by Sean Stone
Jamal nodded grimly, understanding the message. "Should I try to get some eyes on Osiris, see what he's up to?" Jamal offered.
"No. Stay away from him. We can't risk crossing paths with an ancient yet."
"What do you want the rest of us to do? The others are getting antsy, they don't like being shut away like this," Kristen said.
"I want you to locate something for me. It is unlikely that I will be able to defeat Kayla in battle right now, so I need an item that can do the job for me. There is sarcophagus powerful enough to trap anything inside it. The Horus Sarcophagus. If we can get hold of that then we can put Kayla inside and bury her far beneath the earth." That should keep her out of the way whilst they completed their plans.
"Where is it?" Kristen asked.
"It was last seen in a museum in London eighty years go. Try visiting the museum in town. They might have a database with the location of it." Nick knew that was wishful thinking, but it was a start. If it wasn't there then they could check the London one. Travelling to a farther museum wasn't really an issue when all of his disciples could teleport anyway.
"Alright. I'll take James. He needs a distraction from the ritual on the next full moon." Nick had promised to cure James of his lycanthropy on the next full moon. He was still unsure whether he would be able to pull it off but he'd find out in five days time.
"Okay," Nick said, wondering if perhaps Kristen was developing feelings for James. Were all his disciples going to fall for the locals? "The same rules go for you. If anyone gets in your way kill them. We don't have time to mess around anymore."
"When do you think Kayla will show up?" Jamal asked. Nick had explained that he was expecting her to arrive eventually to shut his plans down. It was just a matter of waiting for her to learn that Nick had been released from the bunker.
"She's already here," Nick replied. He'd felt her presence days ago and known it for what it was at once. That was why they had to move quickly. If she chose to strike before they were ready then it would all be over and this time maybe she wouldn't just trap Nick, maybe she would end him. Over the centuries Nick had come close to death a good many times, even after becoming immortal, but there were only so many times that a person could face their own mortality and come out victorious.
London 1399
Nick had been 11 years old when he'd experienced his first real danger. He'd grown up as a page to a lord in the king's residence. It wasn't a glamorous life but it was better than most had and far better than most orphans. One night he'd been woken by Hooper, one of the Lord Edward's men.
"Come on, lad, time to go," he said, dragging Nick from his bed and throwing clothing at him.
"What? What's going on?" Nick asked groggily. It was still dark out and he had no business be awake at this hour.
"No time to explain, if we hang about you'll be in chains within the hour," Hooper said.
That was all Nick needed to hear. He threw on the clothes he'd been passed and followed Hooper hurriedly from the room. Soldiers fell in around them as they moved. Not just the Lord Edward's soldiers, but the king's soldiers as well. Something very odd was going on. No doubt it was to do with the war. Not so long ago the king's cousin, Bolingbroke had illegally returned from banishment and a civil war had begun. Not that it was much of a war. People all over the country were turning to the traitor's side without even putting up a fight. The king had been away in Ireland, but Nick had heard that he was on his way back, perhaps he'd returned now.
Once out of the palace, Hooper led him into a carriage that was waiting. The soldiers piled in, which was very uncustomary, and they headed off. By the time they stopped it was daylight and several hours had passed. They were at the docks and Hooper tried to lead Nick to a ship, but Nick had done enough blind following for one night.
"Enough," he said sternly, coming to a standstill. He might be just an orphan page, but he wanted answers. Something very bizarre was going on and he had no intention of boarding a ship without finding out what it was. "What is the meaning of all this? I demand to be told."
"You demand do you?" Hooper spat, rounding on him. "Let me tell you what's going on. Bolingbroke has captured the king and is heading for London. Should be there by now." Nick took a moment to digest the information. The king was captured. The traitor was coming to London. For what?
"Why is he coming to London?"
"Don't be so bloody naive, boy. He's taking the crown is what he's coming for," Hooper said. "Now come one, you need to be on that ship."
