‘Well, I’m starting to get fragments. Little bits of dreams. Well, more like nightmares.’
‘When you said you’d lost sight of the future I didn’t think it was going to good.’
‘No. True. It’s not much, really, but it doesn’t seem good. I’ve been dreaming of battles between demons and dragons. It seems abstract. I don’t recognise the locations. I’ve seen no one in those dreams who resembles you, or anyone else I know. It’s as if I’m seeing cyphers. Two huge armies, lines of battle, a representation of a war rather than a prediction of one.’
Ceri frowned. ‘Demons fighting dragons. Do you think this is happening already?’
‘I think that it has been going on for some time, yes. I also think that things are changing. Lines are being drawn. Something big is going to happen.’
Ceri sipped her tea. ‘If the demons are planning something, there aren’t very many dragons in this part of the world to fight them. I mean, I know most if not all of them and none of them seem like they would be much use in a fight. Brenhines, maybe, but she’s pretty isolated.’
‘Perhaps,’ the old wolf said, ‘they need to become more engaged.’
Marylebone, August 16th
The front lobby of the Chinese embassy building was not quite as open and party-ready as the last time Ceri had seen it. Then again, neither she nor Lily were dressed for an embassy ball and they were certainly not there to party.
The official behind the simple reception desk looked up as they walked in. He said nothing, waiting for them to approach and speak.
‘I need to see the Ambassador,’ Ceri said, expecting some sort of objection. Instead the man simply reached into a drawer and removed two identity passes, handing them over. Ceri took them, handing one to Lily. ‘Don’t we need an escort or something?’
‘Do you remember the way?’ the man asked in a voice thick with Chinese accent.
‘I think so.’
The man nodded and pressed a button under his desk. A door slid open behind him, the first in an airlock-style arrangement which allowed them through into the main building. Ceri led the way down corridors which were heavy on the dragon decoration. Arriving at a door, she was about to knock when it opened, apparently by itself. Lily raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged before walking into the little lounge beyond.
Inside there were two loveseats facing each other across a small table, and an ornate cabinet upon which sat a statuette of a dragon, white stone with rubies for eyes. Ceri had something similar in the summoning room in her cellar. It allowed the dragons to manifest an image there to talk to her, though it was usually only Ed who did so. The rubies were dark this time; no one was watching. No one outside the room anyway; Mei Long was standing in a corner of the room, quite still, her face serious.
‘Good morning, Ceridwyn.’ The Chinese ambassador was a relatively short, exquisitely beautiful, Chinese woman with black hair that fell to her bottom in one, long, dark waterfall.
‘You were expecting me,’ Ceri replied; not a question.
A slight smile formed on Mei’s perfect lips. ‘I am the Sleeping Dragon, the Observer.’ She moved forward, all smooth grace, and settled into one of the seats, her arm extending to indicate they should sit. Ceri did, Lily stood behind her. ‘You came to see me, Ceridwyn,’ the dragon-lady prompted.
‘There’s a war of some sort going on between dragons and demons.’
‘Not a war. Not exactly. A… competition. A state of tension which has fluctuated for millennia. There was a war, long ago. Before even your ancestors were born.’
‘Alexandra believes it’s about to heat up. She believes that battle lines are being drawn. There have been some odd things happening. It seems as though the demons are up to something. I came to say that… I think it’s time you got off the fence. I need help if I’m going to stop them.’
Mei sat in silence for a second, her dark eyes on Ceri’s. ‘Answer a question for me. You come to tell me that you need help from dragons to fight against some unknown threat from demons, but you bring with you a demon. Why is that?’
Ceri looked up and back to where her friend and lover stood behind her, now wearing a frown. ‘Lily’s a half-demon. She’s my friend and I love her. I trust her with my life.’
‘You should remember that. You have friends and power. You don’t need us to help you. You must not rely on us for help.’
‘But… the power you have…’
‘Ceri,’ Mei interrupted, stopping Ceri in her tracks. ‘I have watched mankind for tens of thousands of years. You don’t need our help to keep the darkness at bay. All you need is yourself, and your friends. Trust your friends, Ceridwyn Brent.’ Her eyes flicked upward, over Ceri’s shoulder. Ceri felt it, the presence of something else draconic. If she had looked she was quite certain that she would have seen the statuette’s eyes glowing. ‘Thank you for dropping by, Ceri,’ Mei said smoothly. It was time to leave.
