by Mark Hayden
‘Conrad never told me where you were from,’ said Thomas. ‘I know enough to know that you were born in England.’
‘My parents were both born in Gujarat,’ she said. ‘Papa-ji was from the country and mother was from Mumbai. Bombay, as we still call it. I grew up in Ealing.’ She gave him a grin. ‘I bet it was all fields in your day.’
Thomas grinned back. ‘I remember a very welcoming inn at Ealing. It was a good place to stop if you couldn’t make London before the curfew.’
We were past the house and on to Elven Lane.
‘Did you know Pramiti was there? Did you talk?’ said Mina.
‘No,’ said Thomas. ‘Not until the summoning. We were both asleep, what you people would call suspended animation.’
Mina laughed. ‘I’ve had my share of racism, and I’ve been called you people often enough, but never because I came from the twenty-first century. A nice change, Dādā-ji.’
‘Might I ask what you said to her? It sounded fierce.’
I was very interested in this, too.
‘I told her that the wise tiger is wary of the shepherd.’
‘Aah. Of course you did.’
Mina pulled her hair all the way off her face. ‘It took a while to get the message over, because her Gujarati is not wonderful, and my Hindi is very rusty. So is my Gujarati, but don’t tell anyone. The Wise tiger is wary of the shepherd is my family motto – Desai means shepherd. I also gave her the modern English version: No one pushes a Desai, then I told her that if Conrad is hurt trying to get her jewel back, I will hunt her down and stick her with a spear.’
‘Ouch.’
‘And what did you say to Vicky?’ I asked.
‘Not to tell anyone else about the price on our engagement. That detail would not help me get in Hannah Rothman’s good books. If she has any.’
We reached the churchyard, and I opened the gate, casting around for visitors. Now that Easter was over, the church had gone back to its habitual slumber, and tonight was not choir practice.
‘This way,’ said Thomas. ‘When I had the Lux, I would come here every day. I had terrible trouble making sure that our grave wasn’t disturbed when they re-laid the churchyard.’
‘Our grave?’
‘Oh yes. Don’t forget, my first body was buried there, too.’ He gestured to his suit and the form underneath it. ‘All this is just a temporary clothing.’
I got out a torch for Mina’s benefit, and Thomas led us round to the almost empty south section of the grounds. When I was chasing the Pyromancer last week, I must have run over his grave. There was just one headstone here, hard by the wall and covered with moss and lichen.
‘You had something to tell me, Grandfather?’ I said. ‘Isn’t that why you dragged me away from the others?’
He looked bemused. ‘No. I just wanted your company on my penultimate journey.’ He laughed. ‘Joking!’
Mina hit him. ‘You’ve been watching too much television. Stick to the sexism, it sounds much more natural.’
Thomas took out the hip flask. He unscrewed the top and said, ‘A toast. To family.’ He drank, and offered the flask to Mina.
She joined in, and seemed to be acquiring a taste for Islay malt. ‘To family.’
When it was my turn, after what I’d heard tonight, I wasn’t sure that my family was worth drinking to. Then again, it was the only family I had. ‘To family.’
‘I’ll just say this, Conrad, then I’ll be gone. There have been Clarkes in Elvenham Grange and then Elvenham House for at least twenty four generations. Even so, with no magick, it’s only bricks and mortar. Remember that.’
‘Thanks. I think. Goodbye, Grandfather.’
He shook hands with me rather than give me a hug. That, he saved for Mina. I don’t blame him. I’d rather hug Mina than hug me.
‘Clean up after me, will you.’
And those were his final words before he sank into the ground. Or some of him did. There was a simultaneous melting and burst of fire. Mina and I jumped back as his suit and body turned into fizzing water, rushing air and a blaze of light.
When it died down, we both had wet feet and there was a thick white powder exactly outlining the shape of a grave.
‘What was that all about? Is he gone?’
‘He’s gone to wherever Christians go when they die. I think the fireworks and shower were something to do with the human body being nearly all water, gas and calcium. That white stuff must be lime. Better get rid of it before it kills the grass.’
