by Martha Carr
He looked down at the heavy bonded paper with gold edges at the coordinates again. This is the spot.
He looked up at where the sun was in the sky and quickly estimated he had the time right. Another bozo. Should have known it. A no show and I left the market for this. Could have made a few sales with that line stuck by my table.
Louie felt the frustration growing inside of him. He didn’t like not being in control of things and this whole gig was starting to make him feel like that was the case. He was just about to go get Ronnie out of the tree and salvage whatever he could of the day when he heard a familiar pop and zin of sparks from behind him. A portal was opening.
He turned cautiously, his hands near his weapons, bracing himself for whatever was coming through the opening from Earth. The hole widened and he found himself looking through to a sterile looking room with a long polished wooden table surrounded by chairs on every side. A man with graying hair in a suit was smiling and holding out his hand through the portal at Louie.
“Hello! You must be Louie. Hard to find you. I’ve been trying to get a message to you for a week. Damn planet… no one uses a last name! Don’t know how you get things done over there.”
Louie stood there, waiting for the man to at least introduce himself and let the jitters burn off.
“Sorry, excuse my manners. So excited to have figured out how to get one of these damn things open successfully. Name’s Charlie Monaghan, CEO of Axiom Industries. One of the largest conglomerates on Earth. I own a lot of companies here on Earth and I’m in need of the services of someone like yourself.”
Louie scratched his chin, waiting for the pitch. He still hadn’t said a word but Charlie was filling in every piece of silence.
“I’m looking for artifacts. Any kind.” Charlie leaned out of the portal toward Louie.
“That’s a little dangerous dude. Thing could snap shut on you at any moment and take your head clean off.”
Charlie started and stood back a step inside his boardroom, his eyes wide. Louie could hear a snicker from the nearby tree.
“What are you willing to pay?” Louie kept his expression blank, waiting to hear how far Charlie would go to get what he wanted.
“Name your price as long as we get there first and you give me first right of refusal. Anything I don’t want, you can sell on your own. But I need exclusive rights to your skills. No side jobs. And no skimming from what you find.”
“How do you know I won’t do both of those things.” Honesty was one of Louie’s best and worst traits.
“I don’t but I’ll make it worth your while. No one else, anywhere will pay you more.”
“What do you plan to do with all these artifacts?”
“That a question you regularly ask your buyers?”
“In fact, it is, especially when they’re amassing a stockpile. Seems in my best interests since I’m on this side of the portal.”
“Think of it as preventive measures. Just making sure that my side of things has enough energy to protect us if things go badly. Portals are gonna start opening sooner rather than later, you know. Different story then. We have a deal?”
Louie looked him up and down. “We start slow. I’ll bring you some artifacts. You pay my price in gold coins. I’ll bring you more. Don’t like it, don’t take the deal. Veer from the deal at all, I stop showing up.”
Charlie smiled. It was almost a leer. “Hard bargainer, I can respect that. We have a deal.” Charlie started to put his hand through the portal again but thought better of it. “Meet me here every other day at this hour and we’ll trade. If I don’t see you, I’ll assume you don’t have anything and aren’t the legend other people swear you are.”
Louie could almost feel the Gnome rolling his eyes from where he sat in the tree. “Till then.”
Charlie touched a small metal hammer to something spinning on the table and the portal closed, sending out a spray of gold and silver sparks. At the end was a curious puff of dark mist, barely noticeable.
Louie stood still for a moment listening to the sounds of the forest, reveling in it. The forest was one of his favorite places to be and a long time ago he learned every inch of the forest, maneuvering his way through it, fighting off giant spiders and ducking when he saw a lion with antlers, or a harpy flying overhead. Louie knew every inch of it and thought of it as home.
“You can come down now,” he yelled and listened to the rustling as Ronnie swung down on the vine, landing neatly nearby.
“Good thing that human is such a loud talker. Could hear all the bullshit coming out of his mouth without any trouble at all.”
“I’m gonna do it.”
“What? Don’t tell me you’re believing that load. He’s the slickest one yet.”
Louie shrugged his shoulders. “All of my customers are slick. Who cares? If his gold is real and he brings enough of it then I’ll buy his load too.”
“I don’t like it. Something’s off. I can feel it.”
“Gnomes don’t sense things well, we both know it.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
Louie set off for the market. Maybe there’s still time to do a little business there.
Ronnie stayed close behind him, chattering the whole way. “At least don’t meet him alone.”
“I think I could take the old human.”
“Just promise.”
“Fine, I promise.” Louie was moving faster and faster through the forest. He wanted to take a shortcut to give himself a chance at making the market. What if he’s looking for the sword? Too late. That beauty is mine.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Leira stood outside of the rental car near a planted field in Iowa. “That’s a bad idea. I can’t believe you of all people even came up with it.”
Correk walked the long row of tall plants back and forth, weaving his way closer to Leira. He could feel something under his feet every time he got close to the edges. Need to be sure. He turned and went down a different row, making a hard left, walking for an acre till he got to another edge. There it is again.
