The Lesser One Arc 2 Chapter 17: Knowledge

 

Knowledge

I create a small pill with my conjuration ability. “This will eliminate memetic hazards for a short period of time.”

Barley takes the pill and looks at it under the light. “You sure this won’t just kill me?”

“Unless you want to collapse with a shrieking headache, you should take it.”

Barley sighs, and then pops it without water. He rubs his temples. “Not much has changed.”

“Silverbones.”

Barley cringes, and then rubs his temples harder. “Oh, yeah. I can see why you would have to give me that pill.”

“Great. Now that you’re in on it, I can explain. The Silverbones are an organization consisting of two distinct sides. The Brights and the Darks. The Darks include the people who have been committing terrorist acts around London for the past week. The Brights have been trying to stop them.”

“So this is like a light side, dark side kind of thing?”

I nod.

The door opens and Sebastian and Chris walk in. They both appear flustered.

Barley tilts his head. “I assume you two are here to protect him?”

Sebastian nods. “Yes. That is our job.”

Barley raises an eyebrow when he looks at Chris. “An elf. I haven’t seen one of you outside a portal before.”

Chris’s eyes tell nothing. “After Markus used the Bone of Wisdom, all the creatures from within the portal gained corporeality as well as a conscience. As long as the Bone is part of his body, we must serve him.”

Barley looks at me. “Lucky. You get the contents of two high level portals to work for you.” He pauses. “Wait, are you talking about Wagner’s Right of Way?”

I am a bit startled. “Um, maybe?”

“Right. That was a bit sudden.” Barley adjusts his suit. “Wagner’s Right of Way are a new organization dedicated to protecting peace that has sprung up around the world over the past few weeks.” He seems to connect the dots. “Those are the portal beings from the Wales Portal?”

“Yup.” I shrug. “They were under some sort of spell. They’re actually really good people.”

Barley takes his hat off and hangs it on a hook. “Then you’re going to have to start from the beginning.”

“Well, the devils who work for me from the A-class portal in New York are serving me because of a contract or something. They’re the ones who came up with the name. But I think they’ve always tried to remain inconspicuous. But now that they’re working together with the Wales Portal beings, they’re doing a lot more.”

“Do you understand the minutia of the contract between you and the devils?”  

“No. I think it has something to do with Dr. Barrimore.”

Barley sighs. “Well. You came here to ask me something, didn’t you?”

“I created antimatter.”

Barley does not appear surprised. “We know. All the gravitron sensors in the world have gone crazy all at once. Just like in Detroit. I assumed it was you, and since there was no gigantic tsunami I assume you did it successfully.”

“I, ah, I did.”

“What are you planning to do with it?”

“The Darks. They blackmailed me to create it.” I look away from Barley’s gaze.

Barley looks less angry than I thought he would. “You should have asked for our help first. We have a lot of experience protecting people who need it.”

“Not against these guys. They’re crazy. And powerful. You know what they can do.”

Barley sighs. “Yeah. We’re going to have to get you to surrender the antimatter, however. There’s no arguing with that. Will you give it to us willingly?”

Sebastian appears pained. Chris has no expression, as usual.

“Sure.” I open a portal and take the gravity vacuum box out of it.

Barley raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I’ve been hiding a lot of things. And I just never told you.” I give the antimatter to Barley. “Be careful. If you drop it, London will probably disappear.”

Barley’s expression is inscrutable. “Just like that. Antimatter.” He pauses. “Can you create more?”

“On the condition that you help me.”

“Deal.”

I frown. “That’s it?”

“This is a national treasure class resource. It will take some convincing, and a lot of spy work, but this could change the world.”

“About my problem.”

“Right.” Barley places the box, ever so gently, on a table. “You’re being blackmailed by supervillains.”

“A great way to put it.” I am gritting my teeth at this point.

Barley sits down in a folding chair, placing his chin in his hands. “What do you want to do about it?”

“I was thinking this.” I outline my plan to Barley.

Barley stands up, turning to the whiteboard on the wall. He picks up a marker. “You’re planning on infiltrating a group of known terrorists with powerful spirits and lots of spirit rings.”

“Right.”

“And you expect us to help you.”

“Will you?”

Barley draws a diagram and caps his marker. “Yes. We need them gone. You have the power to do it.” The diagram features “antimatter” in its center with several circles around it. “And you also have the power to create more antimatter. Let us do a little bit of testing on the substance you brought. In the meantime, I’ll start talking with my superiors. Don’t do anything stupid before we give you the go ahead.” He grabs his hat. “If I haven’t forgotten, you have an internship to do. Be a normal person for a while before the rubber hits the road.” He nods and walks out of the room, leaving me, Sebastian, and Chris alone.

Chris folds her arms. “You told him too easily.”

Sebastian seems to agree.

“They knew already.” I stand up. “Let’s go. We have just a few hours until my next session at Esmex with the conjurers.”

