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

by Peter Oxley

  I could see Morley’s face clearly now as he looked from Gaap to me to the Queen and the soldiers behind us. His usual rock-solid certainty, dented slightly by our encounter in the Tower, was crumbling before me. His mouth opened and closed but no sound came out, while his eyes cast around wildly for something to make sense of the madness before him. I felt a rare sympathy for the man: he had built his entire existence on blind faith in a world that was painted black and white, with his place amongst the angels assured. With one fell swoop, Gaap had destroyed all of that, confirming what we had tried to tell him: that Queen Victoria and all his other masters had been dancing to the demons’ tune all the while. And by extension, so had he.

  I tried to will him into action with my eyes, desperately hoping that he would turn his confusion into some form of positive, devastating action. His eyes welled up while his face twisted into a confused, sorrowful rage, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “No,” he muttered through clenched teeth, “no-no-no-no-no.”

  “As a reward for your service,” continued Gaap, either unaware or uncaring as to the Witchfinder’s internal struggle, “I am happy for you to kill any of these yourself.” He gestured to me. “I know that you have particularly strong feelings for young Augustus here. Or how about indulging in your soft spot for the girl Kate? You may do with her as you please, then kill her.”

  Morley blinked and drew his sword from its scabbard, looking at it as though he had forgotten it existed. His eyes flicked from the blade to meet my gaze and for a second I thought I sensed the briefest of nods.

  He turned and charged at Gaap with a roar born of all the hatred and despair that had boiled up within his body and mind, swinging his sword over his head as he ran.

  Gaap sighed and stepped to the side of the clumsy attack, lashing out with a foot that caught Morley hard in his side. He fell to the ground with a sickeningly loud crunch, flailing around in the mud for his sword. Before he could scramble to his feet, Gaap had crouched down in front of him.

  “You don’t want to kill me,” the demon said. “Think of everything you’ve done, all that you’ve become. Is that really what you set out to achieve when you lost your wife and daughter all those years ago? Is all of this what you wanted?” He gestured around them, at the dark, muddy field with us all frozen motionless before the demons and Max’s device. “You know what you really want to do,” Gaap said, straightening up and turning away.

  For a moment, Morley stayed curled in a ball on the ground, his shoulders moving up and down. Then he looked up with eyes streaming tears before plunging his sword into his own chest. With a grunt, he was gone.

  “So easy, so predictable.” Gaap walked round so that he was addressing us all, a broad grin splitting his hideous features. “Really, it’s a wonder that you creatures have managed to become the dominant lifeform in this realm. Until now, of course.” He clapped his hands together. “In any case, on to business. I know that you, Mr Potts, have had the pleasure of experiencing the power of my Mage. Well done for surviving that, by the way. Although sadly your friend N’yotsu will not be able to save you this time.”

  I steeled myself, trying to summon up any and all reservoirs of resistance I had left. I would not let the creature make me kill my friends.

  Gaap let out a slight chuckle, almost as though he could see my intentions writ large in my eyes. “Yes indeed, it would be entertaining to make you all hack each other to pieces, but time is short and I don’t want to risk one of you doing something that might hinder our plans, so we’ll just settle for you dying now.” He nodded to the Mage.

  Something hard wedged itself in my throat and I swallowed to try to dislodge it.

  “Let them move,” I heard Gaap say. “They can’t harm us now, and we may as well have a bit of entertainment while we wait for the device to warm up.”

  I felt the Mage’s grip on my body fall away, but what relief I may have experienced was subsumed by the implacable hardness in my throat. I fell to my knees and clawed at my neck, my eyes bulging out of their sockets as I strained to get my lungs to work.

  I felt as though I were floating away, my brain pulling itself out of my head as everything started to swim around me. Lights and shapes flashed around the edges of my vision, while everything else condensed to a narrow tunnel.

