Malicious Magic: An Urban Fantasy Adventure

by G. K. Lund

  “Okay.” I pointed at the gate doors and walked over. Melleta came along. “I’ll find the thief.”

  “You will?”

  “Yes.” I did not doubt that.

  “Can you bring back the gem?”

  That might be harder. But I was sure going to try. People seemed to be disappearing and dying here. Melleta was trapped, and so was Loki. No, I needed to try. And helping with more than the gem could hardly be a bad thing when trying to restore my name?

  Piece of cake.

  “Will my partner be safe until I return?” I asked and opened the gate.

  “Yes. With the inhibitor on, Dekel can’t do anything, including escaping.”

  “That should give me some time then.”

  “Um, but what can you do? No offense,” she hurried to add.

  “How can I be offended?” I told her. She’d known me as a Kin member, and I’d certainly not retrieved neither thieves nor gemstones then. “Like you, I’ve had to adapt and change to make it through everything.” I stepped through the gate and looked back at her. “Just give me some time.”

  Melleta nodded while holding the gate door open. “Good luck,” she added, and then closed the big door behind me.

  I stepped out into the street, the smell of spices replacing the dry scent from within the order’s gated community. I checked out my surroundings, looking right and left, but there was nothing to be seen of the hooded man. The sun was setting, but that did not mean much in Atlantis. It was still day, and the city was always full of life regardless. The darkness could make it easier to hide, of course, but not from me.

  I closed my eyes and focused on the task at hand. Find my dagger. It didn’t take long for me to sense it. It felt like a small pinch guiding me left. So, he had run in that direction. I opened my eyes, smiled, and started walking after him. Yes, I should perhaps not have been so surprised by Melleta’s use of magic. The Kin had been nothing if not anti magic. If we’d had any affirmation beyond the one we repeated like a mantra, that was it. It had all been about stopping the infestation of magic in the city, especially up in the higher echelons of Lantean society. Of course, it had also been about the inflated ego of Kerwyn Bowden. Too bad none of us had seen that before it was too late.

  But despite Kerwyn’s fanatic ways, he was not above fighting fire with fire, which I’d come to learn more about after the fall. My weekly visits to get medicine from Del’s shop had been proof of that. Even more so were my daggers. I didn’t know where he’d found them or what his purpose had been. The Kin had fallen before I could find out. There was magic in them, though, and consequently in me after the ritual I’d been subjected to.

  The mere thought made me shiver despite the pleasant heat in the city. I followed the little tug my mind sensed from the missing dagger. It had all been achieved through blood magic. I still bore the scars on my back, though they were, thankfully, faded now. But the daggers were bound to me, and I could always sense them if they were far away from me. The witch Kerwyn had brought in to perform the ritual had promised it wouldn’t hurt too much. She’d lied, and I’d hated her. Then she’d disappeared and my anger had turned to anguish; fear of what had happened to her, terror as to what Kerwyn’s plan had been for me beyond what he’d told me at the time: “You will guard these until I need them.”

  We had been such fools. All of us.

  I couldn’t think of that now. Unless the hooded man threw the dagger away, it would lead me right to him. And why would he throw it away? Especially if he was a thief? No, the mystical alloy alone was worth an acceptable amount of money, which should hopefully give me some time before he found a buyer. Either way, I’d find it, but right now, I needed to find this particular thief.

  I passed a newsstand when a headline in The Lantean caught my eye; Unusual Veil activity. I stopped and bought a copy, adding an Earthside chocolate bar to my purchase. It had been a long day. I gobbled down the sweetness while walking and reading. Apparently, there had been more travelers than usual who’d tried to sneak through last night, all of six people and a large dog. I snorted at that last one. It must have come with one of the others, considering it couldn’t open a rift on its own. Then the bad news was presented with the fact that two of the travelers were connected to the Red Kin with at least one being a former member. The chocolate felt like glue stuck to my palate and I skimmed the rest of the article but there was, thankfully, no mention of names. There was merely a warning at the end for people to expect more and more exiled lower-ranking members who would return in the time ahead. And should the authorities maybe do something about it? Surely the citizens of Atlantis deserved better than to live side by side with such low-lives? Okay, so the article didn’t say low-lives, but it might as well have. I sighed and threw the paper away before shoving the rest of the chocolate in one of my jacket pockets where it wouldn’t melt.

