The Scots' arrival caused a minor stir at Eagle's tent.
"Out of my way, sirr, I am requirred by yourr Mistress Eagle, and will not be delayed." A small, self-important man bustled rudely past the semi-somnolent servant, succeeding in relieving himself of his coat and his wind in the process. "Hail, Eagle, well met in the ascension of the Star of Equivocation, it is long since we of the League of Magia were met in Fellowship, I thank the celestial watchers for their blessing. So, that's over, where are my familiar spirits? Get about it, man, and lose my greatcoat at peril of your life! What's that black-bedecked fool doing, staring at me with his mouth open, Eagle, is he half-witted? You don't usually waste your time associating with such!"
With some embarrassment, Malachi made an effort to recover himself, while Eagle presented him. "...and this, Master Stark, is Master John Napier, a Geometer of some standing by our reckoning, and a leading member of our League. You can learn much from him if you have a mind to." Eagle smiled with half her mouth, as if expecting something more.
Napier did not disappoint her. "Aye, we'll see whether
my estimation is truer than yours. Is this Deutcher wishing to
join us then? At least he can tell which side his bread is buttered.
Now, if you will, I am fatigued and much diluted with the uncommonly
aqueous condition of the airs in these parts and I would take
my ease a while before our business. Where's that demned brandy?"
Indeed, more than a whiff of damp wool surrounded him, as well
as an odour all his own.
"If we return in an hour or so, I think that John will be
rested," Eagle commented, and both excused themselves - Eagle
to be about some other business, and Malachi to fill the time
until the newly-arrived Geometer had recovered from his journey.
Outside, it was plain that the Scot had not travelled alone. Four weary horses stood patiently in the final stages of having their tack removed, and another gentleman with an outlandish accent was supervising proceedings. Before departing, Eagle pointed him out as Master McLaurin, a promising acolyte of the older man.
In an hour's time, more or less, they reconvened in Eagle's tent, where Master Napier appeared to be in a more relaxed frame of mind, mulling over a generous measure of brandy.
"Well, good day to you once more, Deutcher friend. Malarkey, was it not? Oh, I beg your pardon, I am less familiar with the Bible than other, more practical volumes. You are acquainted with my young friend Colin?" The brusque master of the arcane forged ahead without waiting for a reply. "To work. These are the charts of the current conjunctions..."
A jumbled collection of papers spilled across the campaigning table. To Malachi's eyes they were both familiar and strange. The mapping conventions he knew well enough, but some of the crisp lines, sharply defined angles and smooth curves bore little resemblance to his experience. Such markings seemed more like those used in the craft of the architect than those of a respectable gentleman with an interest in field boundaries and some years' experience of military planning. It was perhaps true that some might be the result of artillery plotting... But on such a scale, covering the entirety of the British Isles? Impossible!
"The first thing which you must understand, Master Stark, is that Geometry is the most refined discipline of wisdom yet known to man, and there will be no greater. The Art of Geometry affords its master an unparalleled understanding of the workings of the Universe. The Astrologers see but a part of the whole, as do the Alchemists. The Geomancers are mere dabblers in the lower reaches of what may be achieved by pure Geometry. There is truth in all of them, but they are as nothing to the power of Geometry.
"I must swear you to the greatest secrecy concerning what you are about to see. Such a privilege is not accorded to many men, and I must ask you to respect it, and our craft. You may not reveal what you are told to any but the companions with whom you arrived in this place - for reasons which I will make clear at the appropriate time, once you may be capable of understanding them at least at the most simple level. Do you agree to the conditions?"
Malachi hesitated slightly. As always, commitments to unknown propositions made his skin crawl, as if to let his soul escape through some unobserved wrinkle in the epidermis. How to learn more of their position without such a commitment, however? With an inward sigh, he risked his immortal soul in the balance once more.
"Yes, I will respect the secrecy of your League, and I undertake to tell no-one but my Deutcher colleagues of what I may learn here."
"Good, good. To business then."
