by J M Bannon
The Guild Chronicles Books 1-3
Includes the prequel the Untold Tales of Dolly Williamson
J M Bannon
Copyright © 2017 Claymore Ulfbehrt & Xiphos LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either used fictitiously or products of the author’s imagination. This is a work of fiction solely for telling a good yarn. So relax and enjoy!
The Guild Chronicles, All characters, situations worlds are part of the Non-Newtonian Universe and are Copyright Claymore Ulfbehrt & Xiphos LLC 2017
Cover Art by Covers by Christian and Black Widow Books
Editing by Suze Solari & WriterMom
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To Rowan & Vincent
Remember this world started in our imagination playing a game at the pool.
Contents
The Untold Tales of Dolly Williamson
Foreword
1. Sunday, the 6th of June 1858
2. Monday, the 7th of June
3. Tuesday, the 8th of June
4. Wednesday, the 9th of June
5. Friday, the 11th of June
6. Sunday, the 13th June
7. Monday, the 14th of June
8. Tuesday the 15th of June
9. Wednesday, the 16th of June
10. Thursday, the 17th of June
11. Friday, the 18th of June
12. Monday, the 21th of June
13. Tuesday the 22nd of June
14. Wednesday, the 23rd of June
15. Friday the 25th of June
16. Saturday the 26th of June
17. Friday the 16th of April 1858
18. Saturday, the 26th of June, what remains
19. Monday, the 28th of June
20. Tuesday the 29th of June
21. Wednesday, the 30th of June
22. Friday, the 2nd of July
23. Saturday, the 3rd of July
The Alchemists Book 1
1. Friday, the 25th of May 1860
2. Saturday, the 26th of May 1860
3. Monday, the 28th of May 1860
4. Thursday, the 31st of May 1860
5. Thursday, the 11th of January 1849
6. Friday, the 1st of June 1860
7. Monday, the 4th of June 1860
8. Saturday, the 6th April 1849
9. Tuesday the 5th of June 1860
10. Tuesday, the 5th of June 1860
11. Thursday, the 7th of June 1860
12. Thursday the 7th of June 1860
13. Thursday the 7th of June 1860
14. Thursday The 7th of June 1860
15. Friday The 8th of June 1860
16. Saturday the 9th of June 1860
17. Saturday the 9th of June 1860
18. Sunday the 10th of June 1860
19. Monday, the 11th of June 1860
20. Monday the 11th of June 1860
21. Monday the 11th of June 1860
22. Monday the 11th of June 1860
23. Monday the 11th of June 1860
24. Monday the 11th of June 1860
25. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
26. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
27. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
28. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
29. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
30. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
31. 300 BC
32. Tuesday the 12th of June 1860
33. Wednesday the 13th of June 1860
34. Thursday the 14th of June 1860
35. Monday the 18th of June 1860
36. Wednesday the 20th of June 1860
37. Thursday the 21st of June 1860
38. Monday the 2rd of July 1860
Author Notes & Helpful Maps
The Necronists Book 2
1. Saturday the 2nd of March 1861
2. Saturday the 2nd of March
3. Monday the 4th of March
4. Monday the 4th of March
5. Monday, 4th of March
6. Wednesday the 6th of March
7. Thursday the 7th of March
8. Saturday the 9th of March
9. Monday March 11th
10. Tuesday the 12th of March
11. Wednesday the 13th of March
12. Tuesday the 19th of March
13. Wednesday the 20th of March
14. Wednesday the 20th of March
15. Thursday the 21st of March
16. Friday the 22nd of March
17. Wednesday the 27th of March
18. Thursday the 28th of March
19. Thursday the 28th of March
20. Friday the 29th of March
21. Friday the 29th of March
22. Friday the 29th of March
23. Friday the 29th of March
24. Friday the 29th of March
25. Friday the 29th of March
26. Friday the 29th of March
27. Friday the 29th of March
28. Friday the 29th of March
29. Saturday the 30th of March
30. Saturday the 30th of March
31. Saturday the 30th of March
32. Saturday the 30th of March
33. Saturday the 30th of March
34. Saturday the 30th of March
35. Saturday the 30th of March
36. Sunday the 31st of March
37. Monday the 1st of April
38. Tuesday the 2nd of April
39. Wednesday the 3rd of April
40. Thursday the 4th of April
41. Friday the 5th of April
