*Watch your tongue, sirrah.' Cecil glanced at the kerchief in his hand and, disgusted, threw it away as if it had burned him.

*I know the agreement Walsingham made, which you perpetuated,' Raleigh said in a cold voice. The spymaster flinched. *You think one life here or there makes no difference when weighed against the security of the Queen and all England?'

*All is a balance-'

*Look here,' Raleigh said with pa.s.sion, sweeping his arm across the fallen guards. *Where is your balance? Where is your security? Those poor souls you sacrificed suffered for naught. And the ones who were stolen, they suffered too.'

Cecil cast his eyes down.

*As for Swyfte, why, no better man has served you,' the adventurer continued. *Yet neither you nor Walsingham could find it in you to tell him what happened to the woman he loved? No, because then you would have had to explain why you allowed her to be taken, and for what reason. And the others too.'

*It was a gamble,' Cecil snapped, rage born of guilt rising inside him. *If it kept us safe, it was worthwhile.'

*It did not.' The adventurer took a deep breath to calm himself and walked to the door. He paused on the threshold and looked back. *Your compromises have failed to deliver what you hoped. You have failed. This world is changing fast, Sir Robert, and you are yesterday's man. This new age demands better principles. Sooner or later it will be time to step aside and let those who measure themselves by a higher standard guide this nation to glory.'

Raleigh fixed his penetrating gaze upon the spymaster for a long moment, and then, with a flamboyant sweep of his cloak, he strode out. Cecil watched the s.p.a.ce he had left behind as the shadows in the room slowly melted in the thin light. After a long moment, he strode to the door and called out. Two pikemen came running.

*Find Sir Walter Raleigh,' he ordered. *Tell him the Queen says he is no longer welcome here and escort him from the palace grounds. Should he resist, take him to the Tower.'

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR.

LANTERNS GLOWED DEEP in the hot night. Spikes of reflected light shimmered across the black waves as the silent fleet sailed towards the east. Haloes of green and red flickered around the grey-sailed galleons, the otherworldly illumination fading like marsh lights. Will watched the Unseelie Court ships, feeling troubled by the display of firepower.

*Extinguish the lights, Master Dusteby,' Captain Sanburne called. The lanterns winked out one by one and the Corneille Noire sailed on westwards, wrapping herself in the dark. Tense moments pa.s.sed as Will and the others aboard held their breaths, but the Fay cannon was not trained upon them.

*Even if they glimpsed us, we are insignificant,' the spy said with a nod. *They have more pressing matters to hand.'

*Dee,' Launceston whispered, spectral in the gloom.

*When you sent the magician back to England, you knew the Enemy would pursue him.' Strangewayes narrowed his eyes accusingly. That gaze had barely left Will since the galleon had departed the island.

*Was there any possibility that the Unseelie Court would let the prize they valued more than anything in our world sail away freely?'

The younger spy snorted. *And in no way did this enter your calculations as you dragged us all on your personal quest for destruction.'

*You chose to come,' Launceston interjected. *No one forced you. Indeed, we might have found more joy on this voyage if you had been left on that island.'

Strangewayes glared at the Earl.

*To answer your question, Tobias, of course I knew the attention of the Unseelie Court would be drawn to Dr Dee, allowing us to sail quietly by,' Will said with a grin, seemingly unruffled.

*Then should we not have accompanied him? Two galleons could better fight off-'

*Two galleons are neither here nor there against the overwhelming power of the Enemy.' Will leaned on the rail, staring into the night. *The Tempest is the finest galleon in all the world, race-built and fleet. We would only have slowed her down.'

Gnawing on a ship's biscuit, Carpenter added, *Courtenay has four days' start, and he will give them a good fight if they want one-'

*Against the Unseelie Court fleet?' Strangewayes interrupted, incredulous.

*-and with Dee in his right mind once more,' Carpenter continued as if the younger spy had not spoken, *there will be magics and trickery aplenty if battle is joined. In truth, I would not wish to be on a Fay galleon.'

