Chapter 34
I stood atop a small hill, alone, searching the horizon for the CCS agents who were coming for me. Stars and moons shone in the sky, and the flame trees lit the forest floor like hundreds of bonfires. Millhook and Alex waited at the base of the hill in plain sight. Exposed out in the open, I was in as vulnerable a position as I could be in, which also meant it was the least threatening. It would make it difficult for Gareth to make a move and have it appear justified.
“They’re near,” Alex shouted back to me. He had waited in his panther form until he could smell and hear them. Now he stood as a human, which for a shifter, meant he was just as unthreatening and vulnerable as I was. We would appeal to the CCS’s more benevolent side. I had to believe Calista would not condone the killing of harmless civilians, which was what Alex and Millhook were. For the time being, I was the only person at risk, and I wanted to keep it that way.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, summoning all of my fortitude to face what approached. My magic hummed, warm and ready, but I wouldn’t be using it. For this battle, I would rely on my mind. As calm and collected as I could expect to be, I opened my eyes and saw the CCS party approaching, Calista, Thaddeus, and Gareth in the lead. Behind them I could make out Lilibet and Kellan. I was acquainted with a few of the agents who followed, such as Talina, but I didn’t know all of them. Priya was an analyst, unfit for this type of work, and Darian was out in the field, something I was grateful for. Having him watch this unfold would only make it more difficult.
When they saw me, I noticed Calista spoke to those behind her. What orders did she give? I couldn’t tell, although everyone was braced for a fight.
In the mage culture, raising one’s hands in the air was not a way to demonstrate surrender. In the human world, it was done to show that your hands didn’t carry a weapon, but in a world of magic, such gestures held no meaning. However, Kellan was with them. He might know what it meant. With nothing to lose, I slowly raised my hands into the air, hoping that they would interpret it correctly. At the very least, it would be hard to take it as an act of aggression.
I kept my eyes on Gareth, looking for any sign that he was about to attack. Calista held up both her hands to the side, signaling the agents not to take action. If Gareth were to attack now, it would only lend credence to the story Millhook had told Calista.
“I mean you no harm,” I called out, keeping my voice firm and loud but not aggressive. “I only have Millhook and Alex with me, and they’re here for moral support. Alex is in his human form. Before anything else, I want a chance to tell my story.”
The group came to a stop at the base of the hill. There were a dozen of them in total, quite a large group for just me. Gareth must really have them scared. I could tell he wanted to speak, but as the other main player in this drama, he couldn’t do so without casting doubt on himself. Luckily for him, a CCS agent did his work for him.
“And how are we supposed to trust you? You already attacked Lilibet. How do we know this isn’t some plan to trap us?” I didn’t recognize the agent who spoke.
Given how I joined the CCS, my reputation preceded me. Almost everyone at the CCS knew who I was, but I didn’t know them. Not many liked me on principle alone. A latent mage admitted to the most prestigious covert operation in our world—I was an easy target for suspicion and hatred.
“I’m willing to hand my talisman over to Millhook. He will keep it while I speak so you know I can’t harm you.”
“But you’re a pidge. Do you even need that talisman to do magic?” Talina yelled.
I had wondered if that would be the conclusion Lilibet came to. “It’s true, I am a pidge. But my strength comes from the magic contained in my talisman.” I looked Calista straight in the eyes. “Millhook has served the Council faithfully. He has never betrayed your trust. He will keep my talisman safe while I speak, which will ensure your safety. Is this acceptable to you?”
Calista looked to Millhook and back to me. “Yes, that is agreeable. However, I hope you know me well enough by now to know that we did not come here to kill you but to take you back to the Citadel. Our numbers are only for our own protection.”
“I do know that, but I have reason to doubt my safety in the Citadel. As Millhook told you, Councilor Gareth is a mole for the Directorate. I believe if I go with you, he will kill me. I don’t know how this will end today, but I at least want to tell my story, to explain myself to all of you.”
Now I’d made it even harder for Gareth to take action. I unclasped the chain that held the amber talisman around my neck. I felt naked without its familiar weight. Feeling my father’s magic withdraw from me was a physical ache, but I knew Millhook would keep it safe. When he had it, he didn’t return to the base of the hill. Instead, he stopped halfway down. If all went well, I’d be wearing my talisman again soon enough.
I faced the group, my head held high. “I have lost your trust, and I understand why. The only thing I can do about that is tell you the truth. Right before Casper died, he told me there was a mole in the Council. I didn’t know if it was a Councilor or a high-level official at the Citadel or just someone who had incredible access, but I knew there was a traitor. Please believe me when I tell you that every decision I made from that point forward was to make sure the mole didn’t get the information they needed to destroy the CCS. I only just found out that the mole was Gareth. It all made sense.”
“Gareth didn’t have access to the CCS until after the trials were rigged,” Thaddeus said.
“Not directly, no. But he did have access. I know one theory you were investigating was the possibility of there being golem magic at play. There was.”
“Do you know who?” Calista asked.
