Restriction: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Rise of Magic Book 1)

by CM Raymond

  He gave Adrien the keys to the kingdom and then wandered off into the mountains, never to be heard from again.

  The Chancellor shook his head and convinced himself it couldn’t be the same person. That man was dead. And if it was him, by some miracle, then what was the connection with this young woman, the Unlawful?

  Merely circumstantial?

  Jasper, the large one in the full arm cast had taken over the talking. “...I’ll get him back for what he did to us, and that little boulevard bitch, sir.”

  “No, not the magician,” Adrien snapped. “Leave him for me. But let this be a lesson to all of you to be on your guard. Remember that I don’t stand for this kind of lawlessness. Unlawfuls like this need to be kept in line.”

  Jasper nodded. Sweat beaded up on his forehead. He knew the man was short on patience and shorter on mercy. “I won’t forget, sir.”

  Adrien’s sickly smile didn’t relieve any of their concern. “I know. Not after I give you a little reminder,” Adrien told the three.

  The Chancellor turned to Jasper’s sidekick on his left, the man who had remained silent the whole time, trying to hide behind the other two, Adrien felt.

  The man was either a coward or an idiot. Neither was acceptable and he didn’t have enough resources to kill all three men at the moment.

  Adrien raised his hand in the shape of a “C” and slowly squeezed. The last Hunter tried to gurgle out a scream, but nothing emerged as Adrien crushed his throat. His eyes rolled back in his head, his body slowly starting to slide down before ending in a rush, his head striking the ground and sounding like a melon as it cracked on the floor.

  Once the Hunter’s body was on the ground motionless, Adrien turned to the man on Jasper’s right.

  “Please, no…” the fire user said. He raised both hands before his face as if that could do anything to stop the Chancellor’s wrath.

  “It’s not your day to die, fool. At least by my hands. Find the girl. Both of you. Bring her to me alive. If you must get rough, so be it, just so long as she can still answer my questions. Destroy anything that stands in your way.”

  Jasper looked down at his deformed arm and smiled. “Gladly. But what if we see the other magician?”

  Adrien raised an eyebrow, thinking back to the power his old mentor wielded. The power to change lives or destroy them.

  “If you’re smart? You’ll run for your useless bloody lives.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Few Arcadians that he approached had ever heard of Eve. And it wasn’t a surprise. She was as meek as she was beautiful. The ironic thing was that she, like Adrien and Ezekiel, had been there at the beginning, had the opportunity to seize wealth, power, or celebrity status along with all the privileges that accompanied it. But these were not the important things, not to Eve.

  From the beginning, her pursuits were different, purer. All that she wanted behind the giant walls of Arcadia was a small plot of land to garden and a house in which to raise a family. Her simplicity was one of the reasons why the old man loved her.

  Eve got one of her two desires.

  Ezekiel found her home—a small, single-level house with pristine sandstone walls, bright blue shutters, and a welcoming oak door. Settled in among houses that were nearly palatial compared to the rest of Arcadia, the tidy little place was austere without a trace of presumption. A tiny garden was nestled in the back.

  It had taken him a long time, but Ezekiel finally found an old timer who knew exactly who he was looking for. Leaning his staff against the wall, he pushed back his wild, white hair and smoothed his beard.

  He’d fought men and monsters of all calibers in his younger days, but standing in the doorway to the only woman he ever loved terrified him more than any wild beast. Finally mustering the nerve, he rapped on the door.

  Within seconds, the door flung open, and a beautiful young girl with blond curls halfway down her back stood in the entryway. Her eyes glimmered like sapphires. “May I help you, sir?”

  He stepped back as she watched him. He checked that he had the right house before stepping back up to the doorway. “I’m sorry, I’m looking for a woman named Eve. I heard she lived here once?”

  The girl laughed, and the old man felt his ears burn. “Yes, Auntie Eve lived here once and still does. Well, we live here, I mean we both do.”

  “Auntie Eve?” the man repeated. “Well, you must be Jessica’s daughter, then.” His face brightened as he took in the girl. It had been forty years since he’d seen Eve or her sister, but the similarities between the girl and her mother were striking. The blue eyes made it all come together. “Is your mother here?”

  The girl looked down at the cobblestone path and back again. “She’s gone. It’s been since I was young. Don’t even remember her.” Her eyes grew moist.

  “Oh. Terrible. I am so—” he started to mumble. Too many years from trying to be polite around people.

  She raised a hand. “No. Forgive me. This is not our kind of hospitality. It’s good you’re here. She’s been waiting.”

  “For me?”

  The girl nodded. “Come along.”

  ****

  Fingers as frail as fallen twigs reached up and brushed Ezekiel’s cheek. Her touch felt the same as it had decades ago, only now it was at once more gentle and somehow stronger. But the strength was deceptive. Eve lay still, her face as pale as the winter moon. Surrounded by pillows, the bed had become her permanent residence for the past eight months. Death was calling, but she held him off, waiting for this day.

