Thaumatology 03 - Legacy Read online

  ‘A cup of coffee would be excellent, dear girl,’ Ed broke in, ‘but if you’re ready to start your test then, frankly, food can wait.’

  Cheryl grinned. Ceri got the impression that Ed was as passionate about his subject as she and Cheryl were. ‘I’ll start prepping the circle then,’ she said.

  With Cheryl in the silver-iron safety cage, situated near the lab door to facilitate rapid escapes, Ed was left in the main staging area, a mug of coffee in hand, watching Ceri carefully pour salt into the carved runes which formed the containment circle. To keep things as constant as possible, and simply to save time, the symbology for the circle had been carved into a large block of granite. Salt was both a transfer medium for the energy Ceri would use to invoke the circle and was also symbolic since salt was often used as a barrier substance against magic. She worked always from the north, clockwise, and starting from the inside and working out.

  ‘You’re a practitioner then, Ceri,’ Ed asked after he had watched her working for a few minutes.

  ‘Yes,’ Ceri replied, ‘not that I need be to do this. I could mark out a summoning circle when I was ten.’

  ‘Most precocious,’ he replied, grinning.

  Ceri grinned back. ‘My parents were both enchanters, my Dad did a bit of wizardry on the side.’

  ‘You are that Brent,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t sure. Have you followed your father’s wizardry or your mother’s witchcraft?’ He obviously knew more about her than he was saying, or about her parents anyway.

  ‘Neither, really. I’m kind of a… generalist. I learned a few spells for my PPC, Carter taught me some more, and I’ve worked out a few for myself.’

  ‘You’ve done the Public Practitioner’s Certificate?’

  ‘The university requires it for anyone doing actual magic on site,’ Ceri replied, ‘and raising a circle counts.’

  ‘Ah yes, of course. I did mine so long ago I’d forgotten why.’ So he was a practicing magician as well. ‘I’m something of a generalist myself, a wizard if I had to classify myself. More of the wizardry specialities are useful for research.’

  Ceri started running salt around the inner of the two circles. ‘True. Carter taught me several spells for analysing magic and the like.’

  ‘Carter?’

  ‘Oh, sorry. Carter Fleming. He’s a friend. He runs a bunch of nightclubs, but he’s also a practicing wizard.’ She finished her circuit and set to work on the final eight runes between the inner and outer rings.

  ‘Aha! Yes, I’ve heard of him.’ Ed sounded a little triumphant. ‘I’m afraid I’m terrible at current events. Partially it’s from living in a town that’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s also inclination.’

  ‘He’s a good guy. A bit of a reputation, but he’s good to Cheryl and he’s been good to my partner.’ She stood up, examining her work to be sure she had missed nothing.

  ‘Partner? That’s one of those modern euphemisms for an unconventional relationship?’ He did not sound disapproving, though Ceri was aware that mid-Wales was a little more conservative than central London.

  ‘You could say that,’ Cheryl said, leaning out of the cage, ‘Lily is a half-succubus.’

  Ed blinked. ‘Really? Not many of them about. There used to be a big thing with students getting together and summoning succubi in the eighties. Sort of an orgy drug of choice. And of course there was all the summoning and binding as sex slaves in the sixties and seventies before wizardry started cleaning up its act. There were more half-demons around then, but most of them went off the rails and ended up committing suicide by police wizard.’

  ‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘that was where Lily was headed until Carter found her and persuaded her to turn her life around.’

  ‘From what he says,’ Cheryl commented, ‘you had something to do with it. You ready?’

  ‘Say the word,’ Ceri replied.

  ‘Let’s do this then. Ed, would you care to join me in my cage?’

  ‘How could I refuse such a delightful offer?’ Ed said, turning to follow Cheryl while Ceri began to lay the salt in the final, outer, ring. ‘So,’ Ed’s voice said from behind the silver-iron mesh, ‘you and this Carter…’

  Ceri grinned as she placed the salt down on the floor and turned to face the northern point of the pentagram inscribed within the circles. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply and focussing her mind on the circle. All the ritual and magic words were dressing as far as she was concerned, but she always felt like showing off a bit whenever she powered up the lab’s circle. She raised her arms as she poured power into the salt. ‘Let’s get started,’ she said and the salt flared silver-white as the containment circle established itself. Her Sight showed her the shimmering column which stood between the granite and the ceiling. Up there at the top the magic sealed it off, the bottom seal was invisible, embedded in the stone.

