Death Incarnate: Aegis of Merlin Book 7 (The Aegis of Merlin)

by James E. Wisher

  Black energy leaked from between her fingers and penetrated the floor, crawling through it like worms through dirt. As the dark magic dug around, a shroud of mist formed and out of it appeared a ghostly figure. A low moan escaped the spirit’s lips.

  Lady Raven clenched her fist and the dark energy sprang up and bound the spirit in vines of magic. “Where is the vault?”

  No reply.

  A flick of her fingers caused black thorns to spring from the vines. The spirit moaned again.

  “Where!?”

  “Basement two.”

  “How do we access it?”

  “Stairs. Hidden. Behind armor.”

  “Defenses?”

  “Keypads. Lightning. Alarms. Deactivated now. Free me!”

  Lady Raven glanced at her. “Do you wish to know anything else?”

  “No. I believe that will do.”

  Lady Raven made a slashing motion with her hands and the vines transformed into blades that cut the spirit to wisps of smoke.

  Lady Tiger had never been squeamish, but the callous way Lady Raven destroyed the harmless spirit turned her stomach. “Why destroy it?”

  “Did you not notice the Ministry leader is a dark magic user? If I released the spirit it might have found a way to warn her of our intentions. Best not to risk it.”

  The coherent and practical answer surprised Lady Tiger.

  “Besides, I have a reputation to maintain. The spirit tried to resist me. That sort of thing needs severe punishment. Next time I summon someone they’ll know better.”

  Lady Tiger revised her opinion once again. Her companion was irretrievably mad. How could a spirit elsewhere know what she did to this one? She’d be doing the world a favor when she killed Lady Raven.

  “Do you remember seeing a suit of armor?” Lady Raven asked.

  “No, we’ll have to search another area of the building.”

  And search they did. It took most of ten minutes, but finally they found an old, forgotten-seeming set of plate armor guarding a distant part of the Ministry. Lady Tiger doubted they could have put the entrance in a more out of the way place. Which, since it was a hidden entrance, made sense.

  “Open it,” Lady Raven said.

  The zombie shuffled over and yanked the armor aside. When it did a hidden mechanism activated and the wall slid open. Lady Tiger conjured a ball of fire and sent it down the spiral staircase beyond. The two women exchanged looks and started down.

  At the bottom waited another door, this one polished steel. A magic detection spell revealed no wards, so the spirit hadn’t lied about that. They groped around in the flickering light in hopes of finding a release.

  Eventually something clicked under Lady Tiger’s hand and a panel slid out of the way revealing a keypad. That didn’t help much since neither of them knew the code.

  “You’re going to have to burn your way in,” Lady Raven said.

  “Why don’t you rust the metal away?”

  Lady Raven grinned. “I got us this far. Time for you to earn your share.”

  “How dare you speak to a Hierarch that way?”

  The grin widened. “When you abandoned me in Sentinel City I took that as my dismissal. Now, do you want to fight with me, or do you want to get in there before the others return?”

  Lady Tiger favored her with one last glare. Much as she hated to admit it, Lady Raven made a good point. Time wasn’t on her side. She could give a lesson in manners later.

  “Flames of deepest earth consume all things in your path. Flames of creation and flames of destruction rise and devour. Volcanic Core!”

  White-hot fire from the center of the earth roared up and slammed into the barrier. The metal withstood it for a few seconds, but soon enough it melted and oozed away. When she ended the spell a circular opening had been scorched into the door.

  A flick of her wrist sent the flame orb into the vault. Fifteen artifacts sat on three tables. Lady Tiger sighed in satisfaction. Right away she recognized the function of three of them.

  Lady Raven brushed past her and made a beeline for a black orb the size of her fist. She snatched it up and smiled. “This will suit me quite well.”

  “I don’t think so.” Lady Tiger chanted and flames gathered around her hands.

  Something slammed into her and she stumbled. The zombie grabbed her and tried to wrap its hands around her throat.

  “Fire shield!”

  Flames roared to life around her, consuming the zombie.

  When she finally freed herself, Lady Raven was gone.

  Lady Tiger put the wretch out of her mind and claimed the three artifacts whose function she knew, a ring of pure ruby that would increase the power of her fire magic, a jeweled pin that should render her immune to any form of mind control, and finally a statue that once activated would project a barrier over the entire city that would prevent anyone from coming or going via portal. With that defense in place, none of her former allies would be able to sneak up on her.

  London was going to be her kingdom. Though she doubted she could stop Morgana from taking it if she had a mind to, Lady Tiger hoped to make it too much of a bother to be worthwhile. And if that failed begging for forgiveness might help.

  Kai had just finished guiding another group to an emergency shelter when a number of explosions sounded nearby. Smoke rose from a large building down the street, some sort of government facility.

  A frail woman with a head of thick, white hair tugged on her sleeve. “What was that?”

  “More trouble, I’m sure. Get inside and lock the door. I’ll check it out.”

  “Be careful,” the woman said. A moment later the heavy steel door clanged shut.

  Kai smiled at the idea of an ordinary woman worrying about her safety. It was quite amusing really, but also sweet. She’d seen and been shown more kindness in the last day than in her whole life prior. She would protect these people no matter what.

