Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

  “Well, if you’re ever in the New York area, stop by,” Amanda said, offering her hand.

  Celest shook it. “I will.”

  Amanda and Liz made short work of freeing the children and quickly took them out of the room before Celest shifted form to take her own revenge.

  - Columbian News Report.

  It seems that a rival gang raided a house on the outskirts of Medellin last night, killing one of the cartel bosses and freeing more than twenty children and teenagers, effectively ending one of the most shocking cases of human trafficking law enforcement has ever seen.

  Some local Good Samaritans found the children out on the streets and dropped them off at the local police station.

  Pit Fight

  New York

  Amanda stood in her living room in front of the fireplace, facing her friends. She’d gathered them together this morning after her busy night in Columbia and a few hours’ sleep upon her return. Getting a shower after the events in Columbia had been bliss, and she felt much more at home now that she was clean and in comfortable clothing.

  “…and that brings us to this morning,” Amanda finished bringing them up-to-speed. “As you can see, we’ve had a fairly eventful few weeks with Lucian and his coven.”

  “Are you crazy? You could have gotten yourself killed going down there alone,” Yoh admonished her.

  Amanda acknowledged the comment, giving him a nod and pursing her lips for a moment. Yoh spoke the truth, but the mission had been a success.

  “That’s great, Mandy, that’s a job well done,” said Xain from where he sat next to Orion.

  “Thank you. I did what needed doing. Not least of which because I needed to bring Liz back, but also because I now understand the depths of depravity that Lucian has sunk to. I always knew the Nomads were bad news, but these ones, they need to be stopped. It has gone on long enough and if we don’t take a stand now, who knows how many more lives they’ll ruin.”

  “That’s all fine, Amanda, and I agree with you that he needs to be stopped, but the American Arcadians have tried time and again to do just that, and every time they’ve tried, they’ve failed,” Yoh challenged her.

  “And why have they failed?” Amanda asked.

  Yoh twisted to speak more to the group than to just Amanda, apparently taking it as an opportunity to get everyone up to speed. He probably hoped to get them on his side too.

  “Lucian is part of a larger network of Nomads. His ultimate master is Nymira, also known as the Voodoo Queen. She controls much of Central America and the Islands there. Haiti and Jamaica, etc. Nymira has her own coven and she directly sponsors several more. Beyond those, numerous Nomad covens reside in the area and swear loyalty to her. Lucian’s coven is one of the sponsored ones and is probably the most remote one that Nymira has her claws into. Whenever we’ve tried to take out Lucian, he simply calls in Nymira and the other covens who come to their aid. Within moments of us attacking, we’re swarmed with Nomads who don’t care about innocent lives.”

  “I agree, we cannot fight the full might of Nymira’s army,” Amanda said. “But we won’t.”

  “And what makes you think that?” Yoh asked.

  “Look. Everything you’ve told me since arriving about how he deals with Arcadians has suggested that he’s always been ruthless. He kills them quickly the first chance he gets, right?”

  “That’s right,” Yoh answered.

  “So, why not me? He’s had plenty of chances. I’ve even tried to provoke him…”

  “Heh, Badass Red,” Xain commented.

  “…but he won’t do it, he won’t hurt me. Why?” Amanda finished, ignoring Xain’s comment.

  “Yasmin,” said Gentle Water calmly.

  “What?” Liz asked.

  “Yasmin?” asked Yoh.

  “That’s right, and yes, I do mean that Yasmin. She visited here yesterday; she told us where to find you,” Amanda said, looking at Liz. “She as good as validated my suspicions that she was stopping Lucian from hurting me. Gentle Water will confirm it, he was here with me.”

  Gentle Water nodded.

  “But, why would she do that?” Yoh asked.

  “That’s a good question, and I honestly don’t know. But I think it gives us an unprecedented opportunity, so it does,” Amanda said.

  “Because he won’t call for back up,” Xain extrapolated.

  “Why wouldn’t he?” Yoh asked.

  “Because he’s beholden to Yasmin and he can’t tell Nymira that, or she’d kill him.”

