Alchemist's Kiss (23 page)

She dropped the pipe to the ground and nodded. “What do we do about this?” She pointed to the still-whirring machine.

“Turn it off.” I moved to the panels and looked at the knobs and buttons.

“How?” she asked. I shrugged and started pushing buttons and pulling levers. Improbably the machine's rings moved more quickly, sparks jumping off the thing.

“That did not appear to work.”

I glanced at Lucia but she was as implacable as ever. She blinked at me with a deadpan cock of the head.

“No,” I said with a sigh, “it did not.”

“Cora!” I glanced up as Rivensbrow dashed up the stairs and stepped over Croft's prone form without a second glance. He joined us at the control panel and shook his head. “What did you do?”

“I'm trying to turn it off.”

He swore and started clicking knobs and pulling levers much as I had done.

“Icarus and the others?” I asked.

“Dispatching the last of the orbs.” He shook his head as the machine continued to turn. “This thing is ten times the power of one of the orbs. If we can't turn it off the aether will not be able to return.”

“He said it will power up and produce a beam that will nullify the aether forever.”

“Madman.” Rivensbrow slammed the handle into place and pushed a button. “Fool.”

“Agreed.” Lucia took Rivensbrow's arm in her hand, stilling his frantic efforts. “How do we stop it?”

Rivensbrow's eyes flickered to the machine and then back to us. I saw something in his eyes that scared me as his mustache twitched.

“No.” I shook my head, “Don't do anything daft.”

“Go downstairs. Take Croft with you and get clear of the building. Get as far away as you can.”

“Lawrence.” I used his given name without realizing it. “We can wake Croft, tell him to turn it off.”

“We're running out of time, Cora.” He kissed my cheek quickly and pushed me toward Croft and the stairs. “Get the others and get as far as you can.” I frowned as he slipped a piece of parchment into my hand.

I wanted to argue more, but Lucia took my arm and tugged me toward Croft.

“We can't just leave him here to die.” I said as we took the man under the arms.

“He's trying to save us all, Cora.”

We dragged Croft down the stairs, his feet hitting each stair. I looked over my shoulder at Rivensbrow as he picked up a long piece of steel piping. He would thrust it into the whirling rings, I realized, and jam them. I shivered to imagine the explosion it would cause.

Icarus ran to me as Lucia and I dropped Croft at the bottom of the steps. He pulled me into his arms and breathed long deep breaths against me.

“We have to go.” I pulled back even as he resisted.

“We've disabled the orbs. Once the machine is down....” He trailed off as the tears I tried to hold back ran down my face.

“Rivensbrow is going to blow up the machine. He said it's the only way to shut it down.”

“What?” Icarus started for the stairs but I grabbed him and held him back.

“We don't have time, Icarus. We have to get as far away as we can.”

Archimedes picked up Croft as Bastion and Lucia began to drag the others from the building.

“We can't leave him here.” Icarus argued, much as I had.

“Go, fools!” Rivensbrow called down the stairs, his eyes wild as his hair stood on end with the static charge of the machine. “Hurry!”

I took up Bert's arm as Icarus grabbed the other and we pulled the man from the building and down the stairs, hurrying as quickly as we could to put him with the others in an alley a few buildings down. Machiavelli flew overhead, round and round, sensing the increasing power of the machine in the library attic.

“We can go back!” Icarus started for the building and I followed, grabbing his arm as a massive explosion rocked us, knocking us down. Debris and hot air showered us as Icarus rolled to protect me. I felt the heat and smelled smoke as the ground shook with the reverberation of the blast.

“Ic! Cora!”

I blinked as Archie rolled Icarus off me and helped us to our feet. I staggered as my ears rang with the sounds of the blast. Icarus was bleeding from a cut to his cheek and a long scrape along his neck. I dabbed at the blood as we stood together and looked at the flames roaring into the sky.

“Do you feel it?” Lucia asked, and I did. A spring breeze after a dreadful winter, a song sang to me by my mother. Aether washed over us, now faintly glowing as Rivensbrow's machine began to lose power. I breathed deep, relishing the feeling as my connection to the universe was restored.

“Where's Lawrence?” Machiavelli landed on Icarus' shoulder as Orrin's connection to his familiar was re-established.

We were silent, and the bird dipped its head as its master realized his loss. “He was a good man.”

I turned away and opened the paper Rivensbrow had given me, only to see one word written in ornate, looping script
.
Goodbye.

