The Secrets of Life and Death (23 page)

It seemed that during the time Jack had walked Ches to the village for some bread and a few other supplies, Felix and Sadie had gone from wary collaborators to friends.

‘I’ve found something.’ Sadie reached for the packet of biscuits Felix was holding out and took a handful. She took a massive bite from one and, as Ches slumped against her legs, fed him the remaining sliver. ‘You said look for conjurations, raising weather, that sort of thing?’ she mumbled through the crumbs. ‘Listen to this.’

She paused for effect, looking better than Jack had seen, with a little colour in her heart-shaped face. ‘ “In the raising of elementals, let the magician beware, that the element of air shall be so destructive as to rend from limb to limb unwary conjurers.” Isn’t that the sort of thing we’re looking for?’

‘Exactly what we’re looking for.’ Felix glanced around the room. ‘Do you have a computer?’

Jack opened her mouth to reply but Sadie spoke first. ‘No computer, no social networking, no email. She hasn’t even got a telly.’

‘I never needed one,’ Jack defended herself. Sadie exchanged glances with Felix. Both appeared baffled. ‘I never wanted one, either.’

‘You are a technological Luddite, you know that?’ Felix leaned on the back of the sofa, reading over Sadie’s shoulder. ‘My research assistant here can look through these amazing books. You do know that is an original
Hasquith’s Demonology
, don’t you?’ He stood up, pressing his hand against the small of his back. ‘I need to go home, get some sleep and a shower. I’ve got some things to do this afternoon, but I’ll be back by this evening with my laptop. You can get a mobile signal here, I presume?’

‘Mostly.’ Jack sat down on the other sofa, and the dog padded over to lay his heavy head on her knee.

‘And Sadie will learn everything she can about elementals and conjuring.’

He walked towards the kitchen, but turned back. ‘The symbols you drew on Carla. Did you copy them off the medals directly?’

Jack shrugged. ‘They are carved and drawn all over the cottage. Maggie’s grandmother is supposed to have used them. They are very similar to the ones on the medals.’

‘But not identical. The ones on the medals may not have even been the originals.’

‘So?’

‘I was thinking. Suppose, over the years, the symbols have been copied. And copied from copies.’

‘Like Chinese whispers?’

‘Exactly. Maybe Kelley described Dee’s original research. If that was what he was doing, perhaps this Bachmeier woman is trying to find the
original
sigils.’ He beckoned to Jack. ‘You’d better direct me back to town.’

Ignoring Sadie’s knowing look, Jack walked past Felix with an attempt at dignity, and out into the yard. Felix had even washed the bloodstains off the concrete.

His breath warmed the back of her neck. ‘Jack—’

‘You are a married man, aren’t you? I mean, you wear a ring.’

‘I’m about to be divorced.’ His eyes were green, in nests of laughter lines. ‘I hadn’t thought about taking it off.’

She turned to look past him, feeling the warmth fade.

‘How did a tornado come into my home and attack that poor kid? I’m fighting for Sadie’s life, here.’

‘
We
are fighting for Sadie’s life. If someone had told me all this yesterday, I would have called the police. But now, you and I – and Sadie, for that matter – are in this together.’ His hands covered her shoulders, and gave her a little shake. ‘I like you, Jack. When this is over …’

She sighed. ‘I might be dead. Sadie might be dead.’

He raised one eyebrow. ‘Or not.’ He laid his hand on her forehead. ‘You’re still frozen.’

She shrugged. ‘We’re always cold. Barely alive, remember?’

He did his coat up. ‘I’ve stuck some cardboard over the broken windows, and brought in some logs. Just stay in, keep warm and I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

‘OK.’ A cold tightness built up in her chest, as she struggled to say
goodbye
, which had somehow got tangled up with
don’t go
.

He turned towards her and slid one hand behind the small of her back. He leaned forward and kissed her, his stubbly cheek rubbing hers for a moment. ‘Be careful,’ he murmured, his words misting the air.

She nodded, unable to speak, and as he turned away, exhaled all at once. She hadn’t even noticed she was holding her breath.

It was a relief to see Maggie drive into the yard. She stared around the house, hands on hips. ‘I leave it for two days, and this is what you get up to,’ she quipped, but there was no laughter in her voice. She sniffed, as if she could smell the force that did all the damage. She passed a hand over the space where the protective charm had been carved into the plaster. Like all the others in the house it had been crushed as if someone had gone around the place with a sledgehammer.

