Emergence: Return of Magic book 1 (5 page)

Kurien may have been in charge of the expedition, but it was
Arielle who picked their path and felt the way to the bearer of the
mantle.  Arielle was as beautiful as he’d remembered, but the rest of his
memory had been flawed, or he’d been too blind to see it since they’d grown up
together.

He glanced her way at the long light blonde hair, so light
it was the color of ash.  The ends tickled the fabric of her flowing
clingy robes at the small of her back, and shapely waist.  She was tall,
willowy, and graceful.  Her long curves were pleasing to his eyes, and
though he couldn’t see them now, the bright blue of her eyes were
captivating.  Her face was fresh, fully free of youth, yet still showing
no signs of age, her high cheekbones, full pink lips, and the gentle curve of
her ears also filled his thoughts.

What he’d been wrong about, was she hadn’t thrown herself at
him at all, in fact, he found he missed that, and glanced at her often. 
She wasn’t aloof, she was in fact very friendly, she just didn’t seem…
interested anymore, which was disappointing, and more than a little confusing
to him.

He turned his gaze to his other companion for the scouting
trip.  Brianthenia or Bria to her friends, had beauty of an entirely different
kind.  Her body was closer to voluptuous, and she was a little short, just
five foot four in height, which was ironic since her other form was much…
larger.

What marked her as different from members of his own race,
was her shiny silver hair, and penetrating yellow eyes.  She was extremely
attractive, and volatile.  He never quite knew from moment to moment how
she would act, except perhaps, he had no worries that she had his back.

Bria turned her head and looked at him in amusement,
apparently easily tracking his train of thought in regards to Arielle.

Though he didn’t know it, they were up in the mountains of
Colorado, what he did know however was the terrain, the lay of the land looked
very similar to the realm they had occupied before returning.  He could
also feel through the forest, there was not much more wildlife and game, than
what they’d had on the other world.

He thought that was rather ominous, since all their animals
had been returned with them.  During the split they’d taken their share. 
He had to wonder if the humans had over hunted the area, and if they did… was
that true of everywhere?  He tried to take note of everything, meeting up
with Merlin’s successor was only part of their mission after all, and he would
need to report it.

Arielle stopped her horse and just stared ahead, he felt the
break in the forest, but couldn’t see what she did yet.  He rode his horse
forward and pulled up on the reigns when he was next to her.  Then simply
stared as well.

“A stone road?”

Arielle’s voice was musical, “Yes, should we stick to trails
and valleys, or take this road.  It will be faster, but we’ll also be
highly exposed.”

He frowned, “Yes, but if we avoid all signs of human
civilization we won’t learn what we were meant to.  I think I have an idea.”

He muttered words under his breath and closed his
eyes.  His mind’s awareness expanded, and he found an eagle that was
amenable to assist them.

He smiled at her, “An eagle will scout ahead for us, so we have
time to take cover and investigate if we run into humans, without revealing
ourselves.”

She nodded, “Assuming they are not hiding somewhere in
ambush.”

He frowned, “True, but there is risk in everything, and they
shouldn’t know we’re coming.  Merlin not being able to tell the humans of
us works to our advantage in that case.”

She nodded, and smiled shyly at him, but didn’t speak when
she kicked moved her horse’s flank and moved forward onto the road heading
east.  He stared after her for a moment.

Bria chuckled when Arielle was far enough ahead not to hear
her soft laugh.

She rolled her eyes, “Elves… just kiss her already, stop
being a dolt.”

He shook his head, “She doesn’t seem all that interested
anymore.”

She snorted, “Yes, but haven’t you heard the old
saying.  She ran away until she caught him?  Regardless, let’s not
let her get too far ahead of us, shall we?”

He grunted thoughtfully and chased after Arielle, which he
thought may be the whole point.  Bria kept pace at his side.

They made good time on the road for the rest of the day, as
it twisted and turned between the mountain peaks.  A few times they ran
into boxes made of metal, on wheels, left abandoned.  He thought it
ominous they hadn’t run into a human yet.  It was becoming clearer to him
that something very bad had happened on Earth.