I folded the paper and tucked it into my bodice, tears stinging my eyes.

We looked up as shadow passed over us, blocking out the sun. “I'll be damned.” Icarus murmured.

“Her Majesty's Royal Air Corps?” Lucia asked as the long ladder dropped down and Captain Levisque descended. The tall man saluted us as he dropped to his feet in front of us, his hat flapping. He pushed up his goggles and grinned.

“How am I not surprised to see you alive?”

Icarus and I shook the man's hand and introduced him to the others. He bowed low before Machiavelli in deference to the Grand Master's presence. “What's the meaning of the inferno?”

“Croft's machine is destroyed. Your prisoner is there.” Icarus pointed to Croft and the other men who still lay unconscious.

“Glad to have him back.” Levisque squinted at Icarus, “I'd be a fool to hope this has deterred your father in his own plans?”

“Indeed.” Icarus put his arm around me. “This only means that he will need more blood to enact the spell.”

“Why does he believe this time will be different than the last?” I asked.

“I don't know.” Icarus looked over his shoulder at Croft. “The spell was going according to plans the last time he tried it, but something went wrong. Somehow he believes it will not go awry this time. He must have some plan in place that I cannot fathom.”

“Percival died, but Robert was there.” I looked over my shoulder at the man. “Maybe he knows what happened.”

“We'll bring him aboard and ask him.” Levisque whistle and several burly men came down the ladder. They put the unconscious men over their shoulders and climbed back up, seeming to have no issues carrying the weight. “Shall we?” He waved us up the ladder and grabbed Icarus' arm as he and I passed. “Try to stay on deck this time, Adept Kane.”

Icarus smiled, even though I could see lines of worry fanning out from his eyes and the corners of his mouth. “I'll do my best.”

I was the last up the ladder, but Icarus was there to pull me on board and into his arms. We stared at the still-burning library until the balloon was too far away to see it anymore.

“I'd hoped you dead.”

Icarus sat down across from Robert and crossed his legs. “Good to see you, too, Robert.” He did not flinch when Croft spat in his direction. “How are you?”

“What did that girl hit me with? My head is pounding.”

“Nothing you did not deserve.” Icarus folded his hands and stared at his childhood friend. Time had not been good to Robert. His twenty eight years showed hard on his face, leaving him haggard and sallow. “Robert, I need to know about Longmoore.”

The man's face paled, his light brown eyes widening as he shook his head, scrambling back away from Icarus and the table. He could only go as far as his manacles would allow, but he struggled to get farther away.

“Calm down, Robert. I want to know what happened during the spell.”

“You were there.”

“I remember nothing.” Icarus leaned forward, hoping to see some of his old friend in the crazed man before him. “You must tell me what went wrong.”

“Wrong?” Croft laughed, his whole body shaking as he rattled the manacles. “Nothing went wrong.”

“The point of the spell was to strip the barrier between aether and the human plane. If my father had succeeded in that we would all be living in a very different world.”

Croft calmed, sliding back into his chair with a sly smile. “Perhaps.”

“Am I wrong?”

“Not wrong, precisely. Deceived and arrogant.”

Icarus ground his teeth in frustration. “Stop playing games, Robert. My father is looking for you. For the machine we destroyed. You know his methods are unsavory at best.”

“He's a murderer and a liar.”

“Unfortunately those are the best of his traits.” Icarus leaned forward. “Do not make me torture you for it, Robert. I dislike that kind of persuasion.”

“What other kind can a Kane know?” Croft tried for bravado but the shaking of his hands belied his false courage.

Icarus almost felt pity for his old friend, but he remembered the flames that had taken Rivesnbrow's life and he hardened his heart. “Tell me what happened in Longmoore, Robert.”

Croft's eyes grew large as Machiavelli flew into the room and landed on Icarus' shoulder. The bird's sharp eyes were alight with his connection to Orrin again.

“Shall I ask, then, Professor Croft?” Orrin's soft question sent the man scrambling again, overturning his chair and causing the manacles to pull tight. Croft crouched as low as he could go, his wild eyes peering over the edge of the table.

“M..M...Monster!” he cried.

“I've been called worse, I assure you.” Orrin looked to Icarus. “I shall leave this decision to you, Grand Adept.”

“No! Icarus, please!” Croft leaned over the table, taking Icarus' hand in his. “Do not allow him to torture me. I will tell you whatever you wish to know.”

