The Magi (The Magi Series) (15 page)

“What business do you have here?” asked a Magi in the crowd, raising his torch so he could see the rider.

The rider didn’t answer as he continued to look at the people. “We have a proposition!” the rider finally stated. “As you know, we have something very valuable to you! We have had him for over ten years! Phinneas Rose!” Elijah could hear grumbling and outrage at this remark. Many people looked horrified when the rider spoke the name as if he was bringing up a painful memory. “Furthermore,” the rider continued, “we have acquired someone else of your kind not too long ago. He is of no consequence to us, but we know he is valuable to this pathetic community!”

People began to turn around and murmur to one another in curiosity. The three other riders were holding up their torches and looking through the crowd as well. Elijah was confused how four men could bring such fear to an entire city. It was clear that these men were powerful and they knew it. They had no fear being vastly outnumbered.

“Along with Phinneas,” the rider continued “rotting away in the depths of our prisons, is one of your marshals named Stan Hawk!” Elijah’s eyes grew huge with shock and hatred. He continued to stare at the rider angrily and wanted nothing more than to pull him off his horse and end him right there. The rider stopped his scan when he made eye contact with Elijah. The moment their eyes met, Elijah actually felt himself lunge toward the rider, but a resistance held him back.

“Easy there kiddo,” whispered Roddick, who stood behind Elijah, wrapping his arms around him to keep him from moving. “Now’s not the time.” Elijah’s breath was coming in quivering gasps and his body was shaking ferociously because staring back at him were two yellow eyes—eyes he had not been able to get out of his head for months—the same eyes that chased him through his parents’ house months ago. The same eyes that belonged to his parents’ murderer. Elijah felt his body start to cry, but this was a different cry. It was angry. It was wild. He would give anything at this very moment to be let loose, but his thoughts were interrupted.

“What’s your proposition?” someone from the crowd shouted. The rider broke eye contact with Elijah for the moment.

“We are willing to release both of them to you!” the rider exclaimed. No one seemed to move. They all knew something else was coming. No Maliphist would willingly give up a prisoner, was the look on everyone’s face. “We propose a trade. We will give you our prisoners, and in return, you give us him!” The rider pointed directly at Elijah. Elijah could feel Roddick and Maybury grip his arms. He wasn’t sure if this was for protection or to make sure he didn’t try to charge the rider again.

At that moment, a hush fell over the crowd as an elderly woman marched swiftly toward the Maliphists. Her presence was intensely felt, and the crowd respectfully parted to make a path for her. She fearlessly walked toward the towering horse, stopped about ten feet from it, and pulled off her hood.

“Young man,” the old woman said confidently. “I am Olivia Rose.” The crowd was silent as she talked softly but very sternly. “My husband Phinneas, the man you have kept from me for many years, the man you have tortured and beaten, is very dear to me—more than anyone else. I want nothing more than to have him back. I wish to speak with him, to hold him again.” Her voice suddenly strengthened and became defiant. “But if you think for one second that we are going to give up a child—one of our own—to you and the slime you come from, then your idiocy is greater than we have ever given it credit. Get out of our city!”

The rider paused for a moment and then chuckled. “Fools!” Olivia stood her ground. “Old woman, we came here offering you two respectable members of your community—your own husband even—for a worthless boy. And you refuse?”

“Go back to the hole you call a city,” said Olivia. The rider stiffened.

“Very well. You shall be without your prisoners. But let it be known,” the rider announced, “we will not be without him!” He once again pointed to Elijah. “You had your chance to deal. Now, we will come for him. We will take him, and you will be given nothing.” He looked at Elijah. “I’ll see you again very soon. Be on guard.” The four Maliphists rode off and left the Magi of Savenridge to ponder what just happened.

Olivia turned around and walked away briskly. She threw a quick look at Elijah and he saw her give him the slightest nod.

