I stood alone, surrounded by vermin. Hopefully the others would meet Lieutenant Bain in the smaller chamber and dispose of their undead guard. I tried to remember how many soldiers had emerged from the back of our single truck. Fifteen, perhaps? Not enough to turn this tide, my mind whispered.
Fifteen men had to be enough, because there was no alternative with the rest stationed at the big house. The men could send Alice toward safety and the outside world before they launched an attack on Elizabeth. All I had to do was stay alive until then. Death would not claim me today. I had things left unsaid to Seth, and things not yet done, that I wanted to grab with both hands.
Animated corpses drew closer to me and I shied away. I could use my time pretending I was dicing vegetables in the kitchen, or try and draw more information from Elizabeth. The creatures herded me toward the altar, where they flowed around the pile of stones to surround their queen. They left me standing before Elizabeth and then stepped back.
"Kneel," she said.
My back stiffened and a sharp refusal surged to the tip of my tongue, but I bit it down. We still played our game, and I needed a convincing bluff so she didn't know about the trump card I held. She had to believe herself victorious so she would lord it over me. If I started fighting her, it would distract her attention. As much as it pained me to do it, I knelt.
Sharp rocks dug into knees as I wondered what she would do next. As I waited, my attention wandered to her vermin footstool, unmoving as it crouched on its elbows and knees. It looked fleshier than the others, but I guess one with exposed vertebra wouldn't have been very comfortable on her delicate ankles. Was it a coveted job to be her footstool? Did vermin fight over who got to prostrate themselves at her feet, or did they roll what was left of their eyes and draw straws (fingers?) for who had to do it?
Elizabeth leaned one elbow on a pile by her side that looked like a stack of books being used as an armrest. "Well, isn't this like old times. Louise and I sitting in the parlour while little Eleanor scrubs at our feet."
The old days were gone, and I had removed her taint from our parlour. Elizabeth's words no longer held any power over me, but she hadn't realised it, even after all that had happened. My gaze drifted to the footstool again. Perhaps she intended for me to replace it. I patted my jacket, hoping for a spare grenade and wishing Seth handed me more than one. Blast.
Louise circled behind me, prowling. I half expected her to snap at my ankles like a rabid dog. She was a scavenger, never brave enough to attack herself but waiting for a weakened victim that she could terrorise. I knew how the two of them worked. Elizabeth would throw the direct hits, and Louise would wait to gloat and bask in my pain after her mother had done the hard work.
"What will you make her do, Mother?" Louise moved in and out of my range of vision. At times, her disembodied voice came from behind me. "Scrub the entire cavern floor? Remove all the thorns from the maze? Polish the glow worms?"
The two of them still didn't understand concepts like loyalty. I would do all those tasks if the people I loved remained safe and far beyond their reach. There was nothing I would not do to stop their evil campaign.
"Perhaps make her watch as I claim Seth for myself? I cannot wait to taste his blood," the whisper came from behind.
That made my head snap up, searching for her. I would gouge out my own eyes before I watched her lips touch him. She laughed, a harsh cackle as her barb hit home.
"There is so much to come, so much that you are ignorant about. So much is beyond your understanding." Elizabeth smiled upon me with a cold gesture that patronised as much as her words.
For one moment, my heart stuttered and my mind froze. A nightmare played over and over in my head. What if Elizabeth issued the vermin an unheard command and they turned on Seth, Frank, and Alice? For all I knew, my friends were at that moment being savaged in the unseen tunnel. How would I continue if the Seth I knew never returned?
In that brief, suspended second, I glimpsed the soul-destroying terror of being at their mercy with no escape, and worse, with no hope. Even the sweet embrace of death would be snatched from me with one bite from a vermin.
A cold shudder restarted my mind and heart, and I drew a shaky breath. I needed to stay away from the dark corners of my mind, they tended to draw me in and reflect back my worst nightmares. Focus, Ella, find out what she knows. Find the missing piece to complete this puzzle.
"If you are so confident of superior numbers, why are you hiding under the Leithfield estate? Why not take your army, march on London, and declare yourself England's true queen?" The words leapt over my lips before I could consider them. I really need to learn to shut up and stop giving her ideas.
The first true signs of life flared in Elizabeth's gaze. Obsidian sparkled as her eyes widened. Then she smiled, the indulgent look of a mother about to explain something to a particularly slow child. To me for once, and not Louise. "A good general always tests his opponent before revealing the full extent of his army. Small sorties allow you to take the measure of resistance and adapt your strategy."
She was stretching her wings, like a chick about to leave the nest. We had found her just in time, before she unleashed her terror upon Somerset. I glanced around and wished for more lanterns, or stands of tree trunks to set alight. I wondered at the size of her army.