42. Saturday the 6th of April
43. Tuesday the 9th of April
44. Friday the 26th of April
45. Monday the 17th of June 1861
Author’s Notes
Helpful Maps
The Mechanists Book 3
1. Friday the 6th of September, 1861
2. Thursday the 11th of April, 1861
3. Friday the 12th of April, 1861
4. Monday April 15th 1861
5. Wednesday the 17th of April, 1861
6. Thursday the 18th of April, 1861
7. Thursday the 25th of April, 1861
8. Tuesday the 30th of April, 1861
9. Wednesday the 1st of May, 1861
10. Thursday the 9th of May, 1861
11. Friday the10th of April ,1861
12. Thursday the 16th of May 1861
13. Friday the 17th of May 1861
14. Saturday the 25th of May, 1861
15. Saturday the 7th of June 1861
16. Chapter 16: Saturday the 15th of June, 1861
17. Monday the 1st of July, 1861
18. Monday the 8th of July, 1861
19. Tuesday the 9th of July, 1861
20. Wednesday the 10th of July, 1861
21. Sunday the 21st of July, 1861
22. Friday the 26th of July, 1861
23. Tuesday to 30th of July
24. Thursday the 1st of August, 1861
25. Monday the 5th of August, 1861
26. Tuesday the 6th of August, 1861
27. Friday the 9th of August, 1861
28. Thursday the 22nd of August, 1861
29. Friday the 30th of August, 1861
30. Saturday the 31st of August, 1861
31. Sunday the 1st of September, 1861
32. Tuesday the 3rd of September, 1861
33. Wednesday the 4th od September, 1861
34. Thursday the 5th of September, 1861
35. Friday the 6th of September 1861
36. The Aether
37. Friday the 6th of September, 1861
Want to know about the day Rose, Lorelei, the Baroness and Angelica went to Paris?
Author’s Notes
Thank you
Also by J M Bannon
The Untold Tales of Dolly Williamson
Foreword
Fredrick “Dolly” Williamson is a young detective sergeant in the detective branch at Scotland Yard. When called on to investigate the murder of an investment banker, he is reminded of past encounters with the occult. Dolly requests help from Sister Rose Caldwell, an expert in the mystical arts. The body count continues to rise and the mystery deepens after the enigmatic necronist guild provides clues to the origins of the murderer.
This tightly-wound thriller is set in an alternative 19th century, where powerful guilds use mechanical power, occult rituals, and alchemy to vie for influence in the courts of Queen Victoria and the ever-youthful Emperor Napoleon.
The Untold Tales of Dolly Williamson is the prequel to the Guild Chronicles, a steampunk fantasy book series.
1
Sunday, the 6th of June 1858
8:00 AM, 217 King’s Road, Belgravia
During the early hours of Sunday morning, a constable roused Dolly to tell him there had been a murder. Together, they walked to the scene of the crime. The streets of London were peaceful this time of day. Later, the residents would emerge from their homes, stoke the coal beds of steam carriages, hitch up horses to surreys and ride to church or the park. Except for the occasional clip-clop of a horse-drawn carriage or the whine and chug of a steam-driven vehicle making an early delivery, the streets felt tranquil, a rare occurrence. This was London, the world’s largest city, the capital of the greatest empire and home to over three million souls.
Hundreds of new inhabitants came to the city every day. Rural folk and immigrants, all looking for factory work and a better life. To help deal with the chaos of the fastest growing city on the planet, the home secretary enlisted Dolly and his fellow detectives with the responsibility of crime detection, a novel concept that had proven its merit by thwarting conspiracies and catching villains that in the past would have gone unpunished.
Fredrick Adolphus “Dolly” Williamson had made sergeant at twenty-eight years of age. Other men had achieved the position in the Metropolitan Police Department earlier than Dolly, but he was the youngest sergeant of the ten men serving in the special detective branch of the Metropolitan Police Service.
More than the day, it was the neighborhood that made this walk serene; King’s Road in Belgravia lay far away from the streets swarming with new migrants and country folk seeking to make their way in the evolving world. Rarely were his services needed in this part of town.
