Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Nine

While Lady crashed about in the bedroom - what on earth is she packing? - Kath paced the living room. Pestilence was politely looking away, out of the window at the Saturday-morning traffic passing by outside to visit Kew Gardens; although he seemed friendly and far more open than Lady, he still unnerved Kath. He smells like...dank earth, and...antiseptic? Although I guess that could just be from the first aid stuff in the kitchen. From earlier. It seemed impossible that had been so recent; a million years could have passed between the little dinner out in the pub - last night! - and everything in between. Lady's father is an ancient magical...god thing. My family are descendants of him. I'm probably her cousin, in some distant, stupid fashion. One-million-times removed cousin. Her gran would have liked that. A faint pang of sadness crossed her mind, that the old lady would never know the real truth. Kath imagined her lined, dark face crinkled up with laughter at the thought. Her parents...well. She doubted they'd care, even if they believed her. Her brother, quite clearly, no matter what else his gifts, hadn't inherited the Seer gene, or if he had, he had kept it very quiet.

At a loss to do much else, Kath perched on the floor to glance at the bookshelf. Yes, the man in the sole photo in Lady's house, now, she recognised as Pestilence, his arm loosely draped over Lady's shoulders. They were both smiling, and wherever they were, had a wild, heathland beauty to it. 

Kath poked one or two of the books into a neater pile, then, spotting something out of place in the selection of scientific journals, snorted and pulled it out. 

"Mills and Boon?" she questioned aloud, to herself as much as to Pes. 

Pestilence turned to look at her, an odd twist of a smile on his scarred face. "Lady...she hasn't had the chance to learn things, like you did, like other people did. She thinks she can pick up what she missed from books."

Kath winced, replacing the book with its garish cover. The woman in the cover art looked a little like Lady, although she couldn't imagine stern, powerful Lady swooning into anyone's arms like that.

"May I please have...a little help?" Lady's muffled voice issued into the living room. Kath exchanged a glance with Pes, who shrugged, motioning to the door.

"I reckon you'd...probably benefit from seeing what we're thinking, firsthand?"

Kath held his gaze a moment longer, but he didn't expand on the ominous comment. 

"Alrighty," she said, defeated, and headed into the hall.

Lady's bedroom was as bereft of decoration as her living room; a neat, single bed with turquoise bedding, a side cabinet with a lamp, and a wardrobe. A few shells were scattered on the cabinet, at least, and the air smelled faintly of incense. Lady herself was struggling with pulling a large chest from under her bed; an open, wheeled suitcase lay on the bed. Over the top of it was draped a white trenchcoat and, Kath noted with a start, the sword she's seen just this morning cleaving the skull of a monster in two. Its blade was clean and gleaming once again. Tearing her eyes away, Kath hurried to help Lady with the box she was struggling with; something inside it had clearly caught on the underside of the mattress. Once they'd pulled it free with an ominous rip that Lady simply ignored, she asked,

"Why the suitcase? Where're you going?"

"We," Lady corrected, sitting on the edge of the bed to eye Kath unnervingly. "Do you know how rare a Seer is?"

Kath shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "Well. I mean. There's kind of only me..."

"Indeed," said Lady. "And the Darkness has your scent, now. They will wish..." She sighed. "You can See things, sense things, other humans cannot, as you know. Yet, humans, of course, can see you. That places you in a position both liminal and useful. And — you are not overwhelmed by that which you sense. Do you remember I spoke of others? They are half mad, or they believe themselves 'psychic', living deluded lives. Yet you...are so balanced." Kath snorted, but Lady ignored her. "I do not...I would not will it thus but...I feel it is in everyone's best interest for you to meet my father." Her lips pressed together tightly, the colour pinching into whiteness for a moment. "I believe you do not appreciate the danger in which you find yourself," she finished, baldly.

Kath flinched a little. But answers...I'll get answers. She'd lost count of the number of times she's pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, made herself believe they were dreams or worse. "Where is your father?" she asked.

"Dartmoor," said Lady, standing up and opening the chest. An incongruous array of weaponry and armour lay inside. Kath stared at the pile. "Some of this may fit you, perhaps," Lady carried on. "I would ill wish you to travel in the meantime undefended. I appreciate we are — rather different in size — yet you will require the protection..." She lifted up a beaten steel breastplate, apparently with no effort, despite the thickness of the metal.

"Dartmoor?" Kath squeaked. "Lady...look. You know I have work Monday? Day after tomorrow? So do you! I can't just head off. God, my housemates don't even know where I am, I bet they're pitching a fit..." She hadn't even thought to check her phone; she could only imagine the messages. She shook her head. "Isn't there...look, this is London, it's not like..."

"We can catch a direct train to Teignmouth from Clapham Junction," Lady carried on. "Pes, of course, will not require a ticket." A fleeting smile crossed her lips, but as she replaced the plate on the bed to look at Kath, her expression grew a little more cagey. "I rather think you do not understand the danger in which you have become caught..."

"Oh, I understand!" Kath snapped. "I've been attacked twice, remember? But this is my life, too! I can't afford to...get sacked, just up sticks and run away, even if you can..."

Lady's green eyes flashed, and for a moment Kath was genuinely afraid — the air around her started to thicken; breathing grew harder; the tang of salt and ice burned on her tongue. The ocean is endless and bottomless, a thousand undiscovered mysteries, most of which lead to death...but it was just a moment. Lady sighed, dropping her gaze, and she looked very small and human to Kath, right then. "I would not wish this on any soul," she said, very quietly. "But I would wish your death or enslavement less." She pushed back her shoulders, regaining some of her usual poise. "My father will speak to your director," she said. "He will do this...for you, for me. They are old friends, although of course, the nature of the situation will never be completely shared. Yet he will protect your job. This may be the most important choice you make, Kath. The very fate of the world may depend upon it."

Kath opened her mouth, and closed it again. You wanted this, a very old voice inside her whispered. You wanted to know. Well, now, you can. Earlier, you didn't want to be left out, when she would have shoved you aside. You didn't run when she told you to, when most people probably would have. Now, you can have answers. And it's one weekend. And you won't die. That's a pretty big factor, right?

Her voice only quavered a touch when she finally replied. "OK. But can I at least grab some stuff from my house, something? Message my mates?"

Lady sighed. "I fear...going to your house would only place your friends in danger. Yet you may message them. Perhaps there are some clothes you may borrow that could fit..." She moved over to her wardrobe and opened it to peer inside.

Kath decided not to say Lady's fashion sense — which seemed to err on the side of painfully dressy — really wasn't her style at all, let alone the fact Lady was a good 6 inches shorter and about three times the size in curves and, depressingly, muscle. "I could grab a few clothes on the way to the station?" she suggested. At least there were a couple of sports shops on the high street that would sell something she could wear.

"Very well. Buy loose sizes, however," Lady said. Kath spied the floral patterned dress on a hanger she was holding as an alternative, and nodded fervently.

"For the armour," Lady finished, and Kath inhaled.

"Of course," she said, proud of how steady her voice sounded. "Of course."