4 August 1871

We are home at last after a busy day with yet more to do this evening as we have a solid lead on the location of Mr Gates and possibly Mr Malloy as well.

While Graves and Humphries are rounding everyone up for Dinner & Consultation at the Cowperthwaites, I will update this record.

Mrs Frazer had much to relate this morning when I visited. First and foremost her mother is coming into town. Miss Bertilde and Emily have been sent to fetch Mrs Sinclair from the train. They left early so that Miss Wilhelmina could take Miss Bertilde shopping, as the dress she was wearing last night is no longer fit to be worn. She seems determined to give notice and does not seem to understand that Lady Cowperthwaite refuses to accept it. Perhaps a new frock will give her some indication that our Mistress is serious in her desire to retain her.

Mrs Frazer’s adventures with Mr Marut were indeed hair-raising. He broke into the house unseen and, if Mrs Frazer’s hearing had not been quite so keen, he might have taken her unawares. As it was she was able to warn Miss Puddifoote to lock the nursery up tight while Mrs Frazer and George did their level best to lead Marut away from the babies.

Mrs Frazer was able to shoot Marut at least once– all that practise with Stuart has paid off handsomely. Stuart himself heard the commotion and came over from Sir Cosmo’s house in time to help Mrs Frazer out of a tight spot. He then used himself as bait and was knocked unconscious. Marut made the mistake of trying to take Mrs Frazer hostage, exposing himself to a swift kick from Mrs Frazer and George’s ingenuity.

I didn’t even know George knew how to use a gun, let alone Sir Spencer’s big elephant gun. The battle between George and Marut must have been tremendous– whole sections of the first floor will need to have the lath replaced and be replastered. If Sir Spencer is inclined to keep it, he now has a new doorway between his study and the hallway.

I can now understand how Ravvi could be so astonished at George’s success in battle against this formidable opponent. I will have to ask Ravvi what a suitable thank you gift would be. George saved my friend’s life and protected her newborn children from a very powerful and ruthless man.

Mrs Cuthbert joined us about this time. She had slept late. She had and odd dream which she relayed to us. The Egyptian deity Wapawet, the Raven King, Merlin, and Mrs Cuthbert’s sister Lillian all featured prominently in the dream. We discussed it but could come to no conclusion as to its meaning.

Mrs Cuthbert and I then discussed the possibility of a seance to speak to the spirit of Master Marut and see what we might learn from him (and also confirm that it was he and not some imposter trying to use his name and reputation). I thought it might be prudent to lay his spirit to rest, since he died in the house. Lady Cowperthwaite joined us for the ritual

Mrs Cuthbert summoned the spirit of Master Marut.

We discussed events with him for some time. He did told us about his association with Mr Malloy, his past association with the Young Cobb, his death at the hands of agents of the Young Cobb and his subsequent resurrection. He claimed a theological disagreement got him killed the first time. He also said he conversed with my husband the other day. Mr Salmalin did not mention anything to me– I do not know if I should pursue it further or, given the source, ignore it all together. I am taking this information with a grain of salt.

Once we’d learned what we could from him we set up the Lay to Rest ritual and, hopefully, sent him on his way to a more conventional afterlife or at least slowed his next resurrection.

During this time, Mr O’Flaherty arrived with a drunk and distraught Jimmy Maws in tow. Mr O’Flaherty said that Jimmy had been shown Mr Gates finger (with a distinctive ring on it) and told by Mr Malloy to ‘take a dive in the 99th round’ or some such absurdity. Apparently Mr Malloy wanted to punish Mr Maws and use Mr O’Flaherty as the stick to beat him with.

Mr O’Flaherty calmed Mr Maws and Mrs Cuthbert found a bed for him to sleep off his liquid despair while we tried to Locate Mr Gates and plan a rescue.

While Mrs Cuthbert was setting up the ritual, Mr O’Flaherty hatched a Cunning Plan and asked me to bind up his arm as if it had been broken. He would then make the rounds, making it clear to one an all that he was badly injured and might have to withdraw from the fight. It was his hope that this ruse would draw Mr Malloy out, allowing us to capture him.

I went in to help Mrs Cuthbert with the Locate spell. We were able to get both distance and direction in spite of the fact that Mr Maws’ location was being hidden by an unknown sorcerer. Mrs Cuthbert said it was a form of magic she had not run into previously and indicated that the mage was likely unknown to both of us. We sent a note off to Inspector MacGreggor with our information.

