I spotted Admiral Orion storming across the complex and entering one of the temporary buildings not far from me. Stealthily, I slid out from under the Humvee and made my way towards the building. I had to stop several times to hide behind a vehicle or a stack of crates as people passed. Reaching the building, I Commanded the window to open slightly so I could hear the conversation.
“You must calm down, Admiral.” I smooth voice that I didn’t recognize was speaking.
“Calm down! How could I calm down? They are amassing power at an alarming rate. You saw what that Pendragon boy can do!” The Admiral snapped at whoever was in the room.
“It is all part of the plan.” The smooth masculine voice replied. “The ring was the fourth seal, only one more to go.” Seal? Seal to what? I glanced down at my ring, wondering what all this meant.
“I suppose you’re right. I just . . . when he killed Tobias Achilles, I knew I had chosen the right side.” The general said in awe. “So much power, and he still has a seal on him.” They were talking about the strange old man.
“Your loyalty will be rewarded.” The smooth voice replied. “Where are the Pendragon boy and Le Fay girl now?” He then asked.
“We’re unsure. They disappeared during the attack.” The general replied.
“We have the Emrys boy, though, that’s something.” The smooth voice replied. My heart sputtered. Was Owen in trouble?
“Holding that boy hostage won’t do you any good.” The general snapped. “I’m telling you that no good can come from that.” Well, at least he knew that.
“We’ll draw them out. One way or another, little Team Camelot is going to die tonight.” The voice replied. I felt my blood run cold as I realized that this was a trap. They knew we were coming.
“Isn’t that right, my Queen?” The voice then called. I didn’t have time to react. Two men suddenly were on either side of me. They grabbed me even though I tried to fight them off. Walking around the building, they took me inside.
The temporary building was decorated like a large office. There were several desks grouped together. The walls were made of that cheap stuff that they put in mobile homes, and it was a hideous shade of yellow. The floors were cheap chipped linoleum. At the back of the room, in the far corner, Admiral Orion stood in front of a man sitting at a large wooden desk. That piece of furniture was so grand and decadent that it looked out of place in the cheap temporary space. The man sitting behind the desk was something I had never seen before. I didn’t recognize his magic or his energy. He had jet black hair with the tips dyed a bright turquoise blue and sticking up all around his head. He was older than me, probably in his late twenties as his face was sharp and his body was large and strong. He wore an interesting garb, both the pants and the jacket matching, looking like it was made from some sort of lizard skin, but I didn’t recognize the colors or markings. The suit was black with turquoise marbling running through it. Long sharp fangs hung over his bottom lip, where his incisors should be, and his fingers were tipped with black claws. As I stood before him, he looked up at me, his pupils were slit, like a snake, and his irises were an unnatural turquoise color. Great power poured off of him, and I knew that he was something other.
“Hello, little queen.” He smiled up at me. My terror caught in my throat, and I knew if I spoke, he would see how afraid I was. Instead, I stared at him, locking my jaw in place to look defiant.
“There’s my ring.” Orion pointed at my hand.
“It was never yours, Admiral. Your family was merely holding on to it for a while.” The strange man said and stood. He was taller than the admiral but lankier, his muscles in long cords instead of bulging out. He came around the desk to lean his rear on the front of it, sitting directly in front of me.
“She’s beautiful, look at her.” The strange man admired me, and I felt a little nauseous as his eyes moved over my body from the top of my head down to my feet and back up again.
“The deadliest creatures are.” Orion snapped. “You should just kill her while she’s a fledgling.” I glared at the Admiral.
“Die,” I Commanded, with no remorse or thought of reconsidering. The word was out of my mouth before I could even think about it. The Admiral clutched his chest, gasping for air, as the color drained from his face. His eyes began to bulge and drool dripped from his purple lips. Slowly he fell to the ground and collapsed. The strange man released a little chuckle of delight.
“Get rid of him.” He told the two men who had snatched me. They moved around me to pick up the dead admiral and drag him out of the room.
“You’d be best not to try that with me. It won’t work.” He warned. I gave him a long look, wondering if he was lying or not. I didn’t like being alone with him, but I also knew I had better odds one-on-one than with a group.
“Tell me of this place,” I said the Command. He looked over, giving me a small smile as if I impressed him.
“I don’t have to.” He replied. My test had worked. My magic really wouldn’t work on him. I had no idea why, but that wasn’t important at the moment.
“How did you find this place?” He asked, giving me a long look.
“I don’t have to answer that,” I said giving him a long daring stare. He released a small laugh and nodded his head.
“I like you, Ivy Le Fay.” He said, pointing one of his claw-tipped fingers at me.
“Why don’t you just kill me? Get it over with.” I snapped, wondering how much mortal peril I was in.
“I don’t want to kill you.” He said. “I want you to join us and to convince your Emrys counterpart to do the same.”
“And Ryker?” I asked. He gave me a long look, letting out a deep breath. Black flames came out of his nose.
