by Phil Maxey
Sparrow pulled a small three-legged stool forwards and sat next to her. “Thanks to you, a whole lot better. I thought I was—” her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. “—Anyway, I’m not. And I’m going to make them all pay, starting with Jax. He always thought of himself as a bit of a ‘bad boy’ but I never really knew he would go that far.”
Kat could tell she and Jax had history, but resisted addressing it. “Any pains still?”
“Some aches, and a lot of me is sore, but I’m pretty much OK. Justin told me what you did, with the ring, how you saved everyone then came back. That was incredibly brave.”
Kat was touched by the sentiment, and her eyes started to moisten. “I couldn’t just leave you all there.”
“Was there any sign of your mother?”
“I tried to focus on her and get taken to her, but there was nothing.” Kat looked at the floor.
Sparrow leaned forwards and placed her hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find her. And Eden,” she leaned back, “what you did, at this early stage with the ring, is amazing, I’ve not heard of anyone doing the same. You could be an ordained …”
Kat wasn’t sure if she liked the sound of that. “I’m just making it up as I go. Do I want to know what that is?”
“You know about the custodians?”
“Yeah, they like, look after the rings or something?”
“Exactly. A custodian can access perhaps twenty percent of a rings power. The ordained however can access it all. It would explain how you could teleport.”
“Can the other ‘ordained’ teleport?”
“There is only one of us currently that is ordained, and no, he can’t do that. He’s a fighter not a Magi.”
Kat nodded pretending that any of this made sense. “What happened after we left?”
“Well as you can see they beat me black and blue. They would have killed me, but—” she moved her lips as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. “—Jax said they should keep me alive, that I might be ‘useful’.” She shook her head, “I can’t believe he was working with them all along.”
“The strange old man, Goran? Did he say anything to you?”
“They threw me into that pit. And when I say pit, it was literally a hole they dropped me in to. Teleporting was the only way I was ever getting out of it. They couldn’t have expected you would ever come back. That’s probably why their wards weren’t up, otherwise you wouldn’t have got in, let alone back out.”
Kat frowned. “There’s still so much I don’t know of your world.”
“It’s your world too now.”
Sparrow smiled, getting up awkwardly and left the room.
Kat looked back at her grandfather’s pet, which she guessed was now hers and sighed.
The following hours rushed by with everyone resting, and taking stock of what had happened. Eventually, one by one they slid off to the beds and sleep.
CHAPTER 43
“I’m not going back there,” said Darren with his arms crossed. Kat noticed he had been irritable since he came in from his room.
They were sitting at the big table, while Sparrow was making breakfast and Justin was sitting in the high-backed chair near the fire.
“None of us want to go back there, Darren,” said Justin.
Sparrow walked to the table from the kitchen area and placed a plate of fried eggs down on it. Chip followed her out then back to the kitchen. “I’ll feed you soon,” she said, looking at the dog.
“I’m just saying, if any of you are planning a rescue missing, I’m staying here. I should have stayed here last time, I mean, how am I actually helping? I’m not like any of you ‘special’ people, I’m just a hacker, admittedly a good hacker, but still—” he realized he was rambling and stopped.
Kat looked at him concerned. “We’re a team. I was in no shape to hack into a hire car firm, that was all you.” She looked around at the castle-like interior. “You might not be a wizard in this world, but you are in the other.”
Darren frowned.
“He’s right, you got lucky rescuing me. They won’t allow that to happen the second time. The Pendragon sanctuary seems to be their base of operations, which we walked right into. We got away. Twice. That wasn’t part of their plan. They probably know we’re here.”
Justin sat forwards in his chair. “The wards that protect this place. They protect it from evil people, but what about Jax? He walked straight in. This was his sanctuary as well.” He looked at the door to the sewers. “What’s stopping him from walking through that door right now?”
Sparrow sat at the table with her own plate of fried eggs. “That’s a good question. But I think the answer is sitting here with us. They didn’t expect Kat to use her powers like she did. She’s an unknown, and they don’t want to be caught off guard again. They will attack though, have no doubt. Which is why we can’t stay here.”
Darren shook his head vigorously. “I can’t do any of this!” He stood and stormed off, slamming the door to his room behind him.
Everyone looked at each other for an explanation for his reaction, but Kat thought she might know what was ailing him.
“I’ll go talk to him, you two come up with a plan.” She got up, walked to his room, and knocked on the door. “I’m coming in.”
“Yeah, fine.” Darren’s voice came through the door.
She opened the door slowly. He was on the bed, his arms and legs close together in the foetal position. She quickly moved inside, closing the door and sat on the bed. “Are you in pain?”
“Somewhat.” He started to rock slightly back and forth.
She noticed he was sweating profusely. “What happened last time you were off your meds?”
He looked at her surprised.
“Don’t worry the others don’t know.”
He looked relieved. “I don’t know, I was too young to remember.”
She went to put her hands on him.
“What are you doing?”
“Maybe I can help, heal you or something.”
He waved her away. “No, I just need to be left alone. Unless …”
“Unless what?”
“You could magic me up some more of my pills? The bottle is just over there on the drawer unit.”
She wasn’t sure what to say. “I don’t know if that’s how it works.”
He scoffed. “So, you teleport, create magical force fields but you can’t create some measly anti-psychotic pills. Leave me alone.”
She went to reply, then stopped. “Look, if you want to stay here, in this sanctuary, you can, no-one’s going to make you do anything you don’t want to, OK?” He didn’t reply. “I’ll check in on you in a bit.” She opened then pulled the bedroom door to, but didn’t close it. She then returned to the others, who seemed deep in debate.
