by A R DeClerck
“Only those who have seen the horrors of black magic can recognize it,” Lucia assured the man. “This is no fault of yours.”
“Del knew. He tried to warn us all but we didn’t listen.”
“Delbert Wicket?” Lucia turned to glance at Elizabeth, but the woman seemed lost in thought and did not even register the mention of her dead husband.
“Del was more sensitive than the rest of us. He told us that the missing animals and men were signs of dark magic, but we laughed at him. Our parents put it off as boyhood imaginings. When Billy Langley went missing he tried to warn us away from Dooley’s stables.”
“Was he Elizabeth’s brother?”
“Cousin. He was four.” Atraxas leaned against the wall. “Elizabeth was with him when he disappeared. She turned her back and in one moment he was gone.”
“How terrible.” Lucia straightened and stared out the window at the sudden bright arc of white light over the fields.
“That’s my brother’s magic.” Atraxas moved in next to her to peer through the glass. “He’s drawing the demons away.”
“I’ve never seen magic like that.”
“It’s a family trait, I suppose. Our grandmother was much the same. I never had much use for magic myself. I’m an engineer.”
“A scientist?” Lucia looked at the older Trimble in surprise. “From a magical family?”
Atraxas laughed. “Not typical, I know. Nevertheless, I’ve always enjoyed building things. Inventing things. I was lucky enough to have an indulgent father.”
“Steam?”
“Aye. Steam and electricity. I’ve used a steam turbine to turn all my father’s farm equipment, and we’ve reduced our need for farm hands by half. I didn’t make many friends in the local blues, but it’s kept us in the black when so many are selling out.”
“Are you the one who wired the houses?” Lucia had recognized the copper piping hidden discreetly throughout Summer Ridge. It seemed Elizabeth Langley was both a pragmatist and a competent businesswoman.
“Elizabeth asked me to. It’s one of the few ways she can manage the estate without Del. Paying the wizards to provide the power was becoming much too expensive.”
“Something’s happening.” Elizabeth murmured from her chair by the fire.
Lucia looked toward the window and gasped. The white of Grayson’s lights were dimming as he was swarmed by demons. In the moonlight she saw Corrigan running toward the house, leading the Romani.
“Help Corrigan get them inside,” Lucia said, shrugging off the shawl and removing her wand from her pocket. “Archie’s wards will keep them safe once they’re inside.”
“What are you going to do?” Atraxas asked with a hand on her arm.
“I’m going to help, of course.”
Lucia marched across the field, drawing aether to her as she went. She stockpiled it around her, building a barrier of particles so complex that even Archie would have been surprised. She talked as she walked, telling it what she wanted to do. The aether knew the true heart of a person. A dark mage could force the aether to do terrible things, but in doing so they limited its power. When the aether was willing, there was nothing that could not be accomplished.
“Luci!” Corrigan ran to her, his pistol up and his hair standing on end.
“Where’s Archimedes?” she said loudly over the shriek of demons.
“He’s gathering the sick. There’s a sled to pull them on, but he wanted me to bring the others.”
“Get inside the house and keep them safe, I’ll go help Archie.”
“Be careful!”
She nodded and took off again, pushing against the wall of rot and sulfur that surrounded the demons like a shroud.
“Let’s see how you like this,” she said with a grin, taking her small torch from her pocket. It was one of the first gadgets Corrigan had ever given her, and only he knew her secret delight in all things mechanical. Yes, she loved magic, but science was a marvel all its own.
A pustule daemonium, commonly called a Pustule, rushed toward her from the roiling blackness of their bunch. She turned the torch to its face, delighted when it hissed and flinched back from the artificial light. Its façade was one of nightmares, and she hurried away, the ring of light around her keeping the writhing horde back.
She moved carefully, making sure she stayed within the light even as she continued to draw the untainted aether closer and closer to her body. It hung against her like gossamer, unable to touch her through the barrier that separated its reality from her own, but substantive still.
