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

by James E. Wisher

  Maria knew how they felt. Waiting and worrying about Conryu had gotten to be her new hobby. The mayor had appropriated her father’s desk and was shouting into the phone with no more success than he’d enjoyed for the past hour. It looked like the city really was on its own.

  “Why don’t you take a break, Tom?” Dad guided the mayor to one of the spare chairs they’d dragged in to accommodate all the extra people.

  “How can they refuse to send anyone?” The mayor sounded baffled. “We’re facing one of the gravest crises in the city’s history. If Central can’t help us now, what good are they?”

  Her father clearly didn’t have any answers for the mayor. Maria blinked. Maybe she did. “What about calling in the academy teachers for backup? Everyone’s on break so they should be free.”

  Dad rushed over to his desk and grabbed the phone. “That’s a great idea, sweetheart. I don’t know if any of them are still at the school, but it’s worth a shot.”

  Maria clutched her chest as a shooting pain ran through her. Someone had just unleashed powerful dark magic. She looked back out the window and her eyes widened as a black pillar shot up into the sky. It struck the bottom of the island and immediately tripled in diameter.

  “Tell them to hurry. We don’t have much time.”

  Dad looked up from the phone. He dropped the receiver and reached for her. “What’s wrong?”

  Maria nodded toward the window.

  Her father turned and gasped. “What is that?”

  “I don’t know the name for it, but Conryu was trapped in one during the Awakening ceremony. I think it’s a sort of dark portal.”

  “Mercia must have activated one of the artifacts. Lin!”

  “Sir?”

  She’d forgotten all about the laconic detective leaning against the wall off by himself. He pushed off and ambled over to the desk.

  “Did you take those enchanted guns out to the police stations?”

  “Sure, but with everyone focused on Conryu I doubt they were ever deployed.”

  “Well get out there, round them up, and head to the portal. The wizards are going to need backup. I’ll have the civilian casters I contacted earlier meet you in the field. You have full authority to deploy everyone however you need to, right, Tom?”

  The mayor nodded then went back to holding his head in his hands. Poor guy looked totally overwhelmed. Not that she blamed him. This wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you expected to have to deal with when you were sworn in.

  “What if they don’t believe me?” Lin asked.

  “Tell them to call the Department and I’ll have them busted down to traffic cop in the morning.”

  “I’ll go too.” Maria gasped as a fresh pain shot through her.

  “No you won’t.” Her father came over and put his arm around her. “Outside the Department’s wards I doubt you’d be able to stay on your feet, much less help.”

  “We’ll direct any civilians in the area to come here,” Lin said. “There’s bound to be wounded. They’ll need your help.”

  Maria clenched her jaw and nodded. They were both right. Her sensitivity to dark magic made her useless in a situation like this.

  Lin rushed out of the office while her father returned to the phone. Sho helped Connie to her feet and turned to Maria. “Let’s go down and prepare. People will need places to lay down, blankets, and medical supplies.”

  “We have emergency gear in the Science Department as well,” Connie said. Having something to do seemed to take her mind off Conryu.

  Maria looked one last time out the window. The black pillar continued to grow in diameter and shadowy shapes flew out of it at random intervals.

  The moment Conryu felt the dark magic surge he cast Cloak of Darkness. His desire to protect everyone caused the spell to cover the others in protective energy as well as himself. Jonny flinched and turned his head away. Kelsie moved behind him and buried her face in his back.

  When the initial surge evened out into a mere gusher of power Conryu relaxed. A moment later the first shadow beast emerged, a crimson-eyed hound as tall as his shoulder. A blast of fire from Terra destroyed it.

  “How do we close the portal?” Conryu asked no one in particular.

  Terra shook her head and blasted another beast. “I have no idea. We need to capture Mercia alive so we can rip the information from her mind.”

  “Speaking of which, where’d the psycho run off to?” Conryu looked around, but found no sign of her.

  “Master, I can sense her moving northeast.”

