Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling

by Andrew Dobell

  She darted from her room to Gentle Waters, but he wasn’t there, his bed was made and the room was as immaculate as ever, nothing out of the ordinary there then.

  So she darted from the hallway into the living room, pausing at the bathroom on her way, which was also empty, as was the living room.

  Finally Amanda rushed through to the kitchen and skidded into the room on bare feet, but that too was empty, so Amanda stood there for a second in a daze until she looked out the window, and although Gentle Water wasn’t in sight, the dark green forest on the horizon seemed to beckon her towards it. As she stared out at the forest, its dark brown and green shape undulating in the wind, she hoped against hope that her instincts were right.

  She turned from the window and ran back through the cottage and came to a halt outside Gentle Waters room, and with a swift second glance inside, she confirmed that all his things were still there, which meant he was most likely still around, and that she still had time.

  She ran to her room and flung open the wardrobe doors, pulling out a pair of old and ripped jeans that had holes on the legs, then she grabbed a camisole top, a long sleeved top and a thicker jumper from the piles of clothes that were in there and finished off by grabbing some mis-matched underwear.

  As she pulled off her bed clothes she hoped that she wasn’t going to be too late, she hoped that Gentle Water wouldn’t hold her outburst against her and turn her away.

  He had every right to be angry at her for what she had said, and she fully expected that he would make her feel very uncomfortable at the very least if he stayed here with her.

  Although she was at a loss to think why he might want to stay and teach someone who was prone to such outbursts from time to time.

  Which wasn’t really the case at all as she really wasn’t one to have such moments of rage, she was a calm person normally, very little ruffled her feathers or made her upset in the usual scheme of things. She had a very long fuse, or so she always had thought, and it took a lot to make her angry.

  But everyone has their weaknesses, and she supposed that Georgina’s death was one of hers.

  She quickly pulled on her clothes and ran from the bedroom towards the front door, pulled on her sneakers and left the cottage behind, heading out towards the forest and the clearing that lay within.

  The morning was very cold today, the sky was grey and overcast, which was pretty much the same as every day at the moment. The wind streamed over the hills, but although it wasn’t that strong, it still bit deep into your exposed skin, giving Amanda’s hands and face the feel of ice as she half jogged and half walked up the grassy incline.

  Minutes later she sped up a little as she entered the forest and hurried through the branches and bracken.

  She had made good time though, and it was now only perhaps five or ten minutes since she had first woken up and realised with horror the things she had said to her friend yesterday. As she approached the edge of the clearing, she could see the familiar figure of Gentle Water in the tall grasses practicing his Martial Arts.

  Amanda slowed upon seeing him, her fears simultaneously allayed by his presence, by the fact that he hadn’t left her, but also intensified by it was well, as she knew she would have to talk to him, and although he might be here, he might be quite understandably upset with her.

  He was engrossed in his training for the moment, so Amanda moved over to the tree stump and sat herself down on it while she waited for her friend and teacher to finish his routine.

  Or at least she hoped he was still her friend and teacher after yesterday. She still wasn’t all that sure about things, she had only known the guy for a short while and this was the first real clash they had had in all this time. She had no idea how he might react to her, so she felt herself tense up as she watched and waited for him to come to the end of this routine.

  Sheltered from the wind here in the clearing by the surrounding trees, it wasn’t quite as cold as out on the hillside so that her hands and cheeks, which were flushed red, slowly began to feel a bit better.

  Gentle Water came to the end of his current sequence of moves and after holding the finishing stance for a while, he relaxed and took a few slow breaths.

  Amanda stood up from her tree stump and walked over to where Gentle Water was standing. As she approached him he looked up at her with a totally blank face, waiting for her to speak first.

  Amanda looked into that face, scrutinised it, looking for traces of emotion to try and gauge what Gentle Water was thinking and feeling, but he was clearly an expert in hiding his feelings and Amanda could gain nothing from his expression at all. Which meant she had to stumble on blindly in the dark, hoping that he was going to be okay with her? Amanda decided to open with an apology and get that out of the way first.

  ‘Um, hi there GW. I just want to say to you how sorry I am for what I said yesterday. It was wrong of…’ Amanda came to a stop mid-way through her sentence as she saw Gentle Water raise his hand and the beginnings of a smile creep into the corners of his mouth.

  ‘You have no need to be sorry Amanda. I understand you were feeling a little fragile yesterday with it being Georgina’s Birthday. I understand completely, you have no need to apologise.’

  ‘But I must. I said some horrible things to you.’

  ‘You were upset, I understand.’

  ‘Upset or not, it doesn’t excuse my behaviour, I was in the wrong.’

  ‘Okay Amanda, if you feel the need to make apology, then I accept it so that we might move on.’

  Amanda stood there blankly for a moment, not really believing it had been this easy. His acceptance of the way she had been with him yesterday was dumbfounding to her. She had said some truly horrible things to him.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I’m sure.’

