Sorcerer Rising (A Virgil McDane Novel) (7 page)

She didn’t look amused.
“I was not consulted in the matter.”

I took one of the chairs and sat down. “That doesn’t really matter to me, Doctor. I have already accepted payment and I intend to earn it.”

She pulled out a thick file from a drawer and plopped it down on the desk. “You are a reckless man and I do not want you endangering this expedition. The Guild cast you from their ranks for a good reason. I see anything that would convince me why Mr. Aberland would hire you.”             

I rolled my eyes. “Not to hurt your feelings or anything, Doctor, but I don’t really care what you think. You didn’t do the hiring. I’m here and I’m your only option. The interview is over and I’ve got the check to prove it. What do you think you’re going to do, go swing by a charterhouse and pick up a dozen Wizards.”

She smiled, an expression I didn’t care for. “They only gave me two.”

I got a sudden sinking feeling, kind of like when you realize the solid ground you were standing on is really quick sand.

There was a knock at the door just before it opened. I felt the floor drop out from under me and tried my best not to let it show on my face.

Two individuals stood in the doorway, both unwelcome sights.

The first was a bear of a man, a full head taller than me with a barrel chest and thick arms. He was dressed in a grey suit and vest, his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, revealing two of the largest forearms I’d ever seen. His blonde hair was close cut, military style, and a short, thick beard was similarly trimmed. He glared at me with cold, blue eyes.

In his right hand he held a thick, heavy staff of polished black walnut. Blue and green marble had been grafted into the wood from end to end in a spiral helix pattern, the end capped in a polished half sphere of stone.

Beside him was a small woman, younger than me but not by much. She was short, barely coming up past the waist of the giant, with the solid, healthy figure of someone who enjoyed being outside and made a regular habit of doing so. Her brown hair was tied in a braid that was slung over one shoulder, small wooden talisman knotted into the tail. She wasn’t so much beautiful as she was cute and she lacked much of the menace her companion seemed to reek of, amused green eyes taking in the scene.

In her hand she had a short walking staff, rugged and earthy, more a branch than a proper tool of the Guild.

Wizards.

In the back of my head I felt Al’s attention shift, all of his senses, all his various incarnations and mentalities, become painfully aware. My senses lit up, the whole world becoming more intense.

“Sorcerer,” the man growled. He planted his staff on the floor next to him. It wasn’t a direct threat, but the aggression was clear.

The woman next to him put her hand on the Wizard’s shoulder, drawing his attention away from me. That was good too because my hand was already wrapped around the handle of the weapon in my coat pocket. I wasn’t going to do anything foolish, but I wasn’t going to go down without
leaving a crater behind either.

I tried my best to keep the shock off my face. I didn’t jump to my feet, didn’t shout, just sat there. “What
’s going on?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the Wizard but directing the question at Lambros. “Last I checked, I was invited here. I would feel a lot more comfortable if your dog wasn’t pointing his stick at me.”

             
To his credit, he didn’t react to the barb but I saw his knuckles turn white as he gripped the staff. I needed to keep my mouth shut. Even without the raw arcane power, his knuckles were the size of walnuts.

“As soon as the Arcus landed we were in negotiations with the Guild,” Lambros said. “Mr. Aberland was not partial to that idea, but never imposes limits on himself. Even after I had hired more…appropriate guides, he felt that we needed as much support as possible for this, and decided that you fit that category. I disagree with that, Mr. McDane. Mr. Dorne and Ms. Norwood are both perfectly capable of taking things forward.

“Your services will no longer be needed,” she said, dropping her file in the trash can next to her desk. “Feel free to keep the advance you were offered. The Guild was quite willing to provide the funds needed to cover that.”

“Get out,” the man added.

I leaned back in the chair, rocking on the back legs. All three were watching me, waiting for me to say something

“Nah.”

Dr. Lambros blinked. “What?”

“To be honest,” I said, “if you
’d just asked me to leave, said you’d found someone else, just keep the money and thanks for coming by, I might have taken you up on it. This is going to be a pain in the ass and I’d much rather just go back to a bar and spend a rich man’s money.” I locked eyes on the Wizard. “Buuuuuut ya didn’t. You had two of them waiting for me, waiting to put the Sorcerer in his place. Even went so far as to let them pay to make me leave.

“
Like I said already, I’ve already been hired. I don’t trust your boss as far as I could throw him, but I believed him when he said he hated the Guild.” I pointed at her. “Maybe he knows about this, maybe not, but either way, he selected me.”

I got up. “Right now, I would pay to
keep
this charter. Now if you will clear the doorway, I have last minute preparations to make before we head for the Walter Cloud.”

Dorne leaned forward, towering over me. He stared me down and suddenly there was a pressure right in the center of my head. It caught me by surprise, took me aback so much that for a moment it actually worked. I hadn’t realized it, but he had been looking Deeper the entire conversation, looking for a crack in my mind.

And now he was digging into it, like a man digs a crowbar under a rock.

It was an amateur move, or would have been if he knew what he was doing.
Mental magic was subtle, but the very act of creating a partition and preparing the mind to use magic built up defenses. I may not have been able to use my magic, but those defenses remained.

That’s how the Guild
thought. If you weren’t with them, they thought you were an uneducated moron, an ape that knew a few tricks. If they ever actually got off their high horse and paid attention, they’d realize how dangerous a person who’d had to figure out everything on their own could be. You would have thought they’d learned that lesson from the war with Ander.

I focused on an image, one of the gargoyles that lined the walls of my keep, the one that stood right over the gate. He was a big bastard, the size of a gorilla, made all from purple marble. He had leonine features, shimmering scales, and massive, shovel like talons.

It turned its head, focusing on the intrusion. Keen, glowing white eyes peered out from under a heavy brow. “Get out,” the beast said in a voice that was like two mountains rubbing together.

