The shroud fell into place.
Conryu flew toward Lady Dragon, no longer worried about what her spells might do to him.
Lady Dragon raised her scepter.
Light gathered at the tip and exploded in a blinding flash. Within the protection of the cowl he felt no discomfort, but the glare blocked his view.
He waved his hand and it vanished, just in time for him to watch her vanish into a portal. The glowing disk disappeared, leaving him alone in the sky.
Conryu silently cursed the Society as he let his spell fade away. He descended through the hole in the roof and found the other one gone as well. She hadn’t been trying to win, only keep him busy while her flunkies retrieved his prisoner.
“Damn them all!” He kicked a box and sent it flying across the room.
“It could be worse, Master,” Prime said.
“How?”
“She might have killed you.”
He stared at his scholomantic for a moment then barked a humorless laugh. “You’ve got me there, pal. Let’s tie these nuts up and get back to the hotel. If the powers that be have any more jobs, they can get someone else to handle them.”
12
Epilogue
Dozens of cars and buses surrounded the hotel when he returned. Just as Jemma said, it appeared the entire Kingdom government had set up shop there. He landed outside the entrance and after a glaring contest with a pair of soldiers on guard duty was let in.
A sea of people, most of them dressed in uniforms or suits, filled the lobby. All the bodies had been cleared and temporary tables loaded with computers brought in. The drone of voices put his teeth on edge. Ten feet from the door he found Grant waiting, his formerly crisp uniform now wrinkled and sweat stained. Looked like he’d seen a bit of action.
“Welcome back, sir.”
“Grant. You’re looking a little worse for the wear. You okay?”
“Perfectly, sir. Let me take a moment to say how sorry I am. I fear as a bodyguard I was an abject failure.”
“Don’t take it too hard. Having regular soldiers try to protect wizards that can fly and travel through portals isn’t the best idea. Have you seen Jemma? I’ve got some news for her, not much of it good.”
“Jemma, sir?”
Conryu forced himself not to laugh at Grant’s expression. “Director Simpson of the Ministry of Magic. Never mind, I see her.”
Jemma was pacing and waving her arms at a pair of women in matching red robes. Conryu wove his way around the various stations that had been set up and waited for her to notice him. It didn’t take long.
She waved her subordinates away and they ran off before she changed her mind. “What news, Conryu?”
He gave her the short version of his encounter at the warehouse. When he finished he said, “I’m sorry about your people.”
Her expression grew cloudy for a moment, but it passed quickly. “They won’t be the only members of the Ministry mourned today. I’ll send someone over straight away to collect your prisoners. You have my most sincere thanks for everything you’ve done. Ninety percent of the fighting was wrapped up minutes after you broke their backs at Parliament and the Ministry building. We should have the city under control by the end of the day.”
“That’s good. Sorry about the second dragon mane. Maybe it’ll get tired halfway across the ocean and drown.”
“We can only hope. I’m sure you must be tired. Your friends are still upstairs. Please consider your day’s work complete.” She held out her hand and he shook it. “The Kingdom owes you a great debt, Conryu. We won’t forget what you’ve done here.”
He nodded and made his way to the elevators. Noon hadn’t even arrived and he felt like he’d been fighting for days. The door slid open and he stepped in. Grant made a move to join him, but Conryu held up a hand. “How about we call it good? I’m just going to spend the rest of the day hanging out with my friends.”
Grant smiled. “Fair enough, sir. Good luck to you.”
They shook hands and Conryu rode up on his own. When he reached the second-to-last floor and left the elevator it came as a pleasant surprise to find all the bodies removed from the hall. It appeared someone had been busy.
Maria sat talking with her parents when he arrived. Sonja was still sound asleep and off to one side Jonny and Kelsie had a card game going. Of the other survivors there was no sign. Hopefully they’d been reunited with their families.
Mr. Kane spotted him first and waved him over to the bed. “Good to see you’re okay, Conryu.”
Conryu choked back the first reply that came to mind. Mr. Kane couldn’t have known he was sending Conryu into a war zone. It was just bad luck that things had turned out the way they did. “Likewise. How bad was it?”
Mr. Kane looked away then back. “Bad. You and Crystal got lucky. The others all lost at least one member of their family. Two of the girls on the Australian team lost both parents. It was an absolute bloodbath. I wish there was something we could do for them, but our time in the Kingdom is up. We’re heading home tomorrow.”
Conryu was happy to hear it. His time as a media figure couldn’t end fast enough. Hopefully the Department would let him beg off even joining the team next year, though it would be nice to visit the Empire of the Rising Sun which was due to host the tournament next year.
That night, Conryu’s sleep was troubled by nightmares, most of them featuring women in masks torturing him. No great surprise there. When he woke up for the third time, the sun was just peeking out from between a pair of still-smoking skyscrapers. He couldn’t see any point in trying to get back to sleep so he climbed out of bed, dressed, and finished packing. Their flight left at nine that morning, so he didn’t have a lot of time to fool around.
At seven he rode the elevator to the lobby and found Maria waiting off to one side away from the others who had come down to meet the bus. She sat at the same table where he’d told her about Heather. Somehow the similarity did nothing to reassure him.
“What are we going to do?” Maria asked as soon as he sat down. “She tried to kill me once, what’s to keep her from trying again?”
“After Heather testifies, there’s no way Malice will try anything else. She’d be the first one the police looked at. She might be evil, but she’s not stupid. Did you tell your parents?”
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Are you crazy? Who knows what she might do if Dad raises a stink? He’d lose his job at the very least. And Mom… No, no. We’ll keep this between you and me for now.”
