The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 19 - With Friends Like These...

"The Lesser Key of Solomon," said Maxwell. "The Ars Goetia, to be precise."

"Solomon?" said Kate. "Isn't that some sort of Bible thing?"

"No, not quite," said Maxwell. "This edition is a Grimoire from the Seventeenth Century which lists various Demons supposedly invoked by King Solomon during his lifetime."

"Hmmm," said N'yotsu, examining the cover of the book. "A bit derivative, but I suppose you work with the tools you have."

"What do you mean?" asked Maxwell.

"I prefer the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum."

"What, the one written by that charlatan Johann Weyer? This is a much truer reflection of the facts."

N'yotsu snorted. "If you truly believe that the book in your hands was truly written by King Solomon then I must revise my opinion of your intellectual capabilities severely downwards."

"I have studied this text for many years," said Maxwell. "And found it to be a useful reference point. Do not forget that your beloved Pseudomonarchia was itself drawn from various Mediaeval sources..."

I held up my hand. "Before you bore Kate and I to death with your pseudo-intellectual snobbery, would you at least treat us to the point of all this. Assuming there is one?"

Maxwell glared at me. "There is a point. The name that the Demon gave to itself: Andras. I recognised it from somewhere but I could not quite recall where." He showed us a page, annotated heavily in the margins in Maxwell's scruffy handwriting. "Here it is. Andras, or Marquis Andras to give him his full title, is listed as one of the Demons summoned by King Solomon. Number sixty-three out of seventy-two, to be precise."

"So not one of the important ones," said Kate.

"Unfortunately, the numbers are no indication as to their hierarchy," said N'yotsu, leaning over to look at the page. "It is merely the order in which the author recorded them. One could argue that the later they appeared, the more important and powerful they were, by virtue of them requiring more effort to summon than the earlier ones."

"So what does it say about Andras?" I asked.

"He is described as the Grand Marquis of Hell," said Maxwell. Kate and I glanced at each other and shivered as he continued. "He has the body of an angel and the head of a wood owl."

"Doesn't sound much like our Demon," I said. "Unless these things can change their appearance at will."

"I fear that they probably can," said N'yotsu. "A Grand Marquis of Hell could make you believe he was the Queen, or the Pope, or--"

"Or even your own mother?" I asked.

"Indeed," said N'yotsu, looking up at me with a flash of understanding. A few weeks had passed, but the encounter with the creature which had claimed to be my long-dead mother -- and nearly caused me to commit suicide -- was still very raw to me.

"He sows discord amongst people and is highly deadly," continued Maxwell. "That certainly does sound like the creature we encountered." He went silent and glanced at N'yotsu, pointing at a further piece of text.

"What?" asked Kate.

"It says he commands thirty legions of Hell," said Maxwell. "Of course, that could be metaphorical..."

"A metaphor for what, exactly?" I asked. The looks from the two of them was answer enough; it was probably not a metaphor. "Excellent," I said, throwing myself back in my seat. "So we not only have a Demon pursuing us, but it is one of high social standing within Hell and has thirty legions waiting in the wings."