Scorched Shadows (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 7)

by Steve McHugh

  I nodded. “Send a bunch of people to hit Tommy and those he cares about, but send cannon fodder. No one significant to the cause overall. The only sorcerer in the bunch was the one who killed himself. He had dwarven runes marked on his skin.”

  “What did they say?” Zamek asked.

  “I only saw the one on his back. It was one of the original dwarven runes, and it said contain.”

  “Contain what?” Zamek asked.

  I shrugged. “I’d like to see the body if possible,” I told Grayson.

  “The body is still in one piece?” Mordred asked. “In New York, the bodies burned up to ash. Or at least one of them did. The other one only turned to ash where the runes had been placed.”

  Grayson dropped in front of me several photos of the body of the sorcerer. “I printed these off. I thought they’d be helpful.”

  I flicked through them, each picture showing the glyphs on the dead man.

  “I think your magic stopped the power from consuming him,” Irkalla said as she picked up one of the photos. “Do you know what they say?”

  I placed the photos in an order in front of me, showing each of the glyphs on the front and back of the man’s body. A glyph sat on his chest, one on each wrist, and one on his throat. They were mirrored on his back, the backs of his wrists, and the base of his skull.

  “Power, contain, release,” I said, tapping each photo in turn. “Those on his wrists mean ‘release.’ I assume there’s more of them because of how much power is pushed out.”

  “What does that mean?” Fiona asked.

  The original dwarven runes had been lost in translation for thousands of years, known only to a handful of people. Even the majority of dwarves themselves were no longer capable of reading them. For some reason, when I was a child someone put the knowledge of them in my head. I got the feeling it wasn’t done so I could show off and look clever.

  “It means he was turned into a bomb,” Zamek said. “A walking magical explosion. The magic was built up inside of him and contained before a trigger was used to release it. My guess was his touching one of the runes with his hands did it. I have never seen anything like this before, didn’t even know it was possible.”

  “So, someone out there knows these runes just as well as Nate,” Nabu said. “And they’re using that knowledge to create people who explode with enough power to destroy buildings.”

  “Only sorcerers,” I said. “I don’t think it would work with anyone else. Maybe elementals at a push, but their power is different and this isn’t an element—it’s just pure magical power. I think whatever magic these sorcerers know is changed into pure energy and then detonated. Whoever did this is not someone we want running around. Those dwarven runes were hidden for a reason.”

  “Even from their own people,” Zamek said without any hint of annoyance. “I only knew a few of them, and I don’t know of anyone besides Nate who knows them all. And it wasn’t like he sat down and studied them. They were forced into his head by a blood-magic curse.”

  “The one I took into the shadow realm was a prisoner of some kind. He must have agreed to attack us in exchange for his freedom. I got him to communicate without needing to speak, before anyone asks how I did it. I’m wondering if any of his friends were of a similar background.”

  “I’ll check for any kind of prison escape,” Olivia said, getting to her feet with haste. “Helios must have escaped from The Hole. If he managed it, there’s no telling how many more prisoners went with him. That’s bad news for everyone.” She sat behind a desk at the rear of the office, and picked up the phone.

  “How do you even escape from that place?” Morgan asked. “It’s an underground prison on an island in the North Atlantic. Even if you got out of the prison, it’s at least an hour’s flight from there to the nearest country.”

  “And after the trouble we had when we were there last, the security was meant to increase,” Remy said.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Olivia said, the phone handset cradled between her shoulder and ear as she wrote something down on paper in front of her. “This is not good news, people.”

  “I’m going to the morgue,” Irkalla said. “I want to look at the blood-curse marks on the dead bodies. If someone has screwed with the minds, maybe my necromancy can try and use their spirits to piece things back together. Or at least the spirits might be able to give us something else to go on.”

  “Be careful,” Morgan said. “There’s no telling what was done to their minds.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Irkalla said with a gentle smile. Although many thousands of years older than Morgan, Irkalla never got annoyed with people giving advice.

  “I’ll join you,” Grayson said. “Just in case.”

  Irkalla and Grayson left the room, and Nabu sat in the newly empty seat beside me. “This isn’t over, Nate.”

  “Not by a long shot. But Elaine is missing, someone is attacking humans, and now they’re attacking us.”

  “Speaking of Elaine, what’s happening with that?” Mordred asked. “Do we have more information than her last whereabouts?”

  “No,” Fiona admitted.

  “She knew that people within Avalon were working against them,” Mordred said. “She’s known that for a long time. Maybe she got a little too close to who those people were.”

  “You were meeting her because of the prophecy, yes?” I asked.

  Mordred nodded. “I know you don’t think I should be trying to stop something that might not happen, but I need to, Nate. I need to do something.”

  I nodded. I understood completely—I just wasn’t sure it was going to do any good. “Take Morgan, Remy, Fiona, and Diana with you.”

  “I’ll go, too,” Nabu said. “We have no way of knowing where Elaine is.”

  “Where was the rescue team last seen?” Morgan asked.

  “My husband was last seen in Moscow,” Fiona said. “That was his last communication. All it said was he believed they were being watched, and would keep us informed. Then nothing.”

