Unexpected Magic

by Ann Macela

  He had been watching her closely and totally seriously. When she answered, a big smile broke out on his face, and he hugged her tight after he kissed her again.

  Although it wasn’t easy, they finally drew apart from each other. Her center gave a little hum, and she rubbed it. “Is your center chiming in every once in a while?”

  “I think mine’s singing the Hallelujah Chorus. It’s also telling me to eat so I’ll have the energy for what it wants to do.” Saxt waggled his eyebrows and leered at her before laughing and turning back to his cooking.

  Over excellent omelets, Johanna said, “This is delicious. I suggest that you cook Sunday breakfast from now on.”

  “When?” he asked.

  “Every Sunday,” she answered. Might as well establish the first family tradition.

  “No, no, no,” he countered, totally serious. “When are we getting married?”

  Johanna couldn’t help laughing. Focus the man on something he wanted, and that’s all he saw. “Isn’t the woman supposed to be the one pushing for the wedding? You haven’t even met my parents yet.”

  Saxt’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, hell. I do have to go through that particular ordeal, don’t I?”

  “Don’t worry, they’ll love you. They’ve been worried about me living alone. Guess they won’t have to now. Speaking of which …?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

  “I’m homeless,” he stated and ate a bite of toast.

  Now she was the one with wide-open eyes. “What about Cleveland?”

  “Well, not technically homeless, only about to be. After Dad died two years ago, several things happened. First, settling the estate occupied my non-work time for months. Then I sold his house and most of the furnishings. Second, our Defender team, all of whom were of my father’s generation, decided to retire. We were the only team in Cleveland, by the way, and the only reason we had a team was because I was the second Sword.”

  “I’ve never heard of a team with a father and son as Swords,” she commented.

  “We didn’t have a choice when Dad’s other Sword retired to Florida, and the team wanted to remain active. There are some Indies in the vicinity, all Defenders. The nearest Sword was in Pittsburgh and wanted a more convenient team. I was happy when Dad’s team members decided to disband. Remember what we’ve talked about—our more elderly Defenders not seeming to have the energy they used to? I think they’d been wanting to retire, and with Dad gone, they had a good excuse.” He took a couple of swallows of coffee.

  “How did you feel about having no team?”

  “I was so busy with the estate and my own company that I welcomed having more time—at first. I finally settled the estate and sold the house. My firm has always been a small one, with only a few employees. We hit a lull in business, and I realized I was worn out. I took a long vacation, or rather, I tried to, but that was no fun by myself. I lasted all of a week and a half. And to top it off, when I returned home, my office manager said she wanted to retire, and another staffer wanted to become a stay-at-home mom.”

  “Oh, Saxt, how deserted you must have felt.” She lay her hand on the top of his. Her center vibrated, and her hand tingled.

  “Feel that?” he asked smugly. “I think our energy is recovering.”

  “Go on with your story,” she replied with a dry edge. She left her hand where it was—it simply felt so good to touch him.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He grinned, then shrugged. “I should have felt deserted, I guess. My real reaction was relief. On my vacation, sitting on a Caribbean island beach, my prevailing mood had been restlessness. I didn’t want to return to Cleveland. I wanted to try some new markets, meet some new people, make a new life.

  “I had gotten involved with the Committee on Swords before Dad died, and when the former chairman stepped down, I was elected to the post. Miriam and I were talking one day, and I told her about closing my office and my tentative plans to relocate. At that time, the Defenders Council was discussing how to handle Herb and Gary’s energy measurement gizmo. She thought it would be a great idea if I ran the tour.”

  He pointed his fork at Johanna. “Watch out for that woman. Miriam is a silver-tongued steamroller. She started talking about how the measurement project would take me to all the HeatherRidge Centers, and I’d be able to meet every Sword in the country. The next I knew, I was in charge of the project.”

  Johanna chuckled. “Oh, I know Miriam. She often visits here. Clyde’s the only one who is immune to her requests and demands. He goes ‘all reasonable’ on her, and she can’t persuade him do anything he doesn’t want to do.”

