‘Still want to be a General, Fred?’ asked Arthur.
Fred shook his head slowly and fingered the line of writing around his neck.
‘In whose army?’ he said. ‘I don’t reckon Marshal Noon or anyone would trust me now.’
‘I’m sure that can be removed,’ said Arthur. ‘Dr Scamandros, or Dame Primus—’
‘Can you do it now?’ asked Suzy. ‘I just can’t stand having to obey the—’
‘Suzy! Stop!’ both Fred and Arthur interrupted, but it was too late.
‘—the Piper,’ finished Suzy and as the word left her mouth, the line on her throat gave out a low, whistling hum and both boys saw it suddenly contract on Suzy’s throat.
Suzy coughed once and fell to the floor, sliding down to Arthur’s feet. Her face went bright red and she scratched desperately at her neck, the writing there stark white against the red, irritated skin.
‘Arthur!’ shouted Fred. ‘Do something!’
Arthur hesitated, but only for a second. He didn’t really have a choice. He drew the baton that was the Fourth Key and held it against Suzy’s throat as she thrashed at his feet.
‘Release Suzy from the Piper’s bonds,’ he said quietly. A faint glow of green light appeared around the baton, and a similar glow surrounded Suzy’s throat. It grew brighter for an instant, bright as an emerald in the sun, then disappeared, taking with it the line of type that forced Suzy to the Piper’s service.
As Suzy took in a deep, racking breath, Arthur stood up and held the baton to Fred’s throat, repeating the process.
It only took a few seconds to release both of them. Arthur sat back down, put the baton on his lap, and raised his empty hand. The crocodile ring on his finger caught the light, glinting in almost equal parts silver and gold. Arthur had to look at it more closely to see that, as he had expected, the gold had crept farther past the fifth line.
‘You did that on purpose, didn’t you, Suzy?’ he said bitterly. ‘To make me use the Key.’
‘I didn’t really mean to, Arthur,’ said Suzy, though her voice lacked conviction. ‘It just came out!’
‘Sure,’ said Arthur. He shook his head in exasperation.
‘Thanks, though,’ said Suzy. She punched Arthur lightly on the shoulder, but he did not react and she stepped back.
‘Yes, thank you, Arthur,’ said Fred. ‘It was more than a bit of a worry, you know, not knowing if it was going to choke me sometime. Or cut my head off.’
Arthur didn’t answer. He was furious with Suzy for forcing him to use the Key, but he was also angry with himself for being furious, because it felt so mean not to help his friends when they needed it, just to save himself from becoming a Denizen.
The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes, neither Suzy nor Fred looking up at Arthur. He, in turn, looked down and turned the crocodile ring on his finger so that only the silver side showed. Then he turned it again, back to the gold, and kept on turning, till at last he sighed and looked up.
‘What’s Ugham going to do?’ asked Arthur.
‘I think he’ll be all right,’ said Fred. ‘The Newniths are funny. The ones we were with kept talking about gardening. They’re good soldiers, but they don’t like soldiering, I reckon. They owe the Piper because he made them, but they don’t volunteer to do anything.’
‘Uggie’s said he’ll only do what he was ordered to do,’ said Suzy. ‘Look after us. ’Course, if he gets new orders, that’s different.’
‘We’ll have to be careful,’ said Arthur.
‘Look on the bright side, Arthur,’ said Suzy. ‘Now—’
‘What bright side?’ interrupted Arthur crossly. ‘You just don’t take anything seriously, Suzy!’
‘She really didn’t mean to make you use the Key, Arthur,’ said Fred cautiously. ‘Maybe you should say sorry, Suzy.’
‘Sorry,’ muttered Suzy.
Arthur let out an exasperated sigh, and with it, most of his anger. He never could stay angry with Suzy, even though he knew she had almost got herself killed just then on purpose, to make him use his power and free her from the Piper’s compulsion.
‘Oh, forget it!’ he said. ‘Okay! Tell me what the bright side is.’
‘Now you can tell us what we’re going to do so you can get the Key and fix Friday for good and proper!’
‘Yes!’ said Fred, his face brightening. ‘What’s the plan?’
Arthur frowned again, this time in thought, not anger.
‘You do have a plan, don’t you?’ asked Fred.
‘Yes,’ admitted Arthur. ‘But I’m not sure it’s a very good one. We’ll need to find a sorcerer, for a start. Or somehow get in touch with Dr Scamandros. Or I suppose we might be able to find out what we need to know some other way. Or—’