The Guild Chronicles Books 1-3

by J M Bannon

  "Wally, get your boys and gear packed up and ready to head back ready to Denver," yelled Elmore through the window of the jail.

  The only person who didn't break away was Wilburn. He stood his ground, "Marshal, I will collect my company's missing property before I leave, I really must insist!”

  Elmore processed the situation. If Wilburn knew the nature of that strange gear he would likely not be forthcoming if asked. The level of his desire to retrieve it indicated his involvement in this case.

  "Mr. Wilburn, I would be happy to oblige, after we are finished here with our fumigation and analysis of the evidence. I'll even ask the Captain to give you a tour of the airship when you return to collect what we found. You won't believe this, but do you know who the Captain is? None other than the Vanderbilt Valkyrie! She told me, that her new airship is faster than anything she has flown before and I might add, she is as pretty as that ship is majestic. So, clear off now and I promise to fetch you when we have completed our investigation."

  * * *

  10:10 a.m. The Town of Harpsichord

  Rose stood in the middle of Harpsichord dressed in an outfit resembling a deep-sea diver rather than a woman in the wild west. The special helmet was tucked under her arm and she had set several cameras in the middle of the street. McMillan's men had dispersed and re-assembled on a rise outside of town observing the investigative team.

  "Are you ready for this, Sheriff?" asked Rose.

  "The sooner we can wrap this up the better," said Elmore. He and Dolly wore similar coveralls to Rose, but rather than the strange helmet with lens attachments they had a simple breather and a set of goggles. "This stuff you're going to paint the town with, is it safe?" Elmore questioned, with a nervous expression.

  "By the way, it's Marshal, not Sheriff, but I would rather you call me Elmore."

  "All right, Elmore, and you are welcome to call me Rose,"

  "Much obliged, Rose. I would like that,"

  She wasn't blind to his playful banter but there was business at hand and this was a chance for her to perform a spectral reading on a monumental scale.

  "I admired how you handled that situation with the Company men. Things were getting tense, and those are stone cold killers up on that hill. You scared the crap into their britches with all that talk of sickness and curses."

  Rose laughed. "You didn't miss a beat either, and you jumped right up on stage with me."

  Elmore added, "Besides seeing it work, I enjoy a little theatrical flourish, so I really could not stop myself. I've talked my way out of far more situations than I shot my way out of."

  Rose smiled. She enjoyed a bit of drama too, but what was to come next really got her heart pumping, "Elmore, having the preeminent Alchemist in the world on our team means we have access to the rarest of elements manipulated by the skill and imagination of the brilliant Lorelei Traube. Lorelei has taken what I have done in the past to a much grander scale, allowing me to scry this entire town more efficiently."

  "Are you two about done?" asked Dolly. He looked silly as his coveralls was slightly too small, pulled up in the rise and taut across his chest.

  "Don't mind him, he's just a wee bit cross because when I am working, all he can do is stand around," explained Rose, slightly annoyed.

  "I wish it were that easy, I don't much enjoy this as I become your page boy running about fetching photograph slides and wiping your brow," said Dolly as he fastened his mask.

  "If I remember correctly there is a desk in Scotland Yard with your nameplate sitting on it. You could have stayed there and made sure the paper was pushed properly," retorted Rose.

  This was the first live test and would be a larger area than Rose had ever scryed before, but it should be no more difficult than the trials Rose and Lorelei had conducted in Brookwood Cemetery. With Lorelei's help, Rose developed a recipe of alchemical gases which they used to fog the famous graveyard. While the mystical piece eluded Traube, her expertise with product quality was essential to deliver a uniform dispersion with an extended duration. The trials assisted in working out these details. Being an overachiever, Lorelei customized the chemistry to meet these needs, pushing herself and Rose to achieve superior results.

  Rose donned her helmet locking it down on the collar. When she spoke her voice took on a muffled quality as if talking from inside a fishbowl. "Elmore, please secure your mask, I will signal Reidun in," Rose waved her arms after Quentin placed his mask and goggles on.

