Ceri moved around to sit down and got a proper look at the man seated beside her. He was in his thirties, she guessed, moderately good looking and fairly well built. His shirt was stretched across a muscled chest and his jacket showed signs of a bulky frame stretching the shoulders. He looked rugged. Rugged was a really good term for him, actually since there was some indication of beard growth at eleven in the morning and his nose appeared to have been broken more than once. His dark brown hair was short and probably maintained by a fairly expensive barber. His eyes were blue, but the colour made less of an impression than the look he gave her; appraising and a little suspicious.
‘Ceridwyn Brent, this is Avery Sachs, with the Home office,’ Malcolm said, nodding at Mister Rugged. Home Office… right. ‘And this is Dennis, my under-secretary. He’ll be taking minutes and telling me when I’m supposed to be somewhere else. As you can tell, Avery doesn’t have a Dennis.’ That was another point Malcolm had got back. Ceri gave Sachs a nod and got nothing but the appraising look in reply.
Ceri took her cue from Malcolm; they had been on a first name basis in the Green Room, but not in front of Sachs. ‘I have a conference presentation to prepare for, sir,’ she said, ‘so I’d be grateful if we could get to the point.’
Malcolm nodded. ‘The Cambridge thing? I’m not attending this year. Very well…’ He took a breath, as if considering how to proceed. Apparently he concluded that the direct approach was the best. ‘We understand that you paid a visit to the Chinese Embassy last week. The Home Office has some concerns.’ Ceri turned her gaze on Sachs; he said nothing. ‘What was the meeting about?’ Malcolm asked.
‘The Chinese government was concerned that the data we put in the Journal of Thaumatology had been… adjusted to suggest experimentation in that area was more dangerous than it actually is.’ Exactly how much information she was going to hand out she had not decided yet, but that much was safe. ‘They wanted to be quite sure it was not a ploy to allow Britain to build bombs based on the technology.’
‘And you assured her it was not and that we weren’t doing anything of the kind?’ Malcolm said.
‘Yes, I did.’
‘And she believed you?’ Sachs said. He had a calm voice, as deep as his chest suggested it might be.
‘I’m quite convincing on the subject,’ Ceri replied.
‘And you’re aware of government policy on this because?’ Sachs said. Ceri was not particularly happy about whatever he was implying.
‘I was told by a Mister… Whistler from this ministry that all research on that device was being cancelled,’ Ceri said. ‘Frankly, I’d make some threat about going to the press if I were to discover that any such research was continuing, but it would be entirely redundant.’ Sachs looked at her questioningly; his briefing had obviously not been that good. ‘If someone ever builds a Dark Circle device and turns it on, even for a second, the resulting explosion will make the German Rift bombs look like fire crackers. If anyone in this country built one, we’d all know it.’
‘Did you tell her about the skull at Stonehenge?’ Malcolm asked.
Ceri sighed. ‘No, she told me about the skull at Stonehenge.’
Malcolm’s face paled. Sachs said, ‘And did she say how she knew about it?’
‘No, but it doesn’t take a genius to work it out,’ Ceri replied. ‘Dragons are reputedly immortal, Huanglong probably went to school with the original owner of the skull.’
Sachs reached down and picked up a briefcase. Popping it open, he took out a manila envelope and passed it to Ceri. He spoke as she started to open it. ‘The Home Office is concerned that China has a significant spying operation in Britain.’ The envelope contained photographs of Mei, Jenny, and the two bodyguards entering the Jade Dragon. ‘We are concerned that Mei Long seems to be courting you for some reason and that her translator may be involved.’ There were some other pictures; Mei and the guards leaving the club, Jenny leaving with Carter, and the couple arriving at Carter’s flat.
‘I’m concerned that MI5 is taking happy snaps of my friends, Mister Sachs,’ Ceri replied. She looked up at him. Her Sight showed her the tell-tale signs of magic use which suggested he was a practitioner, but there were none of the dark marks around his Chakral Median which would have indicated a demonic pact. Sachs was probably not a member of the Order of Merlin, but one of his superiors might have been, or the analyst who had suggested Jenny might be a spy. ‘I’ve known Jenny Li since we were children, she’s a terrible liar. As for the Ambassador… She has an ulterior motive for meeting with me, I agree, but she has been quite open with me about her government’s involvement. I believe whatever she wants with me is personal.’
