Authors: Alexa Grave
Reversed (3 page)
Darney slipped the card in his pocket, brushed back his
hair, and went to find Jasp.
He had to thank the cat twice now.
* * * * *
Darney entered the kitchen to the smell of bread baking in
the hearth. The room was clean – not a speck of dust in sight. Jasp obviously
refused to bake with dirt around.
The little man kneaded dough on a counter, flour spotting
his ratty robe. Both gargoyles flapped around his head.
Jasp looked up from his dough and squinted at Darney. “These
two say you disobeyed me. I told you to sit in the garden.”
“Done sitting.”
“You’re done when I say you’re done.” He shook a floured
finger.
Darney pulled The Magus out of his pocket. “I’m done.”
Jasp gasped.
The gargoyles stopped flying and perched on the counter,
looking like expensive cookie jars.
“I guess my first assessment
was
right.” Jasp wiped
his hands on his robe, smearing the flour even more. “You come here to make a
fool of me, boy?”
“No. I came here for your help, but I grew tired of playing
your games.”
“Games? It’s not your place to question my methods. You do
as I say, like all the others. I am trying to help you, but teaching takes
time, and sometimes you have to break a student so you can reform his mind.”
For a little man, the redness of his face and arch of his brows made him seem
tall and imposing, though that could have been more magic.
Well, Darney had magic of his own. “You shouldn’t have sent
your cat, then.”
The redness deepened, nearing a purplish shade. “My cat? I
don’t have a cat. Just these blasted gargoyles.”
The gargoyles stuck their tongues out.
Darney thought the mage was joking, trying to trick him, but
then he saw he was past pulling strings and setting traps. A muscle twitched
under the man’s eye.
“You come to my home.” Jasp stepped toward him, the
formidable step of a powerful man. “You claim you need my help.” His voice
climbed in strength. “But no, you came here to show me up. To throw your
powerful magic in my face.”
Darney shook his head. “Not at all.” What had happened? He
had wanted to find his magic for so long, but he hadn’t intended for it to
cause so much trouble. “The cat. There was a cat.” He no longer wanted to thank
her, but curse her. “She showed me the way.” The little heartbeat in his hand
trembled.
Jasp reached Darney – even though the man looked up, it felt
as though he were looking down. “A cat.” He glanced at the gargoyles. “Go find
this cat.”
They zipped off.
To Darney’s credit, he hadn’t backed away when Jasp
approached. But right then, he wanted his cards and to leave this mad man
behind. “The rest of my cards, please.”
“Your cards.” Jasp laughed. “They don’t belong to you. You
know that, right? They are part of Fate – they belong to no one.” He took a few
steps back, twirled his hand in the air, and the cards came swirling down from
the ceiling, landing in front of Darney.
The tiny heartbeats thudded through the floor and into
Darney’s feet. And they whimpered and screamed, still injured from their bout
with the demon child. He wanted to gather them to him, tuck them into his
pocket, and tell them it would all be fine. But he couldn’t quite yet.
“You were able to call one of them to you. Can you heal
them, though?”
With the Magus card in hand, upright and smiling with pride,
the cat eyes glowing in determination – he could do anything.
Darney focused as he had in the garden, spreading his arms,
stretching his senses toward all seventy-eight heartbeats. The cards rose from
the ground and swirled like a miniature cyclone. He blew on them, his breath a
balm of life. No, he wouldn’t pull from anywhere else to use his magic – only
from inside himself, the power that his mother had seen in him, a well that had
been untapped. He’d sacrifice bits of himself for his cards, which would likely
diminish the length of his life, but it was better than choosing to siphon the
power from other living things.
The cards glowed. The wails stopped. The heartbeats slowed
as Darney’s magic enveloped them. One by one the burn marks filled in with
healthy new paper, the pictures on the faces repairing themselves. The wrinkles
in the Fool smoothed out as if it had never been crumpled under the foot of an
infuriated child.
And Darney wove in protection spells along with the healing,
making sure no other damage would be done.
Whole again, the pain removed, each card slipped back into
his hand, under The Magus.
He felt older, if only by days, but it was well worth it.
“Well done, boy.” Jasp smiled – a smile that hid a hook.
“Those eyes of yours definitely hide a strange magic.”
“Thank you.” All Darney had to do was turn around and walk
out, flee this crazy mage who should remain alone with his stupid gargoyles.
