Semper Fidelis
Chapter 13
Elaine and I made it to a sitting position but without the now broken tracking crystal to guide our path here in Undertown our mission became that much more difficult. I felt stupid for not having grabbed a backup crystal for this type of contingency but there was really no sense in berating myself over it now. Instead I did the logical thing of pulling out two of the sports bottle energy drinks and passing one of them to Elaine before I popped the top and guzzled mine down.
I guess I should have explained what was in the bottle, or at least mentioned it was not water because Elaine also took a big swig and swallow before realizing the substance was more or less high octane, sugared, espresso. To her credit she did not spit it out though she did start coughing.
"What the hell are we drinking?" She asked as she gasped for air after her first swallow.
"A little pick me up energy drink I like to have with me." I said taking another long sip of my own bottle. "After a battle I figure we both could use a little backup power incase round two wants to begin before we are rested and ready for it." I smiled in encouragement but in the dark I doubt she noticed.
"I'm good with the idea but did you have to pick one that tastes like fuel oil mixed with monkey piss." She complained as she sniffed the bottle and took another hesitant sip.
"I will bow to your obvious vast, superior, and high browed culinary experiences on that comparison." I replied with a laugh at my own words. Harry always says when you get handed an opportunity like this you have to snatch it up or the gods of sarcasm send you to an all day insurance seminar or some other Purgatory-like event.
Being sensitive I do not have to see a person sitting next to me to know they are smiling; Elaine however was not. Nor was it the only think that I sensed. "You know some of the personality traits Harry displays are really not something he should be passing along to an apprentice." She said with a trace of irritation. "I really think…"
"Shhhh…" I interrupted and even went so far as to cup my hand over Elaine's mouth so I could hear even better. I tried to ignore the mixed outrage and sense of personal space violation she felt at my act but I was certain I had heard faint and distant noises like footsteps coming from down the hallway in front of us rather than behind us where the rubble filled room was still making the occasional groaning type sounds. After these few seconds of silence without a repeat I was almost sure I was wrong and ready to apologize when we both heard the distinctive scrape of a hard shoe on the floor ahead in the darkness, this time even louder than when I had first heard it.
"Come on." I whispered and we stood up and pushed ourselves over against the side of the hallway. Once there I cast a quick veil over the two of us because I had the strength and could maintain this type of spell for longer periods than Elaine could. It was not a perfect defense of course but with no place to escape to and with God knows what coming down the hallway at us it was the best I could pull off at the moment until I knew just what we were facing on the friend versus threat spectrum. Of course with the way my luck had been running it was going to go wrong somehow I just knew it.
The single set of footsteps that I heard at a distance was now resolving itself to be many more than just one, a small troop by the sound of it. By perceiving this I was not totally surprised when half a dozen figures carrying torches, the real burning fiery stick kind not the battery operated plastic ones, came into view and paused only a few feet in front of us as they stared at the rubble filled doorway in obvious shock.
I remind you I said I was not totally surprised but that does not mean that there wasn't a little bit of shock coursing through my veins. You see the first five of the six were dressed pretty much like the Spartans in the movie 300 with the exception of the flowing red capes, shields, and helmets. Okay so for the benefit of those who have not seen that movie, or like some cute and perky apprentice wizards who shall remain nameless who advanced the movie frame by frame in these key scenes, the total attire of these five was limited to leather sandals that wrapped around the ankles and a red leather Speedo that all five seemed to have purposely bought about two sizes too small. Add to that their sweating bodies (remember this is late November) that glistened in the firelight of their torches were each absolutely perfectly sculpted and you have an image worthy of a little astonishment.
Why Molly how could such a thing be a shock you ask? Well besides the obvious one any person would have upon realizing Santa finally got my letter and was planning to give me exactly what I wanted for Christmas there was an added and unexpected bonus. The shocking part came when I realized that one of the five pieces of eye candy was none other than my brother Daniel. Thankfully I had not had any what would have been creepy thoughts about him specifically before I realized who he was but still I was split between being embarrassed to see him dress like this and dying to have someone, anyone, to tell about this to have a good laugh. Why can't there be a magic spell to take a Polaroid picture or something!
