Chapter 7

I spent the next week more or less moping around my flat, most of what I do involves the study of magic, its uses and practical applications and now I was (temporarily) forbidden to experiment with it. I wasn't even technically allowed to activate the flats security wards without Morgana's permission. Visitors, well, other Mages that is, had to request permission to visit as well and as Morgana was currently not in a forgiving mood, no one was getting permission. Eventually sheer boredom drove me out onto the streets to do some Christmas shopping. London itself was far different to today; there was a lot more variety in the type of shops, not many international brands, though it was lively as the swinging 60's as it was called was in full flow. I decided to opt for jewellery for the ladies in my life, well Róisín and Morgana, and for Arch I purchased an antique sword stick to add to his collection of concealed weaponry. After that though, all I could do was wander and observe, I had little in common with the people around me as generally we moved in completely different worlds. I even looked different, my fashion sense was slow to keep up with current trends and I guess I looked like I'd fallen out of the 50's in the way I was dressed. Though fortunately a suit generally is a suit and I didn't stand out particularly as a sore thumb at least at a distance. As I simply sat in a café and people watched, I did become aware that someone nearby was using magic, though not of a type I recognised.

The way that different races and even factions use magic is very different, I differentiate them as a taste in the air, I know Róisín sorts them by colour, Morgana sees them as layers or strata. This was not one I recognised and so I decided to have a look to see just what was causing it. Wandering through Soho I soon traced the source to an alley between two shops, the sort of place you'd overlook if you were visiting, though dangerous enough after hours. Not that I particularly felt in any danger, Soho was the area I used to visit to sort out my sexual needs and, for all the illegal activities that went on, generally it was safe enough for visitors. Once in the alley the 'taste' became far stronger and I proceeded very cautiously as I had no idea what I was getting into and no back up either. There was no warning, nothing I could sense, but one second I was in an alley in Soho, the next I was up to my ankles in mud and in a very different city. It was definitely not London, well not the London I knew, the stench of rotting waste gave that away. I stood very still for a few minutes as I gradually expanded my inner senses, there was nothing unusual magic-wise, I could sense people moving about, but no portals or wards, no sign of any users either which was unusual. There are several Mages, journeymen and apprentices working in and around my London, some for the Council, others as independents, though obeying Council rules. Either way they give off an aura which tells a magic user that other magic users are about, but here, nothing, no magic at all, though admittedly it is quite easy to mask or shield these signs. Cautiously I stepped back through where the portal had been, but nothing, whatever it was that had led me there had shut itself off or was only one way, not that I as yet had a clue what I'd walked into. I sensed someone approaching and I stepped back into the shadows to observe. It was a woman, but not dressed in any style or fashion I was accustomed too, certainly not modern, nor historical as far as I could tell. Long baggy trousers, seemingly made of leather, a tight tunic and some form of cape. She was also holding a firearm of some type I was not very familiar with, other than it was some sort of pistol and some sort of box with a television screen showing a lot of wiggly lines which she moved from side to side as if scanning for something.

"Scio vos hic estis," she said in Latin.

Which confused the hell out of me, normally my brain converts all languages into English, due mostly to thought happening on the sub-molecular level and not a chemical reaction of dendrites as some thought at the time. If it happens on the sub-molecular level, then generally a Mage can control it, or at least see it's there. At first I wondered if Morgana had put some sort of block on my talent, but then I could scan OK, so that didn't seem to be it. It was then I realised that the woman was not radiating mental energy at a frequency I was used to and my mind was struggling to convert the concepts it was reading. So with a little concentration I adjusted certain parameters in my brain which is as close as I can put it in words as English itself does not have the concepts to describe what I actually did.

"I know you are here," she said. "Please show yourself, I mean you no harm."

'Easy for you to say, ' I thought, 'you're the one with a gun.'

"Please, you are in danger if you stay, I can get you home," she entreated.

Footsteps approached and two men entered the alley.

"Well, well, well," said the taller of the two. "Trying to intrude on Terome's patch again, Ketty? You know he doesn't allow freelance prostitutes."

"I know what he is and what he does," she said. "I know what I am too, not that you can tell the difference."

"Yes, but it's none of your business being here, which makes you our business," said the shorter one.

"Really?" she said, as she pointed the weapon at them.

"Oh, little Ketty has a gun," said the taller one. "You know they don't work on us though."

The woman was looking desperately around for an escape route as the two men stalked her slowly across the alley.

"Enough!" I stated. "Leave her alone and be on your way."

The two men jumped as if startled and I realised they weren't men at all; they were living homunculi, though not of a type I was familiar with, at least not until I saw the fangs, someone here had manufactured a type of nosferatu.

"Run you fool!" screamed the woman. "They're killers."

"Too late," crooned the taller of the two creatures. "One each to play with now."

He leapt straight at me impossibly quick only to fall back screaming as a fireball took him in the chest. Grabbing the antique swordstick I withdrew the blade and used it to pin him to the wall butterfly style as I moved to deal with his partner. He had grabbed the woman and was slowly dragging her head to one side to expose her neck to his fangs when I flung him via telekinesis to one side and sped up the molecular vibrations in his body and he literally burst into flames and dropped screaming to the ground, his body consumed by flame and turning to ash before my eyes.