  The Peregrine came in low on its fumigation pass. A purple fog settled over the town making it difficult to see. "I thought you said this would help us see evidence, I can't see past my nose," said Elmore.

  "Just wait. This is a two-part formula, after the first application, the reagent will be administered starting the process. Now please be quiet I need to concentrate," Rose calmed herself and thought through what needed to happen. After the initial fumigation, the ship would then begin a second slower pattern of flight releasing the catalyst. Under the direction of Dr. Traube, the catalyst was a more difficult process to administer as it was not visible like the first gas and as it dispersed, it turned the purple fog clear to the naked eye. Only Rose could see the results as images inside her helmet, then later on the plates produced with her camera obscura.

  The Peregrine hovered over the center of the town, completing the distribution of the purple gas cloud. It then began a circling pattern that widened out, the dense purple mist faded, and the apparitions appeared to Rose. It took time to put the images into context; spiritual energy caught in the fabric of the aether, like stains on a tablecloth. Her expertise was reading those stains and determining the meal served on that table.

  Rose used her expertise to place the timeframe and connection of events, but there was something not right about these circumstances. The events were cataclysmic, Rose could see the moment when the townspeople lost their lives; it appeared as if a prairie wind blew into the township and as it whipped through, tore away the souls of everyone.

  Although a week old the images were clear, intensified by the high death count. Rose closed her eyes to center herself; then upon re-opening the scene would reset and replay. After the third time of doing this, she had oriented herself. Similar to what she had garnered from the photos of the Zeus Colonial, there appeared to be a movement of the souls from Harpsichord towards a central location.

  "Gent's please grab the equipment and follow me," Rose said as she plodded step by step. She stopped occasionally to clear her mind and reset the scene, then moving a few more steps towards the point where all the life energy was flowing. Rose recognized that she did not have to keep reciting her incantations, she was more disciplined and could hold the state she needed to reset the scene.

  She moved off the main street towards the dry creek bed behind the town. The two Lawmen followed, carrying her gear like pack mules. Making her way around the buildings she again reset her mind and opened her eyes. Her stomach dropped as the scene played out and the individual spirits of the townspeople were pulled into a massive vortex; a black swirl of energy focused onto the location of the tipped over wagon. As she walked closer to the source, the wind-like rush of life energy caused her skin to prickle. Rose ducked and weaved to dodge the swirling souls as she proceeded forward. For her, it was as if she were there on the day it happened.

  "Rose, what is it you're seeing, can you describe it?" asked Dolly.

  Rose had completely forgotten her compatriots or the fact that the events she was witnessing happened a week ago. She snapped out of her state and all was gone.

  "No surprise, but the event leads back to this spot," said Rose.

  "That's where I found the unusual contraption we brought up to your airship," said Elmore.

  "I want to set up the camera here," Rose said to Dolly.

  Dolly had done this enough to know what help she required of him, opening the tripod and preparing the slides for her to shoot the pictures, to be observed later by the uninitiated in her phantasm
agraph.

  Rose was furiously shooting pictures of the scene. First the wagon, then shots of the town from the wagon, then she had an idea. Unbuttoning her coverall, she reached inside to her belt and retrieved the Rod of Raziel.

  "Whoa, Rose, what are you up to now?" asked Dolly with a worried tone.

  "Hey, do you two mind letting me in on the side show you have going on here?" asked Elmore.

  "It's a relic, the thing in her hand that looks like an oversized ruler made for a King. She uses it like a wand when it appears that something is about to get nasty," explained Dolly.

  "Oh, Dolly, not to worry. Enzo taught me how to tap into other channels with the Rod the other day. I will use it to clarify and understand the surrounding evidence,” Rose pulled off her gloves and threw them to the ground letting the cool silver rectangle rest on her palms.

  As Rose began another meditative state, she heard Dolly explain the situation. "Rose is a practitioner of metaphysics. She uses ancient relics and this homegrown kit to make it all more scientific and better still, accessible for us uninitiated. Later she will develop these plates to give us a picture show of what happened here. Did I get that right, Rose?"

