There were snorting, coughing sounds, and we both looked around. The gryphons had tracked us down at last, and ambled over to check out the newcomers with a good sniffing. Harry tolerated it in a resigned sort of way, and then the gryphons turned to Roger. They didn’t like his smell at all, and growled at him in deep, rumbling voices. One actually snapped at him, and Roger kicked it in the ribs, sending it flying a dozen feet away. I moved quickly to stand between him and the gryphons.

“Don’t,” I said.

“Or?” he said.

It was a blatant challenge, and one I had to meet if I were to have any authority at the Hall. I subvocalised the Words and armoured up in a moment, the silver strange matter flowing over me like a second skin. I made a silver fist, and held it up before Roger’s face. And as he watched, I grew thick silver spikes out of the knuckles. Roger surged forward inhumanly quickly, his fingers like claws, his impossibly wide smile full of teeth like a shark’s. I stood my ground and punched him in the face with all my armoured strength behind it. The blow stopped him dead in his tracks, the sheer force of the impact slamming his head back so hard it would have broken an ordinary man’s neck. Roger staggered backwards, and then quickly recovered his balance. He shook his head slowly and put a hand up to his face. His nose was broken, though no blood flowed. Roger gripped the broken nose with his left hand and snapped it back into place with a painful-sounding click. I winced at the sound, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

“Show-off,” Harry said easily to Roger. “Now behave yourself. I guaranteed your behaviour, remember? You want to make me look bad?”

“Of course. I’m sorry, Harry.” Roger smiled briefly at me. “It won’t happen again. No hard feelings, I trust?”

I armoured down and looked at him, and then at Harry. It occurred to me that the two of them might have set this up in advance, just to see what the new armour could do . . . Tricky, underhanded, and just a little paranoid. They were Droods, after all.

“Let’s go back to the Hall,” said the Armourer. “It’s getting cold out here.”

CHAPTER FOUR - Sons and Lovers

CHAPTER FOUR

Sons and Lovers

"It’s good to have you home again, Harry,” said the Armourer. “And your . . . friend. Come with me and I’ll find you someplace to stay. Don’t quite know where I’m going to put you, though. The Hall is so crowded these days you couldn’t swing a cat without taking someone’s eye out.”

"We could always put them in the dungeons,” I said.