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

by Margo Bond Collins

  “The road we’re on doesn’t go to Solesena Aurem, though. It goes north, along the foot of the mountains. If we stay on it, we can get to another road leading to the bridge, but it’s more than twice the distance than if we follow the river.

  “Any questions or objections?” Tere Chizzit asked. There were none. He was by far the most qualified to set their course, and they all knew it. Fahtin, for one, was glad they had the tracker with them. Without his guidance, they would be at a loss at how to get to their destination in the most effective way. Or in any way at all.

  That got her wondering. Why was the blind man still with them? He had said he would lead them through the forest, and he had done that. She had assumed he would leave when they left the trees, but there he was, still traveling with them, speaking like he would continue on at least to the Academy. She wasn’t complaining. Far from it, she was thankful. Very thankful. She just wondered, that’s all.

  “Tere,” she said. “Thank you for helping us. I don’t know what we would do without you.”

  “Probably fall into a pit,” he said, smiling at her. “It is important work you’re about. Maybe the most important work. I intend to help in any way I can.”

  She returned his smile. “That’s kind and noble of you. We appreciate it.” The tracker mumbled something and looked away. Now she’d embarrassed him. She had expressed her thanks. She’d leave it at that.

  They made their way down through the foothills. There didn’t seem to be a rush, and Fahtin almost forgot that they’d been running for their lives for the last two months. The day was bright, and although there was a hint of a bite in the morning air from their altitude, it was a comfortable temperature for their movement. It would warm soon, the sun already poking up over the peaks they had just traversed. Fahtin’s wanderer’s blood sang with their travel.

  Tere Chizzit, up ahead a dozen feet, stiffened suddenly. They were using the narrow road they had been on for several days, so there was no reason for the tracker to scout ahead of the others. He turned his head, almost as if he was listening for something he thought he’d heard.

  “What is it?” Aeden asked him, obviously seeing the same thing Fahtin had seen.

  “I don’t know,” the blind man said. “I caught the sense of something, almost like a scent that’s barely perceptible on the wind.” He turned in a circle, his eyes closed in concentration. “Nope. Nothing. I’m probably mistaken. Pay me no mind.”

  He started down the road again. Fahtin shared a look with Aeden. They both knew better than to discount Tere’s intuition. She found herself scanning the mountainside. Aeden was doing the same thing. Raki and Urun were busy in conversation, so they had missed the exchange. She would pay attention. If there was something out there, she didn’t want to be surprised by it.

  After two hours, the tracker stopped again. This time, he scanned the country behind them more closely. His face didn’t hold much emotion, but Fahtin could see the way his eyes narrowed and the way the muscles in his jaw twitched from clenching his teeth. She didn’t want to ask him about it, didn’t want to make him more nervous. One look at Aeden told her that her friend was thinking exactly the same thing.

  “We should leave the road now, I think,” Tere said.

  As the road wound to the northeast, the party went into the trees to the northwest. They had reached the lower foothills of the mountain range and, as they crested one of the elevated places, could see out across the valley to the west. The blue of the Alvaspirtu stood out like a beacon in the midst of the green and brown of the trees and rugged cliffs. Far to the west, almost out of sight, Fahtin thought she saw more blue. Was that the inland sea, the Kanton Sea, the one in which the island home of the Academy was situated? They were getting close to their destination. Her heart fluttered at the thought.

  Raki’s gasp brought her up short. She looked over at the boy and noticed where he was looking. Back toward where they had come from. She turned to see what he had seen and felt the breath go out of her.

  From her vantage point on the hill, she could clearly see the road they had been traveling. On that road, just three small hills away, was a shape-shifting black blob. It came to the top of one of the hills and wriggled down the other side, coming right at them. It looked like a colony of ants swarming over their home. These were no ants, though.

  “Cachten daedos d’estaigh! Aucioch aet mam!” Aeden shouted.

  Tere Chizzit simply nodded in agreement.

