The Infernal Aether Box Set: All Four Books In The Series

by Peter Oxley

  “Especially you and your Company, given your experience,” I said.

  “Precisely.” Pearce turned to Morley. “You said the Queen was taking the army.”

  “Yes,” he said hesitantly.

  “That precise wording: taking. She has gone with them?”

  “That is correct. I was ordered to remain here but she is heading up the army and going to St Albans.”

  “You are certain?”

  Kate frowned. “Why would the Queen go?”

  “She shouldn’t,” I said. “If St Albans is going to descend into a war zone, the last place you want the monarch is in the centre of it.”

  “Unless…” said Kate.

  My heart was beating hard. “We have to go. Now. We may already be too late.”

  “But hang on,” said Kate as we ran out the door, “if they wanted to invade then why take the army up there?”

  “It is a lot easier and quicker to kill all of your enemies if they are in one place,” said Pearce grimly. He shouted for the soldiers to gather everyone in the courtyard and prepare to move out.

  Kate stopped beside a door. “Wait. We need to open this. There’s someone else we need to rescue. You still got keys?”

  Pearce threw them to her. “Be quick,” he said. “We will meet you outside. We leave in five minutes.”

  She fumbled with the bunch until finally one turned and the door swung open. I followed her through and up a narrow spiral staircase that ended at another locked door. Kate pointed at me and then the door and I nodded, holding my sword ready to attack whoever was on guard beyond.

  Kate rapped on the door and a man inside opened it, his face paling as he was confronted with the point of my sword. He raised his hands and backed away, revealing the figure cowering hopelessly in a corner, manacled to the wall.

  “You have got to be joking,” I said.

  Chapter 28

  We met Lexie and Joshua at King’s Cross station and managed to commandeer a train from there. Sergeant Jones squatted in the cab to ensure that the driver remained motivated to keep us moving at full speed while the rest of us sat in the passenger compartment and pored over Lexie’s map.

  “Just past Smallford Station,” said Lexie, her finger tracing the train line. She stabbed at a point a couple of inches to the left of the station. “If we can stop the train and get off here then we should be pretty much on top of them.”

  “And you’re sure of this?” asked Kate. “We’re not going to be ambushing a dinner party or a field full of sheep?”

  “I’m 90 per cent certain,” said Lexie.

  “It has gone up,” I grinned at Joshua.

  “I have done some more calculations,” she said. “In any case, I suspect it will be very hard to miss it once the Fulcrum is in full swing.”

  “It is our job to make sure it does not come to that,” I said grimly.

  The train screeched to a halt by a small copse and we gathered in the shade of the trees, waiting until everyone had disembarked and the train chuffed away before starting to make our way north towards the Hatfield Road, a main thoroughfare that ran parallel to the Hatfield and St Albans railway line. Immediately beyond it lay the site Lexie had identified as the point of the Fulcrum: an estate a few hundred acres in size with the unassuming name of Yewfields.

  Pearce sent off three men to scout for the army while the rest of us advanced through the trees with as much stealth as we could manage, all the while keeping a wary eye out for anything that might herald the end of the world.

  The copse opened out into a small field beyond which we could see the Hatfield Road, wide enough for only two carts to pass at a time. Beyond the road lay a line of grand oak trees that demarcated the southern boundary of the Yewfields estate.

  We hurried across the field, glimpsing in the gaps between the trees the golden-coloured bricks of the estate’s mansion house. My heart was in my mouth as we ran, knowing that if anyone were to look our way there could be no doubt as to our intentions.

  The soldiers spread out along the Hatfield Road, taking advantage of the tree line for cover as we turned left and headed west towards the main gates.

  We knew from the map that the estate was surrounded on three sides by rows of trees with a main gate onto the Hatfield Road at its south-western corner. A modest gatehouse stood to the right of the entrance, which was in turn framed by imposing brick piers to either side. Watching from over the road we could see no sign of life from within the house but decided to approach with caution regardless. The eastern edge to the estate appeared to be open farmland, dotted with the odd outhouse, and so we resolved to approach from the western edge and use the limited tree cover it afforded.

