The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘Why?’ he asked. His anger burned hot against her skin, and she cried out.

  Mu-Phi appeared in the doorway just as Lis managed to put her hands together and hide. But as he straightened up, he maintained his hold on her. She was caught, his hands tight around her arm, and the sting was making her eyes water.

  ‘Is everything alright, Your Highness?’

  He nodded. ‘I need to check on something.’

  She bowed and backed from the room.

  ‘Please,’ Lis pleaded. He let her go and turned around to face her.

  ‘Show yourself,’ he said.

  She touched her hands together, remembering that Wei-Song had said she would find a way to hide without the physical gesture. But she was yet to learn it.

  He reached for her arm, but she pulled back from him.

  ‘What did you learn?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said quickly.

  ‘You look like you found something more terrifying than the magics,’ he said, his voice kinder as he stepped towards her. She backed up again and hit her back on the wall. A whimper escaped before she could stop it.

  ‘Me,’ he said, stopping. ‘You find me more terrifying.’

  She wanted to reassure him, but her mouth wouldn’t work.

  ‘I know I made a mistake,’ he said, stepping towards her, and she wished she could disappear into the wall. ‘But I wouldn’t hurt you. I promised.’

  She held out her arms then, the red raw burns evident on her wrists.

  ‘Who did this?’ he asked, reaching for her, and she withdrew again.

  ‘Mu-Phi,’ he called. When she appeared in the room, she took in Lis and her eyes hardened. ‘Go for Healer Yang. Take no excuses from him.’

  She nodded and disappeared.

  ‘Please don’t punish him for my mistake,’ she said, her heart beating fast. ‘I won’t tell.’

  ‘Won’t tell what?’ he asked, the confusion apparent on his face, and she wondered if he was toying with her or he really did not know what he had.

  She gulped down her fear and shook her head. They maintained their stand until Yang rushed into the room. ‘What have you done?’ he started as he raced towards her.

  ‘I haven’t done anything. She was hidden,’ the prince said. His voice carried an edge, but it wasn’t the anger that had been there before.

  Yang stood between them, and Lis held up her arms. ‘Did he?’ he whispered, and she nodded. Yang carefully placed his hands over the burn marks on her arms. They matched almost perfectly. She sucked in a ragged breath, remembering U’shi, burnt from the inside by a fire bearer, and she wondered what he might have done to her. Was he trying to discover what he was rather than looking for the magics? Why had she thought she could trust a man who had already tried to kill her?

  ‘Shh,’ Yang whispered. Lis looked up at him as he blurred before her. The hot tears spilled over her cheeks as his cooling hold soothed her somewhat. When he withdrew his hands, there was only a pinkish hue to the skin. But she couldn’t maintain her strength, and she slipped down the wall.

  Yang had her up in his arms and out the door before she could argue. As they moved through the gate, she felt the hiding cover her. ‘What have you done?’ she whispered.

  ‘Shh,’ he said quickly. They stopped, watching the prince race after them into the street and then stop. They moved away from him as he ran out and then back. She might get the chance to have some space from him. When they were close to her own palace, she grabbed at Yang’s robes.

  ‘He’ll find us,’ she whispered.

  ‘He is going to find us anyway. We can’t run, Lis.’

  She nodded against him and allowed him to carry her home. As they entered the door, they reappeared, and Wei-Song rushed forward.

  ‘How did you do that?’ she asked him.

  ‘You aren’t that heavy,’ he murmured, leaning forward and trying to catch his breath.

  ‘You hid us both.’

  ‘He knows where we will be.’

  ‘He is a fire bearer,’ Lis blurted.

  Wei-Song shook her head.

  ‘I saw it, and he burnt me,’ Lis continued.

  ‘I would have felt it. You would have felt it.’

  ‘Then explain to me what he is,’ Lis snapped.

  ‘I can’t,’ Wei-Song said with a sigh.

  The door burst open, and Yang staggered back as Lis squealed.

  The crown prince stopped and looked over the group as Wei-Song stepped forward. Lis thought she might be trying to determine what he was, but she shook her head just a little.

