Eight Kings (The King's Watch Book 6)

by Mark Hayden

  ‘Then I shall devote myself to her cause completely. How do we get through the gates?’

  There was an intercom panel in one of the gate pillars. I took out the stiff invitation card and held it to the microphone. A small Work in the card discharged itself and the gates slid back. I’m telling you this because it is one of the few instances of digital-magickal integration that has made it out of the Salomon’s House laboratories.

  We headed round the side and I pointed to a small wall with a concrete finial on top. ‘There, and nowhere else,’ I said. Scout looked unhappy. ‘I’m not joking. You can pee here or in the bushes, but nowhere else.’

  ‘You do realise how ridiculous this is,’ said Mina. ‘You are having a battle of wills with a puppy and losing.’

  I folded my arms and stared at him until he cocked his leg. It’s good practice for when we have children…

  ‘Conrad? What’s the matter? Have you seen a ghost?’

  ‘What? Sorry, love. Just a premonition. We’d better leave the scene of the crime.’

  Smells of griddled meat assaulted us as we rounded the corner and found the party. Because this is England, and summertime, there was a small marquee on the terrace. Having a good shelter is the only way to guarantee that it doesn’t rain. Without that marquee, it would have tipped it down.

  The sun was shining, everyone looked relaxed, and the tent had been set up to contain two bars: salad and drinks. Cora detached herself from the crowd and came to meet us. Was it my paranoia, or did more eyes meet ours than usual on a social occasion? I’m not that famous. For the record, Mina was not the only non-white guest. A couple were of Afro-Caribbean descent, and a couple more from China. Mina was the only south Asian.

  ‘Congratulations!’ said Cora. ‘Hannah told me your news.’ She frowned. ‘You look different, Mina.’

  ‘Thank you. This is a new sari.’

  Cora shook her head. ‘I was coming to that. I meant your aura. I can’t see your Ancile anymore, and I know you’ve still got it, so … Aah. The ring. Nice work, Conrad. I do admire you, Mina. I could never carry that much fabric around.’

  I wasn’t wrong. There were way too many people watching our arrival. Yes, Mina looked gorgeous, and yes, her new sari was spectacular, but not that spectacular. I was beginning to suspect that my presence was more significant than I’d anticipated.

  ‘… can be hot on a day like this.’

  I tuned back in to the conversation as Cora ushered us to meet her husband, the only mundane adult present. He was where you’d expect a man to be on such an occasion – running the barbecue. He was tall, younger than Cora and had a blue cockerel tattoo on his bicep. If you didn’t know, that marks him as a Tottenham Hotspur fan. At his side and assisting was a lad of about nine in a replica No 9 shirt.

  Mina started wafting succulent smoke away from her sari, and I excused us.

  ‘No problem,’ said the chef. ‘Catch you later for a beer, yeah?’

  I made straight for the friendliest face – Dr Francesca Somerton, Keeper of the Queen’s Esoteric Library. She gave Mina a kiss and told me off for not getting drinks. I went to the tent, and the conversation had moved on from weddings by the time I got back.

  ‘I thought I’d know more people,’ I said. ‘I recognise Selena, over there.’ Selena Bannister is the Mistress of Masques and Revels at Salomon’s House. She and Cora are close friends and allies. Hannah had told me that Selena was Cora’s unofficial campaign manager.

  ‘There are only three guests from the Inner Council,’ said Francesca. ‘Selena, of course, myself and Oighrig Ahearn. She’s gone to the ladies.’

  ‘Who are the rest, then?’

  ‘It’s a bit like a reunion,’ said Francesca with a smile. ‘All but two or three are former pupils of Cora’s. They’ll all vote for her, of course, but she’s brought them here to sound them out and sign them up to campaign on her behalf.’

  ‘There aren’t going to be speeches are there?’ said Mina.

  ‘Not today. I wouldn’t have come if there were. The time for speeches is after the candidates have all declared themselves.’

  ‘Has anyone other than Heidi Marston come forward?’

  ‘Not yet. I hear rumours that the North is rising.’

  There is no North in magick, so what was she on about? I asked.

