A little later on and the three of them stood in the entrance hall with their bags packed, ready to go. Raven worked some Magic which temporarily lowered the Aegis on this house and started to concentrate. Raven was Porting over using his own Magic while Gentle Water took Amanda with his, and she as stood there, she felt the Essentia surge around her as the Magic went to work. It was a feeling akin to a drop on a roller coaster where you feel like you’ve left your stomach behind.
Amanda noticed a golden glow to everything for the briefest of seconds, the scene changed and the Essentia calmed, they had Ported. If all went well, they should be in Paris now. Amanda noticed how Raven had suddenly moved position without taking a step, he had ported to slightly different place relative to Amanda and Gentle Water.
The three of them found themselves in a side street between two buildings that Raven had checked out moments before Porting to make sure it was clear. The buildings on either side went up several stories, and there was a strip of blue sky high above them.
Further along the alleyway, Amanda could hear the street life of a bustling city, along with the occasional shout from a street vendor that was clearly in French.
Raven stepped up next to Amanda and Gentle Water and smiled. ‘Let's go?’ he said.
The three of them walked out of the alleyway and into the street in a busy city suburb of Paris. People walked purposefully along the street heading to work, the passing cars and taxis weaving this way and that.
Raven led the way, while Gentle Water walked next to Amanda and pointed out the house a little up the road and on the other side from them. It had a high stone wall surrounding the grounds of the quite large town house. The stone work of the wall and building looked greyish colour, shot through with green from the ivy which snaked its way up the brickwork. Only the top of the house could be seen over the wall.
There were a couple of Gates in the perimeter wall, they crossed the street opposite a small door sized one and walked up to it. The walls of the building loomed up before Amanda, her view of the house obstructed by this imposing barrier.
Amanda couldn’t feel any Magic coming from the house at all, so she looked at it using her Magic and saw that even looking at it like this, the Magical signature of the building was simply non-existent, it looked normal.
‘You feel any Magic?’ Gentle Water remarked.
‘No, but there must be an Aegis around it at least,’ Amanda said.
‘There is, but it is hidden by Master Magi of Legacy, hidden to look like normal flow of Essentia. If you know what to look for, or studied it for long time, you find Aegis, but you won’t notice it if you not looking for it.’
‘That’s impressive,’ Amanda remarked.
They reached the gate which Raven opened up, the gate had looked locked, but opened easily for Raven. There was an intercom next to the gate which Raven hadn’t used and a small post box for letters.
‘I thought the gate was locked,’ she remarked to Raven as he held open the gate for her.
‘It was,’ he said, winking at her at the end of the sentence.
Magic, Amanda thought, smiling, and passed through the gate and into the grounds of the house, which now loomed up large before her.
The house was a simple rectangular affair with a flat front face. It had three floors in total Amanda could now see, the ground and first floor were in the building proper while the second floor had been built into the roof space. The surrounding garden looked well-tended, but not extravagant. There were areas of grass, flower beds and trees, shrubs and even a water feature. It looked very pleasant out here, and Amanda thought she’d enjoy these gardens.
‘From outside the walls, the gardens always look empty, even if there are lots of people in them,’ Gentle Water said to her from where he walked behind her.
Raven closed the gate behind them and caught up with them where they had waited for him. He led the way up to the front door, a deep reddish wooden one with a big Lion head knocker in the middle of it. Above this, an intricate metal lattice circular design had been set into the wood. Upon getting closer she could see it was some kind of snake or serpent with vicious looking jaws and spines on its back, and it looked about ready to bite its own tail.
‘It’s an Ouroboros,’ Raven said. He must have seen Amanda’s curious expression upon seeing the design. ‘It’s an ancient symbol that has many meanings, but generally symbolises cyclicality, unity, or infinity. The Legacy uses it as their logo.’
‘Oh, I was wondering what it was for, it’s a little vicious looking.’
Raven gave the symbol a look. ‘Yeah, I suppose it is.’
