Thaumatology 08 - Ancient Read online

  For an hour or so they went over field first aid; the dressing of wounds, making splints. Ceri and Lily went through the exercises, knowing that they would never use what they were learning. Ceri’s idea of first aid had come from Alexandra who had shown her all the healing magic she knew. Then Ceri had built on it.

  Then there was more tramping until they reached the peak of one of the rolling hills close to sunset. ‘All right, we’ll be camping here tonight,’ Nolan said. ‘Anyone got any preferences for where we set up camp.’

  ‘That mound looks good,’ Higgs said, pointing at a circular rise in the ground a hundred yards away. ‘I can see some white through the grass, probably chalk. It’ll have good drainage. Should be drier than the surrounding ground.’

  Nolan nodded. ‘That’s good thinking, Corporal Higgs. Doctor Brent, your thoughts?’

  ‘Anywhere but that mound,’ Ceri replied.

  ‘I can feel it from here,’ Lily agreed, nodding.

  ‘The magic field up there is close to a thaum, I think,’ Ceri went on. Her Sight showed her the swelling of power as an increased density in the lines of force around the mound. ‘Nothing horribly dangerous, but it’s a tumulus with a high magic field… I wouldn’t light a fire on it. You’ve no idea what you might attract.’

  ‘And the same is true with added blood, gore, and nightmares near the Rift, gentlemen,’ Nolan said. He was smirking at Ceri and Lily, his back to the soldiers. He turned to continue. ‘You don’t have the advantages these two have, but be very wary of strange mounds, areas where the grass seems to be unusually lush, especially when it grows in a ring. Rings of toadstools are practically asking to drag you into the Otherworld to be a plaything for fae for a century. Up here the worst you’re likely to get is some spirits you don’t want to meet, but they can mess with your sleep. Try to avoid them.’ He started taking off his pack. ‘We’ll camp right here, it’s as good as anywhere.’

  There was no wood for a fire so they used one of the butane stoves to cook up some slabs of compressed rations. ‘They’re nutritious,’ Higgs said as he stirred the pot. ‘All the vitamins, minerals, and protein a growing body needs. Unfortunately, they taste like boiled leather.’

  Lily giggled and looked around at Ceri. ‘Didn’t Twill teach you something for seasoning food?’

  Taking a little of the soupy fluid out of the pan, Ceri tasted it, grimaced, and said, ‘Yeah, I think I can improve it a little. Don’t expect wonders.’

  It turned out to be edible, even tasty, but certainly not wonderful. It was still a big hit with the soldiers, even Nolan. They followed it up with more of the deplorable coffee they had had at lunchtime.

  ‘So, why are you two walking into one of the hottest places on the planet anyway?’ Higgs asked as they drank.

  ‘Science,’ Ceri said. ‘We’re doing a science experiment, basically. Building an artificial ley line from Hamburg to a town in Holland. The idea is to generate electricity. It’s a prototype, but it’ll probably run the town, for free.’

  ‘You’re scientists?’

  ‘She’s the scientist,’ Lily replied. ‘I’m a waitress.’

  ‘We need to plant the last of the ley line posts fairly close to the Pit for maximum effect,’ Ceri explained, ‘and I’m not stupid enough to go in there solo. I’m also not going to risk taking troops in that close. It’s not safe.’

  ‘We won’t come out blue, or shaped like a frog,’ Lily added.

  ‘The magic up there can really do that?’ Hough did not speak much. He was probably the most nervous of the group and had got very quiet whenever Nolan was talking about the weirder dangers of the Rift border area.

  ‘Just the really intense patches,’ Ceri replied. ‘It gets called Wild Magic, but it’s basically areas where the field is unusually intense. Probability gets a little screwed. You probably won’t get turned into a frog, but a chimpanzee is possible.’

  ‘Or you can just get dead,’ Nolan said. ‘You boys should never have to go anywhere like that, but it’s wise to learn the signs just in case of random bursts.’

  ‘Odd distortions in the air or the light,’ Lily said. ‘If you start feeling disoriented suddenly, turn on the spot and walk out the way you came. Strange plants or animals, spirits becoming visible, those are good signs too.’

