Homecoming A Montague & Strong Detective Novel

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “You and I will have our reckoning.” Her voice was a jagged blade cutting through the air. “You will not die before that occurs. Or does the wordbond of a Montague no longer hold true?”

  Both Monty and Dex stiffened at her words.

  “We will have our reckoning,” Monty said after a pause. “You have my word.”

  I shuffled back a bit, just in case they wanted to start the reckoning right at that moment.

  “I know. Now, finish your food.”

 

 

 

  Dex stepped close and inscribed runes on Wenk’s body. He muttered something under his breath, and green flames engulfed Wenk. After a few seconds, nothing remained.

  LD traced a diagram on the floor—a rough map of the Sanctuary.

  “If I’m right, we are on the South Gallery and East Wing.” He pointed to the lower right-hand corner of his map. “This place is called Heaven and Hells.”

  “The name is apt.” Monty looked at the wall in front of us.

  “What if you’re wrong?” I looked down at his diagram.

  “When it comes to maps, I’m never wrong, ever.” LD shook his head. “My eidetic memory is flawless, and I have studied the plans of the Sanctuary more than once.”

  Dex nodded. “His brain records everything after seeing it just a single time. It has saved our lives more than once. His casting? Not so much.”

  LD glared at Dex with a smile, pointed, and continued.

  “This is your exit point. You will not, I repeat, you will not be able to leave the Sanctuary any other way. Once you are through this point, the runic neutralizer comes into play.”

  “Do you have the ice?” Dex held out his hand. A subtle green glow covered his palm. “I’ll take it now.”

  “Are you sure you want to use it?” LD glanced over at Monty. “Once you release it, there’s no going back. We won’t be there to save anyone who inhales that hell.”

  LD hesitated for a second and gestured. The black orb that appeared was surrounded by several gray orbs, each larger than the last, containing the mist in a Russian nesting doll of orbs.

  “I’m sure.” Dex extended his hand as the orb floated over to rest in the center of his palm. “This is called a last-resort weapon.”

  Dex closed his hand around the orb, and it disappeared.

  “I thought you were the last-resort weapon?” LD stepped close to the wall, tapping sections of it. “Ready?”

  Dex and Monty nodded at the same time. LD placed his hand on the wall, causing it to shimmer before it returned to its solid state.

  “It didn’t work?” I stepped up to the wall and pushed on the stone that was no longer there. LD grabbed me by the arm before I fell through the nonexistent wall.

  “Coño, hombre,” LD hissed as he pulled me back. “Do you always think with your feet?”

  “At least that time he was thinking,” Monty said and slipped into the illusion of the wall.

  “Forty-eight hours.” Dex grabbed LD by the shoulder. “If we’re not back by then, you bugger off.”

  LD nodded, and Dex stepped through the wall. I had recovered from my near fall, and TK approached.

  “Every time he uses that stick, he will give away your position. If he relies too heavily on it, it will kill him. If that happens, I will hold you personally responsible.”

  She made several gestures, touching Peaches’ collar and my bracelet.

  “What was that?”

  “Something to help you stay hidden from magical tracking. It won’t work if they actually see you.”

  “You realize Monty is just another word for reckless, wanton destruction,” I complained. “Now, I’m supposed to keep him alive?”

  “Are you his friend?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you his family?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “That is what family does. Use what Nana gave you and be his shieldbearer.” She straightened out my jacket and brushed off some of the dirt. She stepped back a few feet, giving me a nod of approval. LD gave me a thumbs-up before refocusing on the wall. “Now, off with you.”

  “Have fun storming the Sanctuary,” LD said, maintaining his focus on the wall as I stepped through with Peaches close to me.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  I FOUND MYSELF in a dimly lit corridor. Peaches nudged my leg, nearly bouncing me into a wall as we started walking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I ignored my infernal black hole and squinted in the darkness. I didn’t see Monty or Dex, and I didn’t want to start yelling out names in case Oliver had mages patrol the corridors. The air felt stale, and I couldn’t sense any ambient energy around me.

 

 

 

  We stood still and Peaches sniffed the air for a few seconds.

 

 

 

 

  “You’re not a mage,” said the female voice behind me. “What are you? How did you get in here?”

  I turned to see the slim woman dressed in what could only be described as mage goth. Her hair was cropped short, almost a buzz cut. Her muscular arms flexed as she held a sharp, angry-looking serrated blade. Her clothing was black with black highlights, accessorized with darker black. It wasn’t her fashion choices—questionable as they were—that stopped me cold.

  She looked normal, except for her hands, which were covered in black energy—oh, and the tears. She was crying black tears.

