9 April 1872, Tuesday

~Evening~

We retired from the observatory quietly vexed that Mr Oliphant and Minions had arrived before us. There were no other similar artifacts present (though he would have likely stolen those as well as the Plate if that had been the case).

The Brabants took their leave of us and the Comte handed the Comtesse into their carriage. Sir Cosmo, Mrs Cuthbert, George and I briefly discussed our options as we repaired to our own carriage for the return home. The only idea I could think to put forth was to emulate Mad Hettie’s lure and see if we could set a trap for Mr Oliphant. We were in the midst of discussing the advantages and disadvantages of such a plan when Mrs Cuthbert clutched her chest and said that something terrible was happening at her house. Demons had broken her wards and were invading the house.

Sir Cosmo ordered George to get us to the Cuthberts’ house as quickly as possible. I made certain my hat was firmly pinned in place and began chanting as the clockwork carriage speed though the rapidly dimming twilight.

We arrived and I could feel a terrible presence in the house. I used the power I had collected and cast an exorcism spell on the house to drive it away. I heard a sound more piercing than any scream from the back of the house and ran toward it. I found my husband and several other members of the League at the back door of the house searching for an invisible being.

We found Mrs Frazer upstairs tying up the body of Mr Oliphant. He and at least one of his minions had come to the house. He had forced his way in (assaulting one of the footmen in the process) to talk to Mrs Frazer. A quick search of the house discovered no more bodies or Shadow creatures. We all congregated in the kitchen to discuss our next plan of action. Mrs Frazer began to tell us what had happened when she suddenly vanished right before our eyes. A beam of white light formed around her, and she was gone.

I was infuriated. Bad enough that Mrs Wooster and Wilhelmina had been spirited away by Lieutenant Wooster’s careless act less than 24 hours past. Now my good friend and confidante had been spirited away from her very home!

I was not having any of that! Not that I really had any idea of what to do next. Mr Salmalin and George brought the body of Mr Oliphant downstairs so we could keep an eye on it and prevent any demonic resurrection from occurring.

Mrs Cuthbert and I finally settled on trying a basic locating spell. Mrs Cuthbert suggested using Mr Frazer and the babies as a focus for the spell since we had no idea where Mrs Frazer might have been taken. We raised a great deal of power in a short time and cast the spell. It did work– even if all my hair pins did end up on the floor again. I think I should experiment with wooden pins and see if they do any better job of holding my hair in place when I am casting a major spell.

Sometimes, rarely, when Mrs Cuthbert or I cast a locational spell, we get a sense of our target’s surroundings. We were not so fortunate in this case. All I could tell what that she was very far away and apparently somewhere up in the sky. Since I cannot fly (except in spirit when riding along in the mind of a winged creature) this vexed me a great deal.

Right about then Mrs Cuthbert started talking to thin air– as she does when she is addressing a spirit. This was rather alarming as I briefly considered that it might be Mrs Frazer. Fortunately, this was not the case. After some confusion, it became clear that she was somehow in communion with Merlin who was with Edward’s group. Apparently they had found Mad Hettie, Miss Botley, Merlin, and had somehow also found out that Mrs Frazer had been taken aboard a Shadow Vessel. The asked if we should attempt a rescue and after some muddling about getting Mrs Cuthbert and Merlin talking about the same thing we got directions to the place to meet them.

While the others were rushing about gathering up armaments and other equipment we might need, I asked Mr Salmalin to fetch me the large iron box (this was after the cook and I had a brief argument about wether I could cut off Mr Oliphant’s head and put it in the smaller iron box) that the Marquis had left with me after the battle with Herr Schmidt. I had the body of Mr Oliphant bundled in to the box and locked it securely. I did not know if Iron would prevent his terrible resurrection but at least he would be contained if he somehow did return to life. I also cast a lay to rest spell, in the hopes that Mr Oliphant’s soul, at least, would be restrained from returning.

Mr Salmalin mentioned, during all the fuss, that he had dealt with both of Mr Oliphant’s minions as well, however their bodies were missing when we went to look for them.

