Thaumatology 12: Vengeance (32 page)

The barrier offered no physical resistance to their passing, but Ceri felt a slight tingle as they passed through it. Then the door was opened and the room beyond became visible.

It was all oak panelled and boardroom-like. Much of the space in the middle was occupied by a long, wide table with very comfortable-looking leather-backed chairs around it. Several of these, Ceri counted a dozen, were occupied by men in suits, and one woman. To add to those, the double doors at the far end were guarded by two more Special Branch types, and there were a couple of less comfortable seats against the walls occupied by note-takers and also Avery Sachs. The latter was looking distinctly uncomfortable. Ceri doubted that was because of the chair.

Of the dozen people at the table, Ceri recognised two, both from the Home Office. At the far end was Anthony Lorian, the Minister, and sitting beside him was Roger Halpern, a Junior Minister with a demonic pact. Three more people in the room showed signs of pacts, besides the one who had brought her in. One of them, sitting a few seats away from Lorian, looked so corrupted he should have been visibly rotting, but instead he was a handsome man, fit, clear-skinned and with no sign of grey in his hair. He was clutching the head of a walking cane a little convulsively. Ceri’s Sight showed it radiating thaumic energy; it was a charged rod to be used in case its owner felt the need to throw magic around. Or maybe he needed the energy to keep himself intact given the amount of soul corruption he had.

The only other magical thing in the room was a simple golden goblet which had been placed in the middle of the table. The design suggested considerable age. There were some runes carved into its rim which were hard to identify at this distance, but Ceri thought they were draconic. It seemed to be the source of the null-magic effect, which was almost enough to make her forget that she appeared to be in trouble.

‘Miss Brent,’ Lorian said without standing up, ‘please take a seat.’ Halpern was handing his Minister some papers from a red case. Lorian took them and peered at them, ignoring Ceri as she circled the chair opposite him and settled into the soft leather. ‘It appears…’ Lorian began.

‘Doctor,’ Ceri said, interrupting him.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘It’s
Doctor
Brent,’ Ceri stated, her voice calm.

Lorian stared at her for a second. ‘It appears that we have something of a problem,
Doctor
Brent. You have become virtually indispensable to our plans for energy production for the next decade, the Ministry of Defence considers your work of vital importance, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is currently running in circles over the reaction to recent events from the Summer Court, and both the American and Australian Ambassadors have presented letters indicating that you are vital to their own power generation projects. On the other hand, the Dragon Empire wants you extradited along with their former Ambassador, and we have the fact that pacts with demons of any sort, especially Lords, are illegal.’

He paused, perhaps expecting Ceri to say something. When she did not he gave a small facial shrug before continuing. ‘The recommendations I have are as follows. You are to be confined in a secure location under magical enforcement. You will be studied to determine whether we can make further use of your talents. I’m told that your power derives from something called the Iron Crown of Gorefguhadget, which you will hand over. Otherwise you will continue your work. Mei Long will be sent back to China. We believe that your colleague, Edward Perry, is or was a dragon. The same is true of the woman called Gwyneth Price living in your house. Both will be confined separately from you. We’re currently considering trying them for treason.’

Lorian looked up from his papers. ‘Anything to say,
Doctor
Brent?’ he asked.

‘Out of interest, what makes you think I’m pacted?’ Ceri asked in reply.

Lorian looked at Halpern. The latter smiled. ‘The “angel” who came to the rescue of your companion described you as a “sorceress,”’ he stated, as though that said it all.

‘Yes,’ Ceri replied, ‘that’s because I’m a sorceress.’

‘Even I know that sorcerers were pacted wizards,’ Lorian growled at her, ‘or just hyperbole on top of legend.’

‘That’s what they teach in school,’ Ceri agreed, ‘but it’s conjecture. No one has seen a sorcerer since Badon. There might be a few Fae around who remember that time, but they aren’t going to talk about it. All right, you seem to think I’m pacted to a Lord… Do you know which one?’

