The Magic Catcher (4 page)

They
tumbled, rather than ran, down the corridor, throwing open the door
and slamming it shut behind them. The dragon inside roared with
fury. The doorway to the mountain was too small for it to escape
through, and Aprestine doubled over in relief, letting go of
Katherine who immediately plunged face first into the sand as
though she really was incapable of standing up on her
own.

The cold
air was a welcome change after the heat inside the mountain, and
Aprestine welcomed the feel of moisture against her skin. Marcus
looked similarly relieved, and, after regaining his breath, he
sidled next to Aprestine, murmuring, “You almost left us. I saw it
in your eyes, you were considering it.” He didn’t sound angry, more
curious as to what had changed her mind.

“
Would you have blamed me?” Aprestine said, avoiding his
gaze.

“
No. In fact, I’m surprised you didn’t. You don’t owe me
anything.”

Aprestine licked her lips, choosing her words carefully
before answering. “It just seemed like the right thing to
do.”

“
Careful. I’ll start to think you’re a nice person beneath
that cold exterior.” 

Aprestine’s mouth twitched. “Perhaps I am.”

She
turned to look at him then. Katherine was still occupied, she had
rolled over onto her back and was now staring up at the night sky
with a look of such amazement that Aprestine wondered if she’d ever
been outside. She was certainly milking her two days of capture for
all they were worth. Now that she was safe, Marcus seemed
relatively unconcerned with his sister. His eyes were on
Aprestine’s, and he was looking at her like he had the day they had
first met, like she was the most beautiful creature he had ever
seen. Aprestine was used to men looking at her like that. What she
wasn’t used to was looking at them right back.

“
Marcus, I-”

Aprestine broke off as an arrow sailed past her face and
embedded itself into Marcus’s heart.

FIVE

“
Marcus!”

If
Aprestine had been feeling more like herself, she would have made a
comment that it was nice to see Katherine come alive at the sight
of her brother falling to his knees. She would definitely have felt
irritated at the way the girl crawled towards her brother’s body,
reaching out to touch him whilst at the same determinedly avoiding
the blood that was running onto the sand.

Marcus
was gone. The information he had, that he’d promised her, it was
gone. Her body felt numb as she slowly spun around, searching for
Marcus’s attacker. It didn’t take long to find them.

A small boat, smaller than theirs, had been discarded in the
ocean and left to drift back out to sea, whilst the man from the
alley - Tony, Marcus had called him - was walking up the beach, a
crossbow in one hand and a cigar in the other. Good. That meant he
had no hands to defend himself with when Aprestine came at him with
everything she had. Still, she had to wait for the right moment.
And she had to find out
why
.

“
Didn’t even know this place existed.” Tony said, taking a
long, hard, puff from his cigar. His fingers were stained yellow
which, for some reason, made Aprestine hate him all the
more.

“
How did you find us?” Aprestine said. Her eyes scanned every
inch of him, looking for weakness. He wore leather armour, which
wouldn’t be good enough. Not when she took Marcus’s sword and
plunged it into his chest. She was almost looking forward to
it.

“
Followed you, din’ I?” Tony said. “Now, you know what I’m
here for. Hand it over.” He nodded his head towards Marcus’s
body.

Of course. He was here for the lantern. What he didn’t
realise was that the magic in the lantern was already gone. It was
inside Aprestine. And now she really
was
looking forward to a fight. A
sword wouldn’t be good enough, not for him. It was stupid, and it
was reckless, and if she stopped to think about it, it would be a
waste. But she was going to do it anyway. She was going to crush
him with every ounce of magic that had been inside that lantern,
and she was going to enjoy every second of it. She straightened her
shoulders and tilted her chin in the air. She couldn’t feel the
cold anymore, nor the rain, not the way it made her hair stick to
her face or the way it made her legs shake.

Tony
hadn’t noticed her change in attitude. He was staring at Katherine
as though he were trying to place her face.

“
You.” He said. “I wondered where you was going to end
up.”

This
made Aprestine pause. According to Marcus, the catchers were the
ones who kidnapped Katherine for the dragon. “You didn’t know where
she was being taken?”

Tony
shrugged. “No. Some man paid me handsomely to deliver her to him.
Figured he had a few ideas on what he wanted to do with her, you
know? Didn’t think she’d end up on some island in the middle of
nowhere.” Tony looked around, like he had no idea what secrets the
mountain in front of him held.

Aprestine had heard enough. Ignoring everything he’d just
said, she asked, “Well, she doesn’t matter to you now does she? We
both know why you’re here. So why don’t you come and take
it?”

“
Couldn’t have put it better myself.”

Tony
strode towards them, kicked Katherine out the way and pulled
Marcus’s cloak aside to reveal the now empty lantern. Aprestine
smirked.

“
What-”

Tony
couldn’t finish his sentence. Aprestine clasped her hands together,
and his hands flew to his throat as Aprestine constricted it with
her magic. His eyes bulged, his nails clawing at his neck as though
that would help save the situation. Katherine was screaming.
Aprestine loosened her grasp on her magic for a second, allowing
him a breath, allowing him to think he might still live, before
squeezing even tighter. A horrible, retching, coughing sound, tore
through Tony’s throat, and bubbles of saliva spluttered from his
mouth. She wanted to go on, to continue this process of giving and
taking his hope, but she could feel a small trickle of blood
starting to pool beneath her nose.

She knew
what it meant. It meant she was weakening, all over
again.

