“And you think it was Mark Williams’s bones?” Penny asked.
“To be honest, I was doubtful at first, the story didn’t seem factually correct. But now having seen Leceth’s ring, or should I say, until Andrew described it to me as the CCTV was too grainy,” Peter paused and showed a piece of paper to her. “This is Andrew’s description of the ring.”
The paper contained a drawing of a symbol, like a fork with seven prongs, each with circles at their ends. “It’s Lower Ancient, original form, I translated it as… it says, Mark Williams.”
Penny looked more interested as she read the symbol. “Yes, it does say Mark Williams,” she was fluent in Lower Ancient original form, as a member of the Nariasdem it was not unusual. “I doubt that that’s a coincidence, although maybe Andrew remembered it wrong. It’s not as though Leceth gave it to him to examine,” she said.
“True but even so it is strange that Andrew just happened to see a ring that fitted with the Mark Williams theory. Also, Andrew described the ring as though it were made of tiny bones. Now that leads me to think I am on the right track,” Peter said enthusiastically.
“That’s very interesting,” Penny said, “what about the CCTV footage?”
“Unfortunately, I cannot make out the symbol from the recording although it looks like there is definitely one there,” Peter replied.
Again, something popped into his head and he wrote it down.
“How come you have a Transtext here?” Penny asked, looking down at the book.
“Oh, well, this one is 302. I found it in Camden Market, of all places. I couldn’t believe it.”
This shocked Penny, a Transtext was one of the most useful and rarest books that the Order used. It was a way of communicating between the offices, much like email, although it predated post. The Transtext was created millennia ago by a group of powerful witches and wizards.
There were three hundred and thirty-three Transtext books and each one had the ability to relay information to the others. Each book contained six hundred and sixty-six pages and to communicate with another one you simply turned to the page number which corresponded to the book you wanted to relay the message to and wrote upon it.
Peter’s was open to page sixteen. Penny knew that book sixteen was in Jonathon’s office. As Peter wrote on page sixteen on the left hand side, it would appear on Jonathon’s page three hundred and two on the right hand side, and if Jonathon was to reply, he would simply write on the left-hand side of page three hundred and two and it would appear on Peter’s page sixteen, on the right-hand side.
It was an invaluable tool for the Order. If a book was closed and it received a message from another, it would simply open to the page on which the message sat.
Most of the books were owned by the Order, spread out over the one hundred and fifty offices they had.
“Camden Market? Really? How many does the Order own?” Penny knew a ballpark number but she was sure that Peter would know exactly.
“Oh, um, including this one, two hundred and eighty-one. The twenty-two we do not have could be lost, or even destroyed. We check and look out for them regularly,” Peter said continuing to write in his book. “So, do you want to leave now?” he said after resting his pen on the page.
Penny looked at her watch, she knew that they had missed their meal and she could see that Peter was eager to continue with his research.
“Well, I hadn’t booked anything really,” she lied.
“Really?” Peter replied, not really seeming all that interested.
“If you want, we can just stay here and investigate Leceth’s jewellery,” she said, though deep down she longed for him to decline the offer and whisk her away.
“Oh, yes, well if you are sure?” he asked in the same tone as before.
“Yes, it’s fine,” Penny replied as she opened a book and began reading.
Peter smiled. There was silence in the room as the pair flicked through book after book at an incredible pace.
“Okay, a question?” Penny broke the silence. “This ring, Mark Williams’s bones? Why would Leceth have it?”
Peter put down the book he was reading.
“Why would Leceth have it? Hmm, well he could wear it for aesthetics. Maybe he owns it so that no one else can, as I imagine he believes if he has it then it cannot fall into the hands of a gifted person, stopping their powers from being enhanced, if the account is true,” Peter pondered.
“Maybe,” Penny replied before returning to her reading.
“Perhaps we should focus on the third ring,” Peter suggested.
“Sure,” she replied. “What do you know about it?”
“Andrew described it as being large, bulky and ugly. Try searching this book here,” he passed her a tome entitled The Talismans of the Divine. She picked it up and flicked through the pages.
