Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling

by Andrew Dobell

  The two men didn’t hesitate; they rushed in, brandishing their swords at her as they came. Amanda ducked and weaved, the first man swinging wide, the second reaching in with a stabbing action which she dodged easily. She moved quickly, quicker than they were moving, managing to dodge the swords with a mix of skill and her force shield. But this was a deadly game, the vestibules were very cramped and the swords kept slamming into the fixtures and fittings of the train with clangs and loud bangs. Luckily for her, these two fighters we’re clearly not well trained on how to fight together in such a tight space.

  Amanda knew it was only a matter of time until they got her though; the tight confines gave her very few options for dodging so unless she could swing the fight in her favour, she would end up skewered like a kebab.

  Drawing on her Magic, Amanda used a magical effect taught to her by Gentle Water known as Multi-Tasking. Shaping the Essentia around her, Amanda divided her mental capacity into two equal parts, each one working independently and able to complete tasks parallel to the other but neither of them weaker or less capable then a unified whole, and only one of them having control over Amanda's actual body.

  Dodging and parrying the swords of the Inquisitors, her second mind gathered more magical energy and smashed the nearby window with it, the glass scattering out into the screaming winds.

  The noise barely registered on Amanda’s attackers and they pressed on, trying in vain to land a swipe on their foe, but Amanda was just too quick for them, and while she dodged again she released her next magical effect upon the knights with a grunt of effort. An invisible force picked the two attackers up and threw them against the far wall in a crunch of armoured bodies. Amanda caught her breath, smiled at her small victory before turning and charging towards the smashed window as the two inquisitors wasted no time in jumping to their feet.

  Amanda had no idea if this would work, but she knew she needed space to fight these two men before they managed to corner her. She leapt at the window, she grabbed the bar above the window that train passengers used to steady themselves and brought her feet up and thrust them out and up, swinging through the window, up and onto the roof using a little magical assistance to accomplish the feat.

  She landed on the train’s roof and dropped to all fours as the powerful wind nearly ripped her from the roof top. She concentrated and used her magic to lessen the wind tunnel effect around her to a mild breeze which allowed her to loosen her grip on the carriage roof. Suddenly two holes were blasted into the roof just in front of her, the force of energy coming from within.

  Amanda rose to her feet and backed up, watching the holes as nearby trees whipped past her as the train continued to barrel southwards.

  Seconds later the two men jumped up through the holes and onto the roof, her two attackers immediately dropped into fighting stances, and advanced upon her.

  But Amanda knew they were coming and had readied an effect when the holes had appeared and now she let it rip into the nearest knight. The energy slammed into him and knocked him head over heels down the length of the final carriage, past his partner who watched him go with disinterest.

  ‘Ah crap,’ Amanda cursed, she should have knocked him sideways and off the train. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it as the man left standing attacked.

  Nate watched as Yasmin sat back in her chair, sipping at the remains of her glass of champagne, as he felt the magical ripples coming from the fight in the Inquisitor’s car.

  He fidgeted and shifted position in his chair. He wanted to be there and to join in, to make up for his earlier failure.

  He did have to admit, that the inability to send out his senses and actually see what was happening down at the end of the train was very frustrating. The artefact stopped any kind of scrying like that, so all he had to go on where the ripples of Essentia that reached him here.

  ‘Do you think they’re all right?’ Fran asked Raven.

  ‘Gentle Water and Amanda will be fine. If it’s one thing I know about those two it’s that they can handle themselves. If anyone can deal with this, Gentle Water can.’

  ‘Are you sure, I mean, we could have a look, see if they need any help.’

  ‘If they need help they’ll ask for it, try to be patient, you’ll see your friend soon enough.’ Raven said.

  Next to Fran he could see Liz was little more than a bag of nerves. Her leg twitched and she constantly kept ringing out her hands and glancing at the door to the next car.

  They sat at a table, the girls opposite him but facing the door that Amanda and Gentle Water went through. Once they had passed through the door, Raven had used his magic to muffle the sound from beyond it, just in case things got messy in there. The passengers in this car had no idea what might be happening just a few meters from them.

  Raven leant forward and caught Liz’s eye, ‘Try to relax, everything will be fine, you’ll see.’

  Liz nodded, but continued to fidget.

  Angel felt the whip snap in the Essentia about her as the Inquisitor cars Aegis broke down, no doubt caused by the Arcadians that had Ported onto the train not long ago. This probably meant they were fighting it out right now.

  The time had come.

  She rose from her seat, stepped into the aisle, and started to make her way back along the train towards the rear, it was time to put in an appearance.

  Amanda waited as the Inquisitor charged the few steps towards her, his sword held high. She gritted her teeth, waiting until the last moment before she released the Essentia in a blast at his feet. Ducking the mad swing of the blade as he fell, she rolled back along the car and came to her feet. Extending her hand, she called on her magic to yank the sword from his grasp.

  ‘Come here,’ she growled, but the hold the knight had was too strong and the sword stayed put.

  As she stopped trying to rip the weapon from her attacker, she noticed the gathering of Essentia about him as he raised himself up, and on instinct she poured energy into her shield. The fiery blast shot from the knight’s sword as he pointed it at her.

