I didn’t get to say any more as there was a sharp report from the front door as the lock was shot off, and a cry from Sir Matt. There were footfalls on the steps of at least six officers and I heard shouts and cries in the lobby.

‘Sir Matt?’ called Lady Mawgon. ‘Would you come into the Palm Court please?’

Sir Matt stepped in and nodded respectfully to Lady Mawgon.

‘My Lady,’ he said, ‘will you give her to me?’

There was one of those long pauses that seem to go on for ever. I closed my eyes.

‘I have not see the wretched child all afternoon,’ she announced. ‘After you find her, you may send her to me.’

‘Don’t think me untrusting,’ said Sir Matt, and he beckoned his officers to search the Palm Court. He stepped forward and Lady Mawgon placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Sir Matt could not have missed me, but he did – and I breathed a sigh of relief. Lady Mawgon had occluded me from his sight. I could not be seen, so long as I stood perfectly still and made no noise.

‘Nothing in here, sir,’ said an officer, and trotted out to search the rest of the building.

‘She won’t get far,’ replied Grifflon. ‘The whole of the Old Town is sealed off.’

He turned back to Lady Mawgon and lowered his voice.

‘If I find out you’ve hidden her, I will return – and my revenge will be frightful.’

She gave him one of her most imperious looks, and Sir Matt called off the search since the wizards, ever worried about thieves, had left frighteners in their rooms, and even the burliest officers were quaking with fear at what they had seen. Within five minutes they had gone, and Lady Mawgon took her hand off my shoulder.

‘There is a Big Magic to be completed,’ she said in a quiet voice and without looking me in the eye, ‘and it behoves me to set our differences aside. Get a good night’s sleep. I will watch over you.’

‘Lady M—’

‘It is my duty,’ she said, ‘nothing more.’

I said nothing, and went to find Tiger.

Escape from Zambini Towers

Escape from Zambini Towers

Lady Mawgon was true to her word. She sat up all night in the lobby, and whenever any of Grifflon’s men came in to look for me, she gave them such a devastatingly withering look that they scurried out again, tail between legs. Tiger and I talked deep into the night down in the kitchens. At 1 a.m. a thump in the laundry room made us nervous until we found that it was the Quarkbeast, who had managed to sneak back into Zambini Towers by way of the laundry chute without being noticed.