Steele Alchemist

by Deck Davis

  His heart nearly burst out of his chest. What was she doing? You didn’t just say stuff! Nobody talked about that kind of thing. Faei’s penchant for straight talking was a little too much for him. Who the hell just spoke about how they felt? You were supposed to hide what you really thought, and only ever tell the truth if you were drunk.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s just nature. Human instincts. Don’t get in a twist over it. Let’s get on with the potion building, and try not to be so damn tense.”

  He thought about playing it cool, but he’d never pull that off. Best just to get on with it.

  “I’m going to ask you stuff, and you need to answer as fully as you possibly can. Imagine drinking the potion. Holding it in your hands.”

  “Got you.”

  “So…what does it smell like?”

  With question after question, and by comparing Faei’s answers about the smell, taste and appearance of the potion to the herbs in Cason’s lore book, he narrowed it down to a handful of options.

  Two hours later, he had a list of more than a dozen herbs, fruits and fungi that could potentially have been used to make the potion. The problem was that he didn’t know exactly which ones were in it, and a lot of them had similar tastes and appearances. And even if he did know, he had no clue about quantities, he didn’t know how the herbs were cut, he didn’t know whether they were burned or boiled.

  This was just the start of what would be a long process. Even then, he might have missed something. He might go through all this, only to miss something ridiculous like a gram of crushed acorn or something like that.

  Needless to say, once he brewed the potion and then saved Cason’s ass, he and the old alchemist would have a lot to talk about. Namely, labelling his damn potions and writing stuff down. For now, he had to forget all that and just get on with it.

  He stood up from his chair, looked at Faei and clicked his fingers.

  “Let’s brew this thing,” he said.

  “Stop saying that.”

  They left the shack, walked down the hill and then crossed the dead plains. The herb lore reference book was written by an alchemist who used to live on Reaching Crest, so it handily listed where many of the herbs were commonly found on the island.

  A couple of hours later, Jake’s herb pouch was full, and it gave off a particularly ripe medley of aromas. Cason had chosen his shack well. Situated at the top of the hill, it gave him a good defensive position. The main benefit, though, was that the hill formed an herb epicenter of sorts, and most of the herbs in the book were within easy reach. Certainly, within ten miles or so, anyway.

  Although he hadn’t walked ten miles away from the shack, he must have clocked up more miles than that going back and forth from field to valley to glen. Now, they had just one more herb to get. It was one that grew best in darkness, so the herb reference book suggested they try a forest nearby.

  As they walked toward the forest, they came across the blue whale again. It’d been a while since he’d seen it, and it was in a sorry state. Its skin had started to rot and it gave off a horrendous stench.

  “You seeing this?” asked Faei. “You smelling this?”

  All around it were the bodies of dead cock imps. Some of them gripped chunks of flesh in their hands. Judging by the hole on the whale’s side, they’d tried eating some of it.

  “Must be like when you drink water in another country. Maybe stuff from Earth can make you sick.”

  “Leave the poor thing alone. The forest is this way,” said Faei.

  “Just one sec.”

  A good alchemist always carried an empty vial. That was a golden rule of alchemy. Or it should have been. Who knew if golden alchemy rules even existed? At any rate, Jake scooped a little rotting whale meat into an empty vial and put it in his pouch. He didn’t know what he could use it for, but if eating it had harmed the cock imps, then maybe there was a potion he could make.

  The forest wasn’t what he was expecting. Rather than a flourishing thatch work of trees and flora, everything looked scorched and in decay, as though some forest fire had burned through it. The trees on the outskirts were completely blackened, their branches withered, leaves non-existent. Even the ground seemed ravaged.

  The deeper into the forest they went, the worse it became. If there had been a fire, it had been intense, and it had eaten every living thing in sight.

  “Know anything about this?” he asked Faei.

  “You’d think we would have smelled it. Seems recent.”

  “Well, we sure as hell aren’t finding any herbs here.”

  This complicated things. The herb they needed was called shadow vine, and it grew in two places; here, and a fortnights journey on the other side of the island. It was clear that nothing green had survived whatever had ravaged this forest.

  “Typhoono!” someone shouted.

  He heard a whooshing sound, and caught sight of an orange ball flying through the air to his left. He turned to see a fireball crash into a tree. Flames shot up the trunk and then died out when there was nothing healthy to burn. Gradually, the fireball began to die out. It had rained that morning, and the forest dew protected the trees from catching fire.

  Jake looked at Faei.

  “No idea,” she said.

  He pulled out a bottle of dissolve potion. He didn’t want to use it, but it was better than nothing. Faei drew her bow, holding it semi-awkwardly in her left hand.

  “Inferno!” cried a voice.

