James looked up. His blond hair was mussed, and he was breathing unevenly. He looked spent. But his eyes were furious, full of barely repressed emotion.
With those deadly blue eyes, he looked right across the docks at Will.
‘They’re here,’ said James.
‘Go,’ said Justice.
They ran – scrambling over the crates and boundary walls towards the street. Justice ran swiftly, and Violet kept up with him, sure-footed, sailing over the detritus of the shipyards. Will struggled to match them.
His last glimpse of James had been to see him sharply giving orders to the three men with the disturbing pale faces, who had mounted smoothly, their dark horses wheeling and turning in Will’s direction.
Now he could hear hoofbeats, and when Justice pulled them all out of sight into a doorway for a moment, Will fought to catch his breath.
‘Who are those men?’ said Will, chilled by their too-pale faces and sunken, unblinking eyes. ‘They’re dressed like Stewards.’
‘Those are no Stewards,’ said Justice grimly. ‘They’re Simon’s creatures … He calls them the Remnants. Each of them wears a piece from an ancient suit of armour, once worn by a member of the Dark King’s Inner Guard. Simon excavated the armour near a ruined tower in the Umbrian mountains, at a small village called Scheggino.’ Justice kept his voice low. ‘The Remnants used to be men. The armour changes them. Do not let them touch you.’
Will shivered, thinking of that ancient guard, rotted away underground until all that was left was a few fragments of his armour. He didn’t want to think about that armour being worn by someone else, or that remnants of a dark guard might be hunting him.
The hoofbeats were louder. The moon passed behind a cloud, and they used the cover to run across the open street, towards the mouth of another, smaller and narrower. But there was no way to outrun a mounted guard. Will scoured the street for a place that a horse couldn’t follow, a doorway or an opening that would not also be a dead end, a trap—
‘Here!’ called Justice, using the hilt of his sword to break open the lock of a small loading yard. Inside was an old hauling cart, its owner gone for the night. But the cart remained, with its workhorse still in partharness. Justice strode inside.
‘Can you ride?’
Piling into the yard, Violet and Will looked at its single, shabby inhabitant, neck lowered past bony shoulders, hooves splayed.
‘An old cart horse?’ said Violet, with disbelief.
Justice put a hand on the horse’s neck. He was a poorly kept gelding, his black coat shoddy, his mane muddy and clumped. ‘He is a cart horse, but his breed traces its line past the Middle Ages. His ancestors were warhorses. He has heart, and he will run.’
And indeed, there was something in the tone of Justice’s voice that seemed to stir the horse. When Justice touched him, the horse lifted his head.
Will looked at Justice and Violet. Justice was offering him the horse because he believed Will was somehow important, and that he would make better time on horseback than on foot.
He also knew that Violet and Justice could get away if Will rode out on horseback, drawing the Remnants away from them.
The Remnants would chase him. Simon’s men always chased him. They’d ignore Violet and Justice and come right for him. He thought, an old cart horse, against the three fresh glossy steeds he’d seen wheeling on the riverbank.
‘I can ride,’ said Will.
Uncoupling the horse from the cart shafts, Justice looked up, his hands on the buckles. ‘We’ll split up and meet at the Hall. The three of us.’
Will nodded as Justice led the horse out by its bridle.
‘You’ll need to cross the Lea,’ said Justice. ‘It’s three, maybe four miles from here – at least half of that through open countryside. After that, it’s the Abbey Marsh, treacherous going for horses. The abbey was torn down a hundred years ago, but the gate still stands. Make for the gate.’
The gate, thought Will, fixing the idea of it in his mind.
Justice used the top three inches of his sword to cut through the longer driving reins of the cart’s bridle, then tied them off, shortening them enough for makeshift riding reins. As he did, Violet touched Will on the arm, drawing him away to one side.
‘I know you’re only agreeing to ride alone to keep them from coming after us,’ said Violet.
Will looked quickly at Justice to make sure he hadn’t heard. ‘They’ll follow me no matter what I do.’
‘I know that, I just—’ She broke off.