by Jake Kerr
She looked at me, and the flickering light made her smile look almost sinister. “Yeah.” She paused and then continued. “That was what I was thinking, see if this Angel of St. Petersburg will join us. That’s a good plan.” She put her hand on my arm and squeezed. “But do you trust Mister Ali, Tommy? I don’t think I can ever forgive him for betraying you.”
I nodded and looked at her. She was staring at me with her typical intensity. “Yes. I’m still not sure I understand his motivations, but I believe he has a good heart.” Naomi didn’t say anything, so I added. “I would trust him with my life. You weren’t there with him when he escorted me from the attack in Manhattan. He was shaken, and I think even then he was wondering whether he had made some disastrous mistake.”
Naomi let go of my arm but continued to peer at me. “Okay. That’s good enough for me. His ability to see through illusions will be very helpful.” She turned toward the fire and held out her hands to its warmth. “So the three of us go on a journey to Russia and have a little meeting with the Angel of St. Petersburg.”
“Exactly.”
Naomi stood up, and I scrambled to stand, too. It was funny how things had gone back to normal. Naomi rushing ahead, and me trying to keep up. “Sounds simple enough,” I added.
“It also sounds fun.” She smiled at me and turned. “We’ll leave tomorrow,” she said as she walked through the door, closing it behind her.
I buried myself under blankets and fell asleep thinking about the Angel of St. Petersburg. Who was she, and how did she get the Coat of Invincibility? I shivered, which I attributed to the cold.
The trip back south was tense, which was to be expected in such tight quarters. Mister Ali made the common sense recommendation to invite Arkady, as he was not only a master illusionist, he also spoke Russian, a skill that was obviously necessary with us traveling to Russia.
I was actually embarrassed with that oversight. If I was going to lead the group as the Archmage, I would have to think about more than how fun it would be to go on an adventure with Naomi. I dismissed the possibility that I had subconsciously wanted to keep her and Arkady apart.
We squeezed into the military sedan. I sat in the back seat in the middle, in between Naomi and Mister Ali. Arkady was in the front next to Rupert, my ever present escort. It was an uncomfortable seating arrangement for a trip that would take many hours.
We discussed the overall plan, which achieved a quick unanimity but bogged down when we started to discuss details. We were to take a ship to St. Petersburg, which Rupert rather gleefully explained would be absurdly dangerous, as the North Sea was an unpredictable battleground with death by German U-boat behind every wave.
Mister Ali took Rupert’s warnings to heart and discussed a lengthy ground trip through Norway, Sweden, and Finland. I considered that reasonable, but Arkady laughed and said such a trip would take months. Naomi then jumped in and mocked Mister Ali, which made him call her an irresponsible child. To my surprise, Rupert saved the day by saying that the war would be over by the time we reached Leningrad via Mister Ali’s route.
We next discussed what to do when we reached the city, which Rupert and Mister Ali stubbornly called Leningrad and everyone else called St. Petersburg. Once again we agreed on the strategy, which was to remain hidden and work in secret, while how to achieve our bigger aim led to disagreements. Mister Ali said he would work with Arkady while Naomi and I stayed hidden. Naomi said that she and Arkady would hunt the woman down. I objected, and she added me to the team, freezing out Mister Ali. I asked why we all couldn’t work as a group, which only made everyone object, as a group of four would be suspicious. Frustrated, I finally asked why we couldn’t just split up into groups when Mister Ali replied, exasperation in his voice, “Because only one of us knows Russian!”
We shelved that discussion and then went over what to do when we finally met the other Archmage. I pretty much ignored everyone and demanded that I was the one to talk to her, Archmage to Archmage. Mister Ali felt that too risky, while Naomi liked the idea as long as she could be with me, which made Mister Ali even more adamant that I should stay behind.
By the end of the trip, we had agreed on only two things: We would travel by sea and we would look for the Angel of St. Petersburg while doing our best to remain unnoticed. We’d figure out the details later.
