Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  “It does.”

  She leaned toward him and her lips met his, soft as a breeze and hot as the sun. It took his breath away and left him gasping. She ended the kiss, leaning back and looking into his eyes.

  “With this kiss, you are consecrated and we are connected, you as my high priest and I as your goddess. Through this bond, I have given you a measure of power. If it does not suffice for a certain task, you have but to call upon me and I will lend you more, if I am able. You will find that your healing is much more potent now, miraculously so. Use it to care for and nurture all you desire.”

  He did feel a power within him, an energy glowing and pulsing in his core. He looked around and saw the forest in a new way. He could see the life within it, could feel a kinship with it.

  “Yes, you see now how everything fits together,” Osulin said. “You can see better than ever the necessity for all life to work together. Good. I knew it would be so. You have always been destined to come to me, I think. You will do great things in my name, but none greater than the grand task which will come in the future. Prepare yourself, my beloved, for you will need all your power and mine to survive in the end times.”

  Still holding his hand, she drew him to a moss-covered fallen tree and sat with him, telling him of the wonders of her natural realm and how he was now even more of that world. When she left him, she bade him go back to sleep. As she walked off through the foliage, each branch and leaf moving out of her way as she passed, his eyes grew heavy and he settled down into peaceful slumber.

  When he woke, Osulin was gone and there was no sign she had ever been there, except that his offering was no longer on the altar. He could feel the power within him, though, so he did not doubt his calling to be her priest.

  Chapter 38

  “So, there is my story,” Urun Chinowa said. “That is how I came to be the first priest for Osulin in over a thousand years. I returned to Magda with the herbs I had found. I seemed to have a sense for where to find the plants, and on the way back to her, I located many other rare medicines that I had seen referenced and pictured in her book.

  “She was ecstatic at my finds and, when I told her of my experience, she smiled that beatific smile of hers and told me how blessed I was to have the opportunity.

  “‘A priest of Osulin,’ she rasped. ‘It is a privilege beyond compare. You will do well, Urun. You have always been meant for greater things than being a village healer.’

  “I found that I could supplement the healing I had learned with the power Osulin had granted me. I used my new powers to help all those who needed it, but I knew I needed to move on, to go where I could commune with nature more fully. I needed to go to the Grundenwald and refine my knowledge and skills, waiting for the calling Osulin had promised me. And that is where I am now, in my comfortable home in the finest example of the natural world left in Dizhelim.”

  “That’s an amazing tale,” Fahtin said. “How privileged you are to have actually seen and touched a goddess like that.”

  “Oh, my lady Fahtin,” Urun said, taking her hand and kissing it, “that makes two times in this life I have touched a goddess.”

  Aeden rolled his eyes and Tere Chizzit snorted. Fahtin just blushed and gently took her hand away from the priest.

  Raki awoke within the hour, seeming tired but not any worse for wear. When they told him what had happened, he stared at them wide-eyed. He hadn’t remembered any of it.

  “Thank you, Urun,” the boy said. “By all accounts, I would be dead without your help.”

  “It was my duty, Raki, and a pleasure to be able to aid you. I am glad your friends got you here when they did. Too much longer and even I would not have been able to help you.”

  They stayed with the priest for another two days. Aeden was anxious about the time spent, but he wanted Raki to recuperate before they moved on. During the time, Aeden slept as if he could store up rest for later and spent his waking hours in pleasant company.

  It was time to leave and the party gathered up their gear and prepared to depart.

  “Aeden,” Urun said, “I would go with you, if I may.”

  The statement came out of nowhere. The priest had never mentioned his desire to join them.

  “Why?” was all Aeden could think to say.

  “I left out a small detail when I told you my story the other day.” He had repeated the story for Raki just the day before, and Aeden had heard it again. In fact, he and Fahtin both listened intently to the second telling. Tere Chizzit went out hunting; he had heard it before.

  “I did not tell you,” Urun said, “that just before you came, Osulin came to me once again, for the first time in several years. She told me that there is a great darkness in the world and that it is intent on destroying nature and all life. She told me that I would get visitors soon and that when I did, it would become clear to me that I must join them, not only because they would need my help but also because it was through them that the darkness could be defeated.

  “She was referring to you, that is clear, and to these animaru. I do not know why or how they are a danger to all life, but I must go with you, if you will allow me. It is not only the command of my goddess, but it…feels like that is what I should do. So I ask you formally, will you allow me to accompany you?”

  Aeden looked at the others, all of them wide-eyed and staring as he was. One after another, they nodded when he looked at them. He put his hand out to the priest. “Welcome to the party, Urun.” The man smiled and shook Aeden’s hand enthusiastically.

  Making it through the forest with the priest of Osulin was an easy matter. Even when they reached the heart of the forest, the wild, primordial section that had given off the feeling of doom earlier, it felt comfortable. True, there was an edge of danger in the thickest part, but Urun’s presence seemed to calm it, pushing the sense of alarm away slightly.

  The priest sometimes didn’t even seem to pay attention to where he was going. He mumbled quietly at times, almost as if he was arguing with himself, sang snatches of silly songs Aeden had never heard, or hummed. The only time he really spoke to others was when Fahtin was near him. Then he could not be made to be quiet.

