by Sean Stone
When I’d told Agatha about the dullahan she hadn’t asked a single question. Any normal person would have asked what one was, or if they already knew, why somebody might send one after me. They might ask how I’d managed to defeat it. But Agatha had not asked a single question. And, she’d distracted me by making me look at that grubby little man in the pub. She’d kept my attention on the stranger for long enough to spike my drink with a deadly potion. A potion that Jeremy had not encountered before. If anybody was capable of concocting their own strain of poison it was the Potions Mistress of the Hall of Wizardry.
‘Why?’ I asked, truly confused. I’d always got the impression that Agatha was on my side. Other than Jeremy, she was the last person I’d expected to turn on me.
‘Why? Why?! You ask me why? After everything you’ve done you have the audacity to stand there with a straight face and ask me why?’ she said in absolute incredulity, spittle flying from her mouth with every furious word she spoke. Her face darkened and took on a red complexion.
‘Everything I’ve done?’ I repeated in confusion.
‘I defended you, Graves. Time and again when this council wanted to discipline you for various perceived insults, I defended you and talked them down. I did that because despite your utter disregard for our rules, customs, and traditions, I always believed that your intentions were good. But then you went too far. Insulting this institution was one thing, but laying your hands on an Elder and daring to impersonate him. Possessing his body. Who do you think you are?’
I was taken aback by the wrath flying my way. I never knew the older lady had it in her. Even Marcus and Paul were staring at their colleague in awed surprise.
‘Everything I did was to try and protect this city fr—’
‘Working for Dorian Gray protects this city how? Sangford needs protecting from him!’ shouted Agatha.
‘To be fair, this city has done pretty well under Dorian,’ Drew said calmly. Agatha turned her frosty gaze on him. ‘I’m not defending him, I’m just saying the trouble started after you lot decided to oppose him. Not before.’
‘Andrew, you have always respected the sanctity of this institution. I implore you, although this man is your nephew, step away from him. Let him answer for his actions alone.’
‘He already answered for his actions,’ my uncle replied.
‘That hearing was inconclusive,’ said Marcus. ‘Jacob was to stand before the Prime, but that never actually happened, did it?’
‘Well, actually I did stand before him,’ I said honestly. I just happened to get into a fight with him rather than answer for what I’d done.
‘Enough of this,’ Agatha said briskly. She snatched her hands from the table and began walking around it to join Marcus, Drew, and me. ‘You came here to challenge the person who tried to kill you. Well, that person is me and I accept your challenge Jacob Graves. Any weapons you have must be placed on the table. There will be no Nocult weapons used in this duel. Magic only.’
I had no idea how she knew I had weapons on me, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue with her. She’d tried to kill me twice and I was certainly going to make her answer for that. She wasn’t the person I’d come to face, but she was the one I was facing now.
I reached behind me and removed the golden gun from its holster. I walked over to the long table where Paul was still sitting looking totally miffed by the entire situation. ‘Watch this for me, will you?’ I asked, as I placed my weapon before him. He looked at me but said nothing. I couldn’t tell if he was amused by me or intrigued. Maybe both. I pulled out my knives and placed them on the table too. Next I surrendered the little pouch of shurikens. I considered putting the extendable spear down too, but there was a small chance they might not give the weapons back and I kind of liked it. It was my favourite.
‘Hold on,’ Marcus said quietly. ‘He challenged me. Not you.’
‘He was mistaken. And you have another task to attend to. Do you not?’
Marcus glared at his colleague, clearly wanting to argue with her. ‘It won’t take me long to deal with Graves.’ He spoke about me as if I wasn’t standing right by him.
‘We cannot allow him to distract us from our plan. For all we know that is exactly why Dorian has sent him in here.’
‘What plan?’ I asked.
Agatha sighed in exhaustion at me. ‘This is not a James Bond movie, Jacob. I am not going to waste valuable time explaining our plans to you before I kill you. Marcus, go to the tunnels and lead our people to victory.’
