Before she opened the portal additional protections were necessary. When one traveled through the realm of fire, even a fire wizard had to take precautions. Especially when carrying important papers.
She focused first on herself. “No flames may touch me. No fire may burn me. Fire Shield.” When the magic had settled around her she repeated the spell for the Chimera Jar and its research papers. For the duration of her trip through the realm of fire no harm would come to her or her possessions.
“Reveal the way through infinite flame. Open the path. Fire Portal!” A bright red disk appeared before her. Heat rushed out of it, melting all the snow in the clearing and stirring enough of a breeze to blow her hair back.
Stepping into the portal was like stepping into an infinite bonfire. Everywhere she looked there was nothing but flames. She floated, untouched by the heat, and whispered a name. “Metros.”
A minute later a great phoenix flew under her and bore her away. She pictured a particular alley in Central and whispered, “Carry me to the convergence.” The firebird snapped its wings.
Lady Mockingbird didn’t dare speak her desires too loudly. The spirit she was allied with had enemies and a skilled foe could listen through the flames. If she was lucky they’d make the short flight with no trouble.
A shriek drew her attention up and a little behind them. A pair of winged fire lizards, their red scales sparking in the flames, were quickly gaining. Fire lizards were natural predators of phoenixes and she allowed herself a moment of hope that this was just normal hunting behavior.
She raised a hand in their direction and chanted in the language of air. “Father of winds blow away my enemies, Tornado Blast!” A mini tornado swirled out from her palm and sent the two lizards tumbling. If they were just out hunting that should be enough to discourage them into finding other prey.
As she feared, the lizards righted themselves in moments and plunged after them. Her phoenix let out a little shriek, more afraid than fierce. Though it would resurrect if the lizards killed it, being torn apart would not be a pleasant way to end its current existence.
“Don’t worry.” Lady Mockingbird spoke in a gentle, soothing voice that anyone who knew her well would doubt she was capable of. “I have more potent means to defend us.”
This time she raised both hands and cast in Angelic. “Light of Heaven burn away my enemies, Lightning Blast!” Her borrowed ring sparked, lending power to her spell. Twin lightning bolts leapt from her hands and burned through the lizards’ wings. They fell, flapping frantically with their uninjured wings, but unable to do anything but spin in a circle.
They would continue to fall until something snapped them out of the air and made a meal out of them. She didn’t know if there was anything resembling the ground below them. For all she knew they might fall forever. It would serve the stupid beasts right for trying to devour her beautiful phoenix.
Shortly after the encounter her mount stopped and hovered in the sky. No one really understood how the various spirits always knew exactly where they were in relation to the mortal world, but they were never wrong.
“Thank you, pretty one.” Lady Mockingbird hopped off the phoenix’s back and floated using her own magic. Her mount flew off, leaving her to her own devices.
She cast, “Grant me the power to see through realms, Vision Gate!” A one-way viewing portal appeared revealing an empty alley between two brick buildings and not a soul in sight. Exactly as she’d hoped.
At her command the portal opened and she stepped back into her own world. Only seconds had passed in real time. Much as she would have preferred to fly directly to the academy, she had to return Lady Bluejay’s ring. She also had to pay the promised price.
The portal had opened into one of the few poor areas in the capital. Of course, no Society member would be caught living in such a dismal place. It was beneath their dignity.
She walked across the quiet city, ignoring a group of drunken young people still staggering about. Soon the rundown buildings gave way to shiny new apartment buildings. Lady Bluejay lived in a modest apartment on the twenty-fifth floor of the Sky Bride complex.
Lady Mockingbird entered the ground floor and rode the elevator up. It would only take two hours to repay Lady Bluejay for the loan. She would do what she had to. The ring had been well worth the humiliation she now faced.
The elevator chimed and she flinched. She stepped into the carpeted hall and walked down to unit six. She stopped outside the unimpressive steel door, slipped the borrowed ring off, gathered herself, and knocked.
The door opened, revealing the slim, almost gaunt form of Lady Bluejay. She wore a suit of black leather that must have taken an hour to pull on. The shiny material reflected the hall light in a harsh glare. Lady Mockingbird held out the ring and Lady Bluejay snatched it out of her grasp.
“It came in handy then?”
“It did.”
“You’re ready to repay your debt?” Lady Bluejay’s lips curled into a satisfied smile.
“I am.”
Her host stepped out of the way. “Then come in.”
On the dining room table was a leather collar and leash beside a frilly white apron. She grimaced, set the Chimera Jar on the table, and began to strip.
For the next two hours, dressed in nothing but the apron, Lady Mockingbird cleaned the apartment. She began, of course, with the toilet and moved on from there, all while Lady Bluejay held her leash and watched, a huge grin on her smug face.
It took every ounce of her self-control not to burn the flesh from Lady Bluejay’s face. Only the fact that the rest of the Society would hunt her down and do far worse stayed her hand.
When the two hours ended and she was dressed and free of the collar, Lady Mockingbird went to retrieve the jar. Lady Bluejay had it in hand, frowning.
“You humiliated yourself for this little bauble? Hardly seems worth it.”
She snatched the item back and retrieved the paperwork. “Your ignorance is charming. Good evening.”
“Good evening. Come back any time you want to borrow the ring.”
