Shadowborn's Terror: Book IV of 'The Magician's Brother' Series

by HDA Roberts

  "What do we do about them?" she asked when I was done, gesturing at the Demons, who'd all grown quiet, watching us.

  Demons weren't my speciality. I knew how to blast them, but I didn't know anything about summoning circles or even what kinds of demon were currently in those ones.

  "That is a problem," I said, reclaiming my phone, "Could you go up top and make a call for me?"

  "To who?"

  It took her about forty minutes to get up top and make the call before bringing Palmyra back down with her, a globe of light above her head.

  "Mathew Samuel Graves, what the hell are you doing in Gomorrah?!" she said, her normally friendly voice filled with worry and anger, "And why are you in a room full of bloody Demons?!"

  "I can explain most of that," I said as Crystal came back over to stand with me again.

  "It had better be good. Do you have any idea what Jen will do when she finds out about this? You think you've heard her yell before, just you bloody wait!"

  "What is she, your mother, or something?" Crystal asked while Palmyra came over and glared.

  "Sister, actually."

  "From the top, leave nothing out or I will silent treatment you into the ground!" Palmyra said.

  I cleared my throat and filled her in on my efforts to find out where Source was coming from, leaving out why I'd started. Palmyra likely knew about the whole Liaison thing, but Crystal didn't, and she didn't need to, either.

  "And that's when I asked Crystal here to go call you. I'd have done it myself, but I didn't think it was the best idea to leave a few dozen Demons alone."

  One of Palmyra's battle-nuns came down the stairs as I was finishing.

  "All clear, Milady," she reported, "the guards have secured the area and we're holding."

  "Good," Palmyra replied, "Give me a few minutes with my brother, would you?"

  "Of course, Ma'am," she said with a bow before retreating.

  She waited until the nun was out of earshot before speaking again.

  "Oh, Matty, can't you just stay out of trouble for five minutes?" she asked, squeezing my shoulder as she turned. She raised her hand and called Life Magic before releasing a wave that made every sigil flare and then wink out.

  Leaving the Demons still in place.

  And suddenly free.

  Chapter 11

  "That's not possible!" Palmyra said, barely getting a Will Shield in the way before the first Demon could bite her head off.

  "Crystal, get up top and warn her bodyguards!" I shouted, but she was already gone, clever girl.

  I started bringing up my own Shields, which snapped into place a second after Palmyra's, just in time to catch a black lion-looking thing. A Shadow darted after it, spearing into its torso before expanding, ripping outwards and leaving it in pieces that turned into black mist and vanished. Palmyra gestured and a trio darting towards her simply immolated, screaming as their flesh turned to ash and their bones crumbled to dust.

  I sent my Shadows to our flanks and started attacking, leaving the centre to Palmyra, who was an expert at dealing with those things. I speared finger thin, razor sharp tendrils through skulls and chests, which seemed to be effective enough. I banished two of the smaller quadrupeds before they could leap at us, as well as some sort of snake-frog-deer thing with black scales, yellow eyes and horns that tried to climb the wall and drop on us.

  I moved up to stand next to Palmyra, and we fought back to back as the Demons closed on us. Their wordless roars of hunger and fury mixed with screams of pain as we threw them back into the Pit. But for every one we dropped there was another to take its place; every one that died allowed the rest to get closer.

  Some of the bigger ones started using their Infernal version of Magic. I threw a dispel just in time to intercept a spinning ball of crimson fire, which exploded messily, coating several smaller Demons in sticky red flames.

  Just as they were getting close enough to attack our shields up close and personal, I felt Palmyra reach out with her mind. There was a flare of power, Magic flowed throughout the room, and white shapes seemed to materialise out of nowhere, pure Life Magic radiating from them.

  I couldn't believe my eyes...

  Life Elementals!

  My God, they were beautiful! Bright and soft, with difficult to define shapes, casting a soothing light over everything, undulating gently, as if they had all the time in the world. Their very presence calmed and invigorated me.

