Thaumatology 12: Vengeance

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Yeah, I’m a little anxious about that myself.’

  ‘You need to diffuse this situation, Ceridwyn,’ Gwyn stated.

  ‘Me?!’

  ‘You are the only one who can, dear. Thanks to Huanglong and Jehoel, and the BBC, everyone is aware that you are a sorceress.’

  Ceri glowered, though not at Gwyn. Jehoel’s words had, apparently, not been kept for Ceri alone. Everyone within a hundred yards had heard him call her a sorceress. A lot of people had seen her pushing aside fire bolts and throwing around huge amounts of magical energy. Those who had heard the words had believed them and gone on camera reporting them. There had been others who had gone on record to say that an angel had come down to Earth to save the life of Ceri’s companion. When Lily had been identified as a half-demon, the implications of that had been debated on more than a few chat shows and talking-heads programmes. What Ceri had feared, the revelation of her secret, had come to pass, and so far it was not going too well.

  ‘The only person who can calm things down now is you,’ Gwyn went on. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but we’re all counting on you again.’

  Ceri nodded and turned away. Carter had said something similar the day before. He had managed to get past the press with Cheryl and Alec, primarily to check on Lily and tell her in no uncertain terms that she was to take a few days off work. He had also come to tell Ceri that the Order of Merlin had got very active suddenly. He had not been able to determine exactly what they were up to, but they were on the move.

  ‘Ceri,’ Twill said, flitting up over the banister, ‘there’s a werewolf on the grounds. Michael, I think.’

  ‘If it is, he’s got a key,’ she replied, and sure enough his voice came up from the main kitchen a second later.

  ‘Ceri? Where are you?’ The young man sounded anxious, and that was not good.

  ‘In the lounge, love,’ Ceri called back, trying to sound calm. She crossed the landing again as he ran up the stairs.

  ‘Alexandra’s in Catherine’s shop,’ Michael said as soon as he had joined them. ‘She’s got Anita with her and Stefan’s there. She sent me to tell you what’s going on.’

  ‘And?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘Catherine started getting calls this morning. We had Dolf and Donal over just after dawn. The packs, and I mean all of the packs, are up in arms. Most of them didn’t know what you were, but they don’t give a shit in a bush. What you are is Luperca’s favourite human and they’re not going to stand by and let you get hurt.’

  Ceri slumped onto the couch beside Lily, her face in her hands. ‘Alexandra and Catherine are trying to calm them down?’

  ‘Alexandra’s doing that. Catherine’s helping and trying to keep a lid on things with the Home Office, but she says they’re acting weird. It’s a bit like when Raynor was around. They’re being unnecessarily confrontational.’

  ‘Politicians backed into a corner aren’t that different from rats. This could end up with a full-on war between the supernatural community and the normals.’

  ‘I am afraid that your assessment is accurate, Ceridwyn,’ Mei said from the doorway. Gwyn was behind her. ‘My colleagues have told me that there are several rumours to the effect that you are either a Demon Lord, or some form of envoy from the Demon Realm. It seems whoever is leaking the information is not giving your actual role away, just enough to make it sound very bad. The Home Office has taken control of the situation, sidelining the Ministry for Arcane Affairs and directing the Foreign Office to only talk to the Fae Ambassador regarding the matter.’

  Ceri looked up. ‘Are they allowed to do that?’

  ‘They are allowed to make the request. They are painting the situation as a matter of national security, which means that everyone else is supposed to listen.’

  ‘Okay… what if…?’

  ‘A normal male and a witch just came through the gate,’ Twill announced.

  Ceri sagged again. ‘Now we’ve got the Greycoats visiting.’

  ‘I’ll get the door,’ Ophelia offered.

  ‘This is starting to move too fast,’ Ceri muttered.

  Both Kate and John were looking serious. John looked serious a lot when he was working, but when Kate was doing it it meant that the shit had hit the fan so hard the blades had broken off.

  ‘We were sent over to make sure you were still here,’ John said, his tone distinctly sour. ‘The Home Office is sending a car to take you to a meeting at Marsham Street.’

  ‘Our office is going nuts,’ Kate added. ‘The Chief’s been in meetings all day explaining how he had not known that you were anything other than a normal magician with a lot of technical knowledge.’

