Balor hesitated, but then took it in his. Amanda’s whole hand and several inches of arm disappeared into his stony fist as he gently shook it. ‘Balor, it’s nice to meet you, and the pleasure is all mine.’
Balor let go, and Amanda thought it might be a smile that crossed his face, although she couldn’t be sure. She then turned back to the other Magi, ‘And you three are?’
First the powerful looking black man with short hair, dark clothing and tattoo’s up his neck stepped forward, he seemed to be the most forthright of this group of three, he shook her hand and told Amanda his name was Xain. He was followed by a pretty buff and handsome looking man who wore black combats and Tee Shirt that matched his black hair who said he was known as Orion. Finally a thin looking man with pale skin and dark hair who wore a smart black suit and introduced himself as Stephen Loomis shook her hand.
‘It’s lovely to meet you all, I hope we didn’t interrupt anything?’
‘Oh no, of course not, we were just talking about the Ball, would you be coming along to that?’ Xain asked.
‘I am, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Amanda replied.
‘That’s great, I’ll look forward to seeing you there, I’m sure we all will.’
‘He means he will look forward to chatting you up,’ Stephen said in a droll tone.
‘Ignore him, he’s just jealous of my good looks and charm, aren’t you Loomis,’ Xain said.
‘Oh yes, that’s it, I want to shave my head and pump iron until I look like a convict,’ Loomis retorted.
‘Better that then looking like some kind of walking corpse my boy,’ Xain said with a slight grin. It was all tongue in cheek and fairly harmless male banter. Amanda just smiled and let them get on with it.
‘Will you be there Orion?’ Amanda asked over Xain’s shoulder.
Orion just nodded his assent without speaking.
‘Good,’ Amanda said, it seemed like Orion wasn’t the talking sort.
‘Can I get you a coffee or something Amanda?’ Stephen said. ‘How about you Gentle Water, you must be thirsty?’
Amanda looked at Gentle Water who nodded back at her.
‘Yes, that would be nice Stephen,’ Gentle Water said.
Stephen went about making the coffee while everyone stood about talking some more. Xain and Balor asked a little about where Amanda was from and how her training so far had gone, Amanda told them and found that she enjoyed talking to these Magi, laughing a joking with them. Amanda sipped at her coffee and after finishing it, they said farewell for now and continued on through the house, leaving the boys in the kitchen.
‘They’re nice,’ Amanda told Gentle Water, ‘I like them.’
‘They are yes, and valuable members of the Legacy. Xain and Orion are both highly trained in combat and have been invaluable over the years when things have called for more forceful measures.’
‘Does that happen often?’
‘More often than we like.’
The pair continued on, walking through several more rooms until they opened a set of double doors and entered a large room, two stories high, lined in polished wooden shelving. Books cluttered the shelves, filling them to bursting in places as the mid-morning light filtered through the tall windows and into the room.
A figure sat in one of the soft looking leather chairs that dotted the libraries floor reading a weighty looking volume. He wore sandy coloured flowing clothing and had a dark complexion, Amanda guessed he was from the Middle East from his appearance. He looked up as they entered the room, before marking where he was in the book and rising from his seat.
Amanda smiled at the man, glanced at Gentle Water before they walked forward. ‘Hi, I’m Amanda, it’s nice to meet you.’
The man let Amanda and Gentle Water approach him, and offered his hand to them when they reached him. Amanda shook his hand, and the man bowed slightly as she did so.
‘It is an honour to meet you Amanda, my name is Israel Roth.’
‘Oh wow, this is an honour.’
Standing straight again, the man grinned slightly, ‘I take it that you know who I am then.’
‘I do indeed sir, my Mentor has told me something about your history and the History of the Legacy. You are one of the founding members I believe.’
‘That’s right. I joined up with our founder back when I was just an apprentice and before his group of Magi even had a name. But that was a long time ago and many years have passed since then. Have you only just arrived here?’
