Faerie Wars 02 - The Purple Emperor (45 page)

The trouble was he hated politics. He hated the lies and the deceit, the double-dealing and corruption. Yet he knew it was impossible to survive in high office without them. Even his father, an honourable man, had been forced into questionable acts from time to time.

But his father had at least been ruthless enough to undertake them. Pyrgus knew he never would. He would try to hold firm to his principles and ruin the Realm in the process. How could he follow in his father's footsteps?

His father's footsteps were coming closer.

It was peculiar. He believed Gnoma could raise the dead - that's why he was here, that's why he'd subjected his father's body to ... to ... But at the same time he didn't believe, not really. Dead was dead. There was no turning back. Once the stasis spell was removed, his father's body would quickly turn to dust. There was no way to escape, no incantation that could ...

Yet he believed in Gnoma. And something was approaching.

The footsteps had reached the top of the stairway and were now on the corridor outside. Perhaps it was Gnoma himself, come to admit failure. The man would be full of excuses, full of reasons why he should keep his fee.

Why was he moving so slowly? The tread was like a leaden procession. One step ... one step ... one step ... Not halting or feeble or stumbling or ill, but miserably, terrifyingly slow.

Slow or not, the footsteps were close now. He could imagine the figure in the corridor and in his mind's eye he knew it was not Gnoma.

What had he done?

A dark shape loomed in the doorway. Apatura Iris stepped into the room.

Apatura, once Head of House Iris, former Purple Emperor of the Realm of Faerie and Lord Protector of the Church of Light, father of Pyrgus Malvae, had been a striking man, not handsome exactly - his features were too coarse for that - but with charisma and appeal. He had carried himself with nobility and grace.

Now he was a monster. His spine was twisted from the removal of the luz. No wonder he walked slowly -he could scarcely hold himself upright and his body seemed wracked by preternatural pain. But the real monstrosity was his face. The wax used by the morticians to reconstruct his features had fallen away once life returned, leaving almost all his head a raw and bloody open wound. One eye remained intact, glittering darkly from the mass of torn flesh. The regal nose was no longer there. The mouth was little more than a gash.

'Father,' Pyrgus whispered. But this creature was no longer his father. It was an animated shell, driven by dark powers.

It moved towards him and suddenly he imagined he could smell the stench of rotting flesh. It reached out a hand, the fingers curled like claws.

What had he done? What had he done?

'Kill me,' Apatura Iris said.

'Why didn't you?' Blue demanded. 'If Daddy was so awful, why didn't you kill him there and then?'

'I couldn't,' Pyrgus told her simply.

'But -'

Pyrgus seemed to gather strength from somewhere. 'Look, Blue, he may have been awful, but he was still Daddy. How could I kill him? I'd only just had him resurrected. I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know Gnoma would go to Hairstreak or how bad things would get. I thought I could take him home and have him healed - you know, have his face healed and anything else that was wrong - and it would be like it was before. He could be Emperor and it would be like it was before.'

'But you didn't take him home.'

'Gnoma said the process wasn't complete - the resurrection process. He said it would be dangerous to release ... ' Pyrgus took a long, shuddering breath, '... Daddy before everything stabilised. So I left him with Gnoma.'

'And Gnoma took him to Hairstreak.'

Pyrgus nodded miserably. 'Yes.'

After a while Blue said, 'I wonder how they made him look like his old self.'

Pyrgus shrugged. 'Illusion spells. I think there was some healing too. But it wasn't holding. That's why Hairstreak arranged the operation. They were going to transplant a wangaramas.'

Blue stared at him with dawning realisation. The wyrm would have allowed her father's body to function far more effectively, would have created the illusion of health and life, would have allowed Hairstreak to maintain the fiction that the Purple Emperor had never died. 'Chalkhill was carrying the wyrm?'

'Yes.'

'It was Chalkhill who told you what Lord Hairstreak planned to do?'

'Yes.'

'So you cut off Daddy's head.'

'Yes. Yes, yes, yes!'

'What are we going to do?' Blue asked.

Pyrgus looked at her. 'Nothing. It's done now. I should never have brought him back - I know that now. It was horrible for Daddy and a disaster for the Realm. But I've put it right now. Daddy's dead, properly dead. Hairstreak can't bring him back again. Nobody can.' He suddenly moved across to take her hands. 'Blue, I have it all worked out,' he said earnestly. 'We'll use Hairstreak's story against him. He's put it about that Daddy never died, just went into a coma then revived. We'll say Daddy never fully recovered, that he hung on for a little then died from his original injuries. Hairstreak won't dare to contradict us - he can't without admitting his involvement. I'll go ahead with the Coronation. When I'm Purple Emperor, I'll tear up the stupid pact Hairstreak made Daddy sign.'

Blue shook her head. 'You can't. The treaty is binding on Daddy's heir as well as himself. Hairstreak was taking no chances - you're mentioned in the wording by name.'

Pyrgus waved her objection aside. 'I'll think of something. I'll put things back the way they were. Outside of you and I, nobody need know anything illegal happened.'

'Comma knows,' Blue said.

