Lady Friday(18)

‘I do want to know,’ said Leaf. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever she might be about to hear. ‘And I already know about the House and the Denizens and Lady Friday being a Trustee of the Will and all.’

Harrison stopped pacing and stared at her.

‘How? I mean, you are a human?’

‘Yes,’ said Leaf. ‘But I’ve been in the House before. I’m a friend of Arthur, the Rightful Heir to the Architect.’

‘You mean Arthur’s real?’ Harrison sat down on the edge of the desk and looked directly at Leaf for the first time, his eyes suddenly lively, the weariness gone. ‘The Denizens talk about him sometimes. Axilrad said he doesn’t exist, that there are always rumors about a Rightful Heir … but if he can defeat Lady Friday … maybe … there is a chance I can get home after all …’

‘He’s real enough,’ said Leaf. ‘He’s already beaten Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday, and Drowned Wednesday … and probably Sir Thursday too, only I don’t know for sure. Now, tell me … what happens to the sleepers?’

Harrison looked away again and clicked his fingernails in agitation.

‘She only used to bring across a dozen or so a month,’ he said. ‘I don’t know why there’s been this sudden influx. Thousands of them, and I have to turn them in their beds every twelve hours, until they … until it’s time …’

His voice trailed off.

‘Until it’s time for what?’ demanded Leaf.

‘They go to Lady Friday,’ said Harrison. ‘Then—’

Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by a sudden electronic squawk, followed by a crackle from the wooden box on Harrison’s desk that Leaf had taken for a large paperweight or something, but was in fact an intercom.

‘Harrison! I hear you’ve got new help. Get over to the Yellow Preparation Room now and set up a dozen for the boss.’

‘Axilrad,’ Harrison explained to Leaf. ‘The Denizen I work for. She’s not so bad, compared to most of the others. Come on!’

‘But what happens to the sleepers?’ Leaf asked as Harrison hustled her to the door.

‘You’ll see,’ said Harrison. Despite his comment about Axilrad being not too bad, he seemed extremely fearful of keeping her waiting. ‘Follow me.’

Harrison walked so fast he almost broke into a jog. Leaf kept up with him as best she could, though her legs were still not fully working and it took her much more effort than usual just to maintain a fast walk.

A hundred yards or so along the corridor, they passed a large rectangular window of clear glass set into the inner wall. Through it, Leaf could see a large circular lake a few hundred feet below, and for the first time she got a clear sense that all the corridors and rooms she’d been in were definitely in the crater wall of something like an extinct volcano.

Looking out the window and up, Leaf at first only saw the strange, purple sky. Then she noticed a delicate tracery of pale gold, in a crazed pattern arching up from the far rim of the crater. It appeared to be an ultra-thin wire or metal framework, but it took Leaf several more seconds to work out that there was glass or something like glass between the metal wires, and that together they made up a domed cap that sat over the whole crater – a dome that was at least a mile in diameter and three or four hundred yards high.

‘Hurry up!’ called Harrison. He’d got a long way in front while Leaf was gawking out the window. The girl stopped sightseeing and ran after him. But when she’d caught up, she slowed again. The lake in the middle of the crater had reminded her of something. It was a large body of water, easily big enough to sail a small craft on.

Water … lake … sea … boat … ship … Mariner, thought Leaf.

She let Harrison get ahead again. She didn’t stop; she just slowed her pace so that he disappeared around the curve in front of her. Then she pulled out the Mariner’s medallion on its rather sad twined necklace of dental floss and raised it near her mouth.

‘Please help me,’ she whispered to the small whalebone disc. ‘It’s Leaf here, Arthur’s friend. He gave me the medallion. Please help me. I’m a prisoner of Lady Friday’s, somewhere in the Secondary Realms. Please help. Or tell Arthur. Or Suzy Turquoise Blue. Please help.’

She managed to repeat this almost-mantra several times before Harrison came into sight again, waiting outside a door marked 5. He frowned at Leaf, waited till she was only a few feet away, then knocked. He didn’t wait for a reply, but opened it straight away and went in. Leaf followed more cautiously, worried about what she was going to see.