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  MAGE

  THE ANCIENT’S MIGHT

  For M, L, P and J,

  For reminding me to be in this world, too.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  IDRIS PRESS PUBLISHING

  Copyright © 2019 Sophie Edwards

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First edition June 2019

  ISBN: 978-1-5136-5056-2

  MAGE

  THE ANCIENT’S MIGHT

  S A EDWARDS

  1

  Bubbles roared past my head. I flailed, lost in freezing darkness, unsure which way to turn. Overwhelming pressure deepened my confusion, and my lungs screamed for air.

  A moment ago, I had been standing surrounded by my allies in the crystal cave, but thoughts of Charlie pulled me to the Void, my desire to save him too strong to let go. No hesitation prevented my choice to follow him, despite the unknown of what lay through the Void.

  Light cut through this unexpected water, distorted and blurry. Cold surged at my nose, threatening to drown me.

  I closed my eyes and forced myself to relax, focusing on the push of water, the ringing current. The collision of dirt and air mingled with the element.

  My eyes opened.

  Light streaked through the waves like a new world, illuminating shimmering droplets and undercurrent streams. I could sense every molecule, every one that didn’t belong, every pure particle. Waves pulsed around me, caressing my skin.

  My lungs relaxed, and I stretched out my hand.

  The droplets reacted to my touch and vibrated with energy. They moved at my thoughts.

  The current released its hold on me, and with a flick of my wrists, propelled me upward.

  My head broke the surface and I gasped for air, fighting the dizziness tugging against my consciousness. The flow held me afloat and prevented my head from dipping back under.

  I had no idea how long I’d been submerged but judging by the spots before my eyes and my aching body, I guessed a good minute or more. Even now, disorientation clung to me, blurring my focus into a fuzz. A side effect of the Void?

  Gentle waves knocked against me, pushing me back and forth whilst I tried to gain sense of where I trod water.

  The last thing I remembered was stepping through the Void. Of all the places I thought I’d end up, this wasn’t one of them. Emptiness, perhaps. Endless darkness, like the Dark Plains of the Shadow Mage where they helped the dead to move on. But a huge span of water? Not so much.

  I shivered in the chill and drew warmth from the surrounding air against my skin, welcoming the heat.

  In the distance, a silver tower glinted in the high sunlight and on my other side, a line of jade woodland bobbed into view when the waves dipped low. Neither appeared closer to me than the other, and I gazed between them, torn between which way to travel.

  I found myself searching the waves, feeling for the presence of another, of Charlie. If I’d come here, he must be close, and still in danger.

  Several flickers of energy pressed at my mind. People. Though none of them matched Charlie’s familiar scent. These smelled salty and strange, much like the surrounding water, nothing like the sea from the Healer Capital back home. And something else. Something big. And new.

  Water pulsed against my back and vibrated around me.

  “Hello?” a voice called. “You there.”

  A huge, metal boat sliced through the waves from the direction of the tower. Sunlight beamed off the sides with a slightly blueish glare. I squinted at the faces peering down at me over the edge, none of them familiar. None of them Charlie. A blood-red flag flapped in the cool breeze.

  The sailor who spoke gaped. A crimson jacket rested on his shoulders. His hands tugged on a thick rope from within the boat. “Your eyes,” he said, “they’re golden.”

  “Yeah. Unusual, I know,” I said. After mastering my gifts, they had permanently changed: an effect of the crystal Charlie had given me. Even after losing it before coming through the Void, it seems they hadn’t returned to their normal colour.

  “You okay?” he asked. “What you doing way out here?”

  “I don’t … It’s a long story.” The energy from the vessel beat against me, pushing me farther away, and my desire to know where Zantos took Charlie increased.

  The sailor’s brow furrowed, and he peered around. “No boat?”

  “No.”

  He frowned, then he shrugged, although suspicion darkened his eyes. “Then, how’d you get out here?”

  “I …” A magical Void dropped me here, wherever here was. but explaining that would lead to more questions, and right now, finding Charlie remained my priority.

  The sailor’s lips tightened. “Let me guess, long story?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, okay, then.”

  The vessel paused beside me. He leaned over the edge, the rope in his hand. “Coming aboard?” He began to lower it down.

  I called once more on the element around me. Water gathered beneath my feet and lifted me to the surface of the waves. Not for the first time, I revelled in the power of my gift. It made everything easier.

  Up here, the tower became a little clearer. Thousands of buildings surrounded it, stretching toward the horizon with windows glinting in the silver walls. Narrow walkways extended between several of the structures. The whole city stood as magnificently as the Main City back home.

  Shouts of alarm rippled through the sailors. They leapt away from the side, and the rope dangled, abandoned.

  Shivers coursed through me, though I sensed nothing else in the water. Surely, they weren’t frightened of me?

  One of them shoved to the front and raised a weapon: a sharp blade attached to a metal contraption. He pulled the trigger, and the blade shot toward me.

  Instinctually, I raised my hand. Blue flames coursed from my palm, disintegrating the blade on contact.

  I stared at my attacker in shock. “What did you do that for?”

  “Two of them?” Crimson Jacket spluttered. “But how?”