‘I’m going into town,’ Jack said. ‘I have to pick up the hire car.’ Jack zipped up her warmest boots. Swathed in layers of wool and a ski jacket, it was hard to lean forward. ‘I’ve lit both fires, but the place is still cold. Hopefully they can cut glass for the windows while I wait.’

‘Windows?’ Maggie’s eyes were wide as she looked into the living room.

‘Two have gone. Don’t ask me how.’

‘The place stinks of elemental energy, that’s how.’ Maggie touched the table, then brushed her hands clean. ‘I’ll start a deep cleansing, see if we can clean up the atmosphere a bit.’ She hesitated, looking at Jack. ‘I’ll get Sadie to help, and see if we can teach her a few tricks to protect herself in the future.’

‘She’s a bit battered, but …’ Jack couldn’t find the word to describe the mood Sadie was in. ‘She’s bounced back. I don’t know how she survived.’

Maggie rolled up her sleeves. ‘She’s tough. Good job. Go on, we’ll be fine.’

Jack left Maggie explaining spell casting to Sadie. A gate, partly hidden in the hedge, led onto the field and the footpath. It took a while to cross the quiet field, and she had the feeling she was being watched. Paranoia, she decided as she scanned the bushes and paths, from the events of the last day. A single rook cawed over and over, hopelessly calling its lost mate. Spiders’ webs silvered with dew picked up the weak sunshine, and the last of the hawthorn berries shrivelled in the cold. She wished she had brought the dog for company, but he was too shaken up.

She had warmed up a little, but whatever hex grenade Pierce had slipped into her bag, the effects were still lingering. She felt as if the wind was blowing straight through her as she clambered over each stile and gate on the footpath to the railway halt.

She let her mind roam over what Felix had said, and how he had said it. Was this what women saw in men? Christ, she had only known him five minutes, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Even Sadie seemed to know more about it than Jack, asking searching questions all morning, and causing Maggie to watch her and drop hints. She wasn’t ready to talk about Felix, not before she understood it herself. She boarded the train for the three stops into town.

She had left the car less than a mile from the city station, and she felt warmer once she got walking. She had just reached the vehicle when the phone rang. She jumped, and fumbled to open the phone and press buttons with her thick gloves.

Maggie’s voice was higher pitched than normal. ‘Jack, a car has stopped outside, and now they’re looking at the house. I think it’s the police.’

‘What? You need to hide Sadie.’

Jack could hear Maggie’s irregular breathing. Then a whisper. ‘The car’s coming into the yard, with two men. What do I do? She can’t leave the house yet. She’ll die.’

‘Take Ches and Sadie into the priest hole. The panel at the end of Sadie’s bed, it’s a tunnel to the inspection bay in the garage. I found it years ago. It’s just a crawl space, but you should be able to make it.’

‘But Sadie? She won’t survive it.’

‘I scratched sigils, right through to the garage. I’ll get there as soon as I can.’

Jack broke off the call, and got into the hire car. She had scribed sigils in spit and salt under the seats and on the roof, but that was only just enough for her, let alone Sadie. She put it to the back of her mind. She knew that if Sadie left the circle, she would probably be dead by the time Jack got there.

‘I tried, without success, to make my captors understand the importance of medical science. I wished to bleed Dee, as his colour was high and his pulse tumultuous, but was forcibly prevented by two soldiers, who thought, perhaps, I threatened his life.’

Edward Kelley
From his own journal, 4 December 1585
Csejte Castle

I was relieved to see Dee sleeping peacefully, and a servant woman watching over him. She was spinning from a long spindle, and nodded to me as I shut the door to my own chamber. I was shaken by the words of László Báthory. No one knew we were at Csejte, although many would guess. If we disappeared there would be disapproval, but no proof. Our bodies could be stripped and dumped in the forest and our bones would lie naked on foreign soil. I undressed for bed in a melancholy mood, slipping my dagger under my pillow.

By dawn, I had slept poorly, and dreamed of dragons and treachery when I did. I dressed and tried to find comfort in prayer. I then decided to at least become familiar with our prison, in case a chance for escape offered itself.

The main rooms were being swept by servants, and fires laid, with food being put out on tables in the hall. I heard some deep voice calling for someone in Hungarian, and ducked down the corridor towards the library.

