The Nullification Engine (The Alchemancer: Book Two)

by Scott Marlowe

  Next to Serena, Aaron shifted. They both knew to whom the earl referred. Serena closed her hand with Aaron's and squeezed.

  "I will speak no more on this matter, here and now, for though I know this is a day of mourning, time is of the essence, and we've little to waste." Phillip's gaze strayed to the twin coffins. "It is necessity which must drive us now. But it is a necessity which I am presently ill-prepared to take on alone. It is to my benefit—to our entire city's—that we have men like Field Marshal Chandler to lean on."

  The field marshal took center stage once more.

  "I arrived in Brighton at the behest of my lord, the baron of Agratis, three days ago. Since that time, I have put myself at Lord Phillip's disposal. By his order, and in cooperation with the local authorities, I have spent my time investigating the cause of the Chaos. I have learned much. First and foremost, that the threat to our realm is as great as ever." The field marshal paused, letting his words sink in. "Lord Phillip spoke of a 'she.' Sorceress. Witch. Demon. We know not what she is for sure. A girl, by most accounts, though she is anything but human. This girl, possessed of the powers of some Underland spawn, nearly brought ruin to your city and even touched Rockhaven, though her hand was not so heavy there. We know not what pact she made to gain such power, nor to whom—or what—she made it. Until we do...we are not safe."

  "They think she's still a threat," Serena whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "They don't know what happened." Which they should, given the number of people from Norwynne they'd had the opportunity to interview. Obviously, they'd been talking to the wrong people.

  "Initial reports indicated Norwynne was gone," Durant said. "Not in ruins. Not merely damaged. But simply gone. When we heard this information in Rockhaven, Lord Malcolm ordered me to go and see for myself. I did, with my best men at my back. I think you all know by now the information was accurate. Norwynne is no more."

  A ripple of unsettlement coursed through the assembly.

  "The girl did this thing. Some claim she is dead. Others, that she vanished to places unknown. We cannot corroborate either story at this time. But, rest assured, we are not sitting idle, waiting for Norwynne's fate to befall either Brighton or Rockhaven. The woodsmen of Agratis maintain an ever-vigilant watch over the forests, while Lord Phillip has his soldiers out on extra patrols about the city and the surrounding countryside. Also, we have sent a request to Duke Brannigan for magical assistance. We can only hope the royal sorcerers arrive before this demon-girl decides to strike again."

  Serena listened and listened, forcing a growing urge to correct the field marshal down once and then again. But like a kettle set to boil for too long, the urge grew too strong to contain and she blurted out, "Excuse me!"

  Durant's head shot up in her general direction. Others looked about, trying to identify the person who had spoken.

  Committed now, Serena went on. "I think you're missing a few crucial pieces of information. Like, for example, the demon-girl—she wasn't really a demon, by the way—is no longer a threat."

  Only when every gaze in the rotunda turned her way did Serena fully realize what she'd just done. The room went completely silent. Durant stared up at her, but said nothing. Next to her, Aaron shifted very uncomfortably.

  "Bring that person down here!"

  Lord Phillip's voice sent a shock through Serena. Seized by a rising sense of panic, she swept her gaze across the sea of faces looking back at her. She found solace in none of them. Not even in the single, solitary one she recognized. Of all the times in which to finally see her mother again, Serena had never imagined one worse.

  "Oh, shat," she said without thinking.

  Her mother's lips were pinched, her figure almost quivering. Her eyes, which were Serena's own crystal blue, were icy barbs, threatening to freeze her in place. Only the commotion around them broke Serena free from their spell.

  Dip and Dup were joined by several other guards who, together, cleared a lane through the crowd to stairs leading down. Serena grabbed hold of Aaron, making sure he came with her. A mixture of expressions ranging from shock to curiosity to disapproval followed them all the way down. As they came out onto the ground floor of the rotunda, Serena saw that Field Marshal Durant hadn't moved an inch. Lord Phillip, though, exercising extreme impatience, had moved front and center in order to address Serena and Aaron the moment they appeared.

  "State your name," Lord Phillip said, looking at Serena. Taller than her by a head, he had sandy blond hair and a hard stare which demanded she answer immediately.