  All seemed quiet as we slunk along the rear of the tree line, keeping ourselves as low and inconspicuous as possible. Well, almost all of us.

  “You still haven’t spoken to me, you know,” said Andras, strolling casually along as though we were taking a morning constitutional.

  “For God’s sake keep quiet,” I hissed.

  “Well, I suppose that’s progress of sorts.”

  I pulled him down to a crouch beside me. “What are you doing? They will see you!”

  “Oh, they know we’re here already. No demon worth his salt could miss you lot tramping around the countryside—as I said earlier, many many times. Not that anyone listened to me.”

  Everyone was now glaring at the demon, willing him to be silent.

  “We are trying to reconnoitre with stealth,” I said.

  “Pointless exercise,” Andras muttered, before lowering his voice to a theatrical whisper. “Does this make you feel better?”

  I nodded curtly and turned back to the trees, peering to see the buildings beyond.

  Andras tutted. “You know, Kate trusts me. No reason why you shouldn’t too.”

  “I wouldn’t say I trust you,” Kate whispered. “More like, I know the demons don’t want you on our side, so I reckon the best place for you is with us. For the moment, anyways.”

  “Regardless,” he waved her words away, “there’s no one better placed to advise on strategy and you have ignored me ever since you released me from that cell.”

  Pearce sighed. “Then what would you have us do?”

  “They know we are here, so why give them the pleasure of thinking we’re fooled?”

  “So you would just march straight in, yes?”

  “Why not? What do we have to lose? Giving away the element of surprise is probably the most surprising thing we could do.” We stared at him and he sighed in exasperation. “Think about it. They are trying to create a gateway for their army to advance through. If you were trying to do something so important and potentially fragile, wouldn’t you post at least a few guards around the place? How many have we encountered so far? Precisely none.”

  “Meaning we’re either in the wrong place or they’re so confident that they don’t feel the need for guards,” said Pearce.

  “Either way,” nodded Andras, “we’re wasting time by sneaking around out here rather than going straight in for a proper look.”

  “I admit that there is a kind of twisted logic to what he’s saying,” said Pearce. We spun around at the sound of footsteps to see one of the scouts returning.

  “Sir,” said the soldier, “the column is about two miles to the south-west and heading this way. From what I could tell, General Gordon is in command.”

  “You are certain?”

  “Definitely him, sir, I’d recognise him anywhere.”

  Pearce turned to us. “Maybe there is hope for us yet. I shall go and speak to him; with any luck within the hour I will be back with an army to assist us. In the meantime, please stay here and keep out of trouble.” He followed the scout back towards his horse.

  “Good news,” I said as we watched him go.

  “So…” said Kate. “Shall we go and take a closer look at the house?”

  “Splendid idea,” I said.

  “Most sensible thing a
nyone’s said all day,” said Andras.

  Joshua looked from one to the other of us. “But the Captain just told us to stay here.”

  “Yeah,” grinned Kate. “That was never going to happen.”

  We made our way from the estate’s boundary and across a paddock occupied by a handful of apathetic sheep, arriving at a row of lime trees that stood around ten feet tall. The trees lined a carriage drive that meandered from the estate’s gates up to the mansion house itself. They were sufficiently spaced apart to not quite offer us complete cover although, given that there were only the five of us, I was reasonably confident that we were at least partly concealed from the casual observer.

  We continued along the avenue of trees until we were 100 yards or so from the mansion house, relying on the lengthening trees’ shadows to hide our own as the sun dipped down to the horizon behind us. The building was what could be described as a grand gentleman’s country house, standing three storeys high and topped off with a steeply pitched roof clearly designed to convey an impression of importance to all and sundry. Turrets, towers and crenellated walls had been added in an attempt to bestow an element of mediaeval grandeur, as was often the fashion with those sorts of buildings. If there was any doubt as to the wealth of the owners, a forest of chimneys sprouted from every available patch of roof space.