  "Just about, except that this process requires focus on my part; a babbling Scotsmen can impede concentration." As Rose opened herself up to the power of the Rod, she first felt her boss seething with a comeback, but biting his tongue so not to disturb her. Then she picked up Elmore's lustful interest as he watched her, all suddenly drowned out by the flood of pain and anguish that flowed through her.

  The sheer terror and agony of all those people rushing towards nothingness brought forth a deep, dark and sad place, similar to the feeling when she learned of her mother's death. Taking the emotional plunge, she steeled herself, breathing in a full chest of air, looking beyond the pain of the townspeople, further back into time to see the wagon veer off the trail. The spokes of one wheel were splintered, and the driver was trying to unload the wagon when the team suddenly spooked and jumped. The man hit the ground head first then the wagon crushed him. Rose cringed when she saw the odd way he landed breaking his neck. The wagon teetered pulled the team back, shattering the wheel then dropping the full weight of the wagon on the driver.

  Rose sensed his spirit leaving observing the outline of the device on the ground, surrounded by a strange ruby hued glow. What followed was a replay of the whirlwind of souls drawing into the device. This time she couldn't bear the pain and fell to her knees weeping, as the lenses fogged from her sobs, she tore the helmet off.

  * * *

  10:55 a.m The Town of Harpsichord

  Elmore didn't know what to do or say, he felt awkward as Rose was sobbing uncontrollably, kneeling on the ground. "Can we get you over to the Sheriff's office? You can lie down there and have a rest," said the Marshal, trying to console her.

  "That would be good," Rose blurted out between sobs and hyperventilating.

  Dolly got her to her feet then picked her up. He nodded to Elmore to go, so he led the way to the office. Elmore was surprised that Dolly could lift her, he had assumed the Detective to be a little soft coming from the city. Once they reached the office, Dolly set Rose down on the lower bunk. She rolled towards the wall and continued to whimper covering her head with the pillow. Dolly walked to the front of the Sheriff's office. "Let's go collect all the gear, Marshal.”

  "What do you make of all that," asked Elmore as he and Dolly went back out to gather up Rose's equipment.

  "Emotional strain I guess, you got to understand laddie, I have seen some of the strangest shit in my life and she was there to deal with it. Yet she has been party to even more bizarre experiences," Dolly stopped to load his pipe and start puffing. "And don't be fooled, she is tough as nails but she has had it a wee bit hard. When I first met her, people treated her like shit. Hell, she was an ex-Catholic nun in a Protestant country, living on scraps. Now she's got a job she loves and has come into some money, but that doesn't change the hard road she has to walk and the dark world she investigates."

  With the pipe clenched in his teeth, Dolly reached in his jacket and pulled out a tin box. He popped it open to show Elmore the strangest bullets he had ever seen. They contained nitrite paper with powder adhered to lead slugs, embedded with a tiny, glowing, blue crystal.

  "She made these for me, they are imbued with eldritch gas, just in case I ever get into another situation where normal bullets won't kill a man,” shared Dolly.

  Elmore was perplexed by that comment, "What are you talking about?"

  "I have more than once, had encounters with the supernatural. Normal methods were inadequate, and I am just a man, so Rose made these for my protection. She truly is extraordinary! After what I've seen her accomplish with her tinkering and control of the metaphysical; I forget that she is human too. I think we saw some of that come out," mused the Detective.

  "I don't follow. I mean I realize what happened here was some kind of evil, we have a town full of wrinkled corpses. I hope we now can get to burying them, but she was just walking around with that gizmo on her head and yelling at you to load photo plates,"

  "You'll see. Wait until she produces the photo plates then you will get a glimpse into what she sees. Back when we first met I was the same way, she would walk around a room with smoke and crystals then tell me about ghosts and spirits; it was right out of a séance. Then you see I had one experience that removed my skepticism, I shot a man that wouldn't die. Saw it with my own eyes, two pistol shots as close as I am to you. I could see through the fucking hole in his head and he just laughed at me," Dolly recounted with a serious look.

