Primal's Wrath: Book VI of 'The Magician's Brother' Series

by HDA Roberts

  She told more or less the truth, though she left out the fact that I'd saved a man from drowning. It was only at the end when she diverted from reality.

  "I begged him not to do it, I swear," she said, crocodile-tears cascading down her cheeks. "I even offered to serve him if he would only spare them, but he just laughed and then... and then..."

  "Take your time, dear," Bradley said softly.

  "Then he killed them, my lady, one by one, and he made me watch! He threw some sort of energy into the ice, severing their necks while they just stood there, frozen, unable to save themselves. It was terrible!"

  "No I didn't, just for the record, though I don't expect that will make any difference."

  "Quiet! You've traumatised this poor woman enough!"

  "This 'poor woman' as you call her, has killed more people than Malaria, look at her Aura!" I said. "I doubt very much she would have been traumatised by these events, even if they weren't figments of her imagination."

  Bradley snapped her fingers and the clerk came forward with a Truth Stone.

  "Would you please repeat your testimony, Lady Bellegarde?" Bradley asked.

  Bellegarde did. The stone stayed white.

  Damn it; walked right into that one...

  "What do you have to say to that, Lord Graves?" Bradley asked, that smirk threatening to split her face in half.

  "What's another tampered-with Truth Stone?" I replied with disgust.

  "Then what did he do, my Lady?" Bradley asked.

  "Then he interrogated me, for hours, forcing me to give up financial details on all of our holdings. By the time he was done, he had enough to rob us blind, and that's exactly what he did."

  "Thank you, Lady Bellegarde," Bradley said sympathetically.

  Bradley dismissed Bellegarde, and she walked away, flashing me a satisfied smirk that only I could see.

  "When do I get the chance to ask questions?" I asked.

  "I think you've traumatised that poor woman quite enough, Lord Graves," Bradley replied with a sniff.

  "Seriously?"

  "As you can see, my fellow Councillors, this man had one motive and one motive only. Money," she spat. "His motivation was pure avarice, and for that, he nearly destabilised the economies of two allied nations."

  The next part wasn't as dramatic; it was a financial analysis incorporating several charts and some financial records. It was very detailed; they’d looked in all the right places. Damn it. Bradley had exaggerated, though. Sure, we’d pumped a lot of money into our little war, but it was nowhere near enough to seriously affect an entire country’s economy, much less France and Spain.

  "We have concluded that this is all the work of a single financial entity, and our interrogation of one of Graves' associates revealed him to be the architect of the whole plan," the little accountancy gremlin reported in his dry, nasal voice (not an actual Gremlin, just to clarify, he just reminded me of one). He was short, wearing round spectacles over a long, pointed nose, his hair pulled back over a widow's peak, greasy and brown-grey, making it look dirty. He wore an expensive suit and a festive tie at odds with the seriousness of his subject matter.

  "That was an illegal interrogation under Telepathic duress," I pointed out.

  "That's not a point against veracity, young man," the accountant said in a condescending tone that nearly made me swat him.

  "Pray, continue, Mister Pritchett," Bradley said.

  I pulled a small notepad and a pen from my jacket, "Is that two 'T's in Pritchett?" I asked politely.

  "Why?" the little man replied, his voice shaking a bit.

  "No particular reason, do carry on," I said, taking my time to write the name down, which threw him off his analysis and caused a delightful stutter that only served to make matters worse.

  Finally, Bradley couldn’t take it anymore and dismissed her accountant with a wave, glaring at me the whole time. A point for me.

  "Graves' intimidation aside, the conclusions are clear. He states that his motives for striking the Aurelia were defensive in nature, and yet we can clearly see that he was after profit. And we can also see that he got it. In spades, if Mister Pritchett's estimates are to be believed."

  Yes... I had to admit, that did look bad.

  "And this is far from the only instance of abuse of power. This body has received report after report of excess and waste, battles in the streets, collateral damage, not just by this man, but by all the Archons!"

