Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

  Amanda nodded and looked into the middle distance as she took that in. Angel had shown up a couple of times now during her time as a Magus. The first time had been on the train in France when they’d been after the Golden Book. But more recently, it had become clear that she’d been involved with Mr Black somehow, working for him like the other Magi and Scions under his employ.

  It did seem, however, that Angel had turned on Mr Black at the last moment before disappearing from the island at the same time as Yasmin. Was there a connection there, between Yasmin and Angel? She didn’t know, but she had other concerns for the moment anyway.

  “I had no idea,” Amanda admitted.

  “Of course, you didn’t,” Forrest mocked her, disbelief in his voice.

  Amanda wanted to retaliate but held her tongue instead, feeling that taking the high road would be the better option.

  “That’s all very nice, but what does all of this mean?” asked an Italian sounding man.

  “It means the Archons are returning,” said a woman with wild ginger hair and a Russian accent.

  “Nonsense,” said Abra-Melin. “How do you know that?”

  “If she can pass into the Abyss, how do we know that they can’t come back into the Material world?” asked the Russian woman.

  “We don’t,” said Kai. “But we must trust that they still cannot and that this effect is localised to Amanda only.”

  “Working with the Nomads or not, surely you can see that she is a danger now? If she were to fall into the wrong hands or if she had cause to work against us?” Forrest argued.

  “What are you suggesting?” Stephen Bathory asked him.

  “I’m not suggesting anything, I’m merely asking the question,” Forrest answered, seemingly affronted by the accusation.

  “A question that insinuates that we take pre-emptive action, to condemn her before anything has happened,” Stephen continued.

  “Those are your words, not mine,” Forrest countered, crossing his arms.

  “Then she should be protected,” Victoria said. “If she’s a target now, then she’s going to need our help.”

  “I would be happy to assign you some bodyguards,” suggested Kai.

  Amanda shook her head. “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary, I can look after myself.”

  Kai nodded. “Of course, Amanda-san.”

  “People will still want to kill you,” Trevelyan said.

  “People have been wanting to kill me ever since I became a Magus, it seems, so it’s nothing new.”

  “That may be so, but there’s no shame in asking for help,” Trevelyan said.

  “Thank you, I appreciate it, and… I will bear it in mind,” Amanda said. “But please, I don’t want people to make a fuss. That Prophecy is very vague. Maybe it means something, or maybe it doesn’t. If I am some kind of Chosen One, if I am meant to do something, I’d like to find my own path, ideally, and while that might be dangerous, that would always be my preference.”

  The table seemed to relax a bit, and many of them sat back and talked in hushed tones with the people next to them, or looked at Amanda with a range of expressions from respect to suspicion.

  After a moment, with a brief look around the table, Trevelyan spoke once more. “I know this will come up as a topic of discussion again, but if we’re done for the moment, then might I suggest we bring this part of the meeting to an end?”

  With no objections, Trevelyan ended the meeting. People stood up from their chairs and started to talk amongst themselves. Amanda found herself standing alone in a room full of people, most of them talking about her but not talking to her.

  Feeling ill at ease, she backed away from the table a couple of steps and looked around, catching most of the people here stealing glances at her as they talked about her. She wanted to leave, but the huge distance from the table to the door at the edge of the room looked incredibly daunting and she didn’t like the feeling that they would all be watching her go.

  “Thinking of leaving so quickly?” said a voice right next to her.

  She turned towards the voice and came face to face with Forrest of the Magi Legion. Amanda gave him a look and wasn’t sure what to say.

  “Apologies, I think we got off on the wrong foot,” he said and offered his hand. “I’m Forrest, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Amanda looked at his hand for a moment, in two minds as to whether she should be polite to someone who had caused her problems from the first time she came to America. In the end, her better self won out and she shook his hand, doing her best to give him as firm a handshake as she could muster so she didn’t appear weak.

  “Hi,” Amanda said, her voice strictly business. It certainly wasn’t a pleasure to meet him.

  “I just want to apologise for the way some of my coven have acted towards you. I know some of them have been outright rude, and for that, I can only apologise. I will try to keep them in line in the future.”

  Amanda felt pleasantly surprised at his admission. She certainly hadn’t been expecting that from him. “Oh, okay, well, that’s kind of ye to say, but not needed, really. I can handle myself.”

  “Of course, you don’t need any help in that regard, I can see that.”

  “Speaking of help,” she said, feeling brave and indignant, “how come you didn’t do anything to help find the killers of the Coven of Angels in Los Angeles?”

  Forrest looked a little surprised by this line of questioning, but after a moment’s pause recovered quickly.

  “I would deny that we did nothing,” he said.

  “Well, I didn’t see you in L.A. when I was there sorting the mess out,” Amanda said, sensing weakness.

  Forrest cocked his head to one side but remained calm. “And that’s the problem. You see, there’s a proper procedure to these things, which we were in the midst of following when you charged in there without any thought as to what you were doing.”

  “While you were discussing what to do, people were dying.”

  “From what I hear, an entire L.A. coven that you used as bait and a whole team of highly-trained Initiated men and women from D.C. that went with you, died during your ill-conceived attack. Oh, no, sorry, one survived, my mistake.”