Halpern’s face stiffened and the man with the cane gripped it harder. The people from the Order knew what was coming. Ceri really doubted they had expected her to just admit everything.

‘The reports suggest that a new power has arisen in the Demon Realm,’ Lorian stated, his eyes on his briefing papers, ‘a Lady Ayasha. It’s suggested that you have somehow empowered her, probably through the generator at Battersea. In return, she grants you powers. I have reports here stating that you
do
have a pact.’

‘Compiled by whom? The only way to be sure of a pact is a deep analysis by a specialist magician.’

Lorian looked down the table at one of the pacted wizards who was sitting quite close to Ceri. ‘Doctor Dreyfus?’

‘I have examined the subject,’ Dreyfus said, his face tight, ‘and I can confirm…’

‘No you haven’t,’ Ceri said, almost laughing. ‘It takes several minutes in close proximity. You need to cast an analysis spell. I’ve never seen you before and you haven’t done it here. There are only two people in this room who can work magic at the moment, and you aren’t one of them.’ She looked down the able at Lorian. ‘I’m not pacted. Dreyfus is, and Halpern there. There are three more in the room. They’re members of the Order of Merlin which Mister Sachs can brief you on if required.’

Lorian’s face had gone a little red and he opened his mouth to speak, but Ceri continued before he could. ‘There is a little truth to that report. You
could
say that I’m the power behind Lady Ayasha, but it would be a little more accurate to say that I
am
Lady Ayasha, Overlord of All Demons, Ruler of the Demon Realm.’

The guards were drawing guns. Sachs was sitting forward in his chair looking tense. Ceri relaxed back in her chair and had to stop herself from putting her feet up on the table. For some reason, she felt completely at ease. Finally, after all the secrecy, everything was out in the open and she felt… free.

‘You’re a demon?’ Lorian asked. He looked scared.

‘Of course not. I’m a sorceress. Sorcery is dragon magic. A long time ago the dragons tried to take over the Demon Realm like they did here, but they got a bit further, in a way. One of them, calling himself Gorefguhadget, created a crown of iron which gave him power over every demon in the Realm and access to that world’s magical field. He was a very distant ancestor and I sort of inherited the position.’

She smiled. ‘It’s weird. I’ve been dreading something like this meeting since I found out what I was. Now it’s here… Let me explain what happens from here. There are basically two paths. If you’re going to insist on trying to imprison me and threaten my friends, I’ll leave. I don’t just mean this room, I’ll leave the planet. I don’t
want
this to turn into a war, so I’ll take my friends and go live in my castle. I have good relations with Otherworld. I may ask the Americans and Australians if they still want my help, and I think they’ll accept. Great Britain will lose out on the gains it could have had, and other countries will rise.’

She sat up, staring down the table at Lorian. ‘But the thing is… Well, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Give it fifty years and I’m going to start thinking a lot more like a Demon Lord. I already have an army. Right now the thought of marching in here and taking the country by force is abhorrent to me, but every time I go over there I can feel it. The urge to be everything I can be is so strong…’ Her voice became cold and distant. ‘I’d make a good queen. I’d be the queen this world deserves. I’d kill with kindness. None would resist me…’

Ceri closed her eyes and looked down before her voice broke. She remembered the feeling of being under the thrall of the dragons. She knew what it was to be a warrior goddess with the power of life or death over everyone in her sight. Her chest felt tight and the shocked silence in the room just made it worse. She pulled in a deep breath.

‘Or… You let me get on with my life. There are other sorcerers out there. I know of one in America who probably doesn’t know what he is yet. There will be more. I want to teach them. Britain can be the greatest magical power in the world. I’ve already made overtures to the Foreign Office about opening diplomatic relations with the Demon Realm. We have things they haven’t even thought of, they have resources we could never hope to find on Earth. We’re negotiating with the Fae to construct a pair of open markets around gates between the worlds. Imagine being able to trade, freely and safely, with demons, maybe with demons and Fae. It’ll be difficult at first, but the benefits if we can make it work…’

‘You can’t seriously be considering this, Anthony,’ the man with the cane said, his voice low but firm. ‘We have her here, in a room where magic cannot be worked. She’s powerless and she’s admitted to being something evil. She’s threatened to take over the world!’

