Raven put his hand on her shoulder. ~It’s okay, he’s a friend,~ he said to her through the Link.
The man was probably in his fifties with a short salt and pepper beard and a layered tunic that looked like a modern take on a wizard’s robes.
He smiled. “Raven,” he said in greeting.
“Arch Master Trevelyan,” Raven answered. “Are they in there?”
“That’s right, and there’s some Magic in there too, but I can’t get a precise location,” he said with a frown. “The Police confiscated an item from them, which we believe to be Magical. It’s powerful too and seems to have a disruptive effect on Flux Magic, you won’t be able to Port in or out if it’s close to you.”
“An artifact?” Raven asked, and glanced back at Amanda. “Looks like we were right, they did have something on them back in London.”
Amanda nodded, linking this with the artifact that Gentle Water had said was missing from the tomb in Egypt. Somehow, these kids had got hold of it, and now they were way out of their depth.
Gunshots, faint, but certainly there, rang out from the building they were looking at.
“Looks like we don’t have time to figure this out,” Raven said. “Do you know where they are?”
“The fifth floor,” the man said. “Happy hunting.” With a sudden whip-crack, he was gone.
Amanda could feel the Essentia flood out of Raven as he worked his Magic. This time, it took a few moments before the rush of energy engulfed them and the typical flash of light in her eyes happened, but soon they were in a stairwell next to a door with ‘third floor’ imprinted on it.
“Didn’t he just say the fifth floor?” Amanda asked.
“Yes, but this is as close as I can get us. Looks like Trevelyan was right about the artifact blocking Flux Magic. ”
“Awesome, good to know,” she said as Raven started to sprint up the stairs, past people running the other way. The gunfire was much louder in here and echoed through the building. ~What do you think? Nomad?~
~Probably,~ Raven answered through their Link, reaching the fifth floor and charging through the door. People were running everywhere. It was chaos.
~Where do we go?~ Amanda asked as someone pushed past her. People were screaming, the gunfire was very close now.
~No idea, I can’t see any concentration of Essentia apart from… Aaah shit, yep, it’s another Magus, Nomad probably. He’s on the other side of the building.~
Amanda saw it, too. The telltale glow and ripple of Essentia as the Magus used his Magic. But just like Raven, she couldn’t pinpoint the artifact that was generating the Flux-blocking effect.
~So, what do we do?~ she asked.
~Read some minds. Someone must know something,~ he answered.
She saw his Magic reach out to people nearby to find the information he needed. Amanda turned and focused elsewhere, doing the same. She reached into a man’s head and scanned his memories of the last few hours for anything related to a group of teenagers and some kind of artifact, but found nothing useful. It was done in seconds, so she tried again, reaching into the head of the next person she saw and repeating the process, but still nothing.
The bursts of gunfire continued in the background as Amanda worked her Magic. After her fourth fruitless scan, Raven called out.
“Got them, follow me,” he said.
Relief washed over her as she ran after him, pushing through the crowds of people as they charged up a nearby corridor. Raven stopped outside a door, gave it a look as a ripple of Essentia flowed out from him before he lunged forward with a solid kick.
The door flew off its hinges and clattered to the floor just inside. Gunfire sounded again. It was really close, now—maybe one or two rooms away, perhaps three, if they were lucky.
“Raven, we better be quick,” she yelped.
Raven ducked into the room, Amanda followed but stopped at the door. She saw three young teenagers, two girls and a boy. They were the same ones that they’d seen the other day in London, but there had been four of them then.
“Who are you?” The boy asked, clearly terrified and clutching his backpack like his life depended on it.
“I’m Raven, this is Amanda, we’re here to help you get out of here,” he said.
“Hey, you were the ones who helped us with that blonde woman, Angel, right?” the girl with the copper hair asked.
“Bang on,” Amanda said, smiling.
“Well, I don’t think we need any more help, we just need to get out of here,” the boy stated defiantly. “Come on, girls.”
