The Pyramids of London

TWENTY-THREE

The trip to the sprawl of workshops, factories and occasional farms that made up London’s west had not been productive: no new haunted automaton stories, and even fewer bored craftsmen willing to take interested children on a tour of the facilities. They were all too busy, or outright suspicious. Nathaner’s, which they’d particularly wanted to look over, had barely spared them two words. The only bright point was a smaller workshop called Gretcher’s, where they were given a cool drink while Eleri haggled her way down to almost all the money she carried in exchange for an extensive fine tool set.

“You drive a hard bargain, young dama,” the workshop foreman said. “I’m making you a gift here, but it’s better than them gathering dust, I confess.”

“I’m glad you can spare them,” Eleri said, buckling shut the last of the packs.

“We don’t have anyone who does the miniature work any more,” the man said sadly. “True automatons have become a luxury. It’s all ugly little boxes on wheels these days, with no thought to artistry.”

“Not everywhere,” Eleri said, with all the determination of the future she had mapped out for herself.

They waved the man goodbye and shouldered their packs. “Enough for the day,” Eluned said firmly.

“Let’s take a taxi back,” Griff said.

“Don’t have the money,” Eleri told him.

“Aunt could pay when we got there.”

“Mightn’t be home.”

“You did keep enough for the bus, right?” Eluned asked.

Eleri only had a few coins left, and they counted them doubtfully, then decided they would take a bus as far as they could go, and hope that wouldn’t leave too much walking at the end.

“What will we do tomorrow, then?” Griff asked, as they trailed back toward the nearest main road.

“See if the Aunt’s right about that automaton,” Eleri said.

“You think it’s really a person?” Eluned asked. “How are we—?”

Griff, a few steps ahead, stopped abruptly and Eluned had to sidestep to avoid smacking into him.

“Look,” he said.

Eluned studied the scene ahead, trying to work out what had caught his interest. Two growlers were drawn up in front of one of the buildings, and various boxes were being briskly loaded. There didn’t seem to be anything unusual about that.

“Roof.”

Following Eleri’s direction, Eluned spotted two cats on the roof opposite the growlers. They were entirely ordinary-looking cats: a fat ginger and a moth-eaten tabby, but their unwavering stares did remind Eluned of a row of ravens. Though cats often looked like that.

“You think they’re being controlled? They’re probably just cats.”

“Except, see the name by the doors?” Griff said.

Ficus Lapis. The company that had been contracted to provide digging automatons and engineers to the Prytennian Underground Rail Project.

“Tiny sign,” Eleri said. “Low key.”

“They look like they’re moving out.” Griff was bouncing on his heels now, excited, but he remembered to keep his voice low as he added: “They’re making a run for it! I bet they’re the ones who wanted to buy back the fulgite. They probably sold it accidentally in the first place.”

This almost made sense. Eluned exchanged a glance with Eleri, remembering Aunt Arianne’s warnings about danger.

“Ask about the parts we’re looking for,” Eleri said. “Keep our eyes open. Leave.”

Eluned weighed their choices. They couldn’t try to follow the growlers—not with less money than bus fare. They could find the nearest policeman and make a very likely ineffectual fuss. They could assume that Prytennia’s investigators knew perfectly well what was going on—or that the cats on the roof really were controlled by the Huntresses—and leave keeping an eye on the growlers to professionals rather than exposing themselves to danger. Not that a glance in the door should be all that dangerous.

The sheer, frustrated desire to do something finally decided her. It was time they contributed, instead of putting all the risk on Aunt Arianne.

“Let’s go.”

There were a few casual glances as they marched confidently up to the wide-open entrance to Ficus Lapis’ workshop, but no particular interest or suggestion of threat. No-one tried to stop them as they slipped past the growlers, and a single look confirmed that the place was indeed being emptied out. Eleri homed in on a weathered little man who was watching proceedings, and began as usual by indicating Eluned’s arm, and asking about fine machine tools, and the availability of parts.

They’d been lucky in their choice. Although the man’s Prytennian was only functional, he was very interested in Eluned’s arm, and particularly in Eleri’s plans for a replacement, and Eluned and Griff had plenty of opportunity to make full use of eyes and ears as the discussion became deeply technical.

Most of the things being taken out looked to be exactly what you’d expect for a workshop that dealt with industrial automatons. Tools. Massive gears. Tubs of grease. But every so often out would be wheeled a middle-sized crate, very stoutly made and so heavy that four men together were needed to lift it into the growler.

They were being quite open about it though, treating the boxes as heavy, but making no attempt to hide them. Eluned squinted through the trees, then slowly recognised what she was doing.

