Archon's Hope: Book III of 'The Magician's Brother' Series

by HDA Roberts

  After all that tension and fighting, and what was beginning to feel a little like persecution, I was surprised at how quickly things seemed to return to normal. It was a little jarring, and I had trouble allowing myself to calm down at first.

  The days meandered into weeks and the weather grew foul as we hit October; Half Term came and went. I spent it at home, finally decompressing, as I was a good hundred miles away from Archons, Conclaves and any other lunatics who might wish me harm. Both my parents were home, taking a break between digs, and we spent a lot of the time together. I think all three of us were trying to make up for Des not being there. We hit food fairs and book shows, the museum and the theatre; I let myself sink back into something resembling 'normal' for a while.

  I enjoyed Burglar's latest antics. He seemed to have made an enemy of every squirrel on the property, but the poor airhead didn't realise that he was too fat to catch anything quicker than an asthmatic snail, much less a squirrel.

  I missed Cathy, of course, but you can't have everything (and she sent me dirty pictures, anyway, so the holiday wasn't a total loss).

  When it finally came to an end, I found myself uncharacteristically reticent to go back to Windward, with its Shadowborn, bigots, complications and proximity to that colossal shower of idiots I have for a government.

  But Cathy was there. And a lot of my cool stuff. So back I went.

  Oh, one development. The scars came back. No, I wasn't happy about it, no I didn't know how it happened, and neither did Palmyra. She was going to keep looking for a way to fix me, but wasn't optimistic. Apparently that dagger was very well designed and the curse built into it had become worked into my aura somehow.

  I'd just woken up one morning during half term, and there they were. Mother nearly had a stroke; I don't want to go into it. That was a very bad morning.

  The first Monday back at Windward was a monstrous cock-up.

  I know, you're probably surprised.

  I know I was, and more fool me.

  It began quite well, actually; with most of that morning spent behind a convenient bush next to the science labs with Cathy, catching up on our studies of anatomy (now that I write that, yes I agree that it sounds creepy, but that was what how Cathy described it, so you can't call me a pervert).

  After lunch, I ran into the Hellstroms, and my innate revulsion towards the boy had suddenly doubled, which could only mean one thing. He'd been at the Black again and his Well was even more contaminated than before. I had to stamp down hard on my own innate responses, and even then it was a close run thing. He was truly offensive to me now, I just wanted to squash him like I would a poisonous spider that had appeared in the loo (that can happen. Thank God it hadn't happened to me yet, they would have heard the girly scream half way around the world).

  And that situation wasn't helped when Maria came up to me, a very unpleasant look on her face (more unpleasant than usual, anyway. I wasn't certain she even knew how to smile).

  My friends and I had just put our trays away and were heading towards the square. She and her brother cut us off. Maria came in close, and I readied my Will just in case.

  "You're dead, Graves," she whispered, "You're dead, your family's dead, your friends are dead. We will make you and everyone you love pay for what you did to my Mother."

  "I left her alive, Maria," I said as evenly as I could, "I could have killed her and I didn't. Can't we just call this done before it goes any further?"

  I may have appeared calm on the outside, but I was fuming mad. I don't like it when people threaten my loved ones. It makes me cranky.

  "Dead," she continued, "Everyone and everything you hold d-"

  She started to choke and I leaned in so I could whisper back.

  "If anyone, and I mean anyone, I know comes to harm, I shall come for you, Maria Hellstrom. I'll come for you and your whole poisonous brood. But I won't kill you, oh no. I'll hurt you. I'll tear your minds apart, I'll set nightmares into your dreams. I'll make it so you fear those you love the most. I can do that, and oh so much more. You think your brother's dangerous because he knows the Black? Just wait until you see what I can do. If you don't believe me, just ask your mother."

  She tried to use her own Will to pry mine away, I swatted it off with the contempt it deserved. Her eyes went wide, and I smelt the ammonia stench of fear-piddle. All the while, her brother had been locked firmly into a Stasis spell, a neat little Hex that put the mind in a kind of sensory and motor loop, it looked like stasis to the untrained eye, hence the name.

