“Who’s Alister?” the clerk asked.
“My cat!” she shouted in exasperation. “Have you seen him?”
“A cat?”
She growled in frustration and ran for the front door, bursting out into the lit alley. She looked left, then right, spotting Alister's tail whipping around the corner onto a side street. She took off, calling his name, her bare feet smarting when she stepped on the occasional pebble. She rounded the corner and hopped to a stop, almost trampling Alister, who was sitting on the empty sidewalk.
He looked up at her, his eyes bright and glowing in the streetlights. “Merow,” he said excitedly.
Sara put her hands on her knees, inhaling deeply to catch her breath from the intense run and fighting off the panic she had felt at losing him.
“What the fuck, man? Where are you going?” she panted.
He looked down the street, causing her to look as well. At first she didn't see anything. Then there was a flash of white fur, darting between doorways. She squatted down behind Alister, her anger and fear dissipating in a breath.
“Is that him?”
“Mrow,” he said, furrowing his brow.
Sara's eyes widened a little. “Sorry. Her. Is that her?”
He gave a short nod, rising from his haunches as the white animal darted to a closer shadow. Sara couldn't make out what it was, but it was too low to the ground to be a cat, and it moved more like a rat. She didn't think it was a rat, but she’d only gotten a quick look before it disappeared from her view. She could see two eyes regarding them from the shadows.
Sara stuck out her hand, looked to make sure the street was clear, then whisper shouted, “Were you summoned?”
The creature didn't move.
She tried again. “This is Alister, and I’m Sara. He’s my familiar.” She checked to be sure they were still alone and then added, “My pixie,” she added, surprised she could say the word after all the times it hadn’t come out.
The eyes rose, as if the creature were standing higher at that statement. Then, in a sudden movement, it darted out from cover and ran at full speed, right toward her and Alister. It was moving so fast she couldn't make it out. Then it tackled Alister, and they rolled past Sara's feet.
“Oh, shit! Are you all right?” she asked, dancing back from the rolling ball of white and black fur.
The two separated and faced each other, Alister’s face bright and excited, putting Sara at ease.
It was just a greeting, like a hug or something, she realized with relief.
The creature had finally stopped moving enough for Sara to get a good look at it. It was a stark white ferret. Not an albino—it had a black nose and black eyes—but it was snow white. The ferret stood on its back legs and gave Sara a pretty good approximation of a bow while emitting a chirping grunt.
“Oh, my,” Sara said, blushing at the gesture for some odd reason before returning the bow. “It’s a pleasure. Would you like to meet your mage, and get off the street?”
The ferret began her low chirping again and shot off down the alley, toward the hotel.
Sara and Alister looked at each other, and Alister shrugged before taking off after the little white streak. Sara gave a laugh and began jogging after them.
They were waiting for her at the door to the hotel, leaning against each other and chattering. Sara opened the door, and they both darted in, scooting across the lobby floor toward the steps at a dead run. The clerk behind the desk gave a yelp and pulled his legs up, as if they were going to run over and bite his toes.
“I found him,” Sara called out, waving to the guy, who waved back slowly with wide eyes.
Sara followed them up the stairs and, after following the two excited animals as they pounced on one another the entire way down the hall, slid her key into the slot and opened the door. Alister and the ferret got stuck in the barely opened door as they both tried to be the first through. Sara opened the door further, and they spilled inside, Alister leading the ferret into Boon’s bedroom.
I don't think I’ve ever seen Alister this excited.
She came around the corner to see both Alister and the ferret on the bed. Alister had taken his spot against Boon’s leg, and the ferret was curled in the nook between Boon’s head and shoulder. Somehow, in the time it had taken Sara to walk from the door to the bedroom, both familiars had calmed down and settled in for the night.
She just shook her head in amazement. “So we’re staying in here tonight?” she asked Alister. He flicked an ear, keeping his eyes closed. Sara rolled her eyes.