  ‘You may not have noticed, being from Wessex, that all the power in English magick is south of Birmingham. There are enough Mages from further north to be upset about that. Roly told me that someone was always pestering him to found a northern Salomon’s House. He never said who it was.’

  ‘Do I smell?’ said Mina suddenly.

  ‘Yes you do, dear,’ said Francesca. ‘Of jasmine. What do you mean?’

  ‘There is a five metre gap around our table that wasn’t here when we arrived.’

  ‘Perhaps they don’t want to interrupt us,’ said Francesca with her usual tact and diplomacy.

  ‘It’s me,’ I said. ‘No one loves the King’s Watch. I’ll take myself off for a smoke and Francesca can introduce you to a few of them.’

  ‘No!’ said Mina. ‘You are not going to leave me with a garden full of Mages who are all taller than me and with whom I have nothing in common!’

  ‘You’re the Peculier Auditor,’ I said.

  ‘I am proud of who I am,’ she declared. ‘I am also well aware that not everyone is interested in asset depreciation. Even your eyes glaze over when I try to talk about the Flint Hoard case.’

  I’d already stood up at this point and got out my cigarettes. ‘That’s why you’re the hero. Anyone can take on a bunch of homicidal Gnomes, but it takes a special person to deal with their accounts.’ I started backpedalling towards the shrubbery before she could respond. By the time I’d reached the shade of an oak tree, the cordon sanitaire had already shrunk to two metres, and Francesca was calling over the only other woman standing on her own. Scout appeared from nowhere and I got a real smell of cooking sausage. ‘Was that you boy? Did you just project hunger on to me?’

  He sat in front of me and whined. ‘You’ll have to wait. Like the rest of us. You can’t rush a barbie.’

  I lit my cigarette, and the back of my neck suddenly felt warm. Mage alert. ‘Do you smoke?’ I said.

  ‘Not any more I don’t,’ said an Irish voice from behind me.

  It took all my willpower not to turn around. ‘And do you always lurk in the bushes?’

  I heard a rustling, and she appeared round the front. ‘Only when I’m trying to figure out how a great lump like you has a Familiar and I don’t. Oighrig Ahearn. We’ve not met properly.’

  We shook hands, and she corrected my pronunciation of her name. As close as I can get it, Oighrig is pronounced Oichrigh.

  ‘It means Little Speckled One,’ she told me. ‘I was a medical miracle, you know. Born with freckles.’

  Almost all the women were wearing loose maxi dresses, as was Oighrig. Hers had thin straps, and every square centimetre of skin from her forehead to her fingertips was freckled. She wasn’t like that when we’d last met, so either she was very sensitive to sun or she’d used a Glamour to hide it. I’d seen her briefly, once, in Salomon’s House.

  ‘I haven’t seen you since the Inner Council meeting about my use of firearms. You gave me the benefit of the doubt on the crucial vote. Thank you.’

  ‘God, that seems like years ago. Sorry I missed the Dragon seminar. I was out of town.’

  ‘I’m going to start charging for that story.’

  She stood back, further under the tree, and tucked some vibrant red hair back under her straw hat. Oighrig is the youngest member of the Inner Council of Salomon’s House and is known as the Oracle because she’s responsible for teaching and research in Sorcery and Divination. Oracle isn’t a nickname, either. She got the job when Cora was appointed Dean.

  ‘I’m still grateful,’ I said. ‘About that vote. So grateful that I won’t object to you calling me a great lump.’

  She lau
ghed. ‘It’s what you are. My Great Aunt always told me never to say things behind people’s backs that you wouldn’t say to their face.’

  ‘You know, that makes it worse. Speaking of family wisdom, my mother always told me never to leave an important question unasked. What were you really doing in the bushes?’

  ‘I told you: looking at your Familiar. You’ve a good bond there, so you have. I was gonna try to call you, but all he was interested in was smelling me feet and whether I had any sausage. I think you’re well suited, to each other.’

  ‘You were going to call me? Via Scout?’

  ‘Aye. I wanted to get you on your own.’

  ‘I’d say I was flattered, but I’ve clearly no cause to be. What have you got against Mina?’

  ‘Nothing! I meant without any of the other guests, though now you mention it, it’s always easier to get information out of a man without his girl to fend you off.’

  Now that was alarming. Frank, but alarming. I took a swig of beer.