  ‘Damn,’ Ceri growled.

  ‘Oh, he’s fucking annoyed,’ John said. ‘He says it’s like Raynor all over again. Someone’s influencing the higher-ups at the Met, but he thinks it’s purely political. Someone’s pulled in a lot of favours to make things tough for people who know you. We both got grilled.’

  ‘I’m so sorry…’

  ‘Fuck off,’ John grumbled. ‘I’m not. I don’t like people threatening my friends. I’m quite prepared to say we found this place empty when we arrived.’ Kate was nodding in agreement.

  ‘No,’ Ceri said, getting to her feet. ‘No, this needs to calm down. We’ve got Otherworld and the werewolves ready to go to war for me. You’re ready to lie for me. This needs to calm down… And there’s the future to think of. I’m not the only sorcerer in the world. I know there’s one in America, there must be more. If I can’t get this under control, things will go badly for them. I’ll go to the Home Office and we’ll see what happens from there.’ Gwyn was smiling at her, which was a good sign.

  ‘A bit of preparatory work wouldn’t go amiss though,’ Ceri added. ‘Mei, call your contacts at the Foreign Office. Tell them that the Overlord of All Demons, Lady Ayasha, would like one of their representatives to contact her Ambassador to Earth with regards to opening diplomatic relations.’

  Mei gave a nod, apparently unsurprised. ‘Who shall I say is your Ambassador?’

  ‘Lily, you are now the Demon Realm’s Ambassador to Earth.’ Lily let out a squeak, her eyes widening. ‘Where’s your father?’

  ‘He’s on the other side,’ Ophelia supplied. ‘He’s been helping Hiffy organise things.’

  ‘Right. Get him back here to help Lily. And you’ll be Lilith for diplomatic purposes. Okay, love?’

  ‘I… uh… I guess I can do it.’

  ‘They will take some time to organise themselves,’ Mei said. ‘You will have some time to prepare. Making the approach early will put down a marker, however.’

  Ceri gave a nod. ‘Ishifa?’

  The fairy appeared in the air beside Twill. She had been nervous for the last couple of days as if suspecting that her new life was going to have to change again. ‘Yes, Ceri?’

  ‘I need you to go out and take a message to Cheryl. Tell her that we may have to leave for the Demon Realm. If she wants to, she can come over. Carter and Alec as well, if they want. If they do, I’ll come get them before we leave. Make sure she’s clear I’m hoping it won’t come to that, but I need her to think about it.’

  The tiny woman swallowed hard. ‘Yes, Ceri.’

  ‘Then I need you to go to Demi-monde. It’s a club on Curzon Street. Twill can tell you where that is. You’re to pick up a package that’s there for me and bring it back here. Talk to Mistress Arabella, and only her.’

  ‘Yes, Ceri.’ Looking even more nervous, Ishifa flew off toward the attic. She wanted to be wearing something if she was going out on an errand in the city.

  ‘There are men coming up the path,’ Twill said into the silence. ‘One of them is a practitioner and I don’t like the feel of him.’

  ‘Carter said the Order of Merlin was getting active,’ Lily said, her voice tense.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Ceri replied. ‘I’m going out to meet them. I’m not having a pacted wizard in my house.’

  Westminster.

  Four men esco
rted Ceri down a corridor in the Home Office’s headquarters, a building she had always disliked and now really hated. Three of her guards were boring, ordinary security personnel. She guessed at Special Branch, though they had not identified themselves. The fourth, and the only one who had done any talking, might have been from the same arm of the police, but he was less boring even though he dressed in the same style of dark suit and wore sunglasses as they did. Ceri’s Sight showed the black canker of demonic pact corruption wrapped around his chakral median. His confident smile had slipped a little at the look of disgust on her face when she had seen him outside High Towers, but it was back now.

  They had spirited her away in a black car with a police escort, clearing the press back before they arrived. No one was to see her leaving, which was not a good sign. Now she was being taken via service elevators and back corridors to a meeting with… Well, he had not explained who she was meeting, which was also a less than favourable sign. Ceri was pushing down nerves as she walked, but then she saw something which made her more interested than worried.