‘Yes, Gentle Water is showing me around a little while Raven is off sorting out some rooms for us. It’s a huge house and really gorgeous, I love it. And this library, I mean, it’s amazing, there are so many books in here.’
‘Collected from many different places over hundreds of years.’
‘It must be priceless.’
‘I’m sure it would be, if we ever had it valued. But there are too many truly Magical books in here to allow that.’
‘Of course.’ Amanda felt amazed at what she saw, it reminded her of the New York Public Library which she had visited a couple of times when she lived in Manhattan. Just the endless racks of books, although the books in here looked very much older than the ones she had seen in the New York Library.
A side door to the Library opened up and Raven stepped into the room, ‘ah, here you are. Well, I’ve sorted out a couple of rooms and I’ve put your cases into them so they’re all ready for you now.’
‘Thank you,’ Gentle Water replied.
‘I’ve just spoken to Royston as well, and he’s keen to see Amanda before she heads off into Paris, but there’s no rush,’ Raven said.
‘Well, don’t let me stop you. It wouldn’t do to keep Royston waiting now would it?’ Israel said.
Amanda smiled, ‘certainly not, shall we pay him a visit?’ she asked Gentle Water.
‘Yes. Israel, a pleasure’ Gentle Water nooded to the Master Magus as he spoke.
‘Yes, thank you, I’ll see you soon I hope,’ Amanda said.
‘Certainly,’ Israel replied.
‘Then lead on Raven, let’s not dawdle,’ she said.
Raven led them from the Library and through a few corridors until they reached a door which Raven knocked upon. A voice issued from within, inviting them inside, so Raven opened the door and followed Amanda and Gentle Water inside, closing it behind him.
The room was a good sized office space with expensive looking wooden furniture including a desk and chairs in the centre of the room. A man in his late fifties sat behind the desk, balding slightly, his hair loosing its colour, he wore a rustic coloured shirt and jacket and sat writing upon some papers.
He finished what he was doing and sat back, gesturing to the chairs before him, indicating that the three of them should sit.
‘Good morning, glad you made it over okay,’ he said, his accent a plumy Home Counties English. ‘It’s good to see you again Gentle Water, it’s been too long. But it’s great to see you’ve brought Amanda with you,’ he said before leaning forward towards Amanda. ‘Royston Kendrick,’ he said, offering his hand across the desk. She shook it, his grip felt firm, ‘at your service. Anything I can do for you while you’re here, just ask. Have you had a look around the house?’
‘I have. And I’ve met a few Magi already. Israel, Maria, Balor, Xain and a few others.’
‘And I hope they have made you feel welcome?’
‘Oh, absolutely. Very welcome,’ she replied.
‘Good. Right, I’d just like to ask you both a few questions first if you don’t mind. Let’s get the formal stuff out the way shall we? So, Gentle Water, how’s she progressing in your estimation?’
‘Very quickly, she is easily of Adept ability and she is making good progress towards reaching Knight level. Given the time we have had, she is natural Magi.’
‘That’s good, and how long are we talking here?’
Royston went on to ask more questions about Amanda’s progress in the Magical Arts and what she kn
ew about the Legacy and Magi in general. Both Gentle Water and Amanda answered his questions, joking about things as they went. It all seemed very light hearted and Amanda found herself warming to Royston as well. After the more formal questions they all just chatted conversationally about all manner of things, Amanda asking many questions of Royston as they came to her.
The meeting went on for a while, until they finally left Royston to his work and they settled in their spacious suites. A short time later Raven and Gentle Water joined Amanda in her room where they spoke about what they would do for the rest of the day. Amanda was keen to head into Paris as see the sights, Raven and Gentle Water were both happy to oblige her and it wasn’t not long before they left the Legacy house behind for the hustle of the Parisian streets. Amanda had a grin on her face for the rest of the day, she was really enjoying it all and was really looking forward to the future.
