Magemother: The Complete Series (A Fantasy Adventure Book Series for Kids of All Ages)

by Austin J. Bailey

  There was a bone-rattling crack of thunder and Archibald’s cane broke apart, littering the air with splinters. March sailed backward, her expression blank, and landed like a rag doll on the near shore of the moat. Her right hand dangled in the water. Her left, still clenched to her chest, shifted slightly to reveal the glint of moonlight on crystal.

  “Oh, no. No, no.” Archibald groaned, falling to his hands and knees and crawling toward March. “NO!”

  Brinley rushed to his side and as he touched the witch’s hand, she saw the naptrap come away in shards.

  A bird’s wing slipped out from between the broken crystal, fluttering across the fallen witch’s chest. The bird twisted, revealing a black body and white striped wings. The magpie tried to take to flight but tumbled onto the grass. In horror, Brinley recognized the image that she had seen in the Cracks of Laughter.

  The magpie slipped out of sight then, and Brinley’s mother appeared. She struggled on her hands and knees for a moment, until Archibald arrived at her side to help her up.

  “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled. There were tears streaming down his face even as he searched her eyes for a glint of recognition.

  “Shah,” she said, reaching up to stroke his face. “Don’t cry for me, my love. You did well.” She reached up to stroke his face with the palm of her hand and his tears doubled. She caught one with the tip of her finger and brought it to her lips in a peculiar childlike gesture.

  He smiled at her, then said softly, “I missed you.”

  She nodded. “I am sorry for what I did to you. I thought that it was right at the time. But now…”

  He took her hand in his and said, “Speak no more of it. All is forgiven.”

  She nodded and gave him one last smile before she turned to Brinley. “Come here, my daughter,” she said, and Brinley moved to her side. She felt the tears on her own face now. Her thoughts raced. There were so many things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t think of any of them.

  “This is not the happy ending that we had hoped for,” her mother said weakly.

  “No,” Brinley said. “No. It’s not fair.” She pulled her mother close, breathing her in. “We didn’t have any time.”

  “No, not nearly enough.” She pulled back and caught Brinley’s eye. “But you have already become the best of me. You’re a better Magemother than I was, you know. I’m so proud of you.”

  Brinley’s lulled forward with a sob and her mother lifted her head again with the tip of her finger. “Remember the peace that was given you once,” she said. “The knowledge that all things will work out right. Remember the love that you have felt. These are the gifts that you are to share with the world through your children. Will you do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Last of all, remember my love.” She shuddered violently, and her hand slipped from Brinley’s face. “Do not make her watch this, Archibald.”

  Archibald laid her down gently on the ground and pulled Brinley away, but she would not move. She watched her mother give her one last, peaceful smile. Then her body was gone, and a magpie fluttered into the air again. It drifted toward the moat and slipped into a clean patch of water, where it moved no more.

  After a moment, three sets of hands appeared from beneath the water and lifted it gingerly. Long slender arms followed, and then three identical crowns broke the surface. It was the three queens, Brinley realized, her mother’s sisters, just as Tabitha had described them. The women on either side were staring at the magpie’s body reverently, while the one in the center gave Brinley a long, hard look. Finally, she bowed her head, and together they slipped back beneath the surface of the river, bearing their sister home.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  In which Hugo remembers who he is

  Inside the Panthion, Hugo’s face twisted in concentration. His hand hovered between two pieces on the Dominion board, moving first toward one, then the other. Finally, he made up his mind, but the piece shuddered before he could touch it. He glanced up at Shael and other man lifted his eyes toward the ceiling.

  The intricate network of cogs and gears had begun to move. A moment later, the lid of the box eased open, revealing a night sky filled with stars.

  Shael threw back his head and spread his arms, breathing a long, deep sigh of relief. Cannon, who had been sitting in the corner next to the plant that was Lignumis, put one arm around it protectively.