  The animaru had found them, and they had taken no chances. They had sent an army.

  Chapter 42

  “Get down the other side of the hill,” Tere Chizzit said. “They shouldn’t have caught sight of us yet, but if we are crested like this, they no doubt will. I doubt they need to see us to give chase, though. The best we can hope is that they follow the road, assuming we will do the same. It can buy us a little time. Maybe enough…”

  Aeden was still cursing, but he moved along with the rest of them.

  “Can we outrun them?” Aeden asked.

  “I don’t know,” the tracker said. “I’m not sure how fast they’re moving. Faster than us, it seems. I’ll know more when we see them again.” He pointed to another hill a few miles away. It was bald of trees, rounded with grass growing all over it. “We’ll check again when we get to that hill. Move now.”

  Gone was the comfortable feeling of travel. Small conversations about the weather and temperature were forgotten. They had been found, and the only option left was to run for their lives. Fahtin hitched her pack higher on her shoulders and quickened her pace. It was too soon to run; that would only tire them out. They had to be intelligent about it, walking fast, trotting occasionally, moving without break.

  It seemed to take them hours to reach the hill that Tere had pointed out. By the time they did, Fahtin’s legs were burning from the sustained effort and final push up the incline. They rushed over the top of the hill and down the other side before stopping to crawl back to the crest and look at their pursuers.

  They were much closer.

  Aeden’s soft cursing was drowned out by Tere Chizzit’s voice.

  “Surus damn them all to Abyssum.”

  Fahtin was shocked. She had never heard the older man curse before. Tere Chizzit’s head swiveled from looking at the black mass coming after them to the land ahead of them. He seemed to be doing calculations in his head.

  “I don’t think we can make the bridge before they catch us,” he said. “We may be able to lose them in the trees near the river, but they’ll know we’re looking for a bridge. Even if we make it across, they’ll chase us on the other side. There is no way we’ll make Sitor-Kanda before they catch us.”

  “Is there anything else we can do?” Fahtin asked.

  “Maybe they will continue on the road,” Urun Chinowa offered.

  “It’s possible, I sup—” Tere Chizzit stopped in mid-sentence. “Damn.” The swarm of creatures following them veered sharply from the path they had been on, leaving the road and taking the route the party had taken. “No, they won’t be staying on the road. They are able to track us somehow.”

  “It’s me,” Aeden said. “They’re after me. I’ll go another way, lead them off. Then the rest of you can go to the Academy and get help.”

  “That’s heroic of you, boy,” Tere said, “but ridiculous. First of all, no one is going to sacrifice themselves while I’m around. Second, if you die, there’s really not any reason for us to go to the Academy, is there? If you are this Malatirsay, you are the only one of us who can’t die. No, your offer is honorable, but impractical.

  “Let me think.” The blind man closed his eyes and stood motionless for a moment. When he opened them again, they seemed to have a defiant look in them, the skin around them crinkled and his brows drawn down tight. “Come on. The trees closer to the river should slow them down a bit. Maybe if we are erratic in our path and move more quickly through the vegetation, it will be enough. We’ll have other options once we get to
the other side of the river. Urun, will you be able to make travel easier for us, moving plants out of the way and such?”

  The priest snapped his head up as if he hadn’t really been listening and was surprised to be addressed. “What? Oh, yes, I can use my power to make our passing easier and theirs harder.”

  “Good, then do it when we get into those trees up there. Maybe it will be enough. Let’s go. Pace yourselves. We’re not at the point where we can run just yet. I’ll let you know when we are.”

  The party headed down the hill and into the sparse trees at the base of it. As they moved closer toward the river, the trees grew bigger and closer together. The grasses, ferns, and bushes, also increased in number. Urun took the lead, passing through the vegetation as if it wasn’t there. The party followed him, a clear path allowing them to move quickly. Fahtin looked behind Aeden, the last one in the group, and saw the plants close up as he passed, making a thick wall of choking branches, vines, and nettles to stand against their pursuers passing. She found herself marveling at the nature priest’s power and hoped it would be enough to save them.