She went and changed from her bathing suit into a tee shirt and panties, and tossed the knit hat onto her bed, combing out her red hair with her fingers. Crossing the living room, she nearly stubbed her toe on a chair in the dark. She threw a curse at the offending furniture before crawling into the bed beside Boon. Curling up on her side, she watched the sleeping woman until her eyes became heavy again, and she finally let sleep take her.
Chapter 11
Sara opened her eyes to the soft, all-encompassing, white light of the Aether. She closed them again and took a breath.
“Are you here?” she asked.
Alister cleared his throat. “I am. How do you feel?”
“Naked,” she said, sitting up to a cross-legged position.
Taking another deep breath, she opened her eyes again and saw Alister sitting in a high-backed, brown leather, Victorian style chair. He was wearing a pair of dress trousers, and a white shirt beneath a royal blue vest with gold buttons. He looked like a tiny lord from a steampunk novel. There was a small side table, with a brandy snifter a quarter of the way full of brown liquid. He was holding a small book with his thumb between two halves, marking his page.
“What the fuck?” she asked, looking down at her own naked body. “How do you have clothes on?”
Alister took a swig of the brown stuff and smacked his lips in satisfaction before answering. “This is the Aether,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Sara gave him a sour look. “No shit, Sherlock. Is that supposed to mean something?”
He smiled. “Everything, in fact. When we are here in this dream state, we can command the Aether any way we like. It’s just a representation of how we see ourselves. Long before I was a cat, I was this.” He waved a hand over himself. “Just will it to be, and the Aether will show you the way you want to be seen.”
She thought of the battlesuits she’d become so used to since joining up with the Navy. When she looked down, she was wearing the skin-tight, black suit. She smiled. “Well, that’s handy.”
“Really? A battlesuit? You can wear anything you like here, and you chose your work uniform?” Alister asked incredulously, shaking his head and taking another drink.
She considered that, then changed her outfit.
“Now we’re talking,” the pixie said, holding up his snifter in appreciation.
She was wearing a corn-yellow sundress, and her feet were bare. The area around her turned from the blank white of the Aetherscape to green grass and sunshine. She wiggled her toes in the grass and let out a contented sigh.
Alister smiled, taking in Sara as she basked in the light. “Sorry we haven’t made contact since we completed the summoning spell. I figured you needed some time to recuperate.”
“It’s not like we had much chance. It’s been crazy since the fleet evacuated the colony. Nothing but debriefings and reports.” She snarled, rolling her eyes. “Today was a great day, though. Right up until Boon cast the Familiar spell in public. That’s going to be all over the news feeds by morning.”
“I know. I’m glad she could do it, though. We’re going to need all the help we can get. Plus, Silva seems nice; I think she and Boon are going to be a good match,” he commented, smiling and holding up his snifter in salute. Sara materialized a beer in her hand and clinked glasses.
“Silva? That’s the ferret’s name?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We can communicate in animal form—not
in full conversations, just snippets. I told her to join us tonight, if Boon is conscious enough. Now that Silva’s here, Boon should be coming out from under the spell’s influence.”
Sara nodded and then sat in silence for a minute before bringing up what she thought was going to be an important conversation. “So, about Colony 788…”
Alister slid his book onto the side table before leaning forward, putting his elbows on his knees. He rolled the brandy snifter between his hands while he spoke. “That was quite the show we put on. I thought I may have lost you at the end…” He trailed off.
She bit her lip and looked down. “Yeah, we need to talk about that. Why was I so…” She waved a hand when her words failed her.
“Crazy? Out of control? That’s what happens when a human goes too far,” he said, staring into the brown liquid.
Sara raised an eyebrow. “That can happen to any human mage?”
