The King's Man Read online

  “I’m here to help,” he called. “Can you come down?”

  The girl eyed him fearfully. She looked unharmed, as far as I could tell, but she wasn’t speaking. The stairs themselves looked flimsy, no better than the floor we’d just crossed. Sir Griffons made an impatient gesture and the girl was yanked forward, her tattered dress billowing as she flew through the air and landed in front of us. She was young, probably on the verge of her first year. The terror in her eyes as she clutched at Sir Griffons suggested she wasn’t used to magic.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Sir Griffons said. “How many others are upstairs?”

  She hesitated, then held up seven fingers. Sir Griffons passed the girl to Caroline, then carefully levitated up the stairs. I followed, trying to ignore the stench of growing decay. The stairwell seemed to be crumbling in real time. I heard a crash in the distance and shuddered. The entire building seemed to be on the verge of collapse. It was all we could do to locate the other seven students and levitate them out the window into the backyard. We couldn’t take them through the courtyard. The students had almost no protection.

  I caught my master’s eye as we started to inspect the staff bedrooms. “Where’s the staff?”

  “They might have been downstairs, caught in the blast.” Sir Griffons sounded distracted, as if he had something else on his mind. “Or they might have been escorting others around the city.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it sharply as I felt a shudder running through the building. The windows shattered, one by one. I jumped back as the floorboards started to break, a wave of destruction tearing the building apart. Sir Griffins turned and ran, barking orders for me to follow him as the ceiling started to cave in. The outer wall crumbled. I wrapped a combination of levitation and shielding spells around me, and jumped into the open air as the remainder of the building collapsed into rubble. The ground came up and hit me, harder than I’d expected. The raw magic was wearing away at my protections. I grunted as Sir Griffons landed next to me. There was no sign of Caroline.

  Panic seized me as I peered into the dust. She’d been ordered into the backyard, hadn’t she? But ... what if she’d gone back inside? She should have been able to protect herself, yet ... an entire building might have landed on her head. I forced myself to remain calm as I peered into the dust, watching it settle. I didn’t dare use magic to push it aside. I’d be blowing contaminated dust in all directions.

  My heart whooped for joy as I saw Caroline on the other side of the pile of rubble. She was helping the armsmen with the children, trying to get them to wait until the healers could check them. Sir Griffons nodded curtly, then turned and walked back around the crater. A small army of healers, armsmen and sorcerers had arrived, wearing livery from all over the city. It looked as if they’d started to bicker over who was in charge. I looked around for someone the remainder of the aristos would defer to, but saw no one. The really important aristos were probably in their mansions, being held prisoner by their armsmen. Their protective teams wouldn’t want their principals exposed to raw magic.

  “The blast appears to have been largely contained by the wards,” Sir Griffons said. He spoke with a natural authority that practically dared listeners to disagree. “Only one building was seriously affected. However, I want buildings on all sides evacuated and checked thoroughly before their inhabitants are allowed to return.”

  He spoke on, taking authority with effortless ease. I watched, reminding myself that my father had been right. The aristo is either at your throat, if he feels himself the superior party, or on his knees, if he feels himself to be inferior. Sir Griffons didn’t seem to have any doubt his orders would be obeyed. It was a kind of magic, I thought, as he divided up the manpower and sent the healers to inspect the children. The armsmen obeyed without question.

  I caught his eye after he’d finished ordering containment wards for the courtyard. “Sir ... what happened?”

  “This wasn’t an accident,” Sir Griffons growled. “This was a terrorist attack.”

  I glanced at him. “Sir?”

  “Someone rigged a Device of Power to emit a burst of raw magic - tainted magic,” Sir Griffons said. “The infernal device might have been triggered when it was taken through the gatehouse. The wards wouldn’t have allowed it any closer to the dorms. If the carrier knew what he was carrying ...”

