The Phoenix Chronicles_Alone in the Light

by M. K. Williams

  “Well, if I’m being honest, the repercussions of what I did in Berlin have come and gone, I’m told there’s not a lot else the Council can do about it. Jonathon seems optimistic, but there is a meeting this Friday. We shall see about it then,” Kristian said, trying to sound a bit more reassuring.

  Jess didn’t really understand the intricate details of the world Kristian was involved in; how could she when he himself was so uncertain? She gave a smile, which warmed his heart; their hands met over the table.

  “I’m sure it will work out. What more can I say on the subject, hey?” said Jess.

  “So, is everything okay at home then?” Kristian replied, striving to have a normal conversation.

  “Yes, everything is fine, I’m looking forward to getting back to lectures. Have you been in to university at all? I guess not, huh?” Jess said.

  “No, I haven’t, I think I will have to repeat the whole year. My parents are going to kill me. I can hardly tell them the truth can I? They would never understand,” Kristian said mournfully. As he finished, Kieran appeared with a tray of drinks and sandwiches.

  “You two caught up then?” Kieran said before taking a sip of his coffee, but it was too hot and it made his lip curl.

  “Of course!” they both replied.

  “So are you going to show me then?” Jess said to Kristian.

  “Show you what?” He knew what she meant but the sheer thought of it pained him. He was not proud of it and did not want to show it off like a trophy, despite what Yi-Mao had told him.

  “The scar, of course!” Jess laughed. It was obvious that she did not realise how much carrying that scar was affecting him. She just wanted to see proof of her friend’s bravery, an extra source of evidence for the mystical world that she struggled to believe in.

  Kristian slowly rose to his feet and lifted his shirt. Her eyes did little to conceal the shock she felt at the sight of it. Even Kieran glanced at it in surprise.

  “It looks bad!” she said as she ran a finger across one of the grey lines that lay on his abdomen.

  “It’s okay. It hurts sometimes. It’s a trophy I’m told, not sure if I see it like that though,” Kristian replied.

  “Well, I’m not sure about you, but I would have preferred a medal!” Jess laughed and the two men followed suit.

  Kristian dropped his shirt and returned to his seat, desperate to move the conversation on; he picked up his coffee and re-enacted Kieran’s failure, taking a sip of the piping hot drink. Jess smirked at Kristian’s pained face as she turned her questioning towards Kieran.

  The three of them sat and chatted happily like there were no worries in their world for over two hours and four coffees. Kieran and Kristian told Jess all about the Order; they were not even sure if they were allowed but Kristian didn’t care, he trusted her. They made plans for the week ahead and, other than going up to the till for drinks and food and the occasional toilet stop, they were content to sit there.

  No one interrupted and in the lulls of conversation they people-watched or stared at the large television screen, displaying 24-hour news. They all turned to the TV for one enjoyable report, close to their hearts.

  Mass prank or huge cover-up’ was the headline and a young hook-nosed northern reporter presented the story.

  I stand at the site of what is being called the biggest mystery of the century. Was this damage caused by a ferocious monster that the government is concealing from us or is it the site of the largest organised mass prank?

  The report detailed how there was no evidence to the truth about the events of that day in Trafalgar Square, no first-hand witnesses, no CCTV, no recordings of any kind. The only evidence came from the fact that the fountain was damaged and a few people had come forward claiming that loved ones had called them in terror, claiming that a beast was killing people in the square.

  Each time the report was repeated, the three of them chuckled. In hindsight, it was not very funny but the thought that they knew the truth was amusing to them. The power of magic was overwhelming to Kristian as he came to realise just how powerful the spell that Andrew had cast had been.

  “That was no easy spell. I sure as hell couldn’t have pulled it off,” Kieran proclaimed.

  “Do you have the magic thing inside you as well then?” Jess asked as politely as she could, remembering a brief discussion she had had with Kristian about it.

  “The Trinity, yes, but not a Phoenix.” Kieran started to wonder if they were telling her too much. He glanced at his watch; as Jess noticed she looked over to Kristian.