Lady Cowperthwaite had stocked the carriage with some of the larger guns and had been assured by George that we had plenty of ammunition before we left the house to join Edward, the Woosters, Sir Spencer, Mr Caine, and Mr O’Flaherty.

Since we were on our way to the Tower environs anyway, I had the box loaded on the back of our carriage and we dropped it off at the Lord High Warlock’s office, with a note explaining that I would come by and explain later.

Once at the Tower we went in to the chapel, down some dark stairs, to an even darker and more twisted set of stairs that appeared to have been carved out of solid rock. I was amazed that Mr O’Flaherty had managed to make it through the tight quarters down the stairs and was very glad of my Ladies of Action mode of dress. The shorter skirt made manoeuvring though the tight passageways much less of a trial.

We arrived in a diamond shaped chamber. We followed the instructions the Merlin in Mrs Cuthbert’s head gave us and stepped on an black arrow in the floor. A second Merlin appeared. This version of Merlin was apparently some sort of door guard to the chamber beyond. It proffered a series of riddles. We gave the answers that our advance party had arrived at (fortunately the riddles had not changed in the meantime). We were permitted to pass and were transported to an almost identical chamber. The primary difference was that it contained the rest of the League of the Golden Clematis.

Merlin was also present (this was the one that had been talking to Mrs Cuthbert). Neither of the Merlins was the actually personage we met during the Swan Boat adventure in August of last year. Its magical signature was much closer to that of the Crown from that same series of artifacts. The Crown could take impressions of the spirit of a person while leaving that person intact.

In addition to the Merlin, the chambers also contained a great deal of glowing machinery that appeared to be under the control of the Merlin. Edward had already been at the machinery, figuring out as much as he could about working it.

Also present were Mad Hettie and Miss Botley.

Once collected together, the League had a shorter than usual wrangle about how best to rescue Mrs Frazer from the Shadow Vessel. We finally settled on sending our entire party in two waves (all of us could not fit on the Platform Device at one time). Since Sir Cosmo was leading the charge, Edward was delegated to remain behind and man the devices at the Merlin’s disposal. Since many of the Atlantean machines only respond to Sir Cosmo and Edward, this division was necessary and Edward did not kick up a fuss.

Sir Cosmo, Lady Cowperthwaite, Mr O’Flaherty, Mr Frazer, Mr Salmalin and Mrs Cuthbert went in the first wave. Sir Spencer, Lieutenant Wooster, Mr Caine, and myself formed the second wave. Edward talked to the machine and suddenly we were Some Place Else. It was a strange dark room bathed in blue light. What Shadows had been present were dead. Lady Cowperthwaite had insisted that I take one of the long rifles, so for once, instead of depending on magik I was depending on ballistics.

The others in my group moved out into the hall. There appeared to be only one door into the room we were in. Sir Cosmo and Mr O’Flaherty were already working the Shadows’ strange machines. I left them to it and took up station at the door, attempting to guard our exit.

Most of the others were fighting their way up the corridor ahead of me. Then I felt a strange wave of power surge over us all and saw many members of the league begin to lower their weapons and begin to droop as if under some spell. I heard Mrs Cuthbert cry out to St Cuthbert as I began shooting at the spidery Shadow Creatures that were turning to attack our party now that they appeared defenceless. I got off one shot before the golden light of St Cuthbert manifested. He removed the spell weakening our partisans and the battle was on once again.

I called out to Mrs Frazer, confident that her exceptional hearing would make sense of the din and hoping it would help her find her way to us if she could. Sir Spencer joined me in holding the passageway for our party’s eventual retreat to the Transport Device, while Sir Cosmo and Mr O’Flaherty continued their mysterious work on the machines. There was no lack of targets to shoot at and the large rifle seemed to put a dent in the Shadows. Soon Mr Frazer and the other advance members of the party had located Mrs Frazer and escorted her back to us. Her hair was a bit mussed and her dress was dusty and covered with Shadow Ichor but she was alive and unharmed.