  “I need to learn his technique. Long story short, I agreed. I closed my Cleveland office and helped my non-retiring employees find good jobs. I was going to decide where to live at the end of the tour. Would you take pity on your soul mate and let me live with you?”

  He had such a “poor little me/would you please, pretty please?” expression, complete with big brown eyes, that she started laughing. “Oh, I think we can find you a bed here.”

  “As long as you’re in it with me, I’m happy.” He stood and pulled her up into another kiss.

  Both Johanna and her center rejoiced.

  “How’s your energy level?” Saxt asked with a sly, then faux-innocent look when they parted.

  “Fine …” She was about to lean into him for another kiss when the realization hit her like a bolt between the eyes. “Oh, my goodness! Level! Energy! Do you know what we forgot? To see if that really was a bonding and we raised our levels.”

  “You’re right.” He stepped back so they weren’t touching. “Okay, lux!”

  A red lightball appeared over the table.

  She cast the spell, and two red lightballs floated about three feet apart. “Let’s take them up through the colors. Hold at fifteen.”

  The colors flashed through the spectrum until both balls were filled with silver and violet light, about a fifty-fifty split.

  “My center’s jumping around like crazy. How do you feel?” Johanna asked.

  “Like I have more in me,” Saxt answered. “Let’s go to sixteen.”

  The violet streaks faded out, and the balls glowed totally silver.

  “Wooooo. Those are sixteens, all right. I think I can push it higher.” She spread her right hand on her middle. “My center is revving up, like it does before I take power from the ring to hit an evil item.”

  “Mine, too. Push it as far as you can.”

  As they supplied energy, faint streaks of gold began to appear in the balls. The colors finally settled at silver with lots of streaks of gold.

  “Oh, wow,” Johanna breathed. “We’re seventeens! Both of us!”

  “I knew that was a fantastic mating, but to go up two whole levels? That’s stupendous!” He gave her a hug, lifted her off her feet, and twirled her around.

  When he lowered her to her feet, they turned to the balls—except now only one floated over the table. It was bigger than either of their individual balls and almost totally gold.

  “What the hell?” Saxt exclaimed. “Where did that come from?”

  Johanna studied the sphere. “There’s one possibility I can think of. Cancel your lux spell, and I’ll do the same.”

  When they did, the ball disappeared.

  “I know of two instances where the lightballs of mates merged spontaneously,” she said. “Fergus told me of a couple in Texas it happened to, and I saw it with my own eyes with Irenee and Jim Tylan. In each case, the couple received an extra ability in their mating, and it manifested outside of bonding and love-making. In Texas, the two could share power, transfer energy only between themselves. Neither has any Defender abilities.

  “In the situation with Irenee and Jim, Jim could transfer energy like a Defender directly to Irenee, but to no one else. She, being a Sword, has all the Defender transfer ability. For both couples, the mates had to be touching for the exchange.”

  “Okay, what does that mean for us?” Saxt asked. “We have
all the transfer abilities. We have the full range of Sword talents. What’s left to gain that’s new?”

  “I have no idea. Maybe something will come out when we practice. Let’s try the balls again.”

  They experimented with the lightballs and discovered that the merge occurred only when they were touching each other. It happened quicker if they hugged and slower if they only held hands. And not at all if they remained separate. Their magic centers hummed happily, especially when aligned.

  Moving the combined lightball proved to be an exercise in balance with some hilarity. She’d tug one way, when he wanted to go another. The ball actually stretched in both directions, and, when they let go, it snapped back with an audible “pop.” They finally resorted to hand and voice signals and arrived at synchronization.

  After they decided to stop, Johanna asked, “Do you still think I have to worry about Phil? Even if I may not know the spells at level sixteen or seventeen, I certainly can push the increased power through the ones I have.”

  Saxt shot her a sharp glance and sighed. “I think you now have the power to crush his pentagon.”

  “But …?”

