The Witch Watch (49 page)

The fire had reduced Gilbert to a naked skeleton. He carried his left arm with him, wanting it to be buried with the rest of his bones when the time came. He went upstairs to find some clothing while the others staggered into the sitting room and threw themselves down on the couches.

“Are we safe here?” Simon asked after a few minutes of rest. Their ears were still ringing from the thunder, gunfire, and screaming. “If there are still loyalists about…”

Alice shrugged, “It’s possible, although I doubt any of them will be eager to face me after the performance we put on. I imagine that will leave quite an impression on them. No, I’m willing to wager they are more concerned with saving their own necks at this point. I suppose I might still be a fugitive on account of shooting Brooks, although I don’t think anyone is going to stop rounding up the conspirators to arrest me for that. Certainly not tonight.”

Gilbert entered the room, wearing a shirt and trousers. “I will be happy to guard you while you sleep,” he offered, “Provided you explain to me what happened!”

Simon leaned his head back and took a deep breath. “I made a feeding circle, for Alice. It was the best I could do in such short time. Anyone inside of that circle would feed Alice, instead of Mordaunt.”

Gilbert considered this for a few moments before he replied, “So when I put Mordaunt himself into her circle…”

“Then all of the energy that was going into him was passed on to me,” Alice nodded. She smiled at Simon. “It was very clever of you.”

Simon replied by blushing deeply.

Major Stanway called early the next morning. They invited him in, thinking he had come to celebrate or at least hear their tale. Instead he was grim, and gave news of his own.

“The day after the Battle of Shoreditch High Street, I was assigned another company of men,” he explained. “Rather than take part in the assault on the palace, I petitioned my superiors for leave to attempt the rescue of Leopold and Sophie. They were slow to give it, but last night we attacked Brooks’ estate. He apparently already had news of the defeat of his master when we arrived. He was very drunk. The man should have been in bed, given the wound he was nursing, but instead he came outside to rant at us. We humored him, thinking he was simply giving a confession and was going to surrender his hostages.”

Alice winced. “I should have warned you that he is a cunning man, and capable of great deceit.”

“I don’t think there was anything cunning or deceitful in his designs. He was simply mad drunk. Here, perhaps I’d best show you.”

He led them outside. Stanway’s leg was still in ruinous condition, but he refused all attempts at aid. He hobbled around on a crutch, directing his men and making light of his injuries. He’d arrived in a cart with a small group of soldiers. Archer, Simon, Alice and Gilbert gathered around as he showed them its contents.

“I stopped his raving when I smelled the smoke and saw the light coming from the house. He tried to flee back inside, and the men cut him down. I think they did him a kindness. It’s clear to me he aimed to throw himself into the flames.”

The Major nodded to the cart, which contained two caskets. One was open, and the other closed. “I sent men in after them. It was hard with the smoke and fire about, but your directions were accurate. We were able to bring young Sophie out, but the ceiling collapsed on the men bearing Leopold. The closed casket holds his remains, or as much as we could find of them once the blaze abated.”

Sophie was carried upstairs and placed on one of the tables in the library. The Major departed, leaving them to revive the princess.

“She’s very pretty,” Simon blurted out. Then he blushed and fell silent.

“So what do we need to do?” Gilbert asked.

“It’s rather simple, I’m afraid,” Alice said with some embarrassment. “Apparently all you need to do is touch her.”

“That’s all?” he asked incredulously. “After all that digging through books, it turns out that we can revive her with a firm poke?”

“Provided it’s your finger doing the poking, yes. The vigor is naturally attracted to its rightful owner. That’s what the crystal is for. It was a way to extract the vigor and take it to the recipient without it jumping back to where it belongs.”

“Do I look presentable?” Gilbert asked. He was wearing a dark, somber suit. “I found this in your hoard of clothes, and it seems like a good suit to be buried in. Don’t forget to include my arm,” he said, nodding at the adjacent table where he’d placed the detached limb.

“Of course,” Alice said quietly, patting him on the arm.

Simon blinked as he suddenly realized what was about to happen, “But… do we have to do this now? Can’t we wait a day? Or just a few hours?”

“That wouldn’t be right,” Gilbert said. “This is Sophie’s time, not mine, and her parents miss her no less than we will miss each other.”

There were a few minutes of tears and hugging. Alice shook his hand goodbye and he wished each of them well in their future lives. Then he turned to the slumbering Sophie, and grabbed her hand.

Gilbert walked down the line of trees and through the orchard. The grass was a deep, vibrant green, and the world seemed to glow in the light of the sun. He helped himself to an apple from one of the trees. It had been so long, he’d almost forgotten how they tasted. The wind washed over him as the sun warmed his face. He headed past the barn, towards the house. The trip had been an unwelcome distraction, and it was good to be Home again.

The girl was there, again. Her mouth moved, and he knew that she was upset with him. He tried to argue, but she wouldn’t listen. He tried to walk around her, but no matter where he went, she stood between him and Home. Finally he grew impatient and tried to force her out of the way, but she was much too strong. He couldn’t move her. Not here.

He couldn’t taste the apple anymore. Home was suddenly very far in the distance. This place was hers now, and she wasn’t willing to let him in.

Her mouth moved again. She told him what to do.