She passed Grayson on the hill, but only a shadow of the young man was visible inside the spinning vortex of white-hot power that surrounded him. The demons were hungry for the power, but afraid of the light, so they clustered around him but did not try to touch him. Assured that the young mage was safe for the time being Lucia hurried over the hill toward the ring of darkened cabins.
“Archie!” she called. “Where are you?”
“Luce?” He came onto the porch of the farthest cabin, his coat off and his sleeves rolled to his elbows. “What the devil are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to watch your back, as agreed.” She shined the torch at him with a wave. “How many more to load?”
“Only one more.” A tall woman with dangerous curves and wildly curling hair appeared on the porch beside Archie. Sweat darkened her brow and she looked all in, but still she was arrestingly beautiful. “My sister, Yasmin.”
“Stand on the porch and shine your light over the sled,” Archie said, “and Stella and I will get the girl.”
There were six children on the old-fashioned sleigh, bundled in blankets and shivering. Lucia dashed the light over them, pushing back the demons who were already sniffing at them like starving dogs.
“Gwrandewch yn awr ac yn gweld yr arwydd, Mae’r golau yn diogelu fi a fy.” Lucia intoned the strongest protection spell she knew. Listen now and see the sign, this light protects both me and mine. An old spell, supposedly chanted by the matriarchs of warring Welsh clans to protect their husbands, brothers, and sons from harm on the battlefield.
The aether swept out like a tidal wave from her, taking up the light from the torch and amplifying it, capturing the sleigh and everything for fifty feet in bright illumination.
“Oh, my!” She stood, frozen as the demons surrounding them were pushed back. She had never seen the aether work in tandem with an electrical device in that way. Many times the aether entered the turbine, turned the wheels and created the electricity, but she’d never seen it take electricity from a steam-powered object and actually use it.
“Lucia?”
She looked up to see Archimedes come out of the house, a small girl in his arms. Stella hurried after, her arms full of jars and pots.
“It’s all right; it’s the aether responding to the Mother spell.”
“Top choice,” Archie said respectfully as he placed the little girl on the sleigh with the others. He paused and looked around. “Is it amplifying the light from your torch?”
“It is. I’ve never seen it do that.”
“Me either, but we don’t have time to debate the merits.” He reached down, pulled Stella into the sleigh, and then turned to her. “Get on.”
“We don’t have a horse. Who’s going to pull the sleigh?”
“I am.”
She laughed in disbelief. “We weigh as much as ten men, plus the sleigh! That’s impossible!”
“The aether will help. Now climb aboard.” Her light flickered as its small tank of steam ran low. “Now!”
She took Stella’s hand and pulled herself onto the seat of the sleigh as Archie picked up the harness. It was designed for two plow horses, but he looped it over his shoulders.
The light flickered again, the surge of snapping teeth and the biting stench of rotting flesh making them gasp.
“Hold on!” Archie moved, groaning as he struggled to move the sleigh over the rough ground. They moved, but it wasn’t fast
enough to outrun any demons if the need came.
Lucia closed her eyes, chanting the Mother spell repeatedly, urging the aether to protect them all.
“May I be of some assistance, Grand Adept?”
Lucia’s eyes snapped open as Machiavelli swooped in to land on the rolled neck of the sleigh. He seemed to grin at her with his sharp beak as he peered over the edge at Archimedes.
“No thank you, bird. I have this.”
Lucia covered her mouth, surprised at how tempted she was to laugh when Machiavelli rolled his eyes at her.
“I can transform into a horse and pull you all to safety.”
“And let you lord it over me any time you wish to shit on my hat?” Archie shook his head even as he gritted his teeth to pick up speed. “Never.”
“Archie, get in the sleigh and let Machiavelli pull.” Lucia shook the little lamp as it began to falter again. “What good is pride if you’re too dead to enjoy it?”
“I can pull this sleigh, darling.”
