The Raven's Shadow: The Aegis of Merlin Book 4

by James E. Wisher

  “Are you okay?” Conryu didn’t dare look at her.

  “Yeah, my light barrier held, but that still hurt like a son of a bitch.”

  Behind him Terra had ended her spell. She hissed and the light grew brighter. Circling them at the edge of the shadows were five more tigers.

  He scrambled to his feet and hurled a stream of fire at one, but the beast easily dodged. “Any suggestions, ladies?”

  “I can deal with the tigers if you can keep them at bay for a minute,” Terra said.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Terra didn’t reply as she’d already fallen into the rhythm of her spell. Conryu threw both hands forward and waved the flames around, simulating a wall of flames. Behind him the power of Terra’s spell grew.

  Clair stayed huddled in the stone boat with Prime, rubbing her temples, and giving her head an occasional shake. Looked like she’d gotten the worst of it in the crash.

  “Duck!” Terra shouted.

  Conryu clenched his fists and dropped back into the boat. A rush of flame that filled the tunnel from ceiling to floor streaked down the monsters. After its passing the stone gleamed and there was no sign of the shadow beasts.

  “You destroyed them all,” Prime confirmed. “However I sense more up ahead, their presence is faint but I believe it’s another six beasts.”

  Conryu looked up at a sweating, limp Terra. That spell must have taken a lot out of her. He turned to Clair. “I think we’ll have to handle the next bunch.”

  “Earth magic is useless against insubstantial enemies and my fire and light skills aren’t what I’d like them to be.”

  “You can help a little though, right?” If he had to rely on the simple fire spell Sonja had taught him they might be in trouble.

  “I’ll do all I can. Climb aboard, Terra. The boat’s ready to go.”

  They took their seats. Conryu remained in the middle in case he needed to blast anything while Terra slumped in the rear, eyes closed and panting for breath.

  Clair guided them down the tunnel at a more cautious pace. No one wanted to fly straight into another ambush. The only thing that reassured him was the knowledge that Prime would warn him if the shadow beasts attacked.

  A few minutes later, after who knew how many hundreds of yards, they spotted another light ahead of them. It didn’t seem like they’d gone fast enough to catch up to Mercia, so who knew what type of trap she’d left this time.

  “Reveal.” The light was magical, but his spell revealed nothing else. He squinted, trying to make out what was glowing. “It’s not moving.”

  “It’s not Mercia.” Terra shifted behind him. Her voice sounded strong; he took that as a good sign. “She’s further away.”

  “As are the shadow beasts,” Prime added.

  “Want me to dispel it?” The closer they inched to the light the itchier he felt. It had to be a trap. Of course it might be a trap that went off when he tried to dispel it, like last winter with the demons.

  “No. Clair, stop well back from it and we’ll approach on foot. I don’t want to blunder into anything.”

  “Every minute we waste, Mercia’s lead grows.” Conryu couldn’t see Clair’s expression, but the frustration in her voice came through loud and clear. He understood that. Sometimes it seemed like every step they made was in the wrong direction.

  “We won’t stop her if we’re all blown up.”

  Clair grumbled, but eased the boat along until the head-sized sphere of light came into view. Conryu frowned. Why would a dark wizard like Mercia set a trap using light magic? It didn’t make sense.

  “Okay, Conryu,” Terra said.

  He crossed his fingers and wrists. “Darkness dispels everything.”

  The orb of dark magic struck the sphere and it vanished in an instant. The moment it did a magical vibration ran through him. A wall of flames sprang to life and came rushing at them.

  Conryu raised his arms and hoped he lived through the next five seconds.

  Jonny drove along at twenty miles an hour, following Maria’s mom’s directions. He hated the Department car. The steering was loose, the suspension sucked, and every pothole sent a spring up his ass. Surely they had better cars than this for their employees. It wasn’t even an improvement over the piece of shit he hot-wired in the garage, leaving aside the fact that it wasn’t stolen.