  ‘You promised me,’ he said, his voice too loud, and Lis heard movement amongst the soldiers in the yard.

  ‘As you promised me,’ she said. This wasn’t going to work. How had she thought this could ever be what it had been before? The air went out of her as she sank to the floor. Her mind raced, but she couldn’t grab on to any form of solution. ‘I don’t know,’ she murmured.

  He stepped forward, and she tried to move back from him again. The same fear that he was going to burn right through her overwhelmed her. She could feel the burns on her arms flaring as she sucked in a breath.

  ‘Lis,’ Yang said, his voice loud and strong. It broke through the haze she was disappearing into. ‘Don’t,’ he said.

  She looked at her wrists, the pink marks turning red, her flesh looking bubbled and blistered, and the panic was too much.

  Yang bent down quickly, pushing the prince out of the way as he grabbed her. ‘Don’t let this happen,’ he whispered hoarsely.

  She nodded, the tears running hot down her checks as she tried to focus on the cooling of his hands. ‘I can’t,’ she whispered.

  ‘What have you done?’ Remi asked, leaning over her. She tried to pull away from them all.

  ‘What have you done to her?’ Wei-Song asked. Her voice was clear, so much like her mother’s that it drew his attention.

  He shook his head.

  ‘What did you do when you touched her? What were you thinking?’

  ‘She was trying to run away,’ he murmured.

  ‘In your room?’

  He looked at Lis, then back to the woman he thought was a maid. He nodded and then shook his head. ‘She was looking for magics.’

  ‘I found one,’ Lis said, then bit her lip as Wei-Song shook her head.

  ‘You think I am a magic?’ he asked, the hatred thick in his voice. ‘You think I am one of them?’

  Lis nodded slowly and held out her hands. Yang sat back with a sigh.

  ‘You did that in your hysterical state,’ he murmured, looking at her closely. ‘If I were magic, someone would have known. The hunters I work with would have discovered me. My father would have killed me the moment it was felt.’

  Wei-Song nodded slowly.

  Lis stood, trying hard to push her fears deep down, hidden with her own magic. ‘I don’t know what you are,’ she said, ‘but I have felt the hum of magic around you since I met you.’

  Chapter 12

  Remi turned and left the palace, pushing through the princess’s guards who had started to gather at the doorway. The early morning light was just starting to turn from pink to orange, and he stood for a moment in the laneway watching the grey walls glow like the rooftops.

  She had to be wrong. She had focused a fear in her mind, like when she wouldn’t allow the healing to take effect. She had caused the burns herself and was going to blame him for them.

  He shook his head. She had truly looked terrified. Was it all a ploy, a way to have him discredited? But in exposing him, despite the lies, it would expose her too. The risk to her was greater. Or was it?

  He needed to find Hui Te-Sze, so he headed towards the centre of the island. Te-Sze had spent his days of late walking the island. He had covered nearly every inch, yet he’d found no sign of the magics. They were either very well hidden or not there. Remi couldn’t understand why they would have given up so easily when they had wanted so desperately to kill Lis
.

  He walked, but he couldn’t find the hunter. He saw others starting to move about for their day. Maids headed to the market; healers hurried about their business; a priestess stood in the morning sun with her eyes closed.

  Remi’s father would have him killed. If there was any chance he was magic, any chance he had been responsible for his brother’s death, it would mean his own. Although his father hadn’t believed the magics had returned, so no matter what had been done to Remi’s brother, the emperor might not be as quick to believe his son was magic.

  Did they all know what she was? Yang certainly did, for he’d been there when Remi had driven the sword into her. He shivered at the memory. Despite his feelings, he knew his instincts were right. She was dangerous. And then there was the little maid, the new one who had served his mother.

  She had seemed to understand the accusations Lis threw at him, but she had shaken her head. He wasn’t sure if it was because she knew he wouldn’t believe her or because she didn’t want Lis to speak up. Did that put his mother at risk?

