Out of Time the Grand Quest

by Christopher Douglass

  “That’s enough out of both of you. Did you forget what you yourself said Kimberly? We need to work together to solve this. There are things a mediator can do that a mage can’t. The same is true in reverse, a mediator can’t do it all. Right now, you are the only mediator here. Amy might not want to admit it, but we both need you, just like you need us. You don’t have to like it, but life isn’t made up of everything you like. You two are wasting time standing here bickering like this. If you want to kill each other do it after we get the hell out of this rift.”

  With narrowed eyes Kimberly sheathed her weapon. Amy saw her take a deep breath in, letting it out slowly with a nod.

  “You’re right. I guess I’m just a little edgy. I can feel my Ageless Sorceress persona in the back of my mind like an itch I can’t scratch. I feel my energy slowly draining away to keep it powered too. I just need to get used to it, that’s all.”

  Kimberly didn’t apologize, and that was fine with Amy. It just gave her one more reason to kill the wench later. Kimberly headed off back the way they had come into town, her back as rigid as a board. Feeling Kimberly was somehow taunting her, Amy quickened her pace until she was ahead of the girl. This also kept her from having to look at Kimberly’s back.

  Amy didn’t get far along the path when another one of those stomach churning moments overtook her. She happened to be looking directly at a pine tree when it happened. There was a momentary shift in the world around her. A quick blip that lasted less than a fraction of a second. But after that blip passed, the tree she was looking at had shifted to the left by at least three inches. It reminded her of how the world looked shifted if you closed one eye then quickly opened it while closing the other. This time though, she knew the other two had to have seen it. It would be proof that she wasn’t being jumpy over nothing. Proof there was a real reason her stomach had been constantly churning and not just her imagination.

  “You guys saw that right?”

  “Saw what?”

  How could this Kimberly be so stupid? Turning to face the girl she pointed at the tree that had shifted to the side. “The tree! It moved to the side a few inches! Surely you saw it! It happened when the world fractured. You can’t be that blind with those big glasses on your face!”

  “What are you talking about? Are you feeling okay? I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary. Especially not anything like the world fracturing.”

  “Damn it! If you weren’t so stupid you would have seen it! It has to be something to do with magic because my stomach reacts to the imbalance! Frank, surely you felt it at least.”

  Frank looked between Amy and the wench before slowly shaking his head. “Sorry, Amy. I didn’t feel anything, and I haven’t seen anything too strange since we got here either. At least, nothing strange when compared to other rifts. If anything, this place is eerily normal.”

  “But-- how could you not see it! It just happened right in front of us!”

  “You know what they say, simple minds fall for simple tricks.”

  With a snarl Amy leapt at the wench. Not even trying to summon magic to burn her alive. Mediator or no, her and Frank could do this without Kimberly. The whore bent her knees and spread her arms, bracing herself for the impact. Before they could collide though, Frank stepped into Amy’s line of sight, taking her punch on his left side. She didn’t get a chance to get around him for a second attack though, he backhanded her hard with a blow to her skull.

  Getting her feet beneath her, she refrained from going on the offence again. She was gratified to see Frank smack the wench across her mouth hard, letting the woods resound with the satisfying sound.

  “ENOUGH! Both of you! I don’t have time to baby-sit two squalling children! Amy, don’t get your panties all wedged because we didn’t see anything amiss. And Kimberly, stop instigating a fight. Its petty and it gets us nowhere. Now both of you shake and call a truce. I don’t care if you make up or not, but for now deal with each other.”

  Amy glared at Kimberly, who glared daggers back. Amy gave her a snarl but made no move to attack. She saw Kimberly ball her hand into a fist but finally raise her arm in offering. Amy turned her nose up at the offering, spinning on her heel and heading off on her own. She didn’t make it far before a giant hand snatched her up by the collar from behind, cutting off her air supply. She was lifted off her feet and manually dumped on the ground in front of Kimberly, Frank dropping his mountain giant transformation with a glower of his own.