  The Elementals' light touched the Demons, and the monsters screamed. It wasn't long before even the big ones were backing away. I redoubled my efforts, gathering Force and Light to sear into their retreating ranks, cleaving off arms and heads. Palmyra pointed a finger and several of her Elementals pooled their power into a beam of golden light that washed over half a dozen Demons.

  Two of the humanoid ones and four of the animals fell, screaming, their skin burnt and flaking away to reveal charred muscle and bone. This was the stuff of life itself, pure Creation given form; demons didn't do well when exposed to it. The energy tore the Demons' forms apart and flung what little was left back into the Pit, searing their very essences into practically nothing. One of the monsters spread its wings and darted up and over the light, apparently unhampered by its missing arm (which might be expected, it had seven others). It leapt at Palmyra.

  It never even got close. In an act so graceful it almost seemed planned, one of the Elementals intercepted the creature far short of her shields, wrapping the Demon up in its form and power. The red-skinned brute vanished in a flare of light, and my sister's protector returned to its slow patrol.

  Between the two of us (mostly her), the demons were down to a handful, maybe ten, all being pushed back by her Elementals' Light and my attacks. I kept channelling huge amounts of Force, Light and Fire through my staff, blowing Demons apart with Chaos Bolts and Balls (called Chaos Magic because the combination of different energy types into the same attack spell could be powerful, but also unpredictable).

  It was just about done, and then there was a roar from above, and half a dozen women descended on what was left of the creatures like the hammer of God. They wore close fitting armour, their robes discarded. Each piece was enchanted to a spectacular degree, and their power blazed as energies collected in their hands.

  They hit like thunderbolts, energy flaring with every strike of fist and foot. One woman bodily charged an ox-like thing four times her size and bore it to the ground where she broke its neck with her bare hands, spinning in time to block an attack on her vambrace and rip off the hand that did it! Another's whole body was wreathed in white fire, and she put her hands through the torso of one of the humanoid ones, coming out again with organs that burned into ash (I nearly threw up after that one, but held it together).

  The tallest one wielded a broadsword like it was a toothpick, slicing straight through three demons with a single strike and leaving them in rapidly disintegrating pieces. Two others were surrounded by razors made of air, and simply stepping towards Demons made them come apart.

  And then it was over. The last of them fell into dust.

  I was breathing hard, half mad with terror over what had happened, barely keeping my dinner down through sheer stubbornness. Palmyra looked over at me, relief in her eyes that it was all over.

  "When you tell this story to Jen," I said, "be sure to mention that everything here was perfectly under control- Ow!"

  She pulled back the fist that she'd used to hit me and yanked me into a hug, patting my back.

  "Dumb Shadowborn. You know very well that when I tell this story it's all going to be your fault," she said. I sniggered.

  "Figures. Story of my life, when something goes wrong, 'blame Mathew, he's probably guilty of something anyway'..."

  "Shut up," she said, tweaking my nose.

  "Mathew, you take me to the funnest places," Crystal said, coming up behind me and wrapping her arms around my torso.

  "This is fun for you?" I asked, "How do you relax? Dental surgery?"<
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  Palmyra laughed and moved towards her people, who had already sheathed their weapons.

  "Now that's done, my place or yours?" Crystal asked in a sultry whisper.

  "I am going home," I said, "where I intend to sleep until I can forget all about Demons."

  "How can someone so young act so old?" Crystal asked, her hands moving gently up and down.

  "I'm sorry, but us cowards like to deal with Magical combat with denial, sleeping and eating until we puke the terror out."

  "Yes, that sounds healthy," Crystal said, letting me go, "The next time you're in town, come see me. We'll have dinner, on you of course."

  Yes, you stand in front of a Vampire that says that and see how well you deal with it.

  She grinned, deliberately showing fang.

  "See you, Mathew, don't let it be too long," she said.

