by Helen Harper
“You are here because I put you in here,” the mage said disdainfully.
“No, I mean, why did I bother to storm your citadel? I knew I’d get caught. I knew that someone would stop me. But I still came.”
The mage got closer until his nose was almost touching the cage. “I would assume you are looking for some ridiculous revenge for the fact that we came after you in Scotland.”
I laughed. Well, I almost laughed anyway, it came out as more of a creaking wheeze than a girlish giggle. “Revenge? Really? If I was after revenge then I’d do more than this. I wanted – no, make that WANT – to talk to you.”
He rocked back on his heels and folded his arms. “So talk.”
I opened my mouth to speak when a door behind the wizard opened and a figure entered. I realised that it was the guard who I’d put out earlier. He shot me a look of absolute simmering hatred, which managed to extinguish the flicker of guilt that I was feeling. Hey, he was walking, wasn’t he? I noticed that his hand where I’d embedded my silver dagger earlier in was all bandaged up.
“Hey,” I called out, “How are you feeling there, skipper?”
I immediately regretted that remark when the lead mage casually flicked out a stream of light that shot into the cage and pierced my body causing ripples of agonising pain. I moaned aloud, my fists clenching and fingernails curling into my skin at the searing agony. Clearly the cage didn’t nullify magic that was entering it from outside. Note to self: don’t piss off the people who are holding you captive and can do whatever they want to you. I reminded myself that what I needed was for them to pay attention to me so I could get them to release Mrs Alcoon.
The guard turned to the mage. “You have a visitor, sir.”
“Not now,” he said, dismissing the guard with an irritated wave.
“It’s the Lord Alpha, sir.”
My body froze. What the fuck was Corrigan doing here? Damnit that guy was like a bad smell. The mage’s eyes narrowed infinitesimally.
“Fine,” he snapped, “I’m on my way. Watch her,” he instructed the guard, who smiled immediately with malicious glee. Oh, excellent.
The mage turned round and glided towards the door, not giving me another look. Shit, looking at the guard he was leaving me with I might not get another shot at this.
“Wait!” I called out weakly. “There’s an old woman. In Scotland. Well, she was in Scotland, anyway. Now she’s…somewhere else. You put her in a coma. She didn’t do anything, you need to release…”
The mage left, slamming the door shut behind him.
The guard looked down at me and smiled again. “Oh, we’re going to have some fun, girlie.”
I sighed deeply. “Please don’t call me that.”
“I don’t think you’re in a position to be asking for anything now, are you?”
He sent out a stream of blue that hit me in the cheek. I yowled in agony and tried to turn away.
“Now tell me,” he said, sending out another shooting beam of pain at me, “what kind of weird bitch has green magic?”
I didn’t answer. He flicked his fingers and hit me in the same spot, just below my eye. Involuntary tears sprang to my eyes, rolling slowly down my cheek. They just made my cheekbone sting even more.
“Answer me!” he demanded, raising his hand up again to show just what I could expect if I remained silent.
I gave in momentarily. “I don’t know, it was one of your lot that caused it. What’s the big deal anyway? So it’s green, so what?”
He flicked his fingers again but this time thankfully up towards the ceiling. “What are you, colour blind? That’s blue. My friends are all blue. The Arch-Mage who you thought you could attack, is blue. You, bitch, are green.”
Huh. I’d achieved even higher than I’d expected. The Arch-Mage was about as senior a wizard as you could possibly get. At least I’d achieved some modicum of success then by targeting the most in charge person I possibly could have. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I might get that far within the Ministry to manage that. I permitted myself a small smile.
The guard growled and sent yet another arrow of blue flame towards me. But this time I’d had an idea. Instead of twisting my head away, I met it face on, allowing the shot to take me in the cheekbone at exactly the same spot where the prick of a guard had hit me before. The pain was white hot, and it felt as if it was eating away into my actual bone. A wave of dizziness overcame me. Once I’d recovered some of my equilibrium, however, I raised my hand to my cheek. As I’d hoped it came away wet. I reached forward and smeared my blood across the edge of the cage, doing my best to ignore the painful electrical shocks.
