Chapter 24

"No, John, absolutely impossible," said Morgana. "Oonagh is or rather was a power, but she would be as nothing against a denizen of the Outer realms."

"I hope you're right, my Mage, but whatever is controlling the Nephilim portals definitely isn't from the Outer Realms," I replied.

Morgana paused and frowned.

"May I check your memories of this portal opening, John?" she asked, more out of politeness than anything else. A Mage does not have to ask their apprentice or journeyman to do such a thing, but as far as I'm aware they all do, unless it's an emergency.

"Of course, my Mage," I replied as she reached out to touch my brow.

A Mage can read a mind simply by mental effort, however physical contact permits a quicker and far more detailed view of the events witnessed by whomever they are scanning. In theory it shouldn't make a difference, in practice, well, it does, and is one of those weird idiosyncrasies that make up the magical world as Mages see it.

When she'd removed her fingers Morgana frowned obviously deep in thought.

"You're right, John. Whatever opened the portal for you wasn't human and it wasn't from the Outer Realms either," she said eventually.

"Could the Daoine Sidhe," I said giving the old name for a High Sidhe of whom there weren't many at all these days, (Oberon and Titania being the two most prominent I could think of). "Perhaps piggybacked onto the persona of Irin ... whatever that is and deceived the Malakha into thinking they were Irin?"

"I don't know, John, five minutes ago I'd have stated a categorical no. Now, I'm not sure at all what's going on there," Morgana replied in troubled tones.

"Some of the evidence I've brought back tells us how Ímar Ua Donnubáin found the place as well as detailed instructions as to how to open a portal to get there," I replied.

"Good, it corroborates what we suspected; though getting a High Mage to crack under mental pressure is proving damned near impossible," Arch said.

"Well, I have the Loegrians looking into a solution for that as well," I replied. "Though no luck so far."

"We'll continue this discussion tomorrow morning in my office before we return to Valaskjalf," Morgana said. "I'll look through the evidence in the meantime. I'll pass the word to all Section heads as well; I'd like their input too."

I was well refreshed and feeling a lot better when I attended the meeting in Morgana's office the following morning, mostly due to Róisín making sure that I was well fed and got a good night's sleep. Mages can and do go without sleep for days depending on whatever tasks they are up to, using our powers to restore energy levels, but there's always a payback point and eventually a good sleep is required. We can if we so desire create food and water with our powers, but, it rarely tastes as good as the natural stuff ... well, the food anyway, water is water after all.

All the Section heads were represented in the office, also to my surprise were representatives of the various worldwide Departments as well as Simon Magus.

Morgana went over the details I'd brought back as well as handing the encrypted diary (assuming it was one) over to Mage Geoffrey of the research Section. I then gave my own account of my actions in the Outer realms, the full unexpurgated version, not the one I intended to give to a probable Council enquiry.

I was then questioned in detail by the various representatives, bringing forth further details some of which I'd only been partially aware of at the time. I also demonstrated the mindshield as taught to me by Mergna getting a few startled looks as it clicked into place.

"We now know more about our enemies than before. The information John brought back will enable us, should we so choose, to strike back directly at them," Simon stated. "That said, until we have a proper response prepared, just stand on the defensive as you have been doing, the anomaly of the 'god' of the Nephilim will need full investigation before we act. We will also now 'officially' be giving aid to the Æsir thanks to Mage Morgana's fact finding mission and the evidence supplied with emphasis on the training requirements too. I realise that the lack of communication from the Council has been a matter of concern to the various Departments and their staff, but trust me on this, there's a lot going on in the background and proper responses to the Nephilim problems are being prepared. We simply don't want them to get wind of them before we're ready, particularly as we have a known infiltration problem that may or may not be under control."

"Thank you, Mage Simon," said Morgana. "In the meantime, the Department of Investigative Studies will continue to act as the focal point of our efforts to thwart the Nephilim military. We will study the evidence brought back by John and disseminate it to the Council as well as the other Departments as soon as we have results. We will also supply copies for your own experts to draw conclusions from."

"Will the truce with the Coalition continue to hold?" asked Mage Roxanne.

