by J. M. Briggs
The shape was imperfect with only a hint of hands and no fingers or toes, but now that she saw it Alex had no doubt that would be the finished product. A memory tugged at her. Something she was supposed to be doing, supposed to be worrying about. Instead, she found herself reaching her left hand out again and cautiously touching the metallic form. The metal shimmered beneath her fingertips with her own gray magic radiated out across the form. It had no distinguishing male or female features. Instead, it was rough, but as her magic seeped into the metal and another ring of the hammer sounded the features of the face began to glow. Alex’s eyes jumped to the face and she moved closer. But as the nose shrunk and the jaw shifted her eyes widened
Taking a step back, Alex almost dropped Mjǫllnir. The features kept shifting into place, but Alex knew the face she was seeing. It was her own. Shaking her head, Alex trembled and pushed at her magic, a sudden panic gripping her. But her magic swirled back to her, surrounding her in a wash of dark gray sparks. Closing her eyes, Alex chanted for the Iron Chain. That was what she was needed to do. She didn’t need to see this. Alex wasn’t even sure why she was seeing it.
“The Iron Chain.” Alex’s words echoed in the chamber. Taking a step back she repeated them once more. The magic began to loosen around her and her mind began to clear. “I need the find the Iron Chain.” Tightening her grip on Mjǫllnir, Alex brought it up to her chest and hugged the ancient hammer as if it were her stuffed dog Galahad. “I just need to find the Iron Chain. Please.”
Closing her eyes, Alex fought back the shivers beginning to overtake her. There was a knot forming in her chest, a twisted mix of fear, anger, awe, and plain overwhelmed. Faces flashed in front of her again, threatening to sweep her back into the vision. Tugs at her magic made her whimper and clutch the hammer tighter. Her mind jolted with a sudden headache so strong that she forced her eyes open, certain that something had hit her. The metallic form in front of her was glowing brightly. Alex took another step back.
“The Iron Chain,” she said.
Alex pushed and pulled at her magic, trying to find some way to make it do what she wanted, but the pressure of the more wild magic around her made it impossible. While it felt a lot like her own magic it wasn’t under her control. The pressure on her head was growing. Small gray spots danced over her vision and the faces started again. There were more places too and things and more people. Strange emotions fired through her brain in a jumble she couldn’t hope to understand. Slamming her eyes shut, Alex moved further back. She pulled on the magic around her, calling it to her and trying to take control of it. This was too much. Her head was pounding.
“I need the Iron Chain!” she screamed. The words echoed and the resonance of the magic changed all at once.
Collapsing around her, the magic rushed across her skin and left goosebumps in its wake. The temperature around her shifted and Alex was hit with a wave of vertigo. She inhaled sharply, the air tasted different and there were soft muted sounds around her. The images were slowing down now and the ache in her head wasn’t so bad.
Merlin hadn’t told her about this. He hadn’t prepared her. Alex hoped that he hadn’t been trying to mislead her. Maybe it was different for her because she was the Iron Soul. Maybe magic was just trying to show her too much at once. The rationalization helped and she slowly opened her eyes only to gasp softly. She was in a modern room. It looked a bit like a hotel living room with a sofa and two armchairs near a television. But most importantly was a long wooden box on the coffee table that was open. The Iron Chain was right in front of her on a cushion of dark purple.
Alex stared at it in shock, almost dropping Mjǫllnir as her hands fell to her side. After the cavern, she’d almost expected to… wake up maybe back in Merlin’s kitchen. Confusion over just what was happening took over for a moment, but then she noticed the black shimmer of magic around the Iron Chain and remembered why she’d wanted to find it. Alex reached towards the heavy looking chain, remembering the visions of it chaining captive men and women as slaves in the hold of a ship. In another life, she’d created the thing to bend others to her-his will. As her fingers brushed over it the Iron Chain’s magic flared to life, sending out a wave of magic that hit her in the chest.
