Forgery of the Phoenix

by Michael Angel

  The room went silent for a moment. The sirens drew even closer now, and Shaw returned to his lookout spot at the window. Liam looked distressed, while Galen simply looked down at the floor, one hand absently clutching his wizard’s jacket. Smells of charred wood and burnt hair filled my nose, my mouth. I felt like I wanted to spit into the corner. If this was what defeat tasted like, then Shaw had called it correctly.

  My eyes went to the Codex pages once more. I scanned the ancient symbols for those who served the forces of Light. Fayleene. Griffins. Pooka. And...

  There were three more symbols. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what those might signify. Humans or centaurs, perhaps. Or another creature who’d died out so long ago that their very presence had vanished in the mists of time.

  The Seraphine might have known. They might have told me, if they hadn’t forgotten. Or hid the knowledge away while they plotted to destroy us. They might even be the so-called ‘Scriveners’ that Korr had spoken of when he’d first arrived in Fitzwilliam’s throne room. There was no way for me to know anymore.

  Yet you do know that there are other Creatures of the Light, my mind said. What about them? Aren’t they going to have to live with your failure as well? Because you gave up. You gave up before the game was won, even though it’s being played on your home turf!

  “That’s right,” I said slowly. “This isn’t Andeluvia. I may be a Dame in that world, but here...it’s where I grew up. We’re on my home turf.”

  “Dayna?” Liam whispered, amazed at my change in mood.

  I closed the Codex with one hand. The heavy sartuul pages came together with a snap.

  “We’ve been here before,” I declared. Looking right at the wizard, I added, “Galen, you were the one who snapped us out of our defeatist mood back then. Magnus had fought us to a draw, he’d captured Liam, and we had to let him slip through our grasp. I thought that we’d been beaten. But you said, ‘This contest is close run, but it is not over. Magnus shall not be going anywhere for some time yet’.”

  Galen nodded, but a frown creased his reddened forehead. “I fail to see how that memory applies...”

  The approaching sirens crested in volume. Shaw reported excitedly, “Thy foes approach! A pair of great red, low-slung beasts with shining yellow eyes. Humans in helmets of black plate cling to their sides and back. Say the word, Dayna, and battle shall be joined!”

  “Battle’s going to be joined, but not with those fire engines or the firefighters,” I said sternly. “Those are the good guys. Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

  I tucked the Codex under my arm and led the way to the garage at a run. Galen and I were able to fit into the front seats, but Shaw and Liam had to try and cram themselves into the back. The van itself was easily as large as the SUV my friends had originally ridden in, but the work van was crammed with crime scene gear, and Liam was a good deal larger than before.

  The blaring of the sirens finally came to an end as the fire engines arrived. If I had to guess, they’d come to a stop at my next door neighbors, as that’s where the closest hydrant was located. I made out the slam of doors and crackle of radios as the fire crews began to set up.

  The Fayleene Protector managed to wedge his wide antlers into the small space by turning sideways, which ended up jamming his flank and hindquarters against the back of my seat. Poor Galen had to duck and crouch under the jutting antler points that stuck up around the top of his own seat. And try as he might, Shaw couldn’t get enough room to scoot his hindquarters into the vehicle.

  We heard a muffled pounding as the firefighters banged on the front door. In a moment, they’d be busting the door down, streaming through my living room, and into the garage, looking to neutralize any flammables. Instead of gasoline or old paint cans, they’d find some interesting people inside the van if we didn’t get out of here.

  Part of me hated what I had to say next.

  “Shaw!” I called back. “Rip out the storage bins in the back! Do what you need to get inside before we’re all stuck here!”

  “Aye, that I can do,” the drake replied, and he set to destroying things with a will.

  The sounds of the fire crews outside setting up vanished as Shaw methodically destroyed everything in the back third of the van with his talons and beak. Evidence kits, sterile gowns, cases of polyurethane gloves, spare camera equipment, body bags, and decontamination gear. All were shredded and then unceremoniously shoved or kicked out the rear doors.