  Smiling, Ceri walked around to the door of the cage. ‘We’re up, boss. Fire at will.’ She turned back to watch the circle, her Sight still showing the shimmering wall of magic.

  ‘You’re not coming in here?’ Ed asked.

  ‘I can’t see anything from in there,’ Ceri replied.

  Cheryl just said, ‘Initiating resonance generators.’ On the floor of the lab, around the circle, a ring of silver-iron coils powered up. Slowly at first, then increasingly quickly, the currents of colours within the circle began to swirl in the same direction, clockwise. ‘Powering the accelerators, sixty second burst,’ Cheryl said and Ceri heard the cooling fans whir into life before the four beams fired. Bright colours stormed across the surface of the cylinder of light, spreading from the impact points.

  ‘It’s working,’ Ceri said, ‘exactly as before. Containment’s solid.’ She watched as the fake light from the circle became overwhelmed by the real light flooding out. ‘The excitation field is establishing nicely.’

  Cheryl could see the bright shine of the containment field through the cage’s mesh. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘let’s hope this works or you’ll be holding that up until tea time. Activating the tap accelerator.’

  A fifth beam lanced out, striking the circle at a glancing angle. Its course deflected by a few degrees and it continued on its way into a large metal box on the other side of the lab. Ceri watched the beam, so did half a dozen thaumometers. No matter how good her Sight was, Ceri was beaten to the punch by the instruments. ‘I’m registering a one per cent increase in beam strength compared to the input beam,’ Cheryl said.

  ‘Turn the accelerator frequency up about five kilohertz,’ Ceri suggested.

  Cheryl’s fingers danced over the keys. Ceri saw the beam change subtly, perhaps the slight strobing effect along the stream of positively charged thaumitons had altered slightly. Whatever, she stepped back, covering her eyes as the output beam suddenly brightened into incandescence. ‘That’s better,’ Cheryl said calmly, unable to see the sudden increase in beam intensity. ‘We’re getting… wow, a fifteen thousand per cent increase.’

  Ceri did a quick calculation. ‘That’s still only half the potential output level. We can probably fine tune it a little more, but I’d rather see the figures than stand here guessing.’

  Cheryl nodded. ‘We’ll let the tap pull the energy off. I think we’re looking at about thirty minutes at this level drain. Then we get Ed some lunch while the computers crunch numbers.’

