by Peter Oxley
“I have not had cause to mention them because we had not encountered them until now. Do you want me to talk you through every single species that exists out there?”
“If there’s a chance they will come here and use me as their puppet, then yes I would rather you did tell me!”
N’yotsu sighed. “I did not believe that they would ever be able to come through to this realm. It should not be possible…”
“And yet here it is.”
“Indeed. Which either means that more powerful sorcerers exist in this realm than I had believed, or Maxwell’s Fulcrum is advancing at a faster rate than we thought.”
I clenched my fists. “All very interesting, but please answer my question: what is a Mage?”
For a moment I thought he was going to prevaricate some more, but thankfully he relented and started to talk. “They are a creation of the Warlocks among my people: a demon that can dig into peoples’ souls, speak to them, influence them and play with them. In so doing the Mage controls their victims, forcing them to do, think or feel anything they want.”
“So on top of the mindless warrior demons we’ve been fighting so far—”
“The Berserker demons, yes.”
“—we also have these things running around as well, forcing people to do their bidding?”
“Technically no, at least not quite. You see, the Mages have no free will of their own: they act only to serve their Almadite masters.”
“Is that meant to reassure me?”
“I just wanted to clarify that they are not capable of ‘running around’, as you put it. They are a weapon, pure and simple, and cannot act of their own volition. They need someone to control them. One of my people—an Almadite, to be specific.”
“Like your friend Gaap?”
“Indeed. His presence in this realm is a very troubling development, which is why we should make our way back. Do you agree?”
I nodded slowly; I had at least managed to get him to tell me about the Mages, which was progress of sorts. Getting N’yotsu to talk at all about his people was often akin to pulling teeth. “Could you promise me something though?” I asked. “In future, please could you try to tell us more about the foes we face? I realise you do not relish thinking back on your time as…” I paused, unsure of the wording.
“Andras,” he said quietly. “You can say it. The time I was the demon Andras, before I was freed from the evil aspects of his nature.”
“Yes,” I said warily. “I know that the memories are painful, that you hate what you once were. And believe me, I do not wish to prompt you into another rage-filled rant—”
“Or another one of my depressive spells,” he grinned weakly. “Do not worry, I am too tired for any of that. And you are right, again. I shall make sure that you are fully apprised of these latest demon threats. But first we should gather the others and get ourselves back to London. From the spells I cast, it would appear that that is where Gaap is also heading.”
He turned to walk away but then stumbled, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he sought to regain his balance. I put a hand out to steady him but he shook it off. “One minute,” he gasped.
I nodded and watched him closely, trying not to show my concern as his skin turned translucent and pale.
“It is not getting any better, is it?” I asked.
He took a deep breath as he screwed his eyes tight shut and, with an effort of will, became firmly physical once more. Struggling to his full height, he nodded at me. “I am fine,” he said, but the evidence of my eyes screamed otherwise.
“That seemed worse than the last time,” I said. “Maybe you should stop using magic for a while?”
“It is not just the casting of spells that drains me; any form of activity takes its toll. I fear that, without the obsidian stone, it is almost as though my body is rejecting this world.”
The mention of the obsidian stone made me shudder involuntarily. “I am sure Max will find a suitable antidote soon,” I said.
“I think he would be better served finding an antidote for you,” he said. “You are still struggling to control your own problems, I see.”
My heart sank as I looked down at my hands, which were bright red and prominently scored with the runic symbols. I ran my fingers across my face, my breath fast and shallow as the scale of the transformation became apparent. “How extensive is it?” I asked, not wanting to know the answer but fearing the worst.
“Pretty widespread,” said N’yotsu. “Although on the bright side, at least you have not sprouted horns or a tail yet.”
“Very funny,” I muttered, closing my eyes and clenching my fists. I had to control it. It should have abated: it always did after a few moments of a battle ending. Did this mean that the changes were getting worse or becoming embedded? Were my nightmares coming true and I was doomed to permanently look like this? I cursed my elation when we were chasing the demon and I had felt the changes starting to take hold. I had exchanged the euphoria of one foolhardy addiction—drink and drugs—for another, much more damaging one. What if I was never able to change back? What if my fate was to forever be a freak at a circus show, or worse: an enemy to my own kind? What if—
N’yotsu put a hand on my shoulder. “You should relax,” he said. “It is tension and excitement that brings on your changes.”
“I cannot look like this,” I said, exhaling slowly. “I cannot let her—them—see me like this.”
“Kate still does not know?”
“No, and she will not. You know how she would react if she sees me looking… like this.”
N’yotsu grunted. “I will help you.” He placed his hands on my temples.
“No,” I shook him off. “You are weak enough; as you said, I just need to relax.” I exhaled deeply and willed my body to calm down, allowing the tide of tension to wash over me in ever decreasing waves.
Slowly, I could sense that my body was returning to normal and I opened my eyes to see my friend smiling at me. “Good,” he said. “Are you fit to move?”
