Strata

magic table, or even of the dumbwaiter. But she couldn’t have eaten a meal with Silver watching her sorrowfully, knowing that inside two days the shand would turn despite herself into a ravening, ravenous animal.
    ‘Marco? Silver?’ she whispered.
    At the fifth attempt Marco answered.
    ‘Kin! Where are you?’
    ‘I’m up in – is there anyone with you?’
    ‘We’re in a zoo! You wouldn’t believe it! You must get us out!’
    ‘I’m in some sort of museum attic,’ she said. ‘I’ll have to wait until it’s dark. Where are you exactly?’
    ‘I assume we’re somewhere in the palace grounds. You must work quickly.
Silver and I are in the same cage
.’
    ‘What’s she doing now?’
    ‘Moping.’
    ‘Oh-oh.’
    ‘What?’
    Kin sighed. ‘I’ll do my best,’ she said. She padded over to a window and peered out. Someone was shouting in the distance, but the roof lay hot and empty below her. There was, she noticed, a black speck wheeling in the sky. One of the Eyes of God, whoever He was.
    Most of the swords she could hardly lift with both hands, so they were out.
    ‘Let’s face it,’ she told herself, ‘how are you going to make the big heroic rescue in any case?’
    ‘On the other hand,’ she answered, ‘it’ll be expected of you. The races of the galaxy look towards mankind as the essential lunatic element.’
    She stepped backwards, and knocked against the table. The jug on it fell over, and spilled vinegar-smelling wine across the table and on to the floor in a thin stream. Kin watched it for a while, then carefully set the jug upright.
    It swished.
    Looking inside, she saw dark liquid rising. She waited until the jug was brim full of swirling redness then grabbed the handle, sloshed the liquid across the room and brought the base of the jug down hard against the tabletop.
    There was a sizzle and a brief smell of ozone. Bits of circuit laminate bounced on the floor.
    ‘Fine,’ she said softly, ‘that’s just fine. So long as it wasn’t the fairies that were doing it.’ On the other hand, the Company didn’t believe in matter transmission either. But it might have been, say, a tiny single-function dumbwaiter in the base of the jug, sucking up molecules from the ambient air. She decided she’d believe anything but magic.
    Someone moved, down at the base of the staircase.
    There was nowhere to hide. Correction – the tower room was bursting with hiding places, but none of them promised to be permanent. Kin grabbed a sword from a pile nearby and considered hacking at the first head to appear on the stairs.
    No good. She looked up at a small trapdoor in the ceiling, and decided it would be easier to defend. If it led on to the roof, perhaps the raven would see her – as if that would do any good. Anyway, she could then slice at fingers.
    She walked over to the horse statue and hoisted herself into a stirrup, then stood ontiptoe in the saddle to fumble with the trap door.
    The horse whirred. Kin swayed, landed sitting in the saddle but with enough force to knock the breath out of her. Then she couldn’t move her legs. She looked down in panic. Padded clamps had extruded from the horse’s flanks and were gripping her gently but firmly.
    The neck in front of her came up. The head swivelled 180 degrees and the horse looked at Kin with bright insectile eyes.
    ‘ YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND ,’ it said inside Kin’s head.
    ‘Hell!’
    ‘ THOSE ARE NOT MEANINGFUL CO-ORDINATES .’
    ‘Are you a robot?’
    She felt a click and whirr of gears underneath her.
    ‘ I AM THE FABULOUS MECHANICAL HORSE OF AHMED, PRINCE OF TREBISOND .’
    Kin heard scurrying footsteps on the stairs.
    ‘Get me out of here!’ she hissed.
    ‘ PLEASE HOLD ON TO THE REINS. PLEASE LOWER THE HEAD. IN CASE OF MALAISE OF THE AIR, PLEASE USE THE RECEPTACLE PROVIDED .’
    There was a
thud
inside the animal, and the noise of heavy wheels tumbling into motion. The horse took off. As they glided smoothly through the window Kin flung herself forward to avoid the edge of the wall. And then the horse was free and moving, legs galloping on the air as it soared into the copper sky.
    Kin looked at the sword in her hand. It was night-black and unnaturally light, but it would do. It would be surprising if Abu had learned how to use the lift belts yet, so possibly his only other aircraft was the carpet.
    If it came to an aerial flight, she’d prefer to be on the horse.
    ‘ YOUR FURTHER WISH IS MY COMMAND .’
    ‘You can start by