  He sighed. Cars he understood, the whole magic thing, not so much. Apparently Mrs. Kane was following Conryu and the others’ path through the sewers. He glanced in the rearview mirror. Kelsie had her nose pressed to the window as if she could somehow peer through the pavement down to the tunnels. The girl had a serious crush on his clueless best friend.

  Whatever trick Mrs. Kane was using, it wasn’t one Kelsie knew. Not surprising given she was only a freshman. Then again, Conryu was a freshman and he could open portals to Hell, had a pet giant three-headed demon hound, and whatever spell he’d used in the parking garage that gave Jonny chills just thinking about it. The noises the cops had made when those black spirits passed through them would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

  Jonny thought of Conryu like a brother, but damn. The shit he could do wasn’t right.

  “Turn left,” Mrs. Kane said.

  He frowned. There wasn’t a street to turn down. A little later they reached an intersection and he made the left. Hopefully it wouldn’t screw up her spell.

  Two blocks later she said, “Stop.”

  He parked under a light across the street from a pizzeria. His mouth started watering. The army was good about getting them their three squares a day, but the food left a great deal to be desired.

  Mrs. Kane left the car and Jonny and Kelsie joined her.

  “Did they stop?” Kelsie hurried around the car and stood beside Mrs. Kane. “Are they fighting?”

  “They did stop, but I don’t sense any fighting. It’s possible they lost her trail. Do either of you see any manhole covers?”

  Jonny scanned up the street. There was usually one every few hundred yards. Of course it could be in the shadows between street lights.

  The ground shook and something exploded. He spun just as one of the thick steel disks went flying into the air about fifty feet before crashing into the street.

  “There’s one.”

  The ladies ignored his attempt at humor and ran for the opening. Kelsie reached it first and started for the ladder hammered into the side of the shaft.

  Mrs. Kane grabbed her collar. “Let me check and make sure we’re not dropping down into a trap or the middle of a battle.”

  She muttered something in one of those weird languages the wizards spoke and nodded. “It’s clear.”

  Before she could resume her descent Conryu’s face appeared at the bottom of the shaft.

  “You okay, bro?”

  “Yeah, but Clair’s pretty banged up. She took the brunt of the blast. I can’t climb up with her and Terra’s too exhausted to cast.”

  “Move her into position, Conryu,” Mrs. Kane said. “I’ll use a wind spell to lift her up.”

  Conryu didn’t immediately move. “She’s earth aligned. Will wind magic be okay?”

  “For the three seconds I’ll need to lift her it’ll be fine. Hurry now.”

  He nodded and disappeared back into the darkness. A minute later he returned carrying Clair in his arms. He stood her up against the ladder and held her in place while Mrs. Kane cast another spell.

  Wind swirled and carried the unconscious woman up along with the stench of the sewer. Jonny’s appetite died in an instant. When Clair had flown all the way out of the opening Jonny caught her and carried her to the car. Kelsie ran over and opened the back door. He laid her on the seat and wiped the sweat from his brow.

  Mrs. Kane nodded to Jonny. “Help Conryu. Terra’s in no shape to climb on her own.”

  “Got it.” He jogged back to the opening, ignoring the people that had gathered to stare, and looked down. A moment later Conryu appeared with Terra’s arm around his
shoulders. The wizard’s head lolled around like her neck had turned to rubber and her eyes fluttered, half open, half closed. “What can I do?”

  “Reach down and grab the back of her robe. I’ll push from this end.”

  Terra muttered something, but it was nonsense to Jonny. Real nonsense, not the magical nonsense he’d gotten used to over the last day. Between them he and Conryu pulled and shoved the incoherent wizard out of the sewer. It was an absolute miracle no cars came along while they were in the middle of the road.

  “I have her,” Conryu said when she was out. His creepy book flew up beside him a moment later. “Can you slide the cover into place? We don’t want someone busting an axle in the hole.”

  “No problem.”

