The Iron Seal

by J. M. Briggs

  “You may not know the most important things,” Bran said. “We don’t know much about him, Alex. Does he have memories of his prior life? How did being trapped in an Iron Gate affect his soul?”

  “And we’re never going to get those answers.”

  “There’s no one on standby to give exposition in real life.”

  Snorting, Alex felt herself smile and glanced out the window. Aiden would be back soon. Merlin and Morgana were certainly on their way. Merlin had promised to check on the safe hiding the Iron Chalice before coming over.

  “What do you think about the medallion?” Bran asked. “You said the magic was knotted.”

  “Yes,” Alex said. She narrowed her eyes at the gleaming metal. “Something is anchoring the magic to the bronze.”

  “Maybe your blood.” Alex looked up at Bran sharply. “Arthur took a bunch from you. In theory, he had a reason. Probably to let him use the sword, but without the sword he might be using it in his magic.”

  “Maybe.” Alex held the medallion up a little higher and examined the way it caught the light. “I don’t see anything like that, but then again, I have no idea what it would even look like.”

  “Bronze is cast, right?”

  “Correct. It has to be heated and poured into a mold,” Alex said. “It’s what was common before iron took over. Arthur might even remember it from the old days.”

  “The old days?”

  “Uthyrn, my father, ruled over a tin and copper trading system,” Alex answered. The words slipped out without her paying attention. “Medraut was his heir. I don’t remember him spending much time with the craftsmen, but he probably at least knew the basics. Merlin taught me some of them before I learned to use iron.”

  “I see.” Bran’s voice was cautious and guarded.

  “But imperfections in bronze can’t just be removed. It has to be melted down and recast,” Alex continued. “I’m not sure what adding blood would do to the metal.” Then she frowned and brought up her free hand, wrapping the medallion in the bandana. She tried to flex the metal slightly. “It is a bit soft, though. Arthur could have quenched it in my blood. It’s possible, but we can’t prove it.”

  “If he did, then he will eventually run out.”

  “Maybe.” Alex set the medallion, still in the fabric on the table. “I’m tired of making assumptions. We thought we had something, but-”

  “We still do,” Bran countered. “The alarm went off, that odd chiming sound. It alerted us to harm. Even if Arthur can send Fae into Ravenslake, we do at least know that we can be forewarned.” He pointed over to the side of the room where Alex had hung the large metal triskelion. “It isn’t reacting to Timothy. It works, Alex. Today was still a step forward. We can go to sleep at night knowing that at least we have a warning system.”

  Pushing on the armrests, Alex stood up and quickly moved across the room. The metal triskelion gleamed in the sunlight coming through the windows. Reaching out, Alex ran a finger over the metal. Arto’s memories and voice had quieted, but now there were whispered suggestions from the others.

  “We’ll need to make more,” Alex said. “If Arthur can get through the blood protection spells now then your families aren’t safe.” She heard the sharp intake of breath from Bran behind her. “They aren’t his priority, but we need to be sure. Tomorrow I’ll go back to the forge. We can use water tunnels to get the protections laid quickly.”

  “And our families?” Bran asked. “The alarm might warn them, but then what?” Alex didn’t answer. She didn’t know how to. “Maybe you were right,” Bran said. “Your brothers. Maybe you had the right idea. Arthur doesn’t seem to care much about Lance or Jenny, but their families are vulnerable if he decides he wants to hurt them.”

  His voice was fearful. Alex didn’t turn around. Bran was the calm one, the one who didn’t panic. She didn’t want to see that falling apart. Closing her eyes, she pulled on her magic. It flared to life in her chest and more energy rushed up through her feet. For a moment, she just let it linger in her veins, wrapping her in warmth and a sense of safety. Then, she pushed a little more magic into the metal.

  Shimmering lines of magic appeared to her, uncaring that her eyes were closed. She could see the magic connecting, linking with the small symbols throughout the house. Power radiated outside of the house, forming an aura, a halo. All of it was visible, with hints of the different colors of their magic flickering in and out of her sight.

  They formed a web through and around the house. Alex relaxed and exhaled. At least this part of the day had gone according to plan. Bringing up her hand, Alex carefully touched one of the strings connecting the seal to the symbols, providing a constant flow of magic. It hummed against her skin and brightened, pulling a bit more power from her.

  “Are you seeing the magic?” Bran asked.

  “Yes,” Alex said. “I can see it. Our protection spell is good.” She chuckled and shook her head, lowering her hand back to her side. “I wish I’d tried to see the protections at the Desai house.”

  The slam of a car door made Alex turn. She saw a humanoid form moving, surrounded by a halo of silver. Morgana was here. Opening her eyes, Alex moved toward the front door and pulled it open before the professor could even knock.

  “You know, you’re the owner,” Alex said. “And we don’t even pay rent, so you could probably just come in when you want.”

  Morgana’s lips quirked into the start of a smile. “I will if I feel it’s necessary, but I do know the value of privacy.”

  Stepping to the side, Alex let Morgana into the house. “Fair enough. I can at least report that our alarm spell did alert us to the Fae.”

  “But?”

