Taliesin Ascendant (The Children and the Blood)

by Megan Joel Peterson

Irritation still on his face, he looked over at her.

  “Are we losing?”

  He paused, the expression fading. For a moment, he said nothing, and then crossed to the barrier and rested his hands on the rough surface.

  “We’re doing the best we can,” he said finally, watching the changing stoplights below.

  She swallowed, unsure what to say.

  “In the beginning, we tracked the Taliesin,” he told her. “Made sure we knew who and where they were. But five hundred years is a long time. And we got lazy. Complacent, really. And they’re making us pay for it.”

  He glanced over, seeing her expression.

  “I don’t mean that like it sounds,” he said. “I’m not saying we should have tagged them like animals. Hell, we did that. We did all of it. Any stupid, vain atrocity you can think of in the name of keeping the ‘Taliesin Threat’ under control. And after a couple centuries or so, when that got to be too much work… we gave it up. Got bored. Wandered off to study magic while thumbing our noses at the losing team. But the losing team kept growing, and while we blithely enjoyed our unassailable supremacy, they surrounded us on all sides.”

  “You sound like you sympathize with them,” she said, obscurely shocked.

  He shook his head. “I don’t sympathize with what they’ve become. Or what they’re doing. Murder is murder, regardless of the justifications they give themselves. I mean, what did our children ever have to do with it? Or kids your age? They never asked for this. They’ve never been in a position to do anything but suffer from it either.” He shook his head. “No, I don’t pity Taliesin, and I’ll damn well kill any of them that try to hurt you or any other Merlin at my side. But I get what started this, and how it’s ended us up where we are.”

  She looked away. Cars pulled to a stop at the lights and then drove on. She didn’t see them.

  “Was that what my family was like?” she asked.

  “No,” he replied emphatically.

  The answer was too quick. She glanced over, and watched as he turned away.

  “Not recently,” he amended reluctantly. “But politics are politics, your majesty. And five hundred years of bigotry and bad blood – on both sides – doesn’t disappear overnight. King Nicholas tried. God knows, he tried. But, in all honesty, even with his reconciliation programs and attempts at dialogue, it ultimately came down to Taliesin wanting something your grandfather just wasn’t sure he could give.”

  A moment passed and then Elias sighed.

  “We should head back,” he said.

  “There are more places we need to check. We’ve barely touched the eastern side of town.”

  Frustration moved over his face. “How much farther are you going to push this?” he asked, keeping his voice low as he tossed a glance at the others. Several yards away and out of earshot, Nathaniel was conferring with the guards. “You haven’t slept. You’ve barely eaten. And, in case you forgot, you nearly died twelve hours ago.” He grimaced. “There are plenty of people who’d love to finish the job that human started, highness, and I’m not too interested in giving them the opportunity. We should leave town. The cripples aren’t here anymore. And these Blood–”

  “Don’t say it,” she warned.

  “I wasn’t going to. But Darius’ people could be anywhere. And our luck in avoiding Taliesin can’t last forever. I serve you, yes. I’ve done what you asked. But if we stick around here, out in the open like this, it’s going to get you or someone else killed.”

  At her silence, he sighed. “If the Blood exist, there’s as good a chance they’ll be elsewhere as here. And a better chance the cripples will be.”

  She didn’t answer, her eyes on the street below. He was right and she knew it. A handful of crime scenes and near misses proved it, no matter what she’d hoped to find.

  Picking through the ruins left by the dead and their murderers wouldn’t change what’d happened. It wouldn’t bring anyone back.

  Letting a breath out slowly, she nodded.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  Quickly, he turned and ordered the guards to get ready to go.

  Her hands on the barrier, she watched the people milling around beneath the buildings’ shadows. School kids with backpacks on their shoulders and cell phones in their hands walked and texted simultaneously, while businessmen hurried to late afternoon meetings. Traffic was gradually picking up, joined by an increase in city busses depositing people on the street corners.

  And every one of them looked human.

