“And now you’ve brought me back.”
“Again to keep you from murdering—not just me but Marta and Kyla as well. What’s wrong with you, that you have so much hatred inside you?”
Jerome scowled. “Kyla gave you power but bound mine. It wasn’t fair.”
“She knew you weren’t ready to use it wisely.”
“Pah! What right did she have to make that judgment? What made you more worthy than I was?”
Ed was tiring of this discussion. He wanted to get back to Marta. She’d be anxious about him. “You’ll have to answer that yourself,” he said. “You should have plenty of time to think about it. This time I am leaving you here.”
“Oh, no you aren’t!” Jerome pointed at Ed and flames flashed toward him.
They stopped as though encountering an invisible wall. Jerome stared open-mouthed as they spread out like a fan, then faded away.
“You can’t harm me here,” Ed said.
With a roar, Jerome charged him. Ed stepped aside and let Jerome’s momentum hurtle him into the brook.
Wet and dripping, he sat up and glared at Ed.
“You won’t starve here, Jerome,” Ed said. “There are fruit trees and nut trees and fish in the brook and game in the forest. Maybe being alone with yourself will teach you to be better company. Goodbye.”
“No, you can’t—” His cry vanished into the distance, as Ed focused on an image of Marta’s face and found himself looking into that face in reality.
“Ed! Thank the Power-Giver!”
It was the first time he’d heard Marta use that expression. Kyla used it often. Thinking of the being he'd met beside the old building on his world, he wondered whether by Power-Giver Marta meant the same thing that Kyla did.
“Where is Jerome?” Mother Esterville asked fearfully.
Ed took her hands. “He’s safe, Mother Esterville, but I’m sorry, I had to leave him where he can’t hurt others. Twice he’s tried to kill me, and he’s a danger to Marta and Kyla, and probably Veronica, too.”
Jerome’s mother sighed and tears filled her eyes. Slowly she nodded her head. “He’s my son and I love him, but I’m not blind to his faults. He’s always been angry, you know. Ever since his father left us. He stores his anger in a dark place deep inside him, where it ferments and poisons him. You did what you had to do.”
“I think it’s time we made arrangements to leave Carey,” Kyla said. “We promised we’d be out of town as soon as possible.”
“Oh, dear, I must pack. And see Dorey and Corinne and Urcelle about taking over the school.” Looking anxious, she bustled out, and Leah followed.
Ed looked at Marta. “Have you told her yet?”
She shook her head, took a deep breath, and faced Kyla. “Ed and I aren’t going with you and the others,” she said. “We’re going off on our own.”
Kyla’s expression was first startled, then hurt, then dismayed. “You can’t! I was counting on having both of you with me. I need Ed’s talent to try to break through the barrier that keeps Alair from communicating with me. I can’t do it.”
“You said Alair could still channel power to you,” Marta said.
“Yes, but I need to speak to him.”
“I’ve never been able to do that.” A bitter edge crept into Marta’s voice. “I’ve gotten along without it.”
“But you know what Alair means to me,” Kyla protested.
Feeling guilty, Ed wanted to comfort her, but Marta placed a restraining hand on his arm. “Because he means what he does, I know you’ll find a way to break through that barrier yourself.
“Look, Kyla, I’m not angry with you, or anything. I’m just not certain that how we’re going about restoring magic is the right way. Ed and I are going to find a place where we can marry, settle down, and live as normal people. If people discover our power and seek us out for it, and it seems appropriate, we’ll share. But we won’t go looking for people who can receive the power.”
“So you don’t think it’s right, bringing the magic back to Arucadi?”
“What I think is that most of the people of Arucadi don’t want it—and aren’t ready for it. They’re afraid of it. And I don’t think they’re wrong in that. I’m not sure that giving power causes more good than evil.”
“You can look at Ed standing beside you and say that?”
“I’m glad Ed was able to receive power and I know he’ll use it wisely. But for every Ed there’s a Jerome.”
“We didn’t give Jerome his power.”
