Wrath of Magic (The Mysterium Chronicles Book Book 3)

by Simone Pond

“Why? Why him? Can’t you take it away?” I shouted to the gray skies, hurtling the iron rod to the ground.

  Raindrops fell one by one onto my forehead like fingers poking accusingly. I cried as the rain picked up and smeared my face so that everything was a mess of tears and rain. The hurt went so deep. I just wanted the Ancient One to uproot it and take it away from me. But the longer I stood in the rain crying, the more my heart crumbled until there was only an empty space where it once had been. How could one man have such a profound effect on a person? I didn’t understand why Bachar was the ever deepening thorn in my side.

  Nils slowly approached me, his hair and clothes soaking wet. He stood a few feet away, grinning at me, his aquamarine eyes lighting up the space between us.

  “What?” I spat.

  “You throwing a temper tantrum in the rain. It’s cute.” He bent down and picked up the rod and ambled over to me, placing it in my hand.

  “I hate him,” I muttered.

  “That’s why this hurts so much. If you could just let go and forgive the man, your pain would ease.”

  The rain let up and returned to a soft drizzle that soon faded off entirely. I stared up the long driveway toward the estate. Nils took my free hand and held it as he started back up the path.

  “I don’t know how to let go,” I finally said.

  “It doesn’t happen in one fell swoop, Jordy. It takes time. The trick is you have to at least be willing.”

  His smile sent a feeling of peace through my entire body, and I no longer felt angry or victimized. I experienced a slight shift take place—like one of the imaginary bricks I’d been lugging around had dropped.

  At the top of the drive, my mother and Claudius were waiting in a taxi and the four of us drove back to the docks without a word. The silence enveloped me and let me meditate on the idea of forgiving the man I’d spent most of my adult life resenting. Nils was right: it was going to be a process, a long and bumpy one. But in that moment I felt the freedom of willingness, so that was at least a start.

  At the dock, we left the taxi and headed in the direction of the cloaked ship when my magical shield shot up around me. I automatically yanked Nils into the barrier of protection, but Claudius and my mother were too far ahead for my shield to reach them before the blast swooped up from behind us and got to them. The air rippled like an invisible wave that shoved both of them forward with such great force their bodies slammed against the side of the ship, knocking the cloaking magic right off. The massive ship was now in view and the vessel was swaying on the water from the impact.

  I whipped around to see an army of operatives rushing toward us. Either they had followed us from the estate or Bachar had sent them. My mother’s still body was in a heap on the dock. Claudius pulled himself up like a roaring lion and started charging down the dock toward the operatives.

  “Warriors!” he shouted up to the ship. “It’s time for battle!”

  The faces of Claudius’s fighters peered over the side of the vessel and they began leaping over and landing on the dock. I wanted to stop all of them—surely they’d die facing the well-equipped operatives—but I wasn’t quick enough with my words. Everything was happening on hyper speed. And my mother—my dear mother—was not moving! I had to help her, but I also had to help all of our people.

  Nils shook my arm. “Your shield, put up your shield!”

  I closed my eyes and used every bit of energy I had to expand the shield over the ship to keep the passengers safe. But I couldn’t do anything to protect the hundreds of warrior men and women racing with Claudius down the wooden dock toward the army of operatives. I lifted the iron rod and prepared to go into battle, but Nils gripped my arm.

  “Don’t,” he ordered.

  “They’re gonna die!”

  “Some will,” he said. “You can’t save everyone, Jordy.”

  “But they need my help!”

  “So do the ones on the ship,” he said.

  “Is my mother okay?” I craned my neck to peer behind us where she was still out cold.

  “I don’t know, but stay focused for now.”

