Chasing Magic (Hand Of Justice Book 2) Read online

  Riley, William, Lucie, and Worth were three levels below the upper deck.

  “Laugh all you want, William, but I know you didn’t eat lunch just so you’d avoid this.” Lucie’s smirk filled her face.

  “I did no such thing.”

  “Oh, yeah? Tell me, then, why there is twice as much food left in the kitchen as there normally would be?”

  “Enough.” William grunted. “We’ve got stuff to teach the young lady.”

  Lucie laughed, knowing that she’d won. William didn’t want people to see him vomiting, and it would certainly curtail his ability to make fun of Riley.

  “I forgot that you’re a master mage already,” Lucie retorted. “Go on then, William. Show her what to do. Please.”

  The crew had set sail one day ago, and the lessons had already started.

  Worth had told it short and simple. “No time. Make you magic now or we die.”

  Lucie was a mage, too, but she’d taken a back seat to Worth’s teaching so far.

  “You stubborn.” Worth refused to stop for Riley’s stomach. “More stubborn than him.”

  He pointed at William.

  The big man grinned at Riley. “So stubborn, Riley. Be more like me. Pliable. Easily molded.”

  Riley gritted her teeth. “Don’t forget what happened when Rendal kept fucking with me, William. You want to see me explode?”

  “I’m much too powerful for that now, Riley. Child’s play.” William’s grin was large enough to split his face.

  “Focus,” Worth snapped. “Here. Now. He know we come. He see us right now, so you focus.”

  Riley did; she forced away her rolling stomach and hurting head. She wanted to learn this. She needed to learn this. For her own sake, but also for New Perth’s. For Mason’s.

  “Sword important for him. Not you. Magic greater in you. Because it greater, your focus must be greater. Eyes closed.”

  Riley listened.

  She’d been doing this for hours, and so far nothing had happened. No fire in her hands like William. No red eyes. Nothing.

  Even now with her eyes closed, she couldn’t focus like she did with her sword. There was no physical extension of her. Nothing for her senses to latch onto. Nowhere for her mind to go. It was forced to be silent and focus only on itself.

  “What you see?”

  “Nothing. Just blackness.”

  “Deeper.”

  “What do you mean, Worth?”

  “Deeper. Go deeper.”

  Riley simply sat with her eyes shut, not understanding.

  “What you see?”

  “The same. Just blackness.”

  The big bald man was growing frustrated and he stood up, nearly knocking over his stool. “Enough for now. Need rest. Me. You need think. Figure out what you want.”

  Worth left the room, saying nothing else.

  William stood. “I ain’t never seen him that upset. You must really be pissing him off, skinny.”

  “I...I don’t know how. I’m trying my hardest. I really am. I just don’t know what he wants.”

  “I’m gonna go grab some—” William stopped mid-sentence, looking at them.

  “Grab some what?” Lucie smirked.

  They both knew how he’d been about to end the sentence. Grab some food.

  “Just some stuff.” He walked out of the room, not looking at either of them.

  “That man has more pride than anyone but Rendal himself.” Lucie stood and lifted her stool up, then brought it over to Riley. “He’s teaching you to do it differently than I learned.”

  “Worth?”

  “Well, certainly not William. He couldn’t teach a thief to steal, far as I can tell.”

  “How did you learn? Who taught you?”

  “Rendal did. I think that’s why I fell in love with him. I was only twenty.” Lucie looked down at her shoes. “I think the love was based quite a bit on what he saw in me. Something I didn’t understand myself at the time. He used me. I see that now. Like he wants to use you.”

  She looked back up.

  “You know that, right?”

  Riley nodded. “He told me. He said he wants me to be his heir.”

  “That’s what he told you, but don’t you believe him, girl. Rendal don’t want no heir. Rendal don’t think he’s ever gonna die.”

  “What’s he really want, then?” Riley asked.