The woman just stared at me in amazement.

"How?" she asked.

"A moment, please," I said and turned to the tall one I'd pinned to the wall. "We need to talk."

"Terome will hunt you down for what you did to Yod!" he raged at me. "He was property! Valuable!"

"Do I look like I give a damn?" I asked, noting the burn where the fireball had hit had healed though he clearly did not have the strength yet to withdraw the sword. Still I thought, can't be too careful and I increased the molar valence in his joints below his neck until he became as a living statue. "Now, who is Terome?" I asked.

"He's the local ground boss," the woman said. "These are ... were his enforcers. How did you?"

"Magic," I said.

"There's no such thing as magic," she said. "Only science."

"Believe as you will," I said and turned to the nosferatu. "You're going to die, I can make it quick if you tell me what I want to know, or we can do it the way I prefer. Your choice," I lied as I turned my palm up and allowed an electro-ball to form and sputter two inches above it.

The creature turned even paler and was now terrified by the fact it couldn't move either as I removed the sword. Not that I needed him to talk either, the information I needed I'd already scanned from his brain, but the woman was struggling with what I was doing so I concealed my abilities somewhat.

"It's as she said, we're enforcers for Terome. We keep the humans here in line for the Over-masters," he spluttered.

"Where is Terome?" I asked.

"She knows, but it's back down the alley, opposite the square, in the tavern," he answered.

"Who are the Over-masters?" I finally asked.

"I do not know, Terome's bosses I think, but Terome must know, we were given to him by them," he answered. "If there is nothing more then make it quick, please."

I released the molecular bindings to the atoms in his body and with a soft sigh he crumbled into dust.

"What are you?" came a query from the woman pointing the gun at me.

"A journeyman Mage," I replied. "Who or what are you?"

"A scientist," she answered.

"With a gun?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did you set that trap for me?"

"I'm not sure what you are, but I feel happier having this between you and me," she replied. "As for the trap, no, but I suspect it was Terome, I only detected it when I think you came through."

"Where is this place?" I asked.

"You're in the city of Troianova once capital of Loegria, now under Over-master occupation," she replied.

"Who is Terome and is he a man?" I asked.

"I, I, I believe so, he's a ground boss anyway, some have bio enhancements," she stammered. "Are you a man?"

"Yes, of a type," I answered with a smile. "Any idea how he set this up?"

"It's rumoured he has some sort of machine in his basement; he uses it to entrap things from elsewhere for the Over-masters," she answered. "Though as far as I know you're the only ... human to have come through."

"Who or what are the Over-masters?" I asked.

"They are the overlords of this and all lands, they rule by high science and terror," she answered sadly.

"What did you mean by you can get me home?" I asked.

"If I can find out how his machine works; I can open a path back to your ... world? If I know where it is, of course. I'm one of the leaders of what's left of the resistance in this land; my name is Ketty, by the way, Ketty Namquist."

"John," I replied. "Just John, and I'm not sure where my world is myself yet," I said with a smile. "Now let's go see Terome, I want a few words with him."

"You're mad!" she gasped. "He has hundreds of followers and creatures under his control. You wouldn't get five paces into the square before he'd have you killed, unless you were led by his creatures."

"I'm in no mood to be polite to anyone who would set a nosferatu on a human. So we'll see what we will see," I replied

I set off back down the alley towards what I thought of as Soho Square and emerged onto a paved area. I quickly spotted Terome's place as it was the only one lit by electricity, the rest looked almost medieval, though occasionally with modern touches such as large windows and some form of mechanical vehicles.

I was spotted the minute I left the alley and some of the, well, call them goons, though they definitely weren't all human stood and drew weapons.

"Told you," said Ketty, standing behind me.

"Stay behind me," I commanded and walked to meet them.

At my approach the goons paused as if waiting for instructions, until a voice boomed out, "Halt!" When I did no such thing there was a pause then a command "Kill him!" The noise was atrocious as a hail of bullets and some form of beam weapon was sent my way, though as I had been expecting it I simply reversed the velocity on the bullets and reflected the beams and sent them back at the goons. The ones who survived were the ones who held their guns steady, they ended up with mangled, cauterised and bruised hands. The rest were taken down by their own weapons. As there clearly were no innocents in that crowd I simply removed the molecular bonds of their atoms, and as with the nosferatu they simply crumbled to dust. I continued to stroll across the square, with Ketty glancing wide-eyed over my shoulder occasionally. Stopping outside the tavern door I scanned the inside, picking up several concealed creatures, along with a cowering man on the upper floor, no trace of any machine though. I stepped inside and caused the cosh one of the homunculi was using to try and bash my brains in to explode violently in his hand.

"You have a minute to leave now!" I commanded. "If you value your lives that is."

"We cannot," came the reply. "We are under a geas to Terome's cause."

Chapter 8 »