He shook his head, then leaned back and crossed his legs. “Only a mage with a familiar. Now that we are connected, you have access to far more Aether; if you channel too much, you become a little drunk on the power. That’s the drawback with the arrangement that humans and pixies have. There is so much power available that we can get out of control easily if we’re not careful. My teachers told me that many War Mages went down like this—throwing themselves into battle and fighting until they burned up. They used every last bit of Aether and snuffed themselves out. Not before ripping cities from the ground, mind you, but they were still dead when the dust cleared.”
“Couldn’t their familiars stop them?” she asked, leaning back on her arm and sipping at the beer.
“No. I assume you’re asking because I was able to cut you off, but we were in a special circumstance. Because the spell had not been completed properly in the beginning, there was a build-up of potential Aether; that’s why you had so much available right after we connected in the vault. But there hadn’t been time for our empathic link to form, so I was not influenced by your emotions, like I would be now. Boon and Silva won’t have the same spike in power you did since they completed the spell right away.” He let that sink in before saying, “We got lucky, Sara. We’ll have to be much more careful in the future.”
Sara let the weight of his words really reach her. She had almost destroyed her own men in her Aether-fueled rampage. If it weren’t for the pixie, she would be locked in a brig or worse right now. Not to mention crippled by her guilt.
“Good to know you have my back, Alister,” Sara said, smiling and looking him in his yellow eyes.
“That’s my job, Sara. I guess we will see how good I am at it. I heard you talking with the admirals… The Elif are no more?”
“We don't know yet, but there’s been no word from them. Their fleet bugged out of the Sol System around the time we were getting bombarded from that Teifen carrier. The core we recovered from Colony 788 is at the defense ministry now, and they’re digging through it to see what they can find. The plans on that thing are going to change the tide of this war. I just hope it’s fast enough.”
“Should be, if the old teachings are to be believed,” a young female voice said from their right.
Sara started at the strange voice, spilling some of her beer into the grass. She turned to see a woman in a white, flowing gown, with white hair that came to her waist. She was walking toward them, and at first Sara thought she was far off in the distance—due to her size—but quickly realized she was just small, like Alister.
“Silva?” Sara asked.
The tiny woman approached and extended a small hand, which Sara took between her thumb and forefinger to shake. “Yes, Silva August; a pleasure to meet you, Sara.” Silva gave a smile, and looked her up and down. “I have to say, you don't look like the War Mages in the stories. They were all serious and stern. You look, I don't know, light and airy?”
Sara had to laugh at that. “Light and airy? Like a dinner roll?”
Now it was Silva’s turn to laugh. “It sounded better in my head.” She turned to Alister, who had stood up and approached during the conversation.
Before Silva could say anything, Alister engulfed her in a bear hug. “Oh, it is so nice to see one of my own kind. We have so much to talk about,” he gushed, a smile trying to split his face in half.
“Oh, my. Well, I suppose you have been cut off for a bit.” She struggled to break free, but Alister kept hold. “Uh, it’s very nice to meet you, Alister; the real you, that is,” she said, awkwardly patting him on the back.
Sara looked around for Boon, but didn't see her anywhere. “Is Boon joining us?”
Silva finally broke free of Alister and his excitement, and smoothed her gown. “No, it’s better for the two in contract to meet alone the first time. It makes things easier. I’ll join with her after we are done talking. She could use a little more rest.”
“I can understand that. Be sure to warn her not to get out of control; there are only two of us, and we’re still trying to figure all this out. I don't want either of you getting hurt,” Sara said.
“Don’t worry. This is something pixies are taught from childhood. There hasn’t been a War Mage pairing for a long, long time, but we still learn the history of them. As I’m sure Alister told you on your first visit here,” she said, turning to Alister. He looked away, his face turning a little red. “You did warn her, didn’t you?”
“Uh, well, you see…” He started to trail off, but then blurted, “I kinda skipped that part of my schooling.”
Silva stood with her mouth open, regarding Alister like he had grown a second head. “Skipped it? Why on Earth would you skip it? It’s important to learn about your role as a War Mage.”