‘Why would a Chinese state official have personal interests in, if you’ll pardon the description, a nobody thaumatology researcher from London?’ Sachs asked flatly.
In truth, Ceri could think of only one answer to that question; because Mei Long knew that Ceri was a sorceress and Mei Long was something not entirely human. However, she was not going to tell Sachs that. ‘When I find out, Mister Sachs… Well, frankly, if it’s personal then it’s none of your widder-damned business.’ She turned to Malcolm. ‘Is that all you needed?’
The minister was trying his best not to look amused. ‘That’s all I needed,’ he said. ‘Good luck with the presentation.’
Ceri stood up, handed the photographs back to Sachs, and started for the door. She paused with her hand on the door handle. ‘Mister Sachs, my friend Lily and I tend to sunbathe nude on the roof of my house. I’d appreciate it if you used female operatives for your surveillance.’ She opened the door and added, ‘It was nice meeting you again, Minister,’ before walking out.
Just as she was about to close the door behind her she heard Malcolm say, ‘You can leave that last bit out of the minutes, Dennis.’
~~~
‘Seriously?’ Lily said rather too enthusiastically. ‘MI5 are really watching us?’
‘Someone certainly is,’ Ceri replied from the other lounger, a copy of the Wednesday Witch in front of her. ‘Sachs never did confirm he was MI5, but then I guess he wouldn’t.’
‘Did he look like James Bond?’
‘Which one?’
‘Oh… Connery.’
Ceri giggled. ‘A bit, maybe. James Bond was MI6 anyway. He’s a practitioner. Magic has to be really useful for being a spy, though if they try to use scrying on us they’ll be a bit bored.’
‘So we’re probably talking long lenses and a telescope from the tower blocks?’
‘I’m guessing they have a parabolic microphone as well.’
‘Do you think they’ve got a video camera? I haven’t done porn in years.’
Ceri gave a little sigh and looked out toward the tower blocks which were, perhaps a hundred and fifty yards away. Unaided she could see no sign of anyone watching them, just the basic shapes of windows. She concentrated, narrowing and focussing the light coming into her eyes, and the buildings suddenly jumped toward her. ‘Woah… need to learn to do that slowly.’ She scanned over the buildings as quickly as she could until she located what she was looking for. ‘It looks like two still cameras, a telescope, a microphone, and yes, there is a video camera. And Sachs didn’t do as I asked.’ She could see a man sitting behind the telescope. She waved. ‘Hey there fella, hope you’re enjoying the view.’ She was rewarded by the man looking up from his eyepiece with a disgusted expression on his face.
‘Well, now they know they’re not going to hear us giving away any secrets,’ Lily commented.
Ceri closed her eyes to let the spell fade naturally; she was going to feel dizzy if she kept her eyes open. ‘Yeah, well they weren’t going to get what they wanted anyway. If Mei’s trying to recruit me as a spy or something, I think she’d be bright enough to do it where they can’t see.’
‘Maybe they’re hoping she’s stupid.’
‘I don’t think they are that stupid. No, I think they’re following procedure. We’ll just have to put up wit
h being observed until they get a clue.’
‘That long?’ Lily groaned. She rolled off her lounger and padded over to Ceri. ‘In that case you’d better get used to having sex on camera, because I am not waiting that long.’
‘We can go downstairs,’ Ceri pointed out.
‘Nu-huh, sex in the sun is the absolute best.’ Her finger drew a line down Ceri’s stomach. Well what the Hell, why should they change their behaviour just because someone was spying on them?
Ceri relaxed against her lounger. ‘They’ll get a better view if you sit on the other side,’ she said.
Lily giggled. ‘Are you sure you’ve never done porn?’
Part Three: Teachers of Men
Cambridge, July 3rd, 2011
Merlin College had been founded in 1963 as a place where arcane students could be housed among others of their inclination. Ceri was not entirely fond of the name; she had a suspicion that the Order of Merlin had been involved. She was also not particularly fond of the rather utilitarian architecture. However the rooms were nice enough and the bed was comfortable, which was an absolute godsend after the nerve-racking train trip from London. Trains were, in Ceri’s opinion, much better than cars, but she still had not managed to get comfortable the entire time she was travelling.
‘I’m here,’ she said into her mobile phone.
‘I know you are,’ Lily replied. ‘I felt the relief when you got off the train.’
