Soulguard (30 page)

Chapter 63

The Council chambers were crowded with Mages as the argument continued. They had been arguing for five hours straight.

“We must change the way things have been done! Our following of the traditional ways led us to the situation we are in right now,” Paolo Ferdinand said once again. He was one of the Senior Mages from South America.

“We face a massive Demon invasion! We can’t begin changing things at this stage! It stands to reason, the next most powerful Mage will take control immediately and we can begin the preparations for war!” Luis De’Laroche returned. He just happened to be the second most powerful Mage in the world under Archmage Price.

None of the Mages were aware of the fact that Gregor’s stream was now as large as Price’s had been.

“If ye plan ta give the Medallion of Office ta the most powerful Mage, it should go ta Colin Rourke or Lyrica Jayne. Miss Jayne is only sixteen so it would rightly fall ta Colin to take the Office,” Lennox Flynn interjected.

I shook my head, “The one problem with that is the Archmage needs to be a Mage. Lyrica and I are Soullords. Follow tradition or don’t follow tradition. It makes no difference, I will not be the Archmage because I am no Mage.”

Gregor spoke for the first time since the meeting had started, “I would suggest that we give the Office to the most powerful Mage in the world as a temporary duty until we can get the rest of the matter settled. We can then set up a vote to place the person who the Guard wants to represent them and lead them. In the meantime, we have issues that have to be settled.”

Gregor paced across the room so that everyone could see him, “One pressing issue is the ceremony of Last Rights for our fallen comrades. We won a great victory but our fallen need to be laid to rest.”

There were many nods and I could see the respect of the Guards who were present, as well as a good number of Mages, grow as they heard someone finally address an issue that had been hanging over the Academy since the battle.

“Can we all agree on that, at least?”

There were nods from the majority of the Mages present and I could see the satisfaction roll across De’Laroche’s aura. His aura looked much like Price’s had. He was arrogant, self-serving, and there were large ugly spots in his aura.

“Since we are in agreement, finally,” Gregor said, “Colin, would you be so kind as to give the Medallion to the Mage with the largest Soulstream? Then we can get down to the business we need to be discussing.”

I nodded and with a small smile I picked up the gold medallion that had hung from Price’s neck for ninety years. De’Laroche waited, expectantly and looked confused as I walked past him toward the most powerful Mage in the world. That Mage backed up a step as I approached and sighed in resignation as I placed the medallion around her neck.

“You must be joking!” De’Laroche yelled in fury.

“You have to do it,” I said, “
You
are what this office needs. You can do this.”

Paige Turner dropped her privacy shield and there was a wave of power rolling from her that made my teeth hurt. What had happened after Gregor had fallen in Kansas had ripped her stream wide. Now instead of a stream that came from the Source to circle her and enter like most of our streams do, hers came directly up from the earth to encase her. It was nearly three feet in diameter and the power flow from her passive stream almost made a thrumming noise until she raised her shield once more.

“I take it there are no objections?” Gregor asked as he looked around the chambers at the pale faces of a hundred and forty Mages.

“Christ!” a British voice mumbled, “What
happened
in bloody Kansas?”

“That’s not the half of it,” Gregor answered, “We have two hundred and thirty-seven new Mage trainees and quite a few of them are more powerful than some of the Senior Mages present. They are well versed in all of the focusing techniques already so I think we can accelerate their training a good bit.”

Paige stepped forward, “We need to divide them up and send them to the various Academies for training. As they finish training we can decide where they will serve.”

She walked out in front of the Mages filling the room. I could see the uncertainty in her aura but she hid it well from someone without my particular gifts.

“As Gregor said, our first duty will be to see to the Last Rights of our friends. I would like to hear any suggestion as to how we can accomplish this while the US Military is camped on the plains of Kansas.”

“I can call on Senator Deacons and see what he can do for us,” I said.

“Do that,” she said with a nod, “While Colin is finding out about that, I need to appoint a group of Councilors. I would like to begin with some of the Mages I know. Since I am unfamiliar with a lot of you, I can only start with the few I do know and I will begin adding more as I meet the rest of you.”

She turned to Gregor, “I would like to begin with Gregor Kherkov, Lennox Flynn, Darrel Barnes, Samuel Keller, William Sanders, Kharl Jaegher and Daphne Cavanaugh.”

“Excuse me,” Paolo Ferdinand looked confused, “Aren’t the final two Guards?”

“Not any more. They are two of the new trainees I spoke of. And the first thing that will become apparent to all of you is that I am not a traditionalist. Don’t be surprised when there are Soulguards as well as Soulmages on my Council of advisors.”

She looked at the silent Mages, “My first act will be to appoint Colin Rourke as the Warmaster of the Soulguard. It will be his duty to fight this war that is about to begin and it will be him you must answer to if you fail in the duties laid before you. Until the Demons are stopped, he is officially my second in command and his word is my word.”

