The Witch Watch Read Free Page B

that’s residual from the revivification.”
    “That’s good. I’d hate to face a wizard in a tight place like this.” He looked back at the narrow passage behind them.
    They examined several chambers and found nothing amiss. At the end of the hall they found the chamber of Lord Mordaunt.
    “Bloody hell. They brought back the viscount, didn’t they?” Turpin grumbled as the light fell on the circle of charcoal in the middle of the room.
    “Stop here,” she told the captain, “Don’t follow me into the room.” She walked carefully around the sorcery circle, examining it from every angle. Finally her light fell on the bare stone where one would normally expect to find a body.
    “Yes,” she said bitterly, “His Lordship is up again.”
    “Bloody hell,” the captain repeated.
    She crouched and examined the sorcery on the floor. It was the span of a man’s arms, and nearly a perfect circle. “Such beautiful handwriting. Note how the lettering retains a constant size around the entire perimeter, and yet each stanza exactly fills the circumference without gaps. No sign of erasing, either. That takes practice.” She brushed her fingertips against the floor and quickly withdrew them. “It’s still quite cold to the touch. The revivification was done very recently.”
    “So one of the gentlemen upstairs is the sorcerer,” Turpin said with a self-satisfied nod.
    “Perhaps. But none of them made this. Their hands were clean.” She held up a wedge of charcoal that had been left beside the circle.
    “Blast. So that must have been the sorcerer we saw running off with the abomination. Now we have an abomination and a sorcerer on the loose.”
    “They left us a book to read!” Alice said with mock cheerfulness. She gently lifted the leather-bound volume and cradled it in one arm, and then pulled a ribbon out of her hair to mark the current page. She spent a minute or two leafing through it. “Looks like... another copy of the 1627 Werner Krauss book.”
    “Looks bigger than the other 1627’s I’ve seen.”
    “Yes. Some material has been added. And a good deal of it has been translated into English. At least, the German parts have. Lots of annotations. Looks like this began as a direct copy and evolved into a work of its own over the years. I can’t imagine why they would leave a treasure like this behind.”
    Unable to contain his curiosity, the captain stepped into the room and peered over her shoulder. “Can you tell anything else about its lineage?” he asked.
    “No, except that it looks like it was all written by one hand.”
    “Well, those four upstairs will swing for their part in all this. So we have something to show for our efforts here.”
    “Yes,” Alice said without looking up from the book. “Now we just need to track down that abomination.”

     
    Gilbert stepped off the carriage and smoothed out his uniform. While he enjoyed London immensely, he was always glad to return to Rothersby. As the carriage pulled away, he looked up the hill towards the house and was surprised to see a plump young man trying to push a trunk up the path with limited success.
    “Gilbert dear!” Mother called. She was standing a few steps ahead of the young man. “You came home just in time! Do help poor Leland.” She was wearing a broad white hat to protect her from the sun and securing it in place with one hand to protect it from the vigorous spring wind.
    Gilbert strode up the path to where Leland had given up on pushing the trunk and taken to sitting on it. Gilbert vaguely recognized him as a neighbor, although he couldn’t recall the family name. He was short (although everyone seemed at least a little short to Gilbert) and was wearing an ill-fitting brown tweed suit. Around his neck was a red bow tie, which rose and fell as he heaved for air.
    “Mother, I have some good news for you,” Gilbert said cheerfully.
    “And I have news for you, but it can wait. Help Leland with my new chest before it