  “A trip to Russia?” Mordred asked. “Haven’t been there for a while. I know a few people who might be able to help if Elaine is in Russia. We’ll still go to her house first, though, and have a look, just in case someone missed something the first time around.”

  “I assume you’ll be going after Helios?” Selene asked me as Olivia’s mobile rang and she excused herself from the room.

  I shook my head. “He needs to be stopped, but it’s clear that whatever he’s up to, at least part of it is to try and keep us occupied. If I were Hera or Baldr or any of the others in this cabal and I was launching attacks on humanity, I’d want the people who would try to stop it as preoccupied as possible. Helios is meant to keep me preoccupied. Burn my house down, attack my friends—he wants me after him. I assume the people he works for want that, too. Otherwise why break him out of prison? And we all know if he got free, he didn’t do it alone, so instead of playing their game, I’m going to completely ignore him. I’m going to call Sky and see if there’s been any activity where she is. This cabal attacked Tommy, so they might try to attack Hades, too. But first I’m going to go home and see if I can salvage anything I might need, and then I’m going to need a plane.”

  “I’m going with you,” Selene said.

  “Me, too,” Zamek told us. “No arguments.”

  I looked over at Tommy. “Before you say anything, you need to stay here.”

  Tommy nodded. “If they attack again . . .”

  “I know.”

  “I want to help, Nate.”

  “It’s okay. You can help by making sure your people are okay. You’re our eyes and ears on this one. We’ll all need to be kept in the loop as to what’s happening. If these attacks on humans escalate, the humans might start thinking they need to fight back. If Avalon loses control of the human leaders, then things are going to break down fast.” I knew that given a choice, Tommy would be right beside me, storming off into whatever battle came my way, but as a
director of a company, and one that was recently attacked, he had more pressing priorities.

  Olivia entered the office, walked over to the desk, picked up the phone and threw it across the room, where it shattered as it hit the wall. “We have a problem,” she said, her face ashen.

  “We have a lot of them,” Mordred said. “Sometimes I think we collect problems.”

  “If you compare our problems to any video games, I’m going to hit you.” Morgan smiled while she spoke, but I was certain she meant every word.

  “There has been no contact with The Hole for three days,” Olivia said.

  “No one thought to check?” Tommy asked.

  “Apparently not, no.” Olivia picked up a cup and threw it at the dent in the wall she’d just made with the phone.

  “You want to stop throwing things?” Tommy asked.

  “Not really,” Olivia said. “Damn it. The Hole has been compromised. I’m sending people up there to check, but I’d take it as given there was a mass breakout.”

  “That would explain the numbers,” I said. “And why they sent people here to die. Most of the prisoners wouldn’t have been considered useful for anything but causing chaos. And sending them to die is a good way of getting rid of deadweight, while still sending a message of terror. Two birds, one stone and all that.”

  “You think the sorcerers who have been turned into bombs didn’t know what was happening?” Tommy asked me.

  “If someone can break a mind so that they can only say one thing over and over, it stands to reason that they can force them to blow themselves up. We won’t know more until we capture someone alive.”

  “You think we’re going to get the chance?” Nabu asked.

  I nodded. “Almost certainly. These attacks aren’t done. Even if a tiny portion of the attacks are carried out by these prisoners, there still seem to be plenty of people who are more than willing to die for the cause. Whoever is in charge of this cabal sure knows how to inspire loyalty.”

  “You sound impressed,” Morgan said.

  “Afraid more than impressed. I don’t know if this cabal is achieving that loyalty through fear, the promise of a better life, or money, but something is making people work for them. Hera is one of the most powerful people on the planet in terms of sheer manpower and monetary wealth, and she did that despite being a raving psychopath. As a rule, people—human or otherwise—don’t think of themselves as the bad guy. They rationalize, and create a narrative where what they’re doing is just fine. Everyone says they have a line they won’t cross, but when everyone around you is crossing it and making a new line further and further into the distance, it takes a strong person to say no and walk away.”

  “So, what happens now?” Remy asked.

  “Now we all get ready to go do what we need to do,” Zamek said.

  “We get ready to fight,” Tommy said.

  “Just us?” Morgan asked. “Because I don’t think we’re going to be able to go up against Hera by herself, let alone anyone she’s working with. Speaking of which, why isn’t Arthur going after Hera or her allies? We know she’s working with this cabal. Why doesn’t Arthur stop her?”

  “He can’t,” Olivia said. “If Avalon officially goes after Hera, who is entrenched in London, she’ll turn that city into a war zone overnight. Hera and her allies have so much power, so much pull inside of Avalon, that it would start a civil war. All we know is that Hera, Helios, Baldr, Nergal, Siris, and Kay were working together. Kay is dead, so that leaves those five. We have no idea where Nergal and Siris are, Baldr is trapped in another realm, and Helios was in prison. I imagine that we’ll be seeing more of these cabal members in the near future, but until we know who we’re fighting, we’re limited in our response. Arthur’s power to deal with them is cut off at the knees until one of them does something brazen.”

  “And Arthur’s trying to bring all of Avalon together,” I said. “He’s trying to find out who is and isn’t his ally. He needs information before he can strike against Hera and the cabal. Otherwise he’ll get stabbed in the back the first chance someone gets.”