The three of us enter the room where all the computers are housed. It is as chaotic as I remember. We pass through without making contact with anyone and, before I know it, we are back on the road in the limousine.

Sebastian looks at me through the rearview mirror. “I think you handled that as best you could. I apologize that we could not help you further.” He scowls and looks at Chris. “Just remember who backs our miss’s friends who want to play superhero.”

“So is that how the relationship between you guys ended up working?” I lean on the armrest. “The devils do the behind the scenes stuff while the fey do the good deeds?”

“Yes. We have outfitted at least two hundred individuals from the S-class portal with the gear they need to do what they wish, which usually includes playing hero and joining adventuring teams.”

“I should probably report to my boss at the Blue Dryads.” I take out my phone.

“Don’t.” Sebastian shakes his head. “We’ve got that covered. You don’t have to worry about anything regarding that right now.”

I sigh, putting my phone away. “I think I need the break I’m about to get.”

We stop at the Esmex building and I ride the elevator to the floor where my workshop is. The eleven conjurers are waiting in the lobby. I am just on time.

“Who’s that?” Archey stands up, looking to my side.

I follow his gaze to see Chris next to me. I hadn’t even noticed that she had come up with me.

Chris is as silent as ever.

I shrug. “She’s my new bodyguard.”

“Against what?” Archey tilts his head.

Chris gives Archey an icy glare. “Nothing you need to know about.”

Archey backs away. “Okay, okay. I get it.” He pauses. “You look weird. Like an elf.”

“I am an elf.” Chris pushes her hair back to reveal her ear.

“Whoa.” Archey’s eyes widen.

Chris lets her hair fall back. She remains silent.

I clap my hands. “All right. Let’s get started.”

The rest of the day is spent as usual, trying to get these conjurers to create that fabled single-crystal superalloy. When the day is over I feel tired and retreat to my room.

When I am at the door, I stop to turn to Chris. “You’re not going to follow me in, are you?”

“It is my job to protect you.”

“How much do elves need to sleep? You can’t always be protecting me, right?”

“If my presence makes you uncomfortable, I can arrange for a different bodyguard.” Chris’s eyes are as unreadable as always.

I sigh. “You can use the guest bedroom.”

“Thank you.” Chris walks to the middle of the sitting room. “Do you …” She pauses. “No. I will make tea now.”

I watch as she pulls a bag of herbs from a portal. She goes into the kitchen and puts the kettle on the burner. I am feeling a little bit less uncomfortable around her, but it still is weird to be in the same room as an elf, alone.

I sit down in a chair that faces the panoramic window. The whole of London stretches out before me. I watch the reflections on the glass from the night skyline for a while.

Chris puts a cup of tea on the table next to me. She nods once and then sits down on the opposite side of the sitting room. We are both silent. There is nothing to be said, after all. And I’ve never been a good conversationalist. Especially with girls. Especially-especially with girls as beautiful as she is. But, somehow, the silence doesn’t feel bad.

My phone rings. I pick up my normal phone—no one is calling me. Then I remember the special phone Barley gave me. I pick it up.

“Yes?”

It’s Barley. “Come to the headquarters tomorrow and we can get this plan of yours started. Be careful. I believe we may have a mole among our upper management. To that end, we’re going to pretend that you’re here to do some adventure consulting.”

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

Barley hangs up.

I get another call right then, this time on my regular phone.

“Yes?”

“Markus. The Blue Dryads are going to clear a C-class dungeon in eight hours. Be with us in seven.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t be there, I have duties with the government.”

“We’ll mark you as absent. Do you want to use your vacation days for this?”

My lips curl up into a slight smile. Vacation days? Sure. I shrug. “Yes. Do that.”

“Very well then. I will see you at another time.” The person on the other side, who I don’t actually recognize the voice of, hangs up.

Chris is looking at me with a quizzical expression. “This world has many wonders, but most wondrous of all is that stone of yours.”

“Um …” I am a bit taken aback. I had assumed Chris knew about this world’s technology. My devils seemed to understand it better than I even did. I shift in my seat. “If you want we can buy you a phone.”

“Phone?” Chris tilts her head. “My translation magic is not working correctly. I hear … Long distance communication device with portability?”

A strange way to put it. Also, this is the first time I’m hearing about this magic. The world sure is wondrous.

I stand up. “No better time than now. I saw an Addle store near the Esmex building.”

“Addle?” Chris stands up as well. “Interesting.”

We take the private elevator down to the ground floor. Sebastian is reading a newspaper in the lobby. Upon seeing us, he folds it up.

“Where to?”

“We’re buying Chris a phone.” I wave at her.

Sebastian stands up. “A good plan. We would not want to be separated without a means of communication. I assume we’re going to the Addle store?”

“Of course.”

Sebastian turns towards the door. “Then we shall be off.”