  “You’re a Negomancer.”

  She leaped at me, blade first.

  I jumped back and drew Ebonsoul in time to parry her thrust. She stepped close, pressing her body to mine.

  “Your friends are dead. Stupid mages thought they could stop me. Going to kill you too.”

  I pushed her back and dodged a slash as she retreated with a grin. She was fast and relentless. It was all I could do to keep her at bay. She circled me, a hungry wolf stalking prey.

  Peaches growled next to me but stayed back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I slid to the side and made to draw Grim Whisper. She slashed at my hand, changing my mind, and spun into a back kick, burying a foot in my side with bone-crunching accuracy.

  I gasped for air as the kick rearranged some internal organs and spots danced before my eyes. She came in again.

 

  “You were more fun than the mages, but I have to end you now.” She turned her head and locked on to Peaches. “What the hell?”

  I felt the buildup of energy behind us as she paused. She switched targets and ran for Peaches, but it was too late. He had
been inhaling for about twenty seconds, and now he let that breath out in a bark.

  I saw her ping pong against the walls as she flew a few feet down the corridor. The soundwave smacked into my chest with a thump and flung me back several feet. Immediately the corridor changed, becoming brighter.

  Ahead, I could sense Dex and Monty. I leaned against the wall and caught my breath. I touched the sides of my head to make sure I wasn’t bleeding. The high-pitched whine in both ears assured me my eardrums had been ruptured by my hellhound’s cataclysmic bark. The familiar warm flush enveloped me as my body healed itself.

 

 

 

 

 

  I stood unsteadily, using the wall for balance, and headed to where I sensed Dex and Monty.

 

 

 

 

  I stared at him for about five seconds before walking down the corridor. A green glow showed me where Dex was. From the scuffling and cursing, I assumed Monty was next to him.

  I wondered just how powerful hellhounds were. Could he kill someone with a bark? I made a mental note to do some much needed hellhound homework when I got back home. Provided we got back home.

  “She dropped on us like a pair of rank amateurs.” Dex undid a black lattice that held him in place and materialized a small sausage for Peaches, who promptly hoovered it into the cavernous pit he called a stomach. I was really beginning to believe he was bigger on the inside.

 

  “Sorry it can’t be larger. We don’t want to attract any more attention. Do we, nephew?”

  Monty sliced through his lattice with the walking stick.

  “How was I supposed to know this damned thing would give away our position?” Monty held the stick by both ends, snapped it in two, placing it on the floor next to the Negomancer. “That should get their attention.”

  “TK said that thing was dangerous,” I said, glancing down at the stick before turning to the Negomancer. “She was pretty stabby. Why didn’t she just blast me with a black orb of doom? Isn’t that what Negomancers do?”

  Dex closed his eyes. “Oliver must have dampeners in place. It’s not a complete lockdown, but close. Good thing we brought the pup. A few seconds more and she would have gutted you.”

  “Excuse me? Who was the one trapped by a lattice?”

  “Trapped? We weren’t trapped. I was merely biding my time and formulating a strategy until we could dispatch her.”

  “We walked right into a null field.” Monty looked at Dex. “If it weren’t for you and your creature, we’d still be in the midst of it… trapped. Thank you.”

  The Negomancer stirred, grabbing our attention. Peaches approached. Dex patted him on the head and moved him to one side.

 

 

  Dex placed a glowing green hand on her forehead, and she opened her eyes.

  “What’s your name, lass?”

  She lashed out with a fist. Dex deflected it and twisted it past his face. With his other hand, he locked her shoulder and forced her arm into a rotation that made me wince.

  “Oliver will take care of you,” she said, laughing hysterically. “The others will finish you.” She stopped laughing and cocked her head to one side. “I think I hear them now.”

  Dex held her fist and placed his hand on her forehead again. In less than a second, she was unconscious.

  “We need to move, now.” Monty pointed to the stairwell at the end of the corridor.

  “That leads down.” Dex shook his head. “We need to get to Connor and then the central chambers. That means going up.”

  “I know.” Monty headed down the corridors. “We can take the passage though the Living Library. That will lead us to Connor, and from there, we can enter the central chamber.”

  “Ach, the Living Library?” Dex said. “I hate that place. Bunch of stuffed shirts with too much time to ‘expound’ on matters and ‘posit’ half-baked ideas.”

  “Is that the real reason?” Monty asked as we took the stairs heading down. “Or is that fear I hear in your voice, Uncle?”

  The stairs were a wide spiral-winding affair. Every thirty feet, we encountered a landing. I think it was so whoever took the stairs didn’t get dizzy and collapse. I looked down into the center of the staircase and couldn’t see the bottom.