Baal Yasmin
I have just heard from Nate that he feels this is all taking a little too long to come to fruition. He sounds quite frustrated by all this waiting around for the Inquisitor to make his move. I fear he may take matters into his own hands. This may actually help us, but I felt the need to inform you of your apprentice’s state of mind.
Yours for Eternity
Kez
Flight
London
Later that evening
Stephan led his four friends up the street towards his house. The rucksack on his back felt really heavy with the golden book inside it, the straps cut into his shoulders, making them ache. They had walked all the way from the twins house to here and Stephen felt ready to collapse on his bed, but there was a little further still to go.
‘I think he’s going a little mad, don’t you?’ Ben said to Fran, his tone light-hearted.
‘Clearly, the books going to his head a bit I think, making him paranoid.’
‘Look, I know what I saw guys,’ Stephan said. ‘There was definitely someone stood outside my house the other night, there has been for a while now, I don’t think…’
‘You don’t think you should have the book, blah, blah, blah, it’s your turn Stephan, stop trying to wimp out of it, we’ve all kept it for a while, now its back round to you,’ Ben said.
‘Yes, I know, but I think the Twins should have kept it a little longer, I really do. Ever since that time I visited the shop…’
A groan went up from the group as he said it.
‘Don’t give us that again Steph,’ Fran said, a little exasperated.
‘But it’s true, she was… it was really freaky,’ Stephan said.
‘Yes, I can imagine it would be weird for a teenage boy to find himself hypnotised by a hot woman’s tits, I mean, that never happens does it?’ Fran said, a touch of spite in her voice.
‘But it wasn’t like that.’ The rucksack really was heavy, but they were nearing the driveway now. ‘She used Magic, I’m sure of it.’
‘A hot secretary babe, who used magic to flash her tits at you? Stephan, this is getting old, why not give it a rest,’ Fran said, with a finality to her voice.
Stephan knew not to push it, he didn’t want an argument tonight. He wished he’d explained things differently to the group about the woman at the shop. But it was too late now and he doubted they would ever believe him.
He wasn’t sure about taking the book back, but he really was sure that someone had been watching him, sometimes it was just a feeling, other times he thought he saw someone; often it looked like a little girl, who was watching him through the crowds of the street. It had freaked him out enough to recommend they share ownership of the book and pass it around the group, convinced that it would be the book that the watcher was interested in. It had been with both Ben and the twins for a while now and it really should have been Stephan’s turn a few weeks ago, but he had managed to put it off, until now.
They turned into his driveway and walked up the front door.
‘Would you like to come inside for a drink or something?’ Stephan offered, it wasn’t really very late yet, the sky had darkened, turning purple, the shadows growing longer. Night was approaching, but a quick drink would be all right before his friends headed home. They agreed and Stephan used his key to unlock the door and head inside.
‘Hiya, I’m back,’ Stephan called out as he stepped inside. His friends followed him into the hallway and closed the door behind them. There was no answer from Stephan’s parents. ‘They must be out,’ he said. ‘Come through to the lounge.’
‘What’s that funny smell?’ Liz asked.
‘What smell?’ Ben replied.
‘I don’t know, like, something rancid.’
The four of them opened the door and walked into the lounge, but stopped dead in their tracks as they did. Stephan’s hand hovered over the light switch, he’d pressed it several times, but it didn’t work. He’d stopped trying once he’d seen what was in the room.
The scene that greeted them, came straight out of a horror film, and Stephan didn’t know what to do, his mind must have been in shock because not a single thought passed through it for a good few seconds as he struggled to make sense of the chaos around him. Behind Stephan, there were gasps and held breath, Liz yelped and muffled her cry with her hand. The sound seemed out of place in the heavy silence of the room.
Five other figures were in that room, sat about the lounge on the expensive cream furniture. They were each slumped into the chair or couch they were on, limp and unmoving. Real details were difficult to make out in the half-light that filtered through the nets on the windows, but one thing was clear, they were all dead.