  ‘You’ll be issued with thaumometers,’ Nolan said. ‘They’re basic, designed to give warnings at various levels. You’ll get specific training on site. Basically, when the most urgent alarm goes off, you’re in trouble.’ He raised his tin mug toward Lily. ‘However, if you stay sharp, keep your eyes open, and look for the kinds of things Miss Carpenter mentioned, you should never have to hear that alarm.’

  Lily smiled at the sergeant, and Ceri smiled at Lily. Lily being smart was one of Ceri’s turn-ons. It was a shame they were stuck in a field.

  April 17th

  There was the barest hint of light in the sky and Ceri was unsure at first why she had woken up. The air was cold and she huddled a little closer to Lily under the blankets. Then she saw them.

  Looking like flickers of light at first glance, the shapes on the mound could only really have been one thing and Ceri was really glad they had not decided to spend the night up there. She counted more than a dozen fairies dancing around in the dawn light. They had to be fairies; they were flying, brightly coloured, and very small. The only other possibility she knew of was sprites, and a hundred yards of open field would probably not have deterred the fairies’ cousins from flying over to play pranks.

  As it was, one of the tiny creatures flitted across the grass to the small camp, hovering a few yards away to check out the group before flying up to a spot a few inches outside Ceri’s ring of salt. This one was male, maybe a quarter inch taller than Twill, and naked, of course. His wings were a deep red colour and he watched Ceri watching him, apparently unconcerned that she knew he was there.

  ‘We mean no harm,’ Ceri said softly. ‘We’ll be leaving in an hour or so. I’m Ceridwyn Brent.’

  ‘Thorn Merry Whitebow,’ the fairy replied. ‘It was wise to avoid the mound, but we expected no less from you, Ceridwyn Brent.’ Ceri had to stop herself frowning; did every supernatural creature in the world know who she was? ‘Stay as long as you like, but keep the humans away from the circle.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘They’re being taught to avoid places like that. They’ll stay clear.’