  Amanda felt her face flush as she thought of the people who’d died during that mission. She couldn’t deny it. “At least, we stopped them, which is more than your meetings would have done.”

  “You have no idea what our meetings would have accomplished. We could have coordinated an appropriate response remotely from Washington or Texas without putting more lives at risk by sending more targets into the city itself. But your rash actions meant that all of our planning was for nothing.”

  Amanda opened her mouth, wanting to reply with a clever argument, but found she no longer had an answer for Forrest. Her actions to take revenge on the Nomads who had killed the covens in Los Angles now felt foolish, and not the calm and measured response that they maybe should have been. At the time, it didn’t feel like she had rushed in, it didn’t feel like she’d made a mistake. Had she been wrong?

  “In response to your actions, I did lodge a formal complaint against you with the Council, expressing my grievances with you and your actions and how you needlessly put more lives on the line for some petty revenge.”

  Amanda felt the bottom fall out of her stomach as he spoke and she felt about one inch tall.

  “However, my earlier apology was sincere. I do want to build some bridges with you, so I will be withdrawing the complaint today as a show of forgiveness. I may disagree with your actions in California last year, but I can see they were done with the best of intentions and you clearly have enough on your plate at the moment with the Prophecy.”

  “Oh, okay. Thank you, I appreciate that,” she said, feeling confused but grateful.

  “My pleasure. You clearly are the subject of this Prophecy, and you will have to forgive me, I felt the need to play the part of devil’s advocate during the meeting so that the right que
stions were asked.”

  “Of course, I understand,” Amanda said as Forrest wished her good day and moved on around the table. Amanda watched him go, feeling more confused by their conversation than she thought possible. One moment, he’s arguing against her and accusing her of gross negligence and with putting the lives of others in danger, and then he’s forgiving her and saying he basically believes in her, despite what he’d said during the meeting mere moments ago.

  This wasn’t the first time she’d bumped heads. The first time they’d crossed paths had been in Victoria’s office when she had been asking for help with Lucian, something that Forrest and the Legion had successfully blocked, forcing her to take Lucian on alone. Ever since then, she’d felt that he and his coven shared a common dislike of her. The fact that a foreigner had effectively taken over New York for themselves, which was how they no doubt viewed it, seemed to annoy them.

  She hated the constant politics that seemed to stall the American Council and keep them from doing anything of substance. She did her best to stay out of it so that if something needed immediate action, she could just do it and avoid the plodding slowness of dealing with them.

  After this latest meeting, though, she just didn’t know what to think of him anymore. She knew that she couldn’t take him at his word, though. Pinning him down and putting a label on him was proving difficult. Was he a xenophobe who hated her, or was he a stickler for procedure and doing things the right way? Could he just be a devout politician who hated the violence of her actions, or maybe he was just playing devil’s advocate as he said to make others question their actions while secretly supporting them in private? The answer could be any, some, or none of those things and only time would tell.

  Still in something of a daze, Amanda walked around the table, making her way past the assembled Magi who talked in small groups, nodding to those who acknowledged her as she passed. She soon approached Trevelyan in his tunic, belted at the waist to look very much like the mystic wizard he was. He stood talking with the suave-looking Harry Fleming. Beside Harry, a young woman with a neutral but alert expression on her face glanced up at Amanda. She wore a fitted black catsuit adorned with belts, holsters, guns, and pouches, looking the epitome of a Special Forces agent, or maybe the Avengers’ Black Widow.

  “Amanda,” Trevelyan said, turning to address her as she approached. “Well done, you handled yourself very well.”

  “It doesn’t feel like we discussed much, really,” she said.

  “But of course, they merely wanted to see you for themselves to be sure of the truth of it all. The real discussions will happen behind closed doors in Council sessions.”

  “Ah, I see,” she said. With a brief pause for thought, she wondered what they all thought of her and what they would discuss. No doubt, if it became relevant to her, Trevelyan would be in touch. She looked up and smiled at Harry. “Lovely to see you again, Harry,” she said, offering her hand.

  “And you, Amanda. This is Rebecca,” he said, indicating the woman beside him.

  “Hi,” Amanda said.

  Rebecca nodded back but didn’t offer her hand.

  “Interesting situation you find yourself in,” Harry said.

  “You’re not kidding,” Amanda replied. “I didn’t ask for any of this and there are times when I feel like I’m drowning in it. So, I’m just going with the flow and keeping my head above water, if you know what I mean?”

  “Sure, something like this must be overwhelming, especially, when it’s launched upon you without your consent,” Harry said.

  “You’re not wrong,” Amanda smiled back.

  “You met Shaitan recently, did you not?” Trevelyan asked out of nowhere.

  Amanda turned to look at him, a little surprised by the shift in conversation. “Um, yes, I did.”

  “Harry here is hunting for the Libre Nox Noctis, the rather well-known book that Shaitan wrote.”

  “You met Shaitan?” Harry asked.

  “That’s right, in Los Angeles. He was terrorising some of the covens there and I went in to sort it out.”

  “And rightly so, too. You did the right thing there,” Trevelyan commented.

