The Fire King (31 page)

Emily stared at him hopelessly as he closed his eyes once again. She felt angry at Merlin. She knew it wasn't fair. If he didn't do this, he would die, and then what would happen? They would need him in the days ahead. But he had been the focus of all her hopes. Right from the very beginning, she had thought that he would be able to fix everything. And now she was expected to just sit here and wait? While people died and London burned?

No. That wasn't the type of person she was.

The others were still peering into the dragon's eye, watching the fey army. Emily quickly picked up the stone and the journal and slipped them inside her coat. Then she joined the others. The fey had completely surrounded the White Tower.

There was no way she could get through their lines without being caught. But Emily wasn't about to let that stop her. She touched Will on the shoulder. When he turned and looked at her, she put her finger to her lips and nodded toward the door. He stepped away from the eye and followed her.

Emily carefully pulled the door open and slipped out onto the small landing at the bottom of the stairs. When William joined her, she closed the door and fished out the journal and the stone.

“The way I see it,” she said. “We were both right. We need the Raven King, and you found the way to summon him, but without Merlin we wouldn't know about Tower Hill and we wouldn't have this.” She raised the stone into the air. “In which case your journal would be useless anyway. Agreed?”

Will thought about it, then nodded.

“So I think what we should do is sneak out of here and summon this Raven King ourselves. Then we can put a stop to all this nonsense once and for all. Are you in?”

William nodded. “I'm in.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-EIGHT

In which Emily and William attempt to wake the Raven King.

E
mily and William crouched down just inside the door to the White Tower, making sure to keep out of sight of the fey milling around on the grass below them. Emily could see a lot of the Tuatha guards mixed in with the smaller fey. They looked incredibly frightful, standing in small groups with their spears resting against their shoulders, casting dark glances at the tower.

“What now?” asked William.

Emily wasn't sure. She'd been hoping for some kind of a gap, something they could slip through. They couldn't even look for a back window or anything, as the tower was completely surrounded.

A ripple of movement ran through the fey. Some of them turned and looked over their shoulders. The Tuatha straight

ened to attention, their eyes fixed on something.

“What's going on?” asked William.

Emily got down on her stomach and crawled forward. A line of fire burned higher than the walls, a fiery barrier that blocked off the main gates. Walking across the grass toward the tower were the silhouettes of two figures. One was huge, the other slightly smaller. The firelight glinted against the larger figure, striking highlights from its metal armor.

It was Kelindria and the Crimson Knight. And if it was the Crimson Knight, that meant … Emily stared hard into the darkness. There. A few feet behind the knight. She could just make out the red glow of two pairs of eyes. The two remaining Hounds of the Hunt.

“Do you think she'll burn the tower down?” asked Will.

“I don't think so. She'll be after the key to the Faerie Gate. She can't risk its being destroyed.”

“That's something, I suppose,” said Will. “Still doesn't help us, though.”

He was right. They needed a distraction. Something big. Something that would shift all attention away from them. Then they could try to escape through one of the other gates, seeing as the wall of fire seemed to block only the western wall.

Emily and William were watching Kelindria as she walked toward them. So it took them a few moments to realize something was happening off to their left. It was subtle at first, a few clashes of sound, but after a few seconds there was a scream, then a shout taken up by the other fey. All attention shifted to the south side of the enclosure. One or two of the fey standing below them started to run, then more and more, until a wave of fighters swept toward the sounds. Even Kelindria and the knight shifted direction and started running off to the left.

The field of grass outside was deserted. Emily and Will looked at each other in amazement, then quickly clattered down the stairs to see what was going on. Their view was blocked by a tower that jutted from the southwest corner of the enclosure.

Emily knew they should turn around and head to the north end of the fort in an attempt to find another way out, but she couldn't help herself. She had to see what was happening. She hurried out onto the grass, facing toward the south wall. The fire was now off to her right, the flames casting a demonic glow over the scene before her.

It was a battle. An army had appeared from nowhere, surprising the fey who were surrounding the White Tower. It was hard to make out what was going on in the dim light, but a moment later, a small skirmish involving a Tuatha and two children staggered into view.

“It's Katerina!” said William. “She didn't run off. She went to get help. I told you!”

Will was right. It was Katerina's gang. But many, many more than had surrounded them at the Thames when they had first arrived. Emily skimmed her eyes over the escalating battle, feeling a tentative hope spring to life in her chest. It looked as though the fey were evenly matched in numbers.

And then Emily saw Katerina. She was slicing an iron sword through the air, a look of fierce determination set on her features. A goblin fell before her blade, dissolving into a smoky black puddle. She quickly stepped over it and attacked one of the Tuatha. The tall creature was caught by surprise. He tried to parry with his spear, but Katerina's blade cut it in half. She darted forward through the opening and stabbed the creature through the chest, yanking her sword out and turning to look for her next victim.

As she did so, she caught sight of Will and Emily. She raised her sword in a hasty tribute, then turned to block an axe that was swinging for her. She pushed her attacker back, a squat creature that appeared to have no neck. The creature stumbled, and Katerina put her boot against it and pushed, shoving it onto its back. She finished it off with one swift thrust.

