Message Bearer (The Auran Chronicles Book 1) (31 page)

She shied away from him. ‘Go
away, he’ll find me.’

‘I need to get you out of
here, Sylph. This is all in your mind. Clementine is using our own fears
against us.’

‘No, you don’t
understand. He will find me, I can’t leave. I can’t.

Thunder rumbled and the
earth shook. He looked outside the shack -
shit
- the world had cracked
in half. Her mind was crumbling. Without any kind of magical defences she had
no chance against the attack. Her anger had protected her at first, but
Clementine had eroded that, and only her raw fear kept her alive now.

‘Sylph - please, trust
me. Take my hand; in Balor’s name I promise that I won’t hurt you.’

At his name the little
girl fixed him with a new look. Something switched on inside her mind then, he
could see it. She reached out a hand. He took it.

‘Seb,’ the little girl
said it, but it was Sylph’s voice that spoke.

‘I’m here.’

The shack vanished and
they were back in the warehouse. The daemons roared, but they kept their
distance. Now that he knew they were nothing more than an illusion it seemed to
affect them, as if they realised now that their impact was limited.

Now for Clementine.

There were many apparitions,
countless in number, of the creature. Seb sent out wave after wave of
sense
,
feeling them bounce back, each adding another Clementine to the list. Yet as he
did it, increasing the frequency of the waves, he felt one of the shards
resonate more than the others, as if it had more substance than the rest. He
narrowed his sense, focusing on the image. He found Clementine stood atop the
tallest crate, staring down at the pair of them.

Sylph, I know you can
receive this, I’m going to send you a signal, just do what you do best, okay?

She didn’t respond. Obviously
pulsing was something not on Marek’s curriculum. He felt a murmur of acknowledgment
none the same.

Without pause, Seb
concentrated. He pulled in the Weave, reducing his shield, allowing the daemons
closer. They screeched and clamoured against it, their noise almost deafening.
He gathered a ball of energy, felt it pulsing in his mind. Then, in the same
instant, he dropped his shield and sent the bolt of energy out like an arrow
towards Clementine. The phantom-daemons leapt for him, but the arrow struck
first. Clementine shrieked and staggered, and the phantoms shimmered into
nothingness.

Now!

He fell and rolled onto
his back, his energy spent. He saw Clementine, stood atop the crate, clutching
a taloned hand to his head. The creature shook his head, sighted Seb, and then
crouched as if to leap.

The shadow nearest Clementine
shifted, something flashed in the darkness. Clementine twitched, a puzzled look
crossing his face. He arched his back, pivoting to one side. He reached one arm
up and over, and Seb saw then the iron dagger embedded in his back, runes
blazing as they fed on sheol blood. The monster spun and reached again, but the
dagger was too low. He overbalanced, falling from the crate, landing with a
thud onto the concrete floor. Seb rushed over as Sylph materialised from the
shadows, a look of disgust on her face as she approached the daemon.

Clementine twitched and
shifted on the floor, the light was fading from his eyes. A pool of jet-black
blood spread out from underneath him.

‘How long?’ Seb said.

‘The wound should be
fatal, but he may linger for a few moments. I thought you might want the final
blow...’

‘Thanks.’ Seb crouched,
resting the tip of his staff against Clementine’s throat. Clementine started at
the touch, and his black eyes found Seb’s, a spark of recognition coming back
in that moment.

‘You’ve grown strong
mageling,’ Clementine coughed drops of black blood onto his shirt. ‘Perhaps it’s
not a foregone conclusion.’

‘Why did you do it? Why
her?’

Clementine blinked. His
breaths became more drawn out, weaker with every gasp. ‘We are all pawns in the
end, all playing our role in the game. My turn is over. Let’s see what you make
of it.’

A last breath escaped his
chest. His sable eyes rolled up in his head. A rank smell rose from the corpse,
causing Seb to step back with a hand clasped over his mouth. As they watched,
Clementine’s pale skin seemed to thin, becoming like wet paper, collapsing in
on him. His flesh bubbled, melting skin running off him like tiny rivers.
Before long a skeleton remained, but even that crumbled into a mottle paste.

‘Nice,’ Sylph said.

‘Yeah, not the way I’d
want to go.’

An engine sound rumbled
from outside and footsteps clattered on stone, heading towards the door. Sylph
pivoted, shoulders sagging but weapons ready, always ready.