  ‘But, I said I hated you…’

  ‘Yes you did, but you did not mean it did you?’

  ‘No, no I didn’t.’

  ‘Then all is well and there is nothing further to discuss.’

  She had been steeling herself for a much worse reaction then this, and now, as the feeling of tenseness flowed from her, and she began to relax, she realised just what a great friend Gentle Water was to her.

  ‘So, you’re not going to stop teaching me?’

  ‘I will continue to teach you the ways of Magic and the Art of the Phoenix.’

  ‘No punishments or anything?’

  ‘No, I would never punish you for any reason, and certainly not for being emotional. That would be wrong.’

  She let out a sigh of relief. ‘I was so worried when I woke up this morning and remembered what I’d said to you.’

  Gentle Water nodded, and Amanda could feel her emotions rising.

  ‘I thought you might have gone, when I couldn’t find you in the house. I panicked and thought you might have left me to fend for myself.’

  ‘Never.’

  Amanda couldn’t hold it back any more, her emotion got the better of her and she felt the tears fall from her eyes and her sobs fighting to break free.

  In the next second Amanda had sunk to her knees, and Gentle Water did the same, taking her into his arms and holding her close while she tried to get control of herself. She was so relieved that everything was okay, that he was still here and wasn’t going to leave her. All the tension that had built up since she had awoken this morning had found its release in the raw emotion and the tears she now shed, but her friend held her close and comforted her while she did her best to pull herself together. After a few minutes of tears she was able to calm herself somewhat and pulled away from Gentle Water.

  She wiped her eyes with her fingers and sleeve, wiping away those tears, sniffing as she did so.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘I am, I’m okay now. I’m sorry, it just got on top of me a little bit,’ she answered.

  ‘It is fine, I understand.’

  Amanda smiled.

  ‘Please, take the day, there is no hurry, we can begin
training again tomorrow.’

  Amanda just nodded. She wanted to get back to her training, but she wasn’t going to argue with him now. Besides, a day to herself was probably a good thing and just what the doctor ordered.

  Gentle Water stood up and smoothed out his clothes. ‘I will be back soon, I am going back to the cottage for a while.’

  Amanda nodded once more. ‘Okay.’

  She listened to his steps fading into the distance as she continued to kneel there for a while, not really thinking about much, as she still felt like she was in a daze. But she knew she had been lucky, very lucky indeed.

  If Gentle Water had left her, while she was still learning of the nature of magic and about this new mysterious would around her, a world which filled her with wonder and horror at the same time, she really didn’t know what she would have done. She would have been an orphan in a world she didn’t understand any more. A world which was much more dangerous than she had ever really realised.

  But maybe that was why he hadn’t left, maybe it was that he had taken on a responsibility when he had taken her on as his apprentice, a responsibility which was not easily thrown aside, not for such trivial reasons.

  She didn’t really know if this was the case, but it might explain things.

  But then again, maybe he was just a good human being, something which in a world so full of disrespect, of hate and violence to your fellow man and woman, was becoming quite rare, or so it seemed.

  Gentle Water was a true gentleman, and someone who Amanda had a lot of respect for because he understood her. She felt she had crossed a line yesterday though.

  Although Gentle Water had been fine with her and said he wasn’t offended, she still knew she had gone too far, she had said some pretty horrible things and even though Gentle Water had forgiven her, she didn’t feel like forgiving herself.

  She had been a bitch yesterday, she had shown herself up and acted like a five year old by spitting her dummy out. She felt embarrassed by her actions, and oddly enough, Gentle Waters moderate reaction made her feel this more keenly then perhaps she would have felt it if he had been upset or shouted at her. Gentle Water had been an adult about it, he had understood that she had been upset and he had acted accordingly.

  Meanwhile, she had blamed the person closest too her and had said some pretty horrible things to him. It was unforgivable in her mind and she knew she needed to grow up a bit if she was going to continue on with her training and enter into this world of magic and wonder that Gentle Water was showing to her.

  So as she sat there she made a private resolution to herself, a resolution that she was going to act more like an adult, that she wouldn’t act like that again to the people she considered friends. She couldn’t treat those she cared about so badly, otherwise she would end up with no one who would want to care for her, or who would let her care for them.

  It might not be New Years, but it didn’t matter, she had made a mistake and she knew it, and she knew she had been granted a second chance by someone who was able to look past the insults and see that she was better than that.

  She appreciated that second chance more than anything as right now, she didn’t have many friends in the world and she had no intention to lose another one, least of all to lose him to her own silly actions.

  Contented with this new direction in life she stood up and moved to the center of the clearing where she stood still, breathed easy for a moment before bowing to no one at all and entering into a ready stance.

  She held that stance for a moment before moving into the start of one of her Martial Arts routines.

  Georgina thinks this girl will be okay out there on the streets. But I have seen too many girls who think they can do this and who quickly realise they can’t. It can get messy if they change their minds while they’re with a client as well. But I trust Georgie more than most and if she thinks this Amanda girl can make a go of being a Pro, then I’m willing to see how things go.