  “How deep do they go?” I stepped back from the railing as Peaches, squeezing by me, nearly catapulted me up and over it into thin air.

  “To the bottom of the Sanctuary. The Living Library is on the lowest level. From there, corridors connect to the rest of the Sanctuary.”

  “So are the paper dragons,” Dex muttered as we took the stairs quickly. “I swear, I’ll set them aflame if they get too close.”

  “You’ll do no such thing.” Monty gestured as we descended, activating runes on every landing. “They are priceless.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked as Monty gestured again while we passed another landing.

  “I’ll show you once we get to the library level.”

  We descended the remaining levels of the staircase in silence. Once at the bottom, Monty faced the stairs and placed his hand on the wall adjacent to the last landing.

  A rune-inscribed circle dominated the center of the staircase. Monty made sure I wasn’t standing on the circle as it rose. A cylinder of stone rose through the middle of the staircase, effectively removing the center.

  I looked up and saw that it went all the way to the top.

  “That’s nice, but the staircase is still accessible. What’s to stop them from just coming down—?”

  Monty raised a finger. “Wait.”

  The landing closest to us lifted as if on a hinge and closed against the stairwell with a crash. I heard the same sound repeated up the stairs as each landing closed off the preceding staircase. Each rune-covered landing was two feet thick and made of marble.

  “Never mind, even you would have a tough time getting through those slabs.”

  “That’s the idea. It should buy us some time to investigate the library and get to Connor.”

  “I don’t want to investigate anything.” Dex scowled. “Let’s get Connor and get out of here.”

  “We need to stop Oliver. If what Wenk said is true, we need to stop him before he consolidates his power. The other sects are in danger from his gray mages.”

  “I just hate this place.”

  Monty led us down a corridor that ended in a door twice the size of the one in the Randy Rump. I could tell it was the same material, Australian Buloke ironwood. However, this door had bands of steel running its length, in addition to being magically inscribed with runes on every inch of its surface. Some of the runes were active and remained visible. Others flashed on at intervals.

  The door stood twenty feet tall and half as wide, and it put out a serious ‘you shall not pass’ vibe when you stood in front of it.

  “Do we just knock?” I looked around at the imposing surface. “This door has seen some action.”

  Despite having obviously withstood enough bombardment to make the Danger Room in Fordey look newly renovated, most of the damage was superficial and cosmetic. I wondered what kind of firepower had been unleashed to cause even this much damage.

  “The library has never been breached.”

  “If you ask me, they should just seal it and leave it sealed forever,” Dex grumbled as Monty approached the enormous door. “Especiall
y those cursed dragons.”

  “What’s with these dragons? Why doesn’t Dex like them?”

  “When mages are novices, they’re sent here to study the older tomes.” Monty began pressing the runes on the door in sequence. “Some of the mages would try to escape their studies. Those mages, when caught—and they were always caught, would be assigned to the Kyorinrin for remedial studies.”

  “Damned paper dragons,” Dex growled. “A good torching is what they need. Then you can send the ‘Librarians’ off to a dimension for the mentally damaged.”

  “It’s been tried, more than once,” Monty said with a smile. “The Kyorinrin are the embodiment of magic, and the ‘Librarians’ are some of the most gifted mages in the history of the Sanctuary, each a master of their discipline.”

  Monty pressed one last rune and stepped back.

  “Which means?” I heard the immense locks scrape across stone as rumbling filled the area. While the door slowly swung open toward us, the scraping of metal was accompanied by the smell of old parchment and a cloud of dust.

  “It means the Kyorinrin aren’t flammable, even if they are made of paper.”

  A figure emerged from the dust. He was dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. His boots left faint impressions in the dust as he stepped forward. His sandy-brown hair was thinning on top, and he sported a goatee but no mustache.

  He held a nearly transparent orb in his hand as he squinted at us. Light blue arcs traveled around his body in random patterns. They reminded me of TK and her black arcs of anger, only these arcs seemed less lethal.

  He tossed the orb up and it followed him as he moved forward. Behind him, I heard the shuffling of paper but couldn’t make out what was creating the noise.

  “It is truly a pleasure to see you in these troubled times, Tristan, but I fear you must leave here before your presence wreaks more chaos than even we can handle.”

  He raised his hand to his forehead as if shielding his eyes from intense sunlight.

  “You heard the man, we should go.” Dex made to turn back to the spiral staircase. “Wouldn’t want to bring more chaos to his door.”

  “Pointdexter?” the man said, still squinting. “Is that you?”