Malicious Magic: An Urban Fantasy Adventure Read online

  Malicious Magic

  Atlantis Outcasts Book 1

  G. K. Lund

  Malicious Magic. Copyright © 2021 by G.K. Lund. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Similarities to actual events, places, persons or other entities are purely coincidental.

  Published by Northern Quill Press.

  ISBN: 978-82-93663-51-5

  www.northernquillpress.com

  www.gklundwrites.com

  Cover design by MiblArt.

  Malicious Magic / G.K. Lund, 1st. ed.

  Contents

  Free books

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Enjoyed the book?

  Before you close the book

  Also by G.K. Lund

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  When the shimmering golden light hovered above him, and the old magician shouted for us to prepare for the human sacrifice, I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. Firstly, because I’d trusted an Earthside magician. Not like their magic was even remotely strong. Secondly? Well, you know, the whole human sacrifice thing. Anyone with even a smidgen of empathy and ethical thinking knew that was a no-go. I, of all people, should have known better. Turned out I was still a fool. Yet again, I had wanted so much to believe in someone, and Reginald had been my best bet on this side of the Veil.

  We were all standing in the middle of nowhere in freezing Alaska, nothing but a thick forest around us. The leaves had fallen long ago, and the frosted ground underneath my shoes crunched every time I moved. The sun was up, and though it made everything bright enough for me to squint my eyes, it did little for the cold.

  We were all in a clearing in that forest. There was an outcrop of bedrock to my left and an old stone altar in the middle. It was rectangular and about the length of a man—obvious hint there—with weather-beaten soft edges. That was it. Unless you knew what to look for. The forest had never overgrown the grass under our feet. The trees bordered around the clearing in a perfect geometric circle. It was not nature made. According to Reginald, the bedrock was where the Shimmer, the gateway to our home, would appear.

  But yeah… human sacrifice?

  “What are you talking about?” I asked him, not able to hide the agitation in my voice.

  “Your daggers?” the old man said, impatience sneaking into his voice, and his stance. He stood with his hands on his hips, wearing a white cloak, and he also sported long white hair and a salt and pepper beard. He reminded me of a druid, but he was nothing of the sort. He’d been looking for Atlantis his entire life, and I had been the final piece to finish solving that particular puzzle for him. Isn’t it funny the type of people the Internet brings together sometimes? This was beginning to remind me of an Internet horror-story though. I glanced at the other two men present. Didrick, the thirty-something apprentice of Reginald, and Philip, a heavily muscled guy I’d kind of understood to be Reginald’s bodyguard. That didn’t matter though. We all had the same goal, though exactly what their reasons were, I had no idea. Many people had searched for Atlantis, but since it no longer existed Earthside, no one had ever found it.

  Officially.

  These guys would be in for a surprise, though.

  If we could get the damn Veil opened up, there would be no hanging gardens, an abundance of gold, and women feeding them grapes. Legends so rarely live up to reality.

  My daggers though… yes, they were one of two reasons I’d struck a deal with Reginald. He needed something from the other side, the place we wanted to go to get us there. I’d also agreed to be their guide on the other side. I’d never agreed on how long though, and now I was having serious doubts.

  “What do you need them for?” I asked him, putting a hand on the hilt of one of them. I had two, both plain and gray, sheathed on my left hip. They were made of a metal alloy no one had ever been able to identify. There was even a touch of magic to them, even if I had none. I’d had no reason to disbelieve Reginald when he’d told me he’d need them to perform the ritual. I’d never wanted to disbelieve him I realized as I now took in my surroundings in a new way. I had no doubt I could take out Didrick. The scrawny guy was not a fighter. Reginald could be trickier if he used some magic. Philip though… I’d need everything I’d learned about fighting in the last two years I’d spent Earthside to stand a chance.

  This was not good.

  “I only need the one dagger, Emery. Now give it here!”

  I looked at Reginald again. “Yeah, no. Because I distinctly heard you say human sacrifice. Sooo, no thanks.” I took a few steps back so I could have all three men in my line of sight.

  “Oh, silly girl,” he snarled impatiently, glancing sideways at the faint flickering of light that was hovering above the altar. It had a golden sheen to it that did not remind me of the Shimmer. The Shimmer was, in fact, much brighter. “It’s not you we’re sacrificing. Yours is not the right kind of blood, and we must have a blood sacrifice.” At those words, Didrick went over to the altar, climbed on, and lay down.

  “What?” I couldn’t help staring like an idiot. Why was he doing that? What kind of bullshit had Reginald fed him? “Didrick?” I asked. “What did he promise you for this? Some glorious afterlife?”

  “Afterlife?” the younger man repeated and then laughed. “Afterlife? I will not die. The magic of Atlantis will make us all immortal once we’re there.”

  Okaaay then.

  I met Reginald’s eyes and saw the mania in him then. He’d twisted Didrick’s mind all right. He’d twisted it around too much for the guy to think straight. I knew that kind of self-assured feeling. It was the best, and also so misguided. Atlantis would not keep him alive, and he would never believe me.

