Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling

by Andrew Dobell

  Raven stood in the centre of the room and once more used his Magical senses to home in on the emotional signature of Stephan. He wanted to get a clearer impression of Stephan’s psychic signature which would make it easier to find him, and the best place to do that would be here, in his room, surrounded by the things dearest to him.

  Satisfied by what he found, he took out a part of the Artefact, held it in his hand and called upon his Magic once more. This time he tried to follow the emotional investment in this object back to its source, Stephan, wherever he might be.

  But despite trying several times, it seemed like this was destined for failure as it refused to work each time.

  Raven cursed and put the rock back in the bag, he guessed that it most likely had something to do with the Artefact and its Aegis. It was a little annoying, but he would keep trying and in the meantime he would visit the homes of the other three friends, Ben, Liz and Fran, to see what the state of affairs was there. He doubted he would find much of interest, but you never knew.

  Raven called on his Magic, and disappeared.

  Fran, sat with Stephan on a pew in the church while Liz sat alone a few rows in front of them, thought back to their arrival at the church.

  Vito had pulled up outside the local Catholic Church and rushed the three of them up the steps towards the entrance. As they had approached the front door, Fran had experienced a strange sensation, as if passing through some kind of resistant invisible barrier that made her a little dizzy briefly, but otherwise okay.

  She brushed it off as nothing and forgot about it once they were inside. The noise of their arrival brought out a priest who recognised Vito and asked if these were the ones. Vito confirmed to the priest that they were and said he had to make an errand, but he would be back shortly. The priest nodded and had said he would take care of them in his absence. He had introduced himself, but Fran hadn’t been listening and couldn’t remember what he said his name was. She didn’t really care either.

  The priest had then shown the three of them to the pews and asked them to make themselves comfortable for the moment while he disappeared into a back room.

  That had been a little while ago now, and there had been some sounds of movement in the back room in the interim. The three of them had sat there in silence since then, Stephan offering a few consoling words to Fran , but otherwise remaining quiet.

  The huge emptiness and echoing quality of the room seemed to amplify any sound, making the speaker feel very self-conscious, so the three of them said very little.

  Fran had kept one eye on her sister a few rows in front of them, and wondered what she must be going through. Fran had liked Ben, but Liz had become really attached to him. They might have never hit it off, both of them being too nervous to start anything, but she knew she cared about Ben a great deal.

  And then there was their Mother. Seeing her there, in that room, cut to ribbons, it made Fran woozy and sick to her stomach. The thought of it brought an anxiety to her, a need to do something, anything other than just sit here. She desperately wanted to cry, to shout and rage, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She just didn’t know what to do with herself, she felt helpless and her actions futile in the face of such evil.

  The thought of not seeing her mother ever again created a void within her, something had been removed and could never be replaced. She thought of all the things she wished she had said to her, she wished she had said how much she had loved her just once more. But it was too late now.

  Fran wiped her tears away, and looked up at Stephan, he was crying too. She gave him a hug and whispered in his ear. ‘I’m just going to sit with Liz for a while okay?’

  Stephan nodded, he looked like he might start to cry uncontrollably if he said anything.

  Fran squeezed past Stephan and walked round to where Liz was sitting. She sat down next to her and put her arm round her sister. Liz immediately leant into her sister, resting her head on Fran’s chest. Fran embraced Liz, burying her face in Liz’s hair, and they just held each other.

  They didn’t need to speak, they knew what the other was thinking, and their presence alone was comfort enough. She didn’t know how long they had sat there, seconds, minutes, and hour perhaps, she didn’t know, but slowly their tears lessened and Liz uncurled herself from her sister somewhat. Liz’s eyes were glassy and filled with tears and there was a profound sadness etched upon her face that made Fran ache inside. She didn’t know what to do for her sister to help her.

  She thought back to the fight, seeing Ben killed by that man, and a thought occurred to her.

  ‘We should have used it,’ she whispered, ‘on the psycho, we should have used our power.’

