The Chimera Jar: The Aegis of Merlin Book 3 Read online

  Prime glared once more at the pixie and landed on his desk, open to the page he needed. It took the better part of an hour for him to copy the three pages of Infernal along with the images. His drawings weren’t as nice as the originals, but they got the idea across.

  Satisfied with his efforts Conryu stood up and headed for the door. He paused when he reached for the handle and turned back. “I trust you two will behave yourselves while I’m gone.”

  Prime slammed himself shut on the table while the pixie transformed into wind and blew out of his room. So much the better if they weren’t in there alone. Conryu stepped out into the hall and shut the door. It was like trying to keep a pair of angry feral cats apart with those two. They’d only known each other for a day and already seemed to hate one another. Didn’t he have enough to worry about?

  He put that minor annoyance aside and headed toward Mrs. Lenore’s room. It was convenient for him that his teacher was also the dark magic dorm supervisor. She had the center room so no one could claim she played favorites by being closer to one side or the other. He had a hard time imagining that was an issue, but then again he’d heard of stupider things.

  Conryu knocked and a moment later Mrs. Lenore opened the door. She’d traded her black robes for soft pink pajamas that draped over a slim, but still curvy figure. He was so surprised he took a step back. Mrs. Lenore slammed the door in his face.

  A few seconds later it opened again and she’d thrown her robe over the pajamas. Her cheeks were bright red and she refused to meet his gaze. “Conryu. Can I help you with something?”

  Probably best not to mention the PJs. “Yeah. Mrs. Umbra had an idea about the combination magic thing. Is this a good time to talk?”

  “Of course, of course, come in.” She stepped aside and he went in.

  Her room was identical to his, except for some extra decorations. A pair of pink bunny slippers that were a perfect match for the pajamas peeked out from under her bed. He couldn’t restrain a smile.

  Mrs. Lenore noticed where he was looking, hurried over, and kicked the slippers out of sight. “What did she have to say?”

  “Right.” Conryu handed her his copied notes. “She thought fusion magic might be the solution to our problem.”

  She’d barely started looking at the pages when something whistled in the bathroom. “Damn it! My tea.”

  “I’ll get it.” He started for the bathroom door.

  “No!” She stumbled in her rush to block him.

  Conryu didn’t know what to do when Mrs. Lenore fell right towards him and in his moment of hesitation their feet tangled up and they ended up in a heap on the floor.

  She lifted her head up out of his crotch and offered a shaky smile. “This isn’t going very well, is it?”

  “Not very. Why don’t I sit on the bed and when you’re ready we can talk?”

  “That’s an excellent idea.”

  They separated and regained a modest amount of decorum. Conryu sat on the edge of the bed while Mrs. Lenore disappeared into the bathroom to deal with the whistling teapot. Why there was a whistling teapot in her bathroom was a subject he didn’t want to explore.

  A short while later she emerged with a steaming mug. “I’d offer you a drink, but I only have the one cup.”

  “That’s fine. I don’t like tea anyway. So, about fusion magic. Do you think that would work?”

  She sat beside him and spread out the pages he brought. “I won’t lie, I’m not at all familiar with this sort of magic. I’ve never taught it or even seen it performed. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work, but the ritual is so far outside my area of expertise…” She shrugged.

  “That’s cool. Like you said, I can probably do the final on my own, I was just thinking since we don’t have the right number of girls for five-member teams this might be a way for the two odd ones out to work with me. Maybe it would be best to go with six-person teams and me alone.”

  “No, it won’t be.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “Six is too many for such inexperienced wizards. Some of the girls have the skill to pull it off. I think I might go with one group of six and one of five, but that still leaves one girl out.”

  “I think Kelsie would be willing to work with me on the fusion magic. What do you say I ask her and if she says yes, we give it a try?”

  “Can I keep these notes? If it’s not too complex I should be able to figure it out in short order, at least enough to help you two. Make sure you tell her she’ll have to learn circle casting along with fusion magic so it’ll be extra work.”

  “Will do, thanks. I’ll go try and hunt up Kelsie.” Conryu started for the door then turned back. “By the way, those are cool slippers.”

  Mrs. Lenore pointed at the door, but the hint of a smile played around her lips.

  Kelsie didn’t have a room of her own. She stayed in a group room with the other freshmen girls on the opposite end of the floor from his suite. This could be awkward if all twelve of his classmates were around. Well, there was nothing for it.

  He left Mrs. Lenore’s room and made the short walk down to the… barracks? That didn’t seem like the right word. Quarters maybe? He sighed and quit trying to distract himself. Going to the girls’ room was perfectly innocent and nothing to be concerned about.

  Conryu gathered himself outside the door and knocked. A minute later a glowering blond who’d never introduced herself to him opened the door. At least she still had her robe on.

  “What?”

  “I was looking for Kelsie.”

  “Why?”

  He was half a breath from telling her it was none of her business when Kelsie rushed up to the door. “Conryu. This is a surprise. What brings you here so late?”

  He was pretty sure it wasn’t that late, but that was beside the point. “I have a proposition for you. Got a minute?”

