Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling (44 page)

‘Anything unusual, anything out of the ordinary, okay?’

‘Okay. Well, let’s not hang about shall we?’ Amanda said to Gentle Water.

He nodded and stood up, holding out his hand to Amanda. She stood and took it, ‘See you shortly Royston,’ she said, and felt the sudden rush of energy sweep through her as the scene changed suddenly from an office, to the wide open space of the Sahara Desert.

The wind and the heat hit her immediately, there were strong gusts of wind blowing over the sand dunes, the sun was climbing high, and yet the view was stunning. The breeze picked at her skirt, pulling at its hem line, while Gentle Water pointed out the rocky plateau a little way off that rose from the desert sands.

‘That is where we must go,’ he said.

‘Couldn’t you get us any closer,’ she asked as she took her shoes off, the heels just didn’t work on sand.

‘Sorry no, there is Dead Magic Zone around tomb, so this is it.’

Amanda turned to the plateau and shifted her vision into the Essentia spectrum, and saw how there was an area where there was almost no Essentia at all, centred over the Plateau like a bubble. There was just enough Essentia in there to support life, but that was it. ‘Ah, yes I see it. Well, come on then, lets get in there.’

The pair of them made their way down the huge dune to where the camp had once been, only a few scattered remnants stood mute testament to what it once was. The occasional chair or tent pole jutted from the sand at odd angles as they made their way through the site, the shifting sands moving about their feet as they walked.

As they crossed into the Dead Magic Zone beyond the camp, Amanda felt the comforting blanket of Essentia fall away from her. It made her heart rate increase and quickened her breathing as a sort of anxiety fell over her. It was the knowledge that she couldn’t use Magic, the feeling of being all but disconnected from the life giving energy, it was a bit more concerning then she had thought it would be. She supposed she was so used to feeling Essentia about her that it felt normal for it to be there, but the lack of Essentia that this area caused felt odd and somehow wrong.

‘Wow, this feels weird,’ she remarked.

‘Yes, it is strange feeling for Magi. Everyone feel it, but to Magi it is much more acute because we are so tied to Essentia and its effects. Are you all right? Should we continue?’

‘Yeah, come on, let’s get in and get out,’ she said, and started walking again.

They made their way up onto the flat rocky plateau, the cool stone feeling good beneath her feet and found the entrance to the tomb which sank down into the sand stone at fairly steep angle. Scattered about the entrance they found even more remains of the dig, abandoned to the elements.

‘So Royston said the Legacy has been here once before?’

‘That is right,’ Gentle Water said, ‘I was one of the team which came here. It was after the remains of this dig had been found by the public. There had been guards here then, and the camp had been visible also. This was before I first met you in Ireland but the trip was fairly useless. We had arrived too late and we found nothing of interest.’

They were descending down the entrance shaft, holding onto the rope which was attached to the wall still since the dig, and seconds later they stood inside the first chamber. Gentle Water pulled out a couple of flash lights from his pockets and handed one to Amanda, they couldn’t use Magic to see down here.

‘So how did you know about the Artefact that had been found here, and Horlack as well?’ Amanda’s voice echoed around her in the tomb.

‘That information came from our sources inside Vatican and some other informants that keep an eye on the Nomads.’

‘So do you think we’ll find anything today?’

‘No. But it is good that you see where Horlack came from.’

They made their way through the interlinked chambers, Amanda looking in wonder at the hieroglyphics upon the walls and the depictions of gods and kings.

It was nice and cool down here, the heat didn’t seem to penetrate the darkness of the tomb, and even though they were the only ones here, they spoke quietly, but neither of them could really say why.

In a later chamber, Gentle Water called Amanda over and pointed to a square hole in the wall. ‘That is where Artefact was hidden, behind big slab of stone.’

Amanda nodded as Gentle Water continued on, Amanda followed him after a few moments, after getting a good look at the Artefact hiding place.

It seemed important for her to know where the thing had been hidden, but she wasn’t sure why.

Gentle Water led her into the final room, a much bigger one then the others, dominated by a huge sarcophagus in the centre of the floor which looked like it had been blown up from within.

Amanda gazed at it for a moment, ‘Is that where he came from?’

‘Yes. That is where he had been imprisoned.’

‘Imprisoned? Royston said this as well. I take it you mean, imprisoned against his will?’

‘We believe so yes. Someone had put him in there, sealed him away and forgot about him.’

‘That’s a little cruel isn’t it?’

‘More than he deserved, according to the stories. Horlack had been a psychotic warlord and a scourge of Russia and Eastern Europe for many years. There are endless tales of his depravity. But it seems he met his match in Constantinople, during its sacking in the Forth Crusade. That is when the stories of his life abruptly ended and he disappears from history. That was, ooh, around eight hundred years ago, at least we now know what happened to him,’ he said, indicating the tomb.

Amanda walked about the room, stepping about the huge chunks of rock that were scatted about the place. It looked like Horlack had raged about the room when he had woken up. ‘It’s a real mess in here.’

‘When Horlack woke up, the whole Dig team was in here, he slaughtered them all. When we were here last, they had just removed bodies, there was dried blood everywhere. It is faded now, but you can still see it.’

Amanda looked at a dark patch on the wall, ‘Gross.’

‘Look at this. We found this on previous visit,’ Gentle Water said, pointing at something on the wall.

Amanda walked over, picking her way over the rocks, and looked up to where Gentle Waters torch lit up a circle of the wall. There was something written there, scratched into the wall, but it was hard to make out as it looked like Horlack had perhaps punched it so that it was in the middle of a crater with cracks running throughout it.

‘It say, ‘Do not lift the Slab. Horlack Lies within.’ We figured it out when we were here last. It seem like someone, maybe whoever seal Horlack away in here, try to warn people about danger inside.’

