Alchemist (9 page)

“
We could
phone Rufus.” She replied. Her idea was met only with silence. Lyle
glared at her, his features as hard as stone. “Look, I know you’ve
fallen out with him, but if there’s a Phantom here we’re going to
need his help to capture it. It was him who stopped Edward last
time.”

Lyle
continued to glare at his niece, visibly trembling with rage. “I
will not ask
that
traitor for
help.”

“Lyle...”

The Alchemist
stood, slamming a fist into the table, shattering it. Connor jumped
back.

“Lyle, calm down!”
Terry shouted, also standing. But it was too late. He was already
beginning to change.

“Run Connor, run!”
Terry shouted, bolting. Connor did not have to be told twice. The
fear a man gained when pursued by a Primeval Alchemist leant him
wings.

Lyle’s eyes
flashed with the large yellow pupils of his Primeval form.
Snarling, rows of sharp teeth and mandibles emerged from his mouth.
His form then began to warp. The table was flung aside as if it
were a twig as Lyle took on the appearance of a twelve foot tall,
nine foot long insect. Similar to an ant, but able to stand
straight up, the Primeval Alchemist was decked in the same dark,
metal armour as their human-shaped counterparts. They had six legs
and two arms, each clawed with black talons and the strength of a
small army. They had long necks and large heads, which possessed
large, oval, amber eyes, akin to a cat. Lyle rose, growling angrily
as his antennae fell flat against the back of his head. Throwing
back his head he roared and gave chase, bolting from the cave as
fast as a bolt of lightning.

Stay or Go

“Uncle?” called
Terry, peering around the corner of the hallway. Seeing no-one she
cautiously made her way down it. It had been twenty four hours
since Lyle had had his outburst. She had been surprised to find the
entire mansion intact. On one occasion in the past when he’d lost
his temper Lyle had demolished almost half of it. It had cost over
two million pound and eight months to fix.

Terry trod lightly
– which was difficult to do when she was suited and booted weighing
in at over four hundred pounds. Reaching the next corner, she
peered round – no-one in sight.

“You can stop tip
toeing around.” A voice said from behind her.

Terry jumped.
“Jesus.” She swore, getting the fright of her life. She had not
heard nor smelled Lyle’s approach.

He made no apology
for startling her. He simply stared at her with those hard, cold
eyes of his.

The expression
reminded Terry of her father. “Have you calmed down?” There was no
point being tactful when the person you were stalking catches you
red handed.

“Not really...but
I supposed I was calmer than I was.” He replied flatly.

“Are Faye and
Darius ok?” she asked. She was not here to apologise either for
what she had said.

“Yes, they are
both still safely locked inside their cells.” A devious smile
touched his lips. “Though that Darius sure got a fright when he saw
me.”

Terry sighed,
shifting her weight between feet. “I would not have mentioned Rufus
if I did not think we needed his help. If we are going to chase a
Phantom we will need that gun of his.”

Lyle regarded her
for a long moment, his thoughts concealed behind an unreadable
mask. Finally though, much to her surprise, he nodded in agreement
but Terry could see reluctance in his eyes. “I will do as you ask
as you are the king’s daughter and will one day be my queen and my
liege lord but nothing else. I will not speak in polite tones to a
man who has accused me of a crime I have not committed.”

Terry nodded. She
would have not commanded such a thing from him, nor expected it.
“While we are here there is something else that I need to tell you.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Rufus’s old address, just to see
him but he was not there. To be honest it looked like he had not
been there for some time.”

A flash of anger
played across his face and then it vanished, but Lyle, the king’s
brother, did not give words to his disappointment. Coolly he said,
“Then it will make our task of finding him and getting him to
assist us a bit more difficult.”

“
And it will
definitely be harder finding out who this Phantom is without his
help.” Terry added, feeling grim.

Lyle regarded her
for a long time but said nothing.

Finally she
shrugged, uncomfortable under his steely gaze. “What?”

