A Tune of Demons Box Set: The Complete Fantasy Series

by J E Mueller

  Leia helped me to regain my feet and we all sat in the living room.

  Together, Lee and I were on the sofa. I just hugged him, not believing he was real. I had checked! This was more than I could handle, but for once I was very glad to be wrong.

  Lee didn’t try and move me. He began telling his story even as I held him.

  “I thought for sure we were going to die. That fight was beyond our skill.” He said, laying the facts out as simple as could be. “It was a surprise that you made it in time to save me after I first was hit, but then we were surrounded and soon you were disarmed… I don’t really know what happened next, since I was dizzy and bleeding everywhere, but suddenly your magic appeared like an explosion! I had never felt anything like it before. I could feel you pushing it from yourself. At that moment I knew you couldn’t have complete control over it, so I covered myself with my own magic. Your magic bit and kicked at me, but I was able to keep it from consuming me.”

  He paused and shook his head before continuing. “I put all of my focus on keeping myself alive until I felt your magic die out. I must have used too much because I blacked out. Several of the healers said I was hardly breathing from the combined loss of blood, magic, and energy. It took two days for me to get well enough to start talking but by that point, I knew you had to have been gone, which Mother confirmed. No one saw you leave, but she knew if you thought I was dead and had seen the guards arrive you’d have left in an instant. It would have been too hard to lose another friend, I’m sure.”

  I still hadn’t let go of him and leaned against him with my eyes closed, my energy gone from shock and days of restless sleep.

  “I still don’t believe it,” I told him softly. It was too insane of a miracle for me to comprehend.

  “Yeah yeah.” He chuckled. “I basically come back from the dead and you’re too stubborn to accept it.”

  “I think we should give you a few moments,” Juni said, walking to the doorway. “Ladies?”

  Celia and Leia smiled at each other.

  “Best story yet,” Celia told her sister.

  “Well worth the journey,” Leia agreed as they left.

  I finally looked up at Lee, “But I really did check to see if you were dead.”

  “Did you try a pulse?” Lee teased me.

  I shook my head. “No.” The thought had never even occurred to me.

  “I don’t suggest anything in the medical field.” He laughed wearily. “Everything's okay. Home is being fixed up and the palace is supplying a real guard for us. Just about all of the raiders were detained, and there’s more than enough information to find the village this stemmed from. Things are starting to look up.”

  “I’m glad you’re not dead,” I replied, burying my face into his side. “How did you know where to look?”

  “I remembered that one day you were looking at the map and which towns you pointed out. When Leia came to help and we were explaining the story and where we thought you were, she was able to confirm that she knew where you were. Lucky us you somehow ended up staying with her sister. It made getting you to stay put a lot easier, and we didn’t have to involve anyone else in a search.”

  “I still don’t know how my magic didn’t kill you. It flared out a second time after I thought you were gone.” My voice was muffled, but he understood.

  “With all the practice I’ve had, it may have been an instinctive response. Magic often does its own thing.” Lee yawned. “Either way you look at it, I’m alive and you’ve got a lot of magic to work on controlling, but you did really well. You got us out of a bad situation. I thank you for that. We just need to work on this habit of running away.”

  “You would have run too.” That may not have been true but it was my best response.

  He held me tightly for a while, not saying anything.

  Finally, the woman returned and set up dinner. There wasn’t much talking, but I knew they were ready to pry. I still didn’t know what to say. Instead, Juni talked about the village’s repair efforts and the help the extra guards were putting into rebuilding.

  After dinner, we were left to ourselves once more and I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

  “I don’t know if I should go back to the village after all that’s happened,” I told Lee.

  He nodded. “Then don’t go back.”

  I looked at the floor, “I think I’d like you to come with me though.” Aside from his stubbornness, we’d likely be great traveling companions.

  “I had hoped as much.” He smiled and gave me a tight hug. “I’ve got so many new ideas about how to help you with controlling your magic now too. I’ve had a lot of downtime to just think. Not to mention you’ll probably want someone to come with you to meet your family.”

  “What?” I pushed away from him in surprise. That had taken an unexpected turn.

  “They’re looking for you everywhere. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard. After everything that happened at my village they have solid confirmation, you’re alive. They want to see you again, and have stated they want you to rejoin the family.”

  “I don’t know if that’s what I want.” I shook my head. There was too much going on and one overly emotional event was more than enough for me to handle in one night.

  “You don’t have to rejoin them, but seeing them would be good for both sides. Mend the past and it can finally be where it belongs. Nightmares won’t leave you when there’s something still tying you to them.” He responded firmly.

  “I hate that you’re probably right,” I tried to be open to the suggestion. It all came back down to the fact that I was still cursed. “But not until my magic is actually under control.”

  “Won’t it be great shaking your brother and sister's hands? That’d be a nice family meeting. That should be the goal.” He beamed at the idea.

  “Well, yeah, that is the overarching goal....” Defined goals couldn’t hurt, right? It had been the plan all along even if I hadn’t told many as much.

