Eighth Circle

The queen stood on the palace steps with Balduur by her side. They were flanked by palace trolls dressed in the green-and-gold uniforms of the royal family. There was not a touch of blue in sight.

The first of the Plaid Koerno fighters had arrived in captured pods. They halted at the foot of the steps and started to argue over what to do next. Liala waited anxiously. She wished Allain was with them. But Allain was dead and the resistance leaders couldn't agree on who should be the next commander.

The display of deadly weapons was terrifying. She pushed her way to the fore, determined to act before some idiot let fly with a ray gun. Balduur came hurrying down the steps towards her.

'Liala. We are so pleased to see you.'

He looked rather splendid in his green gown and smelt of musk. The resistance fighters stopped arguing and watched as he took her hand and escorted her up the steps.

Her mother ran forward and kissed her.

'My dear daughter.'

Liala had never received such a show of affection before.

'Mother. What is happening?'

'The immortals are dead or dying. The professor has gone into the Forbidden Zone and he's killing them. The rest of the guardians are getting ready to flee to another realm. Big Brain has shut down and nothing is working anymore.'

'You are saying that the professor really is the Lord of Light?'

Mother's demeanour suddenly changed.

'Certainly not! My dearly espoused is the Lord of Light.'

'You mean Balduur?'

'Of course.'

'How did you meet him, Mother?'

'The chancellor introduced us. He explained that my dear Balduur had come to save us, as the prophecies foretold. The man you call the professor is his faithful servant. His other name is Thomas.'

Liala's mind went into a spin. The chancellor had staged a coup. There could be no other explanation. He had got Balduur and the professor to bump off rival guardians and intended to rule as a dictator. What came next convinced her. Mother produced a microphone and started to read a prepared speech.

'My dearly espoused and I are delighted by the magnificent victory of the heroic fighters of Plaid Koerno in the patriotic struggle against the tyrannical rule of the self-styled guardians of the realm. This day will go down in history ...'

It was the sort of slush the chancellor wrote. Liala could almost hear him. Worse still, the Plaid Koerno fighters were lapping it up. They were standing at the foot of the steps with their mouths hanging open. That was pathetic. Nothing had changed. One bunch of guardians had slaughtered another and intended to rule through the royal family, just as before.