Born of Magic (Channeler Series) Read online

  "When all of them are combined, they give the wielder the ability to heal any wound. I need this to save my brother. I promised him that I would not stop until I had obtained all seven of the gems. I need six more."

  "But why do you need me for this?"

  "The gems were stolen years ago. They were passed down through the bloodlines of those who had taken them. One of them is held here, in the castle of Saltren, by one of the King's top advisors."

  "The castle?" I stared at him with disbelief. "How do you plan on breaking into the castle? I know you can hide yourself from plain sight, but you would need me to channel a lot of magic for the number of guards that they have—"

  Before I could finish my list of reasons why this was impossible, he interrupted me. "You don’t need to be near me in the real world, only in Etherea. The advisor is a mage, but I can take care of him before he is anywhere near you." A million questions still raced through my mind, but Aton continued, "You’ll have to trust me on this one. This is not my first time."

  Aton pulled out a gem and showed it to me as proof of his past success. Energy pulsed from the gem, flowing outward from it in short intervals. I could feel the magic brush against me. The energy that radiated from it was different from the rest in Etherea. I had no control over it.

  At this point it felt as though my only option was to trust him. If I wanted to keep training and learn more about magic, then he was my best option for the time being. Besides, if I am as important to him as he says, then it will be within his best interest to keep me safe. I nodded and said, “Okay.”

  "You’ll have to leave your body here and follow me in Etherea. You'll be safer that way." He was calm and tranquil as he sorted through a bag that was sitting on the side of his bed. A glint of steel shined through briefly as he donned a long, dark cloak. He turned to me in one graceful motion with a smile of satisfaction on his face. "We leave tonight."

  “There’s no way I’m ready.”

  He stood up, walked over to me, and kneeled down. “Today you gave me more power than I had ever even dreamed of possessing at once. We’re more than ready. You just need to that again.” Before I could interject, he interrupted with a bit of firmness laced in his voice, "Now stay seated and practice channeling some more, until it’s time for us to go."

  I immediately started to practice. So much of this depended on me and my ability to channel magic. If I were going to grow up and become woman of power and significance, and live the life that I dreamed of, I would have to train a lot.

  As I trained I felt as though I hadn’t improved at all. However, every once in a while, when I managed to channel more than usual into Aton, he would shoot me a smile from the corner of his mouth.

  The sun began to set and rays of red light streaked across the sky and tinted the city a beautiful shade of orange. Aton looked out the window—his face reddened by the setting sun—and clapped his hands together once.

  “It’s time to go,” he said. “Leave your body here and follow me only in Etherea. Begin channeling when we’re nearing the castle entrance and don't stop until I tell you, or we’re both as good as dead. As an incentive, since I've just met you, there’s a letter in my chest pocket with you named as an accomplice, as well as your location." He must have recognized the shock of horror on my face. "It's not that I don't trust you, but we did just meet."

  With that, I followed him in Etherea. He locked the door behind us, with my body locked in the room. Although I felt as though I shouldn't go along with this, at this point it felt as though I had no choice, he was far more experienced and larger than me and was also the one glint of hope in my life. Blind of normal people in Etherea, I tried to image what would be happening in the real world at this time. It helped calm my nerves as we neared the castle.

  I tried to imagine the few remaining citizens that would be out at this hour. Most of the shops would be closed by now. There were almost no guards inside the city, since they felt that it was unnecessary due the protection provided by the well-guarded outer walls.

  Aton nodded at me. His eyes never made contact with mine. Instead, he focused directly on the first entrance to the castle. The closer we got, the faster my heart raced. While I was safe in Etherea, other than from the advisor, or the chance that Aton failed, I couldn't help but tremble at the sight of the castle. I knew the challenge that I now faced. Before, the castle was just a part of the landscape to my life. I had never before looked up at it with such dismay and dread. Would this now terrifying building be the end of me? I shook my head, no, I have a future, and this is the first day of it.

  As we passed through the entrance, where normally four guards would have interrupted his entrance, Aton said with an ominous smile that could scare the fur off of an alley cat, "Here we go."

  ~3~

  We had overcome the first obstacle entirely clean. Only four guards to overcome, it was something within Aton's normal scope of capabilities. Past this, I was unsure what he would encounter. All I could do was focus as much magic at him as possible, and hope that it was enough. The long, eerie corridors haunted me as we walked through them, slow and steady, each step calling out in my mind, “Get out. Run.”

  I counted every step that we took further into the depths of the castle, knowing that each one in was another step farther from Aton escaping, along with my identity nestled in his pocket. That note was pleading to be read like a sunrise waiting to ruin your slumber. The idea of being named an accomplice to this deed was only threatening because I could foresee Ralph betraying me for whatever reward was offered in my capture. Otherwise knowing the name of a street-rat was useless.

  Aton walked with a goal that he was apparently eager to reach. It almost made him sloppy at times. It felt like we had been walking forever, down one corridor and then up another, a turn here and a fork there. How he managed to find his way around here was a mystery to me. He must have known the rough area the advisor was in, but not the exact way there. At times it appeared as though he was guessing.