With the help of McLaurin, Napier extracted an assortment of brass rods from a long, slender canvas case which had obviously been designed for the purpose of transporting these strange accoutrements. The two then carefully assembled the rods into a gleaming cage of delicate scaffolding which not only rested on the surface of the maps on the campaigning table, but passed underneath it, over it, and in some few cases, by a sleight that Malachi's eye could not follow (for the table seemed undamaged), through it. In a little while, a spider's web tracery of fine silver chains described a glittering network of catenaries through the air inside the cage, concentrating at a number of points where small golden weights hung gently spinning.
"You see, Master Stark, the Alchemists do not have the understanding of the universe and its powers that some would like to claim. The elements hold more power than those dabblers dream of, yet the power is not bound by those elements - it can be released. Meddling with their rare compounds and their powders and tinctures from the Orient achieves nothing. Their thinking is too limited.
"The Geomancers know how desirable it is to relate power to the world we live in. They recognise the strength held within the land, and the importance of key landmarks. They know that there is power flowing through the places we cannot see.
"But they presume too much, they think that the power lies in the earth itself, and can only run through the earth in the fixed ways which they believe they understand. They are wrong - with the greatest respect, Eagle.
"Eagle, you see, is one of our most powerful Geomancers. She deals with the powers which lie in and close to the earth, sensing, shaping and guiding them to her will. Some might even regard her as an earth spirit herself. You will have observed that she bears the mark of her work; it is well for Eagle that her thoughts tend to fly above the common moil. Some of her more bucolic colleagues begin to look, how shall I say, distinctly napiform...
"The Astrologers see more; they see that the power pervades the universe, above us as well as below. But they have no way to reach the stars or influence them. They are just watchers, observers. They have knowledge, but they have no power - they can warn but they cannot prevent - and even they, who know that the power extends everywhere, do not realise that its source is as much here as in the skies. The stargazers are prone to forget that influence is not the province of the spheres alone.
"The strength of Geometry lies in its recognition that power lies everywhere, and in everything, and through everything. We do not tie our understanding of power to the elements, or to the earth, or to the stars. We relate it to all of these things, and to more, and to nothing. Geometry is the purest abstraction of the world which you know, and as such it has the greatest power. Allow me to demonstrate."
With that, Master Napier stood away from the assembly and examined his work with a critical eye. "A poor thing I am afraid, but under campaign conditions one can do little else. Adjust that declinator a trifle, Colin, it is plain to the eye that it is awry. Measure its position with regard to all the major aspects, and be sure it is correctly aligned. We can afford no error with that one I fear, though the others' physical positioning need be less precise." He turned to Malachi. "Do not be misled, Master Stark. The other elements of my construction are as carefully selected as the one which Colin is engaged in adjusting, but in a different sense which may not be obvious to you.
"What do you know already of the Geometer's Art? Eagle tells me that you have some experience of charting. A useful skill to have, but somewhat akin to those of a clerk - necessary, but of little use without the master."
Malachi felt his cheeks flaming at such condescension, but he replied civilly nonetheless. "Why, Geometry is the study of regular shapes and patterns, and has been known since the time of the Greek philosophers. To be honest though, I can't see that it has any power."
To his surprise, Napier let out a hearty laugh which seemed to betray genuine, open amusement. "Excuse me, Master Stark, but I have heard worse definitions from those who should know better. You display naïveté, but that is by no means ignorance, which is a limited knowledge too strongly held. Of course you are not aware of the Greeks' more secret works, which do not have a wide distribution, nor of the advances made since their day."
"Geometry is the discipline which all other branches of science and mathematics serve. Regard this figure..." He pointed to the place where one of the tiny weights was suspended above the map's surface. "The determination of this single point depends on all I have told you of, and more. The attractor, you will observe, is of gold, the alchemists' most noble metal. It is suspended in the air by the silver traces of the meta-constellations, as hinted at by the most perspicacious of astrologers. Each link is counted, and represents a distance more immense than you can imagine. Yet the attractor draws those traces to itself, however slightly. The traces are in turn suspended from a part of the primal geometric construct which pervades and permeates the whole universe - in which the brass alloy represents the brilliance of pure understanding admixed with the hardening of our will which permits the distillation of the idea into a physical representation.
