by Peter Oxley
I cursed and ran towards them. “The quicker you can do this, the better,” I said.
“Thank you for that very helpful insight,” muttered Lexie as she adjusted some dials, consulting a crumpled piece of paper as she did so. “There,” she said finally. “Just need to activate that lever over there.” She pointed to a large switch on the other side of the portal.
“I’ll do it,” shouted Joshua, starting off at a sprint before any of us could stop him.
The next few seconds stretch out like hours in my mind’s eye, like a succession of tragic portraits on a wall that I am forced to crawl past, time after time. No sooner had Joshua set off than he was brought short by a shout of alarm and a volley of gunfire from the soldiers behind us. The demons had started to emerge from the portal once more.
I flinched but then threw myself forwards to try to get in between the young man and the creatures advancing towards him.
“The lever!” I shouted, pointing.
I ran forwards but was overtaken by someone quicker and smaller: Lexie.
A huge form darted out of the swirling lights of the portal, arrowing straight for its closest target: Joshua.
I forced my legs to pump harder, willing every fibre of my being to provide me with just one last surge of energy. Lexie was just ahead of me, running with grim determination.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw another burst of movement: Kate was running towards the lever from the other side.
I threw myself through the air towards Joshua.
A hideous arm and glinting teeth emerged from the portal, a creature unlike any we had seen so far. It put me in mind of a praying mantis in both looks and ruthless intent.
I heard Andras shout: “Furies!” Or maybe it was a memory of something N’yotsu had said a long time ago.
The Fury turned towards us, for I was now in its line of sight too, and I readied myself to defend us.
The creature snapped round and grabbed a smaller form who had thrown herself in front of her brother, ripping Lexie in two.
Joshua and I both shouted.
I grabbed at Joshua as he hysterically screamed his sister’s name and attempted to reach her shattered body. Then Kate pulled down on the lever and the world exploded into a madness of white light.
Chapter 31
I struggled to my feet with the taste of blood in my mouth and my ears ringing painfully. The world seemed harsher and sharper to my battered senses. The portal still loomed above us but it was changed, with the beautifully deadly swirls having taken on a slightly fuzzy and indistinct aspect. Dark forms moved inside and I had the distinct impression that they were impotently battering at it.
I looked round and saw Maxwell being helped back into his chair. He nodded at me: it was done, the barrier was in place over the portal. I then registered the look of anguish on his face as he looked over at us.
I staggered forwards and collapsed next to Joshua, who was cradling the battered remains of his sister. She looked at us sightlessly, a faint smile playing on lips flecked with blood and fragments of bone and tissue.
I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to think of something to say.
We became aware of shouting and turned to see a group of soldiers surrounding the Fury which had broken through to kill Lexie. It towered over the men, reaching up to around eight feet in height as it cast around with its triangular head and overlarge eyes. It was topped by a pair of wickedly sharp horns, while rows of vicious teeth snapped and clicked at us. Its skin was a deep black that shone a wet blue as it caught the light, with long, muscular arms flailing round at its would-be captors.
The soldiers were struggling to contain the beast, their bullets and bayonets seeming to do little more than irritate it, and so I threw myself into the fray, barging past the soldiers and squaring up to the beast, my sword raised.
It swung an arm at me, the pointed claw at the end of it aiming for my heart. I threw myself to the side and as I did so I could see blood dripping from its talons. I pushed aside the thought of whose it was and swung with my sword.
The creature screamed in rage as the limb was cleanly severed and I took advantage of its distraction to sweep my blade at its legs, jumping aside as it crashed to the ground.
I approached it with my sword raised, ready for the killing blow, but was stopped short by a cry from behind.
“No!” shouted Joshua. “It is mine.”
He pushed me aside and approached the beast, his face pale and drawn so tight that I barely recognised him as the carefree youth we had spent those past weeks with. He muttered some sounds and the creature’s limbs burst into flames.
The Fury screamed and thrashed about but could not extinguish the conflagration that showed no signs of advancing up its body; at least, not yet.
I found myself watching the creature with a sick fascination, unable to look away and almost relishing the thing’s suffering. It had taken away our friend, and it deserved to suffer.
I looked up and could see my feelings mirrored in those of the others, including Andras who watched with a glint in his eye and a half-smile on his lips.
The sight of the demon’s naked enjoyment of the spectacle shocked me back to my senses. Was this what we had become? Watching the torture of a creature, enjoying the spectacle alongside Andras, of all things?
The Fury’s screams grew louder, a tortured wail that resonated through my very bones.
This was not right, I realised. Whatever the thing was, whatever it had done, we had no right to do this. I looked across at Andras, remembering all that he had done and was capable of. He and his kind would like nothing more than for us to remake ourselves in their image.
Before I could change my mind I walked forwards and plunged my sword into the Fury’s head. It shuddered and then was still.
Joshua charged at me, glaring with hot venom. “You had no right,” he screamed. “It was mine! It should suffer!”
I tried to keep my composure as I thought of what he was clearly now capable of, powered by hate and the Fulcrum. “We are not like that,” I said. “It is over, Josh. Finished.”
