His uncle complained just last night about Mabel and Rodric Amhurst--Garrett’s father--being Destined Ones. As if finding your Destined One was a bad thing. He seemed to think that Garrett’s father should’ve stayed single and grieved his first wife, Garrett’s mother, the Water witch Arethusa Tremaine, instead of having affairs with humans and marrying multiple times. Of course, now that he found his Destined One, Garrett’s father finally found the perfect mate.
Haytham sighed, picturing the young woman who was his Destined One. Since accidently bumping into the girl at Garrett’s party, Haytham hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her and her fiery red curls, or her green eyes. He dreamed about her.
He didn’t know anything about the woman except she had been chosen by fate to bond with him, but surely love would come. At least that’s what all the legends and stories told about Destined Ones.
He looked at his magic house tattoo, reassured when the color tipping his gryphon’s wings and beak still showed. They belonged together, their magic house tattoos taking on color a sure sign. Now all he had to do was find her again.
Haytham put his hands in his pockets and whistled as he left the office, his heart lighter with the thought of his Destined One and making a new life. His uncle might disinherit him, but he couldn’t take the Guardians away from Hay. The Magic itself chose Guardians, marking members with a sword tattoo over their magic house tattoo, symbolizing the change in loyalty from one house to justice.
The empty corridors with their tiled floors echoed with Hay’s jaunty tune. He sauntered to the elevator and traveled to the conference room one floor down. He’d have to ask around, locate someone besides Chelsea and Eileen who knew Candace from magic school. Find out what she liked. Maybe he could buy her flowers.
Vahni Brenton, a fire witch Guardian, was closer to Garrett and Aiden Kindle’s age than Candace’s. Still, he might know someone in the Brandreth house who went to school with her. It was worth a try.
Walking into the room, Haytham frowned when he found it empty. Then he glanced at the clock. It was early. The rest of the team would be coming in soon. It wasn’t uncommon for Garrett and Haytham to be the first two into the office. He sat to wait.
An alarm suddenly sounded. A voice squawked over the intercom. “Distress call received, attack of the Marwolaeth at the Kindle Blacksmith shop on Epsom.
Candace... Terror punched Haytham in the chest. He couldn’t breathe. Aiden owned the Kindle Blacksmith Shop. Calling his magic, he ported to Epsom Street.
§
“Candace, I need to go out of town for a while. I’m putting you in charge while I’m away,” Curtis Brant said, her boss and the curator of the Brenton House Magic Item Museum and Depository. Candace gripped the phone tighter.
“Yes, sir. You can count on me to look after things.” Candace rubbed her sweaty palm down the skirt of her pink suit.
Waiting for her brother’s return, she faced the large stone fireplace that stood as tall as her shoulders. Her suit jacket rested behind her on a chair, waiting for the moment she left the hot rooms of her family’s blacksmith shop.
“What should I do about the Celestial Light Stone, sir?” Candace asked. Her boss oversaw that magic item personally.
“Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of it. I’m counting on you to oversee everything while I’m gone. This is your chance. I know you want to prove to the others that I picked the right person as assistant director.”
Brant probably locked the stone in the vault. Candace glanced at the clock. If Aidan didn’t get back soon, she’d be late to work. Where was he?
“Yes, sir. Thank you for your confidence. I won’t let you down.” She’d been the youngest person to be appointed assistant curator and took her job seriously.
Brant chuckled. “I know you won’t.” The call disconnected. Professor Brant, known as the Librarian, many considered the best in his field. Some mornings, Candace woke and couldn’t believe her good fortune.
She put the phone in her purse and pulled her current project, an antique, small silver flute, from her pocket. A magic item from the Air House. So far, no one could make it perform. She held it to her lips and blew lightly through the tube. Nothing. No one left alive knew what magic the flute would create.
It was her job to categorize the many uses of the magic items. This one felt extremely powerful, but was still a puzzle. When she got to her office, she planned to try a few more experiments to activate the item.