"Meanwhile, as you can see, the attractor is suspended above a particular position of significance on the map of our islands. In this case it is The Isle of Mannan. I cannot explain its full significance in the short time which we have, but it lies between the four nations*, which represent the four elements. As such, it is associated with all and none of them, and is of great symbolic and real importance. Why, even the triskelis of its lords betrays the meeting of several influences at a single point.
"The attractor represents the meeting of many streams of power - Geometrical, astral, geomantical, political, emotional, commercial, the Tides of history. The alchemists do not deal with the paths of power, seeking their own single points of enlightenment - but you may be assured there is a thriving community of their type there nonetheless. They will deny the reason and call it coincidence, but we know what it is.
"By divining, plotting and recording as many of these "coincidences" as we may, we are able to detect the greater, Geometrical patterns which overlie and determine them. Once that has been done, we turn to the realms of Geometrical theory to give us means of altering and influencing the powers to our advantage.
"Enough chatter! My brandy! You may instruct from here, Eagle - let's see if you've learned enough from me to tell our novice true." With an exaggerated collapse - but not dramatic enough to endanger the camping stools' stability - Napier sat down and looked expectant.
"Pull yourself together, my dear, you look pregnant," Eagle began, "And quite what that would do to those who accuse us of crossing natural boundaries between the disciplines, I dread to think.
"Malachi - you don't object if I am less formal than John in addressing you? He is embarrassed by his error in pronouncing your name, although he does not care to show it. Malachi, John has told you something of what Geometry is. I am less well informed with regard to its theory, but I can tell you something of what it means to us - and perhaps to you, for John brings interesting news.
"We of the Magia are each powerful in our own way; but the Geometers' skills are particularly apt to the conduct of war, where the patterns which they observe and influence become paramount. My own skills are by no means useless, but they have an immediacy which lends itself more to tactics than to strategy.
"The work which you see on the table represents a considerable investment of John's time. He has been working on it since I sent word of your arrival some time ago.
"Do not look so alarmed! You will come to no harm - indeed, we have helped you already, for it was Colin who determined for you where the Sulphur might be found. For us, it was fortunate that you found something to be busy with which need not affect the Balance.
"I told John of your arrival because it was plain that you were out of the ordinary, and it is sense to report all such things which may be a part of the pattern. I believe that he was quite surprised to discover your part - it is a most esoteric one, and a lesser theorist than he might completely have failed to uncover as much as he has.
"Your path here is not a direct one, at least in the usual sense. You simply appear where you were not before. Occasionally notables join us from the Continent, but their path is clear. Your is not; although John has succeeded in detecting it, and it can be seen as a direct one, that is only with the aid of the most abstruse mathematical theories. We are forced to presume that you arrived by some other means than crossing the sea - a singular achievement in attaining the shores of an island, Malachi. I commend you on it. Your failure to tell me is less commendable, if understandable.
"Your companions are already on their way to the capital; we have aided their passage where we could, but the vital decisions have been theirs. You may doubt it, but your freedom of purpose is important to us.
"You, and your companions, Malachi, are what a gambler might refer to as wild cards. You are unpredictable, and the exact nature of your rôle has not yet been determined. This is a singular opportunity for us. If through persuasion rather than direct control we can guide you into the midst of our enemies, we may achieve a subtle coup. You will remain your own agents, and so a chaotic element in the equation - but because we are in part responsible for your presence, your influence will be in our favour. It's a fine line, the finer for the time you have already spent with us, and so you will see that we cannot coerce you. It must be influence rather than control, or all is lost.
"We are fortunate that you came to us through some neutral agency, or it could be we who were fatally unbalanced and not, as we hope, the Councillors." Eagle paused, turning to Napier.