One of the other people, the lone woman, spoke up. ‘It sounded to me as though she were offering considerable social, economic, and scientific benefits if we simply let her get on with doing what would greatly benefit us, Mister Meadows. It would appear to be in our best interests to avoid pushing her into a situation where she succumbs to the temptation of power.’ There was a bitter edge to her voice which suggested she knew or suspected that Meadows had already succumbed.

‘And I said there were
two
people here who could work magic, Mister Meadows,’ Ceri stated. ‘Forgive me an academic conceit, but I hate poor background research. How do you think I got out of Black Fields? And back in again to rescue their President? You think I seduced a battalion of troops? Sorcerers catalyse T-Null decay. You need an external source of energy, like that cane you’re holding. I don’t. If you actually use whatever that spell is you’re building, I’ll block it and someone will probably shoot you.’

Sachs was on his feet, a pistol levelled at Meadows. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’d actually take a fair degree of pleasure in killing the Grand Master of the Order of Merlin.’

‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted. ‘Carter said they’d pulled out all the stops. Look, I’m not going to interfere with your stupidity. I’ve told the demons I won’t interfere in their daily business. Personally I think the Lord you’re pacted to doesn’t know what you’re up to, because he knows what I’d do if you fail. I’m not going to stop him pulling your soul out to prove his loyalty to his Overlord either. If you wish, you can try explaining that Ayasha isn’t vindictive, but he probably is so I would get my affairs in order.’

Lorian got to his feet. ‘I need to talk to the Cabinet,’ he said, apparently deciding that he needed to take charge of the meeting again. ‘Mister Sachs, you seem to have a better handle on some of this than my advisors. See to it that Doctor Brent is returned home. Doctor Brent, I would appreciate it if you would stay there for the time being.’

‘Of course,’ Ceri replied.

The Minister nodded. ‘Oh, and I want these widder-damned, pacted idiots in custody at Greycoat Street before sundown. The police can verify their status and deal with them accordingly.’

Meadows surged to his feet and there was an audible click as Sachs pulled back the hammer on his automatic.

‘Just give me a reason,’ Sachs requested. Lorian did not even stop to watch.

Ceri got up from her seat and walked around the table. The two people she moved between to lean over where she could examine the goblet flinched away from her, but she ignored them.

‘Could you make sure this gets to the university?’ she said, her voice soft. ‘The boundary effects between a null-magic zone and normal space are… fascinating. Doctor Tennant could do really amazing things with a portable hole in the Super-magic Field.’

‘It’s ours,’ Meadows growled at her.

‘Not any more it isn’t,’ Sachs replied. He sounded just a little too happy to be saying it.

Kennington, May 3
^rd
.

‘I hope you’re here to talk to Ceri Brent,’ Ceri said, ‘because if you want Lady Ayasha I’ll have to send you to the study.’

Malcolm Charles, Minister for Arcane Affairs, smiled. ‘Technically, the Minister is not here,’ he said. ‘Malcolm Charles is paying an unofficial visit to an acquaintance who has just become hot political property. Ceridwyn Brent will do nicely.’

Ceri was not sure she had seen him smiling quite so genuinely… well, ever. ‘Good. Lily is in the study doing the diplomatic stuff with some Foreign Office people. I’m staying out of it because… Well, I’m the Head of State, I guess, but also because I gave her the job and it seems rude to butt in.’ She waved at the wing-backed chair opposite. ‘Have a seat.’

The slightly portly man opened his jacket and settled into the chair, relaxing and looking quite comfortable. ‘I don’t wish to disparage Miss Carpenter, but isn’t she a little inexperienced for the role?’