  It astounded Aeden to see Urun walk ahead of them and somehow pick out the easiest path without looking. At times, Aeden could have sworn that the plants moved out of their way. They made good time, better even than some of the travel they had done earlier on the roads, and they were out of the center, then out of the edges, and even out of the bordering civilized forests into open fields and sparse stands of trees.

  As they left the final thicket of trees and underbrush, Aeden sighed. He heard the same from the others, all except Urun, who was humming a song that he had sung and hummed in parts since they started.

  With everyone’s mood lightened, conversation became more joyful and plentiful. The sun could be seen without filtering through tree boughs, and the brightness seemed to energize the little party.

  “There is a town off to the south maybe ten or fifteen miles,” Tere Chizzit said. “Drugancairn. We can resupply there. The lands we will be crossing through ahead vary from small copses of trees to plains and rolling hills. We can find game there, but it would be good to have some food with us. I suggest we stop there and resupply.”

  They all agreed. Traveling on roads again, even ones that were barely wide enough for two of them to walk side-by-side, was something they had all missed.

  “Will it be dangerous,” Raki asked, “walking on roads again? We went into the forest in the first place because of the animaru patrolling the roads looking for Aeden.”

  “We’re on the other side of the forest from where those creatures were looking,” Tere said. “They found us in the Grundenwald, but even that was far away from where we came out of the forest. I think we’re safe to use roads for a little while. We can go off again when we leave Drugancairn. Travel should be fairly easy on the plains, though there will not be a lot of cover to hide us.”

  “No matt
er which way we go, there are dangers,” Aeden said. “Our best choice is to get to Sitor-Kanda by the quickest route possible. We will just have to deal with our pursuers when we must, in any way we can.”

  They had discussed the animaru and Aeden felt that Urun Chinowa’s power would be potent against them. He was, after all, a healer, and life magic was what he used. He had also analyzed his last battle and had some ideas on how he could gain the party an advantage when next they were attacked.

  The road to Drugancairn wound through copses of trees and over rolling hills. The forest was off to their left, and the road stayed near the edge of the trees. It was warm, the sun a bright ball in the sky with only an occasional cloud to cast a shadow upon them. They soon came over a large hill and caught their first glance of the town.

  Nestled in the trees in a small valley, Drugancairn was not the most impressive sight Aeden had seen in his travels. Most of the buildings scattered haphazardly about were of wood construction, the vast majority with thatch roofs. There was the occasional home or business topped with wooden shingles, too, but a mere handful had clay tiles on their roofs, usually buildings made of stone or brick. There were rudimentary streets, but they were not paved.

  “How many people live here?” Aeden asked.

  “Over three hundred,” Tere Chizzit answered.

  “With that number of people and the homes here, I would think they would have paved at least some of the streets.”

  “Paved streets are not important to these folk,” the blind man said. “There are no sources of flat stones for paving nearby, and the cost and work involved probably just don’t seem worth it to them. Do not be so quick to judge the entire town based on appearances.”

  Aeden felt the rebuke keenly. He hadn’t meant to sound arrogant. He had always thought of the towns outside the highlands as having their streets more than just dirt. He had seen it often enough in the travels with the Gypta, but then, they normally kept to the larger roads when they passed from one nation to the next.

  While he was still considering their streets, he noticed movement from near the trees of the forest. When he turned, he saw a wave of black shapes exiting the trees and moving for the town at great speed. He recognized the gaits of those shapes. Animaru.

  The others noticed right after he did.

  “We should leave before they see you,” Raki said.

  “We can’t just leave the town to fight off the monsters themselves,” Fahtin said. “They would all be slaughtered.”

  Raki’s face reddened. He looked toward the ground, not saying a word.

  “She’s right,” Aeden said. “We have to help them.” He started running toward where the animaru were going into the town. There looked to be several dozen of them, far too many for the citizens to handle on their own. They probably wouldn’t be able to kill any of them as the beasts cut through them.

  Aeden was halfway down the hill before he realized that the others were right behind him. He hadn’t even thought of them, caught up in what he knew he must do.

  The townsfolk tried to defend themselves, some of the men charging out toward the creatures once the alarm had gone up. They came with swords, cudgels, and whatever farm implements they could find. Each one fell easily as the animaru almost nonchalantly slashed at them while running through the streets. They looked to be searching for something.

  One clever man doused two of the black creatures with oil and then tossed a lit lamp onto them. He succeeded in catching them on fire, but not much else. He got his abdomen ripped open for his trouble and, as the fiery creatures continued to move through the town, the fire spread to some of the buildings.

  When Aeden and the others reached the first of the black creatures, the town looked like it would burn to the ground. There were bleeding heaps of flesh in their wake, the only thing left of the town’s heroes. Aeden’s swords were out in a heartbeat and he dove into the fray, slashing and stabbing at his foes.

  He wasted no time. As soon as the creatures saw him and realized who he was, he began to call the magic to him. He had never been able to duplicate the powerful explosion he had used that night in the Gypta camp, but he had learned other useful things. He called his friends to him and completed the gestures and pronounced the words of power necessary to cast Light to Conquer Darkness upon their weapons and his own. The implements of battle glowed faintly in the afternoon sun.