  The next thing Hugo knew, the Panthion had fallen away from them. The three of them were standing in a little depression in the grassy field at the foot of the bridge to the Wizard’s Ire. Cannon still held the plant.

  As soon as he was free, Shael raised his hands and began to chant. Hugo did not recognize the language, but at the words, Molad stirred within him. Shael twisted his right palm and Hugo froze, unable to move. He raised his left, and a series of black lines issued from it, swimming through the air like ink through water. They touched the bridge to the Wizard’s Ire and expanded, twining through cracks and crevices, climbing rapidly toward the summit. When they reached it, there was a brilliant flash of light, followed by a moment of silence. Then, faintly, they heard the distant, frenzied roar of men and beasts clamoring down the long stone causeway, hungry for battle.

  Shael rolled his shoulders and shadows flew like fabric from the dark corners of the landscape, covering him in a cloak of night.

  Cannon was inching away from Shael now, hiding the plant under one arm and pointing to it with the other, trying to get Brinley’s attention. She saw him finally, and glanced at the plant. Like light entering a dark room, the awareness of Lignumis filled her. The presence that she had sensed from a distance for so long was now before her.

  “Shael!” she called, and for the first time, he glanced down at her. She was standing before them, the Panthion still held in her hands, lid open. Her eyes were red, as if she had been crying, but her jaw was set. “I have released you, as you requested. Now you must set Hugo free.”

  He raised an eyebrow in surprise, but did not hesitate. “As you wish,” he said. He lowered his hand.

  From his place beside Shael, Hugo suddenly felt his body freed. He took a step toward Brinley. For some reason, she was completely alone. The entire city of Ninebridge was empty. But how could that be? Where were Aberdeen’s armies? Across the river, he saw the bodies of a dozen dark creatures strewn across the ground. Was the battle already over?

  Shael was still looking at Brinley.

  “Brave of you, Magemother, to face me alone. Where are your friends? Would they not stand by you in your hour of need?” He sniffed the air. “There has been death here already tonight. Where is my daughter?”

  “Where she belongs,” Brinley whispered.

  Shael considered her. “Dead.” It wasn’t a question. “This is your doing? Well…” He stroked his beard. “You murder my daughter and then speak of it so casually. I have underestimated you.”

  “And I have underestimated you,” Brinley said, stepping nearer.

  Shael dipped his head, studying her. “Have you? How?”

  Brinley’s heart was racing. She had no idea what she was talking about. She only knew that she had to keep him talking. Lignumis was more than halfway to cover now, and Hugo was at her side. Archibald and her dad were hiding behind the stone again with Tabitha, who was back in her own shape and nursing a seriously sprained shoulder. She claimed that she would still be able to fight just fine, but Brinley wasn’t so sure. Even with an entire army at her call, she wanted to make sure she did this right. “First, that you survived the Panthion,” she said, pleasantly surprised at how logical it sounded. “Secondly, that you have been free for nearly two minutes now, and I am still alive.”

  Shael threw back his head and laughed. “You amuse me, Magemother. Perhaps I should keep you alive to amuse me further. There is something about you.” He mused. “You have…something…what is it?”

  “This,” Brinley whispered, and raised the little bell that she had been holding behind he
r back. She rung it once, with a quick jerk of her wrist, and a small, sweet tone pealed across the plain.

  “NOW!” She let the shout fill her lungs, her mind, her soul, rolling forth to all that would receive it

  Beside her, Hugo straightened, poised to attack. Even the plant in Cannon’s arms twitched, though nobody noticed.

  The air behind Brinley split from ground to sky in a long, dark, ever-widening line. The world seemed to shift in a split second, as if someone had rewritten reality. One moment, a girl stood alone in an empty field, the next, an army of ten thousand men were at her back, their swords and spears and banners glinting silver beneath the moon. Above them, a great red dragon slithered toward Shael through the night air, illuminating himself with a triumphant sheet of fire. And there, clearly visible on his back, under the red light of his flames, were the four remaining mages of Aberdeen, each one with a hand stretched toward him.

