The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘You didn’t lose,’ she said quickly.

  ‘But we are not in control. We haven’t won. There will be more fighting.’

  ‘And you will win that fight too. The hidden princess is gone. It is only men you face, only men with swords, whom you can demolish before they come close enough to scratch you.’

  Remi thought about the magics he had killed in his time as a hunter, many of them in close range, pushing his sword through them. They’d had so many chances to kill him, and yet… Maybe they weren’t as strong as he thought. Maybe they couldn’t win this as easily as the priestess claimed.

  Remi shook himself off. He was starting to think of all sorts of craziness rather than focus on what they had to do next. But then, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what to do next. And he wasn’t the one making the decisions. Lis had cried out something like that, that he needed to remember who he was. It was all too foggy now, the memory of what had happened, and he stopped and looked around. The compound contained men of all ages and magical abilities.

  ‘I have seen what you must do. I have seen what you will become. If you had sided with her, the world would be a very different place.’

  He nodded once. ‘Is different worse?’

  ‘It could be.’ She stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. The movement surprised him, but he didn’t pull away. She closed her eyes, stepped closer and leaned her forehead on his chest. For a strange moment, he wanted to close his arms around her, to hold her closer, but he remained as he was.

  ‘There is something very special deep inside of you. The people have waited generations for an emperor such as you.’

  ‘I’m not Emperor.’

  ‘You will be. You will be great,’ she whispered, looking up at him. Then she pushed herself against his chest and raised herself up to press her lips to his. He froze. And yet, as he closed his eyes, he saw himself on the throne, wearing the royal garb that marked him as Emperor.

  He closed his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. She ran her hand around his neck and through his hair as she kissed him more passionately. He felt a surge of wanting he hadn’t felt before, and then she was pulling away from him.

  She licked her lips and smiled. ‘I would have the greatest of visions with you,’ she said, then cleared her throat. ‘But it would be my last.’

  The lust that had surged through him disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

  ‘There is a great future for us,’ she whispered, adjusting her white cloak. Then she turned and walked away from him. He didn’t feel the same wanting as he watched her walk away, and he wondered where it had come from in such force to disappear so completely. He shook his head.

  He moved along the path from the gazebo towards the little rooms on the other side of the compound. No one had come to stay in these rooms. He wondered how long it would take and what they might do if they were to see the image of the lookalike Lis on the wall. He moved into that room first and sat back to look at her.

  In some ways, it reminded him of the way she had looked when they’d fought each other. The dress flowing around her, the serious look upon her face… but there was something else there, a kindness or gentleness beneath. She was a very beautiful woman. He knew he had chosen her for more than just her looks, but of all the girls that had lined up that day, he could only remember her.

  He stood quickly and moved to the next room. The faces that had been so overwhelming on his first visit and then disappeared had returned, and he didn’t know what had happened to make that occur or whether Lis herself had been involved. She had seemed so disappointed that day they had found them gone. Just the smooth white stone.

  He walked slowly around the room, studying each face. He hadn’t taken the time to do that before. One of them looked almost like Wei-Song, and he stopped to study it in more detail. In many ways, the white masks all appeared the same, but it could be her.

  The tiles covered the entire room, from the ceiling to the floor. Remi dropped to his knees to look over those on the lower levels. He paused at a chubby face smiling at him. She didn’t look familiar in any way, yet he felt something as he looked at her. He blinked back the odd feeling and continued. There was nothing of Lis here, and as he got to his feet, he realised he’d been looking for her here as well.

  He closed his eyes. He had been so determined to kill her. He needed to kill her to be what he was meant to be. But he missed her. And she had looked so amazing that day. It was a strange thought to have. He headed back out into the morning light, where others were starting to move about, and he followed their path towards the black gate and the training ground beyond.

  It had refused to provide him with any more information. The silver symbols remained locked away and he couldn’t pull a message forth no matter what he tried. One of the fire bearers had offered to burn through the black paint for him, but Remi knew it could only come from him. If he truly wanted, he could have done such a thing himself.

  The training ground was just as it had been when he had first visited it with Lis, and despite her skills he could still see a faint outline where her circular garden had been.

  ‘It is time to forget what you had,’ the priestess said, standing beside him and looking over the dried grasses and weeds that sat amongst the cracked stones. ‘You must focus on your future.’

  He nodded and looked over the group filling the yard. The woman beside him ran her hand along his arm, and he shivered. There was much for him to do.

  Chapter 3

  ‘Explain to me again how this has happened?’ the emperor asked. Sitting back on his throne, he looked across the room rather than at the empress as she stood before him.

  She tried to maintain her composure and keep the frustration from her voice. ‘This isn’t my fault. It was bound to happen sooner or later given the amount of magic around.’

  ‘Where have you heard such things?’ he demanded, glaring at her.

  ‘I have seen it with my own eyes. What do you think I do with my days? Were you not aware that your eldest son was murdered by magic?’ Her anger bubbled to the surface, and she was scared she would say too much. Although he knew it all by now.