I wasn’t entirely sure if this would work, but if I could use my blood to break through a faerie ring, then it had to be worth a try. The guard watched me.
“Jesus, you’re pathetic. Are you trying to knock yourself out?”
I pulled myself up to a crouch and leaned back on my hands to rest my body weight against them. Taking a few deep breaths and feeling just the smallest satisfying flicker of bloodfire deep inside me, I lashed out at the cage with my feet, striking the exact points that I’d smeared with my blood. It worked. The metal fell away as whatever magic that had been holding in place was dissolved by my blood. The guard’s eyes widened dramatically. He started pelting me with streams of blue light, over and over. I bit my tongue, feeling even more blood fill my mouth with its hot iron rich taste. Drawing up from the well of fire inside me, I threw out green flame towards him. It met his blue light, forcing it backwards and causing ripples of sparks to shoot out in every direction.
“Fucking bitch!” the guard hissed, then ran out of the door, slamming it firmly shut behind him.
I crawled out of the cage, dragging myself by my hands. I didn’t think it was possible to hurt quite this much. When I finally managed to pull my body clear, I collapsed on the floor, panting and curling up into the foetal position. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be messing with any mages ever ever again once this was all over.
Now that I was out of the cage, however, I felt as if I had more control over my own body. I reached into myself, pulling out threads of fire along my veins, allowing the tendrils of heat to trickle down each leg and each arm, each artery and muscle. Eventually I was able to stir myself into a sitting position against a wall. I rested my head against it and waited for the Arch-Mage to return.
I didn’t have long to wait. The door to the little room was thrown open and the Arch-Mage himself was stood there, balls of blue flame in the palms of his hands and golden runes starting to form again around his head. Behind him stood several others, all in action stances, ready to take on little old me. I sighed deeply, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
“Please, Mr Arch-Mage. All I want to do is talk.”
He started to murmur to himself chanting whatever it was he had been when he’d knocked me out previously.
“Uh…sir? Really, I just want to talk to you.” I held my palms up towards him in submission. “If it helps I’ll crawl back into the cage.”
He stopped talking to himself and looked at me. I widened my eyes slightly and tried to look sincere.
One of the clustered mages behind the Arch-Mage began to protest. “Your Magnificence, you can’t….”
He held up a hand and the mage fell into a silence. As impressed as I was by this display of blind obedience, I was finding it difficult not to snort in disbelief at the Arch-Mage’s title. What was it with Otherworld megalomaniacs? That reminded me though.
“Uh, Sir?” I was damned if I was going to call him ‘Your Magnificence’. “Can I ask why the Lord Alpha is visiting?”
“I believe you just did,” the Arch-Mage said softly, raising an eyebrow at me and waggling it in a manner that reminded of some stage magician plying fake tricks to an awestruck audience. “It turns out that he was here for you. Still is here, in fact.”
Uh oh.
He continued. “It appears that he is demanding to k
now why one of his pack members is being held here. The Lord Alpha wanted to remind me of the Aberstrong treaty.”
I must have looked confused, because he elaborated. “It’s an old piece of Otherworld legislation. It came about after the Crimean War.”
“Half a league half a league half a league onwards?” I asked.
“That’s the one. Some of the conflict and the, well, the unfortunate deaths, were caused by dissension between shifters and mages who were present at the Battle of Balaclava. It was believed that had we worked together with clear lines of cooperation and communication, then things would have gone better. Once the war was over, a contract was drawn up to ensure such issues did not occur again. One of those includes the clause that neither mages nor shifters will interfere in each other’s business without first brokering a meeting with each head of state. The Lord Alpha wanted to know why you were here and he hadn’t been contacted.
Naturally, I was going to point out that you are not a shifter and therefore not covered by the treaty. However before I could do so I was informed that you had broken free of the cage and were rampaging through the College yet again. He’s still waiting upstairs.”
Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.
“Sir, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t do that. Tell him I’m not a shifter, I mean.” I licked my lips, nervously.
“Yes, I can imagine that you would. I would appreciate it myself, however if over a hundred years of relative peace between our two groups was not shattered by some nonentity little girl who is trying to pass herself off as a shifter and yet is actually a mage.”
“I’m not a mage, I can promise you that.”
“You can do magic. Not what we are used to, but I can guarantee that it was magic. And you broke free from the cage.” He glanced over at it for a moment and looked almost sad. “That’s never happened before. So before we do anything, you are going to tell me what you are, who you are and what in damnation you are doing in my College!”
I looked down at the floor. I couldn’t tell him what I was. My mother had hidden me at the pack for a reason; John had kept the truth from me for my entire life for a reason. In fact, since I’d discovered that I was Draco Wyr, I’d already told four people and I was damn lucky that they hadn’t done anything else with that information. I was quite sure that there were others like Iabartu out there somewhere who would be willing to wreak all manner of devastation to get hold of some of my blood. The Arch-Mage might even be one of those others.
I moved my gaze back up to the mage. “I can tell you that I am no threat to you or any of your mages.”
Several of the followers in the background began to splutter. One of them shouted out, “What about Trevor? You maimed him! And Martha almost died.”
I was proud of myself for staying calm and answering a level voice. “You brought the fight to me. Nobody is dead; nobody is in danger. If you had just left me alone, then I would have never come near you.”
“We can’t just let rogue magicians roam about the streets of Britain! Imagine the consequences!”
Heat started to rise in my stomach. I did my best to dampen it down. “I’ve told you, I’m not a mage.” I enunciated each word. “In fact, I can promise you that I will never, ever knowingly go near any mage ever again for the rest of my life, however long that may be, if you just sort out the stasis spell that you put on my friend.”
The mage who’d shouted out opened his mouth to speak again, but the Arch-Mage held up both his hands this time to silence the mutterings and exclamations. He had a puzzled frown on his face. “What do you mean?”
I struggled to remember what Alex had called it. “Uh, the ‘enforced inhibitory gnosis’ thingy.”
The mage at the back interrupted yet again. “She knows what it’s called! She just proved she’s a mage! She’s a rogue, we need to…”
His voice was cut off as the Arch-Mage closed the door behind him. I smiled, despite the gravity of the situation. “Thank you.”
He arched an eyebrow at me again. “How do you know what enforced inhibitory gnosis is?”
“I…uh…,” I swallowed. I didn’t think that Alex would like it if I gave him away. “I read a lot of books. I looked it up.”
“Really.” The Arch-Mage’s voice was dry.
“Look,” I said, trying to get the conversation back on track, “I am only here to get you to free Mrs Alcoon. She’s not really a witch.” I briefly remembered that the word ’witch’ was considered insulting to mages and re-phrased. “ I mean, mage, she’s not really a mage. She has a few powers passed down to her from her ancestors but really they’re very minor. She’s of no consequence or danger to anyone. She just runs a little bookshop and drinks a lot of herbal tea and doesn’t get in anyone’s way. She got caught up in all this and it’s my fault. Put me into a coma instead, but please, let her go. She’s not done anything.”
“Believe me, if we could place you in enforced inhibitory gnosis, then we would have done so already. In fact that really rather was the original plan. There are very few mages who could resist such a spell. I think I know all of them. So before I even begin to consider releasing your friend, you are going to tell me what you are.”
I really hate being told what to do. “I can’t do that, sir.”
The Arch-Mage stared at me hard. Then he turned and opened the door behind him. “Brandt? Will you go to the Lord Alpha and request his presence down here?”
For fuck’s sake. “Wait!” I protested. “You don’t understand what will happen if you do that. He’ll hurt people.”
“Then tell me what you are.” He gazed at me with an implacable expression of his face.
