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.”He scowled, pacing the room.“And you’re sure that the army can’t mount an attack on London?”“They won’t have to mount an attack on London,” Gwen said.Waiting in the antechamber had given her time to think.“The revenants will destroy your forces and consume most of the witnesses.And then the soldiers will move in, destroy most of the revenants, and blame the outbreak on you.Anyone who could tell differently will either be consumed by the undead or killed in the flames.”Jack nodded.“Lord Mycroft would not approve,” he said, slowly.“I sense the hand of Lord Blackburn in this, somewhere.”“He wasn’t at the conference,” Gwen said.It struck her as an odd thing to worry about when a horde of undead revenants were slowly spreading out from Soho.London’s sprawling urban areas would turn into charnel houses as they consumed living flesh and grew stronger and more dangerous.And if Master Thomas was directing them, they would be heading straight for the centre of organised resistance.“It was Lord Liverpool who ordered it.”“Lord Blackburn vanished when we took London,” Jack said.He shrugged, drolly.“He’s probably still running.Do you think he’ll stop to catch his breath in France, Russia, or China?”Gwen glared at him.“Were you not listening?” She demanded, angrily.“There is a horde of undead monsters heading towards you and you’re cracking bad jokes!”Jack smiled.“Any rational assessment of the odds would say that our revolution was doomed to failure,” he said.“Jokes are the one thing that keeps us going.”He stopped pacing before Gwen could give in to the temptation to slap him, hard.“I have to talk to my allies,” he said.“I’d like you to wait here for us.”Gwen turned, angrily.“And how many people will die while you debate what to do?”“Too many,” Jack said, gravely.“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”***The antechamber had been designed to allow a number of people to listen to conversations within the chamber without revealing their presence.Ruddy and Davy had taken two of the listening holes, at Jack’s suggestion; Lucy had taken the third.They met him outside as soon as he closed the door behind him, their faces twisted with horror.There was no nightmare more feared than the revenants, not after the outbreaks that had been quelled with so many dead – and then reanimated by a necromancer’s will.Jack had studied what little material there was on the undead back at Cavendish Hall, but most of it had been speculation.Necromancy didn’t seem to obey the normal laws of magic – but then, there were plenty of question marks over just what the normal laws of magic actually were.The commonly accepted theory was that the undead somehow consumed life energy from their victims, using it to keep their dead bodies animated by their living will.As their brains were effectively ruined by death, the undead were unable to manifest anything that reassembled human intelligence, or anything much more than a desire to feed and survive.Perhaps their damaged brains also allowed them a form of telepathy, for they were more dangerous in large numbers.And when a necromancer was directing them with his will.The story was unbelievable, but Jack was inclined to believe it for that reason alone.He knew Master Thomas – and he knew many of the personalities who ran the British Empire.Some would recoil in horror, but Lord Liverpool, who had used military force to crush a dozen riots and uprisings, wouldn’t hesitate for a second if it meant securing London without any further fighting.Indeed, the whole plan had a sort of horrific logic; London’s crowded slums would be burned to the ground, allowing long-held plans to rebuild the heart of the British Empire into a new Rome to be turned into reality.As long as they didn’t lose control of the undead, it was almost perfect.But what if they did lose control of the undead?The largest outbreak of the necromantic plague had been on Cuba, a dependency of the British Empire since it had been taken from the Spanish in 1801.Thousands of negro slaves had been infected, slowly dying and rising from the dead.They’d been a nightmarish foe for British Redcoats and North American Rangers, but they’d eventually been defeated – even though parts of Cuba were no longer fit for human habitation.London – even after the fighting – had around three to four million humans living within its boundaries.How intelligent would the undead be if they had that many within their ranks? It was quite possible that the madness Master Thomas had unleashed would spread out of control.“That can’t be true,” Lucy said, sharply.“The bitch is lying through her teeth.”Jack frowned.“If she was lying,” he said, “I think she would have chosen a more credible lie [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.”He scowled, pacing the room.