Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling (39 page)

‘Hello Maria, it is nice to see you also,’ he said as they parted from the hug. ‘It has been long time.’

Maria was a little shorter than Amanda, with long chocolate brown hair that fell in perfect waves. She had a heart shaped face, soft features and a curvy body, very attractive in an old-master painting sort of way. She could easily have been the subject of Michelangelo in bygone years. She wore an infectious grin and had a demeanour of bubbly happiness about her. She had a light dress on, that was pinched in at the waist with a tie, but flared out to a knee length skirt.

‘Too long, but if you’re here, then this must be Amanda?’ she said, turning to address Amanda as she said it.

‘That’s right,’ Amanda said. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ Amanda offered her hand to Maria in greeting. She had expected the Magi here to talk French, but Maria spoke perfect English, although she did have a slight French accent.

‘Oh, you don’t get let off that easily,’ she said as she pulled Amanda in for a hug and kiss on the cheek. ‘Have you only just arrived?’ she asked.

‘I have, just this moment, Raven is sorting us out some rooms so Gentle Water thought he would show me a little of the house.’

‘Ah Gentle Water, always the gentleman,’ she remarked. ‘Well make sure you go and see some of Paris if you haven’t been here before.’

‘I haven’t no. I’d love to see some of the city. It was my first time in London yesterday and we must have done almost everything in one day.’

‘London is great, I love London,’ Maria said, putting the emphasis on love, and dragging out the word so it lasted longer than it should.

‘So, you’re part of the Legacy then?’

‘That’s right yes, I joined many, many years ago, shortly after becoming a Magi myself. So how are you finding it all? Not too much of a shock to the system?

‘I admit it was a bit of a shock at first, but I think I’ve got used to it a bit now. I’m sure I have plenty to learn and see yet though.’

‘You’ll never stop learning as a Magi, it’s one of those things which you can never learn enough of. But are you enjoying it all?’

‘Yes, absolutely, it’s been grand so far. Gentle Water has been a legend,’ she said, touching her mentor’s arm, ‘and I wouldn’t change anything about learning Magic at all, it’s really opened my eyes.’

‘That’s great, so will you be staying for long do you think?’ Maria asked.

‘We are not sure,’ Gentle Water answered, ‘I think we see how things go.’

‘Are you going to this ball I heard we were attending?’ Amanda asked Maria.

‘The one at the Musee D’Orse? Yes, I’ll be there, should be a fun night.’

Amanda nodded and smiled, and Gentle Water excused them both, saying they would see Maria later on. With some parting waves, they carried on through to some more rooms, which were empty of people, but full of interesting bits of furniture and art.

‘She seemed nice,’ Amanda commented to Gentle Water a couple of rooms away from where they had met Maria.

‘She is, she’s a good friend.’

‘I thought the people here would speak French?’

‘We all do, we speak many languages. With Magic, you can copy skills and knowledge from peoples mind. You will do this soon.’

Amanda nodded and walked into the next room. Each and every room had something fascinating to see, something Magical or fantastic.

‘This house is amazing,’ Amanda said, as she peered into a huge fish tank that had a miniature set of sea life within it, including tiny sharks, whales and dolphins. All of them magically shrunk along with loads of other much smaller fish, rocks and coral.

‘You’ll find that most Magi houses that have been around for a while are filled with amazing little magical artefacts like that.’

Amanda stepped back from the tank to admire it, when a small voice issued from near her feet.

‘Excuse me lady!’ The tone was indignant and sarcastic, dragging out the first word of the sentence.

Amanda looked down to see a honey coloured cat looking up at her in a slightly affronted way, Amanda had stepped into its path.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said without thinking, and stepped out of the way. The cat gave her a superior look and walked on. Amanda looked up at Gentle Water who was grinning at her, ‘Did I just speak with the cat?’

‘You did.’

‘Good, as long as I’m not going mad,’ Amanda remarked, her eyes wide with incredulity.

