Eddie Lancaster Box Set 2, page 25
part #4 of Eddie Lancaster Series
‘Got it.’ I watched as Gabe bit into his hand and then squeezed his blood into a plastic container for Gwen. It would have looked awfully strange to any passers-by. Luckily the building was out of the way. Nothing but clear green fields were nearby. The location was obviously a strategic one. Clara couldn’t have humans accidentally glimpsing what went on here.
Gwen popped inside and after a minute or two returned saying the spell had been updated. She made it sound like a bit of computer code.
‘Seems odd that it doesn’t bar warlocks,’ I said to Dean as he led us inside.
‘Doesn’t need to,’ he replied.
As soon as I passed through the doorway I realised why. A strange sensation passed over me. It felt like I’d walked through a curtain of electricity. My entire body tingled with static as it moved over me and once it was gone I was left feeling empty. Weak. I’d felt like this only once before and I had not cared for it then either. I looked at Dean, my expression was murderous.
‘Anyone not part of the alliance is stripped of their magic when they come in. Don’t worry it’ll come back as soon as you leave.’
I looked over at the door. I was tempted to leave at once. Then I saw Gabe was there by my side. Despite the fact that Clara and her minions would undoubtedly be able to take him on with no trouble at all it still gave me comfort to have him with me. Besides, Clara had not gone to all this trouble just to lure me into a trap. She was trying to woo me, not attack me.
‘Let’s get on with this then,’ I growled.
The court room was in the very centre of the ground floor. Like the rest of the rooms in the building the walls were made entirely of glass, only this room’s glass was black and opaque.
‘Here’s where I leave you,’ said Dean. ‘Enjoy the show.’
Once he was gone Gwen pushed open the door and led us inside. The circular room was vast. The ceiling clearly stretched up a storey or two and I noticed there were balconies on the upper floors where people were watching. The edges of the room held raked seating which was filled with more observers. There was quite an audience today and every pair of eyes was on me. In the centre of the room was a raised platform on which stood a wooden box for the subject to stand in, just like in any other courtroom. At the head of the room was a long desk which stood several feet above the rest of the room. There sat the panel. Six sorcerers looked down on the room, on me. They were three either side of an even higher desk. A tall leather chair sat empty behind it. I shook my head at the hubris of it all.
‘May I present Mister Edward Lancaster. Honorary guest and enforcer of the panel,’ a chubby man called out to the room. There were murmurs from the audience and the dynasts began whispering to one another. The chubby man who I assumed was some sort of bailiff nodded to Gwen who then led Gabe and I over to the other side of the room. An extra chair and been added to the end of the panel desk. Only one I noticed. Gabe was shown over to the raked seating. He sat as close to me as he could. He would easily be able to jump to my defence from where he was, but I doubted that would be necessary.
I sat down next to a tall elderly lady. She looked about seventy and had curly, light brown hair. Definitely dyed. She was wearing a lilac jacket with a tulip brooch on the lapel.
‘Good morning, Eddie,’ she said politely. There was something incredibly stern to her voice even though there was happiness mingled within.
‘Uhm, morning. Do I know you?’ I asked.
‘No,’ she said with an amused smile. ‘I’m Shirley Demelza. Dynast for the Medway coven.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ I replied. I’d heard of Shirley Demelza. She was supposed to be a pretty formidable sorcerer. Not one that you wanted to get on the wrong side of. ‘How is being a sorcerer in Medway since the vampires moved in?’
‘We live in the villages not far from Rochester. Small villages don’t interest vampires very much. They can’t hide well when the population is so low. We have an agreement with the Syndicate. We don’t go in their territory after sunset and they stay out of ours. We arranged it when Sebastian was in charge and Aldric renewed the terms when he took over. Maybe one day we’ll be able to send them packing for good but for now we have to play nice.’ There was a glint of danger in her eye when she said that and despite the frailness of her old appearance I had no trouble imagining her going toe-to-toe with a vampire.
‘I like you,’ I said, smiling to myself.
‘I don’t recall asking for an assessment,’ she said, pursing her lips and moving her gaze around the room.