  The old man sat next to her. “I’m sorry, Eve, I—”

  She pressed her fingers against his lips and slowly shook her head. “No. Not like this. I knew you had to go. Don’t you remember, I gave my blessing.” A faint smile spread on her lips. “The only thing you ever let me give to you.”

  He nodded, knowing she was right. This was not a time for sadness. Gritting his teeth, he forced a smile. “It is good to see you, Eve. My heart has longed for this day. I imagined you’d have married, surrounded by grandchildren.”

  His words drew a laugh—the kind of laugh not meant to tear down but to build up. “Well, now you make a presumption, my old friend. I did in fact marry. Not long after you left. He knew our love was a balm for my broken heart, but he didn’t mind. Peter was a good man, strong. The Matriarch gave us two good years together, and then I lost him in an accident at the factory. I’m told he went quickly.”

  She nodded as she lost herself in thought. Finally, she continued, “No children, though, but Madelyn is as good as mine. We’ve done well together.”

  The old man smiled, this one took no work on his part at all. “Good. I’m glad for the two of you.”

  “We have much to speak of, but I am afraid so little time. Let us not share of our lost loves.”

  “Arcadia,” he said. The word was like honey to his lips.

  Her face lightened. “Yes. Our home and great experiment.”

  “But what has it become?”

  Madelyn cleared her throat at her aunt’s door and walked in with a tray of tea and cookies.

  “Thank you,” the old man accepted the tray from the girl as she smiled. Handing it to him, she backed out of the room and left the two alone.

  Eve continued her story, “It worked, dear. The city. The place that we built together with the others blossomed like a flower bed touched with the magic of the Druids.”

  He bit into a cookie. “But, how could it then come to this?” He pointed out the walls. “The things I’ve seen since I returned. So much pain, Eve.”

  Her lips pressed together. “Ezekiel, this is a hard story. One that none of us ever thought would come to pass, but one you must know. When you left, everything was in place. And the steward you left in charge was filled with energy and vigor. For years, Adrien kept building and creating things of beauty.

  “The farms developed outside of the walls and the peace we created drew people from the ends of Irth. Arcadia was becoming the soc
iety that we all thought might not be possible after the Age of Madness.

  “Adrien and his friend Saul worked day and night. They were tireless in the work of their hands and single-minded in making the dream, our dream, a reality. As more and more came, the city filled with life. It was truly beautiful. But the more people that flooded the gates, the more problems arose.”

  “Oh, those boys were whip-sharp, though. Adrien and Saul gathered us all and shared the plan. Our magic had built the place almost to completion, but there was one-quarter of Arcadia left wild. Trees and animals roamed as if it was their own.”

  “Of course, it’s where I spent most of my time. But the city needed my wild place, and I knew it was for the best. The quarter would be cleared and reserved for two structures. The Capitol, from where Saul would govern the city, and the Academy, a place for Adrien to train up magicians, founded on your principles.”

  Memories of his final conversation with his student ran through Ezekiel’s mind. A smile crossed his face, then faded as he knew the story had a sorrowful end.

  “It was like that for years,” she continued. “The city grew and grew. Saul appointed people to oversee the quarters and created a government that would be able to move us toward flourishing.

  “And Adrien,” she said, “he was certainly in his element. The Academy was free and open. He had magicians running classes in all the rooms and sometimes out into the corridors. For the first time, we no longer felt like little children playing house, but like founders. We were rebuilding a paradise from a world that had been torn and twisted...”

  She stopped, and looked down at her hands, her voice soft. “But it wasn’t long until paradise was lost. Nothing happened overnight. Rather it crept in like evil tends to. There came a time when everyone you ran into was some kind of magician. I mean, most of them were harmless. Many were using their powers for great acts of good. But shadows of vice hide in the corners of every heart.

  “Before long, people started to use their powers for ill. And one day, a group of magicians, a group from The Queen’s Boulevard tried to take the Capitol with their magic. Power begets a lust for power, and these men wanted more. They were thirsty for it.”

  He pulled his drink away from his lips. “And what did they accomplish?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. How could they? They were amateurs at best. Saul had a military guard and Adrien oversaw the most powerful magicians for miles around. They put down the uprising in mere hours, but its effects lingered on. Adrien closed down the Academy to any new students. It stayed closed until the first years were on the verge of graduation.

  “When he reopened for new students, he had instituted an admissions policy that only allowed the best and brightest from what had become the noble class. The damnedest thing is that we all voted for it. Even I voted for it, Ezekiel! And why not?”

  Her voice firmer as she relieved her memory. “We were all scared to lose this place, scared of what magic could do if it was left uncontrolled. And we trusted Adrien with our lives. I trusted him.”

