"I know," I said. "It's the strange matter. Apparently there's been something of a misunderstanding..."

"To put it mildly," said a new voice. "I was beginning to think I'd never get through to you in time."

The new voice was large and powerful and very sane, and it thundered through the Sanct.i.ty. It emanated from me, but it wasn't me speaking. The Heart cried out in rage and despair, but it sounded like a very small thing compared to the new voice. The strange matter, speaking through me.

"Time for the truth at last," it said. "Know now the true history of that foul and evil creature you know as the Heart. Criminal. Sinner. Thief. Coward. Murderer. It came here because it was running scared. Because it knew I was close behind it, coming to capture it and take it back to where it came from, for judgement and punishment. For all the awful things it has done in so many dimensions. The Heart has been on the run for millennia, pa.s.sing through dimension after dimension and preying on whatever it found there.

"I am the shaman of my tribe, much like your Druid ancestors. We protect the innocent and punish the guilty, and we never give up.

"I'd almost lost track of the Heart. The trail had gone cold, and I had searched so many places. And then a small opening appeared between the dimensions. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before: vague and unfocused, quite primitive really. It was the Blue Fairy using his gift at random to go fishing and see what he might find. Intrigued, I allowed him to catch just a small piece of myself and take it through into his primitive backwater dimension. And there was the Heart! Hidden away, in the back of beyond where no one would think to look. I could sense its presence, but its exact location was hidden from me. So I manipulated the Blue Fairy into pa.s.sing the small piece of me onto the most powerful group in this dimension, the Drood family. And sure enough, once I was brought here, I was able to locate the Heart. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of me to break through the defences your family had put in place around the Heart.

"So I waited. And soon enough the Blue Fairy went fishing again, and I allowed him to catch more of me. And then I manipulated him, and the Drood traitors, and finally the elf lord, all so that he would fire an arrow of me into you, Eddie. So that you could bring me here, into the presence of the Heart. Inside all its protections. I never meant to cause you such pain, Eddie. All the suffering and weakness were caused by my strange matter clashing with the Heart's collar. What you might call a short circuit. The human body was never meant to contain such diametrically opposed other-dimensional materials."

"Why didn't I die when Molly cut the torc from me?" I said.

"Droods only die when separated from their torcs because that's what the Heart wanted," said the voice. "It couldn't risk any of its toys getting loose. But that's all over now. The Heart can't hurt you anymore, Eddie. Not while I'm here to protect you. And it won't be able to hurt your family anymore, once it's been destroyed. And though I've chased the Heart for so very long...I think it's your privilege to put an end to the Heart, Eddie. If you want it."

"I want it," I said, and I drew Oath Breaker from my belt and turned to face the Heart.

"You can't do this!" it screamed. "I made you what you are! I made your family powerful! I put you in charge of this stupid little world! You don't dare hurt me! I'm your G.o.d!"

"Bad G.o.d," I said.

I raised Oath Breaker over my head and brought it smashing down on the huge diamond. The ancient weapon took on its simple brutal aspect and undid all the forces that bound the other-dimensional being together. The Heart screamed shrilly, its light flaring in great staccato pulses, and then the ma.s.sive diamond exploded soundlessly. It shattered into millions of lifeless fragments, falling to the floor like sand until nothing was left of the Heart. There hadn't been much to it, after all. The Heart was hollow all along.

And with the Heart finally destroyed, all the souls that had been trapped within it for so long were finally set free. They manifested briefly on the still air of the Sanct.i.ty, one after another, flashing on and off, countless shimmering forms exploding like so many soundless fireworks in one last display of joy at their freedom before finally pa.s.sing on to whatever comes next. Molly cried out in delight, clapping her hands together.

And at the very end, one small soul came to me. My twin. My brother. He hung on the air before me, just a baby, only a few days old, and then he expanded suddenly into adult form, my size, my age. He looked...like the face I see in the mirror every day, only without all the lines driven into it by pain, and loss, and duty. My brother considered me for a long moment, and then he smiled at me, and winked, and was gone.

And that was that.

Epilogue.

W ith the Heart gone, the Sanct.i.ty didn't feel like the Sanct.i.ty anymore. It felt like the quiet after the explosion, the calm after the storm, the incredible peace of waking up and knowing that the nightmare is finally over. The Sanct.i.ty was just an empty room now, wide and echoing, with a layer of sand on the floor. The dragon was dead, but I didn't feel like a dragonslayer.