  I released her and she collapsed to the ground, fear in her eyes.

  "Don't forget, Maria," I said, glaring, "I don't want trouble, but if I have to, I'll lay waste to everything you know. Now take your rotting brother and get out of my sight before you make me really angry."

  I released Darius and he staggered before Maria dragged him away after her, very quickly.

  "Bugger," I said, thumping my leg, "I didn't want to do that."

  "Did she pee herself?" Bill asked with a smirk.

  "Little bit," I said, "I've got something of a reputation these days."

  "Evidently," Bill said.

  And if that wasn't bad enough...

  "Alright everybody, settle down," Hopkins said that night in Magic Class.

  There was now a very definite split between the Shadowborn and the rest of the Magicians. Some of that was my fault. I should have made more of an effort to integrate them. This oversight had provided the Hellstroms with a cadre of followers who were now quite loyal to them, as far as I could tell. Anyway, they wouldn't look at, or even speak to, the rest of us, and we gave them the same courtesy; we sat at one end of the stands, they sat at the other.

  It was a mess, and I didn't have the diplomatic skills to bridge the divide (or the inclination, really; I had my own problems). Besides, Shadowborn really are dangerous, especially if they're in contact with a Black Magician like Darius Hellstrom, and there were too many people precious to me on my side of the room. I preferred having potential threats over there where I could swat them if I had to.

  Hypocrisy, thy name is Graves. I was slightly ashamed of myself for thinking that way, but let's not forget that those Shadowborn chose to sit on the Hellstrom side of things. They could have tried to make overtures with the Windward Mages, but they hadn't even bothered. I know I'd have given them a fair hearing, and so would Belle. If there was a rift, it wasn't (entirely) my fault, damn it!

  But back to that night's nonsense.

  Hopkins had come in with a man. He was tall and lean, handsome and looking very strong, with muscles bulging against his Armani suit. He had something of an entourage with him, half a dozen men and women, all dressed expensively, standing at the edge of the room.

  Belle had grabbed my forearm in a vice-like grip as the beefcake came in.

  "Friend of yours?" I whispered.

  Before she had a chance to answer, Hopkins spoke up, "As promised, we're having a lecture on modern duelling. Tonight we have a very special guest, who I'm sure needs no introduction, Mister Andrew Jones, the British Sorcerer Division Duelling Champion, who goes by the name Audacity."

  Knowing Hopkins like I do, I could tell what a strain it was to keep a straight face while she'd said all that. She has even less time for professional duellists than I do.

  "Now, I realise that such a visit has wider appeal than just us, which is why we're here a bit early tonight. Afterwards there will be a more general lecture in the auditorium, for which you'll find reserved seating. But for now, he's here to give you a brief talk, after which you can ask him your questions. Mister Jones, over to you," she said.

  Funny, I hadn't heard anything about this, and it's exactly the sort of thing Bill and Cathy would have mentioned... unless they planned to attend the thing, and didn't want me talking them out of it. And if that was the case, I was going to be miffed.

  "Alright, kids!" he said.

  Not a great start...

  "I am the best duel
list in the world," he blustered, "and anyone that says different soon finds out why!"

  I put my hand over my mouth and bit my lip to hold back the laughter. I looked over at Hopkins, who was doing much the same thing while looking back at me.

  I reached out with a telepathic probe, linking to her mind. I felt resistance for a moment, but she realised who it was and let me in.

  You've got to stop that, you're setting me off! I said.

  You're just as bad!

  Am not.

  Are too! And pay attention, Audacity is telling you all about his well thought through duelling style.

  I felt the mental brush-off and withdrew just as Audacity was telling us all about the time he'd taken on three Adepts all by himself, like it was an impressive feat. Adepts have approximately one percent of the power a Sorcerer does.

  "Didn't you once take on four Wizards at once?" Belle whispered.

  "Most recently? No, two of them were Sorcerers. And I had help."

  "Only once the duel was over," Belle reminded me.

  "Hush, Mister Audacity is trying to impress you."

