with you, and you definitely won’t be coming back for it. The Travel Bureau provides Doors for desperate people who need to disappear without trace. The most powerful Doors to be found anywhere in this world, or out of it. So they say.”
“Where are they?” said Sir Perryvale. “Do you know?”
“Of course I know!” I said. “Droods know where everyone is. Or at least that’s what I always thought. The Shifting Lands . . . are new to me. Let’s hope the Tourist Bureau has heard of them. They have a Departure Lounge, hidden away in a private pocket dimension, in the space between spaces. Tangentially attached to a particular location in London, from where they can access every point in Space and Time. According to their brochure. The problem is you can only get in if you make contact through the proper channels. They’d never willingly admit a Drood . . . but they might let Shaman Bond in. There is a chance their security measures might detect my torc; if that happens my cover identity will be blown. But I’ll risk it. For Molly.”
We all looked round again, at the sound of heavy armoured feet pounding up the stairs towards us. It seemed that Sir Bors had found his reinforcements. I nodded quickly to Gayle and looked at Sir Perryvale.
“Are you going to be all right if I leave you here to face Sir Bors? He knows you let me in.”
“Don’t worry,” said Gayle. “I’ll vouch for Perry.”
“You’re too kind,” said Sir Perryvale.
“Yes,” said Gayle, “I am.”
I reached into my pocket for the Merlin Glass, so it could make me a Door to leave by, and again it stubbornly avoided my hand.
“Oh come on!” I said. “Don’t you dare play up now!”
“It’s not the Glass,” said Sir Perryvale. “Sir Bors will have reinforced the Castle’s security wards. Once they’re set to Red Alert, nothing can get in or out. You’re trapped here, Eddie.”
I thought quickly. “Not necessarily. I can still fight my way out. Through the Knights, through the Castle, all the way to the main entrance. But not without hurting people. I don’t want to do that, but I can’t afford to be stopped. Not now. Not when Molly is depending on me.” I looked at Sir Perryvale. “How many reinforcements can Sir Bors call on?”
“Twenty Knights,” said the Seneschal. “That’s the full complement left behind to guard Castle Inconnu.”
“What about the security people?”
“Those are the security people!” said Sir Perryvale. “Twenty London Knights in their armour could stand off an army. Normally they answer to me, as Seneschal, but I don’t think they’ll be in any mood to listen to me after everything Sir Bors will have been saying about me.”
I was still thinking hard. If I did take on the London Knights, that could start a war between the Knights and the Droods. Particularly if I beat them. I could tell from the look on Sir Perryvale’s face that the same thought had occurred to him.
“My family will just have to disown me again,” I said. “Declare me rogue and throw me to the wolves, to save the family honour. I can live with that. I’ve lived with it before. Anything for Molly.”
“You really think you can take on twenty London Knights?” said Sir Perryvale.
“I have to,” I said.
“Hold everything,” said the Seneschal. “I’ve had an idea. A way out of a very dangerous situation, for all concerned. I am now declaring this a security drill. You are my invited guest, called in by me to test the Castle’s defences. To check just how secure this place really is, while the army’s away. I’m allowed to do that. Technically . . .”
I looked at him. “Your people will buy that?”
Sir Perryvale shrugged quickly. “They will if you break through them, and leave, and don’t get caught. That’ll prove my point. But, Eddie, you mustn’t kill anyone. Not even accidentally. That would mean war . . .”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I don’t do that any more.”
“Of course, Sir Bors will never believe any of this,” said Sir Perryvale. “But luckily no one likes him much anyway. A brave enough fighter, but a stuck-up little prig.”
“I may have to get a bit rough with the Knights,” I said.
“Fuck them if they can’t take a joke,” said the Seneschal.
I looked to Gayle. “Will you be getting involved in this?”
“No,” she said. “Let the children squabble . . . But I always was a sucker for true love. So