  “Go, I’ll hold the monsters here.” Terra hurled more flames. “Remember, we need her alive now.”

  “Right, I’ll do my best. Prime, you’re on point.”

  The scholomantic flew across the park and Conryu and his friends fell in behind. Take her alive, she says. It would be a wonder if he could stop her before she opened a second box.

  “Master, there are ways to extract information even from a corpse. I can instruct you in the proper spell if it becomes necessary.”

  “Great. I’ll be able to mark talking to a dead person off my list of creepy things to do. Any thoughts on how I might take her alive?”

  “Your current spells are enough if you use them correctly. Blasting one of her legs off should take the fight out of her.”

  “Thanks, Prime, you’re an inspiration.”

  They left the park and ran across a street filled with people gawping at the black pillar. Everyone was muttering and several terrified people clung to each other. He doubted they knew what they were seeing, but even the uninformed knew enough to realize it wasn’t good.

  Conryu forced people out of his way as he tried to keep up with Prime. It was a mark of how the nether portal transfixed everyone that a flying demon book didn’t draw so much as a second look. He debated trying to herd them inside, but walls of stone and steel wouldn’t slow shadow beasts.

  Once they’d left the crowd behind, Conryu picked up the pace. It was probably more than Kelsie could handle, but he didn’t dare take it any easier.

  “Are we gaining, Prime?”

  “Yes, Master. She’s stopped.”

  “Shit! Where?” There was only one reason Mercia would have stopped and that was to open a second box.

  “A hundred or so yards to your right.”

  He turned and sprinted, trusting his protective magic to stop any stray spells she might hurl his way. At the edge of the sidewalk a chain link fence stopped him cold. The light wasn’t much better here and he could hardly see past the tip of his nose.

  “Prime, where?”

  “Keep going, Master, you’re close.”

  There was probably a door in the fence, but he didn’t have time to look for it. He focused his will on the fence. “Shatter!”

  A whole section disintegrated into flecks of rust. He ran through the opening and promptly slammed into a crushed car. He must have entered a junkyard. Terrific, she could be hiding anywhere amidst all this crap.

  He conjured a small fire globe and continued on. Jonny and Kelsie were somewhere behind him, but he didn’t dare spare them a moment’s thought. Hopefully they’d keep far enough back that he wouldn’t have to worry.

  A pool of sickly green light to his left caught his attention. He turned toward it, eager to catch up to Mercia.

  “Careful, Master. That’s necrotic light and it usually signals the presence of undead.”

  “Can you see in the dark?”

  “Of course, Master. I’m a demon.”

  “Fly ahead and scout the area. I don’t want to walk into another trap. And be careful.”

  Prime flew straight up and then towards the eerie light. Conryu closed his eyes and focused on his link with Prime. It took a moment, but then he could see through the scholomantic’s eyes, though everything had a washed-out gray tone.

  The light came from a huge mastiff with its head half severed from its neck. The undead dog didn’t appear overly troubled by its current condition. It pac
ed between two piles of crushed cars. That had to be where Mercia went.

  “What’s going on?” Jonny asked.

  Conryu flinched and spun around. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I think we have a line on her. Wait here, stay behind the cars. I shouldn’t be long.”

  He left his friends crouching behind the junk pile and snuck over toward the undead dog. At least he snuck as best he could considering he was standing in a pool of light in an otherwise dark night. Mercia couldn’t have done much to the poor dog, there hadn’t been time. He told himself that over and over as he approached.

  He caught a glimpse of the mastiff at the edge of his light a moment before it charged. The zombie dog was slow and clumsy compared to the undead biker. He raised his hand, fingers crossed. “Break!”

  The black orb flew out and struck the zombie square in the chest. It fell over on its side, truly dead once more.

  That was too easy.

  Familiar dark power washed over him as another pillar shot up into the sky to strike the bottom of the island. It expanded just like the first one and soon a pair of crimson eyes appeared in the dark, followed by another and another.