  She felt the portal forming behind her and she sighed. Perhaps she could convince Elias to head south. Brogan and the others had followed her there; they might still be in the area.

  “We’re ready,” Elias called.

  She scanned the streets one last time, and then turned away from the view. Crossing the rooftop, she followed the others into the portal.

  Landmarks appeared and disappeared in rapid succession, leaving her head spinning by the time they emerged through a white trellis archway on the fringe of a massive lawn. The smell of lilacs hit her in a cloud, emanating from carefully cultivated bushes all around them. She sneezed, and then winced at the twinge it sent through her chest.

  Turning immediately, Elias began crafting the next portal to carry them closer to the suburb where Katherine and the others were hiding. Warily, the guards watched the enormous houses of the historic neighborhood, while on the porch of a Queen Anne nearby, a toy poodle began barking madly as it retreated toward the door.

  Ashe grimaced and hurried into the portal to escape the high-pitched yapping.

  Pigeons fled to the sky as the wizards stepped out of a picnic gazebo and into a park on the edge of the suburbs. In the distance, Ashe could see skyscrapers glinting in the late afternoon light, and several dozen yards away, a group of mothers chatted on benches while their children ran shrieking through the playground.

  “Almost there,” Elias said.

  The others didn’t answer. Ashe just closed her eyes, relieved to escape the noise and smog of the city. Taking a breath of comparatively fresh air, she waited for her head to clear.

  “You sons of bitches, get away from me!”

  Her eyes snapped open.

  Two Merlin raced into the park, a few steps behind a man so lost beneath layers of coats, he could barely be seen. With sleeves flapping around his pumping arms, the man dashed across the grass, throwing panicked looks over his shoulder as he ran.

  His hood fell back. An absence of magic registered on her.

  Elias yelled at her as she took off.

  On the playground, the mothers left their benches and gathered their children hastily, their attention locked on the crazy homeless man screaming at nothing. Ashe raced past them. Eyes widening at the sight of her, the man skidded to a halt, his feet sliding from beneath him to deposit him on the grass. Scrambling sideways, he tried frantically to keep simultaneous focus on the wizard in front of him and the wizards behind.

  The ferals stopped. Their eyes ran over her contemptuously. “Well, fancy seeing you here,” one said as the other glanced back at the guards running to catch up.

  Instantly the wizards’ magic rose, lashing out at her and the cripple. In rapid succession, it vanished. Derision gave way to shock on the men’s faces, and then surrendered to horror as the magic of Nathaniel and the guards swept around her and struck them hard.

  The two wizards toppled to the ground, their vacant eyes staring at the sky. Jogging past her, the guards approached them, nudging the bodies before dismissing them from attention. Coming up beside her, Nathaniel said nothing, though she could feel the displeasure radiating from him in waves.

  Breathing hard, the cripple scrambled to his feet. Raising his hands defensively, he stared at them.

  “We’re not going to hurt you,” Ashe said.

  He didn’t respond. Amid the dirt crusting his scruffy face, his gaze darted from one wizard to the next, seeking an opening.

  She motioned for the othe
rs to move back. Coming to a stop nearby, Elias paused and then nodded to the guards. The cripple’s eyes narrowed warily at the sight.

  “I promise,” Ashe continued. “We won’t hurt you. We want your help.”

  The wariness melted into terror. “Oh, hell,” the man swore, looking around in a panic.

  “It’s okay!”

  “Hell it is,” he protested, inching toward a space between two guards that was wider than the others. “I know that line. Everybody knows that line. They trust wizards. Then they end up dead. Well, not this cripple. Uh-uh.”

  She paused. “We’re not–”

  “Oh, pull the other one, girl,” he retorted, his voice tremulous despite the forced bravado in his tone. “’Cause I’m damn sure it’s got bells on.”

  Under his layers of coats, she could see the man shaking. His skin was bloodless beneath the dirt, and she couldn’t tell if he was breathing anymore.

  “It’s not–”

  His scoff spoke volumes.