Reading the summaries, she was hopeful that she would stumble upon an answer.
Silence returned to the house and they were both absorbed for the next half an hour in their search for the mysterious ring.
“Oh, how’s Gabe?” Penny said breaking the silence and looking up from the book.
Peter looked up and smiled at the thought of his adopted son. “He’s good. Well, better than good. Did you hear about his recent promotion to head of the Jerusalem office?” He was clearly proud as punch as he grinned from ear to ear.
“Yes, I heard,” Penny said quietly. “I heard Ashleen telling people in the canteen last week. All about his promotion and about him taking possession of an omega scroll.”
“Ah,” he said fondly. “She cannot help boasting. She was the first person he told about it! I didn’t hear anything about an omega scroll though, he didn’t tell me that. How exciting.”
“Oh,” Penny replied before continuing to read.
They continued their investigation with little success. The books held no answers.
Hours passed quickly and they soon found themselves in the small hours of the morning, it was 3am.
“Well, I think I should be going,” Penny yawned.
“Yes, I think I will retire as well,” Peter replied, lowering his book, but not closing it.
Penny had moved into the kitchen before he even stood up. As she walked down the passage she thought about the night she had had. She had enjoyed perusing his vast collection of interesting books, but it was not the romantic evening she imagined, or hoped for. Arriving at the front door, he was at her side.
“How will you get home?” Peter asked.
“The night bus, I guess,” Penny replied as she threw on her coat.
“Oh, you mustn’t, I shall get you a car,” said Peter.
“No, it’s fine really. There are still plenty of people out and I don’t live far,” Penny spoke as she moved to walk over the threshold.
“Well, if you’re sure,” Peter replied.
As much as she didn’t mind taking the bus, a large part of her hoped for Peter to be more forceful, to insist that she take a car. She stepped out of the house and with a simple turn of her head she said goodbye and wrapped her arms around themselves to keep herself warm.
She heard Peter return her goodnight, followed by a clunk of the door closing. She walked to the bus stop passing several drunks and a couple of bad singers. Dissecting the evening she came to the conclusion that, on the whole, it had not been that bad a date, well, not compared to some she had been on in the past. It was just a typical Penny Bright evening, comfortable. Not perfect, not what she wanted, but then, when did anything go the way she hoped?
…
Her embrace was like a tonic, cleansing his soul of almost all his worries and doubts. Kristian knew he loved her more than he thought he could.
“Jess, I’m sorry but I can’t stay long, I have a meeting at the Order tonight, it’s just been called and I can’t get out of it,” he was lying and hoped she wouldn’t notice.
“Huh? Really? Kieran doesn’t have to go in. I called him about twenty minutes ago and a
sked him to meet us. Thought it would be nice, the three of us again,” Jess replied, irking Kristian.
“It’s a Phoenix meeting, he isn’t invited,” Kristian lied again.
Jess took his words at face value but sensed something wasn’t right; she hesitated from enquiring further.
The two of them made their way to the pub where they had eaten and laughed many times over the past two years. The Forgotten Onion was a large traditional pub with a traditional menu, conveniently halfway between their university campus and their flat.
It was busy that night but they quickly found a small table in the far corner and four vacant chairs. They sat down, picked up the menus and began browsing through.
Kristian attempted several times to make conversation, he asked after uni, enquired as to what on the menu took Jess’s fancy; but the conversations between them were short and dried up quickly. Resisting no longer, Jess demanded, “Tell me what you are really doing tonight!”
“I have a meeting. I told you,” Kristian replied bitterly, annoyed at himself that his lies were so transparent.
“Fine,” said Jess as she lifted the menu to cover her face.
“Hey, don’t be like that, I’m not lying,” Kristian said, pulling her menu down.
“You’re still lying! I can tell, Kris. Your left eye twitches when you lie,” Jess had fabricated this tell but she was a far better liar than Kristian.
Kristian immediately placed his hand to his left eye.
