The Way of the War

Chapter 3

                                             Joseph

  When she said it I thought she was kidding. I started to laugh, but then I saw her eyes. They said a thousand words all in one. Helplessness. She was afraid of something, I could tell, but I didn’t know what it was. But what she said didn’t make any sense.

  I needed to know what she meant. “What do you mean? My mother would never be a part of some rebellion, or terrorism.”

  “She wasn’t.” She is stumbling on her words a little bit. How did I- of all people- manage to break such a beautiful, strong bird? “The Alimante are magicians.”

  “Magicians aren’t real.” I say with complete disbelief.

  “They are, and I can prove it to you.”

  “Go ahead. Prove it to me.” I make a gesture with my hand.

  She glances down quickly then up to my face before she takes a few steps back. She looks at me with her gorgeous eyes and for a moment I have an urge to hold her and say everything will be fine, because her eyes show pain.

  A sudden gust of wind appears as she slowly raises her arms. Plants grow at an impossible speed and reach towards me, fire appears out of nowhere and flickers, water swirls around my head and I am fascinated. I look at her with disbelief.

  She has a face as hard as stone as she concentrates on all of the wonders going on around us. I believe her, I actually believe her, a beautiful girl from a place I have never heard of has actually convinced me that magic exists, and that the mark on my wrist is a part of all of this.

  The wind all of a sudden drops, the fire disappears, the plants return to the ground and the water evaporates.

  “Do you believe me?” she asks as she slowly steps towards me.

  “Yes.”

  She gives a faint smile. “I suppose I should answer your other question.”

  “What question?” I am completely confused.

  “Your mother would never be a part of a rebellion or terrorism,” I smile as she says my exact words “But she always fought for her kind. The Alimante are just one side to the war of magic. The other side is the Navines, they have declared war on us and they aren’t stopping any time soon, unless we can stop them. Your mother was the wife of the leader of the Alimante.”

  She stopped, just stopped. I didn’t understand why she looks so depressed so I ask the question that unnerves me. “Was?”

  Ashley looks up. “Sentra was the capitol of the Alimante region. The Navines attacked years ago and they ended up bringing it down, along with our leader. Your mother escaped with the general, the only two survivors. Nobody knows what happened to them, but we all remember she was four months pregnant with our leader’s child. You must be that child. Who else would have such a mark that resembles the mark of the Alimante and the mark of protection?”

  I don’t know what to say. She has told me what I never knew about my real existence. I need to know more about where I come from, but first why is she here?

  “Why are you here?” I ask her with such force that she looks taken aback.

  “I was chosen for a team of magicians that would travel to all of the cities and towns looking for more magicians to help us fight the Navines.” She looks innocent and young when she looks at me with no mask to protect her from showing emotions. Her face shows determination, as if she will do anything to save her people. “Why can’t I read your mind?” she asks with intense eyes.

  I just stare at her. Read minds? Who is she? Some kind of crazy magician you only see once?

  “Wait. I said it before. You have the mark of protection.” She shakes her head and smiles at her mistake of not realising why she couldn’t read my mind.

  I stare at her. I just stare. I don’t know what to think. Is she lost? Is she in need of help? Or does she just enjoy confusing poor strangers like me?

  “Oh. I should really introduce myself. My name is Anastasia Silverwater.” She holds out her hand.

  I shake her outstretched hand, but when I do, memories of a bloodbath, the choosing of people to look for recruits and her name said over and over again along with the history of the Alimante region.

  “That is called the passing of memories.” She tells me matter of factly “I also managed to get a hold of your memories as I gave you mine.”

  “But the protection spell” I start.

  “I’m one of the best code crackers there is. But I can only do it with skin contact. I can now read your mind freely, but by doing that I have given you full access to my mind as well.”

  “I can read minds?”

  “Only mine. I’m one of the very last mind readers left in the Alimante region. Oh and can you call me by my nickname? I’m sure you caught that when we touched; if not just read my mind. It’s not that hard.”

  “Okay Anastasia. I mean Fox.”

  She smiles a big smile when I say her favourite nickname.

  Her smile drops and the mask comes back on.

  ‘The others are coming. Just act normal. I’ll talk to them.’ She says in my head. I now understand her.

  She is the last one of her kind. She is a mind reader, but she also has a very strong access to magic. She is known as a caster, one of the strongest magicians to ever exist. She can do anything she likes but she doesn’t like others knowing. But she told me. Why? I don’t know, not at the moment anyway.

  Her friends round the corner. Jayden in the middle looking annoyed and angry, Marie is on his left with a scowl on her face. Benjamin is on Jayden’s right; he just stands there not knowing what to do.

  “Well?” Jayden asks in a threatening tone.