“Stephen, I think we should listen to them,” the copper-haired girl pleaded with him.
“I’m fed up with listening to people who think they know what’s best for us. How do we know these two aren’t going to kill us like that man killed Ben? Now, are you coming or what?” Stephen asked, walking past Amanda and giving her an accusing glance.
The two girls followed him, the copper-haired girl leading the way as she continued trying to convince him to think again. “Stephen, they seem to know what they’re talking about. Stephen, will you stop and listen to me?”
Amanda turned to Raven. “We need to leave,” she said, as another bout of gunfire sounded, shattering glass in the windows above them. A loud bang sounded further up the corridor. Amanda stepped out to take a look and saw a tall, well-muscled and heavily tattooed man step over a police officer he’d just thrown through a door. As he stepped over him, looking up the corridor, he fired his gun into the officer's face, killing him.
One of the girls behind her yelped. Amanda frowned and bolstered her Aegis, staring at this new threat who was glowing with Essentia. If she had to make a guess, she’d bet he was another Nomad.
“Guys, you left the party early,” the Nomad accused the teenagers behind her. “And who’s the redhead? Have you been making friends?” he asked, his tone light.
Amanda didn’t like him, and from the scared noises the three teens were making behind her, it sounded like they didn’t like him either.
“I don’t know who you are, but they’re under our protection now,” Amanda replied, doing her best to sound confident and powerful. She wasn’t sure it worked, though. She probably just sounded pathetic.
“You don’t?” the man asked. “Well, I’m offended. Now, sit down.” With a lightning-fast move, he whipped his gun up and fired several times.
Amanda gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she boosted her Aegis again. The bullets slammed into the large bubble of force that surrounded her and stopped dead, dropping harmlessly to the floor.
Amanda looked up, a huge grin spreading across her face as she realised that her Magic had worked.
“What the hell?” She heard the boy say behind her, along with the squeals and then gasps of the girls.
“So, you’ve got some skill,” the man said, dropping the gun.
Movement to her left caught her eye as Raven, who seemed to have been waiting for the right moment, stepped out into the corridor.
“You’re damn right, she has,” he replied and worked his Magic. A battering ram of kinetic force slammed into the Nomad and sent him flying back along the corridor. “Check them,” Raven said.
Amanda turned and stepped back to the trio. “You guys alright?”
“You… you’re… That was… You used…” the boy stammered.
“Magic, yes, we’ll explain later, but we have to go. Will you come with us?” Amanda asked. The three of them nodded dumbly. “Raven, we’re leaving,” she yelled back to him.
“Go,” he shouted.
“Come on, quickly.” Amanda guided the trio to the stairwell, making sure no one was left behind as they charged down the stairs. Raven followed on behind. Several flights later, Amanda spotted the big green exit sign above the ground floor door. She went for it.
“No, through the wall,” Raven shouted at her.
Amanda stopped and looked up. He was pointing to one of the walls. Amanda glanced at it and knew it was an
outside wall. With a thought, she raised her hand and threw a powerful, invisible kinetic ram at the wall. Brick and mortar exploded outwards as a huge hole was created right before them.
“Out,” Amanda ordered. She looked back to see Raven’s mouth hanging agape.
“Howah,” he muttered.
“Everything okay?” she asked, not recognising the word. Was it his native tongue?
“Everything’s fine. I’m just impressed, that’s all,” he said.
Amanda couldn’t help the smile that played across her lips at his comment. At least, she was impressing him.
“Come on, then, Tonto,” Raven said, smiling and running through the hole. They made their way out onto the nearby London street and set off in a southerly direction to the nearest bridge over the Thames. They were soon amongst people and slowed down, their run becoming a brisk walk through the crowds. Amanda couldn’t help looking behind her every now and then, checking to see if the Nomad was catching them up.
“What’s in that backpack?” Raven asked as they crossed Westminster Bridge.
“Nothing,” the boy said, looking back at her and Raven.
