The Pyramids of London

TWENTY-SEVEN

“Evelyn?”

Lord Msrah’s usually urbane Bound was fraying around the edges: his tunic creased, the hem of his shendy uneven.

“Arianne, I’m sorry to call so late in the afternoon. I was wondering if you had seen Lyle or Lynsey today?”

Rian looked past Evelyn to the car he had arrived in, blinked twice, then said: “No, I’m afraid not. Isn’t Lynsey at Tangleways?”

“She came up for the day. We were to meet for lunch and, well, it’s a long story. I’ll—”

The passenger of the chauffeured tiger lowered a window, and thrust his leonine head through it.

“It is more no news, then?”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Evelyn said, ducking out of Forest House’s vestibule. “Yes, they haven’t been here.”

“Who is that?” Eluned whispered, poking her head around the door. It had been too much to hope that the twins would wait quietly in the kitchen. Rian had felt it too dangerous to not tell the girls at least part of what was going on, and so they’d spent the day inspecting everyone she spoke to for signs of perfidy.

“Prince Gustav,” Rian murmured as, after a brief exchange, the Swedish prince climbed out of the tiger. Very tall, very golden and, as Princess Leodhild had observed, lovely shoulders.

“Apologies I give, of course,” he said, striding forward with snapping energy to grip Rian’s hands, bowing over them briefly. “But there is no time for the niceties. My aide, and his most delightful sister, they did not bring to you the map? They did not invite you on the small adventure?”

“I haven’t seen or heard from Lyle and Lynsey at all today,” Rian said firmly.

“Map of where?” Eleri asked.

Gustav’s momentum was broken as he looked from Eleri to Eluned. “The matched set?”

“My nieces, Your Highness,” Rian said, trying to guess whether this was the lure, and then pushing the question at least briefly into the background. “Come in, please, both of you.”

She herded them firmly to the kitchen, choosing it over the sitting room she usually used for visitors because she wanted the folies as close as possible. The girls had been setting the table, and Rian added two plates, guessing that Evelyn, at least, had not spared time from searching since his friends had failed to appear for lunch.

“Now, Evelyn, take a breath and tell me in order. Why did Lyle want to talk to me?”

“It is this, of course,” Prince Gustav said, before Evelyn could speak.

The prince had discovered the collection of newspapers Rian had been studying, headlines all blaring their theories about crates of fulgite, and the destruction of the Burning Circle. Rian’s day had primarily involved reading about the consequences of the children’s adventures, and being ‘not home’ to the inevitable flood of reporters and would-be acquaintances wanting more. This had fortunately eased after lunch, so that Dama Seleny had been able to escape to her lessons.

The afternoon papers had brought new entertainments, with many pictures of the entrances to the partially constructed underground train tunnels. Fulgite was worth more than gold, and half London had reacted predictably to the possibility that it was lying about under their feet. The Courant featured a highly dramatic image of crowds pressing against hastily-erected barriers bolstered by a double line of police.

“Lyle joined the great fulgite hunt?” Rian asked.

“He investigated this at my instruction,” Prince Gustav said, prowling about the end of the table. “He is one of great resource, not of this rabble.”

“Lyle obtained a map of the projected rail system,” Evelyn put in, “and said he had found an anomaly. He was planning to call on you, to confirm his theory.”

“An anomaly?” Rian said. “What was it?”

“There is the problem!” Gustav said, spreading his hands. “He wished to check some detail, and perhaps to consult with you, and now we have no aide, and no direction.”

“Try Griff’s vampire tunnel map,” Eleri said.

That produced a neat little pause.

“Need to wake him for dinner anyway.”

“Try to keep him from running on the stairs,” Rian said, and explained ‘vampire tunnels’ as the girl departed.

By the time Eleri returned with her brother, Rian had succeeded in coaxing the two men into sitting down, and had sent Eluned out with something for the waiting driver to eat.

Unsurprisingly, Griff arrived in a glow of excited gratification, and a voluminous flutter of paper. He unceremoniously pushed aside plates to spread out his annotated maps of London, with their different coloured lines cutting beneath the printed images of London’s landmarks and houses.

“What did Lyle say exactly?” Rian asked.

“He sent me this,” Evelyn said, producing a crumpled telegram.

ROUTES CANT BE COINCIDENCE STOP COULD USE YOUR EYES BRING OWN CHISEL MEET DUCIERS MIDDAY STOP LYNSEY AND I LOOKING FORWARD RUB YOUR NOSE IN FULGITE STOP LYLE

Rian eyed Griff’s maps doubtfully. “Did Ficus Lapis choose the routes of the lines? I thought their role was coordinating the drilling and maintaining the machines.”

