Eventually he raised his eyes to me. “I dreamed of hope,” he said.
TWO
The Robin Hood Inn, Epping Forest
Wednesday, 2nd April 1941
The Robin Hood Inn stood at the entrance to Epping Forest, to one side of a roundabout on the A11. Ariadne met Jack there, just after dusk. She had driven herself, and was drawing off her driving gloves when she walked in the door of the inn, pausing just inside to look about for Jack.
The five or six other patrons of the inn all turned to stare at her. Jack, sitting at a table in the shadows of a shuttered window, wasn’t surprised. Ariadne cut an exotic figure in what was a fairly rundown establishment.
He didn’t think the Robin Hood would see many like her.
Ariadne caught sight of Jack almost immediately and walked over. He rose, and helped her slip out of her ermine coat (only Ariadne, he thought, could have worn ermine to a casual meeting in a pub).
“A drink?” he said.
“Martini,” she replied. “Dry.”
Jack fetched her the cocktail, then sat down on the other side of the table with a pint of ale for himself.
“I’m assuming a disaster,” said Ariadne, taking a sip of the martini and leaving a smudge of her bright red lipstick on the glass. “I can’t think why else you’d want to see me so fast, and alone. And…here.”
She arched an eyebrow, and looked about.
“The Shadow Game’s purpose is to trap the Troy Game within its dark heart—” Jack began.
“Which is under the remains of old London Bridge,” Ariadne said. “I admire the concept, if only for its dramatic appeal. But we have not yet arrived at the disaster.”
“The new Game does nothing to release Grace from the hex with which Catling has bound her. If Grace and I dance the Shadow Game, raise it into life, then it will trap Grace, with Catling, in this dank chamber. For eternity. When Catling is dragged in, so also will Grace be dragged in.”
“But that means that…”
“It means, Ariadne, that Catling will be dragged in as the Flower Gate closes, but so will Grace, although the White Queen claims her Game can save the land and the Faerie. Apparently—” Jack had to pause to regain some control of his voice “—Grace can still complete her part of the dance inside the Game’s dark heart. The White Queen sat for years by Grace’s bed to make sure she could rely on Grace to do the right thing—continue the dance even though she was trapped.”
Ariadne looked at Jack, her scarlet lips slightly parted, her eyes wide. “Dear gods.”
Jack gave a slight shrug: he didn’t trust his voice at the moment.
“I bred cruel daughters with Noah,” he said after a few minutes. “Catling and the White Queen are true sisters, indeed.”
“Well,” Ariadne said quietly, and Jack thought it was the first time he’d ever heard her speak without a hint of affectation in her voice, “that is a disaster, and no wonder that you and Grace have cut each other off from everyone else. Noah is quite frantic. And no wonder you chose this ancient edifice in which to meet. You didn’t want to travel too far from Grace, yet you didn’t want her overhearing our discussion.”
“You should turn to writing detective fiction, Ariadne. You are too, too good.”
She laughed softly, then took another sip of her martini.
Jack didn’t even raise a smile. “Ariadne…”
“I don’t know how to help you, Jack, and I don’t know how to help Grace. I would give anything to be able to help her. I have spent sleepless nights wondering how Catling’s hex could be removed. I had opportunity to study that hex when Grace lived with Silvius and me.” She paused. “Although possibly not the same kind of access I believe you might be enjoying now.”
“Ariadne!”
“Sorry. Jack, I don’t know how to help. If I’d had the magic solution I would have applied it long ago. You know that. Why ask me now?”
“Because you’re sly and devious and cunning, Ariadne, and I need all that to help Grace.”
“Ah, and I thought you weren’t the complimenting kind. Any chance of another?” Ariadne held up her empty glass. What Jack had told her had truly shaken Ariadne, and she needed time to think.
Jack rose, and fetched Ariadne her drink.
“Thank you,” she said as he set it down before her.
“Ariadne,” Jack said, “when the Flower Gate closes on a Game, it traps everything inside, yes?”
“Of course.”
“The Shadow Game is powerful, stunningly so. Catling will be trapped inside so tightly that she could extend none of her influence outside it.”
Ariadne paused with the glass halfway to her mouth. She set it down again without drinking. And Grace will be trapped in there with Catling, she thought. “And…?”
“What if Grace wasn’t in there with Catling? The hex would be broken as the Flower Gate closed. Catling’s power would be confined to the dark heart of the Shadow Game. If Grace was still outside, then the hex would be broken.”
Ariadne thought there was a hint of desperation in Jack’s voice. “Maybe. But such speculation is pointless. Grace will be in the dark heart of the new Game with Catling.”
Jack didn’t say anything. One hand shifted his half-drunk glass of ale idly about in circles as he gazed at Ariadne.
“Jack?”
“Bear with me…I’m thinking this out as I speak. If Grace was on the outside when the Flower Gate closed, as the Shadow Game completed, the hex would be broken. So long as Catling remained trapped, then Grace would be free from the hex. Free.”
His voice was more confident now, but Ariadne didn’t understand why.
“Jack. Catling will drag Grace through into the dark heart with her. The Shadow Game will trap both of them. You need to break the hex before this Shadow Game begins to drag Catling through to its dark heart.”
Jack was silent, studying Ariadne, his hand continuing to turn his glass of ale about in idle circles.
“For gods’ sakes, Jack—”
“Just let me think aloud, Ariadne. If, as according to the White Queen, Grace can still dance the Shadow Game to completion while she is trapped in the dark heart with Catling, then she can also dance it to completion somewhere other than the dark heart. Somewhere safe from Catling.”
“Well, theoretically, yes. But how are you going to get her away from Catling? Catling is not going to let go that hex. She will do everything in her power to drag Grace inside the dark heart with her, because she thinks it will be the only way to save herself. She’ll be certain you won’t complete the Dance to trap her, if it means trapping Grace as well.”
“Yes, yes, yes…but what if I could get Grace somewhere safe where Catling couldn’t pull her into the dark heart with her? Answer me, Ariadne, please.”
“Damn it, Jack. In theory, yes, it would work.”
Jack had dropped his gaze now, and was staring at the table. As he’d been twisting his glass of ale, it had left concentric damp rings on the pitted, scarred wood.
“Jesus bloody Christ,” he muttered. Then he looked up at Ariadne with what she thought was an expression of mad hope, leaned forward, kissed her hard and briefly on her mouth, then strode out of the inn.
Jack drove through the night and the forest, forsaking the road, using his power as Ringwalker to guide the Austin smoothly over territory it was never meant to traverse. His eyes were flat and unblinking, his hands rested white-knuckled on the steering wheel, his mouth moved silently, as if he rehearsed a speech in his mind.
He immersed himself in a memory of the night he’d taken Grace dancing in the Savoy. Noah and Weyland had been there, and Ariadne and Silvius also, and the Savoy had witnessed the strangest of ancient spectacles, three Mistresses and three Kingmen, circling the floor of the ballroom to the soft music of the Orpheans.
Then, something had tugged at Jack’s mind, as if he should have learned something from this oddity. Then, he’d not grasped it.
Now he did.
Damn it, this was so dangerous, so dangerous.
But it might just work.
It would be Grace’s only hope.
THREE
Copt Hall
Saturday, 5th April 1941
GRACE SPEAKS
Idon’t know what happened at the Robin Hood Inn. Jack came home as if drunk, but with excitement rather than alcohol. I was waiting for him, sitting on the lower step of the stairs, and rose slowly as he came in the front door. He walked over, took me by the shoulders, stared at me a long moment, then smiled—so gently and sweetly it brought tears to my eyes.
“Go to bed,” he said. “I want to sit up a while yet.”