  I could imagine the stares of my brother, of Disraeli and the soldiers, no doubt horrified behind their helpless masks of enforced stillness. We had failed; I had failed all of my friends and now we would die, the world fated to end with us at the hands of these monsters. The grass came up to greet me and I felt my heart slow to a halt. I looked round to see Kate clawing at the ground, her face bright red.

  No.

  I would not let this happen. I summoned up every ounce of willpower, every part of me, demonic and human, bringing all of it to bear against the Mage’s cold hand. For a fleeting moment I felt something slip and a whisper of air made it into my lungs.

  I grabbed hold of that small victory and pushed, feeling for a crack in the door of the Mage’s implacable will so that I could force my way through it. I looked up to see my sword mere inches away and remembered how it had saved me once before when all seemed lost, when Andras had us helpless and supposedly doomed. I could do it again.

  With a hammer blow the Mage redoubled its efforts and I collapsed to the ground, my meagre efforts met by a solid steel wall. I looked up at the creature, willing myself to do something, anything, before it was too late. My world narrowed into a single point of focus, a dull window with the Mage at its centre.

  The creature hesitated and looked down to see a blade protruding from its chest. It slumped to the ground to reveal Andras standing behind it.

  The Mage’s touch immediately lifted and I desperately sucked in air through a throat that felt like it was lined with broken glass. I could hear hacking from the others around me.

  “Gaap,” said Andras. “Such a pleasure to see you again.”

  “Andras. What are you doing here?”

  The demon stooped to retrieve his sword from the Mage’s body, using the corpse’s cloak to wipe the blade clean. “That’s the one problem with having a pet Mage. It can make you rather complacent. You were so certain you had everyone under your control that you forgot to keep an eye out for any wild cards. And to answer your question: I’m here to stop you.”

  “You’re too late,” sneered Gaap. “It’s already begun.”

  I looked up to see a swirling vortex of light hovering above Maxwell’s device. Like a thunderclap, a burst of stale wind blasted out over us, forcing those who were standing to take a step backwards. A flash of light blinded the heavens and I buried my face into the ground.

  I looked up to see a hole in the world in front of me, a void that had consumed half of the mansion house beside it. Bricks scattered around me as I grabbed Kate and pulled her away with me. She pointed to the side of the portal and I saw Maxwell stranded in his wheelchair, desperately trying to lever himself away.

  An army of demons marched towards us from the other side of the portal and our ears filled with the screams of countless beasts coming to slaughter us all.

  Chapter 29

  Kate and I rushed to Maxwell and pushed him away from the portal. He looked at us, wide-eyed and opened his mouth.

  “Just don’t say it,” shouted Kate. “We’ll all have time to say sorry and whatnot if we survive this.”

  I stooped to grab my sword as we passed it, feeling a relieving flow of power from the weapon as I did so. We ran through the line of soldiers that was being hastily assembled in front of the portal.

  Captain Pearce and General Gordon had pulled the Queen back to behind the ha-ha and were hoisting her unceremoniously onto a horse, a group of mounted soldiers waiting to accompany her. Disraeli was shaking his head at Gordon as we approached.

  “I should stay here and offer what assistance I can,” he said. “I am to blame for this debacle: I should see it through.”

  Gordon
looked him up and down. “Sir, unless you have developed an ability to fire a gun or swing a sword, you are no use to us here. You should go back with Her Majesty and send us whatever reinforcements you can.” Without waiting for an answer, the Hero of Taiping marched away. Disraeli watched him go and then mutely accepted the reins of a horse from an approaching soldier.

  “She looks smaller than I imagined,” muttered Kate as she watched the Queen ride away. She turned to Maxwell. “So that’s the Fulcrum then?”

  Maxwell looked to where she was indicating, the swirling vortex atop his device. “No. That is a portal to the Aether. The Fulcrum is what is happening to allow the portal to be as large and stable as it is: the confluence of magic and science.”

  I turned to look at the portal. It was roughly 100 feet in width and ten feet high, large enough for lines of 20 demons at a time to come through shoulder-to-shoulder. Thankfully, this also provided enough of a bottleneck so that we could contain them, although just the mere sight of the small numbers emerging so far was enough to stop a man in his tracks.

