The Syker Key

by Fransen, Aaron Martin

  Jessica tried to find the connecting thread. Key missing, a guest in the restaurant who’s name was Syker who she could feel was powerful somehow, even if he didn’t know it, and the eclipse in two days.

  Nothing. But she was suspecting now there were players she could not see yet. Or feel.

  ***

  The thing about Pan Syker is that he was certainly a wizard. And crotchety. And grizzled. And for the most part, liked to be invisible. Sometimes literally.

  Which as it turned out wasn’t that hard a trick to do. It had more to do with bending the will of people around you than any bending of light. He could stand in the middle of a crowd and nobody would see him.

  Or sit in the middle of a restaurant, as it were.

  He watched his son, and grandson, with a certain amount of regret.

  Walking away from John's mother had been the hardest thing he had ever had to do, far more difficult than he ever expected it to be. He had watched Jessica go through lost love a time or two, but honestly had not been able to relate. Until John's mother.

  He knew that by staying around when John was young he would have put him in certain jeopardy, so he made the difficult decision to leave.

  And it took him by surprise how strong her will was. When he finally revealed his true nature to her, she refused the gift of immortality he offered. So strong in her conviction was she that life was meant to be transitory, not forever, that she would not let Pan change her, or her son. Their son.

  At that point, Pan knew that in order to protect them he had to leave. It had turned out to be the hardest thing he had ever done. And while he had gone, he had never gone away, always keeping an eye on his family, making sure there were no threats.

  But this time there was a threat, and he struggled to find it's source.

  ***

  It was like a ringing in her ears.

  Jessica looked around the restaurant, sensing something, but not knowing what. There, but not. She tried to focus, to see if it was John, but it wasn’t. It was a vaguely familiar feeling, but not one she had felt for a very, very long time.

  Six: A Threat Emerges

  Only an hour after the restaurant closed, Jessica sat in front of her laptop and did a quick check on a Mr. John Syker on the Internet. It probably should not have surprised her to find he was a police officer. Appropriate.

  “It would appear John Syker is a member of our local constabulary,” she told her parents, sitting near her in the living room decorated with distinctly English flavour. Catherine was busy playing a game on a tablet computer, while Arthur read a newspaper.

  “And you’re sure you can trust him?” her mother asked.

  “I am, but there are definitely other players around, I just can’t tell who or where they are just yet. But I’m convinced John’s as much of a target as we are.”

  “Arthur, you still have no ideas where the Key could have gone?”

  “Not a one, dear, but believe it or not I have a good feeling about it.”

  ***

  Across the street Sam listened. A simple invisible laser pointed at a window was all it took, and he was privy to the entire conversation of the Walker family. So the Key was missing. That put a wrinkle in things with the eclipse two days away. His one chance to take control of the damnable thing. It left only one other choice.

  “Who’s this John guy, the cop?” his partner in crime, a hired gun named Derek, asked from the seat beside him.

  “No idea, but it doesn’t really matter.”

  Sam scratched the wrinkles on his head. He had waited thirty years for this, and had crossed two continents trying to find the Walkers after they had disappeared. Again. They were good at becoming someone else. But he was good at finding people.

  He wasn’t going to take any chances. “Get the team together. We’ll move on them tomorrow.”

  ***

  John loved the summer. Especially the mornings. Especially the days off, this time happening to fall on a weekend. He could spend all day with Zack, but the morning jog was his time to be alone with his thoughts. Or to have no thoughts at all, more accurately.

  But this was not one of those mornings. One thing occupied his mind, one person. The hard part was going to be to get Zack to go to lunch with him at Janey's Kitchen, without him looking desperate.

  It was bad enough that Zack was pestering him about—

  Stop.

  John stopped, panting, only halfway through his routine. A few feet away an old man was sitting on a bench throwing peanuts out for the squirrels. Without even looking at John he said “Have a seat John.”

  Not knowing why, he sat beside the old man.

  “You probably don’t remember me,” he said. “My name’s Pan, I’m your father, and I wished your mother hadn’t given you my name. You would have been a lot safer. As it is now I have to get you involved in all this crap.”

  John looked at him, incredulous. “You’re...what?” His head was spinning, was it from the jog or this old man's ridiculous claims?

  “Pay attention and don’t play stupid. You’re smarter than that so don’t pander to me.”

  “Okay, all what crap?”

  ***

  Though he was the first person in modern times to have held the Key, and the Walker family had been the only other bearers, Pan knew there were other sorcerers out there, even unto the modern age, though they were very good about keeping themselves discreet. And more often than not they were dangerous, not because of their power, but because of their ambition.

  Pan was hardly indiscreet himself, and had been careful not to make enemies. If there was someone he disagreed with, he very, very carefully backed away and tried to make them feel like they'd won. It had been a good strategy so far.

  He didn't remember the year of that first attack, but it had to have been within under a decade of becoming the bearer.

