by CM Raymond
Dinner was prepared by an executive chef, who was available around the clock, but that night, Adrien hardly took notice of the quality of the choice cut.
His mind couldn’t shake the report that Jasper and the other Hunters gave about the demon-magician in the market. Ezekiel, his mentor, had mentioned such magic before he left Arcadia for the last time, but it was impossible that his mentor could be back. Everyone knew he was gone—gone for good.
Magic is powerful, but the dead don’t return. Perspiration beaded on his forehead, and he dabbed at it with the cloth napkin.
If the master had returned, Adrien would have to be ready for him. The man would certainly not agree with the direction that the Chancellor had steered the city. But what did he know? Adrien’s teacher lived in a world of imaginary ideals; he knew nothing of real politics—let alone real education.
“Cynthia!” Adrien yelled, his fear tainting his yell as frustration.
Footsteps clattered down the hall toward the dining room. A beautiful woman in maid’s garb quickly stepped out of the hall and stopped across the table from Adrien. “Yes, Chancellor, what can I do for you?”
“Horace, he’s the manager of Queen’s Boulevard, isn’t he?”
“Yes, sir. He is.”
“Send one of the boys to tell him I need to see him, one hour from now in my private office.”
The woman offered something between a bow and a curtsy before shuffling out of the room—relieved to be leaving.
****
Hannah watched her dad leave the room in shock. No one told the drunk what to do, not in his own house. She spun back to the old man, who was standing in the middle of their bedroom.
“Let me see that, son,” he said to William.
The boy reached out the bottle of pills with a quivering hand. After giving it a little shake, the man opened the bottle and sniffed its contents. Pulling a pill out, he held it up to the light and inspected it.
“Interesting,” he said, more to himself than to the room’s residents.
Hannah watched him break the pill open and pour the contents into his left hand as he pushed the contents around with his right. He raised his right eyebrow and looked over to the young man, “Where did you get this?” he asked.
Without a word, William’s eyes cut to his sister, then back to the man.
Ezekiel turned. “Young lady?”
If a kid learned anything growing up in Queen’s Boulevard, it was not to be a snitch. Sure, the guy saved her from certain death, but she still didn’t trust him.
Her lips remained tightly pursed.
“Ah, a woman of principle. I see.” The man smiled, and his eyes glimmered. They were a steely gray when they weren’t glowing red. “Let’s play it this way: Whatever you do, don’t think of the alchemist’s name right now.”
Naturally, the first thing to flash through her head was Miranda’s name and an image of her sitting across the table from her in the little basement room. As she thought it, the magician’s eyes flashed red and then back to gray.
“Miranda?” he murmured.
Hannah narrowed her eyes, annoyed, “How did you…”
He cocked his head to the side. “Really? Are you so surprised? Well, I expect I don’t know her, but this Miranda has made a very good mix for the boy. I’m sure it may have worked after some time. A few days, a little more a little less. Alchemy is such an imprecise science.”
“I recognize you,” Hannah pointed at him, “even without the green skin and horns.” Her anger could take her only so far before her question came out, but it was now a simple question, no frustration left in her voice, “But who the hell are you?”
The man laughed again, each time he laughed was more comforting for Hannah than the last. “That is the burning question, isn’t it young one?”
Untying the lash around his neck, in one swift move, the man pushed his arms back, allowing the brown cloak to drop to the floor. Underneath were stunning white robes.
His transformation occurred before her eyes.
While his hair and beard were still white, he looked decades younger and stronger. Standing up straight, he seemed to have grown six inches. The entire thing made Hannah step back and fall onto the bed with William. She grabbed for her brother’s leg.
“Whoa,” William said in almost a whisper.
“No shit,” Hannah replied.
“Ah,” the transformed man said. “This is a bit more like me. But I couldn’t be out there without something of a disguise.” He rolled his neck as if working out some kinks. “I am the one that people here call the Founder. My given name is Ezekiel.”
“Whoa,” William said again.
“Horseshit,” Hannah said, climbing off the bed, standing up and pointing at the man. “There is no such thing as the Founder. It’s like wood nymphs or… or…” she threw her hands up in the air, “I don’t know, something else that isn’t real.”
She turned, getting hot and heavy into her argument, “The Founder is a story told by some to manipulate others to comfort. Like the Prophet.” She stabbed a finger at Ezekiel, “That guy is a cultist! Drawing everybody in with stories and then feeding off their admiration and attention. And his disciples?”
Her voice rose an octave.
“They’re even worse! The Founder for them is something to give them a false sense of hope about the future. But that ain’t the way of the world. Not here in Arcadia. And it sure ain’t my life.” Hannah realized she was sweating and for some reason close to tears.