  Ahead of them was a door, but in front of the door was a shimmering barrier. Ceri had seen something very like it before, at Black Fields in America. It was caused by very fast Null Thaumitons passing from a zero-magic zone into normal space. The room they were going into had, somehow, been reduced to a zero-magic field. Black Fields had been the only time she had ever seen such an area. So how had they managed to get one at the top of the Home Office building?

  The barrier offered no physical resistance to their passing, but Ceri felt a slight tingle as they passed through it. Then the door was opened and the room beyond became visible.

  It was all oak panelled and boardroom-like. Much of the space in the middle was occupied by a long, wide table with very comfortable-looking leather-backed chairs around it. Several of these, Ceri counted a dozen, were occupied by men in suits, and one woman. To add to those, the double doors at the far end were guarded by two more Special Branch types, and there were a couple of less comfortable seats against the walls occupied by note-takers and also Avery Sachs. The latter was looking distinctly uncomfortable. Ceri doubted that was because of the chair.

  Of the dozen people at the table, Ceri recognised two, both from the Home Office. At the far end was Anthony Lorian, the Minister, and sitting beside him was Roger Halpern, a Junior Minister with a demonic pact. Three more people in the room showed signs of pacts, besides the one who had brought her in. One of them, sitting a few seats away from Lorian, looked so corrupted he should have been visibly rotting, but instead he was a handsome man, fit, clear-skinned and with no sign of grey in his hair. He was clutching the head of a walking cane a little convulsively. Ceri’s Sight showed it radiating thaumic energy; it was a charged rod to be used in case its owner felt the need to throw magic around. Or maybe he needed the energy to keep himself intact given the amount of soul corruption he had.

  The only other magical thing in the room was a simple golden goblet which had been placed in the middle of the table. The design suggested considerable age. There were some runes carved into its rim which were hard to identify at this distance, but Ceri thought they were draconic. It seemed to be the source of the null-magic effect, which was almost enough to make her forget that she appeared to be in trouble.

  ‘Miss Brent,’ Lorian said without standing up, ‘please take a seat.’ Halpern was handing his Minister some papers from a red case. Lorian took them and peered at them, ignoring Ceri as she circled the chair opposite him and settled into the soft leather. ‘It appears…’ Lorian began.

  ‘Doctor,’ Ceri said, interrupting him.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘It’s Doctor Brent,’ Ceri stated, her voice calm.

  Lorian stared at her for a second. ‘It appears that we have something of a problem, Doctor Brent. You have become virtually indispensable to our plans for energy production for the next decade, the Ministry of Defence considers your work of vital importance, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is currently running in circles over the reaction to recent events from the Summer Court, and both the American and Australian Ambassadors have presented letters indicating that you are vital to their own power generation projects. On the other hand, the Dragon Empire wants you extradited along with their former Ambassador, and we have the fact that pacts with demons of any sort, especially Lords, are illegal.’

  He paused, perhaps expecting Ceri to say something. When she did not he gave a small facial shrug before continuing. ‘The recommendations I have are as follows. You are to be confined in a secure location under magical enforcement. You will be studied to determine whether we can make further use of your talents. I’m told that your power derives from something called the Iron Crown of Gorefguhadget, which you will hand over. Otherwise you will continue your work. Mei Long will be sent back to China. We believe that your colleague, Edward Perry, is or was a dragon. The same is true of the woman called Gwyneth Price living in your house. Both will be confined separately from you. We’re currently considering trying them for treason.’

  Lorian looked up from his papers. ‘Anything to say, Doctor Brent?’ he asked.

  ‘Out of interest, what makes you think I’m pacted?’ Ceri asked in reply.

  Lorian looked at Halpern. The latter smiled. ‘The “angel” who came to the rescue of your companion described you as a “sorceress,”’ he stated, as though that said it all.

  ‘Yes,’ Ceri replied, ‘that’s because I’m a sorceress.’

  ‘Even I know that sorcerers were pacted wizards,’ Lorian growled at her, ‘or just hyperbole on top of legend.’

  ‘That’s what they teach in school,’ Ceri agreed, ‘but it’s conjecture. No one has seen a sorcerer since Badon. There might be a few Fae around who remember that time, but they aren’t going to talk about it. All right, you seem to think I’m pacted to a Lord… Do you know which one?’

