by R S Penney
“Be that as it-”
Desa lifted a hand, and her ring began to glow. Sebastian flinched away from it. “I've grown exceptionally weary of your constant complaints,” she said. “Come with me, or stay behind. Frankly, I don't care. But from this point onward, you will keep silent.”
“Then I suppose I'll be staying here.”
Desa said nothing.
She simply got up and walked out of the tavern. When she was gone, Sebastian gave Tommy one of those pleading looks. Oh, this was bad...Every instinct toward good sense told Tommy that he should stay with Desa Kincaid, but if he did that, he would lose the man he loved.
Before he had a chance to second guess himself, Tommy was out of his chair and chasing Desa out the door. “Mrs. Kincaid!” he called out. “Mrs. Kincaid, wait!”
He found her in the narrow lane of brick houses just outside the inn. Slowly, she turned and raised an eyebrow.
Closing his eyes, Tommy gulped air into his lungs. “I want to stay with you,” he panted. “I'm not like him. I don't...”
When he realized that people might overhear, Tommy stepped closed and lowered his voice. “I don't think what you do is wrong,” he said. “In fact, I want to learn. There is nothing for me back home, and if you'll still have me-”
It shocked him when Desa smiled and let out a peal of musical laughter. “You can come with me, Tommy,” she replied. “And I would be happy to teach you Field Binding. Now, we'll need supplies-”
She cut off at the sound of some hubbub in the street.
A crowd of people had gathered together in the nearest intersection, all talking in frenzied voices. The sight of it made Tommy uneasy. Whenever people got agitated like that, misery usually followed.
The crowd parted, allowing three men in blue uniforms to emerge. A wave of panic hit Tommy like a punch to the gut. He recognized those uniforms and the badges on each man's chest. Those were Sheriff Cromwell's deputies.
And one was his brother.
Lenny stepped forward and thrust out his chin, removing his hat so that everyone could see his black eye. “We're looking for two fugitives who escaped custody in Sorla!” he shouted. “And a witch!”
People started muttering the word witch.
“What will you do with this witch?”
The wicked grin on Lenny's face gave Tommy chills. “What does anyone do with a witch?” he shouted. “I'm going to execute her.”
Chapter 4
The people of this region were becoming quite a nuisance.
Desa watched as the smug little toad she had knocked around in Sheriff Cromwell's office strode through the street. People backed away from him, making room for Lenny and his fellow deputies, and he nodded to them. “Good upstanding folk,” he said. “Who dwell in the light of the Almighty. You won't suffer witches among you.”
“Fools never grow tired of her foolishness.” Desa became aware of Tommy's rapid breathing. The boy was frightened. “Go to the stable,” she told him. “Saddle the horses.”
At her side, Tommy was slumped over with a hand on his stomach, panting as he took in the sight of his brother. “Sebastian?” he whispered. “What about Sebastian?”
“He's made his choice.”
For an instant, Desa thought that Tommy would protest, but the lad seemed willing to follow her lead. Quietly, he ducked around the side of the inn and vanished from sight. Now, Desa would have to give him enough time to ready their mounts.
She stepped out into the open with hands in the pockets of her duster, smiling and shaking her head. “You wanted a witch, Lenny?” she shouted. “Well, here she is!”
The young deputy looked up, and his eyes widened when he noticed her. His shock was quickly replaced by a mocking grin. “Now, this is brazen,” he said. “Sinners usually prefer the shadows to the light of day.”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
The townspeople had formed two lines, one on each side of the street, and they watched the scene play out with a mix of fascination and trepidation. Lenny and his two deputies came forward with hands on their holstered pistols.
Pursing her lips as she studied the man, Desa narrowed her eyes. “And fools prefer violence to talk,” she said. “I have no quarrel with you, Lenny, but if you draw those guns and put these people in danger, you will regret it.”
“Where's my brother?” Lenny demanded.
“Safe.”