Conryu wanted to argue that it might be better if her parents heard about it from her rather than from a detective, but he wasn’t inclined to argue with her. “If that’s your call, I’ll follow your lead. I’ll maybe have a little talk with Malice before we leave. I doubt it’ll do much good, but I’ve got to try.”
She leaned across and kissed his cheek. “I know. Just don’t do anything crazy.”
He grinned. “Who, me?”
“Yeah, you.” She gave him a better kiss.
More people had gathered in the lobby while they were talking so they went to join them. Maria broke away to stand beside her parents while Conryu hung back and looked for Malice.
Ten minutes before they were due to leave she emerged from one of the elevators, her two toadies alongside. Conryu gritted his teeth and marched over to talk to her. He hated this sort of thing, but damned if he was going to let her try to kill Maria and not say anything.
He stopped dead in her path and looked from one flunky to the other. “Get lost. I need to talk to your boss.”
The two women glared at him and didn’t so much as flinch.
He turned his attention to Malice. “Do you want to discuss this in front of them?”
“Discuss what?” Malice asked, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
“Heather James, and an unfortunate near accident. We had a long chat and she’ll be having another one with the authorities in Central when we get home.”
Malice barked a laugh and motioned for Thing One and Thing Two to run along. When they’d moved out of hearing distance she said, “I am the authority in Central. I assure you anything that pathetic whore has to say will fall on deaf ears. Now get out of my way.”
She took a step, but Conryu didn’t move. “If her words don’t impress you then listen to me. If anything happens to Maria, it will be the last thing you ever do in this world. I don’t care who you are or how many friends you have in high places. They won’t be enough to protect you.”
Malice just shook her head. “We both know you don’t have the stomach to kill me. Don’t make threats you can’t carry out. It’s pitiful.”
“Oh, it’s not me that’s going to come for you. Kai.”
She had half a moment of confusion before the black blade of Kai’s sword slid around her neck and rested against the wrinkled skin.
“I’ve made some new friends this year. The one holding your worthless life in her hands is Kai. And while you’re right about my distaste for killing, I assure you she has no such compunction. I’m going to say this once more, slowly, so you’re sure to understand. Stay away from Maria, her parents, my parents, and my other friends. If anything happens to any of them I’m holding you responsible. One word from me and you’re dead. Understand?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. A nod sent Kai back to the borderlands before he turned and walked away. Hopefully the hag would take the hint and leave them all alone.
In the council chamber of the Society’s home base, Lady Dragon sat at the head of the table with Ladies Wolf, Bear, and Lion looking fixedly at the two fragments of the elf artifact sitting side by side, their jagged ends not quite touching. It had been a simple thing to remove the tracking spell the Ministry put on their half.
Lady Tiger remained unable to join them as she was still in a light magic healing field. According to Lady Bear, the weapon used to inflict the wound in her shoulder also created a barrier to magical healing so her recovery was proceeding at a snail’s pace.
“Why did we even bother to bring Lady Tiger back?” Lady Wolf asked. “She already demonstrated her incompetence, surely we’d be better off finishing her and elevating one of our other members in her place.”
“Our Sub-Hierarchs have been decimated and of the regular members, none even come close to Lady Tiger’s power,” Lady Dragon said. “Despite her failings, we still need her to complete our task. It will take all of us working together to repair the artifact.
A moment of silent contemplation passed then Lady Bear asked, “Mistress, what does the device do?”
Lady Dragon gave her a sharp look.
“Not that I don’t trust your judgement,” Lady Bear hastened to add. “But I’m sure we’re all curious to know now that we have both pieces.”
“I should have thought that would be obvious to everyone,” Lady Dragon said. “What keeps us from rescuing Morgana? Or for that matter what keeps our mistress from blasting her way out of her prison?”
“Magic doesn’t work on The Lonely Rock,” Lady Wolf said.
“Exactly.” Lady Dragon chose to ignore her subordinate’s less than respectful tone. “Or perhaps more precisely the tiny portals we open when we draw on the magical realms’ energy refuse to open on the island. The artifact we’ve gone to so much trouble to recover is a mobile portal. It can be aligned to a single element and an aligned wizard can draw power through it.”
A gasp went around the table as the others realized what that meant.
“I can’t begin to imagine why the elves had need of such a device,” Lady Dragon continued. “Perhaps on their world such magic dead zones were more common, a horrifying thought if ever there was one. Whatever their reasons for creating it, the artifact will allow us to finally rescue Morgana. And once she’s free, let the world tremble.”
Author Notes
So we’ve come to the end of our most recent story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Only one book left and with the sinister LeFay Society on the verge of completing their dark plans you can be sure things are only going to get worse for Conryu and the gang in the final book. I hope you’ll join me next time for the final installment of The Aegis of Merlin Series.
Thanks for reading,
James E. Wisher
Also by James E Wisher
The Aegis of Merlin:
The Impossible Wizard
The Awakening
The Chimera Jar
The Raven’s Shadow
Escape From the Dragon Czar
Wrath of the Dragon Czar
The Four Nations Tournament
Death Incarnate
Soul Force Saga
Disciples of the Horned One Trilogy:
Darkness Rising
Raging Sea and Trembling Earth
Harvest of Souls
Other Fantasy Novels:
Death and Honor Omnibus
The Squire
About the Author
James E. Wisher is a writer of science fiction and Fantasy novels. He’s been writing since high school and reading everything he could get his hands on for as long as he can remember. This is his seventeenth novel.
To learn more:
www.jamesewisher.com
[email protected]
The Four Nations Tournament Page 18