Witch Clan: Warriors! - John Stormm (best thriller books to read txt) 📗

landing in a trash pile and be able to give us this much information. I would say the girl was attempting to contact the Matriarch with the flowers and the plot was foiled by the Jacket and the Elites in the van. Did the Matriarch get any of those flowers?”

“None at all,” he replied. “The girl stumbled on the sidewalk and spilled the entire bouquet before the Elites pounced on her. The flowers appear to be nothing spelled or special in any way. The Matriarch was never aware anything was amiss in the front of the house. She and her valet left the house later that day to go shopping and the three of them returned together that evening as though the day was completely uneventful. They all checked out as human when we tested them upon arrival, and the only one unaccounted for was the boy. He was playing pranks as boys will. He certainly can‘t be our Emerald Sidhe attacker. Got any clues?”

“I still don’t trust the Atlanteans,” Rumsdon grumbled, “but I think these are separate and unrelated incidences. It is more likely the Devils are stepping up the action over the stolen Rift Wand and trying to gain an ally in the Atlantean contingent or simply trying to eliminate them as a possible ally for us. Still, if we manage to get our hands on these nuclear warheads, whether or not we have allies, we can carry the entire balance of power in the multiverse. This new plane has no talent to speak of and if we can obtain these quietly enough, no one, ever, will be the wiser for how and where we had obtained these and we can cover our tracks by setting off events that would cause that world to annihilate itself in the global nuclear war they are already poised to fight. No one will ever be able to threaten us in the same way. We just have to put the Matriarch in her place and hold our own course to obtain the weapons we need and our futures are as golden as gods.”

“Mordred is going to love this news,” Dauntless said with great relief.

“Don’t get too comfortable with it yet,” Rumsdon pointed out, “There is still the matter of the Emerald’s attack on a supposedly secret safe house. Except for that scouting party of oversized elves that we captured and interrogated, this is the first genuine attack we’ve sustained from the Devils and it was particularly viscious as it was effective.”

“I keep forgetting that all the other so-called attacks were contrived as PR material to support the war. We‘ve done our job so well, it‘s difficult even for me to remember what the truth is from the fiction.”

“Well, let me clarify this for you,” Rumsdon replied, “this one isn’t fiction. In my Pentacle accounts, we’ve scried high order ranking Sidhe wearing red cowled cloaks and the description our injured Elite gave us about the attacker on the roof fits an Emerald to a tee. This has to be the beginning of some important change for them and I’m only too sorry we have next to nothing to go on about the unregistered witch they rescued and their motives for so doing. A little cloak and dagger here and there, helped us clear the political field of a few problematic wizards and witches in the Council, but this threat was and is very real.”

“Didn’t any of our Homeland Security programs turn up any breaches or suspicious activities?” he asked.

“Not a bloody thing,” Rumsdon replied. “We know so little about these rifts and how to use this wand that it’s pathetic. Our finding the first rifts and crossing over was mostly chance, coupled with a few clues found in some very old writings. We got lucky, for gods sakes. Look at the surprise we had in the middle of Mordred’s speech, practically on the Capitol steps when the Atlanteans showed up. If they had been Emeralds or the likes, it could have been the end for us all. We have to take this seriously.” Rumsdon pounded his fist on his desk to drum home his point.

“Alright then,” Dauntless replied while pacing like a caged animal. Some of his best thinking was done on his feet in moments like this.

“We leak the Devil attack to the media,” he mused aloud for the benefit of his companion. “Except we alter a few of the facts about the safe house to make the action sound particularly sinister. We’ll leak that is was a top secret security outpost, dedicated to detecting time/space breaches in the Ivory City and that we believe a more serious attack on the city may be imminent. Next we’ll step up our security program and require more wider ranging powers from the Wizard’s Council and the Assembly to better protect the public at large. Something to give us more leeway in the detection and apprehension of unregistered witches would be a help. I have a very superficial description of the girl from the Yellow Jacket on duty that day. If we move through the city and roust a few citizens to find her, it is only their patriotic duty to comply peacefully and without protest as we do our jobs. If we can locate the girl again, maybe we can get some better information as to what this foray was all about.”