  A picturesque garden had been laid in front of the main entrance in the style of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, with well-tended bushes and low trees standing guard in front of the gravelled driveway. To the left of the house stood a squat, rectangular stable block, with windows and doors topped off in half-moon shapes.

  I scrutinised every window we could see for any signs of life. Dark forms shuffled behind a first floor window, tall and bulky enough to be demonic. As we watched, a light flickered in a window to the right of the main doorway. I nudged Kate and nodded up at it. She raised an eyebrow in reply. “Take a look?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Stay here,” I said to Lexie and Joshua.

  “What about me?” asked Andras.

  “I really don’t care,” I said as we moved off.

  I had struggled to come to terms with the idea of the demon now being a part of our team, my feelings not helped by the fact that his ongoing presence implied that we had lost N’yotsu forever. Kate seemed to believe that the creature really wanted to help us, and had even tried turning my logic against me: that just because he was a demon did not necessarily make him evil. But I knew what Andras was capable of and the depths to which the creature would stoop. I had first-hand evidence of how he could destroy lives, and in killing my parents to advance his schemes he had done more harm to me than any other.

  I also knew that deceit came naturally to Andras and there was every chance that this was yet another one of his grand schemes. A scheme that we would no doubt once again fall foul of.

  A low ha-ha ran along the front of the house, 100 yards or so from the building. We ducked into the cover provided by the small walled ditch and worked our way along the front of the house, crouching low to keep ourselves out of view from the ground-floor windows. In front of us, a set of three steps led up from the gravelled drive to a boxed and crenellated archway that shaded the main entrance, another nod to the householder’s pretensions of mediaeval grandeur. To the left of the entrance a rectangular window was the source of the candlelight that we had seen from the trees.

  I peered into the room from our vantage point and the scene jumped out into stark relief thanks to my enhanced eyesight. “Max,” I breathed. He was sat in the middle of a long room, angled away from the window with a candelabra on the table in front of him illuminating the side of his face. Thankfully he appeared to be unharmed, engrossed as always in his work.

  “Is it?” whispered Kate. “Are you sure?”

  “Certain. He’s sat at a table tinkering with something. Can’t quite tell what. It looks like he’s alone, which is interesting. Maybe there are guards outside the door.”

  She grunted. “You’ve got better eyes than me. I can only just about see the candlelight.”

  I grinned. “One of the benefits of being part-demon.”

  She looked at me and then frowned as she spotted something over my shoulder. “What’s that?”

  I turned to look where she had indicated, seeing a flat circular device laid out on the lawn a couple of hundred yards ahead and to the right of our hiding place. It stood no more than a foot high and was fed by a multitude of pipes and tubes, all of which led towards the room in which Maxwell was sat.

  “I have a horrible feeling that I know exactly what that is,” I said. Maxwell’s other portal devices had been larger and more erect, but there was still something in the design of this one that was reminiscent of them. “It looks like we have found the point of the Fulcrum.”

  “Then we need to do something,” said Kate. “A few swings of your sword should do the trick, don’t you think? Then we can try to bring Max back to his senses.”

  I nodded. My instincts were to get to my brother first of all, but there was something in the manner in which he was happily working away that made me wonder if he would immediately jump to our aid. I remembered the touch of the Mage on my mind back in Sheffield, the way that that creature could bend anyone’s will to do its bidding. It was very likely—nay, a certainty—that Maxwell was acting under the direction of such a creature now. In the circumstances, Kate’s instincts to attack first and ask questions later seemed to be the best policy.

  There appeared to be no one around and so we scrambled up the side of the low wall and across to the structure. I drew my sword and peered at the device, trying to ascertain the best place to strike. A junction nearest me looked particularly vulnerable and I swung at it with as much force as I could muster.

