Darkest hour aom-2

by Mark Chadbourn

  Sometime after 10:30 p.m. another technology failure took out all the lights, but the drinkers dealt with it as they did any of the other minor changes which had come into their lives. A loud cheer went up, a few shouted comments about raiding the pumps while the landlord couldn't see, and then lots of laughter. The blazing fire provided enough light while the bar staff scrambled round for candles which they quickly stuffed into empty wine bottles and placed on every table and the bar.

  "Nice ambience."

  Church started at the voice which came from the previously empty seat beside him. A large-boned man carrying a little too much weight inside an expensive, but tie-less, suit was smiling knowingly, a pint of bitter half-raised to his mouth. His hair was collar-length and he had a badly trimmed beard, but the heaviness of his jowls took away any of the rakishness he was attempting. Church placed him in his early to mid-thirties and from the perfectly formed English vowels of his public school accent it was obvious he wasn't a local.

  "Pleasant enough," Church replied noncommittally.

  "And how are you finding this new world you're in? A little destabilising, I would think." He smiled slyly.

  Church eyed him suspiciously. There was an awareness about the stranger that instantly set him apart. "Who are you?"

  "A cop," Veitch said threateningly.

  "Good Lord, no," he replied, bemused. "How insulting."

  Church inspected the cut of his suit, the arrogance in his posture. "Security services."

  The stranger made an odd, vaguely affirmative expression, one eyebrow half-raised. "Once, not so long ago. Decided to head out on my own. Not much point having a career structure in this day and age." He took a long draught of his bitter and smacked his lips.

  "What are you doing here?" Church wondered if it had anything to do with the encounter with the police in Callander; he was ready to leave immediately if the situation called for it, and he tried to convey this surreptitiously to the others, but all their attention was on the spy.

  "Why, to see all of you, dear boy." He chuckled at their uncomfortable expressions. "That would be a little bit of a lie, actually. Stumbled across you by accident in town earlier. Thought I'd drop in on you… see how you're getting on." The chuckles subsided into a smile that made them even more uneasy.

  Shavi leaned across the table curiously. "And the security services know who we are?"

  "Well, of course. They know everything that's worth knowing. That's their job, isn't it?" He looked around at their faces, still smiling in a manner that might have seemed jovial until it was examined closely; it was a social pretence. "You really don't know what's happening, do you?"

  "We have a good idea," Church replied.

  "No, you don't. You just think you do." He took another sip of beer, playing with them. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Let me cast my mind back, remember all those reports and discussions. So much said and written, it's hard to believe it's only been going on for three months, give or take. Right, I have it. The M4, back in March. Terrible pile-up, cars and lorries and buses all mangled. A conflagration that blocked the entire motorway, caused traffic chaos for days. You remember it, don't you?"

  Church gave nothing away.

  "And what caused all that carnage?"

  Church's eyes flickered towards the others; no one spoke.

  The spy chuckled again. "I understand your reticence. Really. It's not the kind of thing one talks about, is it? Well, let me answer the question for you. You believe the disaster was caused by some kind of flying creature out of a fairy book, blasting gouts of flame from its mouth."

  "And you're saying it wasn't?" Church made an attempt to pierce that jovial mask, but all he could see beneath it was more lies and deceit.

  "Perception is such a funny thing," the spy mused. Their uneasiness had started to turn to irritation at his undisguised patronising manner. "We have all these faculties which paint a picture of the world for our mind." He made a fey, airy gesture. "Something we can make sense of. But can any of them really be trusted, that's the question? If there is one fact known by all security agencies around the globe, it is that there are no absolutes. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, all can be manipulated to present a view of the world as real as the real one."

  "What are you saying?" Church bristled. "That we didn't see what we thought we saw?"

  "Come on, old chap! It was a creature from a fairy book!" The spy aped disbelief. "It all depends how you see things. Fire streamed down from the sky and blew up a chunk of motorway and some poor commuters. Well, of course, it could be some kind of mythical beastie. But, really, come on now, we are all intelligent people here, are we not? What would you say is the most rational explanation? The flames of a dragon's breath? Or a missile fired from a plane or a helicopter?"

  His words struck them all sharply, prising open the doubt and dislocation they had felt in the early days. "We saw-"

  The spy silenced Church with a furious shake of his head. "No, no, no, that's not good enough. Can't be trusted. After you witnessed the murder under Albert Bridge, you and the young lady went to see a therapist, did you not? And he attempted to recover the hidden memory of the incident-"

  "How do you know about that?" Church's angry indignation masked a growing concern; how long had he been spied upon?

  "He told you about screen memories," the spy continued. "False memories created by the mind to hide a truth which is unbearable. Or false memories created by an outside source to hide a truth which they do not want to come out."

  "You make it sound as simple as flicking a light switch," Laura said.

  "It is. Drugs, mind-control techniques, subliminal programming, targeted microwave radiation, post-hypnotic signals. The mind is a very susceptible organ."

  Veitch snorted derisively. "Bollocks. That's what it is, mate, whoever the fuck you are. You're saying we can't trust anything we see or hear. Or think-"

  "Exactly." The spy settled back in his chair and smiled triumphantly.

