Faerie Wars 01 - Faerie Wars (42 page)

Henry repeated the story Fogarty had told him about the demon.

He could sense her growing disbelief the more he talked. Not that he blamed her -- he was still far from sure about Fogarty's story himself. Then suddenly her expression changed. 'Did you say
Beleth?'
she asked urgently.

'That's right,' Henry said. 'He's some sort of demon king, I think.' He regretted the choice of words at once: they sounded like something out of a Christmas panto. 'Look, I know this sounds pretty batty, but I've known Mr Fogarty for ages and he would never -- '

But she cut him off. 'Beleth was the demon Brimstone called up -- the one who nearly killed Pyrgus. How could Fogarty know that name? How could
anybody
know that name? Pyrgus didn't tell anybody. I only know because I saw it in Brimstone's magical diary. And there was another book with something to do with Beleth ...' She stopped, frowning.

'You mean you believe me?' Henry asked with relief.

'I'm not sure,' Blue said. 'If you've just killed someone, then pretending you were controlled by a demon is a very convenient excuse. All the same ...'

Henry knew what she meant. If demons really existed -- and Blue herself seemed to accept that they did - then why shouldn't they take over people? It occurred to him it was a point he might clarify. 'You believe in demons, don't you?'

Blue blinked in surprise. 'Nobody
believes
in demons,' she said shortly. 'They're just
there'
She caught Henry's expression and added, 'In their own world, of course. Usually trying to get into this one. Nighters work with them a lot.'

'Can they take over people?' Henry asked. 'Like, control their minds?'

'Yes, of course,' Blue said. 'Everybody knows you must never look a demon in the eye.' She suddenly realised where this was going and said quickly, 'That doesn't mean I believe there's a demon loose in the palace or that it made Mr Fogarty kill my father.'

'No, but it's
possible,
isn't it?'

She stood lost in thought for a long time before she said, 'Yes, it's possible.'

'We need more information,' Blue was saying. 'I have to get another look at those two books.' She caught Henry's blank look. 'I don't know if he told you, but Pyrgus got involved with a Nightside sorcerer called Brimstone who tried to sacrifice him to this demon. I found that out when I stole Brimstone's magical diary and another book about Beleth. Only my father -- ' she blinked, but went on without hesitation ' -- didn't approve and sent the books back. I was only able to glance at them.'

'Where are the books now?'

'I think Tithonus may have them,' Holly said.

'Can you ask Tithonus for them back? I mean, if you explain they might be important ...'

Blue nodded uncertainly. 'I expect so. I'll send a servant.'

Minutes later, Tithonus's manservant, a taciturn individual named Atolmis, was presenting his compliments. He wore footman's uniform with a canvas sack slung over one shoulder. 'Grave news, Your Serene Highness,' he said formally.

'What is it, Atolmis?' Blue asked sharply.

'The Gatekeeper has asked me to suggest you remain in your rooms for the moment, Serenity. He's in the Situation Room. We have received information the Nightside has launched a full-scale military attack.'

Blue's face was already pale, but Henry noticed she blanched even further. 'I should go to the Situation Room,' she said. 'There may be something I can do.'

'The Gatekeeper would prefer you to remain in your rooms, Serenity. He fears for your safety,' Atolmis said woodenly.

'My safety? Why should there be a threat to my safety?'

Atolmis had large dark eyes that never seemed to blink. He turned them on Blue now. 'Since the death of your illustrious father, my master has assumed the powers of Regent pending the return of the Crown Prince. As Regent he is now in charge of the defence of the Realm. I was at his side until a short time ago. We are -- ' He hesitated, as if selecting his words carefully. 'We are experiencing some difficulties in containing the Nightside attack.'

'But they are under-manned!' Blue protested. 'My -- ' She stopped. Her contacts in the Espionage Service had alerted her to the state of the Nightside armies, but she didn't want to admit that.

Atolmis said dully, 'The Nightside has been joined by demon forces.'

Blue blinked. 'How? How are the demons getting through?' There were always one or two demons in the Realm of Faerie, invited in by sorcerers, necromancers and the like, but a breakthrough by a full-scale demon army was impossible.

Tm afraid we don't know, Serenity. But they have already crossed the Teetion Valley and there is fierce fighting on the Plains of Lilk. Demon reinforcements are marching to join the advance party.' He took a deep, noticeable breath. 'Serenity, it may be only a matter of hours before they threaten the city. The safety of the Royal Family is my master's prime concern. May I assure him you will remain in your rooms?'

Blue nodded soberly. 'Yes, Atolmis. Yes, you may.'

'Thank you, Serenity,' Atolmis said. He half turned to take his leave, then turned back and drew a cloth-wrapped package from his canvas sack. He held it out to Blue. 'The books you requested, Serenity.'

'It sounds serious,' Henry said when Atolmis had gone.

Blue glanced at him. 'That's stating the obvious,' she sniffed. She caught Henry's hurt expression and added quickly, 'But there's nothing we can do directly and it only means it's more important than ever to find Pyrgus.' She untied the ribbon enclosing the package. 'Come on -- you can help me study these books.'

