“I was never a rogue! I worked for the family!” I stepped forwards, my hands clenching into fists.
“Don’t,” Molly said quickly. “It’s what he wants.”
“Yes, listen to your better half,” said Harry, sneering openly now. “You showed your true colours when you shacked up with her. When you had the sheer nerve to bring the infamous Molly Metcalf into our home, the bitch in heat of the wild woods!”
I hit him hard, right in the mouth. He staggered backwards, but didn’t go down. The watching crowd made a series of shocked noises, but no one moved. They were all waiting to see what would happen next, and their eyes were very bright. Harry turned his face, so they could all see the blood on his mouth and chin, and then he armoured up. The silver armour swept over him in a moment, and he stood tall and proud before the family, like an avatar of vengeance. I’d done what he wanted. He’d goaded me into losing my temper, and striking him first. He’d had a long time to plan all this on the way back, to work out just how to manipulate me before the family. I knew all that, knew I was playing his game, and I didn’t care. I needed to hit someone, and Harry would do just fine. I armoured up, and we stepped forward to face each other, both of us reflected in the other’s armour.
“Come on,” said Harry. “Show me what you’ve got. Show me all the dirty tricks you used to murder my father.”
“Love to,” I said. I raised my hands, and long, silver cutting blades grew out of my fists.
“Stop this!” said the Armourer, forcing his way forward through the crowd. “Stop this right now, both of you! Sarjeant-at-Arms, do your duty, dammit!”
Then, and only then, the Sarjeant came forward to separate us. The Armourer was quickly there too, slamming a liver-spotted hand flat against my silver chest, and glaring fiercely into my featureless silver mask. The Sarjeant looked at Harry, and of course Harry immediately armoured down. Like a good little boy, a respectful member of the family. He’d played me, right from the start. He’d never expected to actually have to fight. He knew someone would step in to stop it. What mattered was that he’d made me look bad in front of the whole family. He flashed me a brief triumphant smile, and then strode off into the Hall, along with the Sarjeant-at-Arms. Probably to make his report to the Matriarch. No one actually applauded him, but there was a general murmur of support within the crowd.
I armoured down, and nodded shamefacedly to the Armourer. He growled something under his breath and shook his head.
“Get inside, boy. The situation’s beyond saving here.”
I looked around me at the watching family. It wasn’t that long ago they’d gathered together to cheer my name, as the family’s saviour. And now they looked at me like I was some kind of war criminal. It wasn’t just that I’d lost a battle. I’d disappointed them by not being their perfect hero after all. I took out the Merlin Glass, shook it out to full size, and stepped through into the Armoury. Molly and the Armourer hurried through after me, and I shut the Glass down again. The weight of the family’s disapproving eyes was gone, and we were alone in the Armoury.
“You know, Eddie,” said Molly. “It seems to me that you’re getting just a bit dependent on that mirror.”
“Nonsense,” the Armourer said briskly. “That’s why I gave him the Glass—to get him out of close scrapes. Devices are meant to be used. How about I make us a nice cup of tea? And I’m pretty sure there’s an unopened box of Jaffa Cakes around here somewhere.” He stopped abruptly and looked at me. “You know, you look like shit, boy. Are you hurt? Injured?”
“No,” I said. “All that slaughter and butchery, and I came through it all without a scratch. Of course I did; I had the family armour. The others didn’t, and the Loathly Ones tore them apart.”
“Never look back, boy,” the Armourer said gruffly. “Concentrate on what you’re going to do next. Doesn’t matter if you lose a battle, as long as you win the war. Take a look at the family record; we’ve known our fair share of defeats. Of course, you have to go back quite a way to find anything like this…But that’s because the family’s grown soft and complacent and cautious, down the years, leaving all the dirty work to the field agents. Only picking the small battles, the small victories we were sure we could win. That’s why the Loathly Ones have been able to stick around this long and build up their numbers. Never would have been allowed, not even a century ago. So stop feeling sorry for yourself, Eddie, and think! Did you learn anything useful from this first encounter? Anything you can use, the next time you go up against the bastards?”