  “I’ll go over that when Merlin gets here,” Alex replied. “It’ll be easier to only do this once.”

  Morgana nodded and touched her shoulder. The she sat down one on of the sofas, crossed her ankles and folded her hands in her lap. The slight frown lines around her eyes betrayed her worry. Her eyes kept jumping over to the new metal symbol on the wall with curiosity. Alex went into the kitchen and pulled a glass out of the cabinet. Timothy was pacing on the counter, not doing anything, but his nervousness was apparent. Smiling at him, Alex poured Morgana a glass of iced tea. Timothy didn’t say anything. Nicki stumbled in and groaned as she reached for the coffee maker.

  “Need more coffee,” Nicki groaned. “Now… maybe magic will…”

  “Don’t use magic on the coffee maker,” Alex said. Nicki whimpered, and Alex bit her lip to hold back a laugh. “Timothy, will you give her a hand?”

  “We’ll make a new pot,” Timothy promised. He walked over to Nicki and patted the top of her pinkie with his tiny hands. “Just give it a few moments.”

  Retreating to the living room with Morgana’s drink, Alex glanced at the door again. She’d feel better once Aiden returned. Then again, he might not want to leave his family alone right now. These medallions complicated everything. The blood spell wasn’t going to be enough anymore, and their alarm system, while useful, wouldn’t protect the Boscos or Nicki’s grandmother. They’d need to adjust the spell.

  “I can hear you thinking,” Morgana said. “Breathe, Alex.”

  Handing Morgana her drink, Alex obeyed the order and took a deep breath. It helped, but it wasn’t the solution. A knock on the front door made her jump before she realized that it would be Merlin. She rushed to the door and opened it to find the English professor protectively carrying a brown bag. Alex shivered as she felt the familiar hum of the Iron Soul’s magic.

  “Are you all alright?” Merlin asked. His eyes were wild as he looked past her into the house.

  “We’re all fine,” Alex promised. “They cut me a little, but Nicki took care of it right away.” Nodding towards the living room, Alex kept talking before Merlin could keep asking questions. “Aiden is taking Aisling home: she had stopped by for a visit, but he’ll be back soon. Morgana is in the living room. Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water? Ice tea?
”

  “Uh, coffee… if you have some.”

  “Nicki and Timothy were just making a fresh pot,” Alex said. She looked down at the bag. “You brought the Chalice?”

  “You didn’t give me much information, but it didn’t seem wise to leave it with only a safe for protection.”

  “Fair enough. Go sit down. We’ll join you in a moment.”

  Merlin blinked at her, almost suspiciously, but nodded and headed into the living room. Alex heard him greet Morgana and sighed in relief. Bran came up the stairs and caught her eyes. His shoulders slumped slightly, but he nodded and headed into the living room. She went back into the kitchen where she found Avani pouring a cup of coffee for Nicki.

  “Merlin would like one too,” Alex said.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Avani said. “Jenny and Lance are upstairs.”

  They were already at the bottom of the stairs as Alex moved to go up and fetch them. Jenny gave her a soft smile, leaning forward to kiss her cheek quickly. Lance offered her a smile of his own, reassuring Alex that he didn’t mind Jenny’s casual affection. There was a quiver of emotion in her back of her mind, but Alex wasn’t going to address that today.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Jenny promised.

  They gathered in the living room without much fuss. Only Aiden was missing, and Bran had his phone out, making Alex believe he was probably texting the final mage of the group. Avani had given Merlin his coffee and Nicki was slumped next to Avani with her own mug. Timothy was on the coffee table, making sure that no one else needed anything. The bag with the Iron Chalice was on the sofa between Merlin and Morgana.

  “Alex, what happened exactly?” Morgana said.

  Alex gestured at the medallion that was still on the table. “We had just set up the alarm system. It started going off, sounding like bells chiming to all of us, I think, and there was a group of Fae in the forest. We- I assumed that they were allies, since the blood spell hadn’t destroyed them, so I got close. One of them pulled a weapon and attacked me. Nicki pulled me back and healed me while Aiden and Bran took care of most of them.” Pausing, Alex licked her lips and tried to remember any important details. “Where each Fae had been, I saw a knot of magic. That’s how we discovered the medallions in the piles of clothing left behind. We gathered them up using cloth, so we didn’t touch them. They all look the same. The others are in a towel in the kitchen.”

  Morgana nodded and leaned forward, pulling back the fabric of the bandana to expose the bronze metal. She hummed softly, pulling out her phone and taking a photo. Merlin was eyeing it thoughtfully, but with much more suspicion.

  “It’s bronze,” Merlin said. “Not iron. The marks are familiar to me, but I don’t know if they say anything.”

  “I recognize them,” Morgana said. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and her back was taught as a drawn bow. “They’re Sídhe letters. Nothing too specific. Similar to the scabbard actually. They are markings for protection against magic. To turn back an enemy’s power.”

  “Great,” Nicki growled. “Copycat.”

  Morgana raised an eyebrow at Nicki but almost smiled. “As I said, similar to the scabbard, but that is an old form of magic. Iron is superior because it holds not only magic but intent. It will do what its creator wanted it to, even if they were not fully conscious of their desire.”