  They were huge, each approaching seven feet in height and half as wide, casting hideously broad shadows towards us. Each wore chitinous black armour that rippled as they marched, slick scales clacking together, a drum beat from Hell heralding their approach.

  Once I would have just seen a mass of identical creatures but now I could tell that they each had their own distinctiveness: different shaped heads or horns, a scar or colouration to the face, even the varied sets to their expressions. What was relatively uniform, though, was the single-minded venom with which they regarded us as they advanced.

  Pearce was shouting orders and in no time the soldiers had lined themselves up in double ranks in front of us, stretching from the line of trees on their left flank and in a wide semi-circle around the portal. He ordered them forwards so they were a handful of paces in front of the ha-ha and I nodded at the logic: we did not want to cede any form of higher ground, as even the minimal dip afforded by the ditch could give the attackers the advantage. The front rank went down on one knee while their comrades behind turned so they were ready to aim at the monsters approaching from the portal. At a barked order, they fixed their bayonets to the muzzles of their modified Snider-Enfield rifles.

  “Let’s give them a warm welcome,” shouted Pearce. “Front rank: fire!”

  The guns roared as one and the world filled with thick smoke and the acrid tang of gunpowder.

  “Front rank: reload! Second rank: fire!”

  Reassured that Maxwell was safe behind the lines for the time being, I made my way to the left flank and through the trees so that I could see beyond the smoke. The metronomic firing of the soldiers continued, gunpowder wreathing the land in a pungent fog. My demon-enhanced senses cut through the screen to see that the gunfire was having its desired effect, for the time being at least. Those creatures that had managed to make it through the portal were scattered around the ground, either dying or gravely injured. Nearer to me, Andras and Gaap were engaged in a battle of their own, hacking at each other with their swords.

  Joshua and Lexie appeared at my side. “Are you all right?” Lexie asked.

  I nodded. “You?”

  She blinked at me and Joshua asked: “What can we do?”

  “Keep out of trouble,” I shouted over the latest report from the guns. “Actually, go to Maxwell over there. See if you can come up with any ideas.” They nodded and ran in the direction I had indicated.

  “You ready for a scrap?” asked a voice at my side. I jumped and then cursed in relief as I recognised Kate, a sword in one hand, her LeMat pistol in the other.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “You should be with Max—”

  “And nursemaid him while you get to do all the fun stuff?” she asked. “There’s an army between him and the demons, and I’ve got some pent-up frustration to get rid of.” She darted forward and fired her pistol at the nearest demon, whooping as it spun away.

  I watched Andras and Gaap, tempted to order a few soldiers to direct fire at the two demons. But then if Andras was killed he would take with him any chance of us getting N’yotsu back. And he had saved us from the Mage…

  Andras stumbled and I cursed as I ran towards them, swinging my sword at Gaap’s back. At the last moment he turned and parried my blow, sending me spinning off to the side. I landed in a crouch a few paces from Andras, who was also recovering his footing.

  “Good of you to join me, old chap,” Andras said. “In case you were wondering, now would be a really good time to let loose your demon side.”

  A surge of animalistic joy swept over me as I realised the sense in his words and a switch flicked in my head that released my demonic rage. I felt the runic symbols flow into my arms and move over my body and then grinned at Gaap. A flicker of uncertainty—or was it fear?—passed over the demon’s face and then I heard Andras bellow: “That’s my boy!” as he threw himself at our foe.

  Gaap was strong and fast, but he could do little in the face of our combined assault. He stepped back again and again as he struggled to bat away the blows from our blades and I let out a primal yell as I managed to carve a deep wound in his arm. Gaap fell back and yelled as Andras stuck him with yet another blow. He staggered, but before we could close in for the kill a roar erupted from the portal.

