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

by HDA Roberts

  Before long Mother turned up.

  "So help me, Burglar, if you're barking at that squirrel again, I'm having you fix- Matty?!"

  "Hi Mother," I said sheepishly.

  "Hello Mrs Graves," Cathy said, just as sheepishly.

  "What's happened?" Mother asked, taking in our appearances.

  "There was a slight incident," I said, "I'm pretty sure it's Cathy's fault."

  "Hey!" my girlfriend said, swatting my arm.

  "And you're heading up the back stairs because...?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

  "I was going to change," I said, turning my back to show Mother the charred and blood stained shirt. A nice bit of cover, I think you'll agree.

  "My God, what happened?" she asked.

  Mother made us tea, bellowing for Father, who showed up bleary-eyed. I told them what had happened and Cathy filled in the blanks.

  "A dragon?" Father asked once we were done, "Fire breathing and everything?"

  "Shadow-breathing, actually," I said.

  "That's cool," Father said.

  "But it ate someone!" Mother said.

  "It ate an animal, the person was gone. I really, really hope," I said, Cathy snorted, scratching Burglar's head.

  My parents had more questions, but the Pixies turned up and distracted them before settling about my person, Meadow in the crook of my arm, where she promptly fell asleep again.

  "How do you get in here?" I asked.

  "Magic, duh!" Jewel said, prompting me to tickle her side until she said she was sorry; she settled against my head.

  "So, the Hellstroms are being dealt with? It's over?" Father asked.

  I nodded, "Should be. Goodness knows how much explaining I'm going to have to do after maiming three students and a teacher but I'll think of something."

  I yawned, which made Cathy yawn.

  "Alright, we'll drive you back in the morning. Why don't you two get some sleep?" Mother said, "Cathy, you can have a spare room."

  That was said very pointedly. I got the message.

  I showed Cathy to her room, Meadow still asleep on my arm. I kissed her goodnight and went to my own room, where I put the Pixies to bed.

  Now, while technically speaking, Cathy had been told where to sleep, there was a very nice little loophole in that nobody had been explicit about where I was supposed to go. So I made my way back and knocked discreetly. She told me to come in, and smiled when she saw who it was.

  I snuck out before seven, and so was safely in my room when Father came to wake me up, and found that the Pixies had moved from their nest and were sleeping under the covers where it was warm. They didn't like being woken at that ungodly hour any more than I did, and they liked that I had to leave even less, with predictable results.

  I leant Cathy some clothes, and I dressed warmly as it was getting chilly.

  After the usual goodbyes, Father drove us back, Cathy in the front seat, me in the back. I was still exhausted from all the Magic and healing (and some other activities), and fell immediately asleep.

  I woke up when the Police tried to arrest me.

  There were four of them, three men and a woman, all tall and strong; two had Spelleaters. They dragged me bodily from the car and slapped Spelleater Manacles on me before I had the chance to protest.

  "Mathew Graves, I'm arresting you on the charge of murder, you don't have to say anything-"

  "Get your hands off my son!" Father said, advancing.

  One of the policemen had a truncheon out and socked him in the gut.

  You can imagine how well I handled that...

  It got worse when Cathy tried to help, and one of the brutes laid hands on her hard enough to make her yelp in pain.

  The cuffs snapped away in a shower of metal. I called my shadows even as I used my Will to fling away the two policemen without Spelleaters. They landed in the bushes.

  "Let them go right this instant!" I snarled, my voice low and dangerous, my temper right at the surface, just this side of controlled.

  The woman laughed as she turned. That was enough for me...

  I threw Magic into my shadows and they tore those policemen away from Father and Cathy, breaking fingers, hands and arms as they compressed and wrenched. They flew through the air and into a bench and tree. They shouted in pain; one started screaming.

  I checked Cathy first then Father, finding them both to be unharmed. It was only then that thoughts of consequences started filtering their way through my anger-induced haze and I started thinking again.