Icarus raised an eyebrow at the Grand Master. “Your reputation precedes you.”

“I had cause in my younger years to acquire the skill.” Orrin flapped Machiavelli's wings and left the way he had come and Croft relaxed, righting his chair before slumping into it.

“You have made powerful friends.”

Icarus released Croft's chains with a word. Now in his head he imagined the aether particles swimming through the keyhole and turning the lock, letting the manacles fall free. “A man is nothing without loyal allies.” he quipped, crossing his arms. “Tell me what I need to know.”

“We were boys when your father came to Longmoore.”

“I remember everything but the bonfire.” he urged, waving away the sentiment. “Tell me what happened the night of the spell.”

Croft sat forward, folding is hands. His eyes, still alight with urgent insanity, were wide and earnest. “You were incapacitated by the burn.” Croft's eyes fixated on the gloved left hand. “Show it to me, Icarus.” Icarus hesitated but Croft twisted his lips and Icarus knew he would not continue until Icarus did as he asked. He pulled off the glove and laid his hand, palm up, on the table. Croft's eyes roved over the hills and valleys of the burn. “Extraordinary.” He reached to touch it, but Icarus pulled his hand back.

“You cannot. It could burn your soul from your body.”

“Is that what you think it does?” Croft grinned, shaking his head. “So many lies! How you believed them!”

“Tell me, then.” Icarus tried to ignore the way his heart sped up and seat slicked his neck. Could he have been wrong about the rune all this time?

“In time.” Croft sensed he had the upper hand, and would try to bargain. “First, we must talk of the bonfire. Of your mother, and your sister.”

Icarus was silent. It hurt, but he kept his face impassive.

“Your father came to mine with a proposition. A spell to open the aether to wizards with no restriction. No barrier.”

“As we knew.”

“Ahhh, but did you know there was never a way to remove the barrier from the earth? That is not what the spell was designed to do.”

“Tell me, then.”

“It was you, Icarus. Always you. There is no spell to remove the barrier. Only a spell to turn you into a dark wizard.”

Icarus knew his heart stuttered in his chest. “There is no spell that can do such a thing.”

“There is.” Croft cocked his head, his grin widening. “You were raised by a loving mother and cared for a sister. Those things imbued you with light. Your father told mine that the turning of a white wizard to dark would be the way to create a doorway between our plane and the aether.”

Icarus looked down at the rune.

“So you begin to understand.” Croft narrowed his eyes, his grin dying. “I was never good. My father saw to that. I never had a mother or a sister, and so I was unsuitable. But you, you were very good, and in tainting you, marking you, they opened a way to access pure aether.”

“All wizards are conduits for aether.” Icarus argued, his stomach churning. It's how the aether worked; a wizard could open the way for the aether to work his will upon the world.

“But you are no ordinary wizard. The rune is not a pinhole, like an ordinary wizard might have. It is more than a doorway. It is a floodgate.”

“That does not explain why they implanted false memories. Why they forced me to believe I had....killed....everyone.” The words were difficult for Icarus, his mouth gritty with distaste.

“You could not be turned.” Robert's mouth turned down, his voice dripping with hatred. “Of course, you could not. They almost had you, you know.” He sat forward, staring hard into Icarus' eyes. “You were so close to the edge, and the darkness touched you. Until your mother broke free from the somnolence spell. Her voice, it brought you back.”

Icarus could not help the urge to rub a hand across his chest. Robert's eyes followed the movement.

“You still feel it, don't you? The darkness? Some piece of it must live in your heart, for your father to come here now hoping to finally turn you.”

“He thinks he can force me to darkness?” Icarus shook his head. “Never.”

“What do you think drives you to chase demons, Icarus? Isn't there a little part of you that loves their screams? Some dark part of you that you may pretend does not exist, but you cannot deny? That is what your father hopes to do. He will kill your friends. Destroy your city, to force you to do terrible things in the name of good. But a dark deed in the name of good is still a dark deed, old friend.”

“How did your father die?”

“As I said.” Robert raised a shoulder carelessly. “Killed by yours. When it became clear you could not be turned your father continued to burn the villagers. Our friends, their parents. Even my father didn't see the point in it, and when he objected your father burned him too.”

“You got away.”

Robert laughed. “I crawled through the piles of charred bodies and hid until your father passed out from exhaustion, and then I ran. He let me go, because he knew that someday he would need me to tell you the truth.”

