Phoenix Born

by Sean Stone

  I turned the corner and saw a group of drunk middle-aged men running around in the road and kicking a traffic cone about. I knew that if I attempted to walk by them they would probably get in my face. Being a wizard I wasn’t exactly scared of them, I could easily blast them all into oblivion, but I really couldn’t be bothered. I turned down the alley to my right and avoided them all together.

  My own drunkenness was wearing off now and I was starting to think more rationally. More specifically, I had the creeping sensation that having sex with Jasmine had been a mistake. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was the best sex I’ve had in a long time. That certainly was not her first time between the sheets. But still, there were better ways to put distance between myself and Leah. This way was probably going to turn Leah against me. The notion of losing Leah tugged at something inside me like a little hand pulling on a string in my stomach. If it pulled hard enough then my stomach would open up and spill all over the concrete. That’s what I felt would happen if Leah ever found out about what I’d done. And that was the problem. She shouldn’t have that effect on me. But still, I didn’t have to tell her. Only two people knew what had happened tonight. It wasn’t an impossible secret to keep.

  I pulled my jacket closed and fastened the buttons as the air grew chilly. I let out a shaking breath and stared in confusion at the thin mist that slithered out of my mouth. It was Summer. It shouldn’t be this cold. Then I saw more mist crawling along the floor of the alley, hiding the concrete from my bewildered eyes. This was no natural phenomenon. This was magic. I looked around the alleyway wildly, looking for the source of the spell but could see nobody. All I could see around me was darkness and mist. The lights at either end of the alley had been extinguished or hidden. The mist rose up and grew into a fog that surrounded me totally and cut me off from the world.

  I opened my hand to cast some light into the alley and then stopped. I was no longer alone. A face hovered in the mist just a few feet away from me. Silver swirls in the darkness and two silver orbs that shone like miniature headlights. I held my breath so as not to give away my rising fear but I couldn’t control my hammering heart which was beating like a drum in the silence of the alleyway. What was it? It didn’t look human.

  The face drew closer and I saw that the swirls were set against a face of complete blackness. Rough thorns were drawn over the swirling silver tattoo. I knew this face because I’d heard it described before. So, this meeting was happening now.

  ‘Magraval,’ I said. Knowing who it was calmed me somewhat. I was used to dangerous situations, it was not knowing what was going on that terrified me. Now I knew my enemy.

  He inclined his head just a fraction in acknowledgement. ‘Wraith.’ His voice was a ghastly quiet screech, like somebody whispering a heavy metal performance. I cringed away from him. His eyes glinted with satisfaction at my discomfort. It wasn’t real. His voice. His face. It was all a magical glamour. A disguise. Knowing that eased the discomfort I was feeling. He wasn’t really a monster. Just another man dressed up like one. It was the same as when I put on a monstrous mask to hunt my victims.

  ‘What are you hiding behind that glamour?’ I asked. He withdrew back into the mist so I couldn’t see him so clearly, as if that would fool me into thinking I was mistaken about his mask. ‘From what I’ve heard I thought the big bad Magraval was fearless and yet here you are hiding behind a little mask like a typical coward.’

  ‘We all hide things, Wraith. Some of us better than others. You hide your identity. You hide your humanity, your capacity to love, and your infantile need to be loved in return. I merely hide my identity. Who is the true coward?’

  It was my turn to take a step back. He knew more about me than he should have done. More than anybody should. He must’ve been stalking me for some time. ‘What do you want from me? Why did you help my enemies?’ It was time to dispense with the foreplay and get down to business.

  ‘I didn’t come to Sangford for you. My business here is with Dorian Gray. The immortal is hidden away behind a wall of allies and minions. All of them must be removed from my path. Artemis Saxon led me to believe that you were one of Dorian’s minions. I thought you were his own private assassin. But I know now that I was mistaken.’

  ‘So, you don’t have an issue with me? You’re not going to try to kill me again?’ I said with more relief than I should’ve shown. That brought the glint back to his shining eyes. I thought he might be smiling in the darkness but it was impossible to tell.

  ‘No,’ he said simply. ‘My business with you is concluded. My apologies for any inconvenience I caused you.’

  Before I could reply he was gone. The darkness lifted and the fog sunk back into the ground. I was alone in the alleyway. It was like he’d never been there.