“You'd deny him the chance to repent? Lead him deeper into decadence and vice?” Lenny's hand tightened on the grip of his pistol. “Even witches die when you fill 'em with bullets. So, what's it gon' be, woman? You wanna come quietly and avoid the fires of Hell a few days longer? Or shall I send you to your master now?”
“Don't force my hand, Lenny.”
In response, he drew his gun.
Desa jumped and, with a thought, she ordered her belt buckle to drain gravitational energy. Untethered to the Earth, she floated upward gracefully until she could see the top of every roof.
The people in the street all gasped. Lenny's deputies looked up at her with gaping mouths. She would have only a moment before the shock wore off and they decided to start using those guns.
Drawing her own pistol, Desa popped out the cylinder and spun it until the bullet she wanted was next in line. She slapped it back into place, cocked the hammer and fired down at the street.
Her bullet went straight into the ground.
She ordered it to release gravitational energy, and suddenly every single gawker in that crowd and every object that wasn't tied down was pulled into the middle of the road. Loose stones gathered together over her bullet. Bodies piled up on top of each other as people cried out in surprise. A few would have bumps and bruises, but for most of them, it would be no worse than stumbling and falling to the ground.
With more gravitational energy to drain, Desa's belt buckle was filling itself at an accelerated rate. She pointed her gun out to the side and fired again. The recoil sent her flying sideways over the roof of the inn.
Once she was over the stableyard, she allowed gravity to reassert its hold on her for half a second. Only half a second, but that gave her enough downward momentum to fall lazily to the Earth like a leaf on the wind.
She landed just outside the paddock, where horses were whinnying at the strange sensation of being pulled forward by something they could not see. This far away from her bullet, it would feel like nothing more than a slight tug – easily resisted with a little effort – but it was still enough to frighten them.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Desa concentrated and released her belt buckle's hold on gravity. She left the bullet active. It would expend its supply of energy in just a few more minutes anyway.
Inside the stable, she found Tommy opening the door to Midnight's stall. Desa's horse seemed to pay no mind to the unseen force that tried to pull on him, but the others were all stamping about and making noise. The brown gelding that Tommy had taken from his father was wide-eyed, with his ears slanted back, and he refused to come out into the open.
Gasping, Tommy turned to face her and nearly jumped back in surprise. He pulled off his hat and shook his head. “I won't get him out of there,” he muttered. “Whatever it is you did, the horse is spooked.”
“We'll ride on Midnight,” Desa said. “Get your bedroll.”
He did as he was bid without protest.
“In there!”
Desa whirled around, one hand on the grip of her holstered pistol as she squinted at the door. “It never ends,” she whispered to herself. “Mercy shelter me from men and their foolish superstitions.”
Three men in deputy's uniforms came barging into the stable. Not the same three that Desa had faced in the street. In fact, the slight difference in cut and colour suggested that these men were from the Glad Meadow's sheriff's office.
The one in the middle was tanned with a scraggly beard; she recognized him as the deputy who had stopped her on her way into town. “What did you do to them, witch?” he
demanded. “I knew you were trouble when I saw you.”
“They'll be fine,” Desa promised him. “I sincerely doubt that anyone was seriously injured; allow me to leave without incident, and I promise that your people will be free as soon as I'm gone.”
Of course, the man drew his weapon.
His two lackeys did the same.
In a blink, Desa triggered the Light-Sink in her necklace, draining light energy until the stable was pitch black. She stepped aside to avoid being where they had last seen her. The vicious CRACK, CRACK of gunfire and the feeling of bullets whizzing past told her it was a good move.
Estimating the deputy's position wasn't hard.
Desa kicked the gun out of his hand, producing a grunt as the weapon dropped to the floor. That done, she allowed the light to return, and the deputy stood empty-handed, blinking at her. His two companions were both petrified.
Desa spun and back-kicked, driving a foot into the man's stomach, propelling him backward into one of his companions. Both men fell to the floor, one landing on top of the other. The third deputy managed to aim his weapon.