  Fire and ice coursed through my blood. I wanted to spit flames at the operatives. I wanted to send the magic that was protecting the ship forward into them and crush their bones. But I stayed still and pulled in deep breaths, watching helplessly as Claudius and his brave warriors stampeded forward. The blasts from the operatives’ devices immediately wiped out the first rows of people, but some of the swifter ones got through and made contact with the troops. They wrestled them to the ground, only to be destroyed by a single shot from one of the high-tech weapons. But it was clear from the bloodbath occurring on the docks that Alexandria fighters were not to be trifled with. Claudius’s rage was as palpable as a storm cloud bursting open as he rushed right up to the head operative and took him to the ground. I winced as he almost tore the man’s head off with one twist. He ran off in the direction of the oncoming swarm of operatives marching toward the docks.

  “Stop!” I tried to pull away from Nils, but he had me in a straightjacket-like embrace.

  “He knows what he’s doing. Your job is to keep the ship safe,” he whispered calmly.

  “How are you so calm?!”

  “One of us has to be,” he said.

  I was getting annoyed with the amount of “right” Nils was continuously presenting to me. I stopped squirming and settled down. Then I looked up to the gray sky and called on the guiding star. We need you … Those were the only words I could come up with at the moment. But they were enough. A streak of silver light came cracking down from the heavens and punctured the line of operatives marching toward the battle scene on the dock. Then another came. And another. The operatives were going down by the second and this gave Claudius’s men and women enough encouragement to finish off the remaining men on the docks. They got a hold of one of the high-tech weapons and used it against the operatives. When it was over, all of the operatives were dead and only a handful of Claudius’s warriors remained. I scoped the area for Claudius, praying the streaks of silver light hadn’t taken him down as collateral damage.

  “Where’s Claudius?” I asked.

  Nils scanned around, letting me out of his vice grip. “Probably making sure the area is secure.”

  I pulled away and ran over to my mother’s body and collapsed to my knees. Her hands were icy cold and her face grayish white. I told myself it was because of the river breeze gusting up over the dock, but her blue eyes had none of their usual sparkle and shine. They were like stones, unable to register anything. Dead.

  Charity Bachar was dead.

  “CeeCee!” I screamed over and over, sobbing as I held my mother’s cold, lifeless body close to mine.

  A warm hand settled on my shoulder, then CeeCee knelt down beside me. “It’s too late, CO. I can’t heal the dead.”

  I cried, falling against my mother’s body. CeeCee pried me away and held me up. She walked me away from my mother in the opposite direction of the ship. My magic shield was still holding up, even in my darkest despair, and I was grateful for that because when I looked up to see where we were going, it was clear we still needed protection.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I stopped in my tracks with CeeCee and Nils flanking my sides. At the end of the dock in the midst of piled-up bodies stood Prime Master Bachar … with Counselor Magnus. And wedged between them stood my dear Claudy, completely frozen by some sort of magical device. In the streets behind them stood the thousands of right-bank residents of Mysterium. This high-society element wasn’t the fighting type, but Magnus had equipped all of them with high-tech weapons that would easily annihilate everyone on our ship in a flash. My gut hitched up into my throat. I held the iron rod in my right hand and patted my left pocket to make sure the last gold star was still present.

  I glared in disgust at my grandfather. “I figured it was too good to be true.”

  He lifted his broad chin in defense, but didn’t make eye contact or sp
eak a word. Magnus wore a thin smile as he methodically stroked the scar above his right eye. His black hair was no longer tied back in its usual fashion. He now let it hang loose over his shoulders.

  Magnus cleared his throat. “Welcome home, Jordan,”

  “This isn’t my home.” My voice was still raw from crying over my mother.

  “That’s right … you don’t actually have a home, do you?”

  I didn’t satisfy him with a response, even though his words cut deep into my heart. He knew the most tender spots to dig his knife.

  Magnus slapped the titan Claudius’s back and said, “Looks like we have one of yours.”

  “And we have one of yours,” I said to my grandfather.

  He jerked his gaze toward me. “You wouldn’t harm your mother. I’m no fool.”

  The old man had no idea that his ruse had killed his own daughter. I felt sick using my poor dead mother as leverage, but I was dealing with the High Warlock.

