The Magic Collector

by Clayton Wood

  Myko wuffed, staring into Gideon’s eyes earnestly.

  “I’ll tell her,” he promised. Myko just stared. “I know, I feel bad about it too. We’ll tell her the truth soon enough.”

  Still that silver-eyed stare.

  “Go,” he urged.

  Myko snorted. But the wolf obeyed, leaping into the painting…and becoming one with it.

  Gideon sighed, then rolled the painting back up, putting it back into his thigh-holster. Then, his cane in hand, he continued the long walk up the dirt slope. It wasn’t long before the soggy earth grew firm under his feet. Gideon deactivated his lantern, and the fog quickly filled in all around him, thrusting him into darkness. He shoved the lantern into his chest-painting.

  After a few minutes, he emerged from the omnipresent fog as if bursting through the surface of a great body of water. Moonlight shone down on him from high above, countless stars twinkling in an inky-black sky.

  Gideon glanced back, seeing nothing but an endless sea of white, swirling fog behind him, bordered by a ring of rock hundreds of feet high extending as far as the eye could see. This was the crater of the long-extinct volcano, home of the ancient civilization that had created the Misty Marsh. He took a deep breath in, savoring the fresh air.

  Ten years, he muttered to himself. Almost a decade in that miserable place, and he was free at last. They were free.

  Almost.

  He turned forward; ahead was a canyon maybe a hundred yards wide that cut through the lip of the crater, with rock walls looming on either side of it. And ahead within the canyon, he spotted more than a few lights piercing the darkness.

  Devil’s Pass, the only way into the Misty Marsh, and by extension, Blackthorne. And the only way out. He could risk flying, but…

  He looked up.

  There, floating thousands of feet above his head, was something…huge. A massive cloud of black and red flesh as large around as the crater itself, with countless huge eyeballs embedded in it. Eyeballs that darted constantly to and fro, as if searching the crater below. It was the Overseer, created by one of the Pentad’s Writers a few centuries ago to protect Blackthorne from aerial assault. Anything that tried to fly in or out of the Misty Marsh – or Devil’s Pass – would trigger it.

  I’ll walk, he decided.

  Gideon did just that, making his way toward the lights in the distance. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he made out a tall wooden fence running from one wall of the canyon to the other ahead, with a gate in the center lit by several tall, flickering torches that cast long shadows of the two guards standing before it. Beyond the fence, he saw tall wooden buildings, dim lights shining out of a few of their windows. He strode right up to the guards at the gate, flashing an easy smile.

  “Good evening, gentlemen,” he greeted. The guards glanced at each other, then at Gideon.

  “Evening,” one of them replied. “Identification?”

  Gideon pulled up his sleeve, showing his tattoo. The guard studied it, then nodded briskly. “Go on in,” he stated. “Have a good night.” The gate opened, revealing more guards on the other side.

  “You as well,” Gideon replied.

  He stepped through the gate into the military base, and the guards closed the gate behind him. A narrow cobblestone street greeted him, with tall, narrow wooden buildings rising three to four stories high on either side. Lanterns bolted to the sides of the buildings illuminated the streets in a ghostly yellow glow. To his surprise, the base looked deserted…a far cry from when he’d seen it a decade ago, on his journey to Blackthorne. Of course, looks could be deceiving.

  Gideon continued down the street at a leisurely pace…then froze.

  The streetlights ahead were unlit, save for a lone lantern some thirty feet away cast a glowing circle on the cobblestones.

  A dark figure stood within that circle.

  The figure was clad in a dark brown cloak, a hood over its head, throwing its face into shadow. It wore a painted vest that covered its chest and abdomen, and had similar painted bracers on its forearms. A Painter’s uniform.

  Gideon gripped his cane tightly, waiting.

  The figure strode forward, stopping a few yards away from him. It paused, then lifted its hands to its hood, drawing it backward…and revealing a woman’s face. She had pale skin and long red hair that spilled out of her hood, draping over her shoulders. Her eyes were sky blue, a blood-red line of lipstick drawn in the middle of her lower lip.

