The Raven's Shadow: The Aegis of Merlin Book 4

by James E. Wisher

  “I didn’t sense anything magical.”

  “It’s a cop thing, instincts maybe, I don’t know, but I’ve learned to trust the feeling. Besides, it’s not like we have anything else to do.”

  Twenty minutes later the office doors opened. Every gaze turned to watch Conryu’s father walk through. He carried himself with this sort of Zen calm, even in the face of calamity.

  “Is he okay?” Maria asked the moment the doors closed.

  Sho turned his gaze on her father and raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s okay, we checked for bugs and magical eavesdropping. You can talk freely here.”

  “My son is fine and determined to do what he can to set this business right.” Sho dug around in his pants pocket, finally emerging with a small flip phone. “This is prepaid and has the number of a matching phone programmed into it. I don’t know what he intends. This magical business is beyond me.”

  “How’s Connie taking it?” her mother asked.

  “As well as can be expected when her son is being hunted by the police so he can be made into a sacrifice.” Sho’s voice was as hard as Maria had ever heard it. “How has this fallen on Conryu’s shoulders? Surely there are others better equipped to handle such a crisis.”

  “Mr. Koda, my name is Terra Pane. I’m a wizard working at the Department. I tested your son when he was first discovered to have wizard potential and later I saw him using that power. Despite his youth and inexperience I believe Conryu has a better chance to resolve this matter than anyone. Frankly, if he fails, this city will be turned into a charnel house.”

  Sho gave a slight shake of his head. “It’s too much to ask of him. He’s still just a boy.”

  Maria closed the distance between them. “You’re wrong. I’ve seen firsthand who Conryu’s become over the past year. He can do this. I believe in him and you should too.”

  The phone rang cutting Sho off. He handed it to Maria who flipped it open. “Conryu? Okay, I’ll put it on speaker.”

  She hit the button and set the phone on her father’s desk. “Go ahead.”

  “I found the first box. It was hidden about a mile from its original location. The wards were minimal, but there were two shadow beasts guarding it. Nothing too powerful.”

  “How did you find it?” Terra asked.

  “Cerberus tracked the residual energy of the transference spell. Don’t ask me how exactly.”

  “You summoned the demon dog to our realm?” Terra’s voice rose and her eyes grew wide.

  “No, sorry, I should have been more specific. We tracked it through Hell. Prime says enchanted energy lingers longer in the magical realms. Anyway, I’m feeling pretty good about our chances of finding the rest of the boxes.”

  “Conryu, this is very important,” Terra said. “Don’t disturb or dispel the boxes until you’ve located all five.”

  “Uh, wish I’d known that five minutes ago. I already broke the wards and smashed the artifact inside. Is that bad?”

  Nervous looks were passed around the office. Finally Terra said, “It’s not bad, but it does start the clock ticking. Mercia will know you’ve destroyed the box. I fear she will now activate the summoning as soon as the island is within range.”

  “I’ve got like forty hours left, no sweat.”

  “No, you have sixteen hours.”

  “Shit! Are you sure?”

  “It might be less, but certainly not more,” Terra said. “You have to hurry.”

  “No kidding. You want me to send you the box and what’s left of the artifact?”

  “Please. Leave it outside somewhere and we’ll retrieve it.”

  “I can leave it under Mom’s car beside the back wheel.”

  “That’s fine. Hurry, Conryu. We’re counting on you.”

  “And be careful,” Maria added before the line went dead.

  4

  Recovery

  Conryu disconnected the phone and fought a sudden wave of exhaustion. They’d left the sewer by the nearest manhole, rather than by portal, and made their way to a park across the street. He’d feared on the walk over he might not make it. His relief upon seeing a bench was pathetic.

  The first hint of a backlash headache was forming behind his eyes. Kelsie and Jonny were both looking at him with nervous gazes. If he looked as bad as he felt he doubted he projected confidence.

