Choice

by Gary Stringer

  “Those two stories don't fit together,” Toli said, understanding, “because they’re different simulation tracks. In the same way, I met Bunny when she and Jayne had just found the Life Eddy and that's when I explained that fog couldn't obscure magic. We got separated on the way out and then I met her again, only this time she hadn't found the Life Eddy yet and I yelled at her for not listening to my magicology lesson, not realising that, from her perspective, I hadn't given it yet.”

  “That's it, ye've got it. And finally, ye get here and see Jayne, even though ye just saw her killed.” “Different simulation tracks,” Toli stated. “Got it.” “Yer mind couldnae handle that contradiction, so it shut itself down tae protect itself. When ye came to, ye'd switched tracks again so ye could nae see her and just assumed ye'd imagined it. That's how yer mind rationalised it so ye could put it aside and move on.”

  Calandra had been following all this as best she could, while missing some bits of the discussion. “Hang on a minute, Granite,” she said. “I never went into the fog, so how did I trigger the trap?”

  Granite grinned. “Ye didn't and that's the key! Being a dragon helps, too - ye don't perceive time in the same way as the rest of us. Yer eyes see the one, true reality.”

  “But if that's true, then how come I can only see you and not the others you say are here?”

  “Because - and apologies tae the two of ye, I dinnae mean any offence they're nae real.”

  “What!” the others demanded. Granite ignored them. “Aye, they're just simulations. I'm a Catalyst, remember? I see magic - all magic. I see the way it flows, the patterns it makes. As a result, the Temporal Trap affects me differently. Ye see, Callie, I'm like yer opposite - ye see one reality, I see all of them. The reason I know I'm real is because ye can see me. And now that I know what I'm dealing with...I can concentrate...and...”

  Jayne and Toli faded before his eyes.

  “...block out the simulations I dinnae want.”

  “The others are gone now?”

  “Aye, it's just ye and me, lassie!” He offered a toothy smile and a wink.

  “So, what do we do now?” Callie wondered.

  “Now we do what we came here tae do -find the Life Eddy.”

  “Don't you know that already? Or was that just a simulation?” Callie asked. “Och that was r eal; aye I know exactly where it is. The Temporal Trap works on different possibilities, different choices, but no matter what choices we make, the Life Eddy is where it is and cannae be anywhere else. But we still have tae go there, because that's where we'll find the others.”

  Calandra said a silent prayer to ward off her developing headache. “How do you know this, child?” She demanded. “I know because there is a possibility that the four of us went into the fog and got separated, but the others quicklyfound the Life Eddy and rendezvoused there. After they had been there only a moment, it’s possible that I will turn up with you and then the five of us will head back tae the Corridor and get the hell out of here. When I get back in the fog, I’m gonna trigger the trap again and that is the possibility I'm going tae choose. I just have tae make the right decisions. I'll know when I'm on the right track because ye will see what I want to be real and therefore it will be real.”

  “And Z'rcona?” Calandra prompte d. “She’s a rogue element I cannae control. In at least two simulation tracks, she had some kind of magic that could counter the Temporal Trap, that's why the fog lifted and the sun came out. That magic is real and separate, so I cannae affect it. She’s already here and she's going about her business. We know she got that object for her Mistress first and then attacked. That object is clearly her priority, so we know she'll do it that way. That's a certainty, well, almost. The best I can do is choose the possibility that we got tae the Life Eddy so fast, it's unlikely she got there before us and still collected that object. Cannae guarantee it, though. It's always possible that we'll be too late tae save the others.”

  Callie looked worried.

  “Look, just trust me, OK? I swear I'll do my best.”

  Callie nodded.

  Taking a deep breath, Granite took Callie's hand as an anchor to reality and plunged into the fog once more.

  * * * * * Toli, Bunny and Jayne were gazing upon the Life Eddy in awe. They'd all seen at least one before but that didn't diminish its majesty. Toli had been worried when they got separated, and then there was that disturbing voice in the fog. Had it really been Granite she heard? In this place, she couldn’t be sure.

  “Be alert, you two,” she said, seeing Bunny winding Jayne up mercilessly. “I'm not sure, but I think there might be somebody out there who's working against us.”