It helped that she seemed to have an uncanny talent for knowing what energy each item used to perform its feat of magic. She’d quickly risen through the ranks of the other applicants vying for the assistant curator position.
Candace bit her lip as she studied the flute. She probably shouldn’t have brought the magic item home with her from work, but hoped a change in venue might awaken its powers. Shrugging, she slipped the item back into the small pocket of her skirt.
Her job was the main reason she refused to go through the portal to “Hreghen,” her mother’s world, like her brother requested. Meeting her Destined One was a quick second. She hated to disappoint her brother who gave her so much when their parents were no longer around.
Their mother returned to her home world, though everyone thinks she committed suicide, and their father had died. Aiden finished raising her and meant well. Still, it was time for Candace to take charge of her own life and stop depending so much on Aiden.
Candace fidgeted. She should leave for work without seeing her brother, but couldn’t make herself move from the chair. Did her older brother see Haytham? She fiddled nervously with the gold dragon scale necklace her mother left to her and daydreamed about the meeting of her Destined One at the reception.
The fine bones in his face, the stubborn chin, the beautiful blue eyes, all of them made her breath catch. His white blond hair lay on the neck of his tall runner’s body, so different from Aiden’s stocky muscular build.
Haytham caught her before she could fall when they’d bumped into each other, his hands strong, but gentle on her skin. His eyes heated with desire when the color started coming into their magic house tattoos proclaiming them to be destined mates. She’d been speechless, finding her Destined One a delightful surprise.
Then her brother ruined it by dragging her away. Not just from the dance floor, but from the whole party. They had argued on the way home when she told of Haytham’s significance in her life, and quarreled almost every evening since. Finally, last night, Candace couldn’t take it anymore and told Aiden if he didn’t do something about helping her find her Destined One, she’d do it herself.
Knowing that through her connections at work and her friends from magic school, she could do just that, he’d promised to go to Guardian Headquarters in London this morning and find out about Haytham Luften.
Where was he? Waiting to find out what he discovered made her crazy. She jumped from her chair and started to pace. The clock read eight thirty. She couldn’t wait much longer.
With Brant putting her in charge, it was even more important she arrive at work on time. She began to gather her belongings to leave. Aiden walked in the door. Candace quickly dropped her stuff onto the chair and searched her brother’s face. His clenched jaw and stiff walk meant the meeting hadn’t gone well. She wrung her hands.
He glanced at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“I needed to hear what you found out about my Destined One. Did you see him?”
“No, but he’s a Guardian. So, he’s one of the council’s dogs. His uncle is a crooked politician. You should forget about Haytham Luften and go visit our mother where you’ll be safe from the Marwolaeth.” Aiden stomped to the table and snatched up his leather apron before starting the bellows to the forge.
“How can you say that? He’s my Destined One. Not many of us get the chance to find our perfect mate. You want me to leave mine behind?” Didn’t Aiden want her to find love?
“Having a perfect mate won’t save y
ou from the Marwolaeth, leaving Earth would. Mother issued the invitation. You’re free to enter Hreghen.” He turned on the fuel and hit the spark that lit it.
“You know time moves differently there, one week here can be a month in Hreghen. By the time I came back to Earth, I could be older than you, older than my Destined One. I’m not going.” The temperature in the room rose along with her temper.
“Dammit! Why do you have to be so stubborn? Why can’t you understand that I’m trying to protect you?” Aiden put a long piece of steel into the fire to heat.
“What are you protecting me from? Falling in love with my Destined One? Don’t you want me to have the chance at a perfect mate?”
“He’s a Guardian. It’s his job to fight the Marwolaeth. What if he gets infected? It would break your heart. It’s better to end it now than have your heart yanked out like that.”
Candace laughed. “You’re protecting me from something that you have no idea will happen. Aiden, you’re not making sense.” Why didn’t her brother let her live her own life?