We loaded the Frazers and as many others as would fit onto the Transport Device and Sir Cosmo sent them back to the Merlin. I held my position at the door until Sir Cosmo told me to get to the Device. He transported the rest of us back.

We found Edward and Mrs Frazer arguing about sending an explosive back through the Device. Apparently Edward had wanted to send it when the second group of us came though and had been prevented. That was all to the good, because Sir Cosmo and Mr O’Flaherty did not join us on the Device as expected and so Edward might have blown them up unintentionally. Sir Comso and Mr O’Flaherty came through a few moments later. Then Edward sent his bomb through.

Sir Cosmo and Mr O’Flaherty (with advice from Semkhet) managed to sabotage the Shadow Vessel and the Merlin was able to show that it had been destroyed not long after they left it.

Mrs Frazer just kept saying that she had warned them to return her to us and that they hadn’t listened. She then mentioned that she really needed to get home to her babies– as several hours had passed their hunger, and her discomfort were increasing rapidly.

Mr Salmalin and I accompanied the Frazers home and now I sit in the parlour updating this record while she takes care of her Robert and Caroline. It is very late, but I still must make time to return to the Lord High Warlock’s office and explain the mystery of the body in the iron bound chest before they are completely out of patience with me.

However, for now, I will finish the cocoa Mrs Cuthbert’s staff made for me and rest a bit while I wait for my friend. Even with Mr Oliphant in a box and the Shadow Vessel destroyed, I do not wish to leave her unprotected.

10 April 1872, Wednesday

~Mid-morning~

I woke early this morning with a crick in my neck. I had fallen asleep in the Cuthberts’ parlour and, rather than wake me and risk me haring off on another errand in the middle of the night, my husband had settled a blanket over me and left me to sleep. It is a mercy that my Condition precludes the use of a corset or I would be even more stiff (of course if I had been wearing my corset I might not have dropped off to sleep so easily). I must have been more tired than I realized, for my sleep is normally so easily disturbed but I did not wake until the smell of breakfast cooking reached me.

I was mildly vexed at my husband for his actions, but could not sustain such feeling for long in the face of his desire for my well-being. Of course, impending fatherhood is also having an effect on his comportment. The signs are subtle, and frequently only manifest in the rare times that we are alone together. He certainly does not try to stop me from doing my part when the League is confronted with danger. Our child seems to be holding up well though all the excitement. It has been kicking for the past half-hour, little, fluttery kicks that I can only feel if I am not distracted by world-ending crises. I have not yet worked up the nerve to ask Mrs Cuthbert if this child will be a boy or girl, preferring to experience this moment without the rumblings of fate disrupting it.

This morning, after waking and having a quick debate with myself if clean clothes or breakfast should hold first place in my affections of the moment (clean clothes won), it occurred to several of us that the rest of the League had not returned home last night. Mr Frazer chatted with the DFT and determined that fatigue had also overwhelmed our compatriots and they had slept for much of the night as well. I asked if a breakfast basket could be prepared for them and Mrs Frazer oversaw the assemblage of a most generous and tightly packed carrier. George was pressed into service to discreetly deliver the package.

After Ruth had settled the babies for the morning, she agreed to accompany me to the Lord High Warlock’s office to explain the iron bound trunk I had left with them for safe keeping. Then we planned to proceed to Merlin’s Lair to see what the rest of the League had determined. Our husbands accompanied us.

We were nearly to the Tower when I felt a strong surge of magic– I recognized the Comte de Brabant’s touch and suggested that we reorder our priorities and visit the Lair first.

Much squeezing down the tight passageways found us in the entry chamber. I was surprised to see the Comtesse de Brabant arguing with the Guard-Merlin. I would have expected that she would be with the Comte and he was not present. Guard-Merlin was not allowing her to pass into the Lair, so it seems it is imbued with some power to decide who to allow through rather than being a slave to the riddles and their answers (which, given the fact that Wooster solved two of them, is probably a good idea– I would much rather have a being guarding such a powerful artifact who would trust good-hearted Lieutenant Wooster than someone as intelligent and ruthless as Lillian de Brabant). We stepped up to the Guard-Merlin, gave the passcodes, and were transported to the Lair.