  She fell silent. Her gaze dropped to the dead ferals behind him.

  Somehow, she’d just thought it would be that easy. Or at least hoped it would be. Everyone she’d known was dead and everything she’d had was gone, but she could still do something for the people who were left. Help them. Change their minds.

  And somehow undo part of the damage Darius had done.

  Feeling like an idiot as her stomach twisted inside, she nodded. “Right,” she said quietly.

  His brow drew down.

  Distantly, she jerked her chin at the guards. “Step aside. Just… let him go.”

  He stared as the wizards moved back, creating a path. Darting forward, he made it a few feet before skidding to a stop, a renewed expression of dread flashing across his face.

  “Oh, no way,” he said emphatically. “You’re just going to kill me when my back’s turned. That’s what wizards do. You think it’s okay to say no to them and then…”

  Making an illustrative noise, he shuffled from one foot to the other, trying to keep them all in view. “You just want me to think it’s safe, because that’ll make it more fun. Well, I’m not falling for that either.”

  “It’s not like that,” Ashe said.

  The fearful certainty in his eyes grew.

  She looked down, grimacing. “I want you to go so you can warn them. Every cripple still out there. Warn them never to trust a wizard.” She paused, her gaze returning to the dead ferals. “No matter who that wizard says sent them.”

  Incredulity pushed through his panic. “W-what?” he sputtered. He hesitated, his brow furrowing suspiciously. “Who are you?”

  “I’m the one who’s actually trying to destroy the Blood.” She jerked her chin at the ferals. “They’re the ones who used my name to get my friends killed.”

  The sickened feeling grew and she turned away, walking back toward the gazebo.

  “You’re Ashe, aren’t you?”

  She glanced back. “Yeah.”

  “Well… what are you going to do?” he called as she started away again.

  “What I said.”

  Nathaniel and Elias fell in beside her as the guards pulled back, their eyes still on the cripple standing in the middle of the empty park.

  “Well, then… what if I did help you?” the man yelled.

  She stopped. Looking back over her shoulder, she watched as he hesitantly started toward them. Eyeing the wizards around her, he came to a stop a few yards away.

  “You’d let me kill them?” he asked, a hint of challenge in his tone. “Some of the Blood, I mean?”

  Pausing a moment, she nodded. “Yeah.”

  Still watching the wizards, he edged closer. “You for real about this?”

  She nodded again.

  “Huh,” he allowed. Inside his coats, he shifted in a loose approximation of a shrug. “And you’d really let me kill them?”

  “We have to find them first.”

  The statement seemed to strike him as funny, and his lips pulled back, revealing yellowed teeth. The displeasure coming from Nathaniel was palpable, but she ignored it.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Mud.”

  Her lip twitched. “Nice to meet you.”

  He gave an uneasy snort. “Yeah, right. So now what?”

  Elias cleared his throat. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked under his breath.

  Reluctance hit her, but she looked over at him, turning partly from the circle of wizards.

  “You’re not thinking of bringing him with us,” Elias whispered. “Are you?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “What’s our other option? Leave him out here?”

  He frowned. “No, we find a place for him to hide–”

  “With no protection?”

  “It’s your protection I’m worried about.”

  “And having cripples with us is part of that. He can see Blood wizards, Elias. And if Detective Harris is any indication, they’ve graduated from wanting to capture me to wanting me dead, so…”

  Frustration moved over his face. “I get that. But it doesn’t mean I want someone who is possibly unstable hanging out in one of the few places we’ve got to hide you. What if he…?”

  He trailed off, unwilling even to say it.

  “What do you suggest?” she asked. “If the Blood get close to where we’re staying and there’s no one to see them…”

  She glanced back at Mud. The man was scratching at something beneath his coats, while casting surreptitious looks to the wizards nearby.

  “It’ll be worse than this,” she finished, trying not to grimace. “Trust me.”

  Elias followed her gaze. “What makes you think you can trust him?”

  “Nothing. But we still need his help.”