The book felt unpleasant the moment he took it in his hand. It was bound with boards, covered in some sort of animal skin that was smooth and pink and hairless, a bit like ... a bit like ...

It couldn't be a baby's skin, could it? Henry almost dropped the book in panic. Only the thought of Blue's contempt stopped him. But the closer he looked at it, the more he felt it, the more he thought it must be a baby's skin. It had the right texture, the right feel and if you peered really closely you could even see the little pores. It was stamped in old gold leaf with the words,
The Book of Beleth.
Henry shuddered.

All the same, he opened the book.

It was like nothing he'd seen before. For a start, the paper was strange. It was thicker than ordinary paper and had a funny smell. The surface was rough to the touch, slightly porous. And it wasn't a printed book. Somebody had handwritten every word, hand-drawn every picture. Different inks had been used, including one that looked suspiciously like dried blood. On the page he had opened, there were crude drawings of an eye, a hand, a foot, a crown, a crest and a set of long, curling horns. To one side of them were peculiar sigils. One that looked like the Roman letter
I
falling forward on its face was captioned 'Oblique'. Another, which consisted of six lines cross-hatched, had the word 'Manifold' beside it. None of it made any sense to Henry.

He closed the book and opened it again at the beginning. There was a sigil on the first page, inked in black and composed of curls and loops so that it looked for all the world like somebody doodling. Except there was a deliberate feel about it that made him certain it was no doodle. Below the sigil were six words that made the hair crawl on the back of his neck:
Beleth holds the keys to Hell.

Henry found himself in the peculiar position of holding a book that actually scared him. He couldn't shake the feeling it was like something out of a horror movie. In his mind's eye, he could see the innocent young hero stumble on a tome like this in some vampire's crypt. Open it, or even touch it, and the minute you turned your back it would start to glow. Shortly after that, smoke would billow out to form something with large teeth and long claws.

He glanced across at Blue. She had the other book Atolmis had brought open on her lap. It was a lot smaller than the one Henry was holding and a lot less scary. He wondered how she'd feel about a swap, then dismissed the thought as unworthy. And stupid. He looked back at the thing in his hands. At least it wasn't glowing yet.

Henry turned another leaf and came upon a contents page. His nervousness increased. Listed in an ornate hand were:

Concerning Works of Hatred and Destruction ... 5

Concerning the Hand of Glory ... 22

Concerning the Mirror of Solomon and Vessels of Brass ... 30

Concerning the Sanctum Regnum and Binding Pacts ... 36

Concerning the Rite of Conjuration ... 39

Concerning the Almadel ... 55

Concerning the Arbatel of Magic ... 61

Concerning the Enchiridion ... 70

Concerning the Seven Mysterious Orisons ... 80

Concerning the Black Pullet ... 88

Concerning Fortitude ... 93

Concerning Virgins ... 100

Concerning the Silken Cloth and Wands Various ... 109

Concerning the Mystery of Books ... 120

It all seemed very spooky to Henry, most of it the sort of thing you shouldn't be reading at all. And none of it seemed to have much to do with Pyrgus. Henry decided to start at the beginning and work through, skipping anything that wasn't relevant. He turned to page five,
Concerning Works of Hatred and Destruction.

It was a nasty chapter and, despite a resolve to read carefully, he found himself skimming it. But by the time he reached the end he was fairly sure there was nothing in it about Beleth and certainly nothing about Pyrgus.

The Hand of Glory described in the next chapter proved to have a ghoulish fascination. To make one, you waited until they hanged a murderer at a crossroads, then cut off the right hand of the corpse, wrapped it in a piece of winding sheet and squeezed it firmly to get rid of any remaining drops of blood. You then put it in an earthenware jar along with nitre, salt, long peppers and zimort.

'What's
zimort?'
Henry asked Blue, frowning.

'Shhh!' Blue said.

After two weeks you took the hand out and exposed it to the sun during the dog days, or dried it in a wood-burning oven fuelled by fern and vervain.

'When are the dog days?' Henry muttered.

'Oh do be quiet!' Blue snapped impatiently.

While the hand was drying out, you made a candle from the fat of a hanged man, mixed with virgin wax, horse dung and sisamie.

'What's sis -- ?' Henry stopped himself and went back to the book. You jammed the candle between the fingers of the dried hand and the Hand was ready. Now all you had to do was light the candle and anybody sleeping in the house would be unable to wake up until you blew it out again.

Was that all there was to it? A cure for insomnia? It seemed a lot of trouble for very little, even though the book assured him that after it had been used a few times, the Hand of Glory took on a life of its own and would crawl about the place looking for somebody to strangle. You had to keep it in a locked drawer at night for your own protection.

He skimmed the next two chapters then started to read about the Rite of Conjuration. At once he realised this was in a completely different league to the superstitious nonsense that had gone before. It was like a step-by-step technical manual, telling you how to call things up out of Hell. It described machinery you could set up, precautions you had to take, all the -- Henry stopped dead. He'd just had a brilliant idea. The most brilliant idea of his whole life. 'Blue -- ' he said excitedly.