  I could only imagine what the firefighters thought was going on behind the garage doors.

  Finally, Shaw clambered in backwards and slammed the van’s rear doors shut. I turned the ignition key and the motor sprang to life. Reaching up to my sun visor, I pressed the garage door button. As the door began to raise, a pair of firefighters burst into the garage, with respirators on their faces and fire axes at the ready.

  “Time to go!” I said, as Galen gave an uncertain wave at the puzzled man. “Hang on!”

  Yet more firefighters looked up, startled by the appearance of the big white van as it crunched and bumped its way backwards down the driveway. The first crunch and bump combo came as the van’s wheels plowed through the pile of shredded gear Shaw had thrown out the rear.

  That was followed by a second set of thumps as I drove over a set of hoses that the firemen had run from the hydrant over to my house’s side yard. Shaw grunted in pain as his head banged the van’s metal ceiling. Then Liam let out a deer-like yelp as he and the griffin were jostled around in the back.

  On either side of my driveway, the fire department had parked a forty-foot long pumper truck. We attracted more attention as I made it out to the street and swung the van around in a wide arc on the asphalt. But unlike the SUV, the work van had no side windows, so no one was getting more than a glimpse of anything inside the vehicle.

  “Dayna...your house!” Galen breathed.

  I looked. “Not my house. It’s the fence, and the park.”

  Fire teams had run the hoses up my narrow side yard in order to put water on flames that had erupted all along the boundary fence between me and my neighbor’s house. A second set of flames had crept upslope, threatening to flare up into a full-fledged brush fire below the Griffith Park Observatory.

  I’d been consumed with trying to help Galen and figure out our next move against the Seraphine. In the meantime, one of the sparks from our battle with Korr must have flared up, setting the backyard ablaze.

  It was unclear whether everything was under control yet, but one thing was for sure: it was out of my hands. That, and I had bigger fish to fry.

  One of the fire control officials stepped out into the street and attempted to wave me down, but I leaned on the horn as I gunned the vehicle’s motor. The man’s eyes went wide, and he scrambled out of the way. I guided the OME van out onto the main boulevard and took off like a shot into the deepening night.

  Korr may have knocked us down, but we weren’t out of the fight just yet.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Given his six-foot-plus frame in human form, Galen had to scoot down as far as he could in the passenger seat. That allowed one of Liam sharp antlers to project overhead instead of jabbing into his scalp. Though the position was profoundly uncomfortable (Shaw and Liam didn’t exactly seem happy either), his mood was thoughtful. After we’d finally gotten rolling onto the I-10 freeway and heading due east, he spoke up.

  “If I might build upon our earlier conversation,” he ventured, “you mentioned that I had once refused to give up in our struggle against Magnus. That was because I had blocked his ability to travel between worlds.”

  “That’s correct,” I said. “And just like before, I was so disheartened by Korr turning on us that I momentarily forgot that our opponent’s not going anywhere for a while.”

  Galen’s head came up with a snap.

  Liam’s voice was muffled, as he could barely turn his head towards the front of the van, but I made him out clearly enough. “W
hat do you mean, Dayna? All that Korr has to do is track the Heart’s spoor to the source, and then return to Andeluvia.”

  “It’s not going to be as easy as you might think. For starters, Korr said that he could only magically transport himself once per day.”

  “Isn’t it a full day since we arrived?”

  “Yes, but he also added a qualifier to that ‘one day’ rule. He had to be at full magical strength. Korr just burned through most of his magic in his attempt to defeat Galen. And there’s more that I hadn’t taken into account.”

  “‘Tis an amazing talent you have,” Shaw chuckled, from the rear of the van. “I find mine own hopes reviving as you speak.”

  “Well, there’s a good reason for that. Remember, this isn’t Andeluvia. Just because Korr may be able to locate the source of power for the Seraphine doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy for him to get to it.”

  Galen nodded agreement. “We must also trust to fortune that Korr doesn’t encounter too many humans in his path. He has shown little regard for others’ lives, Seraphine and otherwise.”