Nothing would have prepared him for the truth of it however,
when they found the outskirts of Denver.  They all stopped as Arielle did,
and he could see the large sprawling buildings laid out below.

Arielle shivered and dismounted, “Death, we can’t enter that
city, we must go around it, tomorrow.”

He nodded, not able to take his eyes off the city. 
There was nothing in his life that had prepared him for such a sight.  He
noticed Arielle shaking, and walked over and put an arm around her.  She
turned and laid her head against his chest, she was shaking.

Bria said softly, “Many died here, we should go back a
little ways and camp for the night, and move around the city.  This has to
be related to…” she just trailed off, realizing she was stating the obvious.

He turned and walked, holding Arielle against his side as
they moved off so they wouldn’t have to see it anymore, and then they struck
camp.  They shared a tent that night, but he didn’t do more than hold and
comfort her.  Priestesses of Charites revered life, and he had a feeling
the goddess had filled her in on what happened because he could see the
knowledge that haunted her eyes, but he didn’t pressure her for answers, he
held her.  There would be time enough to learn the truth of it tomorrow…

Garrock peered intently at the enemy position from their
position of concealment and said, “All is ready sir.”

Tarrock was frustrated, but he didn’t say so.  The
field disrupting their technology was still on line, and he was doubting the
fact a rescue would even be successful.  He wondered if it was possible to
find and destroy the origin of the field, but he wasn’t even sure where to
start.  He wasn’t on his ship, and couldn’t just run a scan.

The only thing his science officer had been able to verify
was it was somewhere to the east of them, and south.  But that was only
going off the memory of his scanning boards, there was no way to truly pinpoint
it.  He needed data.

He ordered, “I need some of them alive, to question.”

Garrock replied, “Yes sir.”

They waited a few more minutes for false dawn to light the
sky.

“Attack!” he screamed.

The humans in front of the building were frozen by the
scream, and they rapidly approached as they sprinted across the parking
lot.  One of them seemed to snap out of it and lifted his bow, and
released an arrow.

He chucked evilly, the human missed.

But that had been enough for the rest of them to snap out of
it however, and eight other men lifted their weapons and shot.  He
growled, hearing the arrows hit home in his men.  The humans looked
terrified as they dropped their bows and picked up machetes.

The fight was short and brutal, his people were so much stronger,
taller, and had four arms.  Plus, the humans had been outnumbered by over
twenty to one.

He growled, “Pick up the weapons, Dicks is ours.  And
make sure you let one live, I need to question it.”

They raced inside the sporting goods store and quickly
overwhelmed any resistance.  He took his time when it was all done, and
picked out a bow, some steel head arrows, and a couple of machetes for his
lower limbs to wield.  He figured with a little practice he could fight
short range and long at the same time.

They also gathered the low tech survival gear they would
need for the days ahead. 

When he was satisfied he had what he needed, he questioned
the human Garrock had brought to him.

“Where is the field that prevents technology?”

The human’s eyes widened, and he could smell something
unpleasant.  He growled out the question again.

The man said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He growled, and backhanded him, the human made a satisfying
noise of pain.

Garrock said, “Sir, perhaps this will help.”

He turned and looked, there was a map of the land. 
They discovered quickly they were near a city called Portland in a state called
Oregon.  According to his science officer, he believed the source of the
unknown energy field was to the south east, in the Colorado mountains.  He
was still angry, the place called Colorado was a huge area, and had plenty of
mountains.  They could walk around them for years and never find it.

Even worse, he had a feeling it was in a hidden base, so
they could walk right over it without ever knowing.  Whatever it was, it
didn’t seem to be common knowledge to the locals.  He wasn’t sure what to
do, he knew he’d do anything for a damned working scanner, but that wouldn’t
happen.  They would just have to question all the humans they found in the
area, one of the vermin had to know the answer.  Of course, they needed to
get there first.

