“You’re wanted in the council chamber.”
She turned and looked questioningly at Niall. Doggins said: “No, just you.” Niall could sense that, in spite of his admiration, Doggins regarded her with a certain hostility.
“Very well.” She turned to Niall. “Wait here for me.”
She went out without looking back. Doggins closed the door behind her.
“She certainly likes giving orders.”
“She’s a princess — in fact, a queen.”
Doggins grunted. “And doesn’t she know it.” He closed the door. “What did she want?”
“She wants me to go back with her.”
Doggins stared at him with raised eyebrows. “She must take you for a fool.”
“No. She believes I would be safe.”
“Then she must be a fool.”
Niall decided not to argue; he could see that Doggins was tense and anxious.
“What happened in the council chamber?”
Doggins shrugged irritably. “Things are going badly. The first thing the spider ambassador demanded was the return of the spider balloons. That seemed so reasonable that the council agreed at once. That means they’ve got us pinned down.”
“We still have our feet. But what about the Reapers?”
“They’re discussing that at the moment. The ambassador wants them destroyed.”
“And what do you think will happen?”
Doggins shook his head gloomily. “I’m afraid the decision may go against us. The beetles dislike the Reapers as much as the spiders do. But at least they seem to agree that they’re our property, since we found them. They’ve told me to go and discuss it with the others.”
“That sounds hopeful.”
“The final decision rests with the council.”
“What do you suggest we should do?”
Doggins said: “There’s one thing we’ve got to do — that is, stay one jump ahead of the spiders.” He went to the door and quietly opened it; there was no one there. He closed it and stood with his back to it.
“Are you still willing to kill the Spider Lord?”
Niall’s heart sank. He said: “Of course. Today?”
“That may not be possible. We have to wait for a north wind, so we can use the balloons. We couldn’t just march into the spider city — they’d be ready for us.”
“Us?”
Doggins nodded. “We couldn’t let you do it alone. You might get killed. In that case, someone else would have to try. If we tried to kill him and failed, we’d be worse off than before.”
“Then we can do nothing until the wind changes?”
“That’s right. But it may change at dusk — on days like this we often get a wind from the mountains. In the meantime, we have to talk to the others. We’d better go back to my house.”
“I promised to wait for Merlew.”
Doggins grinned sarcastically. “You didn’t. She ordered you to wait for her. But we’ve no time to lose.” He slapped Niall on the shoulder. “She’ll find you if she wants you.”
Reluctantly, Niall followed him out of the room. A moment later, they were blinking in the golden afternoon sunlight. The sun was already low on the horizon. The wolf spider was still standing guard over the collapsed balloons, but the crowd of children had vanished. Ulic came toward them over the grass.
“I was just coming to fetch you.”
Doggins took his arm. “Listen. I want you to take a message to Hastur and Kosmin. Tell them to get the spider balloons ready for use. If anyone asks them what they’re doing, tell them to say we’ve agreed to return them to the spiders.” As Ulic hurried away he called after him: “And get back as soon as you can.”
Niall asked: “Are you thinking of disobeying the council?”
Doggins gave him a sidelong grin. “The treaty hasn’t been properly concluded yet. Until it has, the balloons are still our property.”
Manetho was waiting for them on the lawn of Doggins’ house; he hurried to meet them, asking anxiously: “What’s happening?”
Doggins patted his muscular arm. “Nothing much. We’re just going to have a meeting to discuss some matters of policy. Would you like to join us?”
His casual tone did not deceive Manetho. “Yes, I would.”
Inside the house, Niall excused himself. “I’ll be back in a moment.” He was beginning to experience a sense of exhaustion, the aftermath of three days of inactivity, and felt the need of the thought mirror to aid his concentration. Doggins and Manetho went into the dining room.