  That look of anger actually cooled her own. She had never once seen such a look on Frank’s face. He always had a disinterested quality about him. Happy, sad, angry, nothing seemed to phase him at all. Even when he had berated both of them just moments ago, he still had that disinterested quality about him. It was yet another similarity he had with Vletch, that sense of solidarity and feeling that nothing could affect him.

  “Shake.”

  Gritting her teeth she gripped Kimberly’s palm with her own. She squeezed as hard as she could, feeling the other girl doing the same as she attempted to rip the arm off while she pumped up and down. Never once did either her or Kimberly blink or avert an eye as they struggled in even this. It was Frank who broke the two of them up and allow Amy to keep walking.

  While she despised the Phaser with a passion, she had to respect the girls strength. Her grip was strong and her eyes spoke of determination. There weren’t many who could meet and keep her gaze for so long. Amy had heard whispers that looking into her eyes was like looking into the soul of a demon. That you could actually see the fires of hell inside her hazel orbs.

  She really wished Vletch was standing next to her right now. He was always able to keep her from acting too foolishly, or saying things she would regret later. Not that she would ever regret putting Kimberly in her place when the time came. Still, he was her better half. Probably the only man insane enough to put up with her for the rest of his life.

  She smiled at that thought. Not that she would mind spending the rest of her life with him either. Now if only he would grow a pair and ask her to marry him. She had refrained from forcing the issue because she knew he had some strange ideas on the oddest things. But she was getting tired of waiting, and keeping her mouth shut had never been something she was very good at. Maybe it was time she give him a little shove in the right direction.

  Thinking of Vletch calmed her down and let her think more clearly. It wasn’t the same as having his comforting presence standing nearby, giving her one of those quite smiles that melted her heart. Walking in silence soothed the rest of her anger. Perhaps Frank had a point, Despite her feelings for Kimberly, she didn’t have time to be bickering. It wasn’t like this was the first time she had to work with people that rubbed her the wrong way. Though, this was the first time she had to do so without Vletch nearby. She hated to admit just how much she had come to rely on the big man. She had to be strong to control her magic. It wasn’t her fault that bled over into everything else she did. Why couldn’t people understand that?

  “Hey Amy, can you speak the wind and find this woodsman? It will save us time searching for him.”

  Amy bit down on the retort that wanted to burst from her lips. Who did this Kimberly think she was to give her orders? Just assuming she knew what Amy could and could not do without even asking. Amy couldn’t help but give the girl a hard time, despite biting her tongue.

  “I don’t feel like it. Why don’t you do it yourself using your special powers.”

  “I can’t. I could track him with my assassin persona or maybe use magic with my Ageless Sorceress. But since I am not in contact with my sorceress staff, I can’t access that power. And I’m not confident enough in my skills yet to call on another personality now that I am so far away from the staff. I’m afraid if I try, the staff will disappear. The farther I get, the more energy I feel draining away to keep it materialized. That is just the nature of how my Other ability works. Even I don’t know everything I can do with it honestly. And right now really isn’t
the time for me to be experimenting if I can help it.”

  “Why? What’s so important about letting that failure Santalada have one of your other personalities anyway? Just take your power back and find the guy yourself. Having your power won’t make her a better mage. A failure is always a failure.”

  “Because I want her to survive. Giving her my power increases that chance. I promised Grell I would bring her back safe. I can’t really keep that promise if Maria is dead now can I? I might have my problems with her, but I don’t wish for her death. Also, please refrain from calling her a failure. Even if I might agree that she’s a weak mage, she isn’t a failure.”

  “So says one failure to defend another.”

  Frank’s voice broke in before Kimberly could retort to Amy’s remark. “Amy, enough. I agree with Kimberly. Reading the wind is an effective use of time and manpower. So please quit being surely and just do it.”