As everyone turned to leave, many people patted Elijah in comfort, but no one really spoke a word to him. Elijah looked up at Roddick, who smiled comfortingly back. There wasn’t much else to say. Just yesterday, Elijah walked into Savenridge a complete stranger to everyone, but in just one day, as Mrs. Roddick had predicted, the entire town knew who he was.

****

CHAPTER 9: THE TRAINING BARRACKS

The walk back to the Roddick home was surreal. Elijah tried to focus on one thought at a time, but a whirlwind of emotions flooded his mind. He was filled with an anger that he had never felt before. He physically hated the Maliphists now. Just thinking about them—especially the yellow-eyed rider—made his entire body tense up, creating a desire to explode with rage and destroy something. He knew this was dangerous, but he couldn’t control it. Elijah was also filled with fear. He was scared for his uncle who was locked away somewhere in the depths of the Maliphist prison. He knew nothing of the Maliphist city or prison, but what Elijah imagined was beyond awful. He wished Olivia had just let the Maliphists take him. At least then, two people—his uncle and Olivia’s husband, Phinneas—would be saved.

Most of all, Elijah was consumed with questions. What did the Maliphists want from him? Could they carry out their threat and take him from Savenridge? And the question that had been gnawing at him most of all: How did his family relate to all of this? Elijah couldn’t overlook the obvious links between his family and the Magi, but no one had been able to answer anything to this point.

Focusing on just one thought was proving to be difficult, so Elijah let them all spill into one another, creating a melting pot of feelings. When he finally was able to focus, he found himself sitting in front of the Roddick’s fireplace, gazing at the dancing fire. He let his eyes drift out of focus, causing the fire blur into a mass of yellow and orange. Elijah eventually fell asleep in front of the fireplace in a trance-like state.

Early the next morning, before the sun rose completely and the new dawn brought the first shadows of the day into the house, Roddick joined Elijah in the front room. Elijah had been awake for several hours, staring blankly at the dying embers of the fire. Roddick looked as though he hadn’t slept much that night either.

“Are you okay?” Roddick asked. Elijah remained silent. Of course he wasn’t okay! He wasn’t sure if he would ever be okay, so he ignored the question and continued his hypnotic stare. Roddick shifted uncomfortably, waiting patiently before he spoke again. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

“Did you know?” Elijah asked, deciding that he wasn’t going to escape conversation. “About my uncle, I mean. Did you know he was there—in their city?”

Roddick looked down and breathed out a heavy sigh. “No. I didn’t. I’m really sorry.”

“But before,” Elijah interjected. “When we were in the cave and you told us about someone who had been captured by the Maliphists. You knew then, right?”

Roddick shook his head and looked back at Elijah. “I didn’t know that was your uncle until last night, when the Maliphists said his name.” Roddick looked defeated, wanting desperately to give Elijah some answers. Elijah, however, felt relieved. He was glad to know Roddick was not keeping something from him.

“Do you know my uncle?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t.”

“What about my parents?” Elijah was thinking of the picture with his father and uncle in the halls of Saint Phillip’s Academy. There had to be a connection somewhere. “William and Julia Hawk. Did you know them?”

Roddick shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I’m so sorry.”

Elijah nodded. He knew it was a long shot, but he thought maybe he could get some answers. Perhaps, he thought to himself, there wasn’t a connection at all. Maybe the events that happened the night his parents were killed were just coincidence. Maybe the rider with the yellow eyes was looking for his uncle then, and his family got in the way. After all, his father did stand between Elijah and the rider. But then he remembered his father’s voice:
There is a plan
.

“Why me?”

“Why
you
?” Roddick looked puzzled.

“I mean—why did you decide to bring me here?” Elijah asked. “Of all the kids at the school, why did you choose me?” Roddick looked as though he had never thought of this question himself. He bent over, resting his elbows on his knees and covered his mouth with his hands, deep in thought.

