by Daniel Ruth
“It sounds better in Elven but after the last conflict they went all national pride and translated it into the local language. It now sounds like a fart. Typical humans.”
“What about the name of the city?”
“Gildorn. No excuses for that except, well, humans. Five days walk unless you can fly or want to carry your pets.”
“We’ll walk!” Interjected a nervous Stella.
“And the kingdom?”
“East Noland. Wait,” she snapped her finger in sudden realization. “I think it's West Noland. East Noland was overrun by demons twenty years ago. They had a nice marketplace. I should go loot the ruins someday.”
“And finally, what's the world called?”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure,” she pursed her lips in concentration. “I never cared enough to ask. You can just call it dirt in the local language. Most races end up with something unimaginative like that.”
She had me there. Both worlds I had been in having gone with that naming convention. Besides, I didn’t really care either. I just asked so I could tell Conrad when he inevitably asked. Off to the side, I heard an excited scream as Cinnamon trotted away at a sedate pace, with Beth on her back. I hadn’t noticed her getting on. I would have to talk to her about being more careful. What if Cinnamon was a Kelpie in disguise. Still, faeries hang on an elves’ every word so we were likely safe from mischief from that direction, as long as Stella was with us.
“Okay, let's head out. The sooner we go, the sooner I can come back and do another picnic.”
“Oh, and bring some more thunder lizard barbecue.”
“Sure thing, though I may need to stop at that other dimension where they seem to be coming from.”
“Can we bring Cinnamon?” Beth called out from where she was bouncing on the unicorn’s back. She obviously wasn’t in control but was just as obviously loving it. I winced. Asking to borrow a dragon’s pets or treasure was the height of rudeness. I warily looked over to Mirabel.
“What a fine idea,” she replied with a smile. My eyes may have widened slightly in surprise. “I have a tracking spell engraved on her. I could teleport to you anytime I want and we could go out on the town.”
Ouch. No wonder the creatures loathed her. Engraving a spell was a lot like the sigils I could do, though simpler and less painful. It still must have felt as if they were being branded. Heck, it was exactly like being branded.
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea,” I reluctantly responded. Having a mount for Beth would make things a lot easier, however, there was a significant downside. “Humans are pretty greedy. I am not sure I could keep her safe. I would hate to have her stolen. She might well become alchemist parts before I could find her again. I mean, they are so rare, I may as well have a circus following me.”
“Not a problem,” my lady assured me. “I have a magic bridle hidden away in my little pocket. It should mask her with a very strong illusion that she is simply a magnificent horse. You should also be able to impress your signature on it next to mine, so you can track it.” She waved her hand to further explain, “It's part of the function of the bridal, you don’t need to know any spells.”
“And don’t tell me, only the people impressed on the bridle can remove it?”
“Exactly!” Yep, I can definitely see why her pals hate her. I wouldn’t call them true sentients, but as very high-grade animal intelligence, they knew when they were being screwed with.
As we left the blasted valley, the elf and I on foot and Beth riding happily on the unicorn, I could see the pegasus and griffin flying high above us, no more than tiny dots. I wasn’t sure if they would follow us. Frankly, I had no idea why they remained near their dragon master. Perhaps it was part of the engraved spell. Since there was actually no visible element to that spell it was difficult to tell unless I examined their aura.
Even a few miles away, the land bore the scars from the bomb. The burnt and glassy desert valley gave way to what appeared a normal desert. The various traces of ash and shadows of once living things on the rocky surfaces gave the lie to that. Large dunes, all facing the valley showed where a vast wind had swept the remains up and deposited them where they lay. A few miles more and finally living creatures began to appear. Mostly uprooted grass and trees and various small living creatures. I doubted they were the original inhabitants. Most likely they had immigrated into the newly empty land. After a full day of walking, a genuine road appeared and soon after, a forest, almost untouched by the events in Mirabel’s valley.
That night we made a camp by the road. We set up a fire. Or rather Stella set up a fire. A small blue flame, not quite a real elemental but close enough to be ever burning. Frankly, it seems like overkill, but Beth was chilly and sore in rather embarrassing places and needed cheering up.
Keeping with my promise, I guided the girl through the basic procedure to heal bruises, chafing, and minor cuts. I also included some diagnostic exercises since they were the basis of the most advanced healing. I could see her sigh in relief as it got dark and her aches gradually went away.
“So no tent or food?” Stella asked.
“Well, I don’t need them,” I defended myself. Perhaps I may not have thought enough about my companion’s needs. “Beth only asked to come last night.”
“It's fine, Cinnamon can keep me warm,” Beth spoke up. She was rummaging through the small bag she had brought. Obviously, no tents in there.