‘Thank you for your time, Ambassador,’ Ceri replied, rising to her feet.
Mei stood as well, almost as if lifted on wires. ‘You know that you are always welcome here, Ceridwyn.’
‘Thank you. We’ll see ourselves out.’ Ceri turned to leave and saw the glowing rubies out of the corner of her eye. Briefly she wondered who was watching, and why Mei had been so quick to wrap up the conversation when that observation had begun.
Lily did not speak until they were out on the street. ‘Why was she so keen to have us deal with this ourselves? Not involve the dragons.’
‘I think… I think it’s because they won’t. Maybe because they can’t.’
Lily’s reply came as an irritated hiss. ‘They’re bloody dragons, Ceri! They’re probably the only thing around that’s more powerful than you are.’
Ceri’s brow furrowed. ‘Ed told me once that I was more powerful than he was. Gwyn might have my power, and a lot more experience, but I think, maybe, most of the dragons aren’t as strong as they seem.’
‘Then I guess it’s up to you.’
Ceri looked at Lily and smiled. ‘Us, love. It’s up to us. You heard what she said. We draw the line in the sand. It’s up to us mortals to deal with whatever is coming.’
~~~
‘In other news, the comet discovered last month has been given a name.’ The newsreader was backed up by a blurry picture of a white smudge, presumably what could be seen of the comet. Ceri looked up as she heard the announcement; this was interesting news. ‘Draco Cauda, “Dragon’s Tail,” will be visible in the night sky later in the year. Astronomers are expecting it to be at its brightest around Samhain. Philip Hedley of Greenwich Royal Observatory reported that the orbital trajectory has now been plotted with enough accuracy that they are sure this is a new comet, to modern observers. The last time Draco Cauda was seen would have been around thirty-thousand BC, around the end of the period archaeologists refer to as the Toba Flare.’
‘Thirty-two thousand years ago,’ Lily said. ‘Wow.’
‘I wonder if Gwyn or Ed saw it back then,’ Ceri said.
‘Or the time before that. They would have been around then, right?’
‘Gwyn would. I’m not sure about Ed.’
‘Huh,’ Lily half-laughed, ‘you get a comet for your birthday. How cool is that?’
‘Kind of depends on whether you consider them signs of ill omen.’
‘Clearly,’ Lily said, ‘this one is not.’
Holloway, August 17th
Cheryl was wearing an odd expression. It was a combination of frustration, irritation, and excitement, and Ceri had to ask what was up.
‘I’ve had an order through from the Ministry,’ Cheryl said. ‘Technically, we have an order from the Ministry, I suppose. They want us to go ahead immediately with the construction of the Battersea generator.’
Ceri frowned. ‘We haven’t finished confirming all the maths.’
‘Well, we’re putting it all into the old power station and there’s work to be done to get that up to spec, but t
hey want to get the ley line construction underway before that’s finished. They’ll have the majority of the posts placed by military engineers. You’ll be flown in to place the last one and initiate the line. Apparently the French have agreed to it running through their territory as long as we run it past Paris and put in a generator there.’
Sucking on a canine, a habit she had picked up from Lily, Ceri considered the plan. ‘We’ve got elections coming up next spring, right?’
‘Well spotted. They want this thing up and running before then. I’m guessing they want to initiate the ley line before the weather gets bad. They’ve said they want it up no later than mid-October. They want the specs for the Battersea post today, if possible.’
‘Mid-October… Well, that gives us a chance to spot problems at least. Two months.’ She sighed. ‘I feel my summer holiday slipping away.’
Cheryl grunted a response. ‘Tell me about it.’
Interlude: The New Lord of Grey Castle
Shilfaris, Demon Realm
Hiffy looked up at the sound of a horn from one of the gate towers. It was an alert horn, telling those below that the two huge gates were about to open, and it was not a sound heard very often at Low Gate. The gates were split with two smaller doors set within the larger ones, and there was usually no need for the big gates to move. As she watched, det of all sorts, as well as the few higher demons who had come down to the market, scurried clear; the gates were going to open whether there was anyone in the way or not.
