Magic and Mayhem: A Collection of 21 Fantasy Novels

by Jasmine Walt

  The head of the last one rolls along the corridor, coming to rest at Athira’s feet. He kicks it out of the way and sheaths his unused sword. Heavy footfalls echo along the hallway as he walks up to Yudi, who is panting heavily, his eyes still fixed on the figures on the ground. Yudi blinks as Athira silently takes the sword from his hand, shakes it so that the blood drops scatter, and then places it back in its sheath. With an unspoken understanding, they break into a run out of the palace, and within minutes are at the horses.

  They reach the house, pass the stables, and with Athira leading, race across the field behind the stables, heading to where the edge of the property backs into a small hill. Then, to Yudi’s shock, Athira dismounts and walks over to the side of the small hill, places his palms together, closes his eyes, and goes into a meditative state. After a few moments of utter stillness, he opens his eyes, rubs his palms together, and places his right palm facedown on a prominent boulder.

  Nothing happens for a few seconds, then the mountain shakes and dissolves. It fades, leaving a massive shining globe in its place. The globe catches the sun and reflects the rays into Yudi and Athira’s eyes. The glow dies and they open their eyes, adjusting to the scene in front of them.

  “You have a spacecraft?” asks Yudi in awe.

  “We. We have a spacecraft.”

  “How did you do that? Obviously you are more than just a sword master to the royal family. ”

  “I take it you like our new means of transportation?” All the pride of a new father radiates from him as he grins.

  “What’s not to like?” He walks around the gleaming vehicle. “It looks…uh…fast.”

  “It is. I think!”

  “You think? Meaning…? Don’t tell me that you’ve never been on it before,” he says as Athira shakes his head.

  “I did take it for a spin, once…after a fashion. Well, I only finished fixing it up a few days ago!”

  “How long have you been working on it?”

  “Since you were born.”

  Yudi looks at him in amazement. “You kept it a secret all this time?”

  “I found it very close to where I found you.”

  “And you’ve been fixing it up ever since? I’m supposed to believe you knew that we would need it someday?”

  “Something like that. I have followed Shaitan’s progress across the galaxy. It was only a matter of time before he came to Ka Surya. A small, healthy, rich planet such as Ka Surya is an ideal target for him.”

  Athira approaches the spacecraft and taps the side closest to him. The panel slides open with a healthy lack of vibration and no hint of sound.

  About to follow, Yudi hesitates. “The horses?”

  “What about them? No, Yudi, we can’t take them on this journey. Animals simply don’t do well on interplanetary journeys—it puts a strain on half lives and humans as it is, but would kill them for certain.”

  Just like the lion cub, he must leave his best friends since the cub behind, and he frowns, refusing to budge. “Father!”

  “Trust me on this, Yudi. They are better off if you let them loose here.”

  “Can I come back for them?”

  “Okay. I promise we will be back for them. Go on. Let them go. Hurry!”

  Somewhat mollified by Athira’s words, Yudi runs post-haste to the horses and unties them. When they refuse to move, he rubs the nose of his favorite.

  “This is not good-bye; I promise I will be back.” He slaps him on his flanks. “Go on! Get out of here.”

  With a whinny, he runs to the field, followed by the other. Dejected, he turns toward the spacecraft without a backward glance.

  Athira has the spacecraft ready for takeoff by the time Yudi drops into the co-pilot’s seat.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Pluto. We’ll stay with my friend ’til things calm down.” Athira pulls the lever forward and the craft rises into the air a few feet, then settles back with a thump, the lights on the console clicking off.

  “Oops, sorry.” Athira laughs in embarrassment. “Let me try again.”

  Once more the craft rises up into the air, this time a few feet higher than before. Just as it feels like it is about to take off, the ship drops back to the soil.

  “Dad!” cries Yudi, impatience writ large on his face. “Why don’t you let me take over?”

  “You? And where did you learn to fly spacecrafts? You barely know how to ride a horse.”

