The Awakening: The Aegis of Merlin Book 2

by James E. Wisher

  Deep crimson eyes, each as big as his head, turned Conryu’s way. He tumbled off the slide a moment before its tail smashed the stone construct to gravel. The sand broke his fall. Using his momentum he rolled to his feet and ran toward the huddled newspeople.

  The snake’s tail struck behind him sending sand flying everywhere. He glanced back just as a red ray struck the serpent in the side of the head. It didn’t hurt the creature, but it pulled its attention toward the entrance just as he’d hoped.

  Conryu slid to a stop beside Kat. Behind her the cameraman moaned and clutched his leg. A splinter of bone poked out of his torn pants. Apparently the sand hadn’t been as soft as Conryu had thought.

  “What is that thing?” Kat had lost her microphone in the fall, her nice blouse was torn, exposing a lacy bra underneath, and her skirt was ripped up to her hip on one side. It would have been hot if they weren’t in danger of being killed at any moment.

  “It’s a demon. Can you move?” Above them the demon roared and spit black mist in a stream at the flying wizards.

  “Demon?” Her eyes about bugged out of her head.

  “Yeah, now focus. Can you run?”

  “Sure, but Joe isn’t going anywhere. Not on foot anyway.”

  “Shit!” He couldn’t carry the cameraman and defend them. How the hell was he going to get the guy out of here?

  “Can’t you magic him to safety?” Kat asked. “Or heal him or something?”

  “Hey, I’ve been here for three months. I know exactly ten spells and none of them are useful in this situation.”

  “Then what good are you?” Kat was crying, her mascara leaving long black lines down her cheeks.

  Great, now he had a bawling reporter to go with his crippled cameraman. What else could go wrong?

  A bright light flashed in his eyes. He followed it to its source and found Maria standing beside the golem club and Blinky. She had a small hand mirror and was flashing the light at him.

  Wait. Blinky could carry Joe, no problem.

  Maria waved him their way but he shook his head. He couldn’t abandon Kat and Joe. He made the phone symbol with his hand and held it to his ear. If one of them summoned an air spirit he could tell them to send Blinky over.

  Sonja gave him a thumbs up and swirled her hands around. A moment later a breeze tickled his ear.

  “Quit screwing around and get over here.” He winced at Maria’s tone. Did she think he wanted to be there, just waiting for the demon to swallow them whole?

  “The cameraman’s leg is broken. Send Blinky over to carry him.”

  The spider rushed towards them as fast as its skinny legs could carry it. Crystal had it hug the wall in the hope that the serpent wouldn’t notice. It took half a minute to cover the distance and Conryu held his breath the whole way. The serpent never even looked in their direction.

  Blinky stopped and bent down so its body was on the ground. “You’re going to have to hold him on,” Conryu said.

  “Me!”

  Conryu put his finger to his lips and stared up at the demon. It continued to ignore them as it attempted to blast the other wizards out of the sky, thank heaven.

  “Why me?” Kat asked at a more agreeable volume.

  “Fine, I’ll hold him on and if the demon notices us you can distract it while we escape. Does that sound better to you?”

  Kat climbed up on Blinky and wrapped her legs around its head without further argument. Between them they maneuvered Joe up on the golem’s back with only a pair of strangled moans from the injured man.

  “Okay, Crystal, we’re all set.”

  Blinky started back toward the exit at a much slower pace. Kat held tight to her cameraman, keeping him in the center of the golem, while Conryu jogged along beside them, his gaze never leaving the demon.

  Blinky stumbled in the sand and Joe’s leg banged off the golem’s side.

  He screamed.

  The serpent spun and oriented on them.

  “Go, go, go!” Conryu ran the opposite way, waving his hands to distract the demon. Its head snapped around and focused on him. That worked a little better than he’d hoped.

  Its mouth opened and the black spray shot out. Conryu raised his hand, fingers crossed. “Break!”

  A ball of dark energy collided with the mist and they negated each other. He let out a breath and kept running. The serpent roared and swung its tail.