As Stephan’s eyes adjusted to the light over the next few seconds, he realised he recognised the people in the room, the two people in the plush chairs being people he’d recognise anywhere. His parents, his mum and dad, slaughtered.
They weren’t just dead though, they had been butchered, hacked at by something like a knife. There was blood everywhere, sprays and arcs of it all up the walls and over the furniture, it pooled in the clothing and on the carpets around the bodies.
Ben's parents and the girl’s mother were here as well, and whoever had killed his own parents had gone to town on the others as well.
Great holes had been cut into their bodies, ribs and other bones glinted in the half-light while internal organs spilled out creating huge worm like shapes that were trying to crawl out of the torso’s of the bodies.
Behind him, his friends started going into shock, their breathing becoming shallow and fast. Liz started repeating the word ‘no’ over and over again.
‘This isn’t happening, it isn’t happening, it isn’t real,’ Fran muttered under her breath, unbelieving. Ben remained silent.
Something caught Stephan’s eye, movement further down the room as something in the dark shifted. The others saw it too and went quiet, holding their breath.
Then more shadows moved, rising up from the darkness they pulled together forming a shape that became a man, the shadows fell away as the figure stepped out from the darkness. Tall, with short blonde hair and a handsome face, he clearly worked out, his upper body, partially concealed by a vest was well muscled, and covered in tattoos. He wore combats and carried a cruel looking curved blade in his hand. The Kukri Knife and most of his body was splattered with blood, visible as dark red, almost black streaks and splotches, long since soaked into his vest and trousers.
The man walked into the middle of the room, watched by the four teenagers as he moved.
‘My friends, welcome to the party, I’m so glad you could join us. It wouldn’t be the same without you.’ The man’s tone sounded light, conversational, with a feint English accent.
Stephan didn’t really take in the man’s opening words, his mind was still reeling from the shock of it all, he didn’t understand anything anymore, but he knew he didn’t like this dream and wanted desperately to wake up from it.
‘This can go one of two ways,’ The figure continued. ‘You can make this hard on yourselves
, and I’ll have some fun with you, just like I did with your parents, or you can make this easy, and I promise it will be swift, and nearly painless. All I want is the Artefact. You know what I mean, so don’t act dumb.’ The man absently kicked a lump of stone on the floor in front of him. It was the stone casing of the golden book, smashed into bits on the wooden flooring. ‘The choice is yours,’ he said.
At mention of the Artefact, Stephan snapped out of his trance and looked at the figure properly for the first time. The killer looked like some kind of strange cross between a surfer and a biker, and he wanted the golden book. For some reason, the threat of loosing the Artefact to this killer was enough to make Stephen think straight and, for the moment at least, he forgot that his parents were dead and laying right there before him.
Stephen’s gaze hardened, and he stared into the eyes of the killer before him, who stared right back.
There was movement to Stephan’s left suddenly which made him jump. It caught the killer by surprise as well as Ben shot forward with a shout of rage, closed the gap between him and the killer in a second and landed a firm right hook on the killers face. The man went sprawling to the floor with a grunt, his eyes wide with shock. Ben stood over him and looked back at Stephan and the girls.
‘Go, get them out of here and call the police. I’ll deal with this twat.’
Stephan just looked at Ben for the moment, he wasn’t sure what he should do, whether he should stay and help or get the girls out like Ben said.
‘No Ben, we’re staying here, we can help,’ said Liz.
‘No you can’t, do as I say’
‘But Ben…’ Liz protested.
‘Go! Run Stephan please, get Fran and Liz out of here,’ Ben shouted once more.
Stephan looked Ben in the eyes, and nodded. He turned to the girls and ushered them towards the door. ‘Come on, let’s go, let’s get out of here.’ Stephan turned back at the door to look at Ben for a second. ‘Don’t be too long mate,’ he said. He could see the man moving on the floor at Ben’s feet. Ben wasn’t looking at Stephen, he just nodded and waved him out as he readied himself to kick the killer while he was down.
Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling Page 35