  “I don’t know. Whenever I think about him, my center feels like it’s growling, a lot like it does before facing an evil item. I don’t trust him. I still wouldn’t be surprised if he had a trick or two up his sleeve.”

  “Like what? Some weird spell? Some sort of crystal or other item so he can focus his spells better? Give them more power?”

  “It’s possible. He wouldn’t have to wear it outside his robe, either. Do you know if he uses crystals or lodestones on a regular basis?”

  “No, I don’t. Remember, I avoid him as much as I can. Your feeling about him? Could it come from that business about rivalry?”

  “I don’t think so. After all, I’ve won.” He spread his arms and gave her one of those hot looks again.

  Men and their games. Then again, she was truly happy that she did have the winner. “Come on, let’s get out of the house, go for a ride, and I’ll show you the neighborhood.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Saturday afternoon in her office, Johanna leaned back in her chair with her feet up, trying various relaxation techniques to clear her mind. The duel was in half an hour.

  Saxt had helped with the morning class, and everybody had a good time casting their first pentagons. Ben was making excellent progress on the spells he’d need to control a blade.

  She’d signed the agreement Miriam and the others had drawn up. At the meeting right after lunch, Phil had tried several intimidation moves, of course. She’d ignored him and stayed as far away as possible. He must have bathed in his aftershave.

  Yuck. Change the subject. Better to think of something more pleasant.

  Like her soul mate. Saxt made sure she had plenty of rest Friday night—after he loved her until she was senseless, until they were both exhausted. Making up for lost time? She tingled all over simply thinking about what they’d done.

  She knew he was worried about the duel. He kept coming back to the topic. She’d finally shut him up by kissing him—which led to other subjects, of course. Only until this morning, however, when he returned to talking strategy and tactics. And stuffing her full of food at breakfast and at lunch so her internal energy would be at its peak.

  Saxt had been correct about one thing, though. Someone had been in her office last night, and it hadn’t been the cleaning crew. The closet door had been ajar, and an old novice robe was missing. What Phil’s hangers-on intended to do with that was anybody’s guess.

  She and Saxt told Miriam, Jake, and her team about their soul-mate discovery—an announcement that came as no surprise and with much happiness. They also described their merging lightballs, but didn’t demonstrate them. Energy conversation before the duel was top priority.

  She opened one eye to peek at her watch. Twenty to three. Time to go down to the arena.

  As Johanna sat up, Saxt stuck his head in the door. “How are you doing?”

  “Fine.” She stood, stretched, and came around the desk into his arms.

  He gave her a hug and a small kiss. While he helped her into her robe, he said, “Everything is ready downstairs. The balconies are almost full. Jake thinks there’ll be standing room only soon.”

  “Good. I expected a full house. Few practitioners ever have the opportunity to see a duel, and a lot of people want to see Phil receive his comeuppance. I wanted it to be public so he won’t be able to tell lies about what happens.” She arranged her robe the way she liked it. “How do I look?”

  “Like a warrior who’s going to kick Bellman’s butt,” he said with absolute confidence and a smile before he put his hands on her shoulders and became serious. “I know you know how to fight him. Watch out for tricks. When I first saw him today, my center started growling again.”

  “Mine wasn’t happy, either. I’ll be careful. Let’s go.”

  ***

  When the combatants walked onto the floor of the large arena, the audience applauded with enthusiasm. The balconies were packed, and some sat on the steps in the aisles between the rows. People were dressed in every conceivable color and fashion. A number had even thought to wear their robes which by their colors and patterns demonstrated their professions. They all appeared to be in a festive mood.

  Johanna found her team exactly where they said they’d be, in the front row of the lower balcony, and gave them a little wave.

  On the floor of the arena, the view was not so pleasant. The dark gray granite floor and walls up to the first balcony lent a somber cast. The Swords wore their black robes. Only the healers in yellow offered a respite to the lack of color. They were already in position, one on each end outside the boundary line of the protective oval wall that would be magically constructed.