  She moved one foot in front of the other and glanced at the party. Not a single person was looking in our direction, which meant that everyone was secretly watching us. Paranoid? Me?

  Oighrig turned her head back to me. ‘I hear that you’re either a real hero or the Devil incarnate. Depending on who you talk to.’

  I took another swig. ‘That was a bit Delphic for a great lump like me.’

  The blood spread out under her skin. ‘I shouldn’t have called you that. Sorry. I was talking ’bout your trip to Cornwall. You either saved the life of the Eldest Daughter of the Goddess or you denied her the chance of magick forever.’

  ‘I played my part. If you’re after information, I can tell you that Hedda is still in a medical coma and that the surgeon was very pleased with the operation. I honestly don’t know any more than that. My source in Cornwall doesn’t have insider access.’

  ‘That’s good to hear. That she’s doing okay, I mean. You were there, though, weren’t you? All through the conference.’ She saw me lift my eyebrows. ‘Selena was right: you really can be tight-lipped when you want to.’

  ‘I can tell you what was in the Agreement. Mina’s got the text on her phone if you want a copy.’

  ‘Is it all legal stuff?’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘Then I’ll pass.’

  She’d come to the line she didn’t want to cross. Should I help her over? Well, she had apologised for calling me a great lump. ‘Are you related, or just nosey?’ I said.

  ‘Is it that obvious?’

  I pointed the neck of my beer bottle at her freckles. ‘The world of magick is even smaller than the RAF. You are a Mage from Galway. You have … shall we say distinctive good looks? If you’re not related to Aisling Mowbray, I’ll bet you know everyone who is.’

  ‘That Great Aunt I was telling you about? She was Aisling’s mother. Her sister was my Granny. We knew that Morwenna was alive, but not where she was. I couldn’t believe it when I heard she’d turned up out of the blue. I was Facetiming everyone in the West who has a phone all day yesterday and I got nothing. Then you turn up today. Do you blame me for trying to charm you?’

  ‘Medbh. She’s called Medbh now. Unless she’s changed back in the last forty-eight hours.’

  Something didn’t sit right here. Either Oighrig’s family were a bunch of vacant eejits (as they say), or Medbh had been lying, or something else. It was time to play her at her own game.

  ‘Would you describe your family as a bunch of vacant eejits, Oighrig?’

  She spluttered. ‘That’s fighting talk, that is. What makes you say that?’

  ‘Because Medbh told Mina that she’d been three years with a coven in Donegal and three years in Galway city. I’ve never been, but I imagine that flame haired Mages aren’t that common.’

  She looked troubled. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of what? I’m sure of what she said to Mina. I’m sure that Lord Mowbray – all the Mowbrays – examined her Imprint closely, and that today’s Medbh is yesterday’s Morwenna. Beyond that, I’m sure of nothing.’

  ‘Who’s lying then?’ she said. She spoke as if I were a lot closer to her than a ten minute acquaintance would warrant. She shook herself and put on the Irish smile (it is a thing, I assure you). ‘Or perhaps the ones I left behind really are a bunch of bog-hopping culchies.’

  ‘Why did you leave them behind?’

  ‘You know that there’s no Invisible College in Ireland, right?’

  ‘Didn’t you go to St Raphael’s?’

  ‘Hell, no. Only jackeens go there.’

  I knew what a culchie was, but … ‘Jackeens?’

  ‘Dubliners. Outside the city, there’s a whole network of circles for learning, and a nifty college in Galway city, but it’s like Irish Dance.’

  ‘Now you’ve lost me completely.’

  I was suddenly conscious of being watched. Not from myself, but from Scout. On the edge of the party, Cora was taking a great interest in my conversation with Oighrig. If Scout’s response was anything to go by, I’ll bet she was eavesdropping.

  Oighrig was oblivious of the attention. ‘Irish dancing is all very well, if you like that sort of thing, but if you want to dance ballet, you have to go abroad. That’s how come I ended up in Salomon’s House.’ She paused. ‘Is there nothing else you can tell me?’

  ‘I only saw her once. You could try Mina.’

  She laughed. ‘Because I’m sure that an officer of the Cloister Court is bound to be fountain of gossip. I’m getting a thirst, Conrad.’

