the huntress 04 - eternal magic (15 page)

“They are worse,” Alton said. “Because they are not Magica, and FireSouls are always Magica, they are even less trusting of them. We have never been able to form an agreement with the Alpha Council.”

“They captured a FireSoul about a month ago,” I said. “I saw him in their headquarters at Glencarrough.”

“We know. We have been planning a rescue, but those so rarely work. We will try anyway.”

“You try to rescue the FireSouls held at the Prison for Magical Miscreants?”

“We do, though we are not often successful. The protections are too great at the prison. But we try. With our decreased numbers, it is one of the few things we can do to help our kind.”

Wow. These guys were like heroes or something. All Nix, Del, and I had ever done was run and lay low and accumulate our hordes. I suddenly felt like a selfish slacker.

“Were my parents part of this?”

“Yes,” Alton said. “Ethan and Alice McFane were two of our leaders.”

“You came here once when you were an infant,” an older man said. Though his dark skin was creased with lines and his hair turned partially white, he had the bearing of a warrior, and wisdom radiated from him. I thought his name was Castille. “But once you were born, the McFanes decided they wanted to give you a normal life. As best they could. So they bought the house on Inismor.”

“Why there? It’s so barren.”

“The Black Fort holds powerful magic,” Castille said. “Ancient magic that is thousands of years old. It was one of the few places strong enough to support an Everlong Portal like the one that is currently there. And it provides protection.”

“And the statues? This whole Triumvirate business?” Del asked. “What’s all that about?”

“According to legend, you three were prophesied,” Alton said.

“By who?”

“An ancient seer, long dead. Her prophecy was recorded on the walls of a passage tomb in central Ireland.”

At my confused look, he said, “A chambered cairn, some call them.”

Ah, right.
“But passage tombs are over five thousand years old.” 

I’d never been inside one of the massive piles of stone that had rooms built inside. They often looked like nothing more than small, odd hills. Their secrets lay within, but they’d never had anything to tempt me. “Writing didn’t exist then.”

“Not as we know it, no. But the seer’s message has been passed down for generations. We didn’t know when the Triumvirate would arrive, only that they were the physical manifestations of the balance between life, death, and magic. And that they would be faced with a great task.”

“A series of tasks,” Castille added.

“Great,” Del muttered.

“One for each?” Nix asked.

“We think,” Alton said. “But we do not know. That is for you to find out. We believe you must fight something greater than yourself.”

“I need my magic if I’m to accomplish some great task,” I said. The hollowness inside me felt even wider now that I knew I had some prophesied great task to accomplish. Without my power, I couldn’t handle my own life recently, much less a
Great Task.

“And what about the statues at the Black Fort?” Nix asked. “Were they built there? Did my parents live near there?”

“And mine?” Del asked.

“I am sorry, but we do not know about either of your parents,” Castille said. “Those statues were not built by human hands. When the McFanes moved to Inismor, the statues formed there. By magic, we believe, because they never saw anyone go to the Black Fort and erect them. It’s as if the place were waiting for your arrival, Cassiopeia.”

“Whoa, slow down.” This was getting a lot more serious than I’d anticipated. “It sounds like you’re saying I’m some kind of chosen one.”

“And Del and Nix.” Alton gestured to them.

“I don’t think we’re qualified,” Del said.

“I agree.” I nodded vigorously.

“Other people disagree,” Alton said. “Victor Orriodor is one of them.”

“Him? What do you know about that bastard?” I asked.

“He is the rogue FireSoul that our league was formed to defeat.”

Oh boy.
This was getting a lot more complex. And a lot scarier. I wanted Victor to be some nobody power-hungry asshat, not some ancient, all powerful evil that inspired the formation of a magical Justice League. 

I glanced at Del and Nix. Their queasy expressions showed they were thinking the same.

“So he’s been alive for centuries,” I said.

“Yes. When he kidnapped you eleven years ago, we staged a rescue attempt,” Alton said.

“Eleven years ago was the battle that decimated your numbers,” I said.

“It was the same battle. We failed to save you. Your parents and many others died in that fight.”

“All to save me?” Horror welled in my chest, pushing on my ribs.

“And them.” Alton indicated Del and Nix. “We didn’t know who they were, but we assumed that if Victor Orriodor had you, he might have the other members of the Triumvirate. We had waited for you for thousands of years. We couldn’t let you die.”

Then they had died trying to save the Triumvirate, not me, for whatever great task we were prophesied to accomplish. That was a bit less massively guilt-inducing.

“Thank you to all who fought to save us,” I said through a tight throat. How many people had lost their lives trying to free us? It was awful.

“So, what the heck are we supposed to do that’s so important?” Del demanded.

“We believe that one task may be to defeat Victor Orriodor,” Alton said. “We will give you what help and information we can.”

“To get my power back,” I said. “I only have a few days before I’m prophesied to meet Victor Orriodor. If I don’t have my power by then…” The hourglass was flowing, and my death was at the end.

“You have time,” Castille said. “Though the time for talking is done. We will show you what you need to know.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“To defeat your enemy, you must understand him,” Corin said.

“All right, Master Splinter,” I said.

Corin grinned. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”

I shrugged. “It’s a pretty high compliment to be compared to a Ninja Rat. He was very wise.”

“Fair enough,” she said. “I’ll take it.”

We had been fed a quick lunch in one of the medieval-looking kitchens and were now standing in the courtyard with Alton and Corin.

“If you are ready, I’ll take you to see a moment in Victor Orriodor’s past,” Corin said.

“She’s an Illusory,” Alton said.