"I don't. Why do I?" Nick asked. He was merely a page. Bolingbroke would surely have no ill-will towards him. He'd never even met him.
"You've really never figured it out? The truth?"
"What truth?"
"The reason that some orphan boy was given to Lord Edward, the king's own cousin? Do you think they let all orphans page for royalty?" Hooper said patronisingly.
"Well no," Nick muttered. He still didn't understand, though.
"No, they don't. Especially not in the king's palace. You're not an orphan boy. You're a bastard. All these years you thought you didn't have a name because no-one told you what it was. The fewer people who knew the truth about you the better. And that included you."
"What is my name?" Nick asked. By this point he already knew but he needed to hear it.
Hooper snorted. "Fitzroy. You're the son of the king himself. He kept you close. Being his only offspring you were valuable to him. Rumour was that he wanted to find a way to make you his legal heir. Not that there was much hope of that."
"But I'm a bastard. There's no reason for me to flee," Nick protested.
"Have you heard a word I've said? The king planned to make you his heir. Bolingbroke knows all about it and there's no way he's going to let you stick around. Once he's taken the crown he's not going to want any challengers to his claim. This is all part of the king's plan. His backup plan anyway."
"Backup plan?" Nick asked, his throat dry.
"Yeah. You're going to France with these soldiers and a diplomat. You'll get the French king behind you and return with an army big enough to scare Bolingbroke off."
"And what if I'm too late? What if he kills the king?"
"Well, I suppose you'll have to be the king won't you."
"But I'm a bastard."
"Yep, and if you come over with an army you'll be a conqueror. No-one will challenge your claim. Now get your bloody arse on that ship." Nick couldn't take everything in all at once. It was just too much for him. He boarded the ship in silence and took a seat on deck where he tried to sort through the fuzz in his mind. He was the illegitimate son of the king and now it seemed he was the only hope the king had of retaining his crown. If Nick failed to help the king then his task was to become king himself. It was a fantasy that Nick just couldn't force himself to accept. Ten minutes ago he was an orphan page. Now he was a bastard prince. Was a bastard prince even a thing? Probably not. That made him the first. Today was without a doubt the weirdest day of his life thus far.
The ship sailed from somewhere in the south of Wales, and as they sailed the Celtic sea the first clouds appeared. Thick and black, they rushed towards them and quickly covered the sky, blotting the sun out easily. Nick had seen storm clouds before, but seeing them at sea was utterly terrifying. There was no escape from them. By the time the first fork of lightening struck, and thunder sounded above them, the boat was already rocking about on the water. Crew members were rushing about, doing all they could to ease the effects of the storm, but there was little they could do. The water, now as black as the sky, was throwing the small ship in every which way as the skies opened up and rain pelted down on the deck. Someone shouted at Nick to get below, but he was too scared to move. He was certain that if he tried to move even one leg he would lose his footing and tumble overboard to his death. Thunder rumbled, it was getting closer, and the ship lurched to the right. Nick slid along the deck and nearly fell. That was all the motivation Nick needed to move. He turned a
nd headed for the door that led below. Before he reached it he saw the entire sky light up and then heard a horrendous cracking sound followed by screams from behind him. He froze. He didn't want to turn around for fear of what he might see. A creaking sound started up behind him and then more screams. He turned and saw the main mast tilting backwards towards him. The lightning had struck it and it was now cracked and falling. He threw himself to the side just as the mast hit the deck. The entire ship reverberated from the smack and the deck split beneath the massive log. Another wave took hold of the ship and spun it completely on its axis. Nick flew from one side to the other, being vaulted right over the mast which now lay in the middle dividing the deck in two. There was another horrible sound as the rear mast was ripped from the ship and taken by the wind never to be seen again. One of Nick's escorts came protruding from below deck. He saw Nick huddled against the side of the ship and climbed out to retrieve him. He'd only taken three steps along the deck when a torn section of the sail swung from above and took him out to sea. Nick stared with jaw-dropped amazement. He needed to get below deck now. He scrambled up to his feet and that's when he saw it. A wave taller than the tower of London, heading right for them. Getting below deck no longer mattered; nowhere would be safe from the monstrous body of water that was approaching them. He grabbed hold of the railing and braced himself for impact. He needn't have bothered. Before the wave even hit them it seemed that the ship was already up, flying through the air as if it had grown wings of its own. It turned, upended, and continued to soar through the stormy sky upside down. Nick dangled from it, still hanging on to the railing for all of a few seconds and then his grip failed him and he was falling, tumbling, heading for the sea. Lightning flashed, thunder roared and another wave hit Nick, and then consciousness let him.