‘That obvious, huh? Well, the rooms are nice, in an undergraduate basic accommodation sort of way. The bed’s not bad, but it’s a single and you’re not in it.’
‘Missing me already?’
‘Damn right.’
‘Thank you, that’s really sweet. Do you have a bathroom?’
Ceri chuckled. ‘In a Sixties build hall? Not a chance. There are showers and toilets on each floor, and a sink in the room. I think the postgrad rooms have en suite bathrooms, but a lot of those are occupied by people still doing research.’
‘Where’s Cheryl?’
‘The room next to mine, though she’s not in there at the moment. I’m going to have a shower and then go find her. She’s out somewhere with Ed Perry.’
‘Do you think those two ever…?’
‘Cheryl and Ed?’ Ceri considered it for a second. ‘Well… he doesn’t seem the type to take advantage of a young postgrad.’
‘Yeah, but Cheryl’s hot. She had to have been total jailbait back then.’
‘Lily! I do not feel comfortable talking about my boss as jailbait!’
‘What?’ Lily wined. ‘You’ve had sex with her too.’
‘Sometimes I think my entire life revolves around sex,’ Ceri said a little sadly.
‘Nonsense,’ Lily replied, ‘you’ve got research, magic, and defeating ancient menaces. The sex is just the best bit.’
~~~
Cheryl and Ed had found their way to a pub near the town centre which went by the name of The Wizard’s Head. It seemed to be frequented by a disproportionate number of magicians. In fact, as Ceri walked over to the table the two academics were sat at, she had trouble spotting anyone other than Cheryl who was not magically endowed in some way. On the other hand, they all seemed to be human; no werewolves, no vampires, no fae she could see, though they tended to be harder to spot.
‘Ceri,’ Ed said, rising from his seat as she approached, ‘such a pleasure to meet you again.’ He offered her his hand and she took it, shaking it briefly.
‘Thank you, Ed. It’s nice to see you’re here too. At least I’ll have two people in the audience who don’t want to murder me painfully.’
‘I think there’ll be more than just us, dear,’ Cheryl said. ‘We have quite a contingent in from other universities. There are even a few people in from the US, Australia, and China this year.’
‘China?’ Ceri said, deflating slightly. ‘Oh… good.’
‘Hmm, yes,’ Ed said, ‘who are your two shadows?’
Ceri glanced back at the “couple” who had followed her in and sat at the bar. They were trying to look like tourists. ‘You noticed them, huh? They’re MI5.’
‘Cheryl filled me in,’ Ed said. ‘You do lead an interesting life, Ceridwyn.’
‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Ceri replied, grinning a little sourly. Or perhaps he did. She had the weirdest feeling he knew more than he was saying. She recalled that he had mentioned a student at Aberystwyth, where he taught, who had written a paper on Ceri’s ancient namesake. Ed knew about her accident as well. Maybe he had put two and two together and made five.
‘How is Lily?’ Ed asked, manoeuvring the conversation away from Ceri’s problems.
Ceri smiled, genuinely this time. ‘She’s good. No, that’s wrong. She’s naughty, but she’s fabulous.’ There was a round of laughter. ‘She and Michael keep me sane. Cheryl helps mind.’
‘It’s only fair,’ Cheryl replied. ‘I’m here riding your coat tails, so if I can provide a little stability here and there… Or just get drunk with you at ancient monuments.’
Ceri felt her cheeks colour, but she noticed Cheryl’s were too. Ed looked between them. ‘It sounds like you had a good trip to Stonehenge. I want to hear all… I want to hear most of the details.’
‘If you want all the details,’ Cheryl said, ‘I’ll need another five pints.’
‘The experiment went well,’ Ceri said, ‘and we got a detailed map of the thaumic field around Stonehenge and Woodhenge. We proved a link between the two. However, the big thing we found is currently on the secret list. The Ministry doesn’t want us talking about it.’
‘But that’s not why MI5 are trailing you?’ Ed asked.
‘Oh no, they think the Chinese Ambassador is trying to recruit me.’ Ceri rubbed at the back of her neck and looked around. She had the same sort of odd sensation she had had around Mei, but she could not explain where it was coming from. The pub was crowded, if it was coming from a person it could have been anyone.
‘Ah yes,’ Cheryl said, ‘I had an email from the Chinese Embassy yesterday.’
Ceri blinked. ‘You did?’