‘What tunnels?’ Drew asked.
‘Fine,’ Marcus growled before turning to me. ‘If by some miracle you manage to survive this and I see you out there in the fight, I will take great pleasure in killing you myself.’
‘Or maybe I’ll just possess you again and use you to kill your own people,’ I goaded, shooting him a sickly sweet smile. With a final grunt, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. I guessed I was right, the Elders did have a plan up their sleeves.
The doors slammed behind Marcus. Agatha and I locked eyes. Slowly we backed away from one another, clearing a large enough space for us to duel.
‘It must be strange having to try and kill me to my face rather than sneaking around in the shadows,’ I said, fully aware of the irony of what I was saying. I made a living out of killing people from the shadows. Sometimes at least, other times I was paid to kill people more openly.
‘Shall we dispense with the small talk?’ Agatha raised a hand but before she could complete whatever action she was starting a massive blast of gunfire cut her off. I threw up a shield hastily to defend against the bullet, but I needn’t have bothered. Agatha’s head whipped to the side and a trail of blood leaked down from her temple. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as her body fell and crashed dead on the stone floor.
‘Where the hell is your honour?’ Drew shouted. I hadn’t done anything.
I turned and saw that he was shouting not at me, but at Paul. Paul was now standing behind the Elder’s table, my gun in his outstretched hand. ‘Honour has no place in war,’ Paul replied flatly. ‘Kill your enemy by any means necessary.’
‘You’re Dorian’s spy,’ I said. I would’ve realised sooner but I’d been so preoccupied I’d forgotten Dorian even had a spy on the council. Agatha and Paul had been my candidates and with Agatha’s recent actions that ruled her out.
‘What’s this about tunnels?’ Drew demanded, forgetting that mere seconds ago he was furious with Paul for his lack of honour.
‘There are secret tunnels that lead to a connected building not far from here. Marcus is leading our people through them so he can surround Dorian’s people and defeat them.’
‘And you didn’t think to warn Dorian?’ I asked.
‘Of course I did,’ Paul said in exhaustion. ‘That’s why Dorian has the police outside and very few of his Orchids. Once Marcus attacks, the Orchids will then surround them and the Hall’s members will be sandwiched between the police and the Orchids. The battle will be over long before the sun rises.’
‘It’s going to be a slaughter,’ I mumbled to myself.
‘Indeed. Speaking of which, isn’t there somewhere you need to be?’ Paul tossed the gun through the air and I caught it.
‘Where’s Magraval?’ I asked as I slipped the gun back into its holster. I crossed the room to the table where I started returning all my weapons to their rightful places.
‘No idea. But I imagine he’ll turn up once the fighting starts.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Maintain my cover. Dorian’s plan might fail and if that happens he’ll still need a man on the inside. I take it I don’t have to warn you not to out me?’
‘Of course not,’ I replied.
‘I won’t out you,’ Drew said, his tone oozing disgust. ‘But I never want anything to do with you again. Come on, Jacob. We’ve got a job to do.’
Drew strode purposefully toward the door. I gave Paul a small nod of appreciation
and then followed my uncle. The Elders were dealt with. Now it was time to kill Magraval. Wherever, and whoever, he might be.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Knowing that all of the members of the Hall were elsewhere only added to the building’s eeriness. It was like being in a school after all the kids had gone home. It was an odd thought that the Elder’s Council had been reduced to just three members. By the end of the night it would likely be one. Paul alone would be responsible for rebuilding the institution. If Dorian allowed him to. With Magraval, Marcus, and Agatha out of the picture there was no reason Jeremy couldn’t return. He could help restore the Hall to the symbol of pride it had once been — not that I remembered those days. But I had a sneaking suspicion Dorian would instead have the order wiped from existence to set an example for anybody else who might think about rising against him.