CHAPTER FOUR
Present Day
The worst part of pretending to be Adam Kent was having to do his job. Henry had been given an unlimited amount of time off for grievance, but from what he'd heard Adam was the sort of person who wouldn't have taken more than a few days off. So here he was back at the museum facing his biggest challenge yet — being an assistant curator when he had no idea what an assistant curator did. He'd spent the entire morning sitting in his office — or Adam's office — going through paperwork trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing, but in the end, he was none the wiser. He'd even googled how to do his job, but that was no more helpful than staring at the wall. He was about to give up when there was a knock at the door and some girl poked her head in.
"There are some people who wish to see you about an artefact, Adam," the girl said.
"Oh, uh, who is it?" Henry asked, trying to figure out what to do.
"They didn't say. They're waiting in reception room three," she said before retreating.
Henry sight loudly and left his office to deal with whatever they wanted. How Adam lived like this was beyond him. It was such a mundane way to spend his days.
It took him fifteen minutes to find reception room three which was embarrassing considering the museum wasn't particularly large. When he arrived he found a petite dark haired woman and a ginger man waiting for him. He could feel the power they held the moment he stepped into the room. Sensing power was a trick that Alistair had taught him and not something most sorcerers could do. But Henry was not most sorcerers, and neither were these two.
"Adam, good to see you again," the woman said and Henry thought he could denote a hint of sarcasm. Obviously, Adam was acquainted with them.
"And yourself," he replied politely. If only Adam was still rattling about inside his head he might have been able to force him to explain who the visitors were. He noticed the look of surprise on their faces and guessed that he wasn't supposed to treat them so politely. Perhaps they were enemies. "What do you want?" he asked a touch more rudely.
"Nick's after a particular item," the woman explained. Nickolas, so they were part of the Thirteen.
"Forgive me, I seem to have forgotten your names?" Henry said.
"I wasn't aware you ever knew my name," the woman replied snappily.
"Maybe I didn't. I'd like to know it now, however."
"It's Kristen. Happy?" she muttered.
"I take it you remember my name?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow.
Henry thought hard, trying to guess the man's name and decided to go with what he thought the man looked like. "Barry?"
The man, who obviously was not Barry, looked at him as if he was an utter idiot. "Barry? No. It's James. What the fuck's wrong with you?" James said brusquely.
"There's no need for such poor manners," Henry said. "What is it you two want?"
"There is an item being stored in a museum somewhere and we want you to track it down," Kristen said.
"Sure, because I have access to such a database," Henry said, proud of himself for his use of the word database. Then he realised his mistake. "I do actually. What are you looking for?"
"You're going to help us, just like that?" James questioned.
"Yes?" Henry said, posing it more as a question. "The sooner I give you what you want the sooner you go away," he said. He wanted them out of his hair so he could go back to figuring out what he was supposed to be doing.
Kristen snorted. "At least somebody in this town has some sense."
"What are you looking for?"
"The Horus Sarcophagus," said Kristen.
"Why do you want that?" he asked, wondering what was so special about an old sarcophagus that Nickolas would want it.
Kristen raised an eyebrow and he took it to mean that she wasn't going to tell him.
