Magic Born

by Caethes Faron

  Casper had already opened his office door, but stopped to look back at us. “No, you do not. However, it seems like the only thing you need to know is that I’m not trying to kill you.”

  The man made a good argument. I glanced at Alex to see if he accepted this and found him looking at me. I shrugged. “I don’t really see a better option.” Alex nodded, and we followed Casper out of his office.

  When we arrived on the roof, the helicopter blades were spinning to life, and we had to duck into the wind they produced. Casper led the way and ushered first me and then Alex into the cabin. The second the door latched behind us, the helicopter took flight. I don’t know what I had expected, perhaps the type of helicopter news stations used, but this one was clearly designed for the comfort of its wealthy owner. Cream-colored leather seats looked and felt every bit as luxurious as you’d expect for a multimillionaire, or was it billionaire? I didn’t quite know where Casper stood in the monetary hierarchy.

  “It shouldn’t take long to get to our destination. We can speak more freely there, where I’m assured there are no eavesdropping ears. In the meantime, enjoy the scenery.” Casper gestured to the large window on my right. Indeed, the landscape passing below us was breathtaking, but hardly a suitable distraction from the more exciting topics at hand, especially after my years spent in Montana. I’d had my fill of snow, trees, and mountains.

  “Why the helicopter? Why not just teleport us?” Alex’s question tore my attention from the window, and I looked over him to Casper. As cool as the helicopter was, teleporting sounded far more interesting.

  “The use of any magic opens us up to the possibility of being tracked. Having taken great pains to keep the place I’m taking you to secret, I won’t run the risk of being tracked by teleporting.”

  “You said you knew my mother.” Teleporting sounded interesting, but I wanted to know how Casper had known something I’d spent my life ignorant of.

  “Not now. Wait until we land. I promise you, I’ll tell you as much as you want to know once I know we’re safe.”

  We flew in silence for a few minutes more until I nodded off. Between all the short naps I’d gotten, I still hadn’t achieved a full eight hours of sleep. Last night I’d gone to bed, blissfully unaware of the full extent of the danger which threatened me. It seemed ludicrous that a full day hadn’t passed since then.

  When I woke, Alex and Casper still sat in silence, seemingly uncomfortable. I doubted much time had passed.

  Casper noticed my eyes had opened. “Just a few more minutes; we’re already descending.”

  Outside my window, a giant stone structure materialized through the misty fog of clouds. “It looks like a fort.”

  “That’s what it was back when this area of Canada was colonized. It had been abandoned for ages until I bought it. It has the advantage of being in the middle of nowhere yet a quick commute by helicopter when I need it. I call it the Armory.”

  The pilot landed us so softly that I barely noticed. Casper pulled a small box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a ring that he put on his right ring finger. Before I could get a good look at it, the pilot opened the door for us to exit, and I realized for the first time that he must be magical too. Casper didn’t strike me as the type to trust humans when he made such a big deal about the secrecy of the Armory. My suspicions of the pilot were confirmed when he headed to a glowing circle in the ground and promptly disappeared.

  I could hardly believe my eyes. Seeing a person disappear produced the same unsettling feeling as seeing a limb bent in the wrong direction. “What did he just do?”

  “Teleported. You are about to do it too,” Casper said as he led us to a different circle. The idea of teleporting both scared and excited me. The analytical part of my brain screamed that this was madness. Teleporting was not something that could or should be done. What exactly would happen to my body? According to science fiction I’d read, I’d be disintegrated into lots of tiny bits and then re-materialized on the other end. That hardly sounded safe or sane. So far, my track record for successfully producing magic that I could control was zero. This seemed like an awfully big first step with a giant downside should it not work properly.

  “I’m happy to use the stairs. It’s healthier.”

  Even Alex eyed me in a manner that clearly conveyed exactly how full of shit he thought I was.

  “There’s nothing to worry about.” Casper held out his hand invitingly. “Teleporting is perfectly safe, I assure you.”

  “I’m sure it’s safe when you know what you’re doing.” Casper knew me as Meglana’s daughter. In his world, mages were probably teleporting from the time they could walk. I’m sure he meant well, but I doubted he knew the level of my ineptness.

  “It’s also incredibly easy. As long as you’re in the ring with a mage who has been to your destination, you can use it to teleport. That’s how your friend here is going to be able to come along. If even a non-mage can use the teleportation ring, trust me, you can too.” According to Casper’s tone, saying that even a shifter could do it was tantamount to saying that the village idiot could figure it out. I noticed Alex’s jaw tighten at the insulting tone. Nice to see that bigotry was alive and well even in the magical world. I took Casper’s hand, but also held my other one out to Alex as a peace offering. Plus, I needed his support. Something about him saving my life made me inherently trust him.

  “All right, when you get into the ring, there’s really nothing you need to do, but it does help if you close your eyes and keep your mind blank, especially the first time. If you hold on to where you’re at too tightly, you’ll just stay here and not teleport.”

  “So the worst that can happen if I do it wrong is that I stay here? There’s no chance of half of me ending up somewhere else?”