Of course I could not see Elaine because of the veil I had established but that did not mean I could not tell that she was enjoying the show as much as I was now enjoying eighty percent of it. The emotions I sensed flowing off of her toward the Spartan Chippendales made me almost blush; and if you know me you know I almost never blush. I leave it to your fertile imaginations to fill in these particular blanks though I will say that although Elaine may have expressed mental concerns about getting into a romantic relationship, physical and emotionally her body did not seem to object. It was so bad to sense I turned my focus toward the last member of these new arrivals in order to get those thoughts out of my head.
The sixth number of the troop was as different in physical form from the other five that a humanoid being could be. The one and only notable exception to this difference was that of gender, but even that was mostly a guess on my part.
Where the others like my brother were over six feet in height, the last member was less than four. Where the five were clean shaven, bodies waxed, and nearly oil-sheen glistening with sweat, number six had so much body hair in wire brush like clumps as to make me wonder if his genetic heritage was partly simian. And even though he was clothed in some heavy leather pants, shirt, and apron that each showed scorch marks like cigarette burns, tufts of wiry hair seemed to poke out from splits in sewn seams or those opening for arms and legs that made him look like the little guy was smuggling hedge hogs or something.
Worst of all his eyes focused unerringly on the spot where Elaine and I were standing demonstrating to both of us with an offered smile of black tobacco stained teeth that he could see us even under the veil I had cast to prevent that. "Spread out Dactyls it appears we have some visitors who want to spy on us." The little leader of the group said with just a slight tone of hostility and amusement in his voice.
To my surprise the five, including my brother, jumped to obey this command lining up across the width of the hallway with their glistening ripped muscled shoulders next to similar sweat beading muscled shoulders; hey like I said they really were nice to look at. Of course fate being the cruel bitch she is left Daniel as the hunky one standing closest to me and with his look of fierce determination that he usually only wore for sports.
"Not here to spy." I said dropping the veil and seeing all five of the guys tense at our appearance. I added calm and confidence to my tone and emotions so as not to project a sense of fear or guilt. Harry says confidence when dealing with things that can mop the floor with you often keeps them off balance and prevents them from mopping the floor with you; at least long enough to come up with another plan. "Just cautious when not knowing what else down here might be foolish considering trying kill us." To his credit Daniel's eyes widened only slightly more than the others upon recognizing me and to my benefit he decided not to pick up with where we had left off in our fight though obviously not out of fear of me after our last encounter.
"Ah you faced off against the Djieien and lived to tell of it?" The little hairy guy spoke at us with a sly smile. "That is very impressive. I have seen them take down ogres."
"Djieien?" Elaine asked confused.
"Yes, or some humans call them Tsuchi-Gumo." He replied. "I'm speaking of the giant spiders that made a home in the other room. I had thought they would make a good deterrent against uninvited visitors but I see I was mistaken as to their guardian capabilities." He paused and looked at the doorway and then back at us. "I assume you killed them?" He spoke with an odd sense of sadness like a boy would for his lost dog.
Before I could answer Daniel spoke up in anger. "Of course she did Master Rupert." He said to the little guy drawing his full attention. "My sister has a unique talent to cause a wide swath of destruction in her wake. I'm surprised the tunnel still stands though since none of the damage ever seems to land on her I guess it should be expected."
Any initial irritation Master Rupert might have initially had at his apprentice speaking out of turn was offset by this revelation of shared parentage. "Herakles this one is your sister?" He said with a smile to my brother who did not choose to return the gesture. "Now that you mention it not only is there some physical resemblance between the two of you that I should have noticed immediately but also a shared air of confidence and a taste of arrogance that is rare in those of your limited age."
"She's a wizard Master Highpelt." Daniel said the word 'wizard' with an obvious sense of disgust. I know this because through my trained observer skills I was able to notice that my brother spat on the ground by my feet with an undisguised sneer toward me as he spoke. I know, it's really a subtle message but we sensitive wizard apprentices pick up on these things. "Arrogance like destruction goes hand in hand with magic."
