The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘Lis walked back through it from the baths,’ Remi said.

  ‘My barrier isn’t working at all,’ Lis said. ‘Only some of my skills returned, and now they seem to have disappeared as well.’

  ‘We have to destroy the dust,’ Yang said. ‘It is the only way. I can help expel it from the body. Then if we can move it away and burn it while we find a way to prevent it getting back into the body…’ He put his hand to the mask across his face. ‘The water in this helps slow it down. But the movement of the flames pushes the dust about, and I fear we can’t remove it at all. They may have the entire Empire covered in the stuff by now, and we will never be able to work magic again.’

  Lis looked at Remi and then around the square. The fighting continued around them as though they were islands in a stormy sea.

  ‘What of the phoenix?’ Remi asked, stepping in closer to Yang in case anyone heard the word over the noise.

  ‘We can’t form it like this,’ Lis said. ‘I have nothing, and now you won’t even be able to lift a flame.’

  Remi smiled and held out his hand, but she was right. Nothing happened, and he didn’t realise he would miss the fire as much as he did. But as he let his hand drop, she stepped up to him and took his hands in hers. The smile on her face lit up the darkening world around her.

  ‘The fire still burns,’ she whispered.

  He shook his head.

  ‘I can see it in your eyes,’ she said, and then Yang was close behind her, looking into his eyes as well.

  ‘There may be a way,’ he murmured.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Remi asked, and for the first time he was nervous of the lean healer. There was a spark of a different kind behind his eyes, and Remi wondered what he might do to help end this.

  He called the wind bearer closer. ‘I am going to expel the dust,’ Yang said. ‘The wind will blow it away from you.’ He looked at Remi and nodded. ‘Long enough that you can burn.’

  ‘Burn what?’

  ‘All of you, let it go—let it take control. That will stop the dust from settling on you again. Then while you burn, I will do the same for Lis and she can step into your flames and…’ He held his arms out.

  ‘And what?’ Remi asked.

  ‘You let the phoenix fly.’

  ‘How is that going to help everyone else?’

  ‘I think he might be right,’ Lis said softly.

  Remi cleared his throat and then looked around the square. If they didn’t do something, there would be nothing left. Too many had died already. He nodded once.

  Lis took a step back. The wind bearer nodded, and Yang placed his hand on Remi’s back. He wanted to cough as a strange sensation filled his chest and a bitter taste filled his mouth. And as the dust sparkled in the sunlight before his face, a wind blew it away from him.

  He watched for a moment as it moved over the people around them, and then he allowed the fire to take hold. It moved quickly across his skin, the heat comforting. He let it burn, allowing it full control.

  Yang moved behind Lis, and Remi assumed he held his hand to the middle of her back as he had done with him. Again, the dust sparkled in the sun as it was lifted away from her by the wind, and she was stepping into his flames.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him. They stood for what seemed like an age, the fire raging around them. And as others in the square moved away from them, he thought he could die happy here, if that was their fate, together.

  As he allowed the thought to take hold, he felt the shift in the flames, and Lis glanced up at him. Then he was sure they lifted off the ground. The great wings of the beast surrounding them beat slowly as they lifted higher.

  Everyone in the square dropped to their knees, and he assumed it was at the sight of the phoenix as so many others had done before. But then they appeared to be doubled over coughing. Remi wondered how Yang could reach so many, but he too was on his knees.

  The dust swirled up and around the square, glistening in the sun like a silver cloud. As the wings continued to beat and the phoenix they created carried them higher into the sky, the cloud moved with them. He looked down on the world, appearing like a map beneath them. The Palace Isle and the boats dotted the deep blue sea around them. Long wisps of silver cloud moved towards them from the other islands, as though pulled to them.

  ‘I dreamt this,’ Lis whispered, ‘only the world was burning.’

  As she said it, the cloud rushed at them, and she clung to him a little tighter. As the silver cloud reached the phoenix, it burst into flames. The fire fuelled their own, and it continued to grow as the dust flowed into the flames.

  They stayed where they were for a moment, and then Lis carefully moved one arm up and around his neck, then the other. As she kissed him, the fire flared and the beast around them grew larger. Remi could make out the feathers of flames across the broad wings, and he could almost see the face. It was an odd sensation, as though they were the beast, inside the beast and beside the beast all in the one instant.