Then it reared back a stone fist, and socked the Wizard right in his mind.

He fell to one knee, dropping his staff as he did so. “That was rude,” I said as he searched for his staff. I kicked it aside, ignoring the obvious shock on the doctor’s face. “Next time, I’ll be rude back.”

I looked at the other Wizard, but she just shrugged. “It
was
rude.”

“Virgil McDane,” I said, holding out my hand. “I think we’ll get along just fine.”

She took my hand it a strong, calloused grip and smiled. “Tiffany Norwood. I think so too.” Then she moved to help Dorne up. “Come on Conrad, let’s put some ice on that thick skull of yours.”

They left, but not without one hell of a bad look from Dorne.
I wouldn’t be able to do that twice.

I picked up the chair and slammed it down in front of the good doctor’s desk. I sat down and leaned forward, clasping my hands in front of me. “Now,
Dr. Lambros, how about we see if we can start off on a better foot?”

To her credit, she had kept her composure quite well. The situation had obviously not played out as she wanted, but she was meeting it head on. Aberland knew how to find good help apparently.

“If you insist,” she said curtly.

“You asked how I was qualified?”
My voice was rough. I was seeing red at the edges of my vision and my hands were trembling. “Well, I just put down your first pick without raising a fist.” I neglected to include that had it gone beyond that, he probably could have blasted me through the wall. “I have three doctorate level degrees from the Tower of Myrddin, Aetherial studies in sociology, biology, and physics.” I ignored the fact that they had been revoked and my memories of that education was patchwork at best. “I have published five books, all of which are quite valuable these days if you can get a hand on one.” The Guild had outlawed them when I was cast out, burning every copy they could find. “Beyond that, I have led over a dozen expeditions and have seen more worlds than half the Wizards in the Guild.”

I narrowed my eyes. “None of that really matters though. What you need to remember is that your employer chose me. He didn’t consult you? You don’t see his reasoning? No offense, Ma’am,” which wasn’t true in the slightest, “but that doesn’t speak of my quality, only yours. What’s that doctorate in anyway?”

She glared at me for a moment, dark eyes full of fury. Then something seemed to click and she took a breath. “Archeology. As well as anthropology and a master’s in business.” She leaned forward. “I was head of Mr. Aberland’s European division for five years and have directed operations in every country worth of note and several I’d rather forget.”

We stared at each other for a moment, finding ourselves at a standstill. This was a driven woman, intelligent, just another example of Aberland’s taste in his people. I was a wild card in a very dangerous situation and it didn’t help that her authority had been overruled to make me part of it. For a woman like this, precise and controlled, that was the worst way to get into this.

I let out a long breath. “Will I get any more trouble from that one?”

“The Guild wasn’t happy that we hired a Sorcerer,” she said. “They have provisions against that in the charter contract. But they will not revoke their bid, not now.” She paused. “Conrad is a good man. He will not endanger this expedition out of pettiness. Will you?”

“That’s a pretty big file you have.” I picked it up out of the trash can and plopping it back on her desk. “What do you think?”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” she said.

I frowned. “I’ll do my part, just keep them out of my way.”

She
threw the file back in her drawer. “Stop by the second floor on your way out. Doctor Green will give you your inoculations. If you are not at the Walter Cloud by tomorrow morning, we will go in without you and I will consider your contract broken. Do I make myself clear, Mr. McDane?”

“Crystal,” I replied.

“Ever had the red?” Dr. Green asked, thumping a spear sized hypodermic needle with his finger.

“Never,” I replied. “Somehow made it out of Africa three times without catching it.”

“Good,” he said calmly. I didn’t even get the chance to wince before he drove the thing into my arm. “What about the pox, scarlet fever, cholera, lycanthropy?”

“Yes, no, yes, was bitten but it was treated,” I replied. “Was Aberland not able to get a hold of my medical history?”

I couldn’t get a read on the doctor. He had been sticking me with things for the past ten minutes, asking questions all the while and never looking me in the eye. He was a small man approaching his elder years, zipping around his makeshi
ft lab with an energy I envied.

“He did,” the doctor said absentmindedly, drawing something black and murky from a vial. “I just like to be thorough.” He jabbed the needle back into my arm. “How does a wereviper work anyway?” he asked with a smile.

“It’s complicated.” I rubbed the soreness out of my forearm. “And a long story. You about done, Doc?”

“That was the last of it,” he said. “And I’ll want to hear that story one day. Let me know if you feel woozy or bleed from the anus.” For the first time he looked me in the eye. “And call me Sam.” He shook my hand, a firm grip that about yanked my shoulder out of its socket. “Wait here, I’ve got a prescription I need to write for you. I don’t have the vaccination for the red on hand.”

He left.

I rolled down my
sleeves and winced as I threw my coat around my shoulders. Lycanthropy inoculation hurt like a bitch.

Something in the corner caught my eye. It was a large glass cylinder built into a brass base. Glowing wires ran from a variety of nodes into the wall, the whole thing humming
with electricity. On closer inspection, I realized it wasn’t glass but some type of cloudy crystal.

I could just make out a tall, thin object inside the cylinder, covered in a tarp. It looked a bit like a coat rack.

Then the coatrack shifted and said, “What do you think you are doing?” It was a tinny voice, like something from a radio.

I jumped back, tripping over a my feet as I did. The drop cloth fell away, revealing something that was very much not a coatrack.

It cocked its head, staring at me inquisitively. It was man shaped, tall and skinny with a body made all of brass, iron, and copper. Its face was made from brass, shaped into the form of a man’s but with two yellowish-green, eye-like lenses glowing where its eyes would have been. A thin slot served as a mouth. It was dressed in a fine black suit, vest and all, with a crisp white shirt and copper tie.