  Jonny dragged the cover back where it belonged and joined the others beside the car. In the back seat Clair was encased in a glowing box of white energy. It was just transparent enough to allow him to watch her bruises and scrapes fading away.

  Conryu had Terra in the passenger seat and Mrs. Kane held a glowing hand over the woozy wizard’s heart. When the light faded Terra’s eyes were closed and she started snoring.

  Mrs. Kane turned to Conryu. “What happened?”

  Conryu sat on the hood and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Though he looked tired, he was in way better shape than the other two. Jonny wished there was something he could do to help, but when it came to magic he was just a bystander.

  “We ran into a trap. There was a sphere of light magic which drew our attention, but it was a decoy. When I dispelled it another spell activated which caused the blast. I thought we were going to get roasted alive, but I summoned a dark magic barrier, by instinct more than anything and it negated the worst of the blast. Terra turned aside some of the heat I missed, but Clair was struck by flying debris.”

  “We were stupid.” Terra’s eyes had opened after her brief nap. “I assumed since Mercia is a dark-aligned wizard she’d set a dark magic trap and that’s what I searched for. I never imagined she’d combine light and fire magic. My overconfidence almost got us killed.”

  “Clair and I didn’t think of it either.” Trust Conryu to try and shoulder his share of the blame. He couldn’t help himself. For as long as Jonny had known him Conryu had believed he was responsible whenever anything happened, even if there was nothing he could have done to stop it.

  “You’re a freshman, barely into your training, and Clair doesn’t have the experience I do. I’ve been a government wizard for twenty-seven years and I walked into that trap like a first-year rookie. We’re going to have to do a lot better if we want to survive and stop Mercia.”

  Jonny was suddenly glad, for the first time today, to be a bystander. If it had fallen to him to figure this mess out he didn’t know how he’d handle it.

  9

  Hide and Seek

  Conryu paced and tried to ignore the faces pressed up against the glass of the pizzeria window across the street. Clair had been under the effect of the healing spell for fifteen minutes and the worst of her visible injuries had disappeared. Mrs. Kane was pouring energy into Terra to counteract the backlash that had turned her brain to mush.

  He glanced at Kelsie who was watching every move he made as if she feared he might collapse at any moment. He wasn’t in that bad a shape, but it had been a long day and it showed no sign of ending soon. There was still one box to go, the one from the culvert. At the rate she was flying he figured Mercia should be there soon if she hadn’t arrived already.

  There was no way to stop her from collecting the last one. What they needed now was to figure out how to keep her from activating them. Unfortunately, Conryu hadn’t a clue how to go about it. Assuming Terra was right and Mercia was planning to go directly to the island’s shadow and activate the artifacts they didn’t have much time.

  Conryu patted his pockets. Where was that stupid phone? “Hey, Jonny, do you have the phone? I need to talk to Lin.”

  Jonny dug the little flip phone out of his pocket and tossed it over. Conryu autodialed and a moment later Maria picked up. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

  “I’m fine, but we’ve run into a roadblock. Is Lin there? I need to talk to him.”

  There was a clunk and a pair of taps then Lin said, “Conryu? What do you need?”

  “Do you have the map with the island’s path on it handy?”

  “Just a second.” Silence was followed by the faint clattering of keys. “Okay, go ahead.”

  “Draw a circle one mile in diameter around the culvert location. When you have that overlay all sewer exits. Assuming she can’t activate the artifacts underground she’ll have to come out of one of them.”

  More tapping was followed by, “I have three potential exit points between the culvert and the island. Seven if you branch out further.”

  “Awesome, thanks, Sarge. Can you email all seven to Terra’s phone?”

  Jonny approached as he hung up. “We got a plan?”

  “That might be generous. How are the patients?”

  “Still breathing, though I think Terra fell back asleep. So what now?”

  “Now we find a high place where we can see most of the exits Sarge found and hope she doesn’t come flying out before we arrive.”

