Satisfied that Sardar was going to remain conscious, they all took a break to get cleaned up and changed. Jack was given a renewed sense of just how much soot and oil had become encased in his skin. After a long shower and having changed his filthy s.h.i.+rt and trousers for the tunic he'd worn as an elf, he felt a lot more comfortable.

Whilst running a towel through his hair, which had grown much longer in the weeks since he'd left Earth, he took stock of his belongings. The Albion clothes were in a pile ready to be taken to the laundry room and perhaps added to Quentin's theatrical collection from different worlds. His bag still held a selection of toiletries s.n.a.t.c.hed from his room in Thorin Salr, which he had emptied onto his bed. The really important stuff was now on his person. The gauntlet from the goblin Vodnik, awarded to Jack for saving his life, was clasped onto his left forearm. The language ring was on the fourth finger of his left hand. The Seventh Shard, as always, was threaded around his neck under his tunic.

He glanced at the bed absently, half-expecting to see Inari there, but, of course, he had sent the fox to keep an eye on Lucy. The pang of guilt surprised him: she had barely been in his thoughts. It had been less than a fortnight since they'd parted ways, and though she'd been away on family holidays longer than this, it seemed like a lifetime since he'd seen her.

He joined the group on the command deck. The water they'd spread into the room had been mopped up, and everything looked just as they'd left it a little over a week ago: banks of high-tech computer monitors, murky water beyond the gla.s.s, and the large oak table in the center, where Ruth, Sardar, Bal, and Dannie stood.

"About time," Ruth said as he approached. "We were wondering what had happened to you."

They were all looking down at a piece of paper. "I managed to take this from the desk in Osborne Manor," Sardar explained. "We think it shows where they might be going. Can you read this, please?"

Jack leaned to have a look, wondering why it had to be him. The map was very minimalist, with a few lines showing the city and a river running eastwards. A route had been traced westwards from the city to a forest upriver. An X was marked in a glade of trees, and a single word had been scrawled in thin handwriting. "It says commune."

"What does that mean?" Dannie asked.

"I'm not exactly sure," Sardar replied, for some reason still appraising Jack. "Though we know from our look into the black mirror that Nimue was searching for the fairies of this world who supposedly guard the Third Shard. We have yet to discover why she ended up in a human city instead. We know from those plans that they've constructed some kind of machine. I think if we follow them to this commune, we'll find out more." All of them nodded.

Sardar handed the map to one of the crew members operating the computer consoles. Moments later, bubbles were rising beyond the gla.s.s dome as the s.h.i.+p dived and began its journey upriver.

"Now," Ruth said, rounding on Dannie, "you've got some questions to answer."

Dannie smiled sheepishly. "Fair enough. I haven't really explained anything."

"So you work in the Goodwin factory?" Jack prompted, trying to temper Ruth's accusatory tone. "But why did you rescue us? And, for that matter, how did you know where to find us?"

Dannie grinned now, and the phrase grease monkey found its way into Jack's head. She was fairly short and very thin, skin still thick with ingrained dirt even after a shower, and her shoulder-length blonde hair fell in oily curls around her tanned face. She had opted to keep her own clothes, and, despite the new revelations about her gender, the boots, trousers, s.h.i.+rt, and flat cap suited her.

"Well, I am a factory worker, but I guess I'm a sort of detective as well. It's a long old story, but I'll give you the short version. My dad was a laborer for this small manufacturing firm. It was a pretty good setup, but then Fred Goodwin bought it out and fired the whole workforce. That pretty much did Dad in. So when I was old enough, I decided to get back at Goodwin. I've been investigating his operation for a while now, trying to dig up some of the dirt everyone knows is there but no one can find any hard evidence for. So I was working undercover at the factory.

"Then, just over a week ago now, this...o...b..rne woman shows up and a lot of manufacturing firms' profits practically double overnight, including Goodwin's. Very shady. So I do a bit more digging and find that someone else is asking the same questions as me"-she nodded at Sardar-"and so I kept an eye on you. I followed you to the Osborne place and saw you jump out of that flaming window. And then the bobbies got you. Of course, I didn't know you were all connected until then!" She pointed between Sardar, Jack, and Bal.

"But what took you so long to get to the prison? We were there for hours!"

"I lost track of the paddy wagon, so I had to go round all the police stations in the city searching for you. You were in the fourth or fifth one I tried. Nearly got it badly wrong a few times. I'd got the rope down on one before I realized I was busting out a deranged murderer! Now that would've been a mistake..."

