Magic and Mayhem: A Collection of 21 Fantasy Novels

by Jasmine Walt

  Her skin was unharmed.

  His tension eased, if only briefly.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she walked forward. The dark liquid soon reached her knee, then her thigh, and then rolled over her rounded buttocks. Still she pressed forward, never faltering with her steps. The energy she shaped never waned. Soon the liquid reached the middle of her back. She still had a dozen paces to reach the artifact.

  Tan couldn’t look away. When it reached her neck he felt a flutter of fear, and, without meaning to do so, sent a warning thought. Careful!

  Amia faltered. As she did, she sank a hand’s width deeper into the pool. The energy she shaped fluttered at the same time.

  The energy of her shaping roared through his mind again, nearly so painful as to blur his vision. She took another step forward.

  He struggled to find calm, to focus on his breathing, to simply watch her, afraid that he might unintentionally startle her again. When the liquid passed over her eyes, Tan almost looked away.

  And then her arm reached from the thick liquid and grabbed the artifact.

  She clutched it and turned, sliding forward. Tan felt a triumphant surge from her.

  Slowly she made her way back. At first only her arm was visible. The thick liquid covered even the top of her head. Then, slowly, her eyes were free, then her face, and then her neck. With each step, the silvery liquid clung to her before oozing away, leaving her unmarked and unharmed. Tan stared unabashedly as her bared breasts were freed and then her belly, and then, slowly, her thighs and legs. She stepped out of the pool, the last of the liquid dripping from her, and fell forward into his arms.

  The energy she’d been shaping disappeared suddenly. Tan felt it as a pop in his ears. She held the artifact in one hand, her knuckles white, and shivered.

  Tan carried her away from the pool and grabbed her clothes, quickly helping her dress. She was unable to help much, weakened from the effort of whatever she had done to tolerate wading through the pool.

  Amia smiled weakly at him. “Did you like watching?”

  Tan flushed but did not look away. Through their shaped connection, she’d know how he felt anyway. “Yes,” he answered.

  She laughed and handed him the artifact.

  It was a long cylinder, about as long as his forearm, and covered in the same carvings and shapes as the golden box and Roine’s sword. Unlike the box, it was not gold. Rather it was nearly black, almost as if made of the same silvery liquid Amia just walked through. It shone dully, absorbing the light of the cavern rather than reflecting it.

  Tan helped Amia to stand and she wobbled toward where Roine stood watching, a stunned expression to his face. Tan wrapped his arms around Amia when he felt the barrier and surged through it more confidently this time, knowing that they would come through unharmed.

  Roine reached for the artifact. Tan handed it to him and he took it slowly, reverentially. He stared at it, trying to understand the wording written into the strange dark surface.

  “So many years,” he whispered. Roine looked up at them. His eyes were haunted. “I’ve spent so many years searching for this. Many were lost. And now I hold it in my hands.”

  “What now? What will you do with it?”

  “I don’t know. I think once I would have tried to use it. Now,” he shrugged and ran his free hand through his hair. “Now, after seeing what the ancients did to protect it, I don’t think I dare. This must reach Ethea and King Althem.” Roine looked to Amia. “How were you unharmed?”

  “I am blessed by the Great Mother.”

  Her comment mirrored what the nymid had said. “What now?” Tan asked.

  “Now we return to Ethea, somehow keeping ahead of the lisincend and the hounds.”

  Tan laughed. “Sounds easy when you say it.”

  Roine laughed and started to say something more, but an explosion overhead interrupted him.

  The rock around the ceiling fell toward them. A sudden swirling wind tossed debris around the cavern, whipping the leaves and branches of the shaped forest. Then a crack of lightning split the sky overhead, shooting through the rock to end nearly at their feet.

  When the dust settled, Tan heard a hard cry.

  “Theondar!”

  Nearby, Roine closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his hand clenching into a white-knuckled fist. “Lacertin,” he said softly.