“But it’s time to pay up.” Jasp clapped his hands together,
and the cards appeared in them. “I did say there was a price.”
Darney stepped forward. The gargoyles returned to the
kitchen and grabbed an arm each, holding him back. “You didn’t do anything,
though.”
“If I hadn’t sent you to the garden, you wouldn’t have found
your magic, even if an interloping cat helped you find it.”
“But my cards.” He had fought so hard, traveled all that way
to save them – he couldn’t lose them. Finding his magic wasn’t worth that
price.
Jasp wagged a finger back and forth, a tiny floured
pendulum. “You forget so quickly. Not yours. Part of Fate. And these cards are
rather young – they still have journeys ahead of them.” He threw them up into
the air.
The Tarot cards flapped about like a flock of birds then
darted out an open window.
Darney struggled out of the gargoyles’ grasp and ran to the
window, but too late. The cards disappeared into the clouds.
“You may yet cross paths with them again one day.” Jasp’s
voice actually sounded consoling. “And when they’re done wandering the worlds,
well, perhaps they’ll return home to you. No promises, though.”
Darney advanced on the little man – the rotten little man.
“You wretch!”
“Ah. Now, now.”
The gargoyles swooped in and knocked Darney off his feet.
“I know the price is steep, but I won’t leave you
empty-handed.” Jasp waved his right hand, and a different deck of cards
appeared in his palm. They looked worn, like Jasp’s robe and house. Drained of
life. Neglected. “These could use the attention of a good card reader.”
The gargoyles grumbled.
“I want
my
–”
“Ah – not yours, remember. Goodbye, Darney. I’d be lying if
I said it was a pleasure meeting you, but you and that cat disrupted my quiet
life, and there’s nothing more I hate than being disturbed.” Mage Jasp twirled
his hand yet again, and then vanished from sight.
Darney looked about. He was no longer in the kitchen of the
fading house, but in front of the gate at the bottom of the hill.
No, he wouldn’t let that rotten little man do that to him.
He ran to the gate, but a chain and padlock secured it. He touched the
wrought-iron – heat seared his skin, and he yanked his hand back.
About to assail the gate again, Darney paused. A warmth on
his hip stopped him. Seventy-eight old, yet new to him, heartbeats thudded at
his side. He pulled the deck from his pocket.
The Magus sat regally on top, still upright. The art was the
same, but faded. These cards did need someone to tend to them, to care for
them. To protect them.
Darney peered up the hill. He couldn’t get his deck back by
storming the old mage’s house – nothing would come of threatening or harming
Jasp. He turned to the woods, the leafless trees stretching to the sky. If he
wanted to find his cards, he had to look for them out there.
A spot of black darted across the path, heading deeper into
the trees. Was that the glint of a diamond? No matter; he didn’t really want to
see the cat again, even if she had helped him.
Darney put his new Tarot deck back in his pocket, assuring
them he’d protect them and restore their original brilliance. And when he found
his old cards, which he would, he’d have two decks, and the joke would be on
Mage Jasp and his hard-headed gargoyles.
~~~~~
Interested in more of Alexa Grave’s writing? Please sign
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Author
Website
or blog,
Born to Write
!
Fortunes of Fate Series
Other Short Stories
“Kindled Morphogenesis” in the anthology
Modern Magic: Tales of Fantasy and
Horror
.
“A Little Bit of Magic” in the anthology
Hazard Yet Forward
.
Dancing
in the Wind: A Short Story
Fractured
Fairies: Immortal Woes & Ode to Buses and Libraries
Alexa Grave loves to tell stories – it just so happens her
characters occasionally take her on an unexpected ride. Most of what she writes
is dark fantasy, but she enjoys her attempts at the humorous side of things.
It’s not odd to find romance in her fantasy as well.
She has an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction, and she is a
member of Broad Universe.
Alexa’s life isn’t filled with writing alone. In her spare
time, she enjoys gaming. And she has a supportive husband just as addicted to
gaming as she is. Reading and thinking up large, impossible projects to work on
top her list of fun things to do as well.
Most importantly, she has two beautiful daughters who
don’t give her much spare time to do any of the above.
If you’d like to connect with Alexa Grave, you can find
links to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook on her
Author Website
and her blog,
Born to Write
.