“I know you can.” She glared at Machiavelli when he cawed and then jumped away from a particularly close swipe of clawed demon hand. “But these children are ill and the demons are close. We need you to ward us as we go.”
Archie dropped the harness and sighed. “Have your way, bird. But be quick, we have a horde on our tails.”
As Archie climbed into the sleigh, the bird shimmered with aether and transformed into a large black stallion. He reared and Archie lifted the harness, dropping it over his neck.
“A magnificent animal!” Stella praised, but Archie only rolled his eyes and snapped the reigns.
“Now if you please.”
They moved along at a faster clip, the horse’s heavy upper body managing the weight of the sleigh better than Archie’s.
“Stop here!” Lucia called as they neared Grayson. “We have to get him aboard.”
Archie jumped from the sleigh, his wand snapping lightning from its tip as he marched toward the ball of fire that was Grayson.
“Bring it down, son,” he said softly, pushing the demons back with his magic again. Lucia focused the light around them all, still chanting the Mother spell under her breath. “Get in the sleigh.”
As the light began to die out around the mage, the demons surged, trying to get a last taste of it, or of his flesh if they could. Lucia winced at the sound of claws and teeth on Archie’s mechanical arm as he shoved his way through the throng to Grayson. The young man was barely standing, and Archie slipped a shoulder under his arm and began to lead him back to the sleigh.
“Archie, watch out!” Lucia pushed her wand at him as an oozing crenelated demon thrust its lizard-like head over his shoulder, hoping for a bite of Grayson. She didn’t even think, just begged the aether to make it go away, and the torch light flared, a flash so bright it was like daytime had come a few hours early.
“I don’t know what you did,” Archie said with a gasp as he thrust the young mage into the sleigh and climbed up after him, “but it was brilliant.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek and slapped the reigns as Machiavelli began to race back toward the mansion.
“I’ve never seen so many demons. What kind of blood magic could call so many?” Lucia kept the torch on even as it flickered, the last of its steam power waning.
“The death of many.” Stella looked up from the floor of the sleigh where she sat with her sister’s head in her lap. She carefully pushed back the little girl’s curls. “Or the life force of a few.”
“The dark mage is drawing off the children?” Bile climbed her throat at the thought.
“And old man Wicket, I’d wager.” Archie pulled her closer to his chest as they neared the house. “That’s why they locked the soul in the decayed body.”
“Evil.” Stella made the sign to ward off evil, and Lucia felt like copying it a thousand more times.
“We have to end this.” Archie’s face was grim in the light as he held a barely conscious Grayson against his shoulder. “Or Kensington will be only the beginning of the end for us all.”
Bastion held the door as they carried the sick Roma children into the house.
“The lower floor in the west wing was once Delbert’s nursery but there are beds enough for the Romani there,” Elizabeth said, waving them on. She moved efficiently through the house offering coffee to the adults and soft cookies to the frightened children. “They’ll be safe there until we figure out what to do.”
Archie carried small Yasmin carefully, placing her on one of the small cots in the old nursery. Lucia covered the girl in a blanket.
“There must be something we can do for them,” she said to Bastion, who was already heating water for more of the tea he had given to the Romani earlier.
“This is darker than anything I’ve ever come across,” he said from the doorway, the teapot in his hands. He passed the cup of tea to Stella and they moved away as the Romani woman began to force the liquid down her sister’s throat.
“How’s Grayson?” Archie asked, and Bastion shrugged.
“Recovering. He knows what a massive use of power can do to a body, but he is young. He’ll be fine in a few hours.”
Archie took Lucia’s arm and they moved away from the children as Bastion knelt by Stella and spoke to her in a low voice.
“I don’t like this,” Archie said. “It makes no sense to attack the Romani. “
“None of this makes sense,” Lucia agreed. She watched the Romani men mutter and pace while the women huddled with their children in small groups.
“The demons are dispersing,” Elizabeth said from the doorway. She held another armful of blankets that she passed off to one of the Roma women. “The sun will be up in a few hours.”
