Dark Capital by Helen Susan Swift

Author:Helen Susan Swift [Swift, Helen Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Evenfall - A Next Chapter Imprint
Published: 2020-09-04T23:00:00+00:00

I heard the sharp rap on the door only moments before I left my bed. “That’s surprising,” I said to myself. Foolishly, I checked the time, saw the usual six minutes past six and made my unsteady way to the door, picking up my pistol en route.

When I opened the door, I found a note pinned outside, with the address of a house in the Cowgate and the single letter “D”.

“Oh, very cryptic, Dora,” I said. “But our mutual friend will have to wait until I am ready to rescue him.”

I washed and dressed in a leisurely manner, wondering at the difference between this light and airy house and the darkness of the last, ate a simple breakfast and lifted my staff.

“Now, Mr Swinton,” I said, “let me see how amenable you are to reason.” Stepping across to the mirror, I checked my appearance, brushed a few hairs from my coat, nodded in satisfaction and was about to turn away when I saw the figure standing behind me.

“What the devil are you doing here?” Thinking it was one of the servants, I turned, prepared to thrash him.

The room was empty. I fought the shiver that ran down my back. “I have my Bible,” I said firmly. “You can no longer scare me.”

There was no reply, nothing except my voice resounding in that room. Taking a deep breath, I returned my attention to the mirror, to see the figure behind me, peering over my shoulder.

“You cannot hurt me,” I said. “You cannot influence me in any way.”

The figure was not as indistinct as it had once been, for I could now make out features. It was a tall man in a long cloak, with a prominent nose and a pair of stern brown eyes. I knew he was the same man who had entered my dreams in the West Bow, the man who had merged with my mind.

“I see you,” I said, “but I do not fear you.” With my gaze fixed firmly on the mirror, I stepped backwards until I reached the small table on which I had placed the Bible. Lifting it in my left hand, I held it up. “There, you see? I am protected.”

I had heard the laughter during the night. That was the first time I heard it in daylight, and although I held the Bible high in the air, the laughter continued, mocking me as I withdrew out of the door and into the outer hall, where weak sunlight streamed through the semi-circular fanlight above the door.

“We’re still here,” the voice said as I opened the door and blundered outside into the reality of George Street.

“Are you all right, Doctor?” The hawker stood in a corner, staring at me.

“I am,” I said. I nearly ran down Hanover Street and climbed the Earthen Mound at such speed that the muscles of my legs complained. When I reached the Lawnmarket, the world had awakened with harsh voices, the cheerful clatter of traffic and a riot of colour.

Gripping

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