Nightside 11 - A Hard Days Knight Read Free Page B

thing out?”
    “Almost certainly,” I said. “It’s no good, Suzie; I’m going to need help with this one. Very specialised help and advice. And there’s only one place I can think of that’s a real authority on all things Arthurian. I’m going to have to leave the Nightside and go back out into London Proper. And talk with the London Knights.”
    “You have got to be kidding. Those arrogant, stuck-up, conceited little prigs?”
    “Yes,” I said. “That’s the ones.”
    “You are not going anywhere until we’ve talked this through very thoroughly. You don’t have to leave the Nightside, John. This place is lousy with all kinds of experts, on every subject under the sun, and a whole bunch of other things that can only thrive in permanent darkness. There are people here who know something about everything, everything about something, and ... there has to be somebody here! There has to be.”
    “Not this time,” I said gently. “Excalibur is too ... pure for the Nightside. Pure in purpose and nature. It has to be the London Knights. After all: who has a better claim to Excalibur than the last defenders of Camelot?”
    Suzie sniffed loudly. Her way of saying that while I might have convinced her, there was no way in hell she was going to admit it. And being Suzie, she immediately attacked from another direction.
    “I thought you said you felt a responsibility to take over Walker’s position, here in the Nightside?”
    “I do,” I said. “But that can wait. This ... is bigger. I’m hoping Excalibur has reappeared to prevent a Final Battle rather than start one. But I can’t know for sure, and I won’t know what to do for the best until I’ve talked with the London Knights.”
    Suzie looked at me for a long moment with her cold blue eyes and her cold, expressionless face. She might be easier with me physically these days, but emotions were always going to be difficult for her.
    “You’ve been gone from London Proper for a long time, John. They didn’t treat you at all well, out there in the real world.”
    “No,” I said. “I can’t say I was ever happy there. And there are probably still a lot of really nasty people who would love to have another crack at me. Never mind those I still owe money to. But I was hiding my light under a bushel in those days, pretending to be merely another private investigator. I’m so much more than that now.”
    “Ah well,” said Suzie. “If you’ve got enemies there, that simplifies things. I’ll have to go with you. Hang on while I go gather up my guns and grenades.”
    “You can’t come with me, Suzie.”
    “What? Why not?”
    “Because you can’t walk round London Proper loaded down with guns and grenades like you do here. The police would arrest you on sight. And you know you wouldn’t get on with the London Knights. They’re very ... spiritual.”
    “You mean superior!”
    “Well, yes, that, too. They are knights of the realm.”
    “Stuck-up pricks ...”
    “Suzie, be reasonable ...”
    “I don’t do reasonable! It’s bad for my reputation. You are not going back into London Proper without me! Or try and deal with those aristocratic head-cases on your own. They’ll talk you into things. Probably persuade you to hand Excalibur over to them because it ought to belong to one of their kind!” She scowled fiercely. “Look at what owning the sword has already done to us. You think now you’ve got Excalibur, you don’t need me to guard your back any more.”
    “I’ll always need you, Suzie ...”
    “Don’t you patronise me!”
    “I can’t let you go with me! Not this time.”
    “You mean you don’t want me to.”
    “Of course I want you to!”
    “Then that’s settled,” said Suzie. “I’m going.”
    “No, you’re not,” I said, hanging on to my self-control as best I could. “Look, Suzie, this has to be a diplomatic mission. The London Knights aren’t going to share their most valued secrets with me unless they’re