“I think we need
to speak to this Lord Rilario. He might be able to shed some light
onto this mystery ghost.”

Terry frowned,
confused. “But it was Ladre he attacked. Lord Rilario wasn’t
there.”

“I know but
temporal devices have been outlawed. I don’t think Ladre or Lord
Rilario or this so called middle man would have spread the
information around much. The Phantom must have found out about it
from someone. If Ladre does not know then maybe this politician
will.”

Terry nodded in
agreement. “That’s a good idea but we have the same problem we face
with Rufus. How do we find him?”

Lyle drew a deep
breath. “We must return home. I know a lot of people in a lot of
places, I am certain I could find him but they are no use to me
here if I have no way of speaking to them.”

Terry stared at
him for the longest time. “You do know what you’re saying right? If
we go home and the Southlands find out we’re there, there could be
war.” That was the very reason why Terry accepted her exile nine
long years before. The thought of millions dying over her for not
facing the punishment of killing Edward, the last Phantom and thus
bringing a race of their world to extinction, had terrified the
teenager. But it was not the thought of her people dying that
scared her. It was the Southlands. The fire elementals had their
weapons and their technology and their threats, but the Alchemists
had slaughtered entire countries of their race in eras past.

Lyle sighed,
suddenly looking tired. “I know but we have to take the chance if
this Phantom is who I think it is.”

“Who?” The
name was already in her head but she dared not say it. She had no
reason, no evidence to believe it was
him
.

Lyle gave her a
long look. “Who do you think?”

She shook her head
dismissively. “Come on, we have no reasons to believe that.”

But he stared
right through her, passed her denial. “But you have the exact same
feeling that I do, don’t you?”

Terry looked away,
ashamed to admit it.

“Because we do not
know for sure is not a reason not to find out. It is a risk you
know that we cannot afford to take. We have to be certain it is not
him. You know the damage he reaped last time on both worlds.”

Terry met his
gaze. “If we go home we can’t go to dad. He would rip Earth to
pieces trying to find Edward.”

A heavy reluctance
took a hold of Lyle then and for a moment she thought he would not
agree, until finally he said: “Agreed but I do not like this plan
of action. I only agree to it once again because it is what you
wish to do. We will need to tread lightly and return home within a
few days less we raise suspicion.”

“I understand. I
think as long as we can get Ladre to drop us off in the Southlands
we should be ok.”

“I could not agree
more.”

“What about Faye
and Darius though? We can’t leave them here in the cells.”

“Connor could
watch them.” Lyle suggested, scratching the stubble on his
chin.

Terry shook her
head. “He wouldn’t stay here if he knew what we were doing.
Besides, it would look suspicious having us two running around the
Southlands. Things would go a lot easier if we had him asking most
of the questions.”

“Okay.” Lyle
gestured that they should head to his study.

Terry fell in
beside him. “So what are we going to do about Darius and Faye?”

“We’ll just have
to take them with us.”

******

Ladre screamed as
he hit the wall. Lyle had pinned him in place between his large
toes. Drawing in closer, his antennae flattened and he hissed, like
an enraged snake poising to strike.

“Easy.” Terry
warned, walking up to his side.

Lyle’s antennae
twitched as he turned his large head in her direction. He spoke to
her in a series of clicks.

Terry rolled her
eyes. “No you can’t eat him once we’re finished.”

He growled at
that, turning his large, angry amber eyes back to Ladre. The young
man had turned white in terror.

“Don’t listen to
him, he’s only trying to scare you.” Said Terry, drawing close.

“I’ve already told
you everything I know!” Ladre screamed.

“I know. But we
need you and your machine to get us home.”

Ladre’s eyes
widened further. Anymore and Terry was adamant that they’d pop from
their sockets. “If you’re caught...”

“I know. But if
you do this I won’t tell anyone that it was you who let the Phantom
through, as well as helped fugitives.”

Ladre gave a weak
nod. He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

Lyle
suddenly let go, dropping the ranging youth. Ladre hit the floor
with a heavy
thud
and a
curse.