  “Same thing all men with power want—to get more power. He’ll use you to help him do it. This is tough for ya now, learning how to let the magic loose inside you, but Rendal is right. The amount you hold...I saw it the first day I met you. Unleashing it might be hard, but when you do, it’s going to rip through this whole continent, girl. It’s going to change things.”

  “I don’t care about any of that. I don’t care about changing the continent, or even New Perth. I just want to get Mason back. That’s why I’m doing this.”

  “I know.” She stood up and walked across the room. “I can tell you how Rendal taught me if you think it might help.”

  “I’ll take any advice you have right now. Absolutely any.”

  Lucie nodded, grinning. “I don’t care what Worth says. Ya ain’t as stubborn as that big dumb animal William.” She went to the other side of the room and spread her arms to either side, the smile fading from her face. “Rendal used to tell me that it’s all energy. Magic isn’t anything other than that. Energy is matter, and some people—special people, as he used to call us—can bend it to their will. It’s not really magic at all. There’s something different about us that lets us manipulate the physical world, and that includes minds, because make no mistake, it’s energy inside your brain right now, girl.”

  “It’s not magic?”

  “It’s magic to the people that don’t understand it. Worth calls it magic, but I don’t think he really believes that. To him and his kind, it’s the same as breathing. They just know how to do it. Think about it like this: if someone hadn’t seen you with your sword before, and you came on an army at night, sweepin’ down on ‘em like the damned wind, what do you think they would call you the next day?”

  “A ghost,” Riley answered.

  “Exactly. Simply because people wouldn’t understand how it’s possible. Because a human shouldn’t be able to do that. In reality, you’re made out of flesh and blood just like them, only you’ve practiced and honed your skills. That’s what this is: it’s a skill, one that can be practiced. Instead of flippin’ your sword around, you’re flippin’ energy.”

  Riley shook her head, staring at the floor in front of her. “Worth just tells me to focus; that I’ll find it if I do. That’s what William said he did. Said he just focused and started seeing my face, and poof, his hands were on fire.”

  “Focus is in an important part, but it wasn’t what Rendal told me was the most important.”

  “And what was that?” Riley asked.

  “A goal. The first time he had me create magic, he wanted me to move a rock. Nothing big, just a pebble. He wanted me to pick it up and move it from one edge of the table to the other. He said I had to see the end first. That to see the rock where it currently was would only make it harder.”

  Riley’s eyes narrowed. “My only goal is to get Mason back.”

  Lucie grinned. “All this concern for Mason! I wonder if maybe ye ain’t wantin’ a bit more than to only be his Right Hand.”

  “No!” Riley shouted, mortified.

  “I’m kiddin’ ya, girl. Calm down before you bring the whole ship in here. Now look.” Lucie moved her head, nodding at the lamps on the walls that lit the room. “I want those candles to darken, so I first see it in my mind. I see the room growing darker. I see the shadows creeping across your face. I see…”

  But then they were in it. The room was darker. Riley looked at the lamps, which had grown very dim. One was out.

  “You try,” Lucie said. “Try to bring them back to life.”

  Riley nodded and closed her eyes. She focused all her attention
on the lights she saw in her mind. They were dark, and she wanted them to be brighter. She watched as the flames grew taller inside her head, the lamps driving away all the shadows in the room.

  Yes, it was working.

  She saw the room as she wanted it.

  Riley opened her eyes.

  Shadows still reigned around her. Lucie still stood across the room, her face troubled.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I promise. The potential is in you, and there’s nothing that you can do about that. There’s no way to put a cap on the bottle.”

  “I need to be able to use it, though. To direct it. My sword, even with whatever Worth has done to it, won’t be enough.”

  “Hush now. I don’t wanna hear nothin’ else like that.” Lucie walked across the room. She put her hand on Riley’s shoulder. “I pulled you from the street when you were nothin’ but an urchin without two coins to rub together. Now you’re a Right Hand, one of only two. You’ve been enough your whole damned life, and you’re gonna keep being enough. I know Rendal. I know him better’n anyone else walkin’ this Earth, and the reason he wants you so bad is that you’re better’n him. You’re better’n he’ll ever be.”