  Halpern’s face stiffened and the man with the cane gripped it harder. The people from the Order knew what was coming. Ceri really doubted they had expected her to just admit everything.

  ‘The reports suggest that a new power has arisen in the Demon Realm,’ Lorian stated, his eyes on his briefing papers, ‘a Lady Ayasha. It’s suggested that you have somehow empowered her, probably through the generator at Battersea. In return, she grants you powers. I have reports here stating that you do have a pact.’

  ‘Compiled by whom? The only way to be sure of a pact is a deep analysis by a specialist magician.’

  Lorian looked down the table at one of the pacted wizards who was sitting quite close to Ceri. ‘Doctor Dreyfus?’

  ‘I have examined the subject,’ Dreyfus said, his face tight, ‘and I can confirm…’

  ‘No you haven’t,’ Ceri said, almost laughing. ‘It takes several minutes in close proximity. You need to cast an analysis spell. I’ve never seen you before and you haven’t done it here. There are only two people in this room who can work magic at the moment, and you aren’t one of them.’ She looked down the able at Lorian. ‘I’m not pacted. Dreyfus is, and Halpern there. There are three more in the room. They’re members of the Order of Merlin which Mister Sachs can brief you on if required.’

  Lorian’s face had gone a little red and he opened his mouth to speak, but Ceri continued before he could. ‘There is a little truth to that report. You could say that I’m the power behind Lady Ayasha, but it would be a little more accurate to say that I am Lady Ayasha, Overlord of All Demons, Ruler of the Demon Realm.’

  The guards were drawing guns. Sachs was sitting forward in his chair looking tense. Ceri relaxed back in her chair and had to stop herself from putting her feet up on the table. For some reason, she felt completely at ease. Finally, after all the secrecy, everything was out in the open and she felt… free.

  ‘You’re a demon?’ Lorian asked. He looked scared.

  ‘Of course not. I’m a sorceress. Sorcery is dragon magic. A long time ago the dragons tried to take over the De
mon Realm like they did here, but they got a bit further, in a way. One of them, calling himself Gorefguhadget, created a crown of iron which gave him power over every demon in the Realm and access to that world’s magical field. He was a very distant ancestor and I sort of inherited the position.’

  She smiled. ‘It’s weird. I’ve been dreading something like this meeting since I found out what I was. Now it’s here… Let me explain what happens from here. There are basically two paths. If you’re going to insist on trying to imprison me and threaten my friends, I’ll leave. I don’t just mean this room, I’ll leave the planet. I don’t want this to turn into a war, so I’ll take my friends and go live in my castle. I have good relations with Otherworld. I may ask the Americans and Australians if they still want my help, and I think they’ll accept. Great Britain will lose out on the gains it could have had, and other countries will rise.’

  She sat up, staring down the table at Lorian. ‘But the thing is… Well, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Give it fifty years and I’m going to start thinking a lot more like a Demon Lord. I already have an army. Right now the thought of marching in here and taking the country by force is abhorrent to me, but every time I go over there I can feel it. The urge to be everything I can be is so strong…’ Her voice became cold and distant. ‘I’d make a good queen. I’d be the queen this world deserves. I’d kill with kindness. None would resist me…’

  Ceri closed her eyes and looked down before her voice broke. She remembered the feeling of being under the thrall of the dragons. She knew what it was to be a warrior goddess with the power of life or death over everyone in her sight. Her chest felt tight and the shocked silence in the room just made it worse. She pulled in a deep breath.

  ‘Or… You let me get on with my life. There are other sorcerers out there. I know of one in America who probably doesn’t know what he is yet. There will be more. I want to teach them. Britain can be the greatest magical power in the world. I’ve already made overtures to the Foreign Office about opening diplomatic relations with the Demon Realm. We have things they haven’t even thought of, they have resources we could never hope to find on Earth. We’re negotiating with the Fae to construct a pair of open markets around gates between the worlds. Imagine being able to trade, freely and safely, with demons, maybe with demons and Fae. It’ll be difficult at first, but the benefits if we can make it work…’