“You know it was the right plan, though,” she said. Eric squeezed her hand in his before he finally let go.
“I suppose so.”
She was a little nervous, she couldn’t deny that. A few Magi had crossed her path over the years, but unless they could teach her something, like Eric, she usually kept her distance. The Weaver’s warning still rang in her head, and she didn’t want to cause it any trouble.
Joining Eric on this mission was a risk, but she felt like he might need her help on this one. Subtlety was key though, she didn’t want him suspecting her true rank. She needed to tread a fine line, using just enough of her Magic to help him and stop him from getting himself killed while also not arousing his suspicions.
These were a pair of Nomads who had already shown themselves to be dangerous and sadistic. There was a good chance Eric was getting himself in over his head. However, she knew from previous experience, there was usually little chance of her convincing him to stay away.
“Which way?” Eric mused to himself. Amanda looked up. Did he not feel the sense of dread that she did? On instinct alone, she pointed off into the woods.
“That way.”
“I think you’re right,” he muttered to himself.
The woods were thicker here and the trees were starting to look unhealthy. Amanda followed Eric’s lead, keeping just a few feet behind him.
She desperately wanted to strike out in front and go find these Nomads, but she had to remember who she was meant to be and play that role for all it was worth. She doubted he would take kindly to discovering that she’d been deceiving him this whole time.
“I think we’re on the right track.” Eric pointed into the trees, which now looked dead. They carried no leaves on them, and in some cases, were oozing black and green slime from rips in their bark.
“I think so,” Amanda agreed. In her head, she’d said something far more sarcastic.
As they advanced, Amanda spotted something up ahead that did not look like a tree. As they neared it, Amanda’s enhanced vision resolved what she was looking at. After getting a little closer, Eric spotted it, too, and hesitated.
Attached to a large stake rammed into the ground was a man. He was naked and dirty, covered in mud and other detritus. He was hung from the post by huge metal spikes that had been rammed through his arms and legs. The blood covering his body was dry and cracked, and the wounds looked putrid.
He was dead, but Amanda felt confident that he’d been alive when the effigy had been erected.
“Avert your eyes,” Eric said. “This is not for those of a sensitive disposition.”
She wanted to slap him, but she did as he asked and followed his lead past the grotesque display.
As they moved through the woods, the carcasses of dead animals rotting in the mud littered the landscape, until the dark shapes of a cluster of buildings came into view. Amanda could make out a central house with a few outbuildings surrounding it. The whole place looked derelict, like it had been left here to rot years ago. But there was some dim light in the windows, a flickering orange glow that was coming from within.
Eric took an audible breath, and she could hear his increased heart rate. He was a little scared, it seemed.
There was Magic in that house and it was surrounded by an Aegis, as any good Magi home should be. The Shield didn’t seem too strong though, judging from the amount of Essentia running through it. She couldn’t see beyond the barrier with her Aetheric Sight, however, so there was no telling how many Magi there were inside.
She could feel Eric pulling Essentia into him, storing the Magical energy within his body ready to use it.
“What’s the plan?” Amanda asked.
“We take down that Aegis as quick as we can and storm in there, taking them by surprise,” he said. “You take the back door, I’ll take the front.”
Amanda made a quick, subtle working of Magic and placed her senses on the other side of the house. Sure enough, she could see a rear door to the building.
“I can do that. Don’t rush in without me, though,” Amanda said.
Eric smiled at her, but it was a patronising smile. One that said he thought it was cute that she was offering him advice. Amanda didn’t react, internalising her annoyance. She wondered if she’d get to show him her true abilities one day.
“I should be saying that to you,” he said.
Amanda offered a thin smile back. “I’ll move around to the other side.”
“Alright, I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
Moving through the woods in her skirts was not the easiest of things to do, but she made it around the building, taking a wide arc, and stopped when she had a good view of the back door.
~I’m ready,~ she sent through the Link with Eric, noting she was much further away from the house than Eric was at the front.