  And there it was. Hellstrom was right, it really was a Coup.

  Myrddin started looking very pleased with himself.

  "Think of the waste, my brothers and sisters, think of the pain caused, think of the lives lost so that we can keep these creatures' antics under wraps! And now think of what we could do if we didn't have to, anymore-"

  "You might also think about what you'd have to start doing if we weren't around," I interjected. "Demon Kings and Ancient Horrors don't banish themselves, you know."

  "We have our own defence against those monsters! Our own warrior capable of defending us. We have a Primal, no, we have the Primal!" Bradley boomed, her voice enhanced with Magic.

  I laughed, "Oh, you are in for such a shock..."

  "Quiet! You have no standing here, not anymore! I call for an immediate vote. All those in favour of removing the Archons from their positions as our Sovereigns, indicate so now."

  And so, this act of the play drew to a close. Generally it was the 'Chairs' who called the vote, sort of like the Speaker of the House of Commons, but the Primus was also empowered for that, in the absence of an approved chair. I suppose they were in sort of a legal grey area at that moment.

  There were two hundred and thirteen Councillors in that building (twelve more than they anticipated, incidentally). They voted by means of a crystal set into the small desks in front of them, a blue one for 'yes' a white one for 'no'. One hundred and fifty-two voted 'yes'.

  That was far more than enough for a change in the law.

  Bradley stood, glaring down at me, smiling all over her face, "Mathew Graves, as of this moment, you and the other members of your Circle are stripped of all diplomatic rights, securities and immunities given by this body. You may no longer exercise your right to free transit over our borders, and you may consider yourself under arrest, on the charge of murder, multiple counts!"

  Ah, so that’s why she hadn’t mentioned those earlier.

  Drama Queen.

  She pointed at me and practically snarled, "Guardians, take him down!"

  Chapter 51

  Okay, I'll admit, that could have gone better.

  The Guardians approached me, but all I had to do was look at them, and they stopped. I turned back to Bradley.

  "As I am no longer possessed of standing, I would like to request permission to speak to this body before your people carry out their orders," I said politely.

  "No. We will not hear from the likes of you. You are a criminal-"

  "The Crows would hear from the First Shadow!" Glass barked, standing up, along with his people. Bradley's eyes went wide as she recognised the voice, coming from right behind her. She spun in place and tried to speak, but no sounds came out.

  "The Lifeguards would also hear from the First Shadow," Hellstrom added, standing with her own people, forty or so of them, which would be the majority of those who didn't vote for Bradley's motion, by the way. Good for her.

  I nodded to each in turn.

  "We- we will hear from Mister Graves," Bradley agreed, looking a little shaken.

  "Councillors," I said, turning to look at as many as I could, "You all know me; you know what I stand for, what I do and why I do it. I was attacked by a madman; a murderer and a monster in every sense of the word, worse than any killer in any prison in the country."

  I made sure to meet Bradley's eye as I said that last bit, which only made her go paler. She realised what I was saying and connected the dots. She actually looked on the verge of passing out for a second there, which would have been
hilarious...

  "He slaughtered and tortured his way across Europe for hundreds of years, enjoying every perverted, bloody excess you can image and plenty no sane man possibly could. When I finally cornered him, when I had him at my mercy, he used the power of his bloodline to open a Gate to the Realm of Darkness, where an even greater evil was waiting. You know that the Aurelias had this ability, your own sources must have told you as much."

  There was some muttering at this, many of them were looking shifty; embarrassed.

  "Your politics are your business, if you don't want to be led by the Archons anymore, you don't want us around, then that is your choice. We live in a democracy, after all. But do you really want the first act of this bright, new era of yours to be falsely imprisoning a man for crimes you know he didn't commit?"

  "You can't speak for the minds of these good people-" Myrddin started to say, speaking up for the first time since my ‘trial’ had started.

