Deosil, page 13
The Queen of Shadows loomed in the back of my mind. “The umbrae,” I said for her. “And the ketoi.”
“Yes.” Whyborne nodded in my direction. “The second problem was that strife broke out amongst the masters themselves. One of the pair in Australia murdered the other.”
“Why?” Could such creatures have knowable passions, similar to our own? Greed, rage, envy, lust? Or had the killing been done for reasons we could never hope to comprehend?
“It doesn’t say. But, as you can imagine, the act shook the empire to its core. The masters from the city in Antarctica took the side of the slain, while those in Alaska decreed the killer in the right. As they fought one another, the ketoi and the umbrae rose up, and everything descended into chaos.” He paused. “The author implies that the lone master, which had slain its partner, was weakened in some fashion from the loss. The ketoi managed to destroy it with the artifacts we encountered at Balefire.”
“If only the Source hadn’t been lost,” I said. But we’d had no other choice.
“The masters from the city in Alaska eventually triumphed over the other two and killed them as well. But in the meantime, their empire had fallen into chaos and ruin. The umbrae and ketoi no longer responded to their control. In the midst of confusion and madness, they withdrew from our world, planning to return some day in the far future, when they might resume control.” Whyborne took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. “And so things remained, until Nephren-ka found the Occultum Lapidem.”
Christine scowled. “Blast him. Why couldn’t he have stayed dead?”
“Or not murdered his way to power in the first place,” Iskander said.
Whyborne ignored them both. “He was the first to call Nyarlathotep back into this world. To let something of the Outside return, for the first time since the masters had been banished. It gave them the foothold to begin the long work of preparing to reconquer this world.”
“Do you mean to say the same masters are alive today?” I interrupted.
“Nyarlathotep survived through the eons.” Whyborne shrugged. “There’s no reason to think its creators couldn’t have as well.”
It was nearly incomprehensible. I recalled the weight of time that had lain over the city in Alaska, how dwarfed I had felt compared to the massive architecture, the endless silence. And again in the bowels of Balefire, where Nyarlathotep had perhaps made its own home.
I still held faith in God, but Whyborne’s talk made me wonder about His role in this. I’d never asked myself whether He created what lay beyond the Veil, in the Outside, and to what purpose. Certainly nothing I was learning today meshed with any Biblical story I knew.
Humans were fallible, and I knew from Whyborne that what I’d learned as unalterable truth as a child, had in fact been altered many times with every translation. Perhaps I’d be better served by simply trusting some divine providence had brought us to this moment.
“I do have some good news for Christine,” Whyborne went on.
She perked up. “Oh? Don’t make me wait!”
“The Codex is quite clear that, heralding the return of the masters, Nephren-ka will rise in Egypt. He will then go to the fane and use its power to raise a vast army of the dead. Not only the restless mummies we encountered, but some untold number buried in the Red Lands from time immemorial. Thousands of years of withered husks returned to unlife by his hand. His great army will then sweep across Africa and Europe, obliterating all before it, and adding the dead of those who oppose them to its ranks.” A small smile curled up one corner of his lips. “I imagine Nephren-ka was quite put out to discover himself in a museum in Massachusetts when he woke up.”
Christine hugged Iskander joyfully. “I knew it! Whyborne might not have any sense to speak of, but the maelstrom made its best decision when it called me.”
“Excuse me!” Whyborne exclaimed. “I have plenty of sense, as you put it. I’ll have you know—”
“Later, Percival,” Niles interrupted. “This has all been fascinating, and entirely useless! The point of translating the Codex wasn’t to retrieve a history lesson. It was to find a way of defeating the masters. Is there or isn’t there anything of use within its pages?”
“Er.” Whyborne deflated slightly. “There is, but I’m not quite sure what it means. The Codex claims the priests who opposed Nephren-ka, and who buried him after his death, knew some great secret. Something with the power to bind not only Nephren-ka, but those he served. There’s a copy of some Egyptian artwork—how the author obtained it, I’ve no idea. Perhaps they were a necromancer who called up one of the priests. But I’m not certain as to what it could mean.”
