The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (11 page)

I chuckled and shook my head.

“
The question you
really should be asking is: ‘How are we going to be different now
that we aren’t sharing personalities?’” Cathy pointed out. “You
hadn’t even thought of that yet, had you?”

“
Nope, but it is a
good point,” I responded.

“
Well the answer is
simple enough,” Cathy started. “We will simply be who we are. It’s
safe to assume we have both been changed by this experience. Void,
I’ve become sympathetic to mortal interests and want to help
others. Sarcastic thanks for that, by the way. And you have become
more confident in yourself and powers.”

“
Much appreciated,
thanks for that,” I said. “I don’t know what I would have done
without you. I owe you everything.”

“
Well,” she said
shakily, her cheeks turning red. “It’s no biggie. Why is my face
getting hot?”

“
You’re blushing,” I
answered.

“
What does that do?”
she asked, placing her hands on her cheeks.

“
It lets me know when
you’re embarrassed because I complimented you,” I
answered.

“
Their getting hotter
now,” she said shocked. “Okay, it’s time for you to shut your face
and let them cool off awhile.”

“
Okay,” I
smiled.

The distortion rose
over the horizon bringing with it some peace as we furthered
ourselves away from our failure. As we drew closer to it, I noticed
a bond of magic form between the distortion and Cathy. The bond’s
magic was powerful and I could feel the ripples through the Spirit
Plane.

Cathy started to look exhausted with
every step closer. She had dropped her hands from her face and they
dangled lazily by her side as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
I grabbed her arm and threw it over my shoulder to help stabilise
her before she could fall over.

“
Thanks,” she said
weakly.

“
How are you holding
up?” I asked.

“
I can feel the
Spirit Plane calling me home,” she replied dreamily. “It’s tempting
me. It has been so long.”

“
But your dream is to
live on the Physical Plane,” I countered, trying to snap her out of
her daze. “Why would you want to give it up?”

“
I don’t,” she
replied. “The Spirit Plane is just the home of souls. All souls
long to go home, it’s where we belong.”

“
Okay, time to get
you as far away from here as possible before you decide to become a
philosophy teacher,” I said to her, moving faster.

“
You’re so funny,”
she said overly happily, touching my face with her free
hand.

“
Not as funny as you
at this moment,” I smiled.

We hurried away and
as the bond weakened, Cathy regained her strength. Bill hadn’t seen
what had happened as he was too busy scanning the field for killer
frogs or flying field mice or whatever Archanion would throw at us.
Cathy straightened up and was moving on her own before the bond was
finally broken.

I performed another
scan of the area and picked up a group of wolves in the distance. I
was shocked to see the creatures this far out of Balendar, but like
for every creature, the call of the Spirit Plane was too much to
ignore. These wolves would be vicious and much deadlier than the
foxes from our last trip.

Their minds grew
excited as they picked up our scent. I counted a pack of six wolves
and turned my head towards their energy to catch them coming over a
hill in the distance. The energy grew feral at the sight of us and
they were approaching us quickly.

“
We have incoming,” I
called out to the group.

Cathy spun around with a smile on her
face. “I’ve been looking forward to testing out my new skills in
battle.”

“
Are you still loopy
from the distortion?” I asked.

“
Not anymore,” she
said, staring in the direction of our attackers.

Bill rushed to be in front of Cathy
with his shield up. “Perhaps you should stay back on this one, my
Lady.”

“
Appreciate the
concern, but one guardsman and a Mage isn’t enough to hold back any
threat,” Cathy responded.

The wolves appeared over the nearest
hill and I covered myself in scales.

“
Don’t leave any skin
exposed,” Cathy said, drawing her sword.

Bill readied his shield and the first
wolf lunged at him. The full weight of the wolf nearly knocked Bill
off his feet as he defended the attack. I sent a small ball of fire
to the ground and used it to launch a burning trail straight
through the pack. The pack split to avoid the fire and I launched
an Ice Bolt at one with my other hand. The wolf yelped as the ice
pierced its body, stopping it in its tracks.

Laughter broke out as
Cathy jumped over my Fire Trail to attack a snarling wolf. She had
wisely chosen to help Bill, but left me with two very angry looking
animals that looked like they had a taste for scales.

I stood with my arms down by my side in
a non-threatening manner. This was another trick I picked from my
time in the forest. The idea was to bait the aggressive animal into
attacking and catching it in a trap. The corruption ran deep and
left these fierce hunters more aggressive than a Davalin bar maid
who’s had one too many pinches on the rump.

The wolves hesitated for a second
before both charged me at the same time. As they lunged for my
neck, I brought my hands up and launched a massive Pulse, knocking
both wolves up into the air. They yelped as they flipped around
before falling to the ground. One landed hard on its neck and
twitched once while the one landed on its side. I sent an Ice Bolt
to finish it off.

On the other side of my Fire Trail,
Cathy had taken on a new colour as her arm and sword glowed blue
from her Demon magic. With a mighty swing, she chopped a wolf in
half across the middle. The remains of the other two wolves
littered the ground around a very shocked looking Bill.

“
Where did you learn
to do that?” Bill asked.

“
Do what?” Cathy
asked.

“
It appears that the
magic I used to heal you has had an interesting side effect,” I
said, taking over the situation. “It should fade away
shortly.”

“
A shame,” Bill said.
“Lady Middleton could probably cleave through the entire Evenawk
army like that.”

“
Yeah, but the long
term effect wouldn’t be good,” I countered. “Magic in a non-Magic
person tends to turn you into something evil.”

I kicked a wolf half so Bill would get
the picture.

He grimaced. “How long before something
like that happens?”

“
Good question,”
Cathy asked concerned, finally getting into character.