A combination of instant rage and guilt built up in me at his words. My brother had an unnatural skill for pressing my buttons and I am certain if Harry knew about this he would use Daniel often to see if I could keep my emotions in check while casting spells. And at moments like this I would fail terribly. If my brother had magic there is no doubt he would be my own cross to bear; a self righteous Warden like Morgan who hounds Harry at every step.
"I've been a wizard almost my entire life and I've yet to feel confident, much less arrogant for five minutes of all that time." Elaine said directly to Daniel in a straight tone of voice that rang with as much open honesty as any words my dad had ever spoken. Even Daniel leaned slightly back as he considered these words and especially the way that Elaine avoided looking at him when his gaze turned to her. It was not the act of a wizard trying to avoid a soul gaze but rather the far more common look of a person afraid of their own shadow and being forced to admit it. Given that my brother is only an ass to me, I could sense he felt his earlier words about wizards that had struck Elaine as well had been in error.
Thankfully this awkward moment was handled by the dwarf. "Well your standing nearly on me own doorstep and you obviously have a tale to tell so let's get back so I can get an honest day's work out of these goldbrickers!" Rupert Highpelt turned his eyes from us and back to his nearly naked squad of helpers. "Off with ye now and get the forges stoked up likes I showed ye. We got orders remaining to fill this night." He commanded and all five of the young men turned and immediately did so with only Daniel showing any sign of hesitation and even that being less than half an instant's worth of delay. God the dwarf, or what I assumed to be a dwarf, had a better natural ability to order people around than my mother which is saying a lot.
Rupert Highpelt without a word of further invitation to us fell into a steady march behind his crew and even though his legs were short Elaine and I had to walk briskly to keep up with the heavy clod of his feet upon the tunnel floor. He did not look at us as he led us back to his underground workshop but that did not keep him from speaking. "By your attire you have dealings with the Faerie Courts but you are fully human if my eyes judged ye right so that must make you Emissaries of some sort." He deducted and spoke these words without any sense of doubt.
"That is correct Master Highpelt." I replied seeing no reason to try and hide what he obviously concluded. I let us march a few more steps to see if he would react but my comment had not evoked any type of reaction in him that I could sense. For that matter I did not sense any emotion about him, which was a first since I came into my powers and understood how I naturally did so. Either he was incredibly controlled or he had some natural ability to block my magical senses just like he saw through my veil. So it was time to take it up a notch and see which it was. It's always good to know as much about someone's abilities as possible.
"We are here regarding rumors that you are building weapons." I said adding a sense of accusation to my tone to try and up his response a bit. I did not mention that I myself had started these rumors and thankfully Elaine did not choose to add that little fact either. But the accusation evoked nothing I could sense meaning emotionally the little guy was like Teflon.
"Ain't rumors little girl." He said even though I towered over him by two feet at least. We stepped into the pillared cavernous room that served as his forge area and were hit by a wave of heat from the molten metal that brushed away the lingering cold and hand me nearly breaking out in a sweat after only a few moments. The impressiveness is that these vats of lava like liquid were on the far side of the room, quite a distance away from where the conversation was taking place.
He pointed over to a stack of odd shaped metal objects piled in the corner on wooden pallets obviously waiting for delivery. They looked more like the fenders of a car than any type of weapon I had ever seen but obviously our host considered them to be weapons by his words. He even turned and offered us another tobacco stained smile of obvious pride though I still could not sense the emotion.
"They are very impressive." I said looking at them and nodding. "What are they?"
The little man looked at me and cocked an eyebrow. "They are armor kits for protecting the vehicles and soldiers your country has driving around in the desert from bombs they hide in camels and bury in the ground." He said in response.
"You mean the Up Armor Kits the military has been buying?" Elaine asked obviously knowing what the dwarf was talking about. "I thought that those contracts went to Chrysler and other weapon producers."
"They did." He said with a smile. "And all of them subcontracted the actual work back to me because they knew quality was required. I build them and then they slap a company logo sticker on the pieces and sell them for a bundle of cash to your government. We have been doing this kind of business for years now."
