Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness (17 page)

‘Hi Xain,’ she thought to him.

‘Hi Mandy. We just got a message for you a short time ago. I’ve been trying to link with you for the past 15 minutes, are you alright?’ his voice sounded in her head, load and clear as if he were sitting right next to her.

‘I was in a meeting, just got back. What’s the message?’

‘It’s from Alicia, she says she needs your help.’

Alicia, thought Amanda, without sending the thought to Xain, her friend from the Orphanage in Ireland.

‘Did she say what the problem was?’

‘Only that some of her pupils have got themselves into some trouble with Magic and she would like your help.’

‘OK Xain, thank you.’

‘Pleasure. How’s New York?’

‘It’s great. There’s a few problems we’re working on, but we’ll get there.’

‘Let us know if you need a hand. Happy to knock some heads together for you.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind. Thanks Xain,’ she said, and cut the link.

She dropped her head back against the sofa and took a breath. Something else that demanded her attention, just what she needed right now.

Alicia had been her friend back when she had been growing up in the Orphanage in Donegal in Ireland. Religious, conservative and basically the teachers star pupil, she had been everything that Amanda hadn’t been, until Alicia decided that she would be Amanda’s friend, no matter what. Her influence had calmed Amanda down and their friendship would always be the one thing that Amanda treasured most from her time in the Orphanage.

She’d visited Alicia a little over a year ago, shortly after becoming a Magus, and had given Alicia her contact details at that time, and had updated them to the Legacy Mansion in Paris months ago.

She hadn’t gotten round to updating them to New York yet, but that would be put right on this visit.

The problem would have to be serious for Alicia to call and ask for Amanda to come to the Orphanage, meaning she couldn’t hang around here for long, she needed to get to Ireland.

‘You OK Mandy?’

Amanda looked up, snapped out of her thoughts by Liz’s voice. Her apprentice who stood in the hallway close to the front door, she looked good, wearing a skirt and that showed a little more leg than usual.

‘I’m fine. Are you going out?’

‘I’m meeting Jason, we’re going to take in a few sights of the city.’

‘Happy days. Have fun. I might not be here when you get back, I need to pay a visit to a friend in Ireland.’

‘Alicia?’

She’d spoken to Liz about Alicia and her past a fair amount over the past year, so she knew who Alicia was.

‘Yeah. I shouldn’t be too long. Have fun.’

‘I will, see ya.’ She said and left through the front door.

Amanda smiled, Liz seemed to be finding her feet here in New York more than ever now. She hoped she had fun. Amanda stood up and looked down at the envelope on the table, she concentrated for a moment and Ported it upstairs into her bedroom for safe keeping.

Now she needed to get to Ireland. She’d done this trip a couple of times now, both to reach Ireland and Paris.

Concentrating for a moment, she Ported from her lounge and suddenly appeared on a lush green hilltop overlooking a huge body of water that stretched as far as she could see.

Her ability as a Magi allowed her to Port wherever she could imagine, but her ability level limited her to just shy of a thousand miles, so a trip to Ireland, which in total would be a three thousand mile trip in one jump, had to be done in several hops.

She’d Ported north into Quebec in Canada, on the south coast of Le Fleuve Saint-Laurent near to Grande-Vallee. Up here on the hill, the view took your breath away, and it had always been quiet. She only appeared for a few seconds though before she Ported north again, appearing on another coast line, but at sea level on a quiet northern beach on Long Tickle Island in Newfoundland, Canada.

The temperature had dropped enough that she really felt the cold now, not that it bothered her, her Magic kept her warm. The view here out to sea had a nice calming effect on her as the water broke gently onto the beach a short distance ahead of her. But she couldn’t stay, so she concentrated again and Ported another five hundred or more miles north east and appeared on a rocky, snow covered mountain top. The wind whipped about her up here as she looked over the wintery forbidding landscape of Nunarssit on the south coast of Greenland. Behind her the North Atlantic Sea she had just Ported over stretched away into the distance, while before her, snowy peaks of rock jutted into the sky.

Again, she didn’t stay long, just a few moments to make sure there had been no one nearby watching, before concentrating on her Magic again and Porting once more. She pushed herself towards her upper limit, Porting east nearly as far as she could at her current ability, and appeared on the southern slopes of snæfellsjökull in Iceland, close to Vatnshellir Cave.