  Liz looked up at her sister, her gaze hardened, ‘No, no we shouldn’t, we did the right thing, and anyway, we’re safe now, we’re all right here.’

  Fran nodded, ‘If you say so.’

  The door the priest had disappeared into opened up and he stepped out into the church, ‘Would you like to come through now, I have the kettle on the boil and a few things to eat if you’d like to follow me.’ The man must have been in his fifties, balding and carrying a little weight, but he had a friendly demeanour.

  Fran looked at her sister, who seemed more in control of herself now, and then looked back at the priest and said, ‘Okay.’

  The three of them walked up the middle of the church, and across and into the side room, the priest holding the door open for them.

  This room was much more inviting then the main church had been, it was carpeted and wall papered which absorbed the sound much more. It changed the whole quality of the room. There were three chairs sitting there waiting for them while the kettle bubbled away nearby on the top of a table.

  The three of them sat down in the chairs provided and waited as the Priest busied himself with the kettle.

  ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know how long Vito will be, I thought he’d be back by now. Can I get you all a drink while we wait?’ asked the priest.

  ‘That would be lovely thank you,’ Fran said.

  ‘Great, so what can I get you?’

  ‘Erm…’ Fran started, but she was cut short by the sound of the main church door being opened, it was presumably Vito back from his errand.

  ‘Oh, that must be Vito, I’ll go and get him, I won’t be a moment,’ the priest said, and disappeared out the office door.

  Fran listened as his footsteps receded and voices could be heard echoing away. Stephan reached over and took Fran’s hand in his.

  ‘How are you holding up?’ he asked.

  Fran smiled, ‘Okay, I think, considering.’

  ‘Good, that’s good.’

  Two pairs of footsteps were approaching the door from outside, when it was suddenly opened and the priest led Vito into the room. He looked harassed and stressed out, stretched taught like a piano wire. Fran watched as he put whatever had been on his mind to one side and looked at Fran, Liz and Stephan, taking them in.

  ‘I have some questions to ask you all, and I warn you to answer truthfully because I will know when you are lying,’ Vito said from where he stood.

  Fran and the other two didn’t say a word, Fran just glanced at her sister briefly before returning to Vito’s cold glare.

  ‘So tell me what happened tonight.’

  ‘What do you mean? Before you turned up?’ Fran answered, she didn’t think her sister or Stephan wanted to talk right now.

  ‘Obviously.’

  ‘That man, he, killed…he did it. He murdered our pare….’ Fran had started to sob once more, she found it difficult to say the words even thought she could hear them in her head.

  ‘He killed your parents,’ Vito said in a very detached tone.

  Fran and Stephan nodded, unable to say anything else.

  ‘And he killed your friend as well, Ben Marshal, correct?’

  Liz let out a sob of anguish at his name, and Vito nodded.

  ‘But what gets me is, why would he do that, what would that
man stand to gain from killing your nearest and dearest, hmm?’ asked Vito.

  Fran didn’t like his tone of voice. It was clearly a rhetorical question and one framed in a very sarcastic tone. She guessed that Vito knew very well what it was that this killer stood to gain from this. It was the Artefact, the Golden Book that was sitting in the back pack that was resting on the floor between Stephan’s feet, its straps held firmly in his hands.

  ‘Um, I don’t know,’ Fran answered.

  ‘Of course you know, you stupid girl! Think hard, I’m sure even you can figure this one out.’

  ‘Jesus H. Christ, give me a break, can you even be more condescending?’ Fran said, exasperated.

  ‘Don’t you dare take the lords name in vane WITCH!’ Vito shouted, and brought his hand slamming across Fran’s cheek in a powerful back handed slap.

  Fran s chair toppled and fell backwards, while Liz fell sideways off of her own chair. Stephan stayed put on his chair, but sat there in a state of shock at what had just happened.

  ‘Oh my goodness,’ gasped the priest.

