Chapter 13

It was a subdued group who met back at Morgana's Manse, we'd come so close to exposing a traitor to humanity on the Council.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have started questioning him in such an exposed place."

"Not your fault, John," Morgana said. "Whoever sent that spell knew exactly what they were doing, it was precise and sufficiently low powered so as not to illuminate the caster to our vision. I'd like to know who it was and how they knew that Johannes would fail though. I sent Róisín to check, but I rather think our assassin has taken down Cadmus too, I haven't heard from the team I sent to arrest him."

"Perhaps he or she was just observing to see what was going to happen," said Arch.

"Perhaps," said Morgana. "Though Robert said our ultimate enemy was a male Mage and he seems to be one step ahead of us all the time too."

"We'd have crushed the Coalition by now if they weren't getting inside help," said Arch. "I'm certain of that."

Róisín ported in at this stage and apologised to Morgana and Arch. "Mages Cadmus, Reygarth and Andrei are dead," she said, mentioning two of Cadmus' cronies who until now had been merely suspicions rather than guilty. "Our team were too late; they'd received a message to wait though none of them appear to be able to remember from whom."

"I'm going to order a massive review of our internal security methods to prevent such a thing happening again!" stormed Morgana. "We are clearly compromised from top to bottom from the amateurish way we go about things and as such that failure reflects badly upon me. I will have to speak to the Council about this, though I have no clue as to who is the traitor in their midst."

We all sat silently, there was little else to say, we didn't blame Morgana, it's just we realised that much of what she said was true, we tended to muddle through by luck rather than good judgement. Yes, we had certainly been successful over the last 25 years, but our successes had been more down to our opponents making mistakes and being over confident rather than by our own strengths.

"Any thoughts on just who the traitor might be?" I asked. "Assuming there is just one."

"No, John," sighed Morgana. "I know most of them personally and would call them friends, yet the evidence suggests that one of them is deliberately supporting the Coalition against the Council itself."

"Are they though?" I asked. "To quote Abraham Lincoln 'A house divided against itself cannot stand', could it be in someone's interest to see us constantly at each other's throats?"

"What are you implying, John?" asked Arch.

"The Coalition is a problem, yet their numbers have always been small?" I questioned as I glanced at Morgana who nodded an affirmation. "Up until the mid-1800's if I remember correctly the Council had them contained to areas where their influence was limited, then something changed and their influence and activities grew. Still, the Council really ought to have quashed them years ago or kept them contained. Yet they appear in the last one hundred years to have influence way beyond their numbers which implies that either someone in the Council is supporting them, or that someone in the Council is acting against us both by keeping our attention focussed away from another agenda."

"Bit paranoid that, John," said Róisín.

"Am I being paranoid enough?" I asked. "Yes, someone took out Mage Robert under our noses, but face it, Mages Cadmus, Reygarth and Andrei would be no pushovers and would have taken more than one Mage to take out easily and I doubt it was the Coalition."

"I'm not saying you're right, John," mused Morgana. "I can think of several Mages who individually could have dealt with them, but it's a hell of a nasty thought and bears a lot of thinking on. Our traitor wouldn't necessarily have to openly support anyone; just make sure we both fail."

"I've read that the Coalition has problems with the Craebh Ruadh world," said Róisín.

"Yes, one of the first things Elymas tried when the split between the Council and his group became open was to try and get support from Mages elsewhere, on worlds where magic is practised more openly. He tried the Craebh Ruadh world as it's run by Mages though quite benevolently for the normal people there and managed to antagonise them so thoroughly that they set their warrior groups against his ambassadors. This eventually led to the placing of a bounty on his and other High Mages of the Coalition's heads and the Craebh Ruadh will occasionally make incursions into Coalition territory looking for them," said Arch. "But what John described isn't really their style, we don't get on that well as they are pretty insular and protective of their 'magics' though in many ways we've far surpassed them but, they've never looked to expand."

"If it's anyone we know and it's very much an if," said Morgana. "It will be the Tuatha Dé Danann, they already control four worlds, Falias, Gorias, Finias and Murias and are constantly looking to expand, if only because they struggle to contain their military if they don't."

"What about the Æsir?" I asked.

"Their Mages live in a loose confederation of Earths," said Arch. "They've never really shown any interest in expanding, merely enjoying a lot of political infighting in Valaskjalf, their heartworld. I'm not saying it's impossible mind you, but trying to get them all pointing in the same direction would be difficult unless someone attacked them, the Tuatha Dé Danann fought them for nearly a millennia before calling it off as a bad job as they don't seem to comprehend the notion of surrender."

"There's always the Anasazi, Nazca, Rutasi. Phaëtoni, Tiamati, and Olorun," said Róisín.

"None of whom have shown any interest in even competing with us for the empty worlds," said Morgana. "Even the Tuatha Dé Danann don't bother about them, they'd rather fight or intrigue with other Earths. Granted none of the other realms particularly like us, but they tend to mind their own business so long as we do the same."

