Free Yesterday's Magic by Pamela F. Service

bird now, when she hadn’t a clue how to do it, would probably be disastrous. The rocks far below looked awfully hard and sharp.
    It was mid-afternoon when the door lock clattered once more. Heather had been lying on the mattress again, trying to sleep now that it was less cold. Abruptly she sat up and stared at the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the rats also peering out hopefully. Then the door opened fully, and she saw the face she most feared and half expected.
    “Morgan,” she whispered.
    “Yes, my dear. Heather McKenna, it’s so pleasant to meet not on a battlefield or in some silly battle of wills. I’m delighted to have you as my guest.”
    “Guest, right,” Heather muttered. She’d dealt with Morgan before and knew she had to guard herself against that lulling persuasive voice.
    The woman stepped into the room. Again Heather was struck by her perfect beauty. Slender girlish figure, moon-white skin, lustrous black hair. There’d been a time when Heather had pined for a fraction of such beauty, and she’d come close to betraying everything to get it. But that, she knew firmly, was over.
    “So sorry about the transportation,” Morgan said soothingly. “It must have been a little stifling. But I hardly thought you’d accept a polite invitation.”
    “You got that right.”
    “Come, come. We need to put old enmities aside. The world has changed, you know. In fact, that’s what I wanted to talk with you about.”
    Heather just stared at the woman, not answering.
    “When I last talked with our mutual—acquaintance, Merlin, he told me that you had a newer type of magic, one that was different than what we from the old times wield. I certainly can feel that you have power, and that intrigues me. Power is something to be valued, and with the world changing as it is, it is so important to wield it well. Don’t you agree?”
    Heather kept stonily silent.
    “You aren’t making this any easier, you know. I am making you a very attractive offer. Magic is the future of the world now. I am suggesting that you join me. With your new powers and my ancient ones, there is so much we could do for this poor battered world.”
    Heather was surprised she had the courage to laugh, but she did laugh. Derisively.
    “Oh, I know we’ve had our issues,” Morgan continued, unruffled. “But don’t dismiss my offer out of hand. This world is so badly shattered, it needs power—intelligently used—to unite it. That could happen if you joined me.”
    Heather stood up and glared angrily at her captor. “Issues? You said we’ve had issues? Trying to kill me and my friends, invading Britain with your loathsome armies, trying to undercut all the good that Arthur is doing—I consider that more than
issues.
I consider that pure evil, and I want nothing to do with it!”
    Now anger edged Morgan’s voice. “You may be powerful, but you’re a fool too. Letting Arthur and Merlin corrupt your mind like this. They have their own agendas, their own visions of the world. But theirs are weak visions, distorted by their outdated ideas. They can’t begin to grasp the enormity of this world and the challenge of reviving and uniting it. Come with me, and I will show you the great potential of what we can do.
We,
you and I. Old and new powers united, strengthening each other. Not the frayed plans of a couple of has-beens mired in their own dimming dreams.”
    Heather felt the warm weight of the bracelet on her wrist and tried to draw strength from it. “Morgan, I would rather work for the dimmest of their dreams than further one of your nightmares. Go look for some other partner, one of your own vile kind, like that werewolf you used to hang out with. I’m not joining.”
    “Clueless young fool!” Morgan’s anger manifested in a whirlwind of dust through the room. “I could
make
you work for me. A willing partner is more useful, but zombie slaves have their value too. You may have power, but you’ve scarcely a