"So I guess that means you take on special projects for the government; like making these tunnels perhaps?" I said now thinking I understood the secretive role the dwarf might play. Hell if Harry had fairies working at shoe stores, White Court vampires were doing porn movies, and even the Lady of Winter sidelined when necessary as a hair stylist why would this arrangement seem so odd?
"I'm afraid it wasn't my clan that built these tunnels, though I know the dwarves who did." He said. "I merely set up shop here as an out of the way place that fit me needs a while ago and contract for various services as required. It keeps me busy, pays my bills, and puts food on the table if you know what I mean." He looked over at Daniel who was at the moment holding an impossibly large sledge hammer in one hand and beating upon a U-shaped piece of molten steel.
The good thing about dealing with Faeries is that they were forbidden to lie when asked a direct question. Of course I am not sure if dwarves actually qualified as Fae based upon the history I had been provided. Maybe they could lie outright and I would never know but it was worth a try. "So you are saying you only build weapons for the government?"
"That is only a small, but highly lucrative, part of my business." He said with no sense of trying to hide anything he was doing. "I also make everything from horseshoes to piping based upon my customer's needs and individual specifications. Your brother has been doing a lot of that basic work for me as he learns the trade. He has a fine eye and natural talent but he is still an apprentice who has yet to master the finer techniques on how to swing a hammer or when the steel is ready to be poured. I figure a few thousand horseshoes and a hundred miles or so of pipe and he will be ready for the truly challenging aspects of this career."
He had answered my question but had avoided the really subject that I was trying to get to so I was forced to be even more direct. "What about making weapons for the Winter Court?" I asked while displaying my pin to show him who I represented.
"Bah I hate working with copper and bronze. I leave that type of work to the dwarven clans in the Wyldfae areas to handle." Rupert replied with a gob of spit on the ground at his own feet that was as black as his teeth and seemed to bubble. Can I say 'yuck' and that this would make the best anti-tobacco commercial you could ever devise? "I prefer working cold hard iron and steel and of course Faerie's could not even hold such a weapon in their hands as its touch would be death to them."
The look Elaine gave me was one that she believed the dwarf and that my guess for this entire adventure had been wrong. While she was not judging me for this error, the fact that I had made it in front of her, and of course nearly getting us both killed by a group of spiders because of it made me even more self conscious. But I was not completely ready to abandon this thought just yet. I still had one fact he had not adequately explained away.
"What about the steel knife with my brother's initials in it?" I asked. "Seems to me that this type of weapons is not something the Army has been looking for."
The dwarf turned to face me head on. I noted that his eyes were rather deep set and dark so as to make them look almost beady. "Girl it is obvious you know nothing about the metal trades." He said with an air of deadly seriousness. "From the earliest days when a master smith took on an apprentice the first thing they were required to craft was a dagger to show they understood the skills of pouring, shaping, and filing. When the blade was nearing completion an apprentice was required to mark it with whatever they claimed as their own symbol which was recorded thereafter in the smith records, much the same as your society of Freemasons did when working with stone. The completed dagger was a badge of proof to those in the know that the individual in question had been accepted as a true apprentice and not merely laid claim to the title in order to make money. Through this the reputation of metal workers is as protected as that of your medical doctors today and their diplomas."
Okay it was obvious Master Highpelt took his occupation quite seriously and that our questions and even our presence were no longer desired in his work spaces. "Dactyl Herakles, your work day is complete. Change back to your street clothes and report to me immediately!" The dwarf bellowed above the background ringing din of metal striking metal that was nearly deafening if one tended to focus solely upon it.
My brother perked up at the call of his obvious title and began efficiently cleaning his work station, dunking the glowing metal horseshoe he was working in a bucket of water and then placing the now cool project to the side. Next he organized and ensured all his tools were hanging in the proper place while Master Highpelt watched in judgment.
Daniel was efficient but not rushed, and from the look the dwarf gave him this added delay was exactly what he expected from my brother. Meanwhile the other four apprentices continued working on their various sections of pipe without even pausing to look up at their summoned compatriot or their master. Discipline was obvious as important to an apprentice metal smith as it was to and apprentice wizards it seemed.