"What of the non-human realms?" I asked. "I don't mean the Faere, they aren't subtle enough but what of the Veda, Mazdani, Djinni, Maraú-Uxuí or Ogdoad?"

"They rarely interfere in human matters," said Arch. "Mostly a matter of the numbers game. Humanity in general outnumbers them and they tend to politely ignore us in the hope that we'll do the same. Still, look at what the Mazdani achieved on Finias when the Tuatha Dé Danann were stupid enough to provoke them and it's not that the Veda couldn't give us a run for our money either. You know what the Vedic civil war achieved on Kurukshetra, they were using the magical equivalent of nukes long before any Mages on Earth could throw that sort of power around."

We all winced internally at the mention of that nearly dead world which housed the maximum security prison for the Council (and a few other realms we suspected). The Veda had abandoned the place over one thousand years ago after three millennia of civil war and it hadn't got much better since, though the Council were experimenting with magically tailored algae to remove some of the poisons in the air and soil, with limited success so far.

"One other thing," I said. "When we faced the Old One, the simalucrum who took us into its chamber said 'they are waiting for you'. I wondered about that at the time as I saw or felt no other presence. No one on the Council or the Coalition from our Earth would invite an Old One here. The only people who might benefit would be another realm, assuming the host of the Almighty could clear up the mess quickly enough."

"It would suit the Tuatha Dé Danann's style to fatally weaken the Council by constant infighting with the Coalition," mused Morgana. "Too few Mages weakened by an incursion from the outer realms and they could easily expand onto our Earth. At the moment though they know we, the Council at least, could crush them, not easily, but far more easily than the Æsir did. Thank you for further spoiling my peace of mind tonight, John. If you have any other thoughts along these lines feel free to keep them to yourself," she added with a smile.

The next day we turned up at the department to begin sorting out, via Morgana's instructions, the re-assigned people in the Diplomatic Section. It was clear that morale, already low, had taken a major blow, not so much at the loss of Mages Cadmus, Reygarth and Andrei but by the loss of Mage Robert, who despite his now known treachery had been a hardworking and genuinely liked man. I'd even liked him myself. I'd suggested to Morgana the previous night that Mage Roxanne from the Security Section could take over, as she was known for both her ability and genuine loyalty to the staff working for her and for her second-in-command, Mage Henry, to take over the security mantle as he had a lot of experience there, though sadly not enough to turn Diplomatic around as yet. Both Morgana and Arch had agreed, assuming Roxanne was willing and a message had been relayed to her.

Roxanne had reluctantly agreed, she'd been enjoying the extra responsibility of running her expanded Section, but could see the need to repair and restore morale in Diplomatic.

It was a week later that I'd called down to bring her the results of the initial investigation by Enforcement, more or less clearing her staff of any complicity in the spying ring.

"I should have known this would happen," she groused at me. "Nothing ever goes to plan here and the new responsibilities were too good to be true."

Mage Roxanne and I now got along a lot better these days since I hadn't tried to cut back her old Section in the audit; she still thought I was a bit of a glory hunter, but a competent one at least.

"Be thankful you'll have Mage William and his years of experience to assist you," I replied, winking and ducking out of the door quickly as a small lightning bolt grounded itself on the knob of the office door opposite.

"One of these days you won't be quick enough, journeyman Mage John," said Roxanne with a harsh chuckle from behind the door. "Then your arse will be mine!"

"Well, you only need ask, Mage Roxanne, not try to stun me and drag me off." I replied to what sounded like strangled laughter from Roxanne.

"Be off with you, you young rogue," she finally chuckled. "I have work to do."

I passed a glaring Mage William on my way back to Enforcement Section. He'd been cleared of any complicity in the on-going fiasco in Diplomatic, though his closeness to Mage Cadmus had probably blighted his career in that Section and it would be a long time before he'd regain any sort of status or trust there. He hadn't known about the air vent in his office, simply because Mage Robert had lied to me about it being his office. He'd been set up as the fall guy in case the spy ring had been caught and he was taking the knowledge that he'd been exposed as a dupe very badly indeed. I suspected that someone would be keeping an eye on him for quite a while too, just in case he felt that going down the same path as Cadmus or Robert would be a fitting form of revenge for his fall from grace.

Still I thought, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

With the re-organisation now thoroughly under the Department's belt, we started to become much more pro-active in our dealings with the Coalition, particularly in Europe where our various branch offices in the many countries there were reinforced and started searching out various Coalition cells rather than simply reacting to their activities when they happened. Not that we were starting a witch-hunt, there was certainly no round up of sympathisers, but known active agents were hunted down and either captured or forced to leave, many with their work left undone.