  We had made several minor detours along the way until Aton stopped in front of a doorway. He had a look of horror in his eyes as he stood there. I could see all the magic I channeled into him draining from him as quickly as it entered. I struggled to channel more as I walked up to him. I wanted to try and see what had him so terrified so that I could understand better what we were up against. Aton waved his arms at me telling me to stop, but I didn’t react fast enough.

  I was not prepared for what I saw.

  It wasn't the advisor in his room by himself, something I would have preferred. Rather, before us was a room filled with a large oblong table and at least twenty chairs surrounding it, most of which were pushed out and I guessed occupied. Even worse, four of the chair's occupants were there with me, in Etherea. Four mages. I immediately recognized one as the man who had hired me to follow the cloaked man. We were in over our heads. I used every ounce of power I had and channeled it into Aton.

  He looked at me in desperation, "Wait here!"

  The mages looked right past Aton and at me, "A channeler… it can't be!" One of the four mages said. He stood up. He was an older man with a long red beard and vibrantly colored robes of bright red and green tints that draped to the ground around his feet.

  "Look at the way the magic flows around her. She is channeling to someone. Who else is here with you?" An older, slender woman shouted at me with a ferocity in her voice that could have turned my hair snowy white.

  I was frozen where I stood and remained completely silent. Aton wasted no time. He ran into the room and jumped on the top of the table. Out of fear I briefly stopped channeling as I saw the four mages look at Aton for a moment, then around the room in a frantic panic as I once again focused my power on him. They got up and came at me in a rabid dash. The red bearded mage created a spear of wood from thin air and launched it at me like an arrow. I ducked out of the way and it shattered into a thousand tiny splinters against the cobblestone wall behind me.

>   Aton, with wind-like grace, grabbed the red bearded mage by his shoulders and spun him around. He then used the man's body to support himself as he lifted his legs off the ground, planting them firmly in the chest of the younger mage who hit the wall hard and then fell to the ground.

  I watched Aton fly from one side of the room to the other, first focusing on the four mages, which he dispatched quickly. The other chairs were flung through the room as, I guessed, the occupants stood up to assist their allies against the unknown assailant. Aton was vicious and swift, kicking through the air as he stopped anyone that posed a threat to his objective.

  As quickly as the onslaught had begun, Aton stopped. There was still rustling of objects in the room. Aton watched his prey for the right chance. The four mages lie unconscious on the floor. He searched the pockets of the oldest mage, grabbing what he wanted from the man’s inner chest pocket.

  Aton ran back to me and we were off. He now sprinted out of the castle; I could barely keep up with him while I also struggled to continue channeling magic. I did not become winded or tired in Etherea, I noticed. Aton, however, grew short of breath.

  We reached the outside of the castle. I expected he would slow down as we were now a considerable distance and still remained entirely undetected after the brawl. His pace quickened however and we sprinted back to the inn. I rushed into the room after he opened the door and I returned to my body.

  "What now?"

  He ran around the room, darting back and forth in a spree of chaos, and proceeded to throw everything into a couple bags. "We need to leave, now."

  "We can't." I shook my head in disbelief. "I still need to say goodbye to my friends..."

  He clenched his fists until his fingers turned red. There was a tone of frustration in his voice, "We can't. We have to go now. We can’t come back here."

  Before I had time to reflect on what was happening, we were out the door. Aton had me keep channeling to him so he could remain hidden from anyone we passed. We were in sight of the main gate leading outside when Aton stopped for a moment. "Run through the gate, I will take care of the guards. Just keep channeling to me."

  I didn't want to trust him anymore. While we had made it out of everything, he had risked my life far too many times than I cared for. I weighed out the options. The mages had seen me, and there may be nowhere I could hide from them in the city, at least not for long. I had to escape, and he was my least risky way out right now. I did as he said and began to run for the gate. The guards gave me a puzzled look. As I neared them Aton was well in front of me. With a few well-placed, unchallenged moves, they were incapacitated.

  And just like that, we were outside the city. The sun was just beginning to rise now. I had never before set foot outside the giant walls that had surrounded me my entire life. We continued to run for some time, until we were a good distance from the city walls. Compared to the mountain range behind it, the castle looked like a finely detailed toy. I nearly cried as my home now looked like a simple child's play thing in comparison to the world that had just been opened up to me.

  Aton stopped running, looked at me, and smiled. "The first step on your journey.”

  "My journey? So far you’ve almost gotten me killed at every turn!"

  "I never said your journey would be easy. But yes, I placed you in more risk than I should have. I’m sorry for that, but I had no time to waste. We had to act while we still could."

  "Why such a hurry? We could’ve waited. If we had, those three other mages might not’ve even been there."

  He stopped walking and leaned up against a tree and stared at the ground, "Since I managed to grab the first gem, they’ve been after me. I wanted to try and get the next one before them. I guess they beat me to it."

  "We couldn't have just waited them out?"

  "You remember the mage with the red beard, the one that figured you were a channeler? He is a well known mage." Aton said, raising a hand and pointing his finger at me, "He is a well experienced mage, loved throughout the lands for bringing crops and feeding the starving, using his magic as power, and hoarding it over those who need it most. He knows the ways of magic well."

