17 May 1870, Tuesday
~early evening~
SWMBO interrupted my report with her presence. She and I had words earlier about her thoughtless seduction of Lieutenant Wooster and the rude treatment she subjected our party to when we had our audience with her. I admit I was a trifle overwrought at that point and if Miss Sinclair had not guided me away I would have had much more to say upon the subject. But, by that point, even I could tell that I was on the jagged edge of hysteria and I took Miss Sinclair’s advice and went off by myself for a while.
Well SWMBO came back and, of all things, Apologised! I was stunned. Of course she made it sound like my protectiveness of Wooster springs from some Romantic feeling for him. What she doesn’t understand is the way that I feel about the entire League. All of my companions from Sir Cosmo to Owen are of immense importance to me. I didn’t even try to explain this to her.
She then suggested the strangest thing. She offered to see that William (who I had never spoken with her about) received his punishment in this life. That she could not see that her offer was repugnant to me only confirmed my suspicion that she is of an unrepentantly shallow nature. I did ask her, instead, to be more considerate of future visitors to her Court and be aware that her actions could be mis-interpreted if not handled with more propriety.
She left me is now in deep in conversation with Mr Ramsey and Mr Andrew Pryce. She is probably having a wonderful time being Mysterious for the Watchers.
What I wish I had said to her when she asked about William, is that I do not hope for his punishment, only his redemption. He is no longer my Husband, but he is a Husband to someone else and I hope he treats her with more care and compassion that he did me, or I did him.
That is enough ink wasted on SWMBO and William. I must return to my report before the details fade from my mind.
Mr Rupert Pryce and I were just about to begin a spell to free Sir Cosmo and Mr Andrew Pryce when there was a tremendous explosion. Later I learned that Dr Wilson had swung up behind the dinosaur’s giant shield of a head and managed to plant explosives behind the skull. He dropped off the beast and Mr Cuthbert was able to convince it to charge him and run right into the Necromancer’s Shield (which Mr Salmalin had been pounding on to no avail). The explosion broke the shield and Salmalin, Dr Wilson, and Mr Cuthbert all attacked.
Satisfied that the Necromancer was distracted
for the moment, Mr Rupert and I began our spell.
It worked, and Sir Cosmo and Mr Andrew Pryce fell to the ground,
released at last!
I looked around me and all was chaos. The Necromancer
was nowhere to be seen and Lieutenant Lochsley arrived leading
a combined force of English and French Marines to rescue us. The
upper galleries were full of SWMBO’s warriors and they were
shooting down the Undead as fast as their arrows would fly. The
battle had turned in our favour.
The Necromancer’s staff landed at my feet. It was white and
glowing with power. I was briefly tempted to pick it up and use
it to finish off the last of our foes, but while the Magik emanating
from it did not seem to tainted with the terrible aura of Necromancy,
I did not feel that it was safe to handle anything that had been
in his possession for so long. I did not trust that the staff
was safe. My urge was to destroy it.
Imagine my horror, when, from across the room I heard Mrs Cuthbert call the staff to her. I tried to step on it to keep it away until I could explain, but it flew swiftly to her.
And then it seemed that all was lost, again. For Mrs Cuthbert’s eyes began to glow and she hit Mr Ramsey over the head with the staff, knocking him unconscious, She then raised her hands and began to invoke a terrible spell. Our Mrs Cuthbert had been possessed!
Miss Sinclair, who had been chasing something around the room and kicking it most fiercely, called out to me asking if Mrs Cuthbert was well. I yelled back that we had to get the staff away from her.
I started a spell to dis-possess the Necromancer of Mrs Cuthbert’s body. I had just raised the power for it when, Miss Sinclair, acting quickly, tackled Mrs Cuthbert around the waist. Unfortunately she was too close to the Pillar of Life and her momentum carried both her and Mrs Cuthbert into the Pillar and out of sight. I feared they were both lost to us. But Edward leapt upon the throne, secured a rope, and before anyone could say anything dove in after the two women.
