Thaumatology 08 - Ancient Read online

  Lily smiled. ‘Oh well, that’s good.’

  ‘How is it good, exactly?’

  ‘They bring out your worst fears. If you’re so afraid of becoming… that kind of person, then you’ll be watchful of it. The nasty little bugger did you a favour.’

  Ceri grinned. ‘Trust you to come up with something good out of it.’ She sniffed. ‘We’ve got about an hour to get ready before the car is picking us up. Better get moving.’ Lifting off the bed, she started for the bathroom. ‘Mind you, if that bastard comes back tomorrow night I’m going to have him.’

  ~~~

  The morning session was an incredibly boring run through of the project details at the Groningen end where the ley line would terminate about a mile outside the town where the generator was going to be built. Lily lay back in one of the big leather chairs around the conference table and closed her eyes. With the only light coming from a projector they were using to display diagrams, Ceri was finding it really hard to stay awake. It had little to do with what she was there for anyway.

  Running on a thankfully inexhaustible supply of coffee and a couple of Danish pastries she had eaten before dashing out to the car, Ceri fell upon the lunch sandwiches like a harpy. She did not get Dutch breakfasts anyway. Who the Hell put chocolate on bread? Or had cheese slices for breakfast? There had been cooked food, but she had been in a hurry and the bacon looked like it had been cooked with a blowtorch.

  She was on her third sandwich when a swarthy man with half a day’s growth of beard and long, tangled, greying-black hair appeared beside her and Lily. No taller than she was, he was heavy-set; lots of thick muscle on a compact frame. ‘You’re the two girls going into Hamburg?’ The accent was thick and more Germanic than Dutch. Ceri nodded. ‘I am Gunter Strauss. I will be guiding your team.’

  Ceri looked at him, frowning. ‘I’ve never met a werewolf with a surname before.’

  That got a raised eyebrow. ‘Most people do not notice unless I smile. You are mad, you know. The magic around the pit will kill you, or worse.’

  ‘We won’t be going into the centre,’ Ceri replied. ‘That’s not needed. Lily’s half-demon so she’s immune to wild magic and I’m… I’ve survived higher levels of magic than that.’

  ‘What about the men going in with you?’

  ‘There won’t be any.’

  ‘There are things in that region…’

  ‘Worse than demon-werewolves?’ Lily asked. ‘Or Dakag?’

  Strauss’ eyes narrowed. ‘They said you were Ceridwyn Brent, yes?’

  ‘That’s me. This is Lily Carpenter.’

  ‘It was you who killed Remus.’

  ‘Technically his brother did that. I just finished the job.’

  The werewolf nodded. ‘All right,’ he said, and then started off across the room toward where the Dutch and British project leaders were chatting.

  ‘That was… weird,’ Lily commented.

  ‘He is, kind of.’ It was Cheryl, appearing behind them as though she had been waiting for Strauss to leave. ‘He was the only guide they could find willing to take you past Bremen. Most of them think the whole idea is insane. And when he heard he would be taking two “bloody teenage civilians” he was going to back out. Freddy persuaded him to meet you first. That’s why you’re here.’

  ‘Think he’s going to do it now?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘Freddy’s looking relieved. I figured he would. He’s a werewolf, you’re the famous Ceridwyn Brent…’

  ‘Yeah. I think I could get tired of that.’

  ‘It’s useful at times. Don’t knock it.’ Cheryl sipped her coffee. ‘You were practically nodding off this morning, will you be okay to give your input this afternoon?’

  ‘I had a visit from a Nightmare last night.’

  ‘A Nightmare? In the hotel? It’s got wards…’

  ‘Apparently not good enough ones,’ Lily commented, munching on a sandwich. Twill would have been very sarcastic.

  ‘If he comes back tonight I’m going to catch the son-of-a-troll and someone can ask him how he got in,’ Ceri stated. ‘I’ll be fine. Bit of a lingering headache, but I’m fine. I’m more worried about going to visit Lia tonight.’

  ‘Why?’ Cheryl sounded genuinely surprised.

  ‘Because you might actually want to watch that movie.’

  Cheryl’s smile was positively mean. ‘Now you’re really making me interested.’

  ~~~

  ‘Doctor Brent, if I may?’ The man speaking was the Dutch government’s scientific advisor on magic. He had been resolutely negative throughout the entire meeting.