“Yes, the golem was Kellan.” Shock and then pain twisted Kellan’s face. He lived and breathed the CCS. It would crush him to know he had caused its downfall. I could at least spare him the details of how I knew it was him, that his weakness was me and that the Directorate had exploited it. “The golem doesn’t know what they’re doing, and they don’t have memory of ever doing it. Gareth had Kellan sabotage the trials as his golem. That way he could gain access to me and to the CCS. I gave him legitimate access to the one part of the Citadel that had been off-limits to him. Then, he planted that device in my room to keep any suspicion off of himself. He knew I was digging around. He needed to buy himself some time.”
“That sounds far-fetched. The same could be said of you. That explosion gained you sympathy.” I didn’t need to see the speaker to know it was Kellan. I recognized his voice even with the uncharacteristic anger in it.
“I know this all sounds unbelievable, but I’m telling the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t admit this next part. I wanted a list of CCS personnel to use process of elimination to determine who the mole was. Kellan, acting as the golem, helped me get it. He looked at the entire list before handing it to me. Because of that, Gareth could reproduce it.”
The shock I expected to see was missing, which meant Gareth had told them I gave a list of personnel to the Director.
“I learned how to teleport and snuck into section five to study golem magic. That’s what led me to the conclusion that Kellan was the golem. The other night, in section five, I saw someone pass a coded message out of the window. It was a meeting place and time. Lilibet walked in on me just as I decoded it. I only had minutes. I knew if I ported out of the Citadel I wouldn’t be able to get back in since I don’t have a charm, and I knew it would expose me to Lilibet, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out who the mole was and who they were communicating with. So I bound her and left. I wish there was another way, Lilibet, I never meant to hurt you or betray you.” I sought her out in the group, but her face gave away nothing.
“I ported to the meeting and saw Gareth hand over the list of personnel to the head of the Directorate. The Director instructed him to get knowledge from me about my mother’s work.”
“Why should we believe you, a pidge, over C
ouncilor Gareth? He’s worked at the Citadel longer than most of us,” a woman I didn’t know said. The other agents nodded along.
“I didn’t know I was a pidge until I researched my mother. I grew up in total ignorance of the fact that I was a mage. I knew nothing of magic or Elustria until Alex delivered my talisman to me after my mother’s death. Meglana’s family knew I was a pidge, but kept it a secret due to the shame surrounding it. I’ve tried to find out more about what exactly a pidge is, but I know only the basics. I discovered at my trials that I can teleport. I only moved about a foot, but it was enough to keep me from dying. Under the intense stress, that power revealed itself. Since then, I’ve learned to use and control it, but so far, that’s the only difference I can tell between myself and a regular mage.”
“Why couldn’t you tell us all this before?” Calista asked. “There’s a stigma around pidges, but I would have thought you could trust us with the truth. Even if you were concerned about the information getting to the Directorate, there’s no intelligence value in your being a pidge.”
“I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to ask questions about my father. The Council knows that my mother placed my spark into my talisman, but that’s not why it’s abnormally powerful.” I took a deep breath, half-expecting they’d kill me as soon as I revealed the truth. “What I’ve kept secret to ensure the Directorate didn’t find out, is that Meglana stole my father’s magic and put it into this talisman, killing him in the process.”
Gasps came from the group of agents and rage entered Calista’s eyes as I had never seen before. Wands glowed, and I hurried to explain.
“Please, it horrified me too. When I found out, I struggled with what to do. I have claim to the talisman since it holds my magic, but I hated knowing that my father died for it. I wanted to give it to his family, but the only way to do that would be to admit that mages can steal a sorcerer’s magic. We all know that can’t happen. Besides, my father would’ve wanted me to have it.”
“Oh, so having never met the man, you’re an expert at what he would want,” an agent sneered.
“Yes, I am. The talisman retains his memories. I’m able to see what he saw and feel what he felt. He wanted me to have this talisman. He wanted me to use my magic to destroy my mother’s work. He loved me the same way any parent loves a child.”
“Do you have access to Meglana’s memories through the talisman?” Calista asked, hope visible on her face.
“No, it doesn’t have her memories because her magic isn’t in it. I can only access my father’s memories as well as my own from the time I’ve worn the talisman.”
“So that means everything you read of Meglana’s,” Thaddeus said, cutting straight to the point.
“Yes, I can recall any page of her notes and read it again. It’s all there. I couldn’t tell you before because I don’t want anyone to know how to do what she did. And even though I trust the Council and I trust the CCS, I knew there was a mole. I couldn’t risk this knowledge getting into the wrong hands, and no hands are the right hands when it comes to this. I stand by my decision.”
Time to see if the CCS would stand by me.
Chapter 35
“Thank you for your honesty, Kat. We appreciate it, and I hope you can appreciate that this matter requires further reflection. In the meantime”—she looked at a CCS agent beside her—“take Councilor Gareth into custody. We’ll be taking both in for further questioning and debriefing.”
Thaddeus approached the hill. “Kat, I see no reason to bind you if you’re willing to come without resisting.”
This was it. It was the best outcome I could’ve expected. At least they were taking Gareth in as well. Could I trust I’d make it out of the Citadel alive? Calista and Thaddeus were smart people. They would see the truth in my words.