“Maybe,” I said. I felt suddenly tired, and sat down on the nearest chair. Molly looked worried, and I gave her a reassuring smile. Though it couldn’t have been that reassuring, because she looked even more worried. I fished inside my jacket pocket and brought out the Kandarian stone amulet Molly had recovered from the wreckage of the tower. I handed the ugly thing over to the Armourer, who studied it closely for a while, and then sat down beside me and studied the thing even more closely under a powerful magnifying glass. Molly pulled up a chair and sat down beside me. I barely noticed. I was focussed on the amulet. I needed it to be something, something important, to justify what we’d been through to get it. The Armourer prodded and rubbed at the gray stone amulet with his broad heavy engineer’s fingers, muttering to himself all the while.
“Hmmm. So. Kandarian all right. In remarkably good condition, given that it’s almost certainly over three thousand years old, judging by the style of the markings. But then, most Kandarian artefacts are very…enduring. They were built to last, using processes we can only guess at now. Kandar…Vile place, by all accounts. Demon worshippers. Gave themselves up voluntarily to possession by Beings from Outside. Subjugated every other culture they came in contact with, and did terrible things to them. Just because they could. Slavery, torture, ritual sacrifice; slaughter and suffering were meat and drink to old Kandar. Finally they went to war with themselves, and their whole civilisation was wiped out in the course of one terrible, blood-soaked night. Not one trace of their cities remains today. Their culture and their people utterly extinct. Probably just as well. All we ever see now is the odd amulet or weapon, preserved long after they should have crumbled into dust by the energies trapped within. We only understand the language because so many spells and incantations were originally written in it.”
“What about this particular glyph?” I said, pointing at the amulet. “I translated it as Invaders.”
“Hmmm? Oh yes, quite right, Eddie. Good to see you paid attention during some of your classes, at least. Yes, Invaders. Quite definitely plural. And the surrounding glyphs suggest that this was a summoning, to bring these Invaders through into our world. I think we have to assume that the Presence you felt on the other side of the Nazca gateway was just one, of many. Which in turn suggests…”
“That there must be other nests,” I said. “More gateways built by the Loathly Ones, to bring through a whole invasion force of these Beings.”
“Oh shit,” said Molly. “It was hard enough taking one down. How many could there be?”
“Who knows?” said the Armourer. “Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands? Nests set up in countries all across the world, and all of humanity under threat. A threat we would have known nothing about…if you hadn’t launched your attack on the Loathly Ones, Eddie.”
“This is major-league stuff,” said Molly. “The whole world under threat? What do we do?”
“We stop them,” I said. “That’s what this family does. Uncle Jack, do we need to unlock the Armageddon Codex again?”
“Certainly not,” the Armourer said firmly. “I opened the Codex for you once, and that was one time more than I ever expected to see the Codex opened in my lifetime. No, those superweapons are only supposed to be used as a last resort, when reality itself is under threat. And things aren’t that bad. Yet.”
“But if the world’s about to be invaded by Beings from Outside…” I said.
“No, Eddie. The family can de
al with this. We have before. Read the records. I swear we don’t teach nearly enough family history anymore. The Codex weapons are for when everything else, including tears, swearing, and prayer, have failed us. Not just to salve your pride, after it’s taken a beating in the field.”
“You weren’t there,” Molly said sharply. “You didn’t see what we did. Sense what we sensed… It was bad, really bad. Whatever it was, trying to force its way into our reality, it was worse than anything I’ve ever encountered. I’ve dealt with demons and devils in my time, and forces from Above and Below our reality, but these Invaders… They scare the shit out of me. Remember, Eddie, when you said there were two kinds of enemy: demons and gods? Well, the Loathly Ones may be demons, but whatever they’re trying to summon most definitely aren’t.”
“The family can handle this,” the Armourer said firmly. “I have developed weapons here beyond your worst nightmares. You have no idea what the Droods are capable of, Molly, when they finally go to war. We’ve been drowsing too long, coasting on our past victories. About time we got stuck in again, and got our hands bloody. We were warriors once, and will be again.” The Armourer smiled, and his usual kindly, absent-minded manner just vanished, replaced by a cold and focused malice. I should never have forgotten that this man had once been a first-class field agent during the coldest part of the Cold War, almost as lauded as his famous brother James.
