His hand still on my shoulder, he steered me away from the circle. “Come with me, Wyatt. Let’s not subject Director Allen and his family to further discussion around this egregious matter. Their suffering is enough without reliving the details again.”
I didn’t argue and allowed him to lead me out of the room. Parker fell in line behind me like a good babysitter.
***
Grand Enchanter Marius Gunner led me into a quiet study filled with bookshelves. Mostly, they appeared to be old texts, giving the whole room a dusty book smell. A few chairs were aligned in a semi-circle near the center and he motioned for me to sit in one of them. He took the chair across from me and Parker sat down next to him.
“I’m sure Shamus Grimm filled you in on some of the details,” Marius said as he reached for a crystal decanter on the table beside him. He poured an amber liquid into a glass and took a sip from it, not bothering to offer anyone else a drink.
“He told me that you believe Axel is responsible,” I said, meeting his gaze.
He took another sip from his beverage and said, “Yes, my son is guilty. He admitted as much. What’s important now, Wyatt, is that you do your duty for the Cabal and let us put this atrocity behind us. I’ve spoken with the Archmage and we’ll be making arrangements for you to carry out the execution as soon as possible.”
“You want me to kill to your son,” I said. It wasn’t a question. I already knew the answer.
Marius paused only briefly, just long enough for me to catch the pain hidden beneath his rough exterior. Just one tiny glimpse of the man behind the machine. Then he nodded. “Yes, Wyatt. That is our law. For one of our mages to kill another with magic is the gravest of sins in the eyes of the Cabal. Axel has broken the Solemn Covenant. There is only one acceptable recourse.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” I let my gaze slide between the two of them. “But before I agree to execute anyone, I want to know the details. All of them.”
The Grand Enchanter studied me for a moment, then asked, “What do you wish to know?”
“Everything. If you expect me to fulfill my role, then I need to know exactly what happened.”
He paused for a moment then sat his drink on the table. “Wyatt, the investigation is complete. You needn’t concern yourself with it further. Your part in this is simple.”
“My part in this is to execute one of my oldest friends and your son,” I said, feeling my temper getting the better of me. “But I’m not lobbing off anyone’s head until someone tells me the whole story.”
“Axel murdered my son,” Director Allen’s voice said from across the room. I looked up, not realizing he’d entered. As he approached us, he asked, “Do you truly need to know more than that?”
“Yes,” I said, offering him my most solemn expression. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I do.”
“Our word isn’t good enough for you?” Marius asked, still staring at me as though he could see right through me.
“Not when you’re asking me to kill someone,” I said, glancing between them. Finally, I decided to keep my gaze on Director Allen. “I’m not trying to create undue burden in your time of mourning, but again, I must know what happened.”
Director Allen took a seat as well and said, “I suppose that’s only fair.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Marius said, looking over at him. “I can provide the details to our…Blade Mage.”
There was something about the way he said it. Like the words were laced in venom. I supposed the Grand Enchanter wasn’t used to anyone pushing back on him. And they were still a bit bitter about me being selected. I’d expected nothing less, really.
“It’s fine,” Director Allen said, then turned to me. “It’s very simple, really. The night before last, my son reached out to me and said something was going on with Axel. That he was…” He paused and glanced over at Marius.
The Grand Enchanter continued for him. “Kyle told his father he had reason to believe my son had kidnapped a child.”
“Axel?” I said, glancing between them again. “Kidnap a child?”
That was hard to believe.
“You should know, Wyatt…” Marius said with a heavy sigh. “My son has become more…eccentric in the time since you last saw him. Where he was overzealous before, he’s become down right unstable. He’s like a bullet train. Always moving at speed. Can’t stay still long enough to think before he acts. I thought he’d grow out of it, but…”
“At any rate,” Director Allen said. “Kyle reached out to me and said Axel had kidnapped some poor child. That he thought he’d done it before. That Axel…”
“Did things to children,” Marius finished, his eyes burning with rage.
There was a long pause and Director Allen continued, “I asked Kyle if Axel knew of what he suspected. He told me he didn’t think so. I advised him to sit tight and sent a team over to pick him up, just in case. When they got there... They found my son murdered, lying in a pool of his own blood, and Axel was standing over him. He used dark magic on my child. Dark magic, Wyatt. If your father were still alive…”
I nodded slowly, taking it all in. “And what did Axel have to say for himself?”
“Not much,” Marius said. “He didn’t deny it. Mostly he just babbles whatever foolishness comes to mind. Same as always.” He paused to choke down the remaining liquor in his glass. As he poured another one, he said, “I knew the boy had issues, but this… I couldn’t have known the depravity my son was capable of.”
“Any magical evidence?” I asked.
Both men paused to look at one another.
Parker spoke up, him being the Shamus and all. “The victim’s upper chest, shoulder, and neck had Lichtenburg figure burns.”
“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Lightning flowers,” Marius offered. “The strange pattern of burns you sometimes see on lightning strike victims.”
“And Axel’s elemental proficiency is with lightning,” I said, nodding. “But that’s not dark magic.”
