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

by HDA Roberts

  "Ankiala was not one of those good ones. She was the manifestation of early man's fear of the dark. She was, in effect, the think hiding under the bed of every early human being. She was worshipped by some, who sacrificed to her for freedom from nightmares and death in the night," Mira said.

  "Well, that's not good," I said, now very worried.

  "You don't chuckle! However, and my records are a little fragmentary, she was supposedly destroyed by a group of Elder Gods who would eventually evolve into what we'd recognise as the Greco-Roman pantheon... before they themselves eventually got eaten by the Scourge in about six-fifty b.c.. Light was her weakness, which makes sense. She was, in effect, the Goddess of Shadows."

  "Wait, what's that about a Scourge?" I asked, getting steadily more overwhelmed as time went on as I learned more about this new and exciting realm of world-ending horrors.

  "Don't worry, an Archangel smote it," Mira said brightly.

  I rubbed my now aching head, "But Ankiala's dead?" I asked, to clarify.

  "Well, there's dead, and then there's dead," Mira explained.

  "Which one is Ankiala?"

  "The bad one," Mira said with a sigh.

  "Meaning?"

  "That given sufficient power and skill... it might be possible to bring her back."

  "How much power?" I asked.

  "Well, a combination of Magical Energy and Life Force... far more than a Sorcerer could come up with, or even ten, for that matter, closer to thirty, I'd say, and they'd all have to be top end. But such a ritual would kill them all stone dead; drain them down to husks. Bearing in mind the current mage population, I doubt that there are enough Sorcerers of sufficient power stupid enough to go along with any such spell."

  I thought about that, and sighed, it looked like we were safe...

  Wait...

  My eyes went wide, "Oh no."

  "What?" Killian asked.

  "Source," I said, smacking my leg in frustration, "One of the people I met while doing something stupid told me that Source carves off a piece of the user and sends it somewhere. Some sort of energy."

  "Demon-essence, distilled and focussed, crystallised. Checking," Mira said, tapping her lip, "Yes, that could do it. It's rather technical, but Demon essence can affect the soul. It's conceivable that it could cleave a piece off. Souls re-grow, so the victim could be repeatedly tapped. Enough energy... how many doses of Source have been consumed?"

  "Thousands," Killian said, "Hundreds of thousands."

  "Oh dear," Mira said, "That might well do it."

  "Damn," Killian said, "What else can you tell us?"

  "If one of the Old Gods isn't destroyed, and generally that means obliterated, then generally 'dead' means that they are simply too damaged to affect the Newtonian World. Some are awake, minds trapped in wrecked 'bodies' or the equivalent, others mangled into a metaphysical coma. Without knowing which category Ankiala falls into, we can't be certain what the procedure is. There are a number of ways to bring back an Old one. The easiest would be to repair the damage, make it whole again. Or, you could provide a new body for it, offer one up for possession, but that generally ends in an exploded body; there's transfusion, but that needs another Elder God. I think repair is the most likely option."

  "What's the minimum Sutton would need?" I asked, "Other than lots and lots of power."

  "Ankiala's grave, for one... and that's about it. I can see from your memories that you've already found it, or she has anyway, my records can confirm that much. No wonder that city's such a mess; it's built right on top of one of mankind's ancient terrors. Any idea about a time frame?"

  "No more than thirty-ish hours or so," I said, "Probably less now that she knows we've found her."

  "Then you need to find the focus of the resurrection, the grave, the caster, whatever it is and break it. If you should fail, concentrated Light Magic on as much of the creature as you can reach, but I strongly advise against letting it get that far. Even Archons should worry about battling an Old One."

  We nodded.

  "Anything else?" Killian asked.

  "The second after the creature is resurrected, it will begin to get stronger. The sooner you get to it, the better your chances will be, so quicker would be better," she said.

  "Can't argue with that," I said. Killian turned and walked away with Raven.

  "I'll be right with you," I said.

  Cassandra followed them out, and I turned to Mira.

  "Now seems as good a time as any," I said quietly.

  "Agreed, two steps to the left, please," she said with a smile. I obeyed.

