Deathscent: Intrigues of the Reflected Realm. Robin Jarvis

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СКАЧАТЬ Tewkes folded his arms and tutted peevishly. “What use is this?” he complained. “The young idiot is making geese of us all.”

      “Here!” the boy exclaimed, extracting a small glass phial from the horse’s insides. “It was attached to one of the ichor pipes – definitely doesn’t belong there.”

      Taking it from him, Doctor Dee walked over to where a lantern hung on the wall and examined the vessel in detail. The bottle was spherical in shape, with a tapering neck tipped with a barbed, silver needle which appeared capable of piercing the toughest leather. Inside the phial were the dregs of a dark, indigo-coloured liquid and the old man sniffed them tentatively.

      Thoughtful and silent, he passed it to Walsingham and the Queen’s spymaster received the object with great solemnity.

      “Is it as we feared?” he asked.

      Doctor Dee inclined his head. “It is,” he answered. “The enemies of Englandia have contrived a way of distilling a new and deadly ichor.”

      “Then the intelligence furnished by my agents in Europe was correct,” Walsingham reflected. “With this mordant liquid those hostile powers can transform any mechanical into a killing engine.”

      The old astrologer looked questioningly at Adam. “In your opinion,” he began, “how long would the effects of this loathsome venom take to work its evil within such a creation as that horse?”

      “Can’t tell you that, Sir,” the boy replied, taken aback to be treated with such respect from so important a figure. “I never seen nothing like it before.”

      “Your finest guess then?”

      Adam looked in at the extreme damage once more and shrugged. “Not long I don’t reckon,” he said finally. “To pump round all the feeder veins wouldn’t take no more than a quarter hour.”

      “Remarkable boy,” the Doctor observed.

      Weighing the glass vessel in his palm, Sir Francis brought his piercing glance to bear upon the groom and the man struggled to proclaim his innocence.

      “No other has been near the horses this night!” Walsingham said, his assured, level voice more daunting than any shouted threat. “Who else could have done this?”

      “As God is m–my witness …” Jenks stammered.

      “Search him and his belongings,” Walsingham commanded.

      Eager to obey, Master Tewkes snatched a leather purse from where it hung at the groom’s waist and emptied the contents into his eager hand. “Ha!” he proclaimed, casting groats and pennies to the ground but brandishing a small object with a jubilant flourish. “Behold – the knave’s guilt is proved beyond further doubt.”

      Held between the secretary’s fingers was a second phial of glass, identical to the one Adam had discovered – yet this one was full.

      “Who can say for whom this was meant!” Master Tewkes cried, shaking the blue fluid within. “One of Her Majesty’s own steeds perhaps?”

      Jenks stared at the bottle with a look of horror etched into his face. But, before he could voice any protestation, Doctor Dee prowled forward, his keen eyes sparkling.

      “Your next words may condemn you,” he warned. “So choose them with wisdom. Tell me truthfully, what happened here this night?”

      Jenks blinked and nodded at the other mechanical horses which were still standing at the darkened end of the barn.

      “I saw to the beasts,” he said. “Unloaded them, polished the dust away, brushed the manes and tails then sat and ate the bit of supper the kitchen girl brought out to me.”

      “Is that all?”

      The groom nodded. “It was then that Belladonna started. A frightful noise she made.”

      “No, no, no,” the astrologer remarked with a disappointed air. “That will never do. Like many puzzles this is merely a question of mathematics. You have left out the most significant factor in your account.”

      Jenks shrank against the wall, looking like a cornered animal of the old world about to be delivered to the wolves. “It’s true I tell you!” he cried wretchedly. “Every word.”

      Master Tewkes spat at him. “The rack will teach you the meaning of truth,” he promised.

      “Hold!” Doctor Dee’s voice rang sharply. “I had not finished, hear me out.” He waited until he had their complete attention, then continued. “Observe the groom’s appearance,” he said. “Does it not speak of more than he has related?”

      “I always thought he looked like a surly gypsy!” the secretary put in, unable to stop himself.

      A warning glance from Walsingham caused Master Tewkes to bite his own tongue and say no more.

      “Note the particles of straw in this man’s hair,” Doctor Dee resumed. “There is also a quantity upon his back; is that not suggestive? Look also to the great heaps piled yonder – mark you that singular depression?”

      He indicated the hills of straw kept at the back of the barn. Upon the lower slopes there was a curiously deep hollow.

      “The fact you omitted to tell us,” he said, returning his attention to the groom, “is that you fell asleep. Replete with Mistress Dritchly’s victuals, you sat at your ease and were awakened only when Belladonna began making those horrible sounds. No doubt there were preliminary whirrs and other signs of distress, but you missed them entirely until they were loud enough to rouse you from slumber. Perhaps in all the confusion you did not realise you had even closed your eyes, but it is the only hope of salvation you have for the moment.”

      Walsingham pursed his lips and considered what the astrologer had said. “Then some other party may have stolen into this place and tampered with the horse,” he said. “It is possible.”

      “Fanciful nonsense!” Master Tewkes blurted. “The groom had the other phial in his keeping. Of course he is the one! He was the only person here this night and he is responsible!”

      To everyone’s surprise, the Doctor gave a slight chuckle. “Oh no,” he corrected. “There you are mistaken. As I have said, the solution to this enigma is mathematical in nature. I shall demonstrate how, in this instance, one plus one can equal three. Jenks was not alone in the barn – there was another.”

      Stepping aside he lifted his lined face and called out, “Lantern!”

      Still kneeling by the ruined wreck of Belladonna, Adam picked up the light that was nearby and offered it to him. Doctor Dee declined with an amused smile and pointed to the shadow-filled corner of the barn, beyond the remaining horses.

      “The illumination I seek,” he said, “is of another sort.”

      Everyone stared. Standing by the entrance, Henry peered around the door and held his breath.

      From the gloom he heard a rustling. There, in the dun murk, one of the straw mounds was moving. It shook and wobbled for a moment, then a СКАЧАТЬ