Thaumatology 09 - Dragonfall

by Teasdale, Niall

  Ceri gave a shrug. ‘A lot’s changed since then, pet.’

  Lily’s hand drifted up to her throat and the leather collar encircling it. Her fingers touched the silver padlock which closed it at the front. She had been wearing it almost constantly since Ceri had put it on her the previous Tuesday before going out to Demi-monde. ‘Yes. A lot.’

  ‘Something wrong?’

  ‘No. I was just thinking about how much you’ve changed.’

  ‘For the better, I think. I’m far more confident than I was. Cars don’t bother me so much and flying… I think I actually like flying.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Ceri glanced at her pet. She could feel nothing much over their link, but it seemed almost as though Lily was hiding something. Or suppressing something. She gave a barely noticeable shrug and turned away. Not that it matters.

  Munich

  The airship had lowered itself to ground level in an open space not quite three miles from the site they were aiming to place the post. Troops spread out quickly to surround the landing site, rifles aimed outward. They were less than five miles from the epicentre of the Munich bomb and the thaumic level was high enough to make the area hot. Not dangerous-hot, but certainly at high enough level that fae would have found it very comfortable.

  Ceri marched down the loading ramp as though there was no danger at all and turned to the man in putative charge of the operation, a Captain Willard. ‘We’ll be about an hour getting in and selecting a site, ten minutes to initiate the line, and no more than an hour getting out. You think you’ll be okay to hold this location until then?’

  Willard gave her a slightly insulted look which she entirely ignored, or failed to notice. ‘We have automatic weapons, four turrets with heavy machine guns, and a lot of well-trained men. We can hold it.’

  Ceri gave him a nod and then started off toward the edge of the park. Lily gave the man a smile. ‘Thank you, Captain. We’ll see you soon.’

  ‘Your friend isn’t much of a people person, is she?’ Willard commented.

  ‘She’s… under a lot of stress. The Prime Minister is in Battersea waiting for her to start the line.’

  Willard grunted. ‘You better catch up with her.’