The crime scene was located at the townhouse of Sir Francis Chilton, first baronet and the managing partner at the investment bank, Chilton, Chilton, Strathmore & Owens. Chilton and his partners were men of exceptional power. He was the principal partner of an enterprise, where even kings went to borrow money. The Chiltons had the finances that could fund countries going to war or the creation of entire industries, like those of the mechanists. The only financiers in London that perhaps had more money under management were the Rothchilds, but they had far less influence.
Two Peelers managed the modest crowd that had gathered in front of Chilton’s townhouse, including a correspondent from the Guardian, Gerald Welch. No doubt some copper tipped the newspaper man.
Dolly pushed past the growing crowd and entered the home. The beat sergeant stood in the foyer, talking with one of the household servants. Dolly walked up to him.
“Detective Sergeant Williamson,” declared the sergeant with a tone of respect and relief.
“Sergeant,” Dolly replied, looking to him for his report of the situation. Dolly was now the ranking officer on the scene.
“This here is Mr. Cooper, the head butler. He found Sir Francis this morning,” answered the beat sergeant.
Dolly turned to the butler and said, “I’ll have questions for you later." Dolly then spoke to the sergeant. “I want to see the scene first.”
The detective followed the sergeant down the hallway, and they turned right into the private study. A cadaver lay in the center of the room. A dead man unlike any corpse the detective had seen.
The body was kneeling on the floor, arched back with its arms splayed out, chest up. A deceased male, naked above the waistline. A white shirt and dinner jacket were folded neatly on one of the overstuffed chairs beside the body. What was most disturbing was the state of the body. It was gray with skin like clay dried in the sun, cracked and leathery. This sight brought him back to the horror he saw four years ago.
He circled the body, noting no trace of a struggle, no blood spatter or gun shots. Jutting from the rib cage of the deceased man was a remarkable object. A strange ornate piece of wood about a foot long, decorated with odd markings, small bones, feathers, and beads, almost like a primitive magician’s wand. The object penetrated his breast, but presented no evidence as to why all the victim's vital fluids were gone.
Dolly paced around the chamber and sniffed the air to sense if there was solvent or chemical residue that may have caused the strange condition of the body. At first glimpse, it appeared to be a burned corpse, but it did not have the smell of a burned body. Rather it had no smell. Scenes from the past kept sneaking into his mind, visions of a man on fire but not dying, laughing and not burning. It had been months since that fellow had visited him in his nightmares and years since the episode.
He glanced over to the constable by the exit. “Send in the Butler.” Dolly needed help to understand if things were missing or out of place.
The policeman returned with Mr. Cooper, who remained just outside the study. Upon viewing the scene, Mr. Cooper was overcome with grief. “Do you think he suffered?”
Of course he suffered. He looks like an overdone hen, Dolly thought. Instead of voicing a response, he asked him a question. “How long have you worked here, Mr. Cooper?” Dolly was now on his hands and knees, peering at the carpet below the body for any traces of fluids or evidence.
"I have served at the townhouse for twenty-four years," Cooper replied.
“What causes you to believe the body is your employer?” Dolly asked, looking at Cooper while going to his feet.
“The clothing, sir. Like I said, I have been in service to Sir Francis for a long time. I know every stitch of clothing he owns,” said the butler.
“And this is just how you found him. You touched nothing. You did not fold up the shirt?” asked the detective.
“No, sir, I have not stepped into the room,” he said.
“Please come in and look around the office. Does anything look out of place or missing?” The butler took a deep breath to steady himself, then stepped into the room as if he were taking the step off a cliff.
The old man paced the room. Dolly observed him, looking for any telling behavior.
“From what I can see, it all looks right,” said Cooper. Dolly doubted he could notice anything. The man kept looking back at the mummified remains of Sir Lester, like he would jump up or talk.
“Mr. Cooper when was the last time you saw Sir Francis alive?”
“Now that is the odd thing, Detective. I have not seen him since Friday morning, and I did not expect to see him for a fortnight as the family is at the estate this time of year. He showed up unannounced and without staff late Thursday evening. All alone. I asked him if I should call for temporary help, and he said no. That he was in London only for a short time and had no need to open the house.”
“So you saw him Friday morning?” reiterated the detective.
“Yes, I served him breakfast. Then he told me and Mrs. Blake to take Friday and Saturday off as he would not be returning after going int
o the office.”