  “You have no idea what I’m capable of,” I said.

  “Enough!” shouted Magnus.

  His voice echoed throughout the docks and rippled over the river. I shivered, but not from fright. It was more like a primordial sensation, preparing me for what was about to go down. I stepped forward, rod in one hand and star in the other. My magical shield vibrated around me and permeated the air in glowing waves. Nothing was breaking through the shell of protection covering the ship and our people. Nothing.

  “Whatever you’re planning, Magnus, forget it. Give us Claudius and give the people of Mysterium their choice.”

  He smirked and laughed under his breath. “You sound a bit too big for your britches, Jordan. Have you any idea who you’re dealing with?”

  I laughed hard. “Do you? As you can see, the Ancient One is with us.”

  His brow furrowed deeply and he took a device from his pocket and aimed it at Claudius.

  “Don’t,” I said with a sternness that startled even me.

  But Magnus chuffed and shot white light from the top of Claudius’s skull down his middle, splitting his body in half.

  “Nooooo!” I wailed, darting toward him.

  Nils and CeeCee yanked me back. I tore out of their grip and raced down the dock toward the High Warlock, but he whipped his black cloak around his body and disappeared in a plume of black smoke. Prime Master Bachar stood alone in front of his entire city of people. I stopped before him. My magic resources had tapped out and the shield that had been surrounding me and the ship faded away.

  I shoved the rod into my waistband and put the gold star back into my pocket, then I lunged at my grandfather and began strangling him. “You killed her. You killed your own daughter.”

  All around us, the people of Mysterium began rushing toward the docks. Their eyes were glazed over as if they were under a trance or in a hypnotic state. Magnus had turned them into zombies with one of his warlock spells. If I didn’t do something, they’d reach the ship and rip our people to pieces. I jumped away from my grandfather and stood on the edge of the dock, facing the crowds of people. I held the iron rod high above my head.

  “Stop!” I shouted to the masses. “You don’t have to do this!”

  Some slowed a bit upon hearing my roar, but they still continued coming toward the dock. I called on the guiding star and a streak of silver light came shooting down into the rod, lighting up the entire port in a dome of crystal blue. Sparkly beads of blue droplets sprinkled like rain over the people, breaking them out of their hypnotic state.

  “You have a choice!” I shouted to them. “You can either keep following Ashtar and die, or you can return to the Ancient One and live!”

  Then the luminescent dome hanging overhead began to cascade down over every single resident like a waterfall. The people dropped to their knees. Some spread open their arms, taking in the replenishing light. Others fell to the ground and melted into the earth. After the last streams of light soaked into the ground, only a third of the people remained. I knew these would be the ones joining us. I waved for them to follow me onto the ship awaiting us at the farthest end of the dock.

  When I headed down the dock and rejoined CeeCee and Nils, I was surprised to see Prime Master Bachar kneeling over his daughter, crying out her name over and over.

  “How are you still alive?” I asked coldly.

  “My Charity …” he moaned.

  “Yes, you killed her, old man. Because you chose to listen to Magnus instead of us. These are your consequences.” I remained as icy as the breeze coming off the River Elin. Sympathy was nonexistent for the man who not only had done this, but had almost killed all of our people. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the gold star. I figured this was the anointed time.

  “Magnus tricked me,” he muttered under his sobs.

  “Of course he did. He’s a long-tongued liar. He works for Ashtar. And in effect, so do you. Which means, I have to kill you now.”

  He gazed up at me with his pale blue eyes—the same ones that had scorned me most of my adult life for not being a true Bachar—and he opened his arms wide. Only his eyes didn’t reflect his typical menacing and malevolent glare, they were full of pain and sorrow. Beyond that there was a loneliness calling up from the seat of his soul. I recognized it because it was the same one I’d known my whole life.

  “Please kill me, granddaughter. I don’t deserve to live after what I’ve done,” he said.