Beneath the arrogantly high desk at which I was sitting there was a small door which now opened. I watched as another bailiff, this one a short balding man, led out the subject. Laura Pelling. She looked fairly healthy considering she’d been a prisoner for several weeks. I’d expected Clara to neglect her but instead she was dressed smartly in a nice black suit and her red hair was brushed neatly and tied in a plait. She kept her head down as she was taken to the box in the centre of the room and nudged inside it. The bailiff remained at her side.
‘Looks like it’s starting,’ Shirley whispered to me. She was smiling again. ‘I’ve sat on the panel for about ten of these hearings and after a while they all get a bit dull. This one will be different because you’re here.’
‘How so?’ I asked. I was here simply to observe and nothing more.
‘Oh, Eddie. We’ve all heard of you. We know how you spice things up when you get involved even when you don’t mean to and believe me this tedium needs spicing up,’ she said excitedly.
‘Well I hate to disappoint you but I’m not here to spice anything up. I’m just here to watch.’
‘We’ll see who’s disappointed at the end of this,’ she said, still smiling to herself. I shook my head.
Behind the highest desk there stood another door which now opened. I wondered if there were any more doors hidden away in this room of many entrances. ‘All rise!’ The chubby bailiff shouted and everyone in the room began to stand.
I was about to stand too when Shirley, who was still seated put a hand on my wrist. ‘Stay sitting with me, Eddie. There’s enough pompousness in the room without us contributing.’ This time I smiled with her. She was really growing on me.
Clara stepped through the doors and stopped at her desk. I was surprised that she wasn’t wearing the black robes and white wig that normal judges do. Instead she was wearing her trademark blue suit, her hair up in a beehive.
‘This one is old before her time,’ said Shirley. She wasn’t even bothering to whisper and she garnered several disapproving stares. ‘She needs to let her hair down once in a while.’
Clara refused to look our way. If she did then she would have to acknowledge the disrespect being shown. She stood over the room for a moment before taking her seat.
The bailiff spoke again. ‘We are gathered to hear the case of Laura Pelling, warlock formerly belonging to the warlock association which is an enemy to the Alliance of Covens.’
Once again there was silence. ‘Miss Pelling,’ Clara said clearly. Her voice was soft but rang out clearly with the aid of magic. ‘It is this panel’s understanding that you moved to Maidstone to seek amnesty from your former leader, the as yet unknown warlock who leads the warlock organisation. Is this correct?’
Laura looked up at Clara. There was very little in her expression. Just exhaustion. ‘Yes,’ she mumbled.
‘Please speak clearly for the panel,’ a man on the far end of the desk said.
‘Oh, she said yes!’ Shirley snapped at him. His cheeks reddened in anger and embarrassment and he fell silent.
Clara looked at Shirley with irritation before returning her focus to Laura. ‘After consideration it has been agreed that we will offer you amnesty here in Cedarstone in exchange for your full cooperation.’
Laura’s eyes darted around the panel. They found me and her brow furrowed in confusion. She looked back at Clara. ‘I want no part in all this.’
‘We don’t want you to take part, we just want information,’ another man on the panel said.
‘I don’t want amnesty here. This place is a target for him. He is coming for all of you and you’re deluded if you think you can protect me. You won’t even be able to protect yourselves,’ Laura said derisively.
‘Very well,’ Clara said in a clipped tone. ‘Tell us what we need to know and you can go back to Maidstone, with Eddie’s blessing. Or you can be freed to go north or to another country. The choice is yours.’
Laura shook her head. ‘You don’t understand. If I tell you what you want to know he will kill me and there is no place I can hide from him. No person on earth can stand against him.’
‘If that’s the case then why doesn’t he just come and kill us all right now?’ Shirley asked briskly.
‘Because he doesn’t want you dead. He wants you to learn your place.’
‘I beg your pardon!?’ the pompous man at the far end cried. ‘A warlock wants to put sorcerers in their place!’ I found it unusual that he was referring to warlocks as separate from sorcerers. I’d always been taught that ‘sorcerers’ was a blanket term for any magic user. Apparently, the AOC was redefining the word and excluding those they looked down on. Interesting.
‘Let me be clear,’ Clara said firmly. ‘If you do not cooperate we will have no choice but to consider execution.’
