Juxta, Magi
Page 34
They were sitting around the fire, peasant and king alike. People began to bed down. Teresa kissed her children on the forehead and tucked them in. She sat down next to William. She said, "You owe me another son."
William's eyes opened wide. "We already have three children!"
"I want one more. Boy or girl. Doesn't matter."
William sighed.
Teresa said, "I brought a tent."
"You mean right now? With all these people here?"
"Come on, we'll be quiet."
Simon rolled over onto his side, laughing.
Finally, William grinned wide and took Teresa's hand.
They woke in the morning. The black line on the horizon lay like a thick strip on an otherwise pristine view.
*
Juxta lay awake that night. Hunger began to gnaw at his insides. The sun rising barely made a hint of light on his view. The sun crept across the sky as the doom spread out farther and farther. Juxta looked at his hand. The Dragon's Fire ring twinkled. Juxta said, "Dragon's fire."
The ring whispered back, Yes.
"How do I stop it?"
I don't know.
"Surely there's a way!"
Perhaps if you killed the God of Nature. She's the cause of all this.
Juxta shook his head.
Time passed as Juxta thought. He whispered, "I must buy time for William."
Juxta started walking east. He did his best to fight his hunger. Days passed.
The sun started to set, and Juxta knew it was time.
He grasped his arcane staff in both hands. He started summoning power in great waves. The black tendrils, creeping up his hands into his wrists, began to pulse and thrive. The circle of doom expanded outward by the mile.
A mist formed and the God of Nature appeared in all her beauty and passion. "Yes, Juxta, rage!"
Break the Peace, Awake
Wake the Ancient, Take
He spread the magic out in a circle around him, coursing over acres of dead things.
The God of Nature hissed. "No!"
She threw lightning at Juxta, and he raised a shield.
He poured all his power into his amethyst staff and Dragon's Fire ring. The wave of death spread out from him in great leaps and bounds, cutting down people the rangers missed here and there, but the circle of life magic spread out too in great waves and spans.
Break the Peace, Awake
Wake the Ancient, Take
Lightning rained on Juxta from the God of Nature, but his shield held. The Dragon's Fire ring glowed. A purple fire burned inside his amethyst staff. The wood began to pulse with life. The edge of the Druidic chant reached the edge of the doom and passed it. The sound of crystal shattering rang out in Juxta's ears, and the God of Nature disappeared in a cloud of mist.
Trees started calling out to Juxta, Feed me!
Juxta started with the second chant and poured power into trees spread out miles and miles away. His pulse raced as thunderstorms raged across Lynken. New seedlings grew all across the ravaged land, and they were the first to call out to Juxta, Enough!
Juxta fell to the ground, and the black tendrils of dark magic drifted out of his hands.
Chapter 49
One morning, after a night of thunderstorms, Simon approached William with a wide grin. "I'm going back," Simon said.
"Just two days ago we could still see the blight," William said as he laughed a happy laughter owned by kings.
"Look at the trees."
The trees were the bright green of a spring morning with new growth on every limb and branch. Some bore plump seed clusters, and here and there tiny saplings grew.
William said, "You still have the extra horse?"
"Aye."
"Teresa brought enough blankets for an army. Take an extra one with you."
Soon enough, he galloped eastward. William's entourage of almost a thousand faces rode west.
Within a day Simon reached the edge of decaying and dead land, but here and there, sprouts and grasses were growing. As he moved deeper into it, tiny saplings began to appear. In the morning sun, a silhouette approached Simon on the road from the east. Simon walked towards the figure, and soon enough, both men were grinning wide. Simon grabbed Juxta up in a great bear hug and lifted him off the ground.
"Put me down!" Juxta exclaimed.
Simon set him down. He eyed Juxta. "You've aged."
"What?"
"You look older now. Before, you looked like a boy all our lives. Now there are lines in your face."
"Do you have anything to eat?"
Simon said, "No."
Juxta laughed.
"I brought you a blanket."
"Are you going to hunt up a duck or something? I'm afraid to kill with magic… I've been eating apples, and some fruit I don't know what it is."
Simon raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"There's a tree that grows in Lynken now. It bears teardrop shaped fruits with a softer skin and sweeter taste than apples."
Simon asked, "What else grows in Lynken now?"
"I've seen shadows in the night."
"Big shadows or little shadows?"
Juxta's head bobbed up and down a bit. "A mix."
Links to other Books:
Luther, Magi (Blood of Lynken II)
Winter's Line (Fantasy Adventure)
R.A.E.C.E. Genesis (Military Sci-Fi)
Zombie Flick, Horror Comedy
Evelyn's Book (Fantasy Adventure)
Author Bio
Geoff Porter was born in Oklahoma. Then his family moved to Montana, and from there to Iowa, then to Minnesota, then to Florida, and finally he arrived at the ripe age of 11 in Dayton, Ohio.
Mr. Porter received his first computer at Christmas when he was 11, and he plotted and schemed to develop computer based games. The first piece of software he developed professionally was a chemical weapons attack simulator for the United States Air Force. Currently, he runs four internet based wargames of his own design.
He was first hospitalized when he was 19 and put on a vicious medicine called Haldol. He was then put on a cruel medicine called Prolixin. Finally, after years of using Geoff as a lab rat, they found that a combination of Lithium, Depakote, and Geodon works best to keep him out of the asylum.
He spent one year in Twin Valley, Dayton's state run mental hospital. That's when he decided to start writing. To be a writer was always his dream since he was a little kid, but he never tried his hand at it until a doctor looked him in the eye and said, "You'll be in the hospital from six to eighteen months."
Geoff penned his first two novels in that time period using only pen and paper, Juxta, Magi and The Vampire Menace. After leaving the hospital, he penned a third novel. Getting stuff published was going nowhere though, and it dawned on him, Sinclair Community College. He met two highly skilled instructors there, Tim Waggoner and Ed Davis, and Geoff's work has never been better. He has since written four more novels.
Nine of his short stories have been selected for publication, and he now runs his own fiction rag, Untied Shoelaces of the Mind.