Hour of the Dragon - Heather Killough-Walden Page 0,25

his words rolled over them like a gentle shake. As they slowly realized what they had just once more done, he asked Katrielle, “What are we going to do about this?”

“Right now, we can’t do anything about the building chaos,” she told him. “Except try to find Maze. That’s what we have to concentrate on where he’s concerned. We have to locate him and then we have to somehow pin him down. Until we can? We won’t stand a chance of holding up this domino.”

“And in the meantime?” Siobhan asked, no doubt thinking about what waited for them back in the Phantom Realm. It was too many souls to deal with at once. And it also meant that at that very moment, there was a disastrous event going down in the mortal realm. It had been caused by something inhuman, and hence required inhuman intervention. It needed healers, cleaners, and inhuman ambassadors who worked in the guise of humans in the field of first response, such as in the police force, firefighting, and emergency medical services.

“In the meantime, we suck it up and get to work,” said Katrielle. But she didn’t say it unkindly, only with determined resolution. “Get help with the anime currently waiting in your realm, Thanatos. There are a few sovereigns who can venture there. Take them with you right now and deal with it together.” She turned to the others at the table and stood, taking a deep breath before she went on.

“The rest of you, locate the source of this airline disaster, make your contacts, and inform the appropriate warden leaders.” She glanced out the window again, and that frown was back. “I have a feeling it’s close by.”

“It is,” said Adelaide suddenly. She was staring at the top of the table though, her gaze distant. “I can feel it, so it must be nearby. Probably in the same state.” She turned to her husband and whispered, “I think a vision is coming.”

When a vision came to Adelaide, or to any seer really, it tended to be rather violent. Because of this, spells had been developed that took a bit of the ferocity out of them, and those spells had been transferred to objects, as spells often were. The spell-object transference made it so much easier to always have what a magic user needed on-hand. Such as transport spells, healing spells, invisibility, and especially protective wards.

But Adelaide might not have been wearing hers at the moment. They’d all been called in spur-of-the-moment.

Katrielle nodded, clearly realizing the meeting needed to come to an end quickly. “When you have a location, send as many people to the scene as necessary to keep it clean, and do it fast. We need to Band-aid the situation before it can spread. As far as Maze is concerned, I want you to work on preparing spells that can protect at least our minds from falling victim to the growing chaos.” She shrugged and held up her hands. “All we can do right now is put out the fires as they start. Keep your eyes peeled for that first flammable spark in the days to come.” She nodded at Diana Chroi. “And maybe if we’re careful, we can keep the forest from burning down.”

Chapter Five – Two weeks later, Unknown location

Randall took a step back, making sure to place his leather-soled shoe in a dry spot, and surveyed his work. It wasn’t bad. Better than his last work, which had been better than the one before that. He was improving. Though the fact that he had to work at this at all rather than simply enjoy the perfect original ranged from infuriating to enraging, depending on the hour of the day.

Still, he was ever the optimist. He smiled hopefully and addressed his subject. “Only a few more scores, I think.” He placed his art tool on the large cardboard box that waited, still sealed, on the table beside him. Red ran from the blade into the cardboard like ink from a leaky pen, but he ignored it. Instead, he ran an equally red-stained hand through his thick blond hair, leaving a messy streak. When he realized he’d done so, he glanced from his hand to the tool and then the box, and he swore softly.

Then he sighed with weariness before pinching the bridge of his nose as if to stave off an oncoming headache. “Of course after that it will take a few weeks for you to heal before we can see