The source of magic, p.2
The Source of Magic, page 2
They were going to kill him, and still would if they got the chance. If they survived, he would have tied them up as prisoners. But then what would he do with them? Who would he hand them over too? And could he make sure they didn’t escape or overpower him in the meantime? That was a lot of unknowns to bet your life on.
The other option was to kill them. John had never killed anyone. The idea wasn’t so alien to him. He had been trained to shoot at man shaped targets with the idea that might have to some day shoot kill an enemy. But this was a very different proposition. Pulling a trigger to kill someone a hundred yards away in a fire fight was one thing. Methodically hacking up five temporarily disabled men one after the other up close and personal with a sword was something else again.
Not wanting to waste the advantage, John turned and ran after the women. He knew for certain that one of his attackers would be limited in movement, possibly severely disabled if there was a fracture or dislocation of the knee. Leaving at least three, four if they were willing to abandon their compatriot, soldiers that could be chasing after him shortly. The unknown factor was whatever the blast of energy had been. While John was keen to find out, he kept the more pressing matter of finding safety front and centre in his mind.
He caught up to the three girls and slowed to take up the same pace. Running in boots was not ideal but given his significant height advantage he was able to maintain their speed with minimal effort.
“Where are we going?” John asked.
“We need to get back to the city. That scouting party won’t be the only group of savages around. Others will also have been attracted by the summoning,” Chloe answered, speaking in short bursts between breaths.
John decided to hold of his questions until they could stop. He was satisfied that they were headed to safety. Even though it was quite dark, even for night, he could make out some of the key details the city with relative ease. It was a massive wonder of stone and brick rising behind an enormous encircling wall. John was put in mind of the older cities in Europe or documentaries about medieval ruins produced by the BBC.
Eventually they arrived at the whole in the Egg. The tripod was still in place, and Chloe immediately slipped through followed by Selphie.
“Don’t touch the edge, you can see where it glitters and shines," Melanie explained, pointing out the extent of the oval opening before lithely slipping through herself.
John had to crouch down onto his haunches to sidle through and when he stood back up, he saw a group of guards approaching.
“Oh no, we’re for it now,” Selphie moaned.
“Fuck,” was all Chloe said.
John noticed the way Melanie was hovering close to his side. In the short time he had ben on this world he had noticed the way the other two women treated her. Selphie seemed to be indifferent whereas Chloe’s animosity was only thinly vailed. John felt a protective instinct towards Melanie was rising within himself.
“Everything will be okay,” said John to Melanie in a low, calm voice.
Melanie looked up at him with a smile, her cat ears seemed to prick up a little, and the tip of her tail gave some small twitches. John smiled back warmly, though his mood was agitated with adrenalin still running through his body from the fight.
There were ten guards marching in two rows of five headed up by a lieutenant. These guards looked professionally attired and trained. They wore matching breast plates that were lacquered in white over blue tunics. Their metal helmets were cone shaped and lacquered white as well. They shade carried a spear and kite shield, except for the lieutenant who was armed with a longsword.
The lieutenant sheathed his sword and gave a hand single to the guards who fanned out to his left and right. The guards kept their spears facing forwards but raised a little. John got the impression that those spear tips could be just as easily brought down to attack as lifted up to rest and the decision sat with the lieutenant.
“You two acolytes. Identify yourselves and your business here,” commanded the lieutenant.
“We are from the Grey School, this Nekovolk is a maid at the Academy and this,” – Chloe pointed to John – “is a citizen of the city accompanying us on our walk.”
John looked between the lieutenant and Chloe waiting to see if the lie had worked or if it would result in him being turned into a six foot shish kebab. The lieutenant looked John up and down then seemed to sigh a little, as if disappointed that they would think so lowly of his intelligence.
“You four will accompany me to the Hall of Magistrates. Do not resist.” the lieutenant said.
Two of the guards were directed to retrieve the tripod which, when removed, closed the hole in the Egg. John and the women were escorted to a short distance to a city gate where a quick identification procedure took place and the group was admitted entrance. Though he wanted to ask questions about where he was being taken and what was going to happen when he got there, in addition to those he still had from when he was first summoned to this world, John decided that it was a good time to keep his mouth shut and he ears an eye open.
As they moved through the city streets John committed as much as he could to memory. He counted his steps to gauge distance and took note of the twists’ and turns of their path.
The city was larger than it first appeared from outside the wall, which proved to be only the outer most wall of defence. Between the outer and second wall were a large number of simple square buildings. Some looked as if they were apartment-style homes stacked three high, while others brick buildings which looked purpose built for storage or as factories. The primary building material throughout this area was wood, daub and thatch. The main roads they were taking were cobbled but looking down some smaller streets John saw that they were made of compacted earth.
Passing through another checkpoint and though the second wall the buildings took on a more respectable look with stone and brick starting to show a greater appearance. There were actual adornments and facades in use and rows of shingles indicated shops running down various streets. There were lit braziers near some of the larger, more important-looking buildings.
