The Raven's Shadow: The Aegis of Merlin Book 4 Read online

  “That was our thinking as well, sir. I’ve contacted all the combat-worthy wizards, not that there are many, in the city, including my wife. They’re ready to fight at the first sign of danger. We also have an estimate of the most-threatened areas. Evacuations may be prudent.”

  The unfamiliar woman put her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Our view is that evacuations will be ineffective if shadow beasts are involved. Once summoned they will be free to hunt anywhere in the city once the sun sets.”

  “Who, exactly, are you?” Orin asked.

  “Maggie Chin. My colleague and I are magical risk consultants. Analyzing the potential threat of a large-scale event is our specialty.”

  “Are you a wizard?” Terra asked.

  Orin had been wondering the same thing since she didn’t have a gray robe, though Shizuku often wore suits when she was working.

  “No, I’m an analyst, not a wizard. But that in no way invalidates my conclusion. The risk of panic outweighs any gain from an evacuation.”

  Orin drew a breath to continue the argument but Tom raised his hand. “We’re of one mind on this matter so let’s leave it there.”

  Orin clenched his jaw and nodded. “Of course. What about organizing a defense?”

  Tom glanced at his consultant who looked at the tablet on the desk in front of her. “Conventional weapons are useless against magical threats and our inventory of enchanted weapons is exceedingly limited as is our force of wizards. We will do what we can, but unless the terrorists can be convinced to stay their hand, our options are limited.”

  Orin looked from the consultant to Tom. “I’m not certain I understand what you’re planning.”

  “Tell me about Conryu Koda,” Tom said.

  Acid burned the back of Orin’s throat. “Conryu’s a good kid. He’s been of great help in our efforts to resolve this matter.”

  “And you think he’ll continue to be willing to help?”

  “Absolutely. Why?”

  “We’re planning to take him into protective custody. If we can’t come up with an alternative solution we’ll offer him to the Society in hopes of convincing them to give us more time to meet their other demand.”

  “You’re going to sacrifice him?” Orin kept his emotions under control by the narrowest of margins.

  “The life of one or the lives of thousands. It’s not a difficult decision.” Maggie’s emotionless tone grated on his nerves.

  “And if you turn over our best hope of defeating this enemy and they activate the spell anyway, what then?”

  Tom shook his head. “Even if it’s one in a million, it’s a chance we have to take.”

  Angus leapt to his feet. “This is madness. That boy’s value is beyond measure.”

  The mayor didn’t even spare Angus a glance. “The decision’s been made. We’ve already sent officers to take him into custody. I know you’re fond of the boy, Orin, but I have to do what I think is best for the city.”

  Angus’s face had turned red and he was working himself into a fury. Orin wasn’t far behind, but he’d learned better control. He also had an idea. Before Angus blew his top Orin grabbed the professor by the collar and dragged him toward the door.

  “If you can’t control yourself you can wait in your office.” Orin leaned in close and whispered, “Warn him, Angus.”

  He tossed the professor out into the hall and pulled the door shut. “Sorry about that. Angus has always been a little temperamental. Shall we discuss contingency plans?”

  “They’re coming for you, my boy. The mayor means to use you as a bribe to convince the terrorists to spare the city, though Orin assures me there’s no hope of that happening. You need to hurry. The police are already on their way.”

  “Actually they’re here. Thanks for the warning, Angus.” Conryu disconnected.

  “What’s going on?” Maria asked.

  “It appears I’m to be a sacrificial lamb. We need to split, now.”

  “No way we’re sneaking out.” Jonny had joined Kelsie at the window. “Those guys are the city’s elite counter-terrorism unit. They’re the best.”

  “Shit! Well, there are other options. I can go by dark portal.”

  “Mom’s wards won’t let you open one in the building.”

  “Reveal!” A shimmering wall of light magic appeared beyond the window. “Is your mom home from her job?”