  “You mean someone’s following us, Miss Toli?” Jayne enquired.

  “I don’t know. Something I heard made me nervous. Just be on your guard.” “I always am,” Bunny replied. “Like I keep telling Phaer - never get so caught up with what's going on in here,” she tapped her temple, “that you fail to pay adequate attention to what's going on out there,” her sweeping arm encompassed that fogbound place. “Nobody sneaks up on me. It's impossible.”

  Just then she felt something cold, sharp and metallic digging into her back.

  “You were saying?” came the voice of an elven female - someone they had met before.

  Toli cried out the name in horror. “Z'rcona!” “Well, well, well, what have we here? Let's see, shall we?” Z’rcona gestured to the sky and with some form of magic Toli couldn't identify, caused the fog to lift suddenly, giving way to a blue, cloudless sky and bright sunshine. “Ah yes, it's clear now,” Z'rcona mocked. “A pair of freaks of nature that need exterminating! Oh, and a hobbit. I'm sorry,” she taunted, “I almost didn't see you down there!”

  Bunny was furious with herself. She couldn't believe she had allowed someone to sneak up on her like that - she was supposed to be the sneaky one and she hated to be out-sneaked. Jayne wanted to go for the elf bitch, but the threat to Miss Bernice stayed her hand. Toli, on the other hand, chose to risk it. She committed to the act of violent magic, blocking out all else, and executed her very first casting of Shockwave. The spell hit home and Z'rcona yelped, leaping back away from Bunny and reflexively dropping her knife. Bunny wasn't going to be caught napping twice, jumping clear herself and using her sorcery to create an illusory copy of the charging half-orc.

  “Well, well, well, what have we here?” Bernice mocked Z'rcona in revenge. “Ah yes - something to really get my teeth stuck into!”

  Toli had never been so happy to see someone turn into a vampire and ran to her side, but Z'rcona wasn't beaten.

  “Attack me with static lightning, would you?” The dark elf growled. “How would you like to feel proper lightning?” Z'rcona lashed out with magic, committing to the act of sending a lightning bolt fizzing from each hand, but she got the shock of her life when a silver dragon suddenly sped into view. Callie, with the aid of a Haste spell, flew with her body turned ninety degrees to the ground, allowing one wing to block the path of Z'rcona's attack. The lightning bolts fizzled harmlessly on contact with her wing membrane, for silvers were immune to lightning strikes.

  Performing aerial acrobatics that felt so good after her paralysis, she twisted and landed to bear down on the retreating Z'rcona. “You call that lightning?” she said, menacingly. “This is real lightning!” Taking a breath, she spat at Niltsiar's agent who leaped to one side...straight into a vampire's waiting arms.

  “Nice of you to drop in, Callie!” she called out in greeting. The silver dragon waved a wing in response. Then Granite arrived on the scene.

  When Z'rcona countered the Temporal Trap and cleared the fog, he and Calandra had witnessed the situation with dread. But they had an advantage - they knew how it was going to play out.

  “Callie – lightning!” was all Granite had said - there wasn't time for more, but it was enough. Remembering that in the simulation, Z'rcona had attacked with lightning in response to Toli's Shockwave spell, Callie had immediately changed t
o her true dragon form and sped over to block the strike. It was a simple matter of timing, as basic to her as counting her wingbeats and all the myriad skills she used to achieve an efficient flying technique.

  “Hmmm,” Bunny purred, still baring her fangs. “I've never had dark elf blood before. I wonder if it's really any different to the blood of your forest cousins? I bet it isn't, you know, for all your notions of being the master race. Why don't we put it to the test? I'll have a taste and I'll let you know just before you die.”

  She moved her mouth closer to Z'rcona's neck, and closer, and closer. Z'rcona felt the tips of Bunny’s fangs touch her bare skin and closed her eyes against what was to come. Then just when she was sure she was about to die, Bernice shed her vampiric appearance for her customary human beauty and kissed her captive's neck instead.