  ‘The power of Christ compels you!’ he shouted.

  Striking her shield in a wave of yellow flames, the attack rippled harmlessly over and around her.

  Realising her luck and momentarily enraged, Amanda stepped forward and spin kicked the knight’s forearm. The heavy sword flew from his grip and clattered off the train.

  The knight didn’t let the lack of weapon hamper him though and shot forward on the offensive once again with his fists. Amanda dodged the knight’s attacks.

  ‘Come on,’ she muttered to the sword-less Inquisitor before her, goading him into attacking her again.

  ‘My pleasure,’ he answered and came in with another punch, but Amanda was ready and caught it easily in her hand and used the punches momentum to throw the man to the floor. The process of doing this twisted Amanda around putting her back to the first Knight so that she stood between them.

  Amanda could feel the Essentia of the man behind her closing in, knowing he thought this must be his opportunity and charged in with his sword.

  Normally she would just be watching him with a second set of magical senses, but the Golden book which must have been close by now, stopped that kind of scrying.

  Her attacker wasn’t expecting the blast of electrical energy that emanated a foot from the back of Amanda and hit him with the force of a freight train, sending him flying from carriage roof.

  Amanda winced at the thought of the figure falling through space like a rag doll, but knew her options were limited. Despite herself she hoped the man had survived as she turned her full attention back to the sword-less Inquisitor who had rolled back to his feet and now suddenly noticed that his friend had disappeared.

  Amanda smiled at the look of shock on the man’s face.

  Fran looked up at Raven and waited until he looked out through the window at the passing countryside before she tried to communicate with Liz. Once he had looked away, Fran tapped Liz on the leg discree
tly under the table where Liz could see but Raven couldn’t.

  Liz turned her head slightly and looked her sister in the eye. Fran then used her eyes to indicate to her to look down, where Fran held her mobile phone. Liz looked down and read the message on the screen that Fran had typed.

  -I’m fed up of waiting, let’s make a break for it and get Stephan! After 3.-

  Liz returned her gaze to Fran’s and nodded ever so slightly.

  Fran then placed three of her fingers on Liz’s leg, then she took a finger away so that there was just two, then finally another so that there was one.

  Liz suddenly shot from the chair and Fran followed, bouncing once along the seat to where Liz had sat, and then she was up on her feet and running after Liz along the central aisle, all before Raven really knew what was happening.

  ‘Hey, wait, come back, dammit,’ he called after them as he struggled out of his seat, the passengers around them looking on in confusion.

  Fran saw Raven doing his best to keep up, but she and Liz had a big head start, and quickly made the door way through to the Vestibule and the next car.

  As the door opened, the sudden howl of the wind from the open window and the holes in the roof rushed in and the sounds of questioning passengers behind them filled the air.

  ‘What the hell?’ Liz said as she paused in the vestibule and looked at the damage all around them.

  ‘Ignore it, Liz, we’re going to have to use…it, I think,’ gasped Fran.

  ‘I know, that’s fine,’ Liz replied, defeat etched on her face.

  ‘Come on then, while we still can.’

  Fran took the lead and pelted through the vestibule and into the next car where they could see Gentle Water fighting a group of men with swords, but Amanda was nowhere to be seen. Gentle Water also had a sword, one of the enemies weapons by the look of it, and he was holding off about seven of them.

  This train car had clearly been modified by the Inquisition for their use. A couple of meters in from where they had entered there were two benches, one on each side, flat against the walls, between these Gentle Water fought the full complement of Crusader Knights. A little further on there were some tables and chairs, the golden book lay open upon one of those tables, and at another a gagged Stephan sat in a chair which he sat secured to with cable ties.

  Vito stood next to Stephan, his sword drawn while Mary stood further back, watching the events unfold.

  The men fighting Gentle Water took little notice of the girls as they entered the carriage, the pair of girls paused to take in the scene before them, before looking back to see that Raven had stood up and even now approached them. Fran looked at Liz and said;

  'Now or never, come on.'

  Fran led the way as they ran to the side and dodged round the fight by jumping onto a bench against the wall and then over a table before dropping to the floor on the other side of the fight and standing a short distance from where Vito stood next to Stephan.

  ‘How very heroic! And what do you plan to do to save your friend here?’ Vito asked the girls as he pointed the sword at Stephan’s neck.

  Fran held out her hand to Liz, who took it in hers and looked at Stephan. He looked beaten and bruised, but otherwise alive. ‘Are you alright?’ Fran asked, ignoring Vito.

  Stephan nodded and mumbled something through the gag.

  ‘Then brace yourself,’ Fran said, and looked at Vito.

  In the past, she and her sister had found out through the levitation of things that they had some kind of power, Magic or Psychic power of some kind that allowed them to do things, move things with their minds, but it was only small things, nothing big, unless they were both upset, and then it got a little more powerful.

  It had happened only a few times, when both of them were upset or angry, and in their rage, something would fly across the room and smash into the wall.

  It had only ever been done on purpose a couple of times, but they believed they could use it on Vito today.

