“As per their standing orders in case of a successful incursion into the castle,” he said calmly.
“Of course. Very wise, actually, as they had no chance.”
“Who are the invaders?”
“They originate from an aspect that Dad sealed off long ago, on a hunch that the inhabitants might be potential troublemakers. He was right.”
“Well, now,” he said, scratching his chin. “That could be any one of about a hundred aspects that Dad had doubts about.”
“Does it really matter which one? They are a race of bipeds, very warlike, very aggrandizing. Overwhelmingly so. They discovered the gateway quite readily, and instantly realized the unparalleled strategic value of the castle.”
He nodded. “Gateway to thousands of worlds ripe for conquest.”
“Yes. And they have technology, good technology. And a little magic, too; more, since they’ve been in the castle. So no worlds are safe from them.”
“They sound like a real going concern.” He shifted in his seat and recrossed his legs. “Looks like you’re putting your cards on the table, for once. I thought we’d be here for hours, playing cat and mouse.”
“It would have been fun, but … ” She gave him a sulky look. “Damn it, Inky, you have a way of putting me off my stride. That ‘reading reactions’ business was just a ploy to get me to think that you have something on me, when, in fact, the situation is entirely the reverse.”
“You have something on me?”
“You’re locked out, dear brother. On the outside looking in. You’re in New York, and you’ll never be able to summon the gateway to the castle, let alone stabilize it in a New York apartment. I have established the gateway. Elsewhere.”
“So, you have been fooling about here. With Trent?”
She chuckled gloatingly. “I knew you’d fall for that. You detected meddling and instantly suspected Trent, so you hied yourself to Earth to check him out. And he was as oily and as sneaky as always, and looking worried about your showing up there after all these years, nosing about. So you thought, ‘Trent is up to something.’ And he may very well be, if I know Trent. But it doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m doing.”
“Brilliant so far, sis. By the way, did I tell you that you’re absolutely stunning in that dress?”
“Thank you.” She reddened slightly. “Damn you! You always know exactly what to say to bring me up short. That’s why I’m not inclined to toy with you, Inky.YOU are much too dangerous for that, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“I see.” He looked down, tapping one shoe against the other. “So, you’ve taken over Castle Perilous.”
“Oh, not yet. We’re only in the first stage of things.”
“You’re not in cahoots with these invaders?”
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “They’re perfectly dreadful beasts, and I wouldn’t think of having anything personally to do with them.”
“So you just busted the containing spell and let them spill out into the castle? Unwise, Ferne honey. Unwise.”
“On the contrary, they’ve been very useful. They are a bargaining chip.”
“Indeed? Tell me this. Just where are you in the castle, if the castle has been invaded?”
“Well, you don’t think I wouldn’t take precautions, do you? We’ve sealed off the old family residence. We’re quite safe here, for the moment.”
“I see. So the Albion aspect is protected.”
“Naturally. And the Earth aspect is here, too, stabilized nicely. And the door is locked, Inky. Only I have the key.”
“What did you mean by calling the invaders a bargaining chip? What are you bargaining for?”
“For a share of control of the castle. And its power.”
“Of course. And you want to bargain with me.”
“Who else, my liege lord?”
“Why do I figure in at all?” he asked. “According to you, I’m locked out.”
“We need you.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
“Deems and I,” Ferne said.
He looked off, nodding, understanding. “I see. Old Deems is finally having second thoughts about abdicating in favor of me. Why, I wonder?”
She laughed mirthlessly. “He doesn’t want the throne. Through his profligacy and general ineptitude, he’s screwed up things in Albion to the point where he finally had to ask me for help. Magical help. The kingdom’s in a mess. Fiscally speaking, he’s just about at the end of his rope.”
Incarnadine folded his arms and nodded. “So, he wasn’t kidding.”
“Deems has trouble lying. There’s no guile in the man at all. And not a great deal of brains. Imagine him trying to pretend that he didn’t know how to reach me. Dead giveaway.”
“You’re right. I knew immediately that you and he were up to something. But by then it was too late. I was here, and, as you put it, on the outside looking in.”
“You couldn’t have timed things any better. I had no idea when the creatures would make their move to take over Perilous, but I had hoped you would follow the Trent lead and go to New York before the attack. And you went, beating them by about two days. It was a little close, but it worked out. Had you been present during the invasion, I don’t think it would have made much difference. But your not being there was good insurance.”
Incarnadine got up and went to the dry bar. He poured himself two fingers of whiskey, then tore the cap off a small bottle of club soda and mixed it in. “I’d offer you a drink, but … ”
“I’m having one served to me here,” she said, holding an invisible glass. The faint suggestion of a long-stemmed wineglass — a milky, wavering outline — took form in her hand as she brought it to her lips.
“I’ve often wondered,” he said, “why the spell that projects the image won’t project any other material thing but the subject’s clothes. Why just clothes?”
“Dad’s sense of propriety, I guess. How would it look, me sitting here in front of my brother naked?”
“Well, it wouldn’t look all that bad,” he said. “All in the family, you know.”
“Inky, I’m surprised,” she said coyly. “I never knew you harbored incestuous thoughts.”
He feigned shock. “Hold your scandalous tongue, woman! That would be unspeakable. Not to say bad form. No, dear, chaste sister, I simply have always thought that you were a knockout. Purely a matter of aesthetics.” He took a drink and walked back to the chair and sat down.
She shook her head. “You’re just sandbagging me again. Forget it, Inky. It won’t work.”
“Ferne, your biggest fault is that you can’t take a compliment.”
“That may be. I’m much too suspicious to accept them at face value.”
“Pity,” he said. “But back to business. You say you need me. For what?”
“We need your Guardsmen to take back the castle. Deems’ forces aren’t adequate. Only you know where your boys are hiding. With them and Deems’ army combined — and with a little help from the Recondite Arts — we’ll be able to stuff the disgusting little devils back into their hole.”
“You hope!”
Ferne shrugged. “I don’t see why it can’t be done. The invaders are troublesomely adept at fighting, true, but they’re certainly not invincible. See here. You thwarted Prince Vorn and destroyed the combined military might of the Hunran Empire and its allies. Surely you and Deems can turn back an army that has but one access way into the castle! Close off the portal, and reinforcements and supplies are denied them! Then it becomes merely a question of mopping up.”
He rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Karl von Clausewitz!”