"And so you're coming with us now?"

"May as well. I'm interested to see what this...o...b..rne woman's up to. If I can catch her, I've got a good chance of pinning something on Goodwin."

Jack had half-expected this. Dannie was well-intentioned and sharp, but she clearly had no idea who was really behind all this. He nodded his a.s.sent to Sardar, and he saw Ruth and Bal do the same.

The elf smiled exasperatedly. "Well, it would be me doing the explaining, wouldn't it? Very well. Dannie, there are some things you should know before we get to the forest..."

Sardar told her everything-or at least everything Jack knew: about the different races and worlds; about the Apollonians and the Cult; about the Cult's plan to create a superweapon; about the legends Isaac had come across; about the Shards of the Risa Star and an ubermensch and the race to find them.

For the most part, Dannie took it surprisingly well. Considering that for Jack and Lucy to be convinced, it had taken a Cult attack on their home, being transported to another world, and fighting a demon inside a volcano. Dannie, conversely, was positively nonchalant about the whole thing.

"So," she said, once Sardar had finished and she'd computed everything for a few seconds, "you're an elf, you're a dwarf, you're a human-so what are you?" She looked lastly at Ruth, who looked back at her, confused.

It was then that Jack caught sight of a new golden egg set upon one of the maps-a replacement for the one that had shattered outside the manor. It made him remember something. "Dannie, what was it you used to get us out of the cell?"

Dannie grinned again and rolled up her s.h.i.+rt slightly, undoing a thick leather belt from around her waist and laying it out on the table. It held a line of various metal implements, like a mechanic's tool kit. She unclipped what looked like a pair of skipping rope handles.

"Pulse wire," she explained, pulling the handles apart to reveal a thin line of green energy between them. "Can cut through pretty much anything, including prison bars."

"What else have you got in there?" Ruth asked, obviously impressed.

Dannie replaced the pulse wire and pulled out something that looked like a cross between a key and a screwdriver. "Thunder key. Sends an electric pulse through a lock to align the tumblers. And my personal favorite." She swapped the key for a small pistol. "Memory gun. A blast from this and you'll be hazy for about five minutes... until you realize your incriminating doc.u.ments have been swiped from your safe."

"And where did you get all this?" Sardar inquired coolly. It was the same reproachful tone he had adopted toward King Thorin when he'd suspected that explosives had been stolen from another world.

"I made them. Alchemically enhanced technology. Like this whole place, right?" She gestured around at the innards of the s.h.i.+p.

Ruth raised her eyebrows. "I think you're going to fit in around here."

Chapter XIII.

the cave of lights The journey to the Cave of Lights was the toughest challenge Lucy had ever faced. Leaving the goblin encampment, they had struck out north across the frozen plains, crossing the river via an ancient-looking bridge-provoking a twinge of memory of Thorin Salr-and begun the long ascent.

Snow fell in the foothills and continued once they reached the mountains proper. Each night they went to sleep amidst a scene of silently descending flakes, and in the mornings they awoke to a fresh layer of white all around them. The tribe had lent them a couple of smaller tents, one for Lucy and Ada and another for Hakim and Vince. These were notoriously difficult to set up and disa.s.semble, so they allowed an additional hour at sunrise and sunset to do so. The days were freezing, and the nights were even colder. They ate what little they had brought-mainly dry food from Maht's store-in two small meals each day around an alchemically conjured fire.

They barely spoke for the entire journey, all of them silently acknowledging that words would waste energy they sorely needed. The air became noticeably thinner the higher they climbed, and it took considerable effort for all of them to continue moving at a steady pace. Their priest guide had said not a single word since leaving the matriarch's tent but shuffled always several feet ahead of them, forging a shallow causeway through the snow.

Lucy, like her three companions, had piled on as many layers as possible before departure. She was aching now from the daylong periods of hiking, and she had almost lost all feeling in her extremities. When she removed her gloves, it was to find her fingertips had turned black. One evening, as they were eating, she had shown Hakim. The elf had grimaced and, placing his fingertips to hers, proceeded to heal her with alchemy. This was fine until she noticed later that, rather than disappearing, the frostbite seemed to have transferred to him. She felt instantly guilty and resolved to keep it to herself in the future.

To her slight surprise, her thoughts were not mostly occupied by Jack or even Alex but by Maht. They had shared the briefest of good-byes before she had left, when the goblin had pulled her into a swift hug and wished her good luck. Lucy felt nothing but admiration for the single mother raising her daughter alone. As soon as she was able to, she intended to honor her last words to Maht: "I'll come back for you."

