The very nerve. As if I need lecturing from the likes of him? As if it matters to me that he was the teacher of several of the Pendragons? He is a fussy old woman wandering the world, sticking his nose in where it does not belong. He should have had the decency to move on to the next plane of existence centuries ago!

"The sisters will forgive much." Oh dearie me! As if I have done anything which warrants forgiveness? When did success become a sin? I do not remember seeing it enumerated in the list of sins either deadly, cardinal, or ordinary.

I must stop thinking of that. There are important things I should record here, for my own reference and reflection.

The difficulty of the Atlantean boat was still unresolved. The Admiral was intent upon trusting the word of Sir Cosmo and the English foreign office. "If an honourable man's word, sincerely given, cannot be relied upon, we have far graver problems in this world than which you or I can grapple." He is so naïve.

I was able to convince him that we should ascertain that the repairs on the untersee bot were progressing at a satisfactory pace. When we arrived at the repair yard, I immediately sensed the presence of nefarious mystical energies. The dead body of a guard was sufficient evidence for the admiral to believe that the situation required our attention.

Some members of that anarchist league were attempting the sabotage the bot. The prodigy and his governess were there, as well as the sword mistress who is supposed to guard the prodigy. Also, oddly enough, the guardian spirits of two of Elethea's other friends were attempting to be of assistance. They were already engaged in combat outside the bot.

My scrying revealed that more agents were inside the bot intent upon causing an explosion. The Admiral jumped in to assist the others and alert them to the danger inside the bot. I gathered power as quickly as I could while they dealt with the mundane threats.

The anarchist inside the bot was a hedge wizard, and detecting our presence was attempting some spell to harm all outside the bot. To say that his spellworking was sloppy is to be charitable. It combined elements of Chinese, Saxon, and badly mangled Egyptian styles. Stunning him was almost embarassingly easy. Even with the Darlston heir tossing power from leagues away. I don't know what she thought she was doing. She is even more of a wet hen than Elethea.

I entered the untersee bot while the admiral and the prodigy dismantled the explosive, with the governness watching over them. I interrogated the hedge wizard. There was the smell of additional magic in the area, of a far more sophisticated nature than he could have achieved. He quickly revealed that his master was another adherent of the anarchists who believe Montelimar was a dupe of the Eqyptian god Wawpawet. His description of the master's capabilities sounded very much like a faerie. There have been rumors that Ras has recruited several fae to his mad plan, this seemed to bear it out. This faerie wanted to take possession of the Atlantean boat and was stealing it that very moment.

I locked the hedge wizard's soul away for safe keeping, then told the others about the threat to the Atlantean boat. The prodigy and the swordmistress immediately moved to protect the boat. I advised the governess to remain inside the untersee bot, where she would be safe from the faerie, and suggested the admiral follow with additional weapons once the bot was secure.

The prodigy outran us both. Of course, I was trying to unravel the veil spell the faerie had placed around the dry dock where the Atlantean boat was stored. As soon as I saw him I realised he was not a faerie--not entirely. The draconian aura was unusual, but unmistakeable.

The prodigy engaged him in battle, thinking iron would be effective. I was quite cross at myself for not detecting the draconian touch in the veil spell. I had placed the child in danger by giving incomplete information. I would have to act quickly to save him.

Dragons are nortoriously resistant to direct magickal manipulation, but I attempted a binding spell nonetheless. The prodigy proved even more clever and resilient that I had realised before. Between him and the swordmistress the dragon was distracted long enough for me to complete my rituals.

Transforming the child into a reasonable facsimile of Monsumbrax worked quite well. As I hoped, the child adapted instantly. There were odd reasonances in the etheric knots which I could not quite identify. They became clear later, but I must not get ahead of myself.

While I was busy with the transformation spell, the nitwit and his minder had somehow stumbled upon us and attempted to help. They managed to assist the admiral in eliminating the dragon's illusionary warriors and saving the sword mistress with a minimum of property damage and flooding.

The dragon was forced to change from his human form to defend himself against the prodigy. Since I had based the transformation on a considerably older dragon, the prodigy was much larger and stronger than the anarchist. The anarchist, being a true dragon, could breathe fire, and proceeded to do so. I had anticipated this and I was attempting to set up a spell to turn the dragon's fire back upon him. I never had the chance.

The prodigy breathed fire. It should not have been possible. A mortal transformed into a dragon's form does not gain the dragon's immunity to magic, nor the ability to breathe fire. The fire was unusual. More like St. Elmo's fire than ordinary flame. It looked suspiciously like the primary weapon of the Atlantean boat. And it was powerful enough to incinerate the dry dock doors and the anarchist dragon.

Because the prodigy shared a link with the Atlantean boat, and seems to possess a mystical bond to machines of all types, I guessed that he had somehow unconsciously tapped into the boat's controls to breath fire. I would prove to be wrong.

