Magi Fables Special Edition -Short Story Collection - EBOOK

DEAD MAGIC

This story takes place before Magi Dawn, Book 1 of the Magi Saga, but after Angel of Tarut, the short story prequel that is available separately through Amanda or through my mailing list.

***

“Right,” Chrissie said, getting up from the stool and stretching. “I’m going to go see her.”
“Alright,” Angie replied with a smile and a nod as she cleared the plates from the breakfast bar. “Say hi from me.”
“Will do.”
“Didn’t you just see her the other day?” Toby asked, his elbow on the countertop.
“Yes,” Chrissie answered, sensing the confrontational tone in his voice.
“So, why go again so soon?”
“We’ve been through this so many times. It’s what Aleta wants. Regular contact. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. It just seems fairly pointless and a little neurotic to me,” he continued.
“It’s nice,” Angie countered. “She taught us everything we know, it’s only right that we keep the lines of communication open.”
“Besides, you know the other reason we do this,” Chrissie said.
“Ugh. It just seems like a lot of fuss over a fairly useless book,” Toby replied.
“Useless to you, maybe, but you know Aleta has her reasons for asking us to do this,” Angie said in their mentor's defence.
“Reasons she keeps to herself,” Toby muttered.
“And probably for good reason,” Angie replied.
“So, where’s this book now?” Toby asked. “Is it our turn on this magical roundabout of ownership?”
Chrissie sighed. “Yes, we have it, for now.”
“Awesome. Good to know such a valuable and sought-after artifact is under our protection. I mean, it’s not as if we’re just three apprentices or anything.”
With another groan of distaste, Toby got up and left the room in a huff. Chrissie watched him go. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen this particular tantrum. It came up every so often, and honestly, she could see his point. But, she trusted her mentor and hoped that between them, they’d be able to keep the book they were protecting safe.
“We were about due one of those,” Angie said, drying a plate as she looked out the door that Toby had walked through.
Chrissie nodded. “Yeah, I know,” she replied, feeling a little helpless. There wasn’t much she could do about the situation for now, but maybe she could look into talking to the Albion Coven, or even the Magi Council itself about getting the book properly looked after.
She knew what her mentor would say though, and knew that such a discussion would likely go nowhere. She was a distrustful Magus, even to the point of not fully trusting Angie, Toby, and herself even though she had trained all of them.
“Do you think it’s worth talking to her again?” Chrissie said quietly.
“About the book?”
Chrissie nodded. “I’m sure the Council would be better able to protect it than we can.”
“You’ll get no argument from me there. Of course, they’re better equipped to protect it, but you know Aleta. She’ll never agree to it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Chrissie replied, screwing her face up in consternation.
“Go on, go see her, and get it over with. We can talk more about it later.”
Chrissie nodded. “Yeah, sure,” she answered, and walked into the hallway where she pulled her coat on, smoothing it out before concentrating on her destination and working her Magic.
The air snapped all around her as a wave of dizziness washed over her. And then it was gone.
She’d appeared in her usual spot, just up the road from the house in the middle of a small thicket of trees and bushes on a nearby corner. Checking around her, she walked out and proceeded up the street, making for the house she knew so well.
The street, a residential road away from the main thoroughfares outside of Oxford, was quiet. A smattering of cars were parked along the sides of the road, framed by greenery, and Chrissie was the only pedestrian that she could make out.
As usual, she followed the directions of her mentor and peered into the Magical spectrum, looking for any discrepancies or inconsistencies. Anything that might indicate that something was amiss or that she was being watched.
It was almost second nature for her to do this now, it had been drummed into her for so many years. She looked around as she walked along the pavement, approaching the house, but saw nothing untoward up the street in either direction.
Satisfied, she crossed the road and looked up at the house, and found herself suddenly rooted to the spot.
She froze as she stared at the building before her, not knowing what to do. The Aegis that usually surrounded the building, protecting it from outside magical influence, and stopping any other Magi from Porting in, was basically gone. She could see the fading remains of the shield, slowly falling apart and returning to the usual ebb and flow of the surrounding Essentia, and knew that this meant only one thing.
It had been ripped apart.
Someone had wanted to get in this house.