In the meantime, without Mrs Cuthbert’s healing touch, I needed to find some way to bring Sir Cosmo and Mr Andrew Pryce back to us as I could tell that their souls were not present in their bodies and they were refusing to wake up. Mr Rupert Pryce, Miss Gordon and the Doctor (who had already seen to Salmalin) were working on Mr Pryce’s wounds, while Miss Chigwidgeon clung tightly to Sir Cosmo’s hand and tried to call him back with her own words. I remembered the spell we had used to bring Mrs Cuthbert back from Mars the first time we attempted the Turn Oni Spell and used the power I had raised for Mrs Cuthbert on the two men.
Sir Cosmo returned almost immediately to himself and Miss Chigwidgeon threw herself upon him so happy was she. I had to suggest that she give him a little room to breathe.
Mr Andrew Pryce woke up not long after. He was terribly emaciated and thirsty but he was alive and it was wonderful to see the look on Mr Rupert’s face when he realized we had succeeded in rescuing his brother at last. He really is a handsome man when the veil of worry is lifted from his face. I know that, after this adventure, his brother and Mr Ramsey will pressure him to give up acting and join the Watchers full time. He has been both resolute and fearless in our pursuit of his brother but I do not know if he would care to take on this life permanently.
Meanwhile, the Enemy Undead had been removed as a threat by the combined forces of England, France, and Kor. Lieutenant Lochsley was working with SWMBO to rescue Miss Sinclair and Mrs Cuthbert and Edward, using the rope that Edward had tethered to the throne. I left Miss Chigwidgeon alone with Sir Cosmo to see if there was anything I could do to help. SWMBO was instructing Lochsley and his men to pull gently on the rope because it was made brittle by the Pillar. Only she was using such large, ornate words to describe the problem that even the normally intelligent Lochsley was having difficulty understanding her. I provided a bit of translation help and waited to see if our friends would emerge safely.
To my great relief all three of them came through safely. They were glowing with health and had left the dreadful staff behind in the Pillar so as not to temp anyone else with its power. They had experienced being in the Pillar as floating among the stars and viewing the worlds of our solar system from above. Perhaps this is the source of the frighteningly accurate Astro-metric devices in the temple at Kor.
Regardless, I was terribly happy to have Edward, Miss Sinclair, and Mrs Cuthbert back in one piece and not possessed by any evil spirits. SWMBO took possession of the Necromancer’s head. It was that which Miss Sinclair had been kicking around the room before Mrs Cuthbert’s startling transformation. We learned that the Necromancer’s name had been Igrazel.
I hurried Mrs Cuthbert over to Sir Cosmo and Mr Andrew Pryce and pressed her into service healing the two men. While we were working on them, I noticed SWMBO moving around the room healing others who were injured. As she laid hands on each man, her aura dimmed, making it possible for me to truly see her for the first time. To me, she looked like an Angel with the feet and markings of and Eagle. I could not really take in what I was seeing as it was so far beyond what I would have expected.
Admiral Le Coq was brought in at this point. He was badly wounded. His men carried him on a stretcher. Lieutenant Lochsley identified him as the officer that had ceeded command of his forces to Lochsley, allowing them to get to us in time. It was strange to look upon his face. The Admiral had the same Fey aspect about him that the terrible man haunting my Great-Aunt’s cottage did. I will have to suggest that the Watchers update their records.
During all the confusion Mr Caine, Mrs Hardy, and Mr Cleves were safely returned to us. Miss Gordon was very pleased and Wooster nearly overcome at seeing his batman. I gathered that part of the Nightmare that Lieutenant Wooster had been forced to endure included the loss of the invaluable Mr Caine.
Miss Gordon and I are being called away again. We are needed to help translate the agreements being reached between our Government, represented by Sir Cosmo; the French, represented by Admiral LeCoq, and the People of Kor, represented by She Who Must Be Obeyed.
Proceed to 11. Somewhat Frayed at the Edges
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