Reacting by instinct, Desa raised her left hand to shield herself, and her bracelet drank deeply of kinetic energy. The deputy fired with another loud thunderclap, and his bullet stopped dead in midair, mere inches away from Desa.
“Almighty shelter us!” he whispered.
Desa let her arm drop, the bullet falling to the floor, then leaped and kicked the fool square in his chest. That forced him down onto his back, and he landed with a grunt. The other two were rising.
The momentary distraction gave her time to shove her hand into her duster's pocket and slip on a set of brass knuckles. These, too, had been Infused with a connection to the Ether.
Scraggly-Beard was glaring at her with bared teeth.
He came forward.
Dancing backward through the aisle between stalls, Desa suddenly became aware of the frightened horses. Every last one was whinnying. Except Midnight, of course; he was waiting in his stall and watching the whole scene play out with a kind of halfhearted curiosity. She heard Tommy in the next stall over, desperately trying to quiet his father's gelding.
Red-faced and fuming, Scraggly-Beard came forward as if he meant to squeeze the life out of Desa with his own bare hands. He probably thought that she had used up all of her “magic,” and now, she was helpless.
Desa let him get close, and then, when he reached for her, she dropped to a crouch and drove her fist into his chest. The brass knuckles released a powerful burst of kinetic energy on contact.
Her enemy was thrown backward like a rock kicked up by a twister. He crashed through the stable doors, knocking one off its hinges, and landed in the yard outside. The other two men gasped.
With a growl, Desa slammed her fist down on the floor.
A tremor shook the stable, and cracks spread through the hard-packed dirt. Horses screeched in terror. The two remaining deputies both stumbled as they lost their balance. Each man fell to the floor.
“Tommy!” Desa barked. “Let's move!”
She felt it when her bullet let out its last sputtering gasp of gravitational energy. In less than half a second, the fearful moans that she had been tuning out became screams as people on the street ran in all directions. Now that they were free of its gravitational pull, they would want to flee.
Tommy led Midnight out of his stall by the bridle. His face was bone-white as he looked around, but to his credit, he steadied himself. “I'm ready,” he said. “Let's go before we run into more trouble.”
The men on the stable floor were groaning.
Putting one foot in the stirrup, Desa swung her other leg over Midnight's flanks and settled herself in the saddle. She extended a hand to Tommy and then pulled him up to sit behind her. “Go!” she told Midnight.
The horse bolted out of the stable.
With a whinny, he leaped over Scraggly-Beard and took off at a gallop through the yard. He was following a path that would take him around the front of the inn. Desa still heard people screaming in the street.
Wincing as she shook her head, Desa let out a huff. “I am expending far too much energy for you boys.” She drew her gun, popped out the cylinder again and spun it until she had the bullet she wanted.
As expected, Lenny and his two subordinates came running around the side of the inn, skidding to a stop when they saw Midnight headed their way. Growling, Lenny drew his weapon.
Desa extended her hand and fired.
CRACK!
Her bullet struck the ground at Lenny's feet, and the instant it did, she triggered its connection to the Ether. A wave of kinetic energy hurled the three men backwards. One landed in a line of rose bushes at the edge of the property. Another ended up face-down in the grass.
Midnight reared as he felt an invisible force trying to throw him backward, hooves kicking as he whinnied. The stallion was used to this sort of thing; his front feet slammed down on the grass, and then he was galloping around the inn.
Once they were on the street, Midnight took off at full speed, his hooves kicking up dust as they rushed down a narrow road lined with small houses and whitewashed fences. People jumped out of their way, some of them screaming.
“Wait!”
Desa looked back to find Sebastian on the roadside with his arms around a bundle of all his possessions. He was running at full speed, sweat glistening on his face. “Please wait! I'm coming with you!”
Gritting her teeth with a hiss, Desa shook her head. “Idiot boy,” she muttered. With a gentle squeeze of her thighs, she ordered Midnight to keep running. There was no way Sebastian could keep up without a horse, and stopping would mean death.