  Serena first curtsied, as was proper, then said, "I am Lady Serena, Your Grace, of the House of Walkerton, though more recently of Wildemoore Manor where I served as sorcerer's apprentice to the late Master Ansanom."

  Phillip considered her introduction before he looked to Aaron. "And you?"

  Aaron bowed in such an awkward, nervous manner Serena wondered for a moment if he might trip and fall over. He did not.

  "Aaron, Your Grace. I mean, Aaron Shepherd, of Taloo, Your Grace."

  "Taloo?"

  "Yes, sir. It's a fishing hamlet down south, along the coast."

  The earl, already dismissing the fisherman's boy in front of him, started to look away.

  "Milord," Serena said, "if I may? My friend is too modest. This, sir, is Aaron Shepherd of Norwynne Keep, alchemist, scholar, and apprentice to the late master sorcerer, Elsanar."

  Whether it was the mention of Norwynne or the master sorcerer's name, the earl's attention went back to Aaron and, this time, stayed there.

  "We only just arrived this morning, sir," Serena said. "We were sorry to have heard about your parents. They will be missed."

  Though Phillip's attention strayed back to her, his gaze remained on Aaron. "Yes. Yes, of course. As we all are." He looked from one to the other. "The two of you... Both sorcerers' apprentices, both of late masters. I am unsure what to think."

  Serena was about to explain when a figure stepped forward from the crowd. The Baron of Penwyre, Lord Chancellor Marcel Dadehill, who was the only man capable of speaking for the earl as if he were the earl himself, whispered something into Lord Phillip's ear. Such was his height he had to bend at a considerable angle to deliver his message. A hand went to the symbol of office hanging from his neck in order to hold the ruby pendant in place. Serena made out only the word "Fuchs."

  "If what my chancellor tells me is accurate," Phillip said, "you two were not only in Norwynne when it fell, but you may have had a central role in its destruction. Is this true?"

  "Yes, sir," Aaron said. "I mean, no, sir. We were there, but we didn't cause its destruction."

  "Who did, then?" The earl went on before either mustered an answer. "Both Field Marshal Chandler and Lord Chancellor Marcel have conducted interviews with those arriving from Norwynne, and all tell a tale of a raven-haired demon-child who rained down hellfire and brimstone upon their home. Do you dispute this?"

  Serena stayed quiet. In this, she felt Aaron needed to answer. It was his home laid waste, and his friend who had done it.

  "No, sir," Aaron said. "But she wasn't a demon. She was...a friend. Her name was Shanna."

  Lord Phillip nodded. "You, Aaron, are the first to assign a name to this...girl. The others...no one knew who she was. There has been such chaos and loss of late that putting together all of the pieces has proven difficult. I wish to hear your accounting of what transpired. But, right now," he said, his gaze straying to the coffins, "we have other matters to bring to a close. Still, I need to ask each of you a question first. I need to know if this is over. I need to know if my earldom is safe." He gaze fell on each of them before he asked, "Is this girl... Is Shanna dead?"

  Aaron didn't speak right away. When he did, he spoke in a voice both quiet and subdued. "Yes, sir."

  Serena responded in a similar manner. "She slipped into the ocean along with Norwynne, sir."

  Lord Phillip let out a deep breath of relief.

  "Your Grace," Lord Chamberlain Marcel sai
d. "I must urge caution. How do we know their information is accurate?"

  "We don't, but still I believe them."

  The lord chamberlain opened his mouth to issue another protest.

  "Yet you are right to exercise caution, Marcel," Phillip said. "Nothing changes until we hear the entirety of their story. But, first, we have present matters to bring to a close. Lord Chamberlain?"

  "Yes, sir?"

  "See that these two are brought to the Sanguine Chamber. No one is to speak to them until I do. Please gather my privy council, as well as anyone else you think should attend, as soon as these ceremonies are concluded."

  As ordered, Serena and Aaron were led away. Serena was disappointed she'd not witness the remainder of the funeral. She was not upset at all that her mother had no immediate opportunity to confront her. Time enough for that later, in spades. Right now, though, she and Aaron had a story to tell.