  "Well," I said, letting my shadows drain away, "I suspect that I'm now in rather a lot of trouble."

  "You think?" Cathy asked dryly.

  Chapter 21

  "Alright, nobody panic," Father said, darting for the policemen and taking their Spelleaters. One of them protested, and Father clobbered the poor man's broken hand until he stopped, "Okay, Matty, you know Telepathy, you fix this!"

  I looked from him to the injured policemen.

  "I can't," I said, looking down.

  "What? Why?" he asked.

  "Because that would be a violation," I said.

  "A what? Of whom?"

  "Of them. I use Telepathy in that way only when the people would kill me later. These are policemen, and they're only doing their jobs."

  "They'll arrest you!"

  "Maybe they should," I said kneeling next to one of the constables with broken hands, "Look what I did. I didn't even think. I could have pulled them off you without hurting them, but I didn't."

  The policeman looked at me in terror as I held my hands out.

  "Easy," I said, "I'm going to repair the damage, and then you can arrest me, alright?"

  He nodded, pale and in obvious pain.

  Father was looking upset. Cathy looked a little proud, but also worried.

  "I'll be back," she said, and then disappeared into Kimmel.

  I cast a numbing spell, and the policeman sagged, the pain lines disappearing.

  "Stay still, I'm setting the bones now," I told him. He nodded again, his eyes on me like you'd watch a dangerous animal. I assembled the healing spell, which was quite easy, and set it to work. The hands lost their warped shape quite quickly, and his face softened as he saw the Magic at work.

  "Don't try to move yet," I said, "it'll be a couple of hours before the bones are completely healed, don't move them until you can feel them."

  He nodded and I moved on to the next one. She was unconscious, which made the job easier. I repeated the process with her, and was just about finished with the others when Hopkins turned up.

  She sighed, shaking her head.

  "I fixed it," I said, stepping back to wait for the other two to wake up, "I'm sorry."

  "Don't be, you fell into a nice little trap," Hopkins said, walking over to stand next to me, "Think it through, Matty. Who do we send when a Sorcerer needs to be arrested?"

  "The S.C.A.," I said automatically.

  "So why were these local twits here?" she asked.

  "Um..." I said articulately.

  "They were here to provoke exactly this. They were supposed to make you do something precipitous. I'll bet you they were told not to be gentle, told to provoke you."

  "Why would someone bother?" I asked tiredly.

  "To discredit you. To make you look like the aggressive sort so that you'd make a bad witness, understand?"

  "Hellstrom," I said, my tired brain finally catching up.

  "He's already been bailed. His sister, too. They're going on trial, and you will be a witness. An important one."

  "Why can't I go an academic year without making an enemy?" I asked.

  "I don't have a kind answer to that," she said with a grin that made me glare at her.

  "I have a dragon, now. You may want to lay off the jokes.".

  She burst out laughing again.

  "Oh, that's terrific, say that again! 'I have a dragon', like it makes you dangerous! You wouldn't hurt a fly, much less me!" she just kept right on laugh
ing.

  "I hate you, you know that?"

  She didn't stop.

  In the end, the problem was solved when Kraab turned up, flashing his credentials. The police went on their way, shooting me and Father dirty looks on their way past.

  Hopkins had finally stopped laughing at me long enough to explain the situation to Kraab, who wasn't happy at having to deal with the 'normal' police, who weren't fans of the S.C.A..

  He sat me down to take my statement (meaning I missed breakfast and the first two periods), while Cathy went off to business as usual. As it turned out, Hopkins had fixed the various holes I'd made in the school (if you'll recall, they were technically my fault, one by me directly, one by the dragon, who'd been using my power to open the gates).

  But eventually, I was done, and I was finished just in time for lunch, which I ate with Bill, Cathy and Belle, who required a retelling of my latest brand of stupidity. At this point, it was a minor miracle that my brain hadn't dried up and died from neglect, because goodness knows I wasn't using it for thinking...

