The Leira Chronicles- The Complete Austin Series

by Martha Carr

  “Looks like they’re here with us in the room,” said Mark, stepping closer, his mouth hanging open. He was wearing a blue nylon jacket with large PDA letters in white on the back.

  “That’s Charlie Monaghan, the CEO of that corporation Correk and I visited.” Broke into, took their seeds away, destroyed a lab, pissed off Monaghan. A good day at the office.

  “The men sitting next to him are several US Senators and they’re brokering a deal from hell.” The general drummed his fingers on Hagan’s desk angrily. “Fortunately for our side, a Wizard was sitting nearby and recorded the whole thing without anyone noticing. Lacey Trader was good enough to pass it along through channels.”

  Lois gave a wave. “We’re the channels.”

  “There was a vote recently on Capitol Hill that gave a childish kind of finders keepers to whoever finds artifacts first, giving Axiom a right of way I would have sworn they’d never get. Nasty thing about these kind of votes is that once the right is given, it’s harder to convince others to take it away.” The general gave a curt nod to Lois and Patsy.

  Lois swirled her wand in the air, enhancing the sound quality so their voices became audible.

  “I’m not interested unless this technology is coming online soon, and I mean within the next year.” The Senator was jabbing his wrinkled finger against the white linen tablecloth. The knuckles of his hand were swollen and twisted. “I don’t have the luxury of investing in green bananas.”

  “New technology…” Leira stepped closer to the screen to watch.

  “We’re getting close to being able to enhance humans with the machinery and prolong life, improve mobility…”

  Shock grew over Leira’s face. Enhance humans… “He can’t be talking about using relics on human beings.”

  “He’s negotiating to use it on them to keep them alive long past their expiration dates.” The general watched the men plotting, his mood growing darker.

  “Too late, looks like their milk already curdled,” muttered Gail.

  “This is worse than magic running loose. This is politicians with magic. If they figure out how to do that there’s no telling where it would all end.”

  “She gets it!” Patsy threw her hands up in the air as Lois sent a pea-sized ball of light flying across Patsy’s head. Patsy saw the glowing volley just in time and ducked, smirking at Lois as the ball turned and knocked her in the back of her head and a half-eaten M&M popped out of her mouth.

  The general was distracted by the virtual images playing out in the middle of the warehouse.

  “Looks like we could just go over and join them,” said Mark, putting his hand in the air and watching it pass right through the screen.

  “We need to know more about Charlie Monaghan’s intentions. This just isn’t enough information. I’m sending Lois and Patsy to follow him. He’s already seen you, Leira and it has to be someone with magical capabilities. He’ll never see those two coming and they’re a lot cagier than they look.”

  “Let’s hope so,” whispered Gail, leaning closer to Alan.

  “You are going to pay these Senators a visit.” The general got up from the desk and came to stand opposite Leira as he put his hat back on his head. The agents fell in behind him, ready to leave. “I’ve been able to pull a few strings and get them together in one room without overplaying my hand. I need you to make an appearance and put the fear of magic into them. Leave a lasting impression that will overcome whatever riches Charlie Monaghan is promising.”

  “Of course, general. I can put on a shit show that will leave them checking under their beds for the rest of their lives.” Leira looked up at Charlie just as he got up from the table and turned to get the waiter’s attention. She stepped closer, looking at the back of his head, narrowing her eyes. I’ve got it! Wait… he was on the streets of Austin. Leira let the image play through her mind, looking for more details. Headed up 6th Street walking alone. She shook her head. Nothing. Why would he be in Austin. “There! Did you see that? Lois, can you replay that part and… stop it right there. Look at his eyes. What is that? His eyes turn totally black there for just a second.”

  “We noticed that too and were hoping you’d have some input.”

  Leira looked over at Lois who quickly shook her head and swirled her wand just enough to draw the Silver Griffins symbol in light that faded just as quickly before anyone else could see the gesture.