Regretfully, she loosened her hold on Tony, and he sank to
his knees, just in time for her to reach for the knife at her side
and quickly slash it across his neck. He slumped to the ground, his
glassy eyes staring straight into Marcus’s. Aprestine looked away,
already regretting her use of magic. She had taken too much and she
felt utterly drained, her hands shaking slightly whilst a fine
trail of sweat dripped down her neck.

“
You- you
killed
him.” Katherine said.

“
What would you have liked me to do to him?” Aprestine asked
coolly. “He murdered your brother, and would probably have done the
same to us.”

Katherine stared at her, open-mouthed. Aprestine approached
Tony’s body, nudging his cloak aside with one foot. Good. He’d
brought his lantern with him, and there was a fair bit of magic
inside. Perhaps this trip hadn’t been utterly worthless at all.
Trying to avoid looking at Marcus’s body, she unhooked the lantern
from Tony’s belt and muttered the incantation to claim the magic
for herself. Feeling replenished, she glanced at Katherine, and
then wished she hadn’t. The girl was staring at her, tears
streaming down her face, her mouth slightly ajar like she couldn’t
find the words she needed to say.

Aprestine was struggling for words as well. She knew she
should try and comfort the girl, it was the nicest thing to do,
the
right
thing
to do, but she had detached herself from human company for so long
that she had forgotten
how
to. Even the thought of patting the girl on the
shoulder made her feel slightly alarmed.

Pushing
back any thoughts of niceties, Aprestine tried to fill her eyes
with steel as she said, “We need to leave.”

She
marched across the beach and started to push their boat back down
to the water. Marcus had moored it well, and she screwed her face
up as she tried to push the heavy weight over the bank of sand that
he’d haphazardly built to secure it. 

“
What about Marcus?” Katherine followed her, watching
Aprestine struggle to move the boat but not offering to
help.

“
He’s dead. We can’t take him with us; he’d weigh the boat
down.” Aprestine said. “Do you know how to row at all, or do I have
to do that by myself as well?”

The boat
was finally free and was slowly sliding down towards the
sea.

“
But we have to take him.” Katherine said.

“
No, we don’t.” Aprestine said. The boat was in the water now,
and she had to cling onto it to stop it from drifting off as it
bobbed up and down on the waves. “But by all means, stay here and
die along with him. I’ve saved your life quite enough
today.”

Katherine’s lower lip trembled, but she managed to stop
herself from bursting into tears again, much to Aprestine’s
amazement. She hitched her dress up, splashing through the water
and clambering inside the boat without saying another word. 
Aprestine pushed the boat forward slightly before climbing in
herself, grabbing both oars and starting to row back to
Deniz.

She had
hoped Katherine would remain silent for the rest of the journey,
but it seemed like the girl couldn’t help herself.

“
Why do you pretend not to care?”

“
Who says I’m pretending?”

“
Because I saw the way you looked at him.” Katherine said.
“You liked him. And then he died and…you killed that man because
you were
angry
with him. It’s what I would have done, if I could have. You
wouldn’t want to get revenge if you didn’t care. But you act like
you don’t. I don’t understand why.”

“
Emotions are a weakness.” Aprestine said. “My mother taught
me that.”

“
Your mother is
wrong
.”

“
My mother is dead.” Aprestine snapped. “She fell in love with
quite the wrong person, and made some terrible decisions because of
it. Decisions that saw her wind up at the bottom of a cliff. So you
see, emotions got her killed. And I will never,
ever
, make that same mistake. Now
shut up while I row.”

SIX

“
Halt! In the name of King Annar!”

Aprestine was tying the boat back to the docks when she heard
the voice of a Kingsguard. Looking up, she saw a group of three of
them, standing a little way ahead of her. Their weapons weren’t
drawn, but each had their hand very firmly on the hilt of their
swords.

She
helped Katherine out of the boat before bothering to acknowledge
them properly, climbing up the steps to the main part of the
harbour.

“
Is there a problem?” She said, clasping her hands in front of
her waist.

One of
the men stepped forward. He was a good foot taller than her, which
she supposed meant she should be intimidated, but really she just
felt sick and tired. She looked at him with as little exasperation
as she could manage.

“
This boat’s been reported stolen.”

“
How can it be stolen if it’s right here, where it
belongs?”

The man
looked confused. One of the guards behind him, a slightly younger
looking man who was attempting to grow a beard that didn’t really
suit him, laughed and clapped him over the shoulder. “She’s got you
there.”

Aprestine smiled genially. “So, can we be on our
way?”

The Kingsguard opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
“But you
did
steal it.”

“
And then I brought it back. Hardly a crime is it?” Aprestine
said. The man behind him still looked faintly amused, so she
chanced her luck, addressing him directly, “And what are three men
of the Kingsguard doing in Deniz? A little far from Ezeth, aren’t
you?”

His
friendly demeanour quickly faded into one of irritation.
“We’re…picking up supplies.”

“
Fallon.” The man in charge said in a low, warning
tone.

Aprestine, fed up with their buffoon of a leader, brushed him
aside so that she could stand directly in front of the man, Fallon,
who seemed more interested in talking to her.

“
Doesn’t the king have messengers who can do that sort of
thing for him? Why would he need soldiers?”

“
It’s not for the king. It’s for Princess Edrea.” Fallon
replied. His eyes widened as though he hadn’t really meant to tell
her but couldn’t help himself.

She heard his senior emit a breath of anger as he reprimanded
the man again, “
Fallon
.”

Aprestine ignored the warning. “Why is Edrea issuing you
orders? Where’s the king?”

“
You’re awfully nosy, you are.” Fallon’s superior
said.

Aprestine turned to glare at him, before returning her gaze
back to Fallon. “Please. I might be able to help you.”