"Dactyl?" Elaine asked obviously as confused by this strange word as I. "Is that term somehow related to pterodactyls?"
"No." Master Highpelt responded. "The Dactyls were the first beings that the god Hephaestus taught metal working on the peak of Mount Ida in Phrygia. He named the first four Aeonius, which is Greek for forefinger, Epimedes, middle finger, Jasius, ring finger, and Idas little finger. The last he named Herakles who was to represent the thumb of the hand. In this way Hephaestus thought of his students as providing him with a third hand able to assist with his metal crafting work." The dwarf answered without having to think on this.
"So you have named them the same in order to follow this tradition?" I asked hoping I was not about to find out the little dwarf was actually the former Greek god. I made a promise to myself that one ancient deity per year is all I was allowed to cross paths with.
"According to the code all true master smiths always take on five apprentices at the same time in order to follow this original tradition and we name them accordingly so that we never forget our heritage." Rupert acknowledged. "However which title they receive is based upon their demonstrated skill compared to that of their compatriots not when they arrived or who they replaced. As the little finger is the least useful on the hand so the Idas title goes to the least skilled of the apprentices."
I remembered learning once that the thumb is one of those rare evolutionary traits that set man apart from the animals. In fact there were a lot of studies that said without an opposable thumb mankind's technology would be severely hampered. That made the thumb the most important digit on the hand as I understood it to be.
"And that would make Daniel is your most talented apprentice?" I asked rationalizing what this naming convention meant. "But he just started with you a few weeks ago."
"Indeed." Rupert replied. "His natural skill is unmatched or even challenged by any of the others. He is lesser to them only in experience and even in that way he is quickly closing the gap." He seemed to pause and make a subtle sigh. "I will be saddened by his loss."
The words, though lacking emotion, seemed ominous none the less. "What do you mean loss?" I asked. "Are you planning on firing him?"
He stopped and looked at me. "Not at all." He said with that dark smile of his. "Only the Herkales is allowed to promote from the level of apprentice to full smith. When his time comes your brother will move on to a better place than merely as my apprentice."
"So the others will never become full smiths?" Elaine asked. "That seems rather unfair."
"Not necessarily. When Daniel is no longer among us I will seek out a new apprentice to keep the number at five." Rupert replied. "Based on testing all five apprentices' skills the names shall be properly issued once more. I can assure you unlike myself all of the others are looking forward to this day to hopefully allow them a chance to be promoted to Herkales. Only rarely has a new apprentice like Daniel taken the top slot upon arrival so it is unlikely to happen a second time in their lifetimes, or at least that is what they all are hoping for."
I wondered what that type of apprenticeship would be like. Would the competition among the students make them better or would it cause unnecessary distraction and rivalry preventing them from truly becoming friends. I mean I knew I was a handful for Harry at times, this little incident with a fire in his lab came to mind, so I could not even being to think of how he would cope if he had a second not possibly as cute and perky apprentice to train as well.
Then I caught a look of Elaine out of the corner of my eye and realized that this was in a way what she had faced in her own training. Harry had been a student with Justin DuMorne for years before Elaine had joined them and as such he was always further along in his studies even though Harry said she was a very quick learner. Add to that the fact that Harry had an incredible amount of natural talent, an incredibly rare gift that made him probably one of the twenty most powerful wizards on the planet and you have a rather high bar to be judged against. According to him, he merely lacked the fine level of control for all that power.
Elaine on the other hand was weaker but naturally demonstrated far greater control so while Harry could shoot ten shots to hit a target before exhausting himself, Elaine could likewise succeed with only two or three. As far as an outsider to the world of magic was concerned that would make them equal as they both knocked down the target. But by the way wizards measure things Harry was the stronger because he could draw forth more magic to have ten shots as his disposal rather than just a handful. That meant to them that Elaine could do well in a straight up fight against one or two opponents, or only one with they had defensive magics to call upon, but more than that and she would be overwhelmed.
