Restriction: Rise of Magic Book 1 (Snippet 2)

I woke up this morning and my cat (named Cat) was literally sleeping on my neck. He’s no kitten, and I couldn’t tell if it was a sign of affection, or if he was trying to murder me in my sleep. Just in case it’s the latter, we decided to release another snippet for our book Restriction: The Rise of Magic. If my cat’s plan to murder me succeeds before our release date on Friday, I’m going to be pissed.

Still breathing,

Lee

****

(Haven’t read snippet one yet? It’s here.)

Chapter One (cont.)

Her body grew hot, sweat broke across her forehead and spread throughout her limbs. Hannah felt like there was something inside trying to escape the confines of her skin. She looked down at her brother, but a slight movement caught her attention.

A tiny, white lizard crawled out from behind a vendor’s barrel, walked over crawling up her brother’s arm and sat on top of her shaking brother’s body. The creature stared her in the face and cocked its head.

It was strange. Her brother lay dying in her arms, and all she could focus on was this damned lizard.

As she focused on the small, slimy reptile, the pent-up fear and unease rushed out of her. Every muscle in her body tensed and then released at once. Green light emanated from her, and in that moment, the lizard grew to the size of a cat. Tiny spikes pushed through its skin and its pale color turned into a dark green.

It blinked at her twice, then scurried out of sight.

Her breath caught, What the hell?

Hannah looked down at her brother lying quietly in her arms, breathing less erratic.

THANK GOD!

“What happened?” he asked. His color turning back to normal and his breaths falling back into a regular pace.

Hannah dropped into a slouch, pulling her brother into her body. Life in Arcadia without him would be pointless. William was her purpose. All that she did day-to-day was to care for him.

“Hell if I know,” Hannah said, looking down. “You OK?”

“I think—” he started to answer.

A commotion across the street cut her brother’s response short.

A street vendor was talking to a man with a head the size of an ox and a body to match. The vendor stopped arguing with his hands and pointed in Hannah’s direction. The large man looked over and stared right at her, yelling, “Get her!” Two smaller men followed as he pushed people out of his way, heading toward her and her brother.

Hannah’s eyes opened wide. Their chests were emblazoned with the sign of the Hunter; they were mercenaries hired to kill or capture anyone using magic unlawfully within the walls of Arcadia. They were licensed to use magic themselves, and while many in the community held them in high esteem, folks from Hannah’s quarter generally despised the preferential treatment they were given.

All they had to do was flex their magical muscles and people would bend over backward for them. And what choice did they have? Hunters could wield their magic with impunity. While these men were a terror for the Unlawfuls, they had little to do with Hannah’s life.

She was just a common girl.

Hannah glanced behind her looking for their target—an Unlawful brave enough to use magic in the market square. Her face scrunched up in confusion, there was no one there. A sick realization fell over the young woman, her eyes opening in fear.

The green light. The strange lizard, she thought. The Hunters were heading straight for William and her.

She was their target.

Scrambling up, she yanked William to his feet. She pushed him in the direction of their home. His safety was her only concern.

“Go. Run!” she hissed at him.

Sweat beaded up again on her forehead, and her stomach flipped over. Holding her ground, she waited for the men until they were a few yards off, slowing down their approach.

She reached into her cloak. The men froze, eyes wide. If they thought she was some sort of magician, caution would be called for. After all, she could be preparing some sort of a spell. She slowly pulled out her middle finger like it was a wand and waved it at them. “Screw you, douche nuggets!” Hannah yelled, a smirk on her face as she turned and ran for the nearest alley.

She had given William time to make his escape, and that was all that mattered.

****

“Hmph,” Ezekiel snorted, leaning on his staff in front of Jones’, his old favorite watering hole. The boards across its windows and door were rotted, giving an indication of how long it had been closed. The sight of the abandoned pub soured what was turning out to be an all-together disorienting homecoming.

The old man had been gone for nearly half a century, but it seemed as if he had been gone an eternity.

He looked around, scratching his bearded cheek. Apparently, a lot could happen to a city Arcadia’s size in four decades. His city had been transformed into a bustling trade center—the heart and some would say, soul, of Irth. He turned from the abandoned bar and ambled on, taking in the few places which had stayed the same and the many that were as different as a lifetime could make them. But each cobblestone still felt familiar under his feet.

Rounding the corner, he was nearly knocked over by a shirtless man covered in body art. The tattooed man rode a contraption that looked like a cart cut in half down the middle. The rider cut close on two wheels as he zoomed past. Stepping back, Ezekiel tripped and fell on his ass.

Mumbling under his breath, he noticed a hand extended into his view, offering to help him up. Ezekiel took the hand that belonged to a kid with a smile that reminded him of the old days. Proof that there was still good in Arcadia.

“OK, pops?” the kid asked.

Forcing a grin through his beard, Ezekiel nodded as the boy pulled him to his feet. “Will be. Not as swift as I once was.”