  33

  Chased by Fire

  They cowered back from another surge of swirling dust and flying rock. Roine clutched the artifact in his hands. Tan felt the sudden building pressure of Roine shaping.

  Roine tried to use the artifact.

  A powerful blast of wind hit them, pressing them back. Roine turned to Tan. “Take this,” he said, handing the artifact to him. “I’m not strong enough to use it. You must protect this, get it to Althem. Tell him I sent you. Go! Do whatever it takes.”

  Tan took it from him carefully, holding the ancient device gently. “You don’t think you should—”

  Roine cut him off. “No. If Lacertin defeats me, he must not have the artifact. The other shapers can help, but only if you reach the capital.” Roine looked over his shoulder and into the buffeting wind now growing with a dry heat as well. “Take this too,” he said, unbuckling his sword and strapping it onto Tan’s waist. “I will not need it for this.” His eyes were intense, fierce, and flashed with a hot anger.

  “Roine,” Tan protested.

  “Tannen!” he said. “Now is the time when you must serve your king. Take the artifact and get yourself and Amia out of this cave. Head for Ethea.”

  He turned away from Tan and called into the blowing wind and dust, standing within the chaos as if unfazed. “Lacertin! Have you come to answer for your treason?”

  The wind died briefly and a tall, lean figure stood surrounded in shadows. He was dressed all in black and seemed to crackle with lightning. “Treason?” Lacertin repeated and laughed. “Strange that you would be the one to make such an accusation.”

  “You have hidden yourself for nearly twenty years. Now you choose to make your allegiance known?” Roine asked.

  Lacertin laughed. “Hidden? No. Prepared, Theondar. Now I am ready to take what is mine.”

  “It was never yours!” Roine roared. He raised his arm and a streak of lightning seemed to jump from his hand, racing toward Lacertin. The other warrior made a simple gesture and the lightning turned, arcing overhead, and leapt from the cavern harmlessly.

  “Theondar,” Lacertin chided. “How little you have learned.”

  Roine raised his other arm and Tan felt the rapid buildup of energy and then a blast of wind and water shot toward Lacertin. Lacertin waved his hand in front of him and this seemed to part, splitting and sparing him, leaving him unharmed.

  “Time, it seems, has not changed some things,” Lacertin spoke. “You never were very creative with your shapings.”

  He flicked a finger and Roine went rigid, his arms held to his sides. Roine’s mouth worked to speak or scream, but no sound came out.

  Another flick and a wire-thin streak of flame raced toward Roine. It swirled around him, pressing toward his flesh. Sweat beaded on Roine’s face with the effort of pushing it back. Flame inched closer and closer. Lacertin laughed.

  “At the least I should thank you for finding this. You saved me much searching.” He looked around the cavern. “I must say the ancient warriors, though, were creative. This,” he said, waving his arm around him, “is impressive. I would ask you how you managed to reach the artifact, but you seem predisposed.”

  He smiled, watching Roine struggle. The flame sank closer to his flesh.

  Roine closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Tan felt the huge surge of energy followed by an explosion. The fire circling him disappeared. His arms were free. Hatred dripped from his gaze as Roine opened his eyes.

  Lacertin only smiled.

  “Theondar. Perhaps I should give you a bit more credit.”

  Roine shook his head. “I would rather
you underestimate me.”

  Lacertin took a step forward, still cloaked in shadows. “The device. I will have it.”

  “You will not be able to use it,” he said. “It was crafted by the ancients and only one with their gifts can access its power. For all that you may be, even you are not gifted like the ancient warriors, Lacertin.”

  Lacertin only laughed again. It was a dark sound and haunted. “You cannot begin to know what I am capable of doing, Theondar,” he answered. “Now. Give me the device.”

  “You know I will not.”

  Lacertin took another step closer. His hands twisted in a complex pattern and Roine fell backward, pinned to the ground. His face twisted in pain as unseen lashes struck him over and over, too fast for him to avoid and too powerful for him to hide the painful effect.

  Lacertin stepped closer, nearly upon Roine. “Know, then, that I will simply take it.”