  “I’m still new to a lot of this. That one is new to me, but I can’t imagine it’s a good sign.”

  “Then we move on and gather more information. Here are the coordinates for the meeting. They should be gathered within the hour. Make it a good entrance.” The general turned and headed for the door without another word. The events of the day were weighing heavily on him.

  Alan took Leira by the arm, whispering, “We need to talk. I’ll find you after the meeting is over.” He looked like he wanted to say more but the general was already in the parking lot.

  “I’ll text you when I’m back at Estelle’s. We can meet there.”

  He gave her arm a squeeze and took off in a quick jog to catch up with the others.

  Lois and Patsy hung back, closing the door behind Alan as Lois held out her wand in the air. “Should have done this the first time I came here. You need your own human detection system.”

  “You need to explain, Lois.”

  “Look, I know you were raised like you were one hundred percent grade A human but face the facts. You’re a magical being working with humans. We’re all getting along really well right now but there are limits.”

  “Sometimes harsh ones,” said Patsy, drawing a line across her throat. “We kid around with each other but we never forget we’re playing in their sandbox. They decide we’ve overstayed our welcome and things get bad pretty fast.”

  “Charlie Monaghan is showing signs of having arrived at that point.” Lois pursed her lips and held up her wand to replay the scene again. “Those dark eyes. Never seen them before but heard about it from an old Witch I mentored with a long time ago. It’s darkness filling every square inch of him. I think you like to call it the Dark Mist.”

  The color drained from Leira’s face. “I thought the Dark Mist only went after magical beings…”

  “Normally, that’s a true statement.” Patsy found an old blue peanut M&M in her pocket and brushed off the fuzz, popping it into her mouth. “But Charlie Monaghan’s been handling a lot of very powerful artifacts. Using those artifacts, even.”

  “Humans who mess with artifacts tend to do so with less than honorable intentions. The more they do it, the worse the intentions become. It gets to be like an addiction, filling them up inside.”

  “They don’t see the shortcut as a problem, they see it as a solution to all their ills.”

  “Till it’s not. But by then, living in this world on its terms has taken a backseat.”

  “The old Witch told me that there were stories from when she was young of the darkness taking over some humans. Artifacts were getting dug up and tossed around in the last century, infecting some of the humans and stirring up magic.”

  “It did not end well for anyone and took the Silver Griffins quite a while to clean up the mess and lock all of the artifacts in their vault.”

  “It was really what got the vault going. One small catch, though was that the world talked about our kind like we were the devil.”

  “Drew us with warts and giant noses. What’s that about? Seems a little discriminatory, if you ask me.”

  “We had to go way underground. The Silver Griffins came up with rules to protect magic that were a lot harsher. A lot…”

  Lois gave Patsy a sidelong glance. “All of that is our way of leading up to this.” She went into her green leather handbag shaped like a trapezoid with a gold clasp on top and pulled out a red-checkered dish towel. She held it in her palm, unfolding each side carefully. “We heard through the magic grapevine that you may be in need of some grounding, being a Jaspar Elf and all.” In th
e center of the dish towel sat a bracelet, sparkling even in the low light.

  Leira put out her hand to touch it and felt a rush of wind in her lungs. The bracelet rose into the air and hovered just near her hand.

  “That’s a pretty fancy trick right there. Your eyes aren’t even glowing.”

  “I’m not doing that,” said Leira.

  “We know. It’s the power in this artifact. It’s filled with some very old, pure energy of a different kind.”

  “Lacey said that it was beings who were half magical, half human who filled the bracelet for a moment just like this one.”

  “They saw it coming. It’s always been rumored that Jaspar Elves still existed. But, boy, Jackson did a good job of hiding his true self. Hunkering down in the woods of Oriceran and living like a hermit.” Patsy shook her head.

  “And we knew that the spark of humanity was in the occasional person.”

  “One in a few million but it’s there.”