  “Delicious!” she laughed. “As if I'd sink to that level just to kill you! I have far less messy ways of doing that.” Z'rcona felt cold steel against her spine. “You feel this dagger?” Bunny said, seductively, almost like a lover. “It's my favourite one because it’s so long and slim. From this position, I can sever your spine, puncture a lung or just push straight through your heart. Any preference?”

  The dark elf just seethed silently.

  Bunny glanced over to Calandra standing there in her elven form, robes of a Revered Daughter of Patreleux gleaming brilliant white in the bright sunshine.

  “What, no protests about stabbing someone in the back?”

  “I believe you once told me it's the safest way,” she replied.

  Bunny grinned. “You're learning, Rev!”

  “Oh yes, child. I think we've all learned a great deal in our time together.” Bernice, her dagger in her right hand, unhooked her mace from her belt with her left, deliberately holding it the wrong way, and out of Z'rcona's sight. “Now,” she said, “just hold still this won't hurt a bit.” With that, she brought the mace handle down sharply on the dark elf's neck, catching the nerve cluster perfectly. Z'rcona crumpled to the ground before she knew what hit her.

  Sheathing her weapons, Bernice began to rifle through Z'rcona's things. She handed the list to Toli, who immediately grasped the implications. The sumorityl also discovered a fair amount of gold, which she pocketed absently saying, “My fee for sparing her life.”

  “Sounds fair enough to me,” Toli agreed. Bunny destroyed the teleportation device, and at Granite's insistence, confiscated the small silver hourglass the dark elf had just acquired. Upon conducting a quick magical probe on the hourglass, Granite quickly surmised that it was this that Z'rcona had used to counter the Temporal Trap. He supposed it was similar to the way Eilidh had given rebirth to the power in the temple of necromancy, appearing on Z'rcona's list as the Gold Crypt. That thought gave him an idea. Concentrating, he Granted Life to the hourglass and sure enough, the Temporal Trap reactivated and the `fog` returned.

  “Was dat wise?” Jayne asked.

  “Donnae worry,” he assured her. “I know how tae get us out safely, now, but Z'rcona won't find it so easy without the hourglass.”

  “She can't teleport back to her Mistress, either,” Calandra pointed out. “And when she does get back there,” Toli said, “and she doesn't have the hourglass she was sent for, I imagine her Mistress will be pretty peeved. I'm betting her punishment will be far worse than anything we could inflict. How do you suppose missing the final piece of the puzzle will affect Niltsiar?”

  “Well, I cannae imagine it'll stop her,” Granite admitted, “but it's bound to slow her down.”

  Bunny really wanted to strip the dark elf naked, too, just for fun, but Calandra insisted that was going too far.

  “Leave her,” Granite advised. “It's time we were getting back to Eilidh. We’ve got a quest to complete.”

  “And I’ve got a date to get to,” Bunny remarked.

  Chapter 19

  Michael felt so numb that he barely noticed the sting of an object grazing his right ear. It seemed to him as if a spear had simply materialised in the chest of the lizard, which instantly petrified, encasing the weapon in its cold stone body - another nasty little trick these creatures possessed. When faced with a large enough swarm of them, an army could often find it was defenceless as its warriors ran out of weapons.

  The Techmage was in a daze, unable to comprehend what had just happened, and his momentary hesitation gave Hannah the opening she needed, to follow the flight of her spear and hold a knife to Michael’s throat.

  “Order thy guards to release my friends, or I will slice open thy throat, and thou mayest not believe this, but I hath no wish to cause thee any harm.”

  Michael gave the order. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “I do believe you.”

  “Curious,” Hannah remarked. “Wilt thou explain why?” It was Suzanne who answered. “Because, Lady Knight, you could have easily used your spear to kill my husband, let that monster have me and then freed your friends by force. Instead, you saved my life. Thank you.”

  Tanya and Quentin retrieved their swords and sheathed them. Hannah relaxed her grip on Michael and removed the point of her knife from his throat, but kept him under close guard.

  “How did you get here so fast?” Tanya asked Hannah. “I believe I didst notice the dragon' s approach before thou didst. At that time, I didst make the tactical decision to abandon the field of battle and follow thee here in case thou shouldst be in need of mine assistance.”

