Dead End (Ghosts & Magic Book 4)

by M. R. Forbes

  “I hope you won’t turn on us to avoid kissing a girl.”

  “Oh please, Conor. Don’t be stupid. Besides, when have you ever known me to be shy? I’ve been with a girl before, just not in a relationship or anything like that, and it was only one time.”

  “Do tell,” Amos said.

  It was something I hadn’t known about her when I thought there wasn’t anything I didn’t know about her. What else hadn’t she told me? What else did she know?

  “Not to interrupt this very enthralling discussion of human mating habits,” Ashiira said, sounding more like his father with each passing hour. “But we have a wizard moot to crash.”

  “And a wizard to confront,” I said, looking at Macha. “I’m going to need you again.”

  “Of course.”

  “Las Vegas here we come!” Amos shouted.

  26

  Who knew?

  Frank got to his feet. It was only once he was standing that I realized he was naked. His body looked different, but I couldn’t quite figure out how.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “That stuff is acid,” he replied. “Burned my clothes to shit. Burned me pretty good, too. I would have died, but it opened all the pustules at once, which kept the bottom layer of my skin closed. It hurt like a mother, but it gave me enough time to climb out.”

  That was it. All of the nodules of pus were gone, used up. He looked more ogre than troll now, lucky to be what he was, and lucky to be alive.

  “I’m sorry, Frank,” I said.

  “It was my fault, charging ahead like that. I keep doing that, and it doesn’t seem to work out too well for me.”

  “I’m glad you’re relatively okay. I was worried about you.”

  “I’d kill for a loincloth or something. The draft is freezing my balls.” He laughed.

  “Here,” Ashiira said, removing his cuddle monster tee.

  He tossed it to Frank, who spent a few minutes figuring out how to wrap it around himself so it would contain his sizeable package.

  “Better than nothing,” he said.

  “Now that we’ve made wardrobe adjustments have you discovered anything useful down here?”

  “I haven’t left this room. I figured after a few zombies splashed down behind me, it meant you were still around. I saw the passage going back up, so I waited.”

  “No noises or anything?” I asked.

  “Nothing. I almost fell asleep, but I thought you might think I was dead and try to bring me back. Are you being chased?”

  “No. The deadies don’t corner well.”

  “That’s good.”

  I scanned the room, finding a stone archway leading out of the room. “Only one way to go.” I paused. “By the way, Frank, I’m sorry if I was an asshole about those civilians you tried to help. It’s just -”

  “You don’t need to explain, Boss. You were right. I made it worse for them by giving them hope. Who knows, if they had stayed in their place they might still be alive.”

  I don’t know why, but I felt worse for trying to apologize. I dropped that one, too. “Come on.”

  We exited into a corridor, fifteen feet or so in height and width, perfectly carved into the earth like the passage around the well. It stretched into oblivion, and we kept up a decent pace along it, covering nearly a mile before we hit a wall.

  It filled the entire corridor, a massive stone slab with no obvious seams or hinges. It had some etching in the center of it but was otherwise unmarked.

  “Dead end?” Frank said, confused.

  “It can’t be,” Ashiira said.

  “Unless whoever put it here has one fucked up sense of humor,” I said. “Which I’m not ready to rule out.” I approached it, looking at the etching. It was a series of scratches, nothing more. “Ash, does that make any sense to you?”

  He leaned in, examining the lines. “It looks like Ogham.”

  “Bless you,” Frank said.

  “It’s an early medieval alphabet,” Ashiira said. “Not even that old.”

  “Can you read it?”

  He ran his hand along the lines. “I think it says ‘Merlin.’”

  “Hah!” Frank said. “I told you.”

  “You’re saying Merlin is hiding down here?”

  “It could be.”

  “Assuming he’s an ancient, massively powerful wizard, what do you think Samedi wants with him?”

  “I’m going with killing him and stopping you from getting the portal spell,” Ash replied.

  “Seconded,” Frank said.

  “But I wouldn’t have even known about this place if he hadn’t come here first,” I said. “Doesn’t that seem a little stupid to you?”

  “It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Ash agreed. “But Samedi was human once.”

  “What if Merlin knows a different spell?” Frank said. “One that he might want? Oh, or what if this is all a big ruse to get you to come down here and open the door for him? I think I saw that in a movie once.”

  I stared at the slab. I could probably destroy it the way I had the cave-in at the top of the well. No, I was sure I could destroy it. The magical fields were so strong down here I felt like I was swimming in death magic. But Samedi could control death magic better than me. He should be able to get through on his own.

  He wasn’t trying. Hell, he wasn’t even here.

  “I’m not sure about any of this,” I said. “We’re playing a game where we don’t know any of the rules.”

  “I don’t think there are any,” Ash said.

  “I hate games like that,” Frank said.

  “Samedi wants his deadie horde to open it,” Ash said. “But he doesn’t want to be here when they do.”

  “Or he wants me to open it, and he doesn’t want to be here when I do.”