They called a Conference of Friends. Pyrgus didn't want to, but Blue insisted. Mr Fogarty was there. Madame Cardui was there. Henry was there. Pyrgus wanted Nymphalis there too, but Blue vetoed that promptly.

'We don't know her well enough,' she said. 'Besides, she owes her loyalties to the forest, not to House Iris. I'm sure she's wonderful, but this is too delicate to take the slightest risk.'

When they were all in the Orchid Room and the door securely locked and spelled, Blue outlined the problem, holding nothing back. They listened attentively, sober-faced, saying little, nodding occasionally. When she'd finished, Blue said, 'I'd like to know what you think.'

No one spoke until, eventually, Henry said, 'But Hairstreak already knows what you did, Pyrgus -wouldn't Gnoma have told him?'

'Yes. Yes, he did,' Pyrgus said. 'Gnoma definitely told him. But Hairstreak can't admit to that, otherwise everyone will know he was lying about Father never having died and the new agreement and everything.'

Mr Fogarty glanced across at Pyrgus. 'It would nearly be worth owning up to everything. To drop Hairstreak in it.'

Pyrgus started to say something, but Blue cut in quickly. 'There's no question of Pyrgus owning up.'

'Why not?'

'I told you - resurrection is forbidden.'

'So what are they going to do to him?' Fogarty asked impatiently. 'Have him say five Hail Marys?'

'Hang him,' Blue said starkly.

There was a long moment's silence in the room. Then Fogarty said, 'Are you serious?'

'That's the penalty.'

'Even for an Emperor Elect?'

'Only the Emperor is above the law - a properly crowned Emperor. The Emperor Elect can be tried like anybody else.'

Mr Fogarty sniffed. 'Should have waited, shouldn't you?' he said to Pyrgus. He turned back to Blue. 'But would it actually happen - a trial? Who would bring the charges?'

'The priesthood,' Blue told him. 'It's a spiritual issue.'

Henry said, 'What happens if it gets out that Pyrgus, you know, cut his - ah, killed -'

'A resurrected body is an abomination,' Blue said. 'There's no penalty for sending the soul back to its proper home.'

'Except your father's body isn't supposed to have been resurrected,' Henry said gently. 'Hairstreak's story is that the Emperor never died and you've decided to support that, haven't you? If you don't, then Pyrgus will be hung for resurrecting him.'

Blue and Pyrgus looked at one another.

Madame Cardui said, 'He's right, Crown Prince, deeah. But if we stick to Hairstreak's story and Comma tells what he saw, you could be facing a charge of murder in place of a charge of resurrection. I'm afraid that's hanging again.'

'Simple answer,' Fogarty said. 'We bung Comma in solitary until you're made Emperor.'

Madame Cardui raised an eyebrow. 'A little rough on the boy, wouldn't you say, Alan?'

Fogarty shrugged. 'Could have Pyrgus crowned in a week. A week's not too rough in solitary: I've done it my--' He stopped himself and coughed, then added lamely, 'Solves the problem, doesn't it? They're not going to hang their Emperor for murder.'

'Ah,' Blue said.

'Why are you saying Ah?' Mr Fogarty asked sourly. 'What's Ah?'

Blue looked strained. 'When I said the Emperor is above the law, there's one exception ...'

'Murder?'

'Not exactly,' Pyrgus said. 'Just murdering the previous Emperor.'

'That's right,' Blue confirmed. 'Realm Law holds that the Purple Emperor owns his subjects and thus can dispose of them as he wills - he can execute someone, which is just another name for murder, or have somebody carry out a murder, or pardon somebody who's committed murder. But the one exception to all of that is the previous Emperor, who is not defined as a - I forget the term, but it means he's not defined as being owned.'

'You can see why,' said Madame Cardui cheerfully. 'It stops the royal family murdering their way to the throne.' She hesitated, smiled, then leaned forward to say quietly to Blue, 'The word is chattel, deeah.'

Fogarty said, 'So if Comma talks, Pyrgus hangs -threats may keep him quiet for a while, but if we don't sort out something permanent, we all know Comma will talk, sooner or later.'

'I'm not having you kill him,' Blue said sternly. 'He may be a pain in the neck, but he's still our baby brother.'

Fogarty looked at her in mild surprise. 'Actually, I was thinking more of bribery. Offer him something he wants - few toys, money, a fancy title, seat on the Government... whatever it takes, just so long as he has no real power. Make sure he knows it all disappears if Pyrgus isn't Emperor.'

'Trouble is Pyrgus doesn't want to be Emperor,' Blue remarked quietly.

'I think I may have an idea about that,' said Henry.

After he'd told them, Henry looked from one face to the other, waiting for a reaction.

Pyrgus shook his head. 'It's not possible, Henry.' His expression might have been one of regret.

'It's not legal,' Blue echoed.

'Actually it is,' said Madame Cardui. 'The legislation has been in place for a very long time, although you seldom hear about it.' She smiled a little. 'The real problem, Henry, is that it couldn't possibly work.'

'It works in my world,' Henry said. 'All the time.'

'Is that true, Alan?' Madame Cardui asked.

Mr Fogarty shrugged. 'I'm not sure works isn't a bit of an exaggeration.'

Henry looked at him in disgust.