Law of Shadows, page 31
I squeal and hold tightly onto the car's panic handle. “This is madness!” The tachometer rises quickly to over eighty miles per hour. “You have no idea what's behind that concealed entrance!”
“The elders wouldn't have done what they did if it poses a risk. Surely, one of them must’ve made sure that we don't drive into a wall.” Cecilia joins her sister and together they laugh like two maniacs. “That's what an elder is supposed to do. To boldly lead the younger generations to glory!”
“More like to their doom!” I call out and watch as other cars disappear inside the hill.
Tina turns the wheel to take the dirt road and our car leaves the asphalt. The motor goes nuts and the car is sent airborne. Then we land hard on the road's grit. Someone on the truck bed screams and introduces me to a few new curses. A few moments later, we pass through the ledge and I brace myself for impact. But nothing happens.
Instead, the ledge turns out to be a hallucination.
We pass through a zone which seems like a maze of mirrors and then our view is replaced by a totally different scene. I already expected that, but I wasn't too sure on what we might find behind the concealed entrance. We drive into a huge hall. It is at least the size of a football field and the ceiling is twenty metres above us.
There are five cornerstones which enclose a huge magical circle. Various people are tending to the ritual in small groups or alone. They look as if we've taken them by surprise since I can't identify any organized defence. The bus with the elders rams the first cornerstone of the large magic circle and I realize that the whole hall houses a single, large ritual. Even the walls are engraved with symbols.
Several of Gavin's people run around the area like frightened chickens. One of them happens to be right in front of us, but instead of stepping onto the break Tina accelerates further and hits the man. He is catapulted upwards and breaks my side of the front window before he passes over the car.
I thought that we would watch Gavin's demise from afar instead of going to the front-lines. There are hundreds of other people who can fight Gavin's puny clan. We are a thousand people against less than fifty.
Noticing the opportunity, Tina spins the wheel and causes the whole car to drift sideways. We plough through a group of opponents and are stopped by crashing into one of the other five cornerstones, breaking it.
I let out a sigh of relief and open the door, ready to fight. The first opponent tries to jump me before I can even get out of the car. He reaches out to grab me. A hand appears from above and its fingers dig into the man's eye sockets, holding directly onto his skull. Then he is whipped out of my field of view. Seeing that there are three more people getting back to their feet, I decide to cast directly from inside the car.
Instead of getting out, I draw a deep breath and guide the magic up my throat. Then I breathe out and simultaneously gather energy between my hands. Blue flames shoot at our opponents. One of the three is set on fire, while the other two got up in time to erect their barriers. I shoot the fireball at the second enemy and erect my own shields to protect myself against the explosion.
Most barriers are configured to absorb energy, so I always set my fireballs to explode before impact. The idea is to deal damage by blunt, physical force.
My target, a woman, is sent flying by the explosion. The whole car rocks from the force of my spell. She lands more than twenty metres away, right between our arriving allies. I write her off and turn my attention to the third opponent who is readying a spell of his own.
A horribly twisted body is flung at him from above me. The body impacts his barrier, but it does nothing more than to startle him. I recognize the body as the man who was so ungraciously yanked out of my field of view.
Then the man's barrier shatters and Tina appears right behind him. Her hand sprouts from his chest, dyed in blood. He stares with wide eyes at the cause of his death. His own, erratically beating heart is held right in front of his eyes.
Tina pulls her hand back out and he topples over.
Magnus's angry face appears from above the car's roof. He looks at me accusingly. “I thought we were supposed to watch! Not take down half of the enemies ourselves!” His eyes wander to a spot behind me. “Where is Cecilia?”
I turn around to find out that my mother is gone. “Oh, no. She must've run off to catch Gavin by herself!”
Tina points at an inconspicuous door at the far end of the hall. “She went that way.”
I get out of the car and search for more opponents, but there is nothing to do. Our people completely overwhelmed the enemy. There are still more cars coming through the entrance and the elders are already advancing trough the same door which Tina indicated.
Without thinking, I follow Tina who is already pursuing my mother.
“Not again! Stop running towards the danger! Women!” Magnus's enraged voice follows me, but I couldn't care less at the moment. I have the strange urge to be at my mother's side in her time of need. There are so many Old Ones with us that somebody should be able to take care of the ritual. Those things aren't my speciality anyway.
I nonetheless have a strange feeling of dread about the entire situation. It's true that there is a lot of energy in this place. The air practically vibrates with power, but the circle on the floor doesn't seem to be active. “Are we already too late?”
Tina shakes her head. “I don't know.”
We reach the simple door and force our way into a long corridor. There are several rooms to the left and the right. I recognize the setup as the same basic design of the living area in the compound. I lived there most of my life, so it takes me just one glance to know where to go.
“Follow me. Gavin's private quarters must be in that direction.” I overtake Tina and choose the left corridor upon reaching the first split. We encounter one of the elders who is watching over two beaten women and a child, but he seems to have things under control.
Since there are others directly on our heels, I continue on.