He stared at me for a long moment and then turned and charged off, the soldiers scattering in his wake. Kate nodded to me and then ran after him.
“You’re wrong, you know,” said Andras from behind me. “It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot.”
I glared at him, then looked around the battlefield, the scene cast in an eerie light by the portal. Soldiers were at last starting to relax, while Maxwell was examining the device under Captain Pearce’s watchful eye. Joshua bent over his sister’s body while Kate tried to console him. We had won this battle, but only just.
“That’s all right,” I said to Andras. “I’m not done fighting yet.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Afterword - Author’s Note
Benjamin Disraeli’s first term as Prime Minister lasted from February to December 1868, when he was ousted by Gladstone’s Liberal party. Of course, as far as I’m aware he never had to contend with a demon invasion: one of the benefits of being a novelist is that you can stray from the facts in the interests of artistic licence.
As a result, while I’ve tried to remain as true to the times as possible, I have not been slavish in this: after all, the events of this world and the one we live in diverged in 1865 with the events of The Infernal Aether (and in fact, started to diverge a while before then, but that is a tale for another book…).
Nonsuch Palace was an actual Tudor palace, built and designed by Henry VIII. Work started in 1538 and it was still incomplete by the time of Henry’s death in 1547. There is no record of any form of occult connections for the palace, either in its construction or use. I settled on this as a potential location for the Fulcrum mainly because I have been captivated by the name Nonsuch ever since I first stumbled upon it as a child: to my young mind it evoked images of the fantastic and magical, even though the name was really (allegedly) due to a boast that there would be no such oth
er palace to rival its magnificence in all the world.
The method of blood transfusion used by Joshua was indeed the invention of a Sheffield obstetrician named Dr J.H. Aveling. The device used was invented by him in 1866 and was constantly carried in the doctor’s pocket until he was first able to use it in 1872, on a young woman suffering from post-partum haemorrhage. The procedure was a success, although Dr Aveling was disappointed to note that “the mental improvement of the patient was not as marked and rapid as I anticipated, but this perhaps was due to the quantity of brandy she had undertaken.” I am indebted to Phil Learoyd’s paper The Early History of Blood Transfusion for these insights.
I have tried to capture the unique spirit and personality of Benjamin Disraeli, although many comments and witticisms unfortunately did not survive the editing process - they are being held in readiness for the next book, Beyond the Aether. Among others, Douglas Hurd & Edward Young’s highly enjoyable book Disraeli or The Two Lives provided much background for my research.
For details of travel and travel routes, as well as many of the locations I used, there was no better source for me than George Bradshaw’s contemporary guidebooks, in particular Bradshaw’s Illustrated Hand Book to London and its Environs (1862), Bradshaw’s Descriptive Railway Hand-Book of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1863) and Bradshaw’s Railway Time Tables and Assistant to Railway Travelling (various). The Village London Atlas by the Alderman Press provided me with street layouts to supplement many days spent pounding the streets trying to image what Gus and his friends would have seen back then.
I have taken artistic licence with the location of Captain Gilbert’s garrison in Nottingham - I have found no evidence to suggest that Nottingham Castle was used for that purpose at the time, but I needed something large enough, iconic enough and not too far from the train station. So, as with many things in this book, I twisted facts and made things up!
As with the first book, my initial research on demons and demonology was based on The Lesser Key of Solomon Goetia, by SL Mathers and Aleister Crowley. I have also relied on The Encyclopedia of Demons & Demonology by Rosemary Ellen Guiney, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell Hope Robbins and the Malleus Maleficarum (1486) by Heinrich Institoris, translated by P.G. Maxwell-Stuart.
Finally, the location of the Yewfields Estate is based on the grounds and mansion house at Oaklands in St Albans, now a Further Education College and somewhere with which I am very familiar, thanks to working there for a number of years. For period detail I relied on pictures in The Oaklands Story 1921-1971 by E.C. Pelham, as well as invaluable insights from the font of knowledge that is the incomparable Joe Brennan.
Acknowledgements
As always, there are so many people without whom this book would never have been written, or at least would only be a shadow of what it is.
Thanks to my fantastic beta readers, whose invaluable feedback helped refine and shape the initial drafts - Andreas Rausch, Lynne, Glenn Bordeaux, James Heppe-Smith, Alison Belding and Joe “the Pendantic Paddy” Brennan.
Thanks to Ben Way for an invaluable and insightful edit, as well as unearthing a veritable treasure trove of 19th century slang.
And of course, thanks to Jess, Tom and Sam for your encouragement, support and just being there for me, always.
It goes without saying that, while everyone has played their part in making this as clean and error-free as possible, any errors or alternative facts which remain are entirely my fault and responsibility.