  Fran looked upon Stephan and saw the pain and hurt that these bastards had inflicted on him and tears ran down her face. She could feel the rage and hatred boil up from within, these people were scum as far as Fran was concerned, and they deserved everything they had coming to them.

  She could feel the same hatred and bubbling energy through the hand of her sister, and knew it equalled or perhaps even surpassed her own.

  ‘And what exactly should we brace ourselves for then?’ Vito mocked as he looked into the eyes of these two girls and no doubt saw nothing but hatred.

  Fran concentrated hard, screwed her eyes shut and let out her rage in a scream at the top of her voice. Somehow, Liz did the same thing, synchronised with her sister.

  The blast of energy was invisible, but the effects were all too real as, with a deafening bang, Vito was lifted off his feet and sent flying through the exploding side of the train as though he were nothing. Bits of chair and table, chunks of train and lots of other debris exploded outwards blowing a huge floor to ceiling hole in the side of the train car.

  The wind roared into the carriage as the lights flickered and the brakes slammed into place bringing the train to a long and screeching halt that sent everyone standing sprawling to the floor.

  For a brief moment, silence filled the Inquisitors carriage.

  Angel caught the nearest chair back as the train braked to steady herself and then looked up at the three Inquisitors she had been following from 2 cars back. She had found them staggering from a lavatory with a few nasty bruises, no doubt the work of the Arcadians.

  The Knights also glanced back and noticed Angel just a couple of steps behind them, the nearest one frowned, slowly realising that Angel was more than just another passenger and tapped the nearest Knights shoulder. Angel wasted no time and was on them like a shot. She moved quicker than was strictly possible in the laws of nature and with one hand, took hold of the nearest knights clothing and threw him clean through the window with a smash of shattered glass.

  Passengers suddenly screamed and surged away from her and the second two Knights as they pulled hidden swords from their long coats.

  Angel dodged the clumsy attack of the nearest Crusader and released a blast of energy at the Knight. He stumbled back into his companion from the force of the attack, grunting as he did so, but the Knights Aegis held firm, deflecting the worst of the magic away.

  The Knight let a mad grin spread over his face.

  ‘Another of Satan’s whore’s, just in time for the fire of righteousness…’

  But Angel wasn’t listening, she had already prepared for this fight by using a more advanced form of Multitasking and had split her mind into several parts, each one whole and complete but all of them working seamlessly together. Using her alternate minds she had magically moved a revolver that had been strapped to the inside of her thigh, to her hand, at the same time another part of her psyche called on more magic to harm the Knight, this time the Magic pummelled through the Knights weak Aegis and ripped several lacerations into his body. But Angel wasn’t finished there; the final section of her mind reached out to the minds of several nearby passengers and took rudimentary control of them.

  Suddenly both Inquisitors found themselves being pelted with bottles, MP3 Players and Laptops as the helpless passengers threw anything they could get hold of at them.

  As the knights struggled under the barrage, Angel stood tall and relaxed.

  ‘Don’t mess with the big boys and girls little man,’ she purred as she raised her gun and pointed it at the nearest Knight. The tiny revolver crackled with energy, and let out an almighty rapport as she pulled the trigger. The Knights body disintegrated in the blast, scattered to the walls in a mist of red. With a second blast, the chest of the final Knight exploded as a 1 meter blast hole appeared in the door to the next carriage behind where he had stood.

  The train steadied after the sudden breaking and everything went quiet for a moment as the passengers all looked around, trying to see a reason for th
e abrupt stop.

  Nate watched Yasmin rise from her seat and gently place her empty glass down on the table.

  ‘It’s time we joined the festivities my Apprentice,’ she said, and set off walking down the train. As she moved, her trouser suit outfit shifted and flowed over her body into the form fitting catsuit she normally appeared in while black mist, like ink-drops in water flowed off her body like a living cape.

  Nate fell into step behind her and kept pace as Yasmin strode forward. Her powerful magical nature both hid them from view and also cleared the path before them without her having to do anything. Although no one looked at them, everyone just stepped out of the way and let them pass so that her pace never changed.

  Amanda ducked as the Knight pulled a gun from nowhere and fired at her. At the same time she used her magic to smack the gun sideways making the shot go wide but still it bounced off the edge of her shield.

  Shocked at the Knights attack Amanda immediately let loose with her Magic again and fired off a second bolt of lightning. The powerful energy hit the Knight Inquisitor full in the chest sending him flailing backwards. He landed and rolled to a stop, alive but unconscious, his charred chest smoking.

  Amanda let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed for a moment, her legs going a little wobbly.

  ‘Jaysis Gentle Water,’ she said to herself, ‘talk about in at the deep end, and what the feckin’ hell was that explosion?’ Amanda then noted that the train had come to a halt right in the middle of an Aqueduct. The long two track bridge straddled a wide valley, the floor of which was hundreds of feet below the height of the track.

  ‘Typical,’ Amanda muttered to herself with a wry smile.

  Fran jumped to her feet after having fallen from the sudden stop and ran over to Stephan where he still sat in his chair.

  ‘Oh Steph, it so good to see you, are you alright?’ she said as she hugged and kissed him, tears streaming down her face.