Too late. It had already singed the turf, so I used a branch and brushed it to the wall. I wonder what the vicar will say about the sudden burnt patch by the Clarke headstone when the churchwarden sees her.
We linked hands and walked the long way round the churchyard, and I pointed to where my paternal grandparents had been laid to rest. James Clarke, builder of Elvenham House, is actually inside the church. Money will always get you a good seat.
‘A graveyard in the dark. Not the most romantic date, Conrad.’
‘I can’t say I’m anxious to get home.’
‘Me neither, but it is warm there. Come on.’
A shadow lingered under the lychgate. A shadow that had something of the raven about it. As we got closer, it stepped out and brushed back the hood of a dingy grey sweatshirt. The Allfather was going for grizzled combat veteran tonight, complete with scars and a bloody bandage instead of a regular eye patch.
His voice rasped, as raw as the cuts to his scalp. ‘A good night’s work, Dragonslayer. I had to wait here, for obvious reasons.’
‘Odin Allfather, may I present Mina Desai.’
‘Ohmygod. Sorry. Namaste, Allfather,’ said Mina, almost toppling over as she bowed and joined her hands.
‘Well met, Mina Desai,’ said the second god of the day.
His one eye bored into mine. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Follow orders, sir. If I were the Constable, I’d send me to find the Dwarf, but I’m not the Constable. Personally, I’d go after the Pyromancer’s friends. They tried to kill me.’
He nodded, as if I’d passed a test. ‘Don’t forget, you still have an answer and a boon to claim from me.’
‘Sir.’
He turned to Mina. ‘Ganesh made a mistake, I think. You would have made a great warrior, Miss Desai.’
Mina shook her hair and held his gaze. ‘There are many ways to be a warrior, great lord.’
He laughed, a much more human laugh than the Morrigan’s. Still scary, though. ‘As you say. Go well, both of you.’
We bowed, and when we looked up, there was no shadow. As I said, not big on goodbyes, these gods.
‘Is your heart going at one forty beats?’ said Mina. ‘Because mine is. I need a drink. I still think we should have had one before the summoning. Is it like this every day when I’m not with you? Is he going to turn up at our wedd…’
I kissed her until she’d calmed down. I knew better than to tell Mina to hush.
We started off down the road, and had got ten paces before Monti’s Czardas rang out from my pocket. I may not have a smartphone, but it does do ringtones. For 79p, I now know when Hannah is calling without having to check the screen.
‘Yes, Boss?’
I was expecting wailing and gnashing of teeth. What I got was a throaty chuckle. ‘I knew that the Lord was testing me, and now I know that the Lord has a sense of humour.’
I raised my eyebrows to Mina, who was trying to reach up and listen. ‘Ma’am?’
‘There I was, staring at a bottle of wine, unopened, thinking that it would be hours before I heard anything, and suddenly Rick calls me. “Hannah,” he says, “The Morrigan is in Conrad’s Garden. I can feel her.” And now I hear that Odin was there as well, and somehow you walked away.’
‘Limped away, ma’am. My titanium implant is playing me up for some reason. It seems to be hot all the time.’
‘Shut up. I don’t care. Well, I do, but not very much. Do you know what’s so funny?
Do you know why the Lord has a sense of humour.’
I’d bent down and put the phone on speaker so that Mina could hear. She mimed drinking a glass of wine and pointed to the phone. I shook my head.
‘No, ma’am.’
‘Because, on my watch, he has unleashed the worst magickal crisis in two hundred years. This he has done to test me, but he has also sent you, which is why he has a sense of humour.’
Mina couldn’t restrain herself. She can be polite to gods and ancestors, but bosses she has a problem with. ‘Conrad is not a joke, Constable Rothman.’
A loud sniff carried all the way from North London over the speaker. ‘No, he’s not, Miss Desai, even if he thinks he’s funny. The Lord has sent him so that I can blame his family, and every time I have to rely on him – which I will – the Lord is reminding me that his family caused this mess. That’s why the Lord has a sense of humour.’
I held my finger to my lips in case Mina decided to deepen the hole we were standing in.
‘You’re up to speed, then?’ I said.