  She slipped into the borderland and hurried toward the building. It took only moments to cover the distance. A hundred yards from the building itself she spotted a familiar face. The woman in red had guided Conryu to the door through which he vanished. Kai didn’t recognize the wizard running beside her or the other encased in a healing field.

  They were being chased by four of the invaders. Kai recognized them from their green uniforms. Perhaps the Ministry people could help her retrieve Conryu from wherever he’d gone. And even if they couldn’t, she’d still take considerable pleasure in killing the enemies that had caused the people of this city so much suffering.

  While she’d been debating, the enemy wizards had raised a wall of stone in front of the fleeing group. The uninjured wizards spun to face their pursuers.

  Kai made her decision. She emerged from the borderland behind the tallest of the invaders and ran her through.

  Before the others even realized there was a threat she’d vanished into the darkness and emerged five feet to the right of her last position.

  A hard slash took the head of a second wizard.

  The others tried to flee, but Kai didn’t let them. She slipped ahead of them and emerged in time to take them out with a pair of quick blows.

  Four dead enemies in under a minute. Not bad. She hadn’t lost her touch in her time watching over Conryu.

  A crash drew her attention back to the wall of stone, now a pile of rubble. The wizards were eyeing her with more than a little concern.

  Kai sheathed her sword and bowed. “I am Kai. I serve the Chosen, Conryu. You know him. I saw you speaking during the tournament.”

  The younger wizard blew out a sigh and relaxed a fraction. “I’m Jemma, Head of the Ministry of Magic. Do you know what’s happened to Conryu?”

  Kai was pleased that her mask hid her disappointment. “I have been unable to contact him since he vanished through the door. I hoped you might have some answers.”

  Jemma shook her head. “I’m sorry. We don’t know what happened or even if he’s still alive. I intended to w
ork on it, but then the invasion happened and, well, we’ve been a little distracted.”

  Kai held up her hand. “Conryu gave me this ring. Through it I know he’s still alive, but not where.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  The wizards resumed their journey at a more sedate pace and Kai fell in beside them. The older wizard continued to watch her with suspicion and remained silent.

  “This lot attacked and decimated the Ministry,” Jemma said. “I doubt we have power enough to retake the city on our own. I’m banking on Conryu finding his way back and lending us a hand.”

  “When he returns I will relay your request. Where should I tell him to find you?”

  “We’re headed to one of the branch offices.” Jemma rattled off an address that meant nothing to Kai. “We should still be there when he returns.”

  Kai bowed and entered the borderland. She followed the wizards from Hell until they reached their destination and met up with a handful of their fellows. She knew where to bring him, Kai just needed Conryu to return.

  8

  Sentinel Down

  Even though his astral body didn’t need to breathe, floating in the vastness of the realm of water still felt strange. Everything in him told Conryu he should struggle to the surface and take a huge gulp of air. Unfortunately, there was no surface. Even if he swam forever, he’d never escape the water. There wasn’t even an up or down, the light seemed to come from everywhere at the same time.

  He tried to relax and ignore his screaming instincts. After a minute or two it became easier. Very little with magic made sense at first, why should this be any different?

  What confused him more than anything was the fact that he’d appeared in the middle of nowhere. In all the other realms he arrived at something resembling civilization. He spun a full circle and saw nothing but empty water. He didn’t know what to do.

  “Prime, what do you think we should do?”

  The scholomantic flexed his cover. “I’ve never visited the realm of water before. Demons aren’t any more welcome here than they are in the other realms. I assume there’s a reason we arrived in this place. We should be patient.”

  Conryu could do patient. It wasn’t like he had anything better to occupy himself with.

  Five minutes later his waiting was rewarded with the arrival of a tornado made of water. If that wasn’t strange enough, a face and eyes formed in the funnel and stared at him.

  “Hi. Are you in charge around here? I’m supposed to meet someone.”

  “You are Gideon’s heir.” The spirit’s voice echoed strangely in the water. “I see you chose to visit me last. I will ignore the insult.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t mean anything by coming here last. It just worked out that way.”

  The spirit swayed back and forth in what he assumed was meant to be a nod. “So you want a more challenging test to gain my blessing.”

  Conryu blinked in confusion. “No, I’d be just as happy for a simple test.”

  “I thought you were complaining that the others didn’t challenge you? Don’t worry, I’ve devised an interesting task for your final test. You might even enjoy it.”

  The way the spirit said that made Conryu doubt he would, but he was determined to receive the last blessing and escape the library.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Find my city. What could be easier than that? I’ll be waiting for you.” The spirit vanished as quickly as it appeared.

  “I thought you said the spirits couldn’t eavesdrop on us in the library.”

  “I don’t believe they can, Master. Perhaps it read your mind. Powerful spirits can often do that.”

  Conryu muttered imprecations at the universe in general and scholomantics in particular. He looked around at an emptiness every bit as profound as the borderland of Hell. At least in Hell he had Cerberus to show him the way to wherever he needed to go.

  Conryu slapped his forehead. Of course, he needed a guide. He’d summoned a water spirit back at school, maybe she was in the area.