“Pendragon is a problem.” He started. “Look, I know you are a rational person, so maybe you can understand. If the Pendragon could go against the Code, I might be open to recruiting him, but he never will, and you know that, don’t you?” He gave me a long look, his weird eyes boring into mine.
“How am I supposed to join something that I have no idea what it is?” I asked, changing the subject. The more information I got, the better. He looked down at the floor for a moment.
“You’re not.” He said, releasing a long sigh. “Which is sad, because in another timeline, another dimension, you could have.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. His presence made me nervous. It wasn’t his physical form, but the immense amount of magic that was clouded around him. There was no way I could take him, he could kill me in an instant.
“Let me show you around, maybe you’ll understand then.” He said, standing to his full height and offering me his arm. Stiffly, I tucked my arm inside of his, keeping as much distance between us as possible.
“I don’t even know your name,” I said as he held the door open for me.
“There are some who call me Lupev.” He replied, giving me a wide smile. His fangs glistened in the bright outdoor lights.
Lupev led me into a large metal warehouse towards the center of the base. Opening the door, he flipped on the lights showing rows and rows of large wooden crates. This was like the room Owen had described the night before underneath Admiral Orion’s house. Lupev led me down the center aisle and to a row of open crates. Inside of each of them were twenty or so guns. My heart thumped in my chest. To the side of the container, a golden mask sat on the ground. It was like the ones the Cult of Uasal wore. Was this part of the cult?
“Guns are useless,” I said, turning to Lupev. To someone who could literally tell a person to die, guns were pretty weak in comparison.
“Not to all,” Lupev replied, giving me a strange look. “Not all of us wield the powers of the universe.” He explained. I gave him a long look, trying to understand what he meant. “Look over here.” He then turned and pointed to another series of open crates. Inside a few were ammunition, but the guns weren’t the worst of it. They had crates and crates of RPG’s, bombs, and other weapons of d
estruction. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We started to walk back towards the direction we came when I spotted the top of a tank over the stacked crates. This was their armory, and this strange man was showing it to me.
“So what’s your plan here?” I asked him. My eyes spotted another gold cult mask lying on the desk in the office. It was apparent from the wide windows that separated the two rooms.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He chuckled.
“So, what? You’re just going to storm D.C. take over the country? The government? That all seems a little . . . messy.” I gave him a look of pity. “Someone’s not thinking things through.” I needed to show him that I was useful, that would ensure my mortality, while also allowing me to gain more information. Lupev let out a long deep laugh, the exertion causing him to fold in two and hold his stomach. After a moment, he started to pull himself together, wiping the tears from his eyes.
“Oh, little witch, I see now what your role is.” He chuckled. Shaking his head, he opened the door to the outside and held it open for me. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I followed him outside. “Now that you’ve seen our power, perhaps you’d like to see our resources.” Lupev started, holding out his arm for me. I looped my arm through and kept my eyes moving, trying to soak in every detail I saw. My photographic memory came in handy for situations like this. In my mind, it was like taking a photograph of the scene, where I could save the image in my memory to draw up for later analysis.
He led me into a small building that looked like a mobile home. Inside the walls were completely gutted. The large room was filled with rows and rows of tables with computer screens. People in uniforms sat at the desks with headsets. On their screens, I saw live maps of major cities, social media analysis streaming, and Mythos military operations logs. That was when I realized how deep this ran. They were the military, but they weren’t. My heart pounded in my chest as the taste of copper filled my mouth. Cold sweat spread across my back, and I worked to keep my breathing calm.
“You see, Ivy, we see everything.” He said gesturing to the computers. I was so shocked I turned to him and found myself asking,
“What is this? Tell me why you showed me this.” I demanded. My ring glowed, but the magic just bounced off of him. He smiled.
“Queen of Sorcery, how very young you are.” He started, letting out a deep sigh. I didn’t know what that meant. He led me back outside and started to walk me towards the north side of the base, the opposite side of the gate.
“We want you to join us, Ivy.” He said as we walked. I looked around at everything. I wanted to be able to draw a map of this place when I left. “We want the Emrys boy as well. What will it take to get you to come over?” Lupev asked.
“Your directness stuns me,” I replied, giving him a long look. He stopped walking and turned to face me. Leaning in his eyes filled with black flames.
“I’m not worried about you knowing about us. Your insignificance baffles me, and your naivety is annoying but keeps you from seeing the bigger picture. That was what this was about, a test to see how smart the supposed Queen of Sorcery is, and turns out, she’s actually just a dumb blonde.” I gasped, outraged at his words.
“Then why are you recruiting me?” I demanded. He grabbed my arm, dragging me towards the wall.
“You have your orders, sweetheart, and so do I.” He sneered. I fought against him, but he was much stronger than I. He had supernatural strength like the knights did. “I would have killed you from the moment you stepped onto this base if I could.” He gave me a smile like it was a compliment or something.
At the base of the wall was a series of cells built into the concrete. Owen sat to the one on the far left. The look on his face did not reflect the happiness I thought he would feel when he saw me. Instead, he looked irritated.
“What the hell are you doing here?” He demanded, gripping the bars in his hands.