  Something changed on Roine’s face. “Come and try,” he whispered.

  The cavern erupted in thunder. A huge bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky, striking the ground where Roine lay. When it passed, Roine was gone.

  Lacertin looked up through the crack in the cavern exposing the daylight and a dark smile twisted his shadowed mouth. “Theondar,” he whispered. He turned, eyeing Tan and Amia, and then another bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, striking Lacertin, and he disappeared.

  Overhead, the sky thundered. Lightning ripped through the bright sky, tearing it apart with repeated blasts. Tan was forced to look away.

  “What now?” Amia asked.

  As much as he hated it, Roine was right. They needed to get the artifact to the king. Whatever else, Incendin couldn’t have it. He slipped the artifact into one of the pockets of his pants. It was heavy and felt awkward, but he thought it safe. “We need to leave. Make for Ethea.”

  They both heard something then. It was a low and quiet, barely more than rustling leaves.

  Tan sent out his awareness, questing toward the trees and grasses around them. He could almost see them in his mind and sensed the disturbance, knowing what they’d heard.

  “The lisincend,” he said.

  Amia’s face showed no sign of fear, just firm resolution. “Then we must go.”

  They stepped quickly away from the clearing, sliding away from the pillars and the barrier and into the trees. Tan was vaguely aware that something about the barrier was different, weaker. When they reached the protection of the trees, he turned to look.

  The huge stone pillar, the most physically solid of the pillars, sank into the stone, slowly disappearing. Where the pillar of wind had blown, whipping the leaves and branches of the nearby trees, now was very little movement. The pillar of fire had stopped sputtering and was completely silent, blowing itself out at some point during all the commotion.

  Only the pillar of water remained. The nymid still held their end of the bargain.

  Water flowed from an unseen opening in the ceiling of the cavern, cascading down and through the floor of the cave. The water held just a hint of a pale green light, only noticeable because Tan knew what to look for.

  In the center of the clearing, the pool of the thick, silvery liquid also receded, slowly draining away from the edge of the pool. Tan didn’t know where it went.

  “What was in that pool?”

  “The power of the Mother.”

  “How could the ancient warriors trap the power of the Great Mother?” he wondered, not expecting an answer.

  “They couldn’t. That power was given freely.” Amia watched the disappearing liquid. “I think it’s but a tiny drop of her power. Maybe no more than a drop of a drop.”

  Three lisincend burst into the clearing. Fur was among them, sliding confidently from the trees, radiating heat that made the shaped forest wilt from its presence. In spite of the haze surrounding them, Tan saw them clearly. He wondered if the power of the cavern allowed them to be seen.

  They reached what was left of the barrier and paused. Fur sniffed, sensing something amiss, before shoving one of the other lisincend through. The creature slid through the barrier with a hiss, then turned and stared at Fur with fiery eyes.

  “Nothing,” it said.

  Fur nodded and he and the other lisincend slid across the barrier. Once inside, they looked around, smelling the air. “She was here.”

  Then the power of the barrier surged.

  Tan was not sure how he knew, but it strengthened. Nothing like it had been before, but enough that the lisincend would be trapped within it.

  Could the nymid be helping them again?

  With the thought, he heard a soft command whispered in the back of his mind, like a gentle touch, a gentle rain, different than the nymid.

  Go, the voice commanded.

  Tan pulled Amia and they hurried around the edge of the trees, keeping the clearing in sight as they moved. When they were partway around the clearing, the lisincend saw them.

  “There!” one of the creatures hissed.

  Tan looked back as Fur threw one of the lisincend forward, into the barrier. The creature hit the unseen wall, pressing forward for a few steps with a triumphant look upon its face. Then, suddenly, it dropped to the ground, screaming and hissing. Steam rose from its thick hide. It crawled forward, trying to get through the barrier. By the time it reached the other side, much of its hide had peeled back, leaving it bloodied.

  Fur screamed. The horrible sound echoed off the walls of the cavern.

