Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling

by Andrew Dobell

  Pain shot through her skull and stars filled her vision, she held onto the wall with one hand to steady herself while she blinked the dust from her eyes. For a few moments there were colourful lights in her field of vision while her head swam from the impact trying to get a grip on reality, and then she realised she could feel a warm wetness moving down her forehead. Putting her fingers to it, she looked at them and saw deep crimson blood on her fingers, she was bleeding, but not too much she hoped.

  The sharp stabbing pain intensified for a moment and she held her head in her hands. She became vaguely aware of movement and the sounds all around her, but it all seemed very far away right at that moment, as if it were on a TV in another room.

  The pain lessened, so she opened her eyes again and noticed the splattering of bloody chunks of flesh over her left arm and leg. Looking left she saw the mangled remains of the scientist crushed by the stone. His mouth hung open in surprise as blood dripped from it and one of his eyes dangling from its socket, popped out by the sheer force of the rock that crushed him. As her senses fully returned to her, she realised that the events that she hoped had been on a TV elsewhere, where in fact very, very real and all around her.

  She lifted her head and took in the scene before her. The dust from the exploded stone slab had started to settle in the room and dark shapes began to coalesce from the sandy coloured haze. She saw another of the team who had been hit by a stone; he laid before Amy on his back, his head no more now then ragged bits of viscera and skull. Other forms in the dust began to take shape; team members who were alive and nursing minor wounds stood or crouched, looking in shock and horror at the scene around them. Somewhere, one of the women of the team could be heard weeping. A couple of others were beginning to make more hysterical sounds as the thing in the tomb became clear for all to see.

  What had been just a huge black shape in the dust now stood revealed, it might once have been a man, but it had been horrifically twisted by some form of magic eons ago. It must have been easily over twice the height of any man, even though it had to stoop because of the twelve foot high ceiling of this room.

  Its body seemed to be pure muscle, huge rippling strength made manifest in a body made for killing. It seemed as wide as it was tall, its great arms hanging by its sides, thick veins running just under the black skin. Its legs were similar to a dog or wolfs, and it had evil looking black claws upon its hands and feet. One of its huge feet gripped the top edge of the tomb, ready to step out of it. The things body had patchy and course thick matted black hair all over it, and the head of this creature looked for all the world like a monstrous bat, its large nose flat upon its face while two huge hairy ears sprouted from its head. Its wide mouth had two huge tusks thrusting upward from its maw as it slavered madly. On its forehead sprouted a thick horn a good two or three foot long. A twisted mockery of a Unicorn’s it looked cancerous and deadly, etched with battle scars. Either side of this, its beady black eyes where flicking from person to person in the room in what looked like hunger and delight. Amy assumed that this must be Horlack. The thing suddenly moved so fast it appeared as little more than a blur, Amy wasn’t ready for such a show of raw power. Being a Magi she had been about ready to come forward and say something to it but it had moved before she had the chance, and that’s when the screaming started.

  One of the men next to the tomb was first, a sudden swing of its great fist flung the scientist against the back wall, bloody, broken and dead before he hit the floor. Horlack lunged forward with one hand to grab a man by the torso, Horlack’s fingers wrapping round his body. At the same time, with its fang filled Maw opened wide Horlack leant forward towards one of the women. Stephanie didn’t have time to scream as her whole head and part of her shoulder disappeared into Horlack’s mouth. Her body panicked and seemed to go into a fit, but when Horlack tensed his jaw and forced it to clamp down on her with a sickening crack of bone she stopped moving, while her head and shoulder came clean away in a spray of gore.

  Horlack chewed, crunched and swallowed, reared back and roared at the heavens, it seemed to be revelling in its freedom. The man in his hand struggled and screamed until Horlack slammed his head into the ceiling. Like a raving mad dog Horlack lifted the quivering body to his blood filled mouth and bit a leg clean off before spitting it to the floor where it landed in the lap of the panic stricken Shannon, who still sat on her bum from when the tombs explosion knocked her off her feet. She took one look at the twitching leg and descended into hysterical wailing.

