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It was some fifteen minutes later before they were in the throne room. A vast room - an aircraft hangar of a place. Merlin had pulled on a fur cloak, wrapping it around himself.

"It gets cold here at night," he said. "Mind you, it's hardly my favourite place during the day, either."

It was notable, though, that he was wearing his cloak in such a way that not only did it leave his hands free, it could also be shrugged off swiftly at need.

There were guards at the door. Merlin glanced at Morgan.

"Four close walls would be good," he said, "but Mandor's wards are still on this place. I think he spent about five years deciding all the ways I could be assassinated in here - and then coming up with ways of preventing them. It became a hobby in the end - like some men build cathedrals out of matchsticks, Mandor would look for a hole in the security here and then elegantly plug it."

He drew a deep breath.

"Right. Let's have a run down of the situation."

Delluth stopped staring around curiously - as if at any moment he might start trying to analyze those safeguards - and looked at Morgan, then at Merlin.

Morgan pulled the Chaosian soldier front and center. "Give your report again," he said. "A little more detail this time, if you please."

"I've told you all I know," said the guard. "All that I was commanded to tell you." The second sentence seemed to be a correction of the first.

"And what did he know?" asked Flora, walking in as calmly as though this was another day at court. "I do hope it's a reasonable approximation of Belgian chocolate, Morgan. I would hate to come running for anything less."

At this point a guard came hurrying towards them.

"It's the Chaosian Ambassador, your Majesty! She's heard Dr Corrino has been arrested - wants to speak to you about it immediately!"

Merlin closed his eyes briefly, as though in pain - and then opened them again. "Tell her that he remains in my personal custody until he can produce ... no. Tell her that is correct, and he is happy to be here. Aren't you, Doctor?"

He looked at Delluth. "And if you give me your word that you will say nothing of either of my brothers, then I will let you confirm this in person."

The terms 'arrested' and 'personal custody' and especially 'let' seemed to provoke dismay, and then displeasure, in the doctor.

But then another thought occurred to him, and his expression cleared. "Of course you have my word, your majesty," he said mildly. "And, I should note that apparently no one has mentioned to you that I was already on my way to the castle when I was intercepted by a couple of city guardsman, who informed me that my presence here was urgently required. It would have been silly of me to argue about it, so I waited with them until the Baronet turned up.

"So you see, as far as I'm concerned, I am here because I wished to be, and the notion of arrest was simply a regrettable misunderstanding. As I will, naturally, explain to the Ambassador."

"It's all semantics," Morgan said with an airy wave of his hand. "Unfortunately, diplomats, like politicians, thrive on semantics. Merl, my suggestion is that we let the doctor and Auntie Flo talk about Mandy's condition while we send an honour guard to bring up the Ambassador, and a servant to bring up his too-long neglected canine companion. The Doc understands by now why it's important not to say anything specific until we have all this settled."

Merlin nodded. "Go for it," he said to Morgan. Then to Delluth, "Doctor - I'm sure that you and my aunt will have plenty to discuss."

He then turned away slightly, to the table when he had set his deck of trumps, selected one and began to concentrate.

"Well, Doctor," said Flora, pleasantly. "Perhaps we could step aside so that you can inform me of the Prime Minister's condition when you ... erm ... last saw him."

"Yes - but - " He was paying more attention to the fast-moving Morgan.

Morgan stepped over to the door. He told the Chaosian guard, "Wait outside, we may have a message for you to take to the barracks soon."

Then he turned to one of the hovering servants and said, "The Doctor's hound should still be in the castle being watched over. See that he's brought up here."

"No - don't," Delluth put in, closing part of the distance between them. "I told him to stay, and he won't budge till I come back. I'll have to get him myself. Hopefully soon."

Morgan looked at Delluth, then nodded. "All right," he said. "I just didn't want you to feel like we were holding him hostage or anything, Doc. No matter how things go here," he waved a hand vaguely around the room, "We'll get the two of you back together as soon as it's possible. My word on that."

"Thank you," Delluth said gratefully, with a startlingly bright smile that vanished almost as soon as it appeared. "I should've just brought him with me before, but ..." he spread his hands. "Who knew?"

(Morgan goes to Collecting the Ambassador; a bit later, so does Merlin)

(Delluth goes to Doctors in Consultation)