  Casper chuckled. “The magic that’s used here is incapable of causing you physical harm. You either stay here, or you’ll end up at our destination, completely whole. Those are the only two options.”

  I nodded and stepped into the circle with him. As soon as my second foot hit the ground and my eyes closed, my whole body felt as if it were being sucked through a tube, compressed and pulled so tightly that my skin tingled. I wanted to open my eyes to see what was happening, but I feared they would pop out of my head. Safe my ass.

  As suddenly as it began, the sensation ended, and I was standing just as I was before it started, only much warmer.

  “Welcome to my home,” Casper said.

  I opened my eyes to find myself in the most magnificent home I’d ever seen.

  Chapter 9

  While the headquarters of Magical Games had been impressive, the Armory was pure luxury. We had teleported to the entryway of a grand living space. Rough-hewn stone walls appeared as if they hadn’t changed a bit since the last soldiers had abandoned it so long ago. Despite the cold walls, the space had a remarkably warm and cozy feel to it. To our left sat a living room, and in the far corner a fireplace was carved from the stone and already housed a leaping, crackling blaze. The furniture was all brown leather and inviting with fat cushions. Thick, plush cream carpet covered the floors, and in the middle of the seating area a low maple table sat with intricate carvings all along the top. From this distance, I couldn’t make out if the etchings were some foreign language or artistic in design.

  Directly across from us a spiral staircase led to the floor above. An iron handrail with detailed patterns of leaves, trees, and flowers carved into it twisted upward. To my right stood a library. Bookshelves covered the entirety of the walls, overflowing with books whose spines would make a collector’s heart leap, all leather and cloth, nothing appearing to have been produced within the last century. The chairs in this area were the same brown leather except for a giant throne-like chair sitting behind an ornate desk. The throne chair looked as if it had been carved from a solid piece of wood and not a single part of it had escaped the artist’s touch. Rich red velvet upholstery formed a back and seat cushion which were embroidered
with gold thread mimicking the designs carved into the wood.

  The desk was every bit as imposing as the one in Casper’s office, but in an entirely different way. I could picture a king banging his fist on it as he ordered his men into war. Thick legs were carved in the shape of an animal’s head that was completely foreign to me. It had a nose like a fox, the mane of a lion, and the curled horns of some type of goat. Without being told, I knew this wasn’t the product of an artisan’s imagination: I was seeing a creature from Elustria.

  Little balls of light floated in the air, casting a warm glow throughout the space. Three hung suspended above us. When Casper stepped forward, one of the balls of light followed. What an ingenious creation, but I doubted it had much to do with energy conservation, though it seemed like a brilliant solution.

  Alex and I followed Casper to the living room, much to my disappointment. The sight of all of those books had driven away thoughts of anything else, and I wouldn’t have minded getting a closer look at the desk’s animal carvings either. In this new environment, I naturally gravitated toward Alex, and we sat together on the sofa while Casper took one of the chairs.

  “Now why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?” Casper’s body sat relaxed in his chair, but his sharp brown eyes penetrated me, clearly giving me his full attention. He steepled his hands in front of his face with his elbows resting on the arms of his chair, and I got a better look at the ring I’d noticed earlier. The design was incredibly simple, but I’d never seen anything like it. A thick gold band held a dark red stone, maybe a ruby, in the shape of a pyramid, the edges and point glinting in the light of the fireplace, seemingly sharp enough to cut glass.

  “I see you have your mother’s talisman.” He nodded toward my necklace, and in that moment, I knew the ring was Casper’s talisman.

  “It all started when Alex here showed up at my door with this necklace. I never knew anything about my mother, never even really wanted to. I put the necklace on and ice starts coming out of my hands. Then I can’t get the damn thing off, and I wake up in the middle of the night to a giant glowing ball that apparently was sent to kill me.” Bitterness infused my voice as the reality of my situation came barreling to the forefront of my mind. I wanted to explore this place, talk to Casper—one of my idols—about the game he created and I’d fallen in love with, not wrestle with an out-of-control necklace or worry about an assassin hunting me.

  “The orb was a tracker orb. It didn’t actually attack her, but it had strong defenses,” Alex said. When I’d exaggerated about the orb, Casper’s eyebrows had raised, and Alex attempted to set the record straight. Apparently, these kind of details were important.

  “And what happened to the tracker orb?”

  “This necklace short-circuited or something. It hit the orb with enough electricity that it cut power to my building,” I said.

  “Really?” Casper’s gaze shifted to Alex for confirmation.

  “It was a powerful burst of magic. It would’ve been impressive if the thought of her not being able to control it wasn’t so scary.”

  Casper pursed his lips. “The talisman is aware of its rightful owner and is trying to defend you. That’s to be expected, but the strength of its protection is unusual. Though, I should say I’m not surprised given who your mother was. Meglana was extraordinarily powerful, one of the greatest mages I’ve ever known.”

  “I’m thrilled, but like Alex said, as impressive as it is, it’s terrifying not being able to control it. I apparently almost took out a border guard at the crossing.”

  “The talisman started to glow as soon as she got nervous,” Alex said, once again tempering my hyperbole.