  Conryu dove under it, rolled to his feet, and ran on. He only managed three strides before he found himself flying up at an alarming rate. Three hundred yards later he stopped beside Dean Blane.

  He looked down. “The others…”

  “They’re fine and in the process of evacuating with the other students too weak to fight. That was a gutsy move, rushing in to save those two.” She smacked him on the back of the head. “That was from Maria.”

  “Yeah. She’ll probably give me another one for good measure later, assuming we survive.” He gestured at the serpent. “What about that thing? If it gets off the island it could destroy the school.”

  “It won’t. We were just waiting for you to get those two clear of the arena. Now!”

  The walls of the stadium trembled and collapsed. Mounds of earth covered the snake for three-quarters of its length. It fought and thrashed, but couldn’t free itself.

  “That won’t hold it for long,” Conryu said.

  “No.” Mrs. Umbra flew over to join them, the Death Stick clenched in her white-knuckled fist. “But it should hold it long enough for us to banish the creature back to Hell.”

  “We? I don’t even know a banishment spell.”

  “I’ll cast the spell, you’re just going to provide me with a power boost. Come on, we need to be on the ground for this. The amount of dark magic we’ll be conjuring will negate any spells in the area.”

  Mrs. Umbra flew down and Dean Blane lowered him beside her. She thrust the Death Stick at the still-struggling demon. It had already freed a quarter of its trapped length. Hopefully this wouldn’t be a long spell.

  Maria stared, mouth agape, when Conryu waved his arms and coaxed the giant snake to chase him. Half a minute later the golem bearing the reporter and her injured companion came to a stop beside them. The woman started to climb down, but Maria raised her hand. “Don’t bother, we’re not staying here.”

  She took a quick look at the injured man’s leg. A lot of light magic revolved around healing and she’d been studying basic first-aid since she was a little girl, usually to patch up Conryu after one of their adventures went awry. It didn’t take long to realize the man’s injury was way beyond her ability.

  Lines of people streamed toward the beach where water wizards in conjured boats waited to carry them back to the school. When Maria turned back Conryu was flying up beside Dean Blane. He was safe for now. The pressure in her chest lightened; the dean would keep him safe.

  “Let’s go.” Maria started toward the beach. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something black. When she turned she saw the snake patch on the robe’s back. It was a member of Team Black Viper and the woman was running at an angle away from the others fleeing the demon.

  “Isn’t that the nut with the dagger?” Sonja had moved to stand beside her.

  Maria wasn’t certain what to think about the tiny fire wizard. She didn’t like the way the blond looked at Conryu. There was something in her eye that said she wanted to be more than his teammate.

  “What nut with a dagger?”

  “One of the wizards drew a dagger in the middle of the match and started stabbing the others. Didn’t you see? It’s probably why they lost control and let the demon escape.”

  Maria had been so focused on the match she hadn’t even looked at the wizards controlling the golem. “I bet the Department would like to talk with her.”

  “Hey!” Kat shouted. “Are we going or what?”

  “Crystal, you, Onyx, and Jade get those two somewhere safe. We’re going to track down that crazy wizard.”

  Mari
a bristled when the fire wizard started to take over, but realized at once that she was being stupid. Sonja was a senior and had way more experience using magic than she did. In fact, after having a moment to think about it, the idea of Maria bringing in an experienced wizard on her own was ludicrous.

  “Forget it,” Crystal said. “Onyx and Jade can handle Blinky on their own. I’m coming with you.”

  Sonja grinned and turned to Maria. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to go to safety? If that wizard turns and fights, things might get ugly.”

  Maria knew she should do exactly that, but she couldn’t back down. “I’ll be alright. If it comes to a fight I’ll stay out of your way. You might need an extra set of eyes out there.”

  Sonja shrugged and the three of them set out in the direction the black-robed wizard went. Maria took the lead while the golem headed for the beach. As they worked their way across the lines of fleeing students more than one looked their way, but thankfully no one followed them. Maria stopped at the edge of the forest. One of the narrow paths led through the dense hardwoods.

