Homecoming A Montague & Strong Detective Novel

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “I was merely offering an alternative to the less-than-efficient approach LD is utilizing. Aren’t we on a limited timetable?”

  LD looked up and shot me a look. “Excuse me? Less than efficient?”

  I nodded as Dex dragged me over to the other side of the circle. “There are three—no, four—other ways you can arrange those runes to create a quantum bridge and transport us to the Sanctuary. All of them faster than the method you are currently employing. Would you like me to demonstrate them to you?”

  “I’m not feeling this suddenly magey Simon,” LD snapped. “Keep him over there until I’m done.”

  “He does have a point, darling,” TK said gently. “We’re running out of time.”

  LD threw his hands up. “Do you want to have Mage Einstein over there transport us to the Sanctuary?”

  “No, of course not. I was merely stating that we are short on time.”

  “If I weren’t being interrupted every five seconds…”—he refocused on the runes in front of him— “I’d be done by now.”

  I looked down at Peaches, who looked up at me and cocked his head to one side.

 

  I nodded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Everyone else was focused on LD and his forming of the bridge to get us to the Sanctuary. I turned my back, practiced the gestures I had seen TK execute, and nodded once to Peaches.

 

 

 

 

 

  I gestured and poured my will into creating the best sausage for Peaches. After several tries, nothing happened.

  A muffled explosion went off behind me, and I turned in time to see LD launched out of the circle and across the ground for several feet.

  “What the hell?” he yelled as he started walking back to the circle. “Which one of you cast while I’m performing a delicate runic construction so we can enter the Sanctuary without being noticed?”

  They all turned to face me.

 

 

  A whoosh and the sound of metal across stone cut through the silence behind LD.

  “Were you trying to pay us a visit?” a voice said as a rift opened. “It’s considered the height of poor manners to invade a home without an invitation. And I don’t recall seeing your invitation.”

  A figure stepped through the rift, dressed in a black suit with a golden circle on the lapel. His thin frame gave off waves of energy as he leaned forward on his walking stick.

  LD turned around and backed up. “Oh, shit. Is that Wenk?”

  The man stood just outside the circle. His dark eyes glistened with deep violet power as he took in everyone. A slight smile played across his lips. He was tall, with salt-and-pepper hair cut short to his head. A long scar running down the left side of his face marred his otherwise flawless visage.

  “I would be remiss if I didn’t greet you properly, seeing as how you went through all this trouble. The Tushes, and not one, but two Montagues, accompanied by…who are you?”

  “Strong. I’m—”

  “You don’t look particularly strong, but you do have a hellhound. Maybe I’ll kill you last.”

  “That won’t be necessary, Wenk.” Dex stepped forward as green energy enveloped him.

  “Oh no,” Wenk said, his voice hardening as he stared at Dex, “I insist. Would you believe I haven’t even signaled the alarm? I wanted to see who would be so bold as to attempt a breach on the Golden Circle, in the Sanctuary no less.”

  “Oliver has you watching the perimeter now?” Dex stepped out of the circle. “What did he promise you?”

  “What is rightfully ours,” he said, reminding me of Gideon’s last words. “I’m not just watching the perimeter. I guard the Sanctuary.”

  Dex narrowed his eyes and scowled. “He made you a Guardian? Where’s Fen?”

  “Fen retired, permanently. Afterwards, I became the Guardian.” Wenk traced a finger down the scar on his face. “I never did properly thank you for this.”

  “I promise not to be so gentle this time,” Dex replied, his voice hard and angry. “This time I’ll finish the job.”

  Dex moved back, and I saw TK and LD flank him. They were moving into a tribus position like the one I saw at the boutique. Monty stepped to my side to protect the rear. I drew Grim Whisper and opened my jacket to give me access to Ebonsoul.

  “How dangerous is this guy?” I asked Monty as he adjusted the reservoirs on his fingers. “Can Dex take him?”

  “A Guardian is tasked with keeping the Sanctuary safe from any type of invasion—conventional or magical.”

  “This is the job of one person?”

  Monty shook his hands out and stretched his neck. “One incredibly gifted person, yes.”

  “No kidding, he’s a one-man army.”

  “After the Elders, he is the most powerful mage in the Sanctuary. He’s also been given that siphon,”—Monty pointed at the walking stick— “which allows him to draw on the power of the Sanctuary.”

  “But we aren’t in the Sanctuary.”

  “As long as that rift is open, he can access its power.”

  “What about the runic interference from the nexus?”

  “He just got here. We’ve been here too long. He doesn’t know that now, but he will, once our casting goes awry.”

  “How do we stop him?”

  “If I can close the rift, you can use your magic missile.”

  “Hold on, the runic interference must be affecting my hearing, because I thought you said I could use my magic missile.”