‘If Dorian’s plan was to weaken me before the fight with Magraval then his spy just scuppered that,’ I said, as we marched through the corridors.
‘Either you were wrong about him wanting you weakened, or Paul just seriously pissed off his boss.’
‘Dorian must have known there was a chance Marcus would invite me inside rather than coming out himself. Especially with that show of force. I don’t understand any of this,’ I said in frustration.
‘Maybe he didn’t want you weakened, he just wanted you out of the way.’
‘Then how can I kill Magraval?’
‘Maybe he doesn’t want to take out Magraval,’ Drew said. We both stopped abruptly and turned to face each other.
‘Why would he not want to take out Magraval? Everything he’s done so far has been to defeat Magraval.’
My uncle shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Nothing about sending you in here makes any sense.’ Drew resumed walking and approached the door that led to the lobby. I followed. ‘We cannot worry about any of that right now. The job is to kill Magraval and thankfully, we still have all our strength to do it. We can solve the riddle that is Dorian’s scheme later. Right now let’s be grateful we’ve been so lucky and let’s concentrate on getting our job done.’
‘My job,’ I said quietly as I walked behind my uncle.
‘What’s that?’ He began turning my way.
’Somdur,’ I said quickly before he could finish turning. The spell hit him before he knew it was coming and he fell back into the brick wall as sleep started to claim him.
‘Jac…’ He was trying desperately to fight the spell and to his credit he was doing a blinding job. But he didn’t have the magic he needed to beat my power. With every second that passed sleep stole more of his mind and slowly he began to slide down the wall. His eyebrows knitted together in anger at my betrayal.
‘I’m sorry, Drew. You don’t have the power you need to help me against Magraval. I’d be distracted the whole time by trying to keep you safe. And frankly, I don’t think you have it in you to kill him.’
‘He… killed my… son,’ he forced the words out as he reached the floor and his eyelids dropped completely.
‘No, Drew. He is your son.’
I didn’t want to leave my uncle anywhere without some form of protection, but of all the places to leave him the Hall was the safest. As of yet, Drew was not officially recognised as an enemy of the Hall. He’d been loyal to the institution his entire life and I believed that counted for something. Nobody was in the building anyway and by the time the battle was over and they came back, Drew would be awake and long gone. And I’d have the displeasure of dealing with his wrath. If I was still alive that was.
I stood up and entered the lobby. It was just as empty as before. My footsteps rebounded around the room noisily as I crossed it. The doors did not open of their own accord at my approach and I had to heave the things open on my own. It felt as if they were actively trying to resist me, as if the building did not want me to leave. But I opened them all the same and stepped outside into the night where the battle was already well underway.
It had gone exactly as Paul had said it would. Marcus had attacked the police officers, and Orchids that had been placed there, from either side of the street penning them in. Then the main bulk of the Orchids had emerged from their hiding places and attacked the Hall’s members from either end of the street. The Hall’s soldiers were now locked in with enemies all around them. The police seemed to be getting the worst of it because despite the reinforcements that greatly outnumbered the Hall’s fighters, the police officers were still wedged right in the middle with no way out. Spells, bullets, fists, boots, and a variety of other weapons were being used against one another. It was, in a word, chaos.
Dorian was no longer on the street. He was now standing on the flat roof of the only building on the opposite side of the street, a tatty old souvenir shop with a crumbling old flat above it. He had a small number of Orchids around him, but Simon was down below leading the charge against Marcus and the Hall. I wondered who would win if the two of them were to come face to face.
Dorian looked down at me and I could just make out the narrowing of his eyes, but his expression was unreadable from this distance. He held my gaze for a moment before returning his attention to the fight below. I wondered if he expected me to muck in and get my hands dirty. I didn’t want to waste my strength on this riff-raff, I needed to conserve my energy for Magraval. I’d already told Dorian, I wanted no part in his war.