The reason for all the activity became clear as the first of the Boradgi walked through the gate. Four times the height of a det and sporting long horns and a thick collar of bone around the neck, Boradgi made excellent beasts for haulage, and someone had trained four of them together to pull a huge carriage. Behind the animals, connected to the back of the last via an iron yoke, was something which looked like a castle on wheels. Hiffy had seen nothing like it, though she recalled her grandfather saying that some of the demon Lords travelled in such contraptions.
From what she could see, the carriage would have been able to stand up to assault from just about anything. The walls were built of wood which had to be two hands thick, bound together with heavy bars of silver-iron and smeared with black pitch. It appeared to actually be two storeys high, and with crenulations on top. Hiffy spotted at least half a dozen Devos looking down from the roof, eyeing the people below. On the other hand, the very back of the carriage was far more exposed.
The last pair of its eight huge wheels supported a flat platform upon which was mounted an iron cage. Within it were ten women, all identical. They had to be Lorril. Hiffy stared at them, wondering why all ten were the same and trying to work out what form of demon they were mimicking. They were pale skinned, tall, long in the leg, and possessed of firm bodies with obvious muscle definition, though they were still quite feminine. A lot of demons liked their females to have big breasts, Hiffy prided herself on her own substantial ones and liked to show off as much of her blue skin as she could when tending bar, but these succubi had relatively small breasts. All of them had black hair, very short, like a cap. It was only when one turned and looked straight at Hiffy that she saw the shock of red in the fringe on the right side. The face beneath was strong and attractive, but not especially pretty. The eyes caught her attention; pale, perhaps blue, though it was hard to tell at this distance. Most demons had dark eyes. Still, why would some Lord want ten of them?
The horn sounded again to announce the closure of the gates and Hiffy turned, heading toward East Ward. This was news she could spread. It seemed that the long awaited new lord of Grey Castle had arrived in Shilfaris. There might even be a few coins in it for her if she told what she had seen to the right people. Of course, she would have to tell them first. Her pace quickened and her tail moved around to lift her skirt a little so that she would not be hindered.
~~~
Sergeant Torn watched the huge battle-waggon being pulled in through the outer gates of Grey Castle with ambivalence. At least they would have a lord in the place again; without one things had been going downhill. With no one to keep them in check, the upper ranks were taking liberties they would never have dared to with someone watching them. The lower ranks were disgruntled from seeing the officers siphoning off money for their own use and getting the raw end of the lowered resources this resulted in. Between the two were men like Torn, squeezed between surly soldiers and lazy officers. That would change now.
On the other hand, new lords tended to take things to extremes to assert their authority. There would be a month or two of executions and strict adherence to arbitrary rules… Of course if they executed the right people then there might be opportunity for advancement. Devos did not wear boots, but they were happy to step into a dead man’s hoof prints when they could.
The carriage stopped in the outer courtyard and a door on the side of it was lowered to form a ramp. Four Devos marched down it, heavily armed and armoured; the Lord’s personal guard. Except that the “Lord” who walked down after them was not much of one. Not particularly tall, not particularly magical from what Torn could feel. The figure was mysterious, however. There was no face visible under the hooded, black cloak, but Torn could almost feel the eyes within as they swept over him.
‘You!’ the figure snapped and Torn felt a sudden pang of terror. ‘Get ten guards together and bring Captain Yodin and Captain Poriss to the audience chamber. Do not take no for an answer, captain.’ The voice had an odd, hollow resonance, and it certainly held a fair amount of authority. The man was used to being obeyed.
‘Yes, Lord,’ Torn replied. ‘I’m only a sergeant, Lord.’
‘Not when I’ve finished with Yodin and Poriss,’ the lord growled. He turned and moved toward the inner gate and Torn could have sworn there were no legs propelling him.
Yodin and Poriss were the worst offenders; the new lord must have had spies sent ahead to see what he was going to have to deal with. Torn smiled and started for the guard quarters. It looked like life under the new administration was looking up.