  ‘Of course, Doctor Claes.’ Ceri gave him a smile, even if she thought he was a pillock.

  ‘The final stretch from Bremen seems rather long. Are you quite sure you can cover that distance with the line?’

  ‘The physical distance is essentially immaterial, especially in the final stretch. The higher magical field level over the latter stages make it far easier to create the tunnel anyway, but the tunnel is operating at a sub-membrane level, essentially bypassing physical reality. You can find the equations on…’

  ‘That is my basic point, Doctor,’ Claes broke in. He managed to make “Doctor” sound like an insult. ‘The equations are so complex that it is impossible to determine whether they will work as predicted or not.’

  The man was making her headache worse. ‘Doctor Tennant understands them.’ Ceri noticed Lily looking her way and glanced at her. The half-succubus gave a little half-smile and then, briefly, dipped her eyes submissively. Claes was winding himself up for another speech; Ceri pulled herself up straight and got in first. ‘Essentially what you’re saying, Doctor, is that you don’t understand what we’re doing. Doctor Tennant, with no interaction on my part, vetted the mathematics. I’m quite sure if you put them in front of anyone conversant with advanced quantum thaumatology, they could do the same. You’re a busy man. Perhaps you’ve not had sufficient time to study them. They are very complex, as you said.’

  She had insulted his intelligence, but given him an escape route. He took it. ‘Indeed. My schedule is disruptive to careful study. Unfortunately, we do not have time to put this in front of a thaumatology team, however I think we can consider Doctor Tennant’s analysis sufficient.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘How close can we get to the actual bomb site before the field levels rise to dangerous levels?’

  Claes leafed through his notes for a second. ‘It’s around twenty thaums two and a half miles from the city centre. You could probably get closer, but there can be pockets of higher levels.’

  ‘That’ll do. Lily and I can walk the rest of the way in from there. Mister Strauss, are you okay getting in that close?’

  The werewolf nodded. ‘You get the odd strong areas out to about three miles, but I can smell them before we walk in. We should probably walk the last five miles, just in case.’

  Ceri nodded, smiling. ‘That should be fine.’ She scanned the room, lifting her chin slightly. Lily thought a little Mistress would be good right now and Lily was a way better judge of people than she was. 'I‘m encouraged. We have all the details mapped out carefully, a good guide, good people manning the generator site. I look forward to a successful experiment.’