I presume Morgana spoke to the Council about possible infiltration, though how she went about it at this time was a mystery to me, the information we'd surmised and the conclusions we'd reached went upward and stayed up there. I figured she didn't tell the entire Council, simply certain members about the failure in part of our attempts to root out the spy in our Diplomatic Section and the manner of his death and claims. But, like most things about the Council, she never spoke of it, simply directed the Department to search for any signs of outside interference or infiltration.

I also continued my studies into Null, seeking to find a means of projecting it on to or around someone, but also seeking to find a way to place a Null shield surrounding a Mage but not touching them giving us the ability to cast spells through some sort of window. Not that I was having a great deal of success as yet, but the potential was there. My other studies into iso-depth quantum layers also progressed, though I still had major issues with fine control and subtle manipulation of the energies involved. Morgana assured me this would come with time, and if there's one thing a Mage does have, it's time.

It was 1969 when we caught a further glimpse into what we considered to be a hostile conspiracy against our Earth. We had been investigating a magical anomaly detected by the Seers Section near Nottingham. Normally they are fairly precise as to who was causing it, although this time they were rather vague. Arch led the team, consisting of Mage Theo, Mage Alice, Mage Erin, Mage Angéle and Róisín as well as myself, into the area. We had travelled up by train and were looking for the source of the anomaly in the woods of Clumber Park to the northeast of the City and were not having an easy time of it. For one thing it appeared to be moving around though the Seers confirmed it was not alive and it vanished or cloaked when we approached too closely. Finally though Arch had us split up and surround the supposed position in which it was operating and keeping in mental contact we expanded our senses inwards towards it.

"Got it!" came a confirmation from Arch. "Theo, it's about 800 yards to the north of you, approach with caution. John, you're nearest Theo, head towards him to back him up if necessary. The rest of you form on me and we'll approach from the east."

I had just reached the position where Mage Theo had been when there was a scream and a mental backlash signifying a Mage under attack and in grave peril. Arch's team felt it as well and increased their pace towards the site of the anomaly as I broke into a run too, though keeping very low. Coming out of the tree line near what appeared to be some form of Victorian folly I was targeted by several streams of hellfire all of which I deflected back towards the senders, who appeared to be some sort of military. I quickly ducked down even lower yet maintained my progress towards the figures passing the badly burned though still living body of Mage Theo, who was healing himself, but was clearly out of action for a while. More hellfire as well as some form of gunfire was directed towards my position, though as yet none of it came particularly close. Taking a chance I lifted my head up out of the undergrowth to take a good look at just who was attacking me and quickly had to duck as concentrated fire both magical and non-magical lashed the area I was in, so far my shields continued to hold as they'd been unable to hit me full on, but I suspected it was only a matter of time. Hell, I thought, time for a little demonstration of my own and I unleashed a series of air displacement spells targeted not at the 'people' attacking me but at the ground under their positions. A series of screams sounded as the ground burst open under them and they were lashed by the physical effects of my magic and throwing good sense to the wind I hurtled forward into their midst using the clouds of dust thrown up by my spell plus various offensive spells in my enhanced armoury. They were clearly confused by my method of attack. After all, who expects anyone with a modicum of common sense to run towards armed men, and I was able to use telekinetics to throw several of them hard to the side against trees and into the lake beside the folly. I finally sensed a Mage making a powerful summoning and unleashed a massive bolt of hellfire in his direction. It didn't kill him but it did kill the summoning thank God. We don't summon angels or demons or anything else for that matter for a reason, they tend to be enraged and unrestrained in their wrath if the summoner is not of their cause, though I had heard of Mages in the past using it to destroy the cities of their enemies, Sodom and Gomorrah ring any bells? I kept unleashing spells at anything that moved, even though I knew I was seriously outnumbered and outgunned, finally my luck ran out and I was hit from several sides by hellfire bolts shredding my shields and cauterising much of my lower body. Fortunately I was not hit by any of their physical weapons. As it was, I was expecting to die when suddenly those of the enemy hunting me turned to face Arch and the other Mages as they advanced into the fray and I can only presume they thought I was dead. Lying still I began to cast healing spells over my burned limbs as doing so was internal and wouldn't attract notice, unlike the use of a regeneration spell and prayed that I could continue to pass unnoticed in the clamour of battle. I did notice that the enemy were now close enough for me to observe them properly, dressed in some sort of military uniform, some Mages, some not, none of them particularly powerful, though there was one nearby who clearly was. I was astonished to find that even the ones who weren't Mages all had what appeared to be an opaque mindshield of an unknown type around them which stopped me reading anything other than the details of them being a Mage or not. Feeling my body restoring itself, I gathered my powers and sent a massive series of electrical ball lightning discharges towards the figures I could see, feeling their shields go down and consciousness leave them just as the rest, deciding discretion being the better part of valour, retreated past me and through a very odd looking portal gate held open by the powerful Mage I'd sensed earlier. I sent another stream of ball lightning towards the portal just as he stepped into it himself and heard his scream as it collapsed around him leaving him cut in half on our side of the portal.