‘It’s nice though, I like it.’ Amanda blurted, hoping she hadn’t offended him.
Raven smiled to himself as she said this. ‘Well, let’s get inside shall we,’ he said, and opened up the door.
Amanda followed Raven inside, Gentle Water came in behind her and closed the door. The lobby area seemed quite large considering the size of the house, she had thought it would be smaller than this, but it felt really quite spacious.
Gentle Water leaned in to talk quietly to her. ‘You’ll find the whole place filled with Magical effects and things, one of them being that it’s bigger on the inside then on the outside. It started off the right size, but as the coven grew, the house had to grow as well.’
‘How many Magi are there in the Legacy again?’ she asked. She did think Gentle Water had told her this once before, but she couldn’t remember.
‘There are over thirty members globally, but they don’t all live here. It’s rare we get everyone here, although it would hold that many.’
Amanda nodded and went back to taking in her surroundings.
The first impression she got when she walked in here felt similar to the feeling you get when you walked about a stately home that had been preserved for a few hundred years. All the furnishings were old, many of them didn’t look like they were from this century at all. The wallpaper, carpet and rugs, everything had an age about it, and yet it all looked very well preserved for a working house.
The rug she stood on right that moment for instance, it was clearly old, and although it could do with a little clean, it hadn’t really worn away much.
The lobby was rectangular in shape with doors leading off it, a staircase leading up and a corridor heading deeper into the building. It was very quiet in here, there were no sounds from the Paris streets outside, which she thought must be a magical effect.
‘How about I go and sort out which rooms we’ll be having while you take Mandy for a bit of a tour round,’ Raven said to Gentle Water.
‘Good idea, shall we have look around?’ he said to Amanda.
‘Yes, that would be grand, lead on. Shall I leave my stuff here?’
‘Yeah, nothing will happen to them,’ Raven said.
Gentle Water then led Amanda through a door to their left and into a reception room with seats carefully arranged about the room, some with small tables next to them. There were paintings on the walls, none of which moved Amanda noted disappointedly, even though they were very impressive anyway. There was no one in here.
More doors led off from this room, and Gentle Water led the way through one door way, holding it open for Amanda as she passed through. Amanda immediately noticed someone in this room. She sat on a nice looking couch, watching a flat screen TV on the wall. The woman turned to look at Amanda and Gentle Water and smiled warmly.
‘Gentle Water, you’re back, it’s so good to see you again.’ She stood up and the TV suddenly transformed into a painting. The woman quickly walked round the furniture towards them. ‘Come here,’ she said as she embraced Gentle Water for a moment.
‘Hello Maria, it is nice to see you also,’ he said as they parted from the hug. ‘It has been long time.’
Maria was a little shorter than Amanda, with long chocolate brown hair that fell in perfect waves. She had a heart shaped face, soft features and a curvy body, very attractive in an old-master paintin
g sort of way. She could easily have been the subject of Michelangelo in bygone years. She wore an infectious grin and had a demeanour of bubbly happiness about her. She had a light dress on, that was pinched in at the waist with a tie, but flared out to a knee length skirt.
‘Too long, but if you’re here, then this must be Amanda?’ she said, turning to address Amanda as she said it.
‘That’s right,’ Amanda said. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ Amanda offered her hand to Maria in greeting. She had expected the Magi here to talk French, but Maria spoke perfect English, although she did have a slight French accent.
‘Oh, you don’t get let off that easily,’ she said as she pulled Amanda in for a hug and kiss on the cheek. ‘Have you only just arrived?’ she asked.
‘I have, just this moment, Raven is sorting us out some rooms so Gentle Water thought he would show me a little of the house.’
‘Ah Gentle Water, always the gentleman,’ she remarked. ‘Well make sure you go and see some of Paris if you haven’t been here before.’
‘I haven’t no. I’d love to see some of the city. It was my first time in London yesterday and we must have done almost everything in one day.’
‘London is great, I love London,’ Maria said, putting the emphasis on love, and dragging out the word so it lasted longer than it should.
