The Shapeshifter's Fate

by Chris Africa

  "He didn't interfere, strictly speaking." Granny handed Chassy a cup of hot tea that smelled so good Nita wanted some for herself. "He didn't injure you or prevent you from doing anything. And he let you go at the end of it—well, he would have let you go in any case if Cherise hadn't come to save you."

  "What if he had taken our magical items as he planned?" Nita asked. "Wouldn't that have been interfering?"

  Granny gave a half shrug. "Perhaps. He was having others take your magical items and not doing it directly himself. One cannot know the mind of a god. How are you feeling now, Chassy?"

  The tea had indeed settled his stomach, but now it felt like there was a ball of anger gathered there. "Better, thank you."

  44: Nita

  Granny tapped Nita's shoulder. "What about you?"

  Confused, Nita looked down at her arm and remembered the pure anguish she had felt when the sword hit her there. The godsilver must have protected her; no marks marred her skin. She shuddered at the memory. How would it feel to have all the silver stripped from her body, as Alystra had planned? She felt her face coloring as she realized Chassy was going through the same thing right now.

  "Alystra cannot go to the rebels." Granny chewed her lip. "They would execute her in a heartbeat."

  What if she was a god? Nita wondered. Weren't gods unkillable?

  "Maybe that's not such a bad thing," William said. "It would send a message to others who would follow in Gnarkvetch's footsteps."

  Granny tapped her head. "Only think carefully, William of True. No one knew of this queen before, and they do not know of her now. You already destroyed Gnarkvetch. If we give her to them, only for the purpose of allowing them to vent their rage, we may start a war in Ayzwind. Alystra has ruled her kingdom peacefully for centuries. Who would replace her? Her grandson who has been an enemy to the people?"

  "Good point," agreed William. "So where?"

  "Xillith," Granny said. "I'll see if Xander will hold her, as he did the elf."

  "Why not take her straight to Xillith?" Andrev asked.

  Granny grinned. "Well, someone would have to introduce you, and the Wizards' colony is no friend of mine. I would share the cell next to Alystra if I did that. Xander can contact Xillith and make the exchange. I'll send you to Death's End. After you deliver this poor deluded woman to Xander, you need to go back to Lyesfare for cleanup. No one knows Gnarkvetch is dead."

  Nita shuddered to think what a Xillith prison was like. "What about her army? Won't they come looking for her?"

  "Xillith will probably inform them of her crime by emissary and offer to send a prefect to rule in her place until she has been… rehabilitated. This may forestall them. The mountain folk might prefer to appoint one of their own, but if it comes to war over their queen's crimes, they'll be fighting Xillith."

  Nita nodded. It made sense.

  "I have a request. I would like to keep Alystra's shortsword. Godsilver that has lost its magic deserves some investigation." Granny pointed to the dull blade Andrev had been hauling around, pale and lifeless. A ghost sword.

  He handed it over. "Glad to unburden myself of the thing, for sure."

  Granny took both the rings Andrev offered her. Her eyes widened. "A single ring is worth a fortune, and yet you now carry two. Even I have never had more than one. If I were a Xillith wizard, my oath would bind me to return Gnarkvetch's travel ring to the care of the colony. But I am not a Xillith wizard, and you have earned the right to use it as you see fit. Nita, let me teach you how to charge these rings. It's no good to have them if you have to use one to come back here every time you need to use the other."

  Nita took the ring Granny offered her and held it in her hands. It weighed less than a ripe Waet boll and looked like the godsilver on her arm. She also remembered seeing some bracelets like this on a woman who came through town with Mavis one summer.

  "Hold it between your hands like this." Granny put her palms together, so her hands hid the ring. "Now allow energy to flow into the ring."

  "But I only have godsilver on one hand," said Nita.

  Granny chuckled. "You have magic in both. The godsilver is a beautiful prop, but you, Nita, do not require it to use the magic of the universe."

  Nita held the ring as Granny described, and she allowed magic to flow into it from both hands. She felt the ring warming up and gasped.