They continued across the room, and as they approached the far door, they could hear a voice calling out ‘Fluffy, where are you Fluffy?’

The door opened then and a girl stepped through into the room. She must have been about Amanda’s age, perhaps a little taller, and she was hauntingly beautiful. Blonde hair shot through with Purple streaks, dark eyes and bone structure to die for. She wore white form fitting clothing that looked like nothing Amanda had ever seen. There were sashes and things trailing off it, all sorts of embellishments and accessories, it must have been magically made.

As she entered the room, she noticed the two figures before her and stood up straight. ‘Gentle Water, wow, it’s been an age, come here and give me a hug darling.’

They embraced, the girl with a huge grin on her face as she did so.

‘It is good to see you Feather. My new apprentice, Amanda, Amanda, this is Feather.’

‘Oh wow, I knew you were coming to Paris, but I wasn’t sure when,’ she said to Amanda. ‘Maria said you’d be coming back with an Apprentice,’ she then said to Gentle Water, ‘I told her I couldn’t wait to see who it would be, and now you’re here. Amanda is it? I like the name, oh yes, very much. The suit is lovely as well, you look gorgeous, you really do. I bet Maria took a liking to you didn’t she. By the way, have you seen a cat come through here?’

Amanda thought that Feather hardly seemed to stop for breath as she spoke, she seemed full of energy and life.

‘That way,’ Gentle Water said.

‘Great, thank you, I’ll see you later,’ she said before kissing Amanda and Gentle Water on both cheeks and skipping off through the door Fluffy had disappeared through.

‘Who was that? She didn’t seem much older than me.’ Amanda asked.

‘Feather is one of Maria’s apprentices and lovers.’

‘
One,
of Maria’s lovers?’

‘Yes, Maria believes in free love and sexual liberation. Do not be put off her though.’

‘I won’t, it’s all just a, well, it’s a lot to take in, that’s all.’

‘I know.’

The pair kept on through the house, they could hear more voices up ahead and Gentle Water told Amanda that he thought they were coming from the Kitchen. Moments later they passed through a wooden doorway into a large and spacious rustic Kitchen that appeared to be at the back of the house that had 4 figures stood within it.

Before they had even entered the room, they could hear their conversation.

‘But unfortunately you can’t come to the Ball, you’d scare away all the nice ladies Balor, and we can’t have that,’ said a fairly deep male voice with an American accent.

‘I’m doing security, and I am quite aware of my appearance,’ said a voice that didn’t even sound like it came from a human being. It sounded like stones being ground together.

‘I bet you watch through one of the windows, living vicariously through us, right?’ replied the first voice.

‘Oh what fun, being able to watch Xain put the moves on some poor unsuspecting girl, that sounds like a crazy night of fun to me,’ said a third male voice, this one a slightly higher and nasally with a British accent.

‘Don’t you mean,
try
to put the move on the ladies. Xain’s idea of a chat up line is, “you don’t sweat much for a fat lass,”’ said a forth male voice that had a slight Californian tone.

‘At least I can pull, when was the last time you picked up a girl Loomis?’

But Amanda never found out the answer to that question as she followed Gentle Water into the room. The conversation stopped and a small cheer went up as they saw her mentor walk into the room.

‘Gentle Water, you’re back!’

‘Hey, it’s the main man.’

‘Its good to see you again sir.’

‘Hiya’

Amanda was stood right behind Gentle Water as they entered, and they couldn’t see her, but as her Mentor continued inside, Amanda stepped out from behind Gentle Water and smiled at the four figures in the room.

She barely even registered the 3 men in the room, instead her gaze was immedialty drawn to the fourth figure, who didn’t look human at all. 

This must be the one who’s voice sounded like it had been made from grinding stones. Easily getting on for ten foot high and was nearly as wide, the skin of this powerfully built creature seemed to be made from a stone like substance. He wore no clothing, had wings sprouting from his back, legs not too dissimilar from a cats from the calf down, and a distinctly leonine face.