We found the carriers for all three parts of Semkhet present. Apparently the Comte had cast a spell that worked in a similar way as the Atlantean Transportation Device and had been able to retrieve the part of Semkhet that lived in the strange exoskeleton. So now we had Mr O’Flaherty, Miss Botley, and the ‘original’ Semkhet all together.

The Semkhets had been conferring, as had our friends, all trying to figure out the best way to contact the other Kahash and let them know that their friend was restored. The Merlin indicated that he could contact the ‘ships’ that the Kahash had come to Earth on and ask for a meeting. Exoskeleton Semkhet indicated that he also could contact them. We discussed the wording for our message– eventually settling on saying that we had found all of the parts of Semkhet, that we wanted them to restore all of the people they had damaged in their search for Semkhet and leave Earth.

We waited for an answer for some time, chatting among our selves. I was able to speak with Miss Botley and ask her what had happened to her and her Semkhet under Sir Robert’s care. She confirmed that her portion of Semkhet had been captured by Rimbaldi in the late 14th Century. Rimbaldi had removed Semkhet forcibly from the man who was his host. The man died in the process. Semkhet said that it was hard to measure the passage of time while trapped inside the mechanical Vessel– I told it that Rimbaldi had died 424 years ago. Miss Botley said that she and Semkhet had figured out (after the fact) that Sir Robert was the latest in a long line of people obsessed with Rimbaldi who had possession of the Vessel and tried to make some use of it. Sir Robert’s latest plan had involved using the Transportation Device under Doverton Abbey and the peridot cross from the Vessel to induce some form of immortality. His plan also involved using a human sacrifice, Miss Botley, in this case. He thought he could drain the life from one person and give it to another (unsurprisingly he would be the beneficiary of her death).

Instead of this death-for-a-life transaction (do none of these people read Faust?) he got something else. Semkhet passed out of the peridot cross, through Sir Robert and into Miss Botley (who has some magikal ability of her own). Her behaviour changed radically and so Sir Robert brought in Dr Kenyon to examine the girl. How Colonel Dunbar comes into it I don’t know yet– other than his finaceé is Aunt to the finaceé of Mr John Plank. Hopefully we will learn more if he can be cured of the Kahash’s rather devastating interference, as the colonel did wire Sir Cosmo that he had something of interest to discuss upon his return from Doverton Abbey.

Sir Robert handed Miss Botley over to Dr Kenyon, the Kahash came looking for Semkhet, and the rest we know. Miss Botley said it took some time for her to understand her Semkhet, so part of the reason they ran was motivated by fear and not understanding what was going on. I suspect her Semkhet was close to hysterical upon being released from the Vessel’s storage device. An additional problem, imparted by Semkhet, was that the other Kahash might have ripped him from Miss Botley with as little regard for her well-being as Rimbaldi had shown for that long-lost host half a century ago.

Our discussion was at last cut short by the other Kahashes (Kahashi– is there a plural for Kahash?) response to our message. They said that the imprisonment of one of their own would be considered an act of war and demanded we meet with them. We discussed the meaning of this with the various Semkhets. They said the plague upon London would be much worse than the current situation if the Kahash went to war against us. We sent a second message say we were not holding Semkhet against his/its will and that we would meet them at Bunhill Fields in an hour.

While the others were preparing to depart, I ran (well, walked briskly) over to the Lord High Warlock’s office. Fortunately Mr Weasley was in the building. I explained that I did not have time to explain about the trunk as matters had proceeded rather rapidly and we were just about to go meet with the Kahash and try to head off a declaration of War by those Powers. He asked me what would happen if we failed. I said I didn’t know, just that it would be worse than what was happening now and that we would know in a little under an hour. I promised a full report if we survived. I returned to our carriages in the midst of loading.