Book Three – Beyond the Aether
Beyond the Aether
Peter Oxley
By Peter Oxley
Edited by: Ben Way
Cover: Kristina Pavlovic
Copyright © Peter D. Oxley 2017
All rights reserved
ISBN: 1974045404
ISBN-13: 978-1974045402
For Jess, Tom & Sam
Prologue
From the Almadite Book of Worlds
In the beginning, Ahriman held dominion over all of the realms, and He and He alone held the power to travel between realms…
Of all of the creatures in all of the realms, the children of our world were his favourites and they pleased Him in their worship. So pleased was He with his children that He left them so that He may stand in judgement over the other realms…
After many years of wandering, Ahriman returned to our world to find that His children had become plentiful, spreading to every corner of their realm. However, He saw that they were weak and divided in His absence. Where before there had been one strong race, now there was a multitude, all growing fat and complacent across the land.
And so Ahriman came down to His children and told them that He would bestow His gifts on only one of the tribes, but they had to defeat all others to win His favour.
And so it came to pass that a great leader named Almadel took charge of his tribe and cut a swathe across the land, defeating all who lay before him. And thus it was that Almadel and his people stood supreme in the realm.
And Almadel spoke to Ahriman, saying: “Look, Father, at what we have done. We have cast aside all of our enemies and now stand utmost before you as your very own master race.”
And Ahriman was most pleased and gave Almadel and his people the gift of long life as well as the five runes to the Aether, the runes that Ahriman had used to travel across all of the realms.
Almadel founded a great land onto which he bestowed his name, and great was the fear that all other creatures felt as they beheld this fierce majesty.
And so Almadel and his fearsome warriors set forth from their land to subjugate all others, to cleanse all of the realms and ensure that only the children of Ahriman could rule supreme, as is only right and just.
And Ahriman saw this and was most pleased.
But Ahriman’s brother Ormazd also saw this, and in His jealousy sought to put an end to Almadel’s ambitions. Thus he came down and took four of the runes from Almadel, casting them to the other realms, and to Heaven and Hell, in His folly ensuring that no one race could ever be supreme above all others. Almadel, his heart broken, swore that he would not rest until he had united the runes and disappeared, forever hunting the runes.
Ahriman saw all of this and was enraged. He entered into battle with Ormazd. The fighting lasted for thousands of cycles, and the Heavens were aflame, until they could stand no more and they rent asunder, opening a doorway to the Druj, where both brothers were interred to battle on to this day…
Chapter One
The rough sand collected beneath my shirt as I crawled forwards, trying to keep the tall rocks between myself and the demons as I squinted against the light from the second, brighter sun high in the sky. If there were any doubts in my mind that we were in another realm, the three suns circling overhead banished them.
I reached the nearest rock and pressed myself against the hard-red stone. I edged my body upwards into a standing position, holding my breath as I peered round it to see a group of five demons engrossed in their tasks. I looked back to check that Joshua, Kate and the Pooka demon Byron were in position and then held up my hand and counted down with my fingers: three, two, one.
We darted round the rocks and ran at the demons, shouting as we closed in on them. Byron and I threw ourselves at the three Berserkers, which were clearly in attendance as bodyguards-cum-porters. Kate dropped to a knee and fired her LeMat pistol at the remaining two, the Warlock demons. In doing so, she provided Joshua with precious time to work his magic.
I swung my runic sword at a roaring Berserker, exulting as I did so in the animalistic joy that came from being in perfect harmony with the weapon. The beast attempted a clumsy swing at me but I parried with ease and brought an end to its challenge with a swift uppercut of my blade that scythed its head asunder. Wrenching the steel free, I twisted out of the path of an axe swung by another demon, arching my back and feeling the rush of wind as it passed me by a mere whisker and buried itself in the ground. Before my att
acker could pull it free I kicked hard at the beast’s chest and followed up with a swing of my own. That one hit home and the demon fell to the ground, extinguished.
I turned to see Byron still locked in battle with the remaining Berserker and looking as though he was gaining the upper hand. Joshua was struggling with the two Warlocks, and so it was this engagement upon which I focused my attentions.
I ran over to Kate, where she was attempting to help Joshua by firing at the Warlocks with grim determination. I nodded to her as she stopped to reload. “Everything all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, “although it’d be nice if they looked even a bit bothered by me shooting at them.” She snapped the chamber of the pistol closed and opened fire again.
The bullets bounced off the Warlocks, earning little more than irritated glances from them as they engaged in a battle with Joshua that defied all of my senses.
He faced them from across the sandy plain, his face screwed up in intense concentration. The Warlocks’ mouths opened and closed to form words and sounds that, while nowhere near intelligible to my untutored ears, conjured up images and feelings in my mind that were nothing short of breath-taking. Thankfully, I was not the target of their utterances, for the demonic invocations were being hurled directly at Joshua. For his part, our friend was repelling and returning them with equal vigour, his mouth twisting to form a guttural flow of consonants.
As for the forms of the invocations themselves, they were streams of fire plucked straight from the sun and directed with malevolent intensity, furious dragons arrowing towards their foe. Then again it were as though the cold light of the most distant stars had been wrenched down and flung outward like spears of piercing light. The sight was agonising, not only to my eyes but also my mind and my very soul; every projectile wrenched at the fibre of my being, even though I was a mere onlooker.
