Inauguration

The juxtaposition of magic with technology is an interesting idea. While this is not new, I thought I’d try my hand at some alternate universe. In this universe Magic is real, and the American Civil War is about the slavery of elementals with the slavery of Africans having been resolved with the Missouri Compromise. Here President-Elect Lincoln has two people as his unwanted protectors.

The two men in the first class compartment of the train were as different as night and day. The taller man wore a stovepipe hat. The shorter wore a cavalryman’s hat. They got onto the train from the night darkened boarding platform in Springfield, Illinois. This was a rather inauspicious beginning for the larger man who was to become President of the United States in two weeks time, but it couldn’t be helped. There were too many rumors of the Confederacy’s attempt to derail the man from taking office. Neither the President-elect nor his traveling companion had any idea why the Confederate States would want him killed. Thy were about to learn at the hands of the one creature of the world who would understand.
Once the train was well on it’s way to Washington DC a man appeared in the President-elect’s compartment. The shorter man drew a revolver on the suddenly appearing man, only to find that it flew out of his hand at a gesture from the interloper.
“Mister President, I mean you no harm. In fact I am here to protect you.”
“I find myself beset with protective people this night. First the Lieutenant there, and now you, Mister….?”
“Webster, Silas Webster.”
“Well, Mister Webster, Joshua Chamberlain there is a former Army Officer. He shoots better than most people. Why would I need a second Protector?”
“Mister Lincoln, there are some things that even a bullet cannot kill. I am here to protect you from those things. Once you are inaugurated into your office, then you will no longer need me to protect you from those things.”
“Just what are you, Mister Webster.”
“I am a wizard.”
“I thought that they were extinct,” said Joshua in a sneering tone.
“Oh, we are most alive. Surely you’ve hired fire elementals to heat your house and water. How did they come into the world without a summoning of a wizard, Mister Chamberlain?”
Joshua looked into the deep brown eyes of the self-proclaimed Wizard.
“Are you saying that all of those kind of people are Wizards?” asked Mister Lincoln.
“No,” said Webster. “They are the half-talented, people who have a bit of the ability, but none of the training. I am a full Wizard by acclamation of the Council, and sent by them to see to your defense to Washington, DC.”
“Why would they do that?” asked Lincoln. “What am I to them?”
“You are the point of the spear against the dark powers which have taken hold in the south. You are the executive of the United States, and therefore a power in this world.”
“What do you mean power?” asked Lincoln.
“After the inauguration, if you survive, I will explain it all, and why the council of wizards wants to save your life. Right now, I need to save your life.” Webster turned to the former Army Lieutenant. “You can shoot?”
“Yes.”
“ Are you familiar with Samuel Colt?”
“Of course.”
Webster reached into a bag at his feet. He drew out a leather holster with a nickel plated revolver. He handed the pistol to the ex-Army Lieutenant. Chamberlain took the belted weapon. He belted the pistol around his waist. Then he drew out the colt revolver and swung out the cylinder. He had heard about these pistols. Six empty holes welcomed him.
“Ammo?”
Webster reached once more into the carpet bag he had brought with him. He brought out a box of cartridges. “When you use these cartridges make sure that you think very hard about the thing dying. That is part of this night. You must will with all of your might that whatever you shoot with these dies.”
“Very well.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise that what I shoot I will think dead.”
“Very good. I must go to the cab where I have to have a discussion with the fire elemental.”
“Fire Elemental?” asked Lincoln.
“Yes, this railroad uses fire elementals in the fire box. I assure you that they are paid and not bound.”
Lincoln nodded in relief. His entire campaign had been a question of the rightness of enslaving the elementals and other mystical creatures to the will of human beings. For the states in the South the Missouri compromise had removed human slavery, but nothing had been said of the mystical creatures. Silas had bound elementals before. He did not like it, but it was part of his training. The fact that he released his bound elementals was bound to bring him into friction with the Council. Then the day came when Dark Ones had come to the Council and demanded his own head. The Council of course denied this petition, which resolved into the current conflict between the northern states and the southern states.
Webster picked up the carpet bag and left the compartment. He did not go far. He teleported himself to the cab. He had first arrived here to set things up, before he went to the President-elect’s compartment. The crew of the train said nothing when he suddenly appeared in the cab.
“I need to speak to your fire elemental,” Silas ordered.
The fireman nodded. He stepped on the fire door lever. The door butterflied open. A great gush of heat cam roaring out of the fire box. Silas hunkered down and cast his mind toward the elemental in the firebox.
“What is your name?”
“We don’t give out our true name anymore, wizard.”