Licensed to kill, in hot blood or cold, so long as they got the job done.
The Armourer turned to Molly, and was immediately his old gruff self again. “Don’t you worry, my dear, all will be well. You’ll see. Now, Eddie, how did you get on with that new short-range teleport bracelet I gave you? Work okay? Any problems?”
“Ah,” I said. “Yes, well…Actually, in the heat of battle with so much going on … I sort of forgot I had it with me.”
The Armourer sighed heavily. “Lean forward, will you, Eddie.” I did so, and he smacked me hard around the back of the head.
“Hey! Dammit, Uncle Jack, that hurt!”
“Good. It might help you remember, next time. I give you these things to give you an edge in battle! To keep you alive! I expect you to use them. I expect you to…” A nearby comm unit began to bleep insistently, and the Armourer broke off to answer it. “What? I’m busy!”
The Sarjeant-at-Arms’s face appeared on the monitor screen. He nodded brusquely to the Armourer, and then stared right past him at Molly and me.
“I thought you might go to ground in the Armoury. I’m calling an emergency meeting of the Inner Circle, in the Sanctity. Right now. There are urgent matters to be discussed.”
“Oh yes?” I said. “And just when did you get the authority to summon the Circle together?”
“Be there,” he said. “Or we’ll start without you.”
And he closed down the screen before I could answer.
“If it’s not one thing,” said Molly, “it’s another. And I thought my family was bad.”
“Your family?” I said.
“Don’t ask.”
Molly and I left the Armoury and headed straight for the Sanctity. I could have transported us both there with Merlin’s Glass, but for once I was in no hurry. I wanted time to think, plan what I was going to say. The Armourer said he’d be along soon, and I really hoped Jacob would show his ghostly face this time. I just knew I was going to need all the support I could muster at this meeting. And then Molly suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and announced that I’d have to go on without her.
“I’m sorry, Eddie. Really. But I really can’t stay inside this oppressive old pile any longer. I just can’t. I have to get out, into the open air, before I start to wither.”
“But…this is Inner Circle business, Molly. It’s important. I need you to be there, with me.”
“I can’t help that. I have to get out of here before I start screaming. You have no idea what this place does to me, Eddie. You can come and look for me in the grounds when you’ve finished. I need time to myself anyway, to recharge my powers, and rebuild all the energies I used up on the Nazca Plain. Right now, I don’t have a spark of magic left in me. And I can’t live like that.”
I grabbed her by both shoulders and made her look at me. “I need you with me this time, Molly. They’re going to crucify me in there. I can’t face them alone.”
“Yes, you can. You don’t need me nearly as much as you think you do. You’re a lot stronger than you believe, Eddie. Than you allow yourself to be. I’ll see you later.”
She pulled herself out of my grip and hurried off down the corridor, heading for the front entrance and the freedom of the grounds. I called after her, but she didn’t look back once. So I went on to the Sanctity alone, wondering what the hell I was going to say.
When I got there, somehow the Armourer had contrived to arrive ahead of me. He raised one wrist to show off a teleport bracelet and waggled it at me meaningfully. I deliberately ignored him and looked around me. Gathered together in the presence of the softly glowing Strange were Penny, the Sarjeant…and Harry. He folded his arms across his chest and gave me a smug smile. The Sarjeant stood beside Harry, being ostentatiously supportive. Penny looked at me thoughtfully. There was no sign of Jacob. Strange’s crimson glow didn’t feel nearly as comforting as usual. I gave everyone there my best hard stare.
“Well, well, this is a surprise. Harry Drood, present at what is supposed to be a private meeting of my Inner Circle. What are you doing here, Harry?”
“I was invited,” he said easily. His mouth was still swollen and bruised from where I’d hit him. He could have had that fixed easily, but right now it was more useful as it was. As visible proof of my temper and brutality. It certainly didn’t stop him smiling triumphantly at me.