  The woman’s eyes glossed over and she turned out of pride toward the window looking out on her garden, her little wild patch that remained in Arcadia. The old man gently squeezed her arm and allowed the space she needed. Finally, she turned back to her friend.

  “He changed everything. Adrien didn’t just regulate the magic that could be taught, he also changed the teachings about its purpose. I know now that this is why the other students needed to go before his new class could be initiated. No longer was magic for the common wealth, but for the good of the state, which amounted to nothing more than the good of Adrien.”

  “But, Saul wouldn’t have let him do this.”

  “At first, Saul had no idea. Adrien was curing a disease that needed to be addressed. Over time, the uprising ceased, so we all thought Adrien had made the right decision. But a year into Adrien’s solution, it started to become clear. The two would fight into the early hours of the morning over the fate of Arcadia. And then—” A coughing fit came over the woman, and her pale face turned pink, then red.

  The old man leaned over and held her in his arms. Compared to watching her suffer, the story of Arcadia held little weight. Ezekiel reached out in thought as subtle as prayer. His eyes turned, and the tiniest waves of power left his body.

  Her coughing stopped, she leaned back and raised her eyes to his. “You have learned things.”

  He smiled. “You thought I was only taking it easy these last forty years? I have learned much. I could help you, heal your body.”

  She patted his hand. “Magic can only sustain us so far, my friend.”

  He shrugged, “As much as we know, all magic is limited. But I have seen things. There are powers from the Matriarch and Patriarch that have yet to be understood or revealed.”

  She nodded. “In them is our hope. But it is a hope in a future that I will not see, and that honestly, I don’t want to see. I am happy to have seen you again. I must rest now, Ezekiel, but the story isn’t over. There is one more thing you must know.”

  “Yes?”

  “There was never any proof, and even if there was, it wouldn’t have amounted to anything. But your student—Adrien—he murdered Saul.”

  Ezekiel closed his eyes and absorbed the shock. If that was true, then his protégé was truly gone, his head dropped, and hung low. “How could he have done such a thing? They were closer than any friends I have ever known,” he asked, his pain laced in every syllable of his words

  Her voice was firm, but little above a whisper. “All things can break, Ezekiel, but all can be rebuilt. You are here now, here to make things right. Here to put an end to Adrien’s rule.”

  ****

  Parker sat on a flour sack at the opposite edge of the market from the Pit. His canvas bag, a relic older than him, was wedged between his legs. The satchel was now stuffed full of his tools and the winnings from his first—and last—fight in the Pit.

  Taking a beating wasn’t his idea of a livelihood, but he was behind for the month and desperate times call for idiotic measures. Between his earnings and his partner’s winnings, it was well worth taking a few lumps. Not to mention, it was likely the word of his exploits would spread throughout QBB. And being the badass kid from Queen’s Boulevard for a few weeks would have its perks.

  Eyes open for his friend and partner, he scanned the crowd as he gnawed on a slice of stale bread. His jaw hurt with every bite, and he knew he would dream of Wildman Hank’s fists tonight. With his other hand, he held a handkerchief some admirer from the crowd had handed him on his exit from the Pit to his bloodied nose.

  The theatrics may have worked to win the fight, but it also cost him some blood and a powerful blow to the face. Part of him was glad that the strategy he used today was a one-time use kind of card. His ears were still buzzing as he watched the crowds shift around the vendors’ stalls in the square.

  The morning was his favorite time of the day. Arcadia was fresh and buzzing with new life. It made him feel like things could actually be different. Most of the citizens were rushing throughout to get a jump on their day’s work.

  “What the hell happened to you?” he asked Hannah as she wove her way out of the crowd. Her beautiful nose was swollen to the size of an apple and raccoon eyes spread out from its mass. Parker couldn’t help but think she was still a knockout, even with the adjustments to her face. He chuckled at his friend, “Looks like you were the one in the ring.”

  “No biggie,” Hannah said, adjusting her wool hat. “You doing OK?”

  She sat next to him and pulled out her own chunk of bread. They went through these paces every day. The habits they formed gave a sense of normalcy to their completely abnormal life. Hannah winced as she looked over her old friend.

  “Not so bad in there, huh?” She nodded in the direction of the ring. “It would have taken you weeks to pay back my losses if you didn’t win. And what the hell was up with the blowing kisses? Nearly got you creamed.�
��

  Parker smiled then winced as pain shot through his face, waiting for a second to let the pain pass. “That’s what won it for me. Had to get under Hank’s skin. But, screw the fight. What the hell happened to your face.”

  She ran a fingertip across her nose. “Hard to explain, really. I’m still making sense of the whole thing. Will and I were on our way to the games, and something, don’t know what came over him. He started shaking out of control—white-faced and drooling.”

  “Holy shit,” Parker whispered.

  “Right? I didn’t know what to do. He was in my arms, and I started to scream and then everything felt different, like I was about to explode from the inside out. And then, he was better. Almost like it had never happened.”