Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Ten

Kath's phone had been as full of messages and missed calls as she'd expected. She'd replied to them as vaguely as she could while Lady set up her fish with some slow-releasing food in a tube, and stuffed her phone away.

Kath had also managed to buy herself a change of clothes. Walking down the high street with Pes had been bizarre. People didn't see him, but they somehow flowed around him, as if they could sense him somehow.

He'd smiled. "We are all born of earth," he'd explained, which was no explanation at all. Kath supposed he meant, on some level, they did know he was there. Nonetheless he made a strange contrast to the everyday fashion parade of Richmond. He seemed to feel no pain from his scars and boils, and his deep, dark eyes were gentle, his smile ready and easy. He walked close to Lady, and once in a while she would reach out to touch his arm or hand, as if to check he was still there. He caught Lady's gaze each time, reached his hand back to her, and Kath felt ever so slightly like she was trespassing on something she didn't quite understand. They moved in easy tandem, weaving through the masses — one visible, one not — leaving Kath striding along behind them, clutching her bags and glowering at the lingering tourists snapping photos of the bakery, the old pubs, and, at one point, for no discernible reason, Kath's own office building. She looked up at it ruefully, her desk visible through the half-closed blinds. Sorry, Smithson Ltd Holdings. You'll have to wait...

At the train station Lady herded Kath into the toilets, leaving Pes wandering — invisible to the world — around the little Marks and Spencer's, glancing at rows of pre-packaged sandwiches with apparent interest.

"I resent paying 20p to pee," Kath said, trying to lighten the mood as she fidgeted with her small change to enter through the turnstile. Lady just gave her a look.

"We are here to give you some protection," she said, rounding the corner into the grimy room — mercifully, none of the stalls occupied - and opening her suitcase. She was wearing the long, elegant white trenchcoat Kath had spotted earlier and a pair of flat knee length boots, looking nothing more than a little overdressed on a summer's day, but Kath knew under the coat was a collection of armour that made Lady look as much like a Roman centurion as anything else; a corset plate, a skirt of leather as thick and heavy as the metal, and plated guards on her hips, around her gloved arms, and over the tops of her shoulders. She'd slid thin greaves and a soft layer of cloth inside her boots, and the toes were steel-capped. If you listened closely while she walked, she faintly clinked, but you'd have to have sharp hearing; Lady had clearly spent so long in her armoured gear she'd developed the balance to move — and fight - silently in it. If we're frisked for any reason, we're in trouble, mind. Lady also had a gun strapped to her thigh. She'd seemed most put out about having to leave her sword wedged diagonally into the suitcase, and claimed — like Pes — nobody would see it, but Pes himself had pointed out it wouldn't lie under her coat.

"It is easier to move unseen in the night," Lady complained, but she'd acquiesced.

"When do you sleep?!" Kath had stared at her, but Lady had merely shrugged.

"As long as I am near water to give me strength, I require little sleep," she had replied. Kath imagined her out stalking the cold banks of the Thames, alone, at midnight, foamy tides lapping at her boots, city debris and pebbles crunching under her weight while the world dozed around her. Nice trick if you can get it!

Kath prayed nobody else would walk into the grubby station toilets as Lady pulled out a shin greave, and placed her leg on the sink counter, pulling up her trouser leg to allow Lady to strap the guard on, grunting as she pulled the buckles tight around her calf.

"They are all treated with iron resin," Lady assured Kath as she helped her buckle a breastplate under her arms. "Iron is one of the oldest elements, and its touch bemuses those of magical form. The belief of humans has made this the truer, through the years, also."

"Great," said Kath. I'm sure it'll all make sense eventually.

Eventually, she was armoured to Lady's reasonable satisfaction. Kath turned to look at herself in the chipped, murky mirror.

For a moment, all she could do was stare, since the reflection was so clearly not her, except, obviously...it was. Her short black hair was an unbrushed mess and her brown eyes were a little wild, and the greaves were slightly short for her long legs and the breastplate was wonky on her slim, long frame but still...that couldn't be her. She looked like an Amazon; she looked strong and heroic, like she liked to imagine herself, like she should adorn the cover of some popular fantasy novel, not a train station in London.

Wow. Yeah. She grinned at herself, her white teeth a fierce flash in her dark face. Lady came up behind her in the mirror, her great green eyes a mystery. Her lips were twisted into not-quite a smile, nor exactly a grimace.

"I am sorry," she said, and Kath turned to stare at her.

"For what? I look awesome! Look at me, seriously. I'm gonna save the world, you know." She grinned. Maybe it's lack of sleep. I feel like I'm on fire. A weird, nervous energy was pouring through her veins, making her feel a kind of strength and wildness she hadn't dared dream of. I'm a Seer. It's real, it's all real and I'm a part of it...For two pins she would have texted a photo of herself to her parents, captioned something like In Which I Kick Ass and Matter. In Which I Was Right All Along and Not Insane. She muffled a laugh, imagining the horror on their faces.

Lady bit her lip, and shook her head. "Our train will arrive shortly. Let us go and find Pes."

She closed the suitcase, handing Kath her sports jacket to cover the breastplate and guards. Kath slowly pulled it on, watching the side of Lady's face as she straightened, pulling the case towards the turnstile.

"I...I'm gonna help you, if I can," she said, uncertainly. Lady just nodded, not turning back to look at her. She brushed her fringe out of her eyes with one hand, and waved to Pes. The strange man raised his hand in return, walking casually up to them, the constant flow of tourists and shoppers in the station foyer once again simply seguing out of his path.

"Up the line and back down again," he said, waving a hand at the trainline map on the wall. "Although it seems there are delays for engineering." Kath rolled her eyes. The whirlwind mixture of the magical and the mundane was maddeningly unbalancing.  "It seems we could catch the Tube to Westminster, change for Waterloo? It seems to be more regular." He gave a little bow to Kath. "I defer to your superior knowledge."

"Tube's pretty quick," she said. "Hot, on a day like this, but...at least it's here." She motioned at the District line carriages waiting to pull out. "Five minutes and they're off. Might as well?"

"I always loved the mythology of the Tube," said Pestilence, smiling. "Ghost stations. A whole world underground."

"It's mostly smelly, clanky and cramped, hate to disappoint," Kath teased, and the strange man gave her a wide grin.

"It is more than functional," said Lady, drawing her Oyster card from her coat pocket. "Let us hurry." She lugged the case forward towards the gates.

"Not a fan of mythology?" Kath said, watching her stride forward. Lady didn't answer.

"Lady has...had enough of mythology, I fear," said Pes, and his voice was sad. "She used to see a lot more beauty in the world. Now, she just worries. Please...don't judge her harshly."

Kath glanced up at him, surprised. "I don't! I mean..." She laughed. "I can see how stressed she gets. Those days at work, she'd whizz through her work and she'd sit there, watching, listening, like something might be coming. An'...I guess it was. But I wanted her to relax, have fun, you know? But I guess I know why she doesn't. Well, who knows? Maybe I can still get her to lighten up, somehow..."

Pes nodded. "She was right. You are kind." Kath flushed.

"Ah, come off it. Let's go, yeah? People are staring." Belatedly she realised nobody could see her conversation partner, and ostentatiously fiddled with her hair, as if she was adjusting earplugs, fishing her phone from her pocket and pretending to hang up on a call, until the curious daytrippers looked away.

Pes was still laughing as he vaulted over the plastic fencing while Kath beeped her Oyster card at the gates.