  Fur turned toward the pillar of water. With a furious shaping, he threw energy toward it. The water was no longer a match for the fury of the lisincend. Twisted Fire turned the flowing pillar of water into a trail of steam.

  Tan felt the barrier fall.

  The injured lisincend staggered back toward Fur, flailing its arms, and tripped, sliding into the remnants of the silvery pool, only to disappear with a loud hiss.

  Fur roared in anger, splitting the cavern with his furious cry. “I smell you, girl,” he hollered. “I know your scent and can find you wherever you go. I will enjoy the hunt.”

  Amia turned to Tan in fear. He grabbed her hand, not sure where to go. Tan quested out with his mind, searching the cave for the way out. He tracked the cave entrance as he once would have tracked deer or a wolf, letting the subtle changes to the air and wind flow serve as his guide.

  They ran. Tan followed what he sensed. Trees thinned and became more stunted the farther they moved, soon growing no taller than shrubs. When he saw the strange vines upon the walls, he knew they went in the right direction.

  “They’re behind us.”

  Tan let his senses search behind him. The two remaining lisincend were near the edge of the trees and they headed toward them.

  “They’re frustrated,” Amia said.

  “Can you do anything to make it worse?” he asked.

  “I can try. I don’t know if it will work.”

  “We only need a delay.”

  She nodded and Tan felt the building pressure as she worked her shaping. He felt it slip slowly, subtly, into the trees. He sensed the lisincend struggle, wandering off course a bit.

  “They may not even know you did anything.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, biting back a question. “That was my intent,” she said. “How can you tell?”

  He led her down the cave at a quick jog. “Since you shaped me,” he started, “I’ve been able to feel it when you perform a shaping. I feel the energy. I don’t understand, not really.” He glanced at her. “With that shaping, I felt you slowly release the energy and knew it was a gentle touch.”

  “Can you feel others shaping?”

  “It is different. Each shaper has a different energy, almost like a signature. I think it started when you shaped me. Does that mean anything?”

  She shook her head softly. “I don’t know. It’s unusual, I think.”

  The cave grew darker the farther they got from the cavern. Tan sensed behind him again. The lisincend had found their
way once more. Fur tore the strange vines from the wall in his rage and some of his muted shouts echoed through the cave.

  “I can’t see anything,” Amia said, reaching toward one of the lamps.

  Tan grabbed her wrist. “I don’t think we should let the lisincend see us.”

  “They see fine in the dark,” she answered. “They sense our heat. We’ve never known how good their eyesight is during the day, but we’ve always known they have an advantage at night.”

  They ran down the cavern with Tan leading, sensing his way through the darkness. He was able to feel the pressure off the walls and the ground and used it to keep them roughly in the middle of the cave. Occasionally he would sense behind them.

  The lisincend were gaining.

  He said nothing to Amia, only urging her faster.

  Then in the distance he saw the hint of light. They were close. They couldn’t follow the same path they’d followed up from the lake. The climb down the sheer rock face would be too slow and the lisincend would be upon them in moments. Which way would they go?

  As they emerged into the bright light of day, the sky thundered ceaselessly, like a heavy drum. Frequent bolts of lightning attempted to tear apart the sky. The air sizzled with the energy of the lightning, almost crackling with it.

  Roine and Lacertin battled.

  Tan could not pause to watch, but wished that he could. Overhead, an epic battle between two powerful Cloud Warriors raged, and he was witness to it.

  They reached the split in the trail. Tan hesitated before pulling Amia off the main path, veering to the left and down. If they could reach the lake and the nymid, they might find safety.

  Behind him, Fur roared as he left the cave.

  They wouldn’t reach the lake in time.

  “We need to hide,” he told Amia.

  “Fur will find us.”

  “You have his sword,” she said, motioning to Roine’s sword hanging from Tan’s waist.

  “I’ve never used a sword. And my bow…” Had he not lost it in the lake when Fur nearly killed him, he might be able to try something, anything. Instead, Fur would catch them. They would die.