  “We could do this all day,” Frank said. “We came all the way down here, let’s just open the thing.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “Maybe Merlin can at least jump us back up to the city. I sure as hell don’t want to walk back up.”

  “I can jump us back to the city,” Ash said. “If that’s what you want.”

  It was what I wanted. And what I didn’t want. I hated decisions like these. The ones when you had no idea if you were making the right choice or not. If you were helping yourself or damning yourself. I had made plenty of decisions as a surgeon that were life or death. Other people’s life or death. My fate was already sealed, so what was the big deal?

  “I’m going to open it,” I said, putting my hand on the slab.

  “Good luck,” Frank said. He took a few steps back.

  I started feeding the death magic into it.

  I stopped immediately.

  Something was wrong.

  “Conor?” Frank said as I took a few steps back of my own.

  The slab didn’t move aside. It just vanished.

  A roar like a jet engine followed.

  “What did I just do?” I said.

  The darkness ahead of us was moving, and the engine noise was joined by a chaotic din. I had just enough time to duck and bring my coat up over my face before thousands of birds exploded from the passage in a mass of flapping wings and harsh calls. They were either crows or ravens. I couldn’t tell them apart. They battered me with their wings, pressing past me in their effort to escape.

  “Oh, shit,” I heard Frank say. “Hehe, that tickles.”

  The assault continued for a full minute. I couldn’t imagine how many birds were emerging from down here. A hundred thousand at least. Probably more. They roared past and continued on, and I could already picture them climbing the well, coming out and bursting from the Tower of London and into the city.

  What did I just do?

  The birds finally finished passing us, their deafening cacophony moving away. I lowered my coat and stood, looking back at them, and then finding Frank and Ash. They were both unharmed.

  “Oh man,” Frank said. “They crapped all over you
r jacket.”

  I looked at my coat. It had bird shit all over it. Gross.

  “That was interesting,” Ashiira said.

  I turned to the new passage. It went even deeper. Of course, it did. The birds had to come from somewhere.

  We followed it. Oddly enough, there were no droppings on the floor. There was no sign of the birds anywhere. It was as though trying to remove the slab had brought them into existence. Instead, we traveled a straight path that brought us to another door at the center of a t-junction. This one was apparently made of gold.

  “Wow. How much do you think it’s worth?” Frank asked.

  “A lot,” Ashiira replied.

  His eyes were alive at the sight of it. For all his talk about humans being basic, dragons weren’t without their simple pleasures, either.

  The door opened inward in front of us on its own accord. The room beyond was lit with flickering sconces that bounced dim light around it.

  There were three thrones in the center of the room, each of them solid gold.

  Two were empty.

  The one in the center wasn’t.

  “Oh, shit,” Frank said again. “Merlin’s a girl?”

  27

  Macha Macha Macha.

  The person sitting on the throne was most definitely a female. And she sure as hell didn’t look like an old, farty British wizard. She had long red hair tied in a thick braid that hung over her shoulder. She was wearing a long skirt that fell to her ankles, with a chest plate over her upper half, the shape of ample breasts obvious in the molding of the metal. Her face was young, pale, and freckled.

  She eyed us with a serious expression, like a hunter sizing up their prey. I was both instantly attracted to and terrified of her.

  “You aren’t Samedi,” she said.

  “You aren’t Merlin,” I replied. “I don’t think.”

  Her face softened. She smiled, revealing a row of perfect white teeth.

  “Would a Merlin by any other name be as impressive to you, necromancer?” she asked. “We are Morrigan.”

  “We?” I asked.

  “You must have already become acquainted with my sisters, Badb and Nemain,” she said, her eyes settling on my coat.

  “The crows?” Ashiira said.

  She looked at him, tilting her head slightly to the side. “You have the blood of the Old Ones in you. Show us your true form.”

  “That’s not a good -”

  I didn’t get to finish the sentence. Ashiira cried out, falling to his hands and knees as his form shifted, growing and stretching, flesh hardening to scales. Even at his age, he was nearly sixteen feet long. He spread his wings, flapping them a few times as if stretching.

  “Tarakona,” she said.

  “No,” Ashiira replied. “His son. How dare you do this to me.”

  She laughed. “Calm yourself, wyrm. If you wish to hide, so be it. Now is a good time for many to choose that path.”

  He shifted again, back into human form. He stood and glared at her, angry.

  “Could someone please explain to me what the heck is going on?” Frank said.

  “Why were you expecting Samedi?” I asked. “And, oh yeah, who the hell are you?”

  “I told you, we are the Morrigan. I am Macha.”

  “And you know my father?” Ash said. “How?”

  “We have lived for longer than he has lived. We never met face to face, but dragons do not hide themselves well.” She paused and smiled again. “Or maybe they do?”

  “Tarakona is dead,” I said. “Samedi killed him.”

  “I’m sorry,” Macha said.

  “He would have killed me, too, if I hadn’t hidden in this form,” Ash said.

  “I felt the ripples in the ley,” she said. “I was afraid Samedi had finally returned.”

  “You helped put him away?”

  “I did. A long time ago.”

  “Then you know Death.”