  “Sure, we were just practicing circle casting. Let’s take a walk.”

  They left the still-frowning blond behind and headed back toward his room. He didn’t say anything until they were halfway there.

  “So I was talking to Mrs. Lenore and we’ve come up with an idea that will let me team up with someone for the final. It’s called fusion casting.”

  “Never heard of it.”

  Conryu held his door open for her then closed it behind them. “Basically it does just what it sounds like. One person fuses their power to another’s to create a more powerful whole. I haven’t gotten too heavily into the details yet, but if you’re interested I thought we might team up for the final.”

  “Absolutely!” Her enthusiasm surprised him for half a second before she added, “If I team up with you there’s no way I can fail.”

  “Before you get too excited I have to tell you that you’ll also have to study circle casting. This will make extra work for you.”

  She waved a hand. “That’s fine. One of the things my mom taught me is how to spot a sure thing. You and anything to do with dark magic is a sure thing. I’m in.”

  “Cool. I’ll tell Mrs. Lenore and we can figure out a practice schedule.”

  2

  Sunday at School

  The rest of the first week went by in a hurry. He divided his time between practicing with Prime and with Kelsie. He could now cover both himself and the scholomantic in a Cloak of Darkness. Mrs. Umbra had them working on a calling spell that would bring Prime to him through a dark portal if they were separated. That trick made the Cloak of Darkness seem like child’s play.

  When his day off finally arrived it had been a total relief until he remembered he had to visit Angus. Now Conryu found himself approaching the door to the office where they stuck the professor during his visits. The halls were silent in this part of the school, especially on a Sunday.

  The office was a little space, barely big enough for the professor and his desk, much less a spare chair and Conryu. It smelled faintly of ammonia and was at the opposite end of the floor from the administrative area. He secretly suspected the so-called offi
ce was actually a converted storage closet. Not that he blamed the staff for sticking Angus in a hole in the wall as far from them as they could manage without putting him outside.

  The door was open and Conryu poked his head in. “Any news?”

  Angus looked up from the book he’d been reading. “Nothing from Chief Kane.”

  “Cool. See you next week.”

  “Please, can’t you give me just a minute of your time?”

  The professor sounded so depressed Conryu stepped into the room. “What is it?”

  “Is there nothing I can say to impress upon you how important it is for your story to be told?”

  “You don’t care about my story. You talk about how you’re this big expert, but you don’t know shit about wizards, male or female. All you have is a stupid theory that I had the misfortune to prove partially possible and now you’ve latched on to me like a tapeworm in hopes of making a buck and getting your good name back.” Conryu was panting and his face burned. He shouldn’t have said anything, but he’d been wanting to get that off his chest for a while.

  “Do you really believe that?” Angus sounded genuinely hurt.

  “Is there some reason I shouldn’t?”

  “Come in and sit down.” Angus sounded as old as he looked. “Maybe I should tell you my story.”

  Conryu hesitated then went in. Stupid curiosity. He should just leave, but now he had to know. He squeezed himself into the tiny room and sat on the little plastic chair.

  “When I was a boy in Scotland I wasn’t the strongest or healthiest, so I spent most of my time at the little library in our village. I think I was twelve when I stumbled on a story about Arthur and Merlin. The wizard fascinated me, haunted me even. I read everything I could find about him and when I ran out of books I went online and did more research. Everything about him was labeled fiction, but I wondered.”

  “Wondered what?”

  “If everyone knew male wizards were impossible, why did someone bother to make up such a character, even for a work of fiction? And it wasn’t just Merlin. Many other books featured a male wizard as a character. Why, if it was impossible? I couldn’t stop pondering the question. I devoted my life to trying to tease out the answer and I came to one inescapable conclusion: all the male wizards, of which Merlin was the first, were patterned after a real person. I based my efforts around that premise and was roundly mocked, even losing my professorship over it. Then you come along and prove that my theory isn’t impossible.”

  “Lucky me.”

  “No, lucky me. Don’t you understand? If I can figure out how you came to be it might prove the rest of my theory, that Merlin’s spirit lingered after death and influenced your birth. I don’t know how to prove it, but I have to.” Angus’s eyes almost glowed with strength of his obsession.

  Conryu got up and shook his head. “That’s a great story, but your fantasy doesn’t interest me. I’m stuck being a wizard. I’ve made peace with that, more or less. What I’m not willing to be is a research subject. All the teachers already send weekly updates to the Department. I suppose I can be grateful they didn’t want to dissect me. I’d thank them for that, but I don’t want to give them any ideas. I need to go.”

  He stood up and headed out, leaving the silently staring professor behind.

  Conryu stalked through the quiet halls in a foul mood. How dare the professor expect him to validate a theory he didn’t believe in or understand? The old man’s obsession was his problem, not Conryu’s. He badly wanted to punch something, but knocking a hole in the wall wouldn’t do any good.

  He looked around again, but found himself alone in the hall. He took a deep breath and did the first movement of the most basic kata. He worked his way through it, remembering his father’s advice and letting the anger flow out of him with each breath.