  “So, he doesn’t have backup?” Yoh said, the idea taking root it seemed.

  “That’s right. He’ll be forced to deal with us on his own, for the first time ever as coven master here in New York. Which means he’s vulnerable.”

  “Are you sure?” Yoh said.

  “I’m as sure as I can be, but ultimately, there’s only one way to really be sure.”

  “We’re in,” said Xain, jumping in. Orion nodded next to him.

  Amanda smiled. She liked their enthusiasm.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Our target is The Pit Club, his base of operations, and using a contact I have I can get us into the club by a back door. We’ll be able to bypass his Aegis and take him by surprise.”

  “Unless it’s a trap,” Yoh suggested.

  “Unless it’s a trap,” Amanda conceded. “Yasmin is a Nomad, after all, and we all know how much they lie. But I’m going. After seeing what was happening in Columbia, seeing all of those innocent lives being ruined by their depravity, to me, the risk is worth it. I can’t guarantee your safety, but I am asking for your help. You don’t have to come. I know the risks involved, this will be a dangerous mission, so please, think carefully about your answer. Who’s with me?”

  Orion and Xain raised their hands, to which Amanda nodded, acknowledging them. Yoh sat back and looked at everyone else.

  “I will do it,” said Gentle Water.

  “Thank you.”

  “Me, too,” agreed Raven.

  “Count me in,” said Liz.

  “Are you sure, Liz?” Amanda asked. “With what ye’ve been through you might want to…”

  “No! I’m going. I need to do this,” she answered defiantly.

  Amanda looked at her for a moment. She seemed unscathed by her kidnapping, in fact, she seemed stronger and more determined than ever before to forge ahead. Amanda felt proud of her. She’d come a long way this past year and a half, and the fact that she wanted to head right back into the lion’s den after her kidnapping, spoke volumes.

  Amanda smiled at her apprentice.

  “Then you’re in,” she said to Liz.

  Maya raised her hand and nodded, to which Amanda smiled before her gaze came to a rest on Yoh. He looked at Amanda, and then around the room at the others. Most of them looked back at him, waiting for his answer.

  He sighed and sat forward.

  “Okay, I’m in. Let’s do this,” Yoh said finally.

  ***

  Amanda walked ahead as they passed in single file through one of the city’s sanitation systems.

  Beneath New York lay a maze of tunnels, sewers, subway lines, and service passageways. People lived down here. A whole community of the forgotten had found a life and even friends in the darkness, which hadn’t existed for them above ground. Over the decades, these forgotten people had made their own changes and modifications, adding connecting tunnels, walkways, and more.

  In a world where the supernatural existed, this subterranean environment became a natural home. Shaun, as disfigured as he was, probably found a better life down here, away from the revealing light of the sun.

  Shaun had given Amanda directions, and they walked along a connecting stretch of the sewer with a makeshift walkway that kept them out of the raw sewage that bobbed along beneath them.

  “Had I known we’d be walking through shit, Amanda, I might have had second thoughts about this,” Liz said.

  “Well, fair play to ye. But I had no idea that th
e directions would lead through here, either.”

  The tunnel stank, nearly making Amanda retch. She’d already heard a couple of the others almost bringing up their breakfast.

  Moments later, they stepped through a hole in a brick wall and dropped down into a pipe that looked like a sunken service tunnel. Amanda walked along it with everyone following behind her until they came to an iron door. She examined at it for a moment, and eventually found the small distinguishing mark that Shaun had told her about.

  “This is it,” she called out. She knocked a few times and waited. Nearly a minute later, the sound of heavy metal bolts sliding from their locks could be heard as someone on the other side unlocked the door. It swung wide, and from the shadows, Shaun’s face appeared.

  “Top of the mornin’ to ye, what’s the craic?” Amanda said, emphasising her Irish accent.

  “You brought your mates, I see,” Shaun commented.

  “Of course, it wouldn’t be a party without them,” Amanda joked.

  “I suppose not. You’d better come in.”