  “You are not the only one with secrets. Come on, let me just give it a try.”

  Athira reluctantly takes the seat vacated by Yudi, who confidently slides into the driver’s seat and flicks on the controls. In seconds, the craft vibrates and takes off into the air, rising straight into the sky. Yudi positions it at the correct height and moves forward smoothly so they sail straight up over the trees, with the sea dropping away rapidly below. In minutes they are above the shoreline of Ka Surya.

  Athira examines the navigation console and plots a course to Pluto. As the spacecraft pulls into the atmosphere, Ka Surya fills the screen, and for a few seconds, looms large. Then, as they pull away, it shrinks. Soon it is a small circular planet, its surface a healthy green interspersed with blue. The bottom of the circle begins to fill up, as if a large tap has been opened, and water flows through, first slowly in drops, and then faster. The blue rises.

  At first they both admire the spectacle, until they realise at the same time that the planet is being destroyed.

  “The Sea of Infinity!”

  Athira nods. “It is rising, overrunning the land, wiping it out.”

  “Is that really possible?”

  “I’ve heard about it, read about it, never thought that it could really happen.”

  “Isn’t Ka Surya supposed to be indestructible?”

  “Water…it was foretold that Ka Surya would meet its end through water.”

  “It seems the prediction is true.”

  “Only Shaitan’s powers could have commanded the seas to rise up and devour the land. That’s what we are now, a mere statistic in the history books.”

  “So we will not be returning for a while.”

  Athira shakes his head. “When the land rises again…”

  “I will be back,” vows Yudi as the planet recedes in the distance. He closes his eyes, holding back the tears he rising perilously close to the surface.

  4

  Saturn, 3000

  Some things one just has to do by oneself. Like making love to a beautiful female. Or feeling the rush of delight in journeying through space in my spaceship, from where I can watch the comets blaze by.

  Of late Shaitan had simply sat contemplating the breadth of his empire.

  Still trying to show Father that you are the best of all his sons, eh? A voice whispers and he pushes it away. Shiva is likely not bothered by what his illegitimate son is up to.

  Just like you didn’t want your own son to live? his conscience whispers again, and Shaitan wonders if he is simply getting old and mellowing a little to feel such emotions.

  Unlike humans, half lives are less sentimental, but it seems that just like their human cousins, they feel protective toward their young. Shaitan reminds himself that he does not have a choice. It may have been ten years since he started on his mission of conquering new planets and making them part of his kingdom, yet he feels as hungry as on his first voyage.

  As his spaceship approaches Ka Surya, the beauty of the planet has even a cynic like him in its thrall. What all the space pundits say is right. This is the jewel of all the galaxies. He could have mistaken it for pictures of ancient Earth, with its blue waters framing the green landmasses that studded its surface. It is much smaller of course, about one-fourth the size of Earth.

  As he sets his spaceship upon the shores of the sea, joining the more than fifty smaller vessels already parked there, he feels the familiar excitement that comes from another conquest. Ka Surya was one of the farthest planets from his home planet of Saturn. This was one of the
reasons he had not ventured to it, but having fought and defeated almost all the other significant ones, its turn had eventually come.

  Shaitan had sent most of his chosen army ahead to get the siege on Ka Surya underway, and had followed at a more leisurely pace.

  As he sets foot on the shore, he pauses to admire the beauty of the early morning with the sun just beginning to rise over the sea. The sunrays catch the soaring spires of the royal palace in the distance, its windows glinting in the morning sunlight. After hefting his favourite long blade over his back—he does not think there will be need to use it—he walks at a steady pace through the sand toward the building in the distance.

  His heavy black leather boots sink into the sand, imprinting the grains with his mark. So like the siege about to befall this planet, he thinks with delight, comfortable in his black leather trousers and his favourite turquoise armour vest. Around his forehead is a band of dull beaten gold with a dark blue sapphire glowing in it. Shaitan doesn’t normally wear jewellery, but occasions like this demand a certain level of pomp and pageantry, hence the more formal clothing showing his official status.