  And it was time that I started doing that again, even though I hate to do things that take from my Cathy-time; but there might be a way around that...

  "What?" she said, "No, I don't want to go to the Archive, what kind of dirty talk is that?"

  "You say that like I can't feel you warming up at the thought of all those big, priceless books, and all that knowledge to fill your lovely, pulsing brain."

  "Ooh, stop that," she said, blushing hard. We were sat under the Big Oak, her on my lap, her head on my shoulder, my hand on her knee, stroking gently.

  "See?" I said as she nuzzled in closer to me.

  "Will I get to meet your book?" she asked.

  "About that...," I said.

  "Oh, that explains so much," Cathy said as she stood in front of Mira, deep in the bowels of the Archive.

  "What could my appearance possibly explain?" Mira asked, her arms crossed as she looked at Cathy, her eyes narrowed.

  "Why he wouldn't introduce us before we were together," Cathy said.

  "He wouldn't introduce us because he knows I don't play well with others," Mira said before turning to look at me, a slightly miffed look on her pretty face, "Was there an actual purpose to your visit? Or was this to be an entertainment for your little friend?"

  "You are nobody's entertainment," I said firmly.

  Mira smiled, "That's my Master," she said, Cathy jumped a little at the abrupt change in tone coming from a person that looked and sounded a lot like her. She actually flushed.

  "So, what can I help you with today?" Mira asked.

  "I need a defence against direct Black Magic attack. I've had some success with Will-based shields, but they drain far too fast."

  "Well, of course they do. Will is a defence of last resort, you know that," Mira said.

  Cathy snorted.

  "Something amusing to you?" Mira asked acidly.

  "Only that I use that exact tone when I tell him he's been stupid," she said.

  "I would never say such a thing to my Master," Mira said firmly, but with the ghost of a smirk on her face that I knew very well. Cathy grinned back at her doppelganger, recognising the expression.

  "I knew this was a bad idea," I said, flopping down against the wall with a pad and pen in my hands.

  "Oh, I think we've upset the 'Master'," Cathy said, sitting next to me, "You like it when someone who looks like me calls you that?"

  "I've tried to get her to stop, I swear!"

  "And how hard did you try?" Cathy asked mischievously.

  I gave her a look, which just made her laugh.

  "Much as I enjoy this thrilling display of hormonal imbalance, can I get on with my lecture?" Mira asked.

  "Now she sounds like you," Cathy said.

  "I would. Much of me is him," Mira explained, sitting down in front of me, "Now, there are three types of Magic that can protect you from the Black, four if you count the Black itself, which we won't, on account of your annoyingly persistent squeamishness. That leaves Will, which you know isn't that useful, Life, which you have no aptitude for yet, and shadow, which can get you contaminated, unless, of course, you know what you are doing."

  I nodded, listening carefully. Mira knows her business.

  "Do you know how to control shadows remotely, yet?" she asked.

  "Yes."

  "The corruption of the Black passes through your shadows and into your Well at the point where the shadows become your Well. If the shadow you're using to defend isn't directly connected to your Well, then the Black can't corrupt you."

  "How do I empower a shadow without my Well?"

  "Like you would any other spell. Just use shadow as the energy type in place of Force for your shield constructs. Ensure that you've told it to be solid; you know how to build a shield."

  I nodded.

  "That simple?" I asked.

  "Gods, no! It's going to require a lot of practice and concentration. You're going to have to learn to use your shadows in a way you haven't used them before. An Archon might do it in a week of intensive practice. Goodness knows how long it'll take you..."

  "Thanks," I said, my eyes narrowing.

  She placed a cool hand on my cheek, smiling. She waved her other over a blank piece of paper and a series of Spell constructs and equations appeared in black ink.

  "These might speed the process along a little. They are very basic so you'll have to build on them, understand?"

  I nodded, "Thanks Mira," I said with a smile.

  "Always, my Master. And get back to work on that Codex. You're barely a third of the way through, and that knowledge is essential to your future."