~Here we go, then,~ Eric answered, and she felt the rush of energy from him on the other side of the Aegis. Amanda did the same but kept the strength of her Essentia strikes low, at a level that wouldn’t arouse Eric’s suspicions. She’d need to run over to the house after breaking down the Aegis to try and enter at the same time as him. She could Port there, of course, but that would betray her true Magi rank.
Their Essentia strikes built over the next few seconds, hammering away at the Aegis, and within moments, cracks appeared, and then the whole thing collapsed as the pressure from outside became too great for it to deal with.
The dome of Magical energy exploded and scattered to the four winds, and she immediately spotted Magical signatures within the house.
Essentia flared over where Eric was, and again inside the house as Amanda started to sprint. Feck, she cursed to herself. Eric had Ported inside. Cursing him for his stupidity and hot-headedness, she stuck with the plan and ran as hard as she could.
They were fighting in there, judging by the flurry of Essentia rushing through the interior of the building.
It only took her a few seconds to reach the house, sprinting over the muddy ground. She readied a small Kinetic strike and released it at the door as she kicked it with her foot. It slammed open, and Amanda stepped inside.
It was chaos and carnage. Eric was laid out on the floor, his body ripped open and blood everywhere while a man in leathers and fur stood over him, his back to Amanda. He lifted up a dark-haired girl with one hand and threw her across the room.
“That’s the last time you fail me, apprentice,” he yelled, spitting out that last word with pure hatred dripping from his words. He called Essentia to his hand before noticing Amanda standing in the doorway.
He turned to face her, rage etched over his face and his eyes wide with fury. She recognised him, it was Raynaud.
“Oooh, and an apprentice to go with the mentor,” Raynaud said, before glancing over at the girl he’d thrown across the room. “Looks like you get to live for a few more seconds.”
Amanda sighed, not too concerned about the Nomad and his threats. Instead, she felt sorry for Eric. He’d rushed in, and clearly, Raynaud had been ready for him. Well, she thought to herself, no need to hold back any longer.
She flooded her Aegis with Essentia, bolstering her defences as she worked her Multitasking effect, splitting her mind into several fragments, each of them capable of working Magic simultaneously.
Eric frowned at her, clearly detecting the sudden strong flow of Essentia she was pulling into herself.
“You have some skill, I see,” Raynaud said.
Amanda tilted her head to one side. He’d probably picked up the change of demeanour and in how she held herself, too. She let the slightly nervous, less confident mask slip away as she straightened up a bit. “You have no idea,” she said confidently, conjuring an Aegis around the building that snapped into place.
Raynaud moved, and Essentia flared from him, but Amanda let fly with Magic of her own. He wasn’t a weak Magus by any stretch, but she was much more powerful than he was. She lashed out, slamming his body sideways into the wall, sending cracks through
his personal Aegis.
“What?” he said, shock on his face.
Amanda let loose. Strike after strike of Essentia flew at him. The Magical energy smashed into his Aegis with unrestrained power while lightning bolts flashed from her hands, hitting him with deafening thunder. Two seconds later, his Aegis collapsed, and he was vulnerable.
Amanda quickly reached out to tear his body apart, but Raynaud threw his Essentia back at her, doing his best to dissipate her effects, stopping them entirely or diverting them. Amanda pressed on, throwing more lightning bolts at him that lit him up and burnt huge holes in his clothing, making his skin boil and blacken where they hit. She threw a few Kinetic blasts at him, and one of them slipped past his defences, sending him sprawling. He hit his head on the floor and seemed to be fighting to stay conscious, leaving him open to attack.
With a single thought, Amanda lashed out with more Magic, and Raynaud’s body tore itself apart, dropping to the floor in several pieces. She eyed the mess for a few seconds to make sure the Nomad had nothing sinister prepared as a backup plan, but nothing happened.
