Thaumatology 12: Vengeance

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘The alarms haven’t gone off.’

  ‘They aren’t attacking. They’re just… lining up in front of the lake. And I’m not sure what kind of demon they are. I’ve never seen anything quite like them.’

  Ceri got to her feet. ‘Come in children,’ she said. ‘Brebbam, could you explain some of what we’re doing here to the children? I have to go out for a minute.’ She turned to Hiffy and added in a lower voice, ‘Find Lily and get the rest of the kids somewhere safe.’

  With that, she walked to the door, past the throng of excited young det, picking up her staff on the way, and headed out to the landing. Walking off the ledge, she dropped down almost all the way, her skirts flapping around her. Right at that moment, decorum was the last thing on her mind. Arresting her fall and landing softly, she marched out toward the huge main doors of the castle.

  If they were demons the crown would keep them in check, but the fact that they were not assaulting the castle, just waiting, had given Ceri’s curiosity a poke which it was not going to let her ignore. Thoughts about what curiosity did to cats came to mind as she asked the castle to open up and the vast slabs of rock which formed the gates swung aside as though they weighed nothing.

  She could see them, two formations, each of five ranks by the looks of it, and each twenty demons across. Two hundred and one of them were standing there, the last a little taller than the others and in front of the troops. They were jet black, maybe seven feet in height. The reddish sunlight still managed to glint off skin which had a scaly quality, and the features seemed to be a sort of flattened reptilian. Aside from the height they looked a lot like the High Ones, the race Gorefguhadget had pretended to be when he sat upon the throne.

  Ceri walked out into the sunlight, stopping a few yards from the leader and planting her staff on the ground beside her. As one, two hundred and one demons dropped to one knee and bowed their heads to her. Ceri blinked.

  ‘Lady Ayasha,’ the leader said, ‘Overlord of All Demons, Heir to the Iron Crown, the Dakishodet have returned to serve you.’