  “That didn’t sound good,” Kelsie said. “Sixteen hours isn’t very long to track down four more boxes.”

  “No. I need to minimize my magic use so I’ll have strength enough when I really need it. Jonny, could you do me a favor and run the box over to the Department? You know Mom’s car. She parks in the Science Department’s lot. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.” Conryu handed him the phone and box.

  “No problem. What about you two?”

  “I need to rest. By the time you get back I should be good to go after the second box.”

  “Cool, later.” Jonny gave him one last look and jogged off toward the street.

  Kelsie patted her lap. “Lie down and close your eyes. I’ll keep watch.”

  Conryu took her up on the suggestion, letting his legs dangle off the end of the bench and holding Prime on his chest. He sighed and closed his eyes, thoroughly glad Maria couldn’t see him right then.

  “Can we do this?” Kelsie asked.

  Conryu opened one eye and looked up at her. “Do we have another choice?”

  “We could hide. She said we had less than a day. It wouldn’t be hard to avoid the police for that long. When the time was up they’d be too busy to bother with us.”

  “Too busy trying to keep regular people from getting killed by hundreds of shadow beasts. Which I know from experience is impossible for someone without magic. It’s the responsibility of those with the power to make a difference to do so.”

  “You don’t even want to be a wizard and I’m not much of one. Why should it fall to us to fix this mess?”

  Conryu smiled and closed his eye. “We have to do it because we’re the only ones who can. You’re right, I’d just as soon never cast another spell as long as I live, but I can’t stand aside and let innocent people die if I can stop it. In the end, I’m a warrior and it’s a warrior’s responsibility to protect those who can’t protect themselves. So my dad says anyway.”

  She sniffed. “You’re braver than me. I just want to bury my head in the sand and pretend everything will be fine.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short. You could have stayed behind with Maria, but you chose to come with me. That took guts and I appreciate it.”

  “You must tell her, Master.”

  “Quiet, Prime.”

  Kelsie wiped her eyes. “Tell me what?”

  “Prime.”

  “I’m sorry, Master, but part of my task is to protect you. He’s expending extra energy to keep you and his other friend safe. Before he retrieved you, Master eliminated the guardian beasts, casting two extra dark portal spells for no other reason than to spare your feelings.”

  “Is that true?”

  Conryu sighed, mentally cursing his disobedient scholomantic. “Yes, it was safer for you if I dealt with the shadow beasts before I returned to collect you. I didn’t think an extra spell or two would make this much difference. You and Jonny were so eager to help, I didn’t have the heart to tell you.”

  Kelsie smacked him on the forehead. “You said you wouldn’t lie to me.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “You weren’t completely honest.”

  “No, but I didn’t keep any important secrets from you. If Loudmouth here hadn’t spoken up you’d have never known.”

  “That’s a thin line. No more, Conryu. If you need us to stay out of your way just say so. This is bigger than our feelings.”

  “Okay. Sorry.”

  Jonny left Conryu on the park bench looking gray and worn down. In all the years he’d known his best friend, Conryu had never looked as bad as he did today. Even when they both caught the flu after spl
ashing through the river in the middle of winter five years ago and he had a fever of a hundred and three.

  Maybe a good rest would set him to rights. Jonny didn’t know much about magic or wizards. They only spoke about them at school to warn the regular soldiers to avoid them. Weaponized Humans, which was how the military referred to wizards like Conryu, were looked at the same way as tanks or jets. Any grunt stupid enough to take one on directly deserved to get squashed.

  Jonny refused to think of Conryu as a weapon. That giant three-headed dog on the other hand… He shuddered. He reached the sidewalk and soon spotted a taxi. A piercing whistle got the driver’s attention.

  He climbed in and gave directions to the government plaza. The driver took off and he settled back in the seat. The cushions and springs had long since given out and he sunk in a foot. He planned to have the taxi stop outside the parking lot and make his way on foot.