Passing beyond a third wall John saw a number of large blue stone buildings with grand arch ways and stepped roofs creating a backdrop for plazas, ornate shopfronts with garden beds out front, fountains and statues. Beyond this part of the city John saw an ornate castle within a large stone bailey wall. The castle had been the original building around which the rest of the city had grown over time.
Their destination was a wide squat building with columns which sat against the bailey wall. John surmised that this was the Hall of Magistrates and wondered if law courts looked the same on all planets.
The Hall of Magistrates was mostly empty, much like the streets they had just travelled through. After a brief discussion with a clerk, they were ushered into to a small but lavishly adorned office. The office consisted of a desk behind which a magistrate was seated and a number of bookcases which overflowed with tomes of law and records. There was barely enough room for John and the three girls, the lieutenant and two guards to fit.
The magistrate was a wizened old man who was swimming in the red robes of his office. The large gold chain around his neck with a gryphon holding a scroll and a gavel seemed as if it would be too heavy for his narrow neck. He listened as the lieutenant recounted his apprehension of the four of them along with the breach that had been made in the Egg. The lieutenant described a beam of white light beyond the Egg that had prompted him to conduct a patrol in case it was a sign of a potential attack by the savages. The magistrate nodded along and made a few notes on some papers in front of him.
John was not hopeful for the outcome of this process. The lieutenant had painted a picture of three women who had broken the city’s curfew, breached the protective barrier for the city in a time of war with whoever the savages were and described him as a potential spy.
Towards the end of the lieutenant’s account, a porter squeezed into the room and stood to one side until he had an opportunity to interject. When there was a pause, the porter excused himself and spoke quietly to the magistrate. With a nod of approval from the magistrate, the porter held the door open for an additional person.
The new person’s robes were grey with purple trim and were no less ostentatious than the magistrate’s. He was a giant of a man, taller than John’s six foot two inches, with an enormous gut and a tree trunk for a neck. His head was bald and John could see the folds of skin rippling at that back of his head beading sweat. Though he was a man that was given excessive heat and moisture he had a harried look that suggested he had been rushing about recently.
“Your Honour,” the man in grey addressed the magistrate.
“My Lord,” was the response.
“Please allow me to take these four into the custody of the Academy of Light. They have been conducting work on behalf of the school,” continued the man in grey.
“Lord Detier, this goes beyond the purview of the Academy’s work. The account I have heard makes this a matter of city defence and must therefore be tried before the Council,” the magistrate explained.
“Were this a simple criminal matter, then yes,” conceded Lord Detier. “However, what has transpired tonight is a matter concerning the magical defence of the kingdom and therefore comes under the jurisdiction of the Academy.”
Other than arguing over who gets to ladle out the punishment John didn’t understand the significance of the dick-swinging contest he was watching. Chloe and Selphie, however, seemed more depressed with the idea of the magician having final say. Melanie’s mood was unchanged. She kept her head down meekly and continued to hover near John's arm, always a half step behind him. While he was treated as a curiosity, the primary attention had been given to Chloe and Selphie as the rule breakers in question, and Melanie may as well been invisible.
Finally the argument was over. The magistrate had conceded and he dismissed Lord Detier, the three women and John. The lieutenant was asked to remain behind with his men. John and Melanie followed Chloe and Selphie, who in turn followed Lord Detier who was moving at high speed by virtue of an agitated stride.
Once the quintet had left the Hall of Magistrates and were alone a good way off down the cobbled street Lord Detier stopped and turned sharply. He was moping sweat from his bald head with a large white handkerchief clenched in a fist while the other hand was used to point a large sausage of a finger at the two blond women.
“What the hell have you two been up to?” He asked.
“We performed a summoning at the southern convergence. The guards caught us as we were returning inside the Egg,” Selphie explained.
“A summoning, for what? Him?” Lord Detier used both hands to point at John, “Some lusty stallion to ride in your beds?”
“No!” exclaimed Chloe, seemingly no longer able to hold her temper. “We wanted a weapon, something to fight the savages with. We’re the last city to fall. We need to fight back.”
John watched and waited. There was a pause in the argument and he could feel the air thicken with tension.
“So you thought you would tap into the magical either directly through the convergence? Try to channel the world power through yourselves without storing it in a totem first? Risk being corrupted like the savages?” Lord Detier was speaking through clenched teeth, and though John couldn’t understand half of what was being said, the flexing jaw muscles and pulsating vein on the man’s temple made his anger clear enough.
“We – ” interjected Chloe.
“You’re both in the Grey School. You’re supposed to be the smartest acolytes, destined for greatness. Not only are you stupid enough to think you can channel raw magic, you didn’t even stop to think that we would have placed traps on a convergence that we had to leave outside the Egg to stop the savages from using it.
You’re lucky you didn’t end up smeared like jam on the ground. And it explains why you ended up with some random man from another world rather than a weapon.”