“Harold has a right to be heard,” said the Sarjeant-at-Arms.
“I see,” I said. “And is that what all of you feel?”
“He was there with you, when it all went wrong,” said Penny. “We need an independent witness as to exactly what happened. You must see that, Eddie.”
“Oh, I see a lot of things,” I said. “I should have remembered that betrayal and backstabbing are just business as usual in this family.”
The Armourer stirred uneasily. “Don’t be like that, Eddie. You know I’m on your side. But we need the facts as to what happened. And we have to be seen to be impartial if our decisions are to be accepted by the family as a whole. It may be that Harry can tell us things about the battle that you can’t. We’re going to need all the information we can put together, if we’re going to take on more Loathly Ones in their nests. We’re not here to judge you…”
“Aren’t you?” I said. “No, perhaps not you, Uncle Jack. But they are. They’ve already made up their minds. I don’t have time for this, people. There are things I need to be doing. For the good of the family.”
“Don’t you dare walk out on us!” said the Sarjeant-at-Arms.
“Oh, blow it out your ear, Cyril,” I said.
And I stalked out of the Sanctity without looking back, even when first the Armourer and then Penny called my name. I was so angry my hands had curled into fists again, clenched so tight they were actually painful. My heart was pounding like a triphammer, and I could feel the angry flush in my face. I had to walk out. I couldn’t let them goad me into saying the wrong thing, making the wrong decision. There was no point in staying; the hanging judges had already made their decision. And without Molly to back me up, and the Armourer dithering… I would have been outvoted or shouted down no matter what I said. By my own Inner Circle… I couldn’t believe they’d invited Harry without even checking with me first.
I strode through the corridors and connecting rooms of the Hall, fuming to myself and glaring at any member of the family who got in my way. Most had the sense to keep well back. None of them spoke to me, just watched silently as I passed. Which suited me. Just one snide comment and I would have knocked them down.
Still, mad as I was, a part of me stood back, s
haking its head and saying This isn’t like you. You always believed in don’t get mad, get even. When the Matriarch denounced me as a rogue, and sentenced me to death, I didn’t lose my rag; I went straight into planning how to bring her down. But then, I’d known I was innocent; that I hadn’t done anything wrong. That kept me going, despite all the obstacles put in my path. This…was different. There wasn’t room in me for anything but anger, most of it aimed at myself.
Because I screwed up. I got my people killed. My family. And nothing else mattered. By the time I got to the front door, the anger had died down to a dull throb, and I was thinking more clearly. Or at least clearly enough that I was more concerned about Molly than myself. I hadn’t taken her seriously enough, when she said she couldn’t live in the Hall; that she needed to live among living things, in the wild. I knew she was having trouble adjusting, but I thought she’d get over it… now I had to wonder if she ever would. If she ever could. This was a woman used to living in her own private forest, after all. While I … had to stay here, in the Hall, or risk losing control of the family.
Martha had already told me to my face that she was only waiting for me to make a mess of things, so she could come sweeping back and restore the Matriarchy. And what then? The restoring of all the old ways? Gold armour instead of silver, paid for by the sacrifice of children? Back to the family running the world instead of protecting it? No. I couldn’t let that happen. My duty to the family outweighed my duty to myself. It always had. I couldn’t turn my back on my family, not even for Molly. It’s always the family ties that matter, whether we like it or not.
I could lose Molly. The only woman I ever loved.
I came to the front entrance, strode through the front door, and then stopped and looked down the long gravel path as an ambulance materialised suddenly out of thin air. This rather caught my attention, as nothing is supposed to be able to materialise in our grounds unless we give permission well in advance. Which mostly we don’t. The ambulance came roaring up the path to the Hall, and then skidded to a halt right in front of me, spraying my shins with flying gravel. The sign on the side of the ambulance said Dr. Syn’s Fly by Night Delivery Service. The cab door opened and the driver got out. A cheerful sort in the traditional starched white uniform. He strode over to me, thrust a clipboard and pen into my hands, and saluted briskly.
Daemons Are Forever sh-2 Page 20
