Homecoming A Montague & Strong Detective Novel

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “Step back, Simon,” Monty said as he raised his arm. I moved back several feet as he created a glowing lattice of heat.

  The blue-white lattice formed over Steigh Cea. He lowered his arm and the atrium filled with steam as it descended on her body. Seconds later, she was gone. He fell back as the steam cleared. I ran to his side.

  “Casting around the ley-line may have been an error,” he said. “My defenses have been severely compromised.”

  “We need to get out of here,” I said, looking around frantically. “Maybe one of the other corridors?”

  A low tremor crossed the floor and rumbled beneath us. Peaches entered pounce-and-shred mode and looked in the direction of the noise.

  “Those would be…her sisters. Run, before they arrive,” he said just before he lost consciousness.

  “Shit.” I looked around. The corridors would be a waste of time. Besides, I couldn’t run around and carry Monty while looking for another exit.

  Dex’s words came back to me in a rush. You think you’re leaving him behind, do you?

  I turned to Peaches as the rumbling got louder, dislodging more of the ceiling above us. Large chunks of ice crashed to the ground.

 

 

 

  I tried to keep my thoughts as calm as possible as the impending doom of five angry sisters approached.

 

  I really hoped he meant LD and TK. If not, this was potentially a frying-pan-to-fire situation. I grabbed Monty by the wrist and put my arm around Peaches’ neck.

  I figured that whatever method hellhounds used to travel didn’t depend on ley-lines. This meant they couldn’t be affected by inhibitors, at least not when it meant moving between locations. It was a guess, but it made sense since Peaches was able to find me.

  Our lives depended on this guess.

 

 

  I shook my head in amazement at his singular focus.

 

  He slobbered me with a huge lick, looked off into the distance as his eyes glowed red, and rumbled. The next second, the ice cave was gone.

  TWELVE

  WE ARRIVED AT the Fordey Boutique casting room with as much grace as a three-car collision. I crashed into a table, Monty rolled across the floor, still unconscious, and Peaches put a hole in the wall as he sailed into and through the room.

  Dex and LD raced to where we lay sprawled out on the floor. TK appeared in the doorway a few seconds later, her hands covered in black energy.

  “We have a breach,” she said, and then she looked, expressionless, from the large Peaches-shaped hole in the wall to the floor where we lay. “Oh, nevermind.”

  LD looked up, shook his head, and made his way over to Monty. “We’re good. No need to unleash the pain. They look like they’ve had a good dose of it already. His arm is broken.”

  “Did someone miss a teleport?” she asked as she stepped to the hole and looked through. “Wait, how did you get around our defenses if Tristan is unconscious?”

  Dex looked questioningly at me, and I pointed slowly at Peaches. I moved slowly because every single cell in my body was screaming at that moment. This teleport took the pain of regular teleport to new heights, parked me between excruciating agony and mind-numbing pain, and left me there.

  “The pup?” Dex asked in disbelief. “He brought you here?”

  I nodded. The pain robbed me of my voice as tears streamed down the sides of my face.

  “Ach, whose bright idea was that?” Dex shook his head and started to gesture. “He could’ve killed you all. He’s too young to try a multiport.”

  “You mean I’m not dead? Because that’s what it feels like,” I said when I found my voice. “We didn’t have a choice. Steigh Cea was gone and her sisters were on their way. I didn’t think they were going to be open to having a conversation that didn’t involve smashing us to little pieces.”

  “Steigh Cea is gone?” Dex asked quietly. “Did her sisters see you?”

  “No, we left before they got to us.”

  “Think back carefully, boy. This is important.” Dex placed a hand on my shoulder. “Did they see you?”

  I took a moment to reflect, and shook my head. “No. The ceiling was caving in. Some of the corridors were blocked. No one was in the atrium when we left. They were still heading our way.”

  Dex let out a breath and visibly relaxed.

  “That gives us some time.” He moved over to where Monty lay, as Peaches padded over to me and licked my face. “If they didn’t see you, we can hide your signatures before they realize Tristan was there.”

 

 

 

  “What would happen if they saw us?” I moved to a sitting position as my body flushed with warmth and dealt with the effects of Peaches’ teleport from hell.

  “You wouldn’t be here talking to me right now. What did they hit him with?”

  “A huge ice block failsafe broke his arm, and I think he inhaled something called obsidian ice.”

  Dex cursed under his breath. “Did she cut him with the black ice?”

  “No, there was a large, black mist, and he walked through it.”

  “Of all the pigheaded…. The neutralizer. Do you have it?” Dex asked with urgency. “Tell me you have it, boy.”

  I nodded and handed him the pulsing ice crystal. In the center, I could see the shadow of an object. Even though it was made of ice, it felt warm to the touch as it shifted from deep blue to bright white.

  “Dex…you can’t use it on him,” LD said, his voice laced with concern. “You know the effects.”

  “He inhaled obsidian ice. Do you have a better idea?”

  “I do.” TK approached Monty’s prone form. “Move.”

  Dex and LD stepped away from Monty, giving her space. She held out her hand and Dex gave her the crystal. The ice melted away, revealing a blue crystal about the size of a golf ball.

