The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘The magics will just try to take control. It is only a matter of time.’

  Remi blew out a frustrated breath.

  ‘People worked together before,’ Lis offered. ‘Why can it not be like that again?’

  ‘They didn’t allow us to be ourselves. Magic was tolerated if it was on their terms.’

  ‘What would you like?’ she asked. ‘Schools? A chance to learn?’

  The man nodded.

  ‘A chance to grow stronger,’ someone else said.

  ‘It would be better to learn exactly what could be done, and to learn control. We could be a better, more useful part of the Empire rather than just growing crops and colouring cloth.’

  Li Sho-Ma coloured at the man’s comment, and Lis wondered how he had used those with magic for his own betterment in the past.

  ‘You didn’t stop trading because of the magics,’ she said to him. ‘Not in other lands, but because you could no longer use the ones here. If you use your dust, they will be even less able to help you.’

  ‘You would have been too young for such a business before the war,’ someone else said. ‘What are you hiding?’

  The man raised his hands in a show of defence. ‘My father ran the business, but it would have been mine. It destroyed him, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone else.’ He stood then and looked to the man sitting with him, who also stood. Lis recognised him for the one who had walked her across the sand and locked her in the shack.

  ‘Who do you represent?’ an older woman asked. She was the woman who had fixed Lis’s clothing, and she sat beside Master Yangshing. Lis wondered then why Wei-Song hadn’t joined them.

  ‘Ourselves,’ the man spat, and they turned and marched out.

  The old woman looked at Yangshing and sighed. ‘There may be too many differences,’ she said.

  Chonglin nodded, his eyes on Lis.

  Chapter 32

  Lis walked towards the laundry, disappointed that the negotiations still weren’t getting anywhere. Everyone wanted something different, and no one trusted anyone else. Remi had stayed behind to talk to his father and although Lis had chatted a little with some of those present, she wanted time alone.

  She was just rounding a corner when she heard screams. Before the guard with her could think of stopping her, she was off and running. Some people were in the main square, but there were many staying at various palaces around the island, just as her family had when they had visited for the Choosing.

  A man before her, clearly Hidden, reappeared, and the guard took a step back before he pulled his sword. Lis put her hand out to stop him, and the man dropped to his knees.

  He coughed and Lis backed up, then put her sleeve over her mouth.

  ‘Get to water,’ she cried.

  ‘What is it?’ the guard asked as she ran from the square, her sleeve still blocking some of the air—and, she hoped, the dust. Wei-Song stumbled in front of her, and Lis scooped her up by the arm, pulling her along.

  ‘Don’t breathe it in,’ she said as Wei-Song covered her face, but it was too late.

  ‘Where are we going?’ the guard asked.

  Lis pointed towards the throne room, but the dust was likely across the island. She turned back, looking into the sky. It glittered in the sun. ‘On the wall,’ she said.

  She pulled Wei-Song along and into the throne room, where she barred the door. ‘Take as many non-magics as you can and get on the wall,’ she said to the soldier. He bowed and ran back out.

  Wei-Song coughed and dropped to her knees. Master Yangshing rushed forward, but Lis leapt between them. ‘Don’t touch her,’ she said. ‘Dust—it’s everywhere. It might be on her clothes.’

  ‘Water,’ Remi called.

  A servant stepped forward with a jug, and Remi splashed it in her face. She sighed, but then looked over her clothes. He stepped towards Lis, but she held her hands out. ‘More water,’ he said. ‘And fetch the healer, the Imperial Healer,’ he called after the man. ‘Tell him it is time to test.’

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Lis asked.

  ‘Where were you?’

  ‘It is everywhere,’ she said, looking at those with magic around her. Chonglin still stood to the side. ‘They have gone high, I think. It covers the whole island like snow.’

  ‘We could blow it away,’ Chonglin said.

  ‘Unless it takes your magic before you can,’ Lis said.

  He nodded once.