  Belle rolled her eyes and leaned her head against my shoulder. There had been a time when she'd worshipped the ground Audacity had walked on; now, after the initial surprise had worn off, she seemed just as unimpressed as I was. Hall and the others on our side were still quite interested, though.

  "-and while he was distracted, I fired a bolt of lightning up his jaxie, it was hilarious!" the oaf finished.

  That had been his third duelling story. It wasn't impressive stuff, it was a triumph of might over common sense; as a thinking man, I rather resented it. I also didn't like the idea of two Mages hurling energy at each other for the amusement of a baying crowd, but that was a separate issue.

  "Okay, I've talked for a bit, does anyone have any questions?" he asked.

  Lots of hands went up.

  "Yes, you," he said, pointing at Lilly.

  "Have you thought that using Magic to fight is an offence against Mother-Earth?"

  Hopkins and I both slapped our foreheads at the same time. Belle noticed and snickered.

  In the last few weeks, she'd gone full hippie, preaching peace and love and harmony with the Mother Goddess; all complete tripe. The Mother Goddess (another name for the elemental force that binds all other elementals together) doesn't give two shits what humans do. She was here long before we turned up, and will be here long after we've gone.

  But there's no telling Lilly that...

  "Um, what?" he asked.

  "Shouldn't we, as Magicians, work to live in harmony with each other and the world?"

  "Sure, but not in the ring! I fought a druid once..." he began.

  Thanks Lilly, now look what you did!

  That led to another story about duelling prowess that made me want to pull my hair out.

  The man was a thug. There was no elegance in his stories, nothing subtle. Simple brute force spells and lots of them, and that was often enough for him to win. I'd taken a look with Mage Sight and saw that he had a lot of power to work with. His story wound down.

  "Now, who would like to come down into the ring with me for the last ten minutes?" he asked with what had to be a trademarked cheesy-grin on his face, "Who'd like the chance to say that they fought the great Audacity?!"

  Hands shot into the air. Mine was not amongst them.

  "Now, I'm a professional, so for your safety, I'd prefer a Sorcerer. I know there are one or two among you."

  Neither Maria or I had our hands up, neither of us put them up, either.

  "Come on," he said, "Point me to your sorcerers!"

  Naturally, everyone was too scared to point at Maria. Nobody was too scared to point at me.

  "I hate literally all of you," I said.

  "Come on down, kid, I'll show you a trick or two!" he said.

  "I'd really rather not," I said, "dicky leg."

  "Oh go on, Matty," Belle said, "It'll be fun!"

  "I guess we know who wears the pants in your relationship," Audacity said, grinning nastily, "Want I should get you an extra gauntlet so you don't get hurt, Sweetie?"

  My eyes narrowed a little. Hopkins looked smug, surreptitiously pulling out a phone and gesturing at Belle and then the ring, trying to tell her to film it, the cow. I stood and there was muted applause from my side of the stands as I walked down.

  "Ugh, what's wrong with your face?!" Audacity said, "And your eyes! I think I'm going to puke!"

  "Well, aren't you a charmer," I said, accepting a gauntlet from Hopkins, who tossed another to Audacity.

  "If you were my kid, I'd have drowned you," he said, looking at me in distaste.

  "If you were my father, I'd have let you," I replied.

  "Burn!" Belle said from the stands, making the others laugh.

  "Let's get this over with," I said, stepping into the ring.

  "You know the rules?" he asked.

  "I've come upon them once or twice."

  "Good," he said, adopting a fighter's stance, "Now wait till I say go."

  We were facing each other.

  "Three, two, Go!" he said; hardly sporting of him, but he's a duellist, what do you expect?

  His opening attack was actually rather impressive. Conventionally, a Magician constructed the spell in his head, gathered the necessary energy and cast it. He produced a kind of moving energy sink that gathered electrical energy on the move to me.

  Not very powerful, and of almost no use outside a professional duel, but technically proficient. My Will met electricity and his attack flared out, arcing to the floor as I brought up my regular shields in time to take two more balls just like the first.