We stopped at the Citadel, and to my surprise Cain didn’t even bother seeing us. Rupert met us after breakfast with the message that Cain didn’t care where we went as long as we created problems for the Germans. He procured us transportation on a merchant liner that was being used as a bait ship to draw U-boats out for the English navy to attack. Rupert delivered the message with a smirk.
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “The most powerful concentration of magic in the world is being placed on a ship that is being used as bait for German attacks?”
“You’ll have major firepower as your escort. Remember: There’s bait, but behind the bait is the hook.” Rupert shrugged. “You should be fine.”
I glanced at Naomi, but she looked bored as she repeatedly cast and snuffed out spells that hadn’t been cast in centuries.
12
BAIT & HOOK
It was my first time on a ship, and it was nothing like crossing the ocean on a magical train. I was told the North Sea wasn’t too bad for turbulent waters, but I still spent parts of every day on the verge of losing my breakfast, lunch, or dinner. At least we were treated fairly well.
When Cain said we’d be on a merchant ship, I half expected him to have us live in the hold or in some storage room. While we weren’t living in luxury, we at least had bunkbeds. Naomi actually had it the worst. She was in her own room, but it was a recreation area, and she had to sleep on a couch that I wouldn’t have sat on, let alone used as a bed.
The trip was to take three months. When I heard the travel time I nearly fell out of my chair. I had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in less than a day, and we were traveling through the North Sea over months? The captain scowled when I expressed frustration over the travel time. He apparently was proud of the speed of his ship, it being a smaller, faster type of merchant vessel. The moment the captain finished speaking I felt guilty, as it was an enslaved Marid that had powered the fast train voyage. So I accepted the length of the trip, but I feared that the Angel of St. Petersburg would be gone by the time we got to the city.
The most dangerous part of the trip would be a run through a strait called the Great Belt. We would be heading straight toward Germany before turning east toward Russia. When I asked the Captain about just how dangerous it was, he laughed and said, “Don’t worry, I stocked each lifeboat with beer!” His demeanor didn’t much help with my concern.
One unexpected benefit of the long trip was that I learned more about everyone, as we all shared our stories. I learned about the Communist revolution in Russia from Arkady, who couldn’t discuss the topic without using curse words and angrily muttering long Russian phrases when describing Stalin and his policies. It wasn’t just that the Communist leadership were hunting down magicians, they were apparently terrorizing the entire populace.
Naomi was very quiet and said little beyond stating that she grew up alone with her mother in the middle of nowhere and that all she could do to fill the time was learn magic. She noted that as she lived on a rail line, the engineers would often deliver her magical tomes from across the globe. “Those books saved my life,” she said and then went quiet.
Mister Ali did the lion’s share of the story-telling, outlining his many adventures with my grandfather. I was enthralled, never having heard them, as my grandfather never discussed his past with me.
The best part of the voyage, however, was when Naomi decided to teach me magic. “Look, I’ll make it so dumb that even you’ll be able to understand it,” she replied when I had raised my hands and said I didn’t want her to waste her time with me. I was hopeless with magic.
Naomi taught me as we stood next to the gunwale, the co
ld wind blowing from the sea and making us shiver. Everyone else stayed below deck.
“Magic is nothing more than using your body as a conduit for transferring energy. As the energy passes through, the magician shapes it via perfect forms. It's the combination of movement and form that direct spells.” Naomi made a quick movement with her hand, and a small light glowed and then disappeared.
“Was that light?” I asked, knowing from Mister Ali’s previous comments to me that creating light was one of the most difficult things for magicians to do. In fact, it was nearly impossible.
Naomi smiled. “Yes. I work on it every day. I doubt I’ll ever be able to get it much brighter than that, but I hope to have it last for more than a fraction of a second some day.” Naomi looked over at me. “It doesn’t have much use, but it’s how I calm myself.”