  She smirked.

  “Well well well,” she murmured. “Look what we have here.”

  “Kendra,” Gideon greeted coolly.

  “Alec,” she replied. Her smirk broadened. “Or should I say…Gideon.” She shook her head. “To think that the great Gideon Myles himself was hiding right under our noses all this time! Remarkable disguise, by the way.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Myko was a dead giveaway,” Kendra continued. “Frankly, I’m disappointed you made the mistake of drawing him out.”

  “Mistake?”

  “Now the Collector will know where you are,” she explained. Gideon raised an eyebrow.

  “And?”

  Kendra eyed him for a moment, pursing her lips.

  “You could join us, you know,” she offered.

  “I’ll pass.”

  “The Collector offers us freedom, Gideon,” Kendra pressed. “What did the Pentad ever do for us, hmm? A bunch of rich old men who can’t even feel the Flow enslaving those of us who can.”

  “Kendra…”

  “We have the talent,” she insisted. We should have the power, not them! They’re using you, Gideon. Like they used me. And Piper.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Look what they did to Thaddeus. Look what they did to your wife!”

  Gideon grimaced.

  “You don’t have to remind me,” he muttered. “I’m not doing this for them, Kendra.”

  “We worked well together before, Gideon,” Kendra pressed. “You, me. Piper. Yero. Imagine what we could accomplish together!”

  “Not under the Collector,” Gideon retorted. “I know what he is, Kendra. He’s not doing this for us.”

  “You don’t know him like I do.”

  “Oh, I sincerely doubt that,” Gideon countered.

  “Come on Gideon,” Kendra urged. “We can start a new age for artists! Think about it.”

  “I’ve thought about it, believe me,” Gideon retorted. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to leave now.”

  “Don’t make me do this, Gideon,” Kendra warned. “We were friends once. I still care about you.”

  “What about Thaddeus?” he shot back. “Did you care about him when you and your men were hunting him down?”

  It was Kendra’s turn to grimace.

  “I’m sorry, Gideon. All we wanted was for Thaddeus to work with us,” she insisted.

  “Goodbye, Kendra.”

  Kendra stared at him for a long moment. Then her expression hardened.

  “Where’s the girl?” she asked.

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gideon lied.

  “Oh, but I think you do,” she pressed, folding her arms over her chest. “My guards told me you saved her from the book, Gideon.”

  “Like I said,” he replied, “…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The Collector wants her,” Kendra insisted. “And I’m not going to give up until I have her.”

  “Then I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely disappointed,” Gideon stated. Kendra stared at him, her jawline rippling.

  “Fine,” she muttered. “You leave me no choice.”

  Then she lifted one hand in the air, snapping her fingers.

  The doors to the tall buildings around them opened, men spilling out onto the street behind Gideon…and behind Kendra. Men with crossbows leaned out of the windows all around them, aiming right at Gideon.

  And all of the dead lanterns in the street ahead suddenly turned on, illuminating it fully. More soldiers
filled the streets…along with more than a few hulking green Glargs. They were far taller than the soldiers around them, with massive, muscular chests and arms like tree trunks, and bald heads that shone dully in the lantern-light. As did the huge axes they held.

  Gideon stood tall, looking around at the army of men and creatures around him, then turning back to Kendra.

  “That’s it?” he inquired. “I have to say I’m a little insulted.”

  “We’re a bit short-staffed at the moment,” Kendra apologized.

  “Pity,” Gideon stated. “Tell you what. I’ll tie one arm behind my back to make it fair,” he proposed, raising his stump.

  “You even let us cut off your hand,” Kendra mused. “Such dedication. And to think you were three months from earning it back.”

  “Shall we?” he inquired, arching an eyebrow. She smiled, bowing her head slightly.

  “It would be an honor.”

  And before the words were out of her mouth, she reached into the painting at her chest, flinging a long, black spear at his head.

  Gideon’s cape unclasped itself from his neck, flying at the spear and intercepting it in mid-air…then unfurling with a loud snap, flinging the spear right back at Kendra.

