The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) (20 page)

“Blast!
 
They’ve sensed you boy!
 
Your portal was stronger than I thought – they’ve sensed your power and are returning.”

That was all Keegan needed; without a moment’s hesitation he dove head-first through his portal, only vaguely aware of the snapping sound behind him as it flared out.
 
He landed hard, sliding roughly on his stomach across the floor into the middle of the Council chambers, much to the surprise of the assembled witches and wizards.
 
Keegan managed one brief look at their puzzled faces before passing out in an exhausted heap in the floor.

###

Keegan slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the fog that clouded his mind.
 
It was then that he noticed a large black cat sitting on his chest, peering intently at him.
 
Beyond the cat stood what appeared to be a ring of a dozen or more people in funny robes.

“He’s coming to – I think he’s going to be fine,” said the cat.
 

 
“Ugh,” said Keegan, letting his head fall back to the cold, hard floor.

“Nice to see you too, my young friend,” purred the cat as it hopped down from his chest.
 
“Your abrupt arrival interrupted my dinner, you know.”

Keegan closed his eyes again as Acamar hurried off to his interrupted supper.
 
His peaceful interlude was abruptly ended as two sets of arms grabbed him about the shoulders and hauled him into a chair.

“Are you all right, Keegan?” asked Phineas, bending close so he could better examine the boy.

“Yes, I’m fine.
 
I’m getting used to near death experiences,” he sighed.

Phineas looked puzzled.
 
“Do you mean your audience with the Alderdrache?
 
But surely it must have been acceptable; otherwise you would never have returned.”

“Oh, that part went fine,” said Keegan.
 
“It was the other bit that was a little dodgy.”
 
He straightened himself up in the chair to get a better view of everyone’s faces.
 
“Everything went fine until I started to return and found my portal blocked.”

“What do you mean blocked?” asked Alexander Ducat, who had edged his way to the front of the group to stand next to Phineas.

“Just that – it was
blocked
.
 
I couldn’t summon a portal.
 
When I tried, I was blown backwards by an explosion of some sort.
 
The next thing I know I was hiding behind a column as this dark cloud of
something
came through the caverns and headed for Seba’an’s lair.”

“What do you mean a dark cloud of
something
?” asked Alexander, pressing closer to Keegan and being elbowed by Phineas in the process.
 
If Keegan did not know better, he could have sworn that the grey wizard had turned noticeably paler and had broken out into a cold sweat.

“That’s just it – I don’t know what it was.
 
The whole cavern began growing darker and something came through where my portal should have been.
 
It looked like an oily-black, swirling mist.
 
The temperature must have dropped at least twenty degrees when it passed through.”
 

Keegan straightened himself up in the chair, having regained some of his strength.
 
He was about to explain to the Council about Nekk’ar’s warning when suddenly the ring constricted so tightly it made him jump.

“No!”
came the voice in his mind, as loud to him as if the dragon had shouted it in his face.
 
Heeding the warning more out of fear than loyalty (he really did not want to lose a finger to that stupid ring) Keegan changed his story slightly.

“The mist had moved towards the chamber of Seba’an when I called my portal; I guess that’s what brought them – or it – back towards me.
 
I dove through the portal and didn’t look back.”

“Someone’s obviously conjured a
shade
to follow the boy.
 
Nothing to worry about,” Alexander pronounced.

“It hardly sounds like a
shade
Alex,” said Phineas derisively.
 
“The size doesn’t sound right for one thing, not to mention that a conjuring of that level normally doesn’t alter ambient air temperature.”

“Hogwash, Phineas.
 
I’m certain it was a low level conjuring and nothing more.”
 
Ducat abruptly turned to face Keegan again.
 
“This matter is closed young Master Whitestone.
 
It is not to be discussed outside these chambers, as the apprenticeship process is not open to the public.”

“But Master Ducat, that thing – whatever it was – was trying to kill me,” said Keegan in exasperation.

Ducat leaned towards Keegan, glowering at him in the process.
 
“Young one, you do not yet know the first thing about our world.
 
I daresay you could not tell a
shade
from a
spectre
.
 
As I am the Vice-Chairman of the Council until the new Chancellor is installed, it is my decision that stands –
period.
”
 

Ducat made this last statement with such finality Keegan knew it was pointless to argue.
 
He started to speak anyway but looked at Phineas, who gave him a very subtle warning glance.
 
Moments later the doors to the Council Chamber closed with a resounding
‘thud’
as Master Ducat returned to his chambers.
 
One by one, the other Council members returned to their own chambers as well, leaving only Phineas and Keegan to contemplate what had just occurred.

“I don’t know what I saw but I
do
know it was trying to find me, to kill me if it could.”

“I believe you, Keegan.
 
I do not yet know why, but Master Ducat refuses to consider the possibilities.”

“What possibilities?”

Phineas sat down in the chair next to Keegan, letting out a deep sigh in the process.
 