  "Perfect," she said.

  She closed her eyes for a second. There as a dim pulse of Magic (more or less impossible for anyone but an Archon or her in that place), and the book looked like it had dropped to the pedestal. Mira vanished, and I followed the party out.

  Yes, I stole my book.

  No, I probably shouldn't have.

  Yes, Cassandra was going to be pissed.

  I waited until we were outside, so she'd be less inclined to make me take Mira back.

  "Cassie?" I asked nonchalantly, "Would you mind holding onto this for me until we get home?"

  "Sure Matty, what is i- oh you son of a bitch!" she said as I handed the (now two inches tall) Grimoire to her.

  Killian turned and saw, rolling his eyes, "Can't take our eyes off you for a second, can we?"

  "She's my friend," I said, "She gets lonely."

  "It's true, I do," Mira said, popping out of nowhere like she usually did.

  "Matty, you can not just take the Grimoire!" Cassandra said, holding it up in her palm.

  "Easy," Mira complained, "I'm not some train station paperback!"

  "Sorry," Cassandra said, "but this is such a bad idea!"

  "Why?" I asked.

  "Because it's evil!" Cassandra almost wailed.

  "It's part of me Cassie. It's only evil if I am," I pointed out.

  "Don't you give me that double talk!"

  "Warden," Mira said, moving towards her, "Mathew is my master. My heart is built on his. I am a tool, nothing more. If he chooses the Black, that's up to him. If he chooses something else, that's also up to him. I'm his help, not his corruptor. And I don't like it down there. If there was any danger, would I be in your hand right now? I could have produced an illusion, I didn't. He trusts you, so I do. Please don't put me back in that place."

  Cassandra looked really miffed.

  "Bugger!" she said, stuffing the book in her pocket, before glaring at me, "You are in so much trouble!"

  "I won't be any trouble, won't even make a peep, I promise," Mira said.

  "Miserable guilt tripping book," Cassandra muttered, and then louder, "If this goes wrong, I'm going to silent treatment you into your grave!"

  "Alright, if you tell me, right here and now to put her back, I will, until you are ready for me to bring her home," I said.

  "Don't be so reasonable, it's harder to be mad at you!" Cassandra said, "Do you have any idea how many years I spend guarding this cursed book?! And you just walk out with it?!"

  She dragged Mira out her pocket and flapped her in my face, causing the Avatar to wince at the mistreatment.

  "In your defence, you weren't guarding it when I took it," I said.

  Okay, I probably deserved to get hit for that one.

  "Ow," I said rubbing my latest arm-bruise, "Look, it's going to be even safer at Blackhold, which is rather conveniently guarded by your hand-picked Wardens, and all but impregnable to outside attack, even more so if Mira's there and helping."

  "True," Mira said, "I'd be perfectly safe there."

  Cassandra muttered under her breath, cradling the book.

  "Fine," she said, placing the book back in her pocket, "I'm still mad at you."

  "You can hit me some more, if that'll help," I offered.

  She glared and fell in beside me. Killian did his thing again and we reappeared in the Hemmingway.

  "Literally the fir
st chance you got, you bastard," Cassandra grumbled.

  "And the first thing I did was give her to you," I replied.

  "I hate your manipulative guts so much right now..." she said, but she was smiling just a little bit.

  "Took the book?" Hopkins asked.

  "Took the book," Killian confirmed.

  "Ha, I win the pool!" Palmyra said.

  "Do you lot have nothing else to do but bet on when I'm going to do stupid things?" I asked.

  "In our defence, Matty, you do provide quite a bit of fodder for betting," Hopkins said, "just throwing it out there, any inclinations towards creating a familiar yet?"

  "Hey! That's cheating!" Palmyra said, swatting her sister's arm.

  "I have Burglar, does he count?" I asked.

  "No dogs!" Hopkins said, "Especially not that one, he's afraid of Magic. And he sheds. And he steals people's food."

  Kron looked like she was ready to start banging her head on the table.

  "Did you get the information?" Kron asked.