  Amy ground her teeth as she turned away from the other two. She felt her fingernails digging into her palms while stamping down the shame she felt. The three of them walked along the wooded path in silence while Amy got herself under control. Feeling the heat in her face she spoke into the silence, staring at the trees ahead as she did so.

  “I won’t do it.”

  “Amy. This is no time to be having a tantrum. You’re a mage aren’t you? Then grow up and act like one. This is our life on the line here. And the life of everyone on Aerth. Or have you forgotten that? We have like eighteen hours left to resolve this rift. Or do you want to be responsible for wiping out everyone and everything with even a small amount of magic to its name?”

  Amy knew Frank was right. She was being petty, with what to them must seem like no reason at all. Amy knew Vletch would have told her much the same as Frank had if he were here. Steeling herself, she imagined Vletch’s big hand on her shoulder lending his silent support.

  “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean you can’t? We both know you control fourth degree wind magic. You levitated down the Grand Path to the gates. You should be able to control a third tier spell like wind speaking in your sleep.”

  Each one of Frank’s words were like a stab into her chest. It wouldn’t be so bad if Frank were the only one to hear her reply. But to have the wench Kimberly hear her answer as well was almost too much to bear. It was like handing blackmail fodder to the enemy.

  “I can’t do magic. At least, not like a regular sorceress. I’m an artifact mage. All my spells are inside jewelry and sticks. And they have only so many uses before they have to be recharged. I don’t have any wind speaking artifact, neither me, my father, or my grandmother was able to capture it.”

  Amy waited for the laughter. A mage that couldn’t do magic was a joke. She couldn’t even make the simplest of fires on her fingertips that any toddler could. Her family had moved from Bravlor because the taunts had gotten so bad. Ever since she had moved, she had vowed to never let anyone find out about her shortcoming. Only Vletch had known, and now she had confessed to these two.

  “Well, okay then. Guess I will have to try tapping into a second persona and hope I don’t lose the first one. Unless you have a way to track him Frank.”

  “I do, but I can’t hold my shifts for long with these wounds. My power is similar to Amy’s, I use foci made out of the bones of the creature I change into. But unlike Amy, who only needs a spark to activate an artifact, I need to channel a constant supply of magic into the transformation. Wounds don’t carry over, but it still puts a strain on my body.”

  It was all Amy could do to keep from spinning on the spot with her mouth open wide enough to catch a minotaur fly. They weren’t going to make fun of her? She was sure Kimberly would have pointed out the most obvious of facts: that Maria was a better mage than her if she couldn’t even do the barest magic spell. The wench seemed to enjoy making Amy feel her power was as small as her size.

  While acting like she wasn’t interested, Amy still watched the wench out of the corner of her eye. She hated to admit it, but the girl’s power was impressive. Magus level at least, if not Grand Wizard material. Even Amy couldn’t claim as much. Her artifact manipulation was powerful, second order of Merlin even. And Frank’s was at least first order of Merlin if he could control a troll form. But in terms of sheer power and versatility, Kimberly’s beat them both hands down. It galled her to think the girl was so powerful and still relatively untrained. She was controlling it by instinct, Amy could see that much. How much stronger could she be if she formally learned what she could do? What was worse, the wench had no idea just how strong she really was. When she figured that out, there was no doubt she would be even more insufferable, lording it over everyone around her.

  Kimberly closed her eyes, her head tilted to the side as her brows furrowed. Amy wished she could see the flow of magic like some mages could. She would have liked to see how exactly Kimberly tapped into her Other power. Was it similar to how real mages did it? It didn’t come from machines in her bloodstream like a normal mediator, but what other way was there if not real magic? She came from the other side, the world where magic didn’t and couldn’t exist. Yet Amy was sure she didn’t come from a technologically advanced future on par with the Atlantians. There was so much mystery about the girl that no one thought to question. Maybe that was what rubbed Amy the wrong way, all that mystery.