  “Do you recall the conversation you had with my uncle on the Strix?”

  “The one that helped blow a giant hole in the cabin?”

  “Yes.” He waved my words away, keeping his voice low. “Remember what he said about not expecting a magical attack from you?”

  “Yes, my magic miss
ile uses life force. So what?”

  “It means you and your creature are the only ones here not affected by runic interference.” Monty looked at the tribus formed by the others. “They don’t have much longer.”

  I looked at them and realized their energy signatures were actually diminishing. If I could sense it, then so could Wenk.

  “How long have you been on the nexus, Dex?” Wenk asked with a smile. “Your tribus is looking a bit peaked.”

  “It hasn’t been long enough to stop us from handling a novice like you,” Dex said as the green energy tightened around his body.

  “You always were a horrible liar,” Wenk said, shaking his head. “I guess I can bury all of you here. I promise to make it a burial befitting traitors and rogues.”

  “You two need to get clear, I’ll handle this.” Dex stepped forward and spread his arms.

  TK shook out her arms as black energy arced all over her body. “We all go or we all stay. You know the code, Dex.”

  “No way, old man,” LD said, gesturing. “Either we all go, or we all stay. Live or die.”

  “Today, it’s die,” Wenk said and slammed his stick into the ground.

  TWENTY-SIX

  LARGE CHUNKS OF earth floated into the air as the wave of dark orange energy from Wenk’s strike raced across the ground. The tribus leaped into the air, avoiding the wave.

  Dex landed on his feet, as did TK. LD landed and stumbled back, falling to one knee. Monty gestured and remained rooted. Peaches spread his forelegs, and the wave washed over him with no effect.

  Unprepared, it bounced me about five feet out of the circle. I rolled into a crouch, took aim with Grim Whisper, and fired.

  Wenk moved the walking stick and formed a wall in front of him, deflecting my bullets. A slab about three feet across hit me from the side and sent me sailing. I rolled and bounced for a few feet before coming to a stop.

 

 

  Peaches blinked out, reappeared next to Wenk, and looked ready to chomp on his leg, when a stone the size of a bowling ball slammed into his side and sent him sprawling. He shook it off and found his paws sinking into the ground.

 

 

  Peaches kept sinking until only his head was visible. I noticed the ground he stood in gave off the same dark orange glow as the initial strike.

  “Good boy. Stay,” Wenk said, turning to face the others.

  Monty raced around the perimeter of the circle as the tribus stepped to the center. They gestured in sync, simultaneously drawing and channeling energy. A swarm of black orbs, tinged with green and overlaid with gray, raced at Wenk.

  Wenk stepped back to the rift and drove the stick into the ground. Monty started gesturing as he closed on Wenk. He shot me a look, our own form of shorthand, and I knew what he wanted.

  The orbs closed on Wenk as he gestured. A wall of orange energy materialized in front of him. Monty unleashed a violet orb as the barrage crashed into the wall. Wenk lifted his stick and deflected Monty’s orb, which shattered into a shower of riftrunes. A golden lattice formed over the rift, blocking it.

  Wenk looked at the lattice, confused, as I whispered, “Ignisvitae.” The violet orb that formed in my palm was smaller this time, only about a foot across, but the energy it contained was overwhelming. I still didn’t know how I was doing it. I only knew that I had to send it to Wenk, now. I extended my arm and pushed the orb at him. It blasted forward faster than I could track, punching a hole through the dark orange wall and through Wenk. He collapsed onto the ground a second later.

  “The rift, now!” Dex yelled as we raced to the rapidly closing golden lattice. Dex gestured, lifting Wenk as TK dislodged Peaches, and we stepped through the rift.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  “THE SANCTUARY IS in Cambodia?” I looked around and saw we were standing outside the wall of what looked like Ankgor Wat.

  “No, Angkor Wat is the ‘Sanctuary lite.’ TK, I’m going to start the prep,” LD said, moving to the nearest wall and gesturing rapidly. TK rushed to his side and gestured in sequence with him, but slower. “Angkor Wat was copied from the Sanctuary, not the other way around. One of the Elders was a strong influence on the Khmer Empire.”

  “How are you using magic? Monty said this would be a dead zone.”

  “It is. I’m not using runic energy. I’m doing this the same way you create your orb. Oh, and whatever you do…avoid the moat, if you like breathing.”

  “And this really isn’t Cambodia?” I looked around in wonder at the similarities to the Ankgor Wat I knew. “It’s almost identical.”

  “Not even close. The Sanctuary is an interstitial nexus point that makes the Moving Market look like a grocery store.” He glanced quickly at TK. “No offense, hun.”

  “As long as you don’t compare them to our boutique, none taken.”