  “I’m going to contact my other branches in New York and Tokyo,” Tommy said, getting to his feet. “I want to make sure none of them are having similar problems.”

  He left the room, and I wanted to go after him to make sure he was okay.

  “Olivia, how long before we can get transport ready?” I asked.

  “A few hours. I need to make some calls. I’m keeping this out of Avalon’s view for as long as I can. I spent a long time finding the traitors inside of Avalon, but I’m not convinced I found them all. So, I’ll be using as many of Tommy’s contacts as possible. At least until I can get ahold of Lucie and find out what she knows. It’s nearly midnight, so give me until dawn.”

  I stood. “Then everyone has six hours to get some rest and prepare for what’s next. I’m going to contact Sky and Hades and go see my ruin of a home. That should keep me busy.”

  “Nate,” Mordred called after me as he followed me out of the room.

  I stopped and waited.

  “What you said about some of those people being sent here to die. That might be right, but the guy who blew himself up next to me in New York—he was a fanatic. I saw the look in his eyes. I saw the hatred. He wanted to be there. I just wanted you to know. They might be using prisoners as expendable help, but some of those people chose to die for their cause.”

  “Yeah, I figured.”

  “What if Hera is the head of the cabal? Or Merlin?”

  “We both know it’s not Hera,” I said.

  Mordred nodded. “Yeah . . . but it could be Merlin. Arthur has been back for three years, and everything is even worse now than it was back then. What if Arthur didn’t exactly live up to Merlin’s ideal, and Merlin finally gave up the pretense of helping?”

  “I can’t see why he’d take so much time and effort to keep Arthur alive, just to throw that away by attacking Avalon.”

  “Maybe that’s why he kept Arthur alive? He thinks that after all these years he’s finally twisted Arthur to his way of thinking, but Arthur wakes up and wants to make Avalon better. Not turn it into whatever Merlin wants. Merlin’s sidelined, finally loses that last shred of being a good person, and—”

  “Murders a whole bunch of people,” I finished for him. “It’s possible. If it’s Merlin, we’re going to have to confront him at some point. Arthur’s appointing people he trusts, people who would push Merlin further away from power. He snaps. There’s merit there.”

  “Nate, there’s something else. About the prophecy.”

  “Mordred, you aren’t going to kill me. You’re not going to need to stop me from going full Darth Vader, or whatever Tommy would call it. Don’t worry.”

  “But I am. I’ve stayed away from you for a year, because I thought distance was the answer. It isn’t. I’m going to find out how we beat this prophecy, but I’m done pushing my friends away to achieve it. I’m sorry about that.”

  I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t be. I get it. I do. But the Fates have been wrong before, and they’ll be wrong again.”

  Tommy burst out of a nearby meeting room door. “Nate, you need to see this. Now.”

  Mordred and I followed him back into the office. He grabbed the TV remote from the table and pointed it toward the large TV on the wall, switching it on. The screen came to life, showing a female news reporter sitting in a studio. Tommy paused the TV and began rewinding for several seconds, until the screen changed to a man in a mask. The mask was black, except for a white streak that moved down across one of the darkened eyeholes, stopping just above where the mouth would have been.

  “I had a call from one of my people downstairs. You need to watch this,” Tommy told me, and pressed play.

  “I am responsible for the terror that has spread across the globe. Before I am done, you will bow down to me and my kind as your rightful rulers. My name is Hellequin.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Na
te Garrett

  I didn’t bother watching the rest of the video and left the office a few seconds later. No one tried to stop me or try to ask if I was okay; the expression on my face probably told them all they needed to know. I walked out of the reception area and into the night, where spotlights had been installed so that a cleanup crew could get rid of debris and bodies. I wasn’t sure if Olivia had called in some of her LOA—the Law of Avalon, who were essentially Avalon’s police force—people, or if this crew worked for Tommy, but either way they had a job I didn’t envy.

  I found a secluded spot at the rear of the building next to a small pond. I sat on the wooden bench and watched two ducks swim across the water, seemingly oblivious to what had happened here. Tommy eventually found me and sat beside me without a word. We stayed like that for some time before he said anything.

  “So, this has been a really bad day.”

  I nodded. “You don’t have to humor me, Tommy. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

  He turned to look at me, the shadows around his face hiding his expression. “You always do something stupid when you’re angry. You run after those responsible for revenge, or justice, or whatever reason it is. It’s in your makeup. See problem, punch problem, be the baddest. You don’t always have to be the baddest, Nate. You’re better than just using brute strength.”

  I turned away and watched the ducks again. “They used my name, Tommy. They went after me, my house, my friends, and my name.”

  “We’ll find out who it is.”

  “Yes, we will,” I said, my voice hard as iron.

  “You know the attackers today . . . They didn’t come here because of you, right? I know you’re popular and all.”

  “I know. They were going to attack here no matter what. You help people who don’t want to go to Avalon, and with your connection to Olivia, and people like Diana here, you were always going to be a target. I imagine that Hera has wanted to send people to kill Diana ever since she refused to work for her.”

  “They want you angry and not thinking clearly.”