  “You’re right,” I acknowledged, as I quickly glanced to the sky. “But I’m guessing that we’re going to be on our own, or close to it. We’ve got the typical skies now for winter in Los Angeles. Dense, low-lying clouds. Korr’s flying above that layer.”

  “He probably feels it will help confound our ability to track him.”

  “That’s a good guess. So, except for a few very confused pilots or air-traffic controllers, he’s not going to attract attention until he comes in to land.” I thought back to the map I’d left on the kitchen table. “And the spot he’s heading to is out in the middle of nowhere. It’s probably abandoned.”

  At least I hope it’s abandoned, I thought grimly. It would be terrible if Korr were to kill, say, a poor night watchman who’d wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time. But if the area was still in use, I could visualize the phoenix slagging an entire swing shift of workers to get to his prize.

  The cloud cover didn’t break, but the oncoming horizon grew ever darker as I continued to take us due east. The never-ending sprawl of Los Angeles’ Spanish-tile houses, shopping centers, and palm tree framed developments gradually gave way to humbler homes and isolated belts of parkland. After about an hour and a half of driving, even suburbia gave way to strips of rolling, arid land slashed through with broad concrete highways.

  Finally, I exited the freeway and turned north. I followed the signs towards a splotch of orange-gray industrial blight sitting smack dab in the middle of an especially empty part of the landscape. Antiquated banks of sodium -vapor lights that lined the edge of the facilities provided the apricot-colored illumination. The gray came from the metal and concrete-slab design of the buildings.

  The road came to an end at a wide semicircle of concrete, blocked by a chain-link gate and an old guard shack that had been shuttered with sheets of particle board. A screen and keypad where one could type in an entry code jutted out from one side. Just above the shack, a sheet metal sign proudly proclaimed that this was the plant entrance for the ELECTRO-FLUX RECYCLING CENTER. Just below the company’s logo hung a second, blue sign: Juniper Valley Closure Project - Restricted Area.

  “That’s a stroke of luck,” I remarked, as I pulled right up to the gate’s entry system.

  “How do you mean?” This from Galen.

  “I’ve had to get onto properties like this for the OME. When the local community or county government labels a place like this subject to ‘closure’, what they really mean is that it’s been mothballed.”

  “What does this place have to do with moths?”

  “Or their balls?” Liam asked, as he tried to look over Galen’s shoulder.

  “It’s just an expression,” I clarified. “It means that this place hasn’t been abandoned or anything. Instead, it’s been carefully shut down so that it can resume work when the time is right.”

  “Shall we be facing any foes besides yon phoenix?” Shaw called towards the front.

  “Sometimes there’s a couple security guards walking the premises,” I craned my neck to look up-and-down the length of fence. “If there was one, they’d have come out here as soon as they saw us pull up. So I’m betting that we’re all alone out here.”

  “All for the better,” Liam declared. “Why don’t you let us out? My legs are cramping from being pressed under a griffin’s flank back here!”

  “Thy antler points are hardly more comfortable on one’s side!” Shaw shot back.

  “Take it easy, guys,” I said. “Just a second.”

  I hit the button to unlock the rear doors. Shaw grabbed the inside handle and exited without having to be told twice, Liam bounding out on his heels. The two came around to the driver’s side, taking the time to stretch their legs or flex their wings.

  “Shall I tear through this fencing for thee?” Shaw asked, as he brandished his talons.

  “Actually, I’d like to give it a go,” Liam said. “Since becoming the Protector, I’ve been trying to explore some of the powers at my disposal. So much lore was lost when my predecessor Quinval was murdered!”

  I rolled down the window so I could talk to Liam more easily. “Sure, as long as you won’t hurt or deplete yourself. I still don’t know how your magic overlaps with Galen’s.”

  Liam considered. “I can’t project energy the same way a wizard can. But you’ve seen me neutralize spells before. And some of my other abilities.”