"How do you feel, Eddie?" said Molly.

"Pretty good," I said. "The pain is gone, the weakness is gone, and I'm back to normal again."

"No, Eddie," she said gently. "How do you feel?"

"I don't know," I said. "Numb. Lost...I used to know what I was, what my life was all about. Then that was taken away from me. I used to have a family, and that's gone too. All gone..."

"You still have me," said Molly.

"Do I?"

She put her hands on my shoulders, pulled me in close, and kissed me. "Try to get rid of me, idiot."

"So," I said after a while. "The Heart's dead. What do we do now?"

"You mean for an encore?" said Molly. "Haven't you done enough?"

The door behind us swung open, and we both spun around, ready to defend ourselves, but it was just the Armourer and the ghost of old Jacob. Molly and I relaxed a little as they came over to join us. The Armourer's face was still half buried under dried blood, but he looked a lot steadier on his feet. Jacob had resumed his grumpy old ghost form, with garish Hawaiian shorts and a grubby T-shirt bearing the legend Dead Men Don't Eat Quiche.

"Eddie, my boy," said the Armourer. "Are you okay? We heard all kinds of noises from in here, but we couldn't get in till now. Not even Casper the Unfriendly Ghost here. And what the h.e.l.l happened to the Heart?"

"Look down," I said. "You're standing in what's left of it."

He looked down, winced, and then shook his head. "So that's what Oath Breaker does. I always wondered."

"Here," I said, handing the ironwood staff back to him. "The sooner this is back in the Armageddon Codex, the safer we'll all be. Molly, give him Torc Cutter."

"Oh poo," said Molly, pouting. "I was hoping to keep it as a souvenir."

The Armourer gave her one of his hard looks, and she handed the shears over without another word.

"So," I said, "that's it, at last. All over. Someone lead me to a comfortable chair and place a nice cup of tea in my hand. It's been a busy few days...but at least it's finished now."

"You have got to be joking," the Armourer said sternly. "After all the damage you've done here, you think you can just sit back and take it easy? You've done more in one evening to bring the Drood family to its knees than centuries of enemy action. It's up to you to save the family, Eddie. I didn't bring you up to leave a job half done. You brought the family down; only you can raise it up again."

"To h.e.l.l with that!" Molly said sharply. "This is what I lived for: to see the high and mighty Droods humbled and forced to their knees, made to live down here in the dirt with the rest of us. Don't listen to him, Eddie. You've taken the Droods' foot off the neck of everyone in the world. We're free at last!"

"Free?" I said, reluctantly. "No, Molly. It's not that simple, and it never was. Truman's Manifest Destiny is still out there, remember? Free from Drood influence and control and still determined to wipe out everything that doesn't fit their narrow definition of normal and human. Who's going to stop them, if not the family? And then there are all the other dark forces only kept in check by fear of what the family would do if they ever got out of hand. There has to be another power in place to stop the forces of darkness from overrunning the world. But if there has to be a Drood family, it's going to be a new kind of family."

"Now you're talking," said Jacob. "Always knew you were destined for great things, Eddie. Even if I couldn't remember why."

I considered him thoughtfully. "You just remembered you were only hanging about here in order to help me destroy the Heart...So, and don't take this the wrong way, but...why are you still here?"

He gave me his usual shifty grin and shrugged vaguely. Little bubbles of blue-gray ectoplasm jumped up from his shoulders before slowly settling back into him again. "Guess I've just got used to hanging around here. And besides, I really am curious to see what's going to happen next. I haven't had so much fun since the Great Gender Swap of 1741. We never did find out who was behind that..."

"I don't see Alexandra or Matthew," I said carefully. "What have you done with them, Jacob?"

He met my gaze easily, and just for a moment something of his old terrifying self surfaced in his gaze. "They won't be coming back. Ever."

"Don't ask," the Armourer said stiffly. "Trust me, you really don't want to know."

"Poor Alex," I said, and I meant it.

"Just what was this Alex person to you, anyway?" said Molly.

"It was more...what she might have been," I said. "If things had gone differently."

"Oh..." said Molly. "Yeah. I've had lots of relationships like that."

I looked at her for a moment. "I won't ask," I said finally.

"Best not to," she agreed.

And then, finally, I looked at the Armourer, my uncle Jack, and said the one thing I'd been putting off, the one thing I knew I'd have to say the moment I saw him coming through the door. "I'm sorry, Uncle Jack. I'm really sorry, but...Uncle James is dead."