  I told Drew all about my encounter the following morning as we made our way to the Hall of Wizardry. We were dressed in our best clothes because today was the day the new Prime Wizard would be announced. I wasn’t interested in the ceremony in the least but all wizards were supposed to attend and Drew had pointed out that not attending would make us look like enemies of the new Prime. It would be easier to try and make friends with this one. The Hall might then be useful allies in the future. Especially if Magraval changed his mind about me.

  ‘Consider yourself lucky and forget about Magraval. He said he’s done with you so drop it. Don’t go looking for revenge,’ said Drew.

  ‘He didn’t even apologise,’ I grumbled.

  ‘He said he was sorry for any inconvenience,’ Drew argued.

  ‘That is not a sufficient apology for what he did.’

  ‘It’s the best you’re going to get. He’s not your problem. Nobody is paying you to kill him so don’t try it. I wouldn’t even know where to start with the research.’

  ‘I’m not even sure I would want to go after him,’ I admitted. ‘Not after I saw what he did to Dorian’s guy.’

  ‘What did he do?’ There’d been so much going on over the last few days that I hadn’t even told Drew about the old man Monroe had taken me to see.

  ‘He did some ritual that sucked the life out of the guy. Poor bloke was only in his twenties but looked more like eighty.’ I shivered as I recalled the story I’d been told.

  Drew stopped dead on the steps to the Hall. It was no exaggeration to say that his face had drained of all colour. He didn’t look like he’d seen a ghost he looked like he was one.

  ‘What?’ I asked. ‘Drew?’ I said loudly when he ignored my first question.

  ‘That ritual…’ he croaked. ‘It’s forbidden…’

  ‘Yeah, there’s a few of them,’ I said. He hadn’t reacted like this when he’d found out I was dying but some stranger did this spell to another stranger and he acted liked the world was ending.

  ‘There are only two forbidden spells and rituals. The one you did and the one he did.’

  ‘You’ve seen this ritual before, haven’t you?’ There was no other explanation for the way he was reacting.

  ‘Once. A long time ago. And I never want to see it again. You stay away from Magraval,’ he said and then strode off into the Hall.

  He was obviously keeping something from me, but I knew my uncle well enough to know that there was no way I was going to get it out of him. He would tell me when he was ready. Maybe. If I pushed the subject, I’d only annoy him.

  I followed him to the Hall. This time we were taken through to the auditorium. Hundreds of wizards filled the rows of seating. Drew and I grabbed a couple of seats near the back. A few minutes later all the seats were taken and the remaining wizards had to stand at the back of the room. I’d never seen so many wizards turn up for a meeting of any kind. The Hall did not command the respect it used to, but the coronation of a new Prime was something everybody wanted to witness.

  There were five chairs on the stage at the head of the room. Four simple wooden chairs and one high-backed throne-like chair for the Prime. A lectern stood at the front of the stage, a tapestry showing
the five colours of the Hall hanging over its front.

  The chatter died down as the four Elders stepped onto the stage from a door behind the rear curtain. All of them sat down except for Marcus who stepped up to the lectern. I had my money on him to be the next Prime. Artemis had always treated him like his number two.

  ‘Thank you all for coming. Today is a historic day in the history of wizardry as we are about to crown our new Prime Wizard. Artemis Saxon, was a strong and decisive leader. He was a good man who led us for forty long years. His death came as a huge shock to us all. It was an untimely and unjust end for such a man. His shoes are certainly large shoes to fill. But this Council of Elders has deliberated for a very long time over who is best suited to take on the task. It is our decision that none of the existing Elders are suited to the task of leading us through the trying times to come.’

  ‘Trying times?’ I whispered to Drew. It sounded like the Elders were planning something. The rest of the hall was abuzz with whispers too.

  ‘The Prime was murdered. They can’t let that go,’ he muttered as if it was obvious. I guess it kind of was, actually. But still, appointing a Prime who wasn’t already an Elder was unprecedented.

  ‘We need somebody new. Somebody unexpected. Somebody with strength like this Hall has not seen for a good long while. So, by three votes to one…’

  By the way Jeremy looked off to the edge of the room I could tell that he was the only Elder who had voted against the new Prime.

  ‘…I present to you, our new glorious leader: Prime Magraval!’

