Arylanth's Magick (for the moment, subject to change)
an excerpt

CHAPTER 1
Crackdowns In Maresney

Shira ran swiftly, not daring to check behind, fearful of what she might catch a glimpse of. If she could not see them, she could half believe that they would not be able to spot her. Her feet pounded against the hard ground. Shira’s whole body was shaking, juddering.
She jumped away from the pat, into the forest. Rolling down a hill, headed Earth-knows-where, Shira opened her mouth and shrieked.
A sudden scream erupted and echoed through the building. Gormla awoke with a jolt and sat upright. She quickly glanced from left to right, checking that her room was still safe. Even though the door was locked, there was still a chance that some of the Audicorps had managed to get inside. She was lucky. Apart from Gormla herself, the room was – thankfully – empty.
Although, judging by the muffled screams and chants that she could hear, someone else was in trouble. As long as they did not come near her, Gormla did not care what happened to anyone else. She knew that it was slightly callous but nearly everyone in Maresney believed the same thing as her. There was no point in fighting the Audicorps, just give them what they want and hope that they do not kill you.

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The streets were packed with people but an eerie silence lay heavy across everyone. The only noise came from the shuffling of people’s feet as they made their way to work. Gormla was among them. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a simple knot and her green eyes sparkled. She had not slept much last night, still slightly fearful that the Audicorps were in the building.
According to the people around her, there had been a raid on every building in the city that the Lords believed had a Teacher inside. Fifty people had been captured, all of them suspected of being a Teacher. That hung over all the travelers, fear of what would happen that day preying on their minds. It was not a good time to be able to teach Magick, the Lords did not want anyone to have Powers except themselves and the few select people, who they chose, the members of the Audicorp and others who would help the Lords, not oppose them.
Gormla hurried through the streets. She neared her workplace in the poorest district of the City. She worked long, tiring hours for pitiful pay. She and fifteen other women stitched cloth together to make clothing for the prisoners in the City Gaols. It was the type of work that ruined peoples’ eyesight and made them stab themselves, by accident, in their thumbs, ruining what nerves they had there. Gormla hated it but work was very scarce in the City, at least work that you could keep some small semblance of dignity while doing. She knew that she was better off in a dirty shop than down some grotty back alley.
The deep, rumbling bong-bong-bong from the Mazceh Cathedral reminded Gormla and all the others on their way to work, that they were nearly late. The majority of shops and workplaces opened at a quarter to the eighth hour, it was now two quarters past the seventh hour.
Everyone surged forwards, their pace quickening. No one wanted to be late and risk the chance of being told not to return the next morning. Ever since the latest Decree, you were not given money for being laid off. It was your own fault. Gormla knew people who that had happened too, once even on Sixth Day when he should have been receiving his money for that weeks work. Keane had been late and he got nothing from the Laird who ran the Eatery. After that, Keane was finally sick of the torment and pain of daily life in Maresney. He murdered the Laird and then committed suicide. That had hit Gormla hard. The repercussions of Keane’s attack on the powerful people in Maresney also hit the commoners hard. Ten random people had been chosen and they had ruthlessly been murdered. Ten commoners were equal to one Laird; thirty commoners to a Lord.
Gormla turned a corner and the stench hit her. In this street the block of flats raised almost fifty stories high, they nearly blocked out the mountainous range of Icy Ridge. This district was the most densely populated in the entire City but still people were homeless. There was either no room for them in any of the blocks or they could not afford the daily rent. Again Gormla thanked Earth that she was able to live in the Fourth District.
A little further on lay Gormla’s workplace. She could see her cruel Laird standing at the door, waiting to hear the rumblings from the Cathedral. She sprinted forwards. Gormla got inside just before the bells rang out that it was the third quarter of the seventh hour. Laird Grimsely slammed the iron doors shut, locking the workers in. Those unlucky enough not to have made it inside in time, knew that they had lost their jobs.