“Oh, you know, just a little shopping,” I said in a sarcastic voice. What the hell did he think I was doing there? Lupev grabbed my arm and opened the cell door next to Owen’s. “What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded.
“He was easy to capture.” Lupev laughed. Owen shot him a glare.
“Wait, are you a Dark Knight?” I asked, looking up at my captor. Is this what they looked like underneath the armor?
“That’s what you call me in this world.” He nodded.
“What do they call you in your world?” I asked as he pushed me into the cell.
“Your worst nightmare.” He said, black flames igniting off of him as he slammed the door shut.
“Doubtful,” I grumbled as he walked away. I saw him take a visible breath and keep walking.
“Ivy dear, did you annoy our captor with your questions?” Owen asked.
“I got useful stuff though,” I replied.
The three walls of the cell were entirely made out of concrete. There was a cot with a pillow and a blanket, and in the other corner was a bucket. Oh, gross. Other than that the cell was completely empty.
“Why haven’t you escaped?” I asked him. He could, easily. Especially since he had already taken down the magical barriers on the wall. I felt his magic wrap around me.
“I’ve been watching.” He replied, “Also gaining useful stuff.” I could hear the mocking in his voice.
“Where’s Ryker?” He then asked.
“I have no idea.” I shrugged, sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall I shared with Owen.
“What do you mean you have no idea? You’re supposed to watch out for him.” Owen snapped. I rolled my eyes.
“He ditched me in the woods.” I retorted, “Telling me to wait in a bush while he took this place on by himself.”
“And look where that landed you,” Owen replied. I huffed, rolling my eyes.
“I’ve got the situation under control. They’re not going to kill us.” I told him.
“No, of course, they’re not. They’re the Cult of Uasal, they have an army and explosives and intelligence, they’re going to hold us as bait.” Owen snapped. I hadn’t thought of that.
“What?” I demanded.
“This isn’t an attacking force, love. Look around. This is a defending force.” Owen snapped. “They have an Emrys, the King of freaking Knights, and Morgana’s granddaughter? We just walked straight into a battle.”
“Oh no! And Ryker is going to call this in, you know he will.” My protocol following knight is going to play right into their hands.
“If he hasn’t already,” Owen grumbled.
“Luckily our phones were ruined in the crash,” I said. Owen was silent for a moment.
“I’ll ask about that later.” He said. I heard him stand, so I did the same. “For Ryker to call it in, he’ll have to steal a radio.” He thought out loud.
“The communications center is at the front, near the gate,” I said, remembering the building full of radios and other gadgets of communication.
“Alright, stay here.” He said and then walked out of the cell without opening the door. He crouched and ran around the side. Within a moment, he was out of my sight. I hit the bars in frustration.
Was I useless? Was Ryker right? He had apologized and said his words weren’t true, but they still rattled around in my head. Especially when this is the first time the three of us had been in a perilous situation, and they left me behind, the both of them. It hurt to know that I was more of a vulnerability than an asset. Maybe I should make a portal home and wait for them there. They would be better off without me.
My gut clenched at the thought. I felt wrong just to think that way. At least the universe believed in me. Inhaling a deep breath, I took a moment to pull myself out of my pity party. Now wasn’t the time. Stretching my neck and shoulders, I prepared for what I was about to do. I wasn’t great with outward magic, casting spells, or magically defending myself. These were all of my weaknesses. So what could I do? Comparing myself to Owen was pointless because we were different, had d
ifferent magic, and were different people. I needed to understand how I contributed.
Going to the bars, I pressed my face against them, trying to see my surroundings as best I could. My ring didn’t work on the other magical creatures in this base, but not all people had command of the universe, as Lupev had said. If this were a defending force, it would be pretty hard to hold the base if there were no people. I’d start with the wall, taking out the eyes in the sky. That way, as I worked my way through that portion of the base, no one would be able to spot me. Pressing the side of my face against the bars, I spotted a ladder. At the moment, I didn’t understand my magic enough to just will everyone to sleep. I had to do this one at a time.
To prepare, I conjured a black hooded sweatshirt and covered my hair. My hair was so bright that it would reflect off of the light. I also Commanded myself to be silent, so my footsteps and breath wouldn’t make any noise. That was something I had experimented with the night before. I should be tired, exhausted even, but I was too wound up. I conjured one of those energy shots, just for a little more focus.
Carefully, I opened the cell door and went to the ladder. I thought about just Commanding them to die, but I figured Ryker wouldn’t like that, so I’d just Command them to go to sleep. Reaching the top of the wall, a guard stood facing outside of the wall right in front of me.
“Sleep,” I said, pointing to him. The ring glowed, and he slowly collapsed to the side. I took his gun and threw it over the wall. Then I took his I.D. card and his hand pistol, just in case.
This could work; I just needed to keep focused. I wasn’t going to be a detriment any more. Ryker and Owen meant more than anyone else in this world to me, but they were going to understand my worth as well. Turning to the right, I stalked towards the next guard on the wall.
Master of Magic Page 10