Part Four: Friends and Family
Chilcomb, Hampshire, September 2nd, 2012
The sun was already up as the two cars pulled up to the front drive of Carter Fleming’s “weekender” and disgorged their passengers. From the Vauxhall sedan which had lead the way, Carter, Alec, and Cheryl emerged, the latter stretching, but looking rather pleased to be where she was. The second car was a big, black Range Rover, and held Ceri, Lily, and Michael. Ceri also looked pleased to have arrived, but it was mostly down to her dislike of cars.
‘You know, Carter,’ Ceri said as she looked around at the building they had stopped beside, ‘I know you’re rich, but now I know you’re rich.’
The building was mostly fairly low; a large stone-built ground floor spread out before them in a vague C-shape wrapped around the circular drive. The main entrance portico stuck out a little with columns supporting the moulded roof. There were a lot of big windows on either side, all made up of small, glass panels in a grid-like frame. Ceri suspected that, while they looked like old, wooden window frames, they were all modern and double glazed. She could see an upper floor toward the rear of the building which looked more modern, mostly because it seemed to be glazed all the way around from floor to ceiling, though heavy blinds obscured the interior.
Carter smiled. ‘There are two pools at the back, one inside, one out, both with hot tubs. There are two main bedrooms at the top and I suggest we retire to them and get some sleep. The place is all ours until we have to go back on Wednesday, so there’s plenty of time for the tour.’
The interior of the house was as opulent as the exterior. The hall at the front had statues in alcoves at the sides and the inner door led into a wide hallway with various doors leading off it. Carter ignored them and headed straight up a flight of wide stairs at the back. The stairs led up to a corridor which separated the two rooms; Ceri suspected that was a soundproofing measure and smiled.
; Carter pointed to the right. ‘You three young things are in there. We’ll see you… whenever we’re all out of bed.’
‘We’ll be late,’ Lily said before opening the door onto their room and walking in.
The room was big; rectangular, but with the outside corners rounded off. To the right, toward the front of the house, was a bathroom, screened off from the bedroom by a glass partition. Ceri could see a huge shower and a bath big enough to swim in. To the left was a smaller cubicle, this one with solid walls, which she guessed contained a toilet. There were two, wide wardrobes on the interior walls, but most of the room was taken up by a huge bed with four chromed-steel posts at the corners from floor to ceiling and, to Ceri’s amusement, a huge mirror mounted over it.
‘You know,’ Ceri said, ‘we should probably get the bags up from the car.’
Lily turned and looked at her before pressing a button on a small cabinet beside the bed. With a hum, the window blinds retracted sideways, opening up the windows to the sunlight and the view of miles of fields outside. She dropped the small bag she was carrying onto the floor. ‘I put a two-piece in my handbag for you to wear because I knew you wouldn’t want to be naked around Carter. If you think you’re going to need anything else tomorrow, you’re in for a surprise, and you’re certainly not going to need clothes before midday.’
Ceri smiled and started to undress. Of course, Lily was probably right.
~~~
Ceri lay on a sun lounger, her eyes closed against the sun. Well, partially against the sun and partially because she was having trouble coming to terms with the sight of Carter in a little pair of swimming trunks. Alec, Michael, and Lily were naked, and that did not bother her. Cheryl was dressed in a one-piece swimsuit which Carter had bought for her the summer before, thus explaining why it covered barely anything of her body, but that did not bother Ceri either. Carter in a tiny pair of bun-hugging briefs was too much.
Partially because Lily had said she would need something to wear, Ceri had come down to the side of the pool topless. This indicated that she was not afraid to bare her breasts in front of Carter, but also spared both of them the blushes involved in her being naked. Carter Fleming, playboy, millionaire, owner of clubs where women took their clothes off for entertainment, somehow found the sight of Ceri’s skin embarrassing. Ceri did not understand why, exactly, though she suspected that it had to do with her mother. Carter had been her mother’s boyfriend at some point when they were at university, before she had met Ceri’s father. Ceri was fairly sure Carter still carried a bit of a torch for Marion because he had never once tried to get Ceri into bed, even though he had shown plenty of signs of wanting to and she would have said yes if he had asked.
Thaumatology 09 - Dragonfall Page 9