  Jake expected to see a fireball rush through the damp air, but instead, he heard a buzzing noise. Soon, he saw a swarm of giant bees zip from tree to tree, slaloming through them. The closer they got the louder their buzz became. He put his dissolve potion away. It was useless against bees since if he threw it, the vial wouldn’t smash on them.

  Faei nocked a bolt. She did this slower than usual. When she drew back the bowstring with her bandaged hand, she winced.

  The bees looked like they were going to buzz harmlessly away to another part of the forest. Then they changed direction and headed toward Jake and Faei. The closer they got, the louder the buzzing became until it was like they were swarming inside his head. He could see the bees clearer now; their long, fleshy bodies covered in hair, their long stings dripping with venom. From head to sting, each insect was the size of a football.

  “Let’s get out of there,” said Faei. She turned.

  Jake grabbed her shoulder. “We can’t outrun them. You ever tried outrunning a bee before?”

  “I’m willing to give it a try.”

  “Point your bolt toward the ground,” said Jake.

  Faei looked at him questioningly, then did as he asked. With the bolt head facing the ground, Jake uncorked his vial of dissolve potion and carefully poured it onto the arrowhead.

  “Ok. Try and hit them. Careful how you raise your bow, you don’t want any of it splashing back.”

  Faei squinted and took aim. She didn’t seem as cocksure as normal; changing to her less dominant hand had affected her. She followed the bees with her bow as they zigzagged side to side, getting closer and closer.

  And then she let fly.

  The arrow carved right through the centre of the swarm. Some bees swerved to the left, others to the right. Those who were near the arrow started to smoke and dissolve, and one by one their burned husks plummeted to the ground.

  “Nice shot!” said Jake.

  “Still got it,” Faei answered.

  Most of the bees swerved and changed direction, buzzing toward the other side of the forest. Thank God it wasn’t wasps, thought Jake. Bees were sensible, and rarely prone to fighting if it could be avoided. Wasps, on the other hand, were vicious as hell. Never trust a person who likes wasps, was his motto.

  “That was good thinking,” said Faei. “I’m almost angry I didn’t think of it myself.”

  “It was nothing. That’s just how alchemists roll.”

  With the bees either dead or gone, the forest was quiet again. A faint bre
eze tickled the few remaining leaves of the burned-up trees. Jake looked around for the herbs he needed, but on first scan, it wasn’t looking good. Large parts of the ground were scorched black.

  Then a voice shouted.

  “Inferno!” it cried. It was a man, he could tell that much.

  Suddenly, all of the trees around them began to shrivel up as if all the moisture was being drained out of them. It happened in mere seconds, turning the forest into a lifeless, dried-up mess.

  “Keep your guard up. We’ve got ourselves a wizard,” said Faei.

  “Oh, buggering hedgehog-balls ass-cake blighter,” said a voice.

  “And not a very good one, apparently,” she added.

  Just ahead of them, a man stepped from behind a tree. His head was shaved so completely bald that a part of it shone when the light hit it. He also looked like he’d shaved his eyebrows off too, and he didn’t have a hint of facial hair. It made him look like a white snooker ball.

  He might have been a wizard, but he didn’t wear standard wizard robes. Instead, he wore tight fittings trousers and an even tighter shirt. The sleeves of his shirt and leg holes of his trousers were wrapped up with cloth bandages, as if he’d tried to make his outfit airtight. Sore-looking red welts covered the left side of his face. Near him, lined up next to a tree, was a neat row of potions. Jake recognized the healing potion, but couldn’t tell what the others were.

  Faei tensed up. She slipped a bolt from her holder and nocked it. Jake put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Just give him a minute. He might not be hostile.”

  “Friends,” said the man. “Excuse the swarm of bees. You weren’t hurt, I hope?”

  Faei raised her bow and pointed it at him. “Hurt? We were nearly killed.”

  The man hung his head. “I was trying a fire spell. I didn’t expect anyone to be nearby.”

  Faei’s expression changed. She lowered her bow.

  “You’re a wild mage, aren’t you?” she said.

  “I’m Solly Mag-Tyche,” he answered. “And unfortunately, yes, I am.”

  Jake and Faei crossed the ground until they reached Solly Mag-Tyche. Solly and Faei shook hands in a complicated series of gestures, which apparently was how strangers in Reaching Crest met one another. Solly then stuck his hand toward Jake, expecting him to match the handshake.

  Not good. This would blow his cover immediately.

  Luckily, Faei intervened. “Got any stamina potions?” she said. “It’s been a long day.”

  “I’ll take a look,” answered Solly.

  He turned toward his potions by the tree, then hummed to himself as he looked at them.

  Jake leaned in toward Faei. “You know this guy?” he asked.

  “Nope. But he must be part of the mage guild. Recognized mages have ‘Mag’ in front of their family names. And if he’s part of the guild, he’s beholden to their rules. That means he’s not likely to harm us as long as we don’t attack him.”