  She dodged out of the way in the nick of time, the spear’s deadly point cutting a shallow line on her left cheek. Blood oozed from the wound, and she put a hand to it, then stared at her bloody fingertips.

  “That was a warning,” Gideon stated. “You only get one.”

  “Fire!” she ordered.

  Crossbolts shot down from the windows all around Gideon. He reached into his chest-painting, retrieving his magical lantern and holding it before him.

  “Eruptus!” he cried.

  Light burst from the lantern, along with a rapidly expanding shockwave that flung the crossbow bolts backward in mid-air. Windows shattered, soldiers careening over the street. They fell to their backs on the cobblestones, their weapons flying from their hands. Kendra joined them, landing on her back twenty feet away with a thump.

  Gideon bolted forward, shoving the lantern back into his chest-painting. He passed Kendra, sprinting toward the army of soldiers lying stunned on the street. He weaved between them, most still scrambling to get back on their feet. One of them reached for his ankle, but he dodged out of the way deftly.

  Passing the small army of fallen soldiers, Gideon continued down the narrow street. He glanced back, spotting Kendra rolling onto her belly. The Painter flung something out of her chest-painting after him.

  A golden cube.

  It clattered on the street, bouncing and then rolling until it came to a stop.

  Then it came alive.

  Black, veiny tentacles snaked out of each of its four side-facets, extending outward twenty feet in all directions like grotesque legs. The cube lifted up, two more tentacles sprouting from its top and bottom facets, each arcing forward to form a “C” that hovered above the street.

  Nightmare!

  The cube charged at him, moving down the street with terrible speed!

  A huge tentacle whipped at him, moving so quickly it was a blur. Gideon’s cape flew upward to intercept, but the tentacle managed to knock his hat from his head…and pull it back to Kendra. Gideon cursed, tucking his cane in his armpit and flinging his left hand outward. His black glove flew right off his hand, hurtling after his hat.

  But the tentacled monster called Nightmare slapped it away, giving the hat to Kendra. Gideon’s glove flew back onto his hand, and he clenched his fist, glaring at the Painter.

  Kendra smirked.

  “Remember that job we did oh, thirty years ago?” she asked. “The one where we hid that hostage in your Conclave, and you stuck the portal in your hat?”

  “Kendra…”

  “My men already told me you left with the girl, Gideon,” she interrupted. “Now where oh where could she be?” she added, arching an eyebrow at the hat.

  Gideon’s jawline rippled.

  “We were friends once, Kendra,” he stated. “But if you dare threaten her, make no mistake. I will kill you.”

  Kendra pulled out a small black disc, flashing him a smirk.

  “Oops. Found it.”

  “Kendra…”

  “Let’s go say hello,” she interjected. She tossed the disc onto the ground before her.

  “No!” Gideon cried, lunging toward her.

  “Anulus!” she incanted.

  Chapter 13

  Bella watched as the black portal in the wall of Gideon’s Conclave appeared, rapidly expanding to full height. She sat on the edge of the bed, gripping the bedsheets tightly, and waited.

  But no one came through.

  “Gideon?” she asked.

  Still nothing.

  She hesitated, then slid off the side of the bed, stepping up to the portal.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  And then a black, veiny tentacle shot through the portal at her.

  Bella screamed, turning to run. But the tentacle wrapped itself around her waist, yanking her back toward the portal…and through it. She found herself sailing upward into the air above a starlit cobblestone road, tall buildings looming on either side of her.

  Below, she saw a woman in a Painter’s uniform, standing beside a golden cube. One with black tentacles sprouting from each of its six sides, four acting as legs, and two as arms. And one of those arms was wrapped around her.

  Bella struggled against the tentacle’s terrible grip, but it was no use.

  “Gideon!” she cried, spotting him sprinting toward the woman and the cube. He shoved his cane into his right forearm painting, then reached into his chest-painting, flinging a fireball at the cube-thing. A burst of heat struck her as the fireball passed below her, and it struck the cube dead-on.