  Fran lay on her back and groaned, she’d hit her head on the floor when she’d fallen and now there were stars and coloured lights filling her vision. She heard movement suddenly and the sound of something clicking, then the movement stopped.

  ‘Stop right there, or I pull the trigger.’

  Fran shook her head and cleared her vision as best she could, and saw that Stephan had suddenly leapt up to confront Vito, but Vito had pulled a gun, the clicking sound must have been him cocking it.

  ‘Now hold on a moment there Mr de Luca,’ blurted the priest, ‘I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but this is a House of God, you can’t do this. In fact, what part of the Vatican do you work for again?’

  ‘Shut your slimy British mouth Father, this is Inquisitorial business and I'd thank you to keep out of it. I'd have no problem killing you too.’

  The priest fell silent.

  Fran felt shocked and somewhat proud, she didn’t think Stephan had it in him to confront anyone, but she didn’t smile, she didn’t like the gun that was pointed at his face.

  ‘So the worm turns hey, I thought you were a homosexual the way you sat there letting that witch talk for you,’ said Vito.

  Fran looked over at her sister who had fallen sideways to her right, she was looking up in horror at Vito and Stephan, and then looked over at Fran. Fran felt helpless where she was, laid on her back, her legs over the chair. But Liz was almost right next to Vito, so Fran inclined her head, motioning towards Vito. Liz’s gaze hardened, and she nodded at Fran. Liz then looked back up to Vito, who wasn’t really looking her.

  ‘Now, let’s have it shall we, I tried to be nice to you, but you had to play this the hard way didn’t you,’ continued Vito, oblivious to Liz and Fran’s silent communication.

  Fran watched as Liz wound her leg back and then let it fly, the point of her shoe striking just below Vito’s knee with a huge amount of force. Vito toppled to the floor with a shout of rage and pain, while Stephan took the opportunity to step forward, grab the flailing arm that held the gun in his left hand, and land a good right hook on Vito’s face.

  A second later, Stephan held the gun and Vito lay on his back, groaning. He’d hit his head on the floor as he fell from Stephan’s punch.

  As Fran and Liz pulled themselves up from the floor, Stephan stood over Vito, pointing the gun at him.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Stephan asked.

  Fran stepped up next to him, ‘We leave, while we still can.’

  Stephan and Liz nodded and they all turned to the Priest who was leant against his desk.

  ‘We’re going, sorry to cause such a mess Father,’ Fran said.

  ‘No, no, it’s me who should be apologising; I didn’t know we allowed such brutes into the clergy.’

  ‘It’s not your fault, but we have to go, we don’t want to be here when his back up arrives.’

  ‘Then please take the back door, it’s over there.’

  ‘Thank you Father,’ said Stephan, who placed the gun on the table. ‘I just don’t feel comfortable with that,’ he said to no one in particular.

  ‘It’s all right, I’ll take care of it,’ the Priest said.

  ‘Thank you Father,’ said Fran.

  ‘May God be with you my child.’

  The three of them hustled out the back door and into the night, following the way around the building and into an alleyway. Light shone from the streets at the ends of it and there were other paths both to the left and right up ahead, but as they picked a direction and walked, a figure, its features thrown into darkness by the light behind it, stepped from the shadows.

  Clearly female, she stepped out before them and blocked their way, her face slowly becoming visible as they continued on, trying to ignore her. But then, Stephan stopped walking. Fran paused and looked back at him, and saw Stephan’s face had turned into a mask of fear. Fran took the two steps back to Stephan’s side, Liz doing the same, and looked at the woman that had brought Stephan up short.

  ‘What is it?’ Fran asked, looking back at her boyfriend.

  ‘It’s her,’ Stephan said, ‘the one I told you about, at the shop.’

  Fran looked back at the woman where she stood, perhaps not ten foot away, ‘Is it really?’ she said with a tone of superiority and anticipation.

  ‘Yes, it is, how lovely to see you again Stephan,’ the woman purred.

