Kevin, once again, said the words at precisely the same time, even with the hesitation. Zip’s maximum Prediction Event Horizon had been reducing since the HENRY took hold, which made his short-term future prediction astonishingly precise. In the brief pause that followed, I took up a defensive position and held Exhorbitus at readiness. I had sliced the top of the postbox earlier, so they knew what I and the sword could do.
‘Step aside,’ said the wiry man, ‘or by order of the King your life is forfeit –
He was talking to Kevin, who was still mirroring his speech – even the pauses and the ‘will you stop doing that?’.
‘I can see events unfolding,’ said Kevin in a soft voice, ‘but the future is not fixed, and you can change it.’
‘Tricks,’ said the wide-spaced-eye man, ‘worthy only of a stage magician.’
Kevin said this with him too, also in unison. It was very clear to all present that this was
‘The King also stated,’ continued the wiry man to me, still trying very hard to ignore Kevin’s word-mirroring, ‘that your pretty young visage be untouched, so all would recognise your head when displayed on a pole. Now, where is the beast?’
I said nothing. This was Kevin’s show.
‘This is how it’s going to turn out,’ said Kevin, pointing a finger at the wiry man. ‘You will make the first move towards Jennifer and be the first one dead. The next to die will be the left-handed guy on the right, followed by the two dressed in leather, who will both be cleaved in half with one swipe. The tall one at the back has a kindly face, so Jennifer will spare him – he will simply have his sword arm sliced off cleanly at the shoulder.’
‘What about me?’ said a young man probably no older than eighteen, who was at the back.
‘When you see the first man die, you will wet yourself, drop your sword and run.’
They all exchanged nervous glances; it seemed a plausible scenario. The wiry warrior with the wide-set eyes took a deep breath.
‘Perhaps that is so, but I have my orders, and I will carry them out. Others will follow when I am dead, and we
I respected him for his words. Not only because he was taking us all seriously, but because he knew this might be the final minute of his life, and however misguided the order that brought him here, he was willing to carry it out. He had his ideology, and I had mine – and we would both defend it with our lives. He and I were true warriors both.
‘You brought this fight to me,’ I said. ‘Leave now and you can save yourselves.’
‘Our positions are clear,’ said the wiry man. ‘All that remains is the outcome.’
There was silence in the ballroom. No one stirred, and I felt a deep inner calm fall across me, for Kevin had already given me the moves I was to make. But then, I had a doubt – my assailants would
‘Quark.’
The Quarkbeast had moved between us and Sir Matt’s men and was staring at me with his large mauve eyes while wagging his tail in a doleful manner. I suddenly felt that he was telling me everything was okay, and that he’d take it from here.
‘What?’ I said, with a vague sense that this was the Quarkbeast speaking through the Mysterious X, and that he wanted to give himself up to avoid bloodshed.
‘You’re sure?’ I asked as the King’s guards exchanged nervous glances.
‘The Quarkbeast has told me he is surrendering to you,’ I said, and the Quarkbeast wagged its tail vigorously. The junior member, the one who would have wet himself and run, looked at the leader, who nodded, and the lad stepped forward and nervously placed a collar on the Quarkbeast. But instead of allowing himself to be led out, the Beast walked to a corner of the ballroom and sat down, dragging his would-be keeper along the floor behind him. Quarkbeasts are as strong as they are stubborn.
‘I think the Quarkbeast has decided that this is where he would like to be kept,’ I said, inwardly applauding the Quarkbeast’s guile and quick thinking, and thanking the Mysterious X for being the vector of communication, ‘until he is handed over.’
‘No,’ said the wiry fighter, ‘my orders are for him to be imprison—’
He was interrupted by one of the Quarkbeast’s razor-sharp scales, which had flown off his back with an explosive report and embedded itself with a
The wiry servant of Sir Matt stared at the Quarkbeast’s carbide-tipped scale, which was stuck right in the centre of Brunel’s forehead, then at me, then tipped his head in respect.
‘This is a favourable outcome, Miss Strange. I shall report to the King that we have the Beast in custody.’