  Reservations heavy in his expression, Elias regarded the cripple for another moment and then drew a breath.

  “Then he’s staying under guard,” he said. “As is any other cripple we find. And they’re not going near you unless you’ve got defenses against guns up and there are at least two other wizards in the room.” He looked at her pointedly. “Agreed?”

  She paused. More than she’d ever seen it, his expression was utterly intractable.

  “Agreed.”

  “And we’re still heading back to the hideout.”

  She looked away angrily, hating how perceptive he could be.

  “I mean it, your highness. Just because we have a cripple with us doesn’t mean these Blood wizards will suddenly show up. And it doesn’t change the fact you need sleep. Hell, the guards do too. We’ve all been up for nearly two days straight.”

  She didn’t answer. His face darkened.

  “Fine,” she surrendered bitingly.

  “Good. Then I’ll go secure us transportation.”

  Before she could speak, he turned, motioning sharply to the guards. “Search him,” he snapped, and then strode toward the street.

  “What’s going on?” Mud called, eyeing one of the guards uneasily as they came close.

  Her jaw tightening, Ashe watched Elias a moment longer and then glanced back. The guard prodded the misshapen lump of a man and then retreated, looking vaguely ill as he nodded.

  Uneasiness moved through her, and she pushed it away.

  “We’re getting out of sight,” she told him. “Care to join us?”

  He shifted in what she could only assume was a shrug. “Okay.”

  Without another word, she turned and followed Elias, Mud coming shuffling after.

  Chapter Twelve

  Turning on the leather seat of the SUV, Ashe glanced back, checking the location of the other car. Through the windshield, she could see Mud sitting squarely in the middle of the sedan’s back seat, his head moving like a wind-up toy as it ticked back and forth between the wizards in front of him.

  With a dry expression, she shifted back around, only to catch sight of a fluffy stuffed animal wedged by the trunk door. She grimaced. “You sure you’ll be able to r
eturn the cars after we’re done?”

  “We’ll put them somewhere the police can easily find,” Elias said, as though he hadn’t already told her twice.

  She looked to the window, feeling vaguely embarrassed, though Nathaniel and the other two guards gave no sign of having heard.

  Beneath the brilliant gold of the setting sun, the suburb rolled by. Storefronts glinted in the light and signs for fast food restaurants flickered to life between one blink and the next, while traffic rushed along, bringing commuters home.

  Two police cars flew past, their lights wheeling.

  Uncomfortably, Ashe looked away.

  As the sun crept below the horizon, the vehicles turned, weaving into a parking lot. The mammoth sprawl of a shopping mall occupied the center of the concrete expanse, the radiant signs on its sides advertising the countless stores within. Outlying shops dotted the edges of the parking lot, their signs and sale banners dwarfed by the enormity of the building behind them.

  Brow furrowing, she glanced to the others as Elias thumbed on his phone to make a call.

  “We need to use the door,” he said without preamble. A heartbeat later, he hung up and looked to the driver. “Around back.”

  The man nodded.

  Circling the massive building, the vehicles headed for a restaurant on the furthest edge of the lot. Dense maple trees backed the building, obscuring the neighborhood beyond, though in the dimming light, the broad front windows gave a clear view of all the customers inside. Beneath the bright sign over the entrance, more people milled around, waiting for a table.

  Her eyes narrowed as she read the cheerfully stylized sign. Joe’s, Open Late. She hadn’t seen the place they were staying; they’d taken a portal straight from the basement when they left this morning. But despite the food service boxes and refrigerators, she hadn’t expected their hiding place to be somewhere quite so obviously popular.

  Avoiding the busy restaurant parking lot, the driver steered them around to the rear of the building. By the back door, dumpsters sat within a corral of brick walls. Leaning on the enclosure, a busboy smoked a cigarette, his attention on the trees and the sky.

  Continuing on, the driver waited till the dumpster’s bulk was between them and the young man before pulling to a stop, the other vehicle right behind.