She stood up, took one last look at her old home, and walked away. Her arm dripped blood as the cut healed. Healed slowly.
It was time to go back to headquarters.
She had lost a lot, but there was still plenty more to lose.
The private council was not ecstatic over the results of the battle, but neither was there cause for sadness.
Their mission: accomplished.
Bertrand: safe with the rest of the Lizzies.
Their losses: acceptable.
Their hold over the full council: intact.
And the Mages' Guild had somehow lost a higher percentage of their fighting force, as well as their hold over whatever was left of the Palace. It wouldn’t be easy, but they could wrest control away from the Mages' Guild.
Free Nordheim — indeed, all of Nordstaat — from tyranny.
They could make this city great.
Johanna cradled her child.
She had longed to join the battle. It made her blood run fierce, close to the satisfying roar that had accompanied this child’s creation.
But this child was her house’s future, and it had created in her a weakness. The same weakness she had felt towards Terrance, but stronger and more insistent. A strange feeling that, no matter what great feats she longed to accomplish, this was how life was meant to be.
“It will recede with time,” Magda had told her. “But never go away.”
“Is that why you only had one child?”
“Yes,” Magda had said. “You are my only weakness.”
But look at what Johanna had done- joined her bloodline with that of the Grand Inquisitor! Her weakness had accomplished more than Magda’s strength ever had, more than a life combing through records to find some extra smidgen of leverage and power. Although her weakness, the unnecessary one towards Terrance that she tried to fight, had also unleashed the beast of legend that had almost destroyed Nordheim. Some sacrifices had to be made.
“We’ll rebuild,” she said to the infant. “We’ll rebuild and make it better. This is our chance to take over completely.”
She rocked the baby gently, tenderly.
“In this new world, there will be nothing that can hurt you.”
The next one’s coming soon
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About the Author
Jeffrey Biles has been on and off the cubicle for years, but finally quit it for good in July 2017. Since then he’s been having the time of his life writing stories.
www.jeffreybiles.com
[email protected]
Mages Must Fall Page 17