“I am.” I looked at my hands, noting with relief the smooth, unbroken skin. All in order, all perfectly natural. It would be different next time, I vowed: I would not allow the changes to take such a hold over me. For a moment, the thought of abandoning the runic sword flitted across my mind only to be shot down. I had to be useful to the cause and, in any case, it was now as much a part of me as my own arms or legs.
N’yotsu turned and started walking. “In which case, let us go back to the others; the mission Maxwell sent us on is now much more urgent. And we have questions for our new friend. That is, if he has not already been beaten into submission by Kate.”
Chapter 3
N'yotsu and I grinned at each other as we arrived back at the house. The young man cowered in a corner of the basement while Kate perched on a table, nonchalantly swinging her pistol in her hand. She jumped to her feet when she saw the state of us. “You all right?” she asked. “Looks like you’ve had quite a punch up.”
“We gave a good account of ourselves,” winced N’yotsu as he lowered himself into a chair.
“Did you get the demon?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Unfortunately it got away, thanks to some friends it brought along. Everything all right here?”
“Couldn’t be better. Although the company leaves a bit to be desired,” she said, pulling a face.
I beckoned to Joshua and he reluctantly joined us, keeping a wary distance from Kate. “After all that N’yotsu and I have done and the way we look, and she’s the one you’re scared of?” I asked.
“No offence,” he said, “but in my experience females can be a lot more dangerous than men.”
“Well said,” grinned Kate. “I can see we’re going to get along famously.” Her pistol disappeared into the folds of her dress.
Joshua stared at her, clearly trying to ascertain whether or not she was kidding him. Then he looked around at us all and blinked. “My manners,” he chastised himself.
“I have forgotten myself in the midst of all this madness. We should go upstairs, where things are a bit more civilised. Can I offer you any refreshments?”
I could have murdered for a drink but, before I could say so, N’yotsu spoke up. “We have little time for pleasantries. We are on an urgent mission and I need you to answer me truthfully. How many demons have you summoned to date?”
“The one you saw earlier was the first,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Not dabbled with some others, maybe looking a bit strange and cowled?”
“No, I am positive. Today was the first real chance I have had to properly set out the correct ingredients.”
I looked to N’yotsu for his thoughts, but he was frowning at Joshua. “Your first summoning,” he repeated slowly. “And you happened to successfully call one of the most powerful demons, an act that should take years of practise, decades of experience and training and even then…” He shook his head.
“The Fulcrum?” I asked.
“The Fulcrum,” he agreed. “There can be no other explanation.”
“The what?” asked Joshua.
“All in good time,” said N’yotsu. “We need to get back to London and you need to come with us.”
“Me? I’m honoured, but… but why?” Joshua stammered.
“Maxwell believes that you and your powers can help our cause,” I said.
“At the very least,” added N’yotsu, “we will feel safer if we have you where we can control you.”
I cleared my throat; he really was not helping matters.
N’yotsu blinked at me and then nodded. “Sorcerers can study and practise for decades and not get half as far as you have already.” He pointed at a shelf on the far wall, which held a dozen or so books. “Those are all of your texts?” The young man nodded and N’yotsu continued: “We have over 100 back in London, plus the combined knowledge of myself and Maxwell. Just think of the great things you could learn and accomplish if you joined us.”
Joshua licked his lips and then nodded. “Very well, I will come with you. When shall we leave?”
“Now,” said N’yotsu. “Gather up whatever you need and we will help you take it to the train station. We have a carriage waiting for us.”
“What about the demons?” asked Kate. “Surely we can’t just leave them running around Sheffield?”
“We looked,” I said. “Or rather, N’yotsu did. Wherever the creatures are, they are far away by now.”
N’yotsu nodded. “They appear to be heading towards London. In any case, we are highly likely to see the demon again when he tries to kill Joshua. We can take care of him then.”
“Me?” said Joshua, turning pale. “Why would it kill me?”
“You summoned it,” said N’yotsu. “By virtue of that act it is bound to you, and you could send it back to where it came from if you were able to trap it and then undertake the necessary invocations. The only way it could secure its place here, in this realm, is by killing you.”
He sat down. “I didn’t…”
“You didn’t think that playing with magic spells and demons would be dangerous?” asked Kate, in the voice she usually used to chastise me. “You can’t be that clever then, can you, son?”
We were interrupted by a cry from upstairs, a shrill woman’s voice: “What in God’s name…?”
“Oh, God,” muttered Joshua. “Mother. She’s back. Is it a dreadful mess up there?”
“A bit,” I said. “A demon running through your house tends to do that.”
“And I may have slightly ripped your front door off its hinges,” admitted N’yotsu. “We didn’t really have time to knock and wait.”
I thought the young man was about to have a heart attack as he dashed up the stairs. “Ah, Mother, good evening,” we heard him say as he reached the top.
“What is going on here?” came the reply. “What has happened to the door? Have we been burgled?”
“Umm… it’s a bit of a long story. I have some new friends that I’d like you to meet…”
We sat awkwardly in the living room, shrinking under Mrs Bradshaw’s cold glare. At her side sat Joshua’s sister, a rather attractive young woman named Lexie who was clearly enjoying her brother’s discomfort. I rubbed my hands together, trying to massage some life back into them, having spent the past hour helping N’yotsu to secure the front door in place as best we could. While we had been hard at work, Joshua had tried to explain what had happened, each part of the tale earning him a string of rather inventive rebukes from his Mother.