Will watched Grace walk up to the clutch of men, her brow furrowed in suspicion. *Why do you argue?' she asked. She kept her voice light, but Will sensed in it a hint of caution for the one who professed to love her. She was more than aware of Strangewayes' loathing for Will, and she had taken it upon herself to prevent any trouble from developing between the two men.

*Nothing,' Strangewayes muttered. He turned away, seeing the other men were closing ranks against him too. But Will sensed that not only Strangewayes but all there recognized that he had taken a gamble with the lives of men he knew; and indeed with England itself, for if he had truly sacrificed Dee to gain an advantage, all would be lost. They still trusted him, for now, but he wondered when they would begin to suspect he would sacrifice even their lives to bring Jenny home.

Will watched as the Unseelie ships disappeared into the night. *Enjoy this moment of peace. The Unseelie Court will become aware of us soon enough, and then we will feel the full force of their fury.'

*You have a plan?' Carpenter asked.

*I always have a plan.'

For near three weeks, with the crew surviving on meagre rations, the Corneille Noire seethed under a merciless sun, heading towards the west away from the main trade routes. Though the compa.s.s remained reliable, Captain Sanburne would scowl and stare up to the heavens as the sunrise flipped from west to east and back again with no rhyme or reason. Will wondered if the land the Enemy called home was like the autumn mist on the Thames, flowing in and out of every nook and cranny along the crowded banks of the city. He took comfort from the fact that they sighted no other Fay vessels, and that only one Spanish treasure galleon crossed the blue horizon.

As they neared the New World, Will felt the obsidian mirror calling to him. Time and again, he found himself in one of the cabins with the looking gla.s.s on the trestle in front of him, hoping against hope that Jenny would appear before him. Only once did he catch a fleeting glimpse of her face. Her eyes seemed heavy with worry, and that only spurred him on. She lived, and that was enough. And soon he would bring her home or die trying.

As he climbed back into the sweltering sun from his latest attempt to use the looking gla.s.s, he glimpsed Meg watching him with a curious expression from the narrow strip of shade near the forecastle. It was as if she knew every doubt that plagued him. He turned away, pretending not to see the beautiful Irish woman's searching gaze, but she glided over and hailed him in a jaunty manner. *Such a handsome face should not be troubled by a brooding look. You need good company to raise your spirits,' she said with a smile, flapping a hand to cool her flushed brow. *Indeed, we both do. Life aboard ship has little in the way of excitement, or comfort, and it seems I have been looking at nothing but blue waves for a lifetime.'

*I fear I would be poor company,' he replied, putting on a practised smile. *My mind is weighted down by plans and strategies.' He heard a splash and watched Carpenter draw up a flapping silver fish on a line at port. As if standing guard, Launceston stood nearby with his arms folded and a blank expression, studying his colleague.

Meg c.o.c.ked her head to one side. *There is still time to turn this galleon round and sail for more entertaining climes.' When she saw he lacked enthusiasm for her suggestion, she sighed and added, *But no. There will be no turning away while the memory of your long-lost love has its hook in you.'

*I have waited too long to discover the truth, Meg. I would have some peace in my life.' He grabbed a stay and looked up to the yards and the blue sky beyond, but the intensity of her attention drew his eyes down to her once more.

*You would have her back beside you, more like.' Her features softened briefly and he glimpsed some honest concern there. *I hope you gain your heart's desire, I truly do,' she added on a wistful note.

Her words struck too close to home and he changed the subject, nodding towards Strangewayes and Grace locked in intense conversation by the mainmast. *I have a favour to ask. Grace is not accustomed to the life we lead. I allowed her to accompany us against my better judgement, but she deserves her answers and her own peace, and I know she would rather die than live the way she has been.' He ignored the Irish woman's searching gaze. *If you could do all within your power to keep her safe, I would be in your debt. Should we return to England, I will find as much gold as you require.'

