The Pyramids of London

by Andrea K Höst

  And through it all, untarnished, wound two golden amasen, the ram-horned snakes sacred to Cernunnos. They met at the junction of the gate's two halves, at the height of Griff's head as he peered through the hole framed by their open jaws.

  "It's only trees," he announced.

  "Circle's on this side, so why the gate?" Eleri asked. "Must be something important in there."

  "Perhaps this side belongs to Sulis and that side is the Forest Lord's?" Eluned traced the pattern on one of the amasen's curving horns. "This is glorious, a masterwork. Aunt Arianne, I don't think this is a minor grove. Did this Dem Makepeace..."

  Glancing back, Eluned realised their aunt hadn't followed them to the gate, but was instead standing back at the joining of the path. Veil and umbrella made it impossible to be sure, but she seemed to be looking up, not at the gate at all.

  "Aunt Arianne?"

  After a moment their aunt said: "It will indeed be interesting to see what Dem Makepeace has to say for himself. Does the key fit that lock, Griff?"

  "No. Something round needs to go here, I think."

  "Then shall we explore the rest of the building?" Aunt Arianne said, turning away.

  Grimacing, Eluned followed obediently, but lagged behind to study the worn shapes etched on the standing stones, and the delicious shadows made by the serrated leaves and plump thistle heads.

  Not reliable, and sadly superficial. Their unfailingly-blunt mother had said that the one time Eluned had asked about their aunt, and Eluned had been puzzled by the description in the months since Arianne Seaforth had come into their lives. But anyone who could walk away from that gate as if it held no more interest than a chain link fence definitely lacked something.

  Quickening her step, Eluned chased after Eleri and Griff, and raced with them through receiving rooms, kitchen, a wine cellar, sitting rooms, bath and bedrooms and a long attic punctuated by dormer windows. The rooms were plain compared to that magnificent hall, but nicely put together and with a comfortable selection of aging furniture swathed in dust cloths. Most rooms featured large windows looking south, and every time they pulled back curtains or threw open shutters they were treated to a view of hidden trees, handily sheltered from the summer's scorching breezes by high walls. The dappled light made wonderful patterns across the attic floor.

  "I can see part of the Great Barrows," Eluned said, as she examined the fastening of one of the windows. "We'll be able to hear the solstice singing and see the triskelion without going outside at all."

  "Maybe two blocks away, or three?" As Eluned opened the window, Griff climbed up on the wide sill and craned not to see the barrows, but over the highest branches of the space below. "The warehouses look old, but the wall looks older. They built a wall around this place, and later added the warehouses to hide it? But there's only trees and the standing stones. I can't see anything else down there."

  "Plenty of walled groves about," Eleri said, less interested in the view than poking about the long attic's collection of old furniture, boxes, and trunks. "Pack all this down one end, make an excellent workroom."

  "So this is home now?" Griff leaned out to inspect the spread of windows below him critically.

  "Maybe?" Eluned rubbed her shoulder, then shrugged despite the burning points of pain. "Let's go find Aunt Arianne and see what she wants to do."

  Seven

  They found their aunt on the first floor, sifting through a pigeonhole desk. Even indoors she wore her hat and veil, and Eluned thought it an appropriate underlining of her status as stranger to the family.

  "Feel free to pick bedrooms," Aunt Arianne said, turning toward them. "If we concentrate on getting the dust out of those, and part of the kitchen, that should be enough to go on with until Dem Makepeace deigns to let me know whether this constitutes some form of alternative employment, or is merely his idea of a meeting place."

  "Could anyone be that silly?" Griff asked.

  "Never underestimate any person's capacity to ignore the convenience of others."

  Aunt Arianne stepped toward the open window. Eluned didn't need to see her aunt's face to recognise surprise, and narrowly beat Griff and Eleri in crossing to look out.

  The wall dividing the hidden grove in two was not as tall as the outer one, but still rose higher than the first floor. The well-spaced trees allowed Eluned an almost clear view of the top of the wall, and the row of half a dozen glossy black birds.