  Maria nodded. “She got in late last night. I don’t think she’s up yet and even if she was it would take hours to open a gap in the barrier.”

  “Not for me it won’t. Would you apologize for me?” Conryu motioned Kelsie and Jonny away from the window and held up both hands. He wasn’t supposed to do a breaking without a circle, but under the circumstances he didn’t have any choice.

  Maria grabbed his arm. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to blow a hole in the wards and split.”

  “Not without me,” Jonny said.

  “Or me,” Kelsie added.

  “This is nuts,” Maria said. “But I’m with you too.”

  “No. I doubt you’d survive a trip through Hell. Go to your mom and tell her what’s happening then head to the Department. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.” Conryu tossed his cellphone on the couch where it sank down between the cushions. It’d be too easy for the police to track him with it. “Prime!”

  “Coming, Master.”

  Maria grabbed the front of his shirt, yanked his head down, and kissed him hard on the lips. When they finally came up for air she said, “Don’t you dare get yourself killed.”

  “I sense people coming, Master. Six, no ten.”

  “A breaching team,” Jonny added.

  “Right, time to go.” Conryu raised his hands again. “Break!”

  The barrier shattered.

  “Your friend will need protection, Master. He has no alignment to dark magic.”

  Conryu grabbed Jonny’s arm. “Cloak of Darkness!”

  When the liquid darkness had covered Jonny from head to toe Conryu turned to Prime. “Portal spell.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  The words of the spell appeared in his mind and he chanted. “Reveal the way through infinite darkness. Open the path, Hell Portal!”

  The swirling black disk appeared in front of him. Conryu grabbed Jonny and Kelsie, pulled them through, and willed the gate to close behind them.

  Maria’s nausea faded along with the dark portal. He was gone and once more she couldn’t follow. How many times was she going to have to watch Conryu run into danger without her? Though she understood there was no way she’d survive a trip through Hell with him. One step through that portal and she would have dropped dead.

  There was a knock on the door. “Police! Open up!”

  She sighed, crossed the room, and opened the door. The shiny black barrels of two guns were pointed straight at her head. She yelped and took a step back.

  The officers pushed the door open and rushed into the apartment. Two men in bulletproof vests, dark-blue fatigues, and helmets held her at gunpoint while the rest searched from room to room.

  The Kodas’ apartment wasn’t huge and a minute later someone shouted, “Clear!”

  The living room was filled to bursting with ten large men and Maria. One of the officers removed his helmet and approached her.

  “Where is he?”

  “Conryu left.”

  “Bullshit! There’s no way he snuck past us. Where’s he hiding?”

  “Maria! What’s going on?”

  She slumped with relief at the sight of her mother approaching from down the hall. It looked like she’d just thrown on a robe and slippers. She must have sensed when Conryu broke her wards.

  The officer that had been interrogating her spun and leveled his weapon at her mom. A flick of her wrist sent the machine gun flying along with both of the weapons pointed at Maria.

  The officer started to reach for the pistol at his side. Mom just glared at him as if daring him to try it.


  He seemed to decide discretion was the better part of valor. “You need to keep your distance, ma’am. This is an active scene.”

  “I don’t appreciate people pointing guns at my daughter, Officer.” Mom waved her over and Maria ran out of the apartment and hugged her. “Now what’s this all about?”

  “I have orders to take Conryu Koda into custody. I believe your daughter has relevant information.”

  Mom looked down at her. “Do you know where he is?”

  “No. I tried to tell them. Conryu left.”

  “As I said, there’s no way he slipped past my men.” The officer crossed his arms. “Now tell me the truth.”

  “How did he leave, Maria?”

  “By dark portal.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Mom turned her gaze on the officer. “Did your superiors fail to mention Conryu is a wizard? Traveling by dark portal he could be anywhere in the city in half a second.”

  “I was told he’s only a first-year wizard and advanced spells were beyond his current ability.”