  “I did not agree to be a part of a murder,” I told them.

  “It’s not murder if I’m in on it,” Didrick reasoned and eased up on his elbow so he could see me. It looked so ridiculous, like he was just lounging in bed, that I couldn’t help a bark of a laugh. “And besides,” he added, giving me a confused look. “I told you. I won’t die. It will only sting a bit.”

  “Sting?” There was a distinctly panicked tint to my voice now. “Cutting your throat?”

  “That is generally the best way to do it,” Reginald said and shrugged as if we were discussing having coffee with or without cream.

  This was ridiculous. I looked to Philip for help, but his dark eyes revealed nothing, and that included disgust at what Reginald was suggesting.

  “Shit!” I hissed. I sought the overgrown path we’d followed through the woods. It was behind Phillip now. Our cars were parked several hours of walking away. No one was close enough, as they say, to hear me scream. Or Didrick, for that matter. This couldn’t be happening. I wanted to go home so badly. Why in the realms did my traveling companions have to be complete ding-dongs?

  Fuck my so far stupid life.

  I had no choice but to draw my daggers. I would not be part of this. Didrick might not be my favorite person in any realm, but unfortunately, I knew where he was coming fro
m. The motion of drawing both weapons though, when Reginald had only asked for one, made everyone tense.

  “Emery? I hope you’re not thinking of doing something stupid,” Reginald warned.

  But I was. So, so stupid. My best bet would be to run for the trees. The cover would even my odds somewhat. I didn’t have to fight them. They needed one of my daggers to sacrifice Didrick and if I could get away, they would have no reason to perform the sacrifice.

  Philip was having none of that. He bellowed a roar and suddenly charged me. There wasn’t even time to swear properly before he was close enough to swing a fist at me. I barely had the time or the sense to duck out of his way. Philip was fast, though. I felt a painful yank as he grabbed my chignon. I usually fastened my hair in a high bun when I expected trouble or hard work, but this defeated the purpose of getting it out of the way. So I did what any woman in my situation would.

  I think.

  I stabbed the bastard in the thigh.

  Philip let go of me with a howl and I twisted away. I swung toward him with the other dagger and sliced at his upper arm, blood seeping through the cut in his blue parka. It coaxed a snarl of anger out of him and I moved fast, avoiding a stray fist from his furious attack. That anger stilled fast though as he got himself under control. A quick feint from him made me attack, and a fist with a steel grip settled around my wrist. I instinctively went for an attack with my free hand, but Philip pulled me closer. I lost my footing and would have fallen right in front of him, open to a fatal attack, except a blinding light struck and I was pushed sideways by pure force.

  “Stop!” Reginald shouted.

  I landed on the ground, the frozen grass crunching under me. I rolled around, raised my daggers, assessed the men, and then threw one of the weapons. Reginald first. There was no choice. Without him, there would be no opening of any portal. Maybe the shock in Philip and Didrick would give me time to flee.

  “Emery, don’t!” Reginald shouted. He raised his hands in front of him. Not to use magic against me, I was sure. It took a lot of effort and concentration to do so Earthside, and he’d already hit me once. It would take time to—

  “Philip! Stop her!” I turned and aimed at the big man instead, just as he made to move toward me.

  “What’s all this then?” An unfamiliar male voice sounded.

  We all stared at each other for a moment, but none of the men had said anything. Hell, Philip had only spoken about two sentences in the month I’d known him.

  It was Didrick who had the sense to look around first. The rest of us had frozen in a stand-off. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m certainly entertained,” the stranger said.

  The rest of us dared to look sideways.

  A man had entered the clearing. He had black, short hair and wore normal clothes; jeans, good boots for walking out here, a gray hooded jacket, and a big paper bag filled with some things we couldn’t see. The fact that he looked like he’d just come out of a supermarket in the middle of nowhere was not the weirdest part, though. For one, he had a sword strapped to his back, the dark hilt sticking up above his right shoulder, and two, his eyes were an unnatural emerald green. Also, he was snacking on some beef jerky like he had no cares in the world. None of this made me think for a second that this was a normal Earthsider out hunting or hiking in the woods.

  Philip gave me a look as if we were allies again and then charged for the newcomer to prevent him from stopping us.

  That turned out to be oh so stupid too. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in that regard that day.

  The newcomer saw the attack two seconds before Philip would have hit. The man waved a hand holding beef jerky toward the big man, and I saw something happen to Phillip’s head and neck. A sudden odd angle. It was hard to see from behind him, but I saw him crash forcefully into the ground, where he remained, unmoving.

