by Billy Wong
Julianna's spear flew into its chest, sinking deep through the thickest part of its hide and stumbling it backward. A moment later her feet slammed against it just below the jutting shaft. She grabbed the spear in midair, landed on its abdomen as it fell and pulled it out. She drove the point through its face while it looked up, ending its life.
"You were right," Keith said kneeling over Eve, "couldn't handle the size."
"Is she okay?"
"She's out cold. Can you heal her with magic?"
She checked on the girl and shook her head. "Her injuries don't seem too bad, and I'm reluctant to use up magical energy at this point even if a little bit. Let's just rest and see what happens."
A few minutes later, Eve woke up. "What happened?" she asked woozily, clutching her head.
"You reacted poorly when it attacked in earnest and got knocked out," Julianna replied while helping her sit. No point downplaying it, when bluntness here might save her life someday.
"And you saved me?"
"I wasn't about to stand by and watch you die."
Eve averted her gaze. "This is embarrassing. To think I didn't last half a minute, and you probably killed it in less than half a minute..." Good guess.
"Hey," Keith said, "didn't we tell you not to compare yourself with us at this stage?"
Julianna added, "Plus, it was partly our fault. Especially the manly man here not letting me aid you so we could 'see your skills.'"
"Still, all my training was useless. Even after you helped me, I still couldn't hang with some random fiend..."
"Random or not, it was pretty big." Julianna slapped her back. "Besides, you scored two devastating wounds on it, remember? You had it on the ropes and in a panic. Now you'll know for next time, when a big oaf like that charges it's better for you to dodge than block."
She laughed weakly. "I think you're exaggerating my performance a tad. But thanks."
When she had recovered enough to stand, they helped her up and moved on. A few days later, they arrived at the cave that would lead down to the wellspring. They lit torches and walked in single file down cramped tunnels, often having to duck. "Why is she hissing like that?" Eve asked Keith.
"The princess is very particular about the space around her. If it's too tight or too open—that is, triggering her fear of heights—she will complain."
"Oh, come off that! And I'd say my wariness was well justified, wouldn't you agree?"
They found their way to a square chamber the size of a medium-sized bedroom deep underground, unexceptional but for one thing. A large hole gaped open on the far wall, and within that hole floated sparkles of golden light. They were particles of concentrated magical energy, Julianna realized—but where she had heard the wellsprings of magic glowed almost as bright as the sun, too bright to look into directly, this one barely emitted enough light to dimly illuminate the chamber.
"It seems weak, as expected." She moved closer and reached towards it, trying to sense the distribution of energy beyond what could be seen. Did it flow from elsewhere to here, perhaps from below? It could be the flow was blocked somehow, and it might be possible to unblock it...
"I don't know if you should get that close to it," Keith said. "I've heard a mage near the wellspring can draw strength from it, but if they actually touch it, their body will be overloaded and destroyed."
"My form is made of magical energy itself, so I might be able to handle it. Still, I should probably err on the side of caution."
After a little while more, he asked, "Have you learned anything?"
"No, I'm trying to feel where this energy is coming from, but can't. It seems to only exist here, but does that mean it originates at this point or something else put it there?" She heard something sizzle as if burning, and turned in its direction. Eve stood in the passage outside the room, having retreated back into it. She held what resembled a ball with a rope sticking out of it, which rapidly shrank as fire ate at it. "What are you doing? Is that-"
"Die, Magic Empress!" the researcher said, and tossed it at her.
Magic Empress? What the..? Figuring the round object to be harmful, Julianna kicked it back towards Eve, whose jaw dropped. It exploded in midair between them, directly in the mouth of the tunnel. Julianna and Keith shielded their eyes while rock cracked and tumbled down, obscuring Eve from sight. By the time the crashing noises subsided, fallen chunks of stone completely filled the entrance.
"Darn," Keith breathed. "It looks like we're trapped."
