by Irene Ferris
“Are they strong enough to suit you?” Mathieu could hear the sneer in the older man’s voice.
“Very strong. I suspect they’ve been added to over the years.” The strength of the wards was very worrying, actually. He knew there was no way he could physically fight his way through them or break them. If they realized that, they could keep him here forever.
Marcus, Jenn and Eddie had put the baggage in one corner. “Mathieu,” Jenn said quietly to get his attention. “How do we do this? Tell us what to do.”
Reaching into that store of knowledge that he loathed, he spoke without thinking. “You must inscribe an Orbis—a perfect circle--onto the good, hard earth. There must be no flaw, no beginning, no end. Make this big enough to surround all you would carry with you. Then inscribe a second Orbis outside the first, also perfect. Make the gap between large enough to hold your spellwork.”
“Here goes nothing,” Marcus grumbled as he grabbed the sword from the table and began to trace a circle.
Mathieu watched his progress and then spoke quietly. “No, Marcus. It must be a perfect circle.”
Marcus straightened up, rubbed out what he had done with his foot and started again.
Again Mathieu spoke. “No, Marcus. It must be perfect.”
“I haven’t even drawn a foot yet.”
“It is flawed.”
“How can you tell?” Now Marcus sounded irritated.
“I can tell. Don’t argue, just do.”
With a sigh, Marcus erased his previous effort and made a gesture to Jenn. She grabbed the rope from the table and stood in the middle of the room. Marcus grabbed one end of the rope and measured out a few feet, pulled it taut and then put the sword into the earth with a glare in Mathieu’s direction. He pulled the point through the earth while he circled Jenn precisely. The circle was perfect, no beginning and no end.
Jenn pulled out another six inches of rope and Marcus made another circle, perfect the first time. He wound the rope carefully and then looked at Mathieu with a triumphant look.
“Well enough, I suppose. Now inscribe the cardinals in their true and precise locations.”
“How are we supposed to know that?” Marcus sounded even more irritated.
“You simply know. Are you not attuned enough with the Earth to feel it?” Mathieu started rubbing his arms again.
“Uhm, NO. I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Mathieu raised his eyebrows and then walked forward. “Give me the knife.”
Eddie took it from the table and passed it to him. Mathieu studied it for a moment. It was a poor excuse for a weapon, he thought. It was silver hilted and the blade was poorly forged. It would have snapped at the first encounter with armor.
But that was not its purpose. Gingerly stepping over the edges of the circle, Mathieu walked to the center. With a nod to Jenn, he closed his eyes and focused.
Eyes still closed, he took a step to his left and over, crouched down and incised a character with three sharp slashes of the blade and three quick stabs of the point. “Lo Nord.” He intoned the words with musical note.
Up again and to his right and down again to slash and stab at the ground. “L’Est.”
Another turn and down to inscribe again. “Lo sud.” And again. “L’oest.”
He then stood and opened his eyes to look at Jenn. “Where do you want to go?”
She blinked in surprise, looked over to her husband and back again. “Where can we go?”
Mathieu gave a small half-smile. “Anywhere you wish, my lady.”
“Can we go right where it happened?” Marcus stepped over the edge of the circles, careful not to mar the edges. “I mean right into the very place.”
Wincing at the thought, Mathieu spoke slowly. “I would not recommend it. If there are any residual spells or traps there, the energy of this spell might activate them. Or it might draw the attention of the creature you’re hunting before you’re ready.”
“How close can we get without that happening?” Marcus rubbed his chin.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.” Hugh stepped forward. “Being evasive isn’t going to help kill that thing and get my daughter back.”
“It is the answer you’re getting.” With a sigh, Mathieu tried again. “We are moving from one place to another. We do not want to take the same path the one who took your daughter did because if we do we shall most assuredly encounter it before we are ready. Which leads me back to my original question: Where do you want to go?”