The trees had been there all along, even if she had only just noticed them. The Great Forest, always with her, but suddenly pressing down. Why? What had changed?

Eluned barely had time for the stone sinking realisation that Griff had pulled another of his vanishing acts when he was hauled into view by a sternly handsome woman who had his ear in one hand and a cane in the other. She walked with difficulty, each step obviously painful, but that did not slow her as she called for the attention of the men loading the truck.

Reaching Griff a few beats before the men did, Eluned and Eleri stood firm, though there were now a half-dozen people looming over them and nothing felt safe at all. The woman said something angrily, but it was in a language Eluned didn’t recognise, and the woman didn’t even seem interested in listening to what Eleri was trying to say to her, but instead was addressing an older man coming out of a different room, his progress halting.

He said something back to her in the same language, point clear whatever the words, and Eluned flinched at the heavy hand that grabbed her left arm. She muttered: “Go low and run,” to Griff, preparing to hit out with her right arm in the hopes that surprise could win them free.

“Enough, enough!” said a new voice, and the crowd around Eluned parted to allow a man through. It was Aunt Arianne’s friend Felix, who had obviously not left the country at all.

“What a display,” he said, in very clearly enunciated Latin. “Practically brawling in the streets. What will our clients think of Ficus Lapis, to have this uproar over a curious child?”

The woman said something back to him, again quite incomprehensibly, as Felix rested one hand on Griff’s head, and the other on Eluned’s back—a gesture that she did not know whether to regard as support.

“But there is nothing to see, no secrets to fall across,” Felix replied, still in Latin. “You yourself told me that not an hour ago. Why must we then have dramas, and risk bringing Ficus Lapis’ name into disrepute?” He was now addressing the man who seemed to be in charge.

The older man dropped his chin, and Felix seemed to take this as agreement, steering Griff, Eleri and Eluned through the crowd and toward the street. No-one moved to stop them, or argue, but Eluned did not let her breath out until they were past the growlers, and nothing stood between them and safety.

“Thank you,” Griff said, voice high with relief.

“There is nothing to thank for,” Felix said, his heavily-accented Prytennian difficult to understand because he spoke so low. “That place you live. It has the protections of two gods, yes? Go to it. Go quickly. Go for your lives.”

He gave them the tiniest of pushes, and turned away. Wasting no time, Eluned grabbed Griff by the arm and practically hauled him down the street, Eleri close behind. Eluned knew it wasn’t over. The forest was still with her, looming and dark. She hadn’t understood what it meant before, but she did now: Cernunnos was the dual-nature god, hunter and hunted. The danger was getting worse.

“We need a taxi,” she muttered. “Look for a taxi.”

“Ned, they’re not coming after us,” Griff said.

“Doesn’t matter. We have to get out of here.”

“There.” Eleri began waving her arms over her head, and when Eluned saw what she’d spotted, she followed suit and thankfully the distant figure of a girl balanced above a central wheel dipped, and then came rapidly toward them.

“Lost?” Li Sen asked, the three stabilising wheels of the dragonfly spreading into a rest position as she purred into a stop in front of them.

“Trouble,” Eleri said briskly. “Need to get home before we’re killed.”

Li Sen stared, then said: “Follow me,” and wasted no time sending her dragonfly in a skittering circle and accelerating back the way she’d come. They had to race at top speed to keep pace, but that suited Eluned, who was drowning in trees, branches whipping her face, overwhelmed by the sense of a hunt rising. Her share of the tools Eleri had purchased bounced and jolted with every pounding step, and her breath soon came ragged in her throat, but the forest faded a little in the process, making her hope.

Their dragonfly guide led them straight to Nathaner’s Workshop, and this time there was no chance of being turned away at the door, as they barrelled right in after Li Sen, past stern workmen in the process of stripping down an engine and up to a clearer space near the back of the building.

“Emergency,” Li Sen told the woman who came over in response to their arrival. “What cars are free?”

“Only number two,” the woman said, wiping her hands on a rag. “‘Emergency’ is no excuse for rudeness, Li Sen.”

“I’m sorry, mother,” Li Sen said, glancing back as Griff sat down in a gasping heap. “Please may I take number two? I think this is important.”

“God-touched something sent to kill us,” Eleri managed, between panting. “Need to get to circle at our house.”

“I don’t think we have time to get to Forest House,” Eluned added. “It’s already coming. I can feel it.” She could hear it. Something crashing distantly through the undergrowth, sending up flights of birds.

“Need nearest strong circle or grove then,” Eleri said, pragmatically. “More than strong—strongest circle nearby.”

