The Queen's Viper

by Lesley Donaldson

Clare joined Owain and Graeme on the upper level, at the bank of glowing machines. “Owain, what parts of your safe house does the backup power supply serve?” she asked. Viper marvelled at the calm poise of the young woman who spurned the youth with whom she made love moments ago.

  “Security cameras and doors, ventilation, emergency lighting; the basics we need for food and shelter,” Owain rhymed off the systems.

  “What does it matter, Clare?” Dhillon’s growing brashness raked Viper’s nerves. He paced on the lower level, keeping his distance from the immortal.

  Clare ignored him. “Water pumps?”

  “No, no. My water pumps aren’t essential systems,” Owain replied. “We’ll rely on the London Water Service for now. They pump thirty million gallons of water from the Underground every day. What’s a little bit more?”

  Viper didn’t know if it was Clare’s determination or the ghostly wash of the electronic haze on the girl’s face that made the immortal feel the stomach-churning onset of apprehension as she followed Clare’s line of thought.

  Clare asked, “What happens if the LWS pumps don’t remove the water from here fast enough, now that yours aren’t working?”

  Viper heard the rush of water a second before it exploded from the tunnel and pounded her, face first, into the far wall. Water that had accumulated when the power went out streamed over her head. She inhaled and choked on fluid.

  “Then, little morsel, you have much to worry about,” Annys’ voice echoed through the room with a sweetness that rotted Viper’s insides.

  The water surrounding Viper flipped her over while restraining her against the wall. Annys drifted into the room upon a second surge. A fan of water splayed behind her. A gold mask covered three quarters of her face, mostly on the left. Swirls, glyphs, and waves etched the surface. The undulating bottom margin of the mask swept from her right cheekbone and over her nose, then hovered on her upper lip, and, finally, kissed her left jawline. Her full lips remained unsettlingly blue. Beneath the ocular holes, Viper made out the crimson scars that surrounded Annys’ swirling eyes of frost white and piercing blue.

  Annys lashed out at Owain with a cirrus of water, knocking him off his feet. “What a surprise! The rumors about Good Queen Bess’ lost baby are true, after a fashion. I had my doubts about your existence, Foundling.”

  Owain managed to cling to the railing. His feet dangled from the walkway precariously close to the water which rose towards the live electrical panels. Graeme was out of Owain’s reach, with Clare protectively behind him. Viper was so focused on the arrival of her enemy, she didn’t turn her head in search of Dhillon.

  Annys had updated her appearance. Her hourglass sensuality remained timeless. She had cropped her black hair into long, irregular spikes adorned with fine gold chains. Her low-cut, charcoal coloured bodysuit hid the glyph scars that Viper knew matched her own. Annys wore leather armour dyed seaweed-green with blod magic glyphs embossed on its surface. The top margin of her chest piece curved above her breasts like the asymmetrical edge of a freshwater mollusk, sloping upwards to the left. A pauldron covered her right shoulder, rising like the crest of a wave to shield the side of her head.

  Half under and half over her armour, she wore a sheer, iridescent layer of fabric trimmed in pearls and diamonds. At the neck, the filmy dress formed a curved gorget, a hand-span high. Long swatches of fabric dangled from her wrists from beneath her vambrances. Fine chain-mail shielded her hands and bejeweled fingers. The bulk of the dress flowed from underneath the waist of her articulated torso armour, then spilled like a split waterfall over her leg greaves. A wide, trailing hem drifted on the water behind her. Her feet were bare. Viper could make out the handles of two bladed weapons behind Annys’ shoulders, one to either side. A sea horse crafted from elldyr and water jumped excitedly around its Mistress.

  Annys curtseyed in mock respect to Viper, the blue skin of her ample breasts clearly visible beneath the see-through dress. “You’ve achieved something I’ve never been able to do with my Merrows,” Annys said to Viper with a menacing smile. “You created a Foundling of your own. How fascinating.”

  Graeme guided Clare towards a ladder along the far wall, above the water. As they moved, he fired shots at Annys. A broad wall of water erupted in front of him and swallowed the bullets before they hit their target.