  “Well, I'm glad you did.”

  “As am I,” Quentin agreed, “although thou shouldst be aware that thou art guilty of disobeying a direct order from a superior officer.” Hannah's eyes soft focussed for a moment, as if remembering a time, a place, or perhaps an individual that was once dear to her heart. “I hath learned,” she said, “that blind obedience to the letter of the law canst mayhap be a recipe for disaster. Sometimes 'tis better to use one's own initiative to interpret the spirit of one's orders and do what thou thinkest best when the situation doth change.” She indicated Tanya with her free hand. “This is something which I believe our friend of the Knights of Balance doth exemplify most honourably. Thine efforts were admirable and thy hastily conceived plan inspired.”

  Tanya blushed at the compliment - not a very Knightly thing to do, she supposed, but she didn't much care.

  “Knights of Balance?” Suzanne wondered. “I thought they were a myth.”

  “Yes, I was kind of counting on that,” Tanya admitted. Playing the part of a slightly incompetent squire deafened by the magical blast, she could raise her voice so that Hannah would be sure to hear her. She knew the two magic users would be a little suspicious, but that too was part of the plan. It kept their eyes focussed on her. It was a mistake that Knights were specifically trained to avoid themselves. A warrior must look at everything, see all around and not allow the eyes to be drawn to a single thing. Otherwise, you would see only what the enemy wanted you to see. Tanya's distraction had allowed Hannah to sneak into position,even though stealth wasn't one of a Knight’s traditional skills.

  They took a moment then to swap introductions.

  “So what now?” Michael asked. “I presume you want my guards to throw down their weapons and surrender?”

  “Actually, sir, I wast thinking more along the lines of a truce, and thy guards shalt be needing their weapons momentarily, methinks.”

  As if on cue, a group of furry dog-bear creatures came snarling, snivelling and spinning up the trail to the settlement.

  “I am afraid, I didst bring with me some uninvited guests,” Hannah deadpanned.

  Chaos creatures. That thought restarted Michael's brain. He looked again at the statue with the entrapped spear and yelled. “Chaos creatures! Lady Hannah! Please! You must let me use my magic!”

  “That shalt not be necessary, sir. They art easily despatched and there canst be but thirty of them at the most. I didst witness thy warriors fight and I am certain their skill is well equal to the meagre challenge.” “No!” Michael protested. “You d
on't understand! Those things aren't the problem, it's these!” He pointed to the statue. “These lizard creatures are incredibly dangerous, completely invisible to the naked eye until they strike and they never ever travel alone.”

  “He's right,” Suzanne affirmed. “There's always a pack of them.” “Please, it's vital! You're risking all our lives! Let me act! In my left hand pocket, you'll find an object like an eye glass - a far-seeing lens - but it's a Techmagic variation I've created specifically to see them.”

  Hannah found thedevice, and held it up to her eyes. “I cannot see anything,” she said, suspiciously.

  “That's because you've got no magic,” Suzanne explained, with a touch of impatience. “You'll have to let Michael or me look.”

  Hannah chose to hand it to the Catalyst, since she posed no threat. Suzanne looked through the eye glass, bringing it into focus and gasped, horrified. “There are dozens of them out there just over that way!” She pointed to the North West. “Another few minutes they'll be right on top of us! Please, my husband is the only one who can fight them!”

  Hannah was unmoved. “Thou must understand my position,” she told them. “Thou art asking me to believe in creatures that only you two canst see. Thou art asking me to accept thy word on faith, and Eilidh a friend of mine – dost extol the virtue of reason above faith.”

  “And I'd agree with her,” Michael said. “But you do have empirical evidence than such creatures exist - you killed one. So you at least know there is a chance there could be more. And you know I'm a Techmage with a selection of devices and weapons at my disposal. That's why we're out here, to claim the mountain of abandoned Techmagic weapons left here after the Tech Wars. A quick glance inside the cave will confirm that much.”

  “That still doth not prove that there art a number of such creatures out there now.”

  “Granted,” Suzanne accepted, “but there comes a point where you have to make a choice and trust someone.”