The Magic Wakes

by Charity Bradford

  Patience is not in my nature.

  “Quiet.” Jaron exerted his mind and locked the demon away. He redirected his thoughts farther down the hallway. It was now occupied by something not human, and yet it was. It had to be the Dragumon.

  Jaron pulled out his pouch and set up a powerful expulsion barrier. He chanted and dipped his fingers into his pouch. Reaching out he touched one wall as far up as he could reach, and then he touched the opposite wall. He did this several more times, moving down the wall to the floor in order to seal the spell in place. When it was finished, Jaron ran toward the woman, guided by the essence of her magic. He hoped to reach her before the Dragumon hit the barrier.

  It would be faster to jump through a portal, the demon suggested.

  Jaron summoned a portal and stepped through it. As he materialized, the ground trembled beneath his feet. The aftershock of his barrier. The Dragumon had been closer than he thought.

  The air in the new corridor was warmer than the museum hallway. Landry tugged on Talia’s hand to get her moving again.

  She let him pull her along. “How can you see?”

  “Night vision lenses. Standard military issue. They automatically activate in decreased light levels.”

  “Remind me to get some of those. I can’t see anything.” She put her trust in him as he led her through the darkness.

  The Dragumon continued to blast through the levels above. The sound of the explosions grew distant, and Talia thought they might be safe.

  A flash of light pierced the darkness followed by a blast of energy that knocked her to the ground. Talia’s ears rang, the dark shimmered with fireworks. She rubbed her eyes and tried to refocus them.

  She sat up and whispered, “Landry?”

  He didn’t answer. She listened for his breathing, but the ringing in her ears was too loud. With arms outstretched, she crawled around brushing the ground until she bumped into him. He lay so still, she thought he might be unconscious, but the mental connection was instantaneous.

  Landry, what happened? She clung to him. The ringing faded, and she concentrated on his breathing. Landry would save her. He would take her hand and lead her out of the darkness any moment.

  I don’t know, but the light . . . I can’t see. Landry held on to Talia and they stood as one, leaning against the wall for support. The flash of light happened too fast for the contacts to adjust. I’m temporarily blinded. At least I hope it’s temporary.

  Maybe the lenses just shorted out? Talia didn’t want to think about what it would mean to be trapped underground with no light.

  “If we’re lucky.”

  “We’re sitting ducks. What are we going to—” Talia stopped speaking as a torch flared up.

  A tall, blond man stood before them. “The Dragumon walked into my barrier.”

  Landry reached out with his gift at the sound of another voice, and with their connection in place, Talia also experienced the emotions rolling off the stranger. They were mixed hope, despair, guilt, and something else. Something dark and brooding. Two sets of conflicting emotions from one being.

  The man held out a hand toward Talia. “Now, if you will come with me, we have a lot to talk about.”

  Careful Talia, something is familiar about this man, but I don’t recognize him. Exhaustion set in, but Talia couldn’t forget the Dragumon. She didn’t know what the barrier was, but she knew the Dragumon wouldn’t stop until they found her.

  “Who are you, and what kind of barrier?” Talia drew comfort from the fact she had never dreamed this scenario. Strength from Landry also calmed her nerves.

  “My name is Jaron. There’s no time to explain. The Dragumon will wake shortly, so I suggest you come with me.”

  Landry moved between the stranger and Talia, carefully keeping the contact in place. They could feel his impatience. He wanted something from Talia, but there was no way of knowing what.

  “The Dragumon? How do you know what they’re called?” Landry’s natural suspicions kicked in.

  They sensed Jaron’s annoyance. He wanted to ignore Landry.

  “Once again, there is no time for this. Come with me and I’ll answer all your questions in time.”

  “Fine.” Landry waved his hand in front of him. “Let’s go.”

  “Just the woman. You’ll slow us down, but I can protect her, teach her how to use her gift for magic and then, together we will destroy the Dragumon.”

  Talia tightened her hold on Landry’s arm as a chill ran through her. Don’t let him take me.

  “Magic? What are you talking about?” Landry bluffed. To Talia he said, How does he know?

  “I know she has the aptitude, for now that is all I will say.” Jaron looked past Landry at Talia. “I can teach you what you need to know, how to use it.”

  “Who are you?”

  “You’re wasting time. I’ll open a portal and you will be safe, but you must let him go. I can’t transport both of you.” Agitation sounded in his voice.

  “I don’t go without Landry.” Talia had Landry in a death grip with her good arm.

  “My only purpose is the destruction of the Dragumon. I cannot afford to drag along someone of no use to me. You have to look at the bigger picture.” Jaron reached for Talia, but Landry side-stepped his approach.

  “Once again, I don’t leave without Landry.”

  Landry, what do we do?

  “Sometimes you do things you don’t want in order to reach your goals. You must come with me! You have the gift!” Jaron spoke harshly and the tunnel filled with a tense energy. “Think of your planet.”

  Landry spoke to Talia’s mind. Convince him I have the same gifts. When my sight comes back we work out a new plan.

  That’s easy. You do have similar talents. To Jaron, she said, “In that case it would be worth your while to take Landry, too. He has the gift.”