  I felt a sinking sensation. If someone hadn’t known what they were carrying, they wouldn’t have known they were in danger until contact with the wards triggered the device. They would simply have been the first to die. But if they had known ... I felt sick. They’d carried out a suicide attack, sacrificing their life to kill dozens of innocents. I tried not to think about the bodies in the crater. They’d never be positively identified. The bodies would probably be dumped in a toxic spell dump and buried under tonnes of limestone to make sure they stayed dead.

  The awful day wore on. Caroline and I helped get the children checked, then frog-marched through a decontamination procedure before they were shipped off to Jude’s. I hoped they’d be alright. It was hard to be sure. They hadn’t taken the brunt of the attack - that would have killed them, if it hadn’t turned them into monsters - but they seemed stunned into silence. The bodies themselves were piled into a cart and driven off ... I said a silent prayer to their ancestors, knowing their families might never have closure. And we spent hours picking up pieces of the contaminated building and dumping it in iron bins. Sir Griffons worked as hard as the rest of us. By the time night fell, I was so tired I could barely walk.

  “They could have killed everyone in the dorms.” Caroline sounded stunned. “What were they doing?”

  “We have never plumbed the depths of man’s inhumanity to man,” Sir Griffons said. “Go back home. When you get there, enter through the rear door and dump all your clothes in the bin for disposal. Put everything else in a containment chamber - and I mean everything - and then go have a shower. We’ll worry about disposal later.”

  My body ached like hell as we limped down the road. The streets were quiet. Magus Court itself had been shut down, the aristos and their cronies having been evacuated long ago. A handful of carts rocketed past, bringing City Guardsmen to help clean up the mess. I was mildly surprised the guardsmen hadn’t called out sick. But then, if they’d been slow in responding to a crisis so close to Magus Court, they would probably have been for the high jump. Literally.

  The horses neighed in complaint as we stumbled into the courtyard and staggered to the rear entrance. Sir Griffons had explained it was for decontamination, but I don’t think he’d expected to have to actually use it. The interior room was lined with a thin layer of dust. I reminded myself to clean it, when I had a moment, as I lit the lantern and closed the door behind us. Caroline leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. I had the feeling she felt worse than me. She’d probably had less sleep the previous night.

  “Those poor kids,” Caroline said. She started to tug on her cloak, but her fingers refused to work properly. “They could have been killed.”

  I nodded as I undid my cloak. Dust billowed, before sinking to the floor. I shuddered, wondering how much of the dust was contaminated. I’d heard enough horror stories to know the dangers of breathing it in, no matter what sort of protections we used. Normally, a house that was scheduled for demolition would have to be thoroughly demagicked first. And that was just common or garden-variety magic.

  My fingers twitched uncomfortably as I undressed. It was growing harder to focus, although I knew I had no choice. We had to shower before we slept, or we might wind up breathing in more poison. I opened the bin and held it open, allowing Caroline to drop her clothes into the void. I tried not to notice her nakedness. I was in quite enough trouble without it.

  “Put everything else in the box,” Caroline reminded me. She dropped her ring in the box, followed by a necklace she’d worn since we’d left Haddon Hall. “Sir Griffons will have to clear it.”

  “He w
on’t be able to call us,” I said, as I dropped my own ring in the box. My spellcaster and wallet followed, the latter crammed with money. I wondered if I could get recompensed for the money if Sir Griffons sent it to the toxic spell dump too. “What do you think he’s doing?”

  “Probably trying to figure out who to blame,” Caroline said. She turned and opened the door to the washroom. “And then hoping we get a shot at them too.”

  I felt my stomach twist as I followed her into the dusty washroom. It was bare and barren, no better than the chamber we’d used at Haddon Hall. I turned on the water, cursing as dusty liquid splashed down before reluctantly running clear. We really should have cleaned the chamber before we had to use it. Caroline didn’t bother to wait for the water to get warm. She simply stepped into the stream and washed thoroughly. I turned away, trying not to touch her as I let the water wash the contaminated dust away. I still felt filthy, even after letting the water flow through my hair. It was hard to escape the feeling that, in some way, I was still there. My hands felt dusty, as if I’d aged years overnight. I knew I was being silly, but ...