  Thorn nodded, more of a bow really. ‘Blessings be on you, sorceress.’ Then he was gone, vanished into a globe of blue-white light and zipping back to his friends. A few minutes later they were all gone, back to wherever it was they had come from, and Ceri drifted back to sleep.

  ~~~

  There was one moment where Ceri wondered exactly how long Higgs was going to survive in Germany. She looked up just in time to see him wandering toward the mound with the air of someone who was not going to stop at the edge. She was about to say something when Nolan’s voice boomed out at a level she was quite surprised he could actually achieve; he always seemed so quiet.

  ‘Corporal Higgs! Do you have a death wish?’ The soldier froze in mid-stride less than a yard from the edge of the mound. ‘We’ll be setting a watch tonight and guess who just pulled first shift?’

  Higgs slumped and turned back toward the camp to finish packing his kit. ‘You said there probably wasn’t any danger up there,’ he muttered as he got close to Ceri.

  Nolan had very good hearing. ‘And then we had a little visit from the fairies around dawn. They only paid attention to Doctor Brent and Miss Carpenter, but they paid attention. We’ll be posting a watch tonight just in case any of them decide to pay us another visit.’

  ‘Fairies don’t normally do that,’ Ceri said as she slung her pack onto her back.

  Nolan nodded. ‘True, but you get less fairies and more sprites on the continent, and it’ll be good practice. I assume you two are up to standing a watch?’

  ‘Lily needs about half as much sleep as a normal human. I used to get a lot
of nightmares and I trained myself to need less sleep.’

  Nolan smirked slightly. ‘This is the same woman who grumbles when we have to get up at dawn?’

  ‘She needs less sleep,’ Ceri replied.

  ‘I’m really not a morning person,’ Lily added, grinning.

  April 18th

  Despite doing an early watch, Lily had got out of bed when Ceri was called for the pre-dawn shift, demonstrating, if nothing else did, that she needed relatively little sleep. Nolan was officially on watch with Ceri and he sat with them on their bedroll because it was warmer out of the light breeze and he was not an idiot.

  ‘Have you ever been into the Hamburg area?’ Ceri asked. They were keeping their voices low for those sleeping, but they were making conversation. Nolan seemed to have warmed to his civilian students, at least a little; probably because they had both complained less than anyone.

  ‘Once.’

  ‘What was it like?’

  The soldier was silent for a second, apparently considering his answer. ‘There’s not much left of the city. The bomb demolished most of it, but you can still see the ghosts of buildings. Foundations mostly, some remnants of walls. A lot of it’s overgrown now. It’s almost seventy years since it happened, even the Pit is starting to look weathered and nature’s crawling back in.’ He stopped again, seeming reluctant to speak about it, and Ceri was about to change the subject when he continued. ‘One of my unit was a sensitive and he said the place was full of ghosts. Thousands of them. Like everyone who died that day was trapped in this world. You see the odd skeleton. I don’t think there were animals getting in to disturb the bodies for decades. Your eyes start to play tricks. You see… things out the corner of your eye, even if you can’t normally see ghosts. We eventually had to sedate our guy and carry him out. You’re walking into Hell, kid.’

  ‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ Lily said.

  ‘We’ve never actually walked into a high field area on purpose, love,’ Ceri objected.

  ‘Oh no, last time we walked into a null-magic zone with a top secret, high security, heavily fortified base in it pretending to be soldiers to stop an angel blowing a hole in America. It’s not the same thing at all.’

  Nolan chuckled softly while Ceri’s jaw moved up and down a few times before she came up with, ‘Exactly, they don’t even sound like the same thing.’ It was a bit lame, but it was the best she could come up with.

  ‘Let’s not forget leaving me in a field while you walked into the camp of an ancient ghost, surrounded by demon-werewolves and gun-happy mercenaries.’

  ‘Well, yes, but…’

  ‘And we went off to confront Barnes in that house, which was guarded by a demon, with no backup because you didn’t want anyone else hurt.’

  ‘Well, that was barely dangerous…’

  ‘Walking out of the house to confront an Archangel because you were fed up with him?’

  ‘Okay!’ Ceri hissed. ‘Maybe we have walked into dangerous situations before.’

  Nodding, Lily leaned toward Nolan conspiratorially. ‘Technically, we drove onto the army base, so we drive into danger as well as walking.’

  Nolan chuckled some more, picking up his mug of coffee and grimacing when he discovered it was cold. Ceri reached out a hand, light flickering around her fingers, and steam started to rise from the liquid; it was sufficiently bad that reheating it could not make it worse. ‘Thanks,’ Nolan said. ‘I think you two will probably be fine as long as you keep your wits about you. Try to keep your escorts safe as well and they’ll do the same for you.’

  ‘That’s the plan,’ Ceri said. ‘We go in, do what we need to do, and leave. Everyone comes home safe and sound.’

  The SAS man nodded. ‘It sounds good. Just remember, no plan ever survives contact with the real world.’

  Part Four: A Nice Country Drive

  Germany, just west of Bremen, May 16th, 2012

  Standing in the hatch of the armoured vehicle, wearing what felt like a huge helmet, Ceri watched the German landscape rolling past at a fair rate. The crew had decided that having her keep watch was practical for a couple of good, solid reasons. The official one was that her Sight gave her a considerable advantage in spotting certain varieties of trouble which they could not. The other was that, while Ceri was a lot better in a moving vehicle than she had been, half a day cooped up in the sealed confines of the armoured car on bumpy, unmaintained roads had had her ready to tear through the armour with her fingernails.