  I walked through bustling streets while I let my bond to the missing dagger lead me in the right direction. Some streets were familiar, some were not. The city was so big I’d be willing to bet no one had ever been everywhere. Buildings in Atlantis were a mishmash of different styles and materials; mostly wood, stone, and brick, though I’d seen mud huts and tents in the Waterside Park district once. Following the hooded man, I passed mainly Greek styled white and terraced houses. If anything was common, they were, especially in hilly areas. Secondly, came the similar-looking but bigger houses that had not been painted white, like the area I now walked in. Other than that, there were Victorian and Edwardian houses, adobe and frame houses—all traces of the various people who had come here over the centuries and settled here. Most streets were cobbled, not paved, and I realized I’d missed the feel of the sometimes uncomfortable unevenness beneath my feet.

  My eyes caught something on those cobblestones in the evening light. Blood. Crimson drops splotched at intervals down the busy street I was in. It looked like I didn’t need the pull of the dagger to find the thief. I smiled. People were out on various errands around me. There were shops of all kinds, everything from old-fashioned general stores to clothing stores selling 18th-century garb and a jeans store right next to it.

  I peered in the window of the last one. Couldn’t help it. Jeans were a commodity in Atlantis. They were insanely expensive and in high demand. No one had ever produced them, because the retailers always put a stop to it. It was one of those Earthside fads that had taken off and become its own thing in Atlantis. Lots of Earthside things were, of course, but the mannequins with the blue and black pants made me think of my backpack at home with a smile. A glare through the window from the woman working there reminded me to get going. This was a place where, if you had to ask about the price, then you couldn’t afford it. The fact that I was wearing jeans didn’t seem to matter, probably considering their current dusty appearance.

  Still, I was pretty sure I was in the area I would find the thief now. The dagger felt closer, and despite the sights of commerce in almost every building, I knew there was more to this place. It was called Bayside Row. Many place-names in Atlantis alluded to water despite it now famously resting in a desert. Bayside Row was well-known for being where the Thieves’ Guild was located. Exactly where in the area, was another matter. No one except the guild members knew that. But the fact that the thief had gone here, at least, solidified the fact that he was a thief. I didn’t doubt that by this point, though. Clearly, the gem, the Glory of Avalon had been in the order a year and a half ago when the agent had come investigating, but somehow Dekel must have sent him away with a plausible explanation because that was where the investigation had ended.

  I didn’t think Melleta was completely innocent either. The sapphire had been inside the Pyramid until the day the Kin fell. Somehow, she escaped arrest and had ended up in the same order as the gem. No, that was not a coincidence. Had she used it to pay Dekel off so he’d let her stay? It had been difficult to hide from the authorities after the fall. They’d had information on most of the key members and the
re had been warrants and rewards out, making it hard not to be turned in. But the Glory of Avalon was a sizable sapphire and not only that—it was part of the crown jewels. It was worth so much more than the reward for turning in a Kin member. I had no trouble seeing Dekel take that payment. It explained how Melleta had remained free for so long.

  Although how freely she was living confined in a philosophical order was another question altogether, but it was better than prison at any rate.

  I wondered how the thief had come across the gem. Had he broken in one night and found it by happenstance? But why come back like he had today then? That made no sense. No, it had to be personal somehow. Maybe he knew a member of the order? Maybe the theft had been an inside job? It had backfired severely when Dekel had punished everyone, probably not knowing who the guilty insider was. I knew one thing though—he wanted that gem back. The way he’d pushed the word ‘Avalon’ out of Loki’s strained mouth, all gargled and strangled, well that had been pure desperation. I had heard stories of ghosts coming back for unfinished business. This surely qualified. How had Dekel died anyway?