  * * *

  Aaron welcomed the shadowy interior and quiet solitude of the Sanguine Chamber. Lit by a smattering of candles set upon tall candelabras, its deep maroon walls blended almost into complete darkness at the corners. The room was empty but for a quartet of plush chairs set in the middle. This changed as servants brought more chairs, moving the plush ones and arranging the ones they'd brought into several rows all facing a single direction. Aaron and Serena were still under guard, but Dip and Dup had stationed themselves outside in the hall.

  An hour passed before the earl and his retinue arrived. Aaron counted twenty men and a handful of women. Many were up in years. Amongst them he spotted Chane and a woman Aaron assumed was Serena's mother, for she'd similarly colored hair, fair skin, and the same piercing blue eyes which, right now, were riveted on Serena. With her was Serena's father, who fidgeted at his cuffs until he spotted his daughter, whereupon he flashed her a smile and a quick wave before finding his seat. The lord chamberlain and Field Marshal Chandler, whose expression was unreadable, came up to the front and sat. Aaron expected Lord Phillip to join them, but the earl dragged a chair aside so he sat away from the others. All told, it was a much larger crowd than Aaron had been expecting.

  With everyone situated, the earl gestured for them to begin. Though Serena had offered to tell the story in its entirety on her own, they had both quickly realized only Aaron knew the beginning. Taking a deep breath, he did his best to still the fluttering in his stomach. He'd given scientific demonstrations in front of moderately-sized assemblies before, but he'd never spoken in front of such a distinguished audience. He was just about to begin when a single latecomer walked into the room. Aaron paused, surprised because she was eslar.

  Mindful of her late appearance, she attempted a surreptitious entrance, and so Aaron only got a glimpse of her as she ducked her head and took a seat at the back. But that one look, with light from the chamber's flickering candles lighting her face, revealed the telltale blue-black skin and, different from Ensel Rhe's shock of rust-red hair, a straight, shoulder-length arrangement of copper. Her eyes, like those of all eslar, were stark white.

  Aaron was allowed no more time to consider the woman, as the earl, and everyone else, waited for him to begin. Nervousness kept his oration succinct as he started from the beginning with the attack on Norwynne. Remembering Master Rhe's request to not make mention of his name, Aaron referred to him only as a nameless mercenary. He faltered only at the part when he and the mercenary had arrived at Wildemoore Manor. Ansanom's betrayal, and the subsequent torture, still stung, he found. Serena, who had developed a knack for reading him, came forward, urging him to step back. She told everyone she knew the story from that point, and so would tell the rest. She replaced Aaron's terseness with a polished and fluid oration, despite it being the first time she'd told the tale. She moved about, too, gesturing with her hands as she drew the audience's attention to her. Aaron watched their audience's heads move in time with her as she moved from one side of the room to the other. He watched their expressions, so flat when he'd spoken, come alive as Serena related the final fate of Erlek. They cringed in fear at the appearance of the houndmaster, and grimaced when she described the pact of blood Aaron had entered into in order to stop him. Then Serena turned from the audience to direct her full attention to Aaron. Aaron felt the heat rise in his face when he realized every gaze in the room looked at him. Serena then spoke of how, in a stroke of ingenuity, he'd harnessed the hounds to an old wagon, using their tireless energy to get them back to Norwynne in time to stop the Chaos from growing any worse. Aaron wanted to shrug, but, with so much attention on him, he stayed still. It had seemed a good solution to the problem at hand. When Serena heaped further praise on his idea to put Erlek's attunement engine into a pattern of mutually destructive interference, he thought any number of others would have come up with the very same solution. When she told them how he'd tried to save his friend even after she was gone, such a conflicting range of emotions assailed him he wasn't sure what to think at all.

  Throughout her telling, nods and whispers were exchanged, and many expressions that started as troubled turned hopeful. Only the earl offered no reaction at all. He sat straight, hands placed in his lap, and, except for a few times where his gaze strayed to Serena, kept his focus locked on Aaron. Only when the story was complete, with Serena describing how Norwynne had sunk into the ocean with Shanna's defeat, did the earl finally shift in his chair. He took a deep breath, almost a sigh, and then he stood. While he paced to a corner of the room, servants carrying cups of wine entered unbidden. These they passed out to everyone, including Aaron and Serena. One was brought to Lord Phillip, but he waved it away. Chairs were offered to Aaron and Serena. Neither accepted. Not as long as the earl remained standing.