Niles frowned. “I thought that was your specialty.”
“It is,” Whyborne snapped. “But this isn’t a phrase to translate, it’s more a pair of images.”
“Let me take a look,” Christine said.
Whyborne passed her the book. “It’s the symbol for ka, repeated.”
She nodded. “Yes. And this is clearly the heart being weighed in the afterlife.” A slow grin spread over her face, and she exchanged a look with Iskander. “Good news, Whyborne. We’ve seen this before.”
He frowned. “Where?”
“Inscribed on the seal holding the doors of Nephren-ka’s tomb shut.” Her dark eyes gleamed with excitement. “The seal was meant to keep him inside. And I bet it has some magical property that would enable it to keep the masters Outside.”
* * *
I straightened, heart pounding. “And where is it?”
Christine’s grin didn’t falter. “In one of the storerooms at the Ladysmith. It’s not much to look at—just a bronze bar, really—so it was never put on display or closely studied.”
Whyborne sagged back. “Well done, Christine.”
Persephone’s tentacle hair lashed. “What does ‘ka’ mean?”
“The ancient Egyptians believed there were multiple parts of the soul,” Whyborne explained. “The ka was one such part, and a focus on it dominated in the Old Kingdom, when Nephren-ka lived. Later—”
“Ival,” I said. “Concentrate, my dear.”
“Er, yes.” He shot his sister an apologetic glance. “The ka was the part of you that, well, distinguishes something alive from something dead. The part that has earthly relationships and is a member of the community, which is why offerings from family members were made to it at tombs, rather than to the other parts of the soul. As for the weighing of the heart, the heart was thought to be the center of the self. Of consciousness, personality, emotion, everything.”
“It was the only major organ retained in the body of the mummy for that reason,” Iskander put in.
“I bet if we stabbed Nephren-ka through it, it would be enough to kill him a second time,” Christine said excitedly.
“You could very well be right,” Whyborne agreed. “As for the ceremony of weighing the heart, it was believed that before the soul could take its place in the afterlife, the heart would have to be balanced against ma’at—truth, represented by a feather. Evil deeds would weigh the heart down, whereas a life of good deeds would lighten it. So the inscription is…”
“Two ka on one side, and the weight of the heart on the reverse.” Christine shrugged. “Perhaps it’s judgment against the two remaining masters? Or it could mean something special to the priests who ordered it made, which we can’t guess at. Either way, I’m certain the seal could be used, much the same way you used the bronze wand in Egypt.” Her smile returned. “And just think—if I hadn’t excavated the tomb, it would be sitting beyond our reach, while Nephren-ka raised an army of the dead.”
“Wouldn’t it have kept him in?” Niles asked.
Christine looked annoyed. “Presumably the Fideles could have moved it as easily as I did. It isn’t meant to bind ordinary people.”
I held my hands up. “I think we can all agree we owe any chance of victory to Christine, and move on.”
“No wonder Nephren-ka and Nitocris didn’t get along,” Iskander mused. “Her ghūls would have eaten his army of the dead before he had the chance to call them up.”
Maggie looked uncertain. “So we need to retrieve the seal from the museum somehow. Which means facing Nephren-ka.”
“It won’t be an easy fight,” I said. “Not that any of this has been easy. But if we can prevail at the museum and retrieve the seal, we’ll avoid an even worse battle against the masters.”
“Er, there is one more thing.” Whyborne shifted uncomfortably. “The star charts I mentioned…once I deciphered the labels and accompanying texts, the meaning became clear. The masters will return when the star Sirius reappears in the night sky.”
A line sprang up between Iskander’s brows. “The appearance of Sirius marked the yearly inundation of the Nile. In July, or thereabouts, if I recall.”
