Prologue
“Rudolf Ziesse is the most dangerous man in Germany,” Doctor Augustus Argent said, “And we think he is planning a coupe more violent than the nineteen sixteen revolution started when the Wilhelmshaven mutinied. If he is successful we could have the beginnings of another war on our hands; a definite threat to the British Empire.”
“So you want me to investigate his contacts?” Major Geoffrey Smythe asked. “You said he was into the night life of Berlin, so I’ll take in the girlie show at the James-Klein review on Friedrich Strasse and find a way to get close to the fellow. It seems straight forward.” Smythe was a tall straight-backed fellow with piercing blue eyes and blonde hair, which he wore close cropped in the Teutonic fashion. He had no mustache like most of his peers and it gave him a look younger than his twenty-seven years.
“It might be so,” Argent said, “ but for the fact that he is a devotee of the Thule Society and considered a master of magic and the occult arts.’
Augustus Argent had been in service to the Crown for many years though his steps were still spry and his carriage as upright as the uniformed cavalry offer he was speaking with. He also wore his hair long and though it was pure white to match his full mustachios to give him an American frontier appearance, his face was not weathered nor lined to match. His age could have been anywhere from forty-to-sixty. The two men were walking along Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon and appeared to be nothing more than an old soldier and his protégée chatting.
“You can’t be serious,” Smythe said, “What difference does it make that he’s a rabbit from the hat sort of bloke?”
“Oh, not an illusionist, Geoffrey,” Argent said, “This man is a magician.”
“What’s the difference?” the younger man said. ”I’ve known so many charlatans in the Golden Dawn Society; but it’s just a bunch of parlour tricks.”
“Magick with a ‘k’, Geoffrey is a dangerous thing; it can control the basic matter of the universe. It can alter the very shape of things and substances.”
“You don’t really believe that clap trap, uh-sir,” the Major asked.
The white haired man smiled knowingly. “I have seen many things in my service to the Crown and my time in the Far East that defy conventional logic; yet there can be no denying that they happened.”
“Well,” the younger man said attempting to mitigate his audacity, “I suppose so, sir, but my job is to get concrete information for you and that is what I will get.”
“Just watch your back, believe only half of what you see,” Argent said, ”and remember you fight for the light.”
Major Smythe nodded and shook Argent’s hand. ”I will get the information back to you sir, one way or the other, you have my solemn promise.”
Chapter I
Berlin was a magic place in 1930; a place of dark magic and dark thoughts. The British spy walked down the Leipziger Strausse smoked a cigarette in a long holder and relaxed into his surroundings. He knew that the key to blending in was simply to be; to have no thought that he did not belong. He took his true self, his inner man who had been raised in the Midlands of England and locked him away inside of he public persona of Dieter Von Holms. He did not play the part of a Saxony Architectural student turned businessman he became him.
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Stories in the Ether, Issue #4
A Digital Storytelling Anthology
$2.99
Stories in the Ether is a quarterly story telling anthology of fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction short stories from Nevermet Press. This issue features 11 compelling works including:
- The Gorgon’s Love, by Martin Shelby
- The Stars at Night, by JC Hemphill
- Big Heart, by David J. Fielding
- The Chase, by J. A. Gonzales
- A New Beginning, by Colin W. Campbell
- The Mechanical Turk, or All’s Well That Ends, by Tucker Cummings
- Shelled, by M. R. Williamson
- Exodus, by Eric Staggs
- The Emerald City, by Per Wiger
- The Occurrence of the Cavalry Horse, by Teel James Glenn
- Empyrean Skies, by David Gaither
With artwork by Paul Hagwood
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