  My heart skipped a beat. Was it silly? Really? I’d been in a contaminated zone. I could have been tainted or ... I swallowed, hard, as I glanced at myself in the mirror. My skin felt uncomfortably dry, but otherwise ... I didn’t look to have aged. I glanced back at Caroline and nodded. She didn’t look to have aged either. I breathed a sigh of relief, then turned off the water and muttered a spell to dry myself. There should have been robes on the far side of the door, but they were missing. I made a mental note to replace them too as I hurried upstairs to grab our pyjamas. Who knew if we’d need the chamber again?

  And whoever carried out the first attack might carry out another, I thought. Sir Griffons had been right. There were no limits to man’s inhumanity to man. People would storm cities, plunder homes, kill men, rape women and children ... crimes so awful I couldn’t believe they existed, except they did. I’d grown up in Water Shallot. I knew how grim things could be. What do they want?

  Caroline took her clothes with a nod and donned them, hurriedly. “What now?”

  I hung a robe on a hook for Sir Griffons, then shrugged. “I think we should get some sleep,” I said. It was dark outside, suggesting it was well past ten. I looked at my bare wrist in bemusement, then mentally kicked myself. The watch was in the box, waiting to be scrapped or decontaminated. I really was too tired. “There’s nothing else we can do right now.”

  “Quite.” Caroline headed for the stairs, then stopped and look back. “Who do you think did it?”

  “Right now, there’s no evidence,” I said. If there was anything left of the Device of Power, it had been bathed in raw magic. I doubted there would be any point in studying the remnants in hopes of finding a clue. “And speculation without evidence is pointless.”

  “They’ll blame it on the socialists,” Caroline said. There was a hard edge to her voice that made me flinch. “They’ll blame it on your friend. Don’t you think?”

  I scowled. I had the nasty feeling she was right.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I didn’t sleep well, even though I’d been utterly exhausted by the time my head hit the pillow. I had nightmares about the bodies caught in the blast, about the men and women who’d been erased from existence... or worse, turned into monsters that couldn’t hope to survive long enough to be healed. But ... I couldn’t believe Louise would do such a thing. I wasn’t even sure she knew how. Forging Devices of Mass Destruction hadn’t been covered in school.

  Which is probably for the best, I thought, as I sat up. I still felt filthy. How many of us would have tried to make them?

  The clock insisted it was seven o’clock. I was morbidly sure it was lying. Caroline snored in her bed. I forced myself to stagger to the shower, unwilling to risk going back to sleep. The water cascaded down my body, but I still felt unclean. I had the feeling I’d never feel clean again. My hands trembled as I dried myself - I didn’t dare risk a spell, not feeling like this - and donned my tunic before heading downstairs. I could get a mug of coffee before Sir Griffons and Caroline woke. They’d probably be delighted if I put a pot of coffee on for them ...

  I stopped, dead, as I peered into the living room. I’d assumed Sir Griffons was asleep - he hadn’t roistered us out of bed - but he was sitting on the armchair, smoking a pipe and studying a sheet of parchment. I hesitated, unsure of what to do. Go into the room anyway? Or sneak back upstairs and pretend to be asleep? Sir Griffons looked up, his face unreadable in the half-light. I wasn’t sure how he managed to read without a lantern.

  “You may as well come on in,” Sir Griffons said. “The kettle’s just boiled.”

  “Yes, sir.” I stepped into the room, closing the door behind me. Caroline didn’t need to wake up, not just yet. “I ...ah ... did you get any sleep last night?”

  Sir Griffons shot me a questioning look. “Is that any of your business?”

  I winced at his tone, but pressed on. “I thought apprentices were supposed to look after their masters.”