  “This is the last place I saw her.”

  Crystal muttered in the language of earth and Sonja in the language of wind. A breeze rushed through the trees and Sonja cocked her head as if listening. Crystal crouched and laid her hand on the dirt, her eyes closed.

  “She’s running east,” Crystal said.

  “Yes, but the wind spirits don’t think she’s a she at all. Whatever, this trail ends at a cliff with a narrow trail carved into the side. If we catch her there it’ll make our job much easier.”

  Maria marveled at the ease with which the older women wielded their powers. How could she have even considered going after an experienced wizard on her own? She couldn’t even fight like Conryu to say nothing of her limited magical abilities.

  The three of them ran down the path. Maria stayed at the back of their formation, content now to let the others take the lead. It was a five-minute run to the end of the path where it opened up into a short, grassy field before dropping off a sheer cliff.

  At the edge of the cliff stood a black-robed figure looking out over the lake. Perhaps the wizard had decided to surrender.

  “Stay back.” Sonja motioned her to remain at the tree line.

  Crystal went left and Sonja right as they approached the still figure. Something was wrong. There was no way someone who’d tried so hard to escape would just stand there waiting to be captured.

  Maria looked closer and her eyes widened. There were no feet sticking out from under the robe. “Get back!”

  Crystal and Sonja both jumped away a moment before the robe exploded with dark energy. The infernal wave sickened Maria, but didn’t seem to do any real damage. More importantly the others seemed to have come through the blast unharmed.

  A hundred yards away a hunched figure emerged from the edge of the woods. It looked vaguely human, but the ears were long and pointed as was its nose. It opened its mouth and a long, forked tongue shot out and flicked through the air.

  Maria shuddered. What manner of creature was it? She’d read many of her mother’s books, but she’d never seen anything that looked exactly like this thing.

  It threw a hand out and a blast of flame roared toward Crystal. Sonja spoke a harsh word and snapped her fingers, snuffing out the blast.

  “You have sssome ssskill, child,” the creature said.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet.” Sonja pressed the heels of her palms together and chanted a spell.

  A rush of flames streaked toward the creature. It simply stood, arms wide as if embracing the fire, and let the flames wash over it. When the torrent of fire ended the creature remained unharmed, not so much as a hair out of place.

  Maria gaped, unable to believe the monster hadn’t sustained any damage when it should be nothing but a pile of ash. What sort of foe did they face?

  “Your flamesss are ssstrong and pure. If I had the time I would enjoy corrupting you and turning your sssweet fire harsh and bitter. Alasss I’m in a bit of a rush.” The creature slammed its forearms together and thrust its fists toward the sky.

  A wall of flames twenty feet high roared to life, blocking their view. A wave of searing heat made Maria break out in an instant sweat even from a distance.

  Sonja raised her hands and chanted a spell. The flames wavered, but didn’t vanish. The tiny wizard let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush.

  Maria left her hiding place and hurried closer. They couldn’t let whatever that was escape. She didn’t know how to help since she knew only a handful of simple spells and couldn’t use dark magic, but she had to try.

  Crystal laid a calming hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Let’s try it together.”

  The girls chanted in stereo and the flames wavered, parted like a curtain, and finally dissipated. There was no sign of the creature. If it had gone back into the woods she would have seen it.

  Maria ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down. The thing was halfway down the face, crawling along like the lizard it resembled. Sonja and Crystal moved over beside her.

  “That’s a neat trick,” Sonja said.

  “Yeah, but it’s not going to help today.” Crystal crouched and touched the cliff face while chanting. A tremble ran through the earth and down below a hand of stone snatched the creature off the face and wrapped it up from neck to ankles. “Let’s see it cast spells now.”

  The creature snarled and spat fire at the indifferent stone. It shouted curses at them which the girls ignored.

  “Well, we caught him. What should we do now?” Sonja looked from Crystal to Maria.

  Crystal just shrugged.

  “I say we leave him there and let the teachers deal with him,” Maria said.