“No it doesn’t,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t, but you’ve just proven to me that you are lying,” Jess said angrily. “Tell me what you’re doing tonight! I won’t drop it until you’re honest with me.”
Kristian was clearly caught out, he had been determined not to entangle anyone else in his unsanctioned plan to complete his promise to Oliver, no one other than those he absolutely needed.
“I can’t tell you,” Kristian pleaded.
She slammed her hand down on the table and glared at him; she wanted answers, she wanted truths.
“Fine, okay. I do have something to tell you. I have a mission tonight. That’s all. It is important though. I may not get a chance to do it again, it’s a big mission,” Kristian responded, sounding honest but cryptic.
“Stop talking in riddles!” she cried.
“Okay… But what I’m about to tell you, you must not tell anyone. Promise?”
She nodded her head and extended her hand; Kristian shook it. He moved closer to her ear. “You cannot tell anyone. Remember what I told you about that man on the train, when I was ten. He told me something. Something that only makes sense to me now.”
“Yes. You told me what he said,” Jess replied, recalling the memory of when Kristian had first told her about Zel.
“Shush! No, I didn’t. Not everything. He whispered something in my ear that I’m whispering to you now. He told me Sagara is here, that I’m a part of it and that it would happen in my lifetime.”
Jess looked puzzled, she was about to ask what Sagara was when he placed his finger against her lips. “Sagara is a prophecy. You cannot speak of it to anyone. What that man said to me and what I have read is the real reason I ran away from the Order.” Kristian was being the most honest he had ever been, not only to her but to himself. “I ran as I stupidly thought that if I got far enough away from that world then what I had read could not possibly come true. I was wrong. I can’t escape it; I can’t hide from it, there is no running. I need to do something about it. So tonight I am going to free an old friend. It’s not going to be easy, I have to face Leceth,” as Kristian finished he didn’t notice the shocked expression on her face, he only noticed Kieran entering through the pub doors.
“I have to go to the toilet,” he said reacting to the wizard’s arrival. He quickly leant over and kissed Jess on the cheek, then made his way to the bathroom.
Kieran was soon at her side. “Where is Kristian off to?” he asked.
“Toilet,” she replied, deep in thought, almost ignoring him altogether.
“It’s not that way,” Kieran said, looking around the room.
“Leceth,” Jess spoke, ominously to the air.
Dread surged through Kieran. Kristian was heading for the exit, not the toilet. He quickly darted off in the direction Kristian had headed.
Kieran felt the cold biting as he left the building and stood outside; Kristian was nowhere to be seen, gone.
Jess was soon at Kieran’s side. “He told me he was going to face Leceth. A ‘mission’ he said,” as Jess spoke she shivered, both due to the icy chill and the spine-tingling reality of what Kristian had finally revealed to her.
“Oh no,” Kieran gasped. “I have to go. I have to talk to him,” Kieran kissed her on the cheek and flicked his hand in the air and a taxi appeared almost from nowhere. He pointed to it and looked at her. “Get yourself home. I will go speak to Kristian, I promise I’ll make all this all right.”
Jess walked towards the taxi as thin white flecks of snow began to fall on her face. She was his best friend and never before had she felt so helpless. She turned to look at Kieran before entering the taxi but the young wizard had already left. Jess wondered if she had told Kieran too much or too little.
…
“I know where you are going, I know exactly what you plan to do,” Kristian had never heard Kieran so angry or determined.
Closing the door to the weapons storage room, Kristian replied, “So what? Have you come to stop me?” Kristian knew that Kieran would not try to stop him, as much as he could do it, he just would not; Kristian knew Kieran was there to try and talk him out of it.
“I am here hoping that you will listen to reason. You know that you can’t kill him. You know that deep down, underneath your anger, your hate, fear and your love, that this is wrong. You will start a war that will take many lives. It’s not in you, is it?”
“Not in me?” Kristian replied emotionally. “I will tell you what’s not in me. It is not in me to stand aside and let him get away with Oliver’s murder. It is not in me to care anymore about the consequences. I have learnt a lot here over the last few weeks. The price of friendship, the price of honour; that it’s sometimes worth risking your life for,” Kristian said as he scanned the inventory list on a desk.