  Mom laughed. “Conryu is the most powerful wizard in history. No spell is beyond his ability. Whoever gave you your briefing was woefully ignorant of who you’re dealing with.”

  “Sir,” one of the other officers said. “Ops reports they’ve tracked his cell phone to the apartment.”

  “You still claim he’s not here?”

  Maria let go of her mother and turned around. “On the couch.”

  A third officer bent down and pulled it out of the cushions. “Cellphone, sir. Locked.”

  The muscle in the officer’s jaw bunched. “Fuck! Wrap it up, boys. As usual, the brass gave us bad intel. I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”

  He reached out to grab Maria. Mom moved in front of her. “Do you have a warrant to arrest my daughter?”

  “No, ma’am, but she’s a material witness. We may have more questions.”

  “If you do we’ll be at the Department of Magic with my husband. Feel free to contact us there.”

  He let out a little growl but finally nodded. “Alright.”

  The commander and his men retrieved their weapons and filed past Maria and her mother down the hall. Mom kept her arms around Maria until they were all out of sight. “Tell me everything.”

  Maria did as her mother asked and when she finished she added, “He wanted me to tell you he was sorry about smashing your wards.”

  Her mother waved her hand. “He didn’t destroy them, just opened a hole in them. I can fix them in an afternoon. We need to see your father. Clearly more is afoot here than we know.”

  Conryu, Prime, Kelsie, and Jonny hung in the black nothingness of the area between the mortal realm and Hell. Kelsie grabbed on to him and trembled while Jonny spun in a slow circle, taking it all in.

  Cerberus barked as he ran up to them. Kelsie squeaked and tried to hide behind him. The giant three-headed dog towered over the little group.

  “Dude, please tell me that’s a friend of yours.” Jonny and Cerberus eyed each other.

  “Cerberus is my guardian demon. Aren’t you, boy?”

  The demon dog barked again and lowered one of his heads so Conryu could give him a scratch. Conryu looked down at Kelsie. “You can pet him. Cerberus won’t bite unless I tell him to.”

  Kelsie reached out a hesitant hand and stroked Cerberus’s massive chest. Cerberus panted as she rubbed him. When Jonny moved closer the demon dog let out a deep growl, stopping his friend cold.

  “He has no connection to dark magic,” Prime said in answer to Conryu’s unspoken question. “Demons and ordinary humans don’t always see eye to eye. You shouldn’t dawdle here, Master. Even protected, spending too much time in Hell isn’t a good idea for non-dark-aligned individuals.”

  “I second that,” Jonny said.

  Conryu looked up at Cerberus. “Can you guide us to my father’s dojo?”

  Cerberus barked and trotted off. They flew along behind him for half a minute before he stopped.

  “This is a bad idea,” Jonny said. “Those cops will look there for you next.”

  “I have to let Dad know what’s happening. Five minutes tops. He should be between classes so no one will see us.”

  Conryu cast the portal spell again and they stepped out onto the sparring floor. Dad was kneeling in front of the room facing the ancient swords in his black training uniform. He stood and turned to face them, a deep frown creasing his usually calm face.

  “What has happened?”

  “Long story, Dad.” Conryu gave him the condensed version. “So basically I’m being hunted by the police so they can turn me over to the people who’ve been trying to kill me for the last year. I figure the only way out of this mess is to deal with the terrorists myself.”

  “Can you?”

  Trust his father to come straight to the point. “Not sure. Mr. Kane was a little vague with what was happening when I helped him this winter. I believe the boxes we were looking for are the weapons they mentioned on the news. If I can neutralize them then I should be safe, along with the city. Whatever I do, I have only two days to get it done.”

  “How can I help?”

  “I need to talk to Terra and Mr. Kane. Can you carry a message to them?”

  “Of course. I need to speak to your mother as well. If she finds out about this some other way she’ll be even more upset. I’ll take your message to the Department.”