  Ed had walked out to stand beside Ceri and look at the glowing, shimmering colours that swept around the containment barrier. ‘It’s rather beautiful,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Try it with Sight,’ Ceri suggested, ‘but, uh, try not to look at the output beam directly.’ There was a short pause, and then Ed gasped. ‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘it is kind of beautiful.’

  ~~~

  The Wizard’s Flagon was a chain of what could probably be best described as “refreshment houses” which had been set up by a marketing consultancy and had spread through the entire country. Each of them was basically identical to all the others; one side of the building was a family
friendly coffee shop, while the other was done up as a pseudo-medieval pub. The lunches were pre-made and heated to order, but they were good enough if you wanted a pint with a pie.

  In Ceri’s case, the beer was replaced by wine and the pie was a salad. Apparently pie and ale was some sort of academic tradition, but neither Cheryl nor Ed could persuade her to try either. Beer, as far as Ceri was concerned, was something she got in when the North Hills pack was staying over.

  ‘You ever tried fae wine?’ Ceri asked as they sat at one of the very solid looking, but actually flat-pack tables.

  ‘Once,’ Cheryl said, ‘in my undergraduate days.’

  ‘Really?’ Ed asked. ‘I’ve heard it’s a little…’

  ‘I woke up in a tangle of limbs,’ Cheryl said. ‘Thankfully they were still attached to their owners, but I still can’t remember much of what happened after the first glass.’

  ‘It tastes wonderful,’ Ceri said, smirking, ‘but your inhibitions go west really fast.’

  ‘When did you have some?’ Cheryl asked, frowning.

  ‘Lily’s birthday. We went to this place called The Dubh Linn.’

  ‘Dubh Linn?’ Ed said, musingly. ‘It means “black pool” in Irish.’ Ceri raised an eyebrow, pool instead of lake, she had not been far off. ‘The city, Dublin, is derived from the term.’

  Cheryl grinned. ‘Font of knowledge is Ed.’

  ‘Where did you two meet?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘It was in… ninety-nine?’ Cheryl replied.

  Ed nodded. ‘The Third Annual Cambridge Thaumatology Conference,’ he said. ‘We were sat together for the conference dinner, away from all the Cambridge types.’

  ‘You gave that paper on resonance induction in thaumic fields,’ Cheryl added.

  ‘That’s what we use for generating the cyclic field in the circle?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘The practical application of it, yes,’ Ed said. ‘I’ve been following Cheryl’s work ever since that conference. We sat through the entire dinner talking about my paper and how she wanted to crack the fundamental laws of magic. Of course, the Cambridge Set had money and all the best postgraduates. Except for Cheryl.’

  ‘I was a fresh, young research assistant back then. Mathew Barnes tried to hit on me, as I recall. You defended my honour.’ Ceri saw the grin on Cheryl’s face, and the hint of darkness in her eyes. Mathew Barnes had tried to kill both of them to stop them discovering the T-Null boson. One of his tricks had been to enthral Cheryl into trying to murder Ceri.

  ‘Well,’ Ed said, ‘he won’t be preying on anymore young women. Did they ever figure out what happened to him?’

  Cheryl shook her head, looking at Ceri. ‘They never did,’ Ceri said, ‘but I think I know.’

  ‘You do?’ Cheryl said, surprised. ‘You’ve never said.’

  ‘It’s just a guess.’ Ceri remembered seeing Barnes in the Jade Dragon. His soul had been wrapped in a webbing of black, demonic energy; the metaphysical manifestation of the taint his demon master had bestowed upon him. ‘He was soul-tainted,’ she said. ‘Really badly. I think his body was destroyed when the circle ruptured and then his soul was sucked into Hell.’

  There was a pause. Silence descended on the table for a few seconds. Then Ed said, ‘Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.’

  Kennington, April 20th

  Ceri climbed slowly to her feet and grabbed some toilet paper to wipe her mouth clean. From behind her, Lily said, ‘Feel better now?’

  ‘No,’ Ceri snapped, stepping over to the sink. She turned on the cold tap and splashed water into her face. That made her feel a bit better.

  ‘It’s just nerves?’ Lily supplied.

  ‘I know it’s nerves, Lily!’

  ‘All right, all right, no need to bite my head off.’ Lily was a little irritable herself. Ceri was having to get up early, and had not been in a mind set to engage in morning nookie. Lily was going to actually have real breakfast! ‘You’ll be fine,’ she said for the umpteenth time.

  ‘I’ll fluff the interview,’ Ceri said despondently.

  ‘Like you did the one to get the job with Cheryl?’

  ‘Yeah, just like…’ Ceri stopped, scowling at her friend. She had, of course, aced the interview with Cheryl.

  ‘I seem to recall you throwing up and refusing to go to that one too,’ Lily commented.

  ‘I, uh…’

  ‘And then there was the three months it took me to persuade you you should apply in the first place,’ Lily went on.

  ‘Yes, but…’

  ‘And Cheryl told you she had been expecting you to apply and she was surprised your letter only arrived on the last day.’

  ‘Well, yes… but this…’