By the time I emerged from Mrs Cuthbert’s study, Mr O’Flaherty had left to make the rounds of his usual pubs and what-have-yous.

Mrs Cuthbert and I then attempted to locate Mr Malloy but were blocked by a protective spell cast by the same practitioner as is warding Mr Gates.

By now it was nearly tea-time, so I returned home with Lady Cowperthwaite. After my tea I went in search of Sir Cosmo to ask him how best to store the two Abydos artifacts in my possession. I came the Master and Mistress just as Lady Cowperthwaite was trying to explain how we ended up at Mr Malloy’s pig farm last night (Sir Cosmo has been much taken up with boards of inquiry into the Onderzee boot and so was not around for much of the excitement).

They indicated that I was not interrupting and Sir Cosmo made the very sensible suggestion that I contact Mr Moody and ask his advice. In the meantime, I decided to keep the crown and glove with me– not knowing when they might prove useful. Also, not wanting to endanger other members of the household by encouraging ninja incursions, I was reluctant to put them in Sir Cosmo’s safe. As a precaution, I cast a veil spell over the house.

Mrs Cuthbert came to find me. Apparently she’d found a raven feather in one of her hats and when she had gone into her kitchen to burn it she had also seen some of the eels that were being prepared for Sir Spencers supper twist into a configuration that reminded her of the symbol on Merlin’s staff (which she had seen in her dream earlier in the day). When she told this to me I commented that all that was missing was some symbol of Wapawet. At that exact moment, the Crown of Abydos fell to the floor at my feet. I was startled but soon became worried as a search of my pockets failed to yield the Glove. I last remembered seeing it was when I changed my clothes after driving the clockwork carriage home this morning.

Mrs Cuthbert had to leave to accompany the Frazers on a walk to the Police Headquarters. Apparently they wanted to do a more thorough search of the premises. Also Mrs Frazer seems constitutionally unsuited for staying inside for any length of time.

I alerted Sir Cosmo and my Mistress to the loss of the glove and we began a thorough search of the house. I took the occasion to strengthen my house-wards. Graves and Tattvik were soon enlisted and the house was scoured in the vain hope that I had merely dropped it somewhere. Eventually, Lady Cowperthwaite was convinced that it was not in the house. We searched the path I had taken between No.’s 12 and 18 Charles with no luck.

We were just coming back in from our fruitless search when Sir Cosmo came to tell us that he had heard from Inspector MacGreggor. The Inspector had sent some of his men to search the area our spell had indicated for anything suspicious with no results. In the meantime, the Inspector had received a report from one of the constables he had assigned to watch Nile House stating that Sir Matthew was exhibiting odd behaviour and speaking gibberish. The Inspector’s note asked if Mrs Cuthbert or myself might be available to check on the good man.

I locked the Crown in the safe and Lady Cowperthwaite and I, driven by Mr Salmalin, departed for Nile House.

Once there we took tea with Sir Matthew. He seemed fine for the most part, but every once-and-a-while he would say an unknown word. He did not realize these words were creeping into his speech and when we repeated them back to him he either did not recognize them or he spontaneously provided a definition but then had no idea where his knowledge of the word came from.

While Lady Cowperthwaite engaged him in conversation I took the opportunity to closely observe him. It seemed he had a fragment of some other being’s aura lodged in his own. I was unsure how to proceed and so was very pleased when Mrs Cuthbert arrived to consult. Apparently she and the Frazers had arrived back home and Sir Cosmo had passed Inspector MacGreggor’s request along. I met her in the foyer and told her what we had observed. She sat down with Sir Matthew and was soon able to confirm my findings.

After a bit more conversation, she talked Sir Matthew into allowing us to do a “mesmeric reading” to ensure that he was free from after-effects of the injury he had suffered during the break in. We left Sir Spencer in the parlour while Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Cuthbert and I joined Sir Matthew in his study.

We started with a more focussed aura reading. To our great surprise this called forth a being that claimed to be the Oracle of the Lord of Abydos. It was able to answer several of our questions about the artifacts. It said that the Rod and Key (what we had been calling the sceptre and tablet) were not far from us and were under the protection of a sorcerer. The location the Oracle gave corresponded roughly with the spell that Mrs Cuthbert and I had cast earlier in the day. The Crown was still at Sir Cosmo’s house.