Chrissie tried to build a coherent thought in her mind as she stared up at the magical mess that would be invisible to any passing Riven, but to her, and Magi like her, the damage was clear and obvious.
What had Aleta said to her about this kind of thing? She’d spoken often about what Chrissie should do if she arrived to find there was trouble or danger, but now that there actually was danger, she suddenly felt lost, and totally at sea as to what she should be doing.
Chrissie remained standing in the middle of the street, looking up at the large, impressive building, weighing up her options.
The logical part of her mind told her to escape. She shouldn’t stay here. She should flee back to their Coven House, warn her friends, take the book, and run. For a moment, she almost turned and left, but then she thought about Aleta, and the danger she was probably in. She might still be alive, Chrissie might still be able to save her, if she was quick.
The two trains of thought fought inside of her, pulling her both away from, and towards the house at the same time, and still she didn’t move.
A car horn blasted from close by.
Chrissie turned to see a small Nissan hatchback creeping up towards her, the old woman behind the wheel, waving at her to get out of the road, blissfully unaware of the possible threat in the house closest to her.
Chrissie waved apologetically and stepped up onto the path on the same side as her mentor's house. She watched the car drive away, and then looked up again.
I should go in, she thought.
She needed to know. She couldn’t leave without at least trying to help. She questioned the thought once more, but the answer was the same.
She had to know.
With a deep breath, she stalked towards the house, walking up the pea gravel drive, the tiny stones crunching underfoot as she moved. With a thought, Chrissie opened a Link to her coven mates.
~What’s up?~ Angie asked.
~Pack your stuff and get out of the house. Aleta’s place has been attacked. Take the book.~
~What?~ Angie replied, the thought appearing in Chrissie’s mind as if Angie was right beside her.
~Did I hear that right?~ Toby asked through the group mental Link.
~You did. I’m going to have a quick look inside, but I’ll be back shortly. We need to leave.~ Chrissie explained.
~Are you sure? Isn’t that dangerous?~ Angie asked.
~I have to know if she’s alive,~ Chrissie replied.
~No you don’t. Don’t be stupid. Leave and get back here, right now.~
~I’m going in,~ Chrissie said. ~See you in a moment.~ With that, she closed the Link and pushed as much Essentia into her shield as she could, strengthening her Aegis should she find herself in any trouble.
As she neared the building, she noticed the front door stood ajar and swallowed her nervousness. Steeling herself, she continued on, and edged through the door, trying to keep as quiet as possible.
Chrissie gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth in shock as she stared down at the mutilated body on the floor ahead of her. It was Lin. She was a Riven, a mortal, but aware of Magic, making her an Initiated Riven. She’d lived here with Aleta for years, helping her in the mundane day-to-day tasks around the house.
She’d always been something of a nanny to Chrissie and the others during their training, and Chrissie had known her well. To see her like this was a nightmare.
Who would do this to someone? It was sick!
Chrissie heard a thud come from above her and looked up at the ceiling. Someone was upstairs. She could reach out to Aleta through a Link, but the Magic would likely be detected by any Magi close to Aleta, so Chrissie resisted, despite desperately wanting to hear Aleta’s voice again.
Carefully, one step at a time, Chrissie crept up the stairs towards the main landing. A corridor led off, left and right from the area at the top of the stairs, but Chrissie made for the left-hand hallway, knowing that was where Aleta had her bedroom and private quarters.
Reaching the corner, she peeked around and watched as a man threw Aleta’s gardener to the floor and then stamped on his head. The gardener’s body jerked and fell still.
Behind this scene of violence, Chrissie could make out Aleta lying on her bed. She was writhing around like she was in pain.
Anger bubbled up inside her chest, hot and vital as she thought about what she wanted to do to these guys. She stepped out into the hallway.
“Oi,” she shouted to the man who stood above the now-dead gardener. The man looked up and frowned. Chrissie pulled on the veil of Essentia and fuelled her Magic. A blot of lightning and kinetic force flashed up the corridor and slammed into the man. He flew backwards and hit the wall with a bone-shattering crunch.
