by Logan Jacobs
“Not just good,” Bunda interjected. “A gunslinger had to be fast on the draw and have excellent aim. The best gunslingers were idolized for their skill.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not a gunslinger,” I remarked as I thought about the bullet that had hit high of its mark.
Sorcha returned with a cup of tea and took the last remaining chair, and we all sipped at our beverages for a moment as we tried to think of what else to say.
I had so many questions, and I couldn’t decide which one to ask first.
Then there was also the issue of whether I could trust their answers.
“So, when does Garth get here?” I asked, because all of the other questions seemed too complicated and would probably take too long to sort out.
Arthur glanced at Sorcha, but Bunda appeared unfazed.
“It should be soon,” Arthur replied. “The last message we sent finally managed to reach him at his retreat. Hopefully, it won’t take him long to recharge once he arrives. I mean, he’s been on this retreat for almost a month now.”
I nodded as if everything Arthur had just said made sense.
“Garth is one of the best portal mages,” Sorcha explained. “He’s one of the few who’s powerful enough to open a portal between the two coasts, but it’s draining every time he does it. And he prefers not to open a portal right in the city because it’s too easy for the local Magesterium to track.”
“If we’d found you right away, he might have risked it,” Bunda added, “but for us to sit here for all those hours with the remnants of the portal spell while Sorcha tried to find you was too great a risk. We probably would have had a visit from the local authorities before we found you.”
I picked apart the responses these people had given me, then sat up straighter in my chair.
“Wait, you’re sending me somewhere out west?” I asked.
“We have a camp on an island in the northwest,” Arthur replied. “You’ll be safe from the Magesterium there, and you’ll be able to develop your powers.”
“And why should I trust you any more than I trust them?” I pressed. “I mean, you’re all mages, too, right? It’s not like my power would be welcome on an island full of them.”
“We are mages,” Arthur agreed, “but we’re so much more than that. Our group includes non-mages as well.”
“And what is your group?” I demanded.
That question was met by a long silence.
“What do you know about the Magesterium?” Arthur finally asked.
“They control the mages who control everything else,” I said with a shrug.
“A fair description,” Arthur acknowledged, “but one that doesn’t quite capture just how absolute their control over the mage population is. For example, they have seers whose sole job is to identify every new mage at birth and what their magic will be. Any child born with a magic the Magesterium fears is destroyed.”
“Quite frankly, it’s a miracle you’re alive,” Bunda added. “I have no idea how the seers could have missed your birth.”
“They didn’t,” I replied, then mentally kicked myself for admitting this out loud.
“What do you mean?” Arthur asked in a puzzled tone.
“A seer showed up at the house on the night I was born,” I explained after several heartbeats. “My parents never told anyone what was said, but she supposedly offered them a prophecy.”
“Curious,” Arthur mused.
“She must have hidden his birth from the other seers,” Sorcha suggested.
“That would take some very powerful magic,” Bunda pointed out.
All three of the mages turned to look at me, and I squirmed under their gazes. These weren’t the questions I’d wanted to discuss, but I was getting some interesting answers. Maybe I could learn something I really wanted to know, about a certain mage who haunted my nightmares.
“Another mage came to the house when I was about ten,” I continued. “He attacked and killed my parents.”
“A mage killing a mage,” Arthur commented with a frown. “Was anyone ever arrested?”
“No,” I said as I shook my head. “I tried to describe the man and I even told the sheriff I knew he was a mage, but they ignored me.”
“And no one from the Magesterium ever came to investigate the deaths of two of their own?” Arthur demanded.
“Not that I know of.” I shrugged.
“Then it’s likely the Magesterium was behind it,” the taller mage replied.
“But why didn’t they kill me then?” I asked.
“They didn’t see you as a threat,” the white-haired mage mused. “Which lends some credence to the idea that the seer did more than offer a prophecy.”
The other two mages nodded in agreement, but I shook my head.
“You still haven’t told me who you are,” I pointed out.
“We are a small network of individuals and various groups who believe the world would be a better place without the absolute control of the Magesterium,” Arthur explained.
“So, you’re like revolutionaries?” I pressed.
“I suppose you could call us that,” Bunda agreed.
“Then you want me to help you fight the mages,” I guessed. At least something had started to make sense. Like why this group of strangers had offered to help me.
“Only if you want to,” Sorcha confirmed. “Our primary goal is always to help as many mages as we can escape from the Magesterium. You’d be amazed at how many mages live in fear that the authorities will decide they no longer have a use for them and just send someone to destroy them.”
“Like my parents,” I suggested.
“And mine,” Sorcha replied as she pursed her lips. “They were both little more than hedge wizards, truthfully, with very little power. Mostly they just helped the local farmers grow crops. But they got tired of paying the Magesterium for the privilege to use their magic, and when they told the local official to bugger off, he reported them to his higher ups. After a few more attempts to collect from my parents, they simply arrested them, and no one ever saw them again. I was placed in one of those horrible special schools run by the Magesterium, where they brainwash all the little children with magic into worshipping the Magesterium.”