  Giving him an apologetic grin, Lily hurried off after Ceri.

  ~~~

  Munich was not a lot different from Hamburg. The explosion had levelled a huge amount of the city, though the bomb had been further from the centre so there were still a few taller buildings visible in that direction. The areas Ceri and Lily were walking through had been reclaimed by nature with a considerable vengeance. Thick vines had grown over any structure left standing. Neither of them liked the look of the plants and they had decided to keep to the streets, which were just grassy scrub now.

  There were ghosts among the ruins again; ordinary people doing ordinary things over and over again. Lily found them pitiful. They had died in terror, waiting for the Russians to overrun their city and instead being claimed by a bomb set off by their own Glorious Leader. It was sad. Ceri seemed to be entirely ignoring them. At least there seemed to be no ghostly soldiers around.

  Ceri stopped as they entered another, more open area after crossing a wide stretch which looked like a major road. A small expenditure of the energy she had been collecting for the last thirty minutes and she knew exactly where she was. ‘We’ll go a little north and then plant that thing.’

  Lily nodded. ‘It looks like some of those vines have grown up in this field. I think we should be careful.’

  ‘Huh. I was expecting fae to be the problem, not plants.’

  ‘Well, you know the magic around here can have some odd effects on the flora and fauna.’

  Ceri smiled and started off across the field. ‘Don’t worry, pet. I’ll protect you.’

  They had gone just over two hundred yards when the dragon thumped onto the ground in front of them. Neither of them had ever seen a full-sized one in its natural form. It was a pale brown in colour with a neck plate supported by long horns. Shorter horns jutted back from its lower jaw. Its legs were thicker than Ceri’s body and its bat-like wings seemed to spread out for miles. Huge, jet-black eyes regarded them for a second before it let out a rumble from deep in its throat.

  ‘Ceridwyn Brent, Ethilion Kephesit, welcome.’ The voice sounded in their heads, loud and clear, and sending a chill down Lily’s spine.

  Ceri pulled herself up straight. She could feel a thread of fear from Lily, though the creature’s aura was not at full power. The awe, and even terror, that dragons were said to evoke suddenly made sense as Ceri felt the huge animal’s power washing over her. ‘You have me at a disadvantage, sir.’ The voice had sounded male.

  ‘You may call me Wächter. I dwell in the pit beyond here. I felt your presence and came to ensure your safety. The vines here will entangle you and leave you as a dry husk in under an hour. The fae call them Vampire Vines.’ He turned then, swinging his bulk around nimbly toward the direction they were going. His chest expanded and there was a sound like nothing Ceri had ever heard; a combination of forge bellows and jet turbine. Fire roared out, roasting a path through the plant life and leaving nothing but ashes. Then Wächter trotted off into the blackened track way leaving them to follow behind him.

  ‘There’s a dragon living in the bombsite in Munich and he’s heard of you?’ Lily said quietly just before their escort let out another burst of flame. The half-succubus’ voice still held a hint of fear even though it was clear that Wächter was here to help. Sickly green ropes of vine were pulling away from the burned path around them as they walked past, trying to escape the patches of grass which were still on fire.

  ‘Apparently there is,’ Ceri replied, ‘and apparently he has.’

  ‘And what was that he called you? Ethy-something?’

  ‘Ethilion Kephesit. Sounds like a title in draconic, but my draconic is… largely non-existent. Since he seems to be being nice I’m going to assume it’s not insulting. Hopefully it’s not the dragon equivalent of “cute little human girl,” or “looks good in pink frills.”’ She looked thoughtful for a second and then added, ‘Or “tastes good with ketchup.”’

  Lily gave a nervous giggle. It was kind of useful to have a walking flamethrower to deal with their problems. Better to not look a gift dragon in the mouth; especially when that mouth was spewing forth a tornado of flame.

  They continued forward that way for maybe another half mile before Ceri yelled, ‘That should do it Wächter. Here is fine.’ The dragon looked back, bowed his head, and stepped aside to give the two of them room to work.

  Lily pulled the release tabs on her harness, allowing the huge rod to drop to the floor from her back with a sigh. She was stronger than Ceri, and had a slightly lower centre of gravity, and she would have declined if Ceri had offered to carry the thing. Last time they had done this, Ceri had offered. The two girls placed the rod with its point in the charred ground, at which point Wächter reached out a long arm, stretched out a finger, and tapped the top of the rod with a claw which could have ripped them open like tissue. The light tap drove the granite four feet into the packed earth, and almost took the skin off their hands as the stone whipped past.

  Ceri turned her head and blinked at the dragon. ‘Uh, thanks Wächter. That was… good of you.’ She got to one knee and took a handheld radio unit from her pack, tossing it to Lily. ‘Let’s get London on the horn and get this done.’

  It took a few minutes to connect through to the airship, and then for them to patch that connection through via long range radio to Battersea. Cheryl’s voice sounded distant and crackly on the other. ‘Are you two okay over there? Over.’

  ‘We’re fine,’ Lily replied. ‘Ceri’s ready to initiate the connection and…’ She paused as Wächter rumbled in the background.

  ‘What the Hell was that?!’ Cheryl squeaked, forgetting to say “over.”

  ‘We… have a, uh, well a guardian?’ Lily replied. ‘Apparently a local dragon found us interesting
. Never mind that right now. Are you ready on your end? Over.’

  There was a pause; Lily looked over at Ceri, who rolled her eyes. It seemed likely that the idea that a dragon had shown up to help was causing some consternation. ‘Uh, we’re ready when you are,’ Cheryl finally said. ‘Go ahead. Over.’

  Ceri lifted her arms, raising her staff over her head. Her mind worked through the sequence of metaphysical equations needed to initiate the tunnel. Lily covered her eyes with her arm as light blazed from staff, rod, and the entire surrounding area, or so it seemed. Even Wächter turned away as the huge surge of energy needed to fire up the line caused the air to incandesce.

  Lily hit the key on the radio. ‘It’s up. Over.’

  There was another pause, then the sound of cheering coming over the connection before Cheryl spoke. ‘We’ve got twenty-five thaums within the circle and rising. Twenty-eight… thirty… dropping back… and holding at just over twenty-seven point five. External level is… one point eight-five. It’s working, just as you predicted.’

  Lily looked over at Ceri, expecting to see relief. All she got was a short nod.

  Wächter rumbled. ‘So it begins.’ Turning, he took two long strides, spread his wings, and lifted into the air.