"Alright, hang on," Henry said. He went to the computer in the corner of the room and started hammering away at the keys. It didn't take long to locate the item they were looking for. There were three in the world, two replicas and one real one. The real one was in Leicester, one of the replicas was in London and the other in New York City. "Here we go. Found it. That was easy." Henry smiled. Proud of his mastery of the computer. If only he'd been born in this age.
"Where is it?" Kristen demanded. Such a blunt woman.
"It is being held in storage in the Museum of the City of New York," Henry lied, switching the monitor off as he moved away from the computer.
"New York City?" Kristen asked.
"Yes, I believe that's in America," Henry said.
Kristen smiled sourly. "Thanks," she said. "Come on then. To New York," she said to James and then in the blink of an eye they both disappeared.
"Oh!" Henry cried out in shock. "That is a trick I want to learn!"
Henry went straight back to his office and got to work figuring out what was so special about the sarcophagus. He found the answer in one of the old books that Adam kept on the shelf behind his desk. The man had a small library crammed into the tiny office. The sarcophagus could be used to trap any magical being, no matter how powerful. The new question on his mind was who Nickolas wanted to trap. A few phone calls later and the sarcophagus was being shipped to Cedarstone for the attention of Adam Kent. If Nickolas wanted it then so did Henry. He just hoped Nick or his minions didn't figure out his deception too soon. Henry summoned Toni and Genevieve to his office to discuss what had happened. He enjoyed having minions of his own to order about, not that they responded very well to orders. They preferred to be asked nicely. Toni worked in the museum so the journey was short for her, but Genevieve had to come from home.
"This is exactly what we've been looking for," Toni said, once Henry had filled them both in. "We can trap Nick in the sarcophagus and then problem solved.
"Not quite," Genevieve said. "If we trap Nick then twelve angry warlocks will come for us, and even without Nick they can still beat us."
"Not if we have help," Toni replied. "SIT will surely help us?"
"That rag-tag bunch of fools?" Genevieve countered. "They can't even help themselves. No, if we want help we'll need to look elsewhere."
"The vampires?" Toni asked.
/> "I think we're getting ahead of ourselves," Henry said, interrupting the conversation. "Let's wait until the sarcophagus turns up and we've confirmed that it works before we start plotting and scheming. There'll be plenty of time for forging alliances later. I just wanted to keep you both up to date so that when the sarcophagus arrives you can help me to cloak its location so Nickolas doesn't realise what I've done. I can't imagine that he responds very well to deception."
"Quite right. You can rest assured that you have my support, Adam. I'll help you when it turns up," Genevieve said.
"And me. But I better get back to work now," Toni said, heading for the door.
"And I," Henry said nodding for Genevieve to leave, but she did not. She waited for Toni to leave and then spoke.
"I have been waiting for you to tell me what happened at Montford Manor. You visited five days ago and are yet to explain the outcome," she said, a tad annoyed.
"I thought it was obvious," Henry said. He knew that Genevieve had sent Adam up there to claim his power and she would pay for that, as well as the crimes of her ancestors, when he was powerful enough to face her.
"It is quite clear that you failed in your task, but I would like to know why?" she spoke as if she was in charge. Henry had noticed that she did that often. That would have to change.
"The spirits guard the power vigilantly. There is no way to take it from them. I nearly died trying," Henry said. It was near enough to the truth, if he went back for the power then the spirits would tear him from his new body.
Genevieve regarded him for several minutes as if she was trying to assess whether or not he was lying. "Very well. It was worth a try. If this sarcophagus works as well as you expect then we won't need all that power anyway." She shifted in her seat and then spoke again. "There is the other matter, of course. My daughter. You said you would help me find a solution to her problem." The subject clearly caused her discomfort.
"Problem?" Henry asked, once again in the dark. He hated this feeling.
"She's unable to control her powers. I had to bind her to myself," Genevieve said angrily. "How could you forget that after all the fuss you made?"