  “Then for the second goal!” He smiled.

  “What’s that?” I was unsure where he was going with this. He had had too much time to think about all of this.

  “You’ll go on a date with me.”

  I stared at him baffled for a moment and then just laughed. Seeing as he had survived me at my worst state, maybe that could be a possible future. However, there was still too much else to work on to worry about silly things like that.

  Lee smiled blissfully, not feeling any sting of defeat in my reaction. “Obviously this magic problem’s been going on too long. I think we can solve that in no time now. Then we can worry about all the rest of that lame stuff people like doing in life.”

  I had to smile and shake my head at his phrasing. “Yes, all that ‘lame stuff’. Guess it’s decided then,” I agreed. A date wouldn’t hurt anything since apparently I couldn’t easily or accidentally kill him. At this point, I still highly doubted any of my problems would be solved on the magic end in the near future.

  “Awesome, but we’ll start tomorrow. Traveling was a lot tougher than I thought,” Lee said, stretching out. The plans for our journey appeared to be already set in his mind.

  “I bet your mother wasn’t happy with your decision to take off so soon.” Even with the help of a healer, healing still took a lot of time.

  “Of course not. She wanted me to wait at least another week, but aside from that, she liked the idea. She was really disappointed that you had assumed the worst case scenario had come to pass, but I couldn’t blame you. With your luck, it would have been easier to jump to that conclusion than to think there were other options.”

  It was true. It was easier to believe he had died since everyone else who was exposed to my magic had. Maybe I should have checked with a healer first, but those thoughts never came to mind. “Yes, yes, don’t become a healer.” I rolled my eyes, expecting him to joke about it once more.

  “Have you considered herding sheep? You might like it,” he offered instead.


  “I’ve considered punching your sarcastic face, but that’d be in bad taste.” I paused, “And I think I’d cry.” It wasn’t a lie. For once luck had been on my side, and I was glad to see he was alive.

  He squeezed my arm. “Not going anywhere.”

  20

  The next morning we got started on our plans right away before anyone could scold us. Lee knew he would have to take it easy, but with all of his recent ideas, I was curious to see how they would play out. We sat on the grass out in the backyard holding hands, ready to begin.

  “Okay, so what first?” The sky was just bright enough to see. Morning dew soaked into my clothes, but it felt refreshing against my always warm skin.

  “Instead of concentrating your energy to different places and keeping it there or holding it back in general, direct it through another part of your body, like your toes or somewhere else that is not currently being touched,” Lee instructed.

  I nodded and tried that, remembering the blaze of heat that I would normally feel go from my core to my fingers. We were already connected now and the first was happily trying to destroy him, though failing completely. I concentrated as he had said on not withholding it and instead on sending it elsewhere and out. At first, it seemed it wouldn’t move away from him before finally, it relented and slowly moved elsewhere. My toes warmed as I tried directing it towards the ground. The magic was unable to make contact with flesh and seemed to disappear as it continued to strike the ground. It was a long moment before I realized it was no longer streaming from my hands.

  My surprise broke my control but Lee just smiled. “Again,” he encouraged, eyes gleaming with joy.

  I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled. He had plenty of recent downtime to consider my options, but I was glad something had worked. It seemed so simple, I wondered why I hadn’t tried it before. Then again, my focus had all been on keeping it locked within me. It irritated me that the solution I had wanted worked for others but not myself. Still, I had finally found something that worked.

  Over and over we tried this new idea again. It would only work for a short time, but it seemed to get easier for me to keep up. Lee was right. Now it just needed practice. It was as simple as understanding how my magic worked to its fullest, and the only way to get there was to actually use it to its fullest potential. While the answer to my problems felt clear as the daylight grew around me, I wouldn’t have tried something like this until something drastic had happened. That battle was the push I needed to fully let go of my magic and only such a desperate situation would have caused me to go all out. Aggie was right in her guess that her words wouldn’t help things.

  We practiced all morning and well into the afternoon until I felt confident I knew what I was doing. Even then I was nervous to try a simple handshake. Juni volunteered without hesitation, saying she knew I wouldn’t kill her.

  “I still don’t understand how your magic works,” I confessed in an attempt to stall having to shake her hand.

  “No matter, it’s true.” Juni offered her hand for the second time.

  I shook my head. “Lee, can we borrow your future magic just to be sure?”

  Lee chuckled but complied with the request. After a moment he nodded, “Yeah, you’re good to go.”

  His visions hadn’t been wrong yet, but I felt my nerves build up. Butterflies might burst from my stomach at any moment, and that might be the worst of the problems I could have.

  “Celia?” I asked begging for her added opinion.

  With a wave, she laughed but glanced into the future anyway. “All is well. Juni lives another day. The touch won’t kill her. However, I will be changing my dinner plans.”

  I blinked in confusion. “What?”

  “Dinner is just a mess and not worth preparing tonight. Something else will work better.” Celia shrugged off her own vision and winked at me. “Now, I bet you’re a bit less nervous.”