  “Who?”

  “Death? The guy in charge of the afterlife? He was Samedi’s friend, once.”

  “Yes, I know of who you speak, but by another name.” She shook her head. “This puts us in an unusual position.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I helped Death trap Samedi in the artifacts. But I also helped him imprison my sisters. You see, they betrayed us, and were aiding Samedi in his plans.”

  “Imprison?” Frank said. “Do you mean-”

  “Yes,” she replied. “The barrier you saw was made of magic. Pure magic.” She looked at Ash. “Didn’t you sense it?” She paused. “No, you wouldn’t have, would you? How old are you?”

  “Not very,” I said for him.

  “Only death magic, powerful death magic, could dispel it. Only death magic could set us free. That’s why I was expecting Samedi. I always expected that if he returned, he would come for them himself, and together they would try to kill me.”

  “You were trapped in here with your traitorous sisters,” I said. “Didn’t they try to kill you?”

  She laughed. “They can’t kill me. They don’t have the strength.”

  “What about Samedi? Can he kill you?”

  “Not down here,” she said. “Not so close to the source of the ley.”

  “I’m two for two,” Frank said. “Merlin is real, and we were tricked into opening the door.”

  “Shut up, Frank,” I said. Damn it. “Samedi was willing to have us meet in exchange for getting your sisters out. Why?”

  “The Morrigan are banshees, necromancer,” she replied. “Sirens of death. And now you’ve unwittingly unleashed two of us.”

  Double damn it. “What about you? You don’t want to be part of his harem?”

  “Samedi abuses death for his own gain,” she said. “My sisters don’t see that. They still see the man they both came to love before he lost control. Their loyalty is admirable, and I can’t fault them for it. But I also can’t allow it.”

  “How come they fell for him, but you didn’t?” Frank asked.

  “I came to love another.”

  “Death,” I said.

  “As you name him,” she replied.

  “Great. I’m glad we could add some family drama to this shitshow.” I lowered my head into my hand. “What exactly did I do by freeing you and your sisters?”

  “They will kill as many as they can,” she replied. “To make soldiers for Samedi’s army.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that. Can the Houses stop them?”

  “Houses?”

  “Wizards,” I said. “The most powerful wizards to come from the reversal.”

  “Perhaps. But killing them will make Samedi stronger. And, killing them will kill me.”

  “Which is why you and Death locked them up, instead, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Triple damn. “Samedi knew by setting them free; I’d be setting you free. He’s clearly not all that worried about you.”

  “He will add thousands of new soldiers to his army,” she said. “It was a wise tactical maneuver.”

  I sighed again. I was starting to wonder if it would be better if I could just keel already. “What can you add to my army?”

  “I’m a banshee, necromancer. A siren of death.”

  “I take it that means you’re exceptionally good at killing living things. That’s kind of the exact opposite of what we need right now.”

  “In other words, you’re useless,” Ash said, still mad.

  “I’m hardly useless,” Macha said. “We have another ability that Samedi values, and you should value as well. We amplify death magic.”

  “You mean you can make me more powerful?”

  “Yes. And I am the strongest of the Morrigan.”

  “You must be a wizard, too,” I said. “You have access to all of the fields.”

  “It fades quickly as we move away from the center,” she replied. “Especially in the presence of death magic.”

  “Of course it does. I don’t suppose you happen to kno
w the spell that creates a portal between this world and the next one?”

  She lowered her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I figured I’d ask.” I sighed a third time. “Well, I guess this quest is complete. I chose the wrong adventure.”

  “Don’t give up yet, Boss,” Frank said, ever the optimist. “We’re still alive, and we’ve got a new friend.”

  I looked at Macha again. “Are you? Or can your sisters convince you Samedi’s way is the right way?”

  “They haven’t so far,” she replied. “And it has been many, many centuries.”

  “Fair enough. Ash, take us topside. Let’s find Dannie and Amos and figure out what the hell we’re going to do next.”

  “Of course, brother.”

  28

  Screwed.

  We landed outside the Tower, right in the center of a mass of deadies. It wasn’t the best positioning, and within seconds there were a few hundred of the undead coming our way.

  “Really, Ash?” I asked.

  “Sorry,” he replied. “But there isn’t anywhere safe.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I tried to see past the horde, to find Dannie and Amos in the mess. It was impossible.

  “There’s an awful lot of them,” Frank said. “And man, I’m cold.”

  I glanced over at him. His makeshift loincloth had shifted, leaving him exposed. He seemed to realize it at the same time I noticed, and he reached down and adjusted himself, covering up again.

  “It doesn’t help much,” he said.

  “Worry about getting out of this, first,” I replied.

  Beside me, Macha started to sing.

  I turned to look at her with a serious what the fuck expression. But the melody was haunting, and the sudden realization that it was layered through normal frequencies and into the realm of death magic gave me pause. The normally chaotic rhythm of the magic was shifting, finding a semblance of order that rode along the tones she was producing. I breathed in, capturing the essence of it, ready to fall in love with the Morrigan in an instant for the way she touched my soul.