Marcus opened his mouth and something unintelligible flew out. Next, a whirlpool of fire spun out around him and consumed the enemies who had surrounded him. The fire didn’t stop there, it spread outward seizing fighters where they stood. Marcus controlled the fire making sure that his own people were spared from its burning fury. Simon’s mouth dropped open in surprise and he began shoving his way through the throngs of people to try and stop the Elder. Orchids and police officers dropped like flies unable to defend themselves against Marcus’ attack.
Dorian stepped forward to the edge of the roof and stared down in disdain at the inferno below. The immortal’s gaze lifted to me and I knew that he was silently ordering me to enter the fray. I was going to have to get involved at some point if only to fight my way out of there.
‘Butio!’ I said as I descended the stairs. I aimed my spell at the road and the concrete exploded upwards sending the people standing on it flying in all directions. A woman ran toward me, her hands glowing with hot power. ’Sinair,’ I said quickly, setting the woman ablaze. She screamed as the orange flames engulfed her and then she ran away into the crowd, presumably to die.
I reached the road where the battle was thickest and several people were stupid enough to come at me. I took each of them down with a different spell. Drew always taught me to keep my arsenal varied so the enemy couldn’t form a decent defence. If they don’t know what you’re going to hit them with then they can’t counter it quite as well.
Dorian’s Orchids were still maintaining the upper hand. They held the better position and had the Hall’s fighters blocked in. Until they didn’t.
I felt it before I saw it. A tingling down my spine. A disturbance in the air. It was almost like the atmosphere wobbled. I turned and saw the circle of green open up behind the Orchids at one end of the street. They all felt it too and many of them turned in time to see the arrival of the Prime Wizard. Sadly, Simon was at the opposite end of the street and there was no way he was going to be able to force his way through the entire battle. He still hadn’t managed to make it to Marcus. I couldn’t count on any help from him.
Magraval stepped through the portal, adjusting the cuff links on his shirt as if he was James Bond. He was dressed impeccably in a black suit with a simple purple tie. His glamour was in place and his inhuman eyes shone with silver light. I suspected that his eyes increased in brightness the more power he had harvested from his victims. There was no way he hadn’t consumed plenty of energy before this fight. I’d siphoned as much energy as I could handle and I fully intended to harvest a whole lot more.
Neil stepped out of t
he portal behind him looking far more sheepish than his master. His hair was a filthy mess and one side of his face was heavily bruised. I assumed Magraval had punished him for his failures. Dragging the kid into this battle was likely further punishment since he knew Neil wouldn’t be able to contribute much.
The portal closed behind them and about five Orchids rushed at the Prime at once. Idiots. With a single swipe of his hand and a few muttered words all those advancing exploded into fragmented flesh that tumbled down to the ground. Nobody else moved toward the newcomer, but that didn’t stop him from coming for them. Magraval moved with ferocious speed, blasting Orchids to pieces and melting flesh from bones. His attacks were savage, brutish with no real finesse. But they got the job done.
‘Hey!’ I screamed, drawing Magraval’s attention my way. He stopped walking and his silver eyes met mine. His lips curled in a slight smile as we greeted each other across the battlefield. He raised both arms, opening them wide, inviting me to come for him. He didn’t need to tell me twice. I began pushing through the crowd to get to him, blasting people out of my way. He had no intention of waiting for me. He shoved his way forward too, throwing even his own people aside in his haste to meet me. When we finally reached one another, no words were exchanged. Only magic.
We each unleashed a spell with the full force of our power and the results were catastrophic for everybody in the immediate vicinity. His spell hit mine equidistantly between us and unleashed a shockwave of magic that ripped everybody in the area off their feet and sent them flying to the ground hard, including Magraval and me. I rushed back to my feet, ignoring the pain that tore down my left-hand side. Magraval rose with me and the two of us faced each other once again. Those around us that could get back up did so and then hurried away from the fight. They’d tasted what being in the fallout zone was like and they had no desire for a second helping.