“They performed the geologic survey, and advised on the best locations. No final say, but they certainly had a major impact.”

“And the idea is they knew of a seam of fulgite beneath London, and made sure the tunnels went as close to it as possible? That would mean we’re looking for anything odd to suggest they were trying to get as near as possible to a particular point.”

They all stared intently at the printed arrangement of streets, palaces, gardens, museums and groves. The coloured lines of the expected rail lines cut sharply beneath it all, sometimes curving, sometimes straight. Only a small amount in the centre was coloured blue to indicate that it had been completed.

It was Griff, of course, who jabbed a finger triumphantly on a line south of the river, saying: “Why does this curve so early? It would make more sense if it crossed through Southwark near Bridge Hospital. And this one up here—why not follow closer to the river?”

Eleri leaned forward and placed fingers on the far side of curves, covering up some particularly notable landmarks.

“London’s two largest pyramids,” Eluned said.

“Ha! I have it!” Gustav thumped the table in triumph, and the plates all leapt. “They mine under the pyramids. They are devices for focusing the power, are they not? Their form divine, to the point that even the god-touched of those not of Egypt find benefit. There is nothing surprising to learn the crystals of power would form in such environment.”

“But if you dig too much under a pyramid you might destabilise it!” Griff said, horrified. “Ours aren’t nearly as big as Egypt’s older ones, but they still need solid foundations.”

Rian sat down, working to hide how much she needed to. “There would be a need, an absolute need, for secrecy. They couldn’t risk word leaking.”

Her eyes were on Eluned and Eleri as she spoke, as they made the same connections she did, between forged people and pyramids, and stared at each other and then at her, and then firmly closed their mouths.

“Where was it you said you were going to meet for lunch, Evelyn?” Rian asked, wishing very much to know whether Makepeace really had spent the day lurking unseen and on guard, praying that he was listening now.

“Ducier’s. It’s—ah, I see!” He pointed to a spot directly between the Black Pyramid and the line of completed tunnel. “Right here.”

“You’ve probably visited the Black Pyramid before.”

“Of course. It’s the most convenient for my Lord when he is in London.”

“I know there are conducted tours, but I don’t know the process for vampires. Does Lord Msrah reserve a time to use it?”

“Exactly. Though being Shu, he would have priority, able to override other bookings if there was some need. He would of course have to give way to the Nomarch of the East, but Lady Adiol usually uses the Green Pyramid. You think—what—that Lyle wanted to look within the Black Pyramid for signs of damage?” Evelyn’s face was a picture. “He told me to bring a chisel,” he added.

Not knowing of that wire hand, would they make the same connections Rian had? And could Griff be prevented from announcing the possibility if he realised it?

Mindful of the hearing range of vampires, and of cats, Rian said briskly: “Perhaps he wanted to check whether anyone from Ficus Lapis had visited? Or —” She gestured toward the pile of newspaper. “I don’t think he could have planned to go into the tunnels, not when the entrances are all guarded and there is, I’m sure, some kind of official search. But this possibility at least gives us a starting place. Please, eat something, rest a moment, while I get ready. Griff, Eleri, do you think you could find a small hammer and chisel? No running, please, Griff. I don’t want you sick for another week.”

Eluned came with her to her room, and poked her head unceremoniously out of the window, looking to see what was on the roofs. “How do we know any of this is true?” she asked. “They could be making it up.”

“Or either Lyle or Lynsey could be using them in rather dramatic style,” Rian agreed, finding her sturdiest travel belt and checking over her smaller pistol before slipping it into the main pouch. “But then, I am supposed to be lured.”

“There’s at least an hour until sunset.”

“I know that.” She considered the girl, and thought that she was bearing up well enough, though none of the three had simply shrugged off the Burning Circle. “I’d push to delay them more, but I don’t think Evelyn or Gustav will wait. And I cannot bring myself to ignore the possibility that for all our suspicions the Blairs have innocently walked into some very real danger. Until I return, do not leave this house for anyone other than Makepeace or the Suleviae. I don’t care if your Great Uncle Tobermory shows up to whisk you to my death-bed.”

“Aunt Arianne…”

Halfway out the door, Rian glanced back. Eluned murmured “Never mind,” but no matter how anxious she was to get on, Rian had to go briefly grip the girl’s hand.

“It would be odd for me to claim to have faith in Dem Makepeace, but be assured I think him very dangerous, and more than capable of overcoming so small an obstacle as an hour’s sunlight. If not, well, I am a good shot.”

If only they had not already encountered so many things to which bullets meant no more than flies. But she did not mention that.