  “Not on purpose, at least,” said Jake. “How the hell do you try a fire spell, and end up with a swarm of giant bees?”

  “Part of being a wild mage, my lad,” said Solly, turning around.

  Damn – he hadn’t whispered quietly enough.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it,” said Jake. “I just haven’t seen a wild mage before.”

  “It’s a curse,” said Solly. The wizard sat on the forest floor and crossed his legs in a serene way, as if he was going to meditate. It didn’t seem to bother him that Jake and Faei were stood over him.

  “It’s a birth defect. Only one in ten thousand mages are born with it, and it terrifies the others. You see, a wild mage is born with a concentration of power and a spell ability far beyond what most mages could gain in their whole lives. The problem is, we have a complete in ability to focus our powers.”

  “A wild mage is the reason Gold Yield port is a cursed ruin now,” said Faei.

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Sound dangerous,” said Jake.

  Solly pinched his index finger and thumb together on both hands and held them up in ring shapes in the air. He closed his eyes and took deep, calm breathes.

  “Centuries ago, they’d put wild mage children to slaughter. Easier to deal with the buggers that way. Times are more enlightened now. Once they realize someone is a wild mage, they can live, as long as they agree to leave mage college and never practice magic again.”

  “And that’s what happened to you?” said Jake.

  “Indeed. I was seven years old, doing well in mage college, when my parents wrote to me and told me that my brother, a non-magic, kind hearted boy who was going to take over my parents’ farm one day, had died. After that, I started to lose control. When I tried spells, unpredictable things happened.”

  “The bad news woke up your wild mage side?” asked Faei.

  “It would appear so. The master mages tried to correct me over the next few years in the hope that it was just a phase, but I couldn’t get on the right path. I became a laughing stock. The sterner mage masters studied me like I was a piece of meat. After they realized I was a wild mage, I ceased to be human in their eyes. When I became angry and destructive, they expelled me from college. I was only fourteen.”

  “Did you go back to your parents’ farm?” said Jake.

  “I found that they’d sold the farm after my brother died. They’d moved away, and they didn’t tell me where.”

  “Jesus Christ,” said Jake.

  “I don’t blame them. They never expected to see me again; when mages leave their families, they rarely ever go back home.”

  He couldn’t help but feel bad for Solly. All of this must have happened to him a long time ago, since he was almost middle-aged now. But he couldn’t help picturing that teenager, completely alone and with his future torn away from him. In some ways, he and Solly had that in common. Solly’s parents were alive, but they’d still left him alone when he was young.

  “What’s going on here then?” asked Faei. “One, why have you kept the Mag part of your name when you’re not officially a mage anymore, and two, how come you’re practicing magic?”

  Jake detected a glimmer of anger in Faei’s voice. It seemed she still hadn’t forgiven Solly for the swarm of bees. The wild mage, for his part, remained serene.

  “For sure, if the mage guild knew I still practiced magic, they’d cut out my tongue and chop off my hands to prevent me using it. They have a one-chance rule; I was expelled on the condition I’d never use magic ever again, even in self defence. The problem is, I just can’t stop.”

  Faei glared at him. “Well maybe you should. When you’re firing giant killer bees at people, it’s a sign you should rethink your life choices.”

  “It’s the middle of the forest. How was I supposed to know you’d be here? You don’t understand what it’s like to have magic in you, and be prevented from using it. It’s a compulsion. And I have always thought that if I studied and practiced, I could find a way to master my wild mage side.”

  Everything was starting to click into place for Jake. “And that’s why you have all the potions with you, isn’t it?” he said. “You don’t know what spell’s gonna fire out of your hands, so you carry antidotes for every possible outcome.”

  “Precisely.”

  “And the lack of hair? The way you’ve fasted your clothes so tight?”

  “Hair can get singed, and things can crawl up your sleeves. It’s prudent to be prepared. I never know what I’m going to summon with a spell.”

  Faei looked around. “I take it you remodeled the forest then? Burned everything to a crisp? Withered all the branches?”

  Solly shook his head. “Not me. I’m not saying I’m green-fingered, but most of it was like this before I got here. It’s a venom of some kind, in my opinion. I’d guess some bugger did this deliberately. Who, and why, I haven’t the foggiest. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “You can lose the suspicious look, or I’ll knock it off your
face,” said Faei.

  “We’re looking for shadow vine leaves,” said Jake. “Thought they might grow here, but looks like everything is scorched to shit.”

  Solly eyed him wearily. “What do you need shadow vine for? It’s dangerous.”

  “A potion.”

  “You’re an alchemist?”

  “Of sorts,” answered Jake.

  Solly’s eyes lit up. “Then I believe the good lady fortune has kissed us both today! You see, young alchemist, I need something. Something only an alchemist can brew.”