  His contemplative mood is broken by a distant scream. And so it begins. After picking up his pace, he walks in the direction of the scream. The sandy beach gives way to the carefully tended palace gardens, but Shaitan does not notice the various exotic flowers growing there. Tulips, nor roses, nor fragrant jasmine creepers hold his attention. As he crosses the threshold of the palace, he reaches for his sword and steps into the building. Ignoring the sounds of fighting from the rooms he passes, he runs up two floors and then walks down the long corridor to the room at the very end. The sounds grow muted, for his soldiers have not yet reached this far.

  He walks into the room and pauses for a second, looking at the figures sleeping in the twin beds at the far end against the windows. On his journey to Ka Surya, he had decided to spare the lives of the twin princesses and instead adopt them. He could not let any of his own children live thanks to Shiva’s curse, so the next best thing would be to adopt children. As long as they were not of his flesh and blood, he would be safe and could finally have a family of his own. The twin princesses were famed for their beauty, and being of royal blood, they would do nicely for his children.

  His eyes flick over the posters on the walls and he smirks. The girls seem to be fans of rock ’n roll bands from the 1960s and 70s. They are from another lifetime; now long gone they had been popular many centuries ago on ancient Earth, but of late their music enjoyed a revival amongst the younger generation around the galaxies.

  A very strange coincidence, Shaitan muses, since he too is partial to music from that era. We are going to be one big happy family.

  He must have chuckled aloud, for though his footsteps make no sound, both the girls open their eyes. The one on the left cries out in terror at seeing him.

  With a smooth movement, the other girl swings up, grasping a sword at her bedside. After standing on the bed in her bedclothes, her long hair streaming behind her, she challenges him. “Fight me!”

  Shaitan laughs at her audacity, scaring the other girl, who runs from her bed to her sister’s, and clings to her legs in terror.

  “Help me, Tiina! He’s here for me!”

  He raises his eyes, training his gaze on the terrified girl, and smiles a slow, luxurious, hypnotic grin. After transferring his sword into his left hand, he beckons her to him with his right.

  The one who is standing holds onto the other girl fiercely. “Oh, no you’re not!”

  Shaitan betrays no emotion and beckons again to the girl clinging to Tiina. This time she gets to her feet. Her movements are slow, as if in a trance, as strides across the bed toward Shaitan.

  “Maya!”

  Tiina screams and lunges toward her. She tries to hold onto Maya, only to be struck by Shaitan’s sword and thrown off the bed. Smack, her head strikes the side of the bed, and she lies on the ground, unmoving.

  5

  When she regains consciousness, Shaitan is gone and so is Maya. With an effort, she gets to her feet, holding her bleeding forehead.

  As the adrenaline kicks in, she runs out to the palace grounds and is greeted by complete silence. Not even the birds chirp. The fires burning in the city make the air smell like sulphur. She continues walking and is assailed by a sweet, almost aromatic, smell.

  Curious, she jogs toward it, not quite understanding the smell’s source. Her foot catches on something and she stumbles. It might be a rotting tree branch. She prods it curiously, turning the limb over with her toes. Then it hits her—a burnt leg still attached to a corpse.

  Tiina gapes at the scene in front of her, taking it all in for the first time, then she falls to the ground, heaving at the edge of a sea of dead people. Soldiers killed, massacred. Bodies stretched out across the beach, rushing out to meet the waves, the waters turning red with blood, reflecting the red sunset.

  It’s almost pretty in a gruesome way, she notes, rising to her knees and burying her head in her hands.

  The sound of approaching footsteps breaks her out of her reverie. It is far from safe.

  Once on her feet, she races to the stables, past the horses still munching away, which turn to look at her, a little disturbed by her abrupt arrival. Amazed that they are still alive, she slows down and quiets them. Then, after walking to the back, she slips into the shadows. She hides in the quiet and, losing track of time, nods off, exhaustion and her pounding head wound catching up with her.

