“The really worrying thing,” said William, “is that there exists a small but definite possibility that some, perhaps even all, of those who survived the battle of the Nazca Plain could themselves have been infected. And are now becoming traitors within the family. They might not even know themselves; they could have been made to forget. The Drood armour should have been protection enough, but we don’t have enough data yet to know if the new silver torcs are as powerful as the old gold ones.”

Harry frowned. “Shouldn’t we be able to see the infection in a person, using our Sight, or through our masks?”

“We should,” said William. “But the records say no. It would seem the infecting presence is just too . . . other.”

I looked at the Armourer. “We need a test, some way to find out the truth. Something that can detect an infected person. We have to be sure of who’s who. And what’s what.”

“I’ll get right on it,” said the Armourer.

“We need a test that can be applied to the whole family,” said Harry. “We need to know who we can trust.”

“Couldn’t agree more, Harry,” I said, looking straight at him. “Anything else, William?”

“The next logical step for the Loathly Ones has to be a full summoning, ” William said heavily. “Once enough of the structures have been completed, they will attempt to bring the Hungry Gods through into our world. To consume everything that lives. I think we can assume that our destruction of the tower on the Nazca Plain has shown them the dangers of trying to do this with just the one, isolated structure, so that should buy us some time. But how much . . .”

“Ready for some more bad news?” said Callan. “Intelligence seems pretty sure, thanks to some intercepted communications, that to get this far the Loathly Ones made use of a judas goat. They made a deal with Truman, and his Manifest Destiny organisation: for money, technical supplies, concealment, and so on. Apparently Truman believes he can use the Invaders to take control of our world, and then force them out again. The idiot actually thinks he’s using them . . .”

“Shows how desperate he is,” I said. “Well . . . we wanted a big battle, to show off our renewed strength and power to the world, and now we’re facing the biggest fight of our lives, with the whole world watching and the whole world at stake. Be careful what you wish for . . . All right. That’s it. Everyone in the family gets a new silver torc. As soon as possible, no exceptions. I’ve already talked with Strange, and he doesn’t see any problems. He’s just waiting to be asked. If this family is going to war, I want us all in armour. Because we’re going to need every fighter we can muster. Sarjeant-at-Arms; you’ll have to take sole charge of the training, at least until Janissary Jane shows up again. I have to say; a lot of them looked pretty good, even without armour.”