“Well, if you won’t be convinced by reason, we’ll just have to take you by force.”
Three more of the dull, humanoid figures appeared from the melted snow and reached for him. Their hands were unnaturally cold. Were they made from water? They must have been. Water and some sort of twisted Magic Aylward could do.
Two of them grabbed him by the arms as the third clapped a hand over his mouth and nose.
Though the figures gripping him seemed strong, he knew they were only as strong as the Magic binding them together.
With a howl, he released a fiery burst of Magic and the figures dissolved into mist.
Aylward stared at Temet, emotionless. The figures materialized just as quickly to grab Temet again. He set his feet and would not budge.
“Why do you resist so much?” asked Aylward in a calm voice.
Temet dissolved the figures again. “Give up, Aylward. You’re not as strong as I am.”
“Oh, I think I am. I was a wizard long ago and the duke’s been giving me some lovely Talents, Talents he found ways to develop artificially through his research.”
Temet lunged forward to smash his fist into Aylward’s face. “Because of you, I was ten years without my sister! And my mother is dead!”
He punched only air.
From behind him came a watery laugh. Turning, he saw Aylward standing there.
“How do you do that?” He lunged again, faster this time. Aylward vanished.
The man reappeared in front of him, shoving him backward to slide on the slush-covered bricks. With another laugh, he vanished, then appeared above one of the doors, feet carefully secured atop the ledge, head just shy of the archway.
Temet’s hands stung. He looked at them in dismay to find he had skinned both his palms on the grains of sand that covered the bricks.
“Look what you did, you beast!” he shouted to Aylward, holding out his palms.
Aylward laughed. “You’re not permanently damaged. Baby.”
“Yeah, but I could have done without that,” Temet snarled, taking a handful of the grit and flinging it at Aylward. “See how you like it.”
Aylward’s eyes bulged and he fell as the grit hit him, to Temet’s surprise. That shouldn’t have hurt him. Aylward’s body melted, dripping to the ground, only to re-form as he hit the ground.
Incredible. The duke had changed Aylward, somehow. He had become like water, same as the figures who attacked Temet.
“Clever,” said Aylward.
“Were you ever a decent person? Why did Nessy ever trust you?” Temet wondered.
“She didn’t have a choice. The Enforcers had marked her; they would kill her if they found her.” Aylward paused. “This is, interestingly, the reason Cemagna came to the duke. The Enforcers thought she was Nessy and tried to kill her. She was running blindly in the night… I left the gate open so she would wander in. She was looking for you, you know She came here to find you.”
Temet heard another scream from inside and howled with rage. Aylward was wasting Temet’s time while Cemagna might be dying.
Scooping up a handful of snow, Temet focused. He knew the chemical compound; it had been taught to him at the Wizardly Order. He moved the molecules with Magic, changing them.
Aylward moved closer. “You can’t kill me with snow, you know. You’ll just tire yourself out, and then I’ll take you to the duke. It will be quite easy.”
The compound was formed. Temet shot it deep into Aylward’s body with a burst of Magic.
Aylward screamed, eyes wide, realizing what it was. Within moments, he was gone.
It was the poison given to wizards who refused to join the Order.
Chapter 19
Cemagna
I fought him.
He wasn’t going to make me use my abilities. He wasn’t. I was in control. Not Von Chi. Me. Cemagna.
In a strange way it hurt as he tried to force me to use my Magic. It was my will against his.
I had lost track of time. Minutes seemed like days, hours seemed like years. Had it been hours? It must have been.
“Just show me what you can do,” Von Chi pleaded. “I want to see your Halfway Magic.”
I resisted. He had too much power already. He would not take more. I was not going to give him what he wanted.
He had his contraption and several lenses focused on my forehead. I ignored his pleas. If I used Magic, even to fend him off, he would have a way in to my mind. I couldn’t let him have a way in. He could not be allowed to grab more Magic.
I could feel the strain on my mind as he, tired of trying to make me to use Magic, tried to force his way into my mind and reach it. He was probably as exhausted as I was, though the blank eyes were unreadable. All I had to do was wait him out. If I could last that long. I had to focus. I had to concentrate on blocking him, keeping him out of my head.
Blank eyes still locked on me, the duke leaned back and reached behind himself.
I saw the knife in his raised hand. It sliced downwards…
I screamed as the blade landed deep in my hip. And in that moment, my concentration broke.
I screamed again, this time in rage at my defeat as Von Chi dove into my mind. His presence felt like tiny pinpricks.
The pinpricks shifted. I winced. You react like normal humans do to pain and other stimuli. So no abnormalities there. Stop fighting me; it will hurt less.
The pinpricks shifted. You raised yourself! Very nice. And hid your abilities from your mother for fear of the Order. Clever woman.
“Stop going through my mind!” I shouted.
I struggled, but I still couldn’t move my head. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to lash out with something. Anything. Anything to get him out of my head. I groaned.
Oh look, your brain is nearly alight. You must be thinking strongly of something.
I tried harder. The duke’s constant picking in my mind was getting in my way. The pinpricks moved again…
And I lashed out into Von Chi’s mind. I heard him scream in rage and smiled. His mind was an open book now that he was in mine.
