by HDA Roberts
And in a few months, when everyone was good and desperate, we’d start building a successor to the Aurelia, one with a far more sensible view of their spot on the food chain and a more human-friendly group of Elders at the top.
It was a thing of beauty, really, and all credit must go to Tethys and Price for both the fine detail of the plan and its execution. I merely funded it and came up with the overall strategy; it was those two that made it a reality.
I made sure that they were very well compensated for their efforts, above and beyond what they’d managed to slip into their private accounts (and that was nothing to sneeze at, believe me!). I never wanted those two to feel like I was taking their work for granted. In fact, I arranged for everyone to get a nice bonus out of the whole affair. It never hurt to share the wealth, and Tethys had generated a lot of it, enough that I could give everyone who worked for me enough to retire on (not that they did) and still have vast amounts left over to expand my organisation and squirrel some away for the rainy day that must eventually come.
As the last of the reports came in five days later on the following Thursday, Tethys and I were relaxing in the garden. She was swiping through the documents on her tablet, speed-reading and showing me points of interest, making me smile.
"A purely economic war... it's a nice change," she said brightly, "except for that little ice trick of yours."
"Essential ice trick."
"Shh, don't ruin my solo victory against impossible odds," she said, cuddling in a little closer to me.
I stroked her hair and she sighed happily, as pleased with our victory as I was.
"What are you going to do with your share of the loot?" she asked me with a smile.
"This and that, probably bribe that minister that's giving my parents so much trouble. What about you?"
She pulled up an electronic brochure of a lovely-looking tropical island.
"Little spot in the Caribbean. This was owned by a... rival of mine. She came into some financial difficulties lately, such a shame, I've already put in the down payment."
I chuckled, "And just how did she come upon those ‘financial difficulties?’”
She smirked in her devastating way and nipped my ear.
"Hey! I thought we agreed no doing that where I can see you!" Ross snapped from off to our left, jolting us both.
I sighed and Tethys looked embarrassed, "If it's any consolation, she's really good in bed," she whispered.
"Why would that be any consolation for me?"
"I'd be willing to send you the videos."
I may have lost the ability to speak for a second there.
"I love that I can still do that to you," she said, pecking my cheek and hopping up to greet her girlfriend.
"Lexi, Sweetheart, we've talked about this..." she began, taking Ross aside.
I tuned them out, determined to enjoy my successes while I could, because I now had a much bigger problem to deal with: the Conclave, and whatever funny business they were up to.
I’d made some preliminary enquiries with Kron and the others, but they didn’t know anything. That made sense, unfortunately. If the Conclave was after me, the other Archons would take that personally, and so would be kept as far out of the loop as possible.
Compared to this potential mess, dealing with the Aurelias was relatively simple. They were completely modernised, in synch with the latest technology and practices. Magicians were a much more conservative bunch. We preferred things that couldn't be hacked or traced. Information would have to be acquired the old fashioned way, through bribery, blackmail, men in trench-coats listening outside of windows... all of which would take time.
Time that I might not have to spare.
Chapter 27
With the effective destruction of the Aurelia’s ability to project power, Cassandra and Demise were happy to let my parents return to Mexico, though with a Warden to keep an eye on them, at least for a while. I thought they’d be eager to get back to work, but they decided to stay with me a bit longer. They said it was to help Des finish settling in, but I think they were just enjoying themselves too much on their first real holiday in twenty years. I certainly wasn’t complaining, it was nice to have all four of us under one roof again.
The days rolled by quite peacefully. If it weren’t for the looming threat of the Conclave, and my growing worry over Evelina, I’d have been happy as a clam. My family reconnected, I devoured information at the University and Cassandra continued to train me and Des.
She continued to grow as a teacher, too, but if anything, she was the one who showed the greatest improvement. Since we’d had our talk about her way of fighting, she had been like a woman possessed. And as hard as she was on me, she was twice as hard on herself from what little she let me see. For the rest, I had Demise. She was Cassandra’s sparring partner, and she told me that Cassandra had been pushing herself to her limits, forcing herself to rely more and more on Magic in combat, and not just to enhance herself.
Cassandra found those limits and then surpassed them, it was actually rather inspiring.
Less inspiring, and more terrifying, were the somewhat sinister smiles she threw my way every time she learned a new Spell or got just that little bit faster at casting or moving.
I spent the rest of my time watching movies with Tethys, playing Chess with Kandi or Demise and arguing with Hopkins and Kron. I ate regular meals, got to bed at a reasonable hour and generally did my best not to worry about my various problems until I actually had something to worry about (with mixed results, I must confess).
The only thing of note that happened during that time was Myrddin coming to visit. It wasn’t especially heavy stuff, just an update on his progress trying to find a way into Unseelie (there wasn’t any), but he also had some rather pointed questions about the fall of the Aurelia (which had become public knowledge very quickly, even if nobody knew exactly how it had happened).
They way he talked about it, though, made me think that he suspected who had been responsible for the House’s collapse. Naturally, I lied through my teeth, and I hoped I was convincing. The last thing I needed was it becoming public knowledge that I was involved, that could reunite the House, or, at least, enough of it to renew the threat.