"I know," said the Armourer. "You couldn't have done anything else, Eddie. James wouldn't have given you any other choice. For him, the family always came first. And he never could say no to Mother."

"He was supposed to kill me on the motorway," I said. "But he let me go. Gave me a chance...made all this possible."

"Good for him," said the Armourer. "Maybe he was growing up, at last. So, the Gray Fox is dead...Good bartenders and bad women will be weeping bitter tears in bars all around the world once word gets out."

There was no point in telling him that Molly had actually killed my uncle James. The family was going to have enough problems accepting her as it was.

Jacob fixed me with a firm look. "You have to address the family, Eddie. Here, now! Explain to them what's been going on. They need to know the truth. I'll summon them here, and you can tell them what needs to be done to put the family back together again."

"What?" I said. "I don't know what to tell them!"

"You'll think of something," said the Armourer. "You have to take charge, Eddie. Push change through before the old guard take control again."

"Wait just a minute!" I said quickly. "I never even wanted to be a regular part of the family, let alone tell them how to run things! I ran away from this family the first chance I got, remember?"

"Well, you can't run away this time," said the Armourer. "Not after all the trouble you've caused. You've smashed our defences, wrecked the Hall, demoralised the family fighters, destroyed the Heart, and taken away everyone's torcs! You have a duty to undo the damage you've done."

"But-" I said.

"Only you can tell them the truth," said Jacob.

"It's what your uncle James would have wanted," the Armourer said solemnly.

I glared at him. "I never knew you were so proficient at emotional blackmail."

He grinned. "Runs in the family."

And then we all winced and shuddered as Jacob took on his deathly aspect again. His spectral presence filled the chamber, cold and distant and only remotely human, powerful beyond imagination now that he was no longer bound by life's limitations. His voice spread out through all of the Hall, ordering every member of the family to attend the Sanct.i.ty. Right now, no omissions, no excuses. I caught only the edges of the ghostly summons, and that was still enough to make me sway on my feet. The sheer power in Jacob's voice was like nothing in this world. No one in the family would dare disobey.

And soon enough they came streaming through the great double doors and into the huge empty chamber of the Sanct.i.ty in ones and twos, and then in groups, and finally in crowds until there was a steady flow of bewildered Droods pressing in through the two doorways. Many of them were still wide-eyed with shock from the sudden loss of their torcs. For the first time in their lives they felt utterly defenceless and vulnerable, and they were desperate for answers and rea.s.surances. They came in gabbling and shouting, only to subside instantly into murmurs and mutterings once they saw who was waiting for them. The family rogue, the family ghost, the bloodied Armourer, and the infamous Molly Metcalf. Whatever answers were coming, they clearly weren't going to be very rea.s.suring. Still they kept streaming into the Sanct.i.ty, house Droods and security Droods, researchers and planners and house staff, and every other member of the family. Right down to some extremely wide-eyed children, the smallest carried in their parents' arms. The Sanct.i.ty filled up from wall to wall with Droods pressed shoulder to shoulder, while more peered in through the doorways.

"Make a start," the Armourer said to me. "Before people start getting crushed in the pack."

I looked at Molly, and she conjured up an invisible platform for the four of us to stand on, and then raised it several feet into the air, so everyone could see and hear me.

"It helps that they have to look up to us," she muttered in my ear.

"Gives us the psychological edge. Now go on; promise them bread and circuses, or something."

"Speaking of edges," said the Armourer just a little testily. "Could you perhaps put a little colour into the edges of this d.a.m.ned platform so some of us can see where the b.l.o.o.d.y things are? It's a long way to fall, and some of us are feeling a bit fragile just at the moment."

The edges of the platform glared suddenly silver. They were a lot closer than I'd realised.

The chamber was now packed to bursting, with more faces peering in through the open doors. The muttering kept threatening to break out into something more, but didn't, because any time someone started to raise their voice they found Jacob glaring at them, and then they got all tongue-tied and went right off the idea. The crowd went completely silent as the Matriarch finally arrived, pushing her way through the crowd. Everyone made as much room for her as they could to let her pa.s.s. She reached the front of the crowd and glared up at me on my platform. Instead of Alistair at her side stood the Sarjeant-at-Arms. His face was bruised and swollen, but his gaze was as cold and direct as ever. I nodded to the Matriarch.

"h.e.l.lo, Grandmother. How's Alistair?"

"Alive. Barely. He's in the infirmary. They're trying to save his face."