I had little doubt that this in part led to her current emotional predicament. Harry was not the type to hold an advantage over anyone he considered a friend and he was extremely careful of the feelings of those he cared about. In fact, I even assumed that his caring nature had partly been responsible for Elaine falling into love, and eventually his bed, with him when they were both still just kids.
But while Harry may not have lorded his superior skill over her, that did not mean Justin had not done so. From what I had been told of him Justin was just the type to heaped praised on Harry not because he was truly pleased but merely so that by doing he subtly cut down Elaine's pride. Since pride built the will to resist it would serve his long term goals to keep her weak. And then when she understood that Justin had chosen to enthrall her to help him do the same to Harry her master had confirmed that she was the lesser of the two; a fact further proven when Harry defeated the both of them. It's hard to build self worth under those conditions.
Daniel showed back up a few moments later wearing the same street clothes he had on when we had scuffled in the parking lot. I noticed now that the letterman jacket he wore, the biggest size the school made which had always been a little bulky on him even when wearing a sweater, was now stretched rather tightly across his chest. Having seen what his apprenticeship had done for his already sports trained muscles I must admit I was not surprised.
"Sir you requested me?" Daniel said with a touch of inherent pride and subservience in his voice all at the same time.
"Aye lad." Rupert replied. "Our Emissaries here thought we were making illegal weapons and now that I have removed them of this notion they will be wanting to get about their business." He turned to look at us but mostly at me as if he knew more about us than he was admitting. "And since they have now made the west tunnel impassable for some time I need you to take them through the northern gate and ensure they arrive back to the University?" He asked the last word as a question as if seeking confirmation of where our car was or where we needed to be.
I nodded. "That will be fine." I said noting that Daniel was not pleased by what he was hearing even though by his demeanor he was not about to disobey an order from his master. I thought about how often I had ignored Harry's orders. I guess in some ways Daniel and I are quite a bit different after all. Course this situation did not stop him from getting even angrier at me.
"Master, why don't we just bring them up top with the elevator?" Daniel asked getting a flickering look of annoyance from Rupert as payment for this question. "It exits right on the campus as well and would be quicker."
"Because apprentice…" The dwarf stressed the word as an obvious discussion of just who was in charge. "…I need the elevator and the others to start hauling the armor kits up for the delivery I need to make tonight since I will now be one man short. I hope you don't mind if my goal remains meeting my commitments rather than providing for your family's convenience." Daniel cringed at this rebuke.
"I am sorry master." He said. "I will do as you so ordered." Daniel even hung his head to lower his eyes beneath those of Master Highpelt, which when faced with someone already two feet shorter than you is not an easy trick. However it seemed to be the correct response.
"As I was saying apprentice, show them the respect due to Emissaries and take them out the north gate and back to their car." He repeated the order but with a kinder tone. "And be wary of things wandering the tunnels. I have enjoyed your services these past few weeks and will miss them when you move on. Doing so because you inadvertently became something's snack will not make me any happier."
"It will be as you say master." Daniel said and Rupert merely nodded then wandered off to go check up on his other charges. "Ladies if you will kind enough to follow me." The way he stressed ladies left little doubt that while sounding respectful he was still only being professionally courteous not because he truly cared.
Daniel grabbed an actual ancient fuel oil lamp from a closed beside the door that contained a dozen or so more, lit it, and then began to lead us back through the tunnels. He kept a quick pace that had us nearly rushing at his heels but he showed no signs of caring. I knew if I spoke and asked him to slow down then he would likely only speed up that much more because that was the way our current sibling relationship was.
It was Elaine though who came to my rescue. "Daniel, can you slow down?" She gasped in a voice that flowed with both exhaustion and fear. "I don't want to be away from the light."
"Are you afraid of the dark?" He asked snidely, obviously caught up in his own rage at me and not having heard the same inflection in Elaine's voice or felt her emotions the way I did. Guys are emotionally retarded most times anyway and when distracted by something this only gets worse.
"Yes." Elaine answered causing Daniel, who now heard everything in the single word, to come to a complete stop. I paused too but Elaine continued to nearly run up next to him and into the glow of the lamp. Through its light I could make out that she seemed to be actually shaking a bit in fear. This drew my brother's attention as well.