The next moment, a figure appeared in the far doorway, blocking the view of her mentor. The figure—a woman, judging by her shape, with long dark hair, an almost featureless black body, and a pale face with smoky eyes—smiled once at her, and then threw the door shut.
“No!” Chrissie yelled, breaking into a sprint. Leaping the body of the dead gardener, and dodging the killer she’d electrocuted, she threw an invisible battering ram of kinetic force at the door as Magic flared inside the room beyond.
The door slammed open, and Chrissie ran into the room, ready to throw more energy from her crackling hands, but the figure she’d seen was gone.
Only Aleta remained, laid out on the bed, her eyes staring blankly at nothing. With her Magical sight, Chrissie could clearly see that she was dead. Her life force, her Anima, was pulling away from the body as Essentia no longer flowed through it.
A wail of rage, pain, and helplessness broke free from her lips as she dropped to her knees at the side of the bed. She’d been seconds too late, and now her mentor was gone.
For a moment, she just sat there and let the tears come.
Whoever it was, whoever this killer might be, she would only be after one thing, and she’d probably ripped that information from the mind of her mentor.
The book.
Her mentor’s life’s work. A catalogue of Dead-Magic Zones. Areas around the globe where Magic didn’t work. They were sought-after places for some because inside them a Magus was powerless, and anything inside one was effectively hidden from Magical detection.
Aleta had put together the most comprehensive list of these places, and to some, that list was invaluable.
Worth killing for.
Her coven mates!
Chrissie jumped to her feet as her adrenaline started pumping once more, she focused on her building and Ported.
But she didn’t move. She remained where she was. Frowning, Chrissie reached out and placed her senses outside the house she and her coven mates shared, looking at it through her Magical eyes. As she’d suspected, there was an Aegis around the house, but not the one she, Angie, and Toby had conjured.
“Damn it,” she hissed, and focused on the street, getting as close as she could.
The air snapped, and Chrissie appeared on the pavement.
“Whoa,” said a man to her right who stared at her in utter disbelief.
Chrissie took no notice though and charged over the road to the front door, and the Aegis that barred her way. With her jaw set and eyes narrowed, working with Magic born from her ever-growing anger, she sent a spike of Essentia into the Aegis. All she needed was a crack. A small hole in the shield so she could Port inside. As her Magical attack thrust against the barrier, a tiny fissure eased open. Suddenly, the Aegis whipped around her, bringing Chrissie inside the shield, then it snapped closed behind her, sealing her in.
For a moment, she’d lost track of what was happening and frowned at the sudden change, but then it was forgotten as her need to find her friends—her coven mates—took hold. She opened the front door to the house and stepped inside to see the same woman from her mentor's house, clad in form-fitting blackness, saunter down the stairs ahead of her. The woman’s hips swayed in a confident swagger as she took her time. She smiled down at Chrissie, holding a book in her hand, her wavy hair bouncing about her shoulders as she grew nearer.
Movement to her left and right briefly attracted her attention. She glanced at the new arrivals as they walked into the reception area, staring at her. The threat was clear, and Chrissie began to wonder if she’d done the right thing.
“So, you chose to follow us?” the woman with the book said. “I did wonder if you would. Three young Magi to protect a book like this?” The woman tutted and shook her head as if she were telling off a naughty child. “Not really good enough, is it?”
“Give it back,” Chrissie said, pushing her growing fear back down as she tried to ignore the flutter of her racing heart.
“Really?” the woman answered, clearly unimpressed by Chrissie’s demand. This Magus, whoever she might be, was clearly powerful. Chrissie could see the frankly, scary amount of Essentia inside her, and how her very presence sent ripples of energy out from her. “That’s it, is it? Just give it back? Oh dear, oh dear. How very pitiful.”
Hot, volatile anger joined with her fear as she clenched her fists in frustration. Tears escaped from the corners of her eyes. She knew what was coming. She knew this was probably the end for her, unless she managed, by some miracle, to escape.
A roar of rage and hate rose up, and she screamed at the woman, before throwing everything she had at the Magus.
Essentia flared elsewhere, including from the woman. Chrissie’s Aegis held up for barely two seconds before it was utterly destroyed and scattered to the winds as if it was nothing. Pain filled her world, becoming the only thing she knew, and then there was nothing.