  “What the hell!” I blurted, staring at the dead form of Philip. My pulse sped up, both in excitement and worry. It had been so long since I’d seen true magic, I hadn’t been aware of how it looked up close anymore. Reginald’s weak and polluted magic had filled me with a sense of relief too, but not like this. No, the newcomer was not an Earthsider. Nor did he take kindly to attacks. Which is what Reginald was stupid enough to try. The newcomer was looking at Philip to assess any further threat, but the broken neck must have quickly dissuaded any such thoughts. It was however not fast enough to stop Reginald’s little stream of light. His weak force hit the stranger’s paper bag and made him stagger back a moment. The contents of his bag spilled onto the ground. Next thing? A flash of green fire flew from the stranger’s hands and crashed into Reginald before he could even scream. I only stood there gaping as the old man’s body landed on the ground, his charred remains thawing the frozen grass around him.

  “There,” the stranger declared. “Isn’t that better?”

  “W-What?” Didrick uttered. He had sat upon the altar. The magical light above him was gone now. “You killed them!”

  “Well, yes,” the stranger said. “They were trying to kill me. And that young lady. And you, by the way. Also, they spilled my beer. That is unacceptable.”

  I glanced at the mess on the ground in front of him. He wasn’t lying. There were several beer bottles there, some of them broken, all of the same Earthside brand, and more beef jerky. The guy seemed to have a specific taste.

  “Your beer?” Didrick rasped. He glanced down at his former master’s remains. “You’ve ruined everything.”

  “Oh, come now.” The man flipped his hand dismissively. “I’ve ruined many things, but not everything.”

  Apparently, Didrick wasn’t listening. He could only see the loss of his way to Atlantis, believing wholeheartedly that Reginald had been his only chance to achieve it.

  I tried shouting at him to stop when he got his feet under him on the altar. I knew what he was about to do. His mind refused to see the truth. That Reginald had been lying to him. What did he have now? In his mind, he had nothing to lose. I knew that feeling better than most.

  My shouting didn’t faze him, though. He leaped for the stranger who took a bite of his beef jerky and then made Didrick’s neck snap with barely a flick of his hand. He shook his head when Didrick fell down like a sack of potatoes in front of him.

  “I told you,” he said around his chewing. “Why not listen?” He shook his head and then seemed to remember me because he turned his oddly green eyes on me. Seriously, my own were bottle green, and the brightness of his was not normal.

  “So?” he prompted.

  “So?” I echoed.

  “Are you going to try to kill me too?”

  I looked down and realized I was still standing, ready to attack, my daggers in my hands. I blinked and then lowered my weapons.

  “You’re smarter than your companions, I see.”

  “Companions by necessity.”

  The man shrugged and walked over to the altar, where he grabbed Reginald’s old backpack and emptied the contents on the ground with no ceremony. Then he preceded to fill it with the bottles that had survived the fall from the paper bag. “Where are you headed then?” he asked after a few minutes of me staring at this. I had no clue what he wanted, but I knew he had powerful magic. That was not common Earthside. Was he a threat, though? Since I was sure of the fact that he was not an Earthsider, I went with the truth.

  “Atlantis.”

  “Atlantis, huh? Odd place to go for an Earthsider.”

  “I’m not. Not really. Atlantis is my home.”

  He looked up then. He appeared to be a few years older than me, yet he gave the feel of someone older despite the half-grin on his handsome face.

  “Not really? You’re here, though. Homesick?”

  “Something like that.” I sheathed my daggers. There was no point trying something with this guy. He’d snap my neck before I could strike him.

  “Were you thrown out, perchance?”

  I scoffed. “Something like that.”

 
; The man stuffed the last packet of beef jerky, spicy, I noticed, into the backpack and stood. “What’s your name then, Red?”

  “It certainly isn’t Red,” I said, not able to hide my annoyance. I’d been teased for my hair as a girl, and despite the dark auburn, it was an apt description.

  “Fine,” the man said and came closer. Since I didn’t catch a murderous vibe, despite the three dead bodies, I stood my ground.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “You can call me Mr. Loft.” He smiled while assessing me. I didn’t get any creepy vibes. He was likely checking for more weapons and threats other than my daggers.

  “I’m not calling you Mr. anything. You just killed my chance of going home, you idiot.”

  “Idiot? You should be nicer. I’m a god you know.”

  “Right. And I’m the queen of Atlantis. You can call me Krysia.” That was the royal name I thought most beautiful, not that I was interested or eligible to be elected queen.

  “That’s a little girl’s dream.” The man pursed his lips and looked me over again. Then, he raised his jerky-free hand and made a brief wave. Next thing, my wallet flew from my jacket pocket and ended up in his hand.

  “Hey! You can’t do that.”

  “Just did,” he pointed out and stepped back, lifted the wallet out of my reach, and then got my driver’s license out. It was one thing I’d gotten during my time Earthside.

  “Emerald?”

  “People just call me Emery,” I said.

  He eyed me for a second. “Red emerald…” his eyes narrowed. What a weird thing to say. Then he lowered his eyes back down to the plastic card. “Hah!” he guffawed. “Emerald Chastity Morgan. How sweet. Chastity. Oh yes, that’s better than Red.”