you?’
‘You are a vile witch, filled with evil and selfishness. Everything you have ever done has been for your own reward. I feel nothing for you.’
He felt satisfaction at the thought of her death, and he pressed his magic further upon her. The beam was inches from her face, when Anthem stepped in between them. Samuel’s spell was deflected as the old man thrust it aside and the magic arced away, carving a path of destruction along the palace walls and ceiling. Cushions and curtains turned to flame at its touch before Samuel could dispel it.
‘Come to your senses, boy!’ the old man commanded. ‘What you are doing is folly!’
‘I must take those rings and return them to the Circle,’ Samuel replied.
‘Are you bereft of your wits? Have you fallen to the wiles of them yet again? Their stories of disaster are nothing more than air and wind. We have real threats to face! I will not listen to talk of nonsense.’
‘Nevertheless, I will have the rings. It is obvious now that the Order and the Circle have little difference. If anything, the Circle is more to be believed, or did you not realise that women can use magic after all?’
‘Of course I knew, but it is forbidden. This is a law above all others. No woman can be allowed to use magic.’
‘And who is responsible for killing them, for no other reason than this? Is that what happened to my mother?’
‘That has never been part of my role, but it is possible. The Order is tasked with maintaining the old Laws,establishedlong before we even existed. We have kept a vigil upon the landto ensurethat no witches should come to power. I admit that some have been overzealous in their task, but the safety of society must outweigh the concerns of a few.’
‘To what end? How can such murder possibly be justified?’
‘See for yourself?’ and he gestured towards the Queen. ‘This one has raised an army and caused chaos upon the land. Women are not to be trusted with magic of any form.’
‘Then why do you now protect her? You should be pleased that I see to my duties, as a faithful member of my Order.’
‘Calm yourself, Samuel,’ Anthem told him. ‘Can you not see what is happening? Don’t be overwhelmed by your hate. Do you not remember what became of Master Ash?’
‘My hate is justified. I have every reason to despise you and what those of your kind have done. Ash was no Master. He was ignorant of the powers the Staff of Ancients had granted him. I have reached a stage of understanding that I doubt even you can comprehend, Grand Master,’ and he spat out the title with unbridled disdain.
‘Confounded fool! Have you not learned? All manner of dark forces wait to overcome a magician made silly by the power of his magic. Already I feel the taint of black magic within you. It has begun to corrupt you and it will continue until you are nothing more than its servant.’
Then Samuel felt something tickling at the edge of his perception. Looking down, he found a sliver of magic had been worked around his leg, sucking at his energy like a hungry leech and passing it back towards the old man. He blasted the thing apart with a thought and raised his gaze back to Anthem.
‘I know all your tricks, old man. Now, stand aside and let me at the witch.’
‘Calm down before you do yourself some harm!’
There was nothing but rage in Samuel’s heart. He had trusted the old magician-had loved him as a father figure-but now he wanted to force him into battle and defeat him as he had secretly desired since his early days in the School of Magic. He was not interested in the Paatin Queen. He could come back for her at any time and defeat her at his leisure, such was her insignificance.
He could feel a demonic smile creeping across his face as he called for more power.
‘No, Samuel!’ old Anthem cried, and sent forth a shower of spells of his own.
Vines and creepers exploded from the floor and snapped around Samuel’s legs and arms, encircling his body until he was a mummy of tightening growth, but the plants turned black and turned to cinders with the barest of efforts, and Samuel stepped free. A torrent of fire then billowed out from the old man and Samuel did not even bother to protect himself. He revelled in displaying his power to the old fool. As the flames surrounded him and ate at his body, his magic succoured him, replenishing the meat beneath his blackened flesh as quickly as it was burned away. His bones glowed red beneath his skin like logs at the core of a wildfire, but magic saturated and supported him. He could not be harmed.
It was a joyous feeling to have so much power, and Samuel raised a smoking finger at the astonished Grand Master as the fire spell ended. Anthem was aghast and ran to the balcony. He leapt out the window and vanished into the night air. It was obvious he hoped to draw Samuel outside, for Anthem could not act freely in the confines of the palace. Samuel was happy to comply, for it would be a much sweeter victory if his teacher could fight with all his potential.
He stepped to the balcony, with the wispy veiled curtains evaporating in fire as he brushed through them, and watched the old man hopping madly down towards the city. He took a moment to look back at Alahativa, who remained staring at him with pure horror. He knew he should have killed her and taken the rings from her there and then, but he had time to do as he pleased. She could not escape him. He could find her any time he wished and somehow the more terrified she was,the better. He would leave her there, guarding the Emperor and return for them both as it suited him.
He turned back to the scene below. It was now the time that he had been awaiting all his life. He was become the most powerful magician in the world. All he had to do was kill the strongest of the Lions of Cintar, and it would seal the fact. And that would not be difficult at all.
He vaulted from the balcony, exploding it to tumbling rubble as he leapt, and alighted atop a great,blue- tiled,domed roof across the courtyard; perching himself upon it like a predator ready to pounce. Anthem had hiddenhimself. He wasburied away beneath a distant home and was feverishly covering himself in every spell he could muster. Samuel could feel the man’s thudding heart calling to him, shouting aloud from his hiding spot. Across the city, tiny fireflies of people were looking up at him and wailing, abandoning their celebrations and fleeing through the streets in panic. He revelled in their fear as if it was a declaration of his triumph. Above them all, the Star of Osirah blazed away, now almost directly above them and taking up the sky like a new moon. The city lay bathed in its ominous silver twilight.
‘Fear me!’ the being called Samuel commanded and his voice boomed across the city and shook the foundations-but the people did not understand; for it was the Ancient Lick spilling from his tongue.
He had given the old Lion time enough to prepare, so Samuel took his turn to act. Picking up a distant temple, he heaved it high into the air with magic, spilling bricks and flailing Paatin towards the ground. He gestured with his hand and the building flung itself onto Anthem’s hiding spot with a distant clatter and echoing rumble. Both buildings vanished behind a plume of billowing dust, but Anthem was unharmed. He had darted away to another spot just in time.
It was quite an amusing distraction and Samuel continued the game, decimating parts of the city. It seemed there were still some guards and wizards left in the palace, for some spells came bouncing off him, and missile fire came whizzing past him. One arrow struck him directly, burying itself through the middle of his chest, but the thing dropped out of him without effect, as if slipping from clay. While he had any magic remaining,he was beyond harm, and he had barely even begun his work. With a simple glance, he turned the soldiers in the square and shooting from the towers around him to flames, one after another, setting them to dance as if in frantic praise of him. Some he flung wailing from the heights and others he simply crushed with magic, for the easewithwhich he could destroy them and the way he decided each of their fates was thrilling. For simple amusement, he left one Paatin crossbow-man standing,while two on either side of him fell to cinders. Then, as the man sagged to his knees and thanked Alahativa for sparing him, Samuel dropped a massive roofing-stone on top of him. The joy of destruction was simply delightful.
The entertainment would have continued longer if Samuel had not felt a rumbling in the pattern, for old Anthem-the wily fox-was summoning something mighty, just as Samuel had hoped. It came screaming through the ether and Samuel waited with excitement for the thing to arrive. He had hoped Anthem would do something like this and now he felt he would have a challenge worthy of his attention.
In the midst of the city, something appeared in a shimmer of air. There was no fiery explosion to herald it, but the buildings all around the summoned thing cracked and fell regardless, as if,out offear, they had given up