  ‘Not everyone wants to share,’ Yangshing said. He inched closer to Wei-Song, but Lis moved between them.

  ‘You don’t want this,’ she said.

  ‘How long does it take to wear off?’ the emperor asked.

  ‘It depends how much is inhaled,’ Lis said.

  ‘Days,’ Remi said.

  ‘This will put people on edge,’ the emperor said. ‘Who is behind this?’

  ‘I think we know,’ Lis said, but she looked at Chonglin rather than Remi. He nodded once.

  ‘He is willing to share if he can have all the control.’

  ‘The healers may be able to stop it,’ Remi said.

  ‘There isn’t enough water,’ Lis said as the servant reappeared. Remi took the jug and got her to tip her head back. He poured it slowly over her face, rinsing the dust from her skin.

  She shook a little and smiled.

  ‘You could have done that for me,’ Wei-Song said. ‘Instead of throwing it at me.’

  ‘More effective,’ Chonglin said, stepping closer. Lis raised her hands. ‘I have bigger problems than you,’ he muttered.

  ‘What did she tell you?’ Lis asked. ‘What did she see that had you so determined you would win this?’

  ‘She saw the end. She saw us win.’

  ‘But she saw different versions. She knew to keep us apart or you couldn’t win. You tried to turn us on each other. You knew you couldn’t win against us.’

  Chonglin shrugged.

  Lis sighed.

  ‘I’m sick of hiding,’ the master murmured.

  ‘I’m tired of pretending to be someone I’m not,’ the old woman said.

  Others started to chime in with their reasons for being there.

  Lis looked at the master, his focus still on Wei-Song. ‘We did make up part of this Empire once,’ the master said. ‘We had a purpose without bringing fear to others.’

  ‘I would like it to be that way again,’ Lis said.

  ‘You have magic,’ someone said. ‘You want a place, but what does it mean for us?’

  ‘We wouldn’t take your place. I think there is a way for the magics to help the Empire, so that we can build a better, stronger world together.’

  Another man shook his head. ‘What happens when they want to take over?’

  ‘We don’t,’ Yangshing said. ‘We want to live in peace like everyone else.’

  ‘I think there is a long way to go. Just because the prince has magic doesn’t mean that it is right for the Empire. We have done just fine since the war.’

  ‘Have you?’ someone else asked, and Lis wasn’t sure if they had magic or not.

  ‘Will you capture and punish these men?’ another person asked. ‘Do we know this won’t happen again?’

  ‘The healers are sharing something that will counter the effects of the dust,’ Remi said. ‘It may still take a few days to fully take effect, but it will render the other harmless.’

  ‘Except we are already covered in it,’ Lis said. ‘Any movement could send it around this room.’

  The empress appeared at the end of the room, silent and serious. Lis bowed in her direction, and others followed her lead. ‘Is it only the two of you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lis said.

  ‘Come this way,’ she said, leading them back towards the front door. ‘We don’t want it inside. Splash this room down,’ she said to the servant. ‘Make sure no particles have attached themselves to anyone else. I don’t want it in the palace,’ she said. ‘It will be a risk to everyone, magic or not.’

  Lis s
truggled to keep up with her broad stride. They hurried through the streets, Wei-Song taking her hand and looking around them. Lis was sure this put them at more risk. It was only when she noticed that she had sent the guards to the wall, and they were without protection, that they were standing outside the baths.

  ‘What a great idea,’ Lis said. ‘We should open them…’

  The empress turned a dark look in her direction. ‘You are essential to the Empire. Both of you. Rinse this from your clothing and your skin, and change.’

  She glided away gracefully but still managed to look angry, leaving them alone in the small garden.

  ‘She is not herself,’ Wei-Song said, entering the baths and heading straight through to the royal section.

  ‘She has recently realised that the world is not what she thought,’ Lis whispered.

  ‘If she knew you were with child, she might soften.’

  ‘She knows,’ Lis said, carefully removing her clothes.