  Though the creatures swarmed around Aeden, speaking in their strange language, the others were not helpless to harm the animaru as they had been. Their weapons now bit into the black flesh with the power of blood magic, and for the first time, the creatures feared destruction.

  Tere Chizzit fired arrows with blinding speed, placing each one into an eye or throat. Raki, too, had deadly aim, and his throwing spikes and knives took their fair share of the creatures. Fahtin stood near Aeden, her knives flashing and tearing flesh from their enemies. Urun Chinowa swung a walking stick he had been using, the shaft burning with a magical fire he had called onto it.

  And then there was Aeden. He was a whirlwind with his swords, cutting down animaru with every stroke. In between slashes, he sang out words of power and caused some of the monsters to burn, their howls echoing in the little valley.

  A crowd of the townsfolk watched the combat from afar. The animaru were focused on Aeden and so did not charge the onlookers, so the people first doused fires with buckets of water, and then stood and gaped at what they saw.

  Fahtin cut the last of the creatures down with her knives, the magic still flickering on them. Aeden looked around to make sure there were none left standing and saw what they had wrought. Ten or so of the locals had been killed by the creatures before Aeden had reached them, but nearly three dozen black carcasses littered the ground.

  “Is anyone hurt?” Aeden asked his friends.

  He did an assessment of his friends and found them relatively unharmed. A few scratches or cuts here and there were all they had to show for their combat.

  Urun went to each of them and used his power on them, healing their small wounds. He checked the corpses of the people of the town and found two still alive. Using his herbs and his power, he healed them as well. When he was done, he sat down heavily. Meanwhile, Raki and Tere walked around the battlefield to retrieve their projectiles from the black bodies of their foes.

  “I’ll need to rest for a little while,” the priest said. “Using my power in battle and then to heal has drained me. Maybe we can go to a tavern and sit down?”

  “Aye,” Aeden said. “That sounds like just the thing.”

  They waited for Raki and Tere to finish retrieving their weapons, Fahtin coming over to join them. As they stood there, Aeden watched the townspeople gathering, whispering and telling each other about what had happened.

  It wasn’t long before most of the crowd started to applaud the heroes, some of their number coming up to pat the warriors on the back or to shake their hands. Offers of drinks and food and close company—from some of the young women of the town—followed.

  Aeden looked over at Fahtin, trying to gauge her reaction. She smiled back at him, eyes darting back and forth. It was a new experience to her, too. All of the party, except for Tere Chizzit—who took it all in stride—seemed to be buoyed by the spirit of the crowd. Aeden thought maybe he liked being thought of as a hero. Looking toward another group of townspeople, those who were retrieving the bodies of their loved ones lost in the fight, tempered his attitude somewhat.

  The people guided them to a large stone building near the center of the town. It was one of the few with roofs made of dull red tile. A sign hung out in front of it with a picture of a bear drinking a jug of something marked with an X on it. The words underneath proclaimed the building “The Drunken Bear.”

  Inside the doors, the common room was big enough to hold half the people gathered on the street. The party was given a table near the great hearth in the center, and serving women brought them drinks and food. The tavern keeper smile
d at them as he wrung his hands in front of the apron wrapped around his stout body.

  “Welcome, welcome, heroes of Drugancairn,” the man said. “I am Syle Orden, proprietor of this establishment. Tell me whatever it is that you desire, and I will do my best to do it for you. Nothing less for those who saved our town.”

  “Thank you, Master Orden,” Tere Chizzit said. “The drinks and food are plenty for now.” The man seemed to be in his element. Aeden wondered if he was ever out of his element.

  As they drank their ale and wine and ate the food offered—roast chicken, baked vegetables, and fresh bread—the townsfolk came and expressed their thanks and admiration for the group. The fighters were polite, their eyes shining in the unfamiliar situation. They were not accustomed to such respect, especially the Gypta. Raki ate with his head down, Fahtin smiled at their well-wishers, and Aeden merely nodded as they shook his hand. Urun sat off to the side and mumbled to himself.

  Only Tere seemed to be comfortable, eating with fervor and engaging with some of the men of the town. The women, for some reason, didn’t go near him. It must have been his eyes that scared them away.

  As the evening wore on, the excitement died down, and people began to go off to their homes. Soon, there were only a dozen or so people in the common room. Tere had spoken to the tavern keeper about renting rooms for the night, but the man would not hear of it.

  “No, oh no,” he said. “You’ll not pay for rooms in my inn. You have saved our town from a fate far too common of late, whole villages being destroyed by black creatures that cannot be killed. No, you will stay in my best rooms without cost. I insist.”

  Tere thanked the man. They could retire to the rooms whenever they liked, but decided to finish their meals and drinks at a leisurely pace.

  As Aeden was thinking of leaving to go to his room, he spotted a woman he had not seen earlier. She had probably been there the entire time, but he had missed her with all the other people around. She got up from a table in the corner of the common room and started making her way across the length of it. Aeden’s eyes were drawn as surely as iron filings to a lodestone.