19 April 1875,
Monday
~Evening~
I am exhausted. I cannot claim anything more than my Condition is
the cause of my enervated state as my activities this afternoon and
evening were quite sedate by League Standards.
In the early afternoon, Inspector MacGreggor sent for Mrs Cuthbert and
I. Apparently there had been an outbreak of amnesia at the jail
and the Inspector requested that Mrs Cuthbert and I use our especial
talents to look for the cause of the difficulty. Mrs Cuthbert
really is much better at such things than I– she is very sensitive to
wrongness of spirit. Once she identified that the source of the
trouble was the soup that had been fed to the prisoners, I was able to
contribute that the soup had been contaminated with an alchemical
potion. Though with my limited alchemical knowledge, I could only
guess as to how it had been made. We did our level best to
dispose of the remainder without risking contamination of other
innocent parties before moving on to try to discover who the culprit
might be.
We were not surprised when our history spell revealed that Lai Choi San
(also known as the Dragon Lady) made the potion. She had taken
the place of Mrs Han, the jail cook, though the simple expedient of
rendering that good woman unconscious at her home. We found her
there and took her to the hospital. It appears that she will
suffer no permanent damage from the attack.
Lai Choi San appears to be conversant with conventional (as opposed to
magical) methods of disguise. The potion she used was very dark
magik. Mrs Cuthbert and I did what we could to restore the
memories of those affected, with very limited success. The motive
for Lai Choi San’s actions is clear– many of the people in the cells
were her partisans, captured in last night’s battle at the warehouse.
We arrived back at the house with just enough time for me to change for
my appointment with the Reverend and Mrs Umbridge– both of whom are
Practitioners. We took tea together and I presented my letter of
introduction from Mr Weasely and we discussed what they knew of other
Practitioners in the area. In addition to the Lai Choi San, there
is also the street preacher I met at the quay when our ship
docked. His name is the Reverend Benson and he was ‘touched’ by
some power over 10 years ago, and he has never been quite the same
since. He spent time in Singapore prior to moving to Port
Victoria.
The Umbridges are by way of being the closest thing Port Victoria has
to a branch of the LHW Office. I’m not sure what help they would
be if we actually capture anyone with significant abilities but it is
good to know they are here if I need them.
Upon my return to the Governor’s Mansion I was accosted by an Albatross
that had been sent by Major Powell with a message for me. He said
that my attempts to find Mrs Voach had been noticed, not only by him,
but by people who are hostile to my aims and that I should be more
careful. He also said that he is doing his best to keep the
pestilent Sir Phillip (my words) away from Mrs Voach. He asked me
to research something called the “Moonblade”. I attempted
to thank the Albatross for carrying the message by opening one of the
various tins of food I carry on my person in case of an Edward
Emergency. The smell of the tinned fish made me gag. I can
only hope this sensitivity will soon pass. I had no such
difficulties with food whist carrying Octavia. Between fatigue
and illness, it is very difficult to get anything productive done!
I went inside, intending to speak to Sir Cosmo about the information
from Major Powell but he was away from the house. I divested
myself of my visiting dress and changed into something rather more
durable before visiting the children. Daru and Violet had the
four of them under a satisfactory degree of control. Apparently
today’s activity has been catching various bugs that made their way
into the nursery. Octavia reported with all solemnity that
“Bobert and Linn” were teaching her and “Len” how to trap the bugs
without crushing them. It is with great difficulty that I can
make out the difference between “Linn” (Caroline) and “Len”
(Galen). Her own name in the nursery seems to be some version of
‘Tavi’– depending on who is speaking. Robert takes great pride in
being able to say her name properly.
It was with great regret that I had to leave the nursery to change for
dinner. Lady Naismith had informed us earlier in the day that
both the Griffin and the Foremost had arrived in port and the officers
and high officials from both ships would be dining with us. One
of those officials was a Lord Becket, High Commissioner of the Malay
Colonies. The ladies were to be outnumbered by gentlemen as is
frequently the case at such functions.
Dinner itself was uneventful. However, when the ladies withdrew,
Ruth was called away by Lobsang. I did my best to make polite and
interesting conversation while wondering what Ruth might be up
too. I had to wait several hours before the party broke up for
the evening and Sir Cosmo called upon the League to meet in his rooms
and discuss what we had learned.
Sir Cosmo had spent much of the day on a tour of the Rail System of the
island (one of the official reasons for his visit here). He had
visited the work camp and learned that several prisoners had recently
sickened and died. One of those that had died was Mr “Lefty”
Malloy who had been serving a sentence of hard labour after his role in
masterminding an attack on Mr Wonka’s candy factory and trying to steal
various pieces of equipment in order to sell them to Mr Wonka’s
competitors. The men had already been cremated, but Sir Cosmo had
asked for Malloy’s ashes and offered to return the man’s remains to his
family back in England.
