Adelfried

The sunken patch of dirt where the Harper’s home used to be was like a hole in Adelfried’s chest. Evan. Kae. Both gone. And the Root! It too was now somewhere below that gnarled plot of exposed soil. All that remained of their home was the detached garage, the garden and backyard fence. How had this happened?

Ying ran to the dirt patch and fell to her knees. She frantically dug with her bare hands, pulling scoops of freshly tilled dirt up as fast her arms would let her. “No,” she sobbed repeatedly between whimpers. “No.”

Adelfried fought the gnawing sense of guilt within. Was this his fault? Should he have left the Root at home now that everyone knew where it was? Panic and regret would have to wait. He closed his eyes and focused on the plot of dirt and imagined it rising into the air. But as he visualized the dirt each speck came into focus. Thousands, no, millions, of individual specks of dirt overwhelmed him. He tried again, concentrating on the mass as a whole, but his brain couldn’t comprehend the dirt as a unit, only individual particles. So many. Too many. He couldn’t pull the soil from the ground. He would have to take a different approach.

He imagined a mighty shovel diving into the soil and pulling it out. A chunk of earth the size of a car lifted up and out of the ground. Again, he dug more soil from the ground, depositing it over the back fence. Again and again, he shoveled massive chunks of rock and earth. But there was always more below.

Ying stopped her digging. She stepped back watching each pile of dirt with less and less hope as the hole grew deeper with no sign of the house.

A Wreckie yelled, “Stop! You can’t use ESH in public.”

Ying shoved the pompous Wreckie in the chest. “What are you talking about? My kids are down there.”

Minna snapped her fingers and Adelfried’s most recent shovel of dirt fell to the pull of gravity. “Meyers is correct.” She extended both arms in front of her and all the dirt that Adelfried had dug out came back over the fence and fell back into the hole.

Adelfried’s arms fell to his sides. What was going on?

“How dare you!” Ying charged Minna. Within a foot of reaching her she bounced backwards as if running into an invisible wall. She jumped to her feet and charged again and again. Each time flying backwards.

“Minna! What is the meaning of this?” Adelfried snapped.

“Do not fear, the Root is safe. No one can undo the barrier I put around it.” Minna approached the edge of the dirt patch. “The only question is who is responsible for this?” She put her hand into the dirt up to her elbow and closed her eyes

“Do not fear?” Adelfried’s chest tightened with anger. He jabbed a finger towards the trough of dirt. “Evan and Kae are down there!” Who was this callous person in front of him? Did she not care for anything or anyone but killing Harold and the Sovs?

“Yes. And that is unfortunate.” Minna’s tone was unbothered. “My agent Nina is also down there, no doubt.” She removed her hand from the dirt and extended it towards the backyard. A human shaped clod of dirt popped out of the ground near where the back door would have been. It was Federico. Of course he was fine.

Minna casually brushed the dirt from her hand. “There are several hundred meters of solid dirt below us. Even I cannot dig that out. Not that I would, either. My responsibility is to keep ESH secret and safe. And that means not frantically burrowing into the Earth like some mindless gopher exposing magic to the world.” She pointed at Meyers. “Get a containment team here on the double. Set daunters. It’s the middle of the night so you probably—”

A burst of ESH slammed into the barrier surrounding Minna. The energy dispersed into it without affecting her. She tilted her head back to the source of the blast as if not surprised at all. Ying had picked up the rifle again and had it trained on Minna. “Where’s Jim?”

Adelfried searched the area desperately. He turned around looking in every direction as the horror set in; Jim wasn’t there.

Red

Red put his car in park and sighed. He opened his door, and the scent of motor oil and wet concrete greeted him from the Wreckie’s massive parking garage. Dim yellow lights cast a depressing aura over the garage full of vehicles. The hum of vehicles driving, and the mechanics shop reverberated through the garage. All of this was finally going to be a memory and not his reality. This would be the last time he would be here. It was bittersweet. But mostly sweet. No more being the tool of the just barely good guys. More importantly, there was hope. Hope for his love. Hope for his Lisa.

He slammed the door shut on his DeVille and opened the trunk where he had stored the Magier-Morder in its dark wooden case. He hefted it up and hurried to the beige concrete wall and elevator bank directly in front of him.

