Sunday, 6 August, 1871
(continued)
Poor Mrs Frazer, attempting to do her duty without allowing her mother to learn what that duty is. The troubles just seem to become more unusual as this case unravels.
The carriage I heard was not the arrival of Mrs Frazer, Edward, Emily, and the others. It was the Misses Shorrock, quite upset. Their carriage had been waylaid in broad daylight and their neice, Miss Helen Shorrock, had been abducted. The two elderly ladies had already been to the police, and found the response of the officers quite unsatisfactory. The officers at the station had told them that Inspector MacGreggor had left the city in pursuit of a suspect, so the ladies came to our door, in hopes that the master would be able to assist them, or at the least to find someone who could do so.
As he was attempted to get the details from them, a telegram arrived from Mrs Salmalin and the others, which included the news that the Comte Montelimar claimed to have Miss Helen in custody and had demanded the terbinite dynamo as ransom.
It was in the midst of this news that Mrs Frazer, Mrs Sinclair, Violet, and the babies returned. Edward, Emily, Caine and Wooster were still at the shipyard, cleaning up the remains of a battle, which I would learn the details of a bit later.
With Mrs Frazer's assistance, the Shorrock sisters were somewhat calmed and agreed to return to the place where they are staying while in London while the master and the others went to the foreign office to investigate the dynamo. Though I am getting ahead of myself.
The shipyard had been burgled. The guard on duty had been killed and several of the anarchist ninjitsu were in the process of converting Admiral Klink zu Worphaven's experimental boat into a bomb.
Fortunately Mrs Frazer, Edward, and Emily had already deposited Mrs Sinclair, Violet, and the babies at the schoolroom before this trouble was discovered, so Mrs Sinclair did not witness that black-clad ninjitsu armed with a sword leap out of the shadows and attempt to kill Miss Bertilde. Nor did she witness what Miss Bertilde, Edward, and Owen can do to an opponent when they work together, which is probably for the best.
Mrs Frazer was armed with her gun, and suggested they move as quickly and quietly into the dry dock as possible. They found more combatants there, including one ninjitsu who was as fond of fire and flaming oil as Dr Wilson is fond of rockets. Even though Edward was armed with a carbolic acid fire extinguisher, Miss Bertilde wound up splashed with kerosene and ignited. She was rolling to put the flames out when the dry dock was flooded. Owen had found the mechanism to open the floodgate. Or perhaps Mdm de Vere, Mrs Cuthbert's sister, helped out. Edward was unclear on that point.
Because the Admiral and Mdm de Vere arrived on the scene during the fight and joined in, on our friends' side, thankfully. Mdm de Vere was the one who divined that the anarchists were attempting to convert the terbenite batteries within the boat into an explosive, and that they had a sorcerer inside the boat with them.
The villains had sealed themselves within. The Admiral and Edward were forced to improvise an alternate entry hatch. Throughout this Miss Emily and Mrs Frazer were putting a stop to the remaining ninjitsu.
Once inside the boat, it was a simple matter to take the sorcerer prisoner and disassemble the bomb. Mdm de Vere used her spiritual gifts to interogate the unconscious sorcerer, and learned that there were more anarchists about, apparently planning to steal the swan boat.
While the Admiral secured the prisoners and obtained fresh weapons for himself and Mrs Frazer, Edward, Owen, Mdm de Vere, and Emily made their way to the next dock. Mdm de Vere had told them that the person trying to steal the swan boat was probably a faery, so, armed with a bag of iron filings, Edward hurried up into the scaffolding and catwalks about the dock intent upon attacking from above.
The opponent proved to be a different sort of fantastic creature altogether. The iron had no effect on him. He was dressed as a ninjitsu and armed with a large sword. He multiplied himself, somehow, because dozens or scores of warriors, who all had to be dealt with.
He was very strong, and had hold of Edward. Owen and Emily were trying to make their way through the host of duplicates. Lt Wooster and Mr Caine arrived sometime during all of this, and joined up with the Admiral and Mrs Frazer.
The details I received are somewhat muddled but the end result was that a large weight of electrified chains were dropped on some of the duplicates, the dock was flooded (just as the other had been), Wooster and Caine had to perform some sort of acrobatics to remove Emily from the path of both the chains and the water, and Edward was transmorgrified into a dragon.