"I'm sorry I was distracted and not thinking." He said as an awkward apology. The look he gave her was genuine. Guys, or at least the good ones, feel guilty from making girls feel bad. It's something tattooed into their DNA I think.
"It's okay." Elaine said after a bit. "If I were as big as you then I probably would not fear much either."
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked confused.
"You." She replied. "You are big and strong. Anything wanting to take you on would see that. You also walk with a sense of determination and confidence almost daring things to challenge you."
"I do not." He said trying to deny what someone was telling him since he did not feel it was true. "Besides you're a wizard, or at least I assume you are if you are hanging out with my sister. That means you have all kinds of powers at your disposal. How could you possibly be afraid of anything?" I stayed at the very edge of the light so that I would not distract these two from their conversation by reminding Daniel I was here just now. But I wanted to get back to the car before all this talk of fear drew things to us so I shifted nervously as they talked on.
"Having access to that power does not make you invincible." Elaine said. "There was a time long ago when I thought it could. But then I learned all too well not only that my power could not protect me from everything, but also that it actually made me even more of a target for some truly horrible things than if I did not have this 'gift.' I'd give it up in a heartbeat this very instant if it meant I did not have to always be afraid."
The words struck home with Daniel as they were presented in a way that I could never have got him to listen to much less understand. But Elaine was not me. She was a wizard sure, just like me, but she was also obviously scared and there was no way she could be faking that. So it left all his assumptions about what it was to be a wizard in complete disarray.
"I advise we keep going." I said hating to break in but also knowing that just standing here talking about being afraid while carrying a big beacon light was just begging for trouble to come calling for us. And surprisingly for once when Daniel looked in my direction he merely nodded and started onward.
"Come on then, the exit to the shelter tunnel is only a little ways ahead." He said while reaching out and taking Elaine's hand in a completely normal gesture of protection. I noted in the light that she instantly tensed at his touch but then instead of pulling back she seemingly willed herself to be pulled along and even offered him a bit of a smile at his casual display of kindness. I was torn between saying something teasing or just sticking to the edge of the light; I chose the latter.
"If I can ask what happened to you in your life?" Daniel whispered quietly to Elaine but down here in the tunnels where sound had few places to travel I could still hear what he said. "What made you so afraid?"
I walked on with my head looking toward my feet as I listened to what they said between them. I could sense when either Daniel or Elaine looked my way but with my eyes directed elsewhere they both relaxed a little more and decided I was not listening.
"I had someone evil get into my head when I was about fifteen and brought all my darkest fears of childhood and adulthood to light in my mind where I could not hide from them." She answered sending my brother's emotions for another loop for it might have been his own story. "I had locked them all away as I grew up but he broke them free and threw them right back in my face. And some he even made worse than I ever imagined they could be." She said ashamed by what she was revealing. "Since then I've never been able to get them back under control or even get a decent night's sleep."
"I know what that's like." Daniel said in a whisper and tightened his hand on hers. My brother truly is a good guy; having a Knight of the Cross for a father pretty much assures this to some degree, but his soul was kind and generous. By having someone who had faced the same situation he did and could talk to him about it, someone still suffering, someone who was giving him a way to face his own fears by lending her the strength to face hers was probably the perfect outlet. I wish I could have taken credit for manipulating this situation but I suspect this was one of those subtle types of things that someone like Uriel had arranged.
"What was your worst one?" Elaine asked Daniel almost like two kids sharing a secret. "What one wakes you up in a sweat at night with your heart racing and does not allow you to fall back asleep?"
"I see myself failing my family and those I loved." Daniel replied reminding me with his words and the way he spoke them of my father. "Did you ever have that type of dream happen to you?" I could feel him reaching out emotionally to build a bridge of empathy.
"No." Elaine said momentarily inadvertently pushing him away. "I was an orphan when he tortured me. I have already failed everyone I have ever loved long ago. So this is no longer a fear that can be used against me. It is instead the reality I am forced to live with." She said without looking at him though I could see with a quick glance he was staring at her because he almost cracked his head on a low overhang.