He grabbed the human by the throat and squeezed.  The
vermin turned blue and then the light went out of its eyes.

He felt… better.  He tossed the body on the floor,
grabbed his new gear.  He shook his head at the primitiveness of it all,
but it was better than nothing...

She moaned softly as he pushed against her flesh.  She
felt her muscles tighten, and then loosen under his firm touch.  It felt
incredible.

“Like that Katie?”

She blushed as John’s hands kneaded the knots out of her
back, “That’s perfect, I thought I was in better shape than that.”

He chuckled, “I imagine fighting with a staff uses different
muscle groups than working a farm.”

She sighed, “You can stop doing that… tomorrow maybe.”

He laughed and moved his hands lower.  She couldn’t
help but wonder how good it would feel directly against her skin.  She
wanted him, but was worried it was all too fast.  So far, he’d been
wonderful and hadn’t pushed for anything physical between them, outside Nim
drilling them on basic fighting techniques when they’d stopped to camp last
night that is.

When she’d woken up this morning, her back was in knots, and
her arms felt like spaghetti.  When John had offered to help her with a
massage, she couldn’t say no.  She knew they had to leave soon, they were
burning daylight.  She sighed.

She still hadn’t been able to pull on the magic.  She’d
tried to open herself to it, but it just continued to eddy around her, like she
was a rock in a stream.  She could feel the magic moving all around her,
but she could no more soak it up, than a rock could absorb the water flowing
around it.

She knew she should tell him to stop, her body felt like
putty under his strong hands.  She was also aware she wasn’t the only one
turned on, he was straddling her as he massaged her back, and she could feel
him hardening against her.  Her body wanted to flex, and push up against
it, but she closed her eyes, and relaxed her body to simply enjoy the feeling
of being under him for another few moments.

She knew she was torturing them both, she either needed to
signal him to move forward, which was very tempting, or move on for the day.

She said reluctantly, “We should get moving.”

He didn’t complain, he just softly caressed her back one
more time, and ran his hands through her hair and stood up.

A part of her was disappointed he didn’t make a pass anyway.

She said, “I’ll be out in a moment.”

When he left she grabbed the staff and closed her
eyes.  She felt self-conscious about another idea she had, but she wanted
to try it.  It just felt… weird.  She’d never been a religious
person, and of course, Gaea hadn’t been the god she’d grown up hearing
about.  Gaea was just a myth after all.

Except… clearly not.

She took in a deep breath and let it out, and then lowered
her head and prayed… sort of.

She didn’t say anything out loud, she tried to commune with
Gaea in the depths of her mind.  In a way, the Earth itself, and all that
it was is the goddess, or at least, that was how she saw it based on her
conversations with Nim.  She didn’t try to open herself to the magic, or
at least, not just that.  She also reached out and invited it, her mind
filled with reverence, as if the magic was more than just magic.

But a part of the goddess herself.

She almost lost a hold of it in her surprise, when the magic
answered her call.  Not a taking, but a joining, she felt it start to fill
her and tried to accept it as slowly as she could, and focus on the staff and
channel the magic into it.

If a trickle was entering her, the magic that started
entering the staff was deluge.

She felt… incredibly good.  She knew that was a lie
though, the magic would harm her if she tried to pull too much.  Now… she
didn’t know what to do with it.  She thought of a few things, but really,
she was fine.  If a little sticky from sweat.

She grinned and wondered if it would work, “Clean,” she
murmured, as she focused on what it felt like to be clean, shaved, with her
hair brushed out.

The magic in the staff trickled out, and she felt
fresh.  She opened her eyes and looked down, and then ran her hands
through her hair, there were no knots, and it was silky soft.  She felt…
like she’d just gotten ready for a night out sans makeup.  The problem was
the staff was still holding plenty of magic, it had taken barely a trickle to
make it happen.  Did she have to use it?

She stood and left the tent, Nim was eyeing her curiously,
and she noticed the goddess looked quite clean and fresh as well. 
Interesting.  Well, vanity seemed like as good a reason as any to use
magic.  It used so little magic she doubted it would have an impact.