  Killian explained what we'd learned. Kron didn't look happy.

  "I can bring down the shield," Kron said, "but I don't know if I can do it in time, not if it's powered by the stolen Source energy. It's a near-impregnable shield. Portals and Space Magic can't breach it; it has to be brought down the hard way."

  "What if we could get someone inside?" I offered stupidly.

  "Shut up, Mathew," Cassandra said, dragging me down to sit next to her.

  "What do you mean, Graves?" Kron asked.

  Cassandra stomped on my foot. I winced.

  "Just spit it out," Hopkins said.

  "I can Shadow-Walk," I said, "I can get past the shield."

  "Can you take us with you?" Killian asked.

  "I've taken one with me before, Demise, I don't know if I could take more than one, and now might not be the best time for experimentation. Not if there's a Goddess of Shadow trying to wake up. And I'd be playing around quite a bit with the Shadows, I'd better go alone."

  "Fair points," Killian said.

  "Leaves you rather out on a limb," Palmyra pointed out.

  "Horribly out on a limb," Hopkins said.

  "Good, terrible plan put forward, terrible plan rejected," Cassandra said.

  "Hey, hey, let's not be hasty," Kron said.

  "Absolutely not, I forbid it!" Cassandra said.

  "You what, Warden?" Killian said politely, but with a note of danger in his voice.

  "Cassie, let's have a word?"

  I stood and she harrumphed, but followed me out into the corridor, which was guarded.

  "What?" she asked.

  "Gotta go," I said simply, "it's a Pineapple thing."

  "I won't let you," she said, calling power, "You'll die, you idiot!"

  "No I won't," I said confidently, "I'm ready this time."

  "It's an Elder God, how can you be ready for that?" she asked, grabbing my shirt and shaking me.

  "Blatant sneakery and backstabbing, of course," I said, putting my hands over her clenched fists, "It's going to be fine. What are the chances I'd screw up twice in so short a period?"

  "It's you, so middling to damn near certain, I should think," she said quietly.

  "It'll be fine, I promise."

  "You can't make that promise!"

  "Sure I can. I just did."

  Her eyes were wet.

  "Seriously? That little confidence in the First Shadow?"

  She punched my arm, not too hard this time.

  "If you get hurt, I do twice as bad when you get back, understand me?" she said.

  I nodded.

  She opened her jacket and pulled out the revolver I'd given her, "Just in case."

  "I don't think I should have a gun, I'm far more likely to shoot myself by accident."

  "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it," she said, shoving it into my pocket.

  "Don't you need it?" I asked.

  "I have three other guns on my person."

  I looked her up and down; there was nowhere to hide that many guns.

  "Where?" I asked, not really sure I wanted to know.

  "Hope you never find out," she said, leading me back into the meeting room.

  "Lover's tiff over with?" Killian said.

  Cassandra glared at him.

  "Alright, here's the strategy," Kron said, "We'll advance on the shield and bring it down, Graves will make his way inside and distract Sutton's forces until we can get in and finish her off. Any quest-"

  Before she could finish, there was a deep almost subsonic roar of power. It washed over us, scratching at our minds. I felt the wave flow over the city, spreading all around us.

  "What was that?" I asked.

  "Unless I'm very much mistaken, the starting gun on the end of days," Mira said, appearing again, "Awakening Spell. Greater Class. City wide area of effect. This city is now a hostile environment to anything human."

  "Are you sure?" Killian asked, his face going pale (not easy on a man who cultivated 'corpse-grey' as his skin tone of choice).

  Mira nodded, "There's no doubt."

  She vanished again. Kron picked up her phone, dialling quickly, "Code Black, Gardenia," she said, "Yes, I'm sure. No, this isn't a drill. Good."

  "What's an Awakening Spell?" I asked.

  "It tears civilisation from monsters; sentience, minds. Any non-human predator within the city has been rendered little more than an animal, driven mad with hunger and rage, directed by the caster," Mira reported dispassionately, "it shouldn't be possible. It would take Black Magic of horrific proportions, and I didn't feel any."

