Fallen Magic

“Well,” I say. “I guess it worked.”

“I guess it did,” Isabelle laughs. “Note the fact I’m not currently betraying you.” She climbs up onto what remains of the table and crouches down beside the hole, summoning another light-spell so that she can peer inside. “…there’s nothing down there,” she says after a moment. “Not even ground. Just… a void.”

Edward and I both climb onto the stone as well. There isn’t all that much space left, so we stay crouched and edge as close as we dare to the hole before we too stare into the void. Because her description was right: it is a void. Just a blank empty greyness, nothing appearing no matter how long we stare.

Edward pulls a marble out of a pocket and holds it over the hole. He pauses for a second before releasing it. “One – two – “ he doesn’t make it to three before the marble stops falling and hovers in the nothingness.

“So there is something there,” Isabelle said. “But – I don’t understand – “

“Tallulah. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“If what you’re thinking is this appears rather like a patch of stabilised hyperspace,” I reply, “then… yes. But also surely that’s impossible? Magicians have only learnt to produce stabilised hyperspace within the last century. The Mages – the original ones – are a lot older than that.”

“That is what I was thinking, yes,” Edward says. “But it would explain some things, if it was. Like how no-one has been able to just break into the tomb by digging up the tunnel floor – because it’s not under the tunnel floor in any meaningful sense. And – if the space there is big enough – the destabilising effects on local reality it could cause… and it’s close enough to the place where the Portal Network is embedded… we could well be looking at the cause of the Greyford disaster.”

“Stars,” I whisper, staring down at the marble lying on nothing and the tiny glint of light it reflects.

“And, needless to say – regardless of whether it’s hyperspace or something else we don’t understand, it is very much not safe for anyone to go down there until it’s been thoroughly investigated by experts.”

“Ah,” says Isabelle. “That may be a slight problem. Since I can’t exactly stick around to wait for that. Well, I suppose I’ve taken enough mad risks to get this far.” She stands up. I realise what she’s about to do just too late to stop her.

She jumps into the hole.

It only takes her a moment to hit whatever passes for ground inside. And now I can get a better idea of how far down it is: her full body fits inside with ease, but I think I could reach out and touch her if I wanted to. So maybe eight or nine feet?

“I should probably have considered how I was going to get back out,” Isabelle says. “But hopefully you aren’t planning on leaving me down here. I am kind of curious about what would happen to my escape plan if I were in hyperspace – or whatever this is – but I’d rather not test that the hard way.”

“We’ll get you out,” I say.

Edward shoots me a look that tells me he was seriously considering not doing that. Stars.

“Thanks. I’ll let you know when I’m done here. In the meantime – “ she laughs again – “I have a legendary secret to find.”

She steps away from the hole, seeming perfectly happy to walk on the void-ground. It only takes a couple of steps before she’s out of sight.

I look at Edward. He looks at me.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I just realised she still has our rings,” he replies. “So if she gets herself killed down there, we have no way of summoning help.”

“Ah,” I say. “But… do we need to summon help? We wouldn’t be in danger any more.”

“You can take charge of navigating through the tunnels, then.”

“…okay. You might have more of a point. But we can worry about that once we’re reasonably sure Isabelle isn’t going to make it out of the tomb alive.”

“Fine. Here’s something else to worry about, then: this mysterious backer of Sylvia’s. If we’re so important to them, why didn’t they come down here themselves?”

I grimace. It’s a good point, and one that didn’t occur to me. “I suppose they think it’s too risky, for some reason.”

“It would have been a much smoother operation with a third person involved. Especially if they were a magician. Isabelle wouldn’t have had as easy a time in that case.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “We don’t even know enough to speculate, do we?”

“We could always wake Sylvia up to interrogate her?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on NovelFire.

“No,” I say at once.

I’m half-expecting a lecture on how it’s just moral cowardice, that I’m objecting despite knowing full well what Lord Blackthorn will do for information if he gets his hands on her and that it’s necessary.

“Fair point,” he says instead. “It would be a little impractical when our surroundings aren’t exactly secure. And when Isabelle could come back at any moment. We should at least have a contingency plan, though. In case more danger arrives. I suppose we’d have to dive into the tomb. I reckon we’d have a decent chance at defending it long enough for summoned help to arrive. And maybe there are artefacts there that would help us, too.”

“By summoned help, you mean the rings, right? Isabelle isn’t going to give them to us without a fight.”

“I’m pretty confident I could win that fight,” Edward says. “I watched her spellcasting, and her form is sloppy at best. There’s no way she has proper combat training.”

“Okay,” I concede, “but what do you think she’ll do, if she’s cornered?” I’m not sure whether she’d be destructive towards us or just herself. But either way, it seems like an outcome to be avoided if at all possible.

“…point,” Edward admits. “But what choice would we have, in that case?”

I grimace. It would be her or us, really. And – unlike Edward – I don’t know if I could do what I needed to. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

We lapse into silence. My mind is spinning so fast it’s hard to pin down any thoughts.