“Well, those damn magitech speeders are a danger to all of us. Mostly just the rich ride them. Not sure how that guy got one,” he nodded down the road in the direction the speeder had gone, musing to himself. “Probably stolen.”

“What’s a—”

Shouts from a block away cut him short. A young woman with a boy in her lap was screaming and looking in every direction. Zeke’s eyes widened as he saw the green light flow from her into a tiny lizard. His jaw dropped as the creature suddenly grew.

It was magic, there was no doubt about it. But that power was unlike anything he had personally witnessed. Following the disappearance of the green light, the boy’s tremors ceased and life came back to his face.

A toothy grin cut across the young man’s face, which lasted until a group of men rushed them. In a beat, the boy and the woman were running in opposite directions.

“What the hell is that all about?” Ezekiel pointed to the action down the block.

The young man was watching the action as well. “Hell’s got nothing to do with it. They’re Hunters. If they catch her they get a bounty. Pretty lucrative position if you can get it.”

“Hunters?”

“Sure. To catch the illegal magic users. Unrestricted use of magic is outlawed here. Hunters bring in the Unlawfuls—dead or alive.”

“That’s monstrous,” the old man’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of anger flashed across his face. When he had left Arcadia, magic had been free for any with the will to handle it. One needed a mentor to tame that which is within, of course.

But restrictions would have been unheard of when he was here last.

“You must’ve been gone a while, old-timer. That’s how things are run here in Arcadia. Have to control the magic, that’s what we’re told. It’s too dangerous if just anyone used it. I’m sure it’s for the best.” The kid turned to watch the three men rush after the girl. “She should know better. Those guys are gonna do a number on her.”

The boy shrugged, then looked back at the old man.

But he had disappeared.

****

Glancing over her shoulder, Hannah saw the men gaining. The three goons were faster than they looked. She turned right, then left, then right again. She popped out of the alley and into the heart of the bazaar. Her legs moved like they never had before as if a new sense of life flowed through her body.

Hopping over a cart filled with apples, she grabbed the handle, halfway jerking her arm out from the momentum. However, she was able to flip it and sent the green orbs rolling across the cobblestones.

She prayed the obstacles would gain her a few steps.

The grocer hurled curses behind her. Ignoring him, she ducked through a stall selling fine silken scarves that she could never afford. Hannah spun through the crowd, pushing her way toward safety, but the shouts behind her indicated she had not yet lost the Hunters.

Her eyes cut around the square, flicking from exit to exit, now alive with the excitement of a chase. She spied an alley she thought she knew and broke for it.

Footsteps grew louder as the men got closer. Dodging a large, wooden crate blocking her path, she took three steps before she looked down the alley.

“Shit,” Hannah muttered as she found herself arriving quickly to a dead end. The clamor of the men scrambling over the crate filled the alley, and she turned around and backed herself against the wall. Hannah lifted her hands in surrender.

She smiled, the humor never finding her eyes. “Fun game, guys. You caught me. I’m it now, right?”

“On your knees,” the lead man, a brute with a scar across his left eye, growled as he approached her.

“Seriously. I’m not what you think. Just a kid. My brother he—”

“Don’t look like just a kid to me,” a second said with the laugh of a hyena. “You look like a ripe woman. Ripe enough to eat.” His eyes scanned her body, making Hannah want to retch.

The two smaller men started to laugh but went dead quiet when the giant raised his hand.

“We’ve heard every excuse, Unlawful. None of them worked. No one’s talked their way out before. You’re certainly not going to be the first.”

The leader drove a bronze staff, which was nearly as tall as him, into the ground. Its tip glowed blue.

Magitech, Hannah thought. She’d seen the Hunter’s weapons take men down before. It was not a pretty sight, but she never thought she’d experience its power first hand.

Her eyes darted around the alley, both to the men and up to two windows, she doubted there was anyone listening who would intervene. She came back to her attackers. “I don’t know magic,” she cried. Her heart pounding out of her chest, she pleaded, “I beg you, listen.”

But these were men of violence, prone to act first and listen never.

The two men behind the staff bearer followed suit. In unison, their eyes covered over in black as if replaced by perfect midnight. It was the sign that they were about to do their own magic.

 

****

Hey, everyone,

As I sit here ready to post the snippet, our family is filled with nervous, creative jitters. Restriction should be dropping this Friday (3/17/2017), and I’m sitting in a school cafeteria waiting for my daughter to get out of an audition for the creative arts school in our area.

We’re both nervous as hell!

She’s trying out for Musical Theater (doesn’t get her singing and dancing from Dad).

She sang “On My Own” (Les Miserables), and her monologue was from Chekhov’s The Three Sisters.  Apparently, the evaluators thought her choice to go with Russian lit was really cool.

Now we both wait: Dad for Friday’s release of the first book in the latest arc in the Kurtherian Gambit Universe; Daughter for word on whether or not she made it into the school.

Keep your fingers crossed,

Chris

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