“When I offered to help—at first—I was just trying to guide a student who was very lost.” Elijah remembered that feeling. He remembered the kindness of Master Roddick at a time when he needed it most. It almost made Elijah feel guilty now for demanding answers from him. “I think—” Roddick continued slowly, “I think there was something inside me that saw your potential. You have such a unique mind, and I thought you would fit in here. I still believe I made the right choice.”

Elijah and Roddick let the crackle of the fire continue their conversation for a few moments. The silence was comforting. Elijah wasn’t quite ready to call everything a coincidence yet. He decided to let Roddick in on his secret.

“Master Roddick, I need to tell you something.” Roddick straightened up, sensing Elijah’s seriousness. “That man—the rider with the yellow eyes,” Elijah began. “He’s not just someone who has my uncle locked up.” Elijah took a deep breath. “He killed my parents.”

“How do you know?” asked Roddick with a horrified expression.

“His eyes. I remember them.”

“You mean they were yellow?” Roddick asked. Elijah nodded. Roddick scratched his face before deciding what to say. “Elijah, there’s more than one person around with yellow eyes—especially Maliphists.”

Elijah gazed at the fire. “Maybe so. But I know
those
eyes. When they looked at me, I felt—” Elijah thought back to the night he ran for his life. That memory haunted him still, even these many months later.

“What did you feel?” Roddick asked, encouraging Elijah to continue.

“I can’t explain it,” said Elijah. “I just know it was him. And now, he wants me again.”

Roddick put his hand on Elijah’s shoulder. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure you’re safe. You have friends here.”

“Am I safe? Here in the city?” Elijah asked.

“Safer than anywhere else, I imagine. But I’m not going to lie; you are in danger. You’re going to have to be smart and do what you can to protect yourself. There are some very powerful people after you, but you have some very powerful people protecting you, too.” Elijah wasn’t sure if he appreciated the honesty, or if he would have liked Roddick to paint him a more encouraging picture.

“Tell you what,” said Roddick thoughtfully. “We have Magi here that might be able to shed more light on what happened to your uncle. Maybe even your parents. I will ask around and try to get more information. I really am sorry I’m not more help.” Master Roddick got up and patted Elijah’s shoulder for comfort. “Let’s get something to eat.”

The Roddick household was starting to wake up. In the distance were the sounds of two little girls arguing over a toy, and the thumps and bumps of Mrs. Roddick getting dressed and ready in another room. Elijah got up and he suddenly remembered Samuel.

“What happened to Samuel yesterday?” Elijah asked as Master Roddick walked back into the front room holding pots and pans for breakfast.

“Oh, yeah. The council agreed to let him stay and train. It took a while, though. Poor Samuel was questioned to death. To be honest, it took a lot longer than I expected. They had a lot of concerns.”

“Where is he?”

“He was taken in by another family for the remainder of the holidays until everyone returns to the barracks for the second term,” Roddick explained.

“Where will I go during the holidays?” Elijah asked.

“Here, of course!” Roddick said pretending to sound insulted that he would even think of being anywhere else. Elijah looked at Roddick gratefully. He knew the Roddick family cared for him, but taking him in for only a night or two was very different than caring for him as a member of the family. Elijah wished he could say something worthy of the gratitude he felt.

The final days of the winter recess were much more delightful. He spent the majority of the time with the Roddicks, frequently helping Mrs. Roddick around the house as she worked to keep it tidy while chasing after her girls. Elijah spent a good deal of time watching the Roddick children and playing hide and seek with them. The game the girls loved most involved them climbing on Elijah and making him carrying them around the house. He enjoyed every minute of it.

He took time to visit with Mrs. Roddick too. He learned all about Master Roddick’s journeys between Savenridge and Saint Phillip’s Academy. Apparently, the teachers from Savenridge shared a position. For one term, Roddick would stay at the school and teach away from his family. The entire second term he would get to spend with his family in the city. Elijah wondered how hard it was for Roddick to spend half a year away from his family, but Mrs. Roddick seemed to think it was very noble.