*It is not gold I need,' she replied with a teasing smile. *Sometimes she buzzes like a fly, and I must resist the urge to swat her, but I will do as you ask.'

*I fear I cannot trust Tobias to protect her. He is too raw, too fired by his pa.s.sions.'

Meg's eyes narrowed as she flashed a glance towards the younger spy. *You cannot trust him at all. He is a lovesick fool who can only see the world with the simple eyes of a child. Black and white, good and evil. He thinks you place his girl in danger and so you are his enemy. If only he knew the truth. How much you harm yourself-'

*Enough.' Will waved a dismissive hand. *Let us not wish upon him this grey world of compromise. He will arrive here soon enough.'

He saw a softness in her look, but she hid it quickly. *And yet there is some truth in what he says.'

Will watched the cut and thrust of dolphins' fins slicing the waves alongside the galleon. He sighed. *I presume you are going to tell me your thoughts, whether I wish to hear them or not.'

Meg leaned in close so no one could overhear. *Your desire to save your lost love has consumed you,' she said. *I understand that it is driven by more than just the heart, and that for long years now the wound has festered.' He felt that she wanted to hold his hand, to comfort him or to share their hidden bond, but she restrained herself, knowing it would be unseemly. *But young Strangewayes sees your blood quicken as you perceive the end of your long quest, and how in your eagerness you are prepared to risk others' lives to achieve your ends.'

Will rested on the rail, not meeting her eyes. All she said was true, he knew, but he had reached the stage where no gamble was too great.

The Irish woman smiled to soften her words. *I care little. John and Robert too, I feel, and even young Grace. We are with you in this and do not mind your . . .' she fluttered a hand while she searched for a word that carried no poison, *insensitivities.'

*Insensitivities.' He nodded, smiling wryly.

*But all men can be pushed too far, and you must remember who your friends are,' she continued. *They will walk through fire, if you would but ask them.' A shadow crossed her face as she leaned against the rail, watching the waves. *This long war kills us all by degrees. We begin as good and decent but gradually edge away from the light, so slowly we barely notice, until one day we look up and we are surrounded by night. Do not let that happen to you, my sweet.'

Before he could respond, she turned and walked towards the forecastle. But after a few steps she paused as if she had recalled something vital, and then turned back, her expression sad. *You have more faith than any priest,' she said, *more hope than I could ever have, but think, Will, what has happened to every soul ever taken by the Unseelie Court?' He showed her his back, not wanting to hear, but she continued. *Men lured under hill by the sound of fiddle and pipe, only to crumble to dust upon their return to the daylight world. Knights and dancing maidens turned into stone. Others twisted into straw men, or bound by unbreakable briar, or dissolved into water. You must ask yourself how many have survived contact with the Unseelie Court.'

None, he knew. None, d.a.m.n her.

*You must prepare yourself,' she said quietly. *I do not wish to be cruel, but I would not see your heart broken when we reach our destination. Do not hope too much.' And with that, she walked away.

Two more days had pa.s.sed when the lookout bellowed that land had been sighted. Soon gulls were wheeling across the blue sky, their hungry calls filling every heart with relief that the days of endless blue had pa.s.sed. A line of green smudged the horizon. In the cabin, Will and Sanburne pored over the pirate captain's charts and the one that Courtenay had given to them, which showed all that was known of the New World coast. Will thought back to everything he had gleaned from the Faerie Queen of her distant home that night so long ago in the Lantern Tower. Legends of the Unseelie Court's bastion had circulated since the first European had set foot upon that mysterious land. The City of Gold. Manoa. The Fortress Crepuscule. The home of all wonders and terrors.

The chart showed a river system reaching out from the dark interior like a skeletal hand. From his discussions with Raleigh, Will knew some of the tributaries had been partially explored, but the land was wild and inaccessible, heavily forested and filled with villages of brown-skinned people who hated strangers after so much of their blood had been spilled by the Spanish over the years. Sanburne traced one dirty-nailed finger along the main river. *Then we take the Orinoco to here, and then the Caroni?' he said. *The river is navigable for a ship of this size?'