  "You speak as if you are saying something new." Tom surveyed the spy with a face as cold and hard as marble; the spy looked away. "But that is exactly how it has always been in life. You simply have more ways of manipulation now."

  Church shook his head. "Everything we've experienced-everything supernatural-is just a big lie created by a lot of jumped-up public schoolboys with too much free time? I don't believe you."

  "That's your prerogative. But you know the old adage about big lies working the best. And it's not just a few jumped-up public schoolboys. It's…" The words dried up, and he waved his hand dismissively. "Occam's Razor. The most likely explanation is the correct explanation. Dragons or attack helicopters? Shape-shifting demons or special forces assassins? Wizards juggling occult forces or very clever scientists? Demon torturers in underground dens or a few rough lads who've lost their natural calling in Ulster, making the most of the peace and quiet in high-security converted mines? Listen to me again: drugs, post-hypnotic programming, screen memories. Lies heaped on lies."

  "And this is the biggest one of all." Church went for his drink to give him a moment to think. Wasn't this the kind of thing he first feared in the aftermath of that night beneath Albert Bridge? Suddenly he wanted to smash the glass and turn the table over. All that suffering, and they still couldn't trust what was happening.

  "Tell me," the spy continued, "when you look at one of these shape-shifting demons, do you feel queasy? Does your mind protest that it's not seeing the right thing? When you look at one of those glorious god-like beings, do you occasionally think you see the truth behind it? The bottom line is: do you want to carry on living a lie because it's easy and comforting to believe? Lots of lovely magic and heroic derring-do, just the kind of way you dreamed the world really was when you were children. Or do you want to face up to the harsh facts about how life really is? No magic at all. Just lots of cynical, powerful people manipulating you on a daily basis for their own ends?"

  "That's a difficult choice," L
aura said acidly. "And not in the way you think."

  "There have been too many facts which uphold-"

  "Don't argue with him, Shavi," Church snapped. "He's enjoying screwing with your mind."

  "I admit it is a very carefully constructed scenario," the spy mused. "In fact, it would even fool someone who knew how these things were done."

  Shavi, however, seemed to be enjoying the intellectual game. "If what you are saying is true, then why is so much effort being expended?"

  "Power. Control." The spy smiled. "You should never raise to high office, either democratically or through promotion, people who want high office. That desire is a signifier of some very unpleasant character traits." He paused while he finished his beer. "We have martial law now. The democratic process has been suspended. For how long? Until the crisis is over. Oh dear. Let me posit a scenario: there has been a coup. Those sick old aristocrats couldn't take losing their seats in the Lords… Friends in the military, the security services, the judiciary, all those Chief Constables… Late-night chats in the Lodge-"

  Church shook his head vehemently; he realised vaguely that he looked like a sullen schoolboy.

  "Think about it for a minute. Doesn't it make a certain kind of sense? Can anything that you've experienced be perceived in another way? Think deeply about every incident you've experienced. Could it have happened in a different way, from another perspective?" He raised his hands, prompting their introspection.

  "Interesting," Shavi said with what the others thought was undue excitement. "But that would imply that we five have been specifically targeted for mind control. That begs the question, why us? We are nobody special."

  "Perhaps the powers behind the curtain believe you are somebody special. But no, more people than you five have been influenced. Just to keep the grand illusion growing. A big lie is the best lie, and this is the best lie of all."

  Church could see from the faces of the others that the spy's words were disturbing them, destabilising a world view which had already been fragile in its unreality; he had to admit, he felt the world was moving under his own feet. Only Tom seemed unaffected.

  "Give me one reason why we should believe you," he said.

  "Oh, God, you shouldn't. That's the subtext of what I'm saying, isn't it? Don't believe anyone, don't believe anything. Not even yourselves. This is my reality. We all make our own. Perhaps it's yours, perhaps not."

  "You're a victim of your own disinformation," Church said harshly. "There's no point us questioning you at all. You're either lying to us or lying to yourself."

  The spy rattled his empty glass on the table, as if he were expecting one of them to buy him another. "Do you know people can die of sadness? We find them all over the place, just sitting, slumped, a blank expression, no evident sign of death. They stopped believing in their reality. Switched themselves off-"

  Witch's growing confusion triggered the anger that was always just beneath the surface. When he leaned across the table there was such repressed violence in his movement that the spy was taken aback. "This is just bollocks. You're screwing with our heads just to knock us off course. You're working for the Bastards, aren't you?"

  "Believe what you want-"

  "Shut up." Veitch jabbed a finger in the spy's face. "Get out of here before I break something."

  The spy shrugged, rose, still smiling, but there was now an obvious wariness behind his patina of chumminess; he glanced once more at Veitch, almost relieved to be moving away. "Think about what I said-"

  "Get out," Veitch said coldly.

  The spy made a gesture of reluctance and moved off, but when he was far enough beyond their arc to feel safe once more, he turned back and flashed the same arrogant smile. "Be seeing you." And then he was swallowed up by a crowd of drinkers heading towards the bar.

  They played with their drinks in silence for a moment and then Shavi said, "What do you think?"

