Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

She smiled down at him and ran her fingers through his soft fur. “I shall call you Samhain, and this place shall be Inisfail.”

  The Artifact

  1204 AD

  “He’s visited you a few times now?” Amanda asked, a little incredulously.

  Maya sat opposite her in the lobby of her Null Realm. They sat before a fire that was set into the wall on the right of the doorway leading to Inisfail, relaxing in the two soft chairs that Amanda had created in here. Samhain lay before the fire, his eyes closed, enjoying the heat.

  “That’s right. I think he likes me. Maybe that’s why he didn’t kill me when he had the chance,” Maya speculated.

  “Maybe,” Amanda said as visions of that day twenty-seven years ago flashed through her head. The sight of seeing Horlack standing over her daughter, freshly transformed into a Vampire was not something she was going to easily forget. But to hear that he was now visiting Maya, turning up unexpectedly where she lived in Paris, was disconcerting to say the least. He was dangerous. “After that first time, the Legacy showed me to his hideout in Russia, but he wasn’t there. They’ve been tracking him ever since and I recently had a report that they had caught up with him in Constantinople with the Crusaders.”

  “That would suit his bloodlust,” Maya said. “So, you’ve not been over to confront him yet?”

  “Not yet, but I didn’t know this was going to be a regular thing, God love ya. You should have told me.”

  “I can deal with it. He’s not hurting me, and besides, I’m a Scion like him now. I can handle myself.”

  Amanda nodded, looking at her daughter’s flawless pale skin and blood-red lips. She was cold to the touch these days, and although she was as friendly as ever, she was also quite different now. She’d been much more distant at first, choosing to keep away from Amanda. She understood that her daughter had been going through some pretty big changes as she came to terms with what she’d become, so Amanda made sure to give her some space.

  Over time, Maya had opened up and they were growing closer again, but it had taken years for that to happen. It was also probably why Maya had not told her about Horlack’s visits.

  Part of her wished that Maya had stayed with her, but she’d needed space and had moved to Paris. Amanda felt like she couldn’t really stand in the way of that, given that Maya was plenty old enough to make her own way in the world and more than capable of dealing with most situations that might arise. But had Maya remained with her, or if she had visited Maya more, maybe she would have caught these visits earlier.

  Well, there was no point in dwelling on it now, she thought. Instead, she focused her mind on what she wanted to do moving forward.

  “I know you can look after yourself,” Amanda agreed.

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know, but I think I want to find Horlack and at least make my displeasure known to him.”

  “Are you going to kill him?”

  Amanda pressed her lips together into a thin smile. “Can’t. He’s alive in the future. In fact, he plays a rather pivotal part in my early life, so I need to be careful.”

  “Your life is a complicated one, Mother,” Maya commented.

  “I know,” Amanda smiled, thinking back to when Horlack had confronted her in the alleyway in New York and forced her Epiphany. She also remembered Gentle Water taking her to the tomb in Egypt. In fact, that was rather a strange thing to do, really, looking back—or forward, she supposed—at it. Now that she had travelled in time, and felt fairly sure that Gentle Water was aware of her time jumping, she saw it in a new light. Had there been a greater motive behind him showing her that tomb, and the inscription that had been on the wall of Horlack’s burial chamber? Did she need to know these things because she was actually the architect behind Horlack’s imprisonment?

  The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. Gentle Water must have known her as an older Magus. So, if he, and Royston too probably, knew about her true history and if she had been the one to imprison Horlack, then she would need to know where to do it and how. Amanda shook her head. It was just one more mind-bending result of this whole time travel thing, but it also made Amanda think that maybe she should actually be in the Middle East, watching Horlack and being ready to bury him in that tomb.

  “What are you thinking?” Maya asked.

  “I think I need to travel to Constantinople,” Amanda said.

  “Ah, well, don’t let me stand in your way,” Maya said, rising from her seat. Sam stirred on the floor and looked up before settling back down. Amanda got up also and walked towards the welcome mat.

