The Shadow Council...Part 1

That silence lasted over a month. It only ended when I called out to him, ready to offer an answer to his demands.

Before I sought him out though, I reached out to my those whose advice I trusted, asking them to get together for a chance to discuss a serious matter. The meeting place itself was more than a little unusal in the fact that it took place in the Shadowlands.

This was made possible through a set special magickal keys that had been presented to us by the Merlin. Each of these seven obsidian black skeleton keys allowed their bearers to send their Spirit form to special hexagonal room (the Merlin had kept the eighth such key for himself) within the Shadowland that the Merlin had created and that was not associated with any ‘real wolrd’ place. Whenever one of the key bearers slipped rom their body and entered that room, they could ‘call’ out to one (or more) of the other bearers and ask them to join them for a meeting.

I had taken one of the keys, while Ravyn had divided the others up as follows: One for herself, one each for Cerrydwen and the Frau, one for Naomi, one for Herne. The final key had been forced into the hands of a rather shocked and dubious looking Jim.

“Why would I need one of these things?” He had asked when Ravyn handed the last one to him.

She had patted him on the arm and smiled that mischievious grin of hers. “Because, Dear, we need you. Besides, we may need to get ahold of you in a hurry, or you may have to contact one of us, and this is the best way to do that.”

He had looked less than reassured. “But how do I even use this thing? I don’t know how to get around in the Shadowland. Shouldn’t you give this to someone who can actually use it?”

“Relax, Jim.” She had reached up and planted a peck on his blushing cheek as her hand closed his over the string holding the shimmering key. “I’ll show you everything you need to know in order to use it. If I can use it, you can use it, whether or not you are a Caster. The Merlin knows what he is doing with his Crafting. He told me that it is perfectly safe and easy even for non-Casters to use.”

Since that time, none of us had had any occasion to use the keys yet, other than the lessons that Ravyn had provided Jim with.

I settled down into a chair, pulled the key out, grasped it in my hand, and pictured the portal into the room. I projected placing the key into the wooden door bound by silvered steel and turned the large black handle to the right.

I found myself standing for the first time in a medium-sized stone chamber with eight walls. In the center of each wall was a similar door to the one I had just entered. In the very center of the room was a large wooden table that mirroed the shape of the room. Each spot of the table’s edge was occupied by a massive, throne-like chair. Each place was set with a silver plate and chalice, while the center of the table was occupied by a bowl of fresh fruit and a pair of pitchers.

I glanced down at my form, noticing that I was not in my usual Spirit form that I used in the Shadowland, but was instead in a form that mirrored my normal body in real life, except for the fact that I seemed to be flesh and blood. I could feel the cool, moist air of this place on my face. I could flex my muscles and feel the blood pumping through them.

I moved to my assigned place at the table, pulled the massive chair back easily, and sat down.

I closed my eyes and called out the names of those that I wanted to come join me in this impromptu council. “Ravyn Fyre. Frau. Cerrydwen. Jim.”

Conclave...Part 5

I stopped speaking for a moment, taking time to look at each of my companions before dropping the bombshell that was about to come out. Each of them was clearly absorbed in what I had been saying, but they all seemed to sense that a change was coming as well.

I leaned forward a little bit, looking down at the floor before continuing. “Daniel Bernstein had the goods on Drake, right down to a genetic profile of the man that identified a very scary fact, one that may impact each of you. Mrs. Al Farhan is not the only known relative of Drake.”

Ravyn piped in. “What? Who else is related to that abominable man?”

“Well, darling, you are almost definitely related to him, probably less distantly than most other Casters, given how strong your talent is.”

“You can’t be serious! Can you?”

I held up my hands at sounds of derision and anger that everyone was starting to make. “Unfortunately, I am. But let me explain a little bit.”

They all settled back, most with looks of confusion or doubt clearly expressed on their faces.

“Daniel was first and foremost, a first class geneticist. He actually had a number of different specialties for a man his age, but his true love of science fell in the field of genetics. He was doing a lot of work for Drake under the guise of the Omega Project. He had several teams of people out there gathering genetic samples from several sources.

“First, he had a team that was offering free genetic screenings for young women and couples looking to have children, ostensibly screening for various diseases and carrier genes that might cause problems. They provided some of that information to those potential parents, but they retained a great deal more for Daniel’s secret library.

“A second team was out doing research using various media sources to gather signs of what might be considered ‘magickal incidents’ and tracking down the names of the people involved. Then using the resources of the Bureau and operating under the auspices of certain shady provisions of the Patriot Act, they set about obtaining genetic samples from any available source. These ranged from taking samples that folks gave up voluntarily to their doctors, such as when they had blood tests done to even using sneak and peek searches of the homes of people who were gone at the time so that they could collect hair follicles from hair brushes or even tooth brushes.

“Finally, other teams were out infiltrating known groups of Casters, such as this one, using every possible way to collect further genetic samples, up to and including arranging the snatching of folks off the street, drugging them into unconsciousness, and taking samples before releasing them in out of the way locations.”

Cerrydwen interjected this time, with more than a little sarcasm dripping from her voice. “So, how does this relate to Drake being my long lost great, great grandfather?”

“I’m getting to it. Anyway, as he began to analyze his data, he began to notice certain common markers that almost every tested Caster shared to one degree or another, something that pointed to a common ancestor, even among seemingly disparate cultural and ethnic groups.

“Daniel had had a suspicion that Drake was hiding something for a long time. He had noted how Drake never actually ate a meal in his presence, and never seemed to drink anything other than occasional sips of water over the course of their many years of working together. He suspected that Drake was a Caster of some sort as well, but whenever he tried to broach the subject, Drake just smiled, shrugged and usually ignored answering the question altogether. When he did offer an answer, it was more in the form of a question-’Have you ever seen me use magick?’ or ‘Why would you think that, Bernstein?’

To be continued...