  Down below were the crew and Lily. Lily seemed perfectly happy cooped up in the armoured bucket with four soldiers. Who would have guessed?

  The leader of the little group was Sergeant Taylor. Late twenties, married with one daughter, moderately good looking with a very solid jaw and a military haircut which had to be exactly a millimetre inside regulation length. He looked like his body was composed of solid bone and muscle. If there was an ounce of fat in there, it was hiding really well. Career military to the core, he had a ready grin, but he was all seriousness when on the job.

  The driver was Corporal Shaw, thinner, but obviously very fit and with quite remarkable reflexes for a normal. At least he was remarkably good at avoiding potholes when there was any space between the potholes. Shaw had something of a pronounced overbite and was a little shy around women, probably because of it. Lily had told him she thought he had gorgeous eyes, which Ceri had to admit he did; they were a very pretty blue and went nicely with slightly Nordic features and very blonde hair. Shaw had gone the colour of beetroot.

  Corporal Trevor was the other girl. A real hardbody, she had more muscle than Taylor, though it was slightly leaner and she still managed a feminine shape, despite having breasts which probably did not make it to A-cup. Her skin was a dusky colour, and her features suggested some southern European heritage, and she was quite attractive for a woman who seemed determined to be better than the men around her at being male. She also had something of an obsessive habit of cleaning her assault rifle.

  The last of the team was Corporal Watts, the technician. His main job was radio operator, but he was also responsible for ensuring that they got to the correct points to deliver the ley line posts and he was a minor practitioner, specialising in wizardry with a strong line in technology spells. He wore glasses with thick rims and had mentioned that his grandfather had come over to Britain from Barbados just after the Shattering. He was moderately nice to look at in a nerdy sort of way. Ceri had seen him with his shirt off and he had shoulders a bull would have been proud of, but he was quiet and liked to read when he was not busy with some piece of equipment.

  The army people had tried to get Ceri and Lily into combat fatigues and neither had been having it. Ceri had been rather amused watching Lily demonstrate on Taylor exactly why she preferred her skirt and bodice outfit over what she considered restrictive fatigues. Ceri had said that if she needed to be concealed, she could be invisible, but she was wearing the helmet and a flak jacket to be sitting in the hatch on the roof.

  In front of her, mounted on a gimbal which gave it all-round movement was the vehicle’s armament. It was a heavy machine gun of some sort, though Ceri was not sure how you used it or exactly what it was. That was not her problem; she was watching the magic field on the road ahead, just in case. The vehicle was called an Archmage; an eight-wheel, heavy-duty, armoured vehicle with layered armour. Two, one-inch layers of steel plate were separated by a layer of silver-iron mesh set into a solid polymer. It provided protection against anything up to anti-tank weapons and fairly strong magic, directed or undirected. Even with her head and shoulders sticking out the top, Ceri felt safe inside the thing, which was good because the country they were driving through did not inspire that much confidence.

  Most of western Germany was essentially feudal. Small villages survived on farming, selling excess when they had it to the lands to the west. They had passed a number of them on the way through and had been watched the whole time by people cowering behind stockades which en
circled the buildings. As they had travelled east the reason for the suspicion had become clearer when they started passing cars and trucks, and even carriages, burned out at the side of the road. Not huge numbers, but enough to suggest that there were bandits operating in the region.

  ‘Hey Watts,’ Ceri said into the microphone in front of her mouth, ‘how much further to Bremen?’

  There was a short pause, probably while he consulted his navigation console. ‘We’ve got a choice. It’s coming up on about ten miles off. You can probably see it at about ten o’clock. We can take the road here further south and then swing around. That’ll be a bit smoother, but it’ll take twice as long.’

  Ceri turned her head a little to the left and, sure enough, the remains of the city of Bremen were visible. There seemed to be little of it left. No tall buildings at all, though there seemed some evidence of a wall. A little research before they had left had suggested that the area had been a city-state prior to being absorbed into Germany; perhaps it had reverted to type. She knew the British monitoring post there had little to do with the town.

  Taylor’s voice came over the headphones in the helmet. ‘You all right with a little cross country travel, Doctor Brent? I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get there as fast as possible.’

  ‘With you on that, Sergeant.’

  ‘Shaw? You see the route?’ Taylor asked.

  ‘I got it, Sarge,’ Shaw’s Geordie accent. ‘Quarter of a mile ahead. Adjusted route plotted.’

  The road remained patchily tarmacked for around half a mile and then the surface decayed into dirt. The suspension on the Archmage coped fine, however, and Ceri noted that it was actually a little smoother than hitting the heavy ruts in the main road. That lasted for two miles until Ceri spotted something on the road ahead.

  ‘You seeing this, Shaw?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘Looks like a fallen tree, Sarge.’

  Taylor’s voice was almost immediate. ‘Slow it down, Corporal. Can we take it off road?’