Ptolemy's Gate

through it for you, shall I? Firstly—in the last twenty-four hours there have been a number of serious riots in London. The commoners have caused much damage. There has been fighting and some casualties. Even now there is disorder on the streets. This morning Devereaux declared a state of emergency. Troops have blockaded Whitehall. The machinery of Empire has been seriously disrupted."
    "Sounds like a bad day at the office for you," I said. "But nothing to do with me."
    He coughed. "A certain frog," he said, "began it all two nights ago by causing chaos in St. James's Park. Thanks to his actions, a dangerous djinni was set loose among the crowd. It was this incident that triggered the riots."
    The lioness uttered a roar of protest. "That was hardly my fault! I was trying to carry out your orders in a thoroughly weakened state. I succeeded in difficult circumstances. Stop— don't laugh like that. It's creepy."
    The youth had thrown his head back and uttered a hollow, barking laugh not dissimilar to a hyena's. "Succeeded?" he cried. "Is that what you call it? Nearly expiring at my feet, unable to give me one word of the report I'd asked for, making me look a fool in public? If that's success, give me failure any time."
    " I made a fool of you ?" The lioness could barely contain her mirth. "Get real.You don't need any help on that score, chum. What did I do? Draw attention to your cruelty, perhaps, on account of being nearly dead. What magician keeps a djinni in this world till it's too weak to survive? I'm surprised you didn't finish me off."
    Mandrake's eyes blazed. "They wanted to!" he cried. "They wanted to wrest the information from you and let you die! Fool that I am, I saved you. I let you go.Which left me with no defense against all the destruction you caused. As a result, my career's almost certainly finished. Maybe even my life too. My enemies are gathering. I'm due for trial tomorrow, thanks to you."
    His voice quavered, his eyes were moist; you could practically hear the sound of wistful violins. The warrior lioness stuck out her tongue and made a disrespectful noise. "That could all have been avoided," I said savagely, "if you'd trusted me enough to dismiss me more. I'd have been in better nick then and could have easily avoided Hopkins's demons."
    He looked up quickly. "Ah. So you found Hopkins?"
    "Don't change the subject. I was saying: it's all your fault. You should have had faith in me. But even after all these years, after what I did for you with Lovelace, with Duvall, with the Anarchist and the Oyster—"
    He winced. "Don't mention that last one."
    "—even after all that," I continued remorselessly, "you reverted to type, became a typical magician, treated me like an enemy. I'm a nasty demon, therefore I can't be trusted to—" I broke off." What? Listen, that laugh of yours is really getting to me."
    "But that's just it!" he cried. "You can't be trusted. You do lie to me."
    "Name one occasion."
    His eyes glittered. "Kitty Jones."
    "I don't know what you mean."
    "You told me she was dead. I know she's alive."
    "Ah." My whiskers drooped a tad. "Have you seen her?"
    "No."
    "Then you're mistaken." I rallied as best I could. "She's as dead as they come. I've never seen deader. That golem swallowed her down whole. Gulp! Smack of the lips! Gone. Sad, but still, nothing to be worrying yourself about all these years later. . ." I petered out here. I didn't like the look in his eyes.
    Mandrake nodded slowly. Red swathes of anger competed with white blotches for possession of his face. It was a tie, a fifty/fifty split. "Swallowed whole, was it?" he said. "Funny, I seem to remember you said the golem burned her to a crisp."
    "Oh, did I? Yes, well, he did that too. First. Before the swallowing bit—ouch!"
    Without warning, the magician had raised the spear and jabbed. I was too slow, too weak to react—the spear caught me firmly in my midriff. I gasped in shock, looked down. . . and relaxed again.
    "Wrong end," I said. "That's the blunt bit."
    Mandrake had noticed this too. With a curse of frustration, he hurled the spear away from him, out of the circle. He stood staring at me, breathing hard, attempting to master his emotions. A minute or so passed. His heart rate slowed.
    "Do you know where she is?" I asked.
    He said nothing.
    I spoke quietly. "Leave her alone. She's doing you no harm. And she saved your life, remember—I didn't lie about that."
    He seemed about to speak, then gave his head a little