The Infernal Aether Box Set: All Four Books In The Series

by Peter Oxley

  “Empty of people, at least,” she said. “Plenty of other creatures in there though. Just mark my words and turn round.”

  “We cannot,” said N’yotsu.

  “Then I shall pray for your souls,” said the woman.

  “Save your prayers,” said N’yotsu, spurring his horse onwards.

  “Speak for yourself,” I muttered, smiling apologetically at the woman before following my friends down the road and towards the emptying city.

  * * *

  Our horses’ hooves echoed loudly as we made our way through the streets. Everywhere seemed much, much bigger without the clutter of people and traffic. The city in which I had grown up was now unrecognisable, a place of empty squares and streets that seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

  Not everyone had fled London, for here and there we saw glimpses of people at windows and round corners. But no one approached us; as soon as we noticed them or got close enough they darted away.

  I found myself jumping at the slightest shadow or movement, the woman’s warnings still ringing in my ears. We had seen and heard of all manner of creatures on our travels to and from Scotland. However, we were now much closer to the source of the portal than we had been before and I feared for what would become of the city after nightfall.

  I looked to the sky in an attempt to gauge how long we had before dusk. Tendrils of deep black stretched across the sky and for a second my heart quickened, thinking that we were already too late. Then I realised that in fact what I was seeing was the Aether’s sickly fingers reaching out and strangling the sweet light of day. My stomach turned as I realised that the stones beneath us were smeared by a faint covering of mist. I kicked my horse into a trot and the others followed my lead. I knew we still had plenty of daylight left but I no longer trusted the world to follow the same rules.

  My caution was rewarded just a few minutes later. “What was that?” hissed Kate, pointing down the street.

  “What?” I asked, peering into the distance.

  “It looked a bit like them things we saw in Windsor.”

  “Like them?” asked N’yotsu. We turned to look where he was indicating. A strange, squat creature stood in the street behind us, its body covered in slick black scales, lank hair trailing around it. It snarled at us, revealing a mouth full of needle-like teeth.

  My heart sank. I felt Kate fumble for her rifle and shook my head. “We would be better to run; I do not fancy making a stand here,” I said as the creature stepped forwards, glaring at us with a deep hunger. The shadows around it shifted to reveal another creature, as malicious as the first, then another and another. They crept toward us in a slow, determined tide.

  “Go!” shouted N’yotsu. We turned and kicked our tired horses into as close to a gallop as they could muster. Behind us the sound of claws scratching stone filled the street, drowning out our horses’ hooves.

  We rounded corner after corner, the noise of their pursuit increasing with every minute which passed by. I heard a horse scream and turned to see Maxwell flying through the air, the scaly creatures swarming round the legs of his mount.

  He hit the ground with a painful thump, but fortunately the majority of the creatures were too busy devouring the horse to pay him heed. Fighting an almost overwhelming urge to keep running, I wheeled my horse so that we were in between him and the creatures, my sword ready to fight them off, while N’yotsu pulled his own horse round and held his hand out to pull Maxwell up behind him. I focused my attention on the creatures as one of them started to take an interest in us, stalking toward us, its mouth dripping with blood. I swung my sword in a clumsy uppercut which nevertheless connected with the thing’s jaw, sending it yelping backwards. I frowned at the sword; something did not feel quite right.

  “Go!” shouted N’yotsu before I could dwell any more on the sensation and we charged off, Maxwell clinging to the back of our friend. As we rounded a corner, I chanced a look back and saw a mound of writhing, hungry bodies entombing the poor horse.

  We made it to my lodgings with minutes to spare before the sun set and were relieved to find that it had not been looted. We led the horses into the house, not wanting to leave them to the mercy of the creatures which dwelt without, before shutting and bolting the doors. Maxwell and N’yotsu immediately set to the various boxes which lined the hall and living room, the remnants from Maxwell’s laboratory which had lain untouched during his self-enforced exile from science.

  “I take it you’ve no food,” said Kate as we stood and watched, both of us superfluous to this aspect of N’yotsu’s grand plan.

  “No, but I do have something better.” I walked over to a cabinet and retrieved a bottle of wine. “Care to join me?”

  She shrugged. “Don’t mind if I do. If it helps me sleep easier then all the better.”

  N’yotsu and Maxwell spread out the equipment across the sitting room floor and stood in the corner, talking quietly. For my part I sat and drank deeply, enjoying finally being under a familiar roof, although I found myself jumping at every sound from outside and after a while drank simply to calm my nerves. My mind kept wandering back to the encounter with the ghouls when we were rescued by N’yotsu; the glimpse of my own mortality which the experience had afforded had shaken me more than I wished to let on.

  “Good to be back,” said Kate.

  “Mmm,” I said. “But for how long?”

  “Well, we’ve got tonight. Then in the morning we go out, kill Andras and everything goes back to normal. Simple.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned back.

  “If you’re gonna start telling me it’s a suicide mission then hold your breath,” she said. “I’m the blindingly optimistic one, remember?”

  I attempted a chuckle. “I wish I shared your sense of bravado.”

  “What do you mean? You’re our Gus, the man with the magic sword.”