He was also concerned that I still wasn’t carrying the Gods’ Blade around with me, though he calmed down when I told him that it was always easily accessible, at least when I was at home. That seemed very important to him for some reason...
Other than those points, the visit was fun and Myrddin was as charming as always. He stayed for dinner and even had my mother giggling like a schoolgirl, which was just disturbing for everyone present.
Yes, those were very good days.
I really had thought that I’d accounted for every variable, that I was as safe as I could be from the Aurelia and their associates.
Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to take pure fanaticism into account, which was foolish, as this had all started because of hurt pride and fanatical devotion to a fallen Elder.
I was right in that the Vampires were out of the picture. It was all they could do to feed themselves without bringing the authorities down on their heads. But Vallan, with his age, power, charisma and impressive skill, had attracted followers from many walks of life, and quite a few of them had very little to do with the Aurelia, which was why we’d missed them.
One follower in particular.
I would later come to know that he was a Magician by the name of Alastair Kroupal. He wasn’t especially powerful, a relatively strong Acolyte (one category down from Wizard), but he was a talented Enchanter. If he’d done a proper apprenticeship, he could easily have made six or even seven figures a year selling his work on the open market. Unfortunately, Vallan had gotten his hooks into the man at an early age, exchanging service for knowledge and frequent draughts of Vampire blood.
An Acolyte of Kroupal’s power would be lucky to reach one hundred and seventy years old under normal circumstances. The man was
well over three hundred when he made himself known to me, and he barely looked thirty.
He was Vallan's most loyal supporter, his Magical apprentice; his helper. A full partner in many of the atrocious experiments Vallan had put into my head. His life was inextricable from Vallan’s, his future, his very life, reliant on the Elder.
You can imagine how well the man took Vallan’s death.
Normally, even this wouldn't have been that much of a problem. There were no fifty Acolytes in the world, combined, that could be a threat to an Archon. But Kroupal had learned a great deal from his master over the last two hundred and fifty odd years.
He’d learned things that a man like Kroupal should not be allowed to know; Spells that could kill thousands, or even millions, if used correctly.
And that son of a bitch cast one of them on my front lawn.
It was on a Monday, just after lunch. I was supposed to be at the university. It would turn out that Kroupal had timed it that way. He’d been watching me for weeks, learning my schedule. He’d wanted me out of the way so he could slaughter as many of my friends and family as possible.
I was only home because Professor Gallows had a family emergency and had cancelled the afternoon classes.
To this day, I still shudder when I think about how close I’d come to losing just about everyone I cared about, but for the tiniest bit of dumb luck.
I was reviewing my notes from that morning's class in my library when it happened.
I hardly noticed at first, it was barely an itch to my Magical senses, nothing at all, really. Stonebridge was a very Magical city, I felt things like that all the time.
That was part of what would have made it so devastating.
Kroupal, clever, vicious, Kroupal hadn’t just been watching me, he’d been watching Blackhold, too. He’d plotted, he’d planned, and then he’d used his prodigious skill at Enchanting to build a device. I had to admit, it was a work of art; about a dozen Damascus Stones, wrapped around a core of obsidian and blackwood, every inch of it covered in Enchantments designed to absorb Magical energies and confuse Scrying Spells.
It was, for want of a better term, perfect, and his plan wasn’t far off. Rather than any complex gambits like using the post, or infiltrating the grounds, he’d simply walked up to the outer wall, activated his creation, tossed the thing over and ran like hell.
It kept itself hidden, all the while aligning the complex Spells within its matrix to its position in our space and dimension, and then it activated, plunging a Magical construct through the very fabric of reality, and opening a Gateway.
By the time I became aware of it, there was nothing I could do to stop it. The Spell wasn’t self-sustaining; it had only remained active for a second, less, even, before Mira’s defences smothered and squashed it, but it was more than enough.
The Gateway had already vomited out the stuff of nightmares.
I was sprinting for the front doors before the Gateway had closed, recognising the energy for what it was. I shouted for everyone to stay inside, charging past staff and Wardens who were looking at me like I was slightly insane, but not daring to argue with me.
I was one of maybe three Magicians in the house who had felt the Gateway open, and the other two were at the front door waiting for me; Cassandra and Ross.
I staggered to a halt and nearly had a panic attack on the spot as I saw the thing that had been summoned to our reality.
It was from the Realm of Darkness, that much was certain. But at least it was smaller than the ones I'd glimpsed through Vallan's aperture. It was maybe fifty metres long, clearly unaccustomed to gravity as it was flailing around on my lawn, its multi-ton bulk tearing great troughs in the grass and earth. Its front end was a colossal beak on the end of a long neck, that neck covered with great red and black eyes that seemed to be flicking about wildly, almost in a panic. The rest of it was a mass of black tentacles, each one different, with claws on some, sharp teeth on others, mouths filled with fangs on the ends of yet more; some dripped with poison, some seemed to be tipped with stingers... it was an abomination in every sense of the word, a true crime against nature.