John began to realise how he had been summoned to this world, or at least why.
“Lord Detier, my name is John. Is there a way for me to get back home? Tonight would be great, by whenever you can manage?” John said as he stepped forwards.
“I’m sorry good sir, but there is no way this can be done. The magic that was used to bring you here is forbidden. Frankly, you're lucky to be alive,” Lord Detier responded.
There was a sinking feeling in the pit of John’s stomach. But he balled his hands into fists to quiet his nerves and quickly came up with an option.
“If I am stuck, then I need a job and help in this world. I may not be a weapon but I have military training. And I have knowledge of technology from my world that is quite possibly superior to what you have access to. I can help with your war effort.” John was confident in his first promise, he could lead and he had a good working knowledge of military history, tactics and strategy. The naval collage had covered more than just modern warfare. One of his first lessons was an analysis of Pericles' Funeral Oration from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. Not much had changed in war in two and a half thousand years except the technology.
His second claim about superior technology was not as strong. Given time and the assistance of a blacksmith, he might be able to work out a simple black powder rifle.
“As far as I am concerned you don’t even exist. I do not want anyone talking about the events of this night. It would be an embarrassment for the Academy which we can least afford right now. You, cat, take this man into the outer city and make sure he disappears into that mob of riffraff. And after tonight I don’t want to see you at the Academy again. You two acolytes come with me, I need to decide what to do with you.” With his instructions given, Lord Detier once again strode off with the two blonde sisters in tow.
Chapter 2
John had considered following after the furious magician. He hesitated when he tried to think of what he could accomplish by doing so. He had been told flat-out that he wasn’t going home. That even if they weren’t at war, the magic was forbidden and it sounded dangerous. He could have tried to explain what had happed regarding the energy blast when he was struck by the axe, but without a receptive audience he didn’t have a hope of describing something he didn’t quite comprehend fully himself.
Magic obviously existed in this world. If in time he found out it was all a dream, or if it was really just some sort of super advanced technology in fancy dress, so be it. Until then he trusted his eyes and had to operate in a world of magic. So he considered that maybe he had been protected by a byproduct of the magic that brought him to this planet and let it lie for the time being.
John turned to Melanie. It was the first time he had gotten a good chance to look at her. She seemed to instinctively be a step behind everyone when they were moving through the city. John had noticed the offhand way she had been treated by the others and had a suspicion that she was somehow a second-class citizen in this world.
Melanie was noticeably more relaxed now that the others had left, and it was just the two of them. She stood a little more straight and her feline appendages seemed to act similarly to how a cats would. Rather than low and between her legs, her tail now sat higher, curving up at the tip. Her ears were pointing up and forward again, rather than dropping off to the sides.
“Are you … ” John started.
“Thank you for … ” Melanie started.
They both stopped their sentences. John smiled warmly down at Melanie. She was quite a bit shorter than him, not quite five feet. She looked down and blushed and held her left arm down straight and the other arm formed a right angle so that she could grip the straight elbow with her other hand. It was a nervous habit that had the effect of pushing up her already ample bust and making her look vulnerable.
John took a moment. He’d been to enough foreign countries to know that what passed for normal or odd behaviour didn’t always translate to foreign cultures. Maybe Melanie was really just bashful. But he decided to keep it in the back of his mind that he might be being played. If he was back home and someone tried this act with him after having only met for a few hours he would have gone running for the hills. Better that than having your wallet stolen by some jailbait with a fake ID.
“Please, you first," John said, waving his arm wide, miming an invitation.
Melanie looked up and smiled a wide toothy grin.
“I was just going to say thank you for trying to make me feel better back at the convergence. I’m not a magic user like Chloe and Selphie. They said they needed my help, but it really knocked the wind out of me.”
“How do you know them?”
“My job was at the school where they are learning magic. I mostly clean up after the students. Selphie asked me to help her. She said she had a plan to help with the war and get a big weapon. Chloe didn’t want me involved. She doesn’t like the Nekovolk much.”
“I’m sorry she gives you so much grief and that it cost you your job. It must be hard helping someone just to have them treat you like crap and then be tossed aside.” Melanie smiled warmly at John’s condolences. “I feel a bit bad asking now, but I need help. I don’t know anything about this world.…”
“I can help you!” Melanie practically erupted, bouncing up and down on the spot, tail flicking excitedly.
John noticed the way she continued to jiggle after her bounce that awoke a primal feeling in him. She was the personification of a nineteen fifties pinup girl popping open a bottle of frothing champagne.
“You can stay with me, I live in the outer city and I have to take you there anyway," Melanie invited.
“Can I ask something? How old are you?” John asked.
“I’m nineteen, why?” She cocked her head to one side blinking her big silvery eyes.
“No reason, I just needed to check something. If I won’t be an inconvenience, lead the way," he said satisfied that his libido was not getting him into trouble.