I tried the door to the chapel, and it opened. Before the altar rested a small covered box, some servant’s casket perhaps. It was surrounded by rush lights. I crossed myself from habit, offering a small prayer for the dead, as I looked around at the wall hangings. I lifted the edge of one, then another, working my way around the room. One, to the side of the altar, concealed a low door. I wondered if it led to the countess’s quarters. It was locked.

The sound of footsteps made me jump, and in my fearful state, I ducked behind the altar as the door creaked open. Women’s voices murmured at the coffin. I looked around the side, but could see nothing except the rough lid of the simple box, lifted off. One began to wail as if in pain, and the others offered soothing clucks. Finally, they prayed. When they left, I crouched for a minute to make sure I was alone, then crept out. As I passed the box, my curiosity afflicted me. I lifted the lid, just a crack, and saw a shrunken body lying on a folded shroud.

The body was that of a child, her face now the colour of the linens she was laid upon. Livid on her neck and hands were symbols, shapes that reminded me of the scars on the countess. I looked at her white face, and recognised the fearful child who had walked behind the witch. A gash in her neck gaped open. She had been bled like a slaughtered pig.

There was no opportunity to speak to Dee upon the next day, as we were never left alone. Someone always seemed to be listening, and I dared not converse in English lest they get suspicious. Instead, Dee and I examined the documents given to us. There were letters from scholars, patrons, botanists and doctors that the count himself had consulted for his wife. There were even papers from the emperor. Dee cast a number of horoscopes, inscribing them with care on fine vellum and worrying about exact calculations.

I worked on a number of herbals in Latin, and two fat treatises in German. But I could feel Dee watching me, as the cloud began to descend upon me.

‘Edward.’

I looked up, very conscious of the manservant trimming the lamps, as he lit them against the evening. ‘Master?’

‘Are you being visited?’

It was our code for the voices that whispered in my head from time to time. ‘I … I am.’ I was reluctant to admit it, but the sound was growing more insistent.

‘If you would consent, we could ask higher beings for assistance.’ His voice was gentle but there was a frown upon his brow. ‘I fear Lord Nádasdy will be – disappointed – if we cannot help his lady. These books, though interesting, are unlikely to bear fruit.’

I leaned back in my chair, easing my shoulders that were cramped with leaning over spindly script from one of the King of Hungary’s physicians. ‘Dr Andrassy recommends spiders’ webs collected at the full moon, in mead. He writes that it helps with barrenness. He used it with some success with Count Nádasdy’s mother.’

‘I fear more for her life, Edward, than her womb. I have a recipe here for a remedy involving taking the patient’s blood, and placing it inside a blown egg.’

I must have looked sceptical. He smiled, adding: ‘Then we are to feed the egg to a black hunting dog, then kill it. This is believed to take away the choleric humours that may be affecting her ladyship.’ He took a deep breath, moderating his tone so he would not be overheard. ‘Of course, to consult the angels, we will need to be completely alone.’

I nudged the door closed and sat beside the crackling fire, speaking in English.

‘I am not certain, Master Dee.’

‘What concerns you, Edward?’

‘I found a child within the countess’s chapel.’ I dared not tell him the whole of my suspicions.

He frowned, as if puzzled. ‘Children die, Edward, their souls are much nearer to God. Why does this pain you so much?’

‘I saw the same child yesterday, brought by a witch into the castle. She was mortally afraid, Master.’ I stumbled over the words. ‘The witch, Zsófia, she made a potion to sustain the countess. It was spiced with herbs, but thickened with blood.’

Dee’s voice was reasonable. ‘Blood has been used as a tonic for centuries. Horse and cattle blood is a stimulant and strengthens the vital reactions.’

‘I don’t think it was animal blood she was using.’ I stumbled over the words. ‘Master, since we have been here, I have been hearing the whispers of the
others
…’

Dee shook himself out of his melancholy. ‘What do they say?’

I couldn’t say that the angels’ voices filled me with such dread I was revolted, and tried to shut them out. ‘I don’t know what they are saying. But they seem voices of foreboding and warning.’

‘Edward, I am reminded of the story of Pope Innocent the Eighth. His final illness was so profound, and so unwelcome, that his advisers sought to save him by feeding him the blood of young boys.’