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It had been a long week for Gormla. She lay on her narrow mattress, slowly breathing in and then back out. Standing up, she slowly walked over to the water basin, her muscles aching at every slight movement. She bent her head to it. The acidic taste of the water made her lips burn. It was a constant problem for the people of the Fourth District down. The water tasted terrible and it did not hydrate your tired body. A few Elementals from the Third District learnt about the problem and set up a shop on the black market selling pure water that they had made. The prices had started off relatively low but as more people learnt about it and tried to buy the water, the prices steadily rose. Now only the richest in the Fourth District could afford the water. The rest had to make do with the horrible water that the Lords gave out for free.
Five knocks came from the room below Gormla. Rat-a-tat-tat-a. Gormla tapped back. You there? Yeah. A few moments later, feet ran up the stairs outside the window and then a short, stout girl appeared at the window. She had a devilish smirk on her face and her hazel eyes danced mischievously. A smile grew across Gormla’s face as she looked at her friend.
“Greeting’s Hazel,” she called out to her. “And my greetings to you, Lady Gormla,” came the reply. Hazel just managed to get the words out before she broke into spluttered laughter. Gormla glared at her. “What in Fire’s name are you thinking? Are you out of your mind? Calling me LADY Gormla could get both me and you in trouble! You idiot.” She turned her back on Hazel and flopped back down onto her bed.
Hazel let Gormla seethe for a few minutes before hopping heavily through the glassless window. “Guess what happened today?” Gormla ignored her, still furious with Hazel for her carelessness. “Guess!” Hazel sighed and walked over to the nearby water basin. She scooped up a handle of the water and dribbled some of it over her friend’s face. She repeated this for a few moments.
“What happened?” Gormla finally asked, Hazel’s goading eventually working. “I was chased by the Audicorps.”
Gormla reached out and grabbed Hazel’s hand, pulling herself into a sitting position. “Do not lie about something like that.” Hazel locked eyes with her and spoke slowly. “I am not lying. They chased me down the length of Cathair Street. I insulted them and did something.”
Gormla laughed bitterly. “You always insult them and usually drag me into it too. They never chase us so what was different this time, Hazel?” Hazel closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she was smiling broadly. “I did this.”
As Gormla watched, Hazel tilted her head upwards and the water basin rose in the air. She moved her head to the side swiftly and it flew across the bare room to smash against the wall. Gormla gasped. “I know,” breathed Hazel softly. “I surprised myself when I did it. Except when I did it this afternoon, it was using a spear and it hit one of the Corps in the leg.”
“Oh, Hazel…” Gormla was speechless for a couple of seconds. “That is… so cool!”
Hazel nodded, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “I ain’t ever done anything like this before; I’ve never even thought that I was capable of Magick… I’m so excited!”
“How powerful is it?” enquired Gormla. Hazel shrugged. “I haven’t tested it or anything yet. As soon as I got away from the Audicorps who were chasing me, I went home. I tried to get up to you earlier but my mother had long drawn out things for me to do. That brings me up to now.”
Gormla’s lips tightened slightly and her eyes lost their excited sheen for a moment while she thought. With what felt like a tremendous effort, she grinned again although the smile did not manage to reach her trembling green eyes.
“It’s not the best timing in the land right now,” she half-laughed, “what with the whole thing about people not using Magick and that.”
“Yeah, I guess you are right…” Hazel said slowly. “I won’t be able to have a Teacher, any that were not captured during the last few weeks will surely be in hiding. And everyone knows that you have to be really talented to Teach yourself and I can’t be talented enough as I only learnt I could do Magick today and I am already twenty eight Halfings old and –”
“HAZEL!” Gormla cried out, stopping Hazel’s jumbled torrent of words. “Look on the bright side, I am thirty four Halfings and I can’t do any Magick. You can do some at least. It is much better than nothing, like me. I’m just a useless lump.”
Impulsively Hazel reached over and hugged Gormla tight. During their brief embrace, a loud thudding came from below the floor. Hazel snorted, “That’s Mother. No rest for the wicked, eh?” She quickly exited the room, pausing on her way out the window to glance back at Gormla. “Thanks.” She smiled swiftly and pattered back downstairs.
“No problem,” sighed Gormla as she lay back down on her bed and the tears slowly began to seep from her eyes.