“Can I leave what’s in there in there?”

Nim’s sounded relaxed, “Yes, and you should.  The best
thing to do is only use your magic to charge the staff, until you use what’s in
there, you won’t have to channel magic as well, you can use the residual magic
in yourself to simply make a connection to the staff and pass the spell.  May
I ask how you connected to the magic?”

She nodded, and explained what she did, and Nim’s smile
seemed to grow brighter at the telling.

She asked, being curious at her new friend’s reaction, “Is
that significant in some way?”

Nim nodded, “Most sorcerers, or sorceresses, do reach out
and take it.  It can be done that way.  The reason you failed at it
is the path of force did not appeal to you.  I know you have steal in you,
but you don’t like to force things to your will.  I find that a good
thing.”

They broke up camp after a small breakfast, she knew they
would have to hunt soon.  It was a weird thought, but no more grocery
stores.  They also only had a limited amount of feed for the horses,
something else they would have to deal with.

She slowly got more and more depressed during the day, as
she passed by farms that seemed abandoned, the crops dying in the ground as
they were slowly poisoned by the alien weapons.  She knew even without
technology, that local farms would be necessary to the small surrounding
communities, and she wondered how many more would die of starvation when winter
came around.

She understood already, the world had moved from technology
back to magic, a new paradigm necessary for their survival.  She was
supposed to influence the balance, somehow find a way to get humanity to at
least tolerate their new neighbors.  It was important, but so was farming,
and eating.  If they were going to survive, they needed farmers, and a lot
more farm hands, because large machines wouldn’t work anymore.

People in the suburb areas would need to get back to their
roots, the large corporate farms would need to be split up, made more
manageable for a family to run.  She knew it would take time, but all
these abandoned farms with dying crops would make it worse.  She wasn’t
responsible for everything, but she still felt the weight of all those she knew
would die.

She talked with Nim and John about it, but there would be no
easy solutions.  Humans had gotten too used to technology, it would take
time to relearn how to go without.  And although magic would help with
some of that, not that many people had magic, whereas everyone had been able to
use technology.

She slowed as she felt people on the next farm.  The
first people she’d felt all day through the magic.  It was still early
afternoon, and there were maybe fifteen people gathered in front of the farm
house.  It was a large place, and as they got closer, she started to hear
the argument.

It was about food of course, the owner couldn’t continue to
feed all of them, the fields were poisoned, but the farm hands had nowhere else
to go.  On a whim she turned her horse onto the driveway and started
towards them.

John asked, “What are you doing?”

She frowned, “We have to help if we can, I’ve been thinking
about the radiation, or whatever the aliens used.  I think I might be able
to… cleanse it with magic.  We’ll all starve if we don’t do something.”

He didn’t look thrilled at the idea, and took the lead.

She understood his worry, the farmers looked… angry. 
She didn’t think it would take much to turn them into a mob, people were
scared.  She knew she couldn’t help everyone, but surely she could help
some of them during their journey?

The owner turned to them and grimaced, “What do you want, I
can’t spare anything.”

She nodded slowly drawing his attention, “If I cleanse your
fields of the radiation, can you spare us water to fill our containers, and
some feed?”

He laughed darkly, “Sure love, you’ve got a deal,” he said
sarcastically as he stared her up and down quite deliberately.

She didn’t blush or back down from his leering eyes. 
She’d been to college after all, and spent many a night at a bar, she was used
to some men… lesser men, looking at her that way, as if she was just a pretty
piece of ass.  She wasn’t even angry about it, the man looked
stressed.  Plus, she knew she was attractive, as long as they didn’t
touch, she just tended to ignore it.

She pointed the staff at the fields.  She wasn’t sure
what it was, but it felt like death and decay to the magic, so she settled her
intent to wash that away, cleanse it, and muttered under her breath so no one
would hear her, “Cleanse.”