  That was an answer I couldn’t resonate my way to, and besides, more traces of blood on the ground drew my attention. I was at a street corner and the blood drops on the ground had had enough time to pool a little. Which likely meant the thief had stopped here. I took in the two streets, crossing each other. It was dark by now, yet despite the dingy electric street-lights, I could see well enough. And there, across the street to my right, were more dark splotches on the ground. I crossed and felt the pull of my dagger intensify. Yes, this was definitely the direction the hooded man had taken. It didn’t take me long to locate him after that. Just as I reached another cross-section I saw a limping form right when he disappeared into a small business near a small fruit and vegetable market. I walked closer and could see the thief had entered a doctor’s office. There were some decent sized and respectable hospitals in Atlantis, but smaller doctor’s practices with walk-in schedules were not uncommon. Considering this one was placed in Bayside Row, it was a reasonable assumption that this doctor, a doctor Gregoly upon closer inspection of the sign outside his door, worked for the Thieves Guild.

  The Thieves’ Guild was an oddity that had survived from ancient to modern times. They did not receive ‘protection’ money anymore. They’d had to stop that when the government grew stronger a few centuries ago. No, they relied on specialized thefts, often ordered by people with deep pockets. They were thieves that made theft into an art. However, it was said they also employed outside thieves for information. The Guild was not large like it had once been, but they were powerful and dangerous. I kept this in mind as I pretended to be interested in some figs and peaches by one of the nearly twenty fruit and vegetable stands. I monitored the windows to each side of the doctor’s door, ascertaining when to go inside. I couldn’t see any movement by the door, so the hooded man had likely gone further into the building.

  “That is not yours, you little maggot!” a shrill voice yelled. It was so close I startled before realizing I was not the one it was aimed at. A young and gangly boy of around fourteen was standing even more sloped than usual, considering his earlobe was in the hands of a woman who was chastising him.

  “Now give it back!” she demanded, pulling at the reddening ear. She was a short woman in her forties, brown hair graying at the temples, dressed in sensible boots, black and worn pants, and a shirt a few sizes too big for her.

  “Ow!” the boy wailed. “I don’t have it.”

  “Don’t you lie to me, you little foot fungus. I saw you take two Quinces.” She raised her free hand to show one of the bulbous, yellow fruits, accounting for one of them.

  I noticed few people bothered paying much attention to these two. Thefts like this likely happened all the time, but I was concerned the doctor or the thief might get worried by all the noise.

  “I didn’t!” the boy tried. “I was going to pay. I was only looking at it.”

  “Only looking at it,” the woman echoed, her voice mocking. “Do you think I was born yesterday?”

  I was considering paying for the fruit to quiet them down when I noticed a suspicious bulge in the boy’s dirty shirt. Either he had an oddly placed hernia right above his hip and a little toward his back, or he had tucked a quince into his shirt before the woman clamped her fingers down on his ear.

  “O-o-www-uh” he cried out as she twisted it. I was almost impressed. She must have worked here long enough not to take any crap from anyone.

  I pulled my remaining dagger from its sheath. All it took was a simple slice of the fabric. I had never needed to hone these weapons, so I performed the movement with some delicacy. I had no wish to cut the boy. I reached down and caught the Quince when it toppled out and fell.

  “There!” I said and handed it to the woman who’d not seen the bulge in the shirt, but had seen me approach. “I believe that’s what you’re looking for.”

  “Aye.” She eyed me with open suspicion. “You know this lad?”

  “No. Just saw he wasn’t all that truthful.”

  “Right.” Her eyes swiveled back to the boy. “I should call the constables on you.”

  “No, please don’t.”

  The woman scoffed. “Lucky for you, they’re not worth my time either. Don’t you ever show your face near my stand again!” With that, she let go of his ear. The boy clamped his hand over it and legged it down the street, fleeing her ire.