Lady Mockingbird slammed the door behind her and stalked to the elevator. When she was a Hierarch she’d settle things. If all she made Lady Bluejay do was clean her home she could consider herself fortunate.
13
Back to School
Conryu opened his eyes and found Prime staring at him from about ten inches away. “Gah! What the hell are you doing, trying to give me a heart attack?”
“No, Master, I sensed your parents moving around and assumed that meant it was time for you to get up as well. We’re returning to the academy, are we not?”
“Yeah, I guess we are. Can you make yourself look like a normal book? Your face makes it kind of obvious you’re not what you appear to be.”
“Certainly, Master. After all I spent centuries appearing as a simple book. I’m not eager to repeat the process, but if you command it, I will obey.”
“Good. At least until we get to school. I don’t want the whole world knowing what you are. Not to mention you’ll probably freak out the regular people at the train station. Most folks aren’t used to flying, talking books.”
Prime bobbed back and forth in the flying book equivalent of a nod. “Yes, I can see where I’d be overwhelming to an ordinary human. My splendor can’t be underestimated.”
“Right.” Conryu rolled out of bed, stretched, and threw on some clothes. “I haven’t seen you eat anything. Do you get hungry?”
“No, Master. As a magical entity I draw sustenance from the magic that permeates this world. Though I do enjoy the taste of human bones.”
Conryu grimaced. “Pretty sure we don’t have any of those in the fridge. Let’s go see what Mom’s cooking for my last breakfast at home for a while.”
Prime sniffed. “I believe I detect cooking meat.”
“That’s bacon, the greatest human invention after the motorcycle.” Conryu left his room and made the short walk to the kitchen. P
rime flew along by his side.
Sure enough his mother was frying bacon and mixing pancake batter. He kissed her on the cheek. “Morning.”
Dad had his face buried in the paper. He lowered it long enough to nod at Conryu. Positively chatty for Dad. He took a seat across from his father and waited for breakfast.
“Good morning, mother of my master.”
Mom squealed when Prime flew up to her. She hadn’t gotten totally used to the scholomantic and tended to react to him like she would a rat scurrying across the kitchen floor.
“Conryu, keep that thing away from me when I’m cooking. Or doing anything else for that matter.”
Conryu patted the table beside him and Prime landed there. “He was just being friendly. Since we’re probably going to be together for the rest of my life you guys should try and get along.”
“I’m working on it.” She plated pancakes and bacon and handed it to him.
The rest of the morning went quickly and they were soon on their way to the train station. Maria rode with them as both her parents had to work.
She snuggled up beside him in the back of the SUV.
“Is this female your mate, Master?”
“Mate!” Maria glared at Prime.
Conryu groaned. The scholomantic might know about magic, but that seemed to be about all it knew. “Prime, it might be best if you stop talking for a while.”
“Like forever,” Maria said.
“Apologies, human relationships have always been a mystery to me. Even when I was still a proper demon I never had what you would call a friend, much less a mate; the ideas are alien to demons.”
“They work for us, now be quiet.”
Prime flew back to the trunk and landed on his bag. Conryu shook his head. “Sorry.”
Maria relaxed again and he put his arm around her. “It’s fine, I’m just annoyed neither of my parents saw fit to see me off.”
“What’s up with that? I figured your dad would come along anyway.”
“He was gone before I got up this morning. Whatever’s going on at the Department has him really worked up. He gets home late and leaves early. Last Sunday he fell asleep in his chair and was muttering about finding mercy. Mom’s worried about him and she never worries. Do you think it might have something to do with whatever he had you helping with?”
“Maybe. They all seemed pretty anxious to have me break into that box, not that they told me anything beyond that.” He shrugged. “I figure if they wanted me to know they’d have said something. It’s probably a bureaucratic thing. Mom says being in charge of a government department is like working in a daycare. That’s why she never accepts promotions.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I hope you’re right.”
Conryu hoped he was too, but he doubted it. That black ooze screamed evil. Anything created from a human sacrifice had to be serious. He never thought he’d be glad to return to the academy, but that stuff gave him chills. The less he had to do with it the better. At least at school he understood most of the threats.
He glanced out the window. A light snow had started to fall. The city looked so peaceful. He hoped it stayed that way.
Author Notes
Here we are at the end of book two. I hope you had a good time reading it. It’s certainly been fun for me, though I think Conryu might wish I’d gone a little easier on him. Of course he’ll be singing a different tune when book three arrives. As always if you’d like to read more about me and my writing you can visit my blog at www.jamesewisher.com You’ll find posts on subjects I thought were interesting, a list of my books along with a signup for my newsletter.
Thanks for reading,
James E. Wisher
Also by James E Wisher
The Aegis of Merlin:
The Impossible Wizard
The Awakening
The Chimera Jar
The Raven’s Shadow
Disciples of the Horned One Trilogy:
Darkness Rising
Raging Sea and Trembling Earth
Harvest of Souls
Death and Honor Omnibus
The Squire
About the Author
James E. Wisher is a writer of science fiction and Fantasy novels. He’s been writing since high school and reading everything he could get his hands on for as long as he can remember. This is his eleventh novel.
@jamesewisher
www.jamesewisher.com
[email protected]
The Awakening: The Aegis of Merlin Book 2 Page 19