  “A common delusion.” Sir Griffons tapped out his pipe in the ashtray. “Probably spread by lazy masters who wanted servants, rather than apprentices. You’re here to learn and work towards your knighthoods, not to serve me. I could hire servants if I was so inclined.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said. “I just thought ...”

  Sir Griffons laughed. “I know what you thought,” he said. “But I’m not a doddering old man just yet.”

  He let out a sigh as I poured two mugs of coffee. “I didn’t sleep very well either,” he admitted. “I got the latest update before I came back here.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but asked anyway. “How many dead?”

  “Seven, we think.” Sir Griffons took the mug I gave him with a nod of thanks. “There were four men in the gatehouse when the device triggered. Three more - two tutors and one student - remain unaccounted for. They may have been out on the town and simply haven’t reported back, but ... after what happened, they bloody well should have reported back. And the remainder of the students are currently being decontaminated. I’d be surprised if they want to continue their education after this.”

  I sipped my coffee, keeping my thoughts to myself. Magical education could be incredibly dangerous, even without aristos like Francis and Alana making life miserable for everyone who couldn’t defend themselves. I’d seen more potions explosions in my first year of schooling than most people saw in an entire lifetime. There were plenty of ways someone could wind up injured, even killed, in magic school. But this ... someone had deliberately set out to kill innocent children in the most horrific manner possible. Whoever had done it was a monster.

  A thought struck me and I leaned forward. “Do we have a suspect yet?”

  “Not yet,” Sir Griffons said. “Lord Dirac was blaming it on the socialists.”

  Somehow, I wasn’t surprised. “Louise wouldn’t do something like that!”

  Sir Griffons met my eyes. “How well do you know her? Really?”

  Intimately, I thought. I kept that to myself. It wasn’t true. I knew her, but ... I didn’t know what was going through her head. I’d felt the desperation of someone who wanted to get ahead, yet ... couldn’t without compromising himself and surrendering to the aristos. I didn’t want to think it possible, but I couldn’t deny it. Louise might be desperate enough to do something really nasty.

  “They could have targeted Magus Court itself,” I pointed out. “It’s just down the road from the dorms.”

  “Perhaps,” Sir Griffons said. “Magus Court is protected. It would be tricky to get such a device through the wards without being detected.”

  I looked down at my hands. It made no sense. Louise ... I scowled. I wasn’t sure what she was doing. She’d talked about tearing the system down. And yet ... I couldn’t believe she’d murder kids. She’d make herself public enemy number one. The entire population would be screaming for her to be hunted dow
n and executed as a dangerously-insane terrorist. But I couldn’t imagine who else would do such a thing.

  Sir Griffons returned to his thoughts. I watched him as I drank my coffee, wondering what was going through his head. How much did he know? How much did he guess? How much ... I wondered, suddenly, if Caroline had told him. Technically, she had a duty to tell her master anything of importance. She might have told him ... I thought about it, then decided it was unlikely. Caroline would compromise herself if she ratted me out, even if - legally speaking - it was the right thing to do. No one would ever trust her again.

  I finished my coffee and stood, then paced to the window. A faint haze hung in the air, a grim reminder that tainted magic had been unleashed. I thought I could hear people chattering, despite the silencing wards. If I knew my city, there were countless spectators on the outside of the protective charms, watching as the remains of the dorms were dismantled, decontaminated and shipped to the limestone pits. The entire building would have to be rebuilt from scratch. I wondered, sourly, if Magus Court would consider it a priority. It wasn’t as if Jude’s was short of living space. There were people who believed the school would one day swallow up the whole city.

  The wards tingled. “We have visitors,” Sir Griffons said. “Wait here.”

  I nodded, wondering if I should call Caroline. It was nearly nine o’clock. She had to be awake now, didn’t she? Or was something wrong? She’d breathed in the tainted magic too. Sir Griffons returned, looking grim. I felt my heart skip a beat. Something was definitely wrong.