“Fortunately, they couldn’t eradicate Sha’s memories of her parents or her home,” Arthur added. “So, as soon as she was out on her own, she came looking for us.”
“So, what’s your plan?” I asked. “Do you have some way to destroy the Magesterium?”
“Well, it’s a long-term goal, obviously,” Arthur laughed. “There are lots of little steps in between.”
“But the first step for you is to get to the island,” Bunda remarked. “They won’t be able to find you there.”
“It’s protected,” Sorcha added.
Suddenly, a light flickered overhead, and the three mages watched it until it faded away. No one seemed worried by the sudden appearance of the light, so I assumed it was somehow tied to the light that had appeared when we knocked on the door.
“That must be Garth,” Sorcha suggested.
Arthur nodded and stood up.
“I’ll start brewing his special blend,” the white-haired mage sighed. “You know he won’t create a portal until he’s had at least one.”
“So, does this mean you’ll have to abandon this place after Garth opens a portal?” I asked.
“Afraid so,” Bunda confirmed, “but we have many other hiding places in the city, so you don’t need to worry about us.”
A few moments later, I could hear voices echo along the walls of the tunnel, something I hadn’t noticed when we were descending it ourselves. Arthur returned to the table just as a man and woman stepped into the light. The man was about a decade older than me and sported a long braid down his back and the bushiest eyebrows I’d ever seen on his face. He was round just about everywhere, though I wouldn’t have called him fat. The woman was a willowy brunette with golden skin, brown eyes, and an outfit that made he
r look like a watermelon with legs.
“Perfect timing,” Arthur declared as he held up a mug.
“Excellent,” the man replied as he strode toward Arthur and took the mug from his hands. Then he inhaled deeply and let out a happy sigh.
“Good to see you as well, Anna,” Arthur added. “Can I get you something?”
“No thanks,” Anna said as she fluffed her hair. “I’m just here to see you lot off, then I’ve got a show to catch. Is this the young man everyone’s so excited about?”
“Hex Theriot,” I said as I stood up.
“Anna Jenkins,” she replied as she held out one delicate hand, palm down.
I’d seen other ladies in town and in the city do the same thing, so I lifted her hand to my lips and gave it a quick kiss.
“Well, he has manners.” Anna smiled and winked in return. “Are you sure you have to take him so far away?”
“It would be best,” Bunda replied solemnly.
“A shame,” Anna lamented. “There’s been a shortage of good looking boys in the city as of late.”
I blushed beneath the woman’s scrutiny, and she only smiled more.
“Anna,” Bunda chastised, “we want him to be comfortable around us. Not wondering if he’s going to be eaten alive.”
Anna waved the comment off as she disappeared toward the stove or whatever they were using in the furthest reaches to make their coffee and tea.
“Maybe I will enjoy a bit of coffee,” she announced from the shadows.
Garth finally looked up from his mug and nodded to Arthur.
“You’ve got it down,” the portal mage declared. “I couldn’t have done better myself.”
“I’ve been working on it,” the older mage replied modestly.
“Does that mean we’ll be leaving soon?” I asked.
It had finally started to sink in that they planned to send me to the other side of the continent, where I knew absolutely no one and knew even less about the local environment. And while I’d liked the idea of escaping my life when I’d stepped through the door, the idea of finding myself on an island off the west coast was something I wasn’t sure I was ready for. I wasn’t sure what I’d pictured as a safe place exactly, other than heading off into the wilderness with the beautiful blonde.
Truthfully, I had little interest in whatever war these mages were preparing to launch. There was only one mage I was interested in, the mage with one blue eye and one brown eye who killed my parents.
Okay, maybe I was interested in two mages, if I also included the green-eyed, blonde-haired beauty who had brought me here.
“Don’t be nervous,” Garth assured me as he caught me patting my pocket again. “It’s perfectly safe, and most people don’t have any problems.”
“Most people,” I repeated.
“Some people experience a few moments of disorientation when they reach the other side,” Bunda explained. “Usually older mages who have little experience with portals. I doubt you’ll have any such issues.”
“But I’ve never used one before,” I pointed out.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be with you,” Sorcha replied with a smile.
Garth nodded and gulped down the last of his special brew. With a satisfied grunt, he set the mug on the table and moved toward an empty spot near the edge of the light. I could see trails through the dust where something heavy had been dragged away, and both of the other men took a few steps back. Not sure what to expect, I joined them on the fringes and watched as Garth closed his eyes and started to hum.
“It’s how he clears his mind,” Bunda offered in response to my puzzled look.
Anna wandered back from the stove with a steaming mug of something that smelled like coffee and rum. She winked at me as she took a sip, then turned her attention to the portal mage.
The humming stopped, and Garth started to weave his hands through the air. A circle of light began to form in front of him, filled with images that disappeared before I could really see what they were.
Then the room filled with a blaring sound, and the blinking light that had signalled the arrival of Garth and Anna turned everything an eerie red color.
“What! What’s going on?” Garth started at the sudden noise, and the portal flickered.