  “Aye,” Shaw said, surprisingly gently. “Yet, thy gifts are for magical defense, detection, purification, and summoning creatures of the Andeluvia forest. ‘Tis not at all certain what use these shall be here.”

  “I’m not sure. But much of Dayna’s world works on lightning, channeled into little snake-like lines, I can influence lightning, either through creatures or on my own.”

  My world ran on lightning? I blinked, puzzled for a split second until I realized that Liam was talking about electricity. And I wasn’t sure that lightning was the same thing as the steady alternating current that came from a three-prong plug.

  Before I could say anything, Liam touched his antlers to the keypad just outside the boarded-up guard shack. His eyes and antlers glowed for a split second. The keypad screen glimmered bright green and a buzz cut the night air as a section of the chain-link gate slid open.

  Shaw looked on, awestruck.

  “Not bad, Protector,” I said. “Come on, follow us up to the plant.”

  I nudged the gas pedal and drove the van the rest of the way up to the recycling plant’s loading docks. Each dock was large enough to back in an eighteen-wheeler. I supposed that they needed to bring in large amounts of garbage or aluminum cans when they ran the place at capacity.

  Shaw and Liam trotted along behind the van, catching up to us when I parked and shut off the engine. Galen got out and gingerly flexed his hands, testing the healing skin. I leaned over to open the glove compartment and fished out an LED flashlight the size of my thumb.

  I followed the wizard’s lead when I exited the van. I started by making sure that the flashlight’s batteries were working, then made sure that my gun was safely tucked in the holster under my jacket, ready for use.

  The night air was warm and still. I took a sniff, and my nose picked up the faint smell of burnt iron and gasoline. Galen nudged my arm, pointing in the direction of the freeway. A row of cylindrical tanks marked ‘Gas Storage’ stretched away to the south. That explained where Pirr had taken a sip of her otherworldly petroleum cocktail.

  The recycling plant loomed silently over us. In fact, it resembled a medieval castle with its three-story walls and a pair of six-story ‘towers’ at opposite corners of the plant. The jib of a tower crane jutted from one of the towers, while the other tower bristled with vents and short smokestacks. In the dim light, these objects looked more like a row of stone gargoyles perched on a cathedral’s rooftop. The very thought gave me a shudder, so I pushed it out of my mind.

>   Liam’s eyes glowed brightly again for a moment. “We need to be careful. I’m picking up an especially strong spoor of Seraphine magic now.”

  “But from where?” I asked. “Can you lock down where it’s coming from?”

  Liam closed his eyes and began moving his antlers side-to-side as if dowsing. The rest of us waited tensely for his answer, ready to answer any attack that leapt out at us from the dark.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  We waited expectantly outside the building, trying to ignore the weird mixture of smoky iron and sweet gasoline that hung in the air. Liam’s brow furrowed as he continued his tracking.

  “There’s another question,” I pointed out. “Which spoor is Liam sensing? Is it from more shards of magically infused ruby? From Pirr’s earlier visit? Or from our friend, Korr?”

  “Thy guess is as good as mine,” Shaw rumbled, as he peered at the crane jib and the rooftop of the secondary tower. “Would not there be fire and flame if Korr were present?”

  “Not if he got here first and then went into his Inert state.”

  “A fine point,” Galen put in. “But according to Korr, the Seraphine cannot sense the passage of time while Inert. And based on our experience, they do not detect sound or light as cues to wake. If we do not physically contact the phoenix in his Inert form, then he might not wake.”

  “That’s logical,” I admitted. “The only problem is that Korr would know that as well. And he wouldn’t take a chance on us slipping by him to nab what he wants most.”

  “Then we had best keep our defenses up,” Liam said. “I cannot tell whose magical trace this is, only that it is strong, and it is definitely Seraphine. The strongest spoor comes from deep inside the large building before us.”

  “Then let’s continue our search inside.”

  Galen went up to one of the side doors, which had been secured with a thick padlock. The wizard studied it for a moment. “This one doesn’t seem to run on lightning.” He touched his index finger to the lock’s surface and murmured, “Oscailte.”