  Amanda glanced at Trevelyan, noting his support of her actions in L.A. which ran contrary to Forrest’s opinion. Had he overheard their conversation and want to show his support?

  “And did you manage it?” Harry asked.

  “I did. It wasn’t without loss of life, but Shaitan won’t be causing any more issues in that city for the foreseeable.”

  “Then that’s a success, well done.”

  “Agreed,” Trevelyan said, smiling at them.

  The doubt that Forrest had planted in her mind was swept away by Harry and Trevelyan’s supportive comments, and Amanda started to feel much better about herself again.

  “Do you know where he went?” Harry asked.

  “Not for certain, but the Magus, Nefertiti took him and said she would watch over him, so maybe Egypt?”

  “Thank you, that’s helpful,” Harry said and nodded to Rebecca. “If you don’t mind, we have a few matters to attend to. Good day to you both,” Harry said and gave each of their hands a brief shake before walking off with Rebecca, who gave them a curt nod as she departed.

  “Here, let me walk you out,” Trevelyan said and led her down the steps and off the raised dais to the floor of the Council chamber.

  “Thank you, Trevelyan, you have been a great support to me,” Amanda said.

  “My pleasure and don’t let the words of a few people cause you to get downhearted, you have only ever tried to do what’s right, anyone can see that.”

  Amanda smiled back at him. “I guess these markers, like this tattoo, only serve to confirm your belief that I’m the subject of the Prophecy.”

  “You are correct,” he said.

  “I don’t have all the markers though, do I?”

  “No, that’s true, you don’t… yet.”

  Amanda smiled.

  - Near Amarillo, Texas.

  “It’s all goddamned bullshit if you ask me. Someone’s having us all for fools, I’m sure of it. Chosen One, my ass!”

  “So, you don’t believe it?” Saxon asked.

  Forrest looked up at Saxon, his right-hand man and his second in command of his coven. “You’re damned right, I don’t.”

  “But you followed the plan and removed the complaint?”

  Forrest sat back in his chair, a feeling of defeat filling him. “Yeah, I did. Now, all we gotta do is wait and see how it plays out.”

  Absence

  New York

  “Where were you?” Amanda asked as she filled the kettle with water from the tap. It was a mundane thing, sure. She could just conjure up some drinks if she wanted, but sometimes the process of making coffee was therapeutic. She didn’t look at Maria as she talked, preferring to look out of the window and into the garden beyond.

  “I was away in my Null Realm. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you needed me. You know I can’t be with you all the time,” Maria said from behind her.

  “I know that, but I tried contacting you to say that some support would be grand,” Amanda said.

  “And sometimes I won’t get those messages if I’m in Fornix. Again, I apologise. But you seem okay to me.”

  Amanda nodded. Maria had mentioned her Null Realm, Fornix to her a few times. She’d never visited but hoped to go there someday soon. “I am, everything went smoothly, from what I can tell.”

  “Then, what’s the problem?” Maria asked.

  “Sorry, I know I’m being selfish. I just need you there from time to time, so I do.”

  “And so do my other lovers, Amanda, you know this. I can’t spend all my time with you.”

  Amanda nodded. She’d known from the start that Maria had other lovers. An open relationship had been a condition of them getting together. Today was the first time that this arrangement bothered her.

  After all, Maria had already been away a couple of times during their s
hort relationship and had been quite open about where she’d been and what she’d been doing. But today felt a little different. Maybe because the Council meeting felt like such a huge thing. Maria had served on the Council before and knew how these things went. Having her there would have helped to calm her nerves, given her someone to speak to and ask questions of if she needed.

  But Maria had been gone, and the last-minute nature of the meeting meant that she’d had no idea.

  “Was it anyone I know?” Amanda asked.

  “That’s not important, and why ask that? You’ve never asked before.”

  “I don’t know, it doesn’t make any difference, I suppose.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  Amanda heard Maria approach her. She let her come, still facing away from her. Maria pressed into her back and wrapped her arms around her. Maria’s touch felt good, she enjoyed the warmth of her body next to hers.

  “It sounds like it was an important and difficult meeting, I am sorry that I missed it.”

  Amanda turned to face Maria and smiled. “That’s okay. The meeting was fine. There were a few tough moments, but everything went well, really.”

  “That’s good. I’m proud of you, Mandy. We all believe in you, you know. I’m just wondering when you’ll start believing in yourself.”

  “I don’t know, I really don’t.”

  “Well, I believe in you, Gentle Water does, so does Trevelyan and Liz. We all do.”

  “Then you also know that things can change and what might be true today might not be true tomorrow. We’re dealing with a very fluid concept here.”

  “True, but I know for a fact that we’ll all be there for you, no matter what happens.”

  Amanda hugged Maria tight. She loved her, of that she was sure, but she had yet to take advantage of their open relationship, and it did occur to her that maybe that was the issue. Maybe she was feeling a little left out. When Maria went off to be with one of her other lovers, it left her feeling somewhat unfulfilled and alone.

  Maybe if she had someone else she could turn to, then perhaps the next time Maria went to see someone else, Amanda could do the same.