  ‘The girl,’ he said simply.

  ‘Is your child, the one you ordered me to kill when she was an infant.’

  ‘But you didn’t.’

  ‘She was my child.’

  ‘And that is why you hid the boy.’

  ‘You mean the crown prince, the future emperor of our Empire and the last of your line. He had no magic skill other than that of a hunter. Not until the hidden princess and their connection.’

  ‘Did you know what she was when you chose her from the line?’

  ‘Again, no I did not. And it was your son who selected her, as well as yourself.’

  He grumbled something, and she chewed on her lip.

  ‘What else have you hidden from me?’ he asked finally, not for the first time in the last few days.

  She knew why he kept asking, but she had hoped he would have some trust in her and what she had done to support him over the years. She sighed. ‘No matter what you want to believe, he is your son and she is your daughter.’

  ‘You were directed…’

  ‘I saw your face when she stood before you all those months ago,’ she said quickly. ‘And despite your concerns for magic, you are pleased I didn’t carry out such an order.’

  ‘But you won’t tell me who else you involved in your plan, and Remi has been destroying the Empire I have built.’

  ‘He is finding his way. If he were to find Lis, I am sure they could help each other.’

  ‘What skills does she have? Could she burn us to the ground?’

  The empress shook her head.

  ‘How did they hide so well from the hunters?’

  ‘We have discussed this,’ she said shortly, losing her patience. ‘And it does nothing to fix the problems we are now faced with. We need help to determine what magic we can work with an
d what we must fight against.’

  ‘Work with?’ he asked, leaping from the throne. ‘Have you lost all your senses?’

  ‘There are some who want to work with us, some who want to destroy us. There is a prophecy that Lis and our son may be the answer to this, to bring the people and magic back together.’

  ‘A prophecy,’ he scoffed.

  ‘Like the one that foretold you would be the strongest emperor the world has ever seen.’

  He sat back down slowly.

  The empress looked at her husband, the strong, distant man who was in control of so much. Not only his feelings, but the entire Empire. In some ways he was covered in more blood than their son, yet he had never lifted a hand. He had always directed others to do his bidding.

  Now he sat slumped on the wide throne, which made him look small and lost. She stepped forward and sat beside him, putting her arm around his shoulder and pulling him closer. He didn’t resist her in any way. It had been many years since he had rested his head on her shoulder, and she had never once sat with him on the throne.

  ‘I have proved myself,’ she said quietly, stroking his hair gently back from his face. ‘The Empire needs unity. It needs your strength, and it needs our son and his bride to work together.’

  ‘She has magic. They can never wed now.’

  ‘He has magic. Half the world has magic. You can’t stop it, and thinking you can only shows foolishness. The Empire does not want a foolish emperor.’

  ‘You push my limits,’ he said, his voice carrying some of the strength she was trying to pull from him. ‘Bring me a priestess,’ he murmured, leaning closer to her.

  ‘I don’t…’ the empress started.

  ‘Yes sire,’ a quiet voice murmured from the other side of the screen. She heard the soft footfalls of a retreating servant.

  ‘We are never alone,’ she said, pushing him away. ‘After all I have done, there is still no trust.’

  ‘We are alone now, and what you are about to learn is known by no one but myself. Even they do not know that I know.’

  She glared at him. ‘I don’t trust the high priestess,’ she said. ‘Her predecessor tried to kill me.’

  ‘As they have tried at times to kill me and probably will again.’

  ‘How?’ she asked.

  ‘Not well enough,’ he said, standing slowly and straightening himself. He ran his hand over his hair to smooth out where she had touched him.

  He held out a hand and she took it, surprised by the strength in his grip as he pulled her to her feet. He looked her over and then ran the back of a finger down her cheek. The motion surprised her, and the feel of his skin on hers shocked her.

  ‘A united front,’ he whispered as the door opened.

  ‘The high priestess,’ the man announced as she appeared. Then he disappeared, and the woman moved forward in a smooth gait. She smiled and gave a shallow nod of her head. A priestess never bowed low to the emperor. They worshipped a higher power even than his, the empress had once heard claimed, but she had rarely seen them bow down to the gods of the temple either.

  ‘You wish to see me, Your Eminence,’ she said, her voice calm as she smiled, again, at the emperor. She hadn’t even glanced at the empress.

  ‘I have called you here because of the troubles currently plaguing our Empire.’

  ‘The magics?’ she interrupted.

  He nodded once.

  ‘I know nothing of the magics,’ she said, ‘other than what I have seen in the streets. How does Your Eminence bear such a burden?’

  ‘More easily than you would like, I am sure. But it is your knowledge that I have called you here for.’

  ‘I have just…’

  He held up a hand and cut her off. ‘You will tell me what you have seen.’

  ‘In the streets?’

  ‘In the temple. In your visions.’

  She took a step back, then dropped to her knees and bowed before the emperor. ‘I have no visions.’

  ‘I know where the prophecies come from. I know that the priestesses have a long history of visions. Some have seen more than others; some claim to see it all. You are now the high priestess. Young as you are, your power must be great. And despite your gods, I am your emperor, and you will tell me what you have seen.’