“Nor was it the cause of death,” Parker said. “You didn’t let me finish before you started asking questions.”
“May be easier to show him,” Director Allen said.
“Are you sure?” Marius asked.
“What difference does it make?” he replied, his temper flaring.
Marius turned and nodded toward Parker.
The Shamus produced a set of pictures from within his suit jacket and handed them to me.
I took them reluctantly and forced my eyes to the first image. My breath caught in my throat and I nearly dropped them.
There he was. Kyle Allen. Dead. But if they hadn’t told me it was Kyle, I would’ve never known. He barely looked human at all. His whole body was covered in blood, and it was smeared in pools around him. Like he’d dumped out a five-gallon bucket of crimson paint and rolled in it. Streams of red slithered from his eye sockets and nose. A river had flown from his mouth. His eyes were a stark contrast to the red, the retinas nearly white. What little of his skin could be seen was jaundice and piss yellow. He’d died in pain. A lot of it.
My hands trembled and I couldn’t stay focused on the image. I didn’t want to. I looked up at Parker.
His voice even and professional, Parker said, “It’s unclear precisely what killed the victim. The autopsy revealed unusual swelling around the brain, extreme inflammation around the heart, lungs full of liquid, anemia, complete failure of all his major organs.”
“They told me that if he was lucky,” Director Allen said, glaring at me, “he went into shock before the worst of it.”
“What could cause something like this?” I asked.
Parker picked up where he left off. “Blood work revealed plasmodium parasites and TB bacteria.”
“Can you put that in simple terms for the moron in the room?” I asked.
“Malaria and Tuberculosis,” Marius said. “Late stage and fatal, obviously.”
“I’m not a doctor,�
� I said, glancing between them. “But I’m fairly confident both of those diseases take time to go from infected to totally screwed. And since this is Missouri and not a jungle…”
“Dark magic,” Marius said with a nod.
“Damn,” I said, taking a deep breath. I forced my shaking hand to return the pictures to Parker and breathed a sigh of relief when he took them from me.
“That’s not all,” Marius said. “We had some of our best Diviners and Sleuths try to get a read on the residual energy from the workings performed. They couldn’t get a feel for it. They said the aura was different.”
“Different how?” I asked.
“Like something we haven’t seen before. Even the more experienced Magi who reached for it said it was unlike anything we know. There are known spells which can be used to cast diseases on a target. A great many. But this magic, whatever it is, we’ve never seen before, and we couldn’t begin to know how to replicate it. It’s beyond our knowledge.”
“That’s…something,” I said, unsure what else to say.
Marius gave me a serious look. “So, you can understand the Archmage’s reluctance to let this information become public. Discretion is important.”
“I understand,” I said. “What about other forensic evidence?”
“Nothing significant,” Director Allen said. “Aside from Axel’s prints on the door knob. But he and Kyle were still somewhat close, so, it wasn’t uncommon for Axel to go to his house.”
I glanced toward Parker. He was the cop, after all.
“We’ve gone through everything. Axel’s apartment and car both came back clean. No evidence of black magic or missing children. His phone, bills, and other records are…eccentric, but don’t show any foul play. And we’ve found nothing to indicate where he may have picked up a spell like that.”
“And where’s Axel now?”
“He’s locked up in a cell,” Parker said.
“Where?” I asked.
No one felt inclined to answer.
Finally, Marius asked, “Do you intend to visit him?”
“Has the alleged missing child been found?”
Again, no one felt inclined to answer.
“Then, yes,” I said and looked over at Parker. “Let’s go now.”
“No,” Marius said. “Absolutely not. I forbid it. I don’t want you meddling in this. Your part is the execution.”
“He’s your son, Marius,” I said, choking out a laugh. It was either that or scream. “Don’t you want to be sure?”
“The evidence we provided isn’t enough for you?”
“Not until I’ve spoken to him myself.”
“Your job is to execute him. Not to ask questions.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said, rising to my feet. I turned my attention to Director Allen. “I’m truly sorry about Kyle. I really am. But my responsibility as Blade Mage isn’t to be an executioner at the Cabal’s whim. I’m also the Inquisitor, and it’s my job to get to the bottom of these types of things. Especially if there may be another victim locked away somewhere.”
“No,” Marius repeated, rising to his feet as well. He wasn’t a man who was used to having people talk back to him. “That wasn’t why we summoned you here.”
“Then I guess you should’ve thought about that before you summoned me,” I said, meeting his hard glare with one of my own. “Do you know what Axel said to me once when we were kids? Do you know what your son asked me?”
When he didn’t reply, I leaned in closer and whispered, “He asked me why his father didn’t love him. I didn’t have an answer then. I don’t have one now.”
The Grand Enchanter’s face remained impassive, but his eyes blazed with fury.
Ignoring him, I turned to the others. “By our own laws, you can’t deny the Blade Mage the right to investigate. Does anyone care to challenge that?”
When no one answered, I turned my attention to Parker. “Let’s go, babysitter.”
I headed for the door. Reluctantly, he followed.