  It would be easy enough to find Conryu’s mom’s car, but he needed to go inside and talk to someone about what was happening to his friend. Maybe one of the other wizards would have an idea how to help him.

  The ride took fifteen minutes. Jonny directed the driver to pull over half a block from the entrance. The cabbie looked back at him like he was nuts then shrugged and pulled to the side. Ten dollars lighter Jonny hopped out and set off for the plaza.

  Since it was early afternoon on a Wednesday there shouldn’t be any problem getting in. Dozens of people came and went all day every day. He carried the box under his arm like a courier and strode down the sidewalk and up the blacktop just like he had every right to be there.

  The Department of Magic wasn’t hard to spot what with the giant pentagram on the side. He stopped and looked from the magic building to the science building. He could hunt up the car, drop the box and let Maria know it was there in five minutes.

  No, he needed to find some way to help his friend.

  Jonny turned firmly toward the magic building and marched forward. He hadn’t even reached the door before his hair started standing on end. Something was wrong. No one was coming or going. He figured the place would be buzzing like a kicked hornet’s nest. Maybe everyone was busy trying to figure out what to do about the crazy wizards.

  Inside the doors the entry area was abandoned. All the little cubby holes where the secretaries waited to greet visitors were empty. His footsteps echoed as he walked across the tile floor. Creepy.

  He fished the phone out of his pocket and dialed Maria. “I’m in the lobby. Where are you? We need to talk. He isn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t say he was okay either. I’m on my way.”

  Jonny followed Maria’s instructions, taking the elevator to the top floor and walking down the empty halls to her father’s office. When he reached the door he hung up and pushed it open.

  Maria ran over. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. After we retrieved the box Conryu looked kind of gray and worn out. There wasn’t a mark on him and we didn’t have much of a fight, but he looked like he’d gone ten rounds in the cage.”

  “How many spells did he cast?” A woman in a gray robe made her way around the desk and relieved him of the box.

  “I don’t know, three or four of those black portal things, a couple others to clean the black gunk off your box and smash the gem inside. That’s all I saw.”

  “Terra?” Maria switched her attention from him to the woman.

  “Casting four portal spells in an hour would have me in the hospital for a week. The only way to recover from excessive casting is to rest. How long Conryu will need is impossible to say, but we know how long he has. It’s extremely important you minimize his casting.”

  “Yeah. But we need some way to move around and if we can’t go by portal…”

  Maria’s mom tossed him her keys. “Take my car. If I can contribute nothing else I can offer that.”

  Jonny snagged the keys. “Thanks. I’ll be gentle with it.”

  “You’d better be.” She smiled to show she wasn’t serious.

  “What’s going on around here? This place is like a tomb. There’s an emergency out there. We could use a little help.”

  Maria’s dad offered a helpless shrug. “The mayor has placed us under house arrest, though it appears he isn’t overly concerned about enforcing it. If we tried to leave the building it would probably be a different matter.”

  “I have to head back,” Jonny said. “Wish us luck.”

  Lin didn’t pay a great deal of attention when Conryu’s friend delivered the box and gave an update on his condition. Whatever was happening on the magical end of this crisis was beyond his influence. After many years of experience, first in the military then the police department, he’d learned to move anything outside his control to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand. And that task was figuring out who was in the conference room advising the mayor.

  Whoever they were, they didn’t appear to have existed two years ago. Since his police access code had never been revoked he could still use the department’s files and research programs. One of them swept the web for any and all information about a given person.

  Whoever created the woman’s persona had done an excellent job for the past eighteen months, but beyond that they’d become lazy. Lin found a tidbit here, another clue there, obviously fake information planted to make it look like Maggie Chin had existed before a year and a half ago. There was enough to stand up to a cursory search, but if anyone really dug into her past it was clear the identity was a fraud.

