After a drink with Mr. MacDonald, we went up to our room. William had kept a calm face while talking with the Scotsman, but as soon as our door closed he began pacing rapidly.

 

“Two years, Henry, two years.” William rapidly said, “This has been going on for two years. What’s the key in that, eh?” William snapped his fingers, “It started – this began. This is new. This behavior, this obsession,” William shook his head, exulted and worried simultaneously, “this is what the Revenant and Paduan have been brewing in Prague.” 

 

“What possible good could it do them, William? It seems like being orderly and structured runs counter-intuitive to magic.”

 

William shook his head, “It’s the opposite. Think of astrology. It’s an obsession over the minutia of planetary movements, star charts, equinoxes and zeniths. Precision and the occult are not enemies,” he flopped down onto an armchair, “in fact they can strengthen one another.”

 

“What are you saying?”

 

“Dekmantel extracted power from individuals and repurposed it, intensifying the magic in Belgium. I fear the Revenant is doing something similar in this city, but not by cannibalizing the populace. What if he’s taken what little magic is left and is magnifying it through the city’s obsessions.” 

 

“To what end?”

 

“That is the end, to make magic potent again in Prague.” William rubbed his forehead, “It’s fiendishly clever.”

 

 

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