  She comes to with a start, not sure what has disturbed her. Nervous tension builds in her and sweat trickles down her face before stinging her eyes. She draws in a deep breath, trying to quell the heavy, dark fear threatening to leap out and grip her again, then freezes as a shadow enters the stables, followed by another.

  The two creatures walk noiselessly around the stalls and, by the light reflecting off their swords, she can see fleeting glances of their swarthy faces. Half human, half animal, almost snake, is the closest that she can tell, yet they are much scalier, like prehistoric beasts, and walk with a slithering grace.

  They have a soft spot for the horses, which in turn reciprocate their affection. One of the scaly things slithers to the closest palfrey, patting it on the nose, and the creature nuzzles him affectionately. The other steeds shake their heads, snorting in appreciation.

  One of the snake men looks up, cocking its head as if listening to something beckoning him from afar. It signals to the other and they change to a fully reptilian form, and then slither out in a flash.

  Tiina takes a deep breath and falls back against the wall of the stable; the strength goes out of her legs and she sinks to the floor, fresh tears springing to her eyes as overwhelming relief pours over her. She lies spent for a few minutes, which seem like hours, before dozing off again.

  When she next wakes, she wipes the dry tears from her eyes. From somewhere deep inside her core, strength bubbles up, and she reaches a threshold, a decision. She has had enough of being the victim, of being chased, of hiding.

  “I am the princess, the future ruler of Ka Surya,” she whispers. Perhaps hearing the sound of her voice will restore some semblance of normalcy to the situation. “I will not hide here like a coward while everything around me collapses.”

  Enemies wait for her, but determined to make her escape, she rises. “And if I die trying, so be it,” she says with vehemence. She checks to make sure the coast is clear and walks out of her hiding place and up to her favourite mare.

  Patting it on the neck she leans in close and coos, “My life depends on you.”

  Fresh tears threaten to engulf her again, and she hastily saddles the horse and mounts. They leave the stables and she coaxes the animal through the shrubs and the rocks before riding down to the shore. Her heart is in her mouth as the mare slips and slides on damp rocks to the beach below. Finally picking up speed, they fly through the sand, her face close to the horse’s mane.

  “I am not afraid, I am not afraid,
I am not afraid!” she chants and hangs onto the familiarity of the words, drawing courage from them, blocking any doubts or fears from entering her mind.

  She keeps looking behind anxiously, but no one gives chase. All through the night she rides, and by daybreak, emerges on the far side of the city, at the base of a plateau that marks the easternmost boundary of the kingdom. She urges the mare as far up as possible, and when it gets too precarious to ride further, dismounts and walks the rest of the way, leading the animal. Once on the flat plateau, she shushes her mare and hides behind the silver buildings that form the periphery of the base station.

  Other residents of the planet have had the same idea, for various spaceships of all sizes take off, packed with people and families. After getting back on the horse, she races toward the royal spaceship, which is being filled to capacity. She wordlessly guides the mare up the gangplank with the other streaming hordes of people, but is stopped before boarding.

  “No animals,” says a guard. “They can’t survive jumps.”

  Reluctantly, she dismounts and pats the mare’s nose before removing the bridle and saddle. Until now, she had managed not to cry, but leaving her favourite horse behind is too much, and the tears spill forth. She hugs her companion and then backs off, watching as she trots away.

  Tiina huddles down inside the ship, having secured herself, and takes a last look at the planet through the window, knowing in her heart that she will never see it again.

  The spaceship doors shut and the craft takes off just as Shaitan’s men surge up the mountain from all sides. One of them points up at the spaceship, straight to where she is peering through the window. He beckons to others, who run toward the ship, but it is too late, for they are already on their way.

  She can only watch helplessly as the rest of the base with her people and the remaining ships are torched. Flames from the buildings on the perimeter of the space station leap up, forming a circle of pain. She shuts her eyes, only opening them much later.