Her emotions were taking over, and she wasn’t certain why. “You’re not the Founder, we’re not going to be your disciples.” She breathed deep, willing the tears to stay away as she speared Ezekiel with both eyes, “Go mindscrew somebody else, you sicko! Just because you saved me back there in the alley... and… and now with my own father....”
Hannah felt nauseous like she had much of the previous day. She curled her hands into little balls and considered attacking. But something deep inside told her to stop.
Just Wait.
Listen.
And Watch.
The magician finally took his eyes off Hannah and turned towards William. “Young man, do you believe as your sister does?” he asked, an eyebrow raised in question.
William’s eyes were wide, his mouth dropped slightly open, looked to Hannah and then back at Ezekiel. “Um, yeah… I think so.”
Ezekiel pursed his lips for a moment. “How are you feeling? The seizures.”
“Fine.”
“No.” Ezekiel shook his head. “Tell me the truth.”
William glanced back at Hannah, and she gave him the slightest nod. She wanted to believe, but at the same time, she just couldn’t.
Life didn’t work well if you believed in fairy tales.
“OK,” he shrugged. “I feel terrible. Like the world is spinning. Only slowly now, then it will speed up and the shaking comes. I can’t stop it.”
“I can,” Ezekiel said with a wink. “Do you want me to?”
Another glance in Hannah’s direction, and she knew she had to make a call. A lifetime of suspicion meant that she couldn’t trust this man, but when it came to her brother, no wager was too high.
“Do it,” she finally answered, her voice a whisper.
Without a word, the man stepped forward and leaned over Hannah’s brother. His eyes turned red again. She could feel the power coming off of him, like in the marketplace.
Placing his hands on the boy, the man stood for a moment motionless. It was as if his body was there, but nothing else. After what felt like an eternity, William’s face came to life. His color returned and he looked better than he ever had. The man stepped back, took a couple of steps and then slumped in the chair in the corner.
“Whoa!” William cried, looking at both his hands, clenching them and then flexing them both. “That was amazing.”
Hannah came back to the bed. “What? What is it?” she asked, looking him up and down.
“I’ve never felt like this before,” he looked up at his sister, his eyes glistening, “Everything old is gone. But something else is in its place. I feel… feel… great.”
As long as Hannah had known her brother, which was all of his life, the boy had moments when his health was bad and other times when it was worse. He’d never felt great before.
Hannah’s heart burst with joy. Looking back over at Ezekiel in the chair, her voice was questioning, “You fixed him?”
The old man looked at her for a moment, then nodded. “Now that I am back,” he told her as he looked towards William and then out the window, “I have a mind to fix a lot of things.” He turned back to the two of them, “William here is only the beginning.” He waved towards the outside, “It is time to make Arcadia what she was meant to be. Time to create a kingdom where magic is used for the good of all.”
Regaining his strength from casting, the man stood. He didn’t look like the old man who had entered their house minutes ago.
Although still gray, he looked strong and filled with life. “The one problem? I’m going to need help. I can’t change the world on my own. And there’s going to be those who want anything but change. We’re not talking about just the little things—though, those matter—what I’m talking about is a whole new order.” He told the two of them.
Hannah stood up, arms crossed in front of her. “Even if I bought all of this, what can I do?” Her voice dropped, as close to admitting defeat as she had ever done, “I’m a nobody.”
“Hannah,” his eyes seemed to disappear for a moment before she could focus on them. “You are a magician, with potential to unlock a power you can hardly dream of. The question is not what can you do, but rather, what do you have the will to do?”
The old man held a hand out in her direction. “So, you answer me this, Hannah…” he asked her, his eyes seeming to dance between colors.
“Do you want to help save the people here,” he waved to those in the Queen’s Boulevard, “Are you willing to help save Arcadia?”
CHAPTER NINE
A caged bird forgets how to sing, Hannah thought as she walked through the front gates of Arcadia and into the unknown. It was a line her mother had said to her over and over when she was young. It was a tale, which, as far as she knew, was older than Irth.
As a child, she never really knew what it meant, but as she grew, Hannah found that her life was that cage, and the bars had gotten thicker and thicker as she got older. But when she was young, she never realized that her mother was a caged bird herself, and she didn’t want Hannah to follow in her path.
Stepping through the broad gate and out of Arcadia for the first time, all terror washed away, and she felt a sense of freedom she didn’t know was possible.
The taste was sweet, and she only wanted more.
Turning back to look over her shoulder, she took one last look at Arcadia’s walls as she walked beside the magician who offered her liberation.
The choice hadn’t been made lightly.
For years, she could have run. But it was her brother that kept her within the walls. She had traded love for freedom and had resigned herself to the noble decision. His declining health had held her. That and her abusive father.