Gilbert sat up, which startled Simon and Alice, who were fussing over Sophie and listening for sounds of breathing.

“What are you doing back?” Alice asked accusingly.

“Why am I on the floor?” he shot back.

“You fell there when you took Sophie’s hand. Why are you up again?”

Gilbert tried to answer, and stopped. He felt like a man who had just walked into a room in a great hurry, stopped, and forgot why he’d come here. What was he just doing a moment ago? He had no idea. All he could remember was the girl.

“She said to use the other vigor,” Gilbert said.

“She? Who?” Alice asked.

“I don’t know. I thought she was Sophie.”

“The other vigor?” asked Simon. “Do you mean Leopold’s?”

“I don’t mean anything. I’m just repeating what I was told,” Gilbert said defensively.

“Is that possible?” asked Alice.

“I don’t know!” Gilbert replied, slightly annoyed.

Alice shrugged and took out the crystal. She placed it on the princess and stood back. After several minutes, nothing magical had happened at all. They concluded that this wasn’t going to work, and a discussion ensued between Simon and Alice. Simon suggested that he simply repeat the spell he originally used to revive Gilbert. Alice responded that the spell was designed to create an abomination, and that if they used it on Sophie they might reanimate her as a walking corpse. Simon countered by saying that no, the spell in question was designed to put a vigor into a body, and did not affect whether they were alive or dead. A philosophical discussion ensued, which Gilbert fled by going downstairs and discussing firearms with Archer.

An hour later the argument had been settled, the circle had been drawn, and the deed had been done. All four of them had gathered in the library to see the result. Sophie sat up, coughed, and asked for some water. She did not scream in terror when she saw Gilbert’s grinning skull of a face, which was a relief to the rest of them because they had forgotten to conceal it. Instead she looked at him suspiciously.

Sophie did not, for her part, remember anything about being dead, except for having a dream about a nice man that came to visit her now and again.

The next few days were extremely chaotic. Mordaunt’s supporters were rounded up, although once the battle was over it became very hard to tell the people who truly supported him from the people who claimed that they were only pretending to serve him and were really planning to betray him at the first opportunity. A number of obviously and publicly guilty people were rounded up and taken to Tyburn, where the cells were all unaccountably full. On further inspection, the cells were full of people who had no business being locked up, Lord Moxley chief among them. These were released. When the jailer could give no explanation for how the innocent parties came to be in his jail, who had arrested them, how they all came to be entered into his ledger under the crime of “treason”, or why they had not been subsequently released, he was put into one of his own cells, along with a few of his lieutenants who were also afflicted with the inability to explain themselves.

The church was bold in announcing its part in the defeat of the Dead King, as Mordaunt had come to be known in the papers. The Red Sashes who died in the battle were given a long and glorious funeral procession through the streets of London.

The sun was streaming into the wide white room. The walls were gilded, and even the gilding was gilded, to the point where it almost seemed a waste to hang such grand paintings over any of it. The furniture was designed to look as ornate and expensive as possible. This required that certain tradeoffs be made in the area of comfort, so everyone had chosen to stand.

It was early December, more than two weeks after the Battle of Buckingham. The papers were still talking about it. Various conspirators were still being rounded up and sent to Tyburn. This morning the Witch Watch had been summoned to the palace to have an audience with Her Majesty, where their efforts would be recognized in an official capacity.

The tall doors swung open and Lord Moxley drifted in, looking very much like his old self: Aloof, preoccupied, bemused, and expensively dressed.

“Are you ready?” he asked them.

Simon looked alarmed and stood up straight. “She’s coming now?” he asked nervously.

“No my dear boy. The Queen will not come to you.
You
will
go
to
her.
This is a waiting room, not a room for entertaining guests. And take your hat off!”

Simon snatched the hat from his head sheepishly.

Gilbert turned from the window, “
This
is a waiting room?” he marveled.

“It’s not called that, but yes, that’s what it is. It’s not even the nicest one,” Moxley replied. Then he caught sight of Alice. “My dear, you are radiant! That dress is so remarkable that most people will only be very mildly offended by the childish ribbons in your hair.”

Alice spun slowly, showing off the dress. “Another gift from Mother, of course. This one is from Italy, I believe.”

“And I see you have elected to scandalize Her Majesty with bare shoulders,” he replied with a deep sigh.

“Please don’t tell me you expect me to change.”

“I think Her Majesty will survive the sight of your shoulders. Her sons may slay one another for your hand, I’m afraid, so do be careful.”

“I will try,” Alice promised.

“Now, Private Archer. No, I’m sorry, it’s simply ‘Mister Archer’, effective now.”

Looking alarmed, Archer protested, “What? I’m no longer a member of Her Majesty’s Service?”

Moxley shrugged, as if the question were a trifling detail. “Well, you are still in her service, if you take my meaning, but no longer a member of our armed forces. This is all part of the effort to move our ministry away from its military roots and make it an organization of specialists. No more marching around with a group of men in uniforms now. The Witch Watch will consist of you four.”

“I was going to make Lance Corporal soon,” Archer pleaded.

“Fine. Return to the military if you like. I’m not in charge of your career. But if you stay with the ministry you’ll be making more than a Second Lieutenant.”

Archer looked momentarily stunned, “I see. Well, that’s all right then.”