  "You only want to warm it until it's about the temperature of a fresh baked roll. Don't let it get too hot, or you will overload it and it will burn out." Granny handed her ring over to Andrev.

  Nita allowed energy to trickle into the ring until it was as warm as a roll. She smiled at the comparison.

  "Whenever you're ready to use it, imagine in your head a picture of the place you want to go, and then toss the ring out in front of you. It doesn't matter how you toss it. As long as you get it into the air, the ring will take over. Remember, the person who activates the ring has to go through it last. After the activator passes through the ring, the doorway will close. Also, you should know not everyone can charge the ring, but anyone can use it once you charge it."

  Nita nodded and put the ring into her pack. "All right, I guess we better get going. Andrev do you want to do the honors?"

  Andrev took out his ring and tossed it in front of him. The doorway opened. He waved and bowed Nita through the doorway. Nita tugged Alystra to her feet, unstopped her ears, and led her to the doorway. They stepped through.

  Nita and the queen landed in a tangle in Xander's great room. The queen snarled underneath her gag. A surprised Xander stood looking at them with his hand raised, on the verge of casting a spell.

  Chassy, Cherise, William, and Andrev came through the portal.

  "Welcome back," Xander said. "I see you've brought another guest—or should I guess, another prisoner?"

  "Another prisoner," said Nita.

  "What has this one done?"

  "Allow me to present Alystra, the queen of the mountain people and Andrev's grandmother. When we captured her, she had joined forces with Gnarkvetch. Who knows what mischief they were planning?"

  Xander's eyebrows went up and then his face darkened.

  "I'll contact Xillith, but it may take a few days for someone to arrive. We can put her in the room where we kept Lyear. The wards are still in place."

  "And where is her conspirator?"

  Nita related the story of Gnarkvetch's death.

  "That might explain the group of Xillith wizards that showed unannounced asking for some tea and a place to refresh themselves," Xander said. "It was like they just walked in out of my garden."

  Nita nodded. "They probably did. Hey, where is Jam?"

  "Oh, she is off visiting her family." Xander smiled tightly, and Nita wondered if there was some tension between them. "Right now it's me and the servants. I'm not eating as well as I was before she left. Let's secure our prisoner, and then we can share a meal together."

  The warded room looked like any ordinary room, with a modest bed and a small curtained window. The furnishings included window bench, a wardrobe, and a fireplace. Nita knew the entire room had magical spells cast on it to prevent the inhabitant from climbing out the window or up the chimney or out the door. She wondered if Alystra's own magic could override the spells.

  "What about her?" Nita asked. "Will she be able to cast spells and destroy your wards?"

  "No," Xander said. "Besides the wards that prevent her from leaving, there is a spell that inhibits the rooms resident from doing magic."

  Nita breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing they needed was for this woman to escape and try to continue the war they had ended.

  After securing the queen, Xander shared with them a reasonable meal of potato soup and sausages.

  "It's all right, as potato soup goes, but it's nothing like Jam's cooking. It's missing something—I don't know, pepper or something. She would know what's missing and how to fix it."

  Nita smile. "Aww, it's sweet that you miss her. Don't worry, I'm sure sh
e'll be back soon."

  "This potato soup is better than anything we've eaten in weeks," William said. "I mean no offense to Nita of course. But porridge day over day week over week is a poor substitute for real food."

  "No offense taken," Nita said. "I feel the same way. The sausages are amazing."

  Xander wrapped up some sausages for them. "Now what? Off to some new adventure?"

  "I hope not," Nita said. "We have to travel back to Lyesfare to let the good people there know the war is over."

  "I don't mean to dampen your spirits, but are you sure the war is over? Are there no other generals who will pick up Gnarkvetch's cause?"

  "We surely hope not," William said.

  "And what of him?" Xander motioned to Chassy, who now wore a permanent scowl. "Chassy, frankly you don't look well."

  "I am not well," Chassy snarled. "I've had my magic stolen from me. Do you know how that feels?"

  Xander shook his head, a look of sympathy on his face. "I don't know how it feels, but I've heard others speak of it. You can learn—"

  "I know I can learn, but I spent the entire summer learning. I shouldn't have to do this again."

