Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling (22 page)

She awoke feeling warm and dry and in the cosy softness of her bed. She felt happy but for a moment didn’t quite know how she got there. Then she suddenly remembered her hand and sat upright in her bed and held out her hand in front of her. No visible bones, no blood and no pain. She held it in front of her face and flipped it over and over a few times, she could move it as well, she flexed it, balling her fist and opening it wide again. The only indication of the injury was a very minor dull achy stiffness that was so feint that it barely registered at all.

Suddenly she was aware of Gentle Water as he sat next to her bed in the chair. He looked at her and smiled.

‘How do you feel?’ He asked.

‘Err, grand I guess. I feel fine.’ She flexed her hand once more as if to prove it to herself. ‘I’m a little disorientated, but I don’t have any pain anymore.’ She didn’t have any pain anywhere she realized, all her aches and scrapes she had been sporting also seemed to have gone, including the welt from his Essentia strike on her arm.

‘Good, I fixed your hand with Magic. You feint from pain, for best I think.’

‘You fixed my hand with Magic?’

Gentle Water nodded, ‘You were out for twenty minutes.’

‘And how did you get me back here?’

‘Magic.’ He winked at her as he spoke.

Amanda looked at her hand again and marvelled at it, there was no scarring, no sign of the damage she had done at all. ‘I’m sorry I messed up.’

Gentle Water shook his head. ‘No, do not worry. I should have explained, I used some other Magic with my Essentia Strike. It is my fault too.’

Amanda smiled. ‘So, you used Magic to heal me?’

‘Yes, you will learn it soon. So don’t hurt yourself until then, okay?’

‘Don’t worry, I have no intention of doing so. I don’t quite know why I did that. I just did it on impulse. I’m sorry, I’m an Ejit.’

Gentle Water nodded. ‘Do not worry, rest, we will continue when you are better.’

‘So, can you heal anything with Magic?’

‘If the Magi is powerful enough, yes.’

‘So if someone dies you can bring them back from the dead?’

Gentle Water pulled a face at the thought which had just passed through his mind before answering. ‘Necromancy.’

‘Necromancy?’ Amanda repeated, questioning her mentor.

‘Nomad Magic, very dangerous. If you use Magic to play with death, you use Necromancy. Those who use Necromancy are considered Nomads, and are cast out of Arcadians, some Magi kill those who use Necromancy. It is better not to play with death at all.’

‘Oh, so if someone had just died, you wouldn’t bring them back, you know, resuscitate them?’

‘If someone has just passed, seconds or just a few minutes ago, most Magi would not question it, usually. The real problems come when you bring someone back who’s been dead days, weeks or years. But, only powerful Magi can do this, I have not reached that level yet. Best advice? If you not sure, don’t do it.’

Amanda nodded, there was so much to take in.

He got up and left the room leaving Amanda alone, she dropped back to the pillow and lay on her side, holding her hand up before her face. Magic never failed to amaze her.

As she lay there, she thought back to her first few weeks with Howie once more, how much she appreciated the warmth and kindness he showed her.

He didn’t earn a lot as the Head Bouncer at the Dark Side of the Moon Nightclub he worked at, but he still went out and bought a whole load of clothes from some charity shops for her. Amanda didn’t have any money, so she helped out in whatever way she could, cooking and cleaning and acting like a kind of live-in maid.

Howie was a Biker, and she often sat and chatted to him as he worked on his Honda Fire Blade. His enthusiasm about his bike was infectious, and she still held a liking for bikes even now. She had loved going out with him on the bike, speeding along the freeways, the wind in her hair, it was exhilarating just to remember it.

A few weeks into living with Howie, Amanda begun to suspect that he was harbouring more than just feelings of friendship for her, but Amanda didn’t feel the same. Howie didn’t say a word to her about it, but Amanda thought it was pretty clear. She just wanted to be friends though, nothing more, so she just did what she could to keep things on a friendship level between them.

Howie worked most nights at the club, so he started to take her along with him so she got out of the apartment a bit. She was very much underage being fifteen, nearly sixteen, but she went in before the club opened and the staff quickly got to know her. She enjoyed the nights at the club, she met lots of interesting people and made a few new acquaintances.

In fact, it had been on one such night at the club that she had met Georgina for the first time.

Amanda flexed her Magically healed hand once more before her, she wondered what Georgina would have made of all this

The light covering of winter snow that had fallen during the night crunched satisfyingly underfoot as she approached the village that morning at a speedy jog. Her black silhouette stood out as she ran through a world covered in its white winter blanket. It was the first snow of the winter and it felt freezing cold.

Amanda loved the snow, she loved the sound it made as you walked through it and it compacted under foot. She loved the way it made even the most mundane things in the world look wonderfully picturesque and beautiful. The Blue Stack Mountains looked stunning in the snow, everywhere you turned there were picture postcard moments out here in the Irish countryside.

Christmas had come and gone and been a lovely quiet affair in the cottage with a roaring log fire, stockings hung on the fire place, warm hot chocolate, and a few gifts between friends. Amanda had managed to get hold of some Calligraphy tools and a few bits of clothing for Gentle Water while he had bought her some ornaments for the house, and a beautiful long Cheongsam Chinese style dress that fitted her perfectly. It was white with gold edging and black bamboo patterning on it. Amanda loved it and promised to wear it as soon as she could find a suitable occasion. She tried it on and did a little fashion show for Gentle Water which seemed to make his day. He also had managed to get her some bits of jewellery to go with the dress.

Their meal had been hearty and filling, and done to perfection, with a little aid from their magic to get it just right. The rest of the day they had played a few games, sat and talked about nothing in particular and watched a few choice programs on the television.

