“No, but seriously, Cudgeon. You’re doing a great job on the form-signing thing.”
Cudgeon’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Thank you, sir.”
A grin tugged at the corner of Foaly’s mouth. “You’re welcome. No need to get a swelled head.”
Cudgeon’s hand flew to his misshapen forehead. Still a touch of the old vanity left.
“Oops. Sore subject. Sorry about that.”
There was a spark in the corner of Cudgeon’s eye. A spark that should have warned Foaly. But he was distracted by a beep from the computer.
“List complete.”
“Excuse me for a moment, Commander. Important business. Computer stuff—you wouldn’t understand it.”
Foaly turned to the plasma screen. The lieutenant would just have to wait for his signature. It was probably just an order for shuttle parts anyway.
The penny dropped. A big penny with a clang louder than a dwarf’s underpants hitting a wall. Shuttle parts. An inside job. Someone with a grudge to settle. A line of sweat filled each groove on Foaly’s forehead. It was so obvious.
He looked at the plasma screen for confirmation of what he already knew. There were only two names. The first, Bom Arbles, could be eliminated immediately. The Retrieval officer had been killed in a core-diving accident. The second name pulsed gently. Lieutenant Briar Cudgeon. Demoted to recycling crew around the time Holly retired that starboard booster. It all fit.
Foaly knew that if he didn’t acknowledge the message in ten seconds, the computer would read the name aloud. He casually punched the delete button.
“You know, Briar,” he croaked. “All those jibes about your head problem. It’s all in fun. My way of being sympathetic. Actually, I have some ointment . . .”
Something cold and metallic pressed against the back of the centaur’s head. Foaly had seen too many action movies not to know what it was.
“Save your ointment, donkey boy,” said Cudgeon’s voice in his ear. “I have a feeling you’ll be developing some head problems of your own.”
The Mayak Chemical Train, Northern Russia
The first thing Artemis felt was a rhythmical knocking, jarring along the length of his spine. I’m at the spa in Blackrock, he thought. Irina is massaging my back. Just what my system needs, especially after all that horseplay on that train . . . The train!
Obviously they were still aboard the Mayak train. The jerking motion was actually the carriage jolting over the track joins. Artemis forced his eyes open, expecting gargantuan doses of stiffness and pain. But instead, he realized, he felt fine. More than fine. Great, in fact. It must be magic. Holly must have healed his various cuts and bruises while he was unconscious.
Nobody else was feeling quite so chipper. Especially Captain Short, who was still unconscious. Root was draping a large coat over his fallen officer.
“Oh, you’re awake, are you?” he said, without so much as a glance at Artemis. “I don’t know how you can sleep at all after what you’ve just done.”
“Done? But I saved you—at least, I helped.”
“You helped, all right, Fowl. You helped yourself to the last of Holly’s magic while she was unconscious.”
Artemis groaned. It must have happened when they fell. Somehow her magic had been diverted.
“I see what must have happened. It was an . . .”
Root raised a warning finger. “Don’t say it. The great Artemis Fowl doesn’t do anything by accident.”
Artemis fought against the train’s motion, climbing to his knees.
“It can’t be anything serious. Just exhaustion, surely.”
And suddenly Root’s face was an inch from his own, his complexion rosy enough to generate heat.
“Nothing serious!” spluttered the commander, barely able to get the words out past his rage. “Nothing serious! She lost her trigger finger! The door cut it clean off. Her career is over. And because of you, Holly barely had enough magic to stop the bleeding. She’s drained of power now. Empty.”
“She lost a finger?” echoed Artemis numbly.
“Not lost, exactly,” said the commander, waving the severed digit. “It poked me in the eye on the way past.” His eye was already beginning to blacken.
“If we go back now, surely your surgeons can graft it on?”
Root shook his head. “If we could go back now. I have a feeling that the situation underground is a lot different than when we left. If the goblins sent a hit team to get us, you can bet something big is going on underground.”
Artemis was shocked. Holly had saved all their lives, and this was how he had repaid her. While it was true that he was not directly to blame for the injury, it had been inflicted while trying to save his father. There was a debt to be paid here.
“How long?” he snapped.
“What?”
“How long ago did it happen?”
“I don’t know. A minute.”
“Then there’s still time.”
The commander sat up. “Time for what?”
“We can still save the finger.”
Root rubbed a welt of fresh scar tissue on his shoulder, a reminder of his trip along the side of the train. “With what? I barely have enough power left for the mesmer.”
Artemis closed his eyes. Concentrating.
“What about the Ritual? There must be a way.”
All the People’s magic came from the earth. In order to top up their powers, they had to periodically complete the Ritual.
“How can we complete the Ritual here?”
Artemis racked his brain. He had committed large sections of the fairy Book to memory in preparation for the previous year’s kidnapping operation.
From the earth thy power flows,
Given through courtesy, so thanks are owed.
Pluck thou the magick seed,
Where full moon, ancient oak, and twisted water meet.
And bury it far from where it was found,
So return your gift into the ground.
He scrambled across the flooring and began patting down Holly’s jumpsuit. Root’s heart nearly shut down there and then.
“In heaven’s name, Mud Boy, what are you doing?”
Artemis didn’t even look up. “Last year, Holly escaped because she had an acorn.”
Through some miracle, the commander managed to restrain himself.
“Five seconds, Fowl. Talk fast.”
“An officer like Holly wouldn’t forget something like that. I’d be willing to bet . . .”
Root sighed. “It’s a good idea, Mud Boy. But the acorns have to be freshly picked. If it hadn’t been for the time stop, that seed mightn’t have worked. You’ve got a couple of days, tops. I know Foaly and Holly put together some proposal for a sealed acorn unit, but the Council rejected it. Heresy apparently.”
It was a long speech for the commander. He wasn’t used to explaining himself. But a part of him was hoping. Maybe, just maybe. Holly had never been averse to bending a few rules.
Artemis unzipped Captain Short’s tunic. There were two tiny items on the gold chain around her neck. Her copy of the Book, the fairy bible. Artemis knew that it would combust if he tried to touch it without Holly’s permission. But there was another item. A small Plexiglas sphere filled with earth.
“That’s against regulations,” said Root, not sounding too upset.
Holly stirred, half emerging from her stupor.
“Hey, Commander. What happened to your eye?”
Artemis ignored her, cracking the tiny sphere against the carriage floor. Earth and a small acorn tumbled into his palm.
“Now all we need to do is bury it.”
The commander slung Holly over his shoulder. Artemis tried not to look at the space where her index finger used to be.
“Then it’s time to get off this train.”