  “Two of what?”

  “You have magic.”

  “Yes. So?” I asked. Back home, many people had magic. Why was he so surprised?

  Others shoved forward, each holding identical blades. Their eyes grew cold.

  Crimson Jacket’s expression hardened. “Shoot her.”

  I fled, racing across the water’s surface toward the woodland. A wave surged behind me like a shield, blocking me from their view.

  Their blades cut past me and sliced through the waves, failing to catch me.

  My heart pounded, but I didn’t slow. My feet squelched in my boots, filling with water each time the waves broke over them. Chills set my arm hairs on end.

  Finally, I reached a narrow strip of white sand and sank to my knees. My breaths came in shallow gasps. I must have run a whole eona. What just happened? I posed no threat. Since when did sailors attack? No magic emanated from them. Mortals, I guessed: people without access to a gift. But what did they have against me? And now, I had no starting point to find Charlie. What if he’d been under me, still submerged in the water?

  “Stop it.” I gripped the sand, letting the grains bulge beneath my palms. I’d have sensed him, his magic, his scent.

  The boat appeared almost a spot in the distance, and the silver city no longer stood in view.

  I retreated into the trees, enveloped at once by the scent of swe
et maple and pine, dirt, and damp: all comforting reminders of home. White sand clung to my trousers, as foreign to me as these new surroundings and grated against my skin when I walked.

  My enhanced vision of the Beast gift within me picked out a dewdrop clinging to a leaf, its veins a perfect hold on the clear pearl. Light streaked through cracks in the leafy canopy and pooled on the ground. Fireflies buzzed between the sunlight and brushed past branches. The wrinkled bark crackled on contact with their glowing wings.

  Is this what the Void led to? Another world?

  I ran my fingers along the fraying string tied to my wrist. Charlie gave it to me for my birthday as part of a necklace, and, so far, was the only part of him I had left.

  Charlie was my best friend despite the three years between us. My seven gifts activated less than a year ago on my eighteenth birthday: seven, only because I took an oath to be the Guardian of magic.

  Charlie was my protector, one of the Beast Mage, the Guardians of the Guardian.

  It was my responsibility to stop Zantos, the Dark Keeper, from harnessing the most powerful magic in the land, but I had failed, and hundreds had died. Then, in my final attempt to stop him, he took possession of Charlie. With no other choice remaining, I had banished them both through the Void.

  Now, I would find Charlie, but with a whole world to search, where should I start? Zantos couldn’t have taken him far before I arrived. The sailors didn’t attack him. If they had, they would be dead, and I smelled no blood in the water.

  Could Zantos be in the city? He would go after power, and it seemed likely that’s where he’d find it.

  I stopped and stared back through the woodland, torn between my options. Flattened grass marked my path through the wilderness, an easy track for anyone following. Perhaps I should go back, but what was my plan? Assuming he still possessed his body, could I convince him to leave Charlie? The Keepers could no longer help me, but what benefit did Zantos hold in controlling him further?

  A gleam of purple caught my eye on my wrist – my Seeker staff. The wooden band weaved perfectly to my shape with the glinting stone in the centre, the symbols of a Seeker carved into the edges.

  Perhaps I could find Charlie with my Seeker gift. Once a Seeker chose a target, they could sense their victim and hunt them to the ends of the world.

  I closed my eyes and focused on Charlie: his wide, brown eyes, his rounded cheeks and little button nose, the way his dimples flashed when he smiled.

  The tug of a connection failed to come.

  My mouth turned dry. Why wasn’t it working? Reaching out, I channelled my gift through the staff. Force burst from my palm and scattered the leaves around me, leaving a naked dirt patch on the ground.

  There was nothing wrong with my gift, at least. So, why couldn’t I sense him? Fear knotted my stomach. “Charlie?” I called.

  Only the crackle of fireflies disturbed the silence. And all the while he remained at the mercy of Zantos. If he wasn’t already dead.

  I cried out and kicked a rock. It bounced off a trunk and landed in a weed patch. Then I slumped to the dust, despair coursing through me.

  In a moment, everything had changed. Charlie taken and banished, my world left behind. I had nothing left, nothing but this strange place and my gifts that wouldn’t even work properly.

  Tears coursed down my cheeks, and I gave into my sobs.

  It was my fault. Everything was my fault.

  Fatigue pulled at my limbs, intensified by my grief. I longed for my allies, my friends, someone to help me, but loneliness overwhelmed my strength, and silence pressed in.

  *

  A snap tore me from my slumber.

  I jolted upright.

  Two creatures stood nearby, each on four slender legs. Their elongated faces held speckles, and their ears twitched. One looked over at me, leaves hanging from its mouth. They didn’t seem bothered by my presence, only mildly interested, and I got the feeling they were as dangerous as the bushes they munched.

  My attention lingered on the leaves. Hours passed since I last ate, and an aching urge settled in my gut.

  I pushed myself to my feet and wandered, lost amongst the trees. My last memory of Charlie ran through my mind, his expression of pain, his plea to be banished, to stop Zantos taking his body. The haunted tone of his voice, I’d never forget.