  Jaron arched his brow but reached out and placed the palm of his hand on Landry’s forehead. Landry pulled back a little but stopped as a surge of power flowed into him from Jaron.

  Talia looked inward and found a cloudy room where she could see Landry’s inner person. Jaron now stood there palm to forehead just like in the flesh. A blue aura surrounded them, pulsing in a circuitous path between the two men.

  Landry absorbed the energy and healed his eyes. He was trying to reach into Jaron’s mind to gather information, but Jaron blocked him completely.

  Jaron looked at Talia’s spirit self and then disappeared.

  Landry blinked and focused on the face in front of him. He focused on Jaron’s eyes. They were his most striking feature, seemingly bottomless depths of pale blue. However, a black cloud swam below the surface.

  “You have the gift of transference . . . that increases our chance of success.” Jaron abruptly turned and walked a few paces down the hall. “Enough. They are waking. I cannot teleport more than one other person on my own, but I think he may be able to make up the difference.”

  “What are you talking about?” Talia fidgeted.

  She could sense Landry weighing his concerns against his curiosity. He had felt the power, too; and the look in Jaron’s eyes hinted at knowledge. She had learned enough about Landry to know that he always had to know what his enemy knew.

  “No time for a lesson, just stand here and take my hand. Now you take my other one. Now—” Closing the circle was like closing a circuit.

  A jolt of energy shot through all three, expanding around them until they were surrounded. The buzz clenched their hands together, melding them into one. Talia whimpered at the pain shooting through her shoulder and arms. Jaron nudged time and space with his mind and they jumped to a new corridor. This one well lit. Talia barely registered the change before they jumped again. This time they stood outside, within sight of the forest.

  One more jump and the safety of the trees embraced Talia moments before she collapsed.

  Chapter 27

  Nysyk picked himself up from the ground confused and disoriented. He thought the
people of Sendek had no weapons capable of hurting a Dragumon. Granted, he wasn’t hurt, just sore from slamming into the wall before hitting the ground. He rubbed the back of his hand and looked at his tracker.

  All three mage signatures had convened several hundred yards ahead of him. He watched as his prey jumped twenty meters in a second.

  They moved another twenty meters, and their energy signals blended in with the forest making it impossible to track.

  Kansisi settled into his new quarters in the palace while his men continued to rid the city of the human pestilence. They swatted the pitiful army that had gathered out of the sky without any problems, clearing the way for the rest of his people to leave orbit.

  His new room contained the treasures of the Signum and some Sendek weapons, gathered after his men slaughtered them in their own tunnels.

  He ignored the guns and ran his fingers over the dragon armor. The touch so familiar, and yet without the dragon inside they were just scales. The fire and power were gone, leaving them cold. It struck him as sad. Where did the dragons go when they left this world? Did they find a place to live another life; did they simply cease to exist?

  A knock at his door drew his attention. Shishali waltzed in, a scowl on her face.

  “Is everyone on the ground?”

  “Yes. You no longer want to wipe them out, do you?” Shishali stepped close.

  “No, I don’t enjoy death the way you do. We’re home and they’re not strong enough to fight us.”

  “If they remember the old ways they may cause problems. We need to kill enough of them to prevent that from happening.” Shishali sat on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “What do you suggest?” Kansisi smiled at her.

  “We kill half and make the other half our slaves. They won’t have time to cause problems.”

  “Tempting, but remember how we used our years of servitude. We may end up like our former masters.”

  Shishali shook her head. “Never. We are smarter. We know what to watch for.”

  Kansisi pulled Shishali close and rested his head against her shoulder. “Do you think we’ll find our answers here?”

  Shishali sighed and gave the answer she knew he wanted. “Yes, and when we do, our people will cover the planet. What do you think it will feel like when we start to age again?”

  “I don’t know, but it will be worth it to feel whole. I don’t even fear death anymore. It might be a welcome change after so much living.”

  “I’m not ready for death,” Shishali said.

  “You never will be.”

  Nysyk gathered the Dragumon to fight another Royalist army on the western border of the city. Shishali barely restrained her excitement at the prospect of battle, but Kansisi refused to lead them.

  “Come with us. Don’t you want to see these men fall?” Shishali asked.

  “I didn’t return to Sendek for men but to regain what we lost. You go and enjoy yourself.” Kansisi waved her away.

  “You’re no fun since we arrived. Don’t you want to kill just one of them with your bare hands? They’re the reason the dragons exiled us. We wandered through space for all of these centuries because they would not accept us. Come and tell them about the worlds we destroyed in their name.”

  “We made some bad choices along the way, Shishali. These men are not responsible for any of those things.”

  Shishali took a step back. What happened to her control over him? She reached out with her magic and found the connection, but Kansisi’s will had grown stronger since the last time she focused her power on him. Did she leave him alone too long, or did Sendek change him in ways she had not foreseen? She reached far into her memory trying to remember what his mind felt like before they left the planet.

  He had always been kind to her, but managed to keep his distance and control until men murdered Elvin in front of him.

  “These are the descendants of the men who killed Elvin. Don’t you want to avenge his death?” She sparked his anger, but it faded too quickly for her to fan.

