Earth Fire (The Cross-Worlds Coven Series Book 2)

by Phil Stern

  In truth, girls like Keri, who seemed to take their magical, privileged status for granted, did irritate her a bit. But was it really their fault? Possessing so much power, youth, and vitality, they inevitably wanted to stretch their wings, see what the universe was all about.

  “I know I fucked up in Yarlee.” Speaking first, Keri looked away. “When the wife came home and found us in bed, I just freaked out and left. My only thought was to avoid any more exposure for the Coven. But I certainly should have helped with the fire. I had no idea their kid was still in the house.”

  “Listen, you’re not the only young witch to screw things up like that.” Tiffany allowed herself a small smile. “You think I’m perfect? That I never made any mistakes out there?”

  “Well, you certainly act that way,” she mumbled, playing with her long, wavy hair. “But I know you deserve it. After all, without you…”

  “Hold on.” Putting up a finger, Tiffany slowly shook her head. “I don’t deserve any special acclaim. I was simply completing my mission, which was to find and stop the wizard.”

  “But even now, you gave those girls on Earth a good beating!” Giggling, Keri’s bright eyes flashed. “Who do they think they are, anyway?”

  “Well, that’s what I have to find out,” Tiffany said. “Once I talk to Barbara, I need to find a partner and head off to Rasten.”

  “Uh, those annoying cats!” Without asking, Keri’s hand slid into Tiffany’s bakery bag, liberating the last of her croissants. “But you see? Of everyone in the Coven, Eleanor has you on point in this whole mess.”

  “Well, look, things aren’t always what they seem.” Before it got too far away, Tiffany grabbed the last croissant, pointedly ripping it in half. “Eleanor might make me think I have a main role, while ten other witches are off doing something even more important. You never know around here.”

  “Come on, Tiff. You’re the Council’s go-to girl, and you know it.”

  “Well, maybe not the whole Council.” Even though authorized by Eleanor, Tiffany wasn’t looking forward to begging Barbara for a Coven Stick. “But about Yarlee. I know that Aya went over there and healed the boy’s burns. He’s fine.”

  “Really? Nobody told me that!”

  “Well, they wanted to make sure you were more careful next time.”

  “And I will be!” Keri promised. “But, uh, about this partner. Do you think I could come along? To Rasten, I mean?”

  Hesitating, Tiffany looked away. There were a few other girls she’d wanted to find here in Haven, witches a bit more seasoned than Keri. “I appreciate that. But I was hoping to take Brooke. Or maybe Amber…”

  “They’ve been added to the strike force,” Keri interjected. “Barbara’s tripled it to twelve girls. She’s marching around Haven telling everyone that when we find this other coven, she’ll personally lead the strikers into their dimension and settle things!”

  Uh oh. Eleanor was taking a firm, yet measured approach to this crisis, while Barbara was apparently in some kind of quasi-panic. Perhaps she’d been the one who’d advocated the assassinations of the ruby witches’ henchmen in the first place? That somehow seemed more her style than Eleanor’s.

  Maybe it went farther than that. If Eleanor had lost key support among the other Elders, perhaps there was an outright schism on the Coven Council. Would that help explain Eleanor’s temporary relocation to Vail? It was a very disturbing thought.

  “So Barbara wants to invade another dimension with twelve girls.” Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “How does she even know what she’d be running up against? Barbara has no idea how powerful this other coven is.”

  “Actually, some of us are a little worried.” Keri looked away. “Eleanor’s not here, and I think the rest of the Council is a little frightened.”

  There were seven Elders on the Council, including Eleanor and Barbara. And as their title implied, none were spring chickens. The rapidly changing universe, so different than when they were young, might well have them very unsettled.

  Well, she clearly needed to head over to Rasten and interview this turncoat ruby witch immediately. She also had to get back over to Earth by tonight. Hopefully, Norine was still keeping an eye on Blake, but would soon be off to other things.

  So Tiffany had no time or energy to argue with Barbara about detaching a striker. Keri was obviously a strong young witch, and had done very well on Tethra. She could do worse.