“Wow,” I said. I’d love to bring her on some of my temple-raiding jobs. An Illusory could bring the past back to life, replaying events so that present-day people could see them. Illusories were incredibly rare, but I was fascinated by their power.

“Ready?” Corin asked. 

She’d replaced her paint-splattered t-shirt with the same red leather armor that Alton wore and had two wicked swords crossed over her back in an X-shaped sheath. With her short blond hair, dark eyes, and firm jaw, she looked like a total badass.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know where we were headed, but I wanted whatever answers were on the other end.

She drew a small black stone from her pocket. A transport charm.

“Do you have any more?” I asked.

“A small stockpile, though they’ve recently become harder to come by.” She grimaced. “The supply is almost completely cut off. Any wizard we’ve gone to in the past month no longer has them. All sold.”

I frowned and nodded. “Victor Orriodor. We think he’s stockpiling. We’ve had the same trouble finding them.”

“He improves his ability to pop out of the air and attack his enemies while cutting off their easy escape,” Nix said.

“Bastard,” Del muttered.

“That’s the truth.” Corin’s eyes glinted hard. 

I wondered if she’d lost anyone in the battle to save us eleven years ago. 

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yes,” Del said for all of us.

Corin threw the stone to the ground in front of us. It exploded into a glittery gray cloud, and we walked in.

I stepped out on the other side into a massive old-growth forest. The sun was low in the sky, close enough to the horizon that it was probably late afternoon. The forest looked and smelled a lot like the one outside of Aidan’s childhood home, not far from the lands of the Alpha Council headquarters at Glencarrough.

“Are we in Scotland?” I asked, thinking of the hovel where Aidan had spent much of his youth.

“Yes,” Corin said. “Though this area hasn’t been inhabited for hundreds of years.”

She pointed to a low stone wall that was only about two feet tall. I walked to it, realizing that it was the footprint of a small home. All that remained were the broken down walls. Corin went to another small stone wall footprint and pointed to it. It was only about ten feet away from the main house and had probably been an outbuilding.

“Where are we?” I asked.

Corin gestured for me to join her near the footprint of the outbuilding. “Come here and I’ll show you.”

Nix, Del, and I went to her side. She waved her hand toward the old house, and her magic rose on the air. It shivered against my skin like lapping waves.

A moment later, the walls of the house appeared, though they shimmered with a slight transparency. It was a small place, with a thatched roof and only a few tiny windows. Very old, from the looks of it.

The distant beat of horse hooves rumbled the ground. I looked around, trying to find them, but saw only trees. They were still a ways off, though coming fast.

“Can they see us?” I whispered to Corin.

She shook her head.

A woman came out of the house, her apron dusted with flour. Her dress was a drab brown and some kind of old style. Medieval, maybe. Or a bit later. She scanned the forest, her expression terrified.

“It’s them, Felix! Argus, come here!” She ran back into the house, but appeared a moment later, towing a small boy by his arm.

He had messy brown hair and looked to be about twelve years old.

“Leave off, Mum!”

“This is what I’ve been telling you about.” Her voice was frantic as she towed him toward us and the outbuilding. “They are coming. You
must
obey me.”

Hurriedly, she yanked open the door to the outbuilding and pulled Argus inside. I peered around the door to see in.

She kicked away some straw to reveal a door in the floor.

“I’m not getting in there!” Argus said.

“You will! This is why we’ve been hiding, Argus. They’ve found us. You must hide.”

“No!” He started to cry, tears spilling down his cheeks. 

The woman dropped to her knees and hugged him. “I love you, Argus. But you must hide. Do not come out for anything.” She shook him lightly. “Do you hear me? For anything. Wait until all is quiet. Come out, but continue to hide. Forever.”

He shook his head frantically. “No! Hide with me.”

“I cannot.”

A man appeared at my side. I jumped, though he was also a semi-transparent apparition. 

“Do as your mother says, son.” His dark eyes were weary. Defeated. “It is the only way.”

The boy threw himself at his father and hugged him. The sound of hoof beats grew louder.

The man squeezed him as the woman opened the hatch. Argus struggled as his father picked him up and lowered him into the hole.

“Stay,” he commanded. “No matter what you hear, stay. Tell no one what you are.”

“No!” Argus looked up, his face tearstained.

“Hurry!” his mother said to the man. She looked at Argus. “I love you.”

The man lowered the hatch and covered it with straw. The hoof beats were nearly here. My heart thundered as I listened for whatever was coming.

The man and woman hurried away from the outbuilding.

“They have no reason to suspect us,” the woman whispered. “We’ve done nothing wrong. They must let us go.”

“You know they don’t need proof of what we are. Or proof of wrongdoing.” The man leaned over and pulled the woman to him, then pressed a hard kiss to her forehead. “I love you, Lily Crane.”

She squeezed him, blinking back tears, and they hurried toward their house.

Just as they were re-entering, a dozen mounted men arrived in the small clearing. They wore old style armor and had full beards, and they formed a circle around Felix and Lily and the house.

“Felix and Lily Crane?” the biggest man demanded.

“We are not them,” the man said.

“We have reports that two FireSouls have been living on this land. We have orders to locate them and treat them appropriately,” he said.

Felix opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but he raised a hand and threw a massive fireball at the leader. Magic rose in the air, many signatures at once. Scents, sounds, feelings. 

Lily’s body glowed as smoke rose up from the forest floor, obscuring her and Felix. The horses stomped their hooves as their riders leapt off. 

They stalked toward the gray cloud that hid Lily and Felix. Balls of flame and smoke burst from the cloud, heading straight for the advancing attackers.

A burst of burning smoke landed right in front of us, singeing my clothes. I stumbled back and coughed.