Exhausted from the fight with Choshech, the Balance finally made their way ‘home’: only to be confronted by Dr Bathsheba She’arim from something called the Watchers.
She was dressed casually, if in expensive labelled clothes. Her hair was tied back in a bun; her face stern looking and tough as though she had carrying the woes of the world on her shoulders, which is why, when she smiled as she introduced herself, it lit up her entire face.
They considered asking her to come back next morning but who knew what the morning would bring? So far all of the attacks had occurred during daytime but could they guarantee that the “Makat Bechorot”, the Angel of Death wouldn’t attack overnight? That’s what apparently happened in the Bible after all?
Putting on some strong coffee, Mary invited Dr She’arim, “Just call me Batty”, to sit down.
“Dr Tzaddik offered to put us in contact with someone who might know more about the Bargainer? That you?”
“Yes, one of the tasks of the Watchers is to keep an eye on those who might disrupt the balance. The Vandaleu clan certainly fit that criterion, regardless of which sept they come from. They’re all bad news.
I don’t exactly have a lot of information on him though, no-one has. Perhaps I’d best start at the beginning?”
Sam interrupted to ask, “Is there a Library here in Jerusalem?” Perhaps they would be able to verify her story afterwards.
She shook her head, no. “There used to be a Branch Library here but it was attacked and destroyed in the 1840’s when Jerusalem was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Adrian Vandaleu, the clan progenitor, led an attack on the Library here, destroying it, removing its literary treasures and torturing and killing dozens of Librarians and their families. After that, well the Librarians shook the dust from their feet as a curse on the city as they left refusing to ever re-establish a Library here ever again. They can be really petty that way, you know..?
Only a Watcher outpost remains; well, me really.
Did the Librarians ever tell you about the Watchers? No? Not really surprised, we’re the unwanted relation at the feast.”
Realising the question about to be asked by Sam, she continued “Yes, the Watchers and Library are, were — connected. The Watchers are a breakaway group, the Library if they ever speak of us refer to us as a sect. Anyway, the Library decided in the late 1500’s that they would no longer carry out the task of watching and monitoring the mystical community now that the Great Covenant had been enacted and they did not wish to undertake the enforcing of the Pact of the Great Silence.
No, I can’t explain, not here, not now. Ask the Librarians next time you see them what the Great Covenant is. Anyway, many within the Library community disagreed and wished to continue the task of monitoring (or watching) the mystical community. They elected to leave and support the Covenant on behalf of both the Parliament of the Dawn and the Court of Shadows as the neutral Watcher Caste.
Our task is to ensure that the Great Covenant is maintained and if anyone or anything breaks the Great Silence they will call on the independent Auditor Caste to audit the circumstances and carry out any necessary sanctions.
We still maintain cordial relations with the Library and the College Invisible and pass on any mystical knowledge we find. In return… Actually I’ve no idea what we get back. They don’t tolerate our presence in Libraries and are so stiff-necked that… Ahem, back to the subject at hand.
So we “watch”, and one group we watch are the Vandaleu who are the most infamous of all the families that practice dark magic. Well them and the Sylvestri.”
Whilst Batty was talking, Sam gathered up the three Juju bags he’d obtained from Madame O’Tando and thinking on preserving them in case they might be needed again (and improve his ability to breath freely, they stank so badly) placed them in an airtight container.
“So, the Vandaleu’s – God, no, that’s waaay too long a tale, so let me just focus on Wrath Van Deleu. Ah, I should point out that many of the clan are long lived.
Wrath and his brother Wilhelm were apparently born in the 1880’s or 90’s in Amsterdam – the Library will have the exact details and their genealogy stored somewhere.
Anyway, Wrath was supposedly sickly in frame, disabled and weak in the family gifts.
His uncle Gulliver took Wrath and Wilhelm on as apprentices, though it was apparently a sham. Gulliver had gone to great lengths to hide his contact with some mystical entity or entities; I’m really not sure which, from the rest of the family, probably because he planned to use them against his relatives in some way…
It’s believed the Uncle intended to sacrifice both boys. Whatever happened, both boys survived the encounter though Wilhelm was crippled for life.
It is said that the next evening, the Vandaleu family gathered at the Uncle’s home, answering the invitation sent earlier by Gulliver. They expected a trap of some kind, or perhaps a macabre game; either would have been in keeping with Gulliver’s style. They were therefore amused if somewhat puzzled to find the corpse of their erstwhile host laid out on the table in the master dining room. This immediately turned to astonishment when Wrath, who they had one and all considered the least of them, stepped into the room, radiating immense power.
He took that moment to tell all of them he was removing himself from the family squabbles entirely, a status they would either honour or only briefly regret before they felt his power. A power that had transformed him into the Bargainer, the mysterious entity’s agent in the physical world.