Night was approaching on the fourth day when they finally crossed a ridge and reached the temple. The sun rippled bloodred through the watery sky, approaching the western horizon and elongating their fur-plumped figures into skeletal shadows. The entrance to the Cave of Lights was three human-sized slabs of stone, marking a gloomy opening in the mountainside. There was nothing to distinguish it from anything else in the arctic range. Lucy couldn't see what was particularly lit about it.

"So this is it, then." Vince panted, knocking patronizingly on the doorway. "Not an easy place to find, is it?"

"I think that's the point," Ada replied, joining him. The elf looked particularly ridiculous in all those furs, something like a giant cotton ball.

Hakim exchanged a few words with the goblin priest and then pulled the three Apollonians into a huddle slightly away from the entrance. "We need to be on our guard going in there," he said quietly. "By now, the Cult will have had time to get in and possibly even take the Shard. We don't know what might be waiting for us."

"Yeah," Lucy added, unable to resist, "what does this remind you of?"

Hakim and Ada winced, clearly remembering Mount Fafnir.

"Very well," Hakim addressed the priest as they returned to the entrance, "could you lead us inside?"

The tunnel they entered was completely black. Hakim conjured a fireball to hover in his palm, sending flickering orange light to illuminate the rough-hewn walls. They moved downwards with no indication of when the pa.s.sage would end until, finally, a glimmer became visible in front of them. They continued in single file until they reached another high doorway, and it opened out.

Lucy wasn't sure what she was seeing. She initially thought they were outside again, but that wasn't possible; they had been moving downwards all the time. It took her several seconds to realize what she saw was not a starlit sky but a colossal underground chamber stretching the length of several football pitches. What she had taken for stars were actually floating lights, set in alcoves around the entire circular wall and up countless levels. The floor of the Cave seemed to be a ma.s.sive lake, forming an exact mirror reflection of the lights above except for seven stone walkways from the wall to a small island in the center. She had visited cathedrals with her parents and never really understood them, but this was something else. For the first time, she began to understand why some people were religious.

"What are the lights?" she whispered to Hakim as they proceeded.

"I'm not exactly sure. This is only a guess, but I think there's one for every deceased goblin. I think it symbolizes them being led safely to the afterlife."

The priest had stopped on the edge of the island. Hakim pa.s.sed him, followed by Lucy. The only thing on the island was a simple stone plinth, carved with star symbols. The other two joined them, and they huddled around to inspect it. The top was completely bare, save for a small hole in the center-a hole that would have exactly fitted a Shard of the Risa Star.

"Like rats to rancid b.u.t.ter," an unfamiliar voice echoed behind them.

They spun around.

A black-cloaked figure was standing on the walkway they had just come down, blocking their way back. But their attention was instantly distracted as the priest's form contorted and ripped out of the furs, leaving a snarling winged demon in its place.

"One point to me," crowed a female voice behind them.

The first figure tossed a coin over the island to a black-cloaked woman on the other side, and she caught it. "Paethon thought a doppelganger could never fool you again, but I disagreed."

They both cackled.

"Phaedra and Paethon, I take it?" Vince asked coldly.

"Correct," they answered, and their voices slid together as one.

"Now," Paethon continued, "perhaps you can a.s.sist us. Where is the Shard?"

The Apollonians exchanged uncomprehending looks.

"We don't have the Shard," Hakim replied. "Don't you?"

Phaedra gave a theatrical sigh of contempt. "Now, is playing this game really worth our time? The plinth was empty when we arrived. We all know one of your meddlesome crew has it. If you're not going to give it up, then I'm afraid force is the only option."

Lucy could tell Ada, Hakim, and Vince were also silently considering their options. There were only two Cultists, both surely powerful alchemists, but then so were Ada and Hakim. They could probably take them and the demon down and run for the exit...

This plan was crushed by the materialization of five more Cultists in streams of black smoke, blocking all of the walkways.

"Keep close," Hakim muttered.

They had formed an outward-facing ring around the plinth, each of them eyeing the Cultists nearest them. Lucy, Ada, and Vince instinctively moved their hands to the hilts of their swords, and Hakim reached for his wooden staff. Lucy was now considering the lake. They might be able to make a break for it and swim to the other side. If they distracted Paethon and jumped, they might just make it...

Lucy leapt back, alarmed, as waves began to roll over the surface of the water. They were gathering momentum, rising higher and higher when suddenly, with the roar of a waterfall, they blasted upwards. The black cloaks dissolved into smoke form as the water towered over the island, spinning like an aquatic tornado. The lights were now only blurred glimmers beyond the swiftly rotating wall.