Turning back to the body of her current teacher, Amanda walked over and crouched down beside him, placing a hand on his body. She reached out with her senses, but his Anima was gone, ripped from his body by the Nomad’s Magic. There was no bringing him back without it being obvious that he’d died before, and Amanda wasn’t about to start using Necromancy now.
“Sorry you had to die like this,” she whispered. He might have been a bit of a misogynistic idiot, but Eric had never meant any harm. He was a product of his time, and she didn’t blame him for that.
A grunt sounded from the other side of the room, followed by shuffling sounds of movement. She looked over. It was Raynaud’s apprentice, who he’d thrown across the room. Apparently, according to Eric anyway, he went through quite a number of them, often killing them for not fulfilling their duties.
He would have likely killed this one, too, had she not killed him.
Standing, Amanda walked over and crouched beside the girl. Amanda turned her over to get a better look at her and brushed the raven hair from the young woman’s face.
Amanda fell backwards in shock, losing her balance entirely and falling to the floor on her bum as she looked at the unconscious woman’s face.
It was Yasmin.
1132 AD – France
The door to Jaques’ house closed with a bang. Looking over, with a mixture of anger and relief, he saw Yasmin standing in the doorway. She’d been out in the dark for what felt like hours. He had no idea when she’d left or where she’d gone, but he and his wife had been worried sick. He was furious that she hadn’t asked permission. Unable to contain his emotions, Jaques stomped over.
“Where the hell were you? What do you think you were doing, going out at night on your own?” he raged, grabbing her arm and shaking her violently as he yelled in her face. “Well?” he asked and slapped her.
She looked up at him, a cold hatred in her eyes as her cheek burned red.
“Don’t you dare look at me like that, young lady,” he said to his thirteen-year-old daughter and went to slap her again.
Yasmin caught her father’s arm before his hand reached her.
Something flashed in the lower part of his vision and a cold shooting pain lanced through his abdomen. Looking down, his daughter’s other hand held something against his stomach.
Blood spilt from his body before she withdrew a six-inch-long blade from him.
“What have you…” he tried to say, but it came out as a croak. He looked up into his daughter’s eyes and saw an evil smile spread across her face. She was enjoying this.
She moved again and stabbed him several more times in his chest and belly before he fell to the floor at her feet.
He looked up to see her smiling down at him with madness in her eyes, before she giggled and stepped over him.
His wife screamed while Yasmin laughed.
The Truth
1142 AD
Amanda panicked. Scrambling backwards, a shiver ran through her body as she looked upon Yasmin’s serene face.
For a moment, images and memories of Yasmin flooded Amanda’s mind.
For a while, Amanda sat on the floor, staring at her. She forced herself to take control of her ragged breathing and slow her heart rate. For a moment, it had felt like it was about to burst from her chest.
This woman had been a curious but dangerous enigma in her life. But this wasn’t the Yasmin Amanda had known back in the modern-day, she realised. This was a younger Yasmin. Nearly a thousand years younger, and she’d nearly been killed by Raynaud, who was not a powerful Magus.
As the reality of the situation dawned on her, her breathing slowed, and her confidence started to return. Amanda sat up and looked around. Eric and Raynaud were dead, and she had effectively saved Yasmin’s life.
Something about this moment seemed like it had been destined to happen. She could almost feel the weight of history—past and future—on her shoulders.
Amanda approached Yasmin, held her hand out, and started to pull on the threads of Essentia as she thought it through. She could see the damage that Raynaud had done to her. She’d live, but Amanda couldn’t just leave her here.
This was important, this would be a defining moment for her future, she felt sure of it. Imposing her will over the threads of Essentia, Amanda healed Yasmin’s wounds and brought her back to full health before she stood up and stepped back. Yasmin lay unconscious still, so Amanda reached out with her mind once more and gave her a subtle mental nudge and watched as the young Nomad stirred and moaned. Yasmin thrashed about for a second before her panic-filled eyes shot open.