  “All right,” Tiffany announced, nodding decisively. “We leave immediately. Just wait here with Tornado, and make sure he doesn’t destroy anything else. I just have to have a quick conversation with Barbara.”

  Keri brightened. “Don’t worry. I know how to keep a unicorn in line.”

  *****

  The “quick conversation” with the Deputy Coven Leader soon turned ugly. First, Tiffany had to firmly explain that she had clear instructions from Eleanor to go to Rasten, and was absolutely not available for assignment to the ever-expanding strike force. Then, she had to insist on drawing a Coven Stick from their small stock, which Barbara was apparently hoarding for her planned military expedition.

  “Fine!” the older woman finally snapped. Reaching into her bottom desk drawer, Barbara yanked out one of the potent metal rods, nearly flinging it at Tiffany. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah. I’m taking Keri with me.” Standing in the middle of Barbara’s study, Tiffany hadn’t been invited to sit. “And maybe another witch, too.”

  “That’s out of the question!”

  “Well, those are Eleanor’s orders.” Tiffany did her best to look innocent. “I certainly wouldn’t want to cross her. Would you?”

  Barbara’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. “You forget yourself, young lady.”

  “Listen, Barbara.” Now lightly taking a seat, Tiffany smiled. “I’m only doing what I’m told. And we obviously need more information. Eleanor thinks these other witches are looking for something on Earth. Maybe if we can find it first…”

  “Ah, Earth. How convenient!” Throwing up her arms, Barbara sat back. “Isn’t that where you keep that male concubine of yours?”

  “Concubine?” As usual when Blake was mentioned, Tiffany felt her anger instantly surge outward. “He’s my boyfriend!”

  Barbara groaned. “I was trying to be polite, you idiot! After all, we could understand a sexual thing. But this perversion of yours…”

  Tiffany brought her fist down on her armrest. “Look, Eleanor and I already had this conversation. Can’t we skip this?”

  “Hey!” Now it was the Coven Elder bringing a flat hand down on the desk, fixing Tiffany with a furious gaze. “If you throw Eleanor’s name at me one more time, I’ll kick your perky ass right down Main Street. And if you think I can’t do it, just try me!”

  A trim forty-eight years of age, Barbara was still a quite powerful sorceress. Still, Tiffany was a uniquely talented magician at the height of her powers. It wouldn’t be much of a contest. “Oh, Barbara!” Tiffany sadly clicked her tongue. “Look what you’ve done? Now I’m frightened.”

  The sarcasm wasn’t lost on her senior Coven-mate. “We need to attack this other coven. Quickly!” she seethed. “If we lose the initiative, who knows what they’re capable of?”

  “First and foremost, we need information,” Tiffany countered. “And yes, it’s very disturbing to think of these other witches having infiltrated several of our key dimensions, where they’re quickly consolidating mundane power. But before we go to war…”

  “Oh, Tiffany, you are dreadfully boring!” Theatrically shoving back her chair, Barbara stared out the window.

  The younger woman sighed. “I’m only trying to help.”

  “Look, the entire Council has already interviewed this…this ruby witch, to little effect. Including Eleanor!” Barbara paused, giving a decisive nod. Clearly, this failure on the Coven Leader’s part wasn’t entirely unwelcome. “If you think you can do better, fine!”

  “Thank you. And of course…”

  �
�Take that Caylee with you, if you really need to waste more witchpower. She’s been useless since returning from Tethra.” Barbara irritably waved a hand out at the world-in-general. “Apparently she’s having some crisis of conscience after killing a commoner.”

  “You’ve never felt any guilt? Especially when you were young?” Tiffany thoughtfully studied the Coven Elder. “Caylee’s just going through what we all have, at one time or another.”

  “Now is not the time for girlish regrets,” she declared. “We need to strike.”

  “Yeah, about that.” Sliding forward on her seat, Tiffany held Barbara’s eye. “The Council has already launched one unprovoked attack on this ruby Coven’s mundane operatives, which I was an unwitting part of.”

  “How dare you…”

  “But if you send our sorceress’ charging into another dimension, without any type of combat intelligence or coherent plan, you could well be sending them to their deaths.”