“So how long have you been encouraging my son in this madness?” she asked us.
“We?” I protested. “We have done nothing: he wrote to us! In any event, we saved him from being mauled to death by the demon he had summoned.”
“It is true, Mother,” Joshua said. “Anyway, it was you who bought me the magic books and encouraged me to—”
“You be quiet, Joshua Bradshaw,” she snapped at him. “I didn’t intend for you to start messing around with demons. I thought you’d do something nice and useful with your studies.”
He opened his mouth to reply but before he could reply the gas lamps simultaneously flickered and dimmed. Mrs Bradshaw tutted. “I thought it was too good to be true,” she muttered. “Joshua, please fetch the candles and get them lit before we are plunged into darkness again.” She turned her cold gaze back on us as her son rushed to comply. “So you’re those famous demon hunters everyone’s been talking about, yes? Although the way I hear it, you were responsible for bringing all the demons to us in the first place.”
“It is true that we unwittingly played a part in the creation of the portals to the Aether,” said N’yotsu, “but it was the demon Andras who was the active and controlling influence.”
“Who is also you, I believe?” said Lexie.
N’yotsu shot her a hurt glance. “Not quite. While it is true that I was once the demon Andras, my kind can split aspects of their personality from their bodies. I have ejected those elements that made me a—” he took a deep breath and I noted that his hands were clenched into fists. Kate cleared her throat and put a hand on his arm as he continued: “—heartless demon. Such as the lack of a conscience and other demonic aspects: the lack of humanity, as it were. I have the memories of Andras but I am not him, far from it.”
“A leopard does not change its spots,” observed Mrs Bradshaw.
N’yotsu smiled gently. “A leopard cannot divorce itself from its spots. I can.”
“Hmm. And what is to say that you will not reacquire those faculties, turn back into the demon and kill us all?”
“They are encapsulated in an obsidian stone, locked away and under constant guard somewhere even I cannot easily reach. There is no risk of that happening, even if I wanted to. Which I do not.” He fixed her with a hard stare. “I do not ever wish to become that monster again. I have hurt enough people in my time, and I pay for it with my every waking breath. Each time I close my eyes I see the faces of those I wronged when I was Andras. I have wept so many tears for them, but now I choose to atone through my actions: by helping to save the world from the demons.”
Mrs Bradshaw stared into his eyes for a few long seconds and then grunted, clearly satisfied by what she saw there. “And now you wish to take my son with you to London, to drag him into this battle as well?”
“With all due respect,” I said, “he has made himself a part of the battle. Gaap—the demon your son summoned—is very powerful.” I looked at N’yotsu and he nodded in confirmation. “The demons are therefore aware of your son’s abilities; it is only a matter of time before they come here to take him.”
“Take him?” asked Lexie.
“Either to make him join their cause or to kill him,” said N’yotsu. “For you, the end result would be the same: you would lose your brother, your son.”
“Anyway,” said Kate. “Look around you. People are afraid to go out at night. Strange stuff happens, demons and ghosts and what
not roamin’ around the country, killin’ people or worse. We’re all involved: if you like it or not. The demons don’t care whether you’re fighting them: we’re just playthings to them. Or food.”
“Both, actually,” said N’yotsu. “The Prime Minister has given us the resources of the Empire to fight this threat but we still need all the help we can get, including the best minds. Your son has the potential to be invaluable to our cause.”
Mrs Bradshaw turned to her son. “And you want to be a part of this?”
“It’s what you always said to us,” he said, placing a lit candle gently down on a sideboard. “To make a difference, to do something meaningful and worthwhile rather than just churning out yet more steel for the world. This is my chance.”
She took a deep breath and then nodded. “Fine. But on one condition: you take your sister with you.”
“What?” Everyone in the room chorused as one, our objections silenced with a wave of Mrs Bradshaw’s hand.
“It is clearly not safe to stay in this house, given that this demon of yours knows where it is,” she said. “I will go to my sister, but it is not fair to inflict that drudgery on Lexie.” She turned to N’yotsu. “You said you wanted the brightest minds; my son is not the only one with remarkable talents.”
Joshua glared at her while his sister grinned.
“It will not be safe,” I said. “We cannot spend our time as nursemaids to your daughter.”
“I am more than capable of fending for myself,” snapped Lexie. “I am 18 years old, not a helpless babe in arms.”
“What sort of talents?” asked N’yotsu, ignoring us.
“A keen mind,” said Mrs Bradshaw. “She reminds me a lot of an old friend of mine: a lady by the name of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. With the right stimuli, I have no doubt Lexie could surpass even her achievements.”
“Ada Lovelace, eh?” said N’yotsu. “Maxwell would be intrigued. Very well, we agree to your terms. But we must leave as soon as possible; the Fulcrum fast approaches.”
Chapter 4