‘Whoa, it’s okay, I know
who it is,’ Seb placed a gentle hand on Sylph’s wrist, slowly pushing the
weapon down. It would be ridiculous to survive what they’d been through only to
die by their own kind now.

Cade ran into the
warehouse followed by two of his brothers. They had weapons drawn, and Seb felt
their tension rise at the sight of Sylph brandishing her twin blades. He
stepped in front her, arms in the air.

‘It’s okay, she’s with
me!’

‘Step away from her, Seb,’
Cade stood before him, the only one without a gun drawn. The two warriors
fanned out, trying to gain a clear shot.

‘No! Put the guns away,
she’s not a threat.’

‘Like hell she isn’t. You’ve
not seen what she can do.’

The warriors were
parallel to them now. They had no intention of letting Sylph leave without a
bullet in her head. Behind him, Sylph sagged further, her own energy reserves
depleted.

‘Cade, I’m telling you
this once, as a friend. Do not harm her. If it wasn’t for Sylph I wouldn’t be
alive now. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have the message.’

Cade’s eyes grew. He
dipped his head, mouth open, a question on his face.

‘Seriously,’ Seb said. ‘I
have it. Now she comes with us, or I walk.’

It took barely a second
for Cade to make his decision. It wasn’t a surprise, Cade was a bright guy and
he wouldn’t let his own emotions cloud the greater issues at hand. He shrugged
and nodded to the warriors, who obeyed without question, pistols returning to
holsters without a word being said.

With the tension passed,
Seb walked over to Cade. They clasped wrists, Seb suddenly overwhelmed with a
vast sense of relief to meet an ally at last. Cade nodded outwards, to the two Audis
parked outside, and they turned in that direction.

As they walked, Seb took
a look up and down his friend, noting the assorted cuts, scrapes and bruises
that covered his body where his tunic had been torn or ripped.

‘What the hell happened
to you?’

The journey back passed by
without incident. Sylph was asleep before the car had even left the harbour
district, her head lolling and bumping into the window as Cade pushed the
vehicle to its limits. Several times Seb caught his eyes in the rear view mirror.
Questions lurked there, hovering between them, but they would have to wait
until later. Something had happened at the Brotherhood, something bad, but Cade
wasn’t about to open up about it in front of someone who he still regarded as
an enemy.

They turned back into the
welcoming gates of Skelwith a little after sunrise. He wasn’t sure if it was a
symptom of a general heightened use of the Weave or if his own powers had
grown, but Seb could feel the place before they even sighted the mound of trees
that hid the estate. The very forest seemed to crackle with potential energy,
and the silent sentinels, warriors of stone, seemed to be the hub of that;
magnets drawing his sense in with ease.

The Magister and Cian
were already stood outside as the cars drew to a halt outside. Don and another
elite flanked them, their penetrating gaze spearing the car, Seb too tired to
even attempt a shield.

The car stopped and Cade
leapt out. Seb pushed the door open as Sylph woke up with a start. He caught
the brief moment of panic that flashed across her face and placed a hand on her
arm. She tensed, but didn’t pull away.

Progress.

‘It’s okay.’

‘Where are we?’

‘Skelwith. Home of the
magi.’

Sylph shook her head and
vaulted from the car, straight into the line of sight of Cade’s warriors. Their
weapons were drawn, sights aimed at Sylph.

‘You’re going nowhere,
sister,’ Cade said, Sylph slumping in defeat.

‘It’s okay, don’t worry,’
Seb said over the car, ‘I vouched for you. You got me out of there. That will
count for a lot.’

‘Seb, thank Danu!’

The Magister glided over,
her face a grim mask of concern. Cian followed, a slight limp to his gait. Red
welts still covered his forearms where sheol claws had gotten too close.

‘Are you okay, boy? We
thought we’d lost you!’

‘I am fine, Magister.
Although I have some news to share.’ He glanced around before leaning closer.
‘About the message.’

The Magister’s eyes
widened. ‘It is unlocked?’

‘I believe so. I’m not
sure. Something has changed. That much is certain.’

‘Then let us retire
inside. There is much to discuss.’ She beckoned over Seb’s shoulder. ‘Cade, you
too.’

‘Yes, Magister.’

‘She comes too.’ Seb
stepped to one side, revealing Sylph behind. Cian’s eyes blazed.

‘What in the hells? She
is imbued yet she reeks of the sheol!’ Cian stepped forwards, his fists
scrunched into balls.

‘No! She’s with me.
Without her I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have the message. We owe her!’