“I do not wish that, but how are you called?”
“We are called Henafastry.”
“Are you familiar with the Dark Ones.”
There came what amounted to a shudder from the fire elemental. “I know the Dark Ones.”
“I believe the the dark ones might try to interfere with the Inauguration.”
“On this train?” asked the Elemental
“Yes.”
“The dark ones are cold. They will try to freeze me.”
“Will extra coal help?” Every elemental received his payment in kind. Fire Elementals that worked for the transports companies liked to receive coal in payment.
“Yes.”
“One Lump?’
“Better make it two.”
Silas went to the coal car and took out two lumps of coal. He tossed them in to the elemental. The Engineer looked at the Wizard and said nothing. The paper signed by the railroad president told them to give the Wizard all the assistance he could want. If that meant extra coal to the elemental, he could live with that.
“Thanks” said the Elemental.
“Can you defend the engine?”
“With two lumps I could boil the ocean.”
“That won’t be necessary. When you feel the Dark Ones let the Engineer know and have him blow his whistle.”
Silas signaled the fireman to close the firebox door. Then he returned to the President-elect’s compartment. His sudden appearance caused Chamberlain to draw the pistol. When he saw who it was, Chamberlain relaxed and holstered the pistol.
“I don’t remember seeing weapons like this in the Academy,” said Chamberlain fondling the grip of his pistol.
“Probably won’t see it till the end of this war. That is a prototype made for me by Colt.”
“The cartridges? Also made by Colt?”
“Yes. It is single action, but six round can be put into the cylinder.”
“What makes you think they want to kill me, these dark ones of yours.”
“Easy. The best time to kill a sovereign is before he is invested with power. Once he is invested with his temporal and spiritual power, then you have to do things the old fashioned way.”
“What is the old fashioned way?”
“You have to raise an army and kill the sovereign with it.”
“I am no King.”
“No, but you are the executive of the United States. That gives you the power like a sovereigns. You see, Divine Right in this world is for real. When a man is called to power by the people, they are manifesting the will of God. At your inauguration you will be invested with your temporal and spiritual power. In the monarchies the chief priest performs the spiritual investment, but here it is done with prayer.”
“What does this power let me do?”
“Mostly appoint people to meet the need of the nation. I would guess that the day after your inauguration the southern states will secede from the Union. Within six months after that active warfare will be on going.”
“And you?” asked Lincoln.
“I will have done my duty. I’ll be back in my tower in Chicago.”
“What if I should call you to serve me?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“What the southern states have in mind. If they are completely cozened by the Dark Ones, then I might accept such an appointment.”
They had time for no further conversation. The Train let out a rather unusual burst of sound from it’s whistle. Silas was immediately on the alert. They were passing a station. He felt the cold chill of Dark Ones. He could not localize the feeling, but he knew that they were now on the train. He couldn’t even feel the number of the interlopers. He made a gesture in the air and a staff appeared in his hand. Chamberlain also stood holding the Colt in his hand. Silas made a motion for Chamberlain to cover the compartment’s window. Silas then put Lincoln between them, while he faced the door to the passageway.
There was two of them. The first knocked out the class to the compartment. The suddeness of the attack surprised Chamberlain. Then he recovered. He pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened to the shadowy form of the dark one. Then he remember the instruction given by Silas. He pulled the hammer back and then pulled the trigger willing the creature to die.
At first nothing happened. Then a long mournful wail escaped from the shadow creature. It dissipated. Chamberlain turned to help the wizard, but he need not have worried. Silas had his dark one impaled on a lance of light that was his staff. That creature also dissipated with a long mournful wail.
“What were those things?” asked Lincoln.
“They were shadow forms. The Dark Ones use them when they wish to attack without endangering themselves. These two were not killed, but they cannot use their shadows for a full waxing and waning of the moon. I think we are safe for now.”
And they were safe for the rest of the journey. Lincoln was inaugurated, and the prediction of the southern states seceding came true. Three days after his elevation to President. Lincoln sent for Chamberlain and Webster. They both sat in chairs in Lincoln’s office.
“Okay, gentlemen, I asked you here for one reason. The South has seceded, and I deplore it. I want them back in the Union, but they are going to have to give up their bound Elementals. They’re going to resist, and that means resist magically. I need someone to help me counter that, and I need someone to protect that person.”
Chamberlain smiled. “I guess I am the body guard then?”
“Unless you can cast spells.”
Chamberlain chuckled. Silas did not.
“You are asking me to defend the nation against the confederacy and the Dark Ones.”
“Yes.”
“Very well. Here is what I need...”