“The airfield’s Burning Circle.” Li Sen’s mother studied the three of them, then said decisively: “Take the coursers. Li Zhi, help her.”

“Yes, mother!” said a boy a year or two younger than Eluned, lending Li Sen a hand dismounting before dashing off with her to the far side of the workshop.

“Why are you so sure, Ned?” Griff asked, sitting down on the stained floor.

“It’s the bond with Cernunnos,” Eluned said briefly, not equal to explaining all that she was seeing and hearing. “We really need to go. Now.”

But Li Sen and Li Zhi were already returning, each pushing what looked like a very heavy velocipede that supported a long padded seat instead of a small saddle.

“Two with Li Zhi,” Li Sen said, peremptorily. “One with me.”

She threw a leg over the seat and balanced there waiting. Eluned didn’t hesitate, hopping on behind Li Sen.

“Put your feet on the rests, and don’t take them off,” Li Sen ordered. “Hold me around my waist.” She pressed a button and the courser buzzed into life. The sound was deeper than Eluned had expected, not as heavy as a growler, but definitely a full-grown cat compared to a dragonfly’s kitten purr. They started moving immediately.

She remembered to call back “Thank you, dama!” to Li Sen’s mother, and then yelped as the brisk turn out of the workshop stepped up to fast.

Even with the forest looming around her, delight came to steal Eluned’s thoughts. Wind streamed through her hair, and the uneven surface of the road flashed past: a foot carelessly dropping from the rest would definitely be a thing to regret. But, as had been pointed out, the corners.

“Burning Circle’s not public access, but don’t worry about that,” Li Sen said, voice whipping past Eluned’s ears. “We know how to get past the gate. Hope your aunt doesn’t mind paying a few fines!”

The forest loomed thick and dark, and they raced through a narrow corridor of towering trunks. Eluned could see stars above the trees, and heard a thudding, far too close.

“I think we need to go faster.”

Li Sen started to glance back, then concentrated on avoiding a hummingbird.

“A lot of fines then,” she said, and called out to her brother: “Open her up, Li Zhi!”

The boy, already grinning madly, shouted back: “Yesssss!” and then fast became heart-stopping.

They shot, one after another, down a narrow lane where the hedge bent over the road. A dog barked, and a man shouted as they emerged in front of his cart, sending his horse jolting in its traces. An orderly line of children on a day trip from a nearby school broke ranks and chased after them, and the bleating of horns rose on every side.

Still, it was not fast enough. In the forest, hot breath touched the back of Eluned’s neck. In the city of London, the people who called angrily after the two speeding coursers flinched as something slid by, a thing not yet with them but brushing too close for ordinary comfort. Death slipping through the streets like a shark.

Li Sen felt it too. Eluned could tell by the way the joy went out of her movements, and her shoulders tensed. On the other bike, all three riders were hunched low, Li Zhi’s sharp chin almost touching the handlebars. And yet, they were nearly there. Eluned could see the bulky form of one of the great transcontinental airships lifting over the roofs ahead. The coursers slewed around one of the corners, and there was the airfield’s main entrance, blocked by a sturdy looking boom gate.

“Tuck in,” Li Sen said, accelerating toward the gate.

Eluned thought for one horrified minute that she was going to try to go directly through the solid-looking wooden pole, but the gate was designed to keep out larger vehicles, and Li Sen aimed for the gap to one side, and the man who was angrily trying to wave them off. He looked stubborn enough to face down a pair of speeding coursers, but then he stared past them and his expression changed before he hastily retreated into a little guard hut. Eluned did not look back. She could hear a sound, almost like the ocean.

“Lots and lots of fines,” Li Sen muttered, as a claxon started blaring from the guard hut.

They tore past large buildings and out onto a road running along the edge of the vast flat grassy field. Ahead a crowd of people milled about, preparing to board a smaller airship, and the two coursers dodged out onto the grass rather than risk hitting them, although this made progress slower and much more bouncy. The shouts and screams behind them at least sounded more like shock and fright rather than anyone being attacked.

Zipping around the tethered airships, they roared out alongside a well-known building: the compression dome. Shaped like a top that had been cut vertically in half and laid on its side, it was where the Sulevia Leoth commanded the triskelion to bring trilesium from Sulis’ realm: the gas that kept Prytennia’s airship fleet aloft. The Burning Circle stood at the far end, so-called because of its strong association with the triskelion—and the resulting sere and yellow grass around it, withered by heat.

It was also one of the largest circles, dozens of feet across, and each of the stones the height of two or even three people together. This at least meant there was no difficulty in roaring right in, barely slowing down until the last moment, so that they skidded to a stop near the centre, in a cloud of dust and powdered grass.

Safe.