"He surprised me," I said, aware everyone in the Sanct.i.ty was hanging on our every word. "He was a good man, and true, at the end."

"I've always known that," said the Matriarch. "He served the family. Not like you. What have you done to us, Edwin? Where are our torcs? Where is the Heart?"

"That's what you're all here for," I said. "To hear the truth at last." I looked out over the crowd, at all the confused, frightened, desperate faces. "You're here to learn the truth about everything that's happened. Everything that's been hidden from you down all the centuries of this family's existence. The secrets only a Drood can tell you."

"We know you," said a female voice from deep in the crowd. "But what's the infamous Molly Metcalf doing up there with you?"

There was a general murmur of agreement, quickly cut off as Molly snapped her fingers and the woman in the crowd squeaked loudly as all her clothes suddenly disappeared. Molly smiled sweetly upon the crowd.

"Any more questions? I just love answering questions from the crowd."

And while the crowd was quiet, I told them everything.

I explained to them what the Heart really was and the true nature of the bargain that had given us all our torcs. There were shocked cries and gasps, but no one challenged me. I told them how the bargain had to be confirmed by every new Matriarch, and every eye in the chamber went to Martha Drood. She ignored them all, glaring coldly up at me. I explained how I'd destroyed the Heart, and why they hadn't all died when their torcs disappeared. And then I told them the final awful secret of the Droods, known only to the inner circle. That we were not the secret defenders of humanity, but their secret rulers.

I think there would have been a riot then, as various factions in the family shouted and pushed at each other, but Jacob rose suddenly up into the air and took on his spectral aspect again. The temperature in the Sanct.i.ty plummeted, and we all shuddered, and not just from the cold. Death was in the chamber and looking right at us. Jacob glared about him with no longer human eyes, and everyone went very quiet and very still, not wanting to draw his attention. Jacob sank slowly back onto the platform and resumed his usual form.

From the silence, one voice rose. The Matriarch cursed me, naming me traitor to the family, calling me a fool and a liar and an enemy of everything the Droods stood for. She said I was no grandson of hers and called on every Drood present to rise up and drag me down and kill me. Her voice rose and rose, shrill with fury and hysteria, spittle flying from her mouth, until suddenly the Sarjeant-at-Arms dropped a hand on her shoulder and gave her a good shake. Her voice cut off abruptly, and she looked at him, shocked. The Sarjeant let go of her and turned his back on her to address the crowd.

"You all know me," he said, and his familiar harsh voice held everyone's attention. "You all know what I stand for. And I tell you, Edwin has earned the right to be heard. He's the truest son this family ever had. Go on, boy. Tell them what they need to know."

"Thanks," I said. "I still hate your guts, mind."

"Goes with the job," he said, entirely unconcerned. "Get on with it."

So I told them the rest: how I'd been falsely outlawed by the Zero Tolerance faction who were secretly running Manifest Destiny. That really put the cat among the pigeons. They all knew about Truman and what his people stood for.

"We've been lied to," I said finally, tiredly. "We're not who we thought we were. We aren't the good guys, and haven't been for centuries. But we can be; we can be what we were meant to be. If you're prepared to fight for it."

The men and women before me didn't look much like fighters at the moment. Most of them looked pretty sh.e.l.l-shocked, as though someone had just punched them all in the gut, after hearing so many unpleasant and unsuspected truths one after the other. They looked at each other uncertainly, and then back at me, until finally a voice at the back of the crowd said: "What do you want us to do?"

"I want us to do what we were born to do! I want us to be what we were always supposed to be: shamans to the tribe, protecting people from all the evil forces that threaten them! Only now the tribe is humanity, and we have to be warriors of the world, fighting the good fight; not for ourselves, but just because it's the right thing to do! We have to earn the right to be proud to be Droods again!"

"But...how can we fight, without our torcs?" said another voice.

I smiled and let one hand rise to the silver torc at my throat. "The Heart is gone, but fortunately I've found a new sponsor for the family." And I subvocalised, Show them, strange matter.

The new armour flowed over me in a moment, encasing me completely in shining silver. The crowd cried out; some even applauded. A great voice spoke to them then, the strange matter addressing the family through me, its voice full of peace and calm and good fellowship: "Long and long have I pursued the creature you knew as the Heart, across all the many dimensions, to punish it for all its terrible crimes. Now it is gone, I will stay here to help undo the evil it did. I will be your new protector, and there shall be torcs for all."

"How long do you plan on sticking around?" said a practical voice.