  There was a rumble of agreement from the assembled technicians, scientists and politicians. Ceri caught Cheryl’s eye and her boss gave her a little nod. Good, she had apparently done well. Now she had to face the really difficult part of the day; her boss was going to watch the porn movie she had appeared in.

  ~~~

  ‘You’ve got a lot of warding for a normal,’ Ceri commented as they walked up the final flight of stairs to Lia’s flat. It was on the canal bank, a top floor loft conversion, quite modern looking, and very open. At first sight the whole upper floor seemed to be one big, open room. The steps led up from the “front door” on the floor below; it had looked like a cupboard door off one of the corridors. Ceri had seen protective runes around the door frame, and they were also al
l the way up the stairs and over all the windows.

  ‘You won’t find many people who are entirely normal in Europe, schatje,’ Lia replied, tossing her little denim jacket onto a coat hook beside the stairs. Ceri blinked at her and the Dutch girl grinned. ‘You know, I kind of figured you’d noticed, or Twill told you. I’ve a little fae in me.’

  Frowning, Ceri blinked in her Sight and peered closely. There were none of the tell-tale signs; no thaumic reservoir, no emission of positive thaumitons. She shook her head. ‘I can’t tell at all.’

  Lily nodded. ‘I can’t sense a hint of magic about you either.’

  ‘Pieter, my elder brother, got the magic.’ The bed, a huge four-posted thing, occupied the area between the stairs and the lounge. There were also some clothing racks fenced off from the rest of the room with white mesh curtains and Lia vanished behind the improvised screens. ‘Go sit down. I’ll sort out drinks in a minute.’

  They wandered past the bed, the only sign that they were passing from one “room” to another being the change from fluffy carpet to carefully waxed floorboards. There were two very large, very comfortable looking, sofas arranged where they could be used for viewing a big, flat-screen TV. Near it were several racks featuring DVD cases and even video tapes. Lily wandered over to it and began looking at the titles.

  Lia reappeared dressed in a short, white silk robe. ‘Get comfortable. If you want to strip off, Lily, be my guest. There’s a pervy old guy across the canal likes watching me through binoculars, but I don’t suppose you’ll mind.’ She sat down beside Cheryl and reached out to open a wooden box on a table beside the sofa. ‘My great-grandmother was fifteen around the end of the Shattering,’ she went on as she pulled out a lighter and a large cigarette, thicker at one end than the other. ‘A local beauty, according to my mother. Along came a Sidhe with an appetite and the next thing she knows she’s the unwed mother, of a half-fae daughter. Couple of generations later and me and my brother are a little bit fae. It’s not that uncommon.’ She lifted the blunt to her lips and then paused. ‘Uh… you guys don’t mind if I smoke, do you?’

  ‘Is that what I think it is?’ Cheryl asked.

  ‘Probably.’

  ‘Haven’t smoked since I was a student.’

  Lia grinned and lit up, puffing a couple of times to get it started before blowing a cloud of white, sweet-smelling smoke into the air. ‘I’ll share. I grow it in the kitchen. Legally, we’re allowed to grow a couple of plants each for personal use.’ She sucked in a lungful of smoke, let it out again, and seemed to immediately relax. She passed the cigarette over to Cheryl.

  The sound of a drive mechanism working drew Ceri’s attention to Lily. She was busy loading a DVD into the entertainment system. The screen was already flickering into life and soon the disc’s menu was loading. Ceri cringed slightly and sank back into the sofa. Lily kicked off her shoes, stripped off her jersey-dress, and sank into the space between Ceri and Cheryl before pointing the remote at the screen and pressing the button to kick off the movie. At least there was about an hour of other stuff on the disc before it got to her bit.

  ‘Oh wow,’ Cheryl said. ‘That’s… strong stuff. I’m used to resin. Was used to resin. Oh wow… He’s big.’ She was talking about Cruise, one of the male stars who had made it onto the final cut. One of them had, unfortunately, ended up dead and using the footage would have been bad taste.

  ‘Wait until you see Leon,’ Lily commented, accepting the blunt from Cheryl and taking a drag on it with a professional air which suggested it was definitely not her first time. Ceri felt a slight shift in Lily’s aura as the half-succubus closed her eyes with a sigh. ‘I shouldn’t smoke this stuff, it does funny things to me, but I doubt it’ll make much difference to the outcome of the evening.’ Ceri eyed her carefully, not sure this was such a great idea.

  On screen, Cruise was busy with Lia, having already got her out of her top and bra. As with most porn, the film was tailored more for men than women; minimising plot, they got to the sex pretty quickly.

  Lily took another drag on the cigarette and held it out to Ceri. ‘Oh, no… I’ve never…’ Ceri began.

  ‘You’re tense,’ Lily said. ‘This’ll help. Just suck in the smoke. Try not to swallow. Not too much and breathe it out fairly quickly. It’s pretty strong so you don’t need much. You’ll be fine.’

  Feeling like a complete idiot novice, Ceri gingerly took the cigarette, pursed it between her lips and pulled in air through it. The smoke felt rough on her throat and she breathed out quickly before she started coughing. She blinked. Suddenly her brain felt numb though she was vaguely aware it had crept up on her. She sank back into the sofa and handed the cigarette back to Lily, aware that her skin was tingling and not sure whether it was the drug or Lily’s aura, or both.

  Lily grinned at her and handed the blunt back to Lia. ‘Much better,’ Lily said. ‘You can have another puff later.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied wearing a soppy grin. ‘Sure.’

  ~~~

  Lia stretched languorously and slipped off the bed. ‘I think we broke your boss.’ Cheryl was lying in the middle of the bed, twitching occasionally. Lia padded into the lounge and picked up the half of the fourth roll-up they had not yet smoked. Lighting it up, she took a drag on it and let the smoke out with a small sigh. ‘Ik moet toegeven, ze neukt als een professional.’

  Ceri wandered over to the window facing the canal to breath in some fresh air. ‘Do I want to know what you just said?’ Across the water she caught a flash of light from a pair of binoculars and decided to ignore it.

  Lia giggled. ‘Cheryl is surprisingly good in bed, for someone a little older than us.’