“I don’t know about that, Kyla.” Marta sank down onto the sofa and motioned Ed to sit beside her. She looked up at Kyla, who remained standing. “It’s true we tried to keep him from using his power, but until we came, he didn’t know he had it. We awakened it.”
“It isn’t just Jerome and Ed—what about Abigail and Veronica?”
“Abigail hates her power,” Ed said, deciding he shouldn’t let Marta do all the defending of their position. “She only used it because she was forced to.”
“And Veronica’s still an unknown quantity,” Marta added. “You don’t know how she’ll use the power as she matures.”
“I think she’ll use it wisely,” Kyla said. “She’ll never forget what she did to Hardwick’s daughter.”
“Neither will anyone else here in Carey. They’ll always distrust and fear the magic powers.”
“But, Marta, people in other places won’t have that fear and distrust.”
“I’m not convinced of that.”
Kyla, looking crestfallen said, “So there’s no changing your mind.”
Marta merely shook her head, while Ed said, “I’m sorry, Kyla. I agree with Marta. I have to, after seeing what happened with Jerome.”
“That scare he gave me before Ed took him away was worse than anything Hardwick did,” Marta added. “I only wish I were as sure as Ed that we’ve seen the last of him.”
“Isn’t that another reason to stay together?” Kyla protested.
“No,” Ed said, “I think it’s a reason to be far apart. That way, if Jerome does find a way to return and still wants to kill us, he’ll have a harder time finding us.”
“All right, then. You and Marta pick a place you want to travel to, and the rest of us will go somewhere else.”
Ed looked at Marta, letting her decide. She considered a moment and said, “I don’t know where, but somewhere far from here. To the east, I think. Maybe somewhere in Castlemount Province.” She glanced questioningly at Ed.
“That’s all right with me,” he said.
“Then we’ll go west,” Kyla said decisively. “We’ll try a large city this time. Maybe even Port-of-Lords.” She took a deep breath and burst into tears. “Oh, Marta, I hate to think we’ll never see each other again.”
“We don’t know that we won’t,” Marta said, embracing her. “The separation doesn’t have to be forever.”
“Promise me it won’t be,” Kyla whispered.
“I can’t promise that. But I’ll promise to send letters after Ed teaches me to write. And maybe someday …
“Yes,” Kyla said. “Maybe someday.
THE END
Read the excerpt that follows from
A Mix of Magics,
the sequel to Bringers of Magic.
A MIX OF MAGICS
PROLOGUE
When he first came to the land, its bounty had satisfied his physical hunger. Heavily laden fruit trees offered tasty fruit the year round. He could gather an abundance of nuts fallen beneath the caronut trees. The fish in the stream were easily trapped. After he learned to make a fire using sticks and dry leaves, he feasted often on baked fish, roasted apples or peaches, and caronuts that burst from their shells when placed on the embers. Later he learned to trap and skin small game such as rabbits and squirrels to vary his diet.
The meadows and hills were fair with wild flowers the year round. They swayed in a gentle breeze sweet with their perfume. White clouds drifted gracefully across a calm
blue sky. Birds sang from the trees; butterflies drank nectar from the blossoms.
With the passing of the years the land changed. The hot wind of his anger blew across it, withering the fruit trees, making barren the nut trees, turning the flowering meadows to fields of sharp, sword-like grasses and then to stubble. The stench of decay replaced the fresh scent of blooming trees and plants. A pall of dust choked the air.
Game became scarce and fish avoided his traps. He grew gaunt with hunger. But he had honed his power. The land proved bountiful in another way; it provided him with plenty of time to practice magical arts, to test his abilities, to experiment. And the less it fed his physical hunger, the more it fed his rage.
Soon, very soon he would have the power to flee this lonely land and return from whence he came.
Then he would hunt down those who exiled him here and he would take his revenge.
CHAPTER ONE
A GOOD IDEA
Veronica slammed into the house and threw her schoolbooks onto the nearest chair, a faded, floral winged-back armchair. She stormed through the sitting room and into the dining room beyond it. “Aunt Kyla,” she called. “Aunt Kyla, where are you?”