  "I asked you this before," Phillip said, "but I need to hear it again." His voice silenced the hum of chatter. "Are you certain Shanna is dead?"

  Serena answered. "Yes, milord. At the end...she..." She glanced at Aaron.

  The retelling had taken its toll on him. Serena waited, giving him time. When he nodded at her, she spoke the words the earl needed to hear.

  "Shanna was gone before she slipped into the earth, Your Grace," Serena said. "Her body was taken—along with the Elements—into the ocean. There can be no doubt she is...dead."

  Lord Phillip took a deep breath and let it out. "This tale you tell is, at its very least, fantastical, to a point that had I not seen the Chaos with my own two eyes, I might wonder how much of it is true. But I did see it, albeit from a distance. We all did." The earl's gaze strayed to each of his councilors and to the other guests before darting back to Aaron. "This tooth... May I see it?"

  Aaron took it out from beneath his shirt, revealing the long and pointed canine with its mixed stain of human and demon blood.

  The earl approached him. "May I touch it?"

  "Milord," Lord Chancellor Marcel said, alarm in his voice, "I do not think that is a good idea."

  Phillip, hand raised, lowered it. Not because of his advisor's warning, but because Aaron had drawn the tooth closer to himself.

  "You are possessive of its power?" the earl asked.

  "No, sir. I'm not sure what effect it might have on you. And, right now, it's the only thing keeping me alive."

  "Really? How so?"

  "If I remove it, sir, the hounds and their master will kill me. It is what they were summoned to do. As long as I have the tooth on my person, they cannot harm me. The tooth is a middling charm."

  "Witchcraft," the earl said.

  "Yes, sir. Witchcraft provided the initial spark, but there is a specificity of energy coursing through it now. I know because, when we reached Kirschnick, I built an encorder from bits and pieces given to me by a tinkerer. Just a primitive one, but it worked well enough to take basic measurements." Its alchemical power cell had died days ago, and since a child with them had shown an interest in it, Aaron had surrendered the device to him.

  Lord Phillip shook his head. "I've no idea what you are talking about."

  Aaron held up t
he tooth and explained. "You see how the tooth is stained?" When he'd first been given the tooth, it already had one dark stain across its surface. Now, it had three. "One of the stains is from my blood. This one—the darkest—is from the houndmaster."

  The earl nodded at that.

  "You can't see it, sir, but the blood permeates the tooth in the form of energy. This has the effect of mingling the two sources with the core of the middling. The combinatory effect, coupled with the spell cast on the tooth, provides the charm its potency, which in turn prevents the dogs and their master from killing me."

  "Are you saying your blood—the houndmaster's blood, as well—is charged with energy?"

  "Not just mine or his, sir, but everyone's. You see, there is a correlation between mass and energy, the like of which we do not fully understand yet, but some scholars believe—"

  "You said you were a sorcerer's apprentice. To me, you sound more like a scientist."

  "I am, sir. Master Elsanar took me on as his apprentice, but mostly to assist in deciphering the alchemical and scientific aspects of his research, not to learn sorcery. Like most, I do not have the inherent aptitude for it. Everyone assumed I studied magic, but I never did."

  "Did you try correcting them?"

  "Yes, sir. But, sometimes, when folk have their minds made up about something..."

  The earl almost smiled. "You are certainly right about that." Phillip paced a few steps away. From over one shoulder he said, "You two, sit."

  Aaron and Serena sat.

  Phillip turned to face the both of them. Something in his demeanor suggested a new direction for their discussion.

  "Norwynne's lord was a friend to our family and one of Kettering's most loyal patrons. I was saddened to hear of his demise. Elsanar's, as well. All in the earldom knew of his reputation as a sorcerer, logician, and inventor. The world is a lesser place for his loss."

  "Yes, sir," Aaron said.

  "Were you, then, to have become his successor someday?"

  "No, sir, I don't think so. There were other sorcerers in Norwynne in line to inherit Master Elsanar's place."