  “That’s fine. My spell has done its work. That stone prison will last until an earth wizard counters it.”

  “Let’s go find Dean Blane and tell her we’ve got an early Christmas present for her.” Maria led the way back toward the arena. With any luck the demon snake wasn’t still rampaging around.

  The demon serpent wrenched itself side to side sending chunks of rock flying. The creature was tremendously strong and with every twist it freed more of its length from the rubble.

  “What do I do?” Conryu looked away from the struggling demon to his teacher.

  “Grasp the Death Stick below my hand and imagine dark energy flowing from your body into it. Just focus on that, I’ll handle the rest.”

  Conryu grabbed the shaft of the stick right behind her wrinkled fist and pictured the same energy he remembered from The Awakening on the beach flowing from his body, out his hand, and into the artifact.

  He didn’t feel anything until a moment later when Mrs. Umbra spoke the first word of Infernal. Something opened up inside him and crackling black energy rushed out. Power pulsed from the skull topper as the spell built to a crescendo. He was so overwhelmed he didn’t even hear most of the spell.

  A black disk appeared under the serpent and tentacles shot up, wrapping it and pulling the demon back into the portal.

  The mighty demon struggled and snapped one of the tentacles. The banishment was failing. He looked down at Mrs. Umbra. She was frowning and chewing her lip. It wasn’t just his imagination.

  If the demon escaped a lot of people were going to be hurt. An idea popped into his head, more instinct than anything.

  “Cerberus!” Conryu focused all his will on the demon serpent. “Kill!”

  His arm ached as the demon dog’s brand came to life. A head appeared from the portal, a snarling, fang-filled mastiff head with burning red eyes. Jaws that could swallow an elephant whole opened and bit into the snake’s side.

  A second and third head appeared. Both of them clamped on to the struggling snake. Slowly, but inexorably, Cerberus dragged the black snake down into the dark portal. When the last of the snake’s head vanished Mrs. Umbra spoke a final word and the portal closed.

  Conryu released the Death St
ick and both of them fell to their knees. He’d never been so exhausted in his life. It felt like he’d run back-to-back marathons.

  “You okay?” Mrs. Umbra asked.

  “Yeah. You?”

  “I believe I’m going to have a nap this afternoon, but other than that I’m fine. That was clever thinking, getting Cerberus to aid in the banishment.”

  He shook his head. “It was just—”

  “Instinct?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re a battle mage down to your toes. The magic speaks to you in a way it doesn’t to ninety-nine percent of the world’s wizards. Trust that instinct, Conryu. It will serve you well.”

  He stood in time to greet Dean Blane who landed beside them. “Well done, you two. That could have ended a lot uglier than it did.”

  “All credit to my student.” Mrs. Umbra clambered to her feet. “If he hadn’t thought to call Cerberus for help we might have lost it.”

  “Dean Blane! Conryu!”

  They all turned at the sound of Maria’s voice. She was running toward them from the edge of the woods with Sonja and Crystal a step behind. She skidded to a stop and wrapped Conryu in a bear hug.

  Over her head Conryu saw Dean Blane fix the girls with a glare. “I thought I told you to evacuate?”

  “We were,” Sonja said. “Then Maria spotted the wizard that was stabbing the other members of Team Black Viper.”

  She went on to tell them about the battle and capture of the thing that had disguised itself as a member of the team.

  When she finished Mrs. Umbra said, “Sounds like a heart hunter, though what one of the southern elf-bloods would be doing here at this time and place is beyond me.”

  Conryu stepped back and looked down at Maria. “What were you thinking, going after something that dangerous?”

  “Me! I’m not the one who ran towards a giant demon snake. You could have been crushed.”

  She had him there. Somehow he worried less about his risks than he did hers. He always had and always would.

  “Let’s go have a chat with this heart hunter and see what he has to say for himself.” Fifteen teachers had landed while they were talking and they all looked at the dean for instructions. A little growl escaped her lips. “Clean this mess up and search for any surviving members of the Black Viper team. We need more information.”