"So far yes," answered Simon. "Though we have monitored several failed attempts to expand back into their old networks as well as open a dialogue with the Nephilim. As with a lot of things, some Coalition Mages are being a lot more cooperative than others."

"We have been opening a few new channels of our own in Coalition territory, so I suppose it's not too surprising," said Roxanne.

"Continue to do so, Mage Roxanne. This goes for the other Departments as well," replied Simon. "If the truce fails, as I suspect it will sooner rather than later, I want our efforts to come as a very nasty surprise to them."

"We have locations on several of their sleeper teams," said Mage Constance, one of the representatives of the Department for Magical Regulation. "We plan to alert the Craebh Ruadh selectively as and when they start to make themselves a nuisance."

"Sooner or later the Coalition will realise that it's us informing the Craebh Ruadh, not a spy in their own organisation," said Mage Thomas.

"I know," said Simon. "But for the moment it suits us to use proxies to take them out rather than break the truce openly."

"I wonder if they are coming to the conclusion that the truce actually has benefitted us far more than it has them?" said Mage Henry.

"Oh, I suspect that a few of the higher ups are getting there," said Simon. "We're the ones picking up praise and invitations as well as new techniques from the Æsir and have to some extent gained a new level of interaction with a few of the other magic using worlds too."

"So expect a knife in the back fairly soon then?" asked Henry.

"Surprised it's taken so long to be honest," said Morgana.

"At the moment I believe that their leadership believe the good of the truce still outweighs the bad," said Simon. "However, they are losing ground and they know it."

"We'll be on our guard, Mage Simon," said Henry.

The meeting ended shortly after that statement and although there were a series of discussions amongst the people attending, nothing new came of it.

Morgana and I then ported back to the Æsir Consulate to be met by a new assistant to Vanir Snorrison.

"Greetings Kona Morgana and Seiðmaðr John," He greeted us politely. "Welcome back to the worlds of the Æsir."

"Greetings, Kona Harmel," we both replied.

"It's good to be back," I added.

"I expect it is," he replied with a smile. "Considering what happened to you."

"Well, that was not the fault of the Æsir who have been the soul of courtesy and politeness on the whole," I replied.

Harmel nodded his acceptance as Vanir Snorrison entered the room from the guarded doorway.

"Kona Morgana and Seiðmaðr John, you are most welcome," he greeted us.

Vanir Snorrison," we replied with smiles.

Morgana stepped forward to give him a hug by way of informal greeting and when she'd finished Snorrison stepped forward to shake my hand in greeting as well.

"I'm so glad you are well, John," he said. "The Æsir have not exactly been responsible hosts with you."

"I find no fault with the Æsir as a people, Vanir Snorisson, nor indeed with all but a few of those I have met personally." I replied.

"You are, as ever, most gracious, John," said Snorrison.

We were then led to the portal room and passed on our way back to Valaskjalf, the Æsir capital, where we were met by Vaniralla Freya and her retinue which included some new faces.

"Greetings, Kona Morgana and Seiðmaðr John," she greeted us.

"Greetings, Vaniralla Freya," we replied.

"I'm glad you are well, John," she said. "We truly feared the worst for you."

"I am very well indeed, Vaniralla," I replied. "Though it appears your clan suffered casualties in coming to our aid."

"That we did John," she replied sadly. "Five of my personal dróttina fell taking down the traitors and a small Nephilim incursion band."

"If you give me their names I will honour their memories at the ceremony of leavetaking," I replied.

"You do them great honour by even asking, John," she replied. "Kona Morgana has already requested such information and when I have it to hand you will both be informed."

Freya led us back to a new apartment in the Æsir style.

"We have carefully checked the staff this time," she added by way of introduction.

"We cannot fault your earlier task, Vaniralla," Morgana replied. "We lived amongst them for several days and found no hint of treachery in their thoughts."

"You are most gracious, Kona Morgana, but I still regard it as a stain upon my personal honour," she replied.

"We all make mistakes and errors of judgement, Vaniralla," I said. "What is important is that we learn from them and don't repeat them."

"I agree, John, but it was a terrible price to pay for not checking something properly," she said.