  My sword froze mere inches away from the device. I attempted to pull it back to try again but the blade was stuck fast as though it was held in an invisible vice. I willed every muscle to come to my aid but then realised that my body was no longer responding to my commands. It was at that point I finally noticed the sickly whispers in my mind.

  A hand appeared and plucked the sword from my grasp. “Straighten up,” a voice said, and my body jerked upright so that I was staring straight into the deep red eyes of the demon we had confronted all those weeks ago in Sheffield: Gaap. Beyond him I could see the cowled figure of the Mage, while out of the corner of my eye I could just about make out Kate, frozen in place just like me. I glared at the demon. Now that we were face-to-face I could see that he was a corruption of the Dr Smith who had deceived us for all that time back in London. I wanted to kick myself: how had we overlooked it for so long? More to the point, how had N’yotsu not spotted the likeness? Surely he of all people should have been adept at noticing his own kind? The thought of my old friend brought another realisation to mind: Andras had disappeared. Had the fiend abandoned us, true to form? Or maybe he was the one responsible for them discovering us?

  Gaap hefted my sword, admiring the balance before thrusting it into the ground. He wagged a finger at me. “Very very naughty. Did you really think we would leave something as important as this unprotected?” He looked beyond me, towards the road and I could make out the sounds of horses and marching boots. “Ah, good. The army is here.” He grinned at me. “Don’t worry, we have this covered.”

  The crunch of hooves and wheels on the driveway behind us grew in volume and Gaap walked past me, leaving me feeling like a mere ornamental statue. “Your Majesty,” I heard him say. “And Prime Minister. So pleased that you have come to welcome my people.”

  “Not at all,” I heard Disraeli say in a dull voice, the words sounding forced out of his mouth. “The pleasure is all ours.” There was a pause as he noticed Kate and I. “We understood they were here. We intercepted Captain Pearce. He is under arrest, along with his General. They had plans that were not in accordance with our own.”

  “Yes,” said Gaap. “That is a niggle we should deal with before they have a c
hance to jeopardise our plans. Please bring your prisoners forwards: we shall dispatch them right now. Mr Potts! How are our plans progressing?”

  I saw Maxwell wheel into view, pushed over to the device in front of me by a Berserker demon. I tried pleading with my eyes: surely he of all people would come to our aid?

  His head jerked as though he were a marionette being controlled by invisible wires from on high and my heart sank as I realised that he, too, was under the Mage’s thrall. “All is ready, and by my calculations the Fulcrum is near. We can trigger the device whenever you wish.”

  Two figures sprawled on the ground next to me and then jerked upright: I surmised that they were Captain Pearce and General Gordon, not only arrested but now also subjected to the humiliation of the Mage’s evil embrace.

  From somewhere behind I heard the sound of hooves beating a rapid advance and I felt a faint sliver of hope: could help be at hand?

  The horse clattered to a halt not far away and I heard the rider drop to the ground with a squelch. “Your Majesty?” I heard Witchfinder General Morley address the Queen. I held my breath: he had clearly rushed to follow us as soon as we had left the Tower, no doubt to try to warn the Queen of what he saw as our treachery.

  “It’s no use speaking to her,” said Gaap. “I am the puppet-master here. And you have been a fine servant to us, Mr Morley.”

  “What? I don’t—”

  “Of course you don’t understand,” sneered Gaap. “But you may rest assured that you have played your part admirably. Come.” He held a hand out and beckoned to Morley. “Come, come,” he urged, as though enticing a nervous puppy.

  I heard Morley slowly approach until he drew level with me. He looked over at me and the others. “They are working for you?” he asked the demon slowly.

  Gaap chuckled. “Oh no, not them. They are an inconvenience that I will soon rid myself of. But don’t worry: you did well enough, even though you did let them escape and get here.”