  I had never before considered what other powers were out there. The idea made me a little uneasy. What other powers would I face? I thought over all the different, wonderful, and not so wonderful, mages that could be out there, and how they would welcome my ability. Would I be greeted with a smile, or another wooden spear conjured out of thin air? The memory made me shiver. After having spent only a little time with this man, I had already managed to make enemies.

  Patterns of leaves shaded Aton's face as he stared at the ground, deep in contemplation. A warm breeze came from the forest and rustled his hair around before it reached the wall of Saltren and then wrapped around the city. I had never felt a breeze like this before, so complete and warm, unopposed by the city walls.

  "We should keep going. It's a bit of a travel to my home from here. Given the way that went, I think it’s best we lay low for a bit."

  With that we started walking again. Aton led us off of any marked trail. Instead, we traveled alongside a stream that headed off to the East. Crystal clear water trickled along the stream, producing a soft pattering sound that accompanied me as I walked. The water looked far cleaner than the puddles in Saltren.

  "What will we do during that time?"

  Aton watched the path that we walked with caution, his eyes scanning every direction. Each step he seemed to take with care, making almost no sound as he walked. "I will train you, just as I had promised to."

  Out here, in the forest, I felt more at home than I ever had in the city. While Aton was precise and mindful with his movements, I found myself veering off from his path often. Everything around me was far more interesting than the city streets. It was difficult for me to focus on where I was going, let alone where I was.

  "What am I going to be learning?"

  "You have nothing to learn, only to practice."

  "Practice? Aren't you going to teach me how to use my magic more?" I asked, a little frustrated at how vague he continued to remain regarding my future.

  "Magic isn’t something that can be taught. It’s something you must learn. As I have said, everyone's ability is unique. There is no book on it, no list of steps. It's your own journey you must take."

  As he spoke, I realized that for the first time he seemed almost wise.

  I said nothing as we continued. The sun warmed the side of my face, while the trees' shadows cooled it as I walked past them. I watched the mists of magic dance with the wind that blew through the forest. The magic was like its own force, changing its direction in a sporadic pattern and going opposite that of the wind. I found its behavior curious, beautiful, graceful, and yet a bit chaotic. When I would channel it, I found I could make it dance like the wind, swerve through the trees and down along the stream.

  At one point Aton looked around in Etherea, watching with a pleased grin on his face as I manipulated the magic. I concentrated the mist into the shape of a leaf. It glowed like a swarm of fireflies as I made it drift around like it was caught in a breeze of magic. It was this that really caught Aton's attention, "I don't think I’ve ever seen magic behave that way. You're a natural, Jas."

  I smiled out of satisfaction. Maybe I was special. I wondered what I could do with the leaf, or what else I could make. It took a great deal of effort and I was only able to maintain the shape for a short time. I grew tired of it after a while and allowed the magic to break apart. Like water hitting the cobblestone streets during a rain, it broke apart and dissipated back into the magic around it.

  We had been walking the entire day, so I was relieved when Aton stopped to make camp. He stopped in a small clearing surrounded by several thick trees.

  "We'll rest here by the stream for the night, and tomorrow we'll continue on. I need to stop and grab some supplies. The nearest town is not quite like yours. This one will most likely have mages, and we need to make sure y
ou go unnoticed, if possible."

  "Why would I need to hide? Aren't I supposed to be powerful?"

  He chuckled as he spoke, "Yes, but you have no defense against them. Given your current level of skill, you would be more of a treasure to them than a threat. Look at what you can do for me. Imagine what other mages will ask of you. Most of them would probably be much less kind about it. Not all of them are like me. They won't offer to help you or take your best interest and future into consideration. They will simply take from you."

  It seemed as though I would not be getting any breaks any time soon. "Why do you care so much?" The question was one I hadn't considered asking before. I always figured he was nice because he had to be for some reason.

  "I find it far easier to get others to like you, than fear you. That way they are happy to help, not waiting for their chance to stab you in the back."

  The image I had of Aton was changing as our journey went on. He showed more promise with the beautiful new world that he had opened up to me, the hope of a better future, and the wisdom and kindness that he was showing me today. Even after all that had gone wrong, he may be the best person to come into my life since Edgar. For countless nights I had laid awake, thinking about what my family would be like and how excited they would be to find me, but they never came. In the end the only person that was ever there for me was Edgar, until now.

  The night was cool and quiet. The gentle sounds of the forest soothed me to sleep far better than the city ever had. That morning I awoke from a dreamless slumber, far more rested than I could remember ever having been in the past. Aton was already awake with a small campfire and some eggs he had apparently managed to scavenge that cooking on it. The smell dragged me out of bed without much of a groggy fight and we ate breakfast in peace.

  "The town is a bit from here. Before we get there, I need you to try and practice relinquishing your control over magic. Try and learn to let it pass through you as though you have no control over it. If any mages approach you, tell them you are unaware of your ability yet. It's not uncommon to find mages in Etherea who still don't know their talent." As Aton spoke he threw everything back into his bag. In a short amount of time we were once again making our way along the stream that had guided us this far.