“In the kitchen,” came the answer.
She found Kyla, her guardian and honorary aunt, seated at the kitchen table, staring at a paper.
“Aunt Kyla, I can’t stand that school another day! Pleeeease, you have to let me quit. Aunt Abigail and Aunt Leah can teach me like they used to. I learn more from them than I do from the stupid teachers at the stupid school. And the kids all hate me. They make fun of my red hair and how short I am and they say I do funny things. If they only knew! But I haven’t done anything to them. I swear I haven’t. Not since I—”
Kyla had turned toward her halfway through her diatribe, and Veronica finally noticed her red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
“Aunt Kyla, you’re crying! What’s wrong? You’re not upset with me, are you?”
“No, no. I’ve just gotten very sad news.” She swept her hand across the paper she’d been staring at.
“What is it? What’s the news?”
“This letter,” Kyla said. “It’s from Lisbet’s parents. You know I’d written to notify them of her death and ask them if they’d come here for their grandchild. This is their answer.” With thumb and forefinger as though touching something vile, she picked up the single sheet of plain white stationery and read from it. “We want nothing to do with the bastard child. You may drown it in a bucket if you wish. So far as we are concerned, we had no daughter, and most certainly we have no grandchild.”
“How awful!” Veronica gasped, her own troubles forgotten. “As sweet as Lisbet was, how can her parents be so mean?”
Kyla shook her head. “It’s the prejudice we too often encounter against the gifted,” she said.
“But their own daughter! And a granddaughter they don’t even want to see. That’s so hateful.”
“It’s more fear than hate, I think,” Kyla said. They’re afraid of what they don’t understand.”
“Yes, I guess it’s that way with the kids at school. But they aren’t as bad as Lisbet’s mother and father. The kids can be mean, but they don’t want to kill me. At least, I don’t think they do. But will they just get worse as they grow up?”
“They will if they don’t learn any different. But they can learn—from you. If they see that there’s nothing to fear from you, they may also decide there’s no reason to hate you. Let’s hope so.” Kyla picked up the letter and shook it. “But the question we have to answer right now is, what are we going to do about the baby?”
“We can raise her, can’t we?” Veronica asked eagerly. “Now that you found someone to nurse her, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Kyla sighed. “It’s a bigger problem than you realize. I have no experience taking care of a baby. Neither do Abigail and Leah, even if they could be persuaded to move back in with us. And Mayzie can’t stay here all the time. Her husband wouldn’t like that, and her little boy wouldn’t either. He needs his mother. She’s only hired to nurse the baby. She will have to spend a lot of time here for a few months, but as the baby gets older and starts sleeping through the night, Mayzie won’t have to stay nights and can even go home now and then during the days.”
“Well, but we’ll be here,” Veronica objected.
“You’ll be in school most of the day,” Kyla reminded her. “And I have the responsibility of guiding the Community and teaching the new members to use their powers. Anyway, a baby needs a mother and a father, not a bunch of aunts.”
Veronica subsided into thoughtful silence, brooding over what Kyla had said. Inspiration struck, and she looked up, wiggling with excitement. “I have it!” she said. “You can write to Ed and Marta and tell them about the baby. They’d be the perfect parents for her.”
Kyla thought in silence a few moments, considering. Then she smiled at Veronica. “You know,” she said, “I think you’re right. That would give me the reason I need to bring Marta and Ed here to Port-of-Lords.” She rubbed her hands together and beamed. “Yes, that would solve several problems. It’s a very good idea.”
FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ARUCADI
Arucadi is a large nation covering an entire continent. It is the largest continent of the planet Quintus, fifth planet of the sun Dor. Quintus is an Earthlike world. The planet has one large moon, Dora.
The country is divided into twelve provinces, each with a provincial governor elected by the provincial legislature. The legislature is made up of one delegate from each county within the province. The central government is ruled by a triumvirate selected from among the ranks of former provincial governors by vote of town and city councils throughout the nation. The triumvirate meets in Tirbat, the national capital.