“Before we get into that,” Amanda said. “I think some introductions are needed. I’m Amanda, this is Raven. What are your names?”
“Why should we tell you?” the boy said.
“I’m Fran, this is my sister Liz, and this grumpy-Guss is Stephen,” she said.
Stephen let out an exasperated sigh. “Why did you do that? We don’t know who they are.”
“I think I can guess they’re here to help. After all, they weren’t the ones shooting at us,” Fran said.
“I don’t like it,” Stephen answered her.
“You don’t have to,” Fran said and turned to Raven. “We found an artifact. Stephen bought it in Egypt.”
“Fran!” Stephen yelled.
“In Cairo,” Liz cut in, clarifying.
“That’s right,” Fran said. “It’s like… it’s a golden book filled with writing and we think it might be magical,” Fran said.
“Bloody hell.” Stephen sighed.
“Magical?” Amanda asked, looking at the backpack. Usually, a Magical item would glow in her Aetheric Sight, but nothing was shining in that bag. There was no concentration of Essentia in there that she could see, and yet she could feel something, something Magical. It was as if the item blocked her Magical sight, but she could still feel the item’s presence.
Fran nodded. “Yeah, like, what you were doing back there. We were just trying to figure it out, you know?”
“Fair play to yeh, to be sure,” Amanda said. “But, I think you can see that whatever it is, it’s in demand, so we need to get it back to our place in Paris. Luckily, that’s just a train ride away.”
“Can’t you just, you know, use some Magic?” Fran asked.
“Usually, but something about this book is preventing that, so if we’re going to keep the book, we need to make our way home by other means,” Amanda said.
“Train ride it is, then,” Fran conceded. Amanda smiled and nodded.
As they walked, Amanda leant in towards Raven and spoke in lower tones. “So, did we lose him? The Nomad, I mean?”
“Nate?”
“That’s his name? Nate?”
“Yeah, that’s him, and no, I’m doubtful. He wouldn’t give up that easily.”
“Figured as much,” she replied.
Crossing the river, they soon made their way over towards Waterloo Station. It was busy with people waiting for their trains or walking through the platform. Checking the departure boards, there was a Eurostar train leaving shortly for France.
“Okay, let’s get over there. Follow me,” Raven said. The three teens followed Raven, while Amanda bought up the rear, leaving a gap between herself and Liz, who was the rearmost of the three of them. Raven strode ahead, and as they threaded their way through the crowds, Stephen wasn’t able to keep up with him. As another bystander cut through between Stephen and Raven, they all lost sight of him. There were stalls and ticket booths on the concourse, including one just ahead, so he’d probably disappeared around it. Stephen looked back at Amanda, but she nodded for him to keep going.
Amanda hung back a touch more. Something wasn’t right here. She wondered if this Nate, the Nomad, would try for the kids here in this very public place.
Stephen led the girls around the next stall. As they turned the corner, someone reached out and grabbed Liz’s wrist.
Amanda recognised that muscled, tattooed arm right away. Pulling on Essentia she threw up an illusion. A hologram that hid what was happening and muffled the noise in that area. Liz yelped.
Within a second, Amanda was next to Nate and driving her elbow into the man’s face as hard as she could, releasing a burst of Essentia as she did so. Nate’s nose exploded in a shower of blood as he fell and dropped back away from her. Suddenly, Raven was there too, catching Nate and guiding him to a chair close by.
“Ace shot there, girl,” Raven said. “You were lucky. I think his Aegis was down.”
“I thought that was too easy. Why would he do that?”
“So we wouldn’t spot him. I walked right past him and had no idea he was there. Stupid get rezzy apruhan, thinks he’s some kind of big warrior. Hah!”
Amanda turned to the teenagers beside her. “Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. But how come no one saw you do that?” Fran asked, looking around at the oblivious public.
Amanda raised her eyebrows and smiled. “Magic,” she said, wiggling her fingers in the air as she said it. “Come on, we can talk more on the train.”
