'Er... I feel perhaps there is little that I'd be able to do,' Oats said.
'Oh, it'd be too dangerous to take you,' said Nanny dismissively.
'But of course my prayers will go with you.'
'That's nice.' Nanny sniffed.
Drizzling rain soaked Hodgesaargh as he trudged back to the castle. The damp had got into the lure, and the noise it made now could only attract some strange, lost creature, skulking in ancient estuaries. Or possibly a sheep with a very sore throat.
And then he heard the chattering of magpies.
He tied the donkey to a sapling and stepped out into a clearing. The birds were screaming in the trees around him, but erupted away at the sight of King Henry on her perch on the donkey.
Crouched against a mossy rock was...
... a small magpie. It was bedraggled and wrong, as if put together by someone who had seen one but didn't know how it was supposed to work. It struggled when it saw him, there was a fluffing of feathers and, now, a smaller version of King Henry was trying to unfold its tattered wings.
He backed away. On her perch, the hooded eagle had its head turned to the strange bird...
... which was now a pigeon. A thrush. A wren...
A sudden intimation of doom made Hodgesaargh cover his eyes, but he saw the flash through the skin of his fingers, felt the thump of the flame, and smelled the scorched hairs on the back of his hand.
A few tufts of grass smouldered on the edge of a circle of scorched earth. Inside it a few pathetic bones glowed red hot and then crumbled into fine ash.
Away in the forest, the magpies screamed.
Count Magpyr stirred in the darkness of his room and opened his eyes. The pupils widened to take in more light.
'I think she has gone to ground,' he said.
'That was remarkably quick,' said the Countess. 'I thought you said she was quite powerful.'
'Oh, indeed. But human. And she's getting older. With age comes doubt. It's so simple. All alone in that barren cottage, no company but the candlelight... it's so simple to open up all the little cracks and let her mind turn in on itself. It's like watching a forest fire when the wind changes and suddenly it's roaring down on all the houses you thought were built so strongly.'
'So graphically put.'
'Thank you.'
'You were so successful in Escrow, I know...'
'A model for the future. Vampires and humans in harmony at last. There is no need for this animosity, just as I have always said.'
The Countess walked over to the window and gingerly pulled aside the curtain. Despite the overcast sky, grey light filtered in.
'There's no requirement to be so cautious about this, either,' said her husband, coming up behind her and jerking the curtain aside. The Countess shuddered and turned her face away.
'You see? Still harmless. Every day, in every way, we get better and better,' said Count Magpyr cheerfully. 'Self help. Positive thinking. Training. Familiarity. Garlic? A pleasant seasoning. Lemons? Merely an acquired taste. Why, yesterday I mislaid a sock and I simply don't care. I have lots of socks. Extra socks can be arranged!' His smile faded when he saw his wife's expression.
'The word "but" is on the tip of your tongue,' he said flatly.
'I was just going to say that there were no witches in Escrow.'
'And the place is all the better for it!'
'Of course, but-'
'There you go again, my dear. There is no room for 'but' in our vocabulary. Verence was right, oddly enough. There's a new world coming, and there won't be any room in it for those ghastly little gnomes or witches or centaurs and especially not for the firebirds! Away with theml Let us progress! They are unfitted for survival!'