  The intruder laughed with delight. “It’s incredible, Viper, how much one can learn about human technology if one isn’t incarcerated for four hundred years. They’ve improved upon the musket. These new guns carry more power than all the horses of a royal carriage.” Annys kept her white and blue eyes on Graeme. “But, bullets still can’t overcome the power of nature.”

  With a flick of Annys’ hand, the seahorse swam towards Clare, who had started to climb the ladder. It squirted water on the railing on which she stood, then plunged beneath Annys’ feet. Clare lost her footing and slipped to the bottom rung. Annys faked a sympathetic grimace when the girl cried out.

  Graeme fired. The watery barrier defeated him a second time.

  Annys tutted at the Scotsman like a mother to her mischievous child. “A 0.50 calibre rifle loses most of its energy in the first three feet of water. I can also change the structure of water and bolster it, or give it a life of its own, so to speak.” Her magical seahorse dove at Graeme and whacked his face repeatedly with its body. He stumbled into the counter behind him, waving his hands to fend it off.

  “While you were away, Viper,” Annys continued, gossiping as if they were old friends, “humaines created something they named electricity, a kind of lightning they control. Ironically, greater numbers of people die from this unnatural human force than from lightning strikes.” She gestured with her left hand and grasping fingers of water reached up for Owain’s feet. “That’s better for me, for electricity travels very well through water. Humans made it far too easy to kill them.”

  Viper wrestled with the watery bindings, realizing Annys’ intent to electrocute everyone when the rising water reached the open electrical panel behind Owain.

  “Stop!” Dhillon shouted from across the room. His legs were shin deep in water beside the glass table, the top of which remained above the liquid’s surface. “We were warned by a stag that there are men coming. I get that you think you’re untouchable with your wall of water and,” he brushed away the curious seahorse that cruised around the table, “your aggressive little pet. If they’re coming for Viper, they’re coming for you. So, you better let us go. You’re can’t fight those stags, the men, and us, at the same time.” The seahorse struck the small of his back, felling him to his knees with a splash.

  Annys sped towards Dhillon, furniture churning in her wake. “Do you want to attack me, boy?” Her seahorse sprayed water in his gagging face. Annys leaned into the young man and seized his chin. “How could an insignificant human like you defeat me?”

  “He cannot,” Viper said, with renewed vibrancy.

  Annys spun like a cyclone. She hadn’t noticed that Graeme helped pull Viper far enough from the water that she could use her elldyr to propel herself from its grip completely. Everyone except Dhillon had reached the dry, elevated portion of the room.

  Subtle flames enrobed Viper’s steaming torso. She brandished a thick, live wire from the electrical panel. “But, I can.” Viper threatened Annys with the cable’s sparking venom.

  “You must have water in your ears,” Annys scolded Viper like a petulant child. “Electricity travels through water. All water. If you let go of the wire, you’ll electrify this human. He will die.”

  “Well,” Viper shrugged evasively, “he did try to shoot me.”

  Dhillon’s face blanched. “Don’t, please.” His whisper of fear barely reached Viper’s ears.

  She opened her hand. The cable plummeted and touched the surface of the water. Forked electricity arced in every direction. Annys’ hands rushed to her face. Her water barrier cascaded into a puddle.

  Graeme fired one shot at Annys in the strobing lig
ht. The bullet ripped across her thigh, then tore through the seahorse. Dosed with Annys’ blood, the projectile blew the magical construct apart.

  “Three feet of water my arse,” Graeme muttered before shadows devoured the room.

  Someone was crying in the dark. Viper edged closer to the sound. The crying turned into a cackle. Viper lit the room with her elldyr fire. Dhillon had jumped onto the non-conductive table, protected from the electrical surge. Clare had pulled Owain away from the railing. They huddled together at the base of the ladder. Graeme swept the room with his gun until he found Annys.

  “Save your bullets,” Viper cautioned him. “They will not scathe her.”

  “You surprise me, Viper,” Annys said in the dim violet hue. Through the torn leg of Annys’ greaves, Viper saw the gunshot wound reconstructing. “You’re willing to kill a human to destroy me. I’m impressed. Too bad it didn’t work.”

  Annys crossed her arms over her head and withdrew two heavy swords that had been sheathed on her back. Each had a flawless sphere at the pommel, one of obsidian and the other of gold. Waves of searing yellow elldyr emanated from her body. “You have to muddy your hands if you want to best me.”