  Shaun led them through another dark passageway, filled with junk piled up on both sides, before they stepped through another doorway into Shaun’s disused-subway platform home. Although dirty and dark, they did seem to keep the place as clean as realistically possible. There were still a few piles of junk here and there, but it certainly seemed liveable. The lack of fresh air and sunlight didn’t agree with Amanda, though. She felt she would probably go a bit stir-crazy living somewhere without windows, but Shaun and his assistant were apparently happy here. Looking around the room, Amanda noted that there were three beds, not two. Amanda could easily pick out the one that Shaun slept on, and she felt sure she knew which was Vanessa’s. But the other one, if she had to guess, looked like a young man’s bed, judging by the posters and other items on and around it.

  Amanda looked back at Shaun, who had been watching her as she scanned the space.

  “There used to be three of us,” Shaun said, preempting her question.

  Amanda glanced at the vacant bed and then back to Shaun.

  “Lucian?” she asked.

  Shaun nodded. “He shot him, for no other reason than just being angry at… well, angry at you.”

  “Me?”

  “Your arrival here and Yasmin’s ban on him killing you. You’ve pissed him off,” he said.

  “Bleedin’ hell. I’m sorry for ye loss.”

  “You want to get into The Pit, then?” Shaun asked ignoring her condolences.

  “That would be grand,” Amanda said.

  “This way, then.” Shaun led the way towards another doorway. Vanessa watched them go, eyeing Amanda as she passed.

  During the previous forty-five minute walk through the tunnels to reach Shaun’s hideout, Amanda and the others had taken the time to fuel their Magical shields and get themselves ready for the fight ahead.

  With Shaun taking them through the last stretch of tunnel towards The Pit Club and its underground complex of rooms, Amanda started to feel a bit nervous. Lucian and his coven were going to be the most dangerous group of Magi she’d ever faced. She’d been careless and a little rash during her siege of the mansion in Columbia, and she had nearly paid the price for that when Joaquin surprised her. Luckily, Celest had been there for her when she’d needed it.

  Taking her friends with her on this mission had been the obvious choice. Storming in there alone after the events in Columbia would have been foolish, to say the least.

  As they turned another corner, passing through another dark corridor, Amanda could now feel the vast and powerful Aegis that surrounded The Pit Club. The huge Magical barrier extended underground, all the way around the subbasement that they were now approaching, and as they traversed this last stretch of tunnel, Amanda could make out a doorway ahead.

  Moments later, Shaun stopped in front of it and waited for the group to catch up and pull in close.

  “This is it. This is where I leave you,” Shaun said. “Beyond this door is The Pit Club. You’re on sub-level three of five that serve as the coven’s Sepulchre. You’ll have to find your own way from here on in. I wish you the best of luck.”

  “Thank you. You’re one in a million. I won’t forget this,” Amanda said as he unlocked the deadbolts in the door.

  “I’ll be locking this door. I recommend that you leave through the club above when you’re finished.” Shaun swung the door open wide. Amanda stood to one side as her friends filed inside. After the last one had passed, Amanda put her hand on his arm.

  “Thank you, I mean it,” she said.

  “I know,” he answered returning the smile, before closing the door behind her.

  Amanda smiled. He sounded like Han Solo.

  She turned to her friends, who waited in the short stretch of corridor. Amanda looked at the closed door behind them and felt that strange feeling of rightness. She knew this was what she had to do.

  That didn’t stop the nerves, though. She checked her Aegis and her stored Essentia, taking a breath as she did so. She called on her Magic and wove it about her, casting the Multitasking effect on herself, concentrating hard she put as much power into it as she could in order to split her mind into as many parts as she could. She noticed most of the others casting their own Magical effects.

  “Let’s do this,” she said and walked to the front of the group

  The door opened easily, and they walked into a dimly lit corridor. Up ahead, they could see doorways and openings branching off into the rest of the club. Coming to a stairwell, they stopped next to it as Amanda looked from the corridor to the stairs and then at her friends.

