Primal's Wrath: Book VI of 'The Magician's Brother' Series

by HDA Roberts

  I smiled, "Thanks for helping with that."

  "Welcome."

  "Took you a while to come up with a tactful way to tell me I was a wastrel."

  She snorted, "You're not a wastrel. Definitely not that. But a warrior needs to learn to marshal his resources, and you needed to have it hammered home that yours are not infinite."

  “I hate that ‘warrior’ has to be part of my job description,” I said a little sadly.

  “Me too,” she replied, taking my hand and squeezing it gently. “I think that’s been part of your problem. Deliberately not thinking about these things to avoid the descriptor? Some psychological crap like that. You know that’s not my thing.”

  I smiled and nodded, “You’re probably right.”

  "I usually am. Now, are you ready to spar with me?"

  "God, no!"

  She laughed and pointed at the ring, "Get in there, Graves, I've been waiting for this for a long time."

  "You tickle a Sciophobe with Shadows once and they never forget it..." I muttered as I slouched into the ring.

  "What was that?"

  "Nothing!"

  She counted us down, and threw a Laser Lance before she said 'Duel'!

  Thankfully, I felt her about to cheat and cheated faster, getting a small Will Shield into the path of the beam, which she then smacked into as she charged at me. She bounced off and fell to the floor, swearing loudly, as I dropped the Will Shield and conjured a set of five overlapping, wafer-thin Force-Shields, designed to explode outwards when attacked; power-light and versatile.

  She was up and moving in less than the blink of an eye, and quickly found herself on the floor again as she bounced off my Shields, two layers having exploded in her face.

  My Regeneration Spell went to work, and because those Shield layers were so much lighter and simpler than the sheets of compressed energy I normally employed, they were back in place in a fraction of the time.

  The energy level in my Stone was still quite high, so I conjured another couple of layers for safety and started drawing in more kinetic energy from the air around us. I knew that the faster I drew in energy, the more Magic it used, so I coaxed rather than yanked. I expanded my perception and Will into the whole area inside the circle and just let the energy seep into a ball in my hand. To my surprise, it wasn’t any slower than my usual, brute-force methods, just more difficult to conceptualise and execute.

  I could work with that.

  Cassandra was darting around me, looking for weaknesses in my Shields. Finally, she grew impatient and sheathed a fist in pure Will before punching at my back.

  All seven layers exploded at once, but she was ready this time and drained the energy into a quick Kinetic Shield of her own.

  I replied with all the Force I had stored, and she went flying back, her own shields falling under the attack. Before she could recover, I reached out a tiny pulse of Will and triggered her Gauntlet.

  The chime went off and Cassandra immediately relaxed.

  "Good," she said, smiling broadly. She hopped up and stood in front of me. "Again!"

  "Really? I've had a long day, you know."

  "Not yet, you haven't!"

  "Um, you mind my asking you a question?" I asked her as she retook her starting position.

  "Depends on the question."

  "Fair enough. Why don't you use Combat Magic?"

  "Don't be dense, you just saw me use it!"

  "You know what I mean. You are a very good Wizard, Cassie, why aren't you using that to the fullest? With the way you move, and the power you have, you should have been through my shields in a second, but you weren't. You use the bare minimum to get by, and end up bouncing off things you should be able to plough through."

  She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

  "I never liked using Magic like that, Matty, not since my time with Benjamin."

  Benjamin had been the Black Magician of note when Cassandra was growing up. He'd razed her home town to the ground and indoctrinated the children to be his loyal servants, culminating in the mass murder of the adults of the town. It was a ghastly story, one which explained her reticence.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to push."

  "No, it was a sensible question. And you are right to point it out. I'm not as effective to you if I'm not using my abilities to their fullest."

  "I think you know me better than to think that's my priority."

  She smiled at me, "No, I don't suppose it is. I'll think on it, alright?"

  "You'd better. Besides, if we're going to spar, I'd at least like you to try putting up a fi- ow! Ow! I'm sorry, let go of that!"

  She laughed, released the offending body part and pulled me into a hug.

  "Dumb Shadowborn."

  I swear they're all mad, just... all of them.

  Chapter 25

  "It's working!" Tethys said, dropping into bed with me with a stack of papers in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other.

  "Whassat?" I managed, dragging myself back to something resembling consciousness.

  Why wouldn’t anyone let me sleep? A sentiment the Pixies curled up on the pillow next to me seemed to share, as they glared at both Tethys and me in their adorable way. I settled them back down and threw a Muffling Spell around them so they wouldn’t be woken up again.

  I checked my phone and discovered that it was a little before eight in the morning, on Wednesday, the week after the remaining Elders had decided to carve up their House's assets between them. At least she wasn’t obscenely early for a nice change...

  Tethys wriggled her way under my duvet with me and started showing me what was in her folder, popping chocolate in her mouth as she went.

  "Since we delivered our little recording to the Aurelia regional leaders, the remaining Elders have made more than two dozen attempts to assume authority over their chosen territories, and each has been met with a shocking lack of success," Tethys said, looking very smug.