  Graeme vaulted over the railing and took up Ivy’s elldyr-imbued sword from a puddle. “Catch!” he yelled, throwing it to Viper. She launched her attack from the upper level, grabbing her sword mid-air.

  Annys retaliated, two swords to one. Viper met each of Annys’ parries with surprising energy. The immortals’ elldyr grappled with the other in the surrounding ether.

  “Your elldyr magic hath changed,” Viper said with a grunt, shoving Annys from her with a sideways kick.

  “Obviously.” The other immortal chuckled as if she had heard a pleasant joke. She swayed from side to side in front of Viper, flaunting her swords. “With these trinkets of Elizabeth’s sage,” Annys said of the gold and obsidian pommels, “I honed the garen. It enhanced me.”

  These were the missing parts within the spherical compartments of John Dee’s poisonous throne. Viper had no time to wonder how Annys came to possess them.

  Annys flipped like a dolphin over Viper’s head to avoid a rapier thrust. Annys landed on her feet in a column of water that twisted, easing her to the ground until she faced Viper’s back. Viper avoided her enemy’s slashing double-sword attack with a front handspring. She rolled and spun around into a crouched position, rapier hovering to the side and at the ready.

  “Made thee vicious,” Viper said. She caught movement from the corner of her eye. The others were trying to escape up the ladder. Viper needed to disguise their escape. She thrust flames everywhere. Damp furniture nearby ignited with thick smoke, enough to hide the humans. Viper lashed out at Annys with horizontal shafts of elldyr.

  Annys chuckled with delight. “Whoever told you that nonsense?” she asked, each syllable partnered by a swipe of her sword as she cut off the heads of Viper’s besieging elldyr. Annys sliced Viper’s skin, close to her runes. Viper didn’t know how much of her magic was tied into the rune-scars, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to heal anyone without them.

  “The Sisters and Turstin,” Viper said. She wanted to keep Annys’ attention away from the fleeing humans.

  Annys righted her shoulders with indignation and she charged at Viper. They pushed in opposition to each other, equally matched. Viper forced the blade of her narrow rapier horizontally against the crossed broadswords wielded by Annys. Black oozed along Viper’s blade and down her arm. The sight invigorated her, knowing that her blood-magic reinforced her weapon. She shoved Annys forcibly, making her reel backwards. “Turstin stole the Parhelion. He gave it to Henry Tudor’s grandfather, thwarting your Wars of the Roses,” Viper gloated.

  “Turstin? That nosey Foundling who sought his sister among my Merrows?” Annys pitched a chair at Viper. Viper deflected it with her left shoulder. “I should’ve known. He was far smarter than he let on.”

  Viper flung the glass table at Annys using elldyr magic. The table squashed her against the wall farthest from the ladder. Viper forced her power into the table delighting in cruel pleasure. Annys wheezed beneath its weight. Elldyr flared in Annys’ hands, her palms to the surface and the table shattered.

  Water rushed Annys’ fallen swords to her side. “That Foundling wouldn’t give up his Mistresses.” The glass had cut her exposed cheek, and blood trickled from the healing wound. “Not even when he begged for his life.”

  The thought of Turstin dying at Annys’ hand incensed Viper. She focused all her magic into her rapier. It burned Tyrian purple. She swung wildly and charged.

  Viper and Annys collided, too close together to strike each other effectively. Fire and water clashed between them. The V’Braed grunted and wrestled, neither gaining the upper hand.

  A surge of elldyr from Viper thrust Annys onto her back. Viper leapt forwards, sword held downwards to stab Annys in the heart. Annys crossed her weapons over herself. She jerked Viper’s blade from her hands with a scissoring motion. Annys propelled herself overtop of Viper and landed on Viper’s back.

  A black rivulet of blood trickled from Viper’s nose when her face smashed into the floor. Annys stomped between Viper’s shoulders. Viper turned her head, her cheek to the ground. Annys’ blades crossed on either side of Viper’s neck. If she pushed away from the floor, she would decapitate herself.

  The pressure on Viper’s back eased. “Look at me!” Annys commanded ominously. Viper had no other alternative except to comply. She rolled over, careful not to cut herself on Annys’ swords.