“Well, I mean, it had been thirty thousand years since the last War Mage…” He put his hands in his pockets and bashfully kicked a stone he’d materialized for effect. “I thought it was a waste of time.”
Silva smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I can’t believe this.” She turned to Sara. “So has he shown you the modified forms?”
“Uh, I don’t know. What are those?” Sara asked, wide-eyed at the realization that her familiar was as lazy as she was when it came to schooling.
“Oh, god. You guys are so lucky I’m here. Where to begin? Okay, there is an ebb and flow to Aether management; did he talk about that?”
Oh, man. Mrs. Dontis was right; it all comes back to Aether management. I really should have paid more attention in her class.
Sara swallowed. “No, I don't think we got to that part.”
Silva plopped down to a cross-legged position and put her face in her hands. “Okay, here’s the quick of it. There are two kinds of spells: damage and healing. Being a successful War Mage is all about balancing the two. A really creative War Mage pair can use them in conjunction to fight far longer without being overwhelmed and going berserk.”
Alister sheepishly sat at the third point of a triangle between Silva and Sara. His face was red, but he wanted to know this, he needed to know this. Sara felt a surge of emotion at how similar she and Alister were—something she had not noticed until this very moment. She reached over and gave him a supportive pat on the knee. In response, he reached down and squeezed one of her fingers with his hand and gave her an apologetic smile.
“So, are you saying I need to heal people while fighting?” Sara asked to clarify.
“You could, but that’s just one option. Remember, healing isn’t always about living things. You can ‘heal’ a torn piece of cloth by mending it. Or you can make a plant grow rapidly. It’s a general term, but basically, if you are adding or fixing something, it is considered healing; if you are taking away or destroying something, that is damage. There are neutral spells as well, like shields, that don't push you one way or the other.” Silva demonstrated by flipping her hand one way and then the other.
“That one, we’ve got down,” Sara laughed.
“What happens if she uses too much healing magic? Does she go berserk then, as well?”
Alister didn’t want to sound stupid, but he needed to know the answer.
Silva repressed a frown at his lack of knowledge and answered, “Not 'berserk’. The opposite. She would fall into a coma that she would never wake from.”
“So, in theory, we could fight forever, as long as the powers balance,” Sara mused, thinking she found the loophole.
Silva shook her head. “No. The more Aether you channel, the narrower your margin for error becomes. If you balance your spells perfectly and push till the that margin is razor thin, even a small fire spell would send you into a berserker's rage, or mending a slight rip would put you into a coma. There is only so much you can do, and the closer you get to your edge, the finer the line you have to walk.”
Sara nodded. That makes a kind of sense. “Okay, something for us to work on. We need to think outside the box a little,” she said, nodding to Alister to show she felt confident they could make it work. She held up her hand. “Okay, we do need to work on this, but it’s more important that we find the dreadnought the humans landed here at the end of the war. We need cores, and the one Cora is using said that ship contains a way to build them. Do you know where it is?” she asked both Alister and Silva.
They looked at each other and shrugged. Alister said, “No, but I think I know who might.”
Silva nodded. “The Elders.”
“Pixie elders?” Sara asked.
Silva nodded, but it was Alister who answered. “At the capital. They keep records all the way back to the beginning of our time on Earth. If anyone knows where that ship is, it will be them.”
“Great! Let’s go. Where is it?” Sara asked excitedly. I wonder what a pixie city looks like. How has no one found it in all this time? It’s probably magic. I’m going with magic, she decided.
“It’s in Atlantis,” Silva said, smiling at Sara's slack-jawed expression.
Chapter 12
Grimms sat in the captain’s ready room just off the bridge, sipping at a cup of hot, black coffee. They were still an hour or so away from Cora's first test, and he was taking a break from all the UHF scientists that were crawling all over his bridge. They were in everyone’s way, setting up monitors and taking readings and doing whatever else scientists did. All he knew was that his patience was running thin; he just wanted to get the test underway.
War Mage Chronicles- Part One Page 32