As soon as he opened the bedroom door, he noticed the smell of vegetable decay, like the foul odour of disturbed swamp water. For a moment, he thought the viperweed was no longer there. Then he saw that it had collapsed on to the floor. The green stem had turned a yellowish-white, and had become limp and soft; the leaves had also become bleached, and had contracted and folded, so they looked like shriveled hands. Niall bent over and looked more closely; the plant had obviously been dead for hours.
He closed the window, then sat down on the end of the bed. The words of Merlew came into his head; “If the Spider Lord decides to kill you, nothing can prevent him,” and his sense of fatigue suddenly combined with a heavy foreboding to produce a treacherous sinking of the heart, as though the ground had opened up under his feet.
He took the thought mirror from the chair and hung it round his neck; it produced such an acute flash of pain that he hastened to turn it the other way. He closed his eyes, attempting to fight off the feeling of nausea and defeat; he succeeded, but the effort left him drained.
As he entered the dining room, Simeon looked up with a friendly smile; this changed to an expression of concern.
“You look dreadful. You ought to be in bed.”
Niall managed a smile.
“I’m all right. But I’m afraid your plant is dead.”
“Dead? Are you sure?”
Niall followed him down the corridor; the smell of vegetable decay came through the open door. Simeon knelt beside the plant and examined each of the serpentlike heads in turn. Doggins stood in the doorway, with Milo and Manetho behind him; his nose was wrinkled with disgust.
From his pocket, Simeon took a small folding knife. He held the largest of the heads in his hand, and sawed it open; the flesh was obviously tough. Looking over his shoulder, Niall could see why he had selected this particular head. Now he looked closely, he could see the needle-like spike that had pierced the flesh from the inside, and which now projected half an inch beyond it.
Simeon took the head in his powerful hands, and twisted it open. Inside there lay a large black mosquito; with it sting extended, it was almost four inches long.
Doggins knelt beside him. “That’s just an ordinary swamp mosquito from the Delta. Why should that kill it?”
Simeon used his knife to point to the protruding sting.
“At a guess, because this has been smeared with some pretty powerful poison — I’d guess the juice of the devil weed. The slightest scratch would probably bring instant death.” He took the cloth from a small table, and carefully folded it. He sawed off the head and wrapped it in the cloth, snapping off the sting as he did so, then handed it to Milo.
“Ask Lucretia to burn this, and tell her not to take it out of the cloth.”
All were thoughtful as they returned to the dining room; again, Niall had to fight off depression and fear.
Ulic came in as they were seating themselves.
“Kosmin says the balloons will be ready in half an hour.” Niall could see that he was exhilarated at the prospect of action. When none of them spoke, he looked around at their faces. “Is anything the matter?”
As Niall described what had happened, Ulic’s excitement drained away; his face became thoughtful.
“It looks as if the Spider Lord is determined to kill you.”
Niall shook his head. “I don’t think so. If he killed me now, he could ruin the peace negotiations. And that’s the last thing he wants.”
Simeon nodded. “I agree with Niall. This was intended as a warning — that if we don’t make peace, he can destroy us all.”
Doggins said quietly: “And if we do make peace, he can still destroy us all. But he can do it at his leisure.”
Manethos asked hesitantly: “Surely it isn’t our decision? It’s up to the Master and council to decide whether to make peace.”
Doggins nodded. “Which is why we have to decide this afternoon, before they reach a decision.”
Manetho looked perplexed. “But what could we do?”
Doggins said: “Look, let’s examine the facts. The other day, when the Death Lord tried to kill Niall, the Master refused to make peace. He said the spiders had forfeited all right to his cooperation. So I think we can assume he won’t change his mind and hand Niall over to the spiders. But he’s already agreed to hand back the balloons. That sounds as if he’s ready for compromise. The only question now is: will the compromise include making us destroy the Reapers? Because if it does, then we’re back where we were before — except that the Spider Lord now regards us as enemies. And you know as well as I do that the spiders never forgive anybody who’s killed one of their kind. Together, we are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of spiders. So I think we can assume that, whether the council makes peace or not, the Spider Lord is going to look for an opportunity for revenge.”