To my surprise, I discovered something familiar in his mind. Nessy.
The images were disjointed. A flash of Nessy’s face. Her smile as she laughed. Her hand reaching out to touch a man’s skin. Hands held, Nessy twirling, her arms outstretched.
Then it changed. Candles—too many. Something metal—a chain? Nessy’s mouth open, screaming wordlessly.
Von Chi dropping an instrument from his hand. It shattered on the floor.
Nessy’s face, too calm, staring back at him. Her eyes were empty, her hair spread around her face as she lay there.
Von Chi collapsing, hands placing him in a bed, many feverish nights.
Nessy running, not looking back.
Von Chi feeling bandages around his head.
Nessy still running.
“You did this to my mother!” I cried. “You did this exact thing to Nessy, and you got hurt instead! She tore your mind up and you nearly died!”
“Stay out of my head!”
“She was happy in those memories… were you lovers? Are you… my father?” I gasped.
“No! She was never in love with me! She was in love with another!” I could tell this distraction was making him angry.
“You tried to resist looking into her mind, because you didn’t want to ruin things between the two of you. You couldn’t, though!” I said. “You couldn’t, and you still can’t!”
The door banged open. Von Chi’s concentration broke as he turned to look behind him.
That was all I needed. The mental chess game was over. With a flick of Magic and a flash of pain, I pulled the knife from my thigh and threw it deep into Von Chi’s chest.
He smiled, blank eyes terrifying. “You’ll always be mine,” he gasped, then dropped to the floor dead. I let my breath out in a long puff, triumphant but shaken by his words.
No. He was dead. I would not let his words haunt me. His sick part in my life was ove
r.
A young man stood at the door, eyes wide, mouth open in an expression of shock. But those eyes and that ice-blond hair… could it be?
It was Temet.
With a cry, Temet ran to me.
“Temet,” I gasped, still trying to catch my breath from the mental fight with Von Chi. “I found you.” I felt my eyes filling with tears.
“You’re alive, Cemagna,” he said softly, coming close to me. “You’re real. You’re really here. I’m here, and we’ll never be apart again.” He reached for the straps to untie me. “You’re hurt,” he said, seeing the stab wound on my thigh.
I felt the blood running down my leg. “It doesn’t matter. You are here, Temet. I’ve been dreaming of this moment for ten years. You are finally with me.”
He bent over the wound. I felt it heal; it was knitting itself together again. I gasped. “You healed me!”
“Yes.”
“T—Thank you.” I started to cry, unsure if the tears were from relief, happiness, or horror at what had just happened to me.
“I thought you were dead,” he said. “They found Nessy and the crashed airship…” He untied the last of the straps and I sat up, throwing my arms around him.
“But I was alive! I’m still alive, and I’ll never leave you.” The hug felt strange, but he was warm, and then I felt his arms around me in return.
The warmth of happiness flooded over me. I pressed my face against his shoulder, feeling the rise and fall of his chest. “I looked; I tried so hard… some people in robes tried to kill me…”
“The Enforcers. They thought you were Nessy. Shh, don’t think about that now. We’re together again. I’ve missed you so much,” he said. “Every night I would think about you. It was like a dream, another life I’d once had that I wasn’t sure had ever existed.”
I don’t know how long I held him, but when he pulled back, it felt like it had not been long enough.
“My brother,” I breathed. “My…” I breathed out and whispered the word I had been practicing so many times to say. “My Temet.”
I breathed in, realizing all was right in the world for just this one moment.
“I believe I might feel safe again.”
He smiled. “Me, too. All those people determined to keep us apart have failed.”
“Temet, Ormas and the duke are dead. There is no reason to stay in this dangerous city.”
“I still have my wizard training, as well as Halfway Magic. I hear that outside Vel City, wizards are more highly looked upon.” Temet traced a finger in the air and an apple appeared in my hand. “They are paid well for their services.”
“What will I do?” I asked.
“Come with me. You have Magic, same as I do. We’ll go far away and we can both be wizards-for-hire. We’ll stay in remote mountain villages where no one will ever find us. We’ll be free and we’ll be together.”
“I can barely control Magic, Temet. I was never trained. I’ve been alone for ten years.”
“We’re going to fix that. I’m going to find you a teacher or teach you myself.”
“Really?” I felt a strange shade of hope bloom in my chest. Powers like Temet, under control, no longer erratic, smooth as air. Was it possible? I took a bite of apple, feeling the strength my ordeal had taken away returning as I ate.
“There’s no reason you can’t become as good at Magic as I am, Cemagna.” He held out his hand to help me off the table. “Come on. Let’s go forward, not backwards. Let’s have the life we should have had ten years ago.”
“Where do we belong, Temet? Where do you belong when you grow up alone and broken?” I wondered aloud.
“You have to find that place yourself, Cemagna.”
I took his hand.
THE END
Book 2 of Wizards and Faeries, Wanderer’s Shadow, is available now from Stephanie Void!
Turn the pages to read the first chapter!
A Little Favor
Hello there! This is Stephanie Void. I hope you enjoyed my book.