  "Can't I?!" I barked, interrupting his interruption. "I am the First Shadow, Lord of the Deep, and, frankly, one of the most dangerous people on the face of the Earth. If any of you really, truly believed that I was capable of mass murder, you wouldn't even be here. You'd have taken one look at the agenda for today, and you'd have run, screaming, from the building."

  There was more muttering at that. Bradley was beginning to look slightly ill.

  "But you didn't. Because you know who I am, you know the value I place on life. That's why you felt comfortable going after me in the first place instead of Lady Time or, God forbid, Lord Death."

  Few of them could meet my eyes after that.

  Myrddin stood and started speaking, only nobody could hear him, I was absorbing all the sound waves coming from that part of the chamber.

  "That man is your new Chair? Fine, again, that's not for me to say. But when you have a moment to yourselves, I suggest you look up the name of the Vampire that started all of this, the one that I killed to save a city from certain destruction. All I ask of you now is that you take a moment to think. I know that it would be easy to have me to be arrested."

  Well, it would be easy for them to give the order, anyway...

  "That would be the expedient thing to do, no doubt. Definitive; proactive. But think for a moment, just think about what form you want this new world of yours to take. You are servants of the people, first and foremost, you represent my people; don't forget that."

  I bowed and stepped back from the stands, awaiting their decision, which would determine just how bad this would go.

  There was a long stretch of silence as Councillors and Ministers looked at one another, but not one spoke. Glass looked as if he was going to say something, but Hellstrom shook her head at him, and he subsided.

  She had good instincts, that one.

  "I move that the arrest order be rescinded," said a Councillor I barely recognised, one of Bradley’s Scholars, in fact. His voice was resigned and ashamed. "We've done what we set out to do. We are the Conclave of Great Britain; we should not stoop to this."

  "I second the motion, said another, an older woman, she looked even more ashamed of herself than the man had.

  I looked to Myrddin, who was glaring volcanically at me. I stopped my manipulation of sound and he spoke in a voice shaking with rage.

  "The motion is accepted, I call a vote," he snarled. "The vote is 'aye' to rescind the arrest order, ‘nay’ to uphold it."

  Trapped by the very system he was trying to subvert... that made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

  This one was much closer, but I got one hundred and fifteen votes to let me go. Quite a few of Bradley's own party voted for me.

  In the end, the only crime they had any evidence of was the financial malfeasance (not that the evidence was particularly solid), and that had taken place in other countries, where I still had my Sovereign Immunity. The only things they could try me for in Britain were murders that I hadn’t actually committed, and, as it turned out, these people weren't far gone enough to do that.

  Myrddin was forced to rescind the arrest order, and I nodded my thanks to both sides of the chamber.

  "Remember one thing, Councillors," I said, standing straight and as tall as I could, "though you turn your backs on us, we shall never turn our backs on you. If you need us, we will come. This is our home, as much as it is yours."

  More mutters, more averted eyes.

  I started walking away.

  “One moment, Lord Shadow,” Hellstrom said. I stopped and turned to look back at her.

  She nodded at me and then started to speak.

  “I never thought I’d see the day when the Conclave of Great Britain made such a decision, to turn our backs on those that have dedicated their lives to our preservation and defence. My fellow Councillors, I don’t know what you thought you were doing, but this is wrong, and more than that, it is foolish.

  “If this is truly what this body now stands for, I will no longer be a part of it. I hereby surrender my seat, effective immediately, and I urge as many of you as possible to do the same.”

  My mouth dropped open, and mine wasn’t the only one.

  And nor was Hellstrom the only one to vacate their seat. Glass, every one of his Crows and more than half of the Lifeguards also stood and walked towards me. I was so surprised that Hellstrom had to wave at me to get me moving again. When I finally did, it was with a not insignificant number of Magicians following me as I left the Conclave Chamber, perhaps for the last time.

  “Are you two sure about this?” I asked once we were out of earshot.