‘Yes. Vicky and Li called as soon as they got to the house. I’m glad, in a way. It removes the vague sense of impending doom and replaces it with the certain knowledge of impending doom. That, I can cope with.’
She took a deep breath. ‘You can tell the others this. No one outside the group tonight can know what we’ve discovered, and the group includes Cora Hardisty. Cora has already been in touch to discuss our approach, and she agrees with me. She left hospital today, by the way. For now, Francesca and I will try to find out what we can – with help from Desirée. You and Vicky will carry on with Project Talpa this week, and you will go on the firearms course in Gravesend. Then, and only then, will you go looking for the Dwarf. Clear?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘And how was it for you, Miss Desai?’ said Hannah, acid in her voice.
‘I learnt something tonight, Constable Rothman. I learnt that Thomas Clarke loved his wife more than I thought was possible, and if Conrad loves me one quarter as much as Thomas loved Alice, I shall be the luckiest woman in the world.’
There was a silence, then Hannah coughed. ‘Not quite what I had in mind, but thank you for sharing. Now, can you give me a moment with my Watch Captain at Large?’
‘Of course. Goodbye.’
I took the phone off speaker and stepped away.
‘I need you, Conrad,’ said Hannah. ‘I need you on our side, but I swear that I will cut my own throat if you pull another stunt like the snake woman and I don’t fire you.’
It took me a moment to disentangle her syntax, but I think I got there. ‘I understand, ma’am. Full disclosure from now on.’
‘Good. And I don’t believe for one minute the load of hogwash Vicky told me about why that woman was in your well. Should I be worried? Honestly?’
‘Honestly? I don’t know. She’s not a threat to anyone but me, and only indirectly, I can tell you that much.’
‘Good. Now go and get drunk. That’s what I’m going to do.’
We’d been walking slowly as we talked to Hannah, and we were back at Elvenham House. I wasn’t sure I was ready, but I took Mina’s hand and we crunched over the gravel towards the kitchen.
There was already one empty bottle of wine on the table, and not much left in the second. Given that Rick was drinking coffee, the others were well on their way. Even Desirée had a large glass in front of her. There was no sign of Pramiti.
‘Are you all right? Where’ve you been?’ said Myfanwy, rising and getting two more glasses.
‘Is he gone?’ said Francesca.
I took her to mean Thomas rather than the Allfather. I was only going to share that encounter with Vicky. ‘He’s at rest. Finally.’
‘Hmmph,’ said Francesca.
‘You clearly knew about these books, scrolls or whatever they were, Keeper, as does everyone else, I imagine.’
Myfanwy held up her hand. ‘Not me.’
Francesca was the only one who hadn’t taken off her outdoor coat. The lines in her face were drawn together even more tightly than normal, and she was gripping her wine glass like an anchor. She took a sip and said, ‘You know about the system of Sanctuary Houses, yes?’
I’d mentioned them to Mina, but there was much more. I looked at her and said, ‘It was how the church controlled magick. The Inquisition of St Michael scoured Europe for Mages and convinced them to join monastic orders. Men and women. They were allowed to practise magick, but only within their institutions. And of course they couldn’t start a family. That all ended with the Reformation.’
‘It ended before that,’ said Francesca. ‘It ended with the Black Death, where William’s story started.’ She sighed. ‘All over Europe, there were little Sanctuary Houses, each with a few Mages, and not enough Inquisitors to keep track of what they were really up to. And then the plague came, and the Grand Inquisitor realised what was going on. Dæmons. Lots of them had gathered around the Sanctuaries like flies, and the first thing they promised was, “We can show you how to stop the plague.” Terrible. The Grand Inquisitor sent out his best men to visit every Sanctuary and root out the Dæmons. They were also supposed to gather the more dangerous rituals and Artefacts and bring them back to Avignon.’
‘Avignon?’ said Myfanwy. ‘Why there?’
‘The Pope was based there during the Plague. Not important. What is important is that all the special Inquisitors returned safely except one. Stephen of Potigny disappeared. It was known that he was in the Midlands, but everyone thought he’d made it to Oxford. He’d started in Lindisfarne, gone round the coast and only had the two universities left. We know that from his letters. Because the Codex never turned up, most people thought he’d been victim of a mundane robbery and that the Codex had been lost.’