The staff, which radiated a large amount of magic, pulsed at
the end, and a light flashed across the field.  The staff, once again was
close to drained, it had taken a lot of magic to accomplish what she’d
wanted.  She couldn’t feel the taint anymore though, and felt a flush of
success as the field was full of life again, and the crop should recover fully.

She turned to him and raised an eyebrow, with an expectant
look on her face.

The owner narrowed his eyes, “It don’t look no different,
you trying to con me with a danged light show?”

She almost laughed.  Right, of course they didn’t
believe in magic, they probably had no clue what she’d just done.  It was
amazing how quickly she’d gotten used to the idea, but she was a loss at what
to tell them.

Nim cleared her throat, “The field will recover, she removed
the taint.”

One of the farm hands scowled, “This a joke to you
kids?  We’re dying out here.  I suggest you just leave, before we all
teach you a lesson.”

Nim scowled but John spoke, “I’m not sure I’d believe it
either if I hadn’t seen what I’ve seen the last couple of days.  They
don’t know magic is back, or even that it ever existed.”

A few more scowled at that, magic?

Nim’s face softened and she dismounted and walked away,
toward the field.  She blushed when her eyes locked on Nim’s swaying hips,
and she looked up.  Nim walked out into the field, and then… she started
to dance.  It was a sensuous flowing sort of dance and this time she
couldn’t tear her eyes off the beauty of it. 

At first very little happened, then a watery mist seemed to
flow out of the wake of Nim’s steps, wherever it touched, the crops visibly
perked, and lost their gray appearance.  Nim twirled and spun, then
stepped up, and continued her dance in the air, the mist grew, and spread out
over the field further, the higher the goddess danced.

She smiled when Nim gracefully dropped to the ground, and
walked back in a challenging strut that drew every man’s eyes, and hers as
well.  Nim looked at her and winked.

“Feed, and water,” she demanded in a soft voice.

Half the hands took a step back and looked afraid, the
others were awed.  The owner sent a couple of hands to get the feed and
fill their empty water containers with a few short words.

Nim said softly, “I can’t do that every day.”

She shook her head, “I don’t think I can either.  That
was beautiful by the way Nim.”

Nim just smiled in reply.

The owner still looked suspicious, now because of the magic
no doubt, but he was… much more respectful until they rode away.  At least
there would be people around here that wouldn’t starve, of course, the fields
would have to be processed by hand.  She knew she would do this as often as
she safely could, what good was the balance if everyone died?

Sure, they could replant in different ground, but it was
midsummer, a crop this late would be chancy.  This first winter would be
the hardest, the humans left would race for the plains in order to survive next
spring.  Maybe the Elves or Dragons could help somehow?  If the
humans could come to terms with it, and let them that is.

They travelled for a few more hours before stopping for the
night.  Instead of making a camp, they decided to make use of one of the
abandoned farm houses.  They were even able to put the horses in a
barn.  She felt a little uncomfortable at first, no electricity, strange
house, but they were able to find some candles before dark, and even found some
canned foods to throw a stew together, which ironically needed to be cooked
outside over a fire.

John was very attentive, and seemed content to not cross any
intimate lines.  Yet, she caught him giving her glances of desire from
time to time.  She actually got frustrated for a few minutes, wondering
why he was holding back.

Then she realized, she was the one holding back.  He’d
already about told her he’d be with her forever, and planned to.  It had
been her that held back and didn’t tell him the entirety of how she felt. 
The last couple of days had been very confusing.  He was waiting for her
to make her choice, as he had already made his.  All she had to do was
send the right signal… or maybe simply drag him into one of the bedrooms.

She thought about what it really meant to be without
technology.  A country as large as the U.S. couldn’t function, at least
not the same.  Lack of communication would be a huge issue, although
perhaps some would be able to communicate via magic.  She didn’t
know.  She could picture all different types of scenarios happening across
the country.  Some people would set up fiefdoms, and control their people,
others would build farming communities.  Without infrastructure, large
cities would be impossible to support, even if she could cleanse an area that
large.