  He cast Perfect Translation then the summoning spell. The spirit he wanted was a naiad, a relative to the one that provided the water in his dorm room. He’d only spoken to the spirit twice, but they’d gotten along well enough. Hopefully she’d help him.

  Enough time passed that he was starting to think his spell hadn’t worked, but finally the water gathered into the shape of a lithe female. She offered him a bright smile.

  “Hello again. I was hoping you could help me. I need to find the city where a giant water-tornado-looking spirit lives. Do you know it?”

  “Of course, it’s the only city in this area. The Coral Kingdom is beautiful. We should be able to make the journey in a few hours.”

  Hours was more than he wanted to spend, especially given how time tended to flow differently in the elemental realms, but there were no other options. “Lead on.”

  Malice made her way down to the president’s office. For most of a month they’d been watching city after city burn over in the Kingdom of the Isles. The satellite feeds didn’t provide much detail, especially with all the smoke hanging over the nation.

  Morgana had been thorough in her revenge. Not a single city worthy of the name had escaped her wrath. At this point there weren’t many left and that was what prompted her summons. Everyone figured the Alliance was next, including her. She ordered all combat-capable wizards placed on alert. The military was fully deployed as well, though given their lack of success immediately after the escape, Malice held out little hope for their being of much use in the coming battle.

  Outside the president’s office stood a pair of marines in dress uniforms and carrying rifles. It was a ceremonial position since he wasn’t allowed to go without a guard when the nation was on maximum alert. Their guns would be about as useful as harsh language if a wizard showed up, but appearances mattered, to someone apparently. Damn the convention that banned Death’s Head bullets in the Alliance. They should have kept a few cases on hand just in case.

  The marines didn’t speak, simply opening the doors as she got close then closing them behind her. The president sat behind his desk, looking like the past month had aged him ten years. He held his head in his hands and stared at the wooden surface like it contained the answers to his questions. She knew just how he felt.

  He straightened up and scrubbed a hand across his face. “The generals tell me she’ll be here sooner rather than later. Do we have a plan?”

  “All our defenses are in place, ready to converge wherever she appears. A strong force will have to remain in Central, in case Morgana’s forces split up. Until we know where she’s going to appear, that’s all the planning we can do.”

  “So we’re essentially just waiting and hoping.”

  Malice nodded.

  “Not what I wanted to hear. Communications have been reestablished with the Kingdom. They’ve been begging for aid. Is there truly nothing we can do for them?”

  “There’s plenty we can do for them, but only if you’re willing to weaken our own defenses. That’s not a call I can make and frankly, sir, it’s not one you should make.”

  “I know, I know. We can all rebuild together, after she’s beaten.” He looked at her, desperation in his red-rimmed eyes. “Can she be beaten?”

  “I don’t know.” He flinched, but Malice dealt in hard truths, not feel-good sentiment.

  “It must be possible. She didn’t simply give up and go to the Lonely Rock on her own.”

  “I’ve reviewed the histories from that era. Morgana fell the first time due to betrayal from one of her own people.”

  “I’m surprised any of them dared.”

  “They didn’t. The Alliance and the Kingdom worked together to place an undercover agent in her organization. When the time came that agent struck, weakening her just enough for a joint task force to overwhelm her. Even so, we lost three-quarters of our people before she went down.”

  He looked at the tabletop again. “
That’s why she hates us so. Because of the betrayal.”

  “So I suspect.” The centuries of torture probably didn’t help either, but she saw no need to fill him in on that little detail. “Morgana has had centuries to stew and plan her revenge. Can you imagine the anger she’s built up over that much time?”

  “I can. God help us, I can.”

  The office door burst open and an aide rushed in. “Portals have opened over Sentinel City.”

  When Morgana and her followers emerged in the skies above the city, every alarm in the Department went off. Orin had been expecting it any day now, but it still came as a surprise. He rushed to the window of his office just as the giant red dragon flew out of a portal. The smaller portals opening around it hardly drew a second look, so thoroughly did Morgana dominate the sky.

  His people didn’t need any orders from him, they’d been practicing for this moment ever since he saw the explosion on the Lonely Rock. Any second now the first blast would come. He held his breath and for the first time was relieved that Maria was god knew where with Conryu. Wherever she was had to be safer than here.

  The dragon oriented on a building and a fireball formed in its mouth. This was it, the first test of their defensive formation.

  The fireball shot out, streaking toward a skyscraper. Seconds before impact a black sphere struck it and canceled it out.

  Orin let out the breath he’d been holding. They passed their first test. Unfortunately, the tests only grew harder from here.

  Hundreds of spells came raining down on the city as every wizard in the sky opened up. He didn’t have enough defenders to negate every attack, so his people needed to focus on the strongest spells while letting the weaker ones through. There’d still be damage, but it would be manageable.

  Malice assured him that if they held out for five minutes once the attack started, she’d have reinforcements for him. Orin didn’t trust Malice any more than he would a snake, but she had a lot riding on defeating Morgana. If he trusted nothing else, he trusted her to want to save the organization she’d had such a large role in building into what it was.