  “Fat lot of good that did us back out in that cabin,” I said. “I am not sure how much use I really am.”

  “Oh, come on,” she said. “That was one little scrap; what about all them other times you’ve fought and won, saved us all.”

  “I have been riding my luck for some time now,” I said, taking another long swig of wine. “Sooner or later it had to run out, and I have a horrible feeling that that time is coming soon enough, if it hasn’t already passed.” I looked at my sword, remembering how clumsy it had felt just before, when we encountered the black beasts. “Something was not quite right earlier,” I said. “As though the magic is running out or maybe even deserting me. Maybe you will all be better off without me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, look at you: the genius inventor, the blindingly optimistic warrior-woman, the half-demon. You all have your roles, your way of getting us through this. What about me? If I lose the sword then, when it comes to a fight, there is not much call for a failed writer with a propensity to get himself into trouble. What am I going to do when we’re faced with a horde of demons? Get drunk at them?”

  “Oh come on,” she said again.

  I held up a hand. “Ever since this whole mess started, I have been the one who got us into trouble. If it was not for me, Maxwell would not have been forced into building that portal for Andras.”

  “There’s a fine line between attractive-moody and just downright miserable,” said Kate, taking another swig of wine. “I think you’ve crossed it.”

  “I think I crossed it a long time ago,” I said, holding out my glass in a toast. “I am being half-flippant, but I still struggle to see how I can assist the fight, besides just getting in the way.”

  “You’re our Gus,” she said. “We need you.”

  “At the risk of being depressing,” I said quickly, wanting to change the subject, “we do need some form of a plan for tomorrow. We are going to be running headlong into a building full of demons and God knows what else. If I am going to die, I would at least like it to be an effective death.”

  We jumped at the sou
nd of the front door banging open, followed by something huge and with many legs charging into the house. All doubts forgotten, I jumped to my feet and scooped up the sword, charging at the intruder with a roar, Kate and N’yotsu at my heels.

  I pulled up short, just as I was about to bring the blade down, when I recognised the grime-stained face of Lieutenant Pearce.

  “Albert!” shouted Kate, elbowing me out of the way and throwing her arms around him.

  * * *

  We sat around the hallway, the one refuge left from Maxwell’s frantic construction work: Kate, Albert and I, plus ten of his soldiers. “So what happened?” I asked him. “Last time we saw you, you were on the verge of being cut to pieces by a small army.”

  “The way you took up into the air in that ship gave us the opportunity to level the battle somewhat,” said Lieutenant Pearce. “We fought to something of a standstill and managed to make our escape, although not without losses.”

  “I am sorry,” I said. “How many?”

  “Ten men in that battle,” he said grimly. “Another one a day later to wounds sustained in the fight. We have lost another four over the past week or so in various skirmishes with the Hell-fiends which seem to have taken up residence round here. We have though managed to boost our numbers by banding up with the remnants of various other companies who have remained loyal. Or should that be disloyal?” He and his men grinned humourlessly at the thought.

  “So the generals...?” I asked.

  “Are still in the pay of the demon,” said Pearce. “Or at least most of them are, in any case. There are a couple who have resisted and they are now co-ordinating the battle. We were on patrol, ensuring those who remain in the city are safe and well, when we saw the lights on in this house. I had hoped you would return and, well, here you are!”

  “So apart from patrolling the streets,” said Kate, “what else you boys doing?”

  “There were efforts to unseat the fiends at Greenwich, but that has descended into a war of attrition—stalemate. We didn’t really have any other bright ideas; until now that is.” He nodded to the living room, where N’yotsu squatted next to Maxwell. “Is that the man you spoke of? The one who can stop all this?”

  “He’s the one,” I said. “We hope.”

  He grunted. “Hope’s something we’ve had precious little of recently, so I’ll take that.”

  I quickly outlined our plans to him, such as they were. “Well, Lieutenant,” I concluded. “What do you think?”

  He pointed to the crown on his collar. “It’s captain now.” He waved aside our congratulations. “We’re at war; that’s how it happens. I’ll probably be a Major by the end of the week, assuming I’m still alive. In any case, we have given it some thought. We were planning one last full frontal assault on Greenwich; I shall advise my superiors that we need to bring it forward to tomorrow. In the meantime, you will go in by river and do whatever it is you need to do to stop that portal.”

  “Good idea,” said N’yotsu from the other room. “My kind has an aversion to water; to the extent that Andras is expecting me, it will not be expecting me to come in that way.”

  “You are scared of water?” I asked.

  “Not scared. Just... averse. It is not the sort of thing we have back home; at least, not in that form.”

  I resisted the urge to probe any further; on our journey south N’yotsu had ignored all of our attempts to evince too many details of his newly recalled memories. What he could remember was either too traumatic or too shameful for him to give voice to.

  “That is as maybe,” I said. “But it would be naive of us to assume that there would be nothing in the river which could threaten us. We have seen already that these creatures leaking through from the Aether come in all shapes and sizes.”

  “True,” said N’yotsu. “But that’s where the diversion which our soldier friends will create comes in, is that not right, Captain?”

