by CM Raymond
He’d learned to hold back smiles years ago, but a grin still pulled at the edges of his mouth. “I’m here to see them.”
“Sorry, sir, who?” her mousey voice was hardly audible above the hum of the magitech equipment. The infirmary was one of the most technologically advanced buildings in the city.
He raised an eyebrow. “The Hunters,” he responded, his answer causing a blush.
“Oh, right, of course.” She looked down at a clipboard and back up at Adrien. “They’re just down the hall. But, sir, the doctor is about to check them out. Wouldn’t you rather I just send them directly to your office?”
He pursed his lips, and shook his head. “Oh, no…” leaving a note at the end as he raised his eyebrows in question.
“Helen, sir.”
Adrien flashed his perfectly white smile. “No, Helen. I wanted to see the men before they were released. Raise their morale a bit. Thank them for their service. Means a bit more here than once they’re discharged.”
“Oh.” The woman sounded pleased with his answer. “Would you like me to show you to their room?”
“I’m sure I can manage,” Adrien said as he left the front desk. As soon as he was out of her view, his smile dropped like rotten fruit off a tree.
Adrien found the small room and entered, leaving off any knocking he turned and shut the door. When he turned back around, he was greeted by three surprised men, each of them built like prize fighters. He looked them over to see an assortment of bandages and slings; bruises covered their bodies. When they recognized him, all three men got to their feet, though it took one of them great effort.
The biggest of them had an arm that was completely wrapped all the way down to the elbow. It hung heavy at his side. "Chancellor, what a surprise—I mean honor,” the man said, his voice trembling a little with fear.
Adrien knew the man wasn't excited to see him. "Well, Jasper, I do care about the men protecting this city. The Governor and I work very closely on the issue of patrolling for Unlawfuls. And I heard the three of you had quite the run-in, so I wanted to look into the matter."
Adrien smoothed out his cloak and leaned back against the wall by the door. "Please, gentlemen, sit. And tell me what happened." He crossed his arms.
The two smaller men looked at Jasper, waiting for him to respond.
Finally, the leader of the group sat down. "Hard to say, really. I mean, going into it everything seemed pretty cut and dry, Chancellor. We were on the street and some kid, a girl really, was sitting there on the cobblestones, a younger boy in her arms. As far as we could tell something was wrong with the kid. Really wrong. It was evident that the girl used magic. We could feel it, and the effects were so immediate. The boy just changed in front of our eyes. We announced ourselves, as we ought, and she ran. So, we set off after her and finally cornered her in an alley. It was all above board."
One of the other men chimed in. "Cut and dry. It was by the book."
Adrien knew they were lying. And they were fools for doing so. "By the book, was it?"
“That's right," Jasper said. "Squeaky clean. Just doing our duty.”
The brazen deception angered Adrien, but it wasn't on the top of his list of concerns. He didn’t really care if his men took certain liberties if they got results.
Order required a strong hand, and strong men had needs, after all. But these men failed in their task, and he wanted to know why. Doyle’s description still rang in his ears.
A demon that cast lightning bolts.
Adrien looked at each man before returning his focus to Jasper. "If everything was above board, then why are you three here and not patrolling my streets? Tell me about the other one. The one that did this,” he pointed to all of the bandages and the cast, “to you."
Just a mention of the magician rattled the three hunters. They all looked at each other waiting for the other to respond.
Adrien waved his hand in a circle. "Come on, dammit. I don't have all day."
The third man, the one who had been silent since Adrien entered the room, finally spoke. He was smaller than the others and smelled of smoke. Adrien guessed he was a fire user. "Never seen anything like it before. It came out of nowhere, green skin and large, red eyes. Horns on his head and powerful. Like the devil himself.”
“You fool.” Adrien cut them off, his anger escaping through gritted teeth. “That was no demon creature, you idiot! It was only a trick of the mind. It’s obvious this magic user is one of the mystics.” Adrien rolled his eyes. There was, apparently, something to be said about the quantity of muscle being inversely proportional to intelligence.
At least, sometimes.
He shook his head and continued, “If you three little boys weren’t such cowards, you’d have seen that.”
The fire user swallowed hard and looked to the others for help, but they kept their faces down. He looked back at their boss and continued. “Begging your pardon, sir, but I thought those mystics were all peaceful. I thought they couldn’t do physical magic. That thing, I mean, that magic user, it did physical magic like I’ve never seen before.”
Adrien sneered. “Explain,” The man looked like he had just been stabbed.