At the first small catacomb, the tunnel had split in two. The other branch might lead to another cavern as big as this which held even more vermin, waiting for the order to march. How far did the network of tunnels and chambers run? And how many Turned were there in England? For all we knew, Somerset could be sitting on a monstrous hive that could flood the countryside.
"If you are such a mighty queen, why waste your time with me? Why don't you just kill me or Turn me?" I spat at Elizabeth.
She laughed and waved her hand. "Where would be the fun in that? Look at my subjects. They love and adore me. Their only purpose in cheating death is to serve me. To Turn you would be to offer you the same bliss, and that would never do."
Her gaze hardened as she narrowed her eyes at me. I wondered if she had ever snuck into the sealed wing of Serenity House and gazed at Millicent. Elizabeth had the look of a woman trying to copy the style of another, but failing. Thinking of the comparison set of all sorts of sparks in my brain.
"You see, Eleanor, I want you to live a very long life. I want you to watch as I take everything from you and I destroy your family. Most importantly, I want to see your little heart break when Seth becomes one of us." She rose as she spoke, kicking her vermin footstool to one side so she could pace before her throne. At times she seemed so human, apart from her black eyes. Why hadn't she Turned into a deformed blob like Mrs Linton? I wondered if that process took longer than a few weeks or if there was something particular about Elizabeth that allowed her to retain her physical form.
I hated this woman when she was alive, and I hated her even more undead. But how could one hurt a thing with no soul? I suspected even her love for Louise was shallow, and if challenged, she would abandon her daughter to a gruesome fate. There must be some chink in her mental armour; I had only to find it.
Then it hit me and I raised my gaze. "You'll never be like her, no matter how much you try."
The pacing stopped. She spun on her heel, and black velvet swirled behind her as she bore down on me. "What?"
I kept my silence, waiting for her mind to make the jump. She knew, but I wondered at her source of information. Elizabeth never showed much interest in local history that I could recollect, but someone had to have whispered in her ear about a long-dead witch.
"I really have no idea who you are talking about." Elizabeth's hand ran down the velvet over her thigh. Her fingers picked at a line of black embroidery.
There was one defect in her character I could poke at with a stick—vanity. I chuckled out loud. Nothing infuriated her more than my defiance and refusal to be cowed. "I'm referring to Millicent deMage. Even in her portrait one senses her regal, commanding air, which you are entirely lacking. But then as you say, breeding always shows, and she was a highly born noblewoman even before she became a duchess."
Elizabeth may have been undead, but I’d just given her an eye twitch. She narrowed her gaze and leaned forward as though she were about to pounce and wrap her hands around my throat. Her hand curled into a fist and struck at air like a cobra feinting to test its opponent.
Then she laughed. "Millicent is long dead. Why on Earth would I care to look like a centuries-old corpse? I was merely curious about the history of Serenity House. It might make a suitable summer home for my court."
Oh, she cared. I had been born and raised in this corner of Somerset, and my haunted house tour had been the first time I heard of Millicent. The first duchess was a very well-buried part of the deMage family history. Which raised the question—just how did Elizabeth learn of the woman who’d had a pet raven? Had step-mother been alive or Turned when she first heard the name of Millicent? I imagined some sort of hive archive, where vermin librarians kept the collective knowledge of all creepy and demonic things.
What really bothered me about all this was the thought that Elizabeth might not be my biggest problem. She might be a queen, but what if there was an empress?
Louise's dark trousers and red coat came into view beside me, and then she kicked out. Her boot connected with my stomach as I knelt. I gasped and doubled over. My hands hit the hard ground as I dropped to all fours. That was Louise, always kicking me while I was down.
"You always were a sore loser, Louise. How does it feel to know Seth picked me over you? He asked me to marry him, after you left." She was going to kick me again anyway, so at least I managed to land one punch.
"Liar! He was always meant to be mine." She spat on me and hissed like a viper rather than a vermin.
"Put her in the cage," Elizabeth's voice rang out and ended Louise's fun.
Vermin appeared, dragging a shape in their midst. Metal scraped over rock and emitted a high-pitched squeal as they approached. Behind them they dragged a large cage, like one might use as a dog run.
"Been busy looting the countryside, I see." I desperately hoped Seth and the others were not far away.
"I'm only thinking of your safety, Eleanor. Wouldn't do if one of my servants nicked your skin and offered you escape." Elizabeth strode back to her throne and swept her skirts to one side as she sat.
The cage stopped before me and the door swung open.
"In you go, puppy," Louise said. Then she frowned. "No, not puppy. Dog. From now on, you will be known as dog."
One day, I promised myself, I would see Louise similarly confined to a cage. And if the game unfolded the way I intended, that day was close at hand.