Grab his gear, get the intel he needed, and get out. He had enough favors built up; he could get the information he needed and avoid the ever-watchful eye of Karen. He just had to be smart.

First, he’d go to his office and get his gear where he could stash the Magier-Morder. Maybe even use it as collateral to trade for the information he needed if it came down to it. Plus, if she figured out what he was after he could at least make a quick escape with his gear.

After a long elevator ride and a few winding corridors of more boring beige broken up by dull grey, Red approached his shoebox of an office.

The door was ajar, and the lights were on.

Damn.

Maybe she only wanted to get a few last jabs in before he left. Or was it to talk him out of leaving? That had to be it. Fat chance at that. He kind of hoped she would try. It would be satisfying to tell her off again.

He steeled himself and pushed the door open. As expected, there she was. The little troll sat in his chair with her stubby little legs resting on his desk. His cabinet to the left remained unopened. She held a file in her lap and didn’t bother to look up. “Only Wreckies are allowed at HQ. I could have you arrested for trespassing.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Red set the Magier-Morde case down on the desk. “Oh? I guess I should have kept this? Besides, I’m just here to get my things. Don’t worry, you’ll never have to see me again.”

“Right,” Karen said, dragging the word on sarcastically. “News of a little boy who can break the Sov connection travels fast.” She turned a page of the file. “Too bad I don’t have one of my best agents to send after one of my favorite former agents. Because I have this pile of intel here that maybe, just maybe, might lead to her location.” Karen licked her finger dramatically and turned the page again.

Damn it. She had him by the balls and was going to squeeze. “Karen, cut the shit and give me the damn file. We both know—”

“No. I don’t think I will. This is official Wrecht Order information, only available to the members of the Wrecht Order.” She snapped the file shut and looked him dead in the eye. “Not former agents.”

No. She was full of shit. She wanted Lisa free as much as he did. This was a bluff. He laughed. “Nah, you’re going to give me that file. We both know it.” He went to the large wood cabinet to the side of his desk and opened a middle drawer. He pulled a backpack out and unzipped it. “In fact, you’re going to give me access to the Locker, because I’m going to need a few fully charged Bizzy Batteries.”

“Over my dead wrinkled body.” Karen tossed the file onto the desk. “Give me ten more years and I’ll think about it. Besides, Mistress Kreeg is about to drop the hammer on the Warlock, it’s probably going to be nothing but cleanup from here on out.”

Red shook his head still rifling through the bag. “I wouldn’t hold my breath on it suddenly becoming calm. As of right now, all we’ve accomplished is giving more ESH to Mistress Kreeg and the Wrecht order. We, err the Order, has had way more ESH than the Sovs for years, but that hasn’t stopped them from spreading. Don’t see how more is going to change anything.” Red zipped the bag closed and reached for the file on the desk.

Karen slapped her hand down on it. “Five years.”

“Take your claw off my file. We both know you’re going to give me what I need.”

Karen’s chest heaved. “Fuck you, Red!” She pulled her hand back.

“No thanks, I’m married.” Red stuffed the files into the backpack. “Now, about those batteries?”

Karen folded her arms and curled her lips inward. “I’m officially reinstating you as an agent. Your orders are to find Lisa and bring her to Evan Harper.” She pulled a badge from her coat pocket and threw it at Red.

He snatched it out of the air and chuckled. “Whatever makes you happy. But this doesn’t change anything.” He looked at the badge and stuffed it in the backpack. “Now, about those batteries.”

----------------------------------------

After entering the Locker, Red followed Karen as she made her way to the back of the cage that stored the Magier-Morder. After putting it back, they continued deeper into the Locker where the older artifacts were stored. The Locker wasn’t much different from any large storage unit or even a family’s closet. The older artifacts were towards the back and the newer up front. They turned at a row of shelves dating back to the Byzantine Empire. Red ran his hands along a rack of swords hanging point down as they passed, stopping at a jewel encrusted short sword just longer than his forearm and outstretched hand. He lifted it from the rack and unsheathed it.

He flourished it. The air sizzled with magic. It was still perfectly balanced. He ran his finger over the crimson jewel centered on the guard and felt the rush of magic pulse through him.

Karen stopped a few paces in front of him, adjusted a helmet and whispered without looking back at him. “Put it in your bag. I didn’t see anything.”

