A Life Less Ordinary (30 page)

Fiona settled on my shoulder and waited for me to unlock the door and step outside the house. The security spells on the outside, at least, responded to my commands and sealed the house, rendering it impossible – I hoped – for anyone to break in while we were out. Master Revels had told me that the security spells were complex, but any security system could be broken, given a determined attacker and enough time. He’d also told me that there were a handful of wizards who had accidentally managed to lock themselves out of their houses and never been able to regain entrance. Magic was fond of little jokes and surprises for the unwary user.

Master Revels had constructed his house – after buying the property in the mundane world – in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Thirteen had actually occupied the castle itself, although they had created pocket dimensions and other magical accommodations to hide their presence from the mundane world, which resolutely refused to forget that the castle existed. Distraction and diversion spells have their limits, even when used against mundane people who don’t have the slightest idea that magic exists. There was a pile of rubble somewhere in the north of Scotland, I’d been told, that was actually a hidden castle, belonging to one of the oldest magical families in the country. The mundane world thought that it was just a ruined building, too old and uninteresting to be worth exploring. That had always struck me as amusing. How many other ruins hid magical complexes?

I walked up towards the castle, ignoring the tourists thronging around to pay a vastly-inflated charge to get into the public areas, and found the path into the magical side of the castle with ease. The air seemed to shimmer in front of me as I stepped onto the path, expanding into a complex that existed in many dimensions at once, beckoning me onwards. I felt security spells buzzing at the back of my mind, interrogating me and alerting their masters that I was coming, spells so powerful that I couldn’t imagine anything being able to fool them for long. The spells had reached into my mind and read my thoughts directly. If I’d harboured angry feelings about the Thirteen, they would have known…and with so much power bound up in the castle, they could have squashed me like a bug.

Fiona twitched as the wards washed over her and then allowed us both into the magical zone. I guessed that the wards didn’t probe too far into a person’s mind, or the Thirteen would have known about Cardonel’s odd comments to me about power-sharing. Or maybe they already knew what he and his friends had in mind and just chose to ignore it. If Master Revels had held half-breeds in complete contempt, I was sure that the Thirteen would share the same attitude. And besides, it wasn’t in the character of supremely powerful magicians to believe that anyone could be their equal, let alone their superior. Confidence – the absolute confidence that comes from self-knowledge and determination – was one of the foremost tools in the magician’s arsenal. A magician who went into a duel convinced that he would lose definitely
would
lose.

The stone corridors of the castle expanded around me. I shivered as the magic pulled us along, leaving me no longer in full control of my legs. I had to admit that it was a very neat security system – no one would be able to do anything the Thirteen didn’t want them to do – yet it felt creepy, putting me firmly in my place. That, I guessed, was the whole idea. The Thirteen would want their visitors feeling awe, respect…and maybe just a little fear. They were, after all, the most powerful magicians in the world.

My legs kept walking forwards until I found myself in a chamber. It was richly decorated, with fine tapestries hanging from the ceiling and covering the walls. Ahead of me was a table with thirteen seats, allowing the people placed at the table to glare down at me properly. Behind them was a roaring fire, one that wasn’t burning wood, but magic. I could feel the presence of additional security spells settling around the room as the door slammed closed behind me. My body dropped to one knee in front of them.

I wasn’t sure what I had expected when I saw the Thirteen. Men like Master Revels, perhaps; powerful, dignified and in control. Instead, I saw thirteen different illusions, each one blatantly absurd. One of them was a naked woman with oversized breasts, another was a strange cross between a human and a crocodile and a third looked far more like a typical wizard, with a long white beard, a pointy hat and a staff in one hand. They were all hidden behind their illusions and it took me a moment to realise that it was another way of putting people in their place. The absence of deceit was, after all, common courtesy…and they were making a
point
of how rude they could afford to be.