The Apollonians were completely disoriented, all four of them looking frantically upwards, trying to catch a glimpse of ebony smoke. A bolt of dark lightning was hurled from somewhere above them, striking Hakim between the shoulder blades and knocking him flat.

Ada flung an emerald jet in return, but it was lost in the swirling wall.

"Cowards!" Vince bellowed over the roaring water. He was. .h.i.t by a blast in the shoulder, then another two in the stomach, and he crumpled to the ground.

Lucy and Ada took up positions back to back. The elf conjured a humming golden ball, which she sent through the cyclone, momentarily illuminating the streaks of smoke. Both of them fired bolts, but the smoke streams were too quick and the water washed the golden orb away. A spike of Dark alchemy launched outwards from where it had faded, pa.s.sing through Ada's chest. She gasped, her eyes bulging, and collapsed on top of Vince.

Lucy leapt onto the pedestal. She knew she was more exposed here, but it afforded her a better chance of sighting the black cloaks' smoke. Through the rippling water, she saw one of the lights. Remembering what Jack had done back in Thorin Salr, she focused on it, channeling the light through her body. With the sound of an organ note, her dull metal sword burst into life, the blade s.h.i.+ning incandescent white.

She was just in time. A wreath of dark flames blasted out to her left. She parried it with the alchemically infused weapon, flinging it back into the water. A scream of pain on the other side was accompanied by the thud of a body colliding with stone.

The tremendous roar of the whirlpool around her continued, but over it she could hear the screeching voice of Phaedra.

"My, she is a tenacious little sprite, isn't she?"

"I'm not sure." Paethon's voice resounded. "I doubt she'll be standing after a good old-fas.h.i.+oned drowning."

Phaedra cackled. "You're on!"

The very peak of the water wall rippled, turning inwards. The entire whirlpool was collapsing on the island.

Lucy's cry was immediately stifled by the torrent. She was knocked onto her back, the edge of the pedestal cutting a ridge in her spine as water hammered her. She gasped for breath but inhaled only foul liquid. She could see nothing; she could hear only the pounding of millions of droplets on stone. Her senses washed away, she pa.s.sed out of consciousness like a sacrificial lamb on the altar as the black cloaks closed in.

Chapter XIV.

comforting words True to Ruth's prediction, Dannie had settled right in. She was intrigued by the s.h.i.+p and spent hour upon hour exploring its every corridor and chamber. She often sat with the crew on the command deck discussing mechanics. But she didn't stop there. Less than three hours in, she was scrambling through chutes in the walls and under the carpet to examine the inner workings of The Golden Turtle. Dannie had an adaptability and buoyant optimism that Jack instinctively warmed to.

Sardar, recovering from his latest alchemical injury, took things easier for those two days, mostly remaining in his room. As usual, Bal kept to himself. But Jack and Ruth pa.s.sed the time with Dannie, soon finding they had something in common.

"So you're an orphan as well, then?" she asked Jack after the three of them had been talking for a while.

"Join the club," Ruth remarked drily.

"How were things for you?" Dannie asked them both.

After Ruth explained about her amnesia, Jack began talking about his orphanage: that it had been in a depressing ex-prison and was chronically underfunded, though the staff had tried their best, and that he'd never really got on with the other children.

Dannie listened with raised eyebrows. "You think that's bad? You've never seen a workhouse." And by the time she'd related the squalor, the lingering hunger, the constant threat of disease, the staff's physical and mental abuse, the regular fights and occasional murder, Jack and Ruth's mouths were hanging open.

"Yep, you've definitely had the worst luck of us all," Ruth said weakly.

"Well, I don't know for sure whether I'm an orphan," Dannie qualified. "I never knew my mum; she disappeared pretty much as soon as I was out of her body. She might still be around somewhere, but I'm not fussed. As far as I'm concerned, I only had one parent."

Jack realized it was a mark of how much he liked Dannie that he wasn't annoyed that he couldn't be alone with Ruth. They hadn't spent any time together, just the two of them, since the previous Sunday, and the chances were increasingly unlikely with Ruth's renewed duties as captain of The Golden Turtle.

The first night, he had been so exhausted from factory work and their anti-Cult escapades that he'd been asleep as soon as he'd hit the bunk and for fourteen hours solid afterward. But the second, he found himself rolling over and over, each position less comfortable than the last, unable to rest his mind. His thoughts were on Lucy and Alex.