“Ponce,” Simon replied as the unfamiliar feeling of a smile crept into hisface.
Nathan laughed. “There are still a few cows running round in the wild, andwe’ve been fortunate enough to have a few people among us who know how to makedo from scratch.”
Simon knew that was true. The survivors they’d dug from the wreckage of thecity had contributed as much to the sanctuary as the Templar. A few of them were even learning how to make Templar armor and use it.
“So how is she?” Nathan asked.
“She appears to be well enough.”
“Did she say where she got that uni she’s wearing?”
Simon briefly considered the uniform Leah wore. None of their technology had yet penetrated the suit’s defenses. “No.”
“Do you want to take a guess?”
Simon swallowed oatmeal. “My guess would be military.”
“Not exactly what the soldier boys were wearing while they were fighting thedemons in the streets.”
“I know.”
“But it’s definitely mil-spec.” Nathan smiled. His background, before theinvasion, had been military. Although he didn’t want to choose between hismilitary duty and Templar duty, Nathan had decided to follow the Templar. When he had been one of those assigned to stay in hiding, he had taken the command hard. “Makes her all the more interesting, eh? Popping into and out of your life as she sees fit. Tellingyou what she wants you to know.”
“I don’t take her on blind trust.”
“I didn’t say that you did.” Nathan looked at the computer chips on the desk.“But she’s responsible for this, isn’t she?”
“She is.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
“Have you ever heard of a man named Archibald Xavier Macomber?”
Nathan thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“He was a linguistics professor who believed he’d foundand partiallytranslateda demonic language.”
“Now someone like this, I should have heard of.”
“That’s what I thought.” Simon took another bite of oatmeal. “Leah’s people”
“Who shall remain mysterious.”
Simon ignored the comment in continued. “found Professor Macomber down inFrance. He’d been in a sanitarium for the last eight years.”
“Lovely.”
“His wife had him committed once he started talking about demons.”
“A lot of people talked about demons, mate,” Nathan said. “Normally mostpeople would just walk on the other side of the street and talk behind the backs of those who admitted such things. Now it’s downright fashionable. What madeMacomber so much the target?”
“There was money involved.”
“Ah, so it was financially rewarding to lock up the professor.”
“Right.” Simon put the empty bowl on the desk. “I’ve been through the Templarfiles regarding Macomber. Wemeaning the Templarknew about Macomber.”
“Then why didn’t wemeaning the Templartalk to him at some point?”
“It was decided that Macomber was too controversial and too public at thetime.”
“When was that?”
“Twelve or thirteen years ago.”
Nathan smiled. “I was still stealing kisses from the girls in theUnderground. And you, as I recall, were planning BASE jumps off prominent London buildings.”
“Not quite then.” It has been those BASE jumps that had brought Simon to theattention of the Metropolitan Police Department and almost caused a huge investigation. Simon hadn’t had any papers. There wasn’t a record of his birthon file in the country. He’d almost been deported as an undesirable immigrant.Only his father’s hand in the matter had smoothed things over.
“You probably weren’t paying any more attention to the goings-on of theTemplar intelligence department than I was,” Nathan said.
“No, I wasn’t.”
“So we must have missed mention of Macomber.”
Simon nodded.
“Even if we’d heard of him, we’d probably have ignored him as much aseveryone else did.”
“Probably.”
“So why did your lady friend”
“Leah. Not my lady friend.”
“My apologies. Why did Leah bring Macomber up to you?”
“Macomber,” Simon said as he looked at his friend, “is in the hands of Leah’speople. Or will be soon. They’re sailing him in from the French coastline in acouple days.”
“Sounds intriguing, but if they’re trying to be mysterious and everything,should she be telling you?”
“Macomber is refusing to answer any questions about the demons. He wants totalk to a ‘knight.’ ”
Nathan grinned. “Ah. She supposes that would be us.”
“Yes.”
“So are we going to talk to him?”
“Macomber claims to know of a weapon that we can use against the demons.”
“Advantageous. I don’t see how we can pass that up.”
Simon silently agreed.
“When do we leave?” Nathan asked.
“Soon.”
ELEVEN
Rather than retreating underground as many of London’s survivors had done,the Cabalist Septs had taken up residence throughout the city in abandoned buildings. They put up wards that hid them from demonic eyes and from human ones. Occasionally the spells were penetrated by the demons anyway and some of the Cabalists were killed, but it was hard to observe the demons while the Cabalists were locked away and hidden.
The observation groups tended to be small so they could move quickly. And so that losses were manageable when they invariably occurred.
Warren and Naomi followed the Piccadilly Line from the West End to Islington. Once there, they abandoned the aboveground railway line and picked their way through ominously silent suburban streets until they made it to Enfield. At that point, they followed the Ponders End Railway line to Enfield. With frequent rest stops and pausing to avoid demon patrols, it was almost nightfall by the time they reached their destination. The only way to safely get around inside the city these days was on foot.
They talked a little along the way, but both of them concentrated primarily on paying attention to their surroundings. They also shared the food Warren had brought from his sanctum.
By the time they reached the suburb, Cabalist lookouts had spotted them and sent word to the others. A small group of horned and tattooed men and women met Warren and Naomi in short order.
Naomi took charge of the brief conversation. Warren hung back to watch those who watched him. He knew that during the last four years he had become much talked about among the Cabalist Septs. None of them had ever talked to demons and lived to tell the tale.
After brief discussion, they were once more on their way.
First Seer Cornish held court in Ponders End in the Enfield district in one