More faces flashed before her. These ones had dark skin, were crying and were screaming, but then their eyes turned lifeless. Snapping back to reality, Alex looked down at the Iron Chain. Bile pushed up into her mouth as she glared at the thing. Mjǫllnir hummed in her hand as the black lines spread out around her, threatening to tangle her in their grasp. The Iron Chain whined, more ripples of power pulsing out and traveling along the black strands. Raising her hand, Alex brought Mjǫllnir over her head. The world solidified for a moment, the magic tightening in her chest; holding her here. Mjǫllnir’s magic pulled at her and Alex answered, giving the hammer more of her own magic. It glowed overhead and she brought it down. A shout escaped her, echoing around her just before a sharp metal clang deafened her.
The Iron Chain gleamed as the black magic thickened. It was fighting back. Alex pushed more magic, pulled on everything around her. The black threads began to snap. Black whiffs of magic sailed over her, turning gray and flowing into Mjǫllnir. Alex raised the hammer again, watching as the magic shimmering across the chain flickered. Black magic spun around her as more threads faltered, seeping into the hammer as she reclaimed all of it. Her chest was hot, her limbs quivered, but she slammed Mjǫllnir down once more.
Another deafening metallic ring surrounded her. The black magic exploded outward, striking Alex in the chest, but the Iron Realm’s magic kept her in place. Below Mjǫllnir the Iron Chain was beginning to shatter. Lines of bright gray were breaking across the black surface. The link that Mjǫllnir had struck suddenly burst apart and the black magic running across the surface of the chain vanished. Around her, the remaining black threads snapped and the black magic dissipated.
Magic shuddered around Alex and she stayed perfectly still. The hum in the air shifted and she lifted Mjǫllnir away from the chain. There was still magic running beneath the surface of the metal, but the color had lightened from pitch black to a softer gray. Rather like the color of her own magic, bur fading quickly. Distantly she heard shouting and a door being slammed. Alex wasn’t sure if this was real or not, but she reached out with her left hand and grabbed the two lengths of the Iron Chain. A sharp jolt traveled up her arm, making the hazy world around her shudder.
The magic closed in around her and the cocoon of energy resettled as she hoisted the chain off of the table. Those distant sounds were coming closer and Alex exhaled in relief as the weight of the Iron Chain seemed to fade away even though she was still carrying it. Magic swept around her and the disorientation was back. The burn and ache in her chest were getting worse and the world was blurry, like a running watercolor painting. She looked around, but could barely see anything except vague colored shapes around her. There was a soft rocking feel that told her she was in a car.
“Do you think Alex is going to be okay?” her Dad asked. Alex straightened up in surprise at the voice. She tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Around her, the magic thrummed so loudly that Alex was amazed her parents didn’t hear it. Then it eased and the world came more and more into focus. Her father was driving their SUV down a familiar Spokane street with her mom in the passenger seat. They were dressed nicely and Alex wondered if they had some sort of function or if it was just date night. With a slight smile, she took in her mom’s profile.
“I’m not sure,” her mom replied. Worry filled her face and Alex opened her mouth to reassure her, but once again nothing came out. She pulled at her magic, wanting some way to interact with them, but it was sluggish and tight. Like it was caught on something. “She sounded tired when I talked to her, but I’m hopeful everything will be alright.”
“Sometimes I wake up and tell myself that it must have just been a dream,” he dad said. He shook his head and took a hand off the steering wheel to quickly
push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It all seems so crazy.”
“I know,” her mom said. “It messes with the world view.”
“I’m a reporter who knows magic is real, but for the safety of my daughter I can’t break the story.”
“Yes well, one of Alex’s fellow mages is studying physics. He’s sitting on a Nobel Prize discovery and can’t do anything with it.”
Her dad chuckled and smiled at her mom. “It does help knowing that she’s not alone. I just wish we could do more.”
“I know.” Her mom sighed and shook her head. “I feel helpless. I’m her mom and there’s nothing I can do.”