  Fran could see what had captivated Stephan, but she wasn’t that good looking, she looked like she tried too hard. That’s not to say Fran didn’t find her attractive, she supposed she was, she wasn’t ugly, certainly not. In fact, she probably was quite good looking.

  Fran had to look away and clear her mind, it felt odd, she felt like her thoughts were fighting against her, on the one had she found this woman repellent, but on the other, she actually found her very attractive, in a way she had never looked at a woman before. She found she didn’t quite know what to think, it was unnatural.

  The woman stepped forward, towards Stephan, and Stephan stepped a pace forward as well.

  ‘Stephan, my sweet, come to me, I have such sweet pleasures to show you,’ she said.

  Fran didn’t quite know what to do, she felt rooted to the spot, unable or unwilling to move, and then, Liz took her hand.

  It felt like a stern breeze hitting her and it blew away a fog or stupor that had covered her mind. Those alien feelings of attraction fell away and she knew her mind was her own again, and she felt nothing but fierce hatred of this harpy.

  ‘I can take all this hurt and pain away from you Stephan, I can make it all okay again for you, if you’ll just come to me, come to Angel,’ the woman crooned.

  Fran and Liz were having none of this though, and still holding hands, walked up to Stephan and pulled him away.

  ‘Come on Steph, snap out of it,’ Fran said, and as they both took one of his hands in theirs, the same hypnotic state that had a hold of him fell away. Stephan shook his head as he pulled away from Angel, stumbling as they all walked backwards, away from the woman towards another way between the buildings to their left

  Seeing her ploy had failed, the look of love for Stephan fell away from Angel’s face, and revealed a scowl underneath. ‘No matter, have it your way,’ she said, and started to follow them.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Fran said, and they turned round to run down the alleyway to the street, only to find it blocked once again, this time by the killer from Stephan’s house.

  ‘Shit,’ blurted Fran.

  She looked back at Angel, who caught sight of the blonde killer beyond them suddenly, and stopped short.

  ‘Get out of here Angel, I have unfinished business with them that’s nothing to do with you,’ he said.

  ‘I disagree,’ replied Angel, ‘I think you’ll find it’s very much my business.’ Angel started to walk towards the killer then, who stood holding the wicked looking Kukri dagger he had earlier.

  As she came le
vel with Fran, Angel glanced sideways at her and gave her a meaningful look, and in her head, Fran heard Angels voice. ‘Run, get out of here, and keep that Artefact safe, I’ll find you later.’

  Fran didn’t need telling twice, and pulled her two friends away from the confrontation. ‘Come on, now's our chance, lets go,’ she said.

  They headed the other way down a different alleyway, and broke into a jog, still holding onto each other. Fran glanced backwards and made out strange dancing lights surrounding the two figures as they faced one another in the darkness. But she didn’t want to stay here and watch, they needed to get away, so they ran out the other end of the alleyway and into the street.

  They had no idea where to go, they just wanted to lose themselves and disappear, to hide from this madness that was surrounding them.

  Grand Inquisitor Damask

  I offer my most sincere apologies, I had the children and the Artefact for a short while, but I let them slip my grasp and they are on the run. All is not lost however, I have managed to plant a tracking device on the boy Stephan and its signal is clean. I am regrouping and readying to attempt to reacquire them as I write this.

  The Nomads are proving to be troublesome and they forced the action I took earlier tonight. I feel I was justified in my actions and in the loss of life. I have prayed for my fallen comrades, I ask that you might join me.

  Please find attached a full report on the night’s events.

  May God be with you.

  Knight Inquisitor de Luca.

  Ball

  Paris

  The following morning

  Amanda sat up in her bed and gazed about the room she had slept in. She was in a large four poster bed with a canopy and drapes that was backed up against the middle of one wall. To her right were a couple of windows that she knew looked out over Paris, although the curtains were pulled at the moment.

  The room was really quite large, and there were several nice mahogany pieces of furniture in here, including bed side cabinets, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe and a dresser with a little stool.