“Don’t tell me you believe that lying pidge over me,” Gareth yelled. “I’ve served the Council my entire life. How dare you insinuate that I would be disloyal?” Once he finished spewing venom at Calista and Thaddeus, he turned pure hatred onto me. He raised his wand, but six CCS agents attacked him at once, disarming him and binding him. Without my talisman, I was vulnerable, but this had been an exercise in trust. I needed to follow it through.
“Yes, I’ll come willingly, but I ask that Millhook and Alex come with me to serve as my advocates.”
“Very well,” Thaddeus said. Before he could take another step toward the hill, a cloaked figure flew into our midst.
The Director. He shot a spell before any of us could react. It hit Gareth, killing him instantly.
Who would be next? With that kind of power, he could kill us all in a matter of minutes. I reached out my hand toward Millhook and summoned my talisman. It locked around my neck and the magic surged through me, almost as if it activated the sorcerer magic in my blood.
My colleagues jumped into action, half of them performing offensive spells while the other half provided a shield for defense. The Director countered, his back to me. I conjured a fireball and hurled it at him, but somehow the Director had known. A wave of water consumed the fire and rushed toward me. I formed a boulder in front of me in time for the wave to crash into it then dismissed it. A rock so close that could explode was a dangerous liability.
Thaddeus didn’t bother drawing his wand. He came out ahead of the others as if prepared to sacrifice himself to save his agents. I switched tactics and shielded him. I made eye contact with Lilibet, and she nodded. I felt her magic bumping up against my shield and I let it in, both of us guarding Thaddeus with as much strength as we had.
The Director fired off a pulse of energy strong enough to push Thaddeus back. It didn’t penetrate our shield, but it shook me to my core. Lilibet, who worked only with her own magic and not a sorcerer’s, didn’t fare as well. She lay on the ground, stunned.
The Director didn’t hold a wand, and his cloak hid his talisman. Disarming him wasn’t feasible. At least the CCS kept him occupied enough that he couldn’t attack with lethal force, but a few agents had taken hits. This was a game of stamina.
I threw cords at his wrists, hoping to break his casting for a second to give us a chance to take an advantage. The cords had barely wrapped around him when they dropped to the ground, my magical control of them gone.
The Director looked between me and the others. It was me he wanted. I held out my hands.
“Come and get me.” I could only hope that by taking his focus away from the others they could more effectively attack.
The Director threw up a shield and jumped with magical agility to the top of the hill, directly in front of me. He reached out, his cloak obscuring his features. If I survived, I wouldn’t even be able to give a description to the others. The identity of the Director would remain a secret.
He thrust one hand onto my forehead and the other over my talisman. The stone reacted, burning the Director’s hand. I could feel the Director pulling out the memories and absorbing them. Except, I still had the memories too. He wasn’t taking them from me, he was copying them. Dizziness overwhelmed me. My magic was disoriented in a way I hadn’t experienced before.
The amber talisman glowed, fighting off this intrusion for me. Somehow the light from the amber stone grew so strong it pierced the magical cloak and illuminated the face in front of me.
A face I recognized.
“Marguerite?”
How could it be? At the same time, it made a strange sort of sense, and I had no problem believing my eyes. Her mouth twisted into a cruel smile as she narrowed her eyes and sucked the memories from me with more intensity.
“You never even suspected, did you? What a fine CCS agent you are. It never occurred to you that quiet little Aunt Marguerite could be someone important. All those chats we had, all that time wasted trying to get close to you when all I needed were these memories. And now that I have them, I don’t need you at all.”
She had betrayed me, had pretended to be my friend, had convinced me we could be a family. Rage we
lled up inside of me and burst forth through the talisman. With one last ferocious push I blasted her with the entire force of my magic, and she flew backward. When she landed, she moved quickly, aided by magic. All I saw was the black streak of her cloak flying out behind her as she fled.
I collapsed. My skin burned where she had touched me. I thought I had known betrayal before, but now I lay on the ground broken by it.
Chapter 36
After Marguerite left, a weird silence remained, pierced only by the groans of the fallen CCS agents. Shock more than pain kept me on the ground. The revelation that the head of the Directorate was my aunt Marguerite overwhelmed everything in my brain, preventing the pain of my wounds from penetrating my consciousness.
“Did we lose anyone?” Thaddeus shouted as he looked around the group.
“No, sir. Everyone’s accounted for, but we do have a few injuries,” Kellan replied.
“We need to get them back to the Citadel for treatment,” Thaddeus ordered.
“Millhook, would you mind porting them for us?” Calista asked.
“Might as well port us all. Save some time and some walkin’.”
Alex knelt down in front of me. “Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
I looked up at him, and his breath hissed between his teeth at the sight of the burn marks on my forehead and chest. “Kat’s injured too!” Alex called out to the others.
I wished we could go back to Millhook’s house, that I could rest on the bed and Alex could heal me as he did before. All I wanted was sleep. I had been going for too long. I had sustained too many injuries. How long ago had the attack from Gareth been? It seemed like a lifetime in light of everything that had just happened.
Magic Betrayed (The Elustria Chronicles: Magic Born Book 3) Page 16