The country has no army. Because it is an island continent with no near neighbors, and air travel has not been developed, its isolation makes an army unnecessary. Boats ply the oceans and make possible overseas trade with nations on other continents.
The national currency consists of gold dorins and silver triums, minted by the central mint in Tirbat and distributed throughout the country so that they are of equal value in all provinces. There are also copper coins in three denominations of lesser value. Each province mints its own coppers, and these are used for most routine transactions. The value of the coppers varies from province to province, so that travelers from one province to another must either use dorins and triums or must exchange their coppers at the local currency exchange.
Arucadi's political structure is based on the prevailing religious beliefs (or perhaps vice-versa). They have a great god and his consort, Dor and Dora, whose representations are, respectively, the sun and moon. Arucadians do not worship the sun and moon themselves, only hold them to be symbols of Dor and Dora, whose names they bear. There is a great temple to Dor and Dora in Tirbat, but elsewhere there is little organized worship of the great gods. All Arucadians pay them homage, but the temples and shrines are dedicated to the under-gods. The concept of the great gods is somewhat nebulous. They are seen as the prime creators, the rulers of the Universe, but they are never visualized as having physical forms, are never portrayed by statues or icons, never incarnate themselves. In fact, they are not viewed as taking interest in individual lives or as concerning themselves with day-to-day events. They are transcendent and unknowable; man is incapable of comprehending their ways. They are understood to be the Prime Movers, the ones who govern the motions of the heavenly bodies, the age-long cycles of life on the planet, and the broad, general plan of creation.
There are twelve under-gods, and each province has its special patron from among these, with a temple or shrine to that patron god or goddess in every city of the province. The under-gods are Liadra, patron of Castlemount; Mibor, patron of Delta; Ondin, patron of Port; Lufor, patron of Northpoint; Cerine, patron of Richland; Tetakor, patron of Crescent; Planor, patron of Plains; Elas, patron of Island Province; Nisil, patr
on of Northwoods; Harin, patron of Inland; Ixina, patron of Southpoint; and Arene, patron of Wide Sands.
The Dire Lords are the guardians of other planes of existence, alternate universes, and spirit realms. These include, in the beliefs of many, the realms to which the human soul travels after death. There are evil Dire Lords, beneficent Dire Lords, and indifferent or amoral Dire Lords. Normally none of the Dire Lords takes interest in the affairs of living humans. One objection to the introduction of magical powers is that they attract the attention of the Dire Lords, since those powers originate in and are drawn from the Dire Realms.
The Dire Lords are considered separate creations of the great gods, not intended by them to interact with humanity. The Gifted Community for the most part rejects belief in the gods but fears and/or reveres the Dire Lords and reveres the Power Giver as the conduit through which the Dire Lords channel power to the magically gifted.
A few of the important cities of Arucadi:
CAREY: An important town in the wheat farming area of Inland Province, Carey is an old town, and its fortunes rise and fall with the price of wheat.
DABNEY: A larger town than Lines End, Dabney is also a bit more open to new ideas. A single rail line runs from Lines End to Dabney. From there it branches off into three directions, going southwest, east, and southeast to connect with major cities of other provinces. Dabney is surrounded by apple orchards and caronut groves, and has lumber mills and furniture factories, but does not have the ore-processing plants that pollute the atmosphere of Lines End.
LINES END: Lines End is a small town in North Woods Province. Its importance lies in its being the northwestern terminal of the railroad, and therefore important out of proportion to its size as the point from which lumber and ore are shipped by rail to points east and south. Though it has a few factories and ore-processing plants, Lines End is primarily a receiving station for the lumber and ore produced in the northern mountains, brought by mule and river barge to the town, and packed into box cars or on flat cars to be sent out by rail. Most of the train traffic to and from Lines End is freight, but there is usually at least one passenger car, very spartan in style and comfort, to carry passengers to and from other cities in North Woods and to connecting lines that go cross-country.
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