  A low rumble set my stomach churning.

  Almost in answer to my discomfort, a mouth-watering scent of baking bread claimed my attention, dragging my focus to the right.

  I followed it and staggered through a thorny bush, only vaguely conscious of the fact that whoever lived nearby might attack me, too. Though, with no sign of berries or fruit on the nearby trees, it seemed I didn’t have much choice.

  An old, wooden door with weathered holes worn in the edges peeked through a gap in the trees. Crumbling brick surrounded it, choked by vines and tangled weeds.

  Doubt made my steps falter. Whoever lived here must be poor. The place looked as though it might crumble at any moment, but perhaps they could part with a small piece of food if I offered to repair the place. My Refiner gift held many more possibilities than the mere heat of a flame. Thoughts of the glittering buildings and the jewels the Refiners created returned to mind, and a stab of longing for familiar territory pierced through my control.

  I pushed on through a wild bush with tiny thorns.

  Breaking into the clearing, I stared at the door.

  Tall, polished, and studded with rubies, it resembled something only found in the richer communities back home.

  “But … I’m sure you were rotting a moment ago.” I peered around, but there was only the one door.

  Just my imagination? Maybe the trip through the Void fatigued me more than I realised.

  The scent of bread grew stronger by the minute, drawing me forward.

  I rapped against the door.

  Then, it opened a crack.

  “Hello?” I pushed it a little farther. Creaking hinges set my teeth on edge. “Anyone there?”

  Sidling inside, my focus fell on a tall, handsome man with round face and dark, gleaming eyes, standing by a gleaming mirror. Black hair framed his pale cheeks, and a perfectly fitted suit adorned his chiselled body. He cast me a cold smile.

  I staggered back. “Oh, I’m sorry I … I didn’t mean to intrude.”

  He stepped forward and slipped his cool hand in mine. “Come.” No more than a whisper, his voice pierced my mind, and a strange numbness clouded my thoughts. He led me farther in to where a wide staircase with crimson carpet filled my view.

  I paused on the first step. “Wait. I … this doesn’t

  feel –”

  “Hush,” he whispered. “Come. Let me show you.”

  “Show me what? What are you –”

  He slid his hand along my wrist and up to the crook of my elbow.

  My words lost all meaning, and he guided me up the steps by his firm grasp. The scent of bread no longer manifested, and foreboding washed through me, tugging my thoughts toward something important, something I was supposed to do.

  “I shouldn’t be here,” I said.

  He shot me a dazzling smile. “Come. Let me show you.”

  We reached the top of the stairs and turned into a narrow corridor, lit with lanterns dotted along auburn, wooden walls. Orange firelight flickered on the thick carpet, and a sweet, sickly scent filled the air.

  “No, I … I need to go,” I murmured. “There’s someone … someone …” Wasn’t there? “Or something … I’m supposed to do.”

  He slid his hand round to the small of my back, and the thought became lost in a haze.

  Another door opened to a large bedchamber furnished with flawless wooden drawers and an ornate, carved four-poster bed. Thick, red sheets draped from the bright ceiling, and a chandelier curled, casting a deep, unsettling light.

  My feet shifted to the bed under his silent urge. He twisted me around, and my back met the cover. Shivers spread along my arms, bu
t words refused to come.

  He leaned over me, eyes black in shadow, cheekbones finely cut around thin lips.

  “Clara.” A voice said somewhere behind him. The words barely registered under my numb mind. I wanted to look, but my body refused to move. I fought for words, fear clenching my throat.

  The stranger slid my hair away from my shoulder and neck.

  “Clara,” it said again, and a hint of fear and urgency pierced the word. “Get up, Clara. You must get up.”

  I blinked and managed to turn my head to the voice.

  A young boy, no older than fifteen, stood by the door, tall and laced with muscles.

  The numbness faded a little. “Charlie?”

  “Wake up, Clara,” he called, his brown eyes wide. “Break out of it. Right now!”

  I turned once more to the figure over me, and a strangled scream scraped my throat.

  Clothed in torn, black cloth, deathly pale skin stretched over bone. His lips curled back over yellowed, pointed fangs, and his eyes glowed red. Hands with sharp fingernails daggered my shoulders, pinning me to the bed, and the metallic scent of blood overwhelmed my senses.

  2

  Trapped beneath the grip of the man-like creature, I called my flames and slammed searing, blue heat at his stomach.

  He soared backward, crashing against the wall. Plaster crumbled, wood cracked and splintered under his impact, breaking from the wall like spikes.

  I shot off the sheets, my focus fully restored, and searched for Charlie, but there was no sign of him.

  The beast slumped on the floor, head hanging, arm skewered by a wooden beam.

  I exhaled and cringed at the scene. That was close. How could I have been so foolish?

  Slowly, it moved.

  A shiver of fear slid down my spine.

  His bones cracked back into place. His eyes fixed on me, and a low hiss slithered through his teeth. He heaved forward, and his arm slipped from the beam. No sign of blood shone under the orange light of the rusting chandelier.

  I raced past him from the room into the hallway. Moth-eaten carpet lined weathered floorboards, and a centipede scuttled along the walls.