  ‘Okay,’ Lily said into the radio, her voice more relaxed with the dragon gone, ‘we’ll head back and we’ll see you tomorrow. Over and out.’

  Ceri was smiling when she looked back. ‘Come on, pet, let’s go home to some adoration.’

  Interlude: Cheryl

  Highbury, October 19th, 2012

  Cheryl frowned at her laptop. The figures did not seem to quite add up and she was not sure why. She had continued studying the enchantment structures of the latest ley line, despite the fact that it seemed to be working fine. And now she had found something, or thought she had. Maybe it was just an error on her part.

  Standing, she wandered to the kitchen area and took a bottle of white wine from the fridge, refilling her glass before walking back to her laptop. The dragon statuette Ed had sent her caught her attention; light from the candle beside it flickered through the crystal matrix and it seemed as though the little dragon’s eyes were glowing. She grinned; it felt as though Ed was watching over her.

  Alcohol and careful consideration were not great bedfellows, but no matter how she tried, Cheryl could not get the equations to produce exactly the same results that Ceri had. To her it appeared that the energy output from the circle should be higher than Ceri suggested. Truthfully, that suggested that Ceri was right because the measured output from the circle seemed to be matching her predictions. She took a sip of wine…

  There! It was there, hidden in the complex of equations governing the uppermost sequence of runes and their function. Ceri had said they operated only in three dimensions, reorienting the energy stream into a vertical fountain. They did, but there was a statistical component to them which would loop a small portion of the energy back on itself. Over time there would be a build-up of energy within the quantum probability field surrounding the central pole.

  Cheryl took another slug of wine. How had Ceri missed this? What the Hell did it mean?

  Another ten minutes of calculation and she was just more confused. The energy would build to a saturation level where leakage would limit its growth. If her maths was right, after around ten days the power output from the generator would rise as the threshold level was reached. There seemed to be no real danger, just a reservoir of thaumic energy sitting deep within the circle which would do, well, nothing.

  Coming to a decision, Cheryl drained her wine glass and stood up. She would go to the Jade Dragon and talk to Ceri. That was the thing to do. Show Ceri her results and see what she thought. Except that she could not go to the Jade Dragon in some sweat pants and an old T-shirt. There was every possibility that no one aside from Carter and Alec even knew she had scruffy old clothes like this. She padded up the stairs to her bedroom to find a dress to put on.

  Ten minutes later she came down in a short, black, sheath dress which she hoped combined business-like with club wear. She paused at the bottom of the stairs to put on her pumps, and that was when she noticed that her laptop was missing. Her heart thumped in her chest; someone had to be in her house, here in the room with her. She turned, frantically searching for whoever had taken her computer. Nothing. She turned back.

  Something dark and vaguely man-shaped loomed in front of her. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand blocked any sound. Strong hands with hot skin grabbed her arms and her world went dark.

  Part Six: Draconis Cadit

  Soho, October 19th, 2012

  There were too many vampires in the Dragon. Ceri had a table of four younger ones and another with two more. The couple looked old, at least a century; old enough that they were more or less desiccated corpses under their glamour. They were not the only vamps in the club tonight either; all the girls had one or more groups. It seemed like the undead had decided on a night out for some reason.

  ‘We just need Lorna in to glam things up a little,’ Lily commented as she came back from the trio of vampires she had to look after.

  ‘I like mine,’ Sasha commented. ‘Theo always leaves me a big tip. And he’s never once tried to get his fangs in my neck.’

  Lily smirked at her. ‘That’s because he’s been trying to figure out how to get his fangs in your thigh for two years.’

  Sasha blinked. ‘My thigh?’

  Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve never been with a vampire? They like the femoral artery. Inside of the thigh? And you have gorgeous thighs.’

  The blonde waitress actually blushed. ‘Why’s he never asked?’

  ‘Vampires are just human,’ Lily replied. ‘Well, they were human. They don’t become super-confident seduction machines just because they died. He thinks you’re out of his class.’

  ‘But… he’s a vampire.’

  ‘And you,’ Lily said, ‘are a gorgeous blonde who struts around in a skimpy dress and, at least appears to be, ultra-confident and sexy.’

  ‘Oh,’ Sasha said. ‘Not that I really want to be bitten…’

  Ceri chuckled. ‘Fang tease.’

  ‘I have fangs,’ Alec commented from behind the bar. ‘I don’t think she’s ever teased me.’

  Sasha turned a mischievous grin on him. ‘Do you want me to tease you, Alec?’

  ‘Oh no,’ the werewolf said, holding up his hands. ‘If I want to be teased, I’ve got Cheryl to do it.’

  Highbury, October 23rd

  ‘It’s the same scent,’ Michael said as he pulled his jeans back on. ‘The same things which took Mayhew.’

  Ceri looked paler than usual, but panicking was not going to get them anywhere. Cheryl had failed to show up for a meeting at the power station, and the search had started two hours later when no one could raise her. She scanned the room again, looking for any clue and her eyes fell on a black plastic box beside the coffee table. ‘Her laptop. They took her laptop.’

  John Radcliffe, hunting through the room with rubber gloves on, looked up. ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘The power block is here, the laptop isn’t. She used to put it away, with the block, when she wasn’t using it.’

  ‘Why would they want it?’

  Ceri shrugged. ‘It has her research data on it… Uh, something to do with the power station?’

  ‘I’ll have security increased at the station.’ John pulled out his phone and hit a speed dial.

  Kate walked in as he started to speak. ‘The neighbours remember seeing her come home on Friday. They neither saw nor heard anything odd, but they haven’t seen her since then.’

  ‘Friday?’ Ceri asked, receiving a confirming nod. ‘Right.’ She summoned her power and light flared around her fingers, growing in intensity as she searched harder.

  Lily watched from where she was standing near the fireplace until the light was too bright to look at. ‘Ceri? Ceri! Stop, you need a better focus.’ The light cut out suddenly and Lily’s mu
scles relaxed from the tension which had been building.

  Ceri looked angry, frustrated. ‘Nothing! I got nothing!’

  ‘A block?’ Kate asked.

  ‘More like… there was nothing to find, like she’d been erased.’ She looked at Lily. ‘What the Hell better focus can I get than her home and the place she was taken?’

  Lily tilted her head to one side. ‘Her home, the spot she was taken, and Carter and Alec.’