Then the Oracle said something strange: that Wapawet, the Lord of Abydos, was nearby but his body was still in its tomb in Egypt. It also said that the Glove was now in the possession of the Lord of Abydos.

Eventually we learned the following: the Oracle is limited in the answers it can give, it is also not fully a soul, but more like a fragment of a deity. The way the Oracle responded to questions about the League of Shadows did not seem to indicate any sympathy between the Lord of Abydos and the Shadows. It referred to people as ‘vessels’ both for it and for its Lord, giving the impression that someone could assemble the artifacts and perform a ritual that would allow the Lord of Abydos to determine if that person was a worthy ‘vessel’. What would happen to the person after the ritual concluded was not clear but seemed ominous regardless of whether the person was found worthy or not.

Even though, or perhaps because, my friend-and-mistress is sometimes the Avatar for a goddess I can’t imagine seeking such a connection with such a power deliberately.

After some further discussion with the Oracle, we determined that we could not get it out of Sir Matthew without first either discovering the ritual necessary to put it into some other artifact or finding a new vessel for it to inhabit. Given the usefulness of its information and the strain it was putting on Sir Matthew, Lady Cowperthwaite volunteered to take it on.

We were once more reminded that good manners cost nothing when we determined that we could get the Oracle to change ‘vessels’ simply by having the person who wished to host it invite it in, as it were. Lady Cowperthwaite issued the invitation before we could have second thoughts, and soon we heard the Oracle’s strangely flat voice coming out of her mouth.

Upon request, it returned Lady Cowperthwaite to us. Lady Cowperthwaite spent a few moments praying to Kali. During her prayers she fell asleep and dreamed that she was able to see the members of the Shadows even when they thought they were concealed. She killed them before they were able to ambush Inspector MacGreggor and Mr Frazer. As she woke, Kali said to her: “Even shadows cannot hide from the Eternal Night”.

I learned of this dream on the carriage ride home. We left Sir Matthew sleeping in the care of his servants. Mrs Cuthbert and I had examined him and his aura had returned to normal. It was Mrs Cuthbert considered opinion that he would sleep for at least a day, but should wake recovered from this ordeal.

Now we are home and dinner is ready. Our League has assembled to share information gathered during the day and to make a plan for tonight’s activities.

I’m suddenly starving.

~Bedtime~

I had finally let my hair down and braided it for the night only to have Emily appear at the door to the room I share with Mr Salmalin asking for me. She was having difficulty getting to sleep, poor dear. She was willing to let me try a spell on her “As long as I promised it wouldn’t go wild.” She’s a bit overwrought and no wonder.

I for one am very happy to be in my own snug room with my dear husband. There are still many loose ends to tie up but progress has been made– some of it very satisfying indeed.

During dinner the League discussed what had been learned by various members. Mr and Mrs Frazer reported that the attack on the police station may have been a distraction to allow a forger by the name of Billy Button, known for his quick and clean work, time to copy plans for No. 12 Whitehall and No 12 Downing. Those buildings are connected and include Our Employer’s offices. Our Employer had been notified of the discovery. Billy Button was found dead this morning near the river. His throat had been cut.

Sir Cosmo gave only brief mention of his day before the Admiralty Board.

Mr O’Flaherty reported that he and Mr Maws had come up with a plan to circulate the truth, as rumour, that Mr Maws was been pressured to ‘take a dive’. Sir Spencer offered to have some of his employees spread the rumour this evening. Sir Spencer also mentioned that Mr Malloy had put out the word that a forfeit would not pay out as a loss, as is apparently the custom. I didn’t follow the technical details of the gambling involved, but the gist was that Mr Malloy was not making himself look very good in the eyes of the betting public.

Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Cuthbert and I reported on our visit to Nile House. Lady Cowperthwaite had taken Sir Cosmo aside before dinner and told him of her newest passenger. With Kali, the baby, and her ladyship– the oracle makes four. I wonder if it is getting at all crowded in there?

Since he was forewarned, Sir Cosmo did not lose his composure when we called the Oracle forth at the dinner table and questioned it further. We determined that its sense of the Lord of Abydos’s artifacts is accurate as it now identified the Crown as being nearby and the Rod and Key as being further away. It was my hope we would be able to use the Oracle in our search.