The latter was Mdm de Vere's solution to the mystical nature of the threat. Apparently the enemy was some kind of dragon-hybrid himself. Edward kept referring to him as a bully "just like one of the brothers." I'm not sure what he means by that. Perhaps later more information will come to light. In the first moments of combat after Edward's transformation, the ninjitsu lost his sword. Then he transformed into a dragon himself, though a smaller one than Edward. The smaller dragon opened his mouth and breathed out fire, which Edward said hurt, though not badly. Edward returned the favor.
Apparently Edward's fiery breath was more like lightning or an etheric pulse weapon. It was exceedingly more destructive than the other dragon's, and not only destroyed the enemy, but also the floodgates of the dry dock. Which proved somewhat inconvenient for the lieutenant.
Wooster was trying to recover the enemy's sword, as Emily had expressed some displeasure that such a fine weapon might be damaged. The weapon proved extremely difficult to grasp until Mdm de Vere nullified her second conjuration. Apparently she had rendered the weapons too slippery to grasp.
She returned Edward to his natural shape, and explained some of what had occured. She claimed the enemy ninjitsu was some sort of Fey-dragon hybrid, which are rumoured to be frighteningly powerful and invariably insane. Edward's attack had temporarily vanquished him, but he would likely recover eventually. She learned this, apparently, by mystically examining the sword, which Emily had reluctantly allowed her to do after Wooster had finally retrieved it and presented it to her as a gift.
The terbinite dynamo was inside the swan boat, when it should have been locked up in A's office. Mrs Frazer was quite concerned about this development, as was the master. They have gone, accompanied by George, to retrieve Edward and the others from the shipyard, then proceed to the foreign office to investigate the disappearance of the dynamo.
~later~
Many things have been put to rights. While Edward, Emily, Mrs Frazer and the others were battling deranged dragons and assorted minions in London, the rest of the League located Miss Helen and freed her from captivity. I do not have the full details yet, though we do know that the Comte Montelimar was killed while resisting arrest. The master and the others have taken most of the carriages to the train station to meet the returning league. I am sure I will have more information soon.
~later~
All of us are injured in one way or another. Perhaps I will update this record tomorrow.
Monday, 7 August 1871
After the generally triumphal return of the rest of the household from Gravesend, things took a turn for the worse, though we appear to have survived. Wilhelmina blames herself for things which were entirely not her fault, though I understand why she is so upset.
The party in Gravesend learned about Miss Helen's abduction by the rather unlikely expedience of a ransom note, delivered by the Comte Montelimar himself. This would seem a most unwise way to go about things. Though he proved difficult to apprehend, even after the Marquis de Montmerial de Dragagulan tried to shoot him with a rocket gun.
Since the rocket fatally injured the Comte's horse, Insp. MacGregor was able to determine which stable had let the horse, which led the them to the Three Daws tavern overlooking the Town Pier. Sir Spencer and Mr Frazer both recalled that the Three Daws tavern is infamous as a meeting place for smugglers, and is rumoured to have tunnels from it's basement to the tideline under the pier.
The tavern was serving food, but no ale or spirits, it being a Sunday. Mr O'Flaherty and Sir Spencer each ordered a meal, then Sir Spencer loudly proclaimed that his tea contained brandy. This allowed Insp. MacGreggor, and the constables he had already recruited, to search the tavern. They discovered the tunnel, along with signs that someone had used it recently. Mr Frazer said the boot prints in the muddy floor matched those worn by the Comte Montelimar.
Meanwhile, Mrs Salmalin had been mystically scouting, using the eyes of a passing seagull to look for signs of the Comte, his associates, or Miss Helen on any of the boats anchored in the river, or from any of the buildings along the shore.
Miss Helen was being held in one of the ships, a fact which became evident when Mrs Salmalin saw a commotion on board, followed by Miss Helen herself appearing on deck, running from her captors. She contrived to set the rigging and one sail afire, before disappearing below decks once more, still being pursued.
Mrs Salmalin had barely returned to herself and spread the news before all of the league were sounding the alarm. Several members of the league, following Lady Cowperthwaite's lead, had managed to catch the fireboat before it left the dock. Inspector McGreggor and Mr O'Flaherty commandeered a smaller boat. While other members of the league joined the constables in another steam launch.
All converged on the ship, where most of the sailors, attempting to put out the fire, were easily placed under arrest.
Insp. MacGreggor led the charge below decks, where he found the Comte Montelimar outside a locked storeroom door. Miss Helen was inside the storeroom, which contained gunpowder and other explosives. She was threatening to set it all ablaze if the Comte tried to kick down the door.
