Heretic mage, p.6
Heretic Mage, page 6
part #3 of Paranoid Mage Series
“Do you think that Duvall is making some kind of play through Wells?” Lord Elroe asked doubtfully.
“It’s possible, though I don’t see how. It seems more likely that Wells is one of hers gone rogue. Or rather, gone heretic.” Harold grimaced. “Duvall’s insisted that spatial magic is peaceful for centuries, and while we’ve used it for logistical movement we’ve never seen it used the way Wells has. Is he a heretic merely because he’s revealed what spatial mages could do all this time?”
It was a discomfiting idea. Spatial mages were odd and different; the usual spellforms did nothing, and nobody else got any value from the portal and teleport frameworks. But it had been assumed they followed most of the other rules of magic. Perhaps falsely.
“So, what, are we setting ourselves against House Duvall?” The question came from the head of one of the cadet branches, Lord Turner. “That seems to be a rather risky move.”
“Possibly, but consider what Wells did by himself. Duvall has herself and ten? I think ten. Ten apprentices, and we all have anchors in our homes. That is a threat that we cannot ignore. At the very least, it demands transparency and investigation. What, exactly, have we been putting all over the world – and in the portal worlds! – this whole time?”
By the time he finished his brief pitch, people were nodding. Many of them were old enough to remember the various House conflicts, the open bloodshed and clashes of spells in the streets. GAR had put most of that behind them, but not all of it. When people lived as long as mages did, old grudges never really died.
“Another thing that might affect some of you is that I do not plan on letting either House Fane or the BSE lay claim to Gayle. She’s not just my granddaughter, she’s an invaluable strategic resource that we can’t afford to lose.” Harold surveyed the room. “I don’t trust Fane, I don’t trust Duvall, and since neither Taisen nor I could actually neutralize Wells, there’s no way that GAR or the BSE can keep her safe.”
“House Fane is not going to like that,” Lord Elroe noted.
“I imagine not. Taisen is not likely to push for himself, but he hasn’t had full control of BSE ever since they shoved the extra policing in.” Harold waved it away. “The point is, neither GAR nor the BSE can guarantee safety from Wells, so we have to protect ourselves. I advise you to be very choosey about where the more vulnerable members of our Houses are posted.”
“Are you actually scared of Wells?” Grand Magus Abbot asked, to a withering glare by Harold.
“No. He’s no threat to me, and he’s no threat even to the people of this House. But he is a threat to lesser mages that someone like me can’t mitigate. He’s a threat to the infrastructure, everything we rely on, because there is pragmatically nothing we can do to stop him from destroying any enchantment or building he wants to. That is the issue. Along with the chaos in the rest of the Houses. Don’t forget we have a lot of people unhappy with us because of the GAR searches.”
“The Silent War all over again,” someone muttered. Harold didn’t catch who, but he nodded agreement.
“Some might see this as an opportunity to strike, especially if GAR decides to look the other way when it comes to our Houses.” He eyed them again, but nobody had the temerity to suggest that he let them steal Gayle away again. “There are certain questions about GAR that need to be resolved, and now is the best time to do it. They’re busy with Wells and shifters and fae, so they’ll be more amenable to leverage.”
It wasn’t as simple as that, of course. There were ancient defensive protocols to dredge up, new wards to set around their transport disks despite Wells’ ability to breeze past wards at will, and lists of personnel to redeploy. They weren’t going to drop out of GAR entirely or anything similarly drastic, so it was more in the nature of tightening up their oversight. Clarifying lines of communication and of hierarchy.
An organization that was unsteady was far different than one in control. There were dozens of mages operating entirely in the dark, neither reporting to nor getting instructions from the House they owed fealty to. A situation that could not be allowed to continue.
The audit didn’t take long in the end. Though Harold himself didn’t bother with the minutiae of House Hargrave, they had some excellent recordkeepers and the cadet houses took after their parent. The militant houses tended to be well-kept, since logistics was the backbone of any operation.
“We’ll reconvene soon,” Harold said, when the work was done. “It won’t be long before someone makes a move.”
Chapter 4 – Work
Callum took some time out to rest, but not much.
After he and Lucy had stopped operating on dregs and he’d had time to attend church for his own peace of mind, he decided it was time to get in contact with Chester again. That meant heading back to Winut to drop off the portal anchor once again. Once Arthur actually drove the portal anchor to Chester’s place, he wouldn’t need to use that route again, but as it stood he didn’t actually know where Chester’s compound was. His sense of direction didn’t really work through teleports to unknown places.
“You know, this whole deal sounds better than the GAR transport network,” Lucy said, looking at one of the little portal anchors. “I mean, sure, it doesn’t go as many places but the teleporters can’t bring whole trucks through either.”
“Wait ‘till you see the flying chair,” he told her. “It’s very useful but it feels so very makeshift.”
“Ooh, you know I’ve never been flying,” Lucy said, eyes sparkling a little.
“I don’t actually know that it’s safe to come along on that thing,” he told her regretfully. “I mean, it’s only got one seat but it’s also a weird space magic application. If I’m not careful my normal teleports are pretty rough on people, so I’d be afraid this would do real damage.”