Twenty minutes later, the high-speed Eurostar was zipping along the track and leaving London behind with Raven, the three kids, and herself aboard. They found a more or less empty carriage and sat themselves down. Amanda sat beside Raven, while the three teenagers sat opposite them at a table—Liz was beside the window, while Stephen took the aisle seat, with Fran in-between.
~Do you think we’ll make it all the way back?~ Amanda asked Raven through their Link.
~Maybe. Nate will have to do some hunting to find us now, but it’s not impossible. We’re not home free yet, I don’t think,~ Raven answered.
~I was thinking the same thing,~ Amanda agreed. Until they were inside the Legacy House, Amanda wouldn’t feel totally safe. She’d seen enough to know that the Nomads and the Inquisitors would not give up that easily.
She looked over at the three teenagers they’d brought with them. She guessed they were maybe around fifteen or sixteen, not much younger than she was really, but despite this, they still looked young to her. Young and vulnerable. They also seemed quite nervous, which given their situation, was entirely understandable.
Now that they were well underway, Amanda leant forward, placing her elbows on the table, and looked Stephen in the eyes. “Hey, how’s she cuttin’?”
“Sorry, what?” Stephen asked.
“Oh, sorry,” She said, realising they probably didn’t understand her Irish slang. “I mean, how are you doing?”
“We’re good,” Stephen admitted, clearly still a little reluctant to talk to her.
“Ignore him,” Fran cut in with a smile. “We’re okay. Tired, scared, but alright.” Fran was holding Liz in her arms, and Amanda noticed the silent tears gliding down her face.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this,” Amanda offered. “I know it’s tough. I lost some friends recently, too. But it will get easier, trust me.”
They sat there in silence for a while, each of them deep in thought. Amanda kept thinking back to her friends. Howie was still alive and living in New York. She wanted to go and see him sometime. Those early days living at his place had been some of the best she’d had in Manhattan. He’d been fixing up his motorbike in the block’s garage. She’d lost count of the times she’d sat there chatting with him and passing him tools as he worked. He’d even taken her out on a bike as well. She’d loved it and had been starting to d
evelop an interest and love for motorcycles herself.
She’d see him again. She was sure of that. As much as she liked Paris and felt at home and relaxed in Ireland, she still knew that her heart would pull her back to the Big Apple. She loved it there. She wondered if she could return someday soon and make a home there.
“So, you can use Magic, right?” Fran asked quietly.
“We can, to be sure. But, um, you don’t seem that surprised that Magic is real.”
“We’ve had some experiences, so we knew it was a thing,” Fran explained. “But your ability with it is, frankly, amazing.”
“Well, we call ourselves Magi, and it’s what we do.”
“Magi? Are there a lot of you around?”
“My mentor said there were around fifteen thousand on the planet, split into three main groups. The Arcadians, that’s us,” Amanda explained, pointing to herself and Raven, “the Nomads, who are fairly horrible people, and the Inquisition, who aren’t too friendly to us, either.”
“So, you’re the good guys?” Stephen asked.
“That’s my view on it. We’re not perfect, but yeah. Let’s just say that we have the best of intentions towards the Riven.”
“The what?” Stephen asked.
“Normal humans. The none-Magi people,” she clarified with a smile.
“Shit, I had no idea,” Fran exclaimed. Liz had sat up a little and was taking an interest now. Amanda also noticed that Stephen seemed to be listening intently as well.
“Look,” Stephen began. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been a bit, well, you know…”
“I know,” Amanda replied.
“I’m just… I don’t know. It’s just a really freaky situation.”
“I get it, I understand. We’d like to help you, but we can only do that if you help us.”
“Okay, sure,” he sighed, his demeanour less confrontational. “What can I do?”
“Can you show me the artifact?” Amanda suggested.
He nodded and pulled his backpack onto his lap. He checked around to make sure no one was looking, and opened the bag with the zip, revealing the metallic golden book inside.
Magi Legend Page 17