  "They're watching us." Griff, who tolerated very little that was furred or feathered, moved back from the sill, and even Eleri shifted uneasily.

  "Crows or ravens?" Aunt Arianne asked.

  Unless one took flight, Eluned couldn't be more than half certain. "They're very quiet. Crows hardly ever shut up."

  These didn't speak at all. They perched in a close group, their only movement an occasional head bob or settling of feathers. People were forever pointing to passing crows or ravens and spouting rubbish about the Morrigan watching, or Odin's spies. This was the first time Eluned had believed it.

  Griff tugged Eluned's sleeve. "But why would any—"

  A blur of green struck the row of observers, and five crows launched skyward, a riot of wings and harsh cries. The sixth was gone. Gasping, Eluned craned to see, spotting only a lone feather spiralling down. The body—presuming there was one—had to be on the far side of that dividing wall.

  "More than trees, then."

  Wondering if Aunt Arianne had maintained that light, amused tone even while a vampire nearly killed her, Eluned said: "Unless it was a tree. It looked leafy."

  "Perhaps." Aunt Arianne turned abruptly away, crossing to pull the dustcover off a high-backed armchair tucked in the far corner of the office. Sitting down heavily she added: "Another question for Dem Makepeace."

  "But why would anyone be spying on us?" Griff asked doggedly, from the position by the door where he'd retreated. "Do you think it's Them?"

  'They' were the unknowns behind Mother and Father's deaths. But Eluned, reaching to close the window, shook her head. "If it was Them, we'd surely have noticed birds hanging about before now." She began folding the panels of the interior window shutter back into place.

  "Something to do with the grove," Eleri said. "No sign before."

  "Maybe." With the room now restored to stuffy gloom, Eluned turned to their aunt. "You're getting worse."

  "So it would appear." Aunt Arianne lifted off her hat and veil. "Don't worry: I'll give fair warning if I develop an urge to bite."

  Griff giggled, but Eluned was focused on practicalities. "Vampires drink blood if they're hurt by the sun. Do you think eating something would help?"

  "That's possible." Aunt Arianne fished in the flat pouch laced to her day belt. "Shall we anticipate lunch? Bring enough food to tide us over until tomorrow, and some soap. See if they have salve for your shoulder, as well."

  Eluned took the coin purse without commenting on this, but Eleri spoke up:

  "Needs a new arm, not salve."

  "Can she not have both? I've budgeted for necessities, so don't hesitate to tell me what's required. It's luxuries that will need to be postponed until I've settled the question of employment."

  "Will give you a list," Eleri said promptly, and led the way out of the room, her attention clearly diverted to her design for a replacement arm. But as they opened the door into the vestibule, she returned to less technical matters.

  "What did he say to you? That Carstairs? You've been different towards the Aunt since."

  Eluned didn't answer immediately, not quite able to explain even to Eleri the anger and frustration she'd struggled with ever since Mother and Father died. She did not like nor want to admit to the roiling at the back of her thoughts, the longing to find and hurt, to demolish whoever had taken their parents away. The police's quick dismissal of the idea of murder had left her seething, and the slow steps of their search had been like fingernails down her spine, working her anger into tighter and tighter knots. For a while she'd almost hated Aunt Arian
ne for not once crying, for being the person they were stuck with instead of Mother and Father.

  "Dem Carstairs said Aunt Arianne nearly died," she admitted. "And asked me to look after her."

  "She's supposed to be looking after us," Griff pointed out, emerging into the street and frowning at three men gawking from the entrance of the next warehouse down. "She hasn't even asked why we were expelled."

  Eluned took care to nod politely before turning in the opposite direction and striding toward the corner. The rising wind tugged at her hair and shendy, and she gazed determinedly ahead.

  "It's not all that important why. We're not going back there. Besides, the kind of person Aunt Arianne is doesn't matter to me nearly as much as who I am. What does it say about me that it keeps surprising her when I notice she's in pain?"

  "Says you're observant," Eleri replied. "Take your point—no value in being at war—but not going to sit about while the Aunt chases after this Alban woman. Should be working on that mannequin."