  And exploded.

  The cube-monster flew backward, its grip around Bella loosening instantly. Her stomach lurched as she fell fifteen feet toward the street below…and felt her descent slow abruptly, her cloak billowing outward around her. Still, her boots struck the street with considerable force, and she fell backward, landing on her back on the hard cobblestones, her breath blasting from her lungs.

  She saw a huge, bald creature step up to her…and watched in horror as it raised its huge axe over its head, bringing it right down on her!

  Gideon thrust his hand outward, his black glove flying off and shooting toward her. It grabbed her ankle, then yanked her back toward Gideon right as the creature’s axe fell.

  The deadly blade struck the cobblestones with a loud clang, missing her by a fraction of a second.

  “No!” she heard the woman shout. “Take her alive!”

  Bella slid across the street, and Gideon’s glove released her ankle, flying right back onto his hand. She slid to a stop before him, and he offered his hand, pulling her onto her feet.

  “Hurry!” he prompted, running down the street. She obeyed, sprinting after him as fast as she could. The street ended ahead in a rock wall a good fifty feet tall, with several wooden platforms that appeared to be elevators hanging by thick ropes resting against it.

  All of which were rising upward, leaving no way forward.

  Bella heard shouting from behind, and glanced back, seeing dozens of soldiers rushing after them…led by the golden cube-monster.

  And above it, its topmost tentacle wrapped around her waist, was the Painter-woman. Recognition dawned, goosebumps rising on Bella’s arms. It was the same woman she’d seen in her apartment, the one who’d come with Reynolds the day after Grandpa died.

  The Painter flung her hand outward, and a bolt of lightning shot outward, striking Bella’s back.

  Bella’s body stiffened instantly, and she fell to the street, her limbs spasming uncontrollably. The pain was instantaneous, like hitting her funny bone, but all over her body. It vanished as quickly as it’d come, and she gasped, struggling to get to her feet.

  Just as one of the cube’s tentacles wrapped around her left arm.

&nb
sp; Gideon’s glove flew off of his hand toward one of the soldiers rushing after them, yanking their sword out of their hands, then flying back toward the cube. It chopped at the tentacle holding Bella, severing it.

  Bella pulled the severed tentacle from her arm, rushing to Gideon’s side. His glove returned to his hand, still holding the sword.

  The remaining stump of the cube’s tentacle retracted into the cube’s facet…then immediately snaked out again. Completely whole.

  “It healed!” Bella gasped in horror.

  “Got that,” Gideon muttered. “Come on!” he urged, turning and running toward the sheer cliff wall ahead.

  “How are we…” Bella began.

  “Run up the wall!” he ordered…and picked up speed, breaking ahead of her. He leapt at the wall, kicking out with one foot…and it stuck. He ran up the side of the wall, glancing back at Bella. “Come on!” he urged.

  Bella leapt at the wall like Gideon had, her right boot striking its surface.

  It stuck, and gravity shifted.

  The wall became the floor suddenly, the street behind her an impossibly high wall. Nausea struck her, and she became so disoriented that she nearly fell. She resisted the urge to stop and cling to the wall, following behind Gideon as he ran toward the bottoms of the elevators at the top of the cliff.

  A ball of fire struck the wall ahead of them, missing them by mere yards.

  Bella looked backward – and upward – spotting the Painter, still in the cube-monster’s clutches. It used its tentacles to start climbing up the cliffside after them, the veiny limbs somehow sticking to the sheer surface.

  “Cut the ropes!” the Painter cried.

  The elevator ahead of them broke free from its rope, plummeting toward them!

  There was no time to dodge.

  Gideon cursed, skidding to a halt and dropping his sword. He reached into his right forearm-painting, pulling his cane free from it and swinging it at the elevator right as it careened into them.

  Thwack!

  Bella cried out, throwing her arms in front of her face.

  But there was no impact. No pain. There was nothing at all.

  She lowered her arms, staring in disbelief at the bottom of the elevator platform. It’d stopped a foot from them.