Chapter 5
Julianna stared at the cave-in with arms crossed. "The prospective sidekick betrayed us! And she seemed so innocuous, too. Did she call me the Magic Empress? What was that about?"
"I don't know," Keith said, "but my guess is that she doesn't like the magically talented royal family of Aerilea's power over the land. Do you think Gilbert set us up?"
"I wouldn't put some shady business past him, but doubt he would go as far as to try and have me killed. He's not that reckless. Maybe she's a member of some anti-magic faction like the one in Severil, and infiltrated the researchers of Ostuh?"
"She said she's been with them a long time though. She can't have joined anticipating a chance to kill you, especially considering you were dead back then."
"We can't be sure how much of what she said was true, but I assume she really was with them for a while if they entrusted her with guiding us." She frowned in contemplation. "You're right her original goal couldn't have been to target me, so maybe being from an anti-magic faction she meant to sabotage Ostuh's research but got too tempted by an opportunity to take a shot at us?"
"Possible, though all this is just speculation for now. So are you going to use your magic to get us out?"
"Let me check first..." She pushed at the rocks piled up in the entrance, found they didn't move and sighed. "It looks like I'll have to. Hope it won't be enough to accelerate the continent's decline too much."
Keith looked doubtfully at her. "Will getting some stone out of the way really use up that much energy?"
"Depends on how bad the cave-in is, but honestly, probably not." She gave a weak laugh. "I guess I might've gotten a tad overly hesitant about using magic? I know I'm just one person, powerful or not, but every little bit counts. Still, I'll have to do it this time unless I want to let you die of thirst in here and be trapped for eternity myself." Though, it was possible the Council would send somebody to find them if they didn't return, but waiting for that might rob them of a chance to catch their betrayer too.
"By the way, do you think Eve's dead?"
"The bomb didn't explode too close to her, but she could've been crushed if the collapse reached that far. We'll see soon enough." Julianna placed her hands against the rocks again and summoned magical energy into herself, then sent it out to meld with the stone. Behind her, the wellspring of magic dimmed a little further. She swept her arms out to the sides as she willed the stone infused with magic to part, opening up a channel through it to the section of natural tunnel beyond the cave-in.
Eve stood there waiting, soot on her face and another bomb in hand. She put her torch to the fuse, lighting it. Before she could throw, Julianna conjured a localized gust of wind that blew the fuse out. She moved the torch towards it again, but Julianna dashed towards her and she lost her nerve. She dropped the bomb and fled, the couple hot on her tail. She ran impressively fast, a desperate speed born of fear, but they nonetheless gained quickly on her. As they neared a pit they had climbed down into and up the other side before, she tried to leap over it instead. She failed to clear it, hit her face on the edge and fell in. Julianna heard a nasty thud. She peered down to see Eve lay at the bottom, motionless with limbs splayed and blood pooling around her head. She hopped down and felt for a pulse, only to find none.
"She's dead," she announced flatly.
"Damn, that's unlucky. I thought for sure we would be questioning her soon, but then she accidentally kills herself just like that."
Julianna hoisted the corp
se onto her shoulder, feeling a bit bad about Eve dying so young despite her attempt to blow them up. Maybe she had just been misled by someone else in the naivete of youth, and could have been reformed if not for her untimely death. Nothing could be done to change it, though. They headed back outside, where Julianna put Eve's body on her horse and returned with it to town.
They reported what had happened to Gilbert. "That young girl was a mole?" he said after they told their tale. "No wonder those saboteurs knew exactly when and where to strike during several recent incidents. I must thank you for rooting her out. Even if our research into magic use is currently paused," he hastily added.
"We didn't really, since we wouldn't have had a clue about her secrets if not for her outing herself." Julianna's voice hardened. "But your research had better really be paused, because otherwise you might soon have the blood of the whole continent on your hands—including your own."
He shrank back nervously. "A-alright, we will make sure no rogue researchers have been carrying on behind our backs."
Not exactly the most honest sounding description, but she hoped he would at least follow through in terms of stopping any ongoing excess magical expenditure. "Also, do you have any idea where Eve might have come from? I know what she said likely can't be trusted, but still..."
