'Mistress Florrel.
'What have you got to say for yourself?
'I will bring the girl back and deal with those responsible.
'You will do no such thing. You will hand the money over as you're told. Nothing more. I don't want this made any worse by your wretched stupidity. Officers from the militia will lake full charge of things from now on. Gentlemen of good character and family, that's what we need. Not some country buffoon.
Edeard felt his teeth grinding together.
Boyd put his hand on Edeard's arm, smiling politely. 'We will cooperate in any way we can, Mistress Florrel.
Her eyes narrowed. 'I know you. Saria has taken a shine to you.
'Yes, Mistress.
'Ha, she dismissed him with a flutter of her hand. Her voice took on a tragic tone. 'My dear dear boy, her arms rose up in sympathetic greeting as she shuffled over to Julan; 'how are you coping? This is all too, too terrible.
'She'll come back, Julan managed to stammer.
'We'll make sure of it, brother, Lorin said effusively. 'What has passed between us is nothing now. I am resolute in helping you endure this ordeal.
Julan bobbed his head. 'Thank you, he whispered.
'Come along, Mistress Florrel said. 'Sit down my dear Julan. You family is here to comfort you now. That is what you need. You are no longer alone or surrounded by fools. Go and get him some tea, she told Walsfol imperiously. 'Now my boy, have you enough money to pay the ransom? I will help if not. We simply must get her back to her home and loving family.
Walsfol inclined his head respectfully to Julan as he left the hortus, and signalled the squad to follow. They hurried after him.
'Now what? Edeard asked.
'I hate to concede the point, but Mistress Florrel is right in one respect, Walsfol said. 'This is about you.
'Yes sir, Edeard said miserably.
'Stay here for now in case they get in touch again; and for the Lady's sake keep out of her way, Walsfol said, pointing back through the horseshoe arch in considerable irritation. 'I'm going to convene the station captains. Somebody out there must know where that poor girl is. One of them will talk.
Edeard was looking round the magnificent lounge with its clutter of fabulous artwork and gilded furniture. 'How did they get up here? he asked in bewilderment. 'And then how did they get out again, carrying Mirnatha? In the Lady's name, there are hundreds of people in the mansion, and this is the tenth floor.
'A valid question, Walsfol said in a low voice. 'The captain of the house guard here is called Homelt. Talk to him. The kidnappers must have had some inside help. Take a look round the girl's room. There must be some clue, some evidence we can use to uncover the kidnapper.
'Do you think she's still alive sir?
Walsfol took another guilty look out on to the pleasant hortus. 'Very few kidnapping victims are ever returned. Just enough to make the families and merchants pay out in the hope that their loved one will be the exception.
'So she might still be alive?
'Yes. She might. We have to carry on in the belief that Mirnatha is going to be handed over safe and well in return for the money.
Edeard wasn't much encouraged by his tone. They found Homelt waiting for them in the central corridor. He was in his fifties, thickset but still fit. The kidnapping had left him angry and distressed; it was taking up a lot of self control just to clamp down on his emotions. He'd spent twenty years in the constables, he told them, serving out of Bellis station. 'I was a good constable, he insisted. 'Not like some of them, who were just in it for the pay off. I did my duty and earned this post.
'So how did they get her? Edeard asked.
For an instant it looked like Homelt might strike out. He stood quite still and took a long breath. 'I don't know. And that's the Lady's honest truth. It was the middle of the night. All our gates are locked and guarded. There are more guards on random patrol inside. There's always someone on the stairs. I just don't understand.
'What about new guards?
'Yesterday, I thought I could trust every one of them. Today
I'm not sure of anything any more. We don't take in just anyone, they have to be known and sponsored; and like you we've got a pretty good idea who's in with the gangs.
'All right, so tell us what happened.
'The kid's nursery maid raised the alarm really early on. The first thing we did was double the gate guards, then we searched the whole mansion, every room I promise you. Not just farsight, we physically inspected everywhere. Then that bloody ge-eagle flapped down on to the tenth-floor hortus. The Master… I've never seen him so broken. She was a lovely little thing, she really was. Nothing like you'd expect a family child, none of the airs half of them have.
'Can I see the room please?
'What do you think? Dinlay asked as Homelt led them along the corridors. Dispirited staff hung their heads as the squad walked past. Edeard couldn't detect the faintest flash of guilt, they all shared the same numb horror. The three nursery maids were in their parlour next to the family rooms, all weeping openly. Even the ge-monkeys were subdued, caught up in the emotions saturating the mansion.
'The same as you, Edeard said. 'Somebody with a concealment ability. There's no other way.
'The gangs have that? Kanseen asked in alarm.
'Not the street soldiers we normally deal with, but I found out the hard way that Ivarl has a considerable psychic power.
Mirnatha's nursery room was the same size as the whole of Edeard's maisonette. The walls were draped in pink tapestries depicting colourful fairies and nikasprites and birds. Dressers and chairs were lined in streamers of fluffy pink feathers. There were two big dolls houses whose elaborately dressed inhabitants were strewn everywhere. A wooden rocking horse stood in one corner. The wardrobes were full of sweet little frocks.
Edeard found it painful just standing on the pink carpet looking round. He sniffed the air. 'Do you smell that? Something tangy? Walking round, the smell was strongest by the bed with its twee lace canopy.
'Chloroform, Homelt said. 'That's how they kept her quiet.
'What's chloroform? Edeard asked. The squad was regarding him with an expression he was staring to tire of.
'It's a chemical, Dinlay said. 'If it's inhaled it puts you to sleep. Nearly every kidnapper uses it. You soak it into a cloth and hold it over your victim's face.
'Chemicals? Edeard said. 'They used chemicals on a six year old girl.
'Yes, Homelt was giving him a strange look.
Edeard took a final look round the nursery and pushed the glass doors open. The section of the hortus directly outside was mainly laid with grass, with some ornate yew trees in urns standing along the silver-grey balustrade. He stood with his hands pressing down on the rail and looked down. Each of the terraces in the ziggurat was laid out below him, forming a series of horticultural steps down to the ground. Now spring had truly arrived, the plants formed a blaze of colour as their flowers opened to greet the warm days. Mirnatha's hortus faced east. Away to his left, the Great Major Canal stretched out in a perfectly straight line to the Lyot sea in the distance. People were just starting to appear along its side, claiming their position in readiness for the festival. He let his farsight expand along it, past Forest Pool and Mid Pool down to First Pool which formed the base of Myco. There was the House of Blue Petals, its interior impressively restored after the fire.
Ivarl stood in front of his office's oval window, stretching his farsight towards Edeard. Just for a second, Edeard was back in his room at the Ashwell Eggshaper Guild, searching the towers of the village gate for any sign of the guards, with the bandit chief watching him.
'I wouldn't have believed even you would stoop to this, Edeard informed his adversary coldly. 'She's six years old, for the Lady's sake. Six!