A pounding sounded at the door, growing steadily louder. Ella turned and walked to the door. A palace guard stood on the porch, his face grim.
"Enchantress, there you are. Please, you must come with me at once. At once!"
"Yes, yes. I know. It’s bad news then."
"You know?" He seemed shocked. "How could you know?"
Ella looked at him, perplexed.
"He’s gone," the soldier said. “Gone.” Ella put her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. "And we need you to tell us where he went."
~
ELLA had never seen the palace guards so tense, so many of them with faces like cornered animals. They surrounded the Crystal Palace, out in force; there must have been hundreds.
The cold winter sun had only just risen, sending scant warmth through the clouds overhead. Palace officials stood huddled in heavy woollen coats, talking together in hushed tones. There was something odd about the scene, something indefinable. It was as if a terrible tragedy had occurred, and the people were now looking for someone to blame.
Ella couldn’t make sense of what the soldier said. He’d kept his lips firmly sealed, responding to none of her questions, just shaking his head and herding her in a direct line for the palace.
On the palace steps Ella could make out the forms of the High Enchantress and two lords, flanking an old man. At first Ella just saw the wisps of grey hair, a flowing green cloak and an immense stiff collar. Then she realised who it was.
"That’s the High Lord!" Ella exclaimed.
"It certainly is," said the soldier. "And you are about to meet him."
He herded her to the palace steps, until the two of them came to stand before the High Lord. If he hadn’t been a couple of steps above her, Tessolar would have been much shorter than Ella. The soldier departed without a word.
Remembering her manners, Ella dipped her body and put her right hand over her heart, while the fingertips of her left hand touched first her lips and then her forehead. She thought again about Lady Katherine, mysteriously drowned. How could she have married such a grim man, even if he was the High Lord?
"High Lord, this is the girl," said High Enchantress Evora Guinestor.
"High Lord, it is an honour," said Ella, not knowing what else to say.
He grunted — a surprisingly human sound to come out of his ancient face. From a short distance away the two lords looked on. "Ella?" High Lord Tessolar said in a hoarse voice. For some reason he wouldn’t meet her eyes. "Tell us of this boy, this thief who steals in the night."
Ella took a breath. "High Lord, I don’t understand. What has happened? I take it he lived?"
Evora spoke. "Lived? I doubt he was ever unwell."
"I… I don’t understand."
"Child, he was a thief. Last night, when most everyone in the palace was fast asleep, he searched my chambers, passed unhurt through my protective enchantments, found our Lexicon, and took it from under our very eyes."
"He did what?" Ella knew she wasn’t supposed to speak in this way in front of the High Lord, but the shock was too much.
"He stole our Lexicon," said High Lord Tessolar. "I would assume he was the same thief who stole the Halrana Lexicon. Much becomes clear now."
"Clear and yet full of unknowing," the High Enchantress frowned at the High Lord. "It should never have been possible."
"The animators’ Lexicon has been stolen also?" Ella said.
"Forget you ever heard that," said the High Enchantress.
"Bah, our enemies know," said Tessolar. "The Emperor knows. This is all his doing."
"We don’t know that," said Evora. "There is much we are dealing with that we do not understand."
"Skylord scratch his name!" the High Lord cursed.
Ella was shocked to hear the High Lord swear. She spoke up. "But I saw the essence. It was real essence, I should know. It touched his skin."
"I believe you," said the High Enchantress.
"You believe me? So…?"
"Somehow, the essence did not kill him. Somehow, he was able to move about in my chambers undetected. He passed through our wards like they didn’t exist. He walked past hundreds of people without being seen. Child, I need to know what you know. Who is this young man?"
Realisation came over Ella slowly, the shock of recent events fogging her mind. She had been tricked. It had all been a trick, all of it. She’d thought she’d killed him, killed another, like she’d killed Talwin. She felt sick.
"He said his name was Killian." She swallowed. "I… I don’t really know much about him. He had an accent. He told me he was from a distant land, here to trade goods."
The High Lord snorted. The High Enchantress shot him a warning glare.
"Continue, my dear."
"I showed him around Sarostar. He seemed interested in the palace. I told him everything I knew. I didn’t know there could be any harm in it, Lord of the Sky, how could I have known?"
"Is there more? Were you, intimate?"