“Wait!”
“Mrs. Kincaid,” Tommy pleaded.
“We can't,” she said. “I'm sorry. He made his choice.”
The soft scuff of shoes on dry dirt was the only sound as Marcus moved cautiously under the night sky. A tall man in dungarees and a long, brown duster, his dark-skinned face marked by a neat, square beard, he inspected the scene of the latest fiasco that Desa Nin Leean had created.
He crouched down near the bullet that she had used as a Gravity-Source, nodding to himself. “I don't like it,” he muttered. “This is the second time in as many weeks that she has openly displayed her abilities. She's usually more subtle than this.”
“Circumstances forced her hand.”
Marcus looked up, squinting at his sister. “I do not believe what I'm hearing,” he said. “You almost sound sympathetic.”
Leaning against a wooden pillar that supported the overhanging roof of the general store, Miri gave him a dismissive glance and then sniffed. “You know what happened in Sorla,” she replied. “These primitives would have killed those two boys for something as benign as their sexual preferences.”
“How is that our problem?”
Miri stifled a yawn with her fist, then scratched her back against the pillar. “There are days when I find myself amazed by your capacity for apathy,” she said. “I would not have left those boys to await execution.”
“You're not a Field Binder of Aladar.”
“No,” she agreed. “I'm not.”
Standing up with a sigh, Marcus dusted his hands and then turned to face his sister. “The last time the primitives attacked Aladar, we barely fended them off,” he said. “Even the most advanced technology can only do so much against overwhelming numbers.”
“True.”
“And now, Desa Nin Leean threatens to bring those hordes down on us once again. So long as she kept a low profile, the Synod was content to let her pursue her foolish crusade, but every time she brazenly displays the power of Field Binding, she puts Aladar at risk. You know our orders.”
Miri nodded. “I do.”
“Desa Nin Leean will come back to Aladar to answer for her actions.” Marcus drew aside his coat, revealing a holstered revolver on his hip. “Or she will die.”
Chapter 5
The small,
golden ring glowed with a soft orange light, casting shadows over the trees of this small glade. Wind sighed through fluttering leaves, and every now and then, he heard the skitter of some animal moving through the underbrush.
Tommy sat on a log with his hands on his knees, frowning into his lap. “Everything is going wrong,” he whispered. “No matter how hard I try, I can't keep it together.”
Sebastian was gone. Less than a week ago, Tommy had been prepared to die for the man he loved, and now that man had abandoned him. He was hunted by his own brother. He would never see his home again.
Was he really such a terrible man? Was loving another man so great a sin that the Almighty himself would turn all of his wrath upon Tommy? Something deep inside of him wanted to say no, but he felt broken.
He had felt a brief flicker of hope when Sebastian came running to join them, but that had died when Desa Kincaid refused to stop for him. Maybe it was wrong to say that Sebastian had abandoned him.
No, he had abandoned Sebastian.
There was barely a sound as Desa stepped into the light of the glowing ring. She had removed her duster, revealing a sleeveless shirt beneath, and a sheen of sweat coated her face and upper arms. “It's done,” she declared. “I've Infused my supplies with a new connection to the Ether.”
Pressing his lips together, Tommy nodded. He felt numb inside. Just a few hours ago, the prospect of learning Field Binding had seemed enticing, but now...Well, he had committed himself to the path of sin. There was no sense in being squeamish now.
Desa stood before him with fists on her hips, a stern expression on her face. “What is it?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “You look uneasy.”
“It's nothing.”
“I doubt that.”
Hunching over, Tommy set his elbows on his thighs and then buried his face in his hands. He split his fingers apart to look at her. “Did we really have to leave Sebastian to the mercy of that crowd?”
Desa eased herself onto the log across from him, folding her arms and letting out a breath. “The alternative would have been to put ourselves at the mercy of that crowd,” she replied. “Field Binding can only do so much to protect us.”
