Reaches. Likewise we don’t play games with matches or fire-starters or flame-sprays or sparkizans or any of the things that them other units says we do. So we don’t take kindly to jokes about our Nothing-powder stores blowing up or—”
He paused suddenly, and with the sixth sense of a long-serving sergeant, suddenly braced to attention and shouted, “Stand fast!”
The artillerists jerked fully upright to become frozen statues as the heavy door creaked fully open and a tall Denizen in a dark grey uniform with black epaulettes entered.
“Marshal Dusk!” Suzy called out.
“General Suzy Blue,” Dusk answered gravely. He paused to offer an elegant salute, which Suzyreturned with less elegance but considerable gusto.
“Your arrival is unlooked for,” Dusk continued, with just the hint of a question. “As are your companions. Am I right in presuming that I address a Part of the Will?”
“You are,” said the raven, preening. It liked to be recognised.
“And one of Saturday’s sorcerers?”
“Oh no, sir,” said Giac. “Just a Sorcerous Supernumerary, as I was, sir. But now I serve Lord Arthur.”
“I am pleased to hear it,” said Dusk. “I am sure there is much more to hear, but there is very little time to hear it. We must all be on the adjacent tile before it moves at sundown.”
“Where are we going to go?” asked Suzy. She was familiar with the way the Great Maze was divided into thousands of mile-square tiles, that moved at the end of every day, often travelling great distances in a single minute. But she did not possess one of the almanacs that officers used to work out which tile to get on in order to move to their required destination.
She stepped out of the wreckage of the elevator as she spoke, and walked closer to Dusk, turning toone side for a moment so she could look out the narrow window in the thick stone wall.
“Too much of the Maze has been broken through by Nothing,” said Dusk. “We are evacuating to the Middle House. Most of the Army has already gone over the course of the day. I command a rearguard that has been destroying our siege train and larger guns, since we cannot take them with us, and there is the slight chance the Piper or some other enemy might swoop in and retrieve some for later use against us, before Nothing completely destroys the Maze.”
“That explains the explosion,” said the Will. It flew to the window and peered out with its sharp black eyes. “Perhaps you might tell me why you wear funereal armbands?”
“For Sir Thursday,” said Dusk after a moment’s hesitation. “He was our commander in chief for millennia after all, though he broke his trust to the Architect.”
“You mean he’s dead too?” asked Suzy.
“Yes,” said Dusk. “This morning, in his cell. The guards outside were also slain, and only Sir Thursday’s boots remained.”
“Sounds more like he escaped,” Suzy said.
“His feet were still in the boots,” said Dusk. “The rest of him had been dissolved by Nothing.”
Suzy raised an eyebrow and scratched her head. “So they’re all dead,” she said. “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…but who killed them?”
“What of Lady Friday?” asked the Will. “I understand she was also imprisoned in the Citadel?”
“She lives yet, for all I know,” said Dusk. “But she was taken with the advance party to the Middle House some hours ago.”
The Will mulled this over for a moment before cocking its head to ask, “And the other Parts of the Will? Where are they? Have they remade themselves as Dame Primus or are they still divided?”
“I believe they…ah…she…that is, Dame Primus has rejoined…herself…and is now at the Middle House, where she has established a command post,” said Dusk. “In preparation for Lord Arthur, of course. You do not happen to know where Lord Arthur is, by the by?”
“We do not,” said the Will with a look at Suzy. “But he gave me orders to prepare a force to assault
He paused suddenly, and with the sixth sense of a long-serving sergeant, suddenly braced to attention and shouted, “Stand fast!”
The artillerists jerked fully upright to become frozen statues as the heavy door creaked fully open and a tall Denizen in a dark grey uniform with black epaulettes entered.
“Marshal Dusk!” Suzy called out.
“General Suzy Blue,” Dusk answered gravely. He paused to offer an elegant salute, which Suzyreturned with less elegance but considerable gusto.
“Your arrival is unlooked for,” Dusk continued, with just the hint of a question. “As are your companions. Am I right in presuming that I address a Part of the Will?”
“You are,” said the raven, preening. It liked to be recognised.
“And one of Saturday’s sorcerers?”
“Oh no, sir,” said Giac. “Just a Sorcerous Supernumerary, as I was, sir. But now I serve Lord Arthur.”
“I am pleased to hear it,” said Dusk. “I am sure there is much more to hear, but there is very little time to hear it. We must all be on the adjacent tile before it moves at sundown.”
“Where are we going to go?” asked Suzy. She was familiar with the way the Great Maze was divided into thousands of mile-square tiles, that moved at the end of every day, often travelling great distances in a single minute. But she did not possess one of the almanacs that officers used to work out which tile to get on in order to move to their required destination.
She stepped out of the wreckage of the elevator as she spoke, and walked closer to Dusk, turning toone side for a moment so she could look out the narrow window in the thick stone wall.
“Too much of the Maze has been broken through by Nothing,” said Dusk. “We are evacuating to the Middle House. Most of the Army has already gone over the course of the day. I command a rearguard that has been destroying our siege train and larger guns, since we cannot take them with us, and there is the slight chance the Piper or some other enemy might swoop in and retrieve some for later use against us, before Nothing completely destroys the Maze.”
“That explains the explosion,” said the Will. It flew to the window and peered out with its sharp black eyes. “Perhaps you might tell me why you wear funereal armbands?”
“For Sir Thursday,” said Dusk after a moment’s hesitation. “He was our commander in chief for millennia after all, though he broke his trust to the Architect.”
“You mean he’s dead too?” asked Suzy.
“Yes,” said Dusk. “This morning, in his cell. The guards outside were also slain, and only Sir Thursday’s boots remained.”
“Sounds more like he escaped,” Suzy said.
“His feet were still in the boots,” said Dusk. “The rest of him had been dissolved by Nothing.”
Suzy raised an eyebrow and scratched her head. “So they’re all dead,” she said. “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…but who killed them?”
“What of Lady Friday?” asked the Will. “I understand she was also imprisoned in the Citadel?”
“She lives yet, for all I know,” said Dusk. “But she was taken with the advance party to the Middle House some hours ago.”
The Will mulled this over for a moment before cocking its head to ask, “And the other Parts of the Will? Where are they? Have they remade themselves as Dame Primus or are they still divided?”
“I believe they…ah…she…that is, Dame Primus has rejoined…herself…and is now at the Middle House, where she has established a command post,” said Dusk. “In preparation for Lord Arthur, of course. You do not happen to know where Lord Arthur is, by the by?”
“We do not,” said the Will with a look at Suzy. “But he gave me orders to prepare a force to assault
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