That might seem a bit harsh, but Laura was responsible for several murders of her own. Execution was a deserved punishment. Laura was not at all concerned and she let out a short bark of a laugh. ‘You think I’m scared of death? I cooperate and he’ll kill me in a far more gruesome way than any of you lot can. Go ahead and do your worst.’ She folded her arms and looked defiantly at Clara. It was clear that she was done talking.
Shirley leaned over and spoke to me. ‘I do like it when they insult old grumps,’ she pointed with her thumb to Clara and I stifled a laugh. Old grumps was the nickname I would always think of her as now.
‘If death does not scare you then perhaps another punishment will,’ said Clara. She glared down at Laura coldly. ‘I trust you are aware of Eddie Lancaster’s unique abilities? Eddie will remove your magic and then we will release you. Let us see how well you fare powerless and alone on the streets.’
Anger bristled within me. I knew she had an ulterior motive. I fucking knew it. I stood up furiously about to go hell for leather at old grumps but then Laura screamed out.
‘No!’ she yelled, obviously mistaking me standing for my intention to go down there and rid her of her powers. ‘Not that!’
I stopped. My curiosity was outweighing my anger now. The whole room was looking at me. Clara looked down at me expectantly.
‘Talk then,’ I said to Laura. I could have it out with Clara later.
‘I can’t’ she shook her head, her eyes welled up.
I began walking down the steps towards her. ‘Just tell us his name and it’ll be over.’
‘Please.’
I reached the bottom and began crossing the floor, my shoes clip-clopping on the tiled floor. ‘Tell us his name or I will take your magic,’ I threatened aggressively. Playing my part perfectly. I imagined that Shirley was having the time of her life up on the panel.
‘I can’t.’
‘Last chance!’ I shouted. I raised my hands for dramatic effect.
‘Nickolas Blackwood!’ she screamed, flinching away from me. I froze mid-step. There was a name I hadn’t been expecting here. Ever. ‘His name is Nickolas Blackwood.’
Chapter Six
Not a person spoke. I couldn’t remember the last time I experienced such silence. I turned and looked up at the panel of dynasts. None of them were moving. The pompous man at one end was looking down at Laura with utter fright. The man to his left looked as though he was expecting everyone to erupt into laughter any moment now. I panned right to where Shirley sat. She had her palms flat on the table and she was leaning forward looking at Laura with squinted and suspicious eyes. I turned once more to Clara. She was stiller than a statue. Her face was totally blank and totally white, all blood had drained from it. Her eyes were dark and fearful. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely more than a whisper, but she kept it even. ‘Nickolas Blackwood is dead.’
The dynasts on the panel began nodding their heads in agreement. They were all too eager to believe Clara’s line of thinking, the alternative was far too dreadful. The only one not jumping on the bandwagon was Shirley who was still staring at Laura with her scrutinising gaze.
I looked back at the warlock on trial, she was shaking her head slowly, looking up at Clara in disbelief. ‘I promise you he is very much alive,’ she said, her voice cracked and afraid. ‘He is alive and he’s coming for you all.’
‘Oh, tosh!’ shouted the pompous man, having recovered his voice.
‘Tell me something, Laura. What does Nickolas Blackwood look like?’ Clara asked. She spoke slowly, unlike the majority of her panel she didn’t quite believe her own assertion yet.
‘What?’ Laura asked, unsure of herself.
I was still standing in the middle of the floor between the panel and Laura and I felt incredibly exposed there. It was like being in an enclosure at the zoo. All eyes on me.
‘If you have met Nickolas Blackwood you’ll be able to describe him. I know what he looked like all too well, so I can easily corroborate your description.’
‘Well… I mean… I never met him myself,’ Laura stumbled over her words.
‘Because you’re lying,’ said Clara.
‘No!’ Laura shouted. ‘Only the top guys got to meet Nick. He never bothered with the likes of me. There were only two or three people who ever spoke to the boss.’
‘How very convenient,’ the pompous man jeered, sitting back and resting his hands on his excessive stomach.
‘Thank you, Jerry,’ Clara said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes. ‘This panel has no more time for your lies. Eddie, please relieve her of her powers.’
I didn’t even need to think about what Clara was asking. ‘No,’ I said at once.