“They’ve found us!” Arthur moaned. “I’d hoped they wouldn’t be able to track the gun mage so quickly.”
“The Magesterium must have sent their own team to help the locals,” Bunda added, but the dark skinned mage looked calm. “It’s the only way they could have found us so quickly. We need to get the gun mage to safety.”
Sorcha had run toward the portal as soon as the siren sounded. Now, she watched as Garth seemed to stabilize the doorway he’d created, and then she turned toward me.
“Hex,” she pleaded. “We have to go now. Please!”
She held out her hand, and I took a step forward.
I stopped for a moment, though, and wondered if I really wanted to do this. My life as I’d known it would come to an end if I did this. Stepping into the tunnel had been one thing, but there was still a way back even then. This would put an end to any chance of resuming my normal life. It may not have been a great life, but at least I controlled it. Except that I didn’t really, I realized, and even if I stayed here, my life was already forfeit.
That meant the only path was forward with the beautiful and mysterious woman who I’d just met.
“Here goes,” I told myself as I sprinted toward Sorcha’s outstretched hand and the portal just beyond that.
Chapter 4
Sorcha grabbed my hand and peered at the images flickering in the light.
“That’s close enough,” she yelled at Garth over the blaring alarm.
Garth nodded and held his hand up. The images stilled, and I was looking at a lovely forest, near the edge of a cliff. Blue water spread away into the distance, and I could just make out land and mountains on the horizon. The sun was setting, and it gave the whole scene a tranquil air.
Then it was gone, and Sorcha and I both turned toward Garth. He wore a surprised look on his face as he looked down at his chest.
Where a black hole had appeared and begun weeping blood.
“Oh no,” he murmured, and he was able to give us an apologetic look before he collapsed to the ground.
“Capture the gun mage!” a cold voice called out. “Kill the rest.”
A fireball filled the room, and I heard Anna cry out in pain. A blast of wind sent the fire toward the other side of the room, but it quickly vanished. Then I spotted five mages, all in the official blood red robes of the Magesterium, near the tunnel just before the flames flickered out.
Sorcha grabbed my hand and pulled me along a row of shelves just as a bright light flashed overhead. Someone finally turned off the alarm, and the light over the table vanished. Then I heard the footsteps of the rebel mages as they scattered among the old stage props.
I gulped down a lungful of air and shook my head. I was in the middle of a mage battle, a place I’d never wanted to be. They told scary stories to kids about mage battles just to get them to behave.
How did this day keep getting worse?
“We have to get you out of here,” the blonde mage whispered in my ear as we stopped near the end of the row.
“And then what?” I asked as I peered around the edge.
Some four-legged creature moved past the shelves, and it sniffed the air as it went. Then there was a burst of light, and the dark figure yelped in surprise.
“And then we make the trek to the island the old fashioned way,” Sorcha murmured as she scanned the air above us. “At least until we find another portal mage.”
It sounded so simple, but it seemed almost impossible given the mages who stood between us and our only escape route. I started to point this out, but Sorcha was focused on something overhead. I drew the gun from my pocket and followed her stare. I could just pick out something that hovered over the rows of shelves as it slowly moved our way. Ano
ther fireball lit up the space, but this one hung overhead rather than spreading out toward a target, and I used this split second before the mage saw us to take aim.
I saw the look of triumph cross the mage’s features when he spotted the two of us, but I pulled the trigger so fast he didn’t have time to realize what was about to happen. He still had the smug smile on his face as the bullet found his chest, and then he tumbled to the ground.
The sharp crack of the gun ricocheted off the walls as the smell of charcoal and something more bitter filled the air around us. I heard the cold voice order the rest of the Magesterium mages to converge on the sound, so I grabbed Sorcha’s hand and began to tug her back toward the tunnel.
“Will the door at the top still work?” I asked.
“It should,” she panted. “Unless they’ve blocked it somehow.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” I stated. “Do you have a weapon?”
Sorcha shook her head, so I handed her my knife. She hesitated, then shook her head again.
“I’m not very good with a knife,” she admitted as she passed it back to me. “I’m much better with a bow and arrow. You keep it.”
We were near the tunnel, but I could hear the sounds of combat start to fill the room. The fireball still hovered overhead, and it gave everything a strange orange glow. I heard Arthur and Bunda shout to each other, then another blast of wind sent everything not nailed down flying toward one of the dark corners of the room. I grabbed the edge of one of the shelving units, and Sorcha wrapped her arms around my waist.
Something exploded, and shards of stone and metal flew into the air. The gale force winds came to an abrupt halt, and the silence that followed was almost deafening.
Sorcha grabbed my hand, and a tremor passed through her body. There was a moment of peace, and then a strange humming noise began to fill the room. I covered my ears to block the sound, but the room began to bend and weave. It was like nothing was solid anymore and we were all just blowing in a breeze.
“It’s Anna,” Sorcha explained as I tried to take a step. It felt like the ground was heaving beneath me, and I wasn’t sure if I could even make it around the corner of the row, much less run toward the tunnel.