  Kimberly gripped the gold hilted dagger at her waist as sweat traveled down her brow. This seemed to help whatever she was doing, since black cloth appeared from nothing over the hand holding it, creating a glove ending at the wrist. Her stance changed at that exact moment as well, going from an open, inviting feel, to one of danger. The change was so abrupt, it sent the hairs on her arms skyward. Amy was already reaching for an artifact to defend herself before she realized her hand had moved. If asked, Amy would be unable to say exactly how she could notice the changes. the best answer she could give would be a gut feeling. It was the same feeling she had gotten from her father when he had pumped himself up to go out fighting mountain giants. But the aura Kimberly gave off was at least three times as dangerous as her father.

  In the next instant that sense of danger was gone, replaced by the normal open aura she normally exuded. Yet Amy could still feel the barest traces of that danger around her. Perhaps it was because she was used to working with artifacts. Each one of them had their own unique magical aura pattern. And she was attuned to each one so she knew what spell was which without even touching the artifact. And how many more times she could use a particular spell before it needed to recharge. Maybe that was why Frank acted so oblivious to the danger so close to him. If he could feel what she felt, Amy was sure Frank wouldn’t stand so close to her with that half smile on his face.

  Kimberly glanced around the foliage, her ever moving eyes searching for something. Amy had no idea what she was looking for exactly, but she had seen enough trackers in her time to know she was already on the hunt. Without a word, she trudged off the beaten path, hunched over and sliding sideways through the greenery, barely making any noise. In the single gloved hand she held her belt knife out in front of her, prepared for an attack by an unseen foe.

  “So Kimberly, not to sound rude or anything, but do you know where to go now? Or are we just wandering aimlessly until you find a trace of him?”

  “Its Kimi handsome. Kimi the Blade. Not Kimberly. Are you trying to say you don’t want to be lost in the woods with little old me?”

  “Well than Kimi, do you know where we are going? And for the record, no, I would rather not be lost in the woods with you.”

  Kimberly let out a short bark of mirth, her eyes twinkling as she watched Frank out of the corner of her eye. “Good answer handsome. Those that enter the woods with me tend not to exit them again. Alive at least. Consider yourself lucky, not many get to live after seeing my face.”

  Kimberly shook her head, her empty hand rising to massage her brow. For a brief moment she looked like she was in pain. But that sign of distress
passed as quickly as it came and the brief aura of death vanished just as suddenly. So suddenly, Amy wasn’t even sure she had actually felt it.

  “Sorry about that. My head is killing me right now. It feels like there are three of me fighting a war inside my head and trying to take over. Trying to hold the Sorceress is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I feel--- I feel like the longer I hold this second persona the less of me, the real me, there is. I’m not sure how long I can hold this character. And to answer your question, yes, I see a few faint signs of another human. They are a few days old, but there are signs this path has been used more than once.”

  Kimberly started moving again, forcing Amy and Frank to follow or get lost. Despite herself, Amy felt a small bit of compassion for the girl. She knew what it was like to struggle for mastery over your abilities. Any mage who had moved on to the second tier of spells knew that feeling. And Amy knew better than most that struggle to find something-- anything-- that proved you were real while mastering an artifact. Since only an artifact mage would understand that the artifacts were alive. They held part of the essence of the mage who had cast the spell, because many artifact spells had to be stolen from a mage. Magi didn’t like giving up their power so easily. And only an artificer like her mother had been, knew the secrets of making the spells that could steal and seal those of another mage. Only users like her and her father knew the secrets of activating the sealing spell and then tapping the trapped magic.

  The three of them walked in silence, Amy feeling like a lumbering ox based on the amount of noise she made when compared to Kimberly. At least Frank looked like a lumbering ox as well. Amy noted a spot of blood slowly growing on the back of his shirt, little bigger than a fingerprint. Yet despite the pain he must be in, he gave no sign of discomfort. Just from that, Amy found a new level of respect for the big man. Anyone who could handle pain without complaining deserved a little respect.