“You may stand,” a voice said. Try as I might, I couldn’t figure out which one of them had spoken first. They seemed to be wrapped in their own private web of spells, allowing them to communicate with each other without me – or anyone else – overhearing them. I was intensely grateful for Fiona’s presence on my shoulder. She was a comforting reminder that I wasn’t entirely alone. “Why do you wish to speak with us?”

It occurred to me, as my body stood up on its own, that I might not be talking to
all
the Thirteen. There were so many security spells in the room that my ability to see magic, particularly the more subtle kinds of magic, was untrustworthy. It was like staring into a blinding light and trying to see what lay beyond it. It hurt to look too closely.

“Master Revels is missing,” I said. I couldn’t tell if they responded to that or not. The illusions surrounding them were too strong. “I need to know what to do now that he is gone.”

There was a brief flurry of magic between the different members of the Thirteen. I couldn’t make it out, or even tell what it was doing. I guessed – I hoped – that they were sharing information with each other. There was no way to know for sure.

“He was doing some research for us,” the voice said, finally. I still couldn’t tell which one of them was doing the talking. “The destruction of the Rationalist Building is a matter of grave concern to us, as is the disappearance of a vast number of ghosts. We ordered him to investigate.”

I blinked in surprise.
Other
ghosts had gone missing? Of course; the Silent Order had said as much, back before we’d walked into the Elfish Kingdom and I had undergone the Ordeal. The thought gave me an unexpected burst of confidence and I stood up straighter, peering into the illusions. I found myself wondering just what they had to hide. Most magicians wouldn’t be satisfied with power, or at least power on its own; they’d want the entire world to know that they were the most powerful magicians within it. If the Thirteen wanted to hide their identities, what did it mean? I thought of the
Wizard of Oz
and smiled. The Thirteen might not be as powerful as they claimed to be. Pay no attention to the men behind the illusions indeed!

“He did not report back to us,” the spokesperson continued. “We are most concerned about his well-being.”

I blinked. “But you don’t know where he is or where he went?”

“We do not monitor his every move,” the spokesperson said. I picked up a hint of…unconcern from the voice. It was so hard to know for sure. “We have found that the best agents are those who operate on their own, without support or supervision from us. They use our name and call upon favours we have earned and deals we have signed.”

I stared at the illusions. “I have to find him,” I said, sharply. “You have to tell me where he might have gone!

The room’s atmosphere shifted, becoming more dangerous. “You do not make demands of us,” the spokesperson said. I felt my body tremble at their command, a reminder of their power. Just like the elves, their inner world was theirs and, within it, they were all-powerful. Of course, given that the membership of the Thirteen was supposed to change regularly, they were very far from unassailable. It dawned on me that the system was designed, not to keep the Thirteen on top, but to prevent wars and uncontrolled duels between wizards who wanted to dominate the rest of the magical world. “You are our servant, for your master is our servant.”

I felt red-hot rage flaring through me at the thought, but somehow I managed to control my anger. I didn’t dare lash out at them, not now.

“Please tell me where I can start looking,” I said. I knew I sounded weak, but there was no choice. “I have to find him.”

“We will begin investigations,” the spokesperson said, grudgingly. I had the feeling that, like a mother who said ‘maybe’ to her child, they really meant that they weren’t going to bother. There were probably hundreds of magicians who would be willing to try to replace Master Revels, which meant…I found myself wondering, hopelessly, what would happen to Fiona and myself. “If we find him and we can recover him, we will do so.”

I knew what that meant, all right. The Thirteen were far from all-powerful in the magical world. If Master Revels was a prisoner of the elves, or one of the Great Powers, or even a coalition of other magicians, they weren’t going to risk their own position by trying to free him. I supposed that I understood a certain reluctance to tangle with the elves – and the Silent Order had mentioned that elfish magic was involved – but still…it was a poor reward for a man who had served them loyally.

“As for yourself, you will report to Master Dervish,” the spokesperson continued. It was very definitely an order. “Should we be unable to locate and recover Master Revels, we will arrange for someone to take over your apprenticeship, if that is what you wish. Master Revels would have wanted it that way.”