It had been a lovely quiet day, they both enjoyed it and the time off from the training. They had chosen to take a little break over the holiday period and enjoy themselves. The thing was though that neither of them saw their training as work anyway, it was something they loved doing and on these days off, they occasionally found themselves feeling quite board and thinking they might sneak in a little training here and there.

Recently Amanda’s training had focused on the area of Magic that was apparently referred to as Flux, but was basically the moving of things through Magic, something she had been doing a little of before she knew it was Magic she was using, all be it subconsciously.

Gentle Water had given her the basics of the theory of Flux and then over the next few months she had been practicing it both under Gentle Waters tuition and alone whenever she got the chance. She had already noticed that as the Magic got more powerful and advanced, the longer it would take to learn it.

Over the past few months Amanda had learnt some other tricks that Magi did to make their lives a little easier, Gentle Water had been up to one of these tricks already.

She had first noticed something when Gentle Water kept turning up with Cash to pay for his share of the bills every now and then. This hadn’t seemed odd when he was living away from her, but now he was here in the cottage, Amanda had finally taken notice. He didn’t seem to be keeping anything a secret and had never said anything about where he got it, so one day, after the latest deposit, she asked him where he was getting his money from.

Gentle Water just smiled at her and said, ‘Where do you think I get money from?’ in his usual casual tone.

Amanda looked blank for a moment, and then it clicked, and she smiled back. She suddenly understood that he was conjuring it from thin air, and with that a world of possibilities opened up before her. Suddenly she didn’t need to earn money, she could make it appear out of thin air once she was practiced enough.

As Amanda continued to think about this over the next few days she began coming to all sorts of conclusions about the ease of life as a Magi. They didn’t need to pay any bills or worry about money at all. Their houses could be Magically powered, and there was always another Twenty in their pockets once you knew how to conjure them. Amanda marvelled at these thoughts, it was astounding, and she knew her life would be much easier in the future, in this respect anyway.

She was half absorbed in these thoughts as the lane she was running down curved to the left and she saw the cottages and houses of the village come into view, their tiled or thatched roofs jutting out above hedge rows and trees. Amanda still liked to go for a morning run most days, sometimes just round the valley, other times she would head into town to pick up whatever supplies they needed or were short on.

Smoke rose from the chimney stacks atop the gables of some of the houses where warm hearth fires burnt within. Amanda knew the residents would be lovely and warm, looking out at the bright white morning and wondering if they could get away with not going out today at all.

No doubt if they saw Amanda run past, wearing her close fitting thermal leggings and long sleeved top with gloves, her red hair tied back to keep it out of her face and white mist puffing from her mouth as she went, they would think she was some kind of mad woman for going for a run on a day like this, but the reality was that Amanda felt very warm, the energy she burnt while running kept her temperature up. If anything, the experience felt quite invigorating.

Amanda had returned to the warmth of the cottage about half an hour ago and Gentle Water had a mug of hot coffee waiting once she had jumped out of a hot shower. She now sat in the living area with Gentle Water in front of the fire.

‘Gentle Water, you were telling me the other day how the Nomads and Arcadians are divided up into groups called Covens. I was wondering, what’s the name of the Coven you are part of?’

Gentle Water smiled at Amanda, ‘The Coven I belong to is called the Legacy, The Legacy is old and respected Magi House. The Arcadian Magi are governed by a Magi Council, the twelve Coven’s who founded the Council after fall of Magi Senate in Rome were named Magi Houses and have great standing in Arcadian society. The Legacy is based in Paris and has about thirty members, but it does fluctuate. Its Members are scattered all over world, not just in Paris, although they do return to Paris for meetings. Now I think it is time for some Magic. I would like to show you how magic can affect living organisms.’

Gentle Water sat with both feet planted firmly to the floor in front of him, he looked stiff and uncomfortable sat there, but Amanda knew he was at ease. Amanda however sat with her feet tucked in beside her, almost curled up, her hands cupped the warm half full mug in the way a squirrel holds a nut. She felt warm and contented, but knew they would be heading up to the clearing a little later for another bout of Martial Arts training, which she was looking forward to, it was just the biting cold wind she wasn’t so keen on.

‘Living organisms, sounds interesting.’

‘It is, you will learn things like healing. Adepts can heal cuts, bruises and common colds. Eventually you will be able to fix bones, and cure illness. It is very useful.’

‘Great, no more Flu for me.’

‘That not all, you can also enhance your body with this, anything is possible eventually. You could give yourself lots of arms, change sex, turn into animal and more. But at first, you will learn how to do small cosmetic changes, and a little later, anything that a mundane human body can achieve, meaning you can be fitter, stronger, more attractive, but not anything supernatural, not yet.’

‘This is great! So you mean this spot I have here,’ She pointed at the pimple on her chin, ‘I can just get rid of it?’

‘Yes, it works like any other Magic, you must be getting the hang of it now.’

Amanda nodded, her finger on her spot.

‘So, go and get a mirror and we can remove spot,’ he said.

Amanda carefully put her mug down before she leapt from the chair and dashed into her room. From her dressing table she snatched the small mirror and walked back into the living room eyeing the spot scornfully in the reflection. She sat herself back down in the chair and peeked at Gentle Water over the mirror.

‘Go ahead, you can do it.’

Eager to try, Amanda looked back at her small red blemish and then closed her eyes to relax herself. As she did, she felt the Magical Essence all around her and called upon it to do her bidding. As she watched in awe in the mirror, the Spot steadily faded and sank back into her skin, and within moments, it had disappeared.

Amanda couldn’t help the huge smile that painted itself across her face on seeing the pimple disappear, she felt over the moon, it was a revelation, and she couldn’t stop there. She looked up at Gentle Water, her eyes conveying the message without need for words or thought reading. Gentle Water smiled, and gestured away behind him.