“My father is many things, but a prognosticator he is not.”

“He continued to try to turn you for two years. When you ran away to the city he let you go, biding his time. Darkness is a disease, Icarus. You cannot escape it, and it cannot be cured. He knew you'd stop fighting it eventually.”

“Then he is more a fool than I'd thought.”

“He did not foresee the woman, that much is true. He will try to kill her, try to kill them all, to drive you into darkness.”

Icarus' hand clenched into a fist. “How do you know all this?”

Robert crossed his arms. “He told me, when he came to me in the city.” He held up his hands when Icarus tensed. “I hold no love for him, so do not attack me yet. I was only to be a messenger. He knew of my experiments. Knew I could destroy the aether, and he tried to threaten me.”  Robert reached into his pocket and took out a small sphere, barely the size of his palm. “But I had this.”

“A dielectric.”

“A new invention, smaller and more obscure. Easy to hide.” Robert put it on the table between them.

“Why not use it? Escape from us and try to rebuild your machine?”

“If your father succeeds in his plan he will become the most powerful wizard in the world. If I cannot destroy magic I would not see it in his hands. Know this, if ever I am released I will rebuild my machine, but for now I am safer with you than against you.” The man's sense of self-preservation had only strengthened with age.

“He knew I would look for you.”

“London is your city. A war between magic and science would tear this city apart. He knows you well enough to know you will not let that happen.”

Icarus replaced the manacles and stared down at his old friend. “You know we can never let you go.”

“I know.” Croft sat back and sighed. “I also know that if your father's plan sees fruition we will all die anyway. Your character is the only thing standing between the aether and this world. Try to be good, Icarus. At least until your father is destroyed.”

“I am always good.” Icarus could not control the smile that accompanied his words. They both knew that he'd seen his share of mischief as a child. He slipped the small dielectric into his pocket and opened the door. Robert's voice carried to him as he closed it behind him.

“Then stay that way. For all our sakes.”

Cora was standing with Archimedes and Levisque outside the door when he left the room. Icarus was never so glad to feel her arms go around him and he dropped a quick kiss to the top of her head.

“Did you learn what you needed to know?” the dirigible captain asked. His goggles sat cock-eyed on top of his head, his skullcap pulled tight with the flaps loose.

“Have you ever asked a question to which you truly did not want to know the answer, Captain?”

Levisque nodded brusquely. “An unfortunate hazard of my job.”

“Well the answers I have now are no more fulfilling than the questions I asked.'

Cora looked up at him, “We'll figure it out.” she assured him.

He could not tell her the truth. The idea that he was the fulcrum upon which his father's plans hinged was too much, too damning. Was he the linchpin in a plan to herald the end of the world? Robert had no reason to lie; his machine was destroyed and Victor would kill him on sight. No doubt the Grand Master planned to imprison him for years to atone for the maiming of all the wizards at the hands of the disgruntled people carrying dielectric devices.

“Where do we find your father, and what do we do about him when he is found?” Levisque asked, crossing his arms and leaning his lanky frame against the wall. The repairs to the dirigible had taken a few hours, and there were still cracks in the plaster visible on the walls around them.

“There is no evidence to support the idea that Robert knows my father's whereabouts. With the destruction of his machine Robert is no longer a problem for my father.”

“Where do you think he would go?” Levisque looked at Icarus with a slight tilt of his head, “What is his end game in all of this? With Croft out of the way and his machine destroyed there can be no protection from the destruction of the barrier between earth and aether. What is he up to?”

“Without a blood magic spell of great power he would never be able to do what he hopes to do. It would require the bloody death of a large number of people at once.”

“Icarus.” Cora tugged on his coat. “There is a large gathering today.” Her face was pale as she breathed a ragged breath. He smoothed back a curl from her cheek.

“Where? It would need to be a large crowd, a carnival or parade of some sort.”

“Not that.” She covered his hand in hers, “Wizards, Icarus, and children. Today is the day that the High Houses convene their schools. All the children, their parents and teachers and the members of the High Houses, will be in Trafalgar Square at midday to celebrate the new term.”

Levisque stood straight. “How many people is that?”

“More than enough.” Icarus' mind flashed back to Robert's warning. Victor would try to force him to do terrible things in the name of good.  “How long will it take to get to the square?”

“We cannot fly over the center of the city. The mill stacks are too tall to allow us to pass. We'll have to go around. Two hours, at least.”