  Ceri just looked at him, her eyes wide. Aside from anything else, he had been speaking Draconic.

  ~~~

  His name was Naton, and he was the Captain of the Hands, apparently. He sat in a chair opposite Ceri in her reception room with his lieutenants, Aja and Pansh, standing on either side of him. Pansh was more heavily muscled than any of the Dakishodet Ceri had seen, and he led the Right Hand who were trained primarily in defence. Aja was a slim, wiry female who carried what seemed like an extraordinary abundance of sharp objects about her person. She led the Left Hand who were described as the offensive unit, but Ceri got the distinct impression that Aja was an assassin.

  Naton was a little perplexed that Ceri had never heard of them. ‘The Dakishodet were made to be Lord Gorefguhadget’s personal guard,’ he explained. ‘In truth, none of us knew him, but we have been awaiting the return of his line to the throne for more generations than anyone can count.’

  ‘Uh… Prophecy or something?’ Ceri asked.

  Naton gave a nod. ‘When he fell, the survivors of our people fled into the mountains, making a home far to the south. The land there is harsh, but that kept us strong. Still, once there were thousands of us. Now we are barely strong enough to do what we were bred for, but when we felt your rise to the throne we knew that we had to come.’

  Ceri looked at them, frowning slightly. Dakishodet would translate as ‘superior demon’ or maybe ‘det of higher birth,’ or ‘more birth demon’ if you were being terribly literal. Gorefguhadget had not struck her as being that pretentious, but then her randomly recovered memories of him had been pretty brief and very personal. He had actually created a species specifically to serve as his soldiers?

  ‘Exactly what makes you so… special?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘We are strong, fast, fearless in battle,’ Naton replied. ‘We were also made to be resistant to magic, save for the spells of our Lord.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ It still did not entirely make sense. Why had Gorefguhadget needed an army? He could effectively control any demon on the planet! Were they just a status symbol? Unless he had found out about the plot to kill him and these had been his answer. If they were, he had failed. She turned her head to look at Ruffa who was standing beside her chair.

  The aging, blue det looked disgruntled, but then he always did. ‘There’s plenty of room in the barracks,’ he said, assuming she wanted his assessment. He was right. ‘Always useful to have more hands and some force when it’s needed. You’re not always on hand, Lady.’

  ‘True enough,’ Ceri agreed. ‘We can sort out a guard rota for the portal room. Hiffy won’t have to run up the stairs to greet me when I arrive.’

  ‘Honour guard for these “dipliomatic” things you like as well. Demons like a show of force.’ Also a very good point, but Ceri had to stop herself grinning as he mispronounced the English word; demons did not really have a word for diplomacy. ‘Staff we have should be sufficient, ’cos I reckon this lot’ll be used to fending for themselves, but there seemed to be a lot more males than females. Might be we should ask Lady Jubilia to recommend some suitable Lorril for the castle. They’ll be useful for your dipliomatic too.’

  Ceri gave a sigh. Now she was employing what amounted to prostitutes to keep her troops happy. It was not exactly the same, or she could tell herself that anyway. The Lorril would be doing what they naturally did to survive rather than giving their bodies for money. It just felt like she was slowly sliding into being the kind of person she was not. Not that that was any different from how things had been going for years, but now she was doing it to herself.

  ‘Very well, see to it. Captain Naton, my staff will see to it that your people are looked after. If there’s anything you need, talk to Ruffa or his daughter, Hiffy. Ruffa is in charge of the castle while I’m not here. Hiffy is his deputy. If there’s actually a need for defence then, obviously, you’ll take command…’

  ‘Am I given to understand that the Overlord does not reside here at all times?’ Naton asked.

  ‘I’m human, Captain, from Earth. I have responsibilities there as well as here.’

  ‘We should arrange for a guard to be with you when you return,’ Naton stated. He seemed comfortable enough with his Mistress being a human at least.

  ‘That won’t be necessary. Really. I have other people who can guard me there.’ Ceri frowned. ‘I’m not even sure you could. You’re det, aren’t you?’

  ‘We have no talent for magic, no. We are… not exactly det either.’

  ‘Can det actually cross over and stay there?’ No one gave an immediate answer. ‘Rhetorical question really, but I’m going to have to find out because that’s going to bug me…’ She shook her head. ‘I have some other matters to deal with, so I’ll leave you in Ruffa’s capable hands.’ She climbed to her feet.

  ‘Your guests have broken for refreshment,’ Ruffa told her. ‘The Guandosh looked like they needed about twenty hours’ sleep.’

  Ceri gave him a grin in reply. ‘We have been pushing them pretty hard. In that case, would you get someone to relieve Hiffy and Lilith? I’d imagine the children need feeding. Tell them to report to my chambers.’

  Ruffa gave a nod. ‘Hiffy’s been acting like a gilda in a market square all morning.’

  ‘Oh,’ Ceri said, laughing, ‘it’ll get worse this afternoon.’

  Battersea, London.

  There was something on the wind Anita did not recognise. She was not big on curiosity, but she did not like scents in the pack’s territory which she could not identify. She ran north, toward the river, and then east… The scent was coming from the river side of the power station and that definitely made it interesting.

  Closer she thought she had met something like it before. Gwyn had it, as did Mei. Something like hot plastic, but more organic. Snakes and Dakag demons had something of the same scent. But this was neither Gwyn nor Mei; both were in the other world for one thing, gone off after dark t
o meet with demons and discuss magic. But Anita knew their scents and this was different. Gwyn smelled like a warm summer day, and often of baking. Mei was fresh spice. This was sharp, metallic, chemical, or maybe alchemical. Yes, there was a hint of the same smells Lo Chan’s laboratory had had, but several days old.