  “And now Arthur is using magic in bronze,” Merlin said. “Creative, but it won’t hold the magic for long. I suspect that the magic will erode quickly.”

  “Alex?” Bran turned to look at her. “Is there less magic now?”

  Blinking in surprise at the question, Alex focused her gaze on the medallion. She closed her eyes and tugged gently on her magic. It rushed up her chest, and she slowly pushed it outward. Rather than a stream of power, she whispered for it to spread out. The magic did so and quickly illuminated the forms of her friends. On the table was still a knot of black, but it was smaller, and even now she was aware of its magic fading.

  “Yes,” she said. Opening her eyes, Alex sighed in relief. “It’s being tugged at, for lack of a better word, by our magic.”

  “Good,” Merlin said. “At least these medallions won’t work long in Ravenslake. Still, it could be a problem. Arthur is vicious when he wants to be and has already assembled small armies of Fae creatures before.”

  “Yeah,” Alex said. “But… look, Merlin, Morgana. We don’t know much about Arthur’s magic, or how he even has magic. We keep thinking about his magic like ours, and maybe that’s wrong.” Looking up at Morgana, Alex gave the older mage a soft, apologetic smile. “I hate to ask, but how did you become what you are? You’ve never really provided details.”

  “I was combined through a magic ritual with the Changeling that had been left in my place when I was stolen,” Morgana said. “To be blunt, I do not fully understand myself how the ritual worked, but I assumed that the Síd magician who performed it was able to summon enough of his magic to Earth.”

  Merlin made a sound of surprise. “It was done in the Iron Realm?”

  “Yes,” Morgana answered. She looked at him curiously. “It only now occurs to me that you never asked.”

  “When I first met you, Morgana, Arto was my concern. You were not my priority. In fact, I saw you as the greatest threat to him,” Merlin replied. He sounded a bit embarrassed and irritated. “There just… it didn’t seem important. I knew what you were, but the details…”

  “I don’t know the details.” Morgana sighed and looked back to Alex. “I’m sorry. The reality is that we know that the Sídhe have magic for the same reason we do. Magic is generated when their laws of physics clash with ours. Not all Sídhe can use magic. At least, it never seemed that way. Thousands of years ago, many of the invaders had at least some limited control over their power, but then again, they were better trained and prepared for entering our world.”

  “This is interesting and all,” Nicki said. “But Arthur has never been off of Earth. His half Sídhe nature comes from the Queen playing Frankenstein. So, he shouldn’t be getting magic from the clash of physics.”

  “Plus, the Iron Gates are still in place,” Alex added. Sinking back into the armchair, she tapped her cheek thoughtfully. “So where does he get his magic? It is really from his Sídhe half, or is it tied to the Iron Realm because of the Iron Chain?”

  “The Iron Chain is destroyed,” Bran said. “So that might not be it.”

  “Maybe, but the effects could still linger,” Alex said. Then she groaned. “I don’t know. I saw her make him! But… I don’t know. He was made using Fae flesh, but they haven’t got magic anymore. And the Queen possessed Arthur’s mother, so how would she have known that Arthur was a mage?”

  “He might not have been,” Merlin said. “We’re trying to unravel something that we might never understand.”

  “The Queen used a piece of an Iron Gate to fuse Medraut’s soul into Arthur,” Alex said. “Maybe that could be part of his magic.” She shook her head. “Then again… maybe the clash of physics is just a part of Arthur’s own body.” Glancing at Merlin and Morgana carefully, Alex really hoped that she wasn’t horribly offending them. “Part of his creation might have been… more unstable than the pair of you.”

  “Maybe,” Morgana said. Her tone was careful and even. “But Merlin is right: understanding the how isn’t important. Not really. I know the mystery is difficult, but the critical question is how do we deal with this. Arthur and his mother are seeking ways to attack us here. These experiments might be merely harassment now, but if they do figure out ways to bypass the protections of iron, then things could get much worse.”

  “You mean the gates?” Bran asked.

  “Maybe,” Morgana said. “Arthur and the Queen potentially have allies waiting in the tunnels. The Sídhe civilization was one of expansion and conquest. I worry about how political fractioning and stagnation has affected them. They’ve proven that their lust for slaves hasn’t vanished since the Iron Gates were first made.”r />
  More questions without answers. Alex closed her eyes. A headache was making itself known, creeping up the sides of her skull and settling behind her eyes. She listened. Nicki had more questions and suggestions. Aiden came home not long after. Morgana and Merlin had the sense to express their relief that Aisling was alright. At least it all made Alex feel better about her decision with her brothers. Then, she pushed her magic at the medallions once more and watched the last traces of Arthur’s magic vanish. At least, there was that. They could work with that. Tonight, they could brainstorm and worry, but tomorrow she was going back to the forge.

  23

  Stalking the Enemy

  She was dreaming again. Alex had become too familiar with the hazy way that the world appeared when she was dreaming. Sounds echoed just a little too much and colors were a bit strange. It was enough to reassure her that she wasn’t in danger at the moment. Small flickers of memories played out around her, but they were random, leaving her floating through random images.