“How close can we get without having anything nasty happen to us? I’d like to avoid nasty at all costs.” Eddie leaned against the far wall and fiddled with the oil lamp from the table, but his posture was tense.
“If that were your goal, I’d have suggested you not involve yourself with this undertaking in the first place,” Mathieu said dryly. “But as that is no longer possible, I would think a few hundred yards would be sufficient.”
“The yard behind the pool near the woods.” Jenn said and Hugh nodded immediately in agreement. “That’s far enough away but still close.”
Mathieu handed her the knife with the very tips of his fingers. “You must inscribe two things in the circle, then. On this side,” he gestured, “you must put the true name of our current location. On that side, the true name of where we are going. When you’ve done that, I’ll show you how to trace our route from one to the other.” At her bewildered look he smiled gently. “It sounds more confusing than it is. We are here, we wish to go there. Both places are named by what they are--the smell of the air, the feel of the earth, the sound of the wind. Focus yourself, fix your destination in your mind and it will name itself for you.”
With a sidelong glance at Marcus, Jenn accepted the knife. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and concentrated. Her face went still and for a long time she didn’t move.
Mathieu stood aside and waited.
Chapter Twenty
“I’m bored.”
Mathieu stiffened then forced himself to stillness. When Gadreel said that, great amounts of pain usually followed in short order.
“What? No flip comment? No advice for me take my concerns to God?” Gadreel walked up to Mathieu and pulled an astonished face. “Could it be that you’re finally learning your place?”
Mathieu met his master’s eyes in silence and then turned his attention inward.
“Well, that’s no fun.” Gadreel turned back to the ruined camp spread around them. Kicking a corpse in irritation, it spoke again. “I know there’s enough left of you in there to be completely horrified by all this.”
Mathieu looked around and silently agreed. The people here had been taken completely by surprise—it had been a massacre, not a fair fight by any definition of the word. Honor had played no part in this. Most of the dead weren’t even soldiers-- the main part of the English van had moved forward to engage the Scottish army.
Of course, Gadreel had made sure that the worst would happen by first shifting its appearance to one of the Scotsmen’s scouts and telling them in hushed voices about the hidden encampment, and then shifting to an English knight and drawing the majority of the rear guard on a fool’s errand in the night.
As always, stirring up blinding rage among the attackers was easily done. In this case, Gadreel had used the Scot’s oppression to drive their anger.
Gadreel stalked further around and then cruelly kicked another corpse, this one especially small and pale. Mathieu winced as he looked at the boy, the device on his page’s livery obscured with blood. He couldn’t have been more than seven.
“Ah, there you are.” Gadreel rushed up to look again into Mathieu’s eyes with a cold smile. “How long have we been playing this game now, you and I?”
Mathieu felt a muscle in his cheek twitch but held his tongue. Gadreel’s grin grew even colder and wider. “I’ll tell you. Over a hundred of your years. Damonn lasted close to two thousands of your years, you realize. You might last lo
nger. You’re certainly stronger and more obstinate.”
Something inside Mathieu ached. Had it been that long?
“You realize everyone you know is dead now, don’t you?” Gadreel walked over to a camp chair and righted it before flopping down and putting its feet up on the remains of a slashed and broken table. Its red armor gleamed luridly in the light from a burning tent. “Everyone. Your mother, your brothers, your father—although I suspect you’d not shed a tear for that one. Even the great love of your life. All dead, all dust. All you have left is me.” It pointed at its chest with a thumb.
That was a horrifying thought. Mathieu closed his eyes so that the Demon could not see his pain.
Gadreel chuckled. “I thought that would get you.”
Mathieu spoke before he could stop the words. “I suppose that gives you great pleasure.” He instantly regretted it.
“Of course it does.” Gadreel leaned back in the chair and gestured at the destruction around them. “I can’t help what I am. It’s simply my nature.”
“There is nothing natural about you.”
“Ha! There is the mouthy bastard I’ve come to miss. I was beginning to think you’d given up. I’m glad to know I was wrong.”