  “Actually, Mr. Koda, if you pick up a cheap prepaid cellphone and sneak it in to them we could keep in touch without the police knowing.”

  Everyone looked at Jonny. “What? We studied urban escape and survival in school.”

  “How will I get you the number?” Dad asked.

  “We need one as well. Why don’t we go together? That way we can just exchange numbers.” Jonny pulled out his wallet and opened it. Moths didn’t fly out, but it was empty just the same. “I’m broke.”

  Conryu had thirty bucks. They looked at Kelsie who shrugged. “I left my purse at your apartment.”

  “I have enough for both,” Dad said. “Let me change and we’ll go. Put the closed sign up.”

  Jonny jogged over to the door while his father went to the locker room. When he’d flipped the sign Jonny said, “We shouldn’t all go together. I’ll go with your dad and meet you guys at Giovanni’s.”

  Conryu shook his head. “We had their food boxes all over the apartment. If the cops are on the ball they’ll be keeping an eye out for us there. What about the Burger Shack on Third?”

  “That’ll work.”

  Conryu and Kelsie left by the back door. He had until Jonny rejoined them to figure out how to do in two days what the Department of Magic had failed to do in a year.

  3

  Spy Stuff

  Maria and her mom drove to the Department and went upstairs to her father’s office. They’d only taken long enough for her mother to dress and collect her satchel before they left. She didn’t even take time to restore the wards. Mom insisted they were sufficient for the moment and she was eager to talk to Dad.

  Maria had been to the Department building several times over the years and it was always a bustling place. Today everyone was subdued, their heads hanging, and unwilling to make eye contact.

  Outside the office Dad’s secretary was gone. There was no sign of the woman’s purse and her computer was turned off. Maria glanced over at her mother. “Something’s really wrong.”

  “Yes. I’ve never seen Daphne away from her desk. She’s devoted to your father.” Mom strode forward and shoved the door open.

  Inside, Dad, Terra, and a man she didn’t know sat around her father’s big desk staring out the window. Of all the things she’d expected Dad and Terra to be doing, “nothing” was at the bottom of the list. Dad came around his desk and hugged them.

  “What are you two doing here?”

  “A better question,” Mom said, “is what were a bunch of cops with machine guns doing at our building? What’s this
stupidity about handing Conryu over to the Society? And why aren’t you doing something about it?”

  Dad looked so exhausted at that moment Maria hugged him again.

  “Thank you, sweetheart. We’ve been removed and confined to my office following Conryu’s escape. The mayor and his people are handling matters now. They seem to think we’re too sympathetic to their prey.”

  “Is Tom really foolish enough to think handing Conryu over will accomplish anything? I saw a replay of the recording. He’s just a bonus. Morgana’s who they really want.”

  “I know and I explained it to Tom in just those terms, but the president made it clear there was no way they’d free Morgana. At this point he’s desperate enough to believe whatever those two advisors tell him. He sees Conryu as his only hope of saving his city. When he escaped, well, Tom didn’t take it very well.”

  “So what are we going to do to help Conryu?” Maria stood with her hands on her hips. She knew her father was in a difficult position, but she’d rather die than sit there and do nothing.

  “I’m not certain there’s anything we can do.” Dad went back around his desk and dropped into his chair.

  “That’s nonsense.” Maria needed to get everyone off their asses and working again. “We’re a formidable group. You’ve been investigating this business for a while, right? No one tells me much, but I’ve picked up enough details to know this isn’t something that just came up.”

  “The problem is,” Terra said. “We’ve exhausted all the avenues of inquiry and come up empty. The boxes remain hidden and until they’re neutralized Conryu remains in danger.”

  “Great, so he has two days to save himself and the city with no one but Jonny and Kelsie to help. All we can do, the people who care about him most, is sit on our hands and hope.” Maria wanted to cry.

  “Two days, you said.” Terra pursed her lips. “That’s not right. Lin, we need your laptop.”