Ruth had been called away to eavesdrop on a conversation between Sir
Cosmo, Admiral Naismith, and Lord Beckett. Lord Beckett had
come to Port Victoria because he believed that several uprisings that
have happened in the region are all related. Similar bits of
poetry have been turning up as slogans for various revolutionary
groups. Mrs Frazer and Sir Cosmo shared the following with us:
"The sword of the moon grants sovereignty,
The shield of the sun states prophecy,
The heart of the star brings victory,
The path of the earth leads to destiny."
Lanka (Ceylon):
"The sword of the moon gives sovereignty,
The shield of the sun states prophecy,
The heart of the star grants victory,
The path of the earth leads to destiny,
He that would rule
Must seek enlightenment on the Island of Souls."
India:
"Violence, falsehood, and wickedness are the order of the day. Justice
is unknown. Greed, dishonesty, and lust rule the world. Lacking
righteousness, kings make selfish war and ignore the needs of the
people. Kaliyung, lord of strife, invisible, unimaginable, everpresent,
will enter the heart of man. Manifest, he will seek the celestial
maiden on the island of souls. With the moon blade he will slay desire,
pride, and passion. Thus will the new lord of understanding come forth.
The king of a thousand years will end the dark age and rule over a time
of prosperity and justice."
A fragment from an old text whose origins are in dispute:
"The sword of sovereignty is drawn from the moon,
The shield of prophecy is snatched from the sun,
The heart of victory is dropped from the stars,
The path of destiny is carved from the earth."
Finally, and most personally disturbing for me, the following text was
found on the bodies of the enemy troops that ambushed my ex-husband’s
brigade:
"The star of destruction fallen to the Valley of Tears,
A traveller is bathed in the blood of armies,
A faithless soldier trades eternity for power,
Destruction in his chest where a heart once beat,
Seeking destiny on the island of souls.
The sword of sovereignty is drawn from the moon,
The shield of prophecy is snatched from the sun,
The heart of victory is dropped from the stars,
The path of destiny is carved from the earth."
Sir Cosmo said that Sir Philip and Major Powell left Perak without
sending a full report to Beckett. They had apparently found one
more text (which Beckett had somehow got hold of):
"The vessel of the hand of death, the celestial maiden, will render the
greatest power. This woman will be known by these signs: Dragons
court her daughter, Killers watch her, Spies guard her, A lord of
machines nurtured her offspring. A traitor enticed her to false
witness. She lies down with disorder and abides with confusion. Hair
red as poppies, Eyes green as emeralds, Skin white as alabaster, Heart
cold as stone. This woman will deliver the greatest power unto the
rightful king of a thousand years."
I can certainly see how anyone who knew Maeve Voach (nee Brody) would
think that the text applied to her. The physical description is correct
as are all of the other particulars. Poor woman. I am now
even more anxious to go in search of her.
One more piece of information came out of the briefing, Chandrahas, or
the Moon Blade is apparently an historical artifact of Ceylon that was
lost in the early part of this Century. It had been used as part
of the coronation ceremony in Ceylon until there was a dispute over
Succession. The British Forces were called in and the Sword
disappeared. It is Lord Beckett’s theory that the sword was
melted down for its jewels. However, it is claimed that the
artifact belonged originally to the Demon Ravana and passed into his
line when he repented of his evil ways and married a mortal woman–
founding, in the process, several royal houses in this part of the
world. In my, admittedly limited, experience such artifacts
rarely disappear for good.
I told the others what I had learned from my visit to the Umbridges and
of the message from Major Powell. Mrs Cuthbert shared what she
and I had learned of Captain Tiberius’s spirit guide and also of the
Dragon Lady’s abilities to disguise herself. Lady Cowperthwaite
mentioned our visit to Mr O’Brien and his information that he had been
paid by a Captain Sau to deliver a letter to a Mr Brandon “Lefty”
Malloy who is a prisoner at the work camp on the other side of the
island.
By the time we finished our breifing, it was quite late. I am so
tired I can barely hold my pen.
20 April 1875, Tuesday
I woke this morning and joined the ladies in our much delayed defence
class. We found Mr Salmalin out with all four children. He
was teaching them how to fall safely. When he was finished, Daru
and Violet took them back inside allowing us to practise those
techniques we do not really want the children imitating as yet.
After breakfast, Lady Cowperthwaite announced a desire to go
shopping. I accompanied milady on her tour of the market.
We had with us the young boy, Lobsang, as our guide. We listened
to the conversations going on around us while we shopped. Lady
Cowperthwaite bought a lovely sari for our Hostess, as well as one for
herself. We were soon drawn into haggling with the merchants as I
saw a beautiful length of golden brown silk with a gold border that
would quite suit my colouring and not outshine milady.