“Aw, that’s no fun,” Lucy said with an affected pout.
“If I ever manage to snag a proper flight focus I’ll take you up,” he promised. “Or, you know what? We can work on a tandem flying chair, because you’re right, flying is pretty great. And I don’t have to do the Alcubierre bit.”
“It’s a date, big man,” Lucy said.
“Flying for our first date?” He asked, not entirely joking. “What about dinner and a movie?”
“I’ll hold you to that when you get back,” Lucy said. “Now come on, show me this magical portal space where you’ve stored everything.”
It felt rather odd showing off the cave cache, considering that of all places that was the most private and important. Admittedly it didn’t look like much even with the work he’d done, and after seeing Lucy swinging a flashlight around he made a note to rig up more lighting. Not everyone could just use panoramic magical senses to navigate.
“So, this shouldn’t take too long,” he told her. “I’ll pop back once I deliver the anchor and we should be able to talk to Alpha Chester soon after.”
“Sure, big man,” Lucy said, experimentally turning on one of the LED lamps he had scattered about. “It’s a bit chilly but I can hang out here.”
“Yeah this isn’t really equipped for living.” It was fortunate that it was winter, because it really wasn’t pleasant to hang out in the cave without a proper jacket. “Right, see you in a bit.”
“Later, big man!”
He went through the entire process of recalling to Montana and using the chair to get to Winut. The small town still sparked a twinge of nostalgia for him, even though he hadn’t been there long. In hindsight he really should have spent more time being sociable; the people in Winut had been nice folk. Maybe in some distant future he could visit openly once again.
He found Arthur Langley at the pack compound rather than on patrol, playing catch with younger relatives. Some of them were on two feet, and some on four. It didn’t seem necessary to interrupt the game so he left the portal anchor at the front door, writing a quick note for Arthur and his family, and recalled to the cave. Lucy was sitting with a blanket and the crate of books, since there was no wifi down underground. At least not yet. Amusingly, she’d gotten out a book by the same author as Gayle and was thumbing through it.
“All set,” he told her. “We can head back to where it’s warmer and wait for other people to do the transportation.”
“Works for me, big man,” Lucy said.
“You know, you can probably call me Callum now,” he said, escorting her onto the teleport plate. Since it was still in the armored van, it wasn’t obvious where to go from the cave, and in fact it was quite unintuitive to get into the back of a vehicle to get out of a cave.
“I probably can, but I like big man more,” Lucy told him. He laughed and activated the teleporter, and the surroundings changed. Lucy’s eyes widened. “What the heck,” she said. “I could feel that!”
“Feel what?”
“Like, the actual spell form. Used to be I could feel that magic was around but this time I could kinda sense the details. That’s never happened before.”
“Mmm.” Callum mused, tapping his toe on the receiver plate. “Maybe after being exposed to more magic, the fae thing and Mictlān and all, your sensitivity has improved?”
“I mean, it must’ve. I know the toppest tier of duds can actually see magic, which honestly has got to be the worst. Being able to see it without being able to cast.” Lucy’s face scrunched up in a moue of distaste. “Honestly if I had to be a dud I’m glad I couldn’t be put into any of the magical inspection stuff. I prefer computers anyway.”
“Well, I can give you some of the exercise books to see if you can get anywhere, but your internal vis hasn’t changed much,” Callum cautioned.
“Oh boy, you’re talking about the little kid books aren’t you?” Lucy rolled her eyes. “Well, I’ll give them a look.”
It wasn’t much longer before Arthur Langley wrapped up his game, and when Callum opened a phone-portal the shifter seemed almost completely unsurprised. Not much later, Arthur was driving down toward Chester’s with the portal anchor in his pocket. It seemed that in the two days between Lucy’s rescue and his call the telepads he’d made for Chester had been confiscated.
“I think they’re slapping Alpha Chester with fines, as well,” Arthur said as he drove. “I don’t know if he’s going to pay though. There are some rumblings that make me think he won’t.”
“Can he even do that?” Lucy asked, leaning closer to the portal that was hovering over the table between them. It led to the cave cache, where a second portal set led through the anchor, so they could talk without a direct connection. Lucy had ribbed him over the precaution, but he still used it. “I mean, I know the big man and I are outside of GAR now, but he’s got a lot of people.”
“Don’t I know it,” Arthur said. “But he’s been a good Alpha so far. If he thinks he can get away with it, I trust him.”
Callum followed the course Arthur took and found that Alpha Chester’s compound was just over the state line in Nebraska, which meant that actually getting the portal there was not much different than getting it to Winut. Of course, the compound was much larger and there was noticeable security so if he made the trip in person it wasn’t likely he’d remain undetected.
“It’s Mister Wells again,” Arthur told the door guard bluntly, and while Callum winced it wasn’t like his identity was at all secret. At this point it wasn’t really even secret that he worked with Alpha Chester. That explanation was enough for them to let Arthur through, and he headed for the inner portion of the compound where Callum had talked with Alpha Chester before. The area protected by wards.
The Midwest Alpha himself was actually in the kitchen helping his wife roll dough. When the word got passed, he finished up whatever pastry he was working on and washed up, shifting into war form as he headed down to the secure area where Arthur was waiting.