  Albert nodded. “I shall go back to the barracks now and speak with my superiors. You will hear from me as soon as possible.”

  “You are going back out there while it is still dark?” I asked. “Are you sure?”

  He grinned, a virtual and unintended slap in the face to my new-found cowardice. “We’re big boys, Sir,” he said. “We can handle them things.” With that they filed out, guns raised and bayonets fixed. I looked after them, resolving to hide my uncertainty from that point onwards.

  I stood in the doorway to the sitting room. “How long will it take you two to build that thing?” I asked.

  “We should be done by dawn,” said Maxwell. “If you all cease distracting me with that damned chattering.”

  Chapter 40

  I was roused from a fitful slumber by Maxwell’s hand on my shoulder. I blinked and rubbed my eyes; the dank grey light of dawn was starting to creep across the room, making everything appear stark and forbidding. “We’ve finished the machine,” he said. “N’yotsu wants us all to know how to work it, just in case.”

  We gathered in the sitting room, Kate and I watching as Maxwell and N’yotsu prepared their work of art. In fairness it was considerably more elegant and stylish than Maxwell’s usual efforts, being a simplistic yet deadly-looking device. It resembled a musket in form, with a wide barrel entwined in tubing and leading back to a flared stock and trigger mechanism. I frowned as I took in the compact nature of the device.

  “What?” said Maxwell.

  “It looks very... elegant.”

  “Thank you. So why are you frowning?”

  “I am just waiting for you to pull out the ugly, cumbersome part; just like you did with the last Aetheric Sensor. A power pack or whatever it might be.”

  “There is no need,” said N’yotsu. “This is powered by means other than steam.” He held up the weapon and showed us a series of marks and patterns engraved into the stock which glowed red as they caught the light, not unlike those which adorned my sword. “These are incantations which provide the true workings; the rest of the device is merely there to direct the fatal power.”

  “So how does it work?” asked Kate.

  “You attach this,” N’yotsu held up a disc which was chained to the stock. “To here.” He clicked it into a small groove and immediately the weapon started to hum. “That completes the incantation. Then all you do is point it and pull the trigger. Simplicity itself.”

  “And that will kill Andras?” I asked as he removed the disc and the weapon subsided once more.

  “It will utterly destroy anything it is directed at.”

  “Including the machine creating the portal?” I asked.

  “Yes,” said N’yotsu. “Although it would leave the portal itself intact. There is an incantation which we would still need to perform in order to fully disable the portal.”

  “It is also worth pointing out,” said Maxwell, “that there is only one opportunity to use it; once it has been fired, the power will be spent.”

  “So aim well,” said Kate.

  “Indeed,” said Maxwell. “And here is the most important element.” He lifted a large, grey bag.

  I groaned. “I knew it was too good to be true. So tell me; what monstrosity have you decided to clip to this wonderfully attractive device?”

  Maxwell grinned. “This is a waterproof bag for us to transport it in. After our last trip over water, I did not want to run the risk of soaking it before we had a chance to use it.”

  I looked round at my over-eager friends as another thought occurred to me. “Am I the only one here who is uncomfortable at the thought of sending N’yotsu off to his certain death?”

  “Actually,” said Maxwell. “There has been a slight change of plan.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Kate.

  “I have an idea,” said N’yotsu. “A way which may mean that we do not have to use this device.”

  “Go on.”

  “I was created by Andras splitting me from its body, so that it could rid itself of encumbrances such as emotions, guilt a
nd a conscience. The process is reversible.”

  “So you’re planning to reunite yourself with Andras and hope that you can make the demon feel bad about what it is doing?” I said slowly. “Sounds a bit risky.”

  “Sounds crazy,” said Kate. “What’s to stop you just being evil like Andras is now?”

  “In theory, nothing,” said N’yotsu. “But the splitting up of bodies and personalities is usually only a short-term thing. There have been tales amongst my people of demons which split away elements of their being for a prolonged period of time, elements which took on a life of their own and were much more dominant when reunited with the host demon. The act of separation and reunion effectively changed their personality. At least I think so; my memories are still a bit... patchy.”

  “And if it doesn’t work out like you’re hoping?” asked Kate.

  “Then you kill me, with my blessing. I have no desire to return to my old ways.” He shuddered. “All I ask is that you give me enough time to assert myself, once I have been able to reunite with Andras.”

  I looked at N’yotsu, noting the terror in his eyes. “Why put yourself through this? Why do we not just find a way to kill the fiend without killing you also?”

  “There is no such way,” said N’yotsu. “I am a part of Andras; I can no more survive without the demon than you could without your head. Trust me, the prospect of reuniting with that beast really does not appeal, but my desire to live is stronger still. As long as I can control the evil urges.”

  “So that’s our plan?” said Kate. “Sounds like a lot of hoping involved.”

  “Hope is all we have left,” I said, echoing Captain Pearce’s words from the night before.

  * * *

  We had shortly afterwards been greeted by a delegation from the barracks, including Captain Pearce and one of his superiors, a tall, moustachioed man whom I recognised immediately from the various portraits I had seen. “Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Gordon,” he said, shaking our hands firmly.