  And then Lis was releasing her hold on him. For a moment he thought they might fall from the sky, until he felt the firm ground already beneath his feet. Around them, the world was silent.

  Chapter 36

  Lis allowed Yang to check her pulse, but as they sat together on the edge of the covered walkway, her arm across his lap, his focus was on Wei-Song sitting in the small garden by the wall.

  She had said very little since the phoenix had cleared the dust and the world had changed. The fighting had stopped as though they had all realised they had been fighting the same thing, magic or not, and a different conversation had started. Several leaders had been asked to meet again as the council they had tried to form, and they were to meet with the emperor.

  Pulling from Yang’s loose hold on her, Lis headed across to sit with Wei-Song in the sun. They sat in silence for a time, Wei-Song not even acknowledging that Lis was there, and then she took Lis by the hand.

  ‘I can’t seem to get warm,’ she murmured. ‘All this sunshine, and the heat is pulled from my body like I can do to a room.’

  Lis pulled her into her arms, and as Wei-Song’s head rested on her shoulder, she started to cry. Yang stood up, but Lis gave him a subtle shake of her head, and he sat back down again. There was little they could do for her, other than support her and give her the time she needed to heal.

  ‘Remi would like you to be on the council,’ Lis whispered.

  ‘I can’t,’ Wei-Song said, pulling back.

  Lis smiled. ‘Who better to represent the school?

  ‘It is not the same,’ she murmured.

  ‘Excuse me, little hidden princess, but I think you are the perfect person. Master Yangshing taught you as he did for a reason. He raised you to use your magic to help the Empire.’

  Wei-Song nodded and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

  ‘I know you miss him. When my mother died, I thought I would be consumed by the pain, but it gets easier.’

  ‘He was more than my teacher,’ Wei-Song whispered.

  ‘I know,’ Lis said. ‘He was your family, as we are. Let us help you carry some of the pain.’

  ‘Please let us help,’ Remi said, and Lis looked up with surprise, unaware that he was there. As Wei-Song nodded, he pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. ‘It is so good to have you here, little sister.’

  Wei-Song smiled and wiped again at her face as Remi let her go.

  ‘I never thought you would truly accept me,’ she said.

  He bowed before her and then gave her a bright smile. ‘It is time we stand before the emperor.’ He held out his hand to help Lis to her feet, and she looped her arm through his.

  Yang stood slowly from the step. Although Lis wanted to run forward and support him, she remained where she was as Wei-Song stepped in. He smiled sadly down on her head as she guided him forward.

  The ministers stood in their neat ordered lines in silence. Advisor Gan stepped forward and bowed
low to them as they took their place before the emperor. Others had gathered in the room as well, including the men who had helped Lis return from the baths and then tried in vain to stop the fighting in the square.

  Lis smiled at them, and they bowed to her before turning their attention back to the emperor. He, as he stood from the throne, appeared to be the man he had been before—firm, strong and confident. Although Lis couldn’t think of him in the same way. Too many had turned out to be not what she had thought.

  The empress stood silently to the side of the throne. She appeared as she had when Lis had first seen her at the Choosing, and Lis wondered at the times they had laughed over the little table in her palace. Had the empress had a chance to be who she really was in those private moments, or was it another act to get from Lis what she needed?

  ‘We have representatives of the Empire for the council,’ the emperor said. ‘Is there anyone you would like to nominate who has not already been named?’

  Remi pulled away from Lis, Wei-Song’s hand tight in his. They bowed together before the emperor. ‘I would nominate my sister, Yangshing Wei-Song,’ Remi said, and Lis noted the small smile Wei-Song gave him before she put her hand to her chest and bowed again to the emperor. ‘To represent the Order of Huans, the Hidden.’

  The empress opened her mouth and then closed it, then looked at Lis with the disappointment Lis had hoped she would never see again.

  ‘I am honoured to have you,’ the emperor said, a little less enthusiastically than his previous words.

  There was a long way to go, but together, Lis was sure they could create an Empire stronger than the one they had shared before the magic war.

  Epilogue

  Lis watched as the children ran free around the courtyard. Flames, wind, and small clouds of lightning all tumbled around the space. She watched her son, Te-Sho, run at the front of a group, striking the ground with lightning and then watching as the ground opened and closed before him.

  His twin sister, Ying, sat in the grass and looked up at the wall. Although she often ran around with the others, she hadn’t shown any signs of magic. She gave Lis a small sad smile as she sat beside her and wrapped her in her arms.