  "All of them?" I asked with a shudder, "That could be thousands!"

  "Time to go!" Kron said before I had the chance to ask any more, "We're out of options, everybody execute the plan!"

  The Archons and their Wardens disappeared, leaving me with mine. It was very instant. Hopkins left a portal for us to follow, though.

  "You two do me a favour? Watch out for each other?" I said to Cassandra and Demise.

  "Of course," Cassandra said with a small smile.

  "I'll protect her. Here, my lord, take this," Demise said.

  She drew her sword, which shimmered and condensed into a rod about thirty centimetres long.

  "I can't disarm you," I said.

  "I'm more heavily armed than your Cassandra," she said, placing it in my hand. It was cold and heavy, like the grave; packed with Death Magic, "Just bring it back in one piece."

  "Of course," I said, "thank you both. I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't lose Mira, and stay near Hopkins, just in case, alright?"

  "No stupid risks, okay?" Cassandra said, pulling me into a hug and squeezing me tightly enough to bruise.

  "Naturally," I said.

  Demise looked at me very intently and then leant forward to plant a little kiss on my cheek.

  "Keeps Death away," she explained.

  We walked through the portal... and into a war zone.

  Chapter 29

  My little party was standing inside a circle of Magicians, the four Archons were facing towards a clutch of high rise buildings, all of equal height, but different colour, red, black, gold and blue, overlooking a massive central plaza containing what looked like an ancient church. The high rises were surrounded by a massive Fortress Shield, my brother and sisters were trying to tear it down, and weren't making immense progress.

  Behind them, a battle raged. About a hundred War Mages were fighting every abomination and horror the city had to offer, Ghouls, Vampires, Succubae (mortal variety), Incubae, Lycanthropes, Ogres, and a few things I'd never seen before all swept forwards in a mad rush, many slashing at their fellow monsters as they charged.

  The Wardens closed up around their Archons and engaged the enemy.

  It was a once in a generation sight. Magic and gunfire blazed in the darkened city, lightning and fire, frost and air, death and space, it all lashed out and monsters died in their hundreds. Most ran to seek easi
er prey, but so many were left. Demise and Cassandra moved into the line, and their Magic joined the others.

  I wanted to help, but I had my own job to do. I walked to a nearby patch of Shadow, opened a Gate and walked into the Shadow Realm.

  I immediately discovered that it was a good thing that I hadn't brought someone with me. If I had, they would have been thrown out of the Realm, or worse. The Shadows felt... almost afraid, though that wasn't the word. It was like they were tensed against a wound, they way you flinch when someone throws a ball at your head (my memories of school sports were not the happiest). I instinctively knew that they would have ejected anyone or anything other than me, which was a pain. I'd been counting on being able to go for help if I couldn't handle what I found.

  Well, onwards and upwards as they say. It was either that or find a new reality to live in.

  I looked towards the plaza, which was the centre of the Fortress Shield, and had absolutely no trouble figuring out where I needed to go.

  The Church was merely the cap on a warren of caverns, catacombs and chambers that wormed their way under ground, miles and miles of them, getting rougher as they went deeper.

  And at the very bottom, a hundred metres below the surface, there was a circular space surrounded by corridors and antechambers. And there was... something in there, not quite here and not quite there. Something scrunched and under great pressure. I moved there with a thought, and it wasn't as easy as Shadow-walking should be; almost like diving through thick treacle.

  I stood in the Shadow counterpart of that big room, taking in the details in safety before I acted. There were two sets of thick columns around the room, a smaller circle inside a larger. The columns were carved with pictures that made my head hurt, depicting things that shouldn't exist. There were stairs leading up to a gallery, wide and heavy. The room was otherwise empty but for a raised platform at the centre, covered in ancient writing and more of those dreadful images.

  I made my way to the edge of the room and found a convenient patch of Shadow, listening in carefully. I heard wails and moans, the sounds of people in fear and pain, and above it all, the voice of Namia Sutton.

  "Get the last of them in place, there's no more time! The Archons are at the gates, and there's no telling how long the creatures can hold them!"