  "You know what I think," Veitch replied. "He's a liar. How can you believe any of that bollocks?"

  "You know how it is with these gods and mystical items and all that stuff that's supposedly crossed over. We all see them in different ways." Laura gently rubbed the scar tissue on her face, a mannerism she had developed whenever she was feeling particularly uncomfortable. She rapped her head. "All this stupid grey matter up here can't begin to grasp what they really are."

  Tom adjusted his spectacles thoughtfully. "I've had more occasions of altered perception than most people so I have little fondness for some overarching view of reality. He was right-everyone has their own reality, none more valid than any other. Personally, I find it hard to believe that all my memories have been implanted, but it's certainly possible. I could be a carpenter from Wigan or a used-car salesman from Weymouth who only believes he's the mythical Thomas the Rhymer. Who's to say? But I do believe this-you can chase your tail round in circles for the rest of your life trying to find out what the truth really is, or you can just deal with it the way you think it is. Paralysis or action. And does it really matter what the higher power truly is-some incomprehensible power seen as dark gods by ancient man or corrupt humans? Surely the aim is to defeat it, whatever it is."

  "It matters to me," Laura said. "If I can't put a head in the target sights, I can't pull the trigger."

  The confusion had brought an air of despondency to the table. Church knew he had to take some action to prevent the paralysis Tom had mentioned. "Tom's right. There's no point sitting here like a bunch of pathetic losers. We've operated in a state of permanent confusion for the last few months, so this isn't going to make any difference." He turned to Laura, although his words were meant for all of them. "Okay, if you want to believe somebody who turns up out of the blue and frankly admits his life is based on telling lies, then that's your prerogative. But at least keep it at the back of your mind until you find some evidence to back it up. I don't believe we should mention it again. What do you say?"

  Laura shrugged. "You're the boss, boss." A ripple of agreement ran through the others.

  As the clock neared midnight, the bar began to thin out. Church watched the drinkers hovering near the door as if they were reluctant to venture out into the night, making jokes about watching out for the "bogles" waiting to chase them home.

  "It's as if they all secretly know there's something frightening out there, but won't admit it to themselves or anyone else," he mused aloud.

  "Normal human nature," Shavi said. "Who would want to believe the world is how it is?"

  Laura finished her drink and slammed the glass down theatrically. "So are you really trying to fool yourself this was anything other than a night's serious drinking?"

  "We have actually learned a great deal with this reconnaissance," Tom said indignantly. "Would you rather rush into danger blindly? We know that in the New Town Edinburgh seems untouched by what is happening. Yet the Old Town is transformed, corrupted. That tells me the Fomorii are here as we suspected, and here in this particular quarter of the city."

  "You better not be saying we need to get out on the streets at this time of night." Although Laura was as combative as normal, Church could hear the uneasiness in her voice.

  "I don't think it would be wise after midnight," Church said.

  "So far the Fomorii have confined themselves to the out-of-the-way places, the lonely places," Shavi began. "Why do you think they are here, at this time?"

  "Because," Tom replied, "the Well of Fire makes this one of the most significant places in the land. In times past the Fomorii would not have been able to come within miles of this site, but now the Earth-blood is dormant. So, I presume, there is a certain frisson in colonising a place that was so important to everything they despise."

  "The dark overcoming the light," Shavi noted.

  They finished their drinks and left, their heads swimming with too much alcohol and all the doubts implanted by the spy. Outside, the unseasonal chill had grown even colder. Laura shivered. "Jesus, it's like winter."

  The Ro
yal Mile was deserted. Church had visited the city with Marianne for the Festival and he knew it was never so dead. An eerie stillness lay oppressively over everything; no lights burned in any windows, the late-night coffee shop was closed, even the street lights seemed dim.

  They didn't need any prompting to move hastily back to the hotel. But as they made their way up Lawnmarket towards the spotlit bulk of the castle, the night dropped several more degrees and their breath bloomed all around them. A dim blue light seeped out of Ramsay Lane, although they couldn't tell if it was some optical illusion caused by the stark illumination of the castle. As they drew closer, however, there was no doubt. The sapphire glow emanated from somewhere along the road they had travelled earlier that evening, casting long shadows across their path; the shadows moved slightly, as if the light was not fixed.

  "Police?" Shavi suggested.

  Tom was unusually reticent. "I don't think so."

  A deep hoar frost sparkled on the road and gleamed on the windows near where Ramsay Lane turned sharply. They marvelled at the display of cold in the first thrust of summer, but then a dark shape suddenly lurched into view and they all jumped back a step. Veitch quickly moved in front of them, lowering his centre of gravity ready to fight. The shape moved slowly, awkwardly, in a stiff-limbed manner; they saw it was a man with long black hair and a bushy beard they had seen drinking in the pub-except now his hair and beard was white with frost and his skin had a faint blue sheen that shimmered in the street light. He slumped against a wall, saw Church and the others and reached out a pleading hand. A faint strangled sound escaped his throat which they presumed was a cry for help.

  As they ran forward, he crumpled to the pavement, still.

  Laura went to turn him over, then snatched back her hand. "Ow! Too cold to touch."