If the Martians Have Magic by P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny, September-October 2021)1 appears to be set in an alternate world where magic was discovered between the second and third Martian invasions of Earth and then used to defeat the aliens in that final encounter (the first invasion, in 1897, is presumably the one recounted in H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds; the third encounter takes place in 1903).
The story itself opens in Marrakesh some thirty years after the end of the war and sees a Mambo (voodoo priestess) called Minette, after initially negotiating the city traffic in a conventional way, make a deal with a loa (spirit intermediary) to loft her up to the Flying Citadel where The Council of Magical Equilibrium are assembled. Minette subsequently gatecrashes the meeting and pleads for the lives of three Martians.
During the exchanges that follow we learn that Minette has been studying (and joining with) a Martian triad (the Martians are only sentient when they join together in threes), and that the aliens may be on the verge of discovering a Martian form of magic (which would then alter their position under human law). Several of the council see any possible breakthrough as a threat, the most outspoken of whom is the war-mongering General Koorang. During the arguments between him and Minette we get an insight to this world’s complex background, which is full of throw away detail like this:
“Not every Martian was a soldier,” Minette reminded, speaking as much to the others gathered. “The One I joined with were worker drones. They never even saw fighting. That’s why it was so easy for the Central Intellect to abandon Them in the retreat.”
“And what did they work on?” the general asked, unmoved. “Was it their stalking dreadnoughts? Their infernal weapons what almost blew us to hell? Come visit the Archipelago sometime, Professor, and I’ll show you Martian gentleness.”
Minette bit her lip to keep from replying. That was unfair. The Archipelago was all that was left of what used to be Australia. The waters of the South Sea were mostly off-limits now: teeming with monsters that wandered in through torn rifts between worlds. That it was humans playing with Martian weapons who had brought on the disaster seemed to matter little to the general.
When the Council finally vote they decide that the prospect of Martian magic is too much of a threat to ignore but, rather than have Minette’s Martians euthanized, the Council decides to separate the creatures so they cannot form their sentient triad.
After the meeting Minette returns to the Martians and joins with them, after which they learn about what happened in the Council. Then the Martians give Minette a vision that suggests they are close to discovering their old magic.
The rest of the story sees the “mist-faced” woman from the Council meeting, who voted against Minette, secretly visit her and offer sanctuary to the Martians in exchange for some of their magic if they are successful. Then she and Minette plan how to smuggle the Martians out of the Academy.
The climactic scene (spoiler) sees Minette and the Martians intercepted by General Koorang and another man called Aziz as they try to leave. Minette then combines with the three Martians and, in a moment of insight, realises what she has to do to help them summon their magic:
Papa Damballah appeared. But not like Minette had ever seen.
This Damballah was a being made up of tentacles of light, intertwined to form the body of a great white serpent. And she suddenly understood what she was seeing. The loa met the needs of their children. Papa Damballah had left Africa’s shores and changed in the bowels of slave ships. He changed under the harsh toil of sugar and coffee plantations. And when his children wielded machetes and fire to win freedom, he changed then too. Now to protect his newest children, born of two worlds, he changed once again.
Minette opened up to the loa and Martian magic coursed through her, erupting from her fingertips. The guards, General Koorang and Aziz drew back, as the great tentacles of Papa Damballah grew up from her, rising above the market tents as a towering white serpent: a leviathan that burned bright against the night. For a moment brief as a heartbeat—or as long as the burning heart of a star—it seemed to Minette she saw through the loa’s eyes. The cosmos danced about her. It trembled and heaved and moved.
And then Damballah was gone.
Aziz tells the general the Martians are now protected under the charter, and Minette and the Martians get on the mist-faced woman’s airship and quickly leave.
This has an inventive and entertaining setting—the mixture of War of the Worlds Martians, magical councils and voodoo shouldn’t really work as well as it does—but the ending is weaker (it is literally a deus ex machina).
*** (Good). 7,050 words. Story link.
1. This is a Sturgeon and World Fantasy Award finalist, and placed third in the Locus Poll.