  "I see you've done this before!" he said, yanking in a lot more electricity. I cast a Lightning Rod spell in time to receive a few megawatts of power, which then dissipated harmlessly into the ground.

  "Once or twice," I replied.

  I cast a trio of dispels at his shields and they disintegrated with claps of displaced air. I followed them up with a tiny prod of Will that set off his gauntlet, and that was that.

  "What?" he said as he heard the chime, a horrified look on his face.

  "This is the point where they generally accuse me of cheating," I said deadpan.

  "Wow, I'm just never hearing the end of that," Hall muttered.

  I turned and offered a grin to my friend, who flipped me off in reply, which in turn earned a sharp admonishment from Hopkins. He and I had gotten off to a shaky start, but now I was actually quite fond of the imbecile, and his magic was improving.

  I turned back as I felt massive amounts of gathering energy. The lights dimmed as he drew straight from the mains.

  "Now, let's not do something hasty," I said, reinforcing my Lightning Rod spell.

  "Audacity!" he shouted, which made me laugh. He threw out all that electricity as a single lightning bolt that struck my defence and evaporated. He gathered more and more power, balling it up. I simply reinforced my shields and turned to Hopkins.

  "Is this really an appropriate use of my evening?" I asked her as Audacity threw more lightning at me.

  Hopkins grinned, "I know I'm enjoying it," she said, flashing me a wink.

  "He's not obeying the rules," I pointed out.

  "Yes, because that's what you're used to," she said ironically.

  "Hey!" Audacity shouted, "Do you mind? We're duelling here!"

  "Oh, is that what you're calling it?" I asked, "I was thinking something more along the lines of 'siesta'."

  "You really don't like it when people mention the scars, do you?" Hopkins said with a raised eyebrow.

  "No, I really don't," I said, turning back to my 'duel' and flicking my hand to sending a wall of force at my idiotic opponent.

  His outer shields buckled and burst, and I sent another wave, which destroyed the rest and then smacked into the gauntlet barrier, sounding another chime.

  "Is he legal yet?" said a high voice, I turned to see one of the women from Auda
city's entourage talking to Hopkins, who rolled her eyes and shooed the girl away.

  Audacity heard that, looked at the girl, who blushed horribly, and then back at me. And then he roared. I mean he actually opened his mouth and roared! It was astonishing. His face was beet-red, the veins stood up on his skin. He ran for me, his hands outstretched. I was so shocked I didn't even think to adjust my shields. He just smacked into them with a wet crunch and fell over onto his back, dazed and bleeding from a broken nose.

  "This is one of those things that comes back to bite me on the behind later, isn't it?" I said to Hopkins, who shrugged by way of an answer.

  "What the hell are you?" Audacity said from his spot on the ground.

  "Don't feel too bad, Sir," I said, "I may be a kid but I'm also-"

  I stopped. There was something at the back of my head, something important, some piece of knowledge, it was itching, tantalising, just out of reach. I saw Hopkins just off to my left, a hopeful look on her face.

  "...also..." I said, scratching my head.

  Damn it! There was something I should know, but I didn't! It was infuriating.

  "...Shadowborn," I said finally, giving up, "I know my magic."

  Hopkins sagged slightly, shaking her head, a little frustration in her posture. I'd have to ask her about it later.

  "Freak you mean," he spat, "A scarred, rat-eyed freak!"

  "Why don't you take a nap? And we can discuss this later," I said, containing my anger at the personal attack.

  "A nap? Are you stoned?"

  "No," I said nastily, "That was just my way of letting you know I was about to Hex you."

  I threw a sleep spell into his head, which then 'thunked' off the gym floor in a most satisfying matter.

  "Come to the Magic Class, you said; it'll broaden your mind, you said."

  "I never said that, you inferred that," Hopkins replied with a grin.

  "Excuse me, young man, have you ever considered a career in the duelling ring?" said a short, weaselly-looking man suddenly next to me.

  "Um, no," I said, gesturing at Wilbur, "but that fellow over there has, and he taught me everything I know."

  "Really?" he said, the gleam of avarice in his eyes as he walked towards the young Pyro.