  Tonight will be in interesting night.

  - Stuart

  Accident

  London, England.

  Early May

  The suburban streets of High Barnet in north London were warming up. It was early spring time and the past week had been quite pleasant, not particularly warm, but not cold either. There had even been a few really very nice days where the people in the streets were starting to wear distinctly summery clothes.

  The air today had a nice pleasant temperature to it, one which wasn’t warm or cool, just very middle of the range making it difficult to dress for, and as Liz walked along the road next to her sister, the people they passed seemed to not really know which way to dress.

  Liz had on some jeans, a baggy jumper with a pair of well-worn trainers on her feet, while her sister had dressed with slightly higher hopes for the day’s weather and wore a skirt that Liz felt looked a little too short for May. But that was Fran all over and there was nothing Liz or anyone could say to make her dress any differently.

  But then she wouldn’t feel the cold anyway, Fran never did. She would swan about in a pair of skimpy denim shorts that didn’t really cover her bum in weather that wasn’t in any way warm, but it never seemed to bother Fran, she never complained and never seemed to shiver. Liz however did feel the cold, she was rarely seen without a coat.

  She’d slung her coat over her handbag today, and she had only just taken it off after having warmed up a little bit from the walk they were making to Stephan’s house.

  ‘Do you have any idea what we’re heading round to Stephan’s for on such short notice?’ Liz asked.

  He had called a little over fifteen minutes ago and had spoken to Fran on the phone only very briefly, Fran had then grabbed Liz and told her they were going round to Steph’s right now.

  Their mother was in so they hadn’t been able to talk much about why, Fran not really answering Liz’s questions about it, only shushing her when their mother stood within ear shot, which meant it would probably be something occult.

  Their walk had been in silence so far, Fran’s pace had been quick and Liz did her best to keep up, but Liz wanted to know what was going on before they made it to their destination.

  ‘He said his parents had gone out and that we could go round and see if we could do anything with that Slab he brought back from Egypt.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Liz, realisation dawning. It had nearly all been about that retched Sand Stone slab since he had returned from his holidays. They had researched it and its markings online on the internet, and also poured through various books at the local library to try and decipher it in any way or learn its origins.

  All their research had come to nothing however and they were no closer to figuring it out now than they had been when they had first seen it.

  She felt as fascinated by this occult object as the rest of them but it had started to become a little obsessive and they hadn’t just hung out and done something normal for a while now which Liz felt a bit frustrated about.

  But then this was also probably due to their lack of progress with it. In their time together they seemed to have achieved most things they had put their minds to and the fact that this had beaten them so far started to really annoy her, as well as the rest of the group.

  She and Fran seemed to have a way of making things happen, if they really concentrated on something, together, usually holding hands, they could make things change or happen purely with the power of their mind.

  It had started as children, when they had played together alone, and it had all been just a game. A purely innocent game created by two children who saw it as their little secret. They had never been sure what had made them keep it a secret, as they had not known better back then, but both were glad they had done.

  They didn’t know what it might be, it was just their secret. They had tried to make guesses or understand it through the years, they really didn’t know with any certainty what they had, what power it could be that they wielded.

  Over the past
few years they had come to believe it might be Magic of some sort, although before that it had been Psychic Powers, and before that it was Fairy Magic. Back when the Candle had levitated in Stephan’s house both the twins had known it had been them that had made the Candle hover, but they had never told the two boys that it had been them and their gift. The twins only really trusted themselves with the information about their secret, and they saw no reason to tell the other two just yet.

  Although they knew if things kept on the way they had been going, the others would either end up finding out about the Twins powers, or Fran and herself would need to tell them for some currently unforeseen reason.

  This stone slab worried Liz a little bit as well. She didn’t know what it would do but it had an aura about it which gnawed at the edges of her mind, something which made a cold sweat trickle down her spine sometimes.

  Since returning from Egypt, Steph’s parents hadn’t really been away and left Stephan in the house alone for any length of time, until today that is, so they hadn’t had the chance to really do much with the Slab itself. They had all seen it, sneaking into the study once when they knew they were safe, as well as staring at Photos of it for days on end, but that had been all.

  Today would be different though by the sounds of things, today would be the time when they would try to work some kind of Magic with it and see what they could do.

  ‘Is it such a good idea to try and do something with that Artefact do you think? It gives me the creeps.’

  ‘I know what you mean. It’s as if there’s something about this that seems more dangerous. It’s as if we have been just playing up until now, but this is different, this is real. I don’t know, I could be wrong here, maybe we’re just over reacting because it’s just a creepy looking thing.’

  ‘Maybe, but I think you might be right about it seeming more dangerous. I’m a little scared by that thing. You know?’ said Liz.

  ‘I know. But we got our gift don’t we? We can make sure we’re safe, protect ourselves if need be hey!’