  She sat back slowly and looked at him carefully. ‘Where have you learnt such stories?’ she asked, and the empress knew he was right.

  It seemed everyone had a power of some kind. She wondered what the priestesses might do with it. Or what they were trying to do with it now.

  ‘When I was a boy, and my hidden princess was hidden away learning to be my bride, I met a girl.’ The empress looked at him. He had never told her such things before. He turned with a friendly smile and indicated that she sit on the throne. Which she gladly did. He held out his hand, and she took it. ‘She was my friend.’

  The empress nodded once, her hand still held tight in his, and he turned back to the priestess.

  ‘She was a sweet girl, a maid, in the laundry, I think. And one day when I was hiding from my father and his anger at my lack of skill with a bow, I found her hiding in my usual place. She was crying and unable to stop. Her cheeks were red and swollen where she had been wiping over them with her sleeve, attempting to stem the tears.’ He took a deep breath. ‘She was so pretty,’ he mused, ‘and I took her hands and asked her to close her eyes and breathe slowly. I had seen my father do the same with my mother when she became excited. Her tears stopped and she smiled, but then she gripped my hands tight and chewed her lip. I wondered if she was scared we would be discovered, because she looked so frightened.’

  ‘When she opened her eyes,’ he said, turning to the empress, ‘she told me she’d had a vision of me, as a man, strong and ruling a peaceful kingdom. I thought she was trying to be nice, but there was still an uncertainty there. After we talked for a little while, she told me she had dreamt of me, and of the danger and blood we would see. That was why she’d been crying. She feared what was to come. But she didn’t want to tell the laundry mistress what she had dreamed in case they thought she was planning to harm the royal family.’

  He sat down beside his wife. The priestess drew in a breath.

  He smiled. ‘You have seen the two sharing the throne. But no one has been clear as to who they are. I think what you have seen is yet to come.’ He pulled his wife’s hand into his lap, and she wondered at the contact, for he had never been so close before other than to produce children. Was this other girl the reason? Did he care for someone else?

  ‘She had more visions, both waking and sleeping, that showed her various moments of my life to come. She foretold my son’s death by magic, and it was why I was so keen to go to war once we realised the true threat that they were.’

  ‘What happened to her?’ the empress asked.

  ‘Our hiding place was not discovered,’ he said with a smile, ‘but her skills were, and she disappeared. It was a long time before I saw her again, and when I did she was a priestess, visiting the Palace Isle before she returned to the Sacred Isle to teach others. I didn’t have the chance to talk with her. But I visited the temple hoping she was still there. I asked some questions of the priestesses, thinking I was subtle, but I was a young man desperate to find his friend. She was gone, and she hasn’t returned since. I asked why she would become a priestess, and I was told she had been called. All those who turn to the priestess way of life have a calling and know that is what they are from a young age. I wondered if I hadn’t really known her, if her passion for the gods was greater than her friendship with me. But it wasn’t about me; it was her skill. Her visions had called her to be with others who were the same.’

  ‘You guess at her calling as you guess at her true skill,’ the priestess said.

  ‘She had told me she would leave, that there were others and they needed her.’

  ‘She would not have told you any such thing,’ the priestess said. ‘A laundry girl with a prince. She hoped to be your lov
er.’

  ‘She was ten,’ he snapped, standing. ‘And only eleven when she disappeared. She was a scared child,’ he continued.

  ‘Does she still live?’ the empress asked. ‘She would tell you the truth now of what they are.’ She pointed to the priestess. ‘Call her here.’

  ‘They have no name, once they join the priestesses. But it is enough that I know what they are, that they are the source of all the visions and prophecies.’

  The priestess before them glared, and then she sighed. She knelt slowly before the throne again and touched her head to the floor. ‘I will tell you what you want to know.’

  ‘This is true?’ the empress asked, standing quickly to join her husband.

  ‘It is kept from everyone. Not a soul outside the priestesses know of what we are.’

  ‘Someone does.’

  ‘I have had visions of your future.’

  ‘How can we believe what you have to tell us?’ the empress asked.

  ‘Your son will lose himself.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ the empress asked. ‘Could you not tell us something real?’

  ‘He will find himself with the throne.’

  ‘It is as though she talks in riddles,’ the empress sighed.

  ‘It may be that she does not have the skill to decipher what she sees.’

  The woman’s face hardened at the emperor’s words. ‘I see it all,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a child’s simplicity to tell you what I think it means. I tell you what I see.’

  ‘You see the end of this fight?’

  She nodded. ‘But I have seen different versions. It will depend on others and what they do. People will follow a path, if you lead them. Your son is led down one, but if he could be convinced to travel another, the future may be different.’

  ‘Do you hope for one outcome over another? Would you influence his path if you could?’ the empress asked.

  ‘Perhaps I already do.’ She smirked. ‘Or perhaps I would rather let it play out and see what happens. I see only what the gods choose to show me.’