At last, I arrive in Gavin's private area. Like in the previous compound, he claimed several rooms for himself. I recognize the design and his peculiar taste in interior decorations. There are vases of all time periods and cultures everywhere. Screams alert me to a commotion in Gavin's study, so I rush to the door and step inside.
Inside, I find utter chaos. The room is a mess and it doesn't take a genius to see that someone fought in here. I sigh in relief when I see that Cecilia is alright. Annia took a liking to our mother, so I doubt that she would've taken it well if something happened to her.
Though, Mom most certainly had more dignified days in her life. She is screaming in rage and holding something bloody in her right hand. All I can see, is a piece of flesh and cloth. What's making the situation so humiliating for her, is that she is being restrained by four elders. One for each arm and each leg, and it still seems like they are having trouble holding her.
Magnus enters the room. He surveys the scene until he notices Gavin. “Holy shit!”
My attention wanders to Gavin. He is surrounded by three elders, but they don't have to do anything to restrain him. Seeing his wound, I also doubt that Gavin will be going anywhere any time soon. He is lying on his side with both hands between his legs. Both knees are pulled up to his chest and there is a rather large puddle of blood spreading under him.
I eye the magical circle on the room's floor with dread. It's clearly some sort of control matrix for the large one back in the hall. It also has no power.
Gavin moans, “You are already too late. Whatever you do, you can't stop it. We completed the ritual hours ago.”
One of the elders kicks him. “We have you, and you will answer for your crimes against our people.”
“Give him to me! That maniac deserves worse than you have in store for him!” Cecilia screams and her eyes flash red. She is totally out of control.
Tina rushes to her side and tries to calm her down, but that doesn't seem to be easy. “It's okay, Sis. I am sure they'll allow you to rip off a few more pieces before they execute him.”
One of the elders snorts. “Execution is too nice. The best punishment might be to lock him in a room with her.” His hands slip and Cecilia uses the chance to throw the bloody piece of flesh at Gavin. He is totally unresponsive when it flops against his forehead.
His earlier self-confidence is suddenly gone when he gets a good look at Cecilia's projectile. He moans in pain and rolls over. I have to admit that Cecilia got him good when I recognize the meaty thing on the floor.
That's when the ground suddenly starts shaking.
Magnus grabs my shoulder. “I don't know about you, but I don't want to be underground when Yellowstone blows up!”
43. ~Return~
“One leads. The others follow.”
A memory of the Old Ones.
Yellowstone National Park
Magnus
The earthquake ebbs off and everyone draws a collective breath. Nobody was sure what to expect. Personally, I prepared myself for the ceiling to come down. Luckily, it seems like the park isn't going to blow up right this moment.
Sely shakes her head. “But shouldn't this facility be safe? I can't believe that Gavin didn't protect this base against earthquakes and other disasters. His intention was to wait out the end of the world. On top of everything, he intended to blow up Yellowstone right in front of his door.” She looks around. “Please tell me that someone knows a spell against erupting supervulcanoes.”
One of the elders snorts and points at the metal inlays on the ground. They form Gavin's control circuit. “That's a very complicated spell to form a doorway between two places. Normally, such spells aren't a problem. But this one opens two connected doorways far away from the actual ritual. I guess that they opened one doorway under Yellowstone and another much deeper down inside the earth. The result is clear. The magma from deeper down towards the earth's core is hotter and under more pressure. It's pushed through the doorway and heats up the volcanic activities under Yellowstone.”
I am amazed at the more or less scientific explanation. The impression I had of the elders is shattered. For some reason I thought that they spend all their time in a cave and only come out to see their children play. Or to punish the naughty ones. Please don't tell me that this guy is over twelve thousand and still has interest in the world! Does he spend all his time at the university?
The elder shakes his head like a sad teacher who has bad news for his students. “If it has been going on for months, then there is no way to reverse the damage over night. If we repair the circle and open another doorway, we just add to the problem. And even if we create a doorway that allows the magma to flow into the ocean, we might destabilize the volcano and set it off much earlier.”
Tina stops her attempts at comforting Cecilia. “Isn't it our duty to do our best in order to undo the damage? One of our own did this! What if this idiocy really causes another ice age? It would be the end of human society.”
And we would have to say goodbye to all the comfortable things which humans create.
No, I am quite sure that I can store some humans away. If I wait out the ice age and release them afterwards, they'll repopulate the world like mice. I purse my lips and pull Sely towards the door. “That's all well and good, but we damaged this place quite a bit with our battle. I don't trust this structure. Especially not if Gavin had the time to meddle with it before Cecilia reached him.”
Another elder grumbles, “The young one is right. We have to set up a completely new circle anyway. Manipulating the existing circle is much too dangerous. We would never be sure that there aren't some booby-traps against unauthorised use. Checking the whole circle would take more time than making a new one. If several clans pool their people who have sufficient skill, we can be done within a day.”