  Lily joined in the giggling as she took the blunt from Lia. ‘I think it’s a good job she’s too far gone to realise what you’re saying.’

  ‘She was telling me that she had to hold herself back while she was climbing the academic ladder,’ Ceri said. ‘She’s been letting go a lot more since…’ She broke off and wandered over to take a drag on the cigarette; the guy across the canal was probably very disappointed.

  ‘Since what?’ Lia asked.

  Ceri blew out smoke and felt the now familiar buzz settle in. ‘We got hammered in a tent on Salisbury Plain and ended up in bed together.’

  ‘Ah. If you want, you guys can stay here tonight.’

  ‘I think Cheryl better stay. Just make sure she gets to the station in good time tomorrow.’ Ceri took another short drag and handed on to Lia. ‘I want to see if I can catch a Nightmare tonight.’

  ‘A real one?!’ Lia sounded surprised. ‘In the city? Godverdomme, this place is going downhill.’

  ‘It got into the hotel somehow,’ Lily explained. She sounded a little disappointed.

  ‘Huh, you’d think they had better wards.’

  ‘I thought about that,’ Ceri said. ‘You’re right, their wards should be up to stopping a Nightmare. I think it’s been there since they built the place. It can’t get out. On the other hand, lots of people in a hotel, drunk or just figuring they’re sleeping badly on a strange bed.’

  ‘Good point. The perfect place for one really.’ Lia took a drag on her smoke and handed it to Lily. ‘You going now or can we have another doobie and some dessert?’

  ‘Dessert?’ Ceri asked.

  Lia dropped to her knees in front of Ceri. ‘Smoking weed always gives me the munchies.’

  April 10th

  Ceri felt the alarm spell shiver in her mind, dragging her out of a doze. She had not managed to actually sleep, but the after effects of Lia’s drugs had made her drowsy enough to feel quite relaxed about waiting for a malignant spirit creature to attack her.

  Sitting up quickly, her Sight cutting in, she saw the thing immediately. Not in the visible spectrum because it had not materialised, but it was there, sitting at the foot of the bed, little more than a humanoid distortion in the magic field. She saw its “face” shift, forming something like a grimace of annoyance. It turned away, probably goin
g to look for easier prey.

  Ceri drew in her power, forming the spell she wanted. ‘Not so fast you little freak,’ she muttered, and the Nightmare stopped, turning to look at her. There was a second of indecision, and it gave Ceri just enough time to complete the spell. ‘Arhoswch, yr wyf yn eu gorchymyn i chwi.’ The spirit froze and Ceri let out a little gasp at the amount of sheer power it took to control it. It sat there on the carpet, more distinct now and obviously annoyed.

  Lily was sitting up in bed now, unable to see the creature, but sensing it. ‘You got it?’

  ‘Yeah. Can you get me a bottle or something from the bathroom? Anything with a lid and a good seal.’

  Lily slipped quickly out of bed and rushed into the bathroom while the Nightmare hissed and gibbered at Ceri. They had no real language of their own, as far as she recalled. They were not even that bright, but they did have considerable strength of will. Ceri watched it, mostly concentrating on the glowing lights which were its eyes. She might have told it to materialise, but she wanted it immaterial and anyway they were supposed to be ugly creatures at best.

  ‘This do?’ Lily asked, returning with a glass jar with a rubber seal on the lid. The scent of lavender bath salts filled the room.

  ‘That’s fine.’ Taking the jar, Ceri placed it down beside the Nightmare and stood back. ‘In there,’ she commanded firmly. The spirit chittered, but obeyed, and Ceri pushed the top on. She still had maybe fifteen seconds before the command spell would need renewing. Summoning more power, she sealed the jar with a spell she had last used to trap an angel. ‘There we go, bottled Nightmare, just add water.’

  Lily grinned at her. ‘What do we do with it now?’

  ‘Put some clothes on. Take it down to reception. The local cops should have a more permanent containment vessel they can put it in.’

  Lily’s nose wrinkled. ‘Do you think Cheryl and Lia have gone to sleep yet? This place stinks of bath salts.’

  ‘It’s three in the morning, Lil.’

  ‘Yeah, but it is Lia…’

  Ceri giggled as she pulled her jeans on. ‘I guess I could distance view it to see if the lights are still on.’