“Come on,” said Emily. “She's given us our distraction.” Emily and William turned and ran across the grass, heading for the north end of the enclosure. There was a series of structures built up against the wall, sheds of some kind.

They hurried along a path that wound between them and arrived at one of the towers that was built into the wall. They ran through the exit, only to be confronted with a lowered portcullis blocking their escape.

There was a small door set into the wall to their left. Emily pushed it open and found herself in a small guardroom. There was a huge iron cog set into a hole in the floor. A thick metal chain was looped around the cog, disappearing into a slit in the roof.

“Help me here,” she said, grasping hold of the iron wheel.

She and Will leaned on it with all their weight, pushing it toward the ground. It moved slowly, grudgingly. They struggled with it for a full minute until they had raised the portcullis enough for them to slip under.

They found themselves in the outer ward of the fort, stuck between the two walls. There was no gate in the wall ahead of them, though. Emily looked to her left, but she could still see the flames lighting the sky. They couldn't go that way. There
had
to be another gate, because Katerina and her gang had entered from the south side.

“This way,” she said, turning to her right and running along the wall.

The sounds of fighting grew louder as they approached the south end of the enclosure. Sure enough, she could see a gate up ahead. More of Katerina's gang were arriving, streaming in from the streets, raising their weapons to join the battle.

Emily and Will hurried beneath another portcullis and out through a heavy gate set into the outer wall. They had made it. They were free of the tower. Emily paused to take a breath. Now they had to head back around the wall to the northwest to get to Tower Hill.

“Let's go,” she gasped, setting off at a run.

Emily and William finally rounded the north side of the Tower of London and sprinted across the road to Tower Hill. It wasn't much of a hill, though. It was more of a gentle slope that spread away to either side of them. A small sward of grass.

They hurried toward the crown of the hill. Emily cast frequent glances behind her as they did so. She could see the line of fire that had chased them to the tower. It still wasn't moving. As they ran up the hill, Emily fished out the stone that Merlin had shown them. The one that was supposed to get them into Tower Hill. What was she supposed to do with it? Find a keyhole somewhere?

They arrived at the hill summit. It wasn't even high enough to let them see over the tower walls to the battle happening inside. Emily turned in a slow circle, looking for anything that might help. She could see nothing.

“What do we do now?” asked William.

“I don't know,” said Emily. She inspected the stone.

“Put it on the ground,” said William.

Emily shrugged and placed it on the grass.

A deep rumbling echoed beneath her feet. The rumbling grew stronger, a vibration that threatened to throw them to the ground.

A small hole opened up at Emily's feet. She staggered backward, grabbing William as she did so. The hole grew in size, earth and grass crumbling away. The bottom edge of the hole pushed down and flattened the grass so that after a few seconds it was no longer a hole in the ground, but a dark entrance into a tunnel.

The rumbling stopped. Emily and William walked hesitantly forward. Emily kicked something, and she looked down to find the stone lying at her feet. She scooped it up and dropped it into her pocket.

William looked at her. “You ready?” he asked.

Emily nodded. She wasn't, not really, but she didn't think Will was, either. They simply had no choice.

Emily held her hand out. William hesitated, then took hold of it, and they both stepped into the darkness.

The light from outside gave them a small amount of illumination. But only for a short while. As they walked deeper into the tunnel, the decline grew steeper and steeper, and the darkness folded in around them, leaving them totally blind.

After they had been walking for about five minutes, a flare of light froze them both in their tracks. To their left and right small flames had leapt up inside half-moon bowls that were built into the walls. There was some kind of aqueduct linking the two bowls with another two farther down the tunnel, then to the next and to the next. Emily and William watched as the flames traveled along these aqueducts, lighting each bowl in turn until there were fires dwindling into the distance.

They could now get a good look at their surroundings. The tunnel was massive, easily wide enough to fit twenty people walking side by side. The ceiling arched high above them. The walls were made from old stones fitted neatly together. Despite the obvious age of the tunnel, the stones didn't even crumble beneath her touch.

“Impressive,” said Emily. Her voice echoed into the distance.

Judging by the bowls of fire, the tunnel moved in an absolute straight line down into the earth. It looked as though they had a long way to go, so they started to run, aware that every passing second meant added danger to Katerina and her friends. She and her gang were tough, and they matched the fey in number, but who knew how long they could hold out. Emily didn't even know if summoning the Raven King would help them. What if he was too far away? What if he was out of the city? Traveling somewhere else?

These were all doubts that Emily tried to force from her mind. Thinking such thoughts did nothing to help the situation.

She became aware that the scene up ahead was changing. The two lines of fire, which up until now had seemed to meet up in the far distance, had gradually begun to separate. Emily realized this was because they were coming to the end of the tunnel.

“Nearly there,” grunted William.

They put on an extra burst of speed and because of this almost fell into the huge hole in the ground at the end of the tunnel. Emily skidded to a halt when she saw the vast darkness that swallowed the light from the fire bowls. She reached out to grab Will, and they both slid to a stop, teetering over the edge of the vast pit.

William swayed backward and managed to yank Emily with him. They both fell to the ground, panting from fear and exertion. Emily got to her knees and crawled forward. She couldn't see anything. Just a black …
nothingness
that seemed to swallow light. She found a small stone and dropped it over the edge.