  Xander nodded. "Of course, you shouldn't have to do it again, but you do. If you want to practice magic again, you must learn again. The sooner you accept that, the better for you and those around you."

  Chassy face softened, and he turned away. "I don't know who can teach me, and I don't know how to learn on my own."

  "I can teach you," Xander said. "At least, I can teach you the way I learned."

  Chassy head swiveled back to Xander. "You can? Why didn't you teach me over the winter?"

  "I don't know how to use inborn magic," Xander said. "That's not how I learned. I wasn't born with special abilities. You may not be as strong as you were, but I can teach you everything I know."

  45: Chassy

  "You could stay here until your friends return," Xander offered.

  Where else would Chassy go? What would he do? He was no fighter, to join with Nita on her righteous adventures, and now he didn't even have any magic. He had run from his responsibilities as the Waet family heir, leaving his family to fend for themselves. "Okay, I accept."

  "Are you sure? You're giving up a hero's welcome in Lyesfare."

  "I'm no hero," Chassy said. "I did what anyone would do in that situation. And look what it got me." Stabbing a man in the back—was that what anyone would have done?

  "Well, you're a hero to those people," Nita said. "You freed them from tyranny and saved more than a few lives."

  "I'll stay here."

  Nita nodded like she understood. As if she could understand. Chassy had spent the past year trying to perform little magical stunts, gaining an ability he wasn't sure he wanted and then using that ability to become a hero. What was he now? Not a hero, that's for sure. He couldn't even perform a poorly executed teleport if he wanted to. A blank—isn't that what Granny had called him? A nobody; nothing.

  Nita turned to the rest of the group. "All right, we better be going. The only trouble is, I don't know where we are going."

  "We're going to Ralph Geared's farm north of Lyesfare," William said. "That would be the best place to start."

  "I suppose you'll have to open the door." Nita handed him the charged ring, then she rushed to Chassy and wrapped him in a big hug. So this was it; his path and Nita's would diverge. Who could have imagined this?

  "You'll be fine, Chassy. You'll see."

  He wished he felt so confident.

  "William, as none of us has ever been to the Geared farm, we will need you to do the honors." Andrev handed him the ring.

  William tossed the ring up in the air in front of him. It grew into the familiar portal, and he motioned the others through. Nita gave a little wave and stepped in, with Andrev right behind her. Then they disappeared.

  46: Nita

  On William's advice, Nita went through the portal first, with her hood down. She collapsed in a much less dignified heap than she had hoped. The man who greeted her was round and brown with a stubble of hair on his face and head. He lifted her up by the armpits and set her straight on her feet. His eyes widened, and his hand flew to his chest when he saw her face.

  "By the gods! It's the Silver Sorceress, or else I'm losing my mind!"

  Nita bowed. "Please call me Nita. Silver Sorceress is my battle name." She had just made that up, but it came out sounding just like she would have wanted if she had planned it.

  "Nita, then. Your hole to the other place is still open." He motioned to the portal.

  "That's because some of my friends are coming through, including William of True, who I understand is also your good friend." Nita raised an eyebrow when he glanced at the portal like it was a normal part of the landscape.

  Ralph broke into a smile. "So William numbers himself now among your Heroes Army? That is a secret he never told me himself."

  "We prefer the Champions of Magic. And William has many secrets, so this should not surprise you."

  "That he does. But I'm a rude, rude man. My name is Ralph Geared, and this is my farm." The family lived in a modest farmhouse with two cows in a pen beside it and chickens running free in the yard.

  Cherise and Andrev spilled through next, followed by William. Nita snatched the silver ring off the ground as soon as the portal closed. Ralph embraced each of them and cast an annoyed look at a snarling dog that looked like he would rather bite someone's leg off than chase a stick.

  "Ogre, these are friends. Friends!" Ralph shouted above the barking. The dog stopped the commotion and took up panting with his tongue out the side of his mouth.

  "You call your dog Ogre?"

  "Yeah, he looks a little ogreish, doesn't he?"