Mages Returned. Us.

It seems impossible. But we opened the Tomb. It has to be true.

I thought when I found out what the anomaly was, things would make sense. But now I’m left with more questions than I had before.

Such as how is it possible? What made the strange type of magic that the original Mages must have possessed reappear now, instead of at any point in the previous centuries? And am I literally the reincarnation of one of the original Mages?

And, most of all, why me?

Edward makes sense. He’s the son of Lord Blackthorn. A magical prodigy who’s bound to achieve great things someday. And Isabelle, from what little I know of her, is a brilliant alchemist with a talent for making mad plans work.

I’m neither of those things. I’m a moderately competent magician with a lot more problems than I can handle.

I think of the girl I was a few months ago, slowly breaking under more pressure than she could handle. And that was just trying to be a good student and future lawyer. The pressure doesn’t even compare to this.

And yet I’m not breaking now. At least, I don’t think I am. And I’m fairly sure it’s not just because of the anomaly; I’ve become familiar with the thought patterns associated to it by now. A quiet confidence that borders on arrogance. I don’t feel remotely confident right now.

So I suppose… I’ve changed, too, in the last few months. Become stronger. And – I glance at Edward, hoping that there’s enough of my best friend left beneath the anomaly and the Malaina – I’m not alone.

I don’t know if it’ll be enough for whatever happens next. I don’t know if anything will be.

I’m startled out of my reverie by a shout from down below. Isabelle.

Edward and I peer back down into the hole. She’s standing there, looking unruffled by whatever she found, smiling. “I’d appreciate a hand,” she says.

Neither Edward nor I are strong, at least physically. But we grab one of her outstretched hands each, and between us we haul her out of the Tomb. She sits on the edge of the hole, her legs dangling into nothingness, and laughs.

“What was down there?” Edward asks.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” I ask.

“Partly,” Isabelle says to me. “From what I can work out, it’s split between the tombs of all three of the original Mages. We’ll have to find and open the other two.”

I note her use of we, but don’t comment on it.

“Do you know where the other tombs are?” asks Edward.

“I haven’t the faintest idea.” She laughs again. “But I intend to find out. Would you like to come with me?”

“…you must be joking,” Edward says.

“That’s a no, I take it? Figures.”

It’s not even a decision, for either of us. Giving up everything we know and love to follow the girl who was our enemy fifteen minutes ago on a mad quest? No thank you.

“Well,” she says. “If you ever change your mind…” she reaches into a pocket. Edward and I flinch, but she only pulls out a pair of spheres the size of large coins, each filled with a bright red liquid. She offers one to each of us, and after hesitating for a moment we take them.

It’s a little heavier than I expected, I think, rolling mine back and forth in my palm. I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be.

“Just put one of these in your mouth, and it’ll teleport you to wherever I am. No expiry date. And it doesn’t matter what wards are between us either.”

“…you… that shouldn’t be possible,” says Edward. “Delayed-action – oh – you actually found a practical way to exploit the Garnett loophole?”

“Something like that,” Isabelle says. “I don’t really understand the magical theory behind it that well, but I know they work.”

“That’s your way out,” I say.

She smiles.

“Stars,” says Edward, tucking his sphere away in his robes. I slip mine into a pocket.

“There’s a couple of messages I’d like you to pass onto Lord Blackthorn, then, if you don’t mind. Firstly, tell him that he might want to arrange for Sam Dubois to be extracted, he’s very compromised by this point. Hopefully only by me.”

Edward is staring at her as if she’s a madwoman. I’m not convinced she isn’t.

“And secondly, tell him I’d appreciate whatever information he has to offer about individuals known as Fox and Tiger.”

I blink.

“What makes you think he would tell you anything?” Edward asks.

She shrugs. “I don’t expect this to work. But I might as well try.” She once again reaches into a pocket, but this time she pulls out two familiar-looking rings and sets them down beside her.

Edward snatches them almost before I realise they’re there.

“Well,” says Isabelle, swinging her legs out of the hole. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you both. And I’m really sorry about the whole kidnapping thing.”

“You’re just… leaving?” I say numbly.

“Unless you intend to stop me? Yes.”

I hear a distant patter from outside the cavern. It sounds like running footsteps. Is someone coming? Are they here to help us, or is this Sylvia’s backer acting at last?

“I’ll be in touch when I’ve found another tomb,” Isabelle says. She produces another of the orbs containing red liquid, jumps down from the table and tosses the orb into her mouth. “Bye,” she says, the word distorted by the orb.

A second later, she vanishes.

The sound of footsteps continues, and it’s coming closer.

“I’ve summoned help,” says Edward. “If they’re hostile, we hold the Tomb until my dad arrives. Be ready to jump.”

I’ve stayed crouched on the table for a while, and my legs are stiff. I stand, telling myself that jumping into the void is preferable to the alternative. Especially since Isabelle did it and survived.

There’s no doubt by now that the owners of the footsteps are coming our way. I turn to face the cavern entrance and silently pray that they’re friendly.