The Autumn Mage

Chapter Seventeen

      Aki gasped for air before going into a fit of hard coughs forcing his body to lurch forward with each bout. His ears were stilling ringing but the noise of the burning house and the din of the forming crowd was beginning to come into focus. He groaned as he forced his stiff and sore body up from the hard ground. He was startled as his hands were gripped by Minda who was still shouting at him.

     "Can you hear me? Are you alright?" she shouted exasperatedly.

     "I'm fine," he grunted as he got up and stretched his back. As he scanned the crowd he noticed that most of them were looking at them and murmuring. "We should go." The local fire brigade dressed in their skintight ocean blue body suits and helmets showed up to the smoldering heap of wood but they were too late and simply shook their heads as they stared at it. "Great the fire fighters are here; let's move before the cops show up," Aki said as they rounded the corner and bumping chests with a police officer.

     "Care to run that by me again son?" the man gruffly asked. He crossed his arms in front of his shiny breastplate. Its pristine condition lead Aki to believe that the town did not face a great deal of crime.

     "I was just saying to my friend here that we should get out of town before the cops show up. We wouldn't want to look suspicious," he cockily replied as he studied the officer's face. He was an older gentleman with his greying hair slicked back shinning in the sun. His annoyed matching grey eyes slowly slit at Aki and sweat was beginning to form on his cleanly shaven face. Aki glanced at the scar running down his left eye and a smaller one on his neck and gulped realizing the man was tougher than he originally thought. His shirt and pants were a deep blue and his gloves and boots were a dark shiny black.

     "And what exactly makes you suspicious? Trying to dodge the cops or reeking like fire and being covered in soot?" Aki glanced at Minda and noticed how much black ash peppered her porcelain face. Minda looked at the ground before shutting her eyes. "Wanna tell me why you two who clearly aren't from around here are running from a fire?"

     "Would you believe that a bear crashed our camp site?"

     "Drop the tough guy act; what happened back there?"

     "It was Geppetto; he sicced his little demon puppets on us!" Aki finally conceded. The man slowly rubbed his cheek as he mulled it over; it was not as far-fetched as he was expecting.

     "Alright, so the old man snaps and tries to kill you with dolls. So, what, the house just magically burst into flames?"

     "Technically, yes," Aki snidely replied.

     "Alright smart ass, let's see your wand. Both of you." Minda opened her bag and removed the sheath of the blade that was destroyed by Midas. She slid open a small compartment in the side and gently removed a thin twisted wand about a meter and a half long. It was made of beech, firm and green, made of three intertwining branches that wove to a singular point.

     "Why have I never seen your wand before?" Aki asked taken aback. She sighed sadly.

     "You have," she said quietly holding back tears. Aki's face screwed in confusion as the man took her wand and removed a small brass hoop which floated flat in the air. He placed the wand inside and it floated pointing downwards. The hoop began to spin and blue flames silently engulfed the hoop. The flames leapt into the air next to it and spelled out ENGLE POG, RESTORE, MEND, RESILIENT, FLAME BARRIER.

     "Since when do you use Red and Black Magic?" interrogated Aki.

     "Not since a very long time ago," she said glaring at him. Her name joined the spell list.

     "You're a long way from home Lady Illumemarsky. Did you know that there's a missing person's report out on you?" Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. The officer scoffed. "Looks like someone didn't tell daddy where she was running off to with her boyfriend. Alright punk, hand it over," he said turning his attention to Aki. He begrudgingly handed over his staff which floated as the hoop spun for much longer than it had for Minda's wand. The officer stared at it concerned but it finally lit blue. It continued spinning and instead of producing spell names simply spelled out AKI. "Aki? Aki what? What's your last name kid?" he asked suspiciously.

     "I," he started before going blank. "I don't know," he softly conceded.

     "How do you not know your last name?" the man snapped.

     "He has amnesia," Minda bitterly defended.

     "Well isn't that a convenient excuse." The hoop was still spinning and finally provided a spell list with ARS OBLIVIO appearing in red. The officer whistled. "Well whoever the Hel you are it looks like you've been playing with the wrong spells. You're under arrest for arson and the theft of wisdom." Aki tried to resist but the man pulled out a black baton and a binding curse forced both of their wrists together with a grey aura. They levitated just off of the ground and were led to a nearby white cart hitched to a tall black horse.

     "You have to let us go!" Aki shouted. Minda sat in her seat with her head held low thinking about what her father would do when she was returned home.

     "The only thing I have to do is take you to jail so shut your mouth," he snapped back. He secured a small gate at the back of the cart and sat on the saddle of the horse with a grunt.

     "I'm dying!" Aki desperately yelled. His eyes welled up upon saying it out loud.

     "Aren't we all kid." He flicked his wrists and the horse began to trot away.