  ~~~

  Alec’s face was fixed into a grim expression which managed to convey his desire to murder someone better than any form of rage he could be flying into. Carter looked like a man who had not slept for a couple of days and was sure he would not start doing so soon.

  Ceri held out a hand to each of them as soon as they entered the room. As they crossed to stand beside her and take her hand, Lily moved in behind Ceri. The hand she placed on Ceri’s shoulder would allow her to draw power through Lily. She was pretty sure that Ceri had pushed herself hard earlier. Anyway, Lily thought of Cheryl as a friend; while not as strong a bond as there was with Carter and Alec, it had to help.

  ‘I suggest closing your eyes,’ Ceri said, her voice soft but determined. Everyone did as Ceri readied the spell in her head and then… Lily let out a soft, gasping, moaning sound as Ceri pulled power through her, adding to the energy she drew through her own pattern. The light level rose to the point where Carter thought it might scar his retinas through his eyelids. Then it collapsed as Ceri let out a scream of frustration and, even when they all opened their eyes, the room seemed dark until their eyes adjusted again.

  ‘Nothing?’ Alec asked, a pleading tone in his voice. ‘A block? Something?’

  ‘Absolutely nothing,’ Ceri said, her voice hard, annoyed. ‘I’m not hitting a blockage or a ward. I’m just not finding her, not even putting out enough energy to blanket the planet.’ She saw Carter sagging to the couch, and Alec and Lily moving to comfort him. ‘She’s not dead.’

  ‘What?’ Carter’s voice had its own hard edge.