"I am not intimately familiar with that girl or her history, fabricated or otherwise. Talk to William, the director of our magical research department. He should know more considering he was the one who took her under his wing. Besides, maybe he can also help with the larger issue you are investigating."
They met William, a soft-spoken middle aged man with a squat frame, in the large underground library adjoined to the chamber where Julianna had battled that mechanical knight. Upon learning of Eve's death, his eyes misted up. "Eve was a spy, and you say she aided in the obstruction of our work?" It was more that Gilbert theorized so, but they didn't have much grounds to deny it. "Hers was a convincing act, if that's so. Even now I have trouble disbelieving that she truly loved us, and must've been torn between her loyalties in her heart."
It was possible for that to be the case, but she certainly hadn't seemed to struggle with the decision to try and kill Julianna and Keith. "I'm sorry for your loss. Whether her love was true or not, it must be difficult for you when yours for her was. But we have to ask, do you know where she came from? I'd think she used a cover story, but she might've still dropped hints about she was really from in your years together."
"She claimed to be from a remote village to the west, near the border. Nothing she did betrayed otherwise, so I can't think of any hints such as you're looking for."
Keith scratched his chin. "West would be near Severil, wouldn't it? So maybe there was some element of truth in her claim."
"That makes sense," Julianna said, "but we can't just take for granted she was from Severil. Could even be that her masters wanted it to seem like she was from there, to divert attention away from them." She addressed William. "By the way, have you ever heard the phrase 'Magic Empress' used to refer to me?"
"No, I've never heard of it."
She exchanged looks with Keith. "Since it's unfamiliar to us too, and you pay a lot of attention to what's being said about me, I'm thinking this Magic Empress moniker is something a specific group calls me. If we could find out who these people are, they're probably the ones behind Eve."
"Sorry I cannot help you with that," William said.
"Don't worry about it, your not knowing was already helpful. But you do have any additional insight on the wellsprings of magic and the origin of the energy in them? I was there, but couldn't determine where it comes from."
"Unfortunately, I'm unable to offer assistance there either. We are still studying these phenomenon though, so perhaps we will gain more knowledge in the future."
"All right, thank you for your time. Would it be possible for us to ask Eve's other colleagues about her, to see if they know anything about her?"
"Of course." He told them the names of some other researchers who had worked closely with Eve, and they went around the underground facility questioning them. Yet she'd consistently avoided revealing much detail about her past, and they learned nothing significant beyond what William already told them.
Julianna and Keith left the tower. "Where to now?" he asked after they rode the tram down. "Maybe we should go to Severil and see if this Magic Empress phrase originates from there?"
"But that would take time away from our investigation into the continent's decreasing magical energy, when time could be of the essence."
"Yes, but this faction that Eve belonged to is quite worrisome. If they oppose the rule of magic users as we suspect, they could target Julian too."
She clenched her teeth at the thought of danger to her son, but replied, "It doesn't seem like they've targeted him yet, unless something's happened while we were away." That, she really didn't want to think about. "It frightens me too, but we shouldn't let blind emotion change our priorities from what they should be. Let's stay our course, and deal with other issues after we know our world is safe."
"We don't have any more leads regarding the magical decline, though. If we go to Severil, we might luck out on a new one while looking for information on this group."
"That seems like a hell of a long shot." Julianna paused. "But you're right that we don't have other leads, and the next option I can think of is to head home to check how things are going there and wait for our contacts to update us on what they've learned. So because Severil is closer than going all the way back to Myrrhise, you win. Let's see if our friend the queen has heard of this 'Magic Empress' in her country."
Keith looked confusedly at her. "You're the Magic Empress."
She broke out laughing at his misinterpretation. "Yeah, obviously. I meant if she's heard of the moniker itself..."