“Well, he had this wooden staff, and he used it to throw lightning bolts at us. Never seen a magic user do that before. And Jasper’s magitech, the guy melted it like it was nothing…”
The brute kept talking, but Adrien heard nothing more. He retreated into his own mind. The description of the wizard reminded him of his mentor, who had left the city in his hands decades ago. He remembered their parting well and the level of trust that it took for the old man to pass the mantle of magical stewardship off to his protégé.
He gave Adrien the keys to the kingdom and then wandered off into the mountains, never to be heard from again.
The Chancellor shook his head and convinced himself it couldn’t be the same person. That man was dead. And if it was him, by some miracle, then what was the connection with this young woman, the Unlawful?
Merely circumstantial?
Jasper, the large one in the full arm cast had taken over the talking. “...I’ll get him back for what he did to us, and that little boulevard bitch, sir.”
“No, not the magician,” Adrien snapped. “Leave him for me. But let this be a lesson to all of you to be on your guard. Remember that I don’t stand for this kind of lawlessness. Unlawfuls like this need to be kept in line.”
Jasper nodded. Sweat beaded up on his forehead. He knew the man was short on patience and shorter on mercy. “I won’t forget, sir.”
Adrien’s sickly smile didn’t relieve any of their concern. “I know. Not after I give you a little reminder,” Adrien told the three.
The Chancellor turned to Jasper’s sidekick on his left, the man who had remained silent the whole time, trying to hide behind the other two, Adrien felt.
The man was either a coward or an idiot. Neither was acceptable and he didn’t have enough resources to kill all three men at the moment.
Adrien raised his hand in the shape of a “C” and slowly squeezed. The last Hunter tried to gurgle out a scream, but nothing emerged as Adrien crushed his throat. His eyes rolled back in his head, his body slowly starting to slide down before ending in a rush, his head striking the ground and sounding like a melon as it cracked on the floor.
Once the Hunter’s body was on the ground motionless, Adrien turned to the man on Jasper’s right.
“Please, no…” the fire user said. He raised both hands before his face as if that could do anything to stop the Chancellor’s wrath.
“It’s not your day to die, fool. At least by my hands. Find the girl. Both of you. Bring her to me alive. If you must get rough, so be it, just so long as she can still answer my questions. Destroy anything that stands in your way.”
Jasper looked down at his deformed arm and smiled. “Gladly. But what if we see the other magician?”
Adrien raised an eyebrow, thinking back to the power his old mentor wie
lded. The power to change lives or destroy them.
“If you’re smart? You’ll run for your useless bloody lives.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Few Arcadians that he approached had ever heard of Eve. And it wasn’t a surprise. She was as meek as she was beautiful. The ironic thing was that she, like Adrien and Ezekiel, had been there at the beginning, had the opportunity to seize wealth, power, or celebrity status along with all the privileges that accompanied it. But these were not the important things, not to Eve.
From the beginning, her pursuits were different, purer. All that she wanted behind the giant walls of Arcadia was a small plot of land to garden and a house in which to raise a family. Her simplicity was one of the reasons why the old man loved her.
Eve got one of her two desires.
Ezekiel found her home—a small, single-level house with pristine sandstone walls, bright blue shutters, and a welcoming oak door. Settled in among houses that were nearly palatial compared to the rest of Arcadia, the tidy little place was austere without a trace of presumption. A tiny garden was nestled in the back.
It had taken him a long time, but Ezekiel finally found an old timer who knew exactly who he was looking for. Leaning his staff against the wall, he pushed back his wild, white hair and smoothed his beard.
He’d fought men and monsters of all calibers in his younger days, but standing in the doorway to the only woman he ever loved terrified him more than any wild beast. Finally mustering the nerve, he rapped on the door.
Within seconds, the door flung open, and a beautiful young girl with blond curls halfway down her back stood in the entryway. Her eyes glimmered like sapphires. “May I help you, sir?”
He stepped back as she watched him. He checked that he had the right house before stepping back up to the doorway. “I’m sorry, I’m looking for a woman named Eve. I heard she lived here once?”
The girl laughed, and the old man felt his ears burn. “Yes, Auntie Eve lived here once and still does. Well, we live here, I mean we both do.”
“Auntie Eve?” the man repeated. “Well, you must be Jessica’s daughter, then.” His face brightened as he took in the girl. It had been forty years since he’d seen Eve or her sister, but the similarities between the girl and her mother were striking. The blue eyes made it all come together. “Is your mother here?”