Three men entered the back room from the front of the shop. The leader wore a woolen robe while the other two wore jeans, T-shirts, and biker boots, their bodies covered with tattoos. “No, he’s not making sense,” the leader said. “He should have kept his mouth shut about the Red Wizard. Instead, he blabbed to the Guardians. Guess, he wanted to sacrifice his little sister. Give her to us Aiden and we’ll let you live.”
Aiden stood between Candace and the men. She inched toward the back door. Saying a quick spell under her breath, Candace called the Guardians for aid. Suddenly the back door opened and two more men stood in the entrance, both leering at her.
Candace froze. One of the men jumped forward to grab her. Aiden bellowed and swung the heated steel at the man’s face. Candace backed up to the fireplace. The man screamed. As he sunk to the floor, a black mist drifted from his mouth. A Marwolaeth! Candace called fire from the forge and threw it at the black mist. With a high-pitched scream, it disappeared.
“The portal,” Aiden yelled. He threw fire at the wood in the fireplace. It blazed up into a wall of heat.
He struggled as two of the men grappled with him, one on each arm. Candace shook with terror. What should she do? She could hardly remember the spell needed to open the portal. Clutching her dragon scale necklace, she began to chant.
“Fire bright, lend your light. Portal entrance dimensions compressed. Bridge of heat, you will meet. Land of Hreghen, when I say it again, Hreghen, Hreghen, Hreghen.”
A blast of energy rocked the room, almost knocking them all off their feet. Through the flames in the fireplace, Candace could see a night sky.
“Go!” Aiden yelled as he tripped the third man trying to get past him.
Candace hesitated. What about her Destined One? Her job?
One of the men, who had been by the back door, suddenly appeared next to her at the fireplace. He swung a bucket at her head. Candace ducked and threw herself at the hearth. She landed half in the shop and half outside. Getting on her knees, she crawled the rest of the way through the flames and into the cold night.
She panted. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears. Sand stirred with each breath and cut into her hands and knees. Slowly, she stood and took a few paces forward. Her pantyhose ruined, she felt a little singed. Her red hair came loose from the tight chignon she put it in this morning.
Huge blocks of stone littered the land around her as if dropped haphazardly from above. The sky filled with millions of stars caused her breath to catch. To her left and right high walls rose to the sky. She turned to see a wall behind her as well, a box canyon.
She blinked, noticing the bright yellow flames filling a doorway. The portal. She backed up and realized that she stood at the bottom of a cliff. The flames parted and one of the assailants fell through. She continued to back away. He screamed and quickly fell to the ground rolling around to douse the fire. Only someone holding a dragon scale item could cross the portal unscathed.
The portal blinked out. Candace’s gut clenched. She was trapped.
The man slowly rose to his feet. His face and hands badly burned, his clothes filled with holes. Candace continued to back up. She managed several steps unnoticed when something moved above the man, coming from a dark hollow above the portal. A cave.
She scanned the canyon and saw hundreds of openings lined the surface. A long stick-like leg appeared from the darkness. Then another reached the ground even though the cave was more than ten feet high from the bottom of the Canyon. Candace froze, not knowing whether to run or hide. A long pincher claw appeared next, as well as waving antennae.
“You bitch! Look what you did to me!” the man yelled, catching her attention again.
The huge sand crab slid from the hole and loomed above the man. He didn’t seem to notice. Candace gaped and then pointed. The man ignored her.
“I’ll kill you! Do you hear me?” He started forward.
A huge pincher claw picked the man up, carrying him toward the creature’s mandibles. Screams filled the air.
Candace ran and ducked behind one of the huge square stones. Her shaking hands landed on something. She lifted a long white bleached bone from the sand. She gasped and dropped it. A figure dressed in sand colored rags ran up to Candace from out of the darkness and grabbed her arm. Candace shrank away, jerking her arm free.