‘Excuse me?’ Clara’s eyes shot over to me in an instant. She wasn’t used to hearing the word no.
‘No,’ I repeated. ‘Look at the fear on her face.’ I pointed at Laura, who despite being furious was also scared half to death. ‘She’s telling the truth.’
Clara opened her mouth to respond but something about me must have told her that I would not be swayed. She clamped her jaw shut and looked again at Laura. Her lips tightened ever so slightly. ‘Yes. Yes, Eddie, I am inclined to agree with you. This woman does indeed believe what she is saying.’ There was a brief pause in which fear started to creep back into the panel. ‘But that doesn’t make it true.’
‘What? That doesn’t make sense,’ I argued.
‘It is clear to me that whoever is truly leading these warlocks is a charlatan. A fraud. He is pretending to be the most powerful and most dangerous warlock who ever lived in order to scare us. That is why he limits those who can meet him. So that nobody can ever expose him for the counterfeit that he is. He isn’t the big bad warlock, he’s the wizard of Oz,’ said Clara.
‘You’re in idiot,’ Laura said in disbelief. I had to admit that Clara’s theory was a good one, but I still didn’t buy it.
I shook my head. ‘No. How could anybody pull off such an act? You know how powerful this warlock is, Clara. Even you were unable to undo the spell he put on Sebastian’s ring. How many warlocks have you met who can outdo you in a fight?’ Clara was easily the most powerful sorcerer I knew but this warlock was leagues ahead of her.
‘It’s not him, Eddie,’ she said dismissively.
‘Remember when you touched that ring?’ I said loudly before she could continue. ‘You dropped it like it burned you. You said you recognised the magic. Whose magic was it, Clara?’
‘Not. Nick’s.’ Her nostrils were flaring as she glared down at me. I could see more than just anger in her eyes. She was lying.
‘Then whose?’ I pushed. I knew I had her.
‘Enough of this.’
‘Whose magic was it, Clara?’
‘Eddie, I said enough.’
‘Whose?’
‘Nickolas Blackwood is dead!’ She screamed at the top of her voice. Her proclamation echoed back off the walls. She flew to her feet and loomed down over the desk at me. ‘I watched him die. He was stabbed in the heart with the Ambrotos Dagger and he turned to ash before my eyes.’
I didn’t know how to argue with that. She may well have watched Nickolas die but I still believed that Laura was right. Nickolas was the leader of the warlocks. ‘You know what?’ I said holding my hands up in surrender. ‘It doesn’t make a lick of difference to me. He’s after you not me. You believe whatever you like. Come on, Gabe.’
I turned and headed for the doors. As I passed Laura she stopped me with a glance. ‘It should matter to you, Eddie. Nick sent people to Maidstone to check you out. I don’t know why but he is very interested in you.’
I held her gaze for a few seconds trying to catch the lie but once again I found that she was telling the truth. I looked away quickly and strode from the room. Once we were outside I turned to Gabe. ‘Remind me to look up this Ambrotos Dagger. If the biggest baddest warlock in all of history is coming for me it might be quite a useful weapon to get my hands on.’
Chapter Seven
Me and Gabe made our own way home. I didn’t want Dean trying to convince me that joining Clara was a good idea all the way home. I had a lot to think about. Why would the most powerful warlock in the world want me? The obvious answer would be for what I could do. My ability to siphon magic out of others was dangerous in my hands. In his it would be apocalyptic. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. No, I don’t think it is. From what I’ve heard about old Nicky Blackwood he’s the devil incarnate. His name was enough to produce shivers, as you saw in that hearing. When I lived with Rachel she used to talk about him in awe, like he was a god or something. Not a nice god, though, the sort of god you try to avoid, like Loki or Ares. It’s hard to tell fact from fiction when talking about Nickolas Blackwood, I mean some of the stories border on ridiculous. Apparently, he wiped out an entire Middle-Eastern village. Then there was the one where he murdered his own mother. Oh, and the worst one is the story in which he raped and then murdered his own wife. Stories have a habit of getting exaggerated over time but surfeit it to say his reputation is pretty nasty. There are some people who don’t even believe in him. I once met a chap from Germany who laughed at Nick’s name and claimed he was an old wives’ tale, a story to scare children with. Smart people know better.