  “Oh really?” A tiny green pulse now flashed across Barbara’s earth stone. “At least I haven’t lost my nerve, young lady! Like our Coven Leader.”

  “If I were you,” Tiffany carefully replied, “I would stay in Haven, maintain our readiness, and not venture out anywhere until you hear from Eleanor.”

  “Tiffany! That is the last time, ever, you will presume to give me instructions!” Sitting almost perfectly still, Barbara’s stone now began openly pulsing. “Are we perfectly clear?”

  A long moment went by, Tiffany not looking away. “Crystal.”

  “Then get the hell out of here!” Peremptorily lurching to her feet, Barbara stalked from the study, closing the connecting door with a tremendous slam.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  STEPPING THROUGH THE Boundary portal into Rasten, Tiffany’s black-gloved right hand rested lightly on a sword hilt, her left brushing her earth stone. The Coven Stick, nearly throbbing with suppressed power, hung from Tiffany’s belt.

  Two adult unicorns had preceded the sorceress through the hazy inter-dimensional opening. Now standing twenty feet ahead, they bugled out a warning to the surrounding forest, lethal horns at the ready. Two battle hawks, having already completed a sweep among the surrounding trees, now flew back to land on a gnarled log. Half-furling their huge wings, the ferocious-looking birds fixed their swirling eyes on the enchantress, giving a curt, downward sweep of their heads.

  But while Tiffany only possessed basic avian communication skills, Caylee evidently enjoyed a special rapport with the Coven’s airborne protectors. Unbidden, she strolled past the senior sorceress, tenderly stroking first one hawk’s head, then the other.

  “They say everything’s okay.” Turning about, the neophyte witch looked at Tiffany. “Three men on horses are coming from the south, while two cat-men approach from the east. And they say two little men are sleeping over there.” Caylee pointed. “But what’s a little man?”

  “Trolls,” Keri explained. In her slim jeans, sleek black boots, scoop-neck white top, and white ribbon holding back her strawberry-blonde hair, she was the very image of a young sorceress out for a stroll among the universe. However, the sheathed sword with snazzy, glittering hilt and tight black gloves bespoke the gravity of their mission. The last one through the portal, Keri now came to stand beside Tiffany. “Do yourself a favor and don’t talk to them.”

  Caylee frowned. “Why not?”

  “Oh, you’ll see.” Glancing over her shoulder, Tiffany watched the portal fade away entirely, the wooded landscape now unbroken in every direction.

  From the Coven’s perspective, Rasten was a unique world. In fact, it was the only place, at least that Tiffany was aware of, where they openly ruled the local population.

  Most of the dimension is virtually impenetrable forest inhabited by all kinds of magical animals. However, there was one large island, a hundred miles long and fifty wide, just off of a continent. On this semi-isolated “mixed” refuge, with an Earth-like topography of light forests, fields, and low-lying hills, lived four different populations: A mundane, pre-tech human society, a troll village, a pride of rather rude, shape-shifting felines called Mepards, and a highly-intelligent sleuth of telekinetic brown bears. (And yes, a group of bears is called a sleuth. Whether that applies to telekinetic bears is debatable, but it works.)

  So how did the Coven come to take charge of this madhouse? Quite simply, the whole island would have degenerated into anarchy if they hadn’t.

  The humans and Mepards, in particular, were involved in a vicious war when the Coven arrived. The opportunistic trolls were officially neutral, yet busily snatched human children in the middle of the night. Though generally a peaceful lot, the bears had also been drawn into the conflict, mixing it up with both the cats and humans.

  So, the Coven Council had a rather grim choice. Either abandon the human population to certain defeat and death, or step in and restore order. When they learned that the Mepards and trolls had already struck a deal to enslave, breed, and then consume the human survivors, there was little choice but to intercede.

  This had all occurred before Tiffany’s time. Now, there was a magnificent castle in the middle of the large island, on top of a gentle rise. It was from this stronghold that the Coven held “court,” attended by representatives of the four native populations. At any given time several witches were in attendance at Coven Castle, with another girl touring the various enclaves, just to make sure there wasn’t any trouble brewing.