  Lin glanced up from his computer. Terra was absorbed in the remains of the artifact that Conryu had found. Maria was pacing again while her mother tried to massage some of the tension out of her husband’s shoulders. Master Sho sat with his back straight, eyes closed, and breathing even. Lin recognized the simple meditative pose. Sensei had to be worried about his son, but like Lin he’d learned to control himself.

  He hated to put more stress on his already careworn supervisor, but Chief Kane needed to know what he’d discovered. “Sir? It appears the mayor’s advisor isn’t who she claims to be.”

  Chief Kane patted his wife’s hand, got up, and walked around the desk to look at Lin’s computer. “Show me what you’ve found.”

  “As far as I can tell Maggie Chin didn’t exist before a year and a half ago. Do you know who handles background checks for the Department in Central?”

  “The security department, same as here. I have no idea which individual is responsible or even if it’s just one person.”

  “Okay. Do we need to let the mayor know his advisor is a fraud?”

  Chief Kane scratched his head. “Yes, but without proof of who she actually is he may not believe us given our status. Did you find anything that proves she’s not who she claims to be?”

  “No, sir. It’s a lot of little things that add up to a big thing. I can make the case, but it’s not going to be written in flashing neon.”

  “What about the man?”

  “Without his name I can’t even begin to start a search.”

  “How about a picture?”

  Lin nodded. “I can work with that.”

  “Scoot over.”

  Lin moved aside and watched as Chief Kane accessed the security camera footage. It took most of five minutes, but he rewound to when the mayor arrived. Next they went super slow-motion until the man looked up. “Gotcha, whoever you are.”

  Lin resumed his seat and took a screen capture of the image. He ran the scanning program and in short order came up with a match. “Uh-oh.”

  “What is it?” The chief looked over his shoulder.

  “Apparently our mystery man is a model. I found about twenty images of him on a stock photo website.”

  “I seriously doubt he’s moonlighting as a male model. Terra, did you notice anything magical about the male advisor?”

  Terra looked up from the box. “I didn’t even think to check him. Basing an illusion on a photograph isn’t unusual.”

  Chief Kane
straightened up. “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a serious problem.”

  Even from a distance it was clear to Jonny that Conryu had regained some of his strength. He was sitting up and the ashen look to his skin had gone away. That was a relief. Nothing like resting on a hot girl’s lap to set a man to rights. He needed to find one of his own. It wasn’t fair that Conryu had two girlfriends and he didn’t even have one.

  He pulled up beside the park, rolled down the window, and blew a sharp whistle. When they looked his way he waved. Conryu and Kelsie hurried over and climbed in, him in the front and her in the back.

  “Did you steal Mrs. Kane’s car?” Conryu asked.

  “No.” Jonny pointed at the keys dangling from the ignition. “She loaned it to me with the admonition not to damage it. I also received strict instructions that you’re not supposed to use any more magic than absolutely necessary. So where to?”

  “Pendal’s Funeral Home. I can’t remember the address.”

  “No sweat. This baby has a state-of-the-art computer.” Jonny fiddled with the touch screen in the dash, typed in the name of the funeral home and a minute later they were on their way.

  He drove carefully, never breaking the speed limit or ignoring even minor traffic laws. The last thing they could afford was to get pulled over by the cops. By now every officer in the city probably knew what Conryu looked like and that he was wanted. It would be interesting to see what crime they were claiming he’d committed.

  Despite the fact that he dressed like a delinquent and liked to ride a bike, Conryu had never been in serious trouble in his life. If anything, Conryu was the sort of person that would keep others from getting into trouble. He’d steered Jonny clear of a problem or two over the years.

  Jonny darted a look at his best friend. Conryu held that creepy book to his chest like he was afraid someone might want to steal it. As if there was a huge market for talking, demon-faced books that could fly. Jonny wouldn’t have taken the thing if offered it for free.

  From the back seat Kelsie said, “Isn’t it strange? Everyone’s going about their business just like there was no danger of the city being attacked at the end of the day.”