  ‘It isn’t fair, Mama,’ Ying said, but there wasn’t a whine to her voice. ‘I can’t do what they can.’

  ‘Maybe you are made of different stuff,’ Lis said softly. ‘What would you really like?’ she asked. ‘If you could wish anything forward?’

  Ying held her hand out over the grass, but nothing happened and she let her hand fall.

  ‘Why don’t we try together?’ Lis offered.

  Lis held the child by the wrist and allowed her to guide what they did. She could feel the wanting in her, trying to push through the skin. ‘Let it come,’ she whispered.

  A blade of grass pushed a little taller than the others, and then it shot up and caressed Ying’s hand. Leaves sprouted along its length, which quickly turned to thorns, and a plump bud developed on the end. Lis waited, her breath held, and a bright yellow flower burst forth, its long, slender petals pulsing back and forth.

  Te-Sho ran over. ‘Well done, Mama,’ he said.

  The flower grew taller and thicker until it was the height of the boy, and then the petals pulled together to form a face that snapped at him. He laughed and ran off. The flower turned to Ying, kissed her cheek and then withdrew to the size it had been before.

  Lis could feel the disappointment ebb from the child. She wrapped her arms tight around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

  ‘You should be happy with that,’ Lis said. ‘I have never seen a flower behave in such a way.’ The flower turned to look at her, and she was sure it smiled.

  ‘But you did it, Mama.’

  Lis shook her head.

  ‘Did you do this?’ Remi asked, walking towards them.

  Lis gave Ying a nudge. ‘Make it grow,’ she whispered. She let her go, and then Ying raised her fingers to the sky. The plant grew quickly, reaching Remi’s height easily. He looked a little nervous as the flower folded its petals inward. Lis wondered if it would snap at him and what he might do in return. But it arranged the petals differently, and she was sure it grinned at him.

  He scooped the child up and swung her around. When he set her down, she raced off to join the other children. The eldest of the group, Ku-Aing, smiled towards Lis as she took Ying’s hand. Not really a child anymore, Ku-Aing was a young woman. She had very little magic skill, but she was content and had happily joined Lis and Remi and their children, easily becoming part of the family.

  Lis had not hesitated when the girl had asked to be given the name Lis had considered so long ago. Now that the visions had returned, she still smiled and answered to her name, but as yet, Ku-Aing wasn’t willing to tell them what she saw.

  Lis was grateful that she didn’t know what was to come, and that the visions rarely gave the girl nightmares.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Special thanks to the team at Deranged Doctor Designs (DDD) for facilitating absolutely brilliant cover design work and all the marketing extras. Thank you for your support and beautiful covers.

  TWG members: Melissa, Matthew J Morrison, John Hargreaves, Sue Larsen, Nicholas Jansen and Chantelle Griffith for listening and support in all things writing related. Special thanks to Yasmin and Belinda for taking the time to read and comment on my stories.

  Allison E Wright for wonderful editing work. She smooths out my words and saves me from a lack of commas.

  My parents, Francine and Ken Smith. Amazing, supportive people who I don’t thank often enough. Thanks for keeping me grounded and being the best grandparents ever.

  As always, Temwa for being my biggest supporter.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Georgina Makalani survives life as a servant of the public by hiding in her office at lunch time with dragons, witches, a laptop and a little bit of magic.

  For more about Georgina and her books visit her website: www.theflowofink.com

  Also by Georgina Makalani

  The Magics of Rei-Een:

  The Hidden Princess

  Hidden Promises

  The Hidden Phoenix

  The Raven Crown Series:

  Raven’s Dawn

  The Caged Raven

  Raven’s Edge

  The Legend of Iski Flare (Novella series):

  The Legend Begins

  Red Wolves

  The Riddle of Daralis

  The Last Child

  The Tree Maiden

  Reflections

  The Beast

  The Circus of Wonder

  Other Stories:

  The Mark of Oldra

  The Heart of Oldra

  Short Stories:

  Stuffed Frogs and Spinning Teacups

  Searcher

  The Silence (in Glimpses)

  Are you keen to learn how the magic war started? Would you like to learn more about the Empire of Rei-Een? Sign up for Georgina’s newsletter and receive a copy of The End of Magic. You will also get regular updates on new releases, sales and promotions and learn more about her writing life.