  Then she saw him, a figure briefly outlined against the lights across the water. She had been lucky: he was good at remaining hidden. This, she guessed, was Chan’s associate, the enchanter. How dangerous was he? Chan had been a significant threat, but this man was an unknown.

  She was still considering her best course of action when something flew from where the man was standing, heading right for her. She started to move, but only succeeded in catching the bolt of light on her arm instead of her body. She smelled burning fur and there was an instant of searing pain. She let out a howl, clutching her useless right arm against her body as she looked for cover to hide behind. If he tried again…

  But when she tried to spot him to see whether he was readying another spell, she saw nothing. Whoever he was, he was gone.

  Castle of Bones, Demon Realm, April 24th.

  Ceri let out a long breath of air as the portal closed behind Brebbam. Around her the castle seemed to heave a sigh of relief as well.

  ‘Children gone,’ she said, ‘Guandosh back under the ocean. All is finally quiet.’

  ‘Except for Hiffy,’ Lily said, keeping her voice down, but having some difficulty in not giggling.

  The blue det was looking very fidgety. Her tail was in constant motion and she had a tendency to squirm if she was standing still for any length of time. Every now and then she would give a little whimper.

  ‘Yes…’ Ceri looked around at the others. ‘Everyone ready to go home?’ There were some affirmative statement, more nods.

  ‘I could stay on for another few months to study the place,’ Cheryl said sadly, ‘but I guess it’s back to conference organising.’

  ‘I don’t think Ceri would mind if you dropped by once in a while,’ Carter suggested.

  ‘No, Ceri wouldn’t,’ Ceri agreed, but she turned and reached out for the gate, opening it through to High Towers with barely a thought. ‘You lot go through. Lily and I have something to discuss with Hiffy. We’ll be through in a few minutes.’

  Carter gave her a quizzical look as he walked past. He had seen the way their caretaker had been behaving and was wondering what they were up to. Well it was official Overlord business! Oh yes it was!

  ‘Now then, Hiffy,’ Ceri said when the gate had closed again.

  ‘Y-yes, Mistress?’ Hiffy responded. She knew Ceri was about to go, which meant that the curse she was under was about to expire. She was clearly unsure of exactly how she was going to react.

  ‘Have you learned your lesson?’

  ‘Yes, Mistress. It is your prerogative to punish your servants as and when you wish.’

  ‘Almost,’ Lily said.

  ‘A-and… and I should be less worried about your anger because… because you like me?’

  Ceri nodded. ‘You’ll know when I’m actually angry with you, Hiffy. I’ll go very quiet and I’ll probably avoid you because I won’t want to do some of the things that’ll spring to mind. And here, in this world, if I think it too hard it’s liable to happen.’

  ‘Y-yes, Mistress.’

  ‘I certainly won’t wake you up by rubbing at that spot on the back of your neck.’

  ‘No, Mistress.’

  Ceri shook her head. ‘You’re wound up like a spring, aren’t you? Lilith and I are both curious to see what happens when it lets go, so I’m going to release the curse before I leave, but first…’ Hiffy’s eyes had gone very wide; she had hoped no one would actually see what happened. ‘There’s an experiment I’d like to conduct. If it works, you’ll get to see Earth, but it could be dangerous. We don’t know what will happen to a true det who comes over. We’ll take every precaution, but I am not going to order you to go.’

  ‘I could see your other home?’ If her eyes got any wider they were going to pop out.

  ‘Yes, but…’

  ‘Of course I’ll do it! Do you know how many det have seen Earth? I mean, it might be none!’

  ‘All right. It’ll take a little while to set up, so it won’t be today.’

  ‘Aside from anything else,’ Lily said, ‘we’ll have to give Twill lots of warning or she’ll… be sarcastic.’

  Ceri grimaced. ‘Uh-huh. Very sarcastic. And now…’ She raised her hand toward Hiffy, light shimmering around her fingers. ‘…on with the entertainment.’

  Kennington, London.

  ‘Oh God, I think my eardrums have burst,’ Ceri said as she stumbled through the portal.

  ‘What?’ Lily asked, looking as though she had just been through an artillery barrage.

  ‘I forgot the chamber would echo.’ She looked around at various bemused faces. ‘What?’ she asked. ‘My ears are ringing.’

  ‘You’ve got to do that to me some time,’ Lily said.

  Ceri blinked at her, frowned, and said, ‘What?’

  ‘Huh?’ Lily replied.

  And it was about then that Ceri noticed Alexandra and Anita. Michael was with them, looking about as concerned as his Alpha. Anita had a lot of very pink skin down the length of her right arm as though she had been burned and it had heeled in wolf form. Focussing her will, Ceri banished the ringing sound which was blocking out everything else.

  ‘What the fuck’s happened now?’ she asked.

  Part Seven: The Dragons’ Teeth

  Battersea, London, April 24th, 2013.

  ‘I would really have liked more time to prepare,’ Ed said as Ceri settled onto her stomach in the heart of the generator. Gwyn and Lily were behind him; they had all insisted on being there.

  ‘If Huanglong came back here, he had to have a reason,’ Ceri replied, her eyes on the metal object. ‘I want this thing out of here and useless. Maybe he planned to activate the failsafe on it. It could wipe out half the city.’

  ‘Perhaps he just hoped you would try to remove it and do the job for him,’ Gwyn suggested.

  ‘Perhaps. But if that’s the case he’s going to be bitterly disappointed. Are you sure it wouldn’t be better if you did this, Ed?’

  ‘I am afraid, young lady, that my student surpassed me some time ago on all but experience. It’s far more likely that you will succeed than I. Just follow the schema I’ve set down and we should get to walk away, rather than flying, very fast, with an unfortunate landing.’

  Ceri glanced at his notes, on paper since electronics would have been fried pretty quickly in the generator. ‘Don’t make me laugh,’ she said and then reached out toward the first set of runes she needed to disable.