The girl looked down at the cobblestone path and back again. “She’s gone. It’s been since I was young. Don’t even remember her.” Her eyes grew moist.
“Oh. Terrible. I am so—” he started to mumble. Too many years from trying to be polite around people.
She raised a hand. “No. Forgive me. This is not our kind of hospitality. It’s good you’re here. She’s been waiting.”
“For me?”
The girl nodded. “Come along.”
****
Fingers as frail as fallen twigs reached up and brushed Ezekiel’s cheek. Her touch felt the same as it had decades ago, only now it was at once more gentle and somehow stronger. But the strength was deceptive. Eve lay still, her face as pale as the winter moon. Surrounded by pillows, the bed had become her permanent residence for the past eight months. Death was calling, but she held him off, waiting for this day.
The old man sat next to her. “I’m sorry, Eve, I—”
She pressed her fingers against his lips and slowly shook her head. “No. Not like this. I knew you had to go. Don’t you remember, I gave my blessing.” A faint smile spread on her lips. “The only thing you ever let me give to you.”
He nodded, knowing she was right. This was not a time for sadness. Gritting his teeth, he forced a smile. “It is good to see you, Eve. My heart has longed for this day. I imagined you’d have married, surrounded by grandchildren.”
His words drew a laugh—the kind of laugh not meant to tear down but to build up. “Well, now you make a presumption, my old friend. I did in fact marry. Not long after you left. He knew our love was a balm for my broken heart, but he didn’t mind. Peter was a good man, strong. The Matriarch gave us two good years together, and then I lost him in an accident at the factory. I’m told he went quickly.”
She nodded as she lost herself in thought. Finally, she continued, “No children, though, but Madelyn is as good as mine. We’ve done well together.”
The old man smiled, this one took no work on his part at all. “Good. I’m glad for the two of you.”
“We have much to speak of, but I am afraid so little time. Let us not share of our lost loves.”
“Arcadia,” he said. The word was like honey to his lips.
Her face lightened. “Yes. Our home and great experiment.”
“But what has it become?”
Madelyn cleared her throat at her aunt’s door and walked in with a tray of tea and cookies.
“Thank you,” the old man accepted the tray from the girl as she smiled. Handing it to him, she backed out of the room and left the two alone.
Eve continued her story, “It worked, dear. The city. The place that we built together with the others blossomed like a flower bed touched with the magic of the Druids.”
He bit into a cookie. “But, how could it then come to this?” He pointed out the walls. “The things I’ve seen since I returned. So much pain, Eve.”
Her lips pressed together. “Ezekiel, this is a hard story. One that none of us ever thought would come to pass, but one you must know. When you left, everything was in place. And the steward you left in charge was filled with energy and vigor. For years, Adrien kept building and creating things of beauty.
“The farms developed outside of the walls and the peace we created drew people from the ends of Irth. Arcadia was becoming the society that we all thought might not be possible after the Age of Madness.
“Adrien and his friend Saul worked day and night. They were tireless in the work of their hands and single-minded in making the dream, our dream, a reality. As more and more came, the city filled with life. It was truly beautiful. But the more people that flooded the gates, the more problems arose.”
“Oh, those boys were whip-sharp, though. Adrien and Saul gathered us all and shared the plan. Our magic had built the place almost to completion, but there was one-quarter of Arcadia left wild. Trees and animals roamed as if it was their own.”
“Of course, it’s where I spent most of my time. But the city needed my wild place, and I knew it was for the best. The quarter would be cleared and reserved for two structures. The Capitol, from where Saul would govern the city, and the Academy, a place for Adrien to train up magicians, founded on your principles.”
Memories of his final conversation with his student ran through Ezekiel’s mind. A smile crossed his face, then faded as he knew the story had a sorrowful end.
“It was like that for years,” she continued. “The city grew and grew. Saul appointed people to oversee the quarters and created a government that would be able to move us toward flourishing.
“And Adrien,” she said, “he was certainly in his element. The Academy was free and open. He had magicians running classes in all the rooms and sometimes out into the corridors. For the first time, we no longer felt like little children playing house, but like founders. We were rebuilding a paradise from a world that had been torn and twisted...”
She stopped, and looked down at her hands, her voice soft. “But it wasn’t long until paradise was lost. Nothing happened overnight. Rather it crept in like evil tends to. There came a time when everyone you ran into was some kind of magician. I mean, most of them were harmless. Many were using their powers for great acts of good. But shadows of vice hide in the corners of every heart.