Now I knew for certain who the false King was. Leaping back behind a pile of crates, I started to sing in self-defense. And that was when I had my second shock, because my song shattered on the false King just as it had shattered on the sea monster. After a moment of cacophony, I heard the raging music again, the same music I’d heard out on the river—and this time it sounded more like a Chantress than ever.
“You’re coming with me.” The false King seized a stick from the ground and came after me with it, nearly knocking me into the water.
I heard Nat shout, but he was too far away to help. A wall divided the wharf from the rest of the palace waterfront, and he and the true King were still trying to scramble over it.
The false King swung his stick again, this time whacking me on the shoulder. I stumbled, and my hands came down on something hard. A broken bit of chain.
Iron chain.
I scrabbled for it, fingers slick with mud and rain. As the stick came down again, I rolled away and flung the chain into the false King’s face.
When it hit, he shrieked. For a second it looked as though his face were melting. Then his entire shape wavered and changed. He turned into something only half-human, and then into something not human at all.
A serpent writhed at my feet, its coils translucent where the iron had touched it. As I stood there in shock, it slipped over the wharf’s edge and vanished into the Thames.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IRON
Still reeling, I tried to call the serpent back from the river, using every bit of magic I knew. None of it did any good. My music ran into a wall every time, just as it had with the mermaid and the sea monster.
“But at least you unmasked it,” Nat said an hour later. “And now we know for certain that iron is a good defense against such creatures.”
Our Council meeting was only just opening, but it was already clear to me that Nat was indeed the King’s right-hand man. When he spoke, everyone listened, and most of them nodded in agreement. The only person who had trouble looking him in the eye was me. Too many emotions and thoughts were whirling inside me, and I was afraid he would see my turmoil.
“Before you say anything more, Walbrook, may I point out that we don’t know if everyone here is who he appears to be.” Eyebrows arched high over his sallow face, Sir Barnaby looked from the King to Nat to me to Penebrygg to Gabriel and on down the table to the Lord High Admiral, who had joined us for our deliberations. “For all I know, one of you is a snake in disguise.”
“No,” Nat said. “I’ve checked you all.”
“What?” Sir Barnaby looked disconcerted. “How?”
“Most of you touched the iron door handle as you came in. I made a point of shaking hands with those who didn’t, touching this iron ring to your skin.” Nat pointed to a thick black ring on his finger. “No one here is a shape-changer.”
Sir Barnaby’s brow relaxed. “Well done, Walbrook.”
“Hear, hear!” Sir Samuel raised a lace-cuffed hand in the air. “I say we should all wear something of the sort.”
There was a rumble of general support.
“I could create an emblem for us,” said Sir Christopher Linnet, well-known for his love of design. “We could have it stamped on rings for all the Council.”
“That would take time,” Penebrygg pointed out.
“Yes, we need a speedier solution.” Nat opened a box that had been sitting in front of him. “With that in mind, I’ve brought an assortment of iron objects that I’ve borrowed from the palace with the King’s permission. Each of you should take one.”
The box was passed to me first. I selected a simple, flat bracelet and slipped it around my wrist. One by one, the others found something to suit them—a badge, a cross, a ring.
“Now we must arm the entire country,” Nat said. “Here’s what I have in mind.”
He outlined his plans: all sea walls to be spiked with iron, all sailors and fishermen to be given iron spears and pikes, iron cannon to be set up along the Thames, iron bullets to be issued to new coast patrols . . .
Gabriel raised a well-groomed eyebrow. “A laudable plan, Walbrook. But where will we get all this iron, may I ask?”
“We’ll have to boost production, of course,” Nat said. “And