  She stroked my cheek and walked away, up the stairs and out of sight. I let out a breath and called a Shadow to sit on while Palmyra finished chatting to her people. She came over to me and I called another Shadow for her, which she dropped into.

  "Oh, that's surprisingly comfy," she said.

  "I know my seats," I replied with a smile.

  She snorted, "You were great tonight, Matty, I'm proud of you, little brother."

  I flushed a little, it was nice of her to say.

  "Needs must and all that," I said, looking away.

  "Now that we have a minute, you want to tell me how you got started on this nonsense?" she asked.

  "I don't know if I'm allowed to. Would the term 'Liaisons' mean anything to you?"

  She went pale, "Oh Matty, already?" she said, squeezing my hand, "They don't... they usually give you a while before they start on this stuff. But say no more about it. We know, but we're not supposed to know. So we pretend we don't."

  "Well, hopefully that's done now," I said, leaning back in my chair, yawning widely.

  "God I hope so, I don't need this sort of stress."

  "Yes, what happened? I'm assuming you intended a different outcome."

  "You think?! I cast a simple circle inversion, it was supposed to send them back downstairs, but someone put some sort of enchantment on the bloody things, and the circles vanished instead! I am not happy. What if some idiot had tried it instead of two Archons? It would have been a massacre!"

  "Well, with any luck, the prisoners we took can shed some light."

  "What prisoners?" she asked, looking around.

  "Those pr-" I said looking into the alcove where we'd stacked the lab's workers, "They're gone!"

  I darted over and found the whole alcove soaked in blood, claw marks dug deep into the flagstones. There wasn't a scrap of flesh or clothing to be seen.

  "You don't think..." I said, swallowing hard, my heart pounding in my chest.

  "The demons ate them? No, I'm sure they just... left. Or something," she said, rubbing the back of her neck guiltily.

  "I had them under Coma-Hexes," I said, very quietly.

  "Oh. Well... it's their own fault. They summoned and tortured Demons; that was never going to end well."

  "But... I... I left them defenceless," I whispered, "They died because I put them to sleep."

  The guilt was like a knot in my guts, churning and biting, burning into my chest. I wanted to throw up, to scream, to crawl into a hole and just die. Thirteen people... dead because of me. They'd still be alive if I hadn't been there.

  "Matty, no!" she said, spinning me around to look at her. I couldn't meet her eyes, "They died because they chose to break the laws of nature. They died because they sacrificed their souls to the pursuit of money. You tried to put a stop to something that would have killed tens of thousands, maybe even more. You did nothing wrong!"

  I nodded, not really hearing her, and unable to believe her.

  "Could I ask a favour? Could you portal me back to Windward? I'm not sure I'm up to Shadow-Walking just now," I said in a small voice.

  "Tell me you're okay, first. Tell me you know you aren't to blame," she said, squeezing my arm.

  "Sure," I said, "I'm fine."

  I doubted I was convincing, but she opened the portal for me anyway.

  "Thank you," I said, "and thanks for coming. I wouldn't have known what to do."

  "Any time, Matty, you know that," she said, tears in her eyes.

  I gave her a tight smile and walked through the portal into my room. It snapped shut behind me.

  It was maybe four in the morning. I was exhausted and miserable. I could see the faces of the people who'd died, like a horrific parade inside my mind.

  God, what had I done?

  It wasn't the ones who'd died that was really tearing me up, though that was bad enough to leave me gasping for air that wouldn't come; no, it was all the others, the ones who would now have to grieve for those who'd died. Mothers, fathers, siblings, cousins... wives, husbands, children, friends. How many lives had I just ruined? How many of them didn't have the slightest idea what their loved ones were doing for a living and would now find out in the worst possible way?

  That was assuming that someone in the Source organisation was keeping records and would inform the families, because goodness knows there weren't any remains to be identified...

  I threw up and didn't stop until I was completely empty, at which point I just dropped to the floor, sore and miserable.