“Yes. But in these more northerly latitudes, it rises later in the year.” Whyborne’s lips flattened. “Specifically, it will first appear on the horizon about an hour before dawn tomorrow.”
Chapter 26
Whyborne
For a long moment, no one answered my pronouncement. Predictably, it was Christine who broke the silence with a long string of curses, first in Arabic, then in English. Father and Miss Parkhurst both looked shocked at her more colorful turns of phrase, though Miss Parkhurst much less so.
When Christine finally wound down, Persephone turned to me. “Very well, brother. We know what must be done. There’s only the question of how to do it.”
“The Veil will open where the Beacon did—above the eye of the maelstrom, on the Front Street Bridge,” I said. “That’s where we’ll have to activate the seal. At a guess, it might take both of us to channel enough magic into it to hold them back.”
It made sense. The maelstrom couldn’t act directly; it had no hands, no eyes, but ours. We’d hold the seal for as long as need be, the power raging through us…
How long could we withstand it? Was this how we’d die, burned away from the inside by the very force that had created us?
That didn’t matter. It couldn’t. I had to focus on getting us to that point, not on what might come after we arrived. “Christine knows where the seal is, and she and Iskander can both identify it quickly, as they’ve seen it before. But before we can even hope to find it, there’s the problem of Nephren-ka. He won’t just let us stroll in and take it.”
“This is what your army of the land is for,” Father said. “In the absence of Police Chief Tilton, the officers will continue to follow me. The same can be said of the old families whose heads of house are missing. The librarians will fight, of that I’ve no doubt.” He turned to the Queen of Shadows, and though he paled at the sight of her, he remained courteous. “Will your umbrae join with us, my lady?”
Griffin shut his eyes briefly, then opened them again. “Yes. A few soldiers will remain behind to guard the Draakenwood, but the rest will go into Widdershins with us.”
“You concentrate on the museum,” Persephone said. “I’ll return to the ketoi, and we and the Endicotts will do everything in our power to distract their forces away from you.” She rose to her feet. “I’ll see you on the Front Street Bridge, brother.”
I nodded. As she stepped away, Miss Parkhurst caught her hand. “I want to come with you.”
A shadow touched Persephone’s face. “I wish you could, cuttlefish. But we have to swim too far. I couldn’t even leave you at one of the Endicott’s ships. Not to mention the bites of the nereids are poison to your kind. I’d rather have you facing foes on land you have a better chance of defeating.”
Miss Parkhurst’s eyes gleamed, but she forced her shoulders back. “Then…then let me walk with you as far as I may.”
“Yes.” Persephone’s expression gentled. “I would like that.”
Persephone didn’t look back at me as she left. There was no need. Either we’d both survive to meet up again on the bridge…or we wouldn’t.
“It will take time to get our forces gathered, especially the remnants of the old families,” Father said when she was gone.
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “Don’t take too long.”
“We’ll gather what strength we can in the time allowed.” He turned to me, his brows beetling over his nose. “Do try to have some faith in me, Percival.”
I could have asked the same of him. But he was trying. We both were. “Forgive me.”
“In the meantime,” he said, “I advise everyone to rest. You especially, Percival. If I learned anything during my time on the battlefield, it’s to snatch whatever sleep you can, whenever you can.”
I wanted to ask if he meant to take his own advice. But the impulse was unworthy; he’d sleep if he had the chance. Otherwise, he’d do what I’d asked of him and be my general. Gather my troops, help plan my assault.
“There are numerous small chambers we can bed down in,” Griffin said, no doubt relaying the thoughts of the Queen of Shadows. “Jack taught them what we need for comfort, so the workers have lined the rooms with moss and soft branches.”
While Father hurried off in the other direction, we four ducked down a side tunnel. “I can’t believe we’re about to attack the museum,” Christine said before we’d gone very far.
Neither could I. “Take it as revenge for all the awful galas and donor events we had to suffer through.”