There was no way in hell she would leave Arcadia with her sick brother in that drunk man’s hands. So, she stayed and had no regrets nor resentment toward her brother because of it.
But Ezekiel changed everything.
He placed his hands on William, and all signs of weakness disappeared. William went from looking like a shriveled child to the strong young man Hannah always knew he was on the inside. With William’s health back, Hannah’s impetus to stay had weakened. If Ezekiel’s magical spell on her father was true, as well, the decision was even easier.
Ezekiel spoke to her father and he had listened. He was now crawling the streets of Arcadia, looking for work. Something her father had stopped doing well before her mother died.
But even with the apparent reversal in fortune, Hannah’s skepticism was not easily overcome. A lifetime of learning that bad tended to run to worse made it hard to accept that some all-powerful god-like figure would just show up at her door with free handouts.
It took hours, but Will had finally convinced her that going with Ezekiel, at least on a trial basis, was worth a shot.
Even if the whole thing was some elaborate scam, the rewards outweighed the risks. And the guy had healed him. Hannah was willing to break a lot of rules where William’s health and happiness were concerned.
Will was a smart kid, and Parker would help him when necessary. So, she had finally consented to the magician’s offer to hear him out on his plan to save Arcadia and her role in the whole endeavor. Even as they walked their first paces beyond the walls, she wondered why her? What did she have to offer the mighty Founder who people had talked about for decades?
Apparently, this old man was convinced she could use magic. She didn’t doubt the fact that something weird had happened to her—the strange lizard tucked away in her bag was proof of that—it was hard for her to grasp that she could ever do the things that she had seen the Founder do.
There were many questions to be answered, but she turned her mind from her queries toward taking in the new world around her. It was her first time beyond the city gates.
“So, um, Founder…”
“Ezekiel.”
“Yeah, OK, Zeke…” she looked around her, at the trees, the path before coming back to look at him, “Where the hell are we going?”
The man lifted his staff and pointed its end toward the horizon. Peeking up over the dark-green boughs of the pines was a tower. Even from her vantage point, it was a relic from the old world. She could see places where the structure had crumbled apart. It looked like the hand of a god had reached down and tore off the top.
Having grown up in her cage of a city, Hannah was clueless when it came to judging distances that spanned for more than a walk across the four quarters, but she made a guess. “Going to take us hours to walk there.”
“Yes, walking it would.”
Ezekiel’s eyes flashed bright red, and a flood of power washed over her. The hair on her skin raised, and a mighty wind rushed through her hair. She blinked and realized she was no longer outside the city gate, but instead stood in the middle of a great hall with large arched ceilings. The place was filled with crumbled rock and rails of steel—a metal from the old days before the Age of Madness. She cleared her throat, and the sound echoed throughout the cavernous interior.
At least, it was cavernous compared to her little hovel.
“What the hell?” she got out as she turned in place, looking around.
“Not hell. This,” he pointed all around, “will be our little heaven.” Ezekiel commented right when a piece of the ceiling dropped, crashing to the floor some thirty feet away. “Or at least a purgatory. It is where we will train you and ready ourselves for the first steps of taking back Arcadia.” He reached up and scratched his beard as he looked around, “It needs a little cleaning up first, but nothing we can’t handle.”
The man’s face was drawn and sickly. He slouched more than when he had first entered her house—his weight leaning on his staff. “But for now I must rest.”
Hannah hesitated before reaching out. “Are… are you OK?”
The man laughed. “Of course, but magic doesn’t come without a price. Teleportation is one of the most trying arts I know. Takes even more to move both of us.” He raised up his staff and pointed, “I have made you a place at the end of that hall,” he turned the staff and pointed to the left,”mine is over here.” The staff dropped back to the floor with a pronounced ‘Thud!’
“I need to restore some of my strength. You should get settled in. This place will be your home for some time. But, for now, stay inside the tower. The surrounding forest around this location is not as tame as Arcadia.”
He put practice to his words and started heading in the direction he had pointed
his staff for his own location. She turned and headed in the direction of her own location.
A little mattress was pushed into a corner of her room. Other than a side table and a tiny desk with a chair, the room was barren. Settling in wouldn’t take long, but it was more than she had ever had, so Hannah was grateful. And although she loved William with all her heart, sharing a room with a boy allowed for little privacy. She tugged open the leather bag and pulled out the spare shirt and cloak, the only clothing she had.
From beneath the clothing, two beady eyes stared up at her. “Here we are, Sal. I’m not sure what’s ahead of us,” she reached into her bag to grab the lizard looking creature, “but I’m glad I don’t need to go it alone.”