“Why must you have revenge? Why you? What is your obsession with avenging Oliver?” Kieran yelled at him. “Millions of innocent people could die if there is a war started for your vengeance.”
“This is nothing to do with simple vengeance; it is about justice for Oliver.” Kristian was blood-red and sweating. His heart was pounding.
“Oh, come on, will you. You never cared for Oliver this much. If you had, you would never have left. This is about feeling guilty and trying to mend your mistakes.”
Before Kieran could finish, Kristian had picked him up and held him to the wall, an arm pressed against his neck.
“Don’t think that you know me, Kieran, because you don’t and you never will. That’s the problem, isn’t it? That I am risking everything for someone else?”
Kieran looked disturbed, he was seeing a side of Kristian he never thought possible. “Yes you are right; I don’t know you at all.”
On hearing these words Kristian stepped back and released Kieran from his hold. He was upset by Kieran’s sentiments. For him it was not about his self-given mission, it was now about killing Leceth. He had previously given his word that he would not cross that line but things had changed since then. He found himself with an insatiable rage that could only be quenched with death.
As Kieran stood and held his neck they looked at each other. Kristian thought that Kieran looked so weak; for someone so powerful, he appeared vulnerable. He turned on his heel and walked away from him. “Goodbye, Kieran.”
“Is that it? You not going to talk about the whys? You’re just going to leave and go on your own quest to kill Leceth?” Kieran said.
“It’s not a quest to kill him, Kieran. It’s a promise I n
eed to fulfill. I knew I shouldn’t have told Jess; can’t believe she told you,” Kristian tried to sound a little conciliatory.
“She didn’t really tell me. She let it slip and I could tell from her face that you must’ve told her something drastic. It wasn’t hard to work out what. You really want to do this?” Kieran said, mirroring Kristian’s tone.
“I don’t want to. I know that this confrontation is something I have to do,” Kristian said.
“And you have to do that tonight? Right now?” Kieran asked.
Kristian looked Kieran deep in his eyes, he wanted to quench Kieran’s fears so he wouldn’t raise the alarm before he had a chance to realise his plans.
Kieran looked back, he was helpless. He was unsure of what the outcome would be, but the impending battle seemed like an avoidable consequence.
“Keeping my promise is something I have to do. Maybe not now, but one day, soon, it is something I have to do,” Kristian said as he converted one of the inventory numbers to memory.
“That fight will be meaningless, Kristian. If you’re lucky, you will escape with your life, but I’m not sure if you would leave with your soul.”
“Maybe not,” replied Kristian, “but maybe that price is a fair one.”
With that, Kristian left, he was gone. Closing the door behind him he left Kieran alone in the room; he was now left with a dreadful dilemma. Did he go after his friend, try to stop him or even aid him? Alternatively, did he tell Jonathon and get Kristian ‘dealt with’. He did not want to betray his friend, but what is the bigger betrayal, he thought; letting him kill, or be killed by an enemy for reasons only he can justify, or stopping him in the name of peace?
…
Kieran sat in the room, thoughts spiralling as he struggled to decide on a course of action. He was consumed with the desire to continue the conversation with Kristian and ensure Kristian didn’t do anything too rash. He bent over the desk in the room looking at the various lists. A few minutes later the door burst open interrupting Kieran’s thoughts. A young grey-suited Order member walked in immediately apologising to Kieran for disturbing him, Kieran waved it off and left the room. Standing outside the room he looked at his watch, it had been over half an hour since Kristian had stormed off. Kieran wondered where he might be and he decided, to start with, he would go and search for the rest of his usual group. There was still time to talk to Kristian, to persuade him, Kieran thought as he considered how their conversation had ended. Kieran felt a sense of guilt, a part of him wanted to go straight to Jonathon, the logical part. However, he did not want to betray Kristian. He didn’t want Kristian to never want to forgive him. His turmoil was only eased when Rachel appeared in view.
The Phoenix Chronicles_Alone in the Light Page 34