  “Right, I will have to leave you two. I have a meeting with some of the Order’s accountants, as fun as that sounds! Well, it’s been a pleasure properly meeting you, Jess, you are exactly how Kristian described you,” Kieran stood up and made his exit.

  “He’s nice!” Jess said after Kieran was out of earshot.

  “So what do you want to do now? Anything you want, okay? It’s on me!” said Kristian, delighted that he finally had her back.

  “Whatever I want?” she replied unenthusiastically.

  “Yeah, we could catch up with some Uni folk, see Jason? Is that still a thing?” Kristian enquired.

  “Ha. No, that died a death. You see I had a lot of other things on my mind. Like worrying about you,” Jess replied.

  “You don’t have to worry about me, I am in a good place now,” Kristian said, his tone genuine and revealing.

  Something was now troubling her. She looked at her friend and realised the truth; she had seen a look in his eyes when he had been talking about the Order and from his last words this had been confirmed.

  “You’re going to stay, aren’t you?” Jess asked.

  He was not surprised that she knew, but he still let out a sigh. “God, am I that easy to read? First Yi-Mao, now you!” Kristian uttered.

  “Yi who?”

  “Ha, that mentor guy in the Order that I mentioned earlier. Well, that doesn’t matter. But, yes, yes Jess. I am going to stay. I feel like I have to, it’s different this time. It’s hard, but I want to as well!” Kristian replied. “You all right?” he asked, seeing a worried expression flit across her face.

  “Of course,” she replied, forcing a smile. “It’s your choice isn’t it? But I don’t want you disappearing from my life, okay?” Jess said as she grabbed his arm tightly.

  “Hey! That won’t happen, you know that,” Kristian grinned reassuringly at her.

  “Well, what do you want to do? I have money!” he now smirked cheekily as he pushed his chair back and took her hand.

  “Well, in that case let’s go and get drunk!” she laughed, standing up, “Phoenixes are allowed to drink, right?”

  “Abso-bloody-lutely,” Kristian roared.

  …

  The two men sat in almost absolute darkness, the only light source in the room coming from a small desktop lamp. Most of the people that lived in the Order’s Headquarters were fast asleep at this late hour but, for Yi-Mao and Jonathon, this was the perfect opportunity to discuss the most secretive of all Order business. The pair had been talking for over an hour in Jonathon’s office. The topics of discussion ranged from the events in Berlin and London before it moved on to the mystery of the Quartet.

  Jonathon spent a lot of the meeting describing the battle between the Jakyll and Kristian as well as the findings from Zhing and Kristian’s investigations. Yi-Mao had been partially briefed on the situations when he was in the Shing’tao temple but hearing it from Jonathon placed it in perspective.

  “Well, Kristian has, I think, decided to stay,” Yi-Mao said to a bemused-looking Jonathon.

  “He’s told you this?” Jonathon replied.

  “Yes, in confidence. He is a gifted host. More gifted than he realises.”

  Jonathon pondered on the good news for a second. “That is excellent,” he whispered. “I shall obviously keep this to myself, until he decides to tell everyone.” Yi-Mao nodded in agreement.

  “Brendan and Amar return from
Japan tomorrow. I am sure he is eager to get back to investigating the Quartet now that we have discovered the urn,” Yi-Mao said.

  Jonathon looked a tad worried; he attempted to hide it by covering his face with his hand, as though he was holding his head up.

  “You have not told him?” Yi-Mao asked, surprised.

  “No, I haven’t told him yet. I was trying to keep the knowledge to as few people as possible. I wanted to test my mole theory. I shall tell him tomorrow. I have sent the urn to Kara and her team in New York. Other than her, yourself, me and Kristian, no one else in the Order knows of it,” said Jonathon.

  Yi-Mao looked at Jonathon disapprovingly. He did not share his belief in his mole theory. The evidence wasn’t there to support it, not strong enough to warrant suspicion. “You haven’t even told Peter?” Yi-Mao spoke calmly, trying to conceal his disapproval.

  Jonathon replied with an ashamed “No.”