  "The most recent one was an attempt by Marie Bellegarde to seize control of the East-Paris Enclave. She showed up with twenty Vampires, as well as half a dozen other assorted Supernatural nasties, and left with seven, plus a few rather ugly wounds for her trouble. As far as I know, she was also unsuccessful in claiming the territory."

  I chuckled.

  So predictable.

  Vampires were predators, pure and simple. Without the moderating influence of the steadier Elders to remind them why they shouldn’t engage in land-grabs and mob-violence, they’d gone right back to what their natures told them to do. They’d apparently forgotten that the Elder system had kept them (and all the other Vampire Houses) rich, powerful and, most importantly, alive mostly by stopping exactly this from happening.

  Even if the Aurelia somehow sorted themselves out, there was now a very real danger of them getting taken over by a rival House, or at least losing a great deal of their holdings to one, assuming that individual territories didn’t defect outright.

  Oh, such delightful chaos and all the more sweet because I had very little to do with it.

  Of course, I’d set the board, arranged the pieces, but it was the Aurelia themselves who were playing the game, I didn’t have to lift a finger!

  It was just like Kron had taught me during one of her lectures on strategy: when you can, let the enemy to do the work for you.

  Granted, she was likely referencing things like the East India Company’s conquest of the subcontinent or Russia’s retreat during Operation Barbarossa, rather than making squabbling Vampires turn on each other, but the principle was the same (mostly).

  Tethys handed me another report and started talking me through it.

  I smiled.

  What had once been a single, powerful political entity had fractured into dozens of individual territories, all battling each other. The Elders were trying to expand into their former colleagues’ lands; the second tier managers were fighting to stop them, while trying to expand into the power vacuum themselves, and the regional lea
ders were doing their best to grab any assets that weren’t nailed down, impeding everyone.

  Alliances were built and lasted only long enough to stab a third party in the back, at which point the allies would immediately turn on each other... it was madness, and bloody madness at that.

  But, while all this was going on, they were all far too busy to bother me, which was the whole point.

  I chuckled again and Tethys smiled before handing me the financial report.

  "Oh my," I managed. "Are these accurate?"

  "Oh yes. In fact, they're a little conservative, as not all accounts have been settled yet. You can add another twenty to thirty percent to those figures."

  "Any thoughts as to what small country you'd like to retire to? We can buy any one you want."

  She giggled and nosed my neck happily.

  Another of the things I’d learned from Killian and Kron is that there are always people who profit from a war, especially if they know it’s coming. Tethys and I had decided that we would like to be some of those people. So, we’d invested heavily in French and Spanish security companies, heavy construction concerns, transport companies, blood banks and about half a dozen other industries and sectors well used by the Aurelia. By the time Tethys was done, we effectively controlled all their biggest suppliers of what might be considered ‘war material’.

  And, thanks to our influence in those companies, we knew just about everything about their security arrangements (which just about every faction had paid to upgrade, more money for us), their logistics, their suppliers, their employees, and, most importantly, the financial firm that controlled the wealth for the entire Aurelia House.

  It had cost a whopping amount to arrange for all that, just a stupid amount of money. And now Tethys was telling me that we were not only going to make it back, but with a tidy profit, too.

  And that didn’t even take into account what we eventually planned to do with all that financial information I mentioned...

  "You really are brilliant," I said wrapping her in a cuddle.

  "I know," she replied airily.

  I kissed her cheek and we laid there for a while, just chatting, enjoying each other’s company in a rare moment of peace.

  "This will all be over soon, Matty," she said eventually.

  "I hope so. But even if everything we're planning works perfectly, there are still going to be a lot of Vampires out there holding a grudge, and they don't die of old age."

  "Maybe, but very soon, they won't be able to afford expensive things like revenge."

  I nodded and relaxed.

  "And until then, I'll keep you where you can't get into trouble," she whispered in my ear, making me shiver.

  "The horror," I replied, deadpan, making her laugh.

  "And I don't like your brother any more, just so you know. He's monopolising my toy—girlfriend! I meant girlfriend."

  "No you didn't."

  She poked my ribs, and I jumped.

  "I'm serious! The benefit of dating a girl is that they don't spend all night watching sports and getting drunk, why do you think I converted?!"

  I started laughing again, and just couldn't stop.

  "And let's not even discuss Kandi! Bad enough you set her up to run a multi-national business, taking her away from my legs—office! I meant office-"

  "No you didn't."

  "Office. But now Ross is sucking her into that vortex of sports and... bonding. Yuk!"

  "All part of my plan," I said softly into her ear.

  She started and then giggled again.

  "It's like that, is it? Getting me all to yourself, my twisted Magician?" she purred, sliding in closer to me.

  "Absolutely."

  She leaned in a bit closer... and there was a knock on the door.

  "God damn it," Tethys hissed, sliding away from me, "if it’s your mother again...."

  I smiled, "It’s Cassie.”

  “Not a whole lot better...”

  “Come in!" I said.

  Cassandra opened the door, "You have a visitor," she said levelly.

  "A good visitor? Or a visitor who's tried to kill me before?"

  "Both. Arianna Hellstrom."