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From Stephanie Void comes the second book of the Wizards and Faeries series and sequel to Halfway!
Wanderer’s Shadow
Chapter One
I had been living in hiding for two years when the naked man washed up on my beach.
He lay peacefully as the surf crashed around him, the waves piling the sand around his body. Though he was face down, his head was tilted to the side, so I could see part of his face.
He looked to be older than me, with soft hands that spoke of a life lived indoors. His head was shaved smooth. Cupped in one hand, which lay outstretched on the sand, was a silver-rimmed lens. It was, as I stooped closer to see, miraculously unbroken.
I knelt down, drawing closer to him, and discovered he was—also miraculously—still breathing.
At that moment, I decided to wake him up. The sun had already risen, and I was certain my ocean-borne visitor would prefer if I, instead of a vicious sunburn, was the one to wake him.
Gingerly, I reached for his shoulder to shake him awake. As soon as my fingers touched him, however, a shiver ran through his whole body.
His eyes flew open.
With a shout, he leapt to his feet, wet sand plastered across the front of his body from head to foot. The silver-rimmed lens fell from his hand.
“Where am I?” he demanded, eyes darting wildly. “Who are you?” He made a face, then turned to spit out sand and seawater.
I peeled his lens from the sand where it had fallen and saw it was attached to a silver chain. Slowly, I rose to my feet, then spoke in a level voice.
“I’m Cemagna, Master Nude. I live here. Or rather, I live in the house on the cliff. And you have interrupted my morning walk with your… self. I decided to wake you so you wouldn’t wake later with sunburn. I imagine none of your… exposed places would be particularly comfortable if they were sunburned.”
“Thank you,” he said. He caught sight of the object in my hand. “My monocle! I didn’t think it would survive the… the trip. My clothes certainly didn’t. I really, really need to figure out how to solve that problem. If only I hadn’t left behind… May I have my monocle back, please?”
Monocle. So that was what it was. I handed the glass lens to him. Bending over, he rinsed the sand from it in the surf.
“Would you do me the kindness of telling me where I am?” he asked, standing up and placing the lens over one eye.
I nodded, steadfastly refusing to let my gaze drift lower than his shoulders. “You are on a peninsula of rock-choked land that I call home. It’s somewhere in the wilderness between Aryon and Velerethland. “ Slipping the shawl from my shoulders, I held it out to him. “Would you like some… ah… coverage?”
“Thank you.” He had a clear but deep voice. With a smile, he took my shawl and tied it around his hips, appearing equally comfortable semi-clothed and naked. This man was completely without a scrap of self-consciousness.
“How did you get here?” I asked uncertainly, sure I was blushing. I’d spent a large portion of my life in isolation, but I suspected that even if I had been around other people more, it still would have not prepared me with the proper things to say to a sand-covered man wearing only my shawl. “How did you survive being unconscious in the sea? You didn’t drown.”
“I don’t think I was in the sea for very long. It is possible I arrived right up on your shore,” he said thoughtfully. His voice issued intelligence. Who was this man? “You see, I was using a transportation potion I had
developed. The bringing-your-clothes-along part of it is the hardest part to get right.” He looked around. “Pity that was the last of it. I don’t seem to have gotten to where I was going.”
“A transportation potion. You’re a wizard, then.” I was instantly on my guard. Wizards were trouble.
“Yes. I am. I’m trying to get to my friend Temet.”
My breath caught in my throat. Temet. Temet was my twin brother, up in the house on the cliff at this very moment. He had been forced to join the Wizardly Order, that prison-like organization for wizards, when he was very young. Two years ago he had escaped it. He and I were living in hiding now because of the Wizardly Order.
“Who are you?” I asked. This could be a trap.
“Aesath!” I turned to see Temet standing above us on the cliff path we used to get from our house to the beach, his eyes wide with surprise as he stared at the man from the sea. “Aesath!” he yelled again, even more excitedly. “How did you find me?” He ran down the path to us. “It has been so long!”
“Temet!” cried the man from the sea. “It worked! It got me to you! My transportation potion worked!”
My brother reached out and embraced Aesath, heedless of the sand covering the man’s body. “I see you still can’t make your clothes transport when you do.”
“You know him?” I asked, still suspicious. “Temet, he’s from the Order.”
Temet released Aesath from the embrace and turned to me. “Cemagna, this is Aesath, the one friend I had in the Order. He kept me sane for the ten years I was there. Aesath, this is Cemagna, my twin sister, who is very much alive. Remember when the Order told me she had died? They were wrong.”
I regarded Aesath. He did not look capable of the evils I knew the Order did, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t. But I let my suspicions go. “If you are sure he means you no harm, Temet, then he is a friend to me as well.” I looked at Aesath sharply. “As long as you don’t intend to drag him back to that horrible Wizardly Order of yours.”
“Never, my lady.” He bowed as if I was a queen. “Not that I could, anyway. He is a semi-faerie, a Halfway. He is stronger than I am. But I have no such intentions towards either of you.”
“Then you are welcome in our home,” I said.
Halfway (Wizards and Faeries) Page 11