Legend Mage: Fifth Fulfilment 1 (On Hold)

Chapter One

“Xanir, come on,” Taela said, dragging him up. They needed to run, many of the stallholders at the city market packed up early to travel home before nightfall. A lot of them would be willing to spare a coin or two for extra manpower, and Xanir was already tall for his age. It was lucky, she supposed, that they had nothing but one pack to gather up before they left. It contained a blanket, one piece of spare clothing for each of them, two half-empty water pouches, and the last bread roll.

Xanir had obviously realised they were in a rush. He ran ahead to look for signs that someone was starting to pack up. As Tae struggled to catch up to him in the busy street, she saw what looked like a man dismantling his stall by himself. However, she was stopped in her tracks by a gasp she knew far too well. Xanir. She ran, calling out to him, and finally almost crashed right into his back as he approached a group in a small dead-end passage. He was talking to them in a hushed voice.

“What are you doing? You can’t kill baedi. It’s basically the same crime as stealing a live one, Enar told me.”

Taela poked her head around the corner. Her brother glanced at her, but said nothing. The subject of the argument, the dead baedi, lay on the floor in a little pool of dark green blood. Baedi used to live wild, struggling to survive as more and more of the countryside turned into farmland. Nowadays, the scavengers had moved into the city markets where they could eat whatever trash they wanted. Tae had never seen even one steal the fresh food, only leftovers.One of the kids at the end of the alley stepped forward. He wasn’t as tall as Xan, but the shadows made it hard to see any details.

“Well, it’s not like you’ll be reporting us, is it?”

The question held an undertone of threat. He was a thug, probably living off the proceeds of petty thefts like this. She felt a sudden, burning rage at this person, right that second barrelling down the side street towards her brother, who would quite happily steal from a skinny twelve-year-old. As she grabbed Xanir’s arm to pull him aside, that rage seemed to come to life, fire replacing the blood in her veins, and a door in her mind that felt familiar was blown wide open. The world seemed to intensify somehow, everything brighter, sharper, and filled with molten energy. She focused on the thug, trying to shake off the strange feeling, and her brother’s attacker fell to the pavement. He didn’t get back up.

“Tae?”

“Xan! Are you hurt?”

“No, but, Tae! Look at the guy.”

As she got closer to the thug, he seemed to ripple. Taela realised with a jolt that he was covered in a thin, greenish film of... aedent? She had only seen it a few times, but it was unmistakeable. Rippling like water, but stronger than steel when it had to be.

“Xan, do you think that he’ll...” Tae couldn’t finish.

“Tae, that’s - that’s,” Xanir sounded hesitant, and his eyes still held the tears of fear he would never release in front of her. She huffed in feigned exasperation, even as the same fear writhed in her stomach.

“Just say it, Xanir.”

“The green stuff - that’s what Aedenti use, isn’t it?”

“No! Yes - maybe. I don’t know, Xan. I really don’t.” Taela felt a lump growing in her throat. Before she could stop herself, there were tears running down her face and she was sobbing uncontrollably, terrified of herself. She dashed away the tears, furious about breaking down in front of her own brother. When she looked up, she saw her brother’s eyes gleaming with tears that he refused to shed. She had to be stronger, for him. Xan’s life shouldn’t be like this.

Taela looked down at her palms as if they’d suddenly spring forth the secrets of what had happened. Xanir touched her sleeve hesitantly and she shook her head quickly. The glassy coating had dissipated, fading into the warm afternoon air. The thug still seemed to be unconscious, although it was probably more from the plum-sized swelling on his head than anything Taela had done.

A heartbeat later, a trio of guards showed up, demanding to know what had happened. The group of thieves had already clambered up over the wall at the end of the alleyway when Taela looked over to them, so she didn’t mention them in her account to the guards. She explained how Xan saw the thug in the alley, with a dead baedi. Most of the story about him attacking her brother was true, but she told the patrol she’d tripped him up to stop him getting Xanir.

“Why did he want to attack you?”

Taela looked over at the man who had spoken - a strong, no-nonsense type. Typical guard. He didn’t look all that pleased to be dealing with them, either. Xan sniffed like a toddler, the real tears he’d held back just a minute ago escaping for effect. He pointed, with a slightly shaking arm, at the animal on the ground.

“I said he wasn’t allowed to be killing baedi. I thought he was gonna clear it up or something, but then he ran at me.”

“It seems he was tripped up just in time,” the second guard commented, with the slightest hint of suspicion in his tone.

“Yes, sir.”

He gave Xanir a look, but at that point, the thug on the ground began to stir. The third guard, who had until now remained silent and motionless alongside his companions, ran over with a pair of handcuffs. The three guards seemed to be pretty much satisfied with the version of events, and didn’t ask any more questions about it. They simply took the nameless thug away with them, leaving the baedi to clean up their dead friend. Taela let out a sigh of relief.

The incident with the baedi hadn’t taken particularly long. The afternoon sun hadn’t made any visible progress towards the distant mountains. Although in this part of Ilria they were invisible, lost beyond the horizon, they still had their effect. Taela had overheard the old innkeeper she was wiping tables for explaining it to a pair of Konmari, who were complaining about missing the heat of their homeland.

They spoke of the coasts, and the mountains, and various things Taela couldn’t understand. What made it so hot there – the abundance of fire aedent available – and how the flat sea, unstirred by water magic like it was in Ilria, shone with a perfect reflection of the dawn. She would have loved to see it, but obviously that was never going to happen. Tae and her brother had seen the sea only once that she could remember.

One night, when they had managed to land a real job (or so they’d thought). The siblings had to collect the produce of some important craftsman every week. That first time, Xanir had clambered up a huge rock and she had followed, arriving just in time to watch the perpetually restless West Sea burn bright, churning and foaming as the sun set beyond the horizon. It was easily the most beautiful thing Taela had ever seen. When they returned the next day, they were paid and told a better pair of kids had been found. Ones who’d do it for a lot less money.

Sometimes she thought life on the coast would be much simpler, more peaceful. There was plenty of work there, work where nobody was underpaid just because. But then she remembered you couldn’t sleep outside near the ocean, because the very same tides that she had fallen in love with would drown you on the nights when the moon came too close. And anyway, what did her and Xan know about the sea?

This is a sample of something I have started to write recently. If even one person wants me tto write more then I will. This is also the first thing I have ever published on Wattpad.