  Nita looked at the dog who seemed to smile. "I wouldn't know anything about ogres, but he looks sweet."

  "Ah, now don't go saying stuff like that, you'll ruin him for guarding. What brings the Silver Sorceress out to my little old farm?"

  "We have good news," she said.

  "Good news?" Ralph laughed. "Is that bastard Gnarkvetch dead?"

  Nita glanced at William, to see his surprise appeared to equal her own.

  "I'm only making fun," Ralph said. "Don't mind me. It's been a rough summer."

  "Gnarkvetch is dead," Nita said. "That's our news. I was only wondering how you knew about it since it happened but a day ago, up in the mountains."

  Ralph's face opened up in surprise and shock. "What do you mean? He's truly dead?"

  "Yes, killed by Chassy Waet, another member of the Champions of Magic," Nita said. "Two daggers in the back, as he was attempting to flee."

  Nita realized she felt like her legs wouldn't hold her up much longer.

  One man disappeared inside the farmhouse, and in a minute, people started pouring out, too many people for such a tiny house. It must have been standing room only.

  "What about Gnarkvetch's soldiers? Have they given up as well?"

  "We have to travel to Lyesfare to spread the news," Nita said.

  They stared at her in shock for a moment. Then someone whooped, and everyone was hollering and shouting and dancing around. More people came from the barn out back to join the celebration, with Nita at the center of it all.

  "Hail to the Silver Sorceress and the Champions of Magic!" Ralph shouted. A sea of people swept Nita up and hoisted her onto the shoulder of a large farmer.

  "Wait! Wait!" Nita shouted. "You've got it all wrong. I'm not the hero here."

  "Gnarkvetch is dead! Long live the Silver Sorceress!" someone else yelled.

  "No, truly it was Chassy who did it," Nita said. "Chassy followed him into the woods and kept him from escaping."

  They stared at her, the ruckus dying down a bit. "Who is Chassy?" they asked. "Where is he?"

  Nita related how they had tracked Gnarkvetch and the battle that followed, glossing over the part where Chassy lost his magic. "He suffered an injury and is staying with our friend, who has promised to
care for him."

  The farmers stared at her with somber faces. Then someone took up a new chant, "Hail to Chassy the Morph! Long live the Morph!"

  Nita was relieved the Chassy wasn't there. He was no longer a shapeshifter, and it wasn't certain he ever would be again. She felt a little sad now she had called attention to him.

  Ralph came forward out of the crowd to approach her.

  "Today we celebrate. We're going to roast a fat pig over the fire. We'll have singing and dancing. Will you do us the honor of joining us?"

  Cherise was already joining in the merriment, her arm looped through the arm of some boy. William was being chatted up by a sweet-looking girl with long blond braids. And Andrev stood by himself as usual, but he wasn't scowling. He studied the crowd with a face of concentration.

  "We have to go to Lyesfare now and spread the word the wizard is dead," Nita said. "Perhaps another time. But please enjoy the celebration. We are glad we could bring you this good news."

  Nita circulated, dragging Cherise away from the farm boy and William away from the cute girl. Andrev, who had been paying attention, was ready to go. Nita charged up her ring and opened the gate to Lyesfare.

  ***

  Nita opened her portal near the edge of the woods outside Lyesfare. She used the ring to disguise herself as her own mother. The idea of appearing as her mother had seemed creepy before, but she needed to become someone they had never seen. Cherise changed her hat into a shayla, a kind of headscarf the religious women in these parts wore to cover their head and shoulders. Andrev wrapped the cloak about him. William had no special disguise to offer, but he swapped his fancier merchant's clothing for a simple tunic and pulled his hair into a knot the base of his neck.

  They bridged the distance to the gate entrance where farmers and other city visitors lined up to enter. After a short wait, the gate guards admitted them with no questions.

  Inside the gate, Nina pulled the group aside. "I haven't thought how we will spread the word about the wizard's demise," she said. "I think if we shout this in the streets, the city guard will arrest us and stuff us back in the cages at the middle of the city."