  “Dex, he was telling the truth. No alarms. I’m starting the breach.” LD rolled out a bag that held a set of rune-covered tools. “Breach in ten.”

  Wenk coughed up blood as Dex propped him up against the rough stone wall. The hole in his chest was much smaller than the orb I’d flung at him. He looked down at the wound and shook his head.

  “The non-mage with an Incantation of Light. Clever,” he said with a lopsided grin. “I guess the nexus drained all of us. Any other place, I would have stopped that orb.”

  “He surprised us, too.” Dex examined the wound and shook his head slowly. “You don’t have long, lad. Earth or fire?”

  “Fire. Make sure I’m truly gone. I didn’t expect it to be you,” Wenk rasped as he looked up at Dex, “but I’m glad it was. You need to leave while you still can, Dex. Take them and don’t turn back. Oliver is growing stronger every day. You won’t be able to stop him.”

  Monty, holding Wenk’s walking stick, gestured and closed the rift as white runes floated into the air.

  “What is Oliver up to?” Dex looked at Wenk. “Why is he holding Connor?”

  “Connor was the only threat from the Elders. He either turned or erased the others. But, he had nothing on Connor until he found her.”

  “Her?” Monty turned suddenly. “What do you mean, her?”

  Wenk looked over at Monty and then back to Dex. “He’s going to infiltrate the sects and take them from the inside. Use their power to usher in a new age of magic.”

  “Bloody hell,” Dex said under his breath. “How? How is he planning this? He’ll kill us all.”

  “Gray mages.” Wenk coughed up more blood and gripped Dex’s hand, looking at Monty. “You have to get him out of here. If Oliver gets him, he’s won.”

  Monty stepped close, his face pale as beads of sweat covered his brow. “Wenk, who did he find? Who did he find to control Father?”

  Wenk turned to face Monty and was about to speak, as another wave of coughs gripped his body. He caught his breath and gripped Monty by the shirt.

  “Get out, Tristan. Now, while you still can. If he gets your essence, it’s all over.”

  “Who? Who did he find?”

  He stared into Monty’s eyes. “He found your mother. He found Sara Montague.”

  “Impossible.” Monty stumbled back from Wenk’s words as if struck. “Lies. She’s dead. Lies!”

  Wenk looked back, his lifeless gaze and mute response unable to reply to Monty’s accusation.

  Dex grabbed Monty by the shoulder, hard. “Get a grip, lad! There’s no way your mum’s alive.” Dex shook him once. “Whatever Oliver is using to control Connor is not your mother. Do you understand?”

  “There’s no way she can be alive,” Monty repeated. “It must be an illusion of some kind.”

  “Exactly.” Dex nodded. “It’s a deception.”

  “My father is one of the strongest Elders in the Golden Circle,” Monty said under his breath. “How can Oliver deceive him?”

  “Your father loved your mother
with all he had. When she passed, I thought we would lose him, too.” Dex looked at the wall of the Sanctuary. “If Oliver managed to convince Connor she was still alive, he wouldn’t need to do much. Your father would prefer the illusion over a life without her.”

  “We’re in,” LD said, stepping back from the wall and wiping his forehead with his sleeve. “Before we activate this, I need to eat. I’m exhausted, and this is going take an insane amount of energy.”

  “How long?” Dex gestured, and sausages with bread appeared before all of us. Monty ignored his food and gave his sausage to Peaches, who promptly inhaled it. “How long can you hold the illusion and maintain the exit?”

  “I know I said three days, but that was before we got Wenked,” LD answered around a mouthful of sausage. “We stayed too long on the nexus, and I’m drained. Most I can give you is two days, and that’s me pushing it with TK’s help. After that, I’m fried and heading to a beach someplace warm to recover.”

  “Alone?” TK asked, raising an eyebrow. “Which beach?”

  “I meant ‘we,’ dear,” LD added quickly. “We are heading to a beach someplace warm.”

  “Just checking,” she said with her scary smile. “It was truly going to be warm if you were going alone—hellish, even.”

  “I would never go on a vacation without you, dear.” LD grinned. “I prefer to eat the barbecue, not be the barbecue.”

  She looked at Monty. “You need to eat. That stick can help only so much. If you siphon too much of the Sanctuary’s energy, it could kill you.”

  Monty stared at her. She gestured and materialized another sausage with bread and a plate. “Some of us are more civilized than others.” She glanced over at Dex, who shrugged. “Tristan, if you choose to perish from malnutrition, I will be forced to use the enforcement hammer on you. It will not be pleasant… for you.”

  “Who needs plates?” Dex said and continued devouring his sausage.

  Monty took the plate, and Peaches looked up expectantly, hoping for another serving.

  “I didn’t know you cared,” Monty answered as he looked at the sausage briefly before allowing Peaches to liberate it from his fingers.