The End of Magic (Young Adult Dystopian Fantasy)

by GM Gambrell

  #

  The Lord Probate’s office reminded him of Mr. Felix’s classroom. It was packed wall to wall with books and other artifacts. He hazarded a glance at some of the books and tried to hide his surprise. Many of them were pre-War books, written by non-magical humans. There were also framed pictures of important looking people, though none of them dressed in anything resembling the brightly colored Magician attire. There were many unfamiliar objects on the Lord Probate’s desk, including a globe of the earth with the location of New Atlantis drawn in with a marker, what he knew, though just vaguely, was a computer, along with another mysterious ancient object he knew was a television. As with most Magician buildings, there was no door and no windows, so he didn’t have any idea where the office was, physically. He’d always assumed it was in the courthouse, because that’s what made sense, but that was gone now.

  “Duncan Cade,” the man said simply. “I cannot say that it is a pleasure to see you.”

  The Lord Probate was a large man, built much like the Magistrates, and Duncan couldn’t help but wonder if he too took the imposing look to seem intimidating to those around him. He had short, dark hair that sat above a hooked nose and eyebrows that came dangerously close to touching in the middle. His forehead wrinkled as he talked and his beady eyes gave him a look of constant annoyance.

  “I’m sorry, sir, for any trouble that I may have caused.”

  “I somehow doubt that,” he said, looking up from an object on his cluttered desk. It was Duncan’s vegetable-powered glider. “You stand accused of some very serious crimes, young man. Do you understand the extent of those charges?”

  “I understand the destruction charge, Lord Probate, and the murder charges that stem from it. I understand them, but I’m not guilty of them.” He shook so much, afraid and nervous, that he was sure that the Lord Probate and the Magistrates would notice. And then they’d say that was evidence of his guilt. The non-guilty had nothing to fear, so why did he? “I do not understand the, ah, the other charges, sir.”

  “The charge of practicing science? “

  “Yes, sir,” he agreed, and waited for the backlash as the word was mentioned in public. He even cringed, thinking the Magistrates might strike out at the mere mention of the word. Why the Magicians reacted so rashly to a word that none of them understood was beyond him.

  “We are not under the public enchantment, Mr. Cade,” the Lord Probate said, apparently reading his mind. “How would we be able to enforce the statues that protect our society from science if we could not mention the word?”

  That was news to him. He didn’t realize that everyone he’d mentioned the word to had reacted the way they had, angrily and irrationally, because of an enchantment. He’d always thought they just knew something about it that he didn’t.

  “No, the public enchantment doesn’t cover the Magistrate of my office. We know what science is and understand its dangers. I would have thought that you, after all your time in the library beneath the library, would now understand that danger as well.”

  Duncan didn’t say anything in return, unsure if his presence in the library had been a breach of some other rule.

  “Your time in the library was approved by me, Mr. Cade, and I’ve followed your reading interests. You want to know about the world before ours, do you not?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “In that case it seems like you would have understood the danger of science.”

  “I may have not read the right books, sir. I apologize.”

  “Science,” the Lord Probate began, “is a vile thing. You may consider it anti-magic. Where there is science there can be no magic, and where there is magic, there can be no science. That is why your devices,” he rubbed the glider, “never quite worked the way that they should. You see, Mr. Cade, science is what powered the old world. They built their little engines like this, and their weapons. They built their factories and their cities, and they thought they understood the natural state of the world around them.”

  Duncan thought the man wrong, but didn’t say anything. His devices worked just fine within the confines of what they were built with and what they were powered by. He wasn’t in a position to argue, though, and didn’t tell say anything about Jim’s helicopter and bomb working just fine.

  “Do you deny that the things you have built greatly resemble the objects in the books you have read? Do you deny that their functions are similar?”

  “No, sir.” He knew there was no denying it. He’d built things that flew without magic, and things that plowed his garden. His inventions did look like what he’d seen, and he often wondered, after reading those books, if he had some sort of inherited memory from those who came before him. Jim had done and built similar things in his life. Did science flow through their veins like magic flowed through the Magicians?

  “Of course you don’t deny it. There is no denying. I fear you are infected with science, just as your associate Jim was. Do you realize that with that most vile practice they managed to nearly bring this world to the brink of utter destruction? Even after we showed them the error of their ways, demonstrated how we could live in unison with nature and magic, they fought us. They would not give up their weapons or their science. They made entire swaths of the planet uninhabitable during the Last War with their nuclear weapons, raining fire and ash down for thousands of miles. Some of those fires still burn today. I’ve seen them myself. Can you imagine that, Duncan? A fire that burns a thousand years?”

  “They were defending themselves,” he blurted out. Every account he’d read of the Last War read like the Magicians were a conquering army. Even they admitted it. Mr. Falcon, though he’d had nothing to do with the war, even regretted it.

  “Of course they were. They were defending the only way of life that they knew, but that life was destroying this world. They were sucking the very blood from this planet, pumping it up from the depths to fuel their infernal machines. The earth bled black in those days and the skies were just as dark.”

  “But that didn’t give you the right to push them into extinction.”

  “They are not extinct. You and Diamond Jim are perfect examples. But we have tried, Duncan. Oh, how we’ve tried.”

  “I don’t know, Lord Probate, that I’m qualified to be arguing these matters with you.” Duncan became more and more nervous by the minute.

  “No, you are not, but I want to stress to you the serious nature of your crimes. We have, since you’ve begun tinkering with everything you can get your hands on, observed you. The nature of the objects you have designed were once simple and non-threatening. We also knew that they would never work here, in the realm of magic. At least, they wouldn’t work well enough to pose any problem to us. But when you began to collude with Diamond Jim…”

  “I have not colluded with Diamond Jim, Lord Probate.”

  “Do you deny that he came to see you at your garden?”

  “No, sir. I do not deny it. But I didn’t invite him, and I didn’t talk to him much. My father ran him off with fireballs.”

  “And you should thank your father for that. He is a hero of the Magistrate, after all. But you continued to communicate with him, though we are not yet sure of your method. The two of you planned to bomb the courthouse, and then executed said plan.”

  “Sir, is this my trial?”

  “No, Duncan Cade, your trial will be very public. We need to remind the realm of Magic just how dangerous your kind are and what a threat to us Science is. You will be appointed a lawyer, of course, to help in your defense. We are not heartless. But you will be convicted. The evidence is overwhelming and I cannot see a jury composed of Magicians not convicting you.”

  Duncan gulped. “And what will happen to me in the meantime, sir?”

  “Absolutely nothing. You will, of course, agree not to attempt to hide again, and you will not leave the city. Other than that, you are free to do as you will. We would prefer, not just for your own safety, but the safety of New Dallas, th
at you remain at your parents’ home.”

  Duncan was only slightly relieved. He knew his trial would come and he would surely be convicted. His only saving grace was that they hadn’t asked him who had teleported him back to his parents’ house. He might suffer for crimes he did not commit, but he would do everything in his power to make sure that Marissa didn’t suffer for helping him.

  The Lord Probate dismissed him with a wave of his hand and teleported him away.