  “You can’t be serious, Jonathon?” Yi-Mao said sounding shocked. “Peter is the master of knowledge, Chief Librarian. He will not be pleased to discover that you kept something like this from him,” Yi-Mao attempted to regain his vocal composure.

  Jonathon looked uneasy. “I’m sure he will be okay, he should understand. I will inform him as soon as Kara has finished her report. I will let him have a look then. It’s not that I don’t trust him; I would trust him with my life. It’s just the more people know, the more it’s harder to track if information leaks out.”

  The pair continued to talk about the Quartet and their theories on possible members. The name at the top of their list was naturally Leceth’s.

  “Well, it would make sense,” said Jonathon. “He’s certainly ascended to the head of the Council with apparent ease. He has links to Sauror; the only problem is that we have no evidence apart from the urn, no proof he knows anything about the Quartet.”

  “He is coming here on Friday. What will you do if he rebuts the evidence that Zhing gathered? Looking through it, it is far from being concrete. He could easily counter it,” replied Yi-Mao.

  “I know you’re right, I’ve thought that myself. Though, it would be nice for him to explain why his charter jet was on its way to Berlin the night that Kristian was captured. And it will be interesting to hear him explain why he had those assassins on his payroll,” said Jonathon. To him, the evidence was all too clear, but then he was biased. The evidence at face value was poor and wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny; everyone knew that, everyone except Kristian.

  “So, Kristian believes that this will be enough?” questioned Yi-Mao.

  “Well, when I told him what Zhing had found, he made it clear that he thinks we should move against Leceth. I tried to explain the politics of the situation to him, but he is very hot-headed and, understandably, didn’t care. To him, Leceth is responsible for the death of his friend,” answered Jonathon.

  The pair continued to talk about the meeting with Leceth that was planned for two days’ time. They talked about the possibility of arresting him but it was clear that unless he confessed, which they both knew was never going to happen, then an arrest was mere fantasy.

  …

  The music was at a level that was pleasant to their ears, loud enough to hear, but soft enough to speak over, just how Kristian liked it. He and Jess had been drinking for most of the afternoon and evening, going from pub to bar, they were now in a club that had several levels. The level that they were now sitting in was called ‘The Lounge.’

  They had been joined a few hours ago by the members of the Alpha Team. Jonathon had granted them all a night off, as long as they were fresh-faced at work the following day.

  Rachel could not help her drunken desire to drag everyone up onto the dance floor. She was not best pleased that they were now in the quietest part of the club. Jean and Sam were both sitting at one end of a long squishy sofa drinking pints of beer and discussing football.

  Kieran, Jess and Kristian were all squeezed onto one couch, talking about the Order and the upcoming meeting with Leceth. The chat was more along the lines of reminding Jess of the details that they had mentioned earlier in the day.

  “And so, that is the story of how the Order was formed” finished Kieran, who had rambled on in a drunken state for the last half an hour.

  Jess burst out laughing and it was not long before Kristian was laughing too. “What’s so funny? Hey, what’s funny?” Kieran asked seriously. He looked enraged by their laughing; in his drunken condition, he was sure that they were mocking him.

  Before Kieran could say anything else, Rachel came dancing over. “Come and dance with me, please?” she pleaded. She pulled on Kieran’s arm and dragged him towards the dance floor leaving Kristian and Jess in floods of laughter.

  “I have missed this,” laughed Jess as she mockingly punched Kristian in the arm.

  He immediately pounced on her and began tickling her to which she screamed loudly. Bringing her to tears, he fell back in his seat. “I’m so glad you’re back. So, what do you think of all my new friends?” Kristian shouted.

  “I like!” Jess proclaimed.

  “Good, ’cause I really like them,” Kristian replied, which was overheard by Sam and Jean who simply raised their pints and let out a cheer.

  Jess pulled Kristian down close to her. She moved towards his ear and attempted to whisper. “Have you told them yet?”

  Kristian loudly shushed her, but it was too late, the two men had heard the her.

  “Told us what?” Sam demanded.