The ground rumbles again and this time I don't wait any longer. I shoulder Sely in a fireman's carry and hurry out of the door. “Hey!” She struggles, but I ignore it and walk quickly back towards the exit. The others join us. At least they don't think that I am overreacting.
“Let me down! I can walk by myself,” Sely protests.
I squeeze that nice ass of hers. “Just if you promise me to walk away from danger.”
She slaps my back and I let her down. The earth shakes twice more before we are back at the car and outside of Gavin's facility. I am quite thankful that this didn't turn into a cliché last second escape. Cecilia is still fuming, but at least the elders have released her. Gavin and his men are in shackles. They don't pose any danger right now, so we wait for the elders to give new instructions.
Sely is still angry about my behaviour when Tina returns with news from the elders. “A few of us will stay here and dismantle the base. The clans which are living in this area are also doing their best to set up a second ritual in order to release some pressure from the magma chamber. It might not prevent the eruption because the volcano is already destabilized, but it might lessen the effects. Instead of a full blown ice age, we might only face a few very hard winters.” She further explains that Gavin’s first and second wife were also rescued. One of the elders verified that they are also under mind control. They were handed over to their relatives.
Sely reaches up and pulls at my cheek. “Why are you grinning like an idiot. We are facing the possible end of human civilisation!”
I clear my throat. “I just thought about how wonderful it would be to have a colder climate.”
She coughs. “Isn't your territory cold enough!?”
Actually, it's not. “It has become steadily warmer and has snowed less and less within the last three decades. Thirty years ago, I never had to worry about a ski-run with deep snow. Nowadays, I've to go really high up into the mountains to have perfect snow conditions.”
“You own your personal ski-resort on a damn glacier!” she complains, but the earth shakes again and I steady her by holding onto her arms. Seems like she isn't very experienced with force magic. At least she isn't using it to compensate for the earthquakes.
Cecilia is still moody, but her curiosity gets the better of her. “What's skiing?”
Tina makes a dismissive gesture. “Oh, that's a fairly new sport. Do you remember the mad mountain-men who went on pilgrimages despite seasons? They walked through the snow on large, wooden boards. Nowadays, people do that for fun.”
Cecilia nods. “Of course I remember. They said that it would bring them closer to their god. I never objected it. Some broke their necks on such a tour, they came indeed closer to their god.”
I snort and try to get into our stolen car, but Tina beats me to the driver's wheel. “Women get the-”
“I know,” I interrupt her and take the truck bed. Tina’s guards join me soon afterwards. The elders take the bus with their prisoners and Gavin. I notice Cecilia's longing gaze. Seems like she is fixated on taking her revenge. I am sure that Tina will arrange some private minutes with Gavin for her sister.
It takes our little army a while to return to where we started from. Once there, we are greeted by the army. The humans might react slowly, but our little parade caused enough attention. Then I remember that the U.S.A. are under martial law and just recently lost their president in a tragic accident. So I shouldn't be surprised that the town with our doorway back home is under siege.
The military brought everything. Helicopters, jets, tanks, soldiers. I already want to suggest to glamour ourselves and go in on foot, but the elders seem to have other ideas. Their bus brightens with a white barrier and they plough right through a tank which was blocking the road. The vehicle is pushed aside like a toy.
“Are they serious!? What about a good relationship with the humans!?” I call out and hurry to help the guards raising a barrier around our car. It's not surprising that the human soldiers are pissed off. Bullets impact our shield a few moments later.
One of the guards laughs. “I think the elders are more concerned about Gavin's dealings with the fae, than with being delayed by humans.”
We follow the elders who do a good job in freeing the road of any obstacles. Armoured vehicles are simply pushed aside or flipped over as soon as they get into view. The elders don't believe in half measures.
I feel my heart skip a beat when a fighter jet comes in low and shoots a rocket at the convoy. Someone deflects the rocket while force magic lashes out at the jet. From a human perspective, the jet was brought down by invisible forces. Afterwards, the military commanders decide that an organized retreat is the best option.
The civilians already know us, so they wisely hide in their houses when the convoy stops in front of the small shop. In the end, we return to Atlantis in the same way in which we appeared. Quickly and without a trace.
Well, except for a lot of damaged cars and destroyed military equipment. I hope that the pilot got out in time. Not that I care about his life, but killing humans would be hard to explain in a press conference at home.
I am quite glad when we approach my house in Atlantis, though my ecstasy about returning home is quickly diminished when we step through the thick underbrush. Eleven people are making camp in front of my house. Five women, six men and one boy who looks like he is fourteen. I scowl at their sight and prepare myself for a fight.
Sely stiffens at my side when one of the men approaches us. He surprises me by throwing himself onto his hands and knees. “Lord Magnus? We offer our loyalty to the clan Bathomeus.”
I am so baffled that I only stare at him. What's wrong with these guys? Who would just leave their own clan and family to join another clan? Especially a black box like the Bathomeus! Where is the camera? I am sure that this is some sort of sham.
Sely clears her throat and tugs at my sleeve. “They are former Hammons.”