  Angus and his crazy ideas were beyond his influence, just like having to come to this school was beyond his influence. As his body moved through the familiar forms he came to understand that what really made him angry wasn’t Angus, but his lack of control, the world’s complete indifference to what he wanted.

  Once the reason became clear the tension melted away. Instead of fighting he needed to accept his situation. His anger wouldn’t change anything. He needed to forget about the future and focus on the moment. If circumstances required him to learn to be a wizard, he’d be the best damn wizard they’d ever seen. After he graduated he could put that all aside and do what he wanted. No one would have any claim on him beyond those he allowed.

  He finished the last movement and sighed, his mind clear and focused for maybe the first time since he arrived at this school. He continued down the hall at a quick walk. Maria was probably wondering where he was. His meetings with Angus usually only lasted a minute or two.

  He found her pacing in the entryway, arms crossed and scowling. “Sorry I’m late.” He leapt down the last four steps.

  She stopped and turned to face him. “What took you so long?”

  “Angus wanted to tell me his life story and like an idiot I agreed to listen. Kind of pitiful actually.”

  “So do you know what the dark magic final will be yet?”

  “Circle casting. Not for me though. Naturally my power doesn’t allow me to do the same thing as the rest of the people in my class. I have to do something called fusion magic. Kelsie and I are teaming up for the final.”

  “You and Kelsie, huh?”

  “Yeah. Remember, no getting jealous. So what about your final?”

  “The whole second semester is focused on healing with the final being the construction of a healing ward around a badly injured animal. If it lives we pass, otherwise we fail.”

  “Ouch, poor critter.” She swatted him on the arm. “Hey! I didn’t mean yours, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck with the girl that failed the midterm.”

  “Don’t worry, Corrie’s not going to have to take the final. Once she failed the midterm she was downgraded to basic instruction only. All she’ll learn from now on are the simplest universal spells with no further testing.”

  “Geez, that’s rough.”

  “Yeah, but the theory is if she can’t manage the first-year midterm then she doesn’t have much hope of learning more advanced techniques. There were seven other girls from the remaining classes that got downgraded with her, so at least Corrie isn’t on her own.” Maria cocked her head as if listening to something he couldn’t hear. “I’m late for alchemy. See you for dinner?”

  “You bet.”

  She kissed him on the cheek and trotted off. One of the older students must have sent a wind spirit to fetch her. Conryu watched her until she was out of sight, enjoying the hints of her figure visible under the flowing white robe. He stretched and yawned. He hadn’t spoken to Sonja or the other girls from the golem club so he had no idea if they were still planning to meet up.

  He headed for the door. The easiest thing would be to go over and find out for himself. If they were there, great, if not, well, he’d deal with that when he had to.

  They needed to make the robes thicker, or maybe add a fur liner in the winter. Conryu shivered as he quick-stepped down a narrow path through the snowy grounds toward the club’s workshop. On days like this he especially missed home. Being right on the ocean Sentinel City never got this cold. Hopefully Sonja would have the shed all heated up when he arrived.

  “Do you ever get cold?” He had Prime tucked under one arm like a football.

  “No, Master. Demons are much more durable than mortals. Only magical cold causes me any discomfort.”

  “Lucky you.”

  As he walked he kept his head on a swivel. Everyone was holed up inside where it was warm so if someone wanted to try something this would be an ideal time. He hadn’t been attacked in months, not that he was complaining, but he also doubted the people that wanted him dead had simply given up. Every day that went by without an event made him even more nervous.

  “Shit!”

  The shed was closed
up tight, no steam rose from the roof, and no tracks marred the snow in front of the door. Where was everyone? He scratched his head and began to retrace his steps.

  Why had he imagined anyone would be there in the first place? The Brawl had come and gone, so they didn’t really have anything to work towards. Maybe he’d been foolish to think someone would let him know, but he found it annoying all the same.

  He had only gone a few paces when an explosion shook the ground. It wasn’t coming from nearby and he dismissed the notion of an attack at once. A second, larger blast caused the snow to fall from some nearby trees.

  “Reveal.” He scanned the area and soon spotted magical energy coming from down by the lake. All the elements were represented.

  Curiosity and cold warred within him before curiosity won. He jogged toward the lake and several hundred yards later the trees opened up, revealing a gathering of several hundred students. Conryu paused at what he considered a safe distance and watched the proceedings.

  A girl in blue-green robes stood at the edge of the lake and waved her hands. He was too far away to make out what she was saying, but soon a dragon made of water rose up out of the lake. Another girl, this one in black, assumed the position for Dispel. A black orb shot out and struck the dragon. Another boom sounded as the mass of water splashed down in the lake.

  He didn’t know what sort of test they were taking and he didn’t especially care. Conryu rushed back to the dorm and went down to his room. Inside it was nice and warm. A hot, dry breeze swirled around him, driving the cold out. When he was nice and toasty the pixie settled on his shoulder. Prime flew over and landed on his desk, apparently too cold to even muster a growl for the little wind spirit. So much for the durability of demons.

  What was he supposed to do now? He could practice summoning Prime, but he’d been looking forward to a break from magic. He turned to look at the pixie, who smiled at him.