He leaned back, gazing at the distant ceiling of the chamber.
 
The mists swirling around the columns high above had turned a golden hue, matching the sunset outside.

“There are things in our world that have not been seen since long before the veil,” said Phineas.
 
“Eons ago, before the Council had been formed and before there was some order to our lives, there existed a darkness in this world.
 
There is only one thing that came to mind when you described what happened in the cavern.
 
Only one thing fits the description and could account for what you saw.”

Forgetting his bruises for the moment, Keegan leaned forward in earnest.
 
“What was it?
 
What was trying to kill me?
 
What did they or
it
want?”

Phineas met Keegan’s gaze, looking at him over the rim of the spectacles perched on his nose.
 
“I believe, Keegan, that what you saw was the Shadow.”

“Shadows?”

“No, Keegan.
 
The
Shadow.
 
They are the embodiment of pure evil.
 
They were among the first ones on this world, although I do not believe they are actually
from
our world.”

“What, you mean they’re like aliens or something?”

Phineas shook his head and rose from the chair.
 
Striding over to one of the arched windows, he crossed his arms as he looked out across the courtyard below.

“They have always existed, Keegan.
 
Before this world was even formed, they existed.
 
They inhabit the planes between the universes – the dark places where the light never shines.”

“Wait a minute – you keep saying ‘they’ but you call it ‘
The
Shadow.’
 
Is it a ‘they’ or is it an ‘it’?”

“Oh there is certainly more than one, Keegan.
 
In fact, there are a great many, unfortunately.
 
However, despite being separate beings, they move, act and think as one for they share a consciousness.
 
They are connected at all times.”

“So why are they after me?”

“The more important question is
how
they came after you,” said Phineas, turning to look directly at Keegan.
 
Clasping his hands behind his back, he paced over towards his grandson.
 

“Their portal to our world had been sealed eons ago, when the last of the ancients departed and the druids disappeared.
 
So the question I want to answer first is, how did they return?
 
How did they break the seal on the portal?
 
Or perhaps more importantly,
who let them in?
”

“You can’t be serious – why would someone open a portal to let something like that loose?”

Unfamiliar though he was with this side of the world, Keegan was smart enough to know that one would not willingly let a being that malevolent pass through with an open invitation.

“It could be any number of reasons, Keegan.
 
Some fool seeking power would be my first guess, though they would have to be an incredibly powerful wizard to open the seals that have kept the portal safe.”

“So, what happens to me now?
 
More trials?
 
More opportunities for me to get killed?” asked Keegan bitterly.
 
He couldn’t stand it any longer as a drowning sensation washed over him.
 
He jumped up and headed for the door, not exactly certain of where he would go – he just knew he had to get out.
 
He expected Phineas to stop him, to chastise him and implore him to be patient, but this did not happen.
 
The old man merely leaned on his staff and watched Keegan go.

***

“Why didn’t you stop him?”

Phineas smiled sadly, as he looked down at the large black cat that had suddenly appeared sitting next to his feet.
 
“He will return when he is ready, Acamar.
 
He’s a Whitestone, and the magic is in his blood; even if he doesn’t want it to be.”

“I hope you’re right – for your sake as much as his.”

With a yawn and a stretch, Acamar jumped up onto the window ledge and curled into a black, furry ball.
 
Before Phineas could say a word, the cat was fast asleep.

###

Keegan wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he stormed out of the Council chambers, nor was he certain how he had arrived in the courtyard.
 
He sat down on a secluded granite bench next to an ornamental pond.
 
The last rays of the setting sun had turned the surface of the water the color of fire, broken only by the occasional fin from one of the goldfish swimming just beneath the surface.
 

Keegan closed his eyes, leaning his forehead on the staff in front of him.
 
Although the wood was cool to the touch, he could feel something akin to a faint pulse somewhere beneath the surface.
 
Concentrating, he let his mind drift outward, feeling for the pulsing energy with his mind.
 
He felt himself drawn inward to the heart of the staff until suddenly he was surrounded by a soft, glowing warmth.
 
He seemed to be floating somewhere within the heart of the staff, surrounded by a soft, golden glow.

“You see, Keegan, this is your destiny – it is in your blood.”

Keegan turned (or at least thought he did) toward the direction of the voice.
 
Slightly above and to his left someone (or something) had coalesced out of the glow.
 
The shape was blurry at first, until finally solidifying before his eyes into a large golden dragon.

Looking down at his hand, Keegan realized that his ring was gone, yet in its place was a glowing band of what looked like liquid fire.
 
From this band a tiny thread of light, no thicker than a human hair, snaked out across the distance towards the dragon.

“Yes, we are still connected – even here,” replied Nekk’ar as if anticipating the question.

“But where is
here
?”

“We are….in between.
 
Yes, that is the simplest way to put it.
 
We are everywhere, yet nowhere.
 
We are between the two worlds.”