*So I am told.'

*And then?'

*Then, Captain Sanburne, your pa.s.sengers will be set ash.o.r.e and you may depart this devil-haunted land and anchor offsh.o.r.e where we now sail. Should we survive, we will find a way back to you.'

*And how long should we wait?' Sanburne said in a dismissive tone that suggested he did not expect any survivors.

*Take on fresh water and sit here for no more than two weeks. And if you come under attack from the Unseelie Court, leave immediately.'

Sanburne nodded, hiding his apprehension. Nor did he show any sign of fear to his men as he ordered them to steer the galleon into the mouth of the wide river; a brave man, as were all of them, to risk so much in the service of the Queen, Will noted. He joined Carpenter, Launceston, Strangewayes, Meg and Grace at the rail, where they watched the nearing land with some trepidation. Hardened by the long struggle, they had become adept at putting on brave faces, but here, so close to the source of their worst fears, they could no longer hide the truth in their hearts. Only Grace held her chin up as she studied the verdant line with an unflinching gaze. Will understood her hope a that whatever waited there was better by far than the endless h.e.l.l of not-knowing that she had lived through for so long. As if she could read his thoughts, she suddenly turned towards him. Their gaze locked in shared understanding. She smiled and nodded.

*Is this our world or the Unseelie Court's world, or something of both?' Launceston asked.

Carpenter rubbed at the scar under his lank hair. *That is the d.a.m.nable thing about those foul creatures,' he growled, his eyes darting. *They play so well with illusion that nothing can be trusted. One moment you think you are on solid ground, the next you are sucked down into the bottomless bog.'

*We travel into the very heart of madness and death,' Strangewayes muttered, crossing himself. *G.o.d save our souls.'

As the Corneille Noire entered the river mouth, the dense forest loomed up, a blanket of green stretching towards purple, mist-shrouded mountains far to the south. In the sweltering heat, stillness lay across the wild country. For all they could see, no human had ever walked there, nor within a thousand miles. They felt alone. Unfamiliar birdsong echoed all around, whooping cries and staccato clicks, punctuated by the low roar of some wild creature that sent shrieking rainbow flocks swelling into the blue sky. River dolphins st.i.tched the shimmering water alongside the hull, and what they had perceived to be a log slipped off the muddy bank with a yawn of a wide mouth revealing rows of ferocious teeth.

*Paradise, the first explorers called this place,' Will remarked as he surveyed the lush countryside.

*h.e.l.l, more like,' Carpenter muttered. *Give me the Mermaid and a cup of sack any day. That is my paradise.'

As the galleon sailed on along the twisting river, the stifling forest closed around them and the sea and the freedom it promised fell away from view. Though they kept to the centre of the channel, Sanburne plumbed the depths regularly, afraid that his ship might become beached. As the day drew on, the mood of unease became more oppressive. Silence enveloped the deck, all eyes flitting towards the trees. When night fell, the captain ordered that the anchor be lowered and no naked light be allowed on deck. The watch changed every hour so no lookout had the time to be lulled to the edge of sleep by the gentle lapping of the river and the breeze through the swaying branches. In the choking heat of the berth, the light of a single candle flickered across Sanburne's grim face as he told them, *We are at war. Let no man lower his guard. Our Enemy could come at any time.'

At first light, they raised anchor and set sail once more. Will watched the tree-lined banks press closer with each turn of the river. When the narrow Caroni river appeared in the wall of vegetation, the birdsong died away and the wind dropped. The water frothing around the ship's hull looked almost black. Climbing up to the forecastle, he searched for the landmarks the Faerie Queen had shown him. When he glimpsed a familiar range of hills rising up above the treetops, he felt a chill. Here was the stuff of nightmares, the haunted realm of the Unseelie Court.