  “Naturally. You’ll have to learn how to control your emotions and control the power you wield. A mage is normally instructed in magic their entire life, learning it in increments and growing into their powers. To have the power of a full-grown woman and that talisman without the knowledge or skill to harness it is a frightening combination.”

  “Hey, I agree with you, so why don’t we figure out how to take it off?” It might be fun to learn how to do magic, but not so much if I ended up accidentally killing myself or someone else.

  “I understand, although you are in no danger yourself from the talisman. As long as you wear it, it will not allow your power to hurt you. But, if you like, I can remove it for you.”

  The relief that poured through me at his offer had me melting into my seat. Without even realizing it, I’d held my body and muscles rigid with unease. “That would be wonderful.”

  Casper stood and I followed suit. The ring on his right hand glowed as he passed his palm a few inches in front of the medallion. “Your mother placed quite a few defensive charms on it. She took great care to protect you.”

  He leaned closer and murmured words in a language I did not understand. A powerful energy passed between us as if the magic of both our talismans was a tangible thing. My heart raced beneath the amber stone as I smelled Casper’s expensive cologne and tendrils of magic tickled my chest. His hands came around to the back of my neck, and his fingertips lowered to the chain, but just before they curled around it, with a great whoosh of air, he was gone. A giant zapping noise filled the air as if a thousand mosquitoes flew into a bug light at once followed by a crash. Casper was on the other side of the room, the chair that had been behind him overturned by the force of him flying backwards. He lay huddled against the wall cradling his hands.

  Alex came to my side, rubbing my arm in a gesture I was quickly becoming too familiar with. “Are you all right?” The concern in his eyes was palpable.

  I hadn’t felt anything at all other than a rush of air as Casper flew backward, but the experience so shocked me that it took a moment to form a coherent thought.

  “Of course she’s all right. The stone’s protecting her. If you didn’t want me to take it off of you, you could’ve just said so,” Casper snarled, his voice thick and dark.

  Alex turned to face him, blocking my view in the process. “There’s no need to get nasty. That’s completely uncalled for. She doesn’t know what she’s doing; you are the trained mage here.”

  I took a step to my right so I could see Casper. He struggled to his feet, his face pale as he continued to favor his hands.

  “Yes, and I performed my spell correctly. She’s the one who is holding on to the necklace.” Casper’s face relaxed as he pulled himself together, straightening up to his normal, commanding posture. “But you’re right, and I do apologize. It was not right for me to take my anger out on you, Kat. I was simply shocked at the force with which the talisman struck me. It does not want to leave your neck and will not do so until commanded to.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t try to hurt you.” Guilt overcame me. The amber stone had betrayed me, and now it appeared as if I wished harm on one of the few people capable of helping me. With every second that passed, I regretted more and more ever putting on the necklace.

  “No, no, of course not. Do not worry about it. We will try again later.” The last traces of distress had left Casper. Other than the overturned chair, no evidence of the mishap remained.

  While I could understand Casper’s initial, shocked reaction, Alex appeared unmoved by the apology. “I think we should take her to the Magesterial Council. Perhaps they can remove the necklace.”

  “Perhaps. Forgive me, but I must rest and tend to my wounds now. Allow me to show you to some guest rooms so you can rest as well.” Casper gestured to the stairs, and I saw the angry red marks on his hands, much like the ones Alex had sustained after fighting the tracker orb.

  Up the magnificent spiral staircase we went, and Casper showed us to two adjoining bedrooms. “Please, rest yourselves. There should be food waiting for you as well. If you need anything, there is a communication orb next to the bed. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Casper nodded his head and left.

  Alex followed me into my room, and after having grown used to his comforting presen
ce, I didn’t mind. The room was as comfortable and luxurious as the rest of the house, but a table in the sitting area with a platter of food caught my attention and didn’t let go. Last time I’d eaten had been at that twenty-four-hour diner right after we fled my apartment. Not only was it past time for me to eat again, but after being denied for so long after the feast at the diner, my stomach growled with the ferocity of a bear.

  Without bothering to say anything to Alex, I dug in to the platter of fruit, cheeses, breads, and meats. I didn’t notice the taste of the food, only that it filled the cavernous pit of my stomach. Something about that attack on Casper must have drained me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex retreat through the door that presumably connected our rooms. He returned a moment later carrying his own platter and joined me at the table.

  “You can have some of mine too. Eat as much as you want.” Alex nudged his food in my direction.

  Not needing another word of encouragement, I picked my favorites from among his platter and added them to mine: a hard white cheese, pieces of candied fruit, a hunk of sourdough bread, and some type of smoked meat with a gamey flavor that I couldn’t place. “Aren’t you hungry?”

  “Yes, but I’m not picky. I’ll have whatever you don’t. I might shift and go hunting outside.”

  The thought of him hunting outside, his black, velvety fur contrasting against the untouched snow was alluring and exotic. “I bet you’re anxious to get back in your panther form.”

  Alex shrugged, but I could tell by the way he moved in his human form that he was getting antsy. “I don’t understand why Casper isn’t taking you to Elustria. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “He may know something that we don’t about who’s trying to kill me. Maybe it’s not safe.”