He walked to the corner as Leira ran and easily caught up with him. “What are you doing? Are you even listening?”
“Something under the ground here. Getting closer to it.”
“You’re playing a game of hot or cold in a field in Iowa.”
Correk stopped and crouched down, digging in the dirt with his hands. Leira came up behind him and planted her feet, pulling in magic. Correk felt the magic rumbling under the ground and quickly pulled in a stream of energy, running it alongside Leira’s and pulling her back.
Leira let the symbols along her arms fade and shook out her hands. “You could have just said, don’t do that.”
“There wasn’t enough time. I wanted to make sure you didn’t get far with your magic. This field is ringed in artifacts. Someone has deliberately buried them at the edges in spaced intervals. Come right here. Feel it?”
Leira felt the hum under her feet. “That’s some pretty good shit. Why not pull it up with magic? You think it’s a trap?”
“It could be there to help the plants grow even faster and stronger or it could be a trap, or both. Call me crazy, I didn’t want to find out the hard way.”
Leira kicked the dirt with the toe of her running shoes. “Have you ever seen something like this before?”
“Humans on Oriceran have been known to do it. Probably how the humans here got the idea. On Oriceran it’s to warn them of anyone trying to harvest their plants out from under their noses. The artifacts are more like early warning systems.”
“This is Axiom property. Has to be an early warning system for us. Doesn’t want us taking down his operation again.”
“Part of it. We should have brought Yumfuck with us.”
“For comedic relief? You would have had to share your road snacks with him and he can eat more than you do.”
Correk stood up brushing off his hands. “Trolls are superior at burrowing. Like your moles but with m
ore precision. He could have dug one up without disturbing a thing.”
“Very useful info to know and explains a lot of his eating habits, especially around doughnuts.” Leira looked at Correk and the scowl on his face. “Why so serious? We have magic on our side. Usable magic. And we’ve already faced worse. This is your standard issue greedy humans looking to hack the system, come what may.”
“Leira, look around us. There’s miles of these fields and they’re all doing well. That means…”
“Hundreds, maybe thousands of artifacts. Okay, I get your point. Very determined humans do become more dangerous.” And then there’s the droid bug I found. Leira looked out over the field. “You really think using magic right now would be a bad idea.”
“The issue is I’m not sure.”
“Well then…” Leira backed up from Correk and pulled in a steady stream of energy, the fiery symbols lighting up her arms and traveling up her neck. Her eyes glowed as she set an intention and let the magic flow out of her, seeking its targets.
I forgot that about her. She trusts that somehow everything will work itself out, even after everything... Correk pulled in enough energy to keep up with her, watching the symbols along her arms flipping over and over, reeling out information. He could see her strong, glittering magic racing ahead of him, flowing out in a grid-like pattern, glittering across acres and acres. She’s looking for the artifacts heading straight for them.
Leira felt her energy swirling around each artifact, identifying what it was and how strong the energy was in it. More of them than she liked left a dark trail of magic. What does that do to the plants or who eats them? Like Oriceran poison.
Leira kept sending out more energy, crossing over fields, letting the stream of energy divide itself, wrapping like tentacles around each piece. She kept taking deliberate deep breaths and listened to the echo of Turner Underwood in her head. Let the magic do its work. You follow. Stay focused on your intention. The strongest intention rules. Always.
Leira felt Correk alongside of her and saw his energy flow to the center of the grid and pool there, creating an anchor. Leira’s magic was now lighting up the entire area for miles in neat straight lines in both directions. You can do this.
She sensed what the magic was going to do next and stretched out her arms, her heart beating faster. The ground beneath their feet groaned and shook and split apart in the same neat lines. Dark clouds appeared in the sky overhead and the sound of thunder rolled across the sky.
One by one, the artifacts came to the surface, popping out and falling to the ground. Leira sensed the alarms going off more than heard them. Someone with magical capabilities is working for them. Leira stood her ground, waiting for the last of the artifacts to come spilling to the surface as Correk opened his mouth and sung to the crops. The magic carried the sound out over the fields. The plants infected with dark magic formed brown spots that grew until they consumed the plant, curling them into tight balls on the ground.
A swarm of bees appeared in the distance heading straight for Leira, circling her in a wide oval shape. “Tiny drones,” she shouted.
“Two moons.” Correk’s voice dropped to a whisper as he watched the swarm that spread as far across as an acre. The light glinted off the small metal parts on each bee. “Some seriously fucked up shit is going on here.”
As the last artifact popped through the ground, Leira felt her magic returning to her but suddenly without warning, turn and take a new shape, without her bidding. A swirl of glowing purple mist spread out, creating a low fog across the ground at first. “Great, another fucking mist. Something else trying to drag us to hell.” Leira reached across and grabbed Correk’s hand. “Not losing track of you this time.”
He grimaced and squeezed her hand, holding it tight. The mist grew in volume, billowing out till they were surrounded and everything glowed purple and the mist swirled and stretched. It was billowing out, making an air pocket around Leira and Correk. From the outside they looked like they were in a little girl’s idea of large snow globe in an Iowa farm scene. All that was missing was a pony with a rainbow-colored mane.