Mathieu shook his head and bit his tongue. Gadreel chuckled again and stood up. “Of course, I’ll have to punish you for your disrespect.” The gauntleted fist came down before Mathieu could dodge and his face erupted into pain as he fell. “Such disrespect you show. Tsk, tsk.” The kick to his midsection folded him in half. Other blows rained on his back and side but he remained silent. Screaming only excited Gadreel.
A hand gripped his hair and pulled him up to his knees. “Ah, this is better.” Gadreel licked a long swipe up the side of Mathieu’s face, and then smiled sweetly. Its teeth were stained red with Mathieu’s blood.
Mathieu was pulled around and then thrown by his hair to land on the boy’s corpse. Cold, dead eyes stared through him as he struggled to get onto his feet and for a moment he was jealous that the child had found peace in his death. Only for a moment though because Gadreel came forward and put his knee squarely on Mathieu’s chest, pressing him back down onto the body.
“You realize,” the Demon lord spoke slowly as it caressed the iron chain around Mathieu’s neck, “that none of this would be necessary if you gave me the fifth binding and turned this to gold.” Gadreel’s eyes grew bright as he continued. “I’d have no choice but to cherish you and treat you gently to remain worthy of such a gift. And the power you could give me...” The hand left the cold, cold chain and made its way to Mathieu’s cheek, tracing the bruises that were blooming and fading. “I could never make Damonn do it, but he was a savage. Surely you understand my needs more than he ever could.”
Mathieu shuddered at the gentle touch, his stomach roiling with terror.
Gadreel’s lips skinned back from its teeth in a snarl as the hand grabbed the iron chain again, this time pulling Mathieu up and forward. “LOVE ME. I COMMAND IT.”
Struggling for breath, Mathieu did the only thing he could. He spat in Gadreel’s face.
“That,” said Gadreel in a very tight, controlled voice “was most unwise.”
The blows that rained down made Mathieu see red and then black.
Chapter Twenty - One
“Mathieu? Matheiu?”
Jenn’s voice penetrated his reverie and Mathieu looked up to find her standing in front of him. He blinked once, then twice as he absently studied her face.
She furrowed her brow in concern and then gestured back over her shoulder at the unfinished circle. “Did I do it right?”
He tilted his head to look over her shoulder at what she’d inscribed. “It appears so.”
“Now what?”
Mathieu held his hand out for the knife. “Now I do the rest.”
He stepped around her carefully and into the circle. Kneeling, he inscribed a symbol on either side of the south cardinal. “This is the symbol for There. It never changes.”
“Why not?” It was obvious that Marcus was committing this entire process to memory.
Mathieu looked up at him and said, “Because all of There is the same. It doesn’t matter where you are in There because it is not like here.”
“There’s a brilliant answer,” grumped Hugh.
“It is a truthful answer. Once you have been There we can discuss its merits. Until then, I suggest you listen to what I am saying if you want to learn.” Mathieu drew a line from the symbol for their present location to the first symbol for There. Another line from the second symbol for There to their destination. “This is our route. In order to travel in this world, we must leave it and come back.”
“Wait. Wait.” Eddie pushed off of the wall and walked forward. “You mean you’re taking us to Hell and back?”
“Basically.” Mathieu caught Marcus’ attention and traced a few symbols on the very edge of the circle. “This is the actual spell. Remember this because I won’t show you again.”
“Back up.” Eddie knelt across from Mathieu on the outside of the circle. “You’re taking us to HELL?”
“Yes.” Mathieu met his eyes and repeated himself. “In order to travel from one point to another, we must leave and come back.”
Eddie stood up and looked at Marcus. “I say we go with Plan C. Drug him, stuff him in a box, put him on a plane and take the long way around. Going to Hell is SO not cool.”
“Why?” Mathieu’s voice was dry. “Do you think something there will want to keep you? You place a high value on yourself if you think that.”