  “Thank you for coming to see me,” Amanda said, embracing Maya in a hug. “Don’t wait too long before visiting again.”

  “I won’t,” Maya answered with a smile and stepped onto the mat. Magic flared, and she was gone.

  The last reports by the Legacy placed Horlack in Constantinople, and with the siege that was happening there, it would be the perfect playground for someone with Horlack’s bloodlust, but that was over a week ago. Amanda concentrated and reached out with her mind and moved the exit of her Null Realm from Paris to Constantinople. She placed the exit on a rooftop and stepped onto the welcome mat. There was a flash behind her eyelids, and she was in Constantinople.

  The city was bleeding.

  Smoke filled the air, rising from countless fires. She could see boats, many of them also aflame in the Golden Horn, while shouts and screams filled the air all around her.

  It was chaos. There were also a couple of bodies nearby on the roof, their spilt blood drying in the April sun. Amanda wrinkled her nose at the putrid smells that wafted past her as she walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down into the street. A group of screaming women were running up the road being chased by a small group of knights. Amanda reached out with her mind and knocked the knights unconscious. As they dropped to the ground the ladies ran away. Amanda smiled and looked up another street to see a fight between some Crusaders and the local guardsmen. The city militia, maybe? She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t want to get sidetracked. She needed to find Horlack and see what he was doing. Using her Aetheric Sight, she scanned the city skyline. Essentia swirled and rushing about as people moved. There were lots of concentrations of Magic scattered all over the city, many of them moving. There would be Magi and Scions and more all around her. She needed to be circumspect about this. She didn’t want to end up in a fight with any Nomads or Scions today, other than maybe Horlack, depending on how that went. But it was inevitable that she would run into other Magi at some point.

  Looking around, she knew that the easiest way to scan the city would be to either float up and observe the city from above, or Port from rooftop to rooftop, but that kind of reckless use of Magic might draw unwanted attention from the supernatural community.

  She could even make herself invisible, but she’d still be using Magic, and even though they might not see her, they would likely be able to spot the presence of Magic in the area and guess someone was trying to hide.

  A less conspicuous way would be to pull her magic in, suppress it, and appear as much like a regular human as possible. She’d probably need to deal with attention from some Riven, but at least she could remain under the radar. She could also use some subtle Misdirection Magic to keep from being noticed too much.

  Moving around the edge of the building, she soon found a quiet street. With a quick check around, she jumped from the roof, her skirts flapping behind her as she dropped to the ground, landing easily.

  Setting off, Amanda pulled her Magic in, suppressing it, and making herself less obvious to anyone Magical.

  As she did so, she weaved into it a subtle Misdirection effect, making herself seem less important and an unlikely target to anyone who looked at her. It wouldn’t stop people from seeing her, and those of a stronger mindset, Magi and Scions especially, would be almost entirely unaffected by it.

  But it would do for now, and she set off throu
gh the city, keeping a watch for Magical effects.

  Moving to one of the main streets, she started along it, only to see a group of three Crusaders step out into the street up ahead, talking loudly. Amanda paused for a moment, feeling a little wary given that her defences were reduced, but she steeled herself and kept going, keeping to the opposite side of the street.

  Sure enough, even though the men did glance over, their gazes seemed to slip off of her like water, and they walked past without taking much notice. Feeling a little more confident, she walked on through the city, letting her instincts guide her.

  It wasn’t long before she approached one of the nearest concentrations of Essentia, and made her way cautiously towards it. Reaching the end of a side street, she peered around to see a man directing Crusaders a little way up the road. He glowed with Essentia but seemed human, meaning he was probably a Magus. She backed away, and made off in another direction. She got the feeling that she would be doing a lot of sneaking around before she actually found Horlack.

  Of course, he wasn’t forced to be here, but the fighting and death happening in the city would certainly draw someone like Horlack in, so she felt reasonably confident that she’d find him eventually.