  “Eventually, the two might come together…” Lois moved her hands closer together. “Creating you, but with a tricky kind of catch. Mara was right to worry. Yes, we heard that whole sordid tale. But that whole melting into the light thing. Whoa!” Patsy felt the outside of her pockets but there was no spare bit of candy anywhere.

  “Toni saw what you could do and stories started getting back to us and we wondered.”

  “The bracelet is telling us we were right. You have the spark. Don’t worry, we’ll keep that one within the community with as few of our kind as possible.”

  Leira moved her hand around slowly and watched mesmerized as the bracelet changed direction to keep up with her.

  “You two are weirdly good at getting the good dirt on what’s going on.” Leira smiled, her eyes wide, fascinated with the bracelet.

  “Thank you kindly. We may act the fool but it’s more of a cover than anything else. Human beings don’t fear what they don’t really respect.”

  “The general respects you.”

  “Until the day he doesn’t… Granted, he’s definitely one of the good ones but times change. Besides, people talk more around us because they see us as harmless.”

  “Especially me,” laughed Patsy.

  “She wields a wicked wand, trust me.”

  “I remember you two at the seminary. I saw what you could do.”

  “Oh, that was just a taste. You’re right about the general. He’s no fool and he hired us. Think about it.”

  “This artifact will ground me…”

  “No, this is only half of what you need. Notice it’s missing its stone and that’s a necessary component. The right kind of stone channels the energy in a loop, creating the grounding.”

  “You need to get on finding one of those. We don’t have it or we’d give it to you but it’s rare. Mostly because we haven’t figured out how to tell when we’re holding one.”

  “We’d have to hand one stone artifact after another over to you and wait to see what happens with you, the bracelet and the stone.”

  Lois carefully covered the bracelet with the washcloth again, capturing it in the air, and rolled it up as Leira hugged her around the neck. “Thank you, thank you.”

  “Heed our words though. You possess more power than even magical beings have been able to stomach at times. Be careful of who you trust.”

  “Patsy, we had best be going. We have an assignment to get to and that meeting will just be getting under way. I’m sure those Senators must be wondering right about now who’s the guest speaker.” Lois let out a snort of laughter and handed the bundle over to Leira. “We hope this helps. Lacey’s not keen on letting you run through the vast collection they’ve locked up but if it comes to that, we’ll work on her for you.”

  “Others are looking too,” said Leira.

  “Not surprising to us at all. You are part of a large network that has your back. Remember that and call on us when you need us.”

  It’s going to take all of us to defeat what’s coming. Magical and human had better come together. I can just feel it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The two moons were rising by the time Louie was able to get his band of humans all the way to the entrance. He stood back from them to get a better look

  A loud screech echoed overhead as some of the men ducked and others pressed themselves harder against the wall. “Wish the earth would just swallow me up,” said a wiry man wearing protective goggles.

  “You’d have to be on an entirely different world for that to work. Now, Oriceran would be more than happy to oblige, especially in these parts.” Louie silently counted down from five, holding out his fingers. “Right on time,” smiled Louie, as a harpie appeared, flying directly overhead, screeching and making ever smaller circles right over their heads.

  “I have more confidence in my motley crew than that harpy,” he muttered to himself.

  He thought better of taking stock of everyone outside of the entrance and ushered them all into the cool darkness, keeping an eye on the harpy. She looks big enough to pick off the short bald one in the back. “No, don’t leave your backpack outside here. Any number of flying, crawling, walking creatures will make off with it. You want to keep it, you keep it on or kiss it goodbye.” He rolled his lucky stones around in his hand, in and under his fingers as he assessed the scrapes and bruises. “No broken bones, few good scrapes and one good bump on the head. Not bad at all. Turns out all that jogging and playing golf really did pay off for you guys. I would not have believed it if I wasn’t here with you.”

  The men looked at him as if he was too dangerous to be in charge. Louie clutched the stones in his hand and held out his arms as he shrugged. “Again, this class trip was not my idea.” He slid the small stones back in his pocket and clapped his hands together. “Now, here comes the hard part.”