  “All things burn to ash, Inferno Blast!” He swept his arm from left to right and burned the shadow beasts away.

  “Master! She’s fleeing west.”

  Should he stop the shadow beasts or pursue Mercia? Conryu wanted to tear his hair out. He couldn’t be in two places at once. What was he supposed to do?

  Shizuku hurled another lightning bolt into the undead monster’s chest. So far she’d managed to burn its shirt off. Not the most promising results. She knew her light magic was weak against monsters like this, but she’d never imagined it being completely useless.

  A boulder shaped from broken pavement slammed into the monster and staggered it sideways. Clair’s magic was somewhat more effective, but not much.

  “How are we going to stop it?” Shizuku asked.

  “When Terra destroyed one she and Lin disabled it by blowing off its leg and burning the Faceless One inside to ash.”

  The undead regained its balance and stalked toward them again. Shizuku didn’t have any magic capable of disabling the creature for more than a few seconds to say nothing about destroying its host.

  She called a golden chain from behind it and yanked the monster back. Its dark magic nature degraded her spell in seconds.

  A moment later a second pillar of darkness shot up into the night sky. Shizuku ground her teeth. They’d failed again to stop Mercia. Shadow beasts would be pouring out of that portal as well. They needed to wrap this up in a hurry.

  “I think I can take off a leg, if you can burn away the shadow creature inside,” Clair said as if reading her mind.

  “No problem.” If she could target the shadow creature directly, her magic would be much more effective.

  Clair chanted and a chunk of the fire escape above them tore off with a high-pitched shriek of protest. The hunk of metal twisted and fused at her command, forming a blade which began to spin. With a sweeping gesture Clair sent it rushing in at the undead’s legs.

  The creature once again proved its agility, leaping over the spinning blade before coming crashing back to earth.

  That didn’t save it.

  The instant the blade was past, Clair crooked her finger, calling it back. The second pass slashed the undead’s leg off at the knee, exposing a twisted black leg inside.

  “Light of Heaven burn away my enemies, Lightning Blast!” Without the flesh to provide insulation Shizuku’s attack annihilated the exposed shadow limb.

  The undead hopped and flailed, but could move no more than a foot or two per second.

  Clair’s blade came rushing in again, hacking off the second leg, and Shizuku again burned away the exposed inner limb. The stubborn creature attempted to crawl over to them.

  The blade came flying down. It slammed through the undead’s back, pinning it to the ground.

  That steel blade gave Shizuku an idea. “Get back.”

  When Clair had moved a safe distance away she raised both hands to the sky. “Oh lord of the sky and king of Heaven, cast your might crashing down upon my enemy, Zeus’s Lightning!”

  Thunder cracked and a bolt of lightning that made her earlier attacks look like a stun gun hurtled down from the sky, striking the steel blade. Power crashed through the corpse, making the flesh translucent and exposing the bones. The energy burned away the Faceless One inside the body and the monster went still.

  Shizuku bent over and gasped for breath. She fought the first hint of backlash that caused her vision to blur at the edges. That was the most powerful offensive spell she knew. If it hadn’t worked she didn’t know what they would have done.

  “I know you’re tired,” Clair said. “But the others need us.”

  She straightened. “Let’s go.”

  They left the alley and made the short trip to the first portal at a shuffling walk, which was all Shizuku could manage. When they arrived they found Terra frantically burning every shadow beast that appeared.

  It was a losing battle. Even if she destroyed every one that appeared on the ground, there were black birds emerging higher up. The shadow ravens were spreading fast. They needed to close the portal before many more got out.

  “How do we shut it down?” Clair cast a weak fire spell that burned away a shadow cat.

  “No idea,” Terra said between blasts. “I tried Dispel, but it absorbs dark magic like a sponge.”

  “If not dark magic, then what?”

  “Maybe I can seal it with a ward?” Shizuku said.