  Jonathon, who stood at the back of the room, and seemed to have kept his head a little better, moved forward and kicked one of the lamps at the beast. It bounced off its thigh and landed harmlessly a few metres away, its light extinguished. He brandished one of the teams crowbars while Christopher, his assistant, stood next to him with the second one. The fear etched on their faces told Amy they knew they had no chance, but they clearly wanted to go down fighting. Horlack spun on them and took in what it saw for a moment. A guttural demonic sound came from the Demon, it seemed to be chuckling to itself under its breath, amused at the two brave but ultimately stupid little humans before it. Chris tensed up, holding his iron bar in a threatening manner at Horlack.

  ‘Come on!’ he barked, his voice breaking with terror.

  Horlack moved. Its arm flicked out and the mangled body it held flew across the room and slammed into Chris, smashing him to the floor as the Iron Bar clattered away from his grasp. In the shock he suffered at this action, Jonathon didn’t see Horlack’s other arm snap out. Horlack’s fist clamped round Jonathon’s head and body and squeezed. Jonathon’s legs went into a spasm for a moment as Horlack’s grip crushed him like a grape.

  Taking a step forward Horlack lifted up the limp form of Jon and advanced upon Chris who had barely come to his senses. Blood pouring from his head, he looked up just in time to see Horlack’s fist with Jon’s legs poking out from the bottom of it come slamming down on him, blood and viscera exploded from the impact that shuck the room. Horlack lifted his hand to his mouth and licked his dripping palm as his gaze fell on the hysterical woman in the corner, still wide eyed and crying at the torn off leg in her lap. The sound seemed to aggravate Horlack and he moved towards her. Shannon looked up as Horlack’s fist was driven into her so hard that he buried his fist in the wall.

  Meanwhile Amy remained silent, keeping to the edge of the room she inched towards the door, trying not to draw Horlack’s attention to her. As she moved along the sidewall, she watched in fascination at this engine of destruction as it tore into the last few team members, clawing and biting and ripping them in two. It lasted just a few seconds. Horlack had killed the whole team in under a minute and with barely breaking a sweat. Amy had made it along the sidewall to the corner of the room, just a short stretch of wall to the doorway and escape. The room had become much darker in the chaos of the massacre as many of the lamps had been smashed. Horlack picked up the last one and gazed at it in fascination. The light bathed his grotesque features in an eerie yellow light in the otherwise dark room.

  ‘I can still smell that whore.’ It was Horlack’s voice, Amy recognised the same guttural sound that had laughed earlier, a deep resonating sound as if from hell itself. Amy froze, for a moment she feared Horlack was talking about her, but Horlack had his back to Amy and seemed to be contemplating something. She could hear the air being sucked into his nostrils as he sniffed, and in the glow of the lamp, Horlack noticed something, the carved statement on the wall that Amy had found earlier. Horlack reached out with one great hand and traced a finger over the engraving. It seemed to anger him suddenly and his features began to twist with hate.

  ‘I’ll find you! I’ll find you and rip you limb from limb for what you did!’ He was talking to the carved script, or rather whoever had written the script, and with a sudden show of rage he punched the wall, obliterating the scratched warning.

  This made Amy jump it was so sudden, she scrambled for purchase amongst the rubble but only ste
adied herself after a second of noisy movement. Had she yelped as well?

  When she looked up, it was right into the black orbs that were Horlack’s eyes. The sudden intense and insanity inducing fear that racked her body and flooded her mind at that moment was almost too much. She managed to stop herself from calling out, but she couldn’t hold her bladder and she felt the warm liquid trickle down her thigh, but she wasn’t embarrassed.

  Horlack moved forward on all fours from the other side of the room and eyed her curiously. Blood and saliva dripped and bubbled from his mouth as he seemed to be taking her in, measuring her up. Amy wanted to run, to flee from the room, but she felt rooted to the spot, her fear held her with a death grip.

  ‘A Magi huh?’ Horlack said.

  Amy just stared up at it for a moment. She could smell its musk, she could smell the blood and gore in the room, it filled her nostrils and Amy knew at that moment that she wouldn’t survive this, just like everyone else in this room.