“How do we even know the London sanctuary is still safe?” said Justin.
“Where else we going to go?” said Sparrow. They both looked at her when she approached the table, where Justin was now also sitting.
“What?”
“How is he?” said Justin.
“Oh, yeah he’s just tired that’s all, needs to rest more. So, go to London or not?”
Justin slightly shook his head.
“Anywhere we go, it’s a risk,” said Sparrow. “We need to get a message to them.” She looked at Kat.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Magi can telepathically communicate or something, I saw Jax do it in London,” said Justin, looking tired.
“You’re sort of right. It’s not really mind to mind, but mind to space. Magi can affect the air pressure over huge distances. By doing that they can transmit their thoughts into sound even without being in a place.”
“But I have no idea what it looks like, I’ve never been there?” said Kat.
Sparrow looked around the room, then to the second floor with the multitude of shelves. “Wait here.” She ran up the spiral staircase, and disappeared into one of the aisles. A few mo
ments later she reappeared with two large leather-bound books, and stepped down the stairs quickly.
“Kronwin’s Guide to the UK Sanctuaries. Volumes One and Two,” she said, dropping them onto the table. She then opened the first, and flicked through twenty or so pages. “There! The main living room of the London sanctuary,” she frowned a little, “in 1922.”
Justin smiled. “It’s worth a try.”
“What do you want me to say? I mean, if I can do it.”
“We’ll tell you what to say. You can hear us and them at the same time. I have no idea what you actually see because I’m not a Magi, but I’ve been told it’s pretty wild.”
“OK … what do I do?”
Place your hands on the photograph, and try to picture it in your mind, but don’t think of yourself there, think of the room full of other people, it doesn’t matter who they are, they can be faceless, just people, but not yourself! That last part’s important otherwise you might end up teleporting there, and we don’t want that.”
“OK.” Kat placed her hands on the old photo, took a deep breath, then pictured the grand room in her mind. “I can see the room.”
“Now fill it with people,” Sparrow nudged Justin to look at Kat’s eyes. They were all black. “Good, you’re doing well. Now talk to one of those people.”
The air around Kat started to shimmer.
“Hello?” said Kat tentatively. At first it sounded like someone talking far off in the distance, like a television had been left on in a closed room. “Are you there? Can you speak up I can’t hear—”
Miss Topers voice burst out in her mind. “I am Miss Toper, who is this?”
“I can hear her!” said Kat to those in the room around her. “She says she’s Miss Toper?”
“Yes! Perfect. Tell her who you are and that you are with Sparrow and Justin, but Eden has been captured by our enemies,” Sparrow hesitated, and Justin put his hand on hers. “And tell her, that Jax was working for our enemies from the start.”
“OK,” said Kat. She then repeated what Sparrow just told her, word for word. She could hear Miss Toper’s gasps, then sensed a second person with her. “She’s not alone,” said Kat to Sparrow and Justin. “He says he’s Gus Pascal?”
“Ah, Gus, how is he?”
Kat repeated the question. “He says he’s fine. He wants the full story of what happened. He wants to know how I know about all this.”
“Yes, go ahead tell him everything. You maybe got another twenty minutes before you will probably be too tired to continue.”
“OK.” Kat then told Miss Toper and Gus, who had only been back from Edinburgh for a few hours, the whole tale of the past few weeks.
Afterwards there was a pause at the London end.
“Are you still there?” said Kat.
“Yes, yes,” said Miss Toper. Kat heard the man whisper something to her.
“You said you teleported?” said Miss Toper.
“Yes.”
Back in London Miss Toper and Gus looked at each other.
“There has only been one other Magi in recorded history that has had that ability and that is the great Merlin himself.”
Even though her eyes were still black as night, Kat’s expression changed to one of slight embarrassment, then confusion. “He was a real dude?” she said to Miss Toper.
In London Miss Topers face grew tight. “If this was any other time, you would have to go through at least three years’ worth of training, but as it is we’re going to have to expedite things. We will need you back in London as soon as you can leave. Do not teleport, unless you have to. You do not fully understand the power of what you do.”
“OK,” said Kat like a student on her first day at school.
Kat then heard Gus’s voice in her head. “If this is true, and our enemies know you have this ability, they will be coming not just for your ring, but for you as well.”
Kat gulped.
“Umm, you say, there was a man with you for most of this time,” said Miss Toper.
“Yes, Darren. He’s a computer hacker, pretty good one.”
“But how could he see any of the sanctuaries? They are cloaked to nescients.”
“Nescient?” said Kat.
“The public. People who do not know about the Order of the Ring, and magic,” said Justin.
Everyone paused wondering how Darren could see what he did.
Kat then heard Miss Toper say something, and it chilled her to the bone.
Sparrow noticed the blood drain from Kat’s face, and her expression change. “What did she say?” said Sparrow.
“She said, once again, the houses are at war.”
The End.
Thank you for taking the time to read Sanctuary. Book 2, Dark Kingdom will be available soon (within days) on Amazon! I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave me a review on Amazon.
If you would like news on my latest releases, special offers or free short stories (There’s one available already called the Arnold Ambrose Mysteries story 1) than you can sign up to my mailing list on my website at www.philmaxeyauthor.com
Thank you again. Phil.
About the Author
Phil Maxey is an author who resides in the UK. Formally a game developer he now spends his time putting his love of sci-fi and the paranormal into words.
Acknowledgements
Book cover design by www.starbookcovers.com.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright
Disclaimer
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Backmatter
About the Author
Acknowledgements