  "No, I agree with her there." Aunt Arianne had refused to allow Eleri to even unpack their grandfather's mannequin. "If those sphinx statues are hunting the artificial fulgite, then recharging it or trying to release charge from it might draw their attention."

  "Do nothing? Stupid."

  "She's going to ask her vampire about it," Griff put in.

  "Him? Connections to the palace and to a grove? Investigating the wind storms? Could even be one of Them."

  "If he is, he'll be able to order Aunt Arianne to Tell Everything anyway," Eluned said. "Besides, he already thinks she's connected to the sphinxes somehow, and if he's involved in the rest, he'll know about the fulgite." A far from satisfactory situation, but there was nothing they could do about it.

  They turned the corner into a full gale, roaring down a long row of warehouses on one side, and terraces the other. The morning windstorm.

  "What we can do is see whether anyone else has been investigating haunted or unresponsive fulgite," Eluned went on, struggling to be heard. "You'll have to visit at least one workshop putting together the new arm. There's a lot we could find out."

  "Like how much it would be to buy one of those dragonflies," Griff said, and they discussed this delightful if unlikely prospect for all of the windy walk down the long boundary of their unexpected back garden.

  The street that ran behind the Deep Grove was much wider, lined with grander buildings, and busy with a flow of through-traffic. Directly opposite, buildings framed the northernmost entrance to the Great Barrows, while the nearest corner of the crossroads held a cluster of stores centred round a grocer's.

  "Cobbler and baker, and a teashop across the road," Griff said. "Not bad. D'you think they'd sell the makings of a kite here, Ned?"

  "I think kites probably count as luxuries. And there's so much in that house that we might have enough for a dozen kites and not know it."

  "Not ours," Eleri said. "Last Keeper died and all her things were packed up, left there. Why?"

  "No heirs, perhaps?" Eluned suggested, then quieted as they turned to climb the double step into the grocers', and discovered a crowd. There was scarcely room in the customers' area of the store for them to slip in at the back out of the gale.

  "...to be the new Keeper," an elderly woman was saying authoratively. "The Moonfire Feast is less than a year from now. Dem Comfrey can hardly do that himself, so it only makes sense that he's appointed a replacement for Dama Fulbright."

  "But another of the stone blood?" a portly man asked. "That's far from likely. Are you certain, young Nabah?"

  "Clothing that covered her completely, a veiled hat and an umbrella. In this heat, what does that mean but vampire?"

  The self-assured voice belonged to the Daughter of Lakshmi, her orange and yellow sari barely visible through the small crowd. Eluned exchanged a glance with Eleri, thinking it would be best to step back out, but then a single voice rose clear above the murmur of discussion.

  "Aunt Arianne's not a vampire. She's only bound to one."

  It was one of Griff's special pleasures to make unexpected pronouncements, and he did not quail as nearly a dozen people turned to stare.

  The elderly woman, her daybelt a most impressive piece of tooled leather with many dangling pouches, produced a muted bark of laughter. "Never was curiosity so swiftly rewarded," she said. "My pardon, children." She added a conspiratorial smile. "Not that I won't push for more: do you mean that your aunt is bound to Dem Comfrey?"

  "Someone called Makepeace. He sent her a key." Griff, still wearing the key on its knotted shoelace, displayed it proudly.

  "Indeed! This is grand news. Welcome to Lamhythe, young damini. I am Reswen Chelwith, Warden of the Borough."

  Her gaze, like that of the crowd, had gone from Griff to Eleri and Eluned behind him, and inevitably to Eluned's right arm. This was a progression Eluned was entirely used to, although she could never train herself not to notice it. Instead she hefted her glass shield, and smiled politely as Eleri introduced them all before looking firmly toward the tall girl behind the shop counter.

  "What can I get you, dama?" the girl asked obligingly, just as the man behind the opposite counter—one dedicated to postal services—cleared his throat.

  "Customers only, please!" he called out, in a surprisingly deep voice for such a stretched and skinny man. "Make room, make room."