"So, Master Stark, it is down to you," he rejoined. "We would have preferred not to tell you this much, merely to quietly open pathways for you as we have for your companions. However, it seems that you have a conservative nature and are disinclined to make a move without considering it in great detail. You have allowed a number of such opportunities to pass. Ordinarily I would applaud such caution, but this is one occasion when it is not appropriate - for us, if we would use you, or for you if you do not want to become a part of the pattern. So now, you must decide whether or not to travel to London, and decide immediately. If you choose not to go, I give my word that no harm will befall you - the choice must be made freely."
Malachi hardly hesitated - a little, out of force of habit - before replying in the affirmative. The chance to rejoin his comrades would be welcome.
"Excellent, excellent fellow!" cried Napier joyfully, grabbing him by the hand and shaking it vigorously. "We'll be about getting you there straight away. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the mode of transport!"
"Have you done positioning the bomb, Colin? Excellent! Give Master Stark and me a moment to arrange ourselves, then light the fuse!"
His voice echoed oddly within the brass cylinder. "Why Master Stark, you look quite pale. Not a touch of the campaign stomach is it? I find field provisions to be of varying quality at best. Or perhaps it's the light in here. The metal reflects the rays oddly. We shall be underway as soon as Colin sees fit to send us."
A moment went by in which Malachi said nothing, and moved not a muscle. Perhaps sensing some awkwardness, Napier struck up once again.
"Quite a masterpiece of the Geometer's art, if I do say so myself," he said, waving vaguely at the thin metal shell encasing them. "Built to my own specification, so you can feel quite safe."
"It depends upon a discovery I made some time ago," he continued, after a slight pause. "It is possible to represent measurements in other forms than those simple linear ones so beloved of the market-going masses. In particular, I have succeeded in tabulating a set of natural numbers such that complex multiplications may be achieved by a simple addition. In an instant, great powers may be released by the combination of two smaller ones." He flourished an ivory slide rule. "As simple as this... Ah, I fancy the fuse has been lit.
"A small charge of powder serves, sufficient to knock us sideways - brace yourself!"
A detonation followed almost immediately, and Malachi lost his sense of location at the same instant, unsure whether he was head topmost or some less natural position. A second or two passed, and it seemed that his confusion might do likewise. Then an almighty thump snatched at his feet and jarred him against the wall of the canister, taking all his breath. Another, lesser, followed, and another. Dimly, he heard Napier cry a blasphemous oath, and repeat it with each concussion. Another thud, greater and more final in quality than the rest, and it seemed that the canister came ringing to a stop.
For a full minute, neither man could speak. Malachi broke the silence. "What in God's name was that? Is it always like this? Why do you have this mad desire to immolate yourself or smash yourself to a pulp?"
Napier was shaking noticeably. "That wasn't right! There must have been a miscalculation. God alone knows where we are! Help me with this hatch!" He heaved innefectually at the buckled hatch, a jagged corner of which came uncomfortably close to Malachi's knee.
"When using the logarithm engine, accuracy is of the greatest
importance, and the greater the distance travelled, the greater
the accuracy must be." He heaved again, with Malachi helping.
"I knew we should have waited til the patrol left Hodcombe
instead of making the detour! But time was of the essence. This
is the first time that travel has been attempted between Eagle's
encampment and London - Colin and I made the measurements on our
way to meet you.
"We must have landed in water, or the heat would be intolerable,"
- indeed, Malachi was aware of small quantities of water splashing
and hissing through the damaged hatchway - "but I don't know
why we don't sink. We should have landed in the Tower cradle,
which rests in a great butt of water by the Tower of London, where
the depth and volume are carefully regulated. Where we may be
now..."
"Hush man," said Malachi, more at home in a crisis, and aware of an approaching tumult. "Listen..."
Booted feet were approaching at the run, and a door slammed wide at no great distance. "Look at it!", a voice cried, "I saw it coming right across the Thames like a skipped stone through clouds of steam, and it struck here just for'ard of the Captain's cabin."
"Look, there's a hatch there, get it open and prepare to skewer the sorcerous devils inside!" With a great rending creak, and a curse or two at burnt fingers, the hatch was wrenched aside. A shocked silence followed.
"Malachi! Will nothing keep you away from my bedchamber?"
spat van Rijn.