“Perhaps,” I said, unconvinced. My determination to find Master Revels myself was undiminished. “Thank you for your time.”

My body turned of its own accord and marched through the door, back out into the stone corridors. I fought the controlling spell as best I could, but I couldn’t break it until it snapped itself, just after I reached the mundane sections of the building. The ancient castle had disappointed me when I’d seen it as a schoolgirl, for reasons I couldn’t really explain, even to myself. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I wondered if I’d sensed the presence of magic and had been frustrated because I’d been unable to see it. No one, not even a pair of Japanese tourists who were taking hundreds of photographs, saw my appearance. A girl appearing out of nowhere just wasn’t part of their worldview.

Fiona left me when we reached the house, allowing me to walk back to North Bridge on my own. I didn’t want to report to anyone, even Dervish, but once I had reported in I could do as I liked – or so I told myself. The parts of the magical world I could see appeared to be disturbed, not entirely to my surprise. It wasn’t every day that a fire demon appeared and destroyed an entire building. They’d be talking – and worrying – about it for hundreds of years, probably. I’d looked up the records and discovered that while minor demons appeared all the time, the major demons – the really powerful and dangerous ones – were very rare. I suspect that the entire human race, even the ones who worshipped demons, was grateful for that small mercy.

The Mosque looked slightly different to my eyes this time, although I wasn’t sure why. I found the magical doorway easily enough and stepped through it, ignoring the puzzled glances I received from a pair of young men who were clearly waiting for prayers. Their eyes seemed to glaze over as I vanished, both from their sight and from their minds. I found the stairwell and walked downstairs, feeling Dervish’s security spells brushing against my mind. The doorway at the bottom of the stairs was open, waiting for me.

“Welcome,” Dervish said. He looked as if he had aged overnight. His beard, which had been neatly-trimmed the last time I’d seen him, now looked as if he hadn’t bothered to cut it. “I’m afraid I have made a dreadful mistake.”

I blinked. Magicians very rarely confessed mistakes. The mundane world considered it a sign of maturity, but the magical world regarded it as a sign of weakness. Besides, allowing someone to know about your mistakes could give them an insight into how your magic worked.

“You see, I may be responsible for his death,” Dervish said, before I could say anything. “I sent him to see the Nameless Elf and I haven’t heard anything from him since.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I felt a shiver running down the back of my spine at the name.

“There’s an elf in this world?” I asked. I’d always had the impression that the elves normally stayed in their own dimension, with only half-elves like Cardonel living in the human part of the magical world. Of course, with the market being here, there was no reason why some elves wouldn’t want to visit the more crowded parts of the universe. “Why…?”

Dervish shook his head. “Master Revels and I talked about the missing ghosts,” he said, grimly. I had the impression that he hadn’t worried about it at all until the Thirteen contacted him, which had suddenly convinced him that he’d sent Master Revels to his death. “We were studying the remains of the fire, you see; it started in the records section of the Rationalist Building. Whoever summoned the fire demon wanted to destroy the records of every experiment they’d conducted over the last year.”

I didn’t see how the fire and an elf without a name went together, but I resolved to wait and see what he said. “Some of those experiments included research into how ghosts and elves and other magical creatures could exist,” Dervish continued. “You see, humans – even magical humans – are flesh and blood, with a little magic infused into their skin. Creatures like vampires or werewolves have stronger magic infused into them, but they don’t control it; in a sense, it controls them. A vampire’s nature, in particular, is determined by the strength of the magical infection.

“But that isn’t true of creatures like elves and sprites and lesser demons,” he added. “You see” – I was getting sick of hearing him say that – “they’re composed from magic and the solid matter we think we see is an illusion. A ghost, particularly an intelligent ghost rather than a psychic impression of something traumatic that happened long ago, is a human that somehow became converted into a magical form. The Rationalists were very keen to discover if they could do it deliberately.”