“
Hopefully, magic
should be out within a day,” I said, looking directly at Cathy. “It
shouldn’t happen again.”

She nodded, getting
the hint. “Okay. Good.”

“
Could I get a couple
of minutes alone though?” I asked. “I just want to double check to
make sure I’m right.”

“
You better,” Cathy
said, stepping away from the battle. “If I turn into a bloodthirsty
wolf, I’m biting you first.”

We walked out of ear
range, leaving Bill to stand nervously by the bodies. “Okay, what
happened?” I asked quietly.

“
Something amazing,”
she answered happily.

“
Care to elaborate?”
I asked.

“
It seems I was wrong
about non-magic bodies being able to use magic,” she started. “It’s
true that I won’t be able to cast spells like normal, but I can use
my magic to enhance attributes. My strength, speed, agility, and
endurance. Void, I probably could stop the aging process too if I
wanted.”

“
Okay, slow down,” I
said, scratching my head. “I thought non-magic bodies couldn’t
handle magic.”

“
I did too, but it’s
hard to know exactly what is going to happen until it happens,” she
explained. Or tried to explain. “Nobody has ever done this. We are
going to have to figure out everything on our own. I think if
non-magic bodies couldn’t handle magic then Mages wouldn’t be
healers for soldiers. Anytime you would try to use your magic on
someone, you would just kill them.”

“
True enough,” I
agreed.

“
I don’t think magic
sits well in animals,” she continued. “Hence the heaps of wolves
around Bill. When it corrupted the fox and the fox bit on that
healer guy...”

“
Peter,” I
said.

“
Right,” she
responded. “The corrupted magic caused his body to react the way it
did.”

“
So how are you able
to use magic?” I asked.

“
I’m not 100% sure
but I am a magical creature by nature,” she answered. “I am going
to have magic either way. I’m missing the connection to the Spirit
Plane that Mages have and thus can’t cast magic into the Physical
Plane, but I can still use my magic inside my own body because it
is connected to my magical soul.”

She looked at me but all I could do was
look at her back, my face twisted in confusion.

“
Am I making any
sense?” she asked.

“
I...no,” I
answered.

She shrugged. “I wish
there was an easier way to explain this but the nature of magic is
tough to understand. What is it about magic that makes some Humans
Mages and others not? Why is it choosy like that? Where does it
come from? How can a Mage really control it? We could ask questions
all day and end up exactly in the same spot; confused with no clear
answers. I’ll continue to study it and hopefully we’ll be able to
understand why I can do what I do, but all I can say for now is
simply...just go with it.”

I laughed and shrugged. “Fair enough.
You’ll just have to tone it down when around ‘normal’ people.”

“
Agreed,” she
smiled.

Chapter
10

The farm lands were a
sight for sore eyes as we left the Archanion Field behind. The land
flattened and took on a livelier look. The trees were green and
lush and the birds’ songs weren’t an ominous undertone for the
death and destruction we might have to face. A very welcome change
of pace.

As we passed by several farms, the
farmhands watched us suspiciously. The sight of two armed and blood
covered soldiers being led out of the Archanion Field by a skinny
kid in tattered clothes was something the farmers didn’t see often.
We were trouble and the sooner we were gone from their lands the
better in their eyes. They probably had enough trouble to deal
with. I pushed the small group on as the Reed Farm rose up from the
horizon.

My time at the Reed Farm after my last
adventure was short. Aaron’s father, Harold, wasn’t a fan of magic
or of his son’s friendship with a Mage. His temper was held in
check by his wife, Mary, but even she couldn’t work miracles. As
the tensions with magic users grew worse, Harold and his neighbours
grouped together to hunt down stray Mages who emerged from the
Archanion Field. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the group turned
on me, so I fled into the night one evening.

I felt bad not saying
goodbye to my friends, but it was a better option than waiting for
them to get hurt protecting me. They would understand and I hoped
the note I had left explained everything.

Something weird had
happened that night though. I ran into a small group of farmers
chasing down a young girl. She was definitely a Mage and was using
her Pulse to keep them at bay. The group was small enough that I
could easily trick them and help the girl escape. I had rushed in
and saved her, sending the farmers on a wild goose chase with a
well-placed Illusion spell.

To my surprise, the
girl turned out to be someone I recognised. She identified herself
as Riley Simpson, a Spirit Mage and Healer. Cathy searched my
memories and revealed that it was the same red-haired girl who was
at my Demon Dream Ceremony in the Tower.

I invited her to come
to Nesqa, but she said it would be worse there for her. Not wanting
to leave her with nothing, I drew a quick copy of my map of
Balendar and lent her some spare clothing that Aaron gave me. I
told her to keep her magic hidden and try to live a normal life
until everything blew over; advice I never followed myself. We
parted ways and she disappeared into the night. She was the only
Mage I had saved and to this day I still couldn’t figure out why I
had done it.

The trip down memory
lane ended when we arrived at the edge of the Reed Farm. I looked
at Cathy and she nodded slightly to me. She remembers that night
just as well as I do but we knew it would be different this time.
The wounds of the Tower weren’t as fresh and Cathy now had
authority as Lady Middleton. We would finally be welcome back to
our first home after we left the Tower.

Aaron was in the field when he caught
sight of us walking up to the house. He jogged over and adjusted
his wide brimmed hat. “I wondered when you would be back.”

“
It’s good to see you
again,” I smiled.

“
I see nothing has
changed,” Aaron smirked. “You are still running around causing
trouble.” He turned to Cathy. “Welcome to my farm, I’m Aaron
Reed.”

“
Lady Sandra
Middleton of Davalin,” Cathy answered. “This is Captain Bill
Dodd.”