  “God, yes,” Hellstrom said. “If they’d imprison Glass illegally, then they’d do it to any one of us, especially those who’ve just voted in your favour. Staying would be as good as asking to be disappeared.”

  “Still, thanks. It means a lot.”

  “I did not do it for you. I did it for me and my people. There is just no way that this doesn’t end in bloodshed, and I don’t want any of us to be anywhere near Ambrosias Myrddin when the First Circle of Magi drops on his head from a very great height. Until this is all over, I’m taking a nice long holiday in a warm climate, and I suggest you all do the same.”

  “Not the worst suggestion,” Glass said with a chuckle. “But I, for one, am staying in the country. When this goes wrong, I want to be in a position to help.”

  Hellstrom glared at him, “What are you trying to do? Make me look bad?”

  “As if I would, your Grace,” Glass replied with a smile.

  She scowled, “Fine! I’ll be around, but I promise nothing!”

  I laughed and we continued making our way out of the Conclave. I must say, having those men and women leave with me was a load off my mind. I was actually rather worried for those who’d remained. Power-hungry or not, foolish or not, they were now under the thumb of a man drunk on power, desperate to acquire more, and who would be getting steadily less stable as time went on...

  Minutes later, my Portal opened onto my front lawn, and a Warden instantly darted into Blackhold, coming back out again seconds later with Tethys, Demise and Cassandra, all of whom practically bowled me over in an attempt to make sure that I'd come home unmolested.

  "Well, you seem to be in one piece, at least," Cassandra said. "What happened?"

  I told them as I walked through the front doors, heading for my Library, where I could start making calls. While it could have gone considerably worse, it still hadn’t gone well. Myrddin and Bradley had played their hands almost perfectly, and if those Councillors had only been a bit less decent...

  I shuddered as I contemplated a close-quarters Duel in the middle of the Conclave. It would have been a mess. The fact that I hadn’t started a fight was good, but I was still going to have to explain how I’d managed to get us all thrown out of power.

  To my immense surprise, Kron was quite understanding about the whole thing.

  "Well, it's not like it's the first time," she said with a sigh after I’d finished telling her what had happened.


  "What?" I said, confused.

  "Conclaves get the occasional rush of blood to the head; they generally get over it when the first existential threat shows up. Stonebridge is particularly bad for thinking they can get along without us, happens once every five hundred years or so. I wouldn't worry about it too much, it's not like they pay us, or anything."

  "So... you're not mad?"

  "Why would I be? You were the excuse, not the reason. Dumb Shadowborn. Also, when they inevitably beg us to come back, we can shake them down for property, rights or a new charter... it's all good. I am pleased that you got out of there without a fight or our needing to come rescue you, though."

  "Wait, so you're telling me that the preparations I’m making to topple the new government aren’t even necessary? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?! We’ve spent real money on this, Van!"

  She chuckled.

  "Well... it's not strictly necessary, but it's still going to be funny. And when you get to my age, that's really all that matters."

  "You are setting a terrible example for your juniors."

  "I gave up trying to do that for you, you don't listen."

  "I do so!"

  "And you argue about everything."

  "No I don't!"

  "See? You're even arguing about arguing."

  I made a highly frustrated sound and Kron laughed before hanging up, though she first promised to spread the news about what had happened.

  I called the others anyway, just to get some reassurance, really. Happily, they had much the same attitude as Kron. Palmyra, in particular, was looking forward to fleecing the Conclave when they came a-begging. She had her eye on some farmland in Scotland and the noises she made when talking about it were actually a little obscene, but I was left feeling that maybe I hadn’t screwed up too badly.

  Another bit of good (if somewhat predictable) news was that the Hyde attacks seemed to have stopped; more or less as soon as the Conclave meeting had come to an end.

  Fancy that...

  "So, you actually managed to talk the Conclave out of having you arrested," Cassandra commented once I'd put the phone down after my last call.