“I highly doubt you’ll find this witch within the confines of the city,” Rumsdon offered. “Too much time has passed and she no doubt has high tailed it into hiding or the Emerald took her back to Gwynydd.

“I don’t get that thing with the Emeralds,” he side tracked, “Emerald Sidhe wearing a red cloak? Shouldn’t it be a green cloak?”

“As far as I can tell,” Rumsdon answered, “it’s not a color designation as much as a status of some sort. Emeralds hold a particularly high concentration of power over natural forces, like the lightning strikes, for instance. Beyond that, I think the red cloaks are merely a stylish affectation. One Sidhe looks so much like the others, it is hard to tell.”

“Anyway, it won’t hurt to make an effort to search the city, he went on. “If nothing else, it will show us in a positive light, working hard to protect the public from the threat of invasion by the Forest Devils and legitimize our power plays in the Council. Anyone opposing us might well be viewed as accommodating the enemy.”

“Ah! Very good,” Rumsdon added, “So when we consolidate some of the power and wealth from Operation Cosmic Storm, we’ll have a tighter rein on where the spoils are distributed. How perfectly diabolical you are!”

“I notice that we both have our moments,” he replied diplomatically.

“We do indeed,” Rumsdon said with a big grin. “Let’s inform our Grand Wizard and get the ball rolling.”

“No worries there,” Mordred said appearing just inside the door with a flourish of his cape. “I find my trusted Inner Circle functioning to my well placed pride. It’s the Solstice plan I’m not clear on though. Care to elaborate?”

“Our plan is simplicity, Excellency,” Rumsdon replied. “Before the event, we begin the Circle of Invocation on the platform, that is, up to the point of calling the demon by name. Leaving that unsaid, we take full part as prescribed in the Matriarch’s Solstice dance and in the course of the dance, under the cover of the music, we utter the demon’s name, finishing the Circle of Invocation. Dauntless and I will have protective sigils on our robes, specific to controlling the monster and when it appears, wreaking havoc in the midst of the Matriarch’s ceremony, we will save the day showing the viewing public two things we want them to remember. First that the Atlantean magick is reckless, wild and not nearly so refined as our own. Secondly, that the faithful minions of His Excellency are constantly on the job, protecting the citizens of Logres from every threat.”

“You’ve thought of everything, I see,” Mordred commented. “These nuke things, are they something we can get our hands on? Are there many or few to be had?”

“According to our scry, the factions in Abred stockpile these things,” Rumsdon explained, “but they are very large so I doubt we’ll be able to move very many of them back here.”

“So if we’re implicated in stealing one or two,” Mordred replied, frowning, “we take the chance that they will use one or more of these from their stockpiles on us . That’s unacceptable, gentlemen.”

“We have a few things going for us , Excellency,” Rumsdon responded. “First is that they have no talent for rifts or magick. Secondly, they are posed for war against each other. If we take one or two of these and detonate one or two of the others, we will cover our own tracks and at the same time they will suspect each other and begin their own mutual annihilation converting Abred into a poisonous Hell that no one will ever want to travel to again. The last of these great weapons will remain in our own capable hands to use as we see fit. No one will know how many we have or what kind of spell we have used to level one of the Devil cities and we can demand acquiescence and tribute without any loss of life. Our lives.”

“Flawlessly planned,” Mordred exclaimed with applause. “As I have to travel to Romulus for the Solstice celebration there, I’ll use the time zone difference to catch you all on the scrybox. Give us a good show!”

“We will, Excellency,” Dauntless replied. “Performances worthy of the gods of the new cosmic order that your reign will bring to us all.”

Looking Through A Glass Darkly