  “What does that thing do?” I asked Dex. “Was it important enough to risk his life?”

  Dex clenched his jaw and gave me a short nod. “There are other ways to enter and exit the Sanctuary. Most of them are fatal. Even with LD helping us, it would be dicey.”

  “And this neutralizer makes it less dicey?” I looked at the crystal in TK’s hands. It stopped pulsing and remained a deep blue. “What does it do?”

  “Exactly what it’s named for,” LD answered. “It’s a runic neutralizer. In the hands of a mage like Tristan, it can deactivate any rune or runic signature. He can’t be touched by magic.”

  “Runic signature? Meaning you can’t be tracked by magistrates or mages? Sounds like ultimate defense cloaking.”

  “Beyond that. It makes you invisible to any magical tracking…period.” LD looked at TK. “But in her hands it’s something else.”

  TK whispered some words under her breath, and the neutralizer floated above her palm. She removed her hand and the crystal remained in the air next to her as she focused on Monty.

  “What are the effects?”

  “LD, I may need you for this.”

  “I’ll cast the support circle,” he said as he approached her and began gesturing. A large gray runic circle formed under Monty. “You okay for removing the obsidian?”

  “It’s going to be harder because he inhaled it. But that’s better than dealing with an obsidian ice wound. Let’s tend to the arm first.”

  She rubbed her palms together. Black energy covered them as she placed both hands on Monty’s arm. The sound of ripping and tearing filled the room, followed by a subtle hiss. I looked over, and the arm was slightly swollen bu
t intact. Black wisps of energy wafted up from his arm, reminding me of entropy rounds.

  “You don’t want to move him?” LD asked. “This may be safer in the workshop.”

  “No time. If that mist gets into his bloodstream I don’t know if I’ll be able to get it all.” She narrowed her eyes and looked down at Monty. “We need to get it out now.”

  Dex put a hand on my shoulder. “There’s a chance he could lose his ability to cast.”

  “What?” I stepped toward Monty. Dex clamped down on my shoulder with enough force to convince me otherwise. “You can’t let her do this.”

  “We have to. Obsidian ice carries a runic virus fatal to mages. The only sliver of hope is that he inhaled it. If she doesn’t remove it from his body, he’ll be gone.”

  “Shit.” I heard Peaches whine next to me as he lay flat on the floor and looked at Monty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  He chuffed but didn’t move from his spot, keeping his eyes focused on the unconscious form of Monty. I rubbed behind his ears and turned to Dex.

  “Dex, I promised Peaches you would make him one of your sausages if he brought us back in one piece. Could you?”

  “Meat for the pup? Of course.”

  He gestured, formed a sausage the size of my arm, and placed it on the floor next to the black hole known as Peaches.

  “Thanks, Dex.”

  Peaches moved his head and gently placed his enormous fangs around the sausage. He lifted it effortlessly from the floor and padded over to the corner. He turned around, so he could keep an eye on Monty, and dropped his body down to the floor with a thump. A few seconds later, he began to devour the meat.

  “Monty told me you learned the Incantation of Light. Have you made progress? It’s a good spell to have in a pinch.”

  I looked over to where TK and LD were working on Monty. I felt helpless knowing the process was beyond me. TK’s forehead was covered with a thin sheen of perspiration as she peered at Monty, seeing something beyond normal sight. LD kept gesturing as the gray circle he created rotated slowly under Monty.

  “What is she doing?”

  “She’s isolating and removing the virus from his body, without leaving trace effects that would permanently damage his casting ability.”

  “That sounds impossibly complicated.”

  “It is. If it were me, I’d just take him to the Morrigan, but she’s not known for having a deft touch. She’d just as soon end his life and choose him. This is a better solution, trust me.”

  “Will it work?” I said just above a whisper. “Can she do it?”

  “I trust them with my life,” he said, never taking his eyes off Monty. “And Tristan’s. If anyone can do it, it’s them.”

  TK gestured and motioned to LD with her head. They were operating with some kind of shorthand you witnessed when people were used to working together as a team. LD shifted to the side and made a different gesture. The circle went from gray to white. She nodded as the circle turned on its axis and bisected Monty’s body at the waist.

  “Ready?” The strain in her voice was clear, and I could see her jaw flexing. “I have it contained. I’m going to initiate the neutralizer and begin the expulsion.”

  “Will you be able to minimize the neutralizing?” LD asked. His gesturing was slower than TK’s, but his fingers were moving faster than my eyes could track.

  “He’ll be comfortably numb for a short time. The obsidian didn’t spread far.” She turned to glare at Dex. “He should be able to create many more Smith Bridges in the future.”

  “Bloody hell,” Dex muttered under his breath. “He meant nothing by it, TK. He thought he could—”

  She glared at him again. “I believe that is a conversation Tristan and I should have, don’t you think?”

  Dex nodded. “Maybe giving him to the Morrigan would’ve been a better idea.”

  “She knew?”

  LD gave us a tight smile and shook his head. “Your nephew is a pendejo, Dex. Of course she knew.”

  “I told him it was a bad idea.”