“I know we said no, but maybe we should look at moving again.”
“I’m tempted,” her mom agreed. “Very tempted, but I’m not sure that would actually make things easier for Alex. There’s a lot to be said for her being able to return to her childhood home away from Ravenslake. If we moved there she wouldn’t have that.”
“But she’d have us there.” Her dad’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “She comes home less and less. I’m not even sure if she’ll be home this summer. Kind of invalidates that point if she never comes to visit.”
“I don’t know.” Her mom smiled at her dad, she looked tired. “When school gets out we’ll talk to Alex about it. Ravenslake isn’t an ideal place for us. I mean I could find work I’m sure, but it would be harder for you.”
“Maybe, but maybe not. I’ve worked so much in interviews, writing, and social media that I could probably find something in marketing.”
Alex’s chest tightened and loosened all at once. There were tears gathering in her eyes. She felt a bit silly, but it had never sunk in how much her parents probably worried about her. Opening her mouth, she tried to say something and reached for her mother. But her hand passed through the chair like she was a ghost.
A sigh escaped her, but she smiled a little. The pressure of the magic was easing and Alex whispered soft thank you to it for letting her see them. She let the lull of their voices wash over her as the conversation turned to work and Ed’s law school progress. Then there was another voice. It was distant, but Alex’s eyes widened. The familiar voice of Arthur rang in her ears.
“Make sure that you hit them in the front. I want them both dead.”
Looking around frantically, Alex tried to find the source of the voice. It echoed around her, but there was no sight of Arthur. Then in the corner of her eye, she saw a large shape coming down the side street. It was moving too fast and she tried to shout a warning. Her mom gasped as a large truck came plowing through the stop light. Alex screamed once more, but the truck collided with the passenger side. Metal cracked and crumbled in a terrible shattering sound. The magic in her gut flared. There was a sharp tug in her stomach right before everything went dark.
Grief. There was grief as the feel of two people faded away, snuffed out and she was left in the dark. The grief was sharp and overwhelming and yet already fading. More faces. Landscapes swept past them again. The ache in their head returned worse than ever. Their skin was too tight. It was tearing, stretching and tearing again as it became too small. An iron figure appeared with a shifting face that kept changing. Magic pressed in tightly, surrounding and suffocating. They were dying again. No, it was too soon to die again. Too much danger, no time for rebirth. They had to keep going. Fighting back against the crushing weight, they started to breathe again and forced open their eyes.
35
Vacant
The vision faded away slowly. Their eyes opened and they looked up at a plain white ceiling. The smell of the room was familiar and they had no sense of danger. Inhaling slowly, they tried to pull together the thoughts and emotions of the last few moments. The vision had been strange and there was a churn of pride, fear, excitement, worry, and grief in their chest, but no way to even begin sorting it all out. Soft whispers filled their head, dozens of voices in different languages and yet all understood.
They shifted slowly, blinking as the memory of the truck bearing down on the car pushed its way to the front of their brain. Closing their eyes, there was a ripple of grief. It drown out all the other emotions for a moment. There were multiple shivers of pain, shared and spread amongst the whole. A tear gathered beneath their eyelids and slipped out a moment later. As it ran down their cheek the magic began to finally recede like the tide going out. The voices began to fade until there was only one.
Alex took a shuddering breath. The sense of the others eased and retreated. She was alone. She was just her again. It was both reassuring and terrifying. Yet part of her still felt a lingering echo of the others filling her head. An ocean of unfamiliar and familiar whispers churned, drowning out everything. She was stronger and in a weird way heavier. It was odd and Alex had no context for it.
Her fingers twitched and brushed against something warm and solid. Shifting her hand, Alex exhaled as her hand wrapped around the handle of Mjǫllnir. She noted the weight of the comforter across her chest and arms and shifted a little, letting the blankets adjust to her new position. Alex wanted to believe it was a just a strange dream, but something in her chest settled and told her it wasn’t. Turning her head slightly she looked towards the window, noting that it was dark outside.