  ‘So you’ll go and see this Professor Perry, who has already said you’ll pass, and you’ll wow him with your insight into the metaphysical process of were-creature transformation, and you’ll be Doctor Brent, and we’ll party.’ Lily nodded as though these were empirical facts.

  ‘But I…’ Ceri started.

  ‘Or,’ Lily interrupted her, ‘I can move back into the spare room for a month.’ Ceri looked pained. ‘You do remember what I said we’d do when you pass, don’t you?’ Ceri nodded. She remembered. Her cheeks coloured at the thought. ‘Right,’ Lily said, ‘so buck your ideas up. No demon wants a Mistress who’s afraid of herself.’

  Ceri slumped. Lily was just being mean. Of course, she was also right. Ceri was not afraid of Ed Perry, she was afraid of messing up, embarrassing herself, having a panic attack at embarrassing herself which would be even more embarrassing… She was afraid of herself. Which was stupid. And Ceri was not stupid, was she? Hell, no!

  ‘Right,’ she said, ‘I’ll have a shower and get dressed.’

  ‘Good,’ Lily said, ‘and tonight it’s party time at the Dragon when you pass. When, you hear me?’

  Ceri stuck her head under the shower. ‘Yes, Lily,’ she bubbled.

  Soho

  Ceri had not been exactly sure about it when Cheryl had said that Ed would be coming to the Jade Dragon with them. His train back was in the morning and there was no way he was going to spend the night in a generic hotel room, and he had been quite keen. It seemed that he was rather more of a party animal than he looked, though if she were honest he could hardly be less of one.

  They were met at the reception lectern by a beaming Lily. ‘Doctor Tennant,’ she said, ‘Professor Perry, Doctor Brent. Welcome to the Jade Dragon.’

  Ceri giggled. ‘I’m not technically a doctor until the graduation ceremony in November,’ she said.

  ‘Technicalities,’ Lily said, waving that aside. ‘Come on, we’ve saved table one for you.’

  Table one was not the best table in the club. It was the booth nearest the bar and so there was a fair bit of foot traffic past it. However, it was one of Lily’s tables, and its proximity to the bar meant that Carter and Alec could visit easily. Ceri was intercepted anyway before she got to the table. Alec actually lifted her off her feet as he hugged her.

  ‘Congratulations, kid,’ he said. ‘Glad I could help too.’ He settled her back on her feet.

  Ed was eyeing the big man carefully. ‘You must be Alec,’ he said, offering a hand.

  Alec shook it, grinning. ‘I guess my name’s in the “with thanks” bit, right?’

  ‘Indeed. It’s a pleasure meeting you. We still have a few black-furs in Wales, but they keep themselves to themselves.’

  Alec nodded. ‘I know a couple of them. Good, solid wolves. Strong packs. The Snowdonian bunch tend to claim Aberystwyth for their territory, don’t they?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ed said. ‘We get a few of them coming through the university, more from the Brecon pack.’

  ‘Hywel never was a big one for education,’ Alec said. ‘You get to your table and we’ll get some drinks sorted for you.’

  They made it two yards before Carter was beside Ceri, though he allowed her to continue on as he gave her a firm pat on the shoulder. ‘Well done, my dear,’ he said, d
irecting her to sit on one side of the booth while first Ed and then Cheryl moved in to the other side. Carter smiled and lifted Cheryl’s hand to his lips in greeting; always the charmer. ‘Now then,’ the club’s owner said, ‘I’ve put a small amount of money behind the bar for celebrating Ceri’s victory over her own nerves. If you break that you’ll have to fork over the cash yourselves. I’m not made of money.’ He smirked at them. ‘Enjoy yourselves and I’ll pop by for a proper chat later.’

  Wandering off to other tables, Carter was quickly replaced by Lily. ‘Hello,’ she said, ‘I’m Lily and I’ll be your adoring waitress for this evening. If you manage to drink your way through that money Carter mentioned, we’ll be sure to make sure you get carried safely to your respective lodgings.’ Ceri wondered how much Carter had put on their tab.

  ‘He seems to be being rather generous,’ Ed said, sounding surprised.

  ‘Return on investment,’ Lily said. ‘Ceri’s idea about the werewolf transformation has saved him thousands in damages at one of his other clubs. Oh, that reminds me. Jasmine asked if you’d like to “bring that hunk of a boyfriend” for a couple of drinks at the Collar Club tomorrow night.’

  Ed was starting to look a bit confused. ‘You have a boyfriend?’ he asked Ceri. ‘I thought you and Lily…’

  ‘Technically,’ Ceri said, ‘Lily is my pet demon, I’m her mistress, and Michael is my mate. He’s one of the Battersea pack, in the Alpha’s guard unit.’

  ‘You have a werewolf… mate?’

  Lily started to giggle. ‘She takes her research very seriously.’ Schooling her face back into waitress mode, she asked, ‘What can I get you?’

  ‘Beer, please,’ Ed said.

  ‘A red wine,’ Cheryl said.

  ‘I’ll have…’ Ceri began, but Lily cut her off.

  ‘You’re sorted,’ Lily said. ‘I have your drinks planned through until closing time.’

  ‘Uh, okay…’ Ceri said. She had some slight worries regarding what Lily had planned, but she trusted her demon, more or less. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘can you get a message to Jasmine that I’ll come over with Michael next week.’