Irene turned back to Bradamant as the other Librarian called out a crisp string of orders in the Language. Fortunately the people around her were too preoccupied by the alligators to pay much attention.
The chandelier trembled where it hung, then shattered, prisms chiming and blowing apart in puffs of crystal dust. Electricity forked down in visible arcs of lightning, targeting the alligators’ electronic attachments. The reptiles spasmed and thrashed, tails sweeping in wide curves as their jaws opened and closed on empty air.
Irene watched in relief as Vale and Kai dodged the alligators that had been surrounding them. ‘Nicely done,’ she said to Bradamant.
Bradamant sniffed, somehow managing to suggest that the words Of course were simply beneath her. ‘I can’t see why you didn’t do it yourself,’ she said.
‘Chaos contamination,’ Irene replied reluctantly. The alligators were slowing their thrashing now, their wild spasms becoming mere squirming wriggles. ‘The door to the Library was sabotaged on this side. We think it must have been Alberich—’
‘Wait.’ Bradamant grabbed her shoulder. Some of the high colour drained from her face. ‘Alberich is here?’
‘Yes,’ Irene said bluntly. ‘Didn’t you get notified?’
The expression on Bradamant’s face spoke for itself. Belatedly, Irene put two and two together. ‘You’re here without authorization, aren’t you? You came here even though this is a quarantined world and it was my mission—’
‘And I just saved you and your student from getting eaten by alligators,’ Bradamant snapped. ‘You owe me. I want the precise details about Alberich being here. Now.’
‘So why did you come here anyhow?’ Irene asked, ignoring the demand, as she checked there was still enough chaos to cover their conversation. She and Bradamant weren’t the only people to be staying up on the tables. A lot of other people were waiting to be absolutely sure that the alligators were dead before they came down to ground level again. ‘To this party, that is. Not just to this alternate.’
Bradamant was silent for a moment. There might even have been a trace of shame in her eyes, but Irene wasn’t sure if it was shame at having stolen another Librarian’s mission, or just embarrassment at being caught. Finally she said, ‘I needed to investigate the Iron Brotherhood.’
‘Congratulations,’ Irene said, and jerked her head in the direction of the alligators. ‘You found them. Were they supposed to meet you here, or was it just a happy coincidence?’
‘You’re very insolent tonight,’ Bradamant said softly, dangerously.
‘Oh, don’t you think that I have reason?’ Irene had enough control to keep her voice down, but not enough to keep back her words. ‘If you have anything, anything to do with this piece of bloody lunacy—’
‘I’d have thought that Alberich was more important than collateral civilian casualties,’ Bradamant said. Her eyes glittered. ‘Shouldn’t you be briefing me on that rather than wasting time on those people?’
‘Did you have anything to do with this?’ Irene repeated.
‘No,’ Bradamant said. ‘If that helps you answer my question.’
Irene glanced at the dying alligators again. She didn’t trust Bradamant, but she couldn’t refuse to warn her. ‘Yesterday I was told to beware of Alberich, a direct communication from the Library. This morning Kai and I went to talk with Dominic Aubrey, at our Library entrance point. We didn’t find him there, but we found his skin rolled up in a jar of vinegar, and a chaos trap on the door to the Library itself.’
Bradamant blinked slowly. ‘Dominic Aubrey is dead? Actually dead?’
‘Yes,’ Irene said. ‘Well, probably. Given the alternatives. When did you get here? Did you see him when you came through? If we can pin down when Alberich killed him and trapped the door—’
‘Irene!’ Kai and Vale had converged on them unexpectedly. Vale had several cuts, but Kai was elegantly unruffled. He offered his hands to Irene. ‘If you’d like a hand down – and Bradamant, of course . . .’
‘Of course,’ Bradamant said in suddenly sweetened tones. She stepped past Irene, hips swinging, and placed her hands in Kai’s, letting him assist her down.
Kai threw a martyred glance over Bradamant’s shoulder at Irene. It said, more clearly than words, I couldn’t possibly leave her to fall into the remains of the herring, could I?
Irene sighed. She set her chin, sat down on the edge of the table and swung off it to stand on the floor. Her gown was already ruined, anyhow. ‘I’m glad to see that both you gentlemen are safe and well,’ she said flatly. She could feel Vale’s measuring stare on her, Kai and Bradamant, and tried to ignore it. There was no reason whatever for her to have any feelings on the subject at all.