‘What does Defanatus mean?’ said Mina. A good question. My Latin is non-existent.
‘Profane,’ said Desirée. ‘Something unclean in the sight of the Lord.’
Francesca pushed on, keen to get the story over with. ‘The Grand Inquisitor sent John of Arles to investigate and finish the job. He couldn’t find Stephen, obviously, but he did visit Oxford and Cambridge and he produced the Oxbridge Scroll, which he took back to Avignon. When all the books were together, the Grand Inquisitor sealed each one, and sent them out all over Europe. There was far too much power to have in one place otherwise. The Oxbridge scroll went to Spain, and again we thought it lost. That monster Don José must have brought it with him, which is why it ended up in the Esoteric Library. Briefly. Until your ancestor stole it.’
‘Kept it,’ I said. I was determined that Thomas’s name would not be blackened any further than he deserved.
‘You’re not trying to defend him, are you?’ said Desirée.
‘He’s my ancestor,’ I said. ‘I have to be his advocate. In this case, I can see why he did what he did. Would I have done differently? I don’t know.’
‘Sounds like you’ve inherited his values,’ she replied, ‘as well as his house. What he did was monstrous.’
Vicky had decided that Desi needed to get this off her chest, so she said nothing. Francesca looked too tired to intervene, and I was in agreement with Vicky. It would blow itself over.
Mina doesn’t know her well enough, yet. There’s a line with Desi between outrage and action, and this was still on the side of outrage. Mina either hadn’t picked that up, or she was drawing the line in a different place.
She put her glass down carefully and gave Desirée a smile. ‘I have heard this before, you know. To a Hindu, there is no problem because the father will pay for his own actions in the next life. To you Christians, you are always arguing about the Sins of the Father.’
‘I didn’t…’ said Desi.
Mina wasn’t finished. ‘…Have you heard about my father? He was a wholesale importer of heroin and he died on remand in prison. Are you going to judge me for his actions?’
There was a stunned silence, into which Mina rose and said to Frances
ca, ‘Dr Somerton, I believe that Conrad needs to talk to the others, including Desirée. Shall I light the fire and make us more comfortable.’
Mina’s timing was impeccable. Francesca drained her glass and said, ‘That’s very kind of you, my dear, but no, I shall take myself off to bed.’
‘I’ll show you the way,’ said Mina.
I got up and said, ‘Thank you, Dr Somerton. Tonight would not have been possible without you.’
‘I wouldn’t have missed that for anything, Conrad. Now, you lot,’ she said, glaring at everyone, including Myfanwy, ‘I expect all of you to pull together. I want to be the Keeper who brings that book home, and I need your help. Goodnight.’
When Mina and Francesca’s voices had faded, Myfanwy said, ‘Are you sure I should be hearing all this? I know this is my home, and I had a right to be there at the summoning, but the rest isn’t really my business is it, not that I’m not fascinated and all that. Oh! And I forgot! I gave Pramiti that Volvo XC90 to get her off the premises. You don’t mind, do you? Have you got her number? Does she have a phone?’
If you spend long in Myfanwy’s company, you get used to this, or you go mad. I think I was getting used to it.
‘Yes, she’s got a phone, no I don’t mind that she’s taken the car, though Mina might, and yes, if you promise to keep quiet, you can hear what I’ve got to say.’
‘Thank you. I’ll get another bottle. Good job we stocked up. Is anyone hungry yet? I’ll make toast.’
‘Good. I’ve had our orders. Desirée, you’re with Francesca on research, and that comes from the Dean, not from the Constable.’
Desi nodded.
‘Rick, Li, you’re back to business as usual until we know more. Vicky and I are on Project Talpa this week, then I’m off to Gravesend. After that, it’s a Dwarf hunt.’
‘Yeah,’ said Rick. ‘That’s what we were talking about after Pramiti left. I told them that Niði has gone dark. All his work goes through the Gnomes in Birmingham.’
‘And you know how much I love Gnomes,’ said Vicky. It was the first time she’d spoken since I got back