  ‘Did the healer dust get us?’ Wei-Song asked.

  Lis shrugged and stepped into the pool. She quickly ducked beneath the surface and ran her fingers through her hair. Wei-Song did the same. They sat for a moment on the steps, splashing in the water.

  Lis tried to relax, hoping the water had rinsed the dust from her system before it could take hold. The sound of banging made her look towards the door, and again she regretted allowing the empress to pull them away without protection.

  She was out of the water, dry and in fresh clothes before Wei-Song had even moved. There were dry clothes put aside, but Lis didn’t need them. She was out the door and in the street before she thought if it was a good idea.

  Chaos reigned.

  People, magic and not, ran in every direction. Swords clashed. People cried out. Lis pushed forward with her barrier, only it faltered, and she knew the dust had affected her enough that she wouldn’t be able to use it.

  As she ran back through the streets, she fell over a man, dead and bleeding across the flagstones. She picked herself up. Her hands stung from the graze across the stones. He held a short, sharp blade in one hand, and she took it from him. People everywhere were fighting, but she couldn’t tell who was on what side, and it appeared that those fighting didn’t know either.

  Lis looked firstly for the empress, for it hadn’t been so long ago that she had left them. She might have gotten caught up in the fight. But Lis couldn’t see her.

  She couldn’t see anyone she recognised amongst the people, and they were fighting down every street. She had hoped they could bring people together in some way, but now that was looking very unlikely. If this continued, the entire Empire would be fighting each other and no one would survive. She only hoped they had discovered those who had released the dust.

  She didn’t feel quite like she had before, and her magic wasn’t right. Given the limitations she had felt previously, she wasn’t sure they could do very much even if she found Remi. He at least had been inside, and it could be that he was protected from the dust.

  The square was filled with shouts and the sound of metal on metal.

  Someone bumped her from behind and she fell to her knees, the blade skittering away across the stones. She wasn’t exactly experienced at fighting with magic, outside of that one day, and she had no idea what to do without it.

  ‘Your Highness,’ a man said, reaching out a hand to pull her to her feet. ‘Why are you out here?’

  ‘I was at the baths,’ she said, well aware that it didn’t explain why she was where she was. For a moment, she wondered if the empress had deliberately put them in danger, but she didn’t think the woman would do that to Wei-Song. She hoped Wei-Song had stayed at the baths and not wandered out into this. She looked round for a guard or someone she could trust to send for her. Then she stared at the man before her.

  ‘Why are you fighting?’ she asked.

  ‘The people are trying to stop us being what we are. They have,’ he said, running his hand across his nose. ‘I can’t breathe.’

  Lis nodded. She remembered that feeling all too well. ‘It is just a few who are trying to do this,’ she said. ‘We can’t treat them all the same. We need to find some middle ground.’

  ‘They don’t want middle ground,’ he murmured, then swung around as a man charged towards them, his sword out before him. He went down with a groan, and Lis bent over him. The other man looked her in the eye and then dropped to his knees to bow before her.

  ‘There needs to be another way,’ Lis murmured, but as she looked around, she didn’t think she could get that message to everyone.

  ‘This shows they want control,’ the man who had run at them said. ‘The magics want to take over.’

  ‘It wasn’t a magic who started this,’ Lis said. ‘It was a group from Fourth, trying to stop those with magic from using it.’

  ‘How can they stop magics?’

  Lis shook her head, scanning the madness around her for a familiar face.

  ‘That is why they aren’t using it,’ the man said.

  Lis nodded absently.

  He grabbed her arm then, and she looked up at the desperation in his face. ‘We are never going to stop,’ he said.

  Lis tried to pull from his hold.

  ‘This madness will go on until there is no Empire left,’ he murmured, letting her go as another man approached with a sword.

  She saw someone from the school through the crowd, a young man who had travelled with Master Yangshing. She raced away from the others and then spun as a blade caught her arm. There were too many around her to know who had nicked her or whether it was deliberate. When she turned back, the man she’d been looking for was gone. She needed someone to go for Wei-Song.