Mrs Cuthbert also reported on her encounter with the Raven King. He was in the guise of a Wanderer and had offered her a book. It appears to be one that Oracle mentioned. Even now we have not had much time to study it– but it might hold the key to extracting the Oracle from Lady Cowperthwaite once the time is right.

After sharing information and some very excellent food, we agreed that searching for Mr Gates was the most urgent of our tasks.

I took a moment to transfer the Crown from Sir Cosmo’s safe to Edward’s UnSafe– anyone who tries to steal it from there will get what they deserve.

We loaded up in three carriages. I rode with Sir Cosmo and Lady Cowperthwaite, having decided that I would help keep an eye on my mistress since we are not certain how much volition the Oracle has and we do not want to lose her to the Lord of Abydos should he choose to manifest in some way the Oracle can perceive.

Edward gave Mrs Cuthbert the Serini Orb in case it was needed again.

We then began a methodical search of the area of London that the Locate spell had pointed to earlier in the day. I called the Oracle forth occasionally and asked it where the Rod and Key were. It was in this manner that we could determine if we were getting closer to our quarry. Also, during our first conversation with the Oracle it has said that the sorcerer we were looking for would be found under the ‘Unseeing eye.’ Which could have meant anything, but turned out to be an old manor house with an observatory atop one of its towers.

That house is owned by the Comte de Montelimar– vindicating the Vicomte De Mulineaus’s suspicions.

Mrs Cuthbert was the first to spot that it had no discernable aura– frequently a sign that a strong Veil has been placed over the property.

We brought the three carriage loads together and made a plan. The grounds were extensive so Mr Salmalin and Edward would sneak in first while Inspector MacGreggor went for reinforcements.

Lady Cowperthwaite and I decided to try the direct approach. We went up to the main house and asked to see the Comte de Montelimar on the pretext of soliciting for donations for the Young Mothers and Infants fund. We were shown into a well-appointed parlour and told that the Comte would be with us shortly. We had a few moments to ourselves before the door opened again and who should appear but Mr Malloy!

He had two thugs with him. He immediately began crowing that we were now in his power. He had the nerve to say some very rude and impertinent things about both my husband and my Mistress. I must give Lady Cowperthwaite a great deal of credit, as she completely ignored the insults to her person but was passionately offended by the insult given to my husband.

She looked at me and I looked a her. We leapt up. She grabbed Malloy and threw him to the ground. I drew my sword and went after one of the guards. Stuart appeared from no-where and tripped the other. Somehow my guard and I went down in a heap but I was able to pin him and fetch him a blow.

At that moment a ninja came hurling though the window– not at all under its own power. We hear Mr Maws voice from outside saying something about trying to get the next one though an upper story window. Lady Cowperthwaite, Stuart and I were busy subduing our would-be captors.

Mr O’Flaherty and Mr Maws crashed though the window, making an even larger hole. Mr Maws yelled at me to duck so I dropped to the ground– my opponent cushioning my fall. Mr Maws used a lampstand to strike at a ninja that had been about to strike me from behind.

Our two boxing gentlemen took the fight to the ninjas out in the hall. I pulled down the curtain cords and we bound our captives.

I could feel a wild spell spiralling out of control and so drafted Lady Cowperthwaite to help me stop it.

My counter-spell was not fully effective. The house was built to be a focal point for magic and the wild spell was collecting power faster than I could. I had reached the end of the available local magic before I had a spell that would fully contain the wild spell. I cast the counter-spell anyway, in hopes that it might do some good.

Lady Cowperthwaite leapt to her feet and ran for the stairs (several of our partisans had already disappeared up them). I followed. She barely one foot on the stairs when Sir Cosmo, who was fighting the ninjas with Mr O’Flaherty and Mr Maws, was run though by a sword. I made it to Sir Cosmo’s side under the divine protection of Kali and was able to begin first aid.

Everything dissolved into chaos around me. I could hear screaming. I concentrated on stopping the bleeding as best I could. I felt Kali manipulating the energy of the wild spell for her own uses. I tried to keep Sir Cosmo safe from further injury.

I looked up to see that Kali had Sir Cosmo’s etheric pulse cane and was using it to channel the energy from the wild spell. She shot at one of the ninjas fighting Mr O’Flaherty. The beam hit the ninja and then split, going into two more ninjas.