  “Thanks,” she barked at me, drawing my attention back. “Piss of the earth,” she said, and spat at the ground. I assumed she meant the young thief and not me. “Are you going to buy dates?” she added.

  “Um, no,” I said, deciding to brave the doctor and the thief instead of her. “I have a doctor’s appointment.”

  “Hmmph,” was all the answer I got to that.

  I passed her with a smile, admittedly a very stiff and manic one, and forgot all about her when I put my hand on the doorknob.

  I entered a normal-looking reception area. There were a few chairs, some magazines on a table, and an unmanned front desk. No people in sight. A door behind the front desk was open though, and I could hear voices from within. Not only that, my missing dagger was almost shouting its whereabouts to me now. It was in there, in what I assumed was the surgery. I took care not to make a sound and approached with caution.

  I still held my remaining dagger in my hand when I opened the door fully and entered the surgery. The thief was there. He was standing, leaning against a table, a stoic grimace of suppressed pain on his face while the doctor sat on a stool, sewing the damage I’d caused to his thigh.

  At the sight of me, the man’s eyes widened. The doctor was leaning over to a small table on wheels, reaching for something when the thief jerked sideways.

  “Hey!” the doctor and I shouted at the same time. The thief grabbed the nearest thing, a bottle containing some clear liquid, and threw it at me. I ducked on instinct and rolled away. The bottle hit the wall and shattered way too close to me. A strong smell of alcohol reached me, but I was already on my way up. The doctor had jumped to his feet, needle and scissors in hand, pressing up against a large cabinet behind him. The thief grabbed his now vacant stool and threw it at me. I ducked again, forced a few more feet away from the door and into the room. I have never seen a man pull his pants on as fast as that one, but before I could react, he was running toward the door and out into the reception. I sprinted after him. I would not let him get away now.

  The doctor was shouting in a panicked voice behind me, but I only had eyes on the thief. I could see an unevenness to his movements. His leg had to hurt him despite his swift pace. Letting him escape out into the street was not an option. I shifted the grip on my dagger and sent it flying after the man. It hit the door right in front of his face. He skidded to a halt, waved his arms to keep his balance, and turned a hundred and eighty degrees before running back and through another door. I yanked my dagger loose and followed. The doctor’s cries
were anguished as we now disappeared into what were the private quarters of his house.

  I followed the thief up a flight of stairs, where he ran into a room. A moment later I was inside with him. He’d made a mistake. There was no exit from the small sitting room we’d entered. The only one was behind me. The thief stared at the windows and then faced me.

  “Crap!” he blurted.

  “Yeah, that was a mistake,” I said and came into the room, my dagger at the ready. At this sight, he drew his own, not mine. Force of habit, probably. I could relate to that. My stolen dagger was fastened to his belt in a makeshift sheath of fabric twined around the blade. He must have realized how sharp it was and made it on his way here.

  “Listen,” I began, and assumed less of a threatening position, though leaving no doubt I was paying attention to his every move. I didn’t want him dead, though. I needed him to hand over the gem and—

  “No! Not here?” he shouted, his eyes on something behind me. The shock on his face, which upon reflection looked oddly familiar now his hood was down, was so genuine. I carefully took a few steps sideways to see. I didn’t want to turn my back on him. The new threat was not the doctor. I gasped audibly at the sight of Dekel in his ghostly form, hovering in the doorway.

  “What in the realms?” I mumbled. I was not what the ghost was looking at.

  “No-no-no-no,” the thief shouted. “Not you. Please don’t!”

  Before I could even ask, furniture started flying. Tables, side tables, books, porcelain, it all crashed through the room, aimed at the thief who in desperation started running.

  “No!” I yelled, realizing where he was going. Even if he’d heard above the cacophony of things crashing into the walls and each other mid air, he wouldn’t have stopped. Instead, he leaped forward in desperation and broke through the glass window and to the street below.