"So what was your worst fear then?" Daniel asked trying to get her to talk more.
"Spiders." Elaine said making me nearly cough in surprise. "Justin made me imagine being all tied up where I could not move and having spiders crawling all over my body." She shuddered as she told the story and I have to say the idea creeped me out a bit too but that probably had a little to do with the fact I was walking along in the dark and occasionally broke a strand of webbing with my face or hands. That stringy sticky feeling on bare skin in the dark made me quickly brush it off.
Daniel tried to cough a laugh. "You are kidding right?" He said making her tense up emotionally as if she were being insulted but I could sense his underlying emotion of wanting to help. He was a guy so was doing it wrong, but his intention was good. "You just killed a dozen or so of the biggest spiders I've ever seen or even imagined. I would think that kind of victory should help dispel that particular fear at least for a while." His laugh was comradely and trying to perk her spirits up but it was only partially successful.
"I did not kill any of them." Elaine admitted in a flat tone. "I only injured two and neither all that badly from what I can tell. I have your sister's quick thinking to thank for keeping me alive. Had she not only pulled me free from the web line but also told me where to cast my spell I'd be little more than a rather big fly right about now." She said and I barely had time to stare at the floor as Daniel looked back in my direction to see if my facial expression would tell him she was lying.
"But aren't you a full wizard and isn't she just an apprentice?" He asked not wanting to believe what he heard.
"Sure." Elaine agreed. "But as Harry's apprentice your sister has already faced off and battled against things that would send me fleeing in panic. Add to that a rather incredible story I heard from both Harry and a Warden name Ramirez, your sister has also dealt with some pretty incredible events all on her own when Harry was out of town last spring." She spoke just loud enough for me to hear and I could tell there was an odd sense of respect in her words. I felt embarrassed that Carlos had told her the story. He probably did to get a date since he had played a key part in it. I had only told Harry most, but not all, of the events but it seems my attempt to keep it quiet had failed utterly.
"Add to all of that the fact that she is forced to live under a death sentence if she screws up and knows as well that any slip up she makes will cost not only her life but that of someone she loves and respects as well and I have to say she is hardly 'just an apprentice.'" Elaine finished while I was still reeling. "I was 'just an apprentice' once and I never had to handle any test like these until my master tried to break my will; and I failed that particular test."
We walked in silence for the last few hundred feet until we came to a stairway up leading to an iron grated exit in what looked to be another way back onto the campus. Daniel fiddled with the rusty chain that seemed to secure this gate and it popped open without any fuss. While the iron bars appeared rusted he pushed them open without even a sound and as he passed through the light from his lamp revealed a heavy dose of grease had been applied to the hinges not all the long ago. Beside the door was a faded yellow sign with a triangle on it declaring this place had once been a fallout shelter, likely built in the fifties for the government scientists still working on the campus. I wondered if the government or anyone on campus even remembered this place existed.
The stairs led to a mostly hedge covered outside alcove of a building that based upon the broken bottles of alcohol, cigarette packages, and empty condom wrappers appeared to be a popular make out spot during the warmer months. The fact that no one cleaned up here made me sure that the college and government authorities never spent any time here.
"I parked my car over by the physics building." Elaine said to Daniel as the two walked out of the overhang, through the hedges and onto the snowy path. "How far away is that building?" She said bracing against the cold wind as some snow fell from above and landed on their shoulders. They both brushed it off in annoyance. I had to remember that Elaine spent most of her life in California and the Summer Court. The waning days of a year in Chicago had nothing in common with either of those locations.
"No too far." Daniel said. "We will all be toasty warm and safe in less than ten minutes."
The giant spider's mandibles came shooting down from above the pair tauntingly just as the word safe escaped Daniel's mouth. They both sensed the movement but only Daniel was able to react in time, pushing Elaine away from him and into a snow bank away from the creature. This meant only he was standing between them when the scissors like appendages closed around his arms and torso.
There was a burst of blood and a scream of pain. I saw my brother tossed like a rag doll twenty feet or more by the descending ten foot wide spider while someone screamed my brother's name. It was only when he landed and did not move that I realized I was the one screaming.