  Lady Raven couldn’t stop smiling as she collected the final box. When those fools had blundered into her trap the heat from the explosion had singed her back and warmed her heart. With a fire wizard and a dark wizard amongst them it was unlikely she’d managed to kill anyone, but she’d gotten them off her trail and that was all she really needed. A smoldering pile of corpses would have been a nice bonus though.

  She climbed back onto the chariot between her two guardians. The section of sewer where she’d hidden the final box didn’t connect to the section under the island and she needed to be above ground to trigger the artifacts anyway. With just a little luck she might be able to form a proper magical triad and still open a decent-sized portal. It wouldn’t be as impressive as what she originally planned, but it would get the Society’s point across.

  With a mental command she sent the chariot hurtling down the tunnel. It was a short flight to the nearest access and a few seconds later she stopped again. Directly ahead was a grate that led to a processing plant. She hardly thought it possible, but the stench from the plant was worse than the sewers themselves. When her mission was complete Lady Raven planned to take a week-long bath with scented water.

  She chanted, “Rust and rot, all things become nothing, Entropic Wave!”

  A wave of her hand sent dark energy toward the grate. When the energy had passed by, all that remained were flecks of rust. The chariot shot through the opening, flying over tanks of filthy water, and smashing through a skylight and into the clean, fresh air.

  Lady Raven took a deep breath of the cool night air. If she never had to go in another sewer it would be a fine thing. She turned the chariot towards the island. It wasn’t much beyond a mile to the outer edge of the shadow. As soon as she reached it she’d land and finish her task.

  They were three blocks down the road when Terra woke up again. Conryu was smushed in the back seat between Kelsie and Mrs. Kane—not the worst pair to get sandwiched between now that he thought about it—while Clair remained in the healing field. He didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like she must have had some internal injuries from the blast if she wasn’t out of it yet.

  Prime rested on his lap. The scholomantic had stayed uncharacteristically quiet since the explosion. Given their connection, Conryu assumed he’d know if Prime sustained any serious damage. Not that there was anything he could do about it. Light magic healing didn’t work on demons.

  Jonny had Terra’s phone open on the dash in front of him, the map Lin had sent pulled up on the screen. A quick search had turned up a twelve-story apartment building with a rooftop garden situated within sight of five of the potential exits. While it didn’t offer complete coverage it was the best option available.

  “Where are we goin
g?” Terra yawned and rubbed her eyes.

  Conryu gave her the gist of his very sketchy plan. When he finished she looked back at him. “I’m impressed. Your plan shows initiative and quick thinking. It’s far from perfect, but given our circumstances I can’t come up with anything better.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  Terra’s gaze shifted to Clair. “How is she?”

  “I don’t believe she’s in any danger.” Mrs. Kane made a mystic pass over the field. “The magic will end when all her injuries are fully healed. It takes as long as it takes.”

  “That’s about what I figured.” Terra turned back around.

  Fifteen minutes later they parked in front of the apartment building. Lights shone from most of the windows and a low buzz of music filled the air. Just normal people on an ordinary weekday night. Conryu envied them their ignorance, for a moment anyway.

  He’d come to realize over the past year that with ignorance came helplessness. Should a shadow beast show up he doubted anyone in the building would be able to do anything but scream and die. It was up to him and the others to make sure that didn’t happen. It was a heavy responsibility and one that set his stomach churning whenever he thought too hard about it.

  Terra, Jonny, Kelsie, and Conryu started toward the building, leaving Mrs. Kane with the still-healing Clair. It was a short walk to the front door.

  As they walked Conryu asked, “Can I control the path of the Dispel spheres I throw or do they only go in a straight line?”

  “As always, Master, your will controls your magic. Simply focus on the path you wish the spell to take and it will oblige. The only reason you shot them straight up to now is that it never occurred to you there was any other option.”

  “Are you okay? You’ve been quieter than usual today.”

  “Too many people, Master. Demons like me are solitary, seeking new knowledge on our own. Being around so many others is uncomfortable so I entered a state of reduced awareness.”