  “That much dark magic would eat through your spell in seconds.” Terra grimaced. “I just don’t see a way through this.”

  “If I maintain it by feeding a constant stream of light magic it might last longer, maybe ten minutes.” That might have been way optimistic on Shizuku’s part, but she was determined to do something.

  “Then you collapse and get eaten by shadow beasts.” Terra shook her head. “I can’t allow that.”

  “You don’t have a choice. If I can contain this threat you two can go help Conryu capture Mercia and maybe figure out how to close it permanently.”

  “Alright. I’ll raise a wall of fire then you lay the ward. I know the chief was mobilizing the city’s wizards. Hopefully someone will be along to help soon.”

  With Terra’s spell destroying anything that tried to pass through, Shizuku began to chant and weave her ward, adding a silent prayer that she wouldn’t pass out before she finished.

  A chill ran through Lin when he gazed up at the second black pillar. The team had arrived near the portal in three cars and he’d immediately sent six officers armed with the magic guns out in pairs to patrol the area for shadow beasts. They hadn’t seen any yet, but it was only a matter of time.

  It didn’t appear that the rest of the team was having very much luck bringing Mercia down. Shadow ravens, like the ones that attacked him and Terra down at the docks, flew out of the upper portion of the pillar. He drew a bead on an especially large specimen, more pterodactyl than bird, but lowered his weapon. It was too high and he didn’t want to waste one of his precious magic bullets on a likely miss.

  Lin and the other five cops headed straight for the second pillar. He’d noticed flashes of fire. Terra was fighting the invasion on her own and he didn’t intend to let that stand.

  “When we arrive, encircle the portal and shoot anything that looks like it’s made of smoke. Be sure of your targets as there are friendlies and possibly civilians in the area.”

  Lin reached a chain link fence and began working his way around it looking for a gate. Beyond the fence, visible in the occasional flare of fire, was an auto junkyard. At least they didn’t have to worry about damaging anything with stray rounds.

  He hadn’t gone far when he found a missing section of fence. He motioned two officers left while he took the other three with him to the right. Thirty yards in two figures huddled behind
a pile of crushed cars.

  Lin whistled. The two looked at him and he recognized Conryu’s friends. That was two allies accounted for. He rounded another junk pile and there was Conryu himself, ten feet from the portal and busy burning everything that came within reach. There was no sign of anyone else.

  It wasn’t like seeing Conryu alive and well came as a disappointment, but where was Terra?

  “Conryu!”

  Conryu looked over his shoulder for a second at Lin. “Good timing, Sarge. Can you and your guys take over here? Mercia’s getting away.”

  “We can hold them for a little while, go.”

  Conryu backed away from the pillar while Lin and his men moved in. The book flew down and hovered beside Conryu. The sight of the ugly thing sent a shudder through him.

  “Don’t get too close, Sarge. All that dark energy isn’t healthy for regular people.”

  A shadow hound emerged from the pillar and Lin blew it away. “Don’t worry about us, just capture the target.”

  Conryu collected his friends and jogged off after the book. Lin put them out of his mind and focused on the steady stream of dark monstrosities emerging from the portal. They didn’t pour out in a gusher, but even at one every few seconds they’d burn through their limited supply of bullets in minutes. Once that happened, god help them.

  Conryu hated leaving Sarge and the other cops on their own, but if he couldn’t stop Mercia from opening that last box who knew what might happen. He’d hesitated for half a second about bringing Jonny and Kelsie with him, but they really wouldn’t be any better off with Lin once the cops ran out of magic bullets. Not to mention they wouldn’t have stayed even if he’d wanted them to.

  “Where is she, Prime?”

  “Not far away, Master. She’s moving more slowly now.”

  “Why?” Jonny asked. “She’s almost done. I figured she’d be rushing to finish the job.”

  “Mercia’s expended a lot of power over the past half a day,” Kelsie said between gasping breaths. “She has to be on the verge of a major backlash herself by now.”