  “Okay, as discussed, we split up into groups. We’ll cover more ground that way while still staying relatively safe. Yoh, Maya, you’re with me. Gentle Water, Raven, and Liz take the floor below; Orion, Xain, take the floor above. Any questions?” Amanda asked in a hushed tone.

  They all shook their heads.

  “Then, let’s get it done,” she said and watched as they broke into their assigned groups.

  “Okay, come on,” she said to Maya and Yoh, leading them down the corridor.

  ***

  Exiting the stairwell, Liz walked cautiously along the corridor behind Gentle Water and Raven, moving gingerly and trying to stay as quiet as possible. Looking at Raven in his combat trousers and vest, and Gentle Water in his jeans and shirt, she started to regret the baggy jumper she’d chosen to wear this morning. But there wasn’t any time for that kind of thinking now as they were inside a Nomad coven house, or what was it Amanda called it? A Sepulchre? Whatever, they were in very hostile territory.

  They rounded another corner and snuck along another empty stretch of corridor. So far, they’d found nothing. Which, suited Liz just fine. She felt utterly terrified. Her heart beat like a hammer in her chest as she followed her teammates.

  Around another corner, they stopped and listened. There were people up ahead, their voices echoing faintly in the tunnel-like corridor. Liz nervously clenched and unclenched her fists as she followed Gentle Water and Raven, being even more careful than before as they slowly approached a recessed doorway on their left.

  Gentle Water stood next to the doorframe, with Raven and Liz close behind. Liz felt the familiar signature of Gentle Water’s Magic passing a message to her mind, which she accepted. A moment later, he peeked around the corner and she found she could see what he saw.

  It only lasted a second—in that space between two breaths—before he pulled back. In the room beyond the doorway, they’d seen four people sitting on benches around a table.

  ~They Initiated humans. Their weapons enhanced by Magic,~ Gentle Water told them over the link.

  Beyond the youths, there had been another room, and although they couldn’t make out what it might be, there had been movement.

  ~I take these four, you two go to next room. Okay?~ Gentle Water asked in their heads.

  They both nodded in agreement. Gentle Water held up three fingers and pro
ceeded to drop one at a time about a second apart. After the last one dropped, he ran into the room. Raven followed, and Liz stuck close to him as he ran in.

  She watched Gentle Water sprint ahead and quickly take out the closest of the four men, knocking him out cold with a pedestrian kick to the head.

  One down, the rest to go.

  Raven drew up short partway through the room and paused as he looked forward, causing Liz to bump into the back of him while her attention remained on Gentle Water.

  The collision got her attention, though. She apologised and stepped out from behind Raven, looking through to a much larger room beyond this one.

  It was circular from the looks of it, there were cages around the edge of the room, all of them open from what she could see. The central area had a thin covering of straw, mud, and other detritus. In the middle of the room stood a short fat man with a bald head, wearing a rubber apron petting and talking to three huge beasts.

  Liz couldn’t think of a better term for them than that. They weren’t dogs. At least, not any breed she’d ever heard of. These things were huge, nearly as tall as the bald man, their raw exposed skin sprouting patches of fur here and there.

  As Gentle Water fought, the noise attracted the man’s attention, and he looked up from the beasts and straight at Raven and Liz. His three huge wolf-things did the same and began growling, a low guttural noise that made Liz feel a little weak in the knees.

  The man approached them, his three creatures following him as he pulled a large meat cleaver from his belt. Liz used her magical senses and discovered that the creatures were actually Scions. Could you change dogs into Scions? Or were these once humans, maybe? Liz had no idea, but they made her blood run cold, whatever they once were.

  Raven strode straight toward the man, both men gathering Essentia and working their Magic as they went. As they neared each other, the man gestured with his hands, and all three Scion dogs took off towards them. One made for Raven, one headed for Gentle Water, and one barrelled ahead, heading straight for Liz.

  She backed up a few steps as the slavering, vicious-looking thing bounded at her. For a moment, she considered running. Fighting a human, and fighting a dog-beast with claws and fangs, were two very different things in her mind. But after that brief moment of fear, she noticed how Raven readied himself for the Scion who approached him. He wasn’t running, he was confident.