I could feel the house shaking around me. Mr Maws was trying to break though the floor into the basement.

I covered Sir Cosmo’s head and shoulders with my own, shielding him from falling plaster while holding the blood-soaked bandage in place. I didn’t notice until much later that my hands were covered in blood and the cuffs of my sleeves had wicked it half-way up my arm.

There was not enough magikal energy for me to even attempt a healing spell. Mrs Cuthbert had disappeared and I was feeling quite low. It seemed safer to move Sir Cosmo into the parlour that Lady Cowperthwaite and I had started out in, than to stay in the hall. I kept my head down and dragged him toward the door. Stuart appeared and helped me. Mr Salmalin dropped down from above, grabbed Lady Cowperthwaite by the waist and swung into the room after us just as the massive chandelier dropped from two floors above. Glass shards flew everywhere. Lady Cowperthwaite had come back to herself. Salmalin left us only to return a few minutes later with Mrs Cuthbert.

At that moment, the constables arrived. We put them to work evacuating the now-shaky building.

Salmalin carried Sir Cosmo out the larger clockwork carriages after Mrs Cuthbert had healed the worst of the damage and settled him as comfortably as possible on one of the bench seats. I stayed with them.

The second round of cavalry arrived in the form of Mrs Frazer and George in one of Sir Cuthbert’s smaller carriages. She had heard through the D.F.T. that we might need help and brought plenty of bandages and a canteen of tea.

The third group of cavalry arrived in the form of Sir Anthony and some of his people. I suggested that he call for Mr Moody given the magikal nature of the nights events but no summons was needed. Mr Moody and some of his staff arrived of their own accord. They had sensed the spell go wild and had rushed over to assist.

Even now, at home in my own warm bed, I am not certain what all happened at the Comte’s house. Our best guess is that the Comte’s pet sorcerer started some sort of ritual not long after Lady Cowperthwaite and I arrived. Edward had been captured and was on some sort of altar atop one of the towers when Miss Bertilde found him.

Sir Spencer shot the sorcerer, causing the spell to go wild. Miss Bertilde, Inspector MacGreggor, and Sir Spencer all found themselves suddenly transported to the tower. Miss Bertilde was able to put the stop on “Mr Sharp” but he took her down at the same time. It seems that there were dreadful battles going on all over the house, for in addition to the one on the tower, and the one Lady Cowperthwaite and I were involved in, Lieutenant Wooster and Mr Caine snuck into the basement of the building and found a large contingent of ninjas that they then engaged in battle.

Mr and Mrs Frazer searched the house with the help of the constables. I pulled myself together and went up to the tower to look at the body of the dead sorcerer to see if I could learn anything. His ritual was not familiar and I found nothing on his body to give me any information. I did however, find a secret passageway. I called for the Frazers and they came to investigate. Apparently the Comte and one male accomplice escaped down the passage way (which comes up in a stables a few blocks away) taking with them the Key and the Rod.

Mrs Cuthbert and I managed to perform one History spell before she nearly passed out from exhaustion. We confirmed the Frazers findings.

I had returned to the carriage to check on Sir Cosmo, Lady Cowperthwaite and Miss Bertilde when I heard a very familiar voice.
I looked out and could not help but exclaim “James” rather loudly. For it was indeed my younger brother James. He was trying to claim that he was out looking for his student when, not realizing I was there, Our Employer called him by name.

My brother works for Our Employer and has for nearly three years. I was irrationally angry at Our Employer for not telling me sooner. I know he is in the business of keeping secrets (as, technically, am I) but James is my brother! It did not help at all to have him tell me that he had not recruited James, our father had.

James had been called in to deal with a large shed full of interesting explosive devices. When our carriages left to return home, I stayed behind, on the pretext of helping Mr Moody (which I did do while James was busy). With Our Employer’s permission, James and I found time for a short, but very informative conversation. I invited him for tea.

I am still a bit vexed with Our Employer even though I know I have no right to be. Simultaneously I am very glad to know that James continues our Father’s work.

I am so very proud of him and hope I have not shocked him too badly with my sudden appearance on his scene. He made certain I arrived home safely before heading of to collect his student– who really was out carousing. Apparently James has a much more difficult cover to maintain than I do.

Proceed to Infuriatingly intelligent

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