  It had widened and was now thick with the forms of demons streaming through. While many of them were wilting under the gunfire, still more were making it through and approaching the ranks of defenders. The soldiers shouted as they were given the order to advance with their bayonets, the battle swiftly descending into the chaos of hand-to-hand combat.

  “There are not enough of them,” said Andras, staring at the ranks of humans advancing on the demon army. There was a sound from the rear and I turned to see yet more demons coming towards us. My heart caught in my throat; how had they managed to outflank us? Andras cursed as he saw them as well.

  “Pooka,” he spat.

  I grinned as I recognised Byron and Kingdom in the front rank streaming towards us. The big demon clapped me on the back as he drew level. “Well, are you going to fight or just stand there?” he shouted as they rushed past us.

  I looked to Andras and then down at the ground in front of us. “Gaap,” I shouted.

  We cast around. The demon had disappeared.

  “Worry about that later,” shouted Andras, pointing to the battle in front of us. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to be out-fought by Pooka and humans!” He launched himself into the fight with a howl.

  I looked around, trying to determine the best place for me to enter the fray. Everywhere was chaos and I realised that there was a very real risk that the Almadites could benefit from the inevitable confusion caused by the Pooka. The soldiers would have no idea that the other demons were on their side and as such there was a danger that erstwhile allies could turn on each other unawares in the heat of battle.

  I ran after my friends and into battle, ready to tear humans away from attacking Pooka but I need not have worried: there was little doubt who the enemy was. The Almadites that were coming through the portal were bigger and fiercer than the Pooka could ever be. Yet in spite of this, the Pooka were able to match them in aggression and violence, making the most of the increased manoeuvrability that their smaller size afforded them.

  A soldier fell in front of me, an Almadite swinging down at him with what was intended to be a killing blow. I threw myself in front of the soldier’s prone form, barging my shoulder into the demon’s midriff. As we landed hard on the ground I brought my sword up in a clumsy stab that skewered the creature.

  Coming up onto one knee, I threw myself at the next Almadite I saw, my blade swinging hard and fast, not pausing as the creature fell but then moving on to the next and then the next. I once again found myself lost in the red mist, and I revelled in it.

  The world narrowed into the horrifyingly familiar grind of battle, a place of screams and blood, limbs that ache
d but dared not rest lest the pause be taken advantage of by a passing foe. My senses were heightened, constantly on the lookout for the next threat and then the one after that. I grunted as I slashed and hacked and parried, cleaving through bodies with ease, focusing all of my energies on just getting past the next foe—on killing before I was myself killed.

  There was no time to think, for to do so would be to give my enemy a vital split-second advantage, and so I reacted, simply trusting my instincts and the will of my sword as I worked my way through a never-ending field of demons.

  I could not tell how long it had been since I had entered the battle and how many bodies I had left in my wake, but I suddenly found myself looking out into an emptying field. I spun round to see soldiers and Pooka behind and beside me and a dwindling number of Almadites coming through the portal to attack us.

  “They’re falling back,” said Byron. “We’re pushing them back!”

  “Yep,” said Andras. “Now it’s time to finish them off once and for all.” He started forwards and then jerked to a halt.

  Gaap had appeared before us, clearly badly wounded but still more than capable of causing trouble. He was leaning heavily upon Maxwell’s wheelchair, with a knife held to my brother’s throat.

  “Stay back,” Gaap shouted. “Stay back or I will kill him.”

  “No you won’t,” said Andras, stepping forwards. “He’s too valuable to you.”

  “True. But I could kill him and then reanimate him with a Djinn. He’d still be of some use to me, and you’d lose him forever.”

  Andras stopped and Maxwell held out his hands. “It’s all right,” he said to us. “I can handle this.” He turned his head to look at the demon. “You are going to go back through the portal without me. You will also order your forces to desist with this invasion.”

  Gaap stared at him and laughed. “And why would I do that, little man?”

  “When you were in charge of my treatment, under the guise of being my doctor, do you recall treating my brother and N’yotsu for the effects of a rather nasty little compound?”