  The room filled with the chittering of confused wizards as the silver and black faced wizard stepped smoothly onto the stage. He was not dressed in the purple robes of the Prime, but wore a black suit instead. There was a small purple rose pinned to his lapel.

  I turned to Drew who was just as amazed as I was. This was the first time a non-Elder had been give the role before. And they’d chosen an enemy of Dorian Gray. They had essentially just declared war on the lord of the city.

  Marcus bowed to Magraval and then went to take his seat with the other Elders. The room silenced at once when Magraval took the lectern.

  ‘I see a sea of confused faces staring up at me.’ His voice was not the hideous scratching monstrosity I had heard the night before, but a smooth, rich thing. Seductive and quaint. ‘An ocean of doubt and uncertainty. I see fear and worry. I see drabness and mediocrity. Ask yourselves, what should I see? When I look out on the wizards of this land I should see prestige. I should see magnificent majesty. I should see greatness. I should see a force that no mere magic-less man could ever hope to subdue or command. Where is the glory of this Hall? Where is the glory of our order? Gone.’ He flicked his hand dismissively in the air.

  ‘Swallowed in the depths of history. And why? Not because the people who rule this city wanted it to be that way. Our glory is not gone because they conspired to take it from us. Our glory is gone because we let them take it from us!’ Cheers of approval echoed out of the crowd.

  ‘Well, no more. My ascension is the dawning of a new era and in this era we will not be trodden upon by the meagre and the undeserving. We are wizards and we will have our due. This city is going to change. Because we are going to make it change.’

  The crowd was on its feet, the auditorium was booming with cheering and applause. The Elders were on their feet applauding their newly appointed leader. Only Jeremy remained seated. His face was a tableau of foreboding, though his hands did their duty and clapped with everybody else. Magraval was his boss now. For better or worse.

  My uncle grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. He clapped and I followed suit though neither of us were on board with Magraval’s plans. We had to keep up appearances and not stand out from the crowd. I wanted nothing to do with what was going on here. If Magraval wanted to fight Dorian then so be it. I was staying well out of it. This was not my fight.

  One thing was for certain. The troubles in Sangford were only just getting started.

  Jacob Graves will return in Blood Bound. Get an email as soon as Blood Bound is available by joining the mailing list.

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  Author’s Note

  Thank you so much for reading my book. If you’ve made it this far then I’ll assume you enjoyed it. As an author, the best thing for me is for people to enjoy my work. Please feel free to get in touch and let me know what you thought. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and you can email me directly via seanstonewriter.com. All messages come directly to me and not some sneaky assistant. I do reply to all messages but please give me time as sometimes I get a lot of messages!

  If you did enjoy this book then I would be eternally grateful if you could leave a review on Amazon. Reviews make books sell and without them many great books never see the light of day. So when I say that leaving a short, honest review will help me massively, I’m really not exaggerating. Unless you’re planning on writing a bad review in which case that won’t help me at all. Feel free not to do that!

  Acknowledgments

  This book is probably the best I’ve written so far and there are a few people who really helped to make it what it is. So, thank you to Charlotte Widdows, Howard Stephens, Judith Kaufmen, Matt Hamblin, Penny Campbell-Myhill, Penny Noble, and Sue Indrambarya. Without you guys this book would be a lot worse off. Your names are alphabetically ordered and not in order of importance!

  I’d also like to thank Daniel Golding and Samantha Holmes who allow me to vigorously bounce my nonsensical ideas off their heads every Monday night.

  About the Author

  Sean Stone lives in Kent, England with his cat Molly who does nothing but distract him and decrease his productivity. Seriously, without her you’d get books a lot faster. He currently works as a lab tech by day, but would very much like to stop doing that.

  He also wrote the Eddie Lancaster Series, and the Cedarstone Chronicles. He loves talking to his readers and can be reached on Facebook, Instagram, and via email through his website seanstonewriter.com.

  Also by Sean Stone

  Jacob Graves Series

  Phoenix Born

  Arcane Inc.

  Warlock for Hire

  Warlock Wanted

  Dark Warlock

  Warlock At War

  Dead Warlock

  Undead Warlock

  Eddie Lancaster Volume 1: Books 1-3

  Eddie Lancaster Volume 2: Books 4-6

  The Cedarstone Chronicles

  Cursed

  The Cult of Osiris

  The Ancients

  Reunion

  Abomination