  He'd barely gotten away, hadn’t been on his guard, not expecting anyone to try and rob him in the middle of an empty forest. He should have sensed him coming, but somehow had not been able to. This one had been able to hide his presence. That was new. And it scared him.

  He didn’t know his name, but when the attack came he was flung back so hard he was winded and his head ringing. Only the automatic instinct to grab the Key saved him. A moments thought put a protective shield around him.

  It was enough to stop the tree coming in his direction, in fact aimed directly at his head, with hardly any effort.

  This only emboldened his attacker, made him angry, but Pan was on his feet now, ready. Without a moment’s hesitation to understand why, Pan reversed the tables and struck back. With the Key’s help he removed the air from a ten foot sphere around the attacker, then promptly countered every attack thrown his way.

  The unknown wizard flung several trees at him, attempted to open the ground under his feet, strike with lightning, all easily predicted, and blocked, by someone bearing the Key.

  In moments the attacker was unconscious.

  He walked up to his attacker, looking into his mind. Under other circumstances this man was more powerful than himself, he could see that. Very dangerous, and somehow he had known about the Key. He had to have, there was no other reason to try to attack an otherwise middling wizard such as himself. That make him even more dangerous.

  He wiped the attacker’s memory, but that would not be enough.

  Plans had to be put in place, he knew. The Key had to be protected, for no matter what he might do to try to destroy it, he knew it to be impossible. So the alternative then. Protect the Key, and he would need help. There were few he could trust, fewer he could tell.

  This was not going to be easy.

  In all of his travels there was in fact only one person he could have said he would completely trust.

  ***

  Pan spent the next few weeks traveling back to his home, back to England, back to Northern Mercia. Hardly a peaceful time for his home, but he wasn’t worried about the border skirmishe
s, since they could be avoided with trivial ease when the Key was in your pocket.

  He was more worried about what Arthur Walker would say to him.

  “Bloody Hell, Pan,” his childhood friend had said. “Bloody Hell indeed.” Pan knew that Arthur had never wanted any part in his adventures, as he called them.

  “I’m sorry old friend, but you truly were the only person I could trust.”

  Arthur stood on his shovel and looked out over his meager crop. His wife and child were playing near the house. He tried to think of the implications. “You’re putting me in an awful position.”

  Pan sat in the dirt and picked at a weed. “I know.”

  “How long did you say?”

  “I don’t rightly know, some things are difficult to tell, but it’s probably into at least a couple thousand years.”

  “Gods, Pan, how the Hell can I do that to my wife? To my daughter?”

  Pan grimaced, but this was nothing less than he expected. “Unfortunately the alternative is worse.” It had obviously been a long time since he was home. He didn’t expect to find Arthur and Catherine with a young child. It complicated things, but didn’t obviate the need for action.

  He also knew that this would force them to be constantly on the move. Immortality had an unfortunate side effect of attracting attention. More than a decade in one place could cause problems.

  “What about you?” Arthur asked his friend.

  “Just as cursed, but I need to stay hidden. I’ll have to be vigilant looking out for you. It’ll be easier if I’m invisible.”

  It was easy enough for a grizzled old beggar to disappear into the background and be ignored. With the skills he’d attained from his time with the Key, he would be able to scout around for threats without anyone paying him any attention.

  “Can I see it?” Pan removed the Key from his pocket and tossed it to Arthur. “It’s a sight to behold, isn’t it,” Arthur said, rolling the small crystal around in his hand.

  “I guess you could call it the key to unlocking your mind’s potential.”

  “A key, is it?” He handed it back to Pan. “What do we do?”

  “We have to wait for an eclipse to do the transfer, but we can begin the training while we wait. If my math is right we should see one here in about 5 years.”

  “So you’re going to turn me into a damned sorcerer after all.” Arthur tried to grin at the thought. “And here I just wanted to be a farmer.”

  Pan knew, and he hated himself for it, but there was nothing to be done for it. The future of mankind depended on this. Because as much as he hated to put the Walker family through this, he needed to be free of the Key’s influence if he was to find the other two.

  ***

  “So what you’re telling me,” John asked, “is that Jessica and her family have been around for, what, over a thousand years?”

  “Something like that. Nice to know you can add.”

  “And you’re my father, and you’ve been around for about the same amount of time.”

  “Two for two. Is this the part where you get upset and yell at me that it can’t be the truth and run away?”

  John thought about the flood of new information, but running away wasn’t one of the things on his mind. Instead it...registered. Unemotionally, somehow, like gears clicking into place. It made sense, but the implications of it were mind boggling. “Why now? I mean, this thing has to happen tomorrow, right? Why not come to me a couple of months ago?”

  “Because the Key didn’t go missing until yesterday.”

  John shot him a surprised look. “Stolen?”

  “No, missing of it’s own free will, it would seem.”

  “How the hell does that happen?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s a dangerous time because I can sense there are multiple parties converging on it right now. It's likely that it sensed viable competition for it, so it removed itself from the equation.”

  “So now what?”