  Amy struggled for something to say, something to do. She scanned the room, looking for inspiration as this beast stood before her, waiting to see what she would do, apparently Horlack found it amusing to see a Magi squirm. Amy just wanted to get out of here, out of Egypt and back to Yasmin. As far as she could see she had two options, she could try running out the tomb right this second and hope Horlack would be too slow, or she could try Magic on him and then run. She reasoned that the other Magic in the room had been broken, so she wondered if maybe her own Magic might now work.

  Her mind swam with possibilities and options that crowded about her head, she felt like she was drowning in a sea of possibility. She wanted to cry, to slump into a corner and hope it all went away. But with a sudden clarity she thought, ‘oh fuck it,’ threw caution to the wind and tried to use her Magic.

  But the dampening effect on the area was still there, and nothing happened.

  Horlack clearly sensed this, and it made him laugh. His booming roar filled the room and rattled her ear drums.

  ‘Your Magic won’t work in here you fool, you’re far too weak, you pitiful little human.’

  Amy had had enough, her resolve had left her now, she knew she was dead, she knew this would be the end, she didn’t care anymore, she just wanted him to get on with it. She dropped to her knees, her body limp, her head bowed down, and she began to sob. She knew she sounded pitiful, weak, but she couldn’t help herself, she didn’t want to die like this, she didn’t want to die at all in fact. She had harboured hopes that she would live forever like Yasmin, become immortal, but that had all gone now, and in another second she would be just another stain on the stone floor.

  As she wasn’t looking at Horlack, she didn’t see him glaring down at her from his full height, she didn’t see the scowl and frown change, she was unaware that a grin was now spreading across Horlack’s face as something else occurred to him, but then he spoke.

  ‘It’s been far too long since I’ve had a woman.’ He said to himself.

  Amy’s sobbing suddenly stopped, her eyes suddenly wide after what she just heard. Abject horror filled her world at that phrase as she realised with mounting terror what Horlack had in mind. She slowly raised her head and as her gaze rose up the things body she saw how his loins were growing stiff. Amy’s bottom lip quivered uncontrollably as the thoughts that came with the sight of that two foot and growing member ran through her mind. Raising her gaze further she saw the hunger and lust on Horlack’s face, and suddenly the option of submitting to her fate was no longer there.

  With a speed that shocked even her, Amy bolted for the door. She kicked up dust and scraped her fingernails over the sandstone as she made a desperate attempt at fleeing the scene. Tears filled her eyes making her stumble over the rubble in the room as she lunged for the doorway. The huge entrance was blurry and tough for her to make out but she could still see it, she had got to her feet and now sprinted the few metres to the door.

  She heard Horlack drop and smash the final lamp that he had still been holding, which plunged the tomb into utter darkness. But she knew the exit was right in front of her, she just had to keep moving straight and she’d be out and free. Amy could hear Horlack only a second behind her; she could hear the scrape of his huge talons upon the sandstone as he moved. She was nearly there, so very nearly free, if her luck would only hold out a few moments longer.

  She charged forward in the gloom her tears making her vision swim, when suddenly her foot hit the edge of the foot thick stone slab that lay just outside the final chambers entrance and she fell forward.

  Her face smashed down onto the stone with a crack. Pain shot through her and she called out, still sobbing. Her nose, lips, and jaw burnt with pain as she felt the warmth of her blood fill her mouth. Something small and hard sat loose on her tongue; a tooth had been smashed free. She spat it out along with a thick mouthful of blood as she gathered her senses about her and she realised what she had done. She felt like an idiot, but when that hell born laugh rang out behind her she knew she couldn’t hang around. She started to move but felt suddenly weak from the shock of the fall, her hands were shaking and she wasn’t sure she could get up. She gasped for breath as her throat filled with blood, while the lights behind her eyes that had sprung into life on hitting the stone began to fade.