  He couldn’t talk to his mother of such an issue. He couldn’t ask her what she thought he was. Any sign that he was not what he claimed to be might put them both at risk. He stopped walking and looked around the quiet street he had found himself in. Lis had said she could sense him all along.

  Was his hunting a form of magic they had not considered? Could it be they’d had magic all along but had not learnt what power they had? Why couldn’t the other hunters sense him? They had discovered his hunting abilities at a young age; it was why he had been elevated and trained as he had. Whilst his brother had learnt the workings of the court and the Empire, Remi had learnt the secrets of hunting out those with magic.

  Now he was trying to do both. He hadn’t sensed the magic that had killed his brother, and he still had no idea what had occurred or who was responsible. He suddenly felt lost, as though he needed someone he could share his concerns with. Mu-Phi was not that person. She would blame Lis and endanger them both.

  Why am I getting so worked up over this? She is wrong.

  The hunter came around the corner and stopped, looking Remi over.

  ‘What have you found?’ Remi asked, hoping Hui Te-Sze couldn’t sense him as Lis claimed she could.

  ‘There is no sign of them anywhere.’ He shifted his head to the side, stretching out his scarred neck and wincing at the movement. ‘I have covered every inch of this island.’

  ‘What if they are Hidden?’

  ‘I think your princess is right. I think there are different kinds of magics, and those out to kill her are the kind we can sense.’

  Remi prickled at the idea of her being his princess. But the hunter’s words gave him pause.

  ‘You don’t think all magics should be killed?’

  The hunter shrugged. ‘The world is not what I thought it was.’

  Remi chewed his lip and nodded slowly.

  ‘Do you need me, Your Highness?’

  Remi shook his head. ‘Only to ask what you know. And to report that the princess has been attacked again,’ he added, then silently cursed himself. What am I doing?

  ‘By whom?’ the man asked slowly.

  ‘She seems to think by me,’ he said.

  The hunter looked around the small street before nodding once and then continuing in the direction he’d been headed.

  ‘You don’t trust her,’ Remi said, keeping pace with the man.

  ‘If she thinks it was you, it is for good reason. Perhaps someone has impersonated you?’

  ‘I was with her,’ Remi said, and the hunter stopped.

  ‘Tell me,’ he whispered, and Remi felt the uncertainty of what this man would do.

  ‘She thinks I have magic,’ he blurted.

  The hunter laughed. A loud, comfortable sound that reverberated from the walls surrounding them.

  ‘She was marked.’

  The hunter reigned in his laughter and looked over the prince. He sniffed at the air and walked around him. Remi tried not to sigh as the man gently touched a hand to his back, then to his chest as he rounded him.

  ‘I don’t sense anything.’

  ‘Could she try to trick others into believing it?’

  The hunter shook his head. ‘I know what she is,’ he said softly, ‘but I trust her completely.’

  ‘Completely?’ Remi repeated.

  The hunter nodded.

  ‘And what did she do to gain this trust?’ He couldn’t keep the anger from his voice.

  ‘You do not trust your hidden princess?’

  ‘She is magic,’ Remi said too loudly, then chewed his lip, worried someone over a wall somewhere might have heard.

  ‘She is not like the others.’ Te-Sze said.

  ‘How can we be sure?’

  ‘You really think that she would do this,’ he said. It wasn’t a question.

  ‘Then explain to me what has happened!’ The prince’s frustrations ran over.

  ‘I don’t know that I can. There is too much I don’t understand. What do we know of the Hidden? When did they appear? Are they connected to the Order of Huans that our hunters searched for during the war? Are any of them what we thought they were?’

  ‘Are we sure of anything?’

  The hunter shook his head. He winced a little, and Remi noticed how the tight skin at his neck caught on his armour.

  Remi sucked in a deep breath and tried not to sigh. ‘I’m lost,’ he admitted. ‘The people will look to me for answers, and I don’t know what to give them.’

  ‘Have you talked with your father?’

  ‘He won’t accept the danger, despite all that has occurred recently. He may not believe anything.’

  ‘What do you believe?’

  Remi shook his head. ‘I can’t have magic,’ he murmured.

