Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Sixteen

Shaldon beach was small, cliffy, sandy and cold, especially as the sun was setting; Kath shivered a little in her thin clothes. The armour underneath did little to hold in any heat. Nonetheless it was beautiful, a small, semi-private beach before a winding cliff road, a selection of small, white-and-pastel painted houses over the road, and an ice cream stand and café, both — sadly — closed. Apart from a dog walker at the other end of the beach and sea birds picking at the flotsam and jetsam of weed and shells, it was also deserted.  Down at the shoreline, far enough away she couldn't quite hear them but could see them well enough, Lady and Pes were — the only word she could use was frolicking, and it was incongruous to see Lady laughing, years and cares drained from her face as she danced barefoot through the shallow lapping waves...Kath squinted. No, not through the water but on it; as if it was a malleable but basically solid surface. Pes chased her, his trouser legs rolled up, and Lady turned, lifting a hand; the water rose up with her movement and splashed Pes' legs. Lady ducked her head and grinned at him as he moved to grab her around the waist and lift her up, laughing, laughing, and spin her around, as if they were the only two people in the world. The wind whipped their long hair together, the setting sun lighting their faces with a rosy glow. It was the first time Kath had seen Lady use her magic, too; she could feel the ripples in the air, very subtle and tentative, nothing like the weight of Pes' or the Guardian of Dreams' magic had been.

"My daughter loves it here," said Alexander, Lady's father, the Lord of Light, beside her. Kath concentrated on breathing in; the sheer raw power was so intense it was visible. The man wasn't tall, and he was stocky and powerfully muscled; he had a faint hint of a beard on his chin and thick, and dark hair running very slightly to grey at the temples. His eyes were as green as Lady's, but Kath had only dared look into them once; they were faceted like a mirror. When he spoke, she could hear two voices overlaying each other. "You wonder why she cannot use her magic as the others do — she is human. Her body was not ever meant to hold such power. To create from nothing would kill her; she knows only to manipulate what already exists, and even then, with care. Pestilence and the other elements who support me restrain themselves through care for the world, for what they could unleash, but my daughter has no choice."

Kath and the Lord sat on the low stone wall at the point where beach became pavement and road, moored single-man yachts and rowing boats lining the sand before them. Kath had rather wanted to climb into one, but had stopped herself; she didn't think her companions would quite approve, somehow. She hadn't asked the man a single question but he spoke to her as if she had voiced her every thought to him.

"I was a few years into my career, my first posting abroad as a soldier of the Queen's army. I was on patrol in the wilderness," Alexander continued. "When I met a dying man; his voice had a thousand layers. He said without a vessel, the world would die. When the soul of the Light spoke to me..." he touched his heart briefly. "I did what any man had to do. I allowed him to use me as his vessel. A few months later, my wife told me she was pregnant...but my body was a prison for too much magic, now. It leaked over into the baby in her body, and without a focus for that wild power, she would die. The Guardian of Water had just fallen to the Guardian of Famine, agent of my other soul's brother. We called the lost power together like a magnet..." He held up his hands and moved them slowly together. "My daughter's inherent soul was...compatible with the element. They merged, and its balance saved and threatened her. She cannot live away from water, the sea or the river, nor can she use that power. The Dark Lord wishes her dead most of all, for the harm it would cause me. She is an easy target, with her human body." He stared away from Kath, away from Lady and Pes, directly into the sunset.

Kath tried to find her voice again. "And...uh, me? What...can I do, should I be doing? I mean...?" She broke off, as she didn't know what she meant precisely.

Alexander turned to look at her; Kath tensed to stop herself being bowled off the wall. Seriously, how can't normal people feel this? Every time he looks at me it's like being clubbed. "You have a special gift," he said. "As my daughter told you, most who See die mad or deluded. That you have not is..." he smiled faintly. "A miracle. Our brother would give much to have your skill, for you can read magic — read its actions in the threads of the world. You can track elements, find them when they hide, maybe even See their movements as they choose to act. My daughter studied Physics to try to understand how things affect things, yet you have that gift innately, child." His voice swayed from the gruff, fierce tones of the original man and the inhumanly calm voice of the Lord of Light, leaving Kath floundering slightly to keep up.

The Lord continued: "Once, I had a daughter, too, who bore fruit. Like Lady, that daughter was affected by the power my brother and I had unleashed, but that was a long time ago, before it had form. She was not affected, apart from in her ability to See the living force of soul when a leaf unfurled, where every other man saw nothing but a leaf. The dilution through the years has made the power easier to bear, yet the forces of magic have made themselves stronger, by the unwitting shapes humans have given them. The power that was once one, has split into many — perhaps irreparably. That is, alas, not our primary concern. My brother — the Dark Lord — wishes to break apart the magic of life until it is wild, formless, and destructive." His large, strong hands knotted tightly together. "My brother..."

Lady and Pes had calmed down; they stood together now, heads close, talking about who-knew-what as the wind teased their long hair into knots, the tails of Pes' coat flapping slightly. Lady's hand idly waved at her side, making the water curl up and around her bare legs in twisting shapes. The last rays of the sun gave her dark brown hair a burnished copper tone, bright as blood. Kath's lips tightened.

"Lady said...the time was coming? That something's going to happen?" Kath fumbled for words. I guess I mean, is everything about to...I dunno, explode? What? Her stomach lurched sickly at the thought of Dream and a thousand other raging elements warring — was that what would happen? Surely everyone would have to notice that?

"The volume of life on the planet is immense. Too strong — it feeds that which it even unwillingly believes in. Although there is little religion left now, the adoration that has been transferred to science and discovering the elements is in no way a lessening form of worship. In fact, it is stronger; to understand is to know and to love, after all. Knowing what the earth is comprised of makes humanity think of it more, and thus feeds the spirit, the magic. My brother encourages famine and fire, hoping it will drive all the elements to break. There has to be a way to reach him..." The Lord of Light broke off, shaking his head. "No. That is an old regret, a regret of a thousand, thousand years. But we loved each other, once."

Kath's heart contracted. I loved my brother once. No, I do love him. I do...

Alexander stood. "We should return to Dartmoor; my wife, Victoria, will have cooked, and it is unwise to tarry too long anywhere outside of my wards. We live near the river Dart, so my daughter will have access to what she needs." He raised his voice. "We need to go..."

Although he had not shouted loudly, Lady and Pestilence both turned. Lady inclined her head; the carefree joy had faded from her face, leaving it once again composed, cold. Pestilence raised his hand in understanding, and they started to trek back up the sand. Lady's hand fell, and the water retreated from her, splashing back into the eternal curling waves of the ocean.

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