  Something big, warm and rough grasped her leg. She yelped. She reached out and grabbed the top edge of the stone slab she was laying upon as Horlack pulled. She held on tight as he yanked on her leg. Noticing some resistance he stopped pulling for a second and Amy took the opportunity to adjust her grip on the stone for better leverage. Then he pulled again, but slowly this time, as if testing her strength. She knew she would be no match for him, even though Yasmin had made Amy stronger than the average human with her magic. With her body stretched taught again, her hands holding on for dear life, she felt the muscles in her leg pull beyond what they should do. Pain shot along her side and she began to scream, as she desperately hung on. She knew this couldn’t last, something had to give, and at that moment, something did give. With an ugly sounding pop her hip came out of joint.

  Amy wailed at the stabbing pain while behind her, Horlack laughed. He’d done it on purpose, he was torturing her, and he loved every minute of it. But it seemed he’d grown bored of it now, and this time he really pulled. Amy’s nails scraped along the stone slab in a desperate bid for grip, a couple of them popped loose from her fingers leaving little trails of blood along the sand stone as she disappeared into the darkness.

  Amy’s voice echoed from the tomb, she sobbed and wailed and begged for mercy, screaming ‘No,’ over and over again. Soon the words became unrecognisable in amongst the screaming and crying, while Horlack grunted and growled. Amy’s cries ended in a scream that sounded more animal then human, but other sounds continued to issue from the room as Horlack indulged himself.

  The Bedouin scanned the tents around him, convinced he’d heard something this time. He disliked the scavenging he was forced to do, but the policies of the Egyptian government were putting an end to his way of life. Allah would understand, he would pray for forgiveness again later.

  He stopped outside another tent and noticed the dropped mug in the sand. He frowned but ignored it and stepped inside.

  Jackpot!

  Spread out on the table were the finds from this dig, he disliked these white men who came in the name of science to open up the tombs and take away the history and heritage of his country, he would take these and sell them himself instead.

  The huge slab in the centre of the table caught his eye first, he lifted it slowly in awe of the detail in the carvings. This would feed his family for a month at least. He had been about to turn his attention to the other items when an almighty roar sounded in the distance.

  The Bedouin froze. It had been a bone chilling sound, the type of sound you hear only in nightmares. He leapt from the tent into the light, convinced there’d be a lion or something outside. But he could see nothing, just the sand, kicked around
the tents that dotted the area by a light wind. The day felt warm, and yet he felt a chill in the air, something wasn’t right.

  An almighty crashing sound issued from the nearby plateau, the sound of heavy stone falling on stone, followed by another, louder roar.

  The Bedouin didn’t need any more warning, he turned and ran towards his camel atop a nearby dune, the stone slab in hand. He might not have everything he wanted but he wasn’t leaving without this beauty.

  He knew exactly where to go, if he made good time he could be in Cairo in a day, in time for the next market. There he knew someone who would pay well for such a prize.

  The wind picked up suddenly, rushing through the camp, the tents protesting by slapping the loose canvas against their sides, the guide ropes trailing. The sand flowed like a ghostly apparition in the evening twilight, pulled to an area outside the camp, the force of the gale growing as it reached the epicentre of a mini whirlwind on a nearby dune. The spiralling gale of sand caught the low sun light turning it golden and luminous as it whipped around, growing in intensity towards the centre.

  It was over in a matter of seconds, the winds stopping dead as if switched off by some unseen button. The sand dropped to the ground around two figures. They had not been there moments before when the wind had picked up, they hadn’t been in Egypt at all in fact, but here they stood, as the sand hissed to the floor they gazed out over the dunes.

  Kez looked at the landscape before her, it wasn’t her first time in the desert and most likely probably not her last. The deserts of the world were never her favourite place to be, they were dry and hot and she found it very difficult to walk in them. The sand got everywhere; it itched and seemed to be impossible to get rid of. Kez wasn’t dressed for this hot environment, she wore a large flowing ragged cloak, its dirty ends catching the dry wind. Beneath her hood, Kez's face in all its alien beauty hid in the shadows. Her strange appearance and alien movements made the average person on the street feel very uncomfortable it looked so odd. She relished those moments.