  What she did find a lot of though, were people looting, destroying, and generally doing whatever the hell they wanted. She saw death and pain on a scale she had never really experienced before, as down nearly every street someone was being attacked, killed, tortured, or raped. Amanda did her best to help those in need when she could with minor workings of Magic. It was careful and risky work, and whenever she was close to another Magus or Scion, she refrained and moved on. She couldn’t save everyone. It was pointless even trying, and if she weren’t careful, she’d draw too much attention, and that would not be good.

  All around her, people were either smashing up relics and works of art or stealing them to sell off later. She even saw troops stealing a statue of four rearing horses from the Hippodrome.

  Their shamelessness was staggering.

  Amanda approached several more concentrations of Essentia, but so far, she hadn’t found Horlack. Instead, she had a few near misses with Magi, Nomads, and Scions of all kinds.

  Sensing a knot of Essentia coming from inside a nearby building, a church or other religious place by the looks of it, Amanda walked inside, skulking through the shadows and climbing over rubble. There were plenty of bodies as well, making her wonder what kind of massacre had happened within these walls. She lifted her skirts and picked her way over the corpses, being careful to avoid stepping in anything too unsavoury as she entered the main chamber.

  It was a large, open area with broken benches and other bits of now-unrecognisable debris scattered over the floor. She noticed that the altar area had also been heavily looted with anything of value missing entirely, while the less valuable items had been smashed into oblivion. Reaching out again, she could sense a concentration of Essentia ahead of her and below. Were there catacombs under here? she wondered. If so, it would be a perfect place for Horlack to operate from. Although, Amanda figured Horlack wouldn’t be as bothered as she was about walking the streets in the midst of such chaos.

  Looking around, she spotted a doorway with stairs descending into the darkness beyond. As she approached, a light grew from within the gloom and a man appeared carrying a torch. He sprinted up the last few steps and out into the room that Amanda was in. He was followed immediately by two Crusaders, one of whom carried a bow with a nocked arrow. As soon as he had a clear shot, the Crusader stopped, drew his bow, and loosed the arrow.

  The arrow slammed into his back, sending the man staggering to his knees just in front of Amanda. He gasped and looked up at her, his eyes wide with fear.

  “Here…” he gasped and held up something wrapped in a dirty rag. “Don’t let them take it.”

  Amanda looked up to see a third man reach the top of the stairs and walk up behind the two Crusaders, and she immediately saw the concentration of Magic around him. He was a Magus, but there was other Magic here too, much closer to her, but it was difficult to get a clear lock on it.

  “Take it, please,” the injured man pleaded, offering her the item he was carrying.

  Amanda reached for it.

  “Don’t touch that, it is the property of the Pope,” the Magus called out.

  Glancing up, Amanda raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by the Magi’s protestations. She grabbed the proffered item much to the relief of the man at her feet. The second it was in her hands she knew it was Magical and knew this was the source of the second Magical signature, although it clearly had an excellent Misdirection effect woven into it.

  Pulling the rag aside for a moment, she looked at the sandstone tablet and stiffened as she recognised it. “Shite.”

  She’d never actually seen it first-hand before, but she’d seen it in both photos and in Liz’s mind when her apprentice had shared the details with her.

  This was the stone tablet that contained the golden book. The same golden book that had gotten Liz’s family and friends killed around the same time that Amanda had become a Magus.

  “Feck me,” Amanda cursed to herself. This was clearly meant to be, not least because she knew this tablet had been found in the same tomb that Horlack was released from. Gentle Water had been quite insistent that she know this when they’d visited Horlack’s tomb.

  “Don’t… let them… take it…” the man said with his last breath before he collapsed to the stone floor.

  “My lady, on the authority of Sir Marcus of Rome, and of the Pope, I ask that you hand over that Artifact,” the Magus intoned, a note of warning in his voice.