She spotted Amanda standing nearby and narrowed her eyes at her. Her confidence growing, Yasmin scanned the room, taking note of the two bodies close by. Yasmin went to stand up, her eyes back on Amanda.
Amanda raised a finger in warning. “Whoa, slow down there. Let’s not make any hasty movements, shall we?”
Yasmin froze, sat back down and looked up at Amanda. Clearly on her guard, Yasmin looked like she wanted to summon her Magic and lash out. But Amanda guessed that Yasmin would be able to see the Magic coursing through her. She’d know that she wasn’t dealing with some nervous apprentice.
Amanda smiled. “You have no idea who I am, do you?”
“No… Should I?”
“Not yet, Yasmin.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know lots about you.”
“What?” Confusion filled her reply. She glanced over at the body of her mentor. “Um, did you kill Raynaud?”
“Yeah, I kind of had to.”
Yasmin chuckled to herself.
“He was going to kill you,” Amanda explained.
“Yes, he was… Until you stopped him.”
Amanda smiled to herself again and nearly laughed out loud. This really was utterly bizarre, but now that she thought about it, it started to make some kind of sense. Thinking back to those early years as a Magus and Yasmin’s actions towards her, maybe there had been a good reason behind it.
Yasmin had saved her from Angel on the train, she’d stopped Lucian from attacking her, and helped her on several other occasions as well. She’d been something of a dark guardian angel for her. And yet, Amanda got the feeling that Yasmin didn’t do those things out of any kind of affection for her. She did them out of her own self-interest, although the reason for that self-interest had eluded Amanda. Until now.
Looking down at this younger apprentice Nomad it was all crystal clear to her.
She had just saved Yasmin’s life. If Amanda hadn’t been here, Yasmin would be dead.
Yasmin’s life depended on Amanda’s younger-self surviving until she went back in time. But there was more to it than that. Yasmin had been an integral part of her early life as a Magus and had made an impression on her. She’d also saved Amanda’s life on a few occasions, which meant that Yasmin needed to live through to the mod
ern-day as well.
“Shite,” Amanda cursed and shook her head. She paced for a moment, wondering if she needed to tell Yasmin the truth. Looking down at the young woman who appeared more vulnerable than Amanda had ever seen her, she knew she had to tell her something. Yasmin had to know the truth.
“I have something to tell you,” Amanda began, having made up her mind. “It’s going to sound crazy, insane almost, and yet, it’s true and vital to your own survival.”
Yasmin looked up at her, but said nothing, waiting to see what Amanda said next.
“Okay, I’d better just come out and say it, then, I suppose. So, my name’s Amanda. Amanda-Jane Page to be precise, and I’m from the future. A little over a thousand years into the future, and one day you will meet my younger-self. It is imperative if you want to live beyond today that my younger-self does not die before I travel back in time. Otherwise, I can’t save you here, today, from your mentor.”
Yasmin’s eyebrows had risen slowly as Amanda had spoken. Her disbelief was clear to see as Amanda finished. “Really? And you expect me to believe that, do you?”
“I do. If you want to live.”
“So, I can’t kill you?”
“You can’t kill my younger-self.”
“What about you?”
“I’d like to see you try, but, well, now that you mention it, I don’t know. But I suppose that my death might also cause you problems.”
“And what stops you from killing me? You’re obviously an Arcadian with that smug attitude of yours.”
“I am an Arcadian, that is true, but you’re right, I would prefer it if you lived through to my time as well.”
“A thousand years from now?”
“That’s right.”
Yasmin laughed. “Sure, whatever.”
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
Yasmin started to stand up. “Would you if you were in my position? I don’t know what crazy Arcadian plot this is, but if it means I get to walk away from here today, that’s fine by me.”
“This is important,” Amanda said, feeling annoyed and frustrated by Yasmin’s disbelief. She agreed that it sounded far-fetched, but she really did need to hammer this home to Yasmin.
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