  Shael reached for them with his thoughts, poised to release the curses that he had spent so long perfecting, but the mages were quicker. Before he could speak, the earth beneath his feet began to tremble. The Magemother retreated several steps, and a shimmering alabaster dragon leapt into being from behind the boulder beside her, curling a long tail around her and lifting her to safety. In the same instant, a narrow obelisk of stone thrust Shael skyward. Lightning struck him out of the darkness—once, twice, three times. On the third strike, the stone beneath him burst into flames. Wind spread the fire into a glowing curtain that wrapped around him, closing fast.

  Without thinking, Hugo screamed and threw himself at Shael too, reaching for light. He touched the light of the stars and the sickle moon, and their pale reflections in the water. He touched the light gleaming in Brinley’s eyes, and Shael’s own, in the long line of torches that was spreading down the bridge behind them, and the pale glow of his own skin. He wove the threads together in his mind, forming a net with which to cover his enemy, but before he could release it, his grip on the light slipped.

  Have you forgotten already? Molad thundered within him. If you will not grant me freedom, then you shall have none.

  With an iron grip, Molad seized his mind. Hugo screamed in protest, and in pain, dropping to his knees, and from a distance, Shael heard him.

  Shael had been waiting for that. Waiting for the battle that must wage within the Mage of Light and Darkness. He made a swatting motion with his hand, and Hugo felt something slam into his body like a giant hammer, flattening his features and flinging him across the moat. His head hit the ground, rendering him unconscious.

  Returning his attention to the other mages, Shael was momentarily confused about what to do next. In the time that he had wasted, they had bonded with the Magemother. Their powers were melding. Soon there would be no separation. Stone would burn like fire and air would thicken to rock within his lungs and there would be no place to hide, no safe ground from which to strike at them. He had to separate them before that happened, or he would lose this battle.

  Shael struck the stone beneath him and it broke apart. He threw off the wind that held him in place and fell to the ground, shrinking out of sight. He was a tiny stone, no bigger than a pebble—a malevolent grain of sand that shot itself across the gap between them and lodged itself in the dragon’s eye.

  The Mage of Stone sensed the oncoming pebble a second too late. Kuzo lurched dangerously, bucking the mages from his back in a panic. Animus took to the wind. The Mage of Fire fell. Cassis dropped like a stone, turning into one the second before he hit the ground, and rolled away easily. He was on his feet a moment later, reaching toward the sky for the stone in Kuzo’s eye. He called to it, bringing it free of Kuzo’s body, and the stone became a sleek bird that dove toward the white dragon, and the Magemother who now sat upon its back.

  The mages’ link had been partially broken, Shael sensed. The Mage of Fire was on her own again, running at him on the ground. She must be the first to fall. The white dragon reared and roared as he sped toward it, filling the air between them with a wave of light and heat.

  Shael resolved into his own form, gathering the fire in his open hands and draping it about his shoulders like a cape, daring the Mage of Fire to come and take it from him. He pointed one hand at the bridge, summoning servants. He felt them in the palm of his hand, even as they raced down the bridge, and when he pointed at the dragon, five strong trolls leapt a thousand yards in a single bound to swarm the beast.

  Tabitha caught the first troll with a stream of fire. The second she flattened against the boulder with her shoulder, bending her ruined wing out of the way. In the next instant, she was herself again. Brinley slipped from her back and together they rolled out of the way as the next two trolls collided with one another, passing through the spot where the great dragon had been a moment before. The last troll looked around in confusion for a moment, then lumbered away.

  Aberdeen’s army flowed around the two trolls, who were now wrestling with each other, and a lone soldier broke off from the mass and stepped in to haul the Magemother to safety. Tabitha followed behind.

  Shael watched them. Just before they were out of sight, he raised a hand and pointed at Brinley, but a wall of wind sprung up, separating her from view. Animus stepped out of it with Cassis at his side. The Mage of Wind walked casually toward Shael, one hand in the wall of wind, making it spread around to enclose them on the little island. Animus wanted Shael inside that wall, cut off from his armies, forced to fight the mages all at once while the Magemother stood by to link their strength.