“I’m damned well worth it.” Eddie turned back to Marcus. “You know this is insane, don’t you?”
“Insane but necessary.” Marcus sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“What is it like There?” Jenn asked as she started piling their bags in the circle. Eddie started pulling the bags back out and they scuffled for a moment.
“Cold.” Mathieu rubbed his arms again. “So very cold.” He looked up at them. “Colorless, dead and cold. But we won’t be there for more than an instant. I don’t think anything will notice us.”
“You don’t think? This is great.” Eddie threw his hands up and Jenn took the luggage back into the circle. “You can’t be serious about this, Marcus.”
“Get in the circle, Eddie.” Marcus’ voice was flatly commanding.
“Eddie,” Mathieu spoke calmly as he stood and brushed off his pants. “I will never do anything to hurt Jenn or anyone she loves. I will not mislead you or abandon you.” He moved to stand next to the baggage. “You’ll notice that I’m going as well and I have much more reason to be afraid than you.”
Hugh pushed Eddie forward. “You go on, son. Amanda needs you.” He gave Mathieu a meaningful look. “Remember what I told you. Kill that thing and bring her back or else.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Jenn sounded disappointed but Mathieu gave a silent sigh of relief.
“No.” Hugh shook his head. “I’ll be there in a day or so, but I have to tie things up here.” He glared again at Mathieu. “I called in a lot of favors to make this happen and I have to fulfill some obligations first. It had better be worth it.”
“It will. We won’t disappoint you.” Marcus took Jenn’s hand and then grabbed Eddie’s. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Mathieu watched as all of three of them dropped into a trance almost immediately and was impressed with how smoothly they worked together. They’d been working hard, obviously. It took them a long moment to build up enough energy to power the circle, but they somehow did it.
The edges of the circle began to glow, then the characters, and then the lines of their route.
There was that moment of vertigo, followed by a few seconds of bitter cold, followed by vertigo again and then they were there.
It was green and the earth smelled moist and of living things. Birds sang as the wind whispered through the trees. Mathieu raised his head and looked around.
In the distance a three story brick house sat on top of a hill. It overlooked a rolling lawn with a pool and some gardens. Behind him were woods. The late afternoon sun filtered down in golden shafts through the leaves.
“Wow.” Jenn had recovered first from the trip. “Wow,” she repeated. “It really worked, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Marcus shook his head and looked around. “Eddie, can you let the others know we’re here? I sort of forgot to let them know we were on our way.”
Eddie stared at the house in the distance. “Yeah. That might be a good idea.” He took out a cell phone and his thumbs moved over the screen with a furious clicking.
Mathieu looked around and opened his senses. Something seemed odd about this bucolic setting.
There. There it was. In the woods he felt wards and suspected they would fall right at the property lines. He reached further and felt the nearest neighbors were on the other side of the woods and the wards were placed at the perfect distance to isolate this house from them.
He turned his attention back to the house. It was old, but not as old as the Foundation’s house in France. It was a stately country house, brick with a slate roof and white wood casements and doors. He could see the basement windows and noticed the glass was painted black.
“Was this Amanda’s house?” He asked Jenn while Eddie waited for an answer.
“Yeah. Isn’t it sweet? She was going to turn it into a bed and breakfast.”
“How long has she been living here?” Mathieu looked at the house a little deeper. It was a null space, blank to his senses. That meant there were wards. Strong ones.
“About six months. Maybe a little less.” Jenn picked up her bag and started walking towards the house. “Mr. Devalle bought it for her after she graduated college. It’s a historical property though.”
“Really?” He knew his voice was flat when he spoke. This was not the home of someone who didn’t believe in magic.
“Yeah.” Jenn continued on as Eddie and Marcus sorted their bags. “It was built right after the Revolutionary war by a merchant who made his fortune here in Kinderhook. I remember her telling me how excited she was about owning a piece of history.”