Amanda turned back to the tomb, ‘Indeed.’ Amanda didn’t really like this place, it was more than a little creepy. The stone floor was cool beneath her bare feet and she could feel goose bumps appearing on her skin. ‘Do you think there’s anything else to be found in here?’

‘I don’t think so, shall we call it a day?’

‘Yes,’ Amanda said.

The pair of them made their way out of the tomb and back across the sands until Gentle Water said they had gone far enough, and he Ported them back to Paris.

Amanda dumped her bags on the bed and nearly fell back into the chair in her room. What a day it had been, first the trip to Egypt, and then the madness of Paris. Gentle Water had declined to go with her on a shopping trip, and she didn’t blame him, she doubted he would have enjoyed himself.

She certainly did though, but she had to admit it was tiring.

In addition to a ball gown and a few accessories, she couldn’t resist picking out a few other bits for herself, a few tops, a pair of jeans and a few other bits. The Lingerie here was amazing.

It was late afternoon and there were a few hours to go before the Ball started, but she would need to make sure her outfit was just right. She walked over to her suitcase and took off her top, she needed to try the dress on once more. She opened up her suitcase and dropped the top inside it, she was about to take her skirt off as well but something caught her eye. It was folded up beneath a few other things, but there it was.

Suddenly she knew what had upset Gentle Water at the breakfast table this morning. She had said she wanted to go and buy a new dress, and yet here was the dress he had bought her for her birthday, the Chinese style Cheongsam dress, sitting here, waiting to be worn out for the first time.

Well, that was easily fixed, she would wear Gentle Waters Present to her tonight. She then rummaged through her things and pulled out a few bits that matched so that she was ready for later.

Amanda stood on the roof top patio of the Legacy House, looking out over the vista of Paris with a glass of white wine in her hand. She thought back to just a couple of days ago to when she had been in Ireland, and how much she had seen in just a few days. It was incredible.

Back in Ireland she had no idea that all this was waiting for her, she had no idea how much her horizons would be broadened within what was just a matter of hours.

She wondered what Alicia or Georgina would have thought about all this. Georgina would have loved it, but she wasn’t so sure about Alicia, she would probably disapprove, and Amanda would roll her eyes at her. She laughed to herself.

Back in the Orphanage was when she had first thought there should be more to her life. It was the first time she felt she had some kind of destiny or a calling, an epic calling to fulfil. It was silly to think of it in these words, but they seemed to fit, they conveyed the otherworldliness of the feeling she had about it.

She felt she was finally fulfilling that destiny now, she felt she was finally walking the right path in life, she was following her calling. She felt contented and at ease with herself now she had found what she had been missing in life, and here, on top of this house in Paris, immersed in the world of the Magi, she felt very much at home.

‘Ah, here you are,’ Gentle Water said from behind her.

Amanda turned round as her mentor walked up next to her. She smiled at him.

‘I was wondering where you had got too.’

‘I was just getting some fresh air before I got changed,’ she said.

‘No problem. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of time.’

‘Gentle Water, I’d just like to say, well…’ she sighed. ‘This is going to sound silly, but, feck it, I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done, for introducing me to Magic and all this wonderful stuff. Ever since I was a kid, I knew I had some kind of, I don’t know, it’s difficult to find the words, but the best I can think of is calling. Some kind of calling that drew me on. I knew I had to do something with my life but I didn’t know what. And for the first time I feel like I’m on the right path. I believe I have you to thank for that.’

‘Amanda, there is no need to thank me, you found me as much as I found you. You found this path just as much as I showed it to you. It is you who has to live your life, it is you who has to walk this path. I’m little more than a guide for you.’

‘But still, I feel the need to thank you for what you have done.’

‘Then I graciously accept your thanks.’

Amanda smiled, ‘Then I think it’s time I got myself ready.’ She turned from the view over Paris and headed inside to her room to get dressed.

When she had finished putting on her outfit, she admired herself in her mirror to check for last minute changes. The dress fitted perfectly, and she thought Gentle Water had very good taste to buy her this.

‘How do I look Mirror?’ she asked.

‘You look very well presented Amanda. I’m sure whoever you are going with will be impressed.’

‘Good,’ she said, and picked up her handbag from the bed before leaving her room. Gentle Water was waiting for her in the hallway, and couldn’t help but smile upon catching sight of her coming down the stairs in the white dress. Amanda felt warm and happy inside knowing she had pleased her good friend and mentor. Tonight would be a good night.

The Musee D’Orse was lit up with spot lights and camera flashes outside the main entrance, but Amanda and the other Legacy Magi Ported inside into an empty back room and made their way through from there. They didn’t want the press getting photos of them heading inside, there were too many issues around images of some of them being published in national papers, international papers and magazines.

Inside, the whole place had been decorated with lights and drapes which set off the majestic art within, accenting it wonderfully, and creating a mix of old and new.

The Musee D’Orse was a converted train station and still had the arched glass roof high above them, while below that the tiered floors and side rooms held the huge amount of art that the Musee D’Orse exhibited.

Amanda walked out into the growing numbers of people here and was soon presented with a glass of champagne by a roving waitress with a tray. All the men were in bow tie and tux, most looking fairly similar, but a few went with something a little more extravagant, some adding just a simple scarf, through to others who went with white or deep purple suits with bizarre accessories.

Although the men looked smart and, to Amanda, quite delicious, it was the women in their magnificent dresses who stole the show, each one was high class and many were Haute Couture. There were diamonds and sequins, silks and low backs, basques and fascinators all on show here. Amanda felt slightly under-dressed next to some of them, but she was drawing admiring glances from the men, so she was doing something right.