The Brothers Cabal (48 page)

 

AUTHOR'S FURTHER AFTERWORD

There. Not quite as ‘Happy ever after' as if you'd paid me any attention and stopped when I told you to, but still nice enough. Now stop. On no account read the final epilogue. Just leave well enough alone. Shoo.

JLH

 

 

 

THE NASTY EPILOGUE

Two thousand feet up, hidden in the scudding cloud, the aeroyacht
Catullus
held station above the action below. The castle had been taken and would be permitted to be left in the hands of the attackers for two hours only. Less, if they showed any sign of trying to burn the place down. Then the Katamenian bandits would counterattack, and the Dee Society et al would be suffered to beat a hasty retreat. After all, their mission was a success. Or so they thought.

In the observation room, Lady Misericorde and Lady Ninuka and the Red Queen all sat together in the same person and watched the fires guttering on the site of battle. She had abandoned the castle immediately after the fight between Horst Cabal and the shapechangers had begun, made her way out by diverse hidden means, and rendezvoused with her faithful lickspittle Encausse, who had taken her to the waiting
Catullus
. Now she watched and she considered matters.

Alsager was dead, which was to be expected, but the loss of almost all his lycanthropes was not. Still, such things happen in war. She would find some more from elsewhere. She had the reins of the
Ministerium
now and there were already agents en route to deal with any recalcitrant minor ministers. By tomorrow she'd have the interior decorators back into the castle, making good the ravages of battle. Using Maleficarus had been a calculated risk; there was always the chance that Cabal would fail and the Ereshkigal Working would be unleashed once more, probably finally and fatally for the world. Not that she cared. She no longer had any fear of death. Hadn't she died once already?

Does he have the book?

She looked at the ebony urn by her side, the coat of arms of Marechal upon it. She knew it didn't really speak. That would be absurd. No, she was insane. That made far more sense.

‘I gave him long enough to find it,' she said distractedly.

You're a clever girl
.

‘Thank you, Daddy.'

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

The book you have just read is, of course, all my work and nobody else had a damn thing to do with it. More lily-livered authors might feel constrained to thank their editors (Peter Joseph, and copyeditor Bethany Reis), their agents (Sam Copeland of Rogers, Coleridge & White in the UK and Melissa Chinchillo of Fletcher & Company in the US), and artists (Michael J. Windsor for the cover and Linda “Snugbat” Smith for the chapter heads).

They might even feel some sort of necessity in my position to mention that I borrowed (with permission) the names “Mink Choi” and “Dea Boom” from real folk, because they are excellent names and I wanted to use them (I now return them, and apologies if they got scuffed at all. Thank you, Mink and Dea).

But not me, obviously. This book is entirely a product of my own incandescent genius.

Unless you didn't like it, in which case it's all their fault. Nothing to do with me. It was like that when I got here.

JLH

 

Also by Jonathan L. Howard

THE JOHANNES CABAL NOVELS

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

Johannes Cabal the Detective

Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

Katya's World

Katya's War

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JONATHAN L. HOWARD is a game designer, a scriptwriter, and a veteran of the computer-games industry since the early nineties, with titles such as the Broken Sword series to his credit. He is the author of
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
,
Johannes Cabal the Detective
, and
Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute
as well as the young adult novels
Katya's World
and
Katya's War
. He lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and daughter.

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

 

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin's Press.

 

THE BROTHERS CABAL.
Copyright © 2014 by Jonathan L. Howard. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

 

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

 

Illustrations by Linda “Snugbat” Smith

 

Cover illustration and design © Michael J. Windsor

 

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

 

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

 

ISBN 978-1-250-03754-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-03753-4 (e-book)

 

e-ISBN 9781250037534

 

First Edition: October 2014