It made her laugh, as I’d hoped it would. “Perhaps we should dress for the occasion. I don’t suppose the umbrae can fashion a gown, or white tie and tails? Do you remember the time—it must have only been a month or two after I was hired on—when that one young idiot got drunk and tried to ride the hadrosaur? What the devil was his name? He was a friend of Mathison’s daughter, if I recall.”
“Lee Dachsel,” I said. I’d almost forgotten the incident. Like so many other times, I’d spent the evening tucked into a corner, watching everyone else socialize. He’d been one of a contingent of rich, careless young men, and I’d observed him with a longing I could barely admit to myself. At least, until he’d shown complete disregard for a valuable scientific specimen, at which point any appeal instantly evaporated. “I believe that was the same evening Mr. Farr threw a glass of champagne in Mr. Durfree’s face. Or was it the other way around?”
“God knows.” She sobered. “I wonder if they’re still alive. Any of them.”
“So do I.” I stopped and looked down at her. We’d been together the longest, first as a pair of misfits who found refuge in each other’s company, then as friends, and finally as family. “Christine, I want to say that…that it was my greatest fortune to have met you. I’m honored beyond words to have been your friend.”
“Really, Whyborne, don’t talk like that.” She blinked rapidly. “We’re going to get through this together, do you hear me? And then you and Persephone will seal off our world from the masters, and I’ll have my baby, and you’ll be the best godfather any child ever had.”
She finished by throwing her arms around me. I hugged her back; in such a position, it was far easier to feel the bulge of new life in her belly. There was so much I wanted to say to her: how she’d been a true sister to me, my best friend, the one who was always ready to fight our way out of any situation.
But she already knew it. I’d made many mistakes in my life, but I’d at least learned to tell my little family that I loved them.
“You’ll feel less morose after some sleep,” she finished, patting me on the arm. “Now, Kander, which nest would you prefer?”
As she wandered away, Iskander shook my hand. “We have a plan, Whyborne,” he said seriously. “After all we’ve experienced together, I truly believe that, if anyone can get us through this, it’s you. So buck up, old chap, and get some rest.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Griffin took my hand without speaking and drew me farther along into the warren, until we came to a side room with a narrow entrance, but larger interior. Workers wandered the hall outside, perhaps at Griffin’s request to protect our privacy.
A deep bed of moss and ferns from the forest floor filled a bowl-like depression in the center of the room. I wondered what the umbrae normally used the chamber for, or if it was some sort of guest room they’d devised should humans or ketoi have reason to visit. Maybe if we’d been ketoi, the depression would have been filled with water instead.
Griffin set the lantern well away from the bedding. We stripped off our filthy coats and spread them over the makeshift mattress. Not the best accommodations, but I was long past complaining. At least it would be soft and shared with no one except my husband.
Griffin came up behind me and slid his arms around my waist. “My dear,” he murmured. “What can I do for you?”
I closed my eyes and leaned back against him. His familiar scent rose up around me, and I breathed deep.
Tomorrow, we’d be going into terrible danger. But at least this time we had an army. It wasn’t just the four of us against the world.
And yet I was afraid. Afraid Nyarlathotep had been right, and Persephone and I were somehow doomed. It was foolish—the seal would work. Nyarlathotep was a monster, a thing of the masters, and it lied as easily as I drew breath.
Still, so many things could go wrong. It was practically a miracle we were both alive and breathing, after all we’d been through. If luck ran out, if something happened to me—or, God forbid, to Griffin—
This might be our last night together.
“Make love to me,” I whispered.
His lips pressed into my neck, curling into a smile. “Of course.”
* * *
I turned around in my husband’s arms, reaching for the buttons on his vest. He kissed me softly, fingers threading through my hair. We both smelled of the umbrae’s slime, and of smoke from the fire that had consumed Whyborne House. “I love you,” I whispered against his mouth.
“And I love you, Ival.”