  A loud collective groan went up from the men.

  “Yeah, I feel the same way but we’re here and we’ve already been through Ricky’s rock slide and John’s dry retching. The ore is close gentlemen.” Louie turned to lead them further into Dead Man’s Crawl but stopped abruptly and turned. “Just in case I’m the one who dies on this little trip, which means we all die, tell me why this ore is so important to the rest of you that you’d follow me straight into hell to get it. It’s precious on this planet, not on yours.”

  The men looked at each other, not saying a word till the tall runner spit out some blood from an earlier fall, clearing his throat as he stepped forward.

  “Okay, that’s dramatic.” Louie leaned back on one foot, waiting.

  “There’s one thing that unites both our worlds. Something we have in common. Greed. We know about the gates and in just another generation they’ll start to open. Magic will pour in and the balance will tip away from us.” The man waved his arm, chopping the air. “None of us are prepared to become second-class citizens on our own planet.”

  “So you need ore to buy our services.”

  “Money talks, everything else walks,” The man said, holding his head high despite the smear of dirt down the side of his face and the long tear in his cammo jacket.

  “I appreciate you holding on to your dignity like that in these surroundings. I mean, that’s what matters at a time like this, am I right?” Louie looked at them, barely disguising his disgust. “What happens if Elves or Wizards or Gnomes stop caring about your precious ore?” There’s something else. I can see it on their sweaty, sunburned faces.

  No one would look at him and the spokesperson had backed up till he was shoulder to shoulder again with the others. “Alright, I get it. Courage is a tricky thing. Sometimes it burns out pretty fast. Well, gather it back up again, men! We’re on the last leg and about to set out. Stay close, as usual. Who’s last in line? Calvin’s back there. Call out every two minutes Cal, no more than that so we know you didn’t disappear on us. Okay, let’s go!”

  Louie pulled his sword out of its sheath on his back and felt the hum shake his hands as he held it out in front of him.
The men backed up from him until Calvin pushed from the back and they followed him into a narrow passage too tight to go more than one man at a time and in places, they had to shimmy sideways. Louie got out his wand and held it in front, letting the blue light shine forth to light their way in the total darkness. “Nobody afraid of small places, are they? Keep it to yourself at this point. We’re in it deep, men!” His shout echoed in the narrow chamber. This is fucking bad. I may have to take a break for an entire month after this.

  Louie’s head rocked back as a familiar wave of foul air rolled over him, making his eyes sting. Same smell from before. What the hell on Oriceran can cook up a stench like that and still call itself alive? He crept forward holding out the sword and slid the wand into the pack on his back, the light still shining from it. Can’t leave them by themselves. That’s a definite no. They will just have to come with me. Louie’s heart was beating faster as the sword grew warmer in his hands. Shit is just up ahead. Literal shit. The smell grew stronger and Louie looked back for a moment at the sweaty faces behind him in the glow from the wand. They had come this far and there was a chance that smell was the worst part. Fuck this day.

  They came to the antechamber where the ore was the easiest to find and piled into the larger space, grateful to be out of the closeness of the passageway. Louie stood in the center, his sword still out in front of him, listening for any sound at all this deep into the mountain. “Quiet! Quit moving around!”

  The air was still and every muscle along Louie’s back and arms was tense, waiting for something to happen.

  “I don’t hear anything,” whispered Calvin.

  Louie gave it another thirty seconds, finally lowering his sword. “Guess I’m a little jumpy too, gentlemen. We appear to have made it to our destination without loss of limb or life and I don’t mind telling you now, I did not see that happening.” Louie pulled out his wand and shone all over the walls, lighting up shining black stones jutting out from the dirt. “There is your precious ore. Careful though, don’t be in such a hurry. Those edges to the stone are razor sharp and will cut your hands into ribbons. You’re going to have to dig around them and let them drop into your bag. Nobody said robbing a planet was going to be that easy.”