  ‘And me. I’m not driving today, either.’

  We sauntered back and I got a severely raised eyebrow from Mina when I took her a large Pimms. ‘Tell you later,’ I said. ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘Very well. No thanks to you. When is the food ready, and has Cora’s husband kept the beef away from the rest of the meat?’

  Cora herself was twenty feet away when Mina said that. She called across the gap, ‘There is absolutely no beef on today’s menu.’ She’d definitely been listening.

  ‘You must meet …’ said Cora.

  I’ve left that person’s name out of this story because you’ve met enough new people already. The campaign for Warden is going to run and run, and if that person becomes important, I’ll let you know who she was. There was one substantive development, and it came out of a hushed conversation with the aristocratic Selena.

  We were talking about the Fae, and she managed to drift over to a quiet part of the garden. I’m sure she used magick, too, to keep things away from the others.

  ‘You know that Cora sees your … recent caseload as a troubling development, don’t you?’

  ‘Recent caseload? That’s one way of describing several near death experiences.’ I paused to let her get the point. ‘What I like most about Cora is that she’s willing to change her mind and not let personal prejudice get in the way.’

  ‘Quite. She sounded out the Constable about you. Informally. If Cora were to create the post of Director of Security at Salomon’s House – part time, of course – would you be interested? And would you allow your name to be floated during the election campaign?’

  It was a brave move of Cora’s. A lot of Mages don’t like the Watch on principle. On the other hand, they like being killed even less. ‘On one condition,’ I replied. ‘I don’t like the word director. Make it Security Attaché.’

  ‘How quaint. I’m sure that won’t be a problem.’

  I also spent some quality time with Cora’s husband and son when the cooking was over. ‘How do you put up with them?’ he asked.

  ‘What? Mages?’

  ‘No. Women. The whole world of magick is full of ’em. Does my ’ead in sometimes.’

  ‘You and me both. There’s even a women’s cricket team in the village now.’

  He shook his head sadly and turned to his son. ‘What’s the best thing about Saturdays?’

  ‘Boys day out,’ he replied. The poor lad put on a mournful face a
nd added, ‘But me little sister wants to play as well. Mum says she’ll have to come too, next year.’

  ‘I’ll tell you, mate, the world’s going to rack and ruin.’

  We turned to look at the assembled gathering. I counted three men out there. ‘Too late,’ I said. ‘Another beer?’

  ‘Please. And a diet Pepsi for the boy.’

  Just after we got in the taxi to go home, Mina got a text. From Pramiti.

  ‘She can wait until Tuesday,’ said Mina. ‘You really think that Cora could hear you across the garden, with all that noise?’

  ‘I feel Lux as heat. Vicky sees it as an extra colour. Sort of. Maybe Cora feels Lux as sound, and maybe that gives her an edge.’

  ‘Maybe. Now tell me what you and that poor girl were talking about.’

  ‘Poor girl? You mean Cora’s daughter?’

  ‘Don’t be dense. The Irish one. The one with serious pigmentation issues.’

  ‘Pigmentation issues?’

  ‘Yes. And red hair. Poor girl.’

  ‘Didn’t she come to talk to you?’

  Mina shook her head. ‘No. After you parted, she got on her phone. She was the only one at the party who did that. Until the end. After that, she avoided both of us.’

  When I’d told Mina what we’d been talking about, we were both puzzled and worried, but we weren’t sure why. ‘I’ll tell Hannah and Rick,’ I said. ‘Perhaps they know someone who knows someone.’

  Mina gave that a considered nod, then we sat back and held hands.

  26 — Bank Holiday Pursuit

  Monday was the must-win cricket match, the one that would see the Clerkswell men’s team promoted to Division One.

  We won.

  And then we partied.

  27 — Assorted Hats

  One of my favourite coffee shops is opposite the Tower of London, up some stairs behind a souvenir tat shop and possessed of a covered smoking area at the back which doubles as a dog shelter. It’s very handy for Merlyn’s Tower, home of the King’s Watch, and only fifteen minutes’ walk from Salomon’s House. I took the tray of coffees over to the table and distributed them. Two of them went in front of empty seats. Trouble with taxis.