Seriously? Was she going to allow him to leave with it? It was his after all, but still. Excited, Red searched the corners and ceiling of the Locker for cameras. There weren’t any. Surprising. Then again, this was the most secure facility in the world and the only people who would ever make it in belonged here. He sheathed the Rubermort and quickly stuffed it into his backpack. The handle and tip of the scabbard pressed against the top and bottom of the backpack, but it fit.

After continuing past a shelf dedicated to tiny cannons, daggers, racks of armor, and some brass spheres Red didn’t recognize, they finally arrived at their destination, a large box of glowing yellow cubes. Red grabbed three of the brightest Bizzy Batteries and stuffed them in his bag.

As the pair headed to the large circular door to leave the vault Karen said, “The intel on Lisa is old. You might have to go see Reggie.”

All the excitement drained from Red. “We’ll see.”

“I could order you; you know.”

“You can say a lot of words, none of which will affect me in any way unless they help me find Lisa.” Red adjusted the backpack on his shoulder. “Why don’t you go see him and let me know what he has.”

Karen raised her phone and tapped the screen. “Shit.” She put her phone to her ear and walked a few steps away and started to talk in a low voice.

Was he supposed to wait for her? He didn’t work for her; and he didn’t have time for this, not when he finally had what he needed to save Lisa. “I’m out,” he said.

She held a finger up. “Why were they there at all? They were supposed to...”

“Karen, whatever it is, it’s not my problem.” He took a step towards the large circular door of the vault when the cold embrace of a holding field wrapped around him. He turned back and Karen had her hand outstretched. “Cute,” he said as he focused a massive pulse of ESH out of his body breaking the barrier. “I’ll keep in touch.”

“Damn it, Red! Hold on.” Karen crowed like the angry hag she was. “There’s been an attack at the house.”

“Again, that’s a Wrecht Order problem. Besides don’t you have a FIST team there?”

Kareen huffed. “Hold on.” She put her phone down. “No, you don’t understand, the house fell into a sinkhole.”

Red’s shoulders tensed. That could only mean one thing. Spaders, underground folk who mined the Earth’s crust for undiscovered ESH diamonds. They had to be involved. But who specifically? There were so many societies hidden below the surface. They really only kept up with the bigger fiefdoms.

The Harper’s house was in Houston, which meant it sat squarely in the blast radius of the Chicxulub meteor. The same meteor that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct some sixty million years ago. That was the realm of the Cuāuhtli, a powerful and very private society. Then again, Houston was also along the bottom edge of the Sudbury blast radius. He pulled his phone out, he couldn’t be sure, he’d have to look it up. Wait. No. It didn’t matter. This was not his problem.

“Well Karen, I’m sure you can send a team down to go get the Root, but again not my problem. I’m going after Lisa.”

“Nina and the Harper kids were in the house!”

Red’s chest sunk in. No, it couldn’t be. There was no chance they survived. Those societies lived deep underground, that was part of the agreement with the Wrecht order. As long as they stayed out of the affairs of the topside world, the Wreckies would leave them alone. But this would change everything. They had to have been after the Root. But how would they even know about it? They had sensitive technology that allowed them to find ESH diamonds through solid rock and miles of soil, but the Harper’s house would have been a needle in a haystack. They would almost certainly have to have known where to look.

None of this mattered. The only thing that mattered was, were they still alive?

Could a concrete slab survive that big of a fall? Did it fall or get dragged in? He had to believe the slab could survive. That’s all he had now. Plus, Nina had a good head on her shoulders, for someone so young. She’d take care of the kids. Right?

“No...” Karen’s voice faded. She lifted her wrist exposing a pulsing white crystal on a delicate silver bracelet. What was that? She quickly covered it with her sleeve and turned to Red. “Go see Reggie. Our relations with the Cuāuhtli are not good. Better to use him and his contacts.” She stormed off.

“Wait,” Red yelled. “What does ‘not good’ mean?”

Karen stopped. “Let’s just say Mistress Kreeg got a little angry with them for coming too close to the surface and allowing a few videos to be leaked online. We had to do some damage control. To make sure they knew their place, she cut their internet access and closed off their primary entrances to the surface...with people still in them. So maybe don’t go waving that Wreckie badge around, if you know what’s good for you.”