‘I did. It seems that the Chinese have replicated our experiment, as you said, and their paper has been accepted for publication, so they’re allowing me to announce the corroborative evidence at the conference.’
Ed laughed. ‘That should annoy the team here, though with Barnes gone they’re not quite as competitive as they were. Part of the reason we have more foreign groups here this week is that the thaumatology teams here haven’t produced anything worth presenting.’
‘Barnes wasn’t that good,’ Cheryl scoffed.
‘No, but he was good at applying a cattle-prod to their behinds to get results out. They’re lacking focus and a strong leader.’ Ed leaned forward conspiratorially. ‘There have been more than a few comments that the conference might go to a different venue next year. Somewhere with a more productive thaumatology department.’
‘I’d heard a few mutterings,’ Cheryl said. ‘Oxford was suggested.’
‘Hmm yes, it was, but there’s a rather strong suggestion for a London venue.’ Cheryl looked mildly shocked. ‘There’s a suggestion to broaden the coverage to include some other magical sciences, include people like the metaphysical biology team at UCL and the cryptozoologists like Peter Mallow. The suggestion was that a more multi-disciplinary conference might help forward all the fields. Cambridge has always specialised heavily in the more academic areas of thaumatology.’
Cheryl was looking distinctly intrigued. ‘Does anyone know what Alfred thinks about this? Barnes that is.’
Ed looked amused. ‘On first name basis with the head of MagiTech are we? No, or if anyone has mentioned it to him I haven’t heard about it. They are the main sponsor for the conference so they would obviously have to agree.’
‘We’ll have to see,’ Cheryl said diplomatically.
Ed stretched and leaned back on his chair. ‘That we will. Interesting name though?’
Both women blinked at
him. ‘Sorry?’ Ceri asked.
‘Oh, ah, the Chinese Ambassador. Interesting name.’
‘Mei Long,’ Ceri said.
‘That’s right. A variety of feathered dinosaur bears the same name. They were about the size of a duck and lived in the Cretaceous Period.’
Cheryl grinned. ‘I did say he was a fount of knowledge, didn’t I?’
‘You did.’ Ceri grinned at the professor.
‘The Mei long has the shortest binomial name of any dinosaur,’ Ed went on happily. ‘The name comes from the posture of the type fossil, which is curled up with its chin on its tail as though sleeping.’
Ceri frowned. ‘Sleeping?’
Ed nodded. ‘Mei means “sleep soundly.” Long, of course, is used extensively for dinosaurs found in China, it’s basically their word for “dragon.” The binomial name is generally translated as “sleeping dragon.”’
‘Oh,’ Ceri said. ‘You’re right, that’s an… interesting name.’
‘You have to wonder about the parents who named their daughter after a dinosaur though,’ Cheryl said.
‘Perhaps she was a very quiet baby,’ Ed suggested.
Ceri managed a grin, but her mind was racing. The Sleeper watches. Mei Long, Sleeping Dragon; Ceri suspected that Mei’s parents had had nothing to do with selecting her name.
~~~
‘Yeah, Ed’s doing well, it seems,’ Ceri said. ‘Same as he was, full of interesting, random information.’ Lily’s laugh down the phone sounded hollow and distant. ‘Oh, I’m presenting at ten am on Tuesday, so no sex between ten and eleven then.’
‘I’ll make a note in my diary.’
‘You don’t have a diary, Lil.’
‘Yes I do, she’s called Twill. I’ll get her to come in with a bucket of water on Tuesday morning.’ Lily apparently took her mouth away from the handset as she said, ‘What? Oh, right,’ the words muffled by distance. ‘Twill says her little friend says you were right and she would be happy to tip a bucket of water over me, even if I’m sleeping.’
Ceri giggled, though the news Twill was passing on was not good. How the fairy knew a, Gremlin Ceri did not know - Tech-fae were an aberrant offshoot of the normal fae, who had something of a racial hatred of technology. Gremlins, on the other hand, loved the stuff but had an annoying habit of breaking it for fun. Twill’s friend was confirming that the telephone line into High Towers was bugged. ‘Okay, love,’ Ceri said, ‘I’m going to say goodnight. Love to Twill. I’ll be in your dreams.’ That was the phrase they had decided on to let Lily know what Ceri planned to do next.
Thaumatology 04 - Dragon's Blood Page 11