The Magister raised a
hand and Cian stopped in an instant, his eyes not once leaving Sylph, who to
her credit hadn’t flinched an inch.

‘Stand down, Cian. The
aura is interesting on this one. What is your name, child?’

‘Sylph.’

‘You are imbued.’ The
Magister stated.

‘I am. Marek taught me.’

‘Marek? That man spits on
our customs!’ Cian spat.

Sylph pushed past Seb,
jabbing a finger at Cian. ‘What? You’re disappointed that someone took a chance
on me rather than left me to go mad on the streets?’

‘Enough! We have too much
to discuss to waste time debating what has happened already. Very well, the
girl can come. She might be able to add something of value.’

The
five of them convened in the Magister’s study for the next hour whilst stories
were exchanged. Seb told them of his time in the custody of Marek and the
sheol. He described as best he could what he saw – the Master. Marek. The
horned daemon in human form. He told them of the attempt to open the phantom
box in his mind, and of the crack he saw that somehow they didn’t. They turned
to Cade then, listening in horror to the sudden betrayal by Silas and Reuben.
From what Cade had heard nearly half of the Brotherhood had been turned. Where
they were now was unknown. Cade had mustered those forces he could at Skelwith.

‘Do you think they will attack here?’ Seb
asked, breaking Cade’s tale.

‘Madness!’ Cian barked. ‘They would be
torn to pieces by the sentinels. An army of sheol could not breach those
defences.

‘You think they’re working together?’

‘They
are
working together.’ Cade
said, his yellow eyes lost in the flames of the Magister’s hearth. ‘My father
told me as much. He believes that the Brotherhood and the sheol are of the same
blood.’

‘And you, young Sylph. What can you add to
this sorry story?’

Sylph told her own story. Stilted at
first, clearly not comfortable talking so freely in front of those she’d been
conditioned to view as enemies for all her imbued life. She skipped over the
early years. Whatever she thought of him now, Marek had saved her from a life
destined to end in tragedy. Those were happier times, and it pained her to
think of them now, knowing what Marek had done.

Instead she focussed on recent months. Of
Marek’s growing obsession with the sheol and his hunt for the elusive message.
He’d never told Sylph what it contained, but she knew all his plans hinged upon
it.

‘So Sarah was working under Marek?’  Seb
said. Certain pieces of the puzzle were coming together now in his mind.

Sylph nodded. ‘She was taken in months
ago. Marek explained she was like me – lost, but with potential. She was much
more advanced than I was. She was a mage, of sorts. Marek liked her, I could
tell. She challenged him in many ways and was not intimidated by him. I think
that’s why he liked her. He gave her a mission of utmost importance. I didn’t
know what it was, just that it involved going somewhere far away to retrieve something
of great importance.

‘I never saw her after that, until she was
in the morgue. All I know was that she betrayed Marek and he was beyond livid.’

‘So the information she took, that she
passed to Seb here, was what Marek was after?’ Cade said.

‘I don’t know. She seemed to think so.
Maybe she found something else and decided that the Magistry needed to know
about it. Regardless, she betrayed Marek. She betrayed all of us.’

The Magister ignored the final statement.
Now wasn’t the time to go over the rights and wrongs of this conflict. She
abruptly stood up and fixed them all with a steely stare.

‘I think we have discussed this enough. It
is clear to me that whatever we possess is something that Marek is very keen on
possessing. It was what Sarah died for, and it is surely tied to the betrayal
by the Brotherhood.’

‘Not all the Brotherhood, Magister,’ Cade
said.

‘Of course. Forgive me. My point is that
we have what they want. We are safe here, for now, but we cannot delay. With
the lock removed, we must extract the message, and uncover the source of what
drives Marek so.’

‘What of the other Families? Surely they
should be consulted?’

‘Yes, yes. I will commune with them
tonight. After we have extracted the message. Let us move to the Great Hall.
There we will pool our power and rid this poor boy of his curse.’

They all rose at once and made towards the
door. Seb lingered, and Cian turned back.

‘What is it, Boy?’

‘Caleb?’

The Battlemaster’s gaze softened. He
waited for the rest to leave before speaking.

‘He lives, but he is not well. His wounds
heal, but his soul does not. Something was taken from him that day.’

‘Can I see him?’ Seb said. He sniffed and
blinked the sudden tears away.

‘Of course. See him now, there will be an
hour or so before the Magister is ready.’