Chapter 25

“Do we know where he is?” I asked as our team sat around a table in Kurukshetra.

“I have a good idea, yes,” Morgana replied.

“Care to tell us, oh wise one?” Arch chuckled.

“He’ll need supplies; he might have no common sense, but he will be cautious in approaching danger and will need allies.”

“Fen,” I murmured.

“That’s what I believe, John, yes.”

“The Seer gestalt still have a track on the persona of Mage Fen, but it might be a false sign. She knows how we operate,” Seer Alameda admitted.

“Yes, probably false, but Tara and a team are heading there now to check. I suspect he’ll be at her off-world residence, though I do not know where that is.”

“We’d need evidence to cap her and much as the woman irritates me, she’s unlikely to have it lying around,” Arch nodded.

“Yes, she’s a pretty sharp operator, save when she allows her anger to drive her decisions.”

“Would Hermes know where her other residences are?” Róisín asked.

“Possibly ... smart thinking Róisín,” Morgana replied thoughtfully.

“Is he in?” I asked Alameda.

Alameda’s eyes glazed over for a second before she nodded. “Yes, Simone confirms he’s in.”

“Let’s go,” Morgana ordered.

“Me too?” Jukar asked.

“Yes, why not? Hermes will be no danger to you.”

“Thank you, Mage Morgana,” she replied with a very correct formal bow.

We found Hermes pottering about in the beautifully maintained grounds of his small villa near Thessaloniki. Seems he loved gardening and maintained the grounds personally these days, only using magic as and when he really needed to.

“Greetings, Mages,” he stated, avoiding the rigmarole of individually greeting everyone.

“Greetings, Mage Hermes,” we all replied with formal bows.

“What can I do for you, Morgana?” he asked mildly. “I’m presuming you’re in charge,” he finished with a slight smile.

“Just filling in as an auxiliary investigator for Tara,” she replied. “I’m afraid Mage Clarence has gone off the reservation and might be about to expose a Council investigation to a potentially lethal enemy.”

“The Orcs?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Damn the man! He came here a few months ago trying to get my support in influencing the Old Amity group into having the mission terminated or at least send an envoy to the Orcs themselves. I told him that I’d read the dossier that the Council had sent Cathenna, the Aglia of the Gorgons and that he’d be silly to do such a thing as their civilisation ... such as it is, would like as not eventually kill him and then come after us after extracting the information from him,” Hermes sighed.

“You reported this?”

“To Tara, yes. She said she’d keep an eye on him.”

“He came up with a plan to escape her observation. We suspect he’s persuaded Mage Fen to help him. He’s already used Mage Atomus as a decoy.”

“Fen?”

“A strong possibility, yes.”

“We don’t speak now. Not since I refused to back a challenge to Mage Adelaide from her. Silly idea, Adelaide has the support of her Bureau and is good at her job. Fen seemed to think that as China dominated the region she covered then a Chinese person should be in charge.”

“Do you know where her off world residence is? Only we suspect that Clarence might be there,” Arch asked.

“It’s nine worlds over from Svipdag, though I’ve not been there. Not sure which part of that Earth either. Sorry.”

“It’s more than we had before. Thank you, Mage Hermes,” Morgana replied with a formal bow.

“Do you need any assistance? Only I believe Fen and Clarence might respond to me, assuming they are working together.”

“Yes, assuming you have no other work of importance going on,” Morgana nodded.

“Cathenna is busy with some form of religious observance the Gorgons need to do to keep their curse going. Though personally I don’t view it as a curse,” he replied. “So yes, I’m free.”

“You really get on well with her?”

“Yes, she has an incredible intellect and is currently going over my life and the decisions I made. Pointed out a whole host of misjudgements and missed opportunities,” he sighed, then grinned slightly. “I knew a few, but, she’s really opened my eyes as to thinking several political steps ahead.”

“Be interesting, should you return to the Council,” I added.

“Oh no, I’m not doing that again, John. I don’t mind doing work for Roxanne’s office with regards to the demi-human magical creatures around here. But the work I did for the Council turned me into something I have come to hate. Still, what you’re doing, Morgana, an auxiliary investigator or trouble-shooter, that I wouldn’t mind doing occasionally.”

“To be honest, I was unsure of taking it on. But I am enjoying it,” she replied. “I’ll let Simon know you’ll help if asked.

“Thank you, now we’d best get on with the chase, it’s a big world to search, even if you have a Seer gestalt with you.”

“Of course,” she nodded. “Alameda, could you open a hidden portal to the world Hermes indicated?”

“At once, Morgana.”