  “Now I have to teach you how to be a wizard in one day. My fault I admit, but you’re going to be busy. Fortunately you inherited some good genes,” Pan said with a grin on his face.

  “Jesus, what about Zack?”

  “I don’t think you want to involve him just yet, it’s too dangerous, and he’s a little too young to train. Is there someone you can trust him with for the next couple of days?”

  John knew there was. “Yeah.” Well, perhaps trust was stretching it a bit, but it was a far cry better than putting Zack in the middle of this mess.

  ***

  “This sucks!” Zack mumbled under his breath as John knocked on the door to Will’s apartment.

  “Sorry Pal, it’s an emergency.”

  The door opened and Will smiled at them. “Hey guys. Come on in.”

  John dreaded leaving Zack with his libidinous friend, but he was at least trustworthy. He just hoped the porn on his computer was password protected, because Zack was certainly smart enough to find it. Assuming of course that Will didn't share it with him outright.

  They walked into the apartment, John carrying a small duffle bag full of Zack’s clothes, and Zack carrying his tablet. “I hope you have Wifi,” Zack said.

  Zack hardly noticed the decor, but it didn’t escape John. It was definitely Will’s taste, and something out of a B-movie. At least he took down the posters of naked women.

  John kneeled down to face his son. “I’ll be back in two days, okay? I promise.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  “You’ll still see the eclipse, you’ll just have to see it with Will.”

  “We have this awesome patio on the roof that’ll be perfect for it,” his friend chimed in.

  “Okay.”

  John hugged his son, then got up to leave. He turned to Will. “Thanks buddy. I owe you.”

  “Yeah you do, but that’s okay. I'll make sure you make it up to me!”

  Seven: School Begins

  “Where to now?” John asked his long absent father.

  “The eclipse will peak about a hundred miles from here. We can get some of the way by car, but the last twenty miles will be walking.”

  John groaned at the idea. When was the last time he had walked twenty miles? It had been a while, and it certainly wasn’t on his list of favourite things in life. “I guess we’d better get going.”

  “Oh, we have lots of time. For the walk anyways. I’m more concerned about your training.”

  John started the car and off they went.

  "I'm starting to get the idea that all this stuff is not just fantasy and legend."

  Pan didn't answer him. He was apparently waiting for a question.

  "The philosophers stone? Real?"

  Pan considered it for a moment. "Yes, but not like you think. The stone wasn't a literal rock that would imbue immortality on anyone who consumed it. It was more a drug that helped to loosen up your preconceptions, leave you open to new ideas. Immortality was not a result of the stone, it was a result of what you learned when you took it."

  John grinned. "Sounds great, when do I get to take some?" He said, only half sarcastically.

  "As soon as we're in the mountains," his father shot back.

  He didn't know if it was a joke or not, but he suspected it wasn't. "You actually have some of this stuff on you?"

  Pan nodded. "It comes in handy from time to time. Especially since I haven’t had the Key for a while."

  He thought about it for a moment. He wasn't sure if he was ready for immortality. "I don't suppose I have a choice in this?"

  Pan actually chuckled. "You know, I remember a man having the exact same reaction when I first told him of the burden I was placing on him and his family. Jessica was only a toddler at the time."

  John thought about it. Arthur had sacrificed the freedom of his family to protect the Key. Who was he to complain about the impact to Zack? He sighed. Zack would probably think it was cool. For the first twenty years. After that, all the hiding, all the moving around, John
suspected that would take its toll.

  Though he had to admit the Walker family seemed to have adjusted to it quite well. He thought about Jessica. She'd been around for over a millennia, what could he possibly have or do that would interest her?

  Selfishness, he scolded himself. What was important was to stop whoever or whatever was responsible for the crystal going missing.

  "This conjunction, I assume the Walker's will be there?"

  "You assume correctly."

  John smiled, much as he tried not to.

  ***

  The Key was gone, and not.

  Space was a concept held very tightly by the bearers, but not one that the Key found limiting in any way, just as with time.

  It watched, again. It sensed the distress that the current bearer felt, but that was not to be avoided. It sensed the other players currently vying for bearership, and watched their activities with a faint interest.

  Time was a shifting phenomena, but every once in a while a series of converging probabilities would come into focus, almost independent of time itself.

  The Key watched, and waited. It would not wait long.

  ***

  The restaurant was almost, but not quite, empty. Jessica was tired and just wanted the two couples to leave, but years of practice had taught her to at least hide the exhaustion. They were going to close early to leave for the trip.

  The trip.

  Jessica didn’t know what to think about it. With the Key gone, she didn’t quite see the purpose of heading to the site of the eclipse. It seemed...dangerous. She hadn’t been without it in more than a few hundred years, and now felt naked with it out of arms reach.

  At the same time, whoever it was who was out there was probably capable of taking possession of the Key without her present when the eclipse peaked. She couldn't risk that. She had to go, and wanted nothing more than to be gone already.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed what could only be a rental car pull into the lot in front of the restaurant. Four large men got out of it.