“Alex is awake,” a soft voice called from her other side. It was familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “Welcome back.”
Alex turned her head to look at the nightstand. Timothy was standing on the top of the night table, still dressed in his mended doll clothes and shifting uneasily at her gaze. The Brownie offered her a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Something about the dark creature inspired an odd rush of different emotions. He was worried and Alex focused that fact, trying to push aside the strange response she’d had to the sight of him. She tugged on her magic, letting it flow through her and focused on the Brownie. A small aura of barely there purple magic appeared around him mixed with a fuzzy impression of gray magic, but there was no sign of any black magic trying to reach for him. Alex said nothing and just stared at the small creature. She wanted to smile and say something, but her brain was as far as the desire went. Her muscles were all limp and everything was muted.
Sitting up slowly, Alex’s eyes dropped to the green comforter spread across her. The green color looked sharper than before and much more vivid. A soft glow from Mjǫllnir was barely visible beneath the blankets. Alex pulled it out and set the hammer on her lap before releasing it. Her fingers ached, but she slowly traced them over the surface of the blanket. Tingles traveled up her fingers and sent a rush of goosebumps up her arm. Yet something still felt muted and wrong. The image of the truck flashed through her head. She saw her mom smiling and her dad laughing from the last visit home. Her eyes teared up again, but there just wasn’t… something was missing.
“Alex.” She looked up to find Morgana in the doorway. The other mage’s eyes were dark with worry even as a sigh of relief escaped her. “You’re alright.”
Morgana sat on the edge of the bed and reached over to take her hand. The skin on skin contact was strange, but Alex kept herself from pulling away. Morgana’s hand was warm and her fingers comforting as they wrapped around hers. Alex’s eyes settled on Morgana and she waited in silence as the woman collected herself. Morgana’s long dark hair was in a braid over her shoulder, revealing her pale features and pained green eyes. Alex watched as Morgana took a deep breath, bracing herself for something and tried to speak, but no words came out.
Footfalls in her doorway drew Alex’s attention away from Morgana. Merlin stopped at the threshold of the room, looking every bit as tired and worried as Morgana. He met her eyes for a moment before dropping his brown eyes away from her. He walked into the room and sat on the bed opposite from Morgana. Following Morgana’s lead, he reached over and placed his hand over theirs for a moment, squeezing gently. Then he pulled his hand away and set it on his lap, clearly at a loss. Alex waited for them to say something. T
“Alex
,” Merlin forced out in a weak voice. “There are things you need…” He trailed off and shook his head. “You were successful in breaking the power of the Iron Chain. We’ve been contacted by two groups of Sídhe. They described it as a tether being cut so you were successful on that front. Now I can’t say for certain that it is permanent-”
“It is,” Alex interrupted. “I targeted the Iron Chain itself with the Iron Hammer. I felt the magic in it destroyed.” She frowned as her mind tried to unravel the tangle of thoughts and memories. The Iron Chain had been sitting in a box and she’d smashed it with Mjǫllnir. “I thought I was there… I picked up the pieces.”
“You never left here, Alex,” Morgana told her softly. “We were in the kitchen when you took the potion. You moved around a little, but then you just collapsed.” Morgana’s hand tightened around hers. “We brought you in here right after that. Timothy’s been watching over you.”
Nodding, Alex dropped her eyes to her left hand, still hidden beneath the blankets. She shifted her fingers and brushed something heavy and cold. There was a lump next to Morgana that somehow the other mage hadn’t noticed. Her fingers wrapped around the thick links. Magic brushed over her fingers and Alex held back a shiver. Automatically she reached for it and began to pull it into her chest letting the energy gather. With a soft grunt, she pulled out the chain, barely noticing the look of shock on Morgana’s face or Merlin’s gasp of surprise.