“I need to ward the house, and then we can talk this through.” Archie placed a soft kiss on Lucia’s cheek. “Thank you for coming to help us out there.”
“It was foolish.” Elizabeth shook her head, her eyes wide and glassy. “You took such a chance running out there.”
The woman surprised Lucia. “There is no courage in foolishness,” she agreed, “but I would rather die a fool than kept warm at night by the knowledge that I could have saved my friends.”
Elizabeth didn’t have a rejoinder; she just turned on her heel and walked away.
“She’s under a lot of stress,” Archie said with a grin. “But remind me never to ruffle your feathers. You’re a fierce one in a debate.”
“Perhaps,” Lucia said thoughtfully, her eyes on the doorway where Elizabeth had disappeared.
“I’m off. Watch them all, will you?” His hand was soft on her chin and she nodded. She loved him for the things he could do; soothe her with a touch, embrace her with the spark in his eyes.
CORRIGAN CAUGHT UP with Archie at the front door.
“I have an idea that may help us guard the house.”
“We need all the help we can get, I fear.” Archie took out his wand and sighed. “We don’t have many weapons and I warned Orrin that I have little offensive knowledge.”
“Good thing I have plenty.” Corrigan’s smile was not quite as warm as his words. “Wait for me here, and I may have what we need.” The tall man hurried up the stairs.
“What an interesting man.”
Archie turned to see Elizabeth in the doorway from the salon. “Yes, he’s quite the character,” he agreed.
The blonde woman moved toward him, a strange small smile on her lips. She folded her arms and stood at the foot of the stairs, smiling up at the way Corrigan had gone. “I wonder why he’s never married.”
Archie paused. “He’s married to his work.”
“And you?” Elizabeth swung toward him so fast she stumbled, careening into him and nearly knocking him over. He caught her, as slight a weight as she was, and held her steady. She stood close, looking up at him. The color was high in her cheeks, her eyes sparkling with some emotion he could not name. “Why have you not married, Adept Merriweather?”
“I’ve had no occasion to entertain
the idea,” he said with a gulp. He stepped back from the sweet press of her body against his, shaking his head against the cloying smell of lavender that wrapped around him, clouding his head. There was no woman for him but his Lucia, no matter the softness or enticing scent of another. “Perhaps you need a lie-down,” he suggested to the young widow. “This has been a traumatic day.”
“Traumatic, yes.” She nodded, some of the slack-jawed ardor in her face dimming. “I’ve no servants, no casking barn and no solicitor. However will we put on the Harvest Ball now?”
A strange worry, Archie thought, when demons clawed at the walls and rattled the windows. “I am certain the people will agree that the ball must be postponed.”
“Oh, no!” She shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing emphatically. “The ball must go on. It is the culmination of everything we have worked for.”
Archie was glad to hear the clatter of Corrigan’s feet on the stairs. He had no real skills for conversation with women like Elizabeth, worried over such trivial matters when much more was at stake. His Lucia would never let a ball come before the safety of her people.
“I’ve procured the items we need to put my plan in motion,” Corrigan said brightly, his bag over his shoulder. He nodded politely to Elizabeth, but she ignored him and wandered away, muttering about the preparations for the ball.
“She’s still intent on throwing a dance? In the middle of all this?”
Archie chuckled. “I cannot say what wonders and terrors inhabit the female mind, my friend.” He put the woman out of his mind and looked at Corrigan’s bag curiously. “Now tell me, what idea do you have?”
“I believe we can create an electric field around the house, with just these simple tools. We saw how the aether could amplify the light from Lucia’s torch, so we would hope that they can repeat the process with the electrical energy. There’s only one problem. I’m missing one key piece to my plan.”
“You don’t have any magnets of adequate size.”
They looked up as Atraxas Trimble wandered into the room, his eyes fixed on the items laid out on the floor.
“You know much about science?” Corrigan asked, eyeing the man curiously.