“I thought you calmed yourself with that Hammer of Jamshid spell?” Naomi had always calmed herself by forming the most dangerous spells possible.
“No. That was practice.” She created another tiny flicker of light. In a whisper, almost as if she hoped I wouldn’t hear it, she added, “It’s also been my little reminder of you.”
I opened my mouth to say something clever, but I couldn’t think of anything. Naomi looked away, her face turning red.
“Light is difficult because of what I said earlier. The magician is the conduit of magical energy. But first we need to tap into that energy. For some reason the energy that creates light is very difficult to harness. I’ve tried and tried, but it's like trying to change the flow of a mighty river with a leaky spoon. All you can do is collect a tiny bit of water and move it to a different location before it drains away.”
“Whatever the source of the power in my staff is, it can move rivers,” I replied.
Naomi nodded. “Yes. Its power is enormous.” Things were quiet as we both pondered what kind of magical creature could harness that level of energy. Naomi soon broke the silence by holding up her hands. “Here, let me show you. She moved her fingers and manipulated her hand in a way that I couldn’t fathom, and the inky black and blue ball appeared in her hand. “Did you see that?”
“Not really.” I laughed.
“Well, I created a number of perfect shapes while calling forth the energy that is the part of all things.”
“What do you mean by perfect forms?”
“Circles, parabolas, ovals—various motions that I make with my fingers that swirl the energy into a direction. And then I change it, refine it, and focus it.” She then added, “It is very difficult.” I nodded. “In fact, some magicians worry so much about losing their ability to replicate the motions that they do them often enough to develop tics and even spasms.”
“Cain!” I said.
Nodding, Naomi continued. “I do the same thing, but I’m not maintaining permanent illusions so I don’t have to be quite so crazy about it. But when you see me casting and dispelling spells? That’s me practicing the forms.”
“I thought they calmed you.”
“That, too.”
“So what’s the hardest spell to cast? That Nar Marratum spell you know?”
“No. The spells that people think are hard like that one are difficult because the energy is difficult to gather, not because casting the spell is hard, although it can be that, too. The hardest spells to cast are implicit illusion spells.”
“What are those?”
“Well, nearly every spell you cast is part of nature, part of the environment around us. I can cast a detonation at something, but it travels through the air, others can see it, and it’s explosion affects everything it hits. Spells that interact with the environment as a whole are explicit spells. Merlin actually codified this in his notebook.”
“Wow. You’ve read Merlin’s notebook?”
Naomi shrugged. “It wasn't very helpful. Anyway, the other type of spells are implicit spells. These are the spells that are limited to a small piece of the environment, normally a single person. Casting an illusion that everyone can see? That’s rather simple. In fact, you see it from street magicians all the time. Casting an illusion that only one person experiences? That’s extremely difficult. I can cast implicit illusions, but they take so long that I don’t even know if they have practical value.” Rubbing her hands together, she continued, “So, here, let me teach you how to cast a Veil of Protection.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a really easy and not at all powerful shield spell. It may keep mosquitoes off you if you’re lucky.”
“I think my grandfather could cast it,” I said, remembering the afternoon in the alley where his weak shield protected us from the rocks thrown by the Shadows.
Naomi spent an hour trying to teach me the spell, finally giving up and storming off to her couch, muttering “you’re hopeless” into the misty air. I didn’t mind. I knew I would never master magic, but watching Naomi explain and discuss her passion with such innocent excitement was something I cherished.
The next time I saw her she had a huge smile and we talked about a lot of things, but she never gave me another magic lesson.
We were heading toward the north end of Denmark, and Naomi and I took up our customary positions of standing along the gunwale of the ship, surrounded by water as far as we could see. We spent a lot of time next to each other staring out at sea while we talked. I used the staff to reflect light off the caps of waves, and Naomi did her best to follow the sparkling light with a detonation that would explode into the wave. It was both game and practice. I lit the target, and Naomi blew it up.