Lyle dropped his
large foreleg to the floor, his talons clicking as his toes spread
out to carry his weight.

“When can it be
ready?” Terry asked.

“Er...I don’t
know. It could be several hours, it could be a day. I’m not sure.
It’s not been on in a while so I need to recalibrate it. It’s going
to take longer as I’m the only one left to operate it now.”

Terry nodded,
satisfied. “You have until this time tomorrow. We need to sort a
few things out anyway.”

He gave a meek
nod, remaining where he had been dropped.

The matter sorted
Terry turned her back on him and walked away. Lyle craned his head
closer to Ladre, fixing him with his large, cat-like eyes and for a
moment the fire elemental thought he would be dinner.

“Lyle!” called
Terry. Snarling, he withdrew.

******

“How long are we
going to be gone for?” Connor asked, sitting down. They had just
arrived back at Lyle’s mansion. Terry had disappeared into the
kitchen with his wife Jo as a distraction while the two men
talked.

Lyle sat down in
his favourite chair. He sighed. “I couldn’t tell you but I’m hoping
to be no more than three or four days if my contacts are
quick.”

Connor sat back,
his expression troubled. “I want to help...” he shook his head,
levelling his gaze at Lyle. “But if I go with you I will need to
make up something to tell Jo. Also if it is Edward, I’m worried
that he might come after her.”

Lyle frowned. “We
do not know if it is him for sure yet and I don’t think Jo is under
any threat. If it has been Edward’s henchmen that have crawled out
of the woodwork recently, they’ve only been after Terry.”

Connor rubbed his
hands, more out of worry than coldness. “But Jo isn’t like Terry.
She is human. If someone stabbed her she would not heal as quickly
as Terry does.”

“I know.” Lyle
said softly, he did understand. “Can she not stay with someone
while we’re away? If she’s not in the house Edward would not know
where to look for her.”

Connor’s gaze
drifted to the floor, lost in troubled thought. “I guess...but I
don’t know if I want to take that chance.”

“
Listen, I
think you should do what you think is best. There’s no way I would
ask you to come without knowing that Jo was safe but at the same
time I would not be asking you to come unless we needed your
help.”

Connor sighed,
leaning forward and wiping his eyes with his palms. He suddenly
felt overcome with fatigue. “You’re not putting me in an easy
position here.”

“I know. I’m sorry
that I’m doing this to you.”

“I know.” He gazed
off thoughtfully for a long time. “I will come.” He finally said.
He met Lyle’s gaze. “But I’m not going unless I can convince Jo to
go to her sisters for a few days.”

Lyle nodded his
gratitude evident. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me
yet. I haven’t figure out what I’m going to tell her yet.” He
stood. “When are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow at six
pm.”

Connor did not
look pleased. “You don’t give much notice.”

“I know.” Lyle
stood. “I’m sorry but the sooner we go the sooner we’ll be
back.”

The Pyrovite gave
him a grim look. “You’re not the best at reassuring people Lyle.
Maybe once this is all over you should think about going back to
being a general.”

Lyle did not laugh
as the young man left. He knew he wasn’t joking.

Homecoming

Connor rolled
across the dusty ground. Strong hands grabbed him and pulled him to
his feet. “Are you alright?” Terry asked.

“Yeah, thanks.” He
said, brushing himself down. He took in his surroundings before
looking back to where the silvery portal rippled and pulsed in the
air. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

He had stepped
through the other end but had tumbled when gravity took over on the
other side. For some reason the exit point had re-materialised
three foot in the air.

“I wasn’t either.”
Terry replied. Darius sat on a nearby boulder, rubbing his elbow.
“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just hit
my arm when I came through.” He said quietly, not daring to make
eye contact.

Faye came through
next, falling onto her front. She gracefully picked herself up in
one fluid motion, without word or comment. Lyle was next – but he
landed in a crouch. The portal shut behind him and the tear in the
universe was sealed once more. Standing up he looked about.