While we were shopping we heard gossip making the rounds that “Atlas
O’Flaherty” was walking around pretending not to know where his ship
was. Lady Cowperthwaite followed the whispers and we found our
Seamus at a tea shop reading newspapers. Lady Cowperthwaite used
her Kali voice to claim she had been looking for “Atlas”. I
believe she was hoping someone would mistake her for the Dragon
Lady. Our Mr O’Flaherty ignored her, while all the shops
shuttered around us.
Lady Cowperthwaite and I joined Mr O’Flaherty for tea. (Which I made,
as the owners of the shop had fled at the sound of the ‘Voice”).
The Reverend Benson wandered in and joined us. He called
Wilhelmina the “Child of the Celestial Maiden” which did fit in with
the prophecy we had heard last night. When I look at his aura, I
see something similar to what I would see when our friend Hassan would
pray. It looks as though the good reverend has a direct line to
some of the, as Mrs Frazer would call them ‘Larger Powers.’ The
Reverend called Lady Cowperthwaite the daughter or bringer of
strife. Given who her Patron is, that title is not far off the
mark. I had quite an interesting conversation with the Reverend
while Lady Cowperthwaite looked though the newspapers with Mr
O’Flaherty.
We were surprised at the arrival of Mrs Frazer, Violet, Daru and all
four of the children. Apparently Galen had heard or sensed his
mother using the Big Voice and was insistent that he be allowed to go
in search of her. He eventually persuaded Mrs Frazer and Mr
Salmalin to bring him to the market and there was nothing for it but
that all the children must come along.
Once assured that his mother was quite safe Galen, Octavia, Caroline
and Robert all wanted to see the market. We managed to do some
shopping (some of the shopkeepers having come out of hiding by this
time) whilst making our way back to our lodgings. The children
seemed satisfied with their outing and were willing to go with Violet
and Daru in search of luncheon.
Lady Cowperthwaite and I had a conversation about the rather stunning
physically similarities between herself and Lobsang and wondered if he
might not be her half-brother. As Lady Cowperthwaite does not
know her mother’s name the only thing I could think of trying was
asking Mrs Cuthbert to call the woman’s spirit. If she were dead
(which Lady Cowperthwaite thought might be the case, given her father’s
reluctance to speak of her) Mrs Cuthbert might have a good chance of
getting her to appear for her daughter.
Mrs Cuthbert was willing, but the experiment was not successful– and
while this was frustrating, it also meant that it was possible that
Lady Cowperthwaite’s mother was still alive.
While we had our circle set up, Mrs Cuthbert tried to call “Lefty”
Malloy to her. He also, was not answering her call. We
passed this intelligence on to Sir Cosmo. It is quite possible
that this Malloy is also still alive.
Lady Cowperthwaite was still concerned about Lobsang, and had the idea
of asking if she could borrow a ring that he wore on a chain around his
neck. Mrs Cuthbert looked more closely at his aura and pointed
out to me he is covered in a protective spell. It looks as though
someone is praying daily for his safety and that Kali is answering
those prayers. Mrs Cuthbert and I were very reluctant to perform
any magik on the boy for fear of disrupting the spell that was
protecting him.
Lady Cowperthwaite decided, that as Kali seemed to be directly involved
in the matter, she would pray and ask for information. She
entered a trance and was granted a vision. In her vision she saw
a woman giving a small child away to a man. It was clear in the
vision that the woman had managed to sneak away from a temple.
She was Lobsang’s mother and the child was Lobsang. She said that
the boy’s real father must never find him and must never find out that
she was his mother. She cried as she gave her son to the man but
then she returned to the temple– which appeared to be under some sort
of attack or siege. Lady Cowperthwaite had the feeling that
she was going back into grave danger.
It was a very disturbing vision.
I am not sure what we have accomplished today, but I do feel a growning
sense of urgency– a restless, pressing need to put to sea and go in
search of Mrs Voach. The message from Major Powell worries me a
great deal more than I can say. It has been gnawing a me ever
since I received it. I am also very upset at the vision we saw of
Lobsang’s mother. I feel very nearly a compulsion to protect him–
to take on the burden his mother asked of the man in the vision.
I also have the odd feeling that Lobsang is somehow central to the
greater mystery we are trying to solve. However, I do not know if
it would provide him with anything in the way of protection to offer to
take him with us or if it would put him in mortal danger. At
least if he were with us, we could take direct action if anything did
threaten him.
I think I will go and ask Sir Cosmo how long he thinks it will be
before we are underway again.
Proceed to Amaze and
frighten
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