“Mister Wells,” he said as he entered, spotting the portal hovering in the middle of the room. “I understand you managed to perform the entire operation unscathed.”
“More or less,” Callum acknowledged, and nodded at Lucy.
“Hey boss man, I’m unscathed too. More or less.”
“Lucy,” Chester said as he seated himself in his oversized armchair. “It’s good to hear you’re alive and whole. Though needless to say, resuming your prior job at the moment would be a rather fraught undertaking.”
“Yeah, I hear you boss man. No worries, I’m gonna be hanging out with the big man for a while anyway.”
“Be sure you take care of her, Mister Wells,” Chester said seriously.
“Yes, sir,” Callum said, completely understanding the tone in Chester’s voice.
“Good man,” Chester said, leaving Lucy red-faced and spluttering. “Now, I assume that you didn’t just call so Lucy and I could chat.”
“No,” Callum said, “though I’m perfectly happy to leave the portals open so she can catch up with anyone over there. I wanted to check in about the enchanting materials. The sooner I get them, the sooner I can start recycling it and get you some new telepads.”
“Excellent. I am glad I was right and you are a man of your word.” Chester signaled one of the other shifters in the room, whom Callum recognized as one of the two linebacker types from way back when he’d first gone into the basement of the café in Winut. The man headed off to another room, presumably to bring the loot. “I have a pallet of stuff, which we mostly can’t use. We haven’t tried disassembling it, since there’s a lot silverite in there.”
“Sure, that’s not a problem.” Callum hadn’t even thought about the issues of bane metals, but it only made sense that vampires would have more silverite or ironite around than mordite. “I can grab it through the anchor here right now if that’s okay.”
“Can you do everything through the anchor?” Chester asked, and it wasn’t just an idle question.
“Essentially,” Callum admitted. “So I know it’s maybe a bit of an ask to hang onto one, but if we’re going to be keeping in touch it’s more secure than a phone. More useful, too.”
“I’ll consider it, but not just yet,” Chester said. “You haven’t even come yourself. There needs to be more trust between us.”
“That’s fair enough,” Callum admitted. He wasn’t about to pop over to the shifter compound to prove himself, but maybe in the future he wouldn’t feel so twitchy about being around a bunch of high-powered supernaturals. Maybe. “In that case, I’ll deliver an anchor the next time we need to talk.”
Chester’s minion wheeled out the pallet, which was full of boxes and crates. Callum could sense a goodly amount of enchantments inside, and he spent a little bit of time surveying the contents to make sure there was nothing obviously active or dangerous. Though if they were in Chester’s house, they’d already gone through a teleport without exploding or something.
He simply teleported the pallet into his cave-cache. The shifters twitched at its sudden disappearance, but that was their only reaction. They clearly understood the threat that he could pose, and he revised his thoughts on the mutual trust issue a bit. He was going to have to do something or else risk losing the only supernatural allies he really had.
But first, there was work to do.
***
“There’s really not even a Wells case anymore.”
Ray Danforth sat with Felicia Black in the briefing room at GAR East, where the principal investigators of The Ghost, aka Callum Wells, were gathered. Agent Jahn had somehow ended up in charge of it, and while Ray had nothing against the man he didn’t like the idea of just giving up on things. Though he had to admit there wasn’t anything to investigate. Everyone knew who Wells was and what he could do, but finding him, catching him, and holding to account – that was a problem beyond what Danforth could manage.
“It’s a manhunt at this point, and we have no idea where he is. Considering the abilities he’s displayed, it could be anywhere in the world.” Jahn looked around the room. “So, most of you get to do other things. I’m looking into various resources for tracking him down, but until then there’s no point having anyone on standby.”
Most people looked just as happy to be done with it. The various BSE personnel were clearly fed up, especially since Wells had wrecked Garrison Two, though a few were just as displeased as Ray was. The man had made damn fools of some very experienced mages by simply not attacking in any way anyone had considered.
Not to mention there was a lot of tension between people of various Houses thanks to the interrogations from the internal investigation that had revealed Lucile Harper. Ray was damned glad that he and Felicia had the shield of GAR because there were some very upset mages who wanted their hides. He wasn’t sure whether some of those grudges would ever fade, no matter that they were doing their jobs under the auspices of some very powerful Archmages.
Various Houses threatening to leave GAR was nothing new. Some had even followed through with it, though they tended to fade into irrelevance fairly quickly. But there was a difference between a single House breaking away, or even a coalition, and the current fractious rumbling. There was no telling what would happen if the unhappiness catalyzed into real action.
Jahn spent the next few minutes calling names and mostly releasing people back to their previous chain of command. He saved the pair of them for last, tilting his head toward a side office as people filtered out of the meeting room. Ray exchanged glances with Felicia and followed.
“Now, I did say there’s no Wells case anymore, but we do have a known connection,” Jahn said without any preamble. “Alpha Chester. Considering how difficult it might be to let this go completely, I thought I might put in a word with GAR to have you put on that investigation.”
“We’d appreciate that,” Ray said, for both Felicia and himself. “Who are we working with?”