“And you’re sure that the army can’t mount an attack on London?”“They won’t have to mount an attack on London,” Gwen said.Waiting in the antechamber had given her time to think.“The revenants will destroy your forces and consume most of the witnesses.And then the soldiers will move in, destroy most of the revenants, and blame the outbreak on you.Anyone who could tell differently will either be consumed by the undead or killed in the flames.”Jack nodded.“Lord Mycroft would not approve,” he said, slowly.“I sense the hand of Lord Blackburn in this, somewhere.”“He wasn’t at the conference,” Gwen said.It struck her as an odd thing to worry about when a horde of undead revenants were slowly spreading out from Soho.London’s sprawling urban areas would turn into charnel houses as they consumed living flesh and grew stronger and more dangerous.And if Master Thomas was directing them, they would be heading straight for the centre of organised resistance.“It was Lord Liverpool who ordered it.”“Lord Blackburn vanished when we took London,” Jack said.He shrugged, drolly.“He’s probably still running.Do you think he’ll stop to catch his breath in France, Russia, or China?”Gwen glared at him.“Were you not listening?” She demanded, angrily.“There is a horde of undead monsters heading towards you and you’re cracking bad jokes!”Jack smiled.“Any rational assessment of the odds would say that our revolution was doomed to failure,” he said.“Jokes are the one thing that keeps us going.”He stopped pacing before Gwen could give in to the temptation to slap him, hard.“I have to talk to my allies,” he said.“I’d like you to wait here for us.”Gwen turned, angrily.“And how many people will die while you debate what to do?”“Too many,” Jack said, gravely.“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”***The antechamber had been designed to allow a number of people to listen to conversations within the chamber without revealing their presence.Ruddy and Davy had taken two of the listening holes, at Jack’s suggestion; Lucy had taken the third.They met him outside as soon as he closed the door behind him, their faces twisted with horror.There was no nightmare more feared than the revenants, not after the outbreaks that had been quelled with so many dead – and then reanimated by a necromancer’s will.Jack had studied what little material there was on the undead back at Cavendish Hall, but most of it had been speculation.Necromancy didn’t seem to obey the normal laws of magic – but then, there were plenty of question marks over just what the normal laws of magic actually were.The commonly accepted theory was that the undead somehow consumed life energy from their victims, using it to keep their dead bodies animated by their living will.As their brains were effectively ruined by death, the undead were unable to manifest anything that reassembled human intelligence, or anything much more than a desire to feed and survive.Perhaps their damaged brains also allowed them a form of telepathy, for they were more dangerous in large numbers.And when a necromancer was directing them with his will.The story was unbelievable, but Jack was inclined to believe it for that reason alone.He knew Master Thomas – and he knew many of the personalities who ran the British Empire.Some would recoil in horror, but Lord Liverpool, who had used military force to crush a dozen riots and uprisings, wouldn’t hesitate for a second if it meant securing London without any further fighting.Indeed, the whole plan had a sort of horrific logic; London’s crowded slums would be burned to the ground, allowing long-held plans to rebuild the heart of the British Empire into a new Rome to be turned into reality.As long as they didn’t lose control of the undead, it was almost perfect.But what if they did lose control of the undead?The largest outbreak of the necromantic plague had been on Cuba, a dependency of the British Empire since it had been taken from the Spanish in 1801.Thousands of negro slaves had been infected, slowly dying and rising from the dead.They’d been a nightmarish foe for British Redcoats and North American Rangers, but they’d eventually been defeated – even though parts of Cuba were no longer fit for human habitation.London – even after the fighting – had around three to four million humans living within its boundaries.How intelligent would the undead be if they had that many within their ranks? It was quite possible that the madness Master Thomas had unleashed would spread out of control.“That can’t be true,” Lucy said, sharply.“The bitch is lying through her teeth.”Jack frowned.“If she was lying,” he said, “I think she would have chosen a more credible lie [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]