  "Oh. That is unusual," I said, already up and reaching for my better clothes.

  Duchess Hellstrom and I had a... complicated history. She was a big voice in the Conclave, and had made considerable trouble for me in the past. She'd even challenged me to a duel once, and with every intention of killing me. She had two children (who had also tried to kill me), one of whom was a Shadowborn who had been manipulated into over-using Black Magic and was now a Shaadre (a sort of Shadow-infused monster that considered Magicians an excellent source of nutrition). The other was going through a bit of a rebellious phase, to the tune of picking fights with things she really shouldn’t and (last I heard) getting kicked out of university.

  For all that history, I respected Hellstrom; she was completely devoted to family and country. And, ever since I'd helped her discover the real source of her family's woes (a crooked Councillor with a hatred of Shadowborn), we’d become informal allies. It was a relationship few were aware of, which was how we preferred it. A back-pocket type thing.

  "She didn't look happy," Cassandra said.

  "She was standing in my house; she was unlikely to be singing about it."

  Cassandra snorted and fell in behind me along with Tethys, who'd pulled a relatively sensible skirt and jacket from one of my cupboards to cover what might (and very charitably) have been called pyjamas. It was a combination that certainly drew the eye.

  "You're going to walk into something," Tethys said with a giggle as she caught me staring.

  "Worth it."

  Hellstrom was waiting for me in the drawing room, sat perched on the edge of one of the sofas, a cup of strong coffee in one delicate hand. She was a beautiful woman, looking about twenty-five or so, but actually well into her second century. She had golden blond hair pulled into an intricate, close style and incisive, intelligent blue eyes that missed nothing.

  "Sorry to keep you waiting, your Grace," I said politely.

  That was the correct honorific for a British duchess, incidentally. It was astonishing how much protocol I’d managed to pick up over the last year, almost against my will.

  "Not at all, my Lord, I didn't call ahead," she said, standing to shake my hand.

  "Would you prefer this to be a private conversation?"

  "No, and I suspect that it would be better for you if your... associates heard what I had to say."

  Her tone was conversational, but there was an edge to it. She was worried about something, and that worried me. Arianna Hellstrom was not given to flights of fancy or false alarm.

  We sat and she paused to gather her thoughts.

  "You are aware that you are not... especially well liked in the Conclave?" she began.

  I smiled, a little sadly, "It has been made clear to me."

  "Not yet, it hasn't," she replied, wincing at something.

  I leaned forward a little, "Meaning?"

  "Meaning that there are whispers, rumblings, ugly talk. Something, or more likely someone, is stirring up the other Councillors against you."

  I frowned.

  "Why? I mean what could they possibly be after?"

  "That's the thing, I have no idea. It's not like they can eject you from the Conclave, and going to war with you would be tantamount to suicide. As far as I can tell, there is no danger to you, no great plan to capture or kill you... it's just... something feels wrong. And have you heard from Glass lately?"

  Ephraim Glass was the other Councillor in my pocket, as it were. He led a pro-Shadowborn, pro-Black Magic faction within the Conclave who thought I was the next Dark Lord. A nice enough bunch, if a little... Satan-worshippy.

  "No, now you mention it. But it's not unusual for me to go without hearing from him for a couple of months."

  "Well, nobody else has heard from him, either, him or his Crows."

  "Th
at's what, twelve Councillors? And nobody knows where they've gone?"

  "Their secretaries say they're on a retreat in the Midlands somewhere, but none of them left a contact number or any useful information, like an address, for example. Those are your only real supporters in the Conclave, and they just happen to leave right when all this backroom talk gets going? It stinks."

  "Yes, it really does," I agreed.

  "I’ll start looking for them immediately," Tethys said, looking a bit worried herself now.

  "Thank you," I replied.

  Cassandra just sat there, still and thinking, her expression dark.

  "Does the Conclave have any legal recourse towards an Archon?" I asked after a moment’s thought. “Something they could be gearing up for?”

  "One in good standing? None that I can think of; you're a head of state, after all," Hellstrom said. "But what they can do is deny you aid when you need it, block Portal Magic within the city and its environs during a crisis, start the legal proceedings needed to freeze or seize your assets, call for an Inland Revenue Audit... they can do any number of things to make your life unpleasant without actively attacking or injuring you. But I haven’t seen any sign of any of those things, either. That’s another thing that worries me. Nobody is following the traditional patterns for this sort of thing."

  "What about if the Archon isn't in good standing?" I asked.

  Hellstrom bit her lip, "If they can get you declared a danger, or a criminal, something like that, then things would be different. I suppose it would be a matter of how hard your fellow Archons were willing to fight for you. If they were likely to get involved on your side, then the likelihood of that sort of situation arising is greatly reduced."

  I nodded. "That's a relief at least," I said, smiling a little.

  She didn't smile back. "Now that you mention it, the way the talk is going... that could be what someone is pushing for. I'd guess Mrs Bradley, but I've been wrong on this before, as you'll remember," now she smiled, though it was grim.

  I chuckled, "Thank you for coming to me with this. I know that it could cause problems for you."