  The next time they glimpsed the army following them, it seemed to have slowed down. The party was on another hill, the last real foothill before the flatter country around the river. The first part of the pursuing mob was just coming out of a stand of trees into an open area. They appeared to have lost ground to the ones fleeing them. It lightened Fahtin’s heart. Maybe they could make the bridge after all. She wasn’t sure what would happen after that, but she would focus on one step at a time.

  Aeden let loose with another string of curses in that language of his. She really needed to sit down with him and have him translate those for her. They sounded very colorful. She wondered if the translations would sound as interesting.

  Looking to him and then following his gaze to the north, she saw what had set him off. She rarely cursed, but thought she would like to use some of his stockpile of exclamations.

  Ahead, barely two dozen miles, was another black shape. If anything, this one was bigger than the one following them. There had to be thousands of the creatures in each group, and they closed in from two sides. Their route to the bridge had been blocked.

  “How long?” Aeden asked Tere Chizzit.

  The tracker looked back at the first army and then over to the new one. “At the rate they’re moving, two hours at the most. They know they’re close, and they’ll start moving faster now.”

  “What can we do?” Raki asked.

  “Keep going due west. I would normally try to circle around and go back, past the first group, but they seem to sense Aeden. I’m pretty sure they’re close enough. I’m hoping we can find some caves or other natural feature to slip out of their grasp. It’s the best I can come up with.”

  “Can we use the river?” Aeden asked. “Make a raft or something, swim to the other side?”

  “Maybe,” Tere Chizzit said, “but I doubt it. The Alvaspirtu is very powerful here. Swimming would probably not be a good idea. I don’t expect we’ll have enough time to build a raft, or even to cut down a small tree, but we’ll just have to see. In any case, we’re out of other directions to go. West to the river or south through the same terrain we’ve been traversing. I say west.”

  No one else had any better ideas, so they went west.

  Within an hour, they began to hear the creatures chasing them from both directions. Some of them yipped and howled, some screamed what were probably war cries. All the sounds made Fahtin’s middle vibrate, adding to the trembling she already felt from fear. Was this how it felt for animals when they were hunted? She had seen “civilized” hunts where men would run down animals with their hunting dogs, exhausting the creature so they could come up and shoot it with their bows. She had always thought it inhumane, but now even more so.

  If it hadn’t been for Urun Chinowa and his ability to clear the path of vegetation for them, closing it up again after them, they would have been caught long before they reached the river. As it was, the sounds of the pursuers made Fahtin think they would burst from the underbrush at any second as the party reached their goal.

  When she made her way up to Urun and Tere, all hope in her fled and she began to weep.

  They were at the top of a cliff, probably fifty feet above the wide, swirling river. The water moved so quickly, she would never have thought of entering it, even if just wading in from its bank. Dropping from that height into it was suicide.

  “So,” Aeden said. “How would you like to die? Crushed by a fall, drowned, or torn apart by black beasts?” He sounded tired, resigned.

  “We cannot stand against these numbers,” Urun said. Even if I should call forth all the power Osulin would provide to me, it would not be enough. They will overwhelm us.”

  “Do you think you can do one of those magic explosions, Aeden?” Raki said.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Aeden admitted. “I haven’t been able to except that one time. Even if I could, though, I don’t think we could survive thousands of the monsters attacking us.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Tere Chizzit said. “There’s no time left. We have to jump. Cross your arms in front of you, holding everything to yourself. Cross and bend your legs to absorb the impact. It’s going to feel like you’re hitting stone, but as long as you do what I say, it shouldn’t break your legs. Try to find each other, but most of all, get to the shore as soon as you can. Staying in that river is death. Do you understand?”

  “I can’t jump,” Fahtin said, looking over the cliff. “I can’t do it. There has to be another way.”

  Aeden took her hands. “Fahtin, there is no other way. You can swim; I’ve seen you. Do as Tere says. It’s our only chance.”