Chapter 4
Parker insisted on taking his personal car, a brand-new Rolls Royce. I tried to argue that my truck was safer, plus we could make Anthony ride bitch. Parker argued that his car smelled better and was rated the safest vehicle in its class. Also, he pointed out that we’d be burning his petrol instead of mine. I was short on cash, so I didn’t argue, nor did I comment on his use of the word ‘petrol.’
The interior had a number of wards painted on the dash and around the radio, each serving to dampen magical energy. When he started the vehicle, classical music began playing through the speakers. I might’ve made a comment about it, but the radio didn’t even work in my truck.
Our drive was short.
Just a few miles down the highway, Parker turned on an old dirt road. There were no other cars in sight. In fact, the only other person we saw was a young emo-looking woman walking down the side of the road by herself.
A few windy curves later, he turned down a private drive with a dust-covered mailbox. The trail led us to an abandoned farmhouse, then wrapped around back into the trees. Eventually we came to a small clearing with a cement building that looked an awful lot like a bunker.
I don’t know what purpose the structure might’ve once served the farm, but it was clear what my fellow mages had repurposed it for. The Cabal had a number of facilities like this, and only the Archcouncil knew where they were all located. If it wasn’t for the fact I was the Blade Mage, they would have never allowed me to visit.
Two battle mages dressed in farm wear stood guard outside the old metal door.
Parker took the lead and one of them opened the door as we approached.
Once inside, the illusion that this was some old farm building ended. For any layman who might’ve entered this place, they’d likely think it belonged to some cult, which I guess wasn’t too far from the truth. The old stone walls were lined with runes and sigils. There were more magical defenses here than I could’ve dreamed of arming my house with. The whole place thrummed with power, ready to detonate if anybody attempted an attack. They could blow the whole facility to hell, or dampen all magical energy, or perhaps electrocute or freeze everything inside. Who knew?
Parker led us down an old hallway where two more mages stood guard beside another door. Instead of farm life costumes, these guards were outfitted with military-grade combat armor. Each was armed with a focusing rod and an assault rifle.
They nodded at Parker and let us through.
Two more guards stood post in the next room, making it six total.
Here we found Axel, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, surrounded by a steel cage. Each bar of his cell was covered in small wards, glowing white with a hint of blue around the edge, ensuring nothing got in or out.
His attempt at meditation may have seemed sincere, if it wasn’t for the fact he was tapping a drumstick against a bongo drum and humming Darth Vader’s theme song at the same time.
As we approached the cage, Axel peaked at us with one eye. Upon seeing me, he opened both eyes wide and his face brightened. Even there, locked in a cell and accused of murder, Axel’s child-like grin surfaced. He was handsome, charming, and absolutely ridiculous, but more than anything, Axel was one of those rare people the world just couldn’t keep down. Incapable of keeping his feet on the ground, Axel flew through life while the rest of us just walked.
Growing up, we’d been attached at the hip. I still remembered the moment we met. We were at some Cabal social gathering. The adults had sent all us kids away to play. At the time, I’d just become friends with Kyle and another kid named Tommy. Axel had approached me out of the blue and asked me if I was best friends with Kyle. I told him I was. Then he asked me if I was best friends with Tommy too. Again, I told him I was. He then explained to me that those were his two best friends. For a moment, I thought he was angry. I even thought he might strike me for stealing his friends. Instead, he looked me square in the eye and told me now we w
ere best friends. Had been ever since.
That was Axel logic. It made sense in a weird…Axel sort of way.
He pushed his drum aside and rose to his feet as we approached his cell, and said, “Wyatt! Dude! So glad to see you!”
“Yeah, you too, Axel,” I said, unsure what else to say.
Axel turned toward the guards. “Guys! This is my friend Wyatt I told you about. Remember?”
Neither of the guards acknowledged him.
“So, what’s going on Axel?” I asked.
“I’m in prison,” he said very matter of factly. “Man, there’s so much stuff for us to catch up on. I hope you have some time. Did you see the new Star Wars? What’d you think?”
I blinked a few times, unsure how to respond. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. This was the same Axel who’d once told me he thought werewolves were cool because they’re furry. This was also the same Axel who’d dressed up as David Bowie’s Goblin King while we were hunting an actual goblin.
From beside me, Anthony Burns snickered and said, “I wouldn’t get too excited to see your old pal, Axel. You know why he’s here, right?”
“Well, yeah, of course,” Axel said, shrugging. “He’s going to chop off my head. I was just worried he wouldn’t come and someone else would have to do it.”
“Uh, what?” Anthony said, his face twisting in confusion.
I didn’t bother to hide my grin. Good ole Axel.
“Yeah, man,” Axel said. He gave Anthony a look which indicated it should’ve been obvious. “Who else would I want to lob my nugget off?”
“I, uh…” Anthony said, shaking his head. “Fuck you, Axel. You weird little bastard.”
Nonplussed, Axel turned to me and put on a serious expression. “I have a favor I need to ask of you, Wyatt. You know, before my execution.”
“What’s that?”
“When you cut my head off, will you please make a lightsaber sound? It would mean a lot to me.”
The Blade Mage Page 4