  "She's bossy," Cathy said, "You really do have a type."

  "Hey!" I complained, which only made her smile wider.

  After we'd said goodbye to Mira, Cathy insisted that I did what the book said, so we went up to the top level where she started reading everything she could get her hands on, and I resumed translating the Shadow Codex.

  It wasn't just the spells in that book that were important; it was the knowledge base that came with them. The first half of the book was relatively easy to translate, the terminology was relatively consistent and the spell constructs were easy enough to figure out, even if the translation process wasn't especially quick. The second half of the book was another thing. I'd flicked ahead a few times and found that very little made even the slightest sense, the spells were massively complex and some were very dangerous.

  City-killing dangerous.

  I recognised words like 'Leviathan', 'Rift' and 'Annihilation', which didn't fill me with a happy feeling, but which I still wanted to learn in rather a perverse way. I didn't want to use them or anything, but I liked knowing things, even things I shouldn't.

  Alright, especially things I shouldn't.

  At that point, I was about a quarter of the way through my translation of the Codex, and had found that the principles in each chapter built on one another as I went along, granting me an impressive base of knowledge in Shadow Magic. A look at those spells Mira had given me let me know that they weren't nearly as difficult as she'd warned. I probably could learn them in about the week she'd mentioned.

  That got me thinking about what else I could do with my Shadows if push came to shove.

  And with me, push always came to shove eventually.

  We were there for another three hours, Cathy inhaling knowledge at a prodigious rate. She was mostly focussing on the existential stuff, like how Magic was a natural force, how it fit into the physical world; the truly fundamental and utterly complicated stuff. She understood it in a way I couldn't, as a layman, a true scientist. My knowledge was all tangled up with the metaphysical stuff, mixed and messy.

  She was difficult to pry away once six o'clock came around, and was supremely irritated when she discovered that she couldn't borrow the books. I had to take her to Waterstones and buy her a whole stack of the trashy romance books that were her vice, and even
then she was in a mood until I bought her cake.

  We spent two weeks in that Archive, on and off. Cathy loved it, and frequently swatted at me for not bringing her sooner. In my estimation, she read over thirty books in the relatively few hours we were there. It had been nothing short of a nightmare getting her to do her prep.

  Between her school work and the Archive, our amorous activities left us rather exhausted for lessons. She even fell asleep on my shoulder a couple of times, and I had to cast an Illusion to keep her from getting into trouble.

  That had to be one of the best times of my life; I couldn't remember being that content. The Shadowborn had either left the school or simply shut up. Magic classes became much more fun now that I could argue with Hopkins in peace, and boy did those start to run long. Even Cathy (and Bill, who'd started turning up again, now that there weren't Hellstroms to worry about) started to look bored with our long-running nit-picking. Cathy told me she missed the days when we weren't talking to each other.

  It was three weeks after the Hellstroms had tried for Cathy. I'd been to their hearings and given my testimony. They were being charged with a whole bunch of things, but they probably weren't going to prison. 'Youthful exuberance and provocation' were being given as explanations; it didn't satisfy me any, but at least they were out of my damned way and not trying to kill anyone I loved (for the moment).

  Prewett had vanished at some point during all this. I asked Hopkins about it and was told not to worry. The look in her eye told me that I really didn't want to know what had happened to her. Hopkins didn't take a betrayal like Prewett's all that well, it wouldn't surprise me if she was never found again (seeing as how she'd been complicit in setting a trap that might have hurt Cathy, I couldn't really say that I was going to lose too much sleep over her fate).

  Cathy and I were walking out of the Archive on a crisp Saturday afternoon, her hand in mine. We were both smiling. I'd finished translating a passage on creating Shadow Familiars, something I had no intention of trying, but which might still useful in the right situation.

  I barely noticed

  the sky turning black with familiar clouds more like smoke than anything else. It was a good twenty minutes before the street-lights came on, just after four o'clock in the afternoon...