As he walked away from his shocked relatives, it is said he paused just long enough to look over his shoulder and mention that should any of them desire instead to do business with his new masters through him, Wrath would be delighted to arrange it… and he would guarantee they received special consideration. That’s the story anyway.”
Batty stopped and took a long gulp of her cooling coffee.
“Since then he’s offered Xanotos deals to the great unwashed. Anyone who accepts one of his infamous bargains needs to be aware that he will always win in the end. The only way to come out on top is to not play in the first place. Oh, he keeps his deals just in his own, twisted way.”
She continued, “If you’re still wanting a ritual to heal the city I know of two possible methods. One is a ritual to use up all magic within a set area. That would reverse the magical attacks; the anorexia, the poisons etc. but not physical wounds or the Bubonic Plague (though it may extend the survival time and allow antibiotics to work). It will not raise the dead and works out gradually from a single point draining all mystical energy as it goes.
It’s called the Wondrous Working of Weyan and it strips the magic from all magic users within the area as well as from any objects.”
Mary coughed and asked, “How would that affect me? I have a mystical bond with a sidhe.”
“Well, the magic will eventually return but I have no idea what would happen to your Faerie bond. Perhaps it would be best to call that Plan B?
The other spell I know utilises the Flames of the Phoros. The Phoros are immortal, immaterial magical beings from a realm of raw and chaotic energy. They appear as floating, glowing spheres of light or fire. Some have likened them to “living stars” and they may be responsible for the legend of the will-o’-the wisp. Magicians sometimes call upon them and their realm for energy and power. They aren’t sentient but they are powerful; they can nullify magic and would only affect mystical attacks, I believe. It requires mystical fire to activate and would instantaneously cover the whole city.”
Mary looked at Sam “Ah Mystical flame, would a Dragon’s flame work?”
“Yes that would be perfect. It would take some time to gather all the ingredients and materials and memorise the appropriate chants and then several hours to perform but I’ve an idea.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a large antique, illuminated snow globe. Inside, were a dozen floating flames, most were bright red but the remainder burned white-blue and surrounded what looked like a floating gyroscope. She paused and looked at each of them in turn then smiled.
She handed it to Akira who suddenly felt a flash of power as his mystical sight was supercharged.
The Red lights were the G’Tach and hurt to focus on. Batty leant over and whispered, “focus on the blue lights we need allies.”
He realised that the largest clump of white-blue lights were themselves… And Bathsheba. The others?
“There are three I can feel. Dr Tzaddik is at Solomon Penitentiary. He can feel me. Wow! Another is the lady we met earlier in the park, ah she’s a bit grey rather than white, but she’s already working on the problem of the plagues… She’s a Bokor, a very powerful Bokor and… She’s agreed to help us and has some of the components we’ll need. She… Ok, tomorrow, Trinity Hospital?”
The contact got indistinct and faded out.
Bathsheba’s mobile suddenly rang. She grabbed it out of her bag and started to speak. “Yes? How? But how did you get this number? Ah, ok so yes mystical flame got that covered, blood from the Kinim – I’ll ask Tzaddik to collect that. Yes we’ve got…” She stopped at looked at the three of them, “we need people with an understanding of mystical rituals ? Yes we’ve got three here plus myself, with Tzaddik and yourself that makes six… We need seven? Seven..?”
She looked at Akira who focused again on the globe. Suddenly a flame flared. In his mind he ‘saw’ a girl in a dark cloak, a young school girl from Claremont Academy.. Why the number 7? “Ah, she’s at a nearby hotel, The Agrippa Guesthouse – she was the girl who fought beside us earlier, the girl in the cloak.
She’s blocking me from contacting her but her name’s Serena Vervaine or sometimes it’s just Seven.”
Exhausted, he put the globe down while Batty tried to explain that she would contact the girl tomorrow, that they should have most of the components in place soon and would need everyone to start memorising a specific chant…
Akira couldn’t help himself, the tracer artefact was shiny, so shiny. He tried to pocket the mystical device just as Bathsheba turned and smiled a wicked little smile and weaved her fingers in an intricate pattern.
Suddenly the globe gave him an electric shock that spread up his arm causing him to drop the globe. The shock reached his heart and… Stopped.
A smiling Dr She’arim reached over, picked up the globe and dropped it back in her bag as though nothing had happened. Near exhaustion and feeling drained, Akira nodded.
She continued talking as though nothing had happened, “We’ll start the chant and incantation tomorrow morning from the roof of Trinity Hospital. We’ll each need to take a turn feeding mystical energy into the ritual. Sam I need you to start the ritual at seven and again at the very end. It will take several hours to complete so I’ll call each of you when it’s time for you to take over. I’ll need contact numbers..?”
It took another hour before Batty left and they could crawl into bed with Sam’s tablet set for dawn.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 