  Brinley stepped up to the wall and when Tabitha moved to follow she waved her away. “You can’t help here, Tabitha. Go watch over Hugo and my dad. Please, go!”

  Tabitha hesitated and Brinley disappeared behind the wall of wind. A second later, Tabitha changed into the dragon again and rushed off on foot, one wing still held to her side.

  The Mage of Fire stepped through the wall of wind and seized Shael’s cape. He let her do it, abandoning his previous plan in a quick decisive leap toward self-preservation.

  He took to the air, racing the rising wall of wind to the night sky beyond. He heard Gadjihalt’s bloodcurdling war cry, and the distant sound of thunder as the first lines of troops crashed together at the foot of the bridge. If only Shael could get to them, he could lend them strength. He needed time to regroup, formulate a plan.

  But the wind rose faster than he could. A fiery rope twined around his ankle and he lashed out angrily, cutting it off. Two more lines caught him, and the wind arced overhead, joining together in a domed roof that shut out the night. He cut the ropes of fire again and barreled into the wall of wind, but the moment he touched it, he felt his power scattering on the tumultuous air, tearing away from him in every direction at once. He slipped out of it, gathering his power back to himself as two more fiery lines knotted around his ankles, pulling him down.

  A second later they were joined by three thick vines, bristling with thorns. Two caught his feet; the third wrapped around his torso. Even as he struggled to remain airborne, Shael glanced down curiously, following the vines with his eyes to the palm of a pale-faced boy who was leaning on the Magemother for strength. Somehow Brinley had entered the circle. She must have brought him, must have restored his power.

  Shael’s thoughts were disturbed as the Mage of earth touched Lignumis’s vines. Fire ants rushed over them, swarming onto Shael’s legs. His skin prickled and he screamed at the sudden pain.

  Finally, one last rope looped around him. This one had been thrown by the Mage of Metal, and was made of steel. Together, the rope and vines wrenched him down and bound him fast to the valley floor.

  With a metallic creak, the steel rope tightened, forcing air out of Shael’s lungs. It stopped just short of killing him, so tight that he was forced to breathe in short, shallow breaths.

  The five mages gathered around him in a tight half-circle with Brinley at the center. At least the Magemother’s Herald was nowhere to be seen. That was something.

&n
bsp; Shael weighed his options. If he used all of his power in a quick, concentrated attack, he could kill one of the mages for sure, maybe two. It would have to be Cassis first, or the steel rope would crush him in the next instant. Animus would have to be next. He was the strongest, and Shael would not be able to escape the wind-wall while Animus lived. If the others were slow to react, he might make it away alive.

  As if reading his thoughts, Lignumis raised a hand and four thick roots broke from the grass, wrapped around Cassis’s steel ropes, and covered Shael in another layer of bonds.

  Shael cursed silently. He would not be able to kill three of them before the Mage of Fire bathed his body in flames. He was caught, for now.

  “Shael,” Brinley said, “you are in our power.”

  “Do you wish for death?” Animus asked.

  “Or to return to your prison?” Cassis finished.

  Shael frowned. The mages were completely joined now. The Magemother was speaking through each of them in turn, and they were letting her, no doubt just to show him how futile it would be to fight back.

  “Death,” Shael said.

  “Then you shall not have it,” Belterras said. “You shall return to your prison.”

  “Alone,” Lignumis added.

  Shael felt a twinge of anger at that. “Cruel words,” he whispered.

  “If you wish for an easy way out,” Brinley said, “then you must call off your army and put an end to the fighting. Then we will have mercy.”

  “If not,” Chantra said, “it’s back to your cage.”

  “And I am afraid there will be no bargaining this time,” Animus said.

  “No faithful daughter to carry out your plans,” said Cassis.