Not all untouched Earths are the same; a lot depends on whether or not the Daoine Sidhe used them as hunting grounds and hence brought about extinction level events. Others, the Higher Powers take an interest in (no, we don’t know why) and some, a predator other than man got to the top of the food chain. Not that mankind is or was present on many of these worlds, but if he/she is, then there’s a strong likelihood that the Sidhe were there at some stage too, but abandoned them when their numbers became too low. These people are what we call the lost tribes, or wildlings. Generally the civilised Earths leave them alone until they develop magic strong enough to notice us, after that some form of treaty is drawn up along the lines of minding our own business. This mostly came about after the Tuathans conquered three other planets and eventually they were told to cease and desist by the Craebh Ruadh and the Æsir which was the probable cause of the thousand-year long Æsir/Tuathan conflict.

The planet that Hermes led us too was a paradise planet in that there were no real dangerous predators other than a few Mages who had an off-world residence there. I don’t really get why they do it, but I’m a bit more social because of the ladies in my life and if we want to get away, we’ll pack a tent and have a look around that way. Nor do many of the other Mages I associate with have one, except for Mage Sofya, though I’m told she rarely uses it these days having her hands full with Alex, her son, who’s a wonderful kid and very smart too, if a bit hyperactive.

We all waited patiently whilst the Seers did a gestalt scan looking over the planet for any traces of habitation.

“We have discovered a few places, but no sign of Clarence or Fen,” Alameda finally stated.

“Well, Tara says she’s not at home in Hong Kong, so it’s possibly she’s shielded up under a cloaking screen here. After all, she has to know at some stage the Council would be asking questions,” Morgana replied thoughtfully.

“I’m going back through my memories for any clues as to her home here, problem is, is that I wasn’t any too interested. When we did meet, it was on our Earth, nowhere else,” Hermes admitted.

“We will undertake a deep scan, but it will take a couple of hours and might not reveal anything new,” Alameda stated.

“Hawaii, take a good look at Hawaii. Fen had a large collection of decorative sunrise shells and said they were from there, but as far as I’m aware, she never went there either working for the Council, or on a holiday.”

“Thank you, Mage Hermes. That will be a big help,” Alameda replied with a formal bow.

“It’s all I’ve got I’m afraid,” he noted with a wry smile.

“We have detected a cloaked residence on Maui. It would fool most Mages, but it’s not a Heinrich ward,” Alameda announced after a few minutes.

“We never exactly put Heinrich wards in the public domain, even amongst members of the Council,” Morgana nodded.

“For very good reasons,” Hermes agreed. “If there is a Heinrich warded house there, you wouldn’t spot it anyway.”

“True,” Alameda admitted.

Two seconds later she’d opened a hidden portal near the dwelling and we approached carefully.

“Very heavily warded, defence wise,” Róisín murmured.

“Passive though,” Hermes added. “We can try knocking, they won’t operate for that.”

“Agreed, but have your ward-breaker available, John, just in case,” Morgana added.

“We’re ready with an anti-teleport screen too, Mage Morgana,” Alameda confirmed.

“Would you do the honours, Hermes?” Morgana requested. “Only if this is her residence, she has scant reason to like the rest of us.”

“Oh, most certainly,” he chuckled. “It was a subject I learned to avoid and was one of the reasons we eventually parted.”

Hermes went up to the door and rapped the ornate knocker and we waited patiently, sensing nothing from within the house, which remained quiet.

“Stopped an outbound teleport!” Alameda announced.

“Ensure no one tries to sneak out the back. John, the ward-breaker if you please,” Morgana ordered.

Reaching into a pocket universe I pulled out a very heavy and complex miniaturised Null ward and with Arch’s aid hung it on the knocker. Two seconds later it activated and flared up into a white-hot mass of metal as the various defensive wards were diverted, broken and destroyed by the various glyphs and sigils within it. Finally though, they collapsed, just when I was about to bring out a second in case the first failed.

Morgana then used a telekinetic push to force the door open and we all, except Hermes and the Seers, drew our hand weapons.

“I detect three Mages,” Alameda stated.

“Let’s go introduce ourselves and find out why they didn’t answer the door,” Arch chuckled.

“They may not be Earth Mages,” Hermes added. “But judging by the décor...”

“Yes, definite Earth influences,” Morgana nodded.

“This way,” Alameda pointed.

“Please be careful, Mage Hermes; you aren’t wearing armour,” I warned.

“I know, but it’s the most fun I’ve had in a while ... with the exception of Cathenna,” he replied with a wry smile.

Following Alameda’s lead, Morgana led the way through the dwelling and down into a living area where three very nervous Mages faced us. Mages Fen, Frederico and, to us, an unknown.

“Good day to you Mages. The Enforcement Office of the Council of the Wise desires a moment of your time to answer a few questions,” Arch, as the official Senior Enforcer, announced.

“This is not Earth, I have to answer nothing!” came a snarl from Mage Fen.

“All Mages of Earth under the Council are under our jurisdiction, Mage Fen, unless officially welcomed to another regime. You already know that as an ex-Council member,” Hermes stated, clearly making her start as she saw him fully for the first time.