The ground wasn’t as rocky as where she had appeared in Greenland, but it felt just as cold. The bleak landscape extended down below her to the sea. There were no trees here, just rocks and tundra, and beyond that, the freezing ocean.

She had come most of the way now, just a couple more jumps and she’d be in Ireland.

Pulling her coat tighter about her, shivering even though she didn’t really feel it, she pulled on the threads of Essentia again and disappeared.

She appeared seven hundred miles south east of Iceland on a small Island south west of Scarp on the Isle of Harris just off the west coast of northern Scotland.

Although still cold, the air felt noticeably warmer here and the late afternoon sun felt lovely on her face. The Island had no inhabitants, as far as she could tell, other than the local wildlife, perfect as a Jump location for Porting about the globe.

This would be her last big jump, so she concentrated on her destination, and with a whip crack of noise and a fleeting feeling of dislocation and dizziness, she appeared outside her Cottage in the Blue Stack Mountains northwest of Donegal.

Everything looked to be as it should be, the small white washed cottage had been left untouched for a little while, but Amanda popped back here from time to time either for a bit of time alone, or just to make sure everything was ok.

Everything seemed fine, so it would be just a short hop from here to the Orphanage now to see her friend.

- Online Chat between Edge & Chronos dated April 19
th

Edge: Who are they, the people you sent me to follow?

Chronos: You found them? You stayed out of sight?

Edge: Yes, don’t worry, they never knew I was there. But, I saw things, I saw them doing things that should not be.

Chronos: You’ve seen it before though, haven’t you?

Edge: What are they? Are there more of them?

Chronos: They call themselves Magi, pronounced Mah-Guy, and yes, there’s more of them.

Antarctic Trek

May 19
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Antarctic

Angel sat in the front passenger seat of the Hagglunds all-terrain vehicle as it made its way over the white on white landscape. The vehicle consisted of two cabs, both on tracks, powered by the engine in the front cab. 

It bounced and rattled its way over the snow and ice without much difficulty, and even the cushioned seats didn’t stop the ride being one of the most uncomfortable trips she had ever made.

The heater had been turned up full and she wore her extreme cold weather gear that covered her from head to toe, but Angel still felt cold, very cold.

She sat in here with the driver and two other employees of Mr Black who sat behind her. They talked excitedly about their trip and what they would find at the dig site, but Angel had no time for them.

She found their conversation inane and boring, so she kept her distance and barely said two words to them through the entire trip.

They’d travelled from the Syndicate Island a little over a day ago, hopping from one airport to another, changing planes a couple of times until they reached the final leg of the trip that took them from south America to Antarctica in the Hercules LC130 military cargo plane.

This flying grey beast had two propellers on each wing and ski’s attached to its wheels. The flight had been one of the worst she’d ever experienced, the plane had little insulation, making it very cold, and there were no luxuries, such as chairs. You were treated no better than cargo and sat wherever you could find a space between the actual cargo in the plane.

Rest had been a pipe dream, something that sounded like a nice idea, until you sat on your bag, freezing cold, the noise deafening even with the ear plugs in while you rattled through the sky to the destination.

Hiding within the Syndicate had never been easy. She’d worked hard to hide her true level of magical ability, and that meant not keeping herself warm during the trip to the South Pole as that would have been out of the ability level she portrayed.

She wore layer after layer of thermal clothing, but it only accomplished so much in this climate.

Located about a day’s ride over the snowfields from the nearest American base in the Antarctic, travelling by land vehicle had always been the best way of ferrying people back and forth. On clear and calm days they used the Helicopter for personal travel, but most of the cargo and equipment arrived at the base on one of the ground transports. Today had not been a clear or calm day. The winds were blowing somewhat, which meant they had to travel in the Hagg.

Slowly the sun had started to set, inching closer to the horizon as the transport approached another ridge of snow, rising up in front of them.

‘We’re about here I think. We should be able to see the site at the top of this ridge,’ said the driver.

This only served to get the other two passengers excited, and made Angel roll her eyes at their constant chatter about how amazing this whole experience had been.

Angel didn’t listen, she just peered out the front window as the Hagg made its way over the next rise, eventually cresting the ridge and its nose dropping back level again revealing the valley below.

The Driver stopped for a moment, letting his passengers enjoy the view.

Below them, the dig site sat at the base of a mountain range, nestled in a valley with steep rises on three sides.