  Riley tilted her head up and looked at Lucie.

  “You’re gonna be a mage different from those before ya. You’re gonna change things, and it don’t matter at all that you ain’t brightening the lights right now.”

  “I don’t care, as long as I save Mason.”

  The door behind them opened, and they glanced at it.

  “I hope you two are done talkin’ ‘bout your knittin’ or whatever you women do.” William grinned, clearly thinking himself clever. “But we got trouble above.”

  Lucie looked at Riley again. “Even if you don’t ever get nowhere with magic, I promise I’ll teach you some things that’ll make his balls fall right off.”

  Riley climbed the ladder to the upper deck. The moon shone brightly across the tossing waves. Riley was glad the weather was good because she didn’t think she could handle much more movement.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Verith stood at the deck’s edge, leaning against the rail. He held a long telescope to his eye.

  “He’s the man to talk to,” William told her.

  Riley walked toward the man, William following. Worth was already next to Verith. The wind rushed over them all, chilly now that the sun had set.

  “Pirates,” Verith commented as Riley approached.

  “You can see them from here?”

  “Just barely, but the lookout in the crow’s nest saw them and sent someone to get me.”

  “Do you have experience sailing, Verith?” Riley asked.

  “Aye, I do. Part of the training for New Perth’s military. Can’t be the highest general of the kingdom without knowing how to operate ships.”

  “See, Riley, it’s not all about brawn. You got to have brains too if you want to make it in this world.” William laughed.

  “Shut it or you’re goin’ over, chubby.” Riley turned her attention back to Verith. “How far off are the pirates?”

  “Tough to say in the dark like this.”

  “I make light. You want?” Worth asked from the other side of Verith. He still seemed grumpy, although he did hold a chalice in his left hand.

  “That’s not a bad idea if you can do it, Worth, although I need to think through the ramifications.”

  “You know what that word means, skinny?” William asked, grinning.

  “The adults are speaking,” Riley zipped back at him. “If you light the sky up, Worth, they’re going to know we have magic onboard.”

  “Exactly,” Verith agreed. “Which means when they get here, they might just shoot cannonballs at us and sink us rather than risk dealing with mages.”

  “So, no light?” Worth asked.

  “No, I don’t think so. Tomorrow we’ll know better how close they are. They won’t reach us tonight.”

  “Good.” Worth brought the chalice to his lips and took a deep drink of the wine. “Riley give me headache. Need rest.”

  He gave the Right Hand a goofy-looking wink and walked off, leaving the three to themselves.

  “Trouble with the training?” Verith asked.

  “She just ain’t as good as me.” William smirked.

  “Verith, if we feed him to sharks, do you think the Prefect will understand?” Riley asked.

  Verith smiled. “I wouldn’t presume to speak for Prefect Ire.” His smile faded. “We’re going to have to figure out what to do about those pirates.”

  “What do they want?” Riley asked.

  “Pirates only want a couple of things: loot and women.”

  “Will our New Perth flag dissuade them from pursuing such desires?”

  Verith still held the telescope to his eye as he shook his head. “No. On the sea, New Perth holds no sway. The pirates know they can sink this ship and simply sail off into the horizon without having to worry about vengeance from New Perth.”

  Riley stared out into the dark ocean, unable to see what Verith was looking at.

  “We’ll have time tomorrow.” Verith closed the telescope and slipped it into the pocket on his shirt. “We just need to make sure we’re all up first thing in the morning.”

  “That means no sleepin’ in, Riley. Get your ass up early.” William was truly having a great time with the fact that he could practice magic and she couldn’t.

  “You shouldn’t want me waking up too early, jackass, because you might not wake up at all,” Riley quipped.

