ed did not see how the Demons and their Darklings fled. How, one by one, Barba’s remaining Daedali raised their white flags. He didn’t see the faces of the fair-folk or their new allies rejoicing. And long after the fires had smouldered their last and King Antlor had reclaimed the forest, he did not see Lucy watching over him with George.
Almost two days later, the very first things Ned Armstrong did see were the faces of his mum and dad.
“Mum, Dad?”
No sooner had he opened his mouth than they pulled him in a human tug-of-war, each of them hugging the arm or shoulder nearest, till the Armstrongs were sitting at the edge of his bed, in quiet, well-earned joy.
“Lucy and George, are they—”
“They’re fine, son. It’s over – it’s over!”
And though he knew his dad was right, that it really was over, he couldn’t hope to truly believe it.
“Are you sure? Please tell me you’re sure.”
He looked up to his mother’s eyes and she smiled. “Barbarossa’s gone, darling, and so has his monster.”
And what had started on a birthday with the scratching of nails at his sitting-room’s patio doors had finally come to an end. But just as he was beginning to believe it, his parents turned quiet.
“Are you two all right?”
“Bene would have loved this,” his dad finally managed.
Ned thought back to the fortress and the look on Benissimo’s face. “Be happy for him – he got what he wanted in the end and he was smiling. I think he was relieved. Barba went willingly. It’ll never make up for what he did, but Bene found peace in it, I’m sure.”
Benissimo had given his life for them all and he had done so asking for nothing in return. Despite Ned’s words and the truth of them, he knew that he had lost one of the greatest and most noble men he would ever meet and that he and the world that the Ringmaster had saved would be poorer without him.
He looked around his once bare quarters in the Nest. Every part of it, from the walls to the desk to its polished concrete floors, was covered in the strangest assortment of objects he’d ever seen. Marble busts, oil paintings and letters. Flowers, pastries, locks of hair and rare silks. The largest pile by far was of actual gold and next to it stood piles and piles of cash in almost every currency.
“What’s been going on?!”
His dad laughed. “You, my boy, are really rather famous. When Fox contacted the jossers, they sent their tanks and troops, but they also sent word to just about every news outlet on the planet. Everyone knows what’s happened, what you and Lucy did, and they’ve been sending gifts from both sides of the Veil for the past twenty-four hours.”
Ned saw a particularly strange object lying on his desk. “Is that what I think it is?”
“The Stag King’s great horn. Apparently if you blow it he’ll come to you, no matter where you are – he and the herd will hear it.”
“They’re actually pretty scary – I think I’ll leave it where it is, thanks.”
“There’s more. We’ve heard from Lemnus. Seems his people have forgiven him for ridding them of the Heart Stone. Turns out they’re grateful too, and want you to visit them in Dublin, which by the way, we absolutely forbid.”
“So the Heart Stone – they don’t want it back?”
“It’s gone, Ned – whatever you did unmade it. No one’s getting it now.”
Ned thought of the dragon in the cave. How desperate and full of anger it had been.
“What about Tiamat?”
“According to Antlor’s herd, the dragon let out a cry when the Heart Stone was destroyed. Whether it was a source of Tiamat’s power or its actual heart, we’ll never know. The dragon is solid rock now, a part of the mountain it lived in.”
Before he could ask what had happened to his parents and the Tinker, or how they beat the Central Intelligence, his door slid open.
“Hello, old bean,” smiled George.
There was a crack by the great ape’s side and Lucy jostled him out of the way.
“Now you look here, young lady, I got to the door first!”
“Button it, monkey. Ned, you are never going to believe what’s happening in Gearnish.”