I wasn't convinced that the anarchist dragon was destroyed. The illusionary warriors had been unmistakeable faerie glamours. There are rumours of dragon-faerie hybrids, though all the tales say the offspring are invariably hopelessly mad. If this is such a creature, he may have simply been blasted back to the faerie plane. But there were other possibilities.

Throughout the battle, I had felt Elethea's gaze upon me. Her suspicion was palpable. So I thought it best to contact her directly, share the information I had, and allow her to scry for the dragon as well. I did not appear to succeed in allaying her suspicions. Authorities were arriving by this point. The governess had brought her infants and her mother--the latter apparently oblivious to her daughter's true vocation. These persons needed to be transported home.

The prodigy was not going to leave me alone with the Atlantean boat. Elethea and the Darlston heir were both trying to keep an eye on me, so I could not examine the boat as closely as I would have liked. And once the British authorities were there we had to leave.

It had not been an entirely fruitless day, however, and I was able to spend the late afternoon and evening studying.

Until the very late evening when, quite suddenly, I found Elethea's spirit forcibly hurled into the ether. I had a brief vision of some horrific fight. I could sense some sorcerer massing power, it seemed to be in the correct direction and distance to be near Uncle Spencer's home.

I contacted Elethea. She seemed confused as to how she had arrived in her current state. She was so confused that for a moment I feared that something dreadful had happened to her. She was insistent that things had not come to that pass, but her companions were in danger, and Wawpawet, or some other demi-god, was directly involved. With some difficulty I persuaded her to accept my help, and we returned, together, to her body.

There was a terrific battle in progress. Wawpawet had been hiding inside the prodigy for some time. The hand device had apparently been inside the child's clothing earlier in the day when I had transformed him into the dragon. That had been the source of the fire breath.

Wawpawet had ensorcelled the boxer with his primary warrior's spirit, and had, using the child's body, assembled the sceptre, the crown, the hand device, and the dynamo at Sir Cosmo's home. Elethea and her friends were engaged in a pitched battle, which they appeared to be losing.

I began raising power to assist Elethea in whatever way proved necessary. I sensed the Darlston heir working somewhere nearby. Her body was unconscious in the garden, not far from where Elethea had been. I'm so glad she has learned that just because one is unconscious does not mean one cannot work magic. She summoned Kali.

Anyone else attempting such a thing would not likely succeed, or if they did, not survive the aftermath. Except, of course, that Sir Cosmo's bride is one of Kali's blessed. The dark mother not only put in an appearance, she was also quite helpful.

The bookseller was there, of course. He joined Elethea and myself chanting to raise power.

The Atlantean boat flew to our location. The child, though possessed and not in control of her own body, could command the boat from over a mile's distance! Her talents are being wasted in the applications this league is putting them to! No wonder Ras is trying to recruit her.

The vessel of Kali, Sir Cosmo, and the governess were all in the carriage house, confronting Wawpawet. The prodigy was attempting to use the boat's weapons and defenses to protect the others. The vessel of Kali had just taken the child literally in hand when the governess fired one of the etheric pulse weapons at the dynamo.

Even I know that is never a good idea. And this woman considers herself a scientist!

The Darlston heir had prepared a basic elemental shaping spell, and immediately moved to contain the explosion. Elethea, the bookseller, and myself all poured our power into her spell. I believe it is the only reason we survived.

Wawpawet was gone. Kali was gone. As were the Oracle and the Prime Warrior. And nearly all the mortals present were seriously wounded. I began raising power for Elethea.

He gave her the ring! He allowed her to use the ring to heal the others. And she gave it back to him without a fuss! How she could hold such power in her hands and then so blithely give it up, I will never know!

The power! Oh, it was all I had imagined and more!

He took all the artifacts. He revealed his identity and he took all of the artifacts. The crown, hand device, sceptre, tablet, and the boat. They even allowed him to take the terbenite battery array the prodigy had rigged up for the hand device, so that he could fly the boat without waiting for sunlight to recharge it. He said he would take them to Avalon. Of course, why not.

And that's when he made the point of telling me, in front of all of them, that the sisters would forgive me if I came back. Authorities, mystical and temporal, were arriving on the scene. The neighbors were in a state. The bookseller helped with that. Of course, he can throw a spell at bystanders to make them go back to bed and believe it is all a dream, and they say 'Thank you very much, Merlin!'

Yet when I interrogate one hedge wizard anarchist who had been prepared to kill half of London, they look at me with suspicion! My own sister shudders!

I shouldn't allow it to upset me. I have nothing to prove to anyone.

Now I have to explain to the admiral why we will never see the Atlantean boat again.

Proceed to The heart of the swan

Return to the Others Index

Return to Main Menu

Contents this page copyright 2005 by Gene Breshears. All Rights Reserved.