The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 19 - With Friends Like These...

I ran through endless oak-panelled corridors, past row after row of expensive portraits which stared down at my panicked progress through long-dead eyes.

My lungs ached but I dared not pause, lest my pursuers catch me. From behind came the sounds of their relentless progress, and that infernal 'tick-tock' noise which seemed to fill my whole world...

#

Just a few days previously I was seated in the latest of a long line of carriages which seemed to have been designed to convey me from one part of the country to the other as uncomfortably as possible. It did not seem to matter whether our transport was pulled by horse or by steam engine, the end result was the same; a jolting, jarring, bumping ride which served only to set my teeth jangling and gift me with an increasingly bruised and battered posterior.

Kate intruded in my misery by laughing at one of N'yotsu's comments, daring to make light of what was clearly anything but a situation for levity. I had planned a break from London to allow my shredded nerves to recuperate, picturing an endless stream of elegant balls and late night parties; instead I had been forced to endure uncomfortable carriages and bracing walks.

"Stop glaring at us," said Kate. "You've been a miserable so-and-so ever since we left London. If you're hating it so much you could've gone on your own Tour without us."

"But then he would have spent the whole time walking and sleeping in hedgerows," Maxwell observed from behind one of his books. "My brother conveniently forgets that without me he would be without funds for this entire endeavour."

"Correction," I said, folding my arms. "I have not forgotten. How could I with your constant reminders?"

"Now come on, boys," Kate said. "No more of this bickering."

"Please, Kate," I snapped. "Spare me the nursemaid routine."

"Do not take it out on her," said Maxwell. "Just because you have been deprived of alcohol and drugs for all of seven hours now does not mean you can behave like a spoilt child."

I searched my mind for a mature rejoinder to this petty comment, finally settling on: "Oh, p--- off!"

Kate regarded me with raised eyebrows and a slight smile. I remained at a loss as to why Maxwell and N'yotsu had insisted on bringing her along, given that they had no real need for a domestic at home, let alone on the road. Her role as far as I could tell consisted of being a combination of nursemaid and bodyguard, which was frankly ridiculous given that they were both thoroughly able grown men. In fact, the one function which she was undertaking admirably was putting a complete stop to any normal fun that we, as young single men, could partake in. Although granted that was largely theoretical, given my brother's complete refusal to be involved in anything which did not involve either science or books.

Maxwell's reading had been the source of much of the early tension on our trip, as a careless porter in London had waylaid a number of cases containing his precious books and equipment. It was only that morning that the cases had caught up with us, somehow materialising at our hotel in York. No sooner had they arrived than Maxwell had immersed himself in them, with similar gusto to how I approached my blessed beverages each evening. At least it had stopped his incessant whining and pining after them, not to mention his quite insulting reviews of my loaned copies of All the Year Round.

"Aha," he said from behind one of his newly recovered tomes. "I believe I have the answer to the mystery of our foe."

"Which one?" I asked glumly.

"Why, the creature which referred to itself as Andras, of course."

N'yotsu leant forwards. "Which book is that?" he asked.