  To her left in the middle of the arena’s long axis, the double doors were open to the anteroom from which she had entered. She could see Saxt, Clyde, and two of Phil’s henchmen there in support of the combatants—primarily, if need be, to carry one or both out. Saxt and Clyde were also keeping an eye on Phil’s followers to prevent any attempt to help him. All were under strict instructions not to come out on the floor unless Harlen Grimstead, the referee, called for them. If they did, it meant instant disqualification for their duelist.

  Harlen, looking very much like “The Grim Reaper” in his black robe, stalked out into the center of the arena and surveyed the setup.

  Phil in his position at the other end bowed to the crowd as if this was a stage show and he the magician about to cut the lady in half. She could almost feel his smirk when he glanced her way.

  Johanna stretched her arms up and out before settling her own robe and adjusting the hood over her head. Until she knew what Phil was capable of, she’d use all the protection the robe afforded. The runes and glyphs were sparkling and glowing much brighter than usual. They must somehow sense her higher level. Mental note: she and Saxt would need to upgrade their robes.

  From another anteroom down near Phil, several teaching masters, including Barnaby, entered and cast the high-level spells to activate the protective barriers, first raising the walls at the edge of the balconies, then casting the oval fortification that would hold in whatever magic the combatants threw at each other. The masters had combined all their power—the oval glowed with a golden cast.

  After they left, Harlen raised his hands, and the audience quieted. “Practitioners, let me explain what you will see. This is a duel between two Swords. This is not a show or a sporting event. It is a serious undertaking. They will be attacking each other with a variety of magic weapons, any one of which could severely injure their opponent if it penetrates the shield.”

  He pointed to the two Swords. “They will each cast a pentagonal fortress, a shield against the spells thrown at them. Whoever breaks, cracks, or otherwise damages the opponent’s shield enough to penetrate the pentagon wall will win the duel.

  “I am the referee, and I alone dete
rmine the winner. The object here is not to destroy a pentagon or to harm an opponent. I will declare the duel over at the first sign of a compromised fortress. Additionally, the Swords will not use their magic blades. Blades are used only to destroy evil magic items. Whoever draws a blade will instantly lose.”

  Harlen turned to her and then Phil. “Swords, are you ready?”

  “Yes,” Johanna said, and Phil called out, “Ready.”

  Harlen marched outside the oval magic wall and cast his own fortress. He scrutinized her and Phil for a moment. “Swords, cast your pentagons.”

  Johanna set her pentagon with one of the points facing directly at Phil. She brought it up to a level fourteen, and the walls glowed violet with silver streaks. She and Saxt had decided she should start there for Phil’s first salvo and raise the level as needed. Her center began to vibrate, and her energy well enlarged, gathering power from her body. Wooooo. Level seventeen had hidden benefits. Her well had never been this deep.

  When she looked at her opponent, she was surprised to see that he had set his level-fourteen fortress so one of the straight sides faced her. Yes, it was easier to see your adversary through a flat side, but much more advantageous to let a point deflect spells. He’d also created a big pentagon—really too large for one person to defend, even someone as tall as Phil, and a waste of energy to maintain. She’d have a clear target to strike. Bad tactics, Phil. You’re going to pay for those mistakes.

  “Swords,” Harlen called out in his parade-ground voice, “You may fire when ready.”

  “Incendium!” Phil wound up and threw a huge red-and-yellow fireball straight at her.

  Johanna simply stood still, hands by her side.

  With a whoooosh, the fireball hit her pentagon’s point and split, the flames flowing to either side harmlessly. Smoke billowed up before being sucked into the large exhaust fans at the top of the arena. It left a slightly acrid smell in the air.

  That one felt like a level twelve. Phil must be warming up.

  Next he cast two lightning bolts—thirteens—in quick succession.

  They broke on her point, and shiny bits flew off in all directions. Their sonic booms reverberated off the oval’s walls, and she could hear the crowd yelling and cheering. She blocked out all the noise.