  “Elvin made his own choices. These men don’t know who he was. What will I accomplish by making them pay for his death?”

  “You can satisfy your need for revenge.”

  “I no longer feel that need. Too much time has passed.”

  “For sheer enjoyment then—to remember the thrill of the hunt, the fear on their faces, the smell of blood on the ground!”

  “I’ve seen enough death, but don’t worry, Shishali, I won’t deprive you of your fun.” Kansisi turned and walked down the street in the opposite direction from the gathering army.

  Shishali shook her head in bewilderment. Perhaps it wouldn’t matter. She was home and her place as leader was already set in the minds of the Dragumon. She joined Nysyk’s handful of warriors.

  “I hope you are not underestimating these people,” she told Nysyk.

  “Shishali, this will be quick. I plan to disintegrate the first few hundred. That will include their leadership and cause the rest to turn and run. Easy.”

  “I want to engage in some hand to hand. Will you allow me to chase a few as they flee?”

  “If you wish.” Nysyk nodded at her.

  Shishali smiled, took off her power pack, and set her plasma staff down. She enjoyed death best when it flowed from her hands.

  The human army gathered in a field at the edge of the city, the mountains hazy in the distance behind them. Their navy and red uniforms blended into a mass of movement. It looked very much like the scene from Orek. The only differences were the colors and the absence of wizards standing beside the military.

  Shishali marched alongside the other Dragumon as they picked targets and fired their weapons. The previously silent air burst into cries of fear and pain as men fell in flames. She watched Nysyk aim for the leadership, but most of the Dragumon didn’t care who they targeted.

  Nysyk correctly called the timing of the battle. The men of Sendek didn’t get a chance to fire any of their weapons at the approaching Dragumon. Within five minutes, Shishali could taste their fear on the breeze, mingled with their burnt flesh. By the end of ten minutes, hundreds lay dead and the rest scattered. Shishali nodded to Nysyk and followed the retreating men.

  Her bones knew the home of her birth. She fell into an easy sprint, savoring the feel of the earth falling away beneath her. The men of Sendek recoiled into the forest, and Shishali released a burst of speed. Inside the edge of the trees, she saw a small group of soldiers. She wanted to feel blood on her hands.

  She used the cover of the trees to close the distance and then rushed them. She killed two of them with a quick twist of the neck. The sound of snapping bones sent a thrill through her. The other two men split up. Shishali followed the largest one.

  The man glanced back several times until he realized he couldn’t outrun the demon following him. He fired shots at her. Most missed their mark, but a couple of them hit her. The blows stung, but her scales protected her from serious harm.

  Shishali growled as one hit her square in the chest, knocking her to the ground. That one would leave a bruise. The man stopped and pulled out a long knife. She got to her feet and let him take a few swings at her, but when one of the swings swiped the side of her head, she snarled, “Enough play time!”

  The whole side of her head throbbed from the strength of the strike. She dove under his next swing and twisted around so that her strong tail swiped his feet out from under him. Then she pounced, knocking the knife into the underbrush.

  The man, although not as tall as Shishali, outweighed her by fifty pounds. He was a fighter. Every time Shishali thought she had him pinned, he used his weight to flip her over. Once he managed to free himself completely. His survival instincts helped, but fell short of Shishali’s predatory nature. She seized him as he scurried to his feet, throwing all her weight into his leg from the side. A satisfying crunch echoed with his cry as the man sank to the ground.

  She rolled until she pinned him bene
ath her once more. The man’s eyes watered with pain, but he still struggled to fight. His large hands wrapped around her neck and squeezed. Shishali gripped him with her powerful legs and forced her arms up between his, breaking his grip on her throat. In the same smooth motion, she grabbed his wrists and twisted, breaking them.

  The man’s eyes squeezed shut and his uneven breathing gave way to a low moan. Shishali wanted to see his life disappearing.

  “Open your eyes and I will make all the pain go away.” She made her voice sound as soft and soothing as possible.

  “Go back to the hell you came from!” He spat the words out of trembling lips.

  Shishali wrapped her fingers loosely around his neck, and pushed her talon-like nails into his skin. Tiny pinpricks of blood appeared. She pushed deeper until she found the carotid artery and punctured it. Another finger found his windpipe and punctured it. As he bled out, he drowned in his own blood. Shishali held him there with the warm blood flowing over her hands as the air from his lungs bubbled through.

  “Too bad for you, this is the hell I came from.”

  Chapter 28

  Talia’s head throbbed and her right arm tingled from the shoulder down. Warmth radiated down on her, but starbursts danced behind her closed eyes. Hard earth lay beneath her. She opened her eyes and watched Landry. He leaned against a tree with his eyes closed, absent-mindedly running his fingers through her hair. Stubble shaded his face and dark circles lined his eyes.

  A tickly coolness grew in her shoulder and moved down her arm until the numbness disappeared. Talia closed her eyes and concentrated on sharing the energy from the trees with Landry. She visualized the flow of energy, similar to the infrared satellite. She pushed and pulled energy between them until they reached a state of equilibrium.

  Thank you. Landry stood before her in their mind room.