  Annys’ beautiful mask had been removed, revealing the gaping wound on her left cheek. “You set me on fire. I was beloved, even when humans feared me. You absconded with my tithes, and then, to further remind me of your viciousness, gave me this.” Her short, frequent breaths were as ragged as her harsh face. “In over four hundred years, this wound and my heartache have never healed. I thought I would find peace when I planned your entrapment. Imprisoning you isn’t the answer.” Annys made her blades dig into the upper layers of Viper’s skin. “I will make you suffer, intimately and infinitely.”

  Viper couldn’t stop the hot tears on her face. “Thou hath hated me since afore I knew of thy existence. What did I ever do unto thee?”

  “From One, are all things borne.”

  “I understand not what that means!”

  “And that makes you blameless?”

  “Accuse me of a crime or leave me be.”

  “Your crime is your life.”

  The might of Graeme’s body rocketed into Annys’ chest. He knocked her to the ground. The swords flew upwards and out of Annys’ hands. One of them nicked Viper’s neck as it slid along her skin. Annys’ head impacted the floor with a monumental crack and she didn’t stir.

  Viper crawled to her knees, her body sapped as her spirts improved. Blood trickled from her latest neck wound to her chest. Graeme hauled himself to his feet and reached for his gun.

  She held her hand up to waylay him. “I would vanquish my enemy myself,” she said.

  “Shouldn’t we escape?” Dhillon called out from the ladder.

  “Yer off yer head, mate!” Graeme said, gun pointed at Annys.

  “Viper said bullets won’t work,” Dhillon argued. “The electricity didn’t kill her. What about those other guys the stag spoke of? The men who are coming? Let them finish her off, or die trying.”

  For an eternal moment, Graeme’s knuckles gleamed white against the grip of his pistol. “Damn.” He lowered his gun. “The lad’s right,” he said to Viper, helping her stand upright. “Let’s get out of here. Owain managed to get part way up the ladder, but his legs are shot. If ye carry him the rest of the way, I’ll keep my trigger warm in case the Missus here wakes up.”

  From farther up the ladder shaft, Viper heard Clare coax Owain to hold tight as best as the girl’s over-taxed spirit could manage. Viper knew that if she faced Annys in combat and lost, her enemy would not let the humans survive. Annys moaned, eyes cl
osed. She opened and closed her hand.

  “Discharge your weapon in Annys’ head if she wakes up,” she said to Graeme. Dhillon moved aside and Viper scuttled up the ladder past Clare to assist Owain. “You hath been in harm’s way enough, my friend,” she said to him. “’Tis time I should protect you.” She cradled her Foundling with arms of magic and ascended the ladder, following the rising smoke to the Underground.

  30: His Last Letter

  September 2nd, 1588.

  Wealas River, Oxfordshire.

  “Who are my parents?”

  The question barely registered above the breeze in the rushes around them. Viper gripped the stern of a shallow boat, ready to push it into the small river. A boy of eight years of age rested nearer the front, small oars in his hands. Elldyr creft influenced his growth. If he were fully human, Mouse would have been four years old.

  To Viper, the darkness of the heavy clouds suddenly threatened the peace of the dawning morning. Something thrashed in the slow-moving water and she flinched.

  “’Tis merely a fish jumping, Mistress. Just a fish.”

  “There are darker things in the water than the eels we hunt, Mouse.” She pushed his boat into the stream. “Best we not tarry.”

  Mouse expertly steadied the craft against the river’s gentle flow. Ovoid-shaped traps made of thin willow branches, narrow at one end and bell-shaped at the other, occupied the boat. A rope wound around the neck of each trap. The smell of late summer, full of abundance, overcame the aroma of rotting fish inside the baskets, bait for the river’s bottom dwellers.

  “Please, will you not sit with me?”

  Every time they went fishing he asked, and every time she gave the same reply.

  “I shall keep watch on the shore.” Viper never joined Mouse on the child-sized skiff, such was her fear of what lay beneath the water’s gentle surface.

  They moved in easy silence, him in the boat and her guiding him with a length of rope from the land. He preferred fishing to stealing for food, even though they didn’t pay the royal fee to obtain resources from the river. Viper and Mouse lived beyond the law of humaines.