  ~~~

  Lily walked out of the circle, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her eyes flicked over the shed in the corner of the room to check that Gwyn and Ed were out of it.

  ‘How’s she doing?’ Cheryl asked from a safe distance.

  ‘How long’ve we been in there?’

  ‘Uh… just under three hours.’

  ‘Slowly then. She’s got through five traps and disabled three bands of insulating enchantment. That leaves… about nineteen layers to go.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘As she gets deeper it should go faster,’ Gwyn commented. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Well, she’s coming out to take a break, so we’ll be going in the hut. We’ll be out in about twenty minutes.’

  Ed frowned at her. ‘Neither of us was heavily charged,’ he said.

  ‘She’s stressed,’ Lily replied, ‘and I’ve been standing in a very powerful magic field for three hours. My tantric median is humming…’

  ‘We’ll try not to listen,’ Cheryl said.

  Ceri stepped out through the columns and started for the hut, and Lily turned to follow her. ‘I really don’t care whether you do or not,’ the half-succubus called over her shoulder.

  Canning Town.

  Huanglong’s fist clenched. It fe
lt as though both were, but he knew the sensation from his missing right hand was a ghost, and that was just another annoyance.

  The ephemeral tether which connected his mind to the cube in the power station was unravelling. The Brent girl was un-working his enchantment, disentangling the threads that bound it together. Already she had destroyed the components which allowed him to sense the environment around the cube. That meant she had bypassed at least two of the traps. The last of them would give her pause, he was sure of that, but she was likely to go faster now until she reached that one.

  He needed to work quickly, utilise his backup plan to gain advantage while he could. When she reached the tenth layer his connection would be broken entirely.

  Picking up the ornately carved ring resting on his desk, he focussed his will, becoming a conduit for the power driving through the cube. Slowly, the ring began to glow.

  Battersea.

  Lily crawled up to lie beside Ceri on the floor of the little shelter. Her nerves were still ringing from what she had done. She had never tried it before, but it had worked and it had felt…

  ‘Was that good for you,’ Lily mumbled.

  ‘It was…’ Ceri tried, stopped, took a breath and tried again. ‘You didn’t feed, you sort of…’

  ‘I pushed power into you. I thought I could do it, but I’ve never tried it. I thought I could heal… Didn’t think it would feel like that. It was… wild.’

  Ceri propped herself up on an elbow. ‘You felt what I felt?’

  ‘I… felt like my brain was on fire and there was liquid gold in my veins and stars in my eyes…’

  Ceri giggled. ‘Uh-huh. I guess you get a backlash for “misusing” your demonic powers. I mean, I feel wonderful.’

  ‘So I can heal people, but it’s exhausting and I can’t move for five minutes while my body stops trembling.’

  ‘Sounds like a good pay-off to me.’ Ceri pushed herself upright and reached for her jeans. ‘Well, I feel like I can go another few rounds with an enchanted cube. Thanks, love.’