“Come, if you want to live.”
Chapter Two
In the South summer’s heat rises
Dragon’s heart dances in flames
Firelight transmuting into purity.
Haytham arrived in front of the Blacksmith’s shop. He rushed inside to see Aiden fighting three men, one wearing woolen robes. Another man lay on the floor. Aiden roared and two of the men went flying. Haytham called on his Air Magic and lifted one of the men with a cyclone and slammed him into the wall. He slumped to the floor, unconscious. Garrett ported into the room. Using his Earth Magic, vines grew from the wooden surfaces and encircled the other two men.
Aiden panted. His left eye turning color, swelled shut.
“Where is Candace?” Haytham asked. He noticed the pink jacket and purse sitting on one of the chairs. “Is she all right?”
Aiden laughed. “She’s safe. Safe from the Marwolaeth, and safe from you, too.” Animosity rolled off the blacksmith as he glared at Haytham. Maybe his uncle was right about Aiden.
“Aiden, he’s Candace’s Destined One. You can’t keep them apart. It’s against the law,” Garrett said.
“Council rules used to control us,” Aiden said disgustedly.
“Laws to govern and protect us.” Garrett knelt next to the robed man on the floor checking for a pulse. “This one is still alive.”
“One of the men had a Marwolaeth. Candace fried the bugger. You better check the others,” Aiden said, walking to a chair and sitting.
“What happened exactly?” Garrett asked.
“Five men came in and attacked us. Said they wanted to sacrifice Candace because I told the Guardians about the Red Wizard.”
“Five? There’s only four here,” Haytham said.
“Yeah. The fifth one followed Candace through the portal. I hope he wasn’t carrying a Marwolaeth. Candace didn’t have any fire to fry the bastard.” Aiden ran his hand over his face.
“Portal? What portal?” Haytham demanded. Where did Aiden send his Destined One?
Aiden kept his head down.
“Aiden, you’re not being fair to Haytham or Candace by doing this,” Garrett said. “How would you feel if you found your Destined One, only to lose her? Where did you send Candace?”
“Home to her mother.” Aiden raised his head and glared at the Guardians.
“You killed her? Why you…” Haytham saw red. He would rip Aiden apart. He started forward.
“Wait, Hay,” Garrett said, blocking Haytham with his arm. “Aiden, I know you wouldn’t kill your sister. Where is she?”
“Hreghen, home of the Dragons. You
see now why she’ll be safe. No Marwolaeth in Hreghen. Mother agreed to take care of Candace.”
“Your mother is a dragon? I thought she was dead,” Haytham said.
“No. She went home when the council tried to use nullifying cuffs on her. Like another idiot I know. As if you could cuff a dragon.”
“You’ve got to bring Candace back,” Haytham said. “How can I court her if she’s in another dimension?”
Aiden laughed. “You can’t.”
§
The figure darted into one of the smaller caves near the edge of the canyon. Candace ran after it.
Her savior hurried through tunnels. The farther they traveled, the darker it became. They made several more turns before Candace’s guide finally stopped. With a strike of flint, a lantern lit. On the sand lay a bundle of rags. A strange oily odor wafted in the small space.
“What is that horrible smell?” Candace asked.
“It’s oil from the creatures. It covers your scent. Get those clothes off and put on the rags. You were told to come during the daylight. It was a good thing I kept a lookout. The crabs normally sleep during the day, but hunt at night.”
“Who are you?”
The figure unwrapped the rags from its head. Candace gasped. Her savior was a woman.
“I’m Zahrah. I belong to your mother, the dragon Cressida. Hurry! We aren’t safe yet. The smaller crabs will be hunting these tunnels.”
Candace quickly slipped off her clothes. She reached into her skirt pocket and found it… empty.
“Oh, no! The silver flute. We have to go back. I must have dropped it when I came through the portal.” What would her boss say when she admitted to losing the flute?
Fiery Magic Page 2