  ‘I don’t think you do. Perhaps it was part of her fears.’

  ‘I thought you believed her.’

  ‘I do, but I could be persuaded. You saw what she did to herself.’

  ‘She appears scared all the time. Scared of the magics, of me, of herself in a way.’

  ‘She knows she is an anomaly that should have been ended when her father learned what she was.’ Te-Sze sighed. ‘I understand why he didn’t.’

  Remi openly stared at the man.

  ‘Would you have killed a child of your own if it was magic?’

  ‘I would have said yes, but I’m not sure now.’

  ‘I saw the hesitation when you knew what she was. I know you could not drive the sword through her, despite the magic,’ Te-Sze said.

  ‘I didn’t hear the fizzle. But she certainly holds magic.’

  ‘Are you worried she will hide again?’

  ‘She found her way to my palace; she has already hidden.’

  ‘But she didn’t run away. She ran to you,’ the man said with a sly smile.

  ‘Not to me, but to the knowledge I might have.’ Remi looked over his hands and sighed.

  ‘What does she think you have?’ the hunter asked quietly, moving him to the side of the walkway where they were poised to see if anyone was coming from either direction.

  ‘She didn’t… Fire,’ he said, his voice barely a whisper. ‘She said I burnt her.’

  ‘There has been no evidence of this before?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Remi snapped. ‘I can’t do this. There has been a mistake.’

  The hunter stared him down. Remi turned his back on the man and stalked off. He needed time to process this, to work out what she thought she had seen. Before he knew it, he was back at her palace.

  ‘She’s sleeping,’ Wei-Song said, meeting him at the door, and again he felt a familiarity with the woman. ‘And it took some time to calm her down.’

  ‘What happened?’ he asked.

  She shook her head, just as she had when Lis had tried to talk before.

  ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

  She opened her mouth and then closed it, her lips forming into an angry thin line. ‘
I am the one who watches over her,’ she said firmly after what felt like an age.

  ‘Will you always watch over her?’

  ‘If she needs me to.’

  He turned at the doorway but could not see into the room. ‘I suppose Healer Yang is watching over her as well,’ he murmured.

  ‘She was very distressed,’ Wei-Song said, looking towards the room.

  ‘I wouldn’t hurt her.’

  ‘Don’t keep saying that.’ Her voice was calm as she turned back to stare him down. ‘You do hurt her—you have hurt her. Even if you decide she should live long enough to be your empress, she will be broken long before then if you continue this way.’

  ‘I can’t find the magics,’ he said. ‘I can’t find a way to stop this.’

  ‘You are a hunter, are you not?’

  He nodded mutely.

  ‘Then hunt.’ Her voice carried a vehemence he didn’t expect, and he stepped back with the force of it to have the door shut in his face.

  A guard looked towards him with the sound of the door, but he looked away again when he focused on the prince. Remi headed out into the alleyway beyond the gate. The hunter had searched the entire island, but they had to be here somewhere. He took off at a fast pace into the morning sun as the warm weather brought people out into the streets. He worked his way through narrow streets towards the outer wall, until he found himself in an unfamiliar part of the island.

  He needed to get up higher, look over the whole island and get a feel for it; as he had done on the abandoned island. Only there was nowhere high enough, particularly now that the residence was gone. He smiled to himself, remembering the first day he had taken Lis to the hidden palace. When they had passed the temple, she had talked of climbing it. Only he didn’t think the crown prince should be climbing the temple like a child. He needed to get up on the wall.

  Chapter 13

  Lis found herself at the black gate. She knew she was dreaming again, but it felt real. The sun was hot on her skin, the air dry. She knew there was magic around her, but she couldn’t quite sense it. Couldn’t feel it like she had before, the hum of it across her skin. But she knew it was there all the same.

  She pushed on the gate, and it swung slowly inwards. Beyond was a courtyard, weeds growing through the blocks that no longer looked as smooth and level as she was sure they once had. There wasn’t a soul inside. As she stepped through the black gate into the still, desolate world on the other side, the gate swung shut behind her with a bang.