  Amanda looked up and saw the Essentia the Magus was pulling into himself as he bolstered his Aegis and held his hand out. Beside him, the two Crusaders drew their swords, which also glowed with Magical energy. They moved a step closer, threatening her.

  “I won’t ask you again,” the Magus said.

  1302AD – Paris

  “Israel, it’s been too long,” Cyrac said and embraced him as Amanda watched.

  “Cyrac, thank you for coming to visit,” Israel replied. “And you must be Luxana Nix,” he said to the platinum blonde standing beside Cyrac, taking her hand in greeting and kissing it.

  “Call me Lux,” she suggested. “Cyrac has told me so much about you.”

  “Nothing bad, I hope,” Israel said with a smile. “May I introduce Amanda?”

  Amanda stepped forward and greeted each of the two visiting Magi warmly. Israel had invited her to stay at the Legacy House, saying he had some visitors coming who he thought she would be interested in meeting, but he’d not said much more than that, leaving the reason somewhat vague.

  “Lovely to meet you,” Amanda said. “Israel was quite insistent that I stay during your visit, but he’s been rather vague as to why.” She glanced at Israel briefly.

  “Ah, was he?” Cyrac asked. “Well, I think I can help with that. If you’d allow me, I can take us all up to show you the reason.”

  Amanda glanced back at Israel, who nodded and smiled at her.

  “Of course,” he said.

  “Sure,” Amanda agreed.

  “Here we go, then,” Cyrac said and worked his Magic, Porting them all in one go.

  Suddenly, Amanda found herself standing on what she could only describe as a very futuristic-looking starship stationed a few thousand miles above Earth. They were standing on a balcony, with no discernible barrier between them and the vacuum of deep space.

  Amanda’s jaw dropped as she took in the spectacular view of the almost-glowing blue orb below her.

  “I told you, you’d be interested in meeting them,” Israel said.

  “No shite,” Amanda muttered as she took in the sweeping vista below.

  Final Fight

  1204 AD

  “Come and get it,” Amanda challenged them as she dropped the Misdirection effect and stopped suppressing her Magical signature. Instead, she boosted her defences. Her
Aegis snapped into place as she watched the three men.

  The Magus spotted the Essentia rushing into her and took a hesitant step back before he smiled and rallied himself.

  “Get her,” he said to the pair of knights.

  Both men rushed in, brandishing their swords. The first one swung his blade, which Amanda dodged easily before slapping away the second, hitting the flat of the blade before spinning and kicking the second knight. Her foot caught the man in the face. The tremendous force of it dropped him to the floor with a mouthful of blood that he spat onto the ground.

  Turning, she dodged the first knight’s blade again, causing a look of confusion to cross the man’s face before she lashed out with the heel of her hand. Her enhanced strength made short work of the man’s nose, crushing it like a grape. Blood splattered over her hand. Dazed, the man staggered but didn’t fall until Amanda delivered a kick to his sternum.

  As he dropped to the floor, with what looked to Amanda like a few broken ribs, an Essentia blast of considerable strength crashed into her Aegis, knocking her off balance. Amanda hit the floor but went with the momentum, rolling up and out of it and into a crouch.

  With another flare of Essentia, a huge block of stone rushed out from a nearby wall towards her. Having expected a follow-up she’d already split her mind using the Multitasking effect.

  Amanda sent a wave of Essentia at the block, pulverising it before it could hit her. Simultaneously, she unleashed several blasts of Essentia at the Magus.

  Rising to her feet, Amanda stalked forward as she conjured glowing bolts of Essentia, visible in her Magical sight, which flared into life and smashed against the bubble of energy surrounding the Magus.

  She could see him forcing Essentia into his Aegis, doing his best to fix the damage that her flurry of attacks were doing to it.

  With another working by one of her unoccupied minds, she took a section of the stone ceiling above and brought it down on top of him. The block smashed into his Aegis as her Essentia strikes continued, landing blast after blast on the Magus. As she watched, his Aegis cracked and faltered.