  Eighteen years, and I'd never even killed a fly.

  And now thirteen people were just... gone because of a mistake that I'd made.

  It wasn't like I was an innocent, or anything, I'd done some pretty terrible things, but I liked to think that what I'd done had always been in proportion, and always to people who'd had it coming. Those people may have been drug-dealing, torturing bastards, but they didn't deserve to be... eaten alive.

  The thought brought about more nausea, but there was nothing left to throw up. In the end, I just sat there, knowing that I would have to live with what I'd done, but without the faintest idea how to go about doing that.

  I knew that if I said the word, everyone who cared about me would be there like a shot, ready to help and make me feel better, but I couldn't bear the thought of their understanding, if that makes any sense. I knew that not a one of them would blame me; I doubted any of them would shed a tear over a few dead drug-makers, but the thought of being comforted after what I'd done was unbearable.

  So I allowed myself one good, long scream into my pillow, after which I showered, dressed, deployed my stiff upper-lip, and went off to breakfast, determined not to let anyone know that anything was even remotely wrong (yes, I realise now that wasn't the healthiest way to deal with the problem; it's been established that I have issues).

  As I might have expected, Cathy immediately noticed that something was off, so I told her what had happened, sugar coating the details only where it would have been distressing for her to know them. She asked me if I was alright about a dozen times before the end of the meal, and I replied in the affirmative every time. My emotionless delivery, constant cold sweat and shaking hands may have been a bit of a giveaway that I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind.

  Bill did what all best friends did, ignored the whole thing and offered food, which I accepted, though didn't eat, which was almost certainly another giveaway, but I wasn't really in a state to notice.

  I essentially white-knuckled my way through that first day, saying as little as possible and doing my level best not to draw attention or cause anyone distress, which was inherently self-defeating, as the people who knew me could tell that I wasn't myself, but they had the decency to leave me to it.

  I didn't have English that day, for which I was grateful, I didn't want to have to face Hopkins. I thought I'd gotten away with it, too... until she came to my room that night. No doubt at least one of my friends had told on me.

  "How's it going?" she asked lightly, perching on the edge of my desk, her eyes sliding over the small heaps of screwed up paper that marked the nine attempts I'd made to g
et my prep done. I'd found that even writing properly was a bit of a chore as my hands still shook from time to time.

  "Fine thanks, Jen," I said, my voice as cheerful as I could make it.

  She lifted an eyebrow.

  "Uh-huh," she said, "Anything you'd like to tell me?"

  "I presume that Lucille had a word?"

  Hopkins nodded.

  "That about covers it."

  "Matty..." she said, her voice very soft.

  "Please, Jen, not now, okay?" I begged, my voice cracking a little.

  She nodded quickly and stood, "You know where I am if you need me, okay?" she said, her tone firm again; she knew what I needed and did me the immense favour of not making me cry in front of her.

  "Thank you, Miss Hopkins," I said.

  She nodded and left. I went back to work, but my damned shaking made it three times as tricky... and the parade of dead men's faces in front of my mind's eye didn't help either.

  When I slept, I found some peace, apart from some half-remembered nightmares, but I awoke back into a world where my mistake still existed, and it came crashing down on me like a wave, dragging me down into an ocean of guilt.

  Maybe I was a fool for feeling like that about what had happened, but being responsible for the end of a life... that's not something that should ever be taken lightly or dismissed. A human life is all about potential, the endless possibility of choice, from birth to grave, to chart our own course and affect change in the world around us. My actions had taken all that away from thirteen people.

  I did know that they were doing bad things; I was smart enough to realise that how their lives had ended was not entirely my doing, but enough of it was that it felt like a great anchor around my very soul, crushing the heart of me.

  I won't apologise for feeling like that, because the part of me that let me feel that way was likely the best bit, and the day that the loss of a human life, because of something I'd done, becomes trivial is the day that the world will be in a very great deal of trouble, because I will truly become the monster everyone is afraid of.