  Nils didn’t say a word—smart man he was—but his voice resonated in me about forgiveness being freedom. And though it seemed impossible to extend forgiveness to this pathetic man sniveling on the ground before me, I did. I did because I thought about the Ancient One and how he was still willing to call his scattered people back home after they had abandoned him. They were his people even if they were lost. They only needed to be reminded where they truly belonged. And if I couldn’t remind Bachar of that, what kind of example of the Ancient ways would I be?

  I shoved the gold star back into my pocket and squatted next to my grandfather and helped him stand. “Come, there’s nothing we can do for her now.”

  He stood up, trembling. “We can’t leave her here.”

  CeeCee bent down and scooped up my mother’s lifeless body. “We’ll make sure she has a proper resting place.”

  Nils assisted me with Bachar. “She’ll come with us on the journey.”

  That was news to me. I looked at him with a what-are-you-talking-about head cock, and he just gave me that sly grin of his. When I tried to ask for more details, he shook his head and motioned to the crowd of right-bank residents of Mysterium waiting patiently to get onboard the ship. I gestured for everyone to come forward and stood back as they filed down the dock and stepped onto the giant ship. CeeCee trailed behind everyone with my mother’s body in her arms. Nils and I walked with Bachar. He didn’t glance back as we boarded, but I did.

  The glitzy high-tech city stood like a house of cards behind us with its unified modern buildings. The overall design of Mysterium was dazzling and grandiose, yet it had no real identity or depth. The gray sky was the perfect backdrop for the vapid and cold place where status and society had reigned supreme. The residents who had joined us were now free of that prison of proving the self over and over, ad infinitum. And so was I.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The ship pushed across the river, north toward Endor. Captain Robar had refused to leave the port of Mysterium until he received more currency for the additional passengers. Fortunately the massive group from Mysterium was more than willing to hand over their gold and silver to the man.

  I stepped into the helm and slammed down a toolbox heaping over with the shining pieces of precious metals in front of the greedy captain. “Here you go.”

  His beady eyes widened as much as they could and he rubbed his fat hands together. “Never seen so much gold in all me years. I’ll gladly take ya all the way north.”

  I shook my head. “Endor is fine.”

  He laughed a hearty bellow. “Yo
u’re one of them stubborns, ain’t ya, lass? I already tolt ya, Endor is a cesspool. Ever since the High Witch bit the dust, it’s gone ta shit.”

  “It was always shit. Just get us there, please.”

  I left the helm and searched the upper deck for my core team … the elites. Heading into Endor meant I needed Isabella, Lily, and William to lead the charge. Everyone else would continue to the border of Lycaeon and set up camp to wait for us. We’d join them in a few days. Benjamin was frowning at me when I finished giving out assignments.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I don’t feel good about Isabella going back into that hell hole. Especially without me,” he grumbled.

  Isabella smiled in all of her demure sweetness, tucking a strand of her glossy brown hair behind her ear and batting her doe-like eyes at Benjamin. “Oh, honey. I’m thrilled to go back and get my people out of there. It sounds as though they’re in desperate need of being saved. Without Glendora masking the city with her grand illusions, it must be utter pandemonium.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about. I should be with you,” he said.

  I shook my head. “I need you to lead the others north toward Lycaeon—you’re more familiar with the territory up that way and will know what to look out for.”

  “But what about—”

  “These three know the lay of the city and those bizarre breadcrumb mazes and its beasts. Plus, they’ll be able to find the group of enchantresses, like themselves, who were working against Glendora in the past. Those are the ones who need rescuing.”

  Benjamin kept his muscular arms folded across his chest and pursed his lips. “Is Nils going? Or CeeCee?”

  “No. Just Isabella, Lily, William, and me. I need you three to get the people north. And now that Claudius is gone …” I paused a moment, pushing down any emotions I had around that dreadful truth, then continued, “I need you to work with Bachar. The people will need strong leaders—it’s gonna be an intense trek along the tributary.”

  Benjamin released a loud sigh. “You got it, boss.”