  A senior sorceress, referred to as the “Duchess,” was in charge of everyone and everything. However, no one served for more than a month at a stretch in the role. Each Duchess was assisted by three or four junior Coven-mates, who only spent a fortnight at a time in Rasten, and that only once a year, at most.

  It wasn’t a role the witches welcomed. If anything, it put them at greater risk than most other dimensions, where they had the luxury of operating in secret. After all, “rulers” were always envied. So while in nominal control of the area, they were also potential targets. The danger was somewhat mitigated by the overt presence of the Coven’s own unicorns and battle hawks, but it was still an odd situation all around.

  Suffice it to say that nobody liked Rasten very much. But as an established, semi-fortified position, where none of the locals would dare question what the Duchess or her assistants were up to, it was apparently a good place to stash a turncoat ruby witch.

  Personally, Tiffany thought, she would have kept their guest in Haven, or maybe an unknown safe house in some backwater world. Here, a hit team of, say, four talented witches would have no problem broaching the dimension itself. Sure, they’d have to evade unicorn and battle hawk patrols to reach the castle, but once there…

  “Hey guys.” By now Caylee had wandered out beyond the two unicorns. Hearing the loping, heavy gait of large animals approaching, she urgently looked back at her two Coven-mates. “I think those cats are coming.”

  “Remember what we said.” By now Keri had wandered over to pet the battle hawks. “Don’t take any shit from them.”

  The youngest witch nodded resolutely. “I won’t,” she promised, strolling out even farther to meet the Rasten natives.

  After her disagreeable interview with Barbara, Tiffany had indeed found Caylee in her darkened bedroom, staring at the ceiling. While Keri and Tornado waited outside, they’d talked for a few minutes about what had happened in Tethra. Unfortunately, the Coven wasn’t big on discussing the more unsavory aspects of their work, though Tiffany knew it was better to get things out in the open. Just being able to unburden herself had obviously been a relief to the young blonde, who soon relaxed.

  “I guess it’s okay,” Caylee finally said, fixing her bright, puffy eyes on Tiffany.

  “You did the right thing,” Tiffany gently added. “The only other choice was to let him kill you and Jenla.”

  “Yeah.” Now she gave a tentative smile. “It just takes some getting used to.”

  “It does.” Patting her knee, Tiffany now stood up from her bed.
“But we have work to do. Get dressed and grab a horse. We’re hitting the Boundary and then Rasten.”

  “Rasten?” Caylee had also risen. “I’ve heard about those cats.”

  “Yeah. I’ll tell you how to deal with them along the way.”

  Poor Tornado almost collapsed on the hard run back across the Haven plains, but was soon reunited with his grateful mother. All her anger gone, the adult unicorn had affectionately nuzzled Tiffany’s arm, looking her straight in the eye.

  “It’s all right,” Tiffany had assured her, hugging the mother unicorn. “He’s a real handful. Whenever you need a break and I’m in Haven, we’ll watch him for a while.”

  “As long as he stays in your house,” Keri corrected. “I like my cabinets.”

  But idyllic Haven was a long way from Rasten. Two large, tawny leopards now came bouncing from the deeper woods, lurching to a halt ten feet before Caylee. Staring at her in wonder, both felines effortlessly morphed into male humans, though retaining their long, straight tails. Wearing leather pants and tight vests, their brawny, muscled arms flexed in the afternoon sunshine. Instantly fixating on this new person, both cat-men advanced almost hungrily on the young witch.

  Cats in all shapes and sizes were found throughout the universe, and Tiffany generally loved them all. Expect the Rasten Mepards. They seemed to combine the absolute worst of human male and cat behavior, including the uncontrollable need to challenge and dominate any new females they might come across. Mepards also lacked the ability to automatically identify any new person as part of an existing group. This was quite annoying, especially when it came to bringing new Coven-mates to Rasten for the first time.

  In other words, the Mepards knew the Coven. They accepted, in general principle, the witches as their social and political superiors. Yet they’d never met Caylee. So even though to any sane mind Caylee was obviously of the Coven, she had to personally establish herself as a dominant force with the Mepards before they would acknowledge her as a superior.