Her speed was extraordinary. I had seen master level magicians casting detonations when I had been attacked by Djinn at Kings Cross Station and marveled at their speed, but Naomi made them look slow. I finally stopped and looked at her. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Cast that spell so fast. You unleash them like a machine gun. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Naomi smiled. “Thank you, Tommy!” She opened her hand and looked at her palm. “But this spell is really simple. I’ve cast it so many times that I barely even think about it anymore.” She looked around and then whispered in a conspiratorial voice. “Want to see a really powerful spell?” Before I answered she had already conjured the black ball that she had said was the Hammer of Jamshid.
“Please. Anything to break the monotony of this trip.”
Naomi lifted her hands, glanced back at me, and winked. The ball in her hand started to expand, and there was a snapping and crackling sound. It became a bit hard to breathe as I felt a pressure against my chest. Naomi then extended her arms and the swirling black ball shot toward the horizon. She had aimed it very far off, and it skimmed across the water, appearing to get larger and larger as it flew far beyond where I could make it out.
A moment later a huge ball of shimmery light filled the horizon. Naomi turned back to me with a big smile on her face when a massive boom filled the air and I felt a whoosh of air push me back away from the gunwale. As I regained my balance a big wave slammed against the ship, knocking me off balance again. I had to hold onto the gunwale for support as the boat rocked violently as a succession of waves broke against the hull.
“That exploded about a mile from here!” Naomi exclaimed, barely able to contain her excitement.
“Wow. Exactly how powerful was that?” I asked, wondering if Naomi could flatten a city.
“That’s the biggest one I’ve ever cast.” Naomi looked sheepish as she smiled at me. “I didn’t expect it to be that powerful. I guess I could flatten a large building or perhaps a city block, maybe more.”
“That definitely would destroy more than a city block,” I replied, which elicited more smiles from Naomi.
I was going to compliment Naomi again when there was the pounding sound of footsteps, and the angry voice of Mister Ali. “What was that?!”
Naomi shrugged. “The Hammer of Jamshid. I think I probably killed some fish. Sorry.” She didn’t sound very sor
ry.
“You foolish girl! Do you not understand that these seas are teaming with U-Boats and German ships? You will get us killed!” Naomi shrugged.
“I thought we were bait,” I replied.
“Tommy, use your head. Just because we are bait doesn’t mean we want to be eaten by a fish.” Mister Ali looked at me and then Naomi and then back at me. Not seeing the response he wanted, he shook his head.
He pointed out to sea and was about to say something when his eyes went wide. “We are under attack!”
I spun around and looked out to where he was pointing. Naomi did, as well. “I don’t see anything,” I said.
“Just some seagulls,” Naomi added.
“They must be using illusions. There!” He pointed to his left. “Is a cruiser. There!” He pointed a little further to the right. “Is a smaller gunship.” He turned to us. “We are in grave danger. They will radio for U-Boats, and they may fire at any moment.” He looked at Naomi. “Can you cast a shield?”
Naomi glanced back out to sea, looking skeptical. “Against cannon fire and shielding a ship this size? That would require the Wall of Jericho, and it would take me an hour to cast that.” She faced the sea and called up the Hammer of Jamshid spell. The ball of destruction hovered in her hand.
There was a clanging in the distance, and Mister Ali stared out at something I couldn’t see. “We are in luck. Your spell must have scared them or put them on the defensive.” Mister Ali looked at me. “Can you make us invisible, Tommy?”
Of course! I squeezed the staff and smiled at Mister Ali. “Yes! I can bend light around us, and then you can guide Naomi’s attack spells.”
“That’s a great idea, Tommy!” Naomi said. I beamed as I held the staff up for effect. I didn’t really have to do that, but I found that using the staff that way intimidated and impressed people. With a thought I bent light around the ship.
“Are we hidden?” Mister Ali asked. I looked at the staff. It was dead in my hand. Light was not bending around the ship. I hadn’t affected light at all.