  TK focused on Monty again and took a deep breath. I realized in that moment that if she were angry with Monty all she had to do was leave the obsidian mist inside his body. Why try to save him? Unless she wanted him healthy and healed so she could blast him to little Monty bits afterward.

  “LD, I’m starting the expulsion. Slide the circle up.”

  LD shifted his gestures, and the white circle moved up on Monty’s body, stopping at his sternum. “That’s as close as I can get without displacing the obsidian.”

  “Good, that’s perfect,” she said and placed a hand on the neutralizer hanging in the air next to her head. The blue light filled the room, traveled down her arm, and flowed into Monty. “Keep it tight. We can’t let this mist get away from us.”

  LD exhaled and nodded. He gestured, and the circle slid up slowly toward Monty’s head. A black mist rose from Monty’s chest, and the circle caught the particles, trapping them.

  “Slow—I need to make sure we get it all.”

  LD kept gesturing as the circle slowed its rise, becoming darker with each second. After what seemed like hours, but was probably closer to only an hour, TK stepped back, handed LD the runic neutralizer, and nodded.

  He gestured, and the circle turned on its axis again, a flat black disc, hovering over Monty’s body. With another motion of his hand the circle transformed into an orb, enclosing the deadly mist.

  “Bring it,” Dex said, his voice hard.

  LD and TK both looked at him.

  “This is lethal, hombre.” LD gestured, and the black orb was surrounded by several gray orbs each larger than the last, containing the mist in a Russian doll of orbs. “I thought this was a rescue mission. We use this, it becomes a massacre.”

  “Best to be prepared for every eventuality. I have an idea. We bring it.”

  “Sure, but this is bringing a nuke to a gunfight.” LD shook his head as the orb floated in front of him. With another gesture, it vanished.

  “Who said it was a gunfight? How long until my nephew can cast?”

  “A day or two, three at the most,” TK said, looking at me. “Plenty of time to work on the limiter for the hellhound, and the reservoirs.”

  “Good. I need to go see Mo about keeping Herk with her. The last time we were near the Sanctuary, it wasn’t pretty,” Dex said, running his hand through his hair. “She won’t be pleased. I’ll be back in a day or so.”

  “I don’t know what you see in her, but it’s your funeral,” TK said. “I need to eat. That casting took it out of me. I’m going to have dinner and then get started on the reservoirs.”

  “TK…” Dex started.

  “I know why he did it. I promise not to obliterate him, but he and I will have a conversation.”

  Dex winced. “Fair enough, woman. Just don’t break him.”

  “I just fixed him.” She waved him off. “Go talk to your insane goddess.”

  Dex formed a green circle and stepped into the center. “Give me a day to convince her, and another to persuade her,” he said with a grin. “I’ll be back before she destroys my loins.”

  “Ugh, I don’t want to hear about it, you dirty old man. Go.”

  Dex disappeared, and TK shook her head. “He’s incorrigible, and crazy for being with her.”

  “Maybe he has a deep and abiding interest in pain?” LD mused, looking at the teleportation circle. “He always was a bit off.”

  “He must be to spend any time with her. Move Tristan to the guest room and prep him”—she motioned to me with her chin—“for the bond exploration. When he’s ready,
bring him to the workshop.”

  She left the casting room.

  THIRTEEN

  LD GESTURED, AND a gray circle formed under Monty. After a few seconds, his body was gone. My face must have held an expression of surprise because he clapped me on the shoulder and laughed.

  “He’s fine. I just moved him to one of our guest quarters. TK is going to speak to him about casting Smith Bridges on mages old enough to erase your ass. It will not be a pleasant conversation.”

  “I told him she would be pissed, but he’s really concerned about his dad and the Golden Circle. This Oliver is serious about taking Monty out.”

  “Is he, though?” LD cocked his head to one side.

  “What do you mean? He sent an Envoy, Arbiter, and then Magistrates. That seems pretty serious to me.”

  “And yet Tristan survived them all?”

  “Well, we had help.”

  “Doesn’t matter. If this Oliver really wanted Tristan dead, why not pay him a visit and end him right there?”

  It was a good question. If Oliver was so powerful, why not finish the job himself?

  “I don’t know. Maybe he thinks Tristan is beneath him? Maybe he’s one of these ‘I don’t get my hands dirty’ types who delegates the killing to his minions?”

  “You may want to find out the answer to that question. Something isn’t connecting with this scenario. He can detain Connor Montague, who is easily more powerful than his son, but he sends lesser mages to deal with Tristan?”

  “Those magistrates were pretty dangerous,” I said, remembering how one melted the Goat. “I don’t know if I’d call them lesser mages.”

  “The question still stands. What’s stopping Oliver from finishing this job himself if he wants Tristan out of commission?”

  “Is it possible he’s not as strong as Monty thinks?”

  “We’ll find out. But first, we need to prepare you for a world of pain.”

  “Can you not sound so cheerful when you say that? What is this bond exploration thing?”

  “Let me explain…no, we don’t have time for all that. Let me sum up.” He held up an index finger. “Follow me. Bring your hellhound.”