I could feel my carefully constructed secret unraveling around me. But Brandt was hovering by the door, watching us closely. “And how do I know I can trust you?”
He shrugged. “You don’t. But if you want to avoid the Lord Alpha and have any chance of me even considering freeing your friend, then you need to take a leap of faith.”
I thought for a moment. “How about a compromise?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“One of your own knows what I am. That’s how I knew about what the spell was called – I asked him for help. He can testify to you that what I am is of no consequence to the mages. That I won’t hurt you or any of you. I just want you to help Mrs Alcoon. You don’t need to know what I am.” I really hadn’t wanted to involve Alex, but I would if I had to.
The Arch-Mage remained stoically impassive. Then he sighed deeply. “Very well. Who is it?”
“Uh, Alex, Alex Florides.”
He turned back to the group of mages at the door. “Brandt, instead of the Lord Alpha, can you fetch Mage Florides here please? And while you’re at it, ask the Lord Alpha for his forbearance in waiting in a little longer.”
Brandt bobbed his head and began to turn.
“Brandt?”
“Yes, Your Magnificence?”
“Do be polite when you speak to the Pack Lord.”
“Yes, sir.” He turned and ran off.
I shifted uncomfortably. “Is Alex here?”
“No, he’s in Yorkshire dealing with a small problem there. He can transport here via a portal however. It won’t take long.”
“Neat trick,” I murmured.
The Arch-Mage smiled. “Yes, it rather is.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Is that how you gained admittance here?”
“No, I told you, I’m not a mage. You just rely too much on weak technology as a security system.” I explained to him how I’d zapped the electricity boxes to the gates and the garage, figuring that they’d find out sooner or later or anyway. Besides, it wasn’t as if I would be trying to sneak back in again any time soon. There were some mutterings at the door with my explanation but I ignored them. It wasn’t my fault if the mages were stupid.
By the time I’d finished, Brandt had reappeared. “Mage Florides is on his way, Your Magnificence. And, uh,” he cleared his throat, “the Lord
Alpha is getting impatient.”
The Arch-Mage made a moue of dismissal. “I’ll deal with him in due course.”
I didn’t think that Corrigan would appreciate being ‘dealt with’ by a mage, but I wisely kept silent. Scant moments later, a friendly face finally joined the group of hovering and uptight mages.
“Your Magnificence, you requested my presence.”
I stared at Alex. His surfer dude persona had all but disappeared in the presence of his ‘Magnificence’.
“Yes, Mage Florides. Please enter and close the door behind you.”
Alex nodded and started to make his way inside. When he caught sight of me, he started visibly and for a moment seemed to struggle to gain his composure. The he swallowed and continued in.
When the door was shut, he raised his eyes towards the Arch-Mage.
“Alex, I am led to believe that you know this young…woman.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that in fact you spoke to her very recently, giving away information about one of our spells.”
Alex swallowed and looked down. “Yes, sir.”
“Tell me how you met.”
“Uh, it was earlier in the year when I went to Cornwall. Y’know, when the alpha dude, sorry, when the alpha there, was murdered.”
“Aah, yes, I remember now.” The Arch-Mage rubbed the palms of his hands together. “So she was passing herself off as a shifter?”
‘She’ was getting rather annoyed at being addressed as if ‘she’ wasn’t in the room. I opened my mouth to speak, then thought better of it and closed it again.
“Uh, yes, sir. It was clear straight away that she seemed human.”
“Is she human?”
Alex looked at me guiltily, then cast his eyes downward again. “No, Your Magnificence.”
“Is she a mage?”
He looked surprised at this, before answering again, “No, Your Magnificence.”
“Do you know what she is?”
“Yeah, I mean, yes, sir.”
“Does she pose a threat to the Ministry or to any mages?”
“I don’t believe so, sir.”
“How about to the shifters?”
“No, sir, although she is convinced that if the Brethren discover that she is not a shifter then there will be consequences.”