  “Yeah, yeah. Come on. We all need some sleep. We’ll deal with the pirates tomorrow morning.”

  The sun was bright above, and William didn’t feel as sick as he had the night before. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Riley or Lucie such a thing; he’d never hear the end of it. William knew he gave them way too much shit—even if he was always joking—to show any weakness.

  Worth was standing on the poop deck, and William made his way over. He could see the pirate ship in the distance, and it was definitely gaining on them. He hadn’t had time to talk to Verith yet this morning, but he trusted the general. The man was doing everything in his power to make sure the crew would be safe.

  Worth had been standing up there for quite some time, just staring. A few of the tent mages had come and spoken to him, but the conversations had been brief.

  “Hey, Worth.” William leaned against the rail in front of both men.

  “Hi.”

  “Wanted to talk to you about a few things, if you got the time.”

  William had seen this man as beneath him when they had first met. Worth had been leading a group of mutants out of the desert. He realized he’d been foolish, though. This man was wise and knew more than William probably ever would.

  Again, he wouldn’t admit such a thing to Riley or Lucie. They’d hound him until the end of time.

  “Got time. Nothing but time ‘til we meet mage again.”

  “Well, first, why the hell are you staring at that ship so hard? I don’t really see them being that big of a hindrance to us. I don’t think Verith does either.”

  “Aye, mayhap not.” Worth didn’t smile, which bothered William. The man always smiled.

  “Then why ya staring?”

  “Something different.”

  “About it?”

  “Aye.” Worth nodded. “Somethin’ different, betcha.”

  “Something to be worried about?”

  “Can’t see. Tryin’ to, but can’t.”

  “You talked to Verith this morning? Did he say when they’ll be here?”

  Worth nodded again. “Aye, be here tomorrow morn.”

  William wasn’t going to worry about the pirates. A bunch of ragtag cutthroats could be easily dispatched, and to be honest, he wanted the struggle. It’d been too long since he’d had a real fight and he felt a bit rusty.

  “Now, Worth, what I want to talk to you about next, you can’t tell no one, you understand?”
/>
  Worth looked at him. William grinned; the man’s lips were still purple from the wine he had drunk the previous night.

  “I mean, it ain’t bad, Worth. Don’t look like that. But you know how Riley will get if she knows somethin’ about me. She’ll tease until she dies from laughter.”

  “Aye. Know how you are, too. You do same.”

  William laughed. “I suppose I do. But seriously, keep this between us, okay?”

  “Aye. Worth not tell.”

  “First, I want more magic training. The fire is good, but I want to do more. Is that possible?”

  “Aye. Possible. You stubborn, but it possible.”

  William nodded. He was glad to hear it. “I know that training Riley is most important, but can we make time over the next few days?”

  “Aye, Worth make time for ya.”

  “Thanks.” William stared at the coming ship and his smile faded. “The next thing is about Riley. I know you use magic. I know your tent people use magic. But I’ve seen Rendal twice, and I know how strong he is. You and I both have lost people close to us facing him, and from what I understand, we need Riley to stop him. That about right?”

  “Aye, mayhap. He strong.”

  William thought he could see the pirate’s flag, although he couldn’t make out exactly what was on it.

  “So, is she going to learn how to do this? Do you think you’ll be able to get through to her?”

  Worth turned to him, his eyebrows scrunching together. He looked at William for long seconds and then smiled wildly, looking like the Worth William knew.

  “She magic, big man. She more magic than you. Than me. There no ‘get through.’ There no worry.”

  “You were worried before we got on this ship?” William straightened, growing to his full height as he turned to the bald man.

  “I worried?”

  “Hell, yeah, you worried! You didn’t want to go and sulked like a child.” William felt his temper rising. Worth was acting like he wasn’t concerned and never had been.

  “Oh...” He nodded, still grinning. “Act, big man. All act. Need to make her think.”

  He tapped the side of his head with his finger.

  “Pressure. Create diamond. You see?”