  In excited good humour the crowd decamped, leaving only the Tennings and the Daughter of Lakshmi, who produced a letter and a coin for a stamp.

  Taking a relieved breath, Eluned smiled her thanks at the shop girl, who said: "Not that I'm not madly curious myself, mind you. I'm Melly Ktai. That's my Dad. Welcome to Lamhythe."

  "Thanks."

  Now that the crowd had cleared out, Eluned's attention had been caught by the rows of gleaming jars on the shelves directly behind Melly. Through the glass she recognised old favourites—sugared almonds, humbugs, marzipan mice—but many more colourful shapes.

  "We'll have three of everything over there," Griff said immediately.

  "We'll have thruppence worth mixed," Eluned said, equally firmly. "And..." She briefly scanned the selection of things that were not sweets, and listed enough to cover their needs at least for a couple of days, conscious of the weight of her aunt's purse. The windstorms had done terrible things to prices.

  Melly's father came around and reached down one or two things from the highest shelves, although Melly was almost tall enough to manage. The pair moved with a dancer's ease around each other, almost identical but for height, and Melly's cloudy hair puffing out in three distinct triangles, while her father's was so short it was barely visible against the rich dark brown of his scalp.

  "Ned!" Griff said imperatively. "Get these as well!" He had found a collection of illustrated maps—four sections of London with miniatures of all the buildings beautifully drawn.

  "You'll have to ask Aunt Arianne," Eluned said firmly. If he was given his way, Griff would buy a dozen atlases' worth of maps every day.

  "Seen any of the folies yet?" Melly asked, as she knotted string around their freshly-wrapped purchases. "I only saw one the once, back when Dama Fulbright was still alive. At least, I'm sure that's what it was."

  "Don't know what that is," Eleri replied, as Eluned asked: "Is it something green, and fast?"

  "That'd be them," Melly said. "It's good luck to see them. Unless, of course, you're in the Deep Grove without permission."

  "In which case, very bad luck indeed," Dem Ktai said. As his daughter turned to make change, he handed Griff a gleaming toffee apple, one eyelid dropping. "A turn of fortune would be most welcome."

  Griff promptly hid the apple behind his back, but his clear elation won a puzzled glance when Melly handed over their coin. As Eluned led the way out, swinging parcels by their strings, she heard the girl's voice lift in an exasperated "Da!", but was distracted from more by Dama Chelwith, waiting at the bottom of the steps.

  "Do let your aunt know I've mustered the Wing
s," the woman said. "And that we'll be down directly. After eight years without so much as an airing, I can imagine the state of Forest House. Knowing Dem Comfrey, he won't have put an ounce of effort into preparing the place."

  "All dust and cobwebs," Griff said agreeably, pausing in a stout effort to bite into the side of his apple. "What happens at this Moonfire Feast?"

  "Why, the Queen and the princesses—Sulis in the form of the Suleviae—come to the Deep Grove," Dama Chelwith said, whisking a smear of dust from his shoulder, and then ruffling his hair. "It's very important there be a Keeper able to let them in."

  Beaming, she nodded at Eluned and Eleri, and then turned, waving a hand at someone on the far side of the crossroads. Off to organise the Wings—the county volunteer force—to clean the house of the Keeper of the Deep Grove.

  "What happens if this Makepeace person really does only want to meet Aunt Arianne here?" Griff asked.

  "Then he'll have a clean house, for when he does appoint a new Keeper." Eluned shrugged, ignoring the throb of skin beneath straps. "We can't change any of that."

  She glanced toward Vine Street. Ahead the Daughter of Lakshmi marched, back straight, resolutely not looking in their direction. Only one of the many who seemed to consider their arrival an event. "I think the bigger question is what happens if we stay."

  Eleri clicked her tongue, impatient but resigned.

  "Better get back, warn the Aunt. In case that urge to bite has come on."

  ooOoo

  Forest House was large, but the dozens of people who flooded there in response to Dama Chelwith's summons made a short afternoon's work of the cleaning and minor repairs required. The grove itself needed the most attention, and Eluned helped pick up fallen branches and pull up the thistle thicket.