Carved into the back of that valley, and mostly hidden beneath the snow and ice, there looked to be some sort of temple or tomb entrance.

Ornate pillars sat on either side of an arched doorway that rose well over a hundred and fifty feet high that had apparently succumbed to the ice and filled the doorway. The main activity of the dig seemed to be happening at the base of the entrance way. Tents and sheeting hid the dig as steam rose from the base of the doorway. They must be digging or melting through thought Angel.

Angel knew from the reports she had read that one of the few Magi that the Syndicate employed had been stationed here on an ongoing basis, with a couple more who visited when they were needed.

She also knew that, although Mr Black employed these Supernatural individuals, he didn’t really trust them. They were a tool he used to achieve certain ends and were only brought in when mundane methods weren’t enough. Still, she could sense the Magic here, powerful Magic that permeated the whole area.

Shifting her vision into the magical spectrum the ambient Essentia faded into view, giving the vista before her another dimension entirely.

Something powerful rested in this ice. She could see the remains of an Aegis that had been more powerful and subtle than anything she had ever seen before, left in tatters by the Syndicates now departed Magi. The Aegis had effectively hidden this place from detection and view for millennia. An Illusion hid the obvious entrance while the Aegis masked the powerful Magical signature given off by whatever lay hidden in the depths of the ice.

Beyond the shield, Magical signatures could be seen everywhere, as well as the distinctive marks of explosions dotted about the camp.

Traps, thought Angel. Powerful and dangerous Magical traps designed to dissuade people from venturing too close. They weren’t hidden though, these were designed for any Mortals who wandered into the area who weren’t affected by the Aegis. They were obstacles, nothing more.

She could see tents set up between the traps and safe areas to walk marked out by flags, but the real magical power came from deep below the surface, beyond the ice door. Something powerful lay deep underground here. She had no idea what it could be, but the taste of that power now captured her interest.

The driver shifted the transport back into gear and continued down the slope on the other side of the ridge, eventually coming to a stop next to a number of other vehicles.

Angel jumped out and grabbed her bag from the back of the Hagg before walking into the compound alone. She followed the path marked out by flags through tents and piles of equipment boxes towards a larger cabin that stood ten foot above the ground on scaffolding. As she walked forward, she approached a gap in the tents that had been marked off. Flickering lights seemed to be coming from the gap as well as some strange noises. She rounded the corner to see a bright glowing point of light that flickered and sparked, throwing off arcs of magical energy like miniature lightning bolts and puffs of fire and smoke.

As odd as that might be, it wouldn’t have caused the hint of consternation that Angel felt as she looked at, whatever this was.

As the effect flickered, she could see individual body parts appearing and instantly disappearing, jutting out of the energy, writhing in pain as they appeared. Every few seconds a screaming face would appear, and for that fleeting moment, the sound of the man’s bone chilling scream of pain could be heard, before his head disappeared and the sound stopped just as abruptly as it started.

Angel stood there fascinated by it.

‘One of the traps,’ said a voice to her right. She turned to see a man stood nearby, dressed in extreme cold weather gear as bulky as her own. ‘The idiot got too close, one minute he was stood just a little closer than you are now, the next moment… that.’ He said, pointing at the screaming flickering light.

‘And you’re leaving him like that?’ Angel said, a little surprised that they wouldn’t try to save him. Not that it bothered her, but she always thought of the staff of the Syndicate as a little more humane than that.

‘We have our best Magi working on it. They’re a little apprehensive to tamper with it while we conduct the dig. Serves the idiot right though, and it’s an effective deterrent for anyone else thinking of being a wise ass. Anyway, I’m Blake, I was just heading out to meet you. I take it you’re Angel?’

Angel recognised the name, Blake Preston had been placed in charge of the dig and would be the person she would be working with during her stay here. Her job, she now knew, would be to use her magical perception to help them in the dig, to watch out for any Magical problems that might rear their head.

Angel took the man’s hand and shook it.

‘That’s right, a pleasure to meet you.’

‘Shall we get out of the cold?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely, lead the way,’ she answered, eager to try and get a bit warmer.

She followed Blake through the rest of the tents towards the main complex of prefabricated living spaces. To call these oblong grey blocks with a couple of windows and a door, buildings, would have been a little too generous.

Beyond them, the carved rock face rose above her, ominous and forbidding, hiding its secrets away from prying eyes.

But not for long.