We arrived early, as planned, and I cast a blessing on our entire party. It might not help much against such powerful beings, but it couldn’t hurt.
We gathered in the open, near a copse of trees, giving us somewhere to run if necessary.

The Kahash descended among us. Semkhet rose up in his three parts and met the three Kahash that formed a triangle outside our position. It was very difficult to see what was going on with such powerful beings overwhelming my Other Senses. Closing my eyes didn’t help much, then I could still see the light, but could no longer see the outlines of my compatriots. I opened my eyes only to have the presence of a Kahash invade my very being. It was quite offensive.

It asked me who I was. What I was, was terrified. My gorge rose, fear so completely gripped me. That made me angry. So I told the being that I would not be having any of that. He had no right to question my very being on my own ground! They had invaded my world and attacked people at random. My World! My People!

I’m afraid I wasn’t very articulate.

The presence receded for a bit then reappeared with a new question: “Why should we trust you?” I had no good answer to that except the one I gave– because I was trying to do the right thing. I felt stupid even as I said it– I’m sure some of the people we have gone up against in the past would say the same thing. A better answer might have been because I was trying to protect people, or even because I was following my call, my vocation. But the being had already moved on to the next question.

I saw an image of Simon and was asked why they should trust him. I was flabbergasted. That they should ask that of me was bizarre. Simon is honourable and worthy of anyone’s trust, even the blackguards he encounters on a regular basis as part of his work. I trust him implicitly to do what is right and hold to his course. That they could even entertain the notion that Simon might be untrustworthy was insulting in the extreme!

The Kahash withdrew from us, and asked us no further questions. I asked Miss Botley what was going on and she and her Semkhet said that they were discussing what to do. One of the human companions to the other Kahash overheard us and said, in the most patronizing tones possible, “Would you consult with the sheep regarding which one should be led to slaughter?” This led to an argument among the League– we all agreed that we were not sheep. Edward suggested that we were wolves. I was just incandescently angry. We had done all the work, exposing ourselves to grave danger, while they terrorized the city and now they dismissed us with contempt! I so wished a real angel would come and smite them right then– a little humility would go a long way. Just because we are weaker than they are and they could pull our souls from our bodies with as little effort as we dispatch as mouse, does not mean we are unworthy of consideration. We solved their problem with a great deal more finesse than they used.

Eventually, the three strange Kahash, and most of the rest of Semkhet gathered up their human companions and departed. We were not dead, so that was a good sign. Mr O’Flaherty was on the ground muttering to himself and several of our League had pounding headaches as a result of their encounters with the Kahash. I made Mr O’Flaherty comfortable while Mrs Cuthbert made the rounds to see if anyone was worse off than our esteemed friend. None were so she turned her healing attention to him.

Her sister was standing off away from us, by the copse of trees. Apparently she had followed us to our rendezvous with the Kahash. Miss Botley said that she needed to get to the people who had been injured by the Kahash. Apparently they had granted our request that the people they hurt be restored and Miss Botley was their chosen vessel for the work. Mrs Cuthbert wanted to see to her sister, so I offered to escort Miss Botley to Bethlehem Hospital where most of the victims had been brought as their symptoms mimicked madness.

Edward had fetched Davey during our earlier wait for a response from the Kahash and he was waiting the coach. Miss Botley restored him, then it was on to the hospital, with a brief stop at the Tower to tell Mr Weasley that the world was not coming to and end and he could expect my report in a few days.

Miss Botley was able to heal all those stricken by “Angels.” I explained that Colonel Dunbar was out at Edenfield, being cared for by Mrs MacGreggor’s family and so find myself on next available train to Edenfield with Miss Botley, and my husband.

The train is doing its level best to put me to sleep. The car is stuffy with the effect of the weak April sunshine, to cool out to open the windows, too warm to be completely comfortable. So now that I have caught up to the present, I will take a bit of refreshment from the basket Lady Cowperthwaite had packed for us and take a much deserved nap. We will get into Edenfield this evening with time to call upon the Shorrocks and see to Colonel Dunbar.

Proceed to Heaviness of spirit

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