The purple layer kept growing and stretching till it was almost opaque, pushing back the bees.
The small army was pressing against the bubble battering away as a group. Their humming grew loud enough to drown out everything else. The sound was mixed with a metallic high-pitch clinking that made Leira want to grit her teeth. The bees circled the purple globe, batting their wings against it as the magic responded, turning into a layer of sticky goo, wrapping them up inside until the bubble popped, dragging the swarm to the ground.
Leira let the symbols fade on her arms and looked over at Correk. The image of him grew blurry and she blinked, wondering if something else was going wrong. Everything around her faded for a split second and her head swam. She shook her head hard, willing the feeling to go away. She raised her hand, trying to keep her voice steady, about to say something when her vision cleared, leaving her with a ringing in her ears that slowly faded.
Not going to wonder what that was all about just now. Weirder things to wonder about first like who was driving that magic bus.
“I didn’t do that.” She shook her head in disbelief.
Correk was busy looking out over the landscape as far as he could see, a worried expression on his face. “This is worse than we thought. Let’s get as many of these artifacts as we can and get out of here. I have a feeling the bees were just the advance party.”
“Correk, I didn’t do that. That wasn’t me. I mean… my magic, sure. But the magic took over. That bubble thing. That was the magic thinking on its own. Is that a thing?”
Correk stopped scanning the horizon and looked at Leira. “I’ve learned to accept the never seen before with you. I saw the magic do it but no, I’ve never heard of that before.” He ran to different sections of the acreage they were standing on, gathering the artifacts into a pile. “Get moving Leira. Time is not our friend right at the moment. We may not get quite as lucky with the next assault.”
“The energy worked independently to save me… save us. Like it knew who were the good guys.” Leira shook her head to clear it. Have to get moving. She sprinted easily from section to section gathering artifacts and throwing them into the center pile. “Go get the car and drive it up onto the field. I think we’ve earned the right to mow down a few stalks with a rental car. I’ll keep gathering as much as possible. Let’s get back to Hagan at the motel and call the general from there.”
Something bigger than me out there picked a side again and this time I won. That’s new.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Leira and Correk arrived home late that night. Leira drove the green Mustang from the Austin airport park and zoom lot. She looked over at Correk staring out the front window, surrounded by oversized candy wrappers.
“There are different rules about snacking when you fly. It’s not the same as road trips.”
“What?” He looked over at Leira.
He looks tired. “You can eat fast food in the airport but not so much on the plane. Stinks up the cabin. The five-dollar bag of candy is allowable but not in the quantity you went for.”
Correk arched an eyebrow. “I caught on that things were different when the waitress handed me the tiny bag of dry pretzels.”
“Flight attendant. Not a waitress.”
“That explains the looks I got when I asked how long she had been waiting tables. You have to admit it seems like a flying restaurant.”
Leira rolled her eyes. “Then it’s a really terrible one. I’ve always thought of them as flying tin buses.”
“You know we’ll find our rhythm again. It’s not gone for good. And quit looking at me like I’m laid out for a viewing of the dead. Yes, I’ve noticed. Hard not to. You look me up and down like you’re sizing me for a coffin. I’m not going anywhere. Not for a long time.”
Leira punched him in the arm.
“Ow… Why do you resort to physical viol
ence to say you’re worried? Use your words! I’d believe you. One minute you’re looking at me like you need to remember my face forever. The next you’re pushing me a little closer to the edge. It’s a mixed message.” He looked up at Leira who gave him a dead fish look for a moment but couldn’t hold it.
She started snickering, trying to hold it in. Correk looked at her confused but smiled in spite of himself. Leira looked away, staring at the traffic, hoping that would distract her but a giggle escaped her followed by a loud guffaw.
“Attractive Berens.” Correk let out a laugh, watching Leira struggle to maintain her composure.
Leira slowed down at the exit out of the airport behind a line of pickup trucks too high to see over and leaned her head on the steering wheel, shaking with laughter trying to hold it in. Correk couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he watched her, glancing out at the driver in the car next to them. Everything just made him laugh harder till both of them were laughing out loud. Leira was barely able to catch her breath, grateful the traffic had slowed down to a crawl as she pressed her hand against her stomach. Correk put his head back and let it all out, laughing as loud as he could.
It took minutes before Leira wore herself out, wiping her eyes on her shirt sleeve. Correk slowed down to a chuckle, still bursting into a laugh. Leira looked at him and smiled. I want to say this thing I’ve been carrying around for months inside of me. “I really thought you were dead.”
Correk looked at her, still smiling. “I know. Me too. There were a few moments I was hoping I would.” The creases around his eyes deepened as he smiled harder. “I didn’t die. You’re going to have to accept that or I can’t stay. It’s too hard and definitely too dangerous if you think you have to look over your shoulder all the time and take care of me. I was sent to take care of you. Or at least guide you.”