  "Like a zombie?"

  "Worse, a human possessed by a demon. Now I carry bullets that will kill one of those entities, and I also know if I am to protect the people of London, I need Rose."

  This was all too weird, thought Elmore. "I will appreciate it when you two get me some evidence. In the meantime why don't we get back with this equipment then pay a visit to our friends from the railroad? I suspect our man from the Astor Company will be eager to see his gizmo again. If it's all right with you, I would like to bring him up to look at that thing I found and see how he reacts when I tell him the only way he leaves with it is if he sprouts wings and flies away."

  "Fine with me," Dolly agreed picking up most of the gear. Together with Elmore's help, the two sauntered back towards the jail.

  "You folks sure have a lot of stuff to carry around," said Elmore.

  "Laddie, did you see the cast of characters I am running with?"

  "While the company is enjoyable and they all are pleasant to look at, those women are the biggest bunch of pack rats I have ever seen,” the Inspector bantered. "If one of them is not buying the latest whatever, the other one is building it from scratch. Rose is actually quite frugal, the worse of the lot is the tiny Kraut, she is bloody brilliant and as rich as the Queen. Next time you see me I'll be one of twenty Sherpas hauling around these girls' bags," exclaimed Dolly. As the two entered the Sheriff's office he quickly stopped talking when he saw Rose up and composed, speaking with the Native American.

  "Elmore, Hanska here, by the way, I am not sure why you have him locked up, was just telling me that there are several locations he can show us where herds of buffalo were killed in the same way," said Rose.

  "And just as many shot, skinned and butchered, but recently there have been whole herds with the black death. It started last year. The culling of herds switched from shooting and skinning to this dark magic. Whole herds dead, the life pulled out of them. My people have moved farther north where the herds are being pushed," shared Hanska. "Where did Wally go off to?" asked Elmore. "He left a wire type reply on your desk. He told me to tell you he was riding back with the others to Denver City," said Rose.

  "It's late and there is a storm coming, why would those dolts ride off now rather than wait to go in the morning?" Elmore was disgusted with the lack of support from the posse he had deputized.

  "Laddie, if I
were them I would get out of town as quick as I could. You have a bunch of dead folks, my Constable is prattling on about a disease and Indian curses, and you have a dozen desperadoes looming around the town," rattled off Dolly.

  "I get your point. I guess my leadership and inspiration require fortification," replied the Marshal. Humanity never seemed to run out of ways to disappoint him.

  "I'll need you two to dash over to the runabout, so I can get the plates processed," Rose rolled her eyes up to the ceiling while thinking; still red and swollen from crying but they had regained their curious spirit. "Figure on three hours to get the slides developed then we'll have a look and you can see with your own eyes how that device killed the town of Harpsichord. What you see swirling inside are human souls."

  "This is just like the Moya case, these folks have been under a Pen Ha.." Dolly fumbled with the pronunciation.

  "Pwen Hanaan, the life stealing voodoo ritual. Yes, but on an industrial scale. This device or one like it was used on the Zeus Colonial. The photos will show a similar phenomenon but I know more from the scale and depth of this scry. When I used the Rod, I could gather a greater depth of the situation. Our wagoner slid off the road leaving town cracking the spokes of the wheel. While unloading the wagon, the horses bolted, and the wagon tipped over into the river bed. Two unfortunate results came of the accident; the driver was killed in the fall and the device detonated and absorbed all the life force into it," said Rose sitting on the edge of the bunk.

  "So, everyone is in that thing up on your airship?" asked Elmore.

  "Yes, that is correct,” confirmed Rose.

  "Well, let's get them out and back into their skins," urged Elmore.

  "I wish it were that easy. I know of no one alive who is capable of doing that, nor do I know the repercussions of if we were to do so," Rose said with a distant look on her face, "Oh, and Elmore, I am not sure what your plan is with Hanska here, but he wasn't in any of the visions I saw. I used the Rod while questioning him and he can take us to places where herds of buffalo have been culled similarly; it may be worth having a look."