  ‘We need to get you out of here,’ the magic said.

  Lis nodded, putting her hand to her arm. It stung. She wished she had something to protect herself with properly, so she could find someone to stop this. The two men who had been fighting each other only moments before did their best to get her safely out of the fighting.

  But as they moved along streets and between buildings, Lis soon realised the fighting covered the whole island. They were never going to bring the Empire together. There was too much hate between those with magic and those without, and the war wasn’t the end of that. There had been too much fear in the years since.

  There were some who already worked together, such as those who had protected the Hidden and allowed them to live amongst them. Lis thought of the old woman from Third, whose neighbours must have known what she was.

  ‘Everyone has some magic,’ she muttered to herself, and one of the men with her stopped. She turned and looked back at him.

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I saw something that indicated everyone has some magic, that there is a little in everyone who lives here, and if they took the time they might be able to learn how to use it.’

  He shook his head. ‘No,’ he said.

  Lis put her hands up slowly. ‘Maybe I was wrong,’ she whispered.

  ‘Lis!’ Remi called behind her, and she turned to see him racing towards her. She held up her hand, and he slowed down.

  ‘I’m ok,’ she said, looking back at the man before her. ‘Wei-Song is at the baths.’

  ‘You left her?’ he asked. She was surprised by the accusation she could hear in his voice.

  ‘I went to investigate the noise and got caught up. I couldn’t find anyone.’

  ‘You have found two men here,’ he said slowly.

  ‘They have helped me.’

  He noticed her arm then, reaching for it. ‘What happened?’

  She shook her head. ‘We have to stop this. No one will win.’

  The two men glanced at each other and then bowed to Lis. ‘Let us go for your maid,’ one said.

  The other nodded. ‘We will bring her back to you safely.’

  They headed off together.

  ‘Can we trust them?’ Remi asked.

  ‘They were trying to kill each
other not so long ago. But with the dust, no one seems to know who is magic and who isn’t. People have kept to themselves for too long. They don’t know who they can trust because they feared being found out and killed, or suggested to be helping magics and killed. There has been too much fear.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘I have been part of that.’

  ‘You were only doing what you were raised to believe.’

  ‘I was doing what I thought would benefit me. Let’s get you out of this.’ He took her hand and led her up the steps of the throne room.

  Chapter 33

  ‘What were you thinking?’ Remi asked Lis quietly as he sat her down.

  ‘This isn’t my fault,’ she whispered.

  He took her hands then and tried to pull her attention from the people in the room. ‘The baths were a good idea.’

  She appeared to be searching the room for someone, and he glanced over his shoulder. Most of those who had come to the throne room to meet were still there, yet Chonglin had disappeared. ‘Does he know the dangers?’ Remi asked.

  ‘You said the healers released something.’

  ‘They have been trying to find a way to counter the dust. Possibly with more dust. That was what Yang has been helping with. Did it help?’

  She shrugged.

  ‘Lis,’ he said, sitting beside her. ‘Did it help?’

  She sighed and looked into his face before she leaned against him. ‘After I was in the water, I had enough magic to dry and dress. But my barrier wouldn’t hold.’

  ‘Why did you go out?’

  ‘I needed to.’

  ‘And the guard?’

  ‘I can’t remember if they followed us or not. Maybe your mother took them.’

  ‘She isn’t herself,’ he murmured, looking around the room and wondering where she was. ‘Do you think she still sacrificed Wei-Song in a way, leaving her with people she thought the war would kill?’

  ‘In some way, it would have been your father who killed her if that had occurred. I don’t know,’ Lis said, trying to cover a yawn. ‘Nothing appears to be what we thought.’

  ‘You could rest against me,’ he offered. He didn’t want her heading back out into the world, although he knew they should be out there trying to stop whatever had started this fight. They had aimed to bring the two sides together, and they were already killing each other in the street.