He waved a hand to Sanburne, who ordered the anchor to be dropped. *We continue the rest of our journey on foot,' he said when the other spies had gathered around him by the mainmast. He added wryly, *Will it not be good to stretch our legs after so long on ship?' Only Meg and Grace smiled. They had dressed for the hard trek to come, and were wearing rough woollen kirtles of the kind a country girl might own, with the sleeves of their chemises rolled up.

The longboat was loaded with a small sack of ship's biscuit and skins of water attached to twin staffs for ease of transport. Within the hour, the four men and two women had said their goodbyes and stood on the bank watching the Corneille Noire sail out of view round the bend in the river.

After a moment Will turned and strode into the dark among the trees. There was no going back.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE.

FOUR BLACK BASALT towers punched through the sea of green. Blades of light stabbed out from the gold roofs, each one burning like the sun. As he pressed aside the thin curtain of leaves, Will shielded his eyes against the glare. The narrow branch bounced and shook under his feet and threatened to hurl him down the dizzying drop to the forest floor far below. Steadying himself, he screwed up his nose at the bitter taste of sulphur on the wind, but though he strained he could hear no sounds echoing from the fortress. Truly, it seemed a city of the dead.

He let his gaze run down those grim towers, noting the proliferation of grotesque carvings silhouetted against the silver sky, and the bands of gleaming gold encircling each column at regular intervals. He saw echoes there of the Pillars of Medea, those towering columns through which they had sailed to reach this mysterious place. Surely there could be no doubt that this was the Unseelie Court's fortress? He felt a seething power radiate from it, p.r.i.c.kling the skin on his bare forearms into gooseflesh. His nose began to bleed.

Will bowed his head, peering through the branches to where the others waited below. He felt proud of the way they had coped with the hardships he had thrown in front of them. The trek from the river had been harder than any of them had antic.i.p.ated. Under the forest canopy, the heat sweltered like a baker's oven. Over tangled roots they scrambled, sweat stinging their eyes and plastering their clothes to their bodies. Buzzing insects with wingspans as large as their hands hunted for exposed skin to bite and draw blood. No amount of water seemed to ease their thirst. Yet tempers had not frayed. As they struggled steadily uphill from the river, hands never strayed far from weapons and eyes continually searched the green world all around. Will had seen the strain in every face and had marvelled that he could not hear the throb of their hearts.

While they had rested, Carpenter had sidled alongside him and whispered, *When will you reveal your plan?' With a rea.s.suring smile, he had replied, *In good time.' The response seemed to satisfy the other man, at least temporarily, but Will knew that soon the questions would become more pointed. What could he say? That he needed them to help him survive the forest trek, but then he planned to abandon them and sneak into the fortress alone? They would never let him go. Yet for all that he had manipulated them to his own ends, it was time for him to stop risking their necks, and once inside that merciless fortress there was little chance of emerging alive. It was his burden alone, his misery and suffering, his one chance of redemption.

Edging back along the branch, he swung down the towering trunk and dropped the final few feet to the mossy ground with feline grace. *We should be there by dusk,' he said. *Steel yourselves.'

Launceston's whistle rolled out of the undergrowth. The others darted through the trees to where the Earl waited on the edge of a clearing. Sallow-faced and seemingly unruffled by the heat, he waited by a broad-trunked tree, immobile. His eyes flickered towards them and then he nodded towards the clearing.

Dropping to his haunches, Will crept forward. The aristocrat had been scouting ahead for signs of the routes the Enemy took through the forest. What seemed to be a village stood on the other side of the clearing, ten or so log dwellings on stilts beside a creek. Several hide-covered boats had been dragged up the bank. Nothing moved. Will sniffed the air, but could smell no smoke from cooking fires. He had heard tales of the forest folk who, armed with bows and arrows, moved like ghosts among the trees. He gestured left and right. Drawing their daggers, Carpenter and Strangewayes loped in opposite directions round the clearing, then hunched down behind trees and watched and waited.