‘So, you’re part of the Legacy then?’
‘That’s right yes, I joined many, many years ago, shortly after becoming a Magi myself. So how are you finding it all? Not too much of a shock to the system?
‘I admit it was a bit of a shock at first, but I think I’ve got used to it a bit now. I’m sure I have plenty to learn and see yet though.’
‘You’ll never stop learning as a Magi, it’s one of those things which you can never learn enough of. But are you enjoying it all?’
‘Yes, absolutely, it’s been grand so far. Gentle Water has been a legend,’ she said, touching her mentor’s arm, ‘and I wouldn’t change anything about learning Magic at all, it’s really opened my eyes.’
‘That’s great, so will you be staying for long do you think?’ Maria asked.
‘We are not sure,’ Gentle Water answered, ‘I think we see how things go.’
‘Are you going to this ball I heard we were attending?’ Amanda asked Maria.
‘The one at the Musee D’Orse? Yes, I’ll be there, should be a fun night.’
Amanda nodded and smiled, and Gentle Water excused them both, saying they would see Maria later on. With some parting waves, they carried on through to some more rooms, which were empty of people, but full of interesting bits of furniture and art.
‘She seemed nice,’ Amanda commented to Gentle Water a couple of rooms away from where they had met Maria.
‘She is, she’s a good friend.’
‘I thought the people here would speak French?’
‘We all do, we speak many languages. With Magic, you can copy skills and knowledge from peoples mind. You will do this soon.’
Amanda nodded and walked into the next room. Each and every room had something fascinating to see, something Magical or fantastic.
‘This house is amazing,’ Amanda said, as she peered into a huge fish tank that had a miniature set of sea life within it, including tiny sharks, whales and dolphins. All of them magically shrunk along with loads of other much smaller fish, rocks and coral.
‘You’ll find that most Magi houses that have been around for a while are filled with amazing little magical artefacts like that.’
Amanda stepped back from the tank to admire it, when a small voice issued from near her feet.
‘Excuse me lady!’ The tone was indignant and sarcastic, dragging out the first word of the sentence.
Amanda looked down to see a honey coloured cat looking up at her in a slightly affronted way, Amanda had stepped into its path.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said without thinking, and stepped out of the way. The cat gave her a superior look and walked on. Amanda looked up at Gentle Water who was grinning at her, ‘Did I just speak with the cat?’
‘You did.’
‘Good, as long as I’m not going mad,’ Amanda remarked, her eyes wide with incredulity.
They continued across the room, and as they approached the far door, they could hear a voice calling out ‘Fluffy, where are you Fluffy?’
The door opened then and a girl stepped through into the room. She must have been about Amanda’s age, perhaps a little taller, and she was hauntingly beautiful. Blonde hair shot through with Purple streaks, dark eyes and bone structure to die for. She wore white form fitting clothing that looked like nothing Amanda had ever seen. There were sashes and things trailing off it, all sorts of embellishments and accessories, it must have been magically made.
As she entered the room, she noticed the two figures before her and stood up straight. ‘Gentle Water, wow, it’s been an age, come here and give me a hug darling.’
They embraced, the girl with a huge grin on her face as she did so.
‘It is good to see you Feather. My new apprentice, Amanda, Amanda, this is Feather.’
‘Oh wow, I knew you were coming to Paris, but I wasn’t sure when,’ she said to Amanda. ‘Maria said you’d be coming back with an Apprentice,’ she then said to Gentle Water, ‘I told her I couldn’t wait to see who it would be, and now you’re here. Amanda is it? I like the name, oh yes, very much. The suit is lovely as well, you look gorgeous, you really do. I bet Maria took a liking to you didn’t she. By the way, have you seen a cat come through here?’
Amanda thought that Feather hardly seemed to stop for breath as she spoke, she seemed full of energy and life.
‘That way,’ Gentle Water said.