  Jess started to giggle as she attempted to apologise to Kristian.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Kristian mumbled.

  “If it is nothing, then you can tell us,” Sam replied. Both Jean and Sam had now got up and moved down the sofa. They manoeuvred their way in between Jess and Kristian.

  “Come on, tell us,” said Jean.

  “Guys, seriously, it’s nothing,” Kristian was blushing and sweating as he tried to sound believable over Jess’s hysterical laughing.

  “Just tell them!” said Jess. Kristian lowered his face into his hands. Sam pulled them back as Jean probed again. “What is it?”

  “Okay, okay. The thing is guys, I’ve decided that I am going to stay in the Order. It’s not a big deal, okay. It just is what it is. I’m gonna stay,” Kristian said slowly and soberly.

  Sam and Jean instantly leapt into the air in jubilation. It was clear that they considered it a big deal. They started dancing on the spot, and soon Jess was up with them. With excellent timing, Rachel and Kieran reappeared and asked what they had missed.

  “Kristian is staying! He told us that he is staying for good,” Sam cheered, bouncing around.

  Rachel pushed into the middle of the group and joined in with the dancing.

  Kieran just stood there in disbelief. “You’re really staying?” he mouthed. Kristian nodded, and with that Kieran’s face broke out in a huge smile, which showed how happy he was.

  …

  - Chapter Twenty -

  Hero or Fool

  “It was clearly a mistake,” said Volvir; pale, wrinkled skin which drooped around his cheeks muffled his voice. “We have now handed the Jakyll over to the Order, who will no doubt subject him to all kinds of tests,” Volvir continued as many of the Council members struggled to hear his voice through his sagging lips.

  Many people on the Council wondered how Volvir was still a member; he had to be the oldest man alive. He was frail and weak-looking, but looks could be deceiving.

  “What else would you have us do, wizard? The Order has for too long treated us with nothing but contempt. They see us as impotent and afraid. We ensured that they rethink that view,” came the deep voice of Môn’ark Toral.

  “I am sure we’ve done little to change that view, Môn’ark. Especially as they have now demanded to meet with Leceth. Their success with the Jakyll has emboldened them,” Volvir replied.

  The Council quickly erupted into a cacophony of shouts with every member striving to put forw
ard his or her views on the matter. The Council’s order would often fall apart during meetings such as these; there had been small internal wars fought over such minor trivialities as seating arrangements.

  “Silence!” came the cold, slicing voice of Leceth, sitting at the head of the long table. All twelve members of the Council immediately fell to their seats and held their tongues. “I take full responsibility for releasing the Jakyll, and I say it was a failure.” As he spoke everybody around the table, except for Isobel, gasped.

  “A failure I intended. It was to gauge their reactions, to see how far they would go, to see how they would respond. Many of you have expressed that it would be foolish for me to bow to their wishes, that going to their sanctuary would be a sign of cowardice and stupidity. Do you know what I say to that?” The room remained silent though a few members were itching to speak. “I say to hell with what you think! I was elected as chair of this great Council for a reason. You all know that I can handle the Order! I shall meet with them, listen to them, but if any of you think I shall bow to any demand they make, you are fools. I shall return to this Council, they will not make any move upon me. They will once again respect us, my friends, this I vow, I give you my honour.” Leceth rose to some claps while others on the Council looked bemused. The most prominent member who seemed unimpressed with the speech was Volvir, who struggled to conceal his disapproval.

  “You wish to add something, Volvir?” Leceth asked as he lowered himself back into his chair.

  “Yes, go to the Order if you wish, but don’t be assured that they will not try and arrest you. I hear they have evidence linking you to the murder of one of their own,” Volvir replied.

  Leceth chuckled darkly. “I am well aware of this and in fact, I know the evidence they have. Hear me old friend when I say it is baseless and it is nothing but circumstantial.”

  “Well, regardless of that fact, you cannot take their word that they will not try to arrest you on your arrival. You cannot trust the word of a human,” said Môn’ark in his usual deep, aggressive tone.