When Amanda saw him, she nearly fell backwards, having to catch herself on the counter as memories of Horlack flooded back suddenly.

Gentle Water caught her quickly, and his voice filled her mind, comforting her. ‘It is okay, this is not Horlack, his name is Balor and he is friend, very gentle and will not hurt you. Okay? Just relax, it is all right. I’m sorry, I should have warned you.’

Amanda steadied herself as Gentle Waters voice continued to comfort her in her mind. Tears welled up in her eyes which she wiped away as she composed herself once more.

The three men had immediately jumped up and rushed over to Amanda to help, but Gentle Water had caught and steadied her before they reached her.

Balor stood still, clearly aware it was his presence that had caused the shock.

Amanda raised her hand to the three Magi who had approached her to help, ‘It’s all right, I’m grand,’ she said as she got her balance and freed herself from Gentle Waters arms. ‘I’m sorry, I just…I wasn’t expecting to see…’ and she waved her hand in Balor’s direction as she spoke. ‘I had a bad experience with a Scion during my Epiphany don’t yeh know, and you’re the first I’ve seen since then.’

‘Truly it’s alright. I’ve had worse reactions. My name is Balor and it’s a pleasure to meet you. You must be Amanda,’ Balor said in a voice so deep and otherworldly.

Amanda swallowed and with an effort of will, forced herself to step forward through the three Magi and her Mentor and offered her hand, ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’

Balor hesitated, but then took it in his. Amanda’s whole hand and several inches of arm disappeared into his stony fist as he gently shook it. ‘Balor, it’s nice to meet you, and the pleasure is all mine.’

Balor let go, and Amanda thought it might be a smile that crossed his face, although she couldn’t be sure. She then turned back to the other Magi, ‘And you three are?’

First the powerful looking black man with short hair, dark clothing and tattoo’s up his neck stepped forward, he seemed to be the most forthright of this group of three, he shook her hand and told Amanda his name was Xain. He was followed by a pretty buff and handsome looking man who wore black combats and Tee Shirt that matched his black hair who said he was known as Orion. Finally a thin looking man with pale skin and dark hair who wore a smart black suit and introduced himself as Stephen Loomis shook her hand.

‘It’s lovely to meet you all, I hope we didn’t interrupt anything?’

‘Oh no, of course not, we were just talking about the Ball, would you be coming along to that?’ Xain asked.

‘I am, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Amanda replied.

‘That’s great, I’ll look forward to seeing you there, I’m sure we all will.’

‘He means he will look forward to chatting you up,’ Stephen said in a droll tone.

‘Ignore him, he’s just jealous of my good looks and charm, aren’t you Loomis,’ Xain said.

‘Oh yes, that’s it, I want to shave my head and pump iron until I look like a convict,’ Loomis retorted.

‘Better that then looking like some kind of walking corpse my boy,’ Xain said with a slight grin. It was all tongue in cheek and fairly harmless male banter. Amanda just smiled and let them get on with it.

‘Will you be there Orion?’ Amanda asked over Xain’s shoulder.

Orion just nodded his assent without speaking.

‘Good,’ Amanda said, it seemed like Orion wasn’t the talking sort.

‘Can I get you a coffee or something Amanda?’ Stephen said. ‘How about you Gentle Water, you must be thirsty?’

Amanda looked at Gentle Water who nodded back at her.

‘Yes, that would be nice Stephen,’ Gentle Water said.

Stephen went about making the coffee while everyone stood about talking some more. Xain and Balor asked a little about where Amanda was from and how her training so far had gone, Amanda told them and found that she enjoyed talking to these Magi, laughing a joking with them. Amanda sipped at her coffee and after finishing it, they said farewell for now and continued on through the house, leaving the boys in the kitchen.

‘They’re nice,’ Amanda told Gentle Water, ‘I like them.’

‘They are yes, and valuable members of the Legacy. Xain and Orion are both highly trained in combat and have been invaluable over the years when things have called for more forceful measures.’