“There are many more experienced people...” I began.

“Am I your Archmage?”

“Yes you are,” I answered with pride. I could see the doubt in her but I could also see that iron core that I knew was there too.

“Then do your duty.”

I nodded in acceptance.

“Now go see to your Senator.”

“Yes Ma’am,” I said with a small smile. I turned and strode out of the Council chambers.

Lyrica stood outside waiting for me. She had stayed out of the room for the time being so that the Mages could deliberate without her reputation looming over them. She would have to face this from now on. She was the one who had destroyed the entire Council and the Archmage in a single fight. It would take some time for the Soulguard in general to begin to accept this and see her as something more than a weapon again.

At this moment there was a great fear of her and a great fear of me in almost every Mage. It was present in a great deal of the Guards, as well. But the Guard knows that we have always been a part of them, regardless of how powerful we become. So their fear is tempered with respect and loyalty.

“It went well?”

“Yep, Paige is the Archmage and we are free to go prepare to fight our war. She’s quite capable of doing the job. She just needs to learn it for herself.”

“What’s our next move?” she asked.

“We need to perform the Last Rights for our fallen. Then we have to go meet the US military on a formal basis and start the preparations for the Demon’s return.”

“How do you think the military is gonna react to us?”

“They need us,” I said, “Even though they don’t realize it yet. Perhaps Senator Deacons can arrange something in the meantime.”

***

The plains of Kansas looked like some alien landscape in a movie. There had been a great deal of activity over the last seven days, since the battle had occurred here. The stench was awful from the decaying bodies of what I had heard from the Senator was one hundred and thirty eight thousand bodies. They were scattered all across the plains.

Deacons had also told me that they had found at least fifty different human bodies as well. Some of them were just parts of bodies. I asked if he could have them returned to the battlefield. The Guard handles its own dead.

He said he would try and he had succeeded. After he had met with the President and given him the whole story.

So we stood looking at a large area, marked off so that no one would be inside the perimeter when the fires began. I had told Deacons that the scientists could have some of the Demon bodies. We would have to study them in more detail.

The Archmage stood before four hundred Mages and close to a thousand Guards. There were cameras watching and this had been discussed for some time.

“Today we mourn the loss of many of our friends,” her voice carried across the whole crowd, “Our family, our teachers, our comrades.”

There was no nervousness showing through, even though I could see it in her aura, “Not one of them tried to avoid the duty they were called for. They all came to this place to protect Humanity. That is our mandate, to protect Humanity from the creatures that lie in this field of battle. We will not hesitate to face our enemies, just as these noble Souls did not hesitate. If not for them and those who survived, this victory would not have been possible.”

She turned toward the battlefield and drew two swords from the harnesses she had strapped to her back, “We salute you!”

The swords lit with Soulfire as every Mage and every Guard drew twin blades to join her. We all held them over our heads, crossed and glowing brightly. As we pulled the crossed swords apart, the sound sent a chill down my spine. Every Mage Pulled and a massive bolt of fire shot into the sky.

Paige turned back to us, “Warmaster, please send our friends on their journey.”

I had spent several hours in the Dome figuring out how I was going to do this and I had found that, if I don’t do the actual Pull through someone else’s stream, I can handle the power without having to do crazy crap like tying straight to the Source. My Soulstream is strong enough for what I would need.

I stepped forward and stood beside Paige, facing the battlefield.

“Pull!”

Fifty Mages Pulled and sent the power up into the sky. I raised my arms and reached out with my mind. I began spinning all of that power in a huge Maelstrom high in the sky above the field. My Soulstream surged with power as my body soaked it up.

There really wasn’t as much power circling around in the sky as it looked like. We had decided to make the whole thing as visual as we could and there really isn’t a great deal of power needed to set the dead afire. When the Demons are living, it takes a great deal more.

“May the road to Paradise be paved with the Souls of your fallen enemies,” My voice boomed across the plain.

“Prepare a place for us there, my friends,” My voice cracked a bit, “We will join you soon enough, but not today.”

With that I brought my arms down and the whole maelstrom of power slammed down onto the plain and a wave of flame surged across the battlefield. The wave stopped at the marked boundary and Smoke poured into the sky as all of the bodies burned.

“Farewell, my friends,” I said softly and Paige put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently.

Epilogue

Kevin Graves sat on his bed, his mind focused. He felt the flows of Power around him. He could almost feel the flows as they knotted around his Soulstream. He couldn’t believe his own father had blocked him from the Source. He was a bastard but he was still his father. Even worse the group of Mages hadn’t stopped there. They formed a shield around him and tied it to the Source. His own father had left him here to die slowly without food or water and his Soulstream barely large enough to live at all. The Soullord had better live through this or he was screwed.

He let his mind wander along the flows of power that he could feel around him.