The Inspector ordered the Comte to surrender, who put up a struggle. When the Inspector had to dodge aside to avoid the Comte's sword, Sir Spencer shot the Comte in the chest. Miss Helen was extracted from the store room and moved to the safety of the fireboat, where Lady Cowperthwaite and Mr O'Flaherty watched over her.
The rest of the criminals were quickly rounded up. The ship was searched, and the remaining artifacts were found and also removed to the fireboat. Unfortunately, the artifact known as the tablet proved too intriguing for Mr O'Flaherty to resist. He looked too closely into the object and was knocked insensible by its powers.
Six constables had to assist Mr Salmalin in carrying Mr O'Flaherty onto the train. But everyone arrived mostly unhurt back in London. The artifacts were locked up. Mr O'Flaherty was placed in one of the guest rooms, where Mr Salmalin and Emily took shifts watching over him.
As members of the household were settling in at last, I went on one final patrol around the house. I was rather surprised to find Edward climbing out of the window to the master's study. When I had last seen Edward, he was in another guest room, talking with young Mr Hawkins, who is still recovering from his ordeal. I started to ask Edward if something were amiss.
He looked at me, and I realized immediately that something was far more than amiss. The child's eyes were glowing, like a fiend from the darkest depths of hades. Before I could even take a breath to call out an alarm, he pointed something at me. I saw a blinding light, felt a brief pain, and then lost conciousness.
I was awakened some time later by Mrs Cuthbert, who was healing everyone, it seemed. Mr Frazer had located me in the shrubbery on the east side of the house after he had been healed sufficiently to regain consciousness.
As I understand it, Edward has been possessed for the last few days by the same creature that had possessed young Mr Hawkins. When Edward slept, the creature--who called himself Wapawet after some Egyptian diety--manifested, using Edward's body to further his plans. It was Edward, possessed by this fiend, who had stolen the dynamo from the foreign office, and likewise installed the dynamo as a power source into the swan boat.
The league, in gathering all of the artifacts, had been unwittingly bringing them to the very being they wished to keep them away from.
There was a fierce battle, the details of which I still do not have straight. Mr O'Flaherty was possessed by another fiend, a servant of Wapawet. This possession greatly increased Mr O'Flaherty's strength and other physical attributes. Wawpawet, meanwhile, had all of the artifacts, several of which were fiercesome weapons, gathered in the carriage house. Most of our partisans were rendered unconscious in quick succession as they attempted to confront the two fiends.
Meanwhile, Wilhelmina had somehow gained control of the swan boat. Activating it's flight mechanism, she brought it quickly to the house. While the master attempted to convince the creature to release Edward, Wilhelmina was able to also occasionally take control of Wawpawet's weapons and use them against himself, though she attempted to do so with minimal damage to Edward.
The swan boat's etheric armor was able to protect the master from further harm long enough for Mrs Frazer to arrive at the carriage house armed with one of the etheric pulse guns. Meanwhile, thanks to the entreaties of Mrs Salmalin and Lady Cowperthwaite, Kali had sent aid. Mr O'Flaherty was quickly depossessed. Kali was apparently in the process of doing the same for Edward when Mrs Frazer finally achieved a clear shot at the dynamo.
Cosmo The master tells me that the explosion
should have destroyed every house in Mayfair. Fortunately all
of the mystics had been gathering power, even some sorcerers who
the league had been previously unaware were trying to assist.
Mrs Salmalin had feared there would be some sort of explosion
or fire, and had prepared the ritual she uses to contain such
things. This effort was apparently successful.
Among the sorcerers who came to the League's aid was Mdm de Vere. The other was the elderly bookseller who had sold Edward the book on ornithology. This latter, if Mrs Cuthbert is to be believe, was actually Merlin himself. Imagine, the medieval legend in our drive. One hardly knows what to think
Mr Moody also made an appearance, though he arrived after the excitement was over.
The swan boat and the other artifacts have been taken by someone the League believes will keep them safe. Or at least safer. Mdm de Vere has agreed to explain to the Admiral what has happened to the swan boat, which had once been the property of his cousin and was destined for a museum somewhere in Prussia. Just about everyone in the household is battered and bruised.
While this Wawpawet creature possessed Edward, he used his weapons on young Mr Hawkins, the master, Lady Cowperthwaite, myself, George, Mrs Salmalin and Mrs Cuthbert, and attempted to use fatal force on the master in the second confrontation. Wilhelmina blames herself for all of this. She seems to think she should have seen the signs of Edward's activities and alerted the others.
I do not believe I convinced her that this is not her fault. I've turned the problem over to the master, in hopes that he will have better luck.
Proceed to Milady Maternal
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