  Fahtin looked over the edge of the cliff. She thought she was brave. Well, braver than most people. Hadn’t she proven it in combat with these creatures? Still, as she stared down at the churning water so far below, she began to have trouble breathing. Putting her hand on her chest and taking slow, deep breaths, she told herself that she had to do it. It would be safe enough. Safer than facing the armies coming for her. All she had to do was step off the cliff. That’s all. She would land in the water and then swim to the shore.

  But she couldn’t make her legs move. She could hardly get a breath in. Her head swam dizzily at the thought of doing what was asked of her. Heavy shapes crashed through the foliage. The animaru were here. There was no time left. Still, she couldn’t force herself to jump.

  As she turned toward the sound, scores of creatures came sprinting toward her and her friends. “How would you like to die?” Aeden had asked. Which way indeed. She fumbled a knife into each hand and looked into the heart of the mob coming at them. Which way to die?

  Chapter 43

  Koixus hated this world of light. She longed for the darkness of her home, the familiar landscape of her world. It was important work they were doing, no doubt, but she did not like the place.

  It wasn’t just the light that irritated her. There was the insistent buzzing, the small vibration she felt being surrounded by that strange power. What was it Khrazhti had called it? Life? The land teemed with it. Whether things moved or stayed in one place, it seemed that everything in this S’ru-forsaken world was infused with this life. How did proper creatures handle it? Was it just her, or did the others feel it, too?

  Her counterpart, Maenat, led the other force. She had not spoken with him much, but perhaps she could ask him. It was a waste of time to speak with the rabble she commanded. They were hardly worthy of the name animaru.

  Throughout history, throughout her three thousand years, battles had largely been won or lost by the common, essentially powerless, animaru, but that didn’t make her respect them any more than she respected a weapon or a rock used to strike an opponent. No, she would not ask them. They probably didn’t feel the strange power anyway.

  Maenat, on the other hand, was one worthy of respect. She had faced him many times in battle, most often one-on-one. H
e was intelligent and powerful, a worthy adversary. He had use of the magic, so he should be even more sensitive to this “life” abnormality.

  She pondered for a moment the changing circumstances between the two. S’ru was all-powerful, the everlasting god of Aruzhelim. His will was law and to defy him meant endless torment in one of his torture pens. The god delighted in watching his creatures war against each other, going head to head with their combat skills, strategies, and political manipulations. For creatures thousands of years old, what else was there?

  In those thousands of years, there had developed a rivalry between Maenat and herself, sometimes resulting in her victory and even a few times with him coming out on top.

  When S’ru finally managed a conduit to this world of life, though, he commanded all his servants to put aside their posturing and cooperate to prepare the world for their god’s arrival. Thus, Koixus found herself on the same side as her eternal enemy. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. It was really the first new thing she had experienced in centuries.

  At first, the thought of being among the forerunners to this world excited her. New things to see, new foes to vanquish, more chances at glory, all of this appealed to her. If she couldn’t actually fight her rivals, like Maenat, then she could gain more honor by doing greater deeds than them in the war against this new world.

  But the accursed light and life here! She shook her head in disgust. She would kill the Gneisprumay, bring this world under her dominion, and hand it to her god. Then she would go back to her own world, with its comfortable darkness and the absence of this insistent chafing power constantly assaulting her.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the whoops and screams of some of her troops, the few who could run faster than she. She cast out her musings and focused on the task at hand.

  The Gneisprumay was ahead. She could feel him. That was strange in itself. She enjoyed a certain tolerance to magic—though she had not faced this life magic that was reported to be able to destroy even the animaru—but she had never shown an affinity for using it. Despite this, she felt the presence of the One who was an anathema to them. He was ahead, with his pitiful allies, trapped. She pushed her speed so she was even with all but a few of the fastest animaru. The One would fall to her this day, and she would get the glory that came with the conquest. She would not let Maenat take that from her.