‘Great, thank you, I’ll see you later,’ she said before kissing Amanda and Gentle Water on both cheeks and skipping off through the door Fluffy had disappeared through.
‘Who was that? She didn’t seem much older than me.’ Amanda asked.
‘Feather is one of Maria’s apprentices and lovers.’
‘One, of Maria’s lovers?’
‘Yes, Maria believes in free love and sexual liberation. Do not be put off her though.’
‘I won’t, it’s all just a, well, it’s a lot to take in, that’s all.’
‘I know.’
The pair kept on through the house, they could hear more voices up ahead and Gentle Water told Amanda that he thought they were coming from the Kitchen. Moments later they passed through a wooden doorway into a large and spacious rustic Kitchen that appeared to be at the back of the house that had 4 figures stood within it.
Before they had even entered the room, they could hear their conversation.
‘But unfortunately you can’t come to the Ball, you’d scare away all the nice ladies Balor, and we can’t have that,’ said a fairly deep male voice with an American accent.
‘I’m doing security, and I am quite aware of my appearance,’ said a voice that didn’t even sound like it came from a human being. It sounded like stones being ground together.
‘I bet you watch through one of the windows, living vicariously through us, right?’ replied the first voice.
‘Oh what fun, being able to watch Xain put the moves on some poor unsuspecting girl, that sounds like a crazy night of fun to me,’ said a third male voice, this one a slightly higher and nasally with a British accent.
‘Don’t you mean, try to put the move on the ladies. Xain’s idea of a chat up line is, “you don’t sweat much for a fat lass,”’ said a forth male voice that had a slight Californian tone.
‘At least I can pull, when was the last time you picked up a girl Loomis?’
But Amanda never found out the answer to that question as she followed Gentle Water into the room. The conversation stopped and a small cheer went up as they saw her mentor walk into the room.
‘Gentle Water, you’re back!’
‘Hey, it’s the main man.’
‘Its good to see you again sir.’
&nbs
p; ‘Hiya’
Amanda was stood right behind Gentle Water as they entered, and they couldn’t see her, but as her Mentor continued inside, Amanda stepped out from behind Gentle Water and smiled at the four figures in the room.
She barely even registered the 3 men in the room, instead her gaze was immedialty drawn to the fourth figure, who didn’t look human at all.
This must be the one who’s voice sounded like it had been made from grinding stones. Easily getting on for ten foot high and was nearly as wide, the skin of this powerfully built creature seemed to be made from a stone like substance. He wore no clothing, had wings sprouting from his back, legs not too dissimilar from a cats from the calf down, and a distinctly leonine face.
When Amanda saw him, she nearly fell backwards, having to catch herself on the counter as memories of Horlack flooded back suddenly.
Gentle Water caught her quickly, and his voice filled her mind, comforting her. ‘It is okay, this is not Horlack, his name is Balor and he is friend, very gentle and will not hurt you. Okay? Just relax, it is all right. I’m sorry, I should have warned you.’
Amanda steadied herself as Gentle Waters voice continued to comfort her in her mind. Tears welled up in her eyes which she wiped away as she composed herself once more.
The three men had immediately jumped up and rushed over to Amanda to help, but Gentle Water had caught and steadied her before they reached her.
Balor stood still, clearly aware it was his presence that had caused the shock.
Amanda raised her hand to the three Magi who had approached her to help, ‘It’s all right, I’m grand,’ she said as she got her balance and freed herself from Gentle Waters arms. ‘I’m sorry, I just…I wasn’t expecting to see…’ and she waved her hand in Balor’s direction as she spoke. ‘I had a bad experience with a Scion during my Epiphany don’t yeh know, and you’re the first I’ve seen since then.’
‘Truly it’s alright. I’ve had worse reactions. My name is Balor and it’s a pleasure to meet you. You must be Amanda,’ Balor said in a voice so deep and otherworldly.
Amanda swallowed and with an effort of will, forced herself to step forward through the three Magi and her Mentor and offered her hand, ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling Page 34