#
By the time they arrived at Queen Becca's fortress, even Julianna felt deathly tired of the back and forth travel. While she didn't physically wear down, it had been months of nonstop walking since they left Myrrhise and she just wanted to stop and sit still for a change. But they couldn't very well abandon their goals just because they grew weary. The huge gatekeeper at Becca's home let them pass, and they found her practicing in the courtyard. She danced and flipped around a dozen of her soldiers while they tried vainly to catch her, shooting arrows into their wooden shields that served for targets in lieu of their bodies.
Noticing their arrival, Becca shot a pair of arrows at them in mid somersault. Julianna caught the one aimed at her, while Keith swatted his aside. "What was that for?" he spat.
The young queen dismissed her training partners with a wave. "Just testing you. I aimed for your shoulders, they wouldn't have killed you if they hit."
"Still, that was rather rude," Julianna said.
Becca smirked. "What, are you getting too soft to stay on your guard, old lady?"
"No."
"What'd you come here for, then? Ready to fight me?"
"That wasn't my intention. We wanted to ask you a couple things. First, have you heard of me being called the Magic Empress among your people? And second, do you or anyone you know have any insight into what's causing the decrease in magical energy or how to stop it?"
Her voice took on a more serious tone. "I remember getting that message from Plasbias. It's quite troubling if the continent might be under threat of falling, but I can't be of much help to you there. We in Severil don't deal much with magic... As for the Magic Empress, yeah I've heard that one."
"So maybe it does originate from Severil," Keith said.
Julianna asked, "From who? Is it a name used for me by a particular faction, or a common one among the population?"
"I've heard it's used among the populace," Becca replied. "I suppose it's fairly local if it hasn't spread beyond Severil though, and could have started with a specific group."
"Can you help us find out which? If your people don't know already, that is."
She gazed questioningly at the queen's weapon. "Are you planning to fight against my spear with that bow?"
"Why not?"
"You have a melee weapon." She indicated the sword on Becca's belt. "It just seems strange to spar spear against arrows."
"So even the mighty Saint Princess is befuddled by something. Don't worry, I'm accustomed to using my bow in close quarters. I can hold my own."
"It's not that I don't think you can hold your own, but projectiles-"
"I'll use my sword when I run out of arrows!" Becca shot an arrow at her, which she batted away with ease. But her opponent had already somersaulted above her, and loosed three shafts at once. Swift. She jumped straight up, again deflected the arrows and missed a stab. However, she then landed a kick still in midair to Becca's forearms, which though blocked sent the queen halfway across the courtyard.
Julianna smiled as she dropped back down and watched Becca shake out her arms. "That wasn't what I was going to say. It's kind of risky to spar with projectiles since you can't pull a shot after it's released. But if you insist on using them, then I'll go pretty hard on you too."
"You say that like it'd scare me. Do your worst old lady, I'm looking forward to it!" They both ran to meet the other, Julianna swinging her spear. Becca leaned backwards under it and shot behind herself after they passed one another. Julianna flipped over it into a kick at her foe's head, but this time Becca intercepted her shin with a punch that knocked her spinning away. She landed in a crouch and they exchanged grins, both enjoying themselves despite her misgivings.
"You girls are acrobats," Keith commented. "I prefer to stay grounded if possible, but I guess graceful ladies find that boring."
It wasn't like Julianna always wanted to jump around so much though, but Becca's style encouraged it in order to take the fight to the queen. If she stayed on the ground, she would be hard pressed to strike back with her spear. She charged, dodging the arrows that came at her. Closing the distance into melee range, she thrust. Becca used her bow to catch her pole behind the spearhead and twist her around by it, kicked her in the back of her head. The girl was better than she expected, or maybe she was rusty from being dead so long. She blocked another kick with her shaft, knocked Becca back with a hit from the butt. Becca didn't miss a beat, flowing almost instantly into another multiple arrow shot. One of them grazed Julianna's arm as she spun between them, and a chill of excitement ran through her. She hadn't felt so alive since... well, coming back to life against such a fast and furious foe, and relished every moment of it.