And this one was only a baby compared to what else lived in that Realm.
"Don't worry, I got this," Ross said.
Before I could stop her, she reached out a hand and a ball of blue fire appeared. I was quite impressed; she'd managed to combine her Warp-Burst Spell with a Fireball, which would do an incredible amount of damage to just about anything it hit.
She hurled it at the monster, an attack that should have shredded its matter and set the pieces on fire. The ball hit the creature's flank, exploded, and... did exactly nothing to the Entity.
Except attract its attention.
Hundreds of those horrible eyes swivelled to glare at Ross.
"Okay, maybe I don't got this," she said sheepishly as the Entity's hundred or so tentacles righted it, pointing that beak right at us.
"Mira..." I said, "kill it."
Purple lightning came out of thin air, Magic that had torn high-end Sorcerers down to messy scraps, penetrating shield and flesh alike to slaughter and maim. A dozen bolts hit the creature, then a dozen more.
They didn't leave a scratch, if anything, they just made it more alert.
I heard Mira harrumph and the air became more highly charged as balls of green fire, bolts of blue energy and yet more lightning speared into the monster, doing little more than agitating it.
"Cassie, get everyone out the back and put up the Bat-signal. We need help. Frankly, I'm surprised Kron isn't here already. Go."
"But Matty..."
"Now, Cassie," I said gently, but firmly, not taking my eyes off the thing. "This is Archon's work."
She nodded, patted my shoulder and left.
Mira threw more energy at the Entity, distracting it. It still seemed to be shaking itself off, getting used to a more physical world. It was still weak and disoriented; that gave me a few precious seconds to work with.
I cast Mage Sight and really looked at the thing.
Its powers were immense, twice as strong as the strongest Sorcerer I'd ever met. But what made it really dangerous was that its very hide was capable of shrugging off Magic, like it was clad in skin made of Spelleaters. Everything about it was Magical, from its bones, Enchanted for strength, to its organs, even down to its digestive system, which as far as I could tell, was designed to keep its prey alive for a long, long time, to be leeched and drained slowly.
Yes, designed. There was no way this thing was natural. I might have guessed Demonic, but it didn’t have that signature to it. No, something twisted had made this thing, or its ancestors, anyway. It was too efficient at being... well, a nightmare. Even its internal anatomy was very hard to nail down; I couldn't seem to find a brain, for one thing, or any centralised nervous system. It was like its mind was spread throughout its body. It didn't even seem to have blood like I would understand the term, more like a semi-solid glop that carried energy like a power cable direct from the stomachs, though I could spot at least five of those.
"Sorry, Master, without using the Black, I'm not sure what I can do," Mira said.
"It's alright, I have a plan. Just keep my family safe."
"Of course."
I stepped through the front doors and they closed behind me. I felt the Wards flow through them and seal them tight. That thing wasn't getting through them... quickly, anyway.
The Entity looked like it was finally getting back on its feet, so to speak, rising up on its tentacles, glaring down at me.
The Entity flexed its powers and great crimson clouds formed above us, blocking out the sun and casting the world in dark and terrible colours. As the sky changed, the monster’s mouths and beak opened and it let out a horrific sound that shattered my eardrums and the glass on the buildings around me (except Blackhold’s, thank goodness, that bill would have been horrific).
The sudden pain in my ears dropped me to my knees, and in that instant of distrac
tion, the Entity came for me.
It was alarmingly fast for such a huge creature.
Thankfully, I could think faster than just about anything could move, and a Will Shield slammed into its way, bending under hundreds of tons of unholy monster. My Shadows erupted from every crevice, and as I released the Will Shield, a great black mass coiled around the creature and shoved it back.
I brought up a set of defences, greatly improved since my work with Cassandra. Dozens of wafer-thin layers attached to smaller, but more efficient, regenerative constructs that could be scaled without having to be recast. I was actually quite pleased with those.
They came up just in time to block a tentacle that wrenched its way free of a Shadow and tried to take my head off. I barely lost a layer, and that was back up almost instantly.
So, on the plus side, my new shields worked really well. I was confident I could hold the Entity off for a while.
The only problem was that I didn't know how I was going to get rid of the thing.
I started with the classics, overpowering and concentrating my Spells to get through its innate defences. That worked, at least a bit. I seared off tentacles with lances of fire, exploded eyes with bolts of lightning mixed with kinetic energy, cracked its beak with one of the parked cars... and the Entity just regenerated all the damage, its Well barely drained from each attack.
In reply, the red sky opened and a great torrent of acidic rain fell on me, burning the grass around me and destroying the soil underneath. Red lightning coiled around black and scarlet clouds before slamming down onto my shields. A great wind started to blow, bringing shards of acidic ice with it. It lashed out with its tentacles and threw chunks of torn up road and turf at me.
Blackhold helped to replenish the energy I was spending, but my Well was still emptying quicker than the monster's. I didn't know how I was going to be able to win this. The best I'd been able to do was pin it in place with my Shadows. Again, because of my training, I'd discovered better ways of calling and manipulating them, so that was easier than ever.