  Her ploy worked for a moment, but my stomach resumed tying itself into knots. With a deep breath, I offered her my hand, glove free, and Juni shook it without any doubt.

  Juni smiled happily when nothing happened, and I breathed a sigh of relief. All the practice and effort had drained me, but I was thrilled to have taken a step in the right direction.

  Now I had to master keeping my magic under control when unexpected contact could occur so that I could dress like a normal person and not worry about covering every inch of myself unless I chose to. I’d have options. The taste of freedom was sweet on my lips.

  “We should visit your family,” Lee suggested again after three days of very productive practice. “Things are going the right way, and they may like to share in the joy of your progress.”

  “Let me think about it.” It didn’t sound like a good idea, but everyone had already been slowly hinting at it, even Celia.

  I didn’t have to think on it for too long. While rejection was a justified fear, I realized that it wouldn’t be the worst thing I had faced. It would be sad, yes, but these were people I no longer knew. If we weren’t meant to communicate this would finalize it, and my past could be put to rest. In theory at least. Either way, it should be less bad than fighting a curse.

  I agreed with some hesitation. I hoped that by sending a letter ahead with my intent that would help things. In it, I included one of the flyers floating around that showed I was missing.

  Dearest family, while I’ve been avoiding you for years, I wanted to thank you for keeping up your search. Things are going better now, and I may be ready to see you once again. I’m not sure how old these flyers are, but if you are still looking for me, send word to the attached address and my friends will let me know. Whatever your reply, I hope to hear from you again soon.

  In all honesty, I didn’t expect a reply.

  Part of me wondered if they’d even see my letter or believe it was me. After all the mail they likely received and had to sort through, it seemed mine would get lost in the shuffle. Instead of worrying about receiving a response, I continued to practice my magic and help Celia with all that I could. Leia had left after just a few days after I had gotten my magic sorted, and Lee did his best to help Celia’s husband work the forge. It seemed he was eager to learn and the extra help went a long way.

  To my surprise, a week later a letter arrived for me.

  “What’s this?” I asked setting the broom aside as Celia handed it over.

  “I’d assume it’s your reply.” Celia radiated with excitement, “But we won’t know until you open it.”

  At that moment I noticed that everyone had gathered to see what was about to unfold. Clenching the letter, I considered my options. Running out of the room and reading it alone sounded better than having a swarm of people watching me read it. Thankfully, I didn’t have to say anything.

  “She gets news from her long lost family and all of you stand around like you’ve nothing to do!” Juni fumed jokingly, “We’ll mind our manners and let her read in peace now, won’t we?”

  Lee sighed as exaggeratedly as possible. “If you insist, mother dearest.”

  “Yes, there’s still dinner to finish, and that laundry must be dry by now,” Celia mumbled.

  Juni watched them go before leaving herself.

  Breaking the seal, I read it right where I stood.

  Little Kikara, your letter has caused quite a stir. We’re unsure how it took so long for our searching to find you, but we are indeed glad to hear you are alive and well. We hope to be graced with your presence as promptly as you are able to come. I will see to the preparations at once. If you give us leave as to when you would like to arrive, an escort can be sent. However, if it better suits you to travel alone we will respect your choice. To see you again would bring us more joy than words can express. We look forward to hearing a quick reply.

  Your sister,

  Sandra

  After rereading it a few times, I sat on the sofa. My heart was pounding, and my brain couldn’t comprehend that they had actually replied -that Sand
ra herself took the time to write the reply. It was her signature all right. She had practiced it so much when we were younger. Over and over, and over. I would know it anywhere. My head felt light, and I realized I needed to take a deep breath.

  Lee peeked in, already done pretending to be the good son. I had no doubt that Juni wasn’t in sight to keep him at bay, but it was fine. I waved him over.

  “What did it say?” he asked much too excitedly.

  I offered the papers to him, “Sandra’s handwriting is perfect, as usual.” My mind was keen on focusing on her strong traits and was unsure what to do with the actual contents of the letter.

  “So that’s it then. You just need to let them know when to expect you and we can be off.” Lee’s excitement was palpable.

  “I don’t even know if I want this.” I got up to pace around the room. I almost hoped it would get lost and I could go back to, well, doing my adventuring. “Do they really want to see me? Do they even believe it’s me? They’ve no way to know for certain it’s even me who wrote it.”

  “Guess you’ll just have to go and see. The only way to prove it’s you is to actually go. The only way for them to show they truly missed you is to be there with them and find out.” Lee set the letter on the sofa.

  “Can you stop being right for a moment?” I sighed. His words were likely the truth.

  “Sure.” He looked thoughtful. “No, actually I can’t think of anything since it’d be a lie. Your family made a lot of effort to make flyers to reach out to you, and they willingly responded to a chance letter. It’s worth going to see them.”

  I waved him off and went about finishing my chores.

  After a few hours I wrote my reply. It took that long to think of what I wanted to even say. Not to mention it was hard to figure out when to go, but it seemed sooner would be better rather than later. It would be harder to chicken out if I went in the near future.