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abandoned her. This was a test. All you have to do is use your magic, Fiorinda.
Iron bars can t hold you. I m waiting for you in Ireland. Remember when you
were a little girl, how you wanted me to love you, and make you my bride?
We shall rule the world together.
I can t do this. I can t fight anymore. Please someone make it stop.
At the end of May Charm and Gauri and Fil visited her. She d been moved again
but it was the same set-up as the Heads had described: Fiorinda behind bars, like
Hannibal Lecter, in a basement with no natural light. She was very thin, in her
prison overalls.
?You took your time, she said.
?We ve been inside ourselves, boasted Fil, who was sporting a cast on her
arm.
?What did you do?
?Fucking pathetic compared to first degree murder, said Gauri, two fingers
splinted and a limp. ?We got beaten up resisting arrest, and they sent us down
for that.
?It was your arrest we were resisting, Charm had a support collar, a bad split
lip not yet healed and a crop of yellowing bruises. ?Don t you remember?
?Vaguely. I never had a degree before. Hey, does by witchcraftrates an A* ?
?Triple First, said Fil. ?Summa cum laude. Defo. But tears started in Fiorinda s eyes. ?Why doesn t
Allie come to see me?
?She can t, said Gauri. ?None of the Few are allowed.
?Oh. Well, I ve had Benny Prem. He asked me why did I hate my common-law
husband, and why did I start a riot? I kind of pointed out I didn t start the riot, I
tried to stop it, and he hinted maybe I should plea bargain.
An uncomfortable silence. ?Maybe you should, said Gauri.
Fiorinda took this on board. ?No, I won t do that. I didn t kill Fergal. I can t tell
anyone how he was killed, but it wasn t me. I m innocent.
The screws stayed by the doors. They were very upset about the way Fiorinda
was being treated, but they wouldn t leave the room. There was a painted line on
the floor, which DARK were not to cross, but it wasn t alarmed. This room had
nothing electronic in it, on the theory that magic interferes with that kind of stuff.
They d been warned not to try and touch her, or give her anything. The visit
struggled on painfully. When time was up, Charm stepped over the line and
shoved her hand through the bars, closed in a fist. ?Quick. Here. Take it.
It was Ax s carnelian ring.
Fiorinda pushed the hand away. ?No, it s no use. The screws would take it
from me, and anyway, I m not the same person.
That was the last anyone saw of Fiorinda. They heard she d been moved
again, but nobody could find out where. The situation was hardening. It was a
case of get out and hope for the best, or stay and end up in the same boat, unable
to help her anyway. Ax was rescued in the middle of July. He had been chained up in that room for a
year and two months. He spent a week in hospital, and then flew back to Europe
in a gas-guzzler jet plane from the President s fleet: Ax and Lurch and a couple
of minders alone in the forward cabin. They came in low over the south-west of
England, in a clear blue morning. Ax looked down through the window beside
him at a place that looked like Narnia. Such a golden green, such enchantment of
light and shadow, it couldn t be real, it could only be a cutscene from a fantasy
game. Oh my God, there s Silbury Hill. There s Avebury. He was gripped by an
emotion that had no problem co-existing with his terrible grief and fear, so it
couldn t be joy. But it was something.
He realised that the plane had stopped losing height.
?What s happening?
Lurch had just woken up. ?I ll find out.
She had a throat mic. He couldn t make out the murmur of her questions, or
anything of the replies. Apparently Lurch had some difficulty herself. She left
her seat and came back after an agonising five minutes.
?We can t land.
?We can t land at Heathrow? Well . . . where then?
?No. We can t land. New update, it wouldn t be safe. It could be disastrous.
?Shit.
She was saying that if he landed in England it would be Fiorinda s death
warrant. The bastards would be pushed into finishing the job.
?Have we enough fuel to get us to Paris?
?Just about. We can reach Alain de Corlay now. Do you want to talk to him?
?Yeah. I ll talk to Alain.
They landed at Charles de Gaulle. Ax was taken at once to a gravelly urban
campsite on the outskirts of Paris, where a fair-sized contingent of the barmy
army was quartered, under the command of one of Richard Kent s staff officers.
Richard had stayed in Yorkshire. It must have been staggering for the barmies to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]