“Well, fortunately, I have some things for a trip,” Stella replied with a wink. Putting her hand in her pocket, her arm went in deeper and deeper until it was obvious that it was not constrained to the mere physical universe. When it came out it held a folded sheet. With a practiced flip of her hand, it unfolded and spread out before her, seeming to drape itself over an invisible framework. In a moment it had arranged itself into a decent size pavilion. “In my travels, I occasionally have to rough it.”
Peeking inside, I saw that the inside was larger than the outside. A modest, but useful, bit of dimensional shenanigans. Several cots were in the corner, a bin where chilled vapor coiled above it and fruits and various other treats could be seen poking above the edge. Strings of glowing beads gently illuminated the corners of the room.
“Not bad for roughing it. This should make us pretty comfortable,” I nodded in satisfaction.
“Us?” Stella asked with a saucily raised eyebrow. “There is just enough room for Beth and me.” I glanced inside again. I was the size of a small cabin and had four cots.
“Really?” I asked with a bit of skepticism.
“It would hardly be appropriate to have you sleep with the women.” I see. She was going to go there. Well, I had my pride and I certainly wouldn’t feel the weather. I simply grunted as I cleared a spot next to her tiny elemental flame and got my meager reagents out. I would practice a few of my circles and then catnap for a few hours. I had a few ideas how to improve them after seeing the ones Mirabel had set up. While it was still light, the girls sat out with me on the logs we had arranged around the fire.
“Holy cow!” Beth exclaimed. “I have connectivity!”
I looked up from my scribblings. Beth was sitting on the log with a wrist terminal on and was poking at the holographic display like a madwoman. I surreptitiously glanced down at my wrist to ensure it was still there. Conrad had one of the technicians recharge and tune up my terminal and had been emphatic about me bringing it.
“That terminal looks like mine,” I prodded. Mine was military grade, shielded and absolutely not allowed for civilian use.
“It is,” Beth replied with a grin. “Or more specifically, it's your spare.”
“I don’t have a spare,” I reasonably pointed out.
“You do now. When you lent me your terminal I decided against ordering a commercial version. Yours was too cool. I went into your mail and requested a backup. Considering how you lost the last one and how frantic he was trying to contact you, it was in my hands within hours.”
“I... have m
ail?” I had been using the CAD functions to plot some potential circle modifications and storing some of the more interested tomes, but I never cared enough about contacting anyone to actually set up a mail account separate from the contact number for conference calling and talking. I mean I could. I had memorized the manual, I just hadn’t bothered. “Okay, hand it over,” I said in a stern tone.
“I thought you wouldn’t mind, after all, you said getting the rocket kit was critical,” she babbled. I ignored her.
“Give me a second and I’ll inscribe it so it's immune to magical energies,” I explained absently.
“So... You don’t mind?” Beth asked timidly.
“Eh,” I grunted, puzzled. “Mind what?”
“That I used your name to get stuff?’
“Why would I care? I told you to do what you needed. As my apprentice your supposed to do these things while I’m too busy.”
“I’m your apprentice? Really?” Beth squealed.
“Sure. Why not? I mean I don’t know enough to tutor you in magic, but as far as psionics go I haven’t met anyone better.”
“Are you sure you are ready for the responsibility?” Stella asked from the other side of the fire.
“Well, I suppose so. I mean I’m not adopting her. Jeremy would kill me. She’s just my personal student. And gofer.”
“There's more to being a master than teaching. You also have a responsibility to...” At this point, Stella went off on a tangent about tripe, responsibilities, and honor. I zoned out after about thirty seconds. I had never really cared about other people defining my roles. Of course, I was responsible for Beth. She belonged to me, in a treasure sort of way. I didn’t see how teaching her changed that. I guess it was a culture clash.
As when this usually happened, I nodded and smiled. And thought about additional circle modifications. Meanwhile, I was finishing inscribing the ward on the back. Stella gave me an exasperated sigh, while Beth gave an ‘ew’ of disgusted as I heated up a bit of spit and blood as the reagents in my mouth. I may have also grabbed a thread of unicorn mane for additional effectiveness. I mean it was right there...
Apparently, the unicorn didn’t agree since it began to make aggressive gestures towards me with its horn. We had a few moment of excitement before Beth calmed it down. Maybe I was wrong about Mirabel being too overbearing. Maybe these beasts simply hated dragons. I contemplated the intrinsic unfairness of a dragon hating universe, as I incinerated the strands of unicorn hair and delicately mixed it with the other ingredients. In other words, I gargled and spit it out.
Then it occurred to me what she had said. “Wait. Are you connected to the other dimension? The network? How does that even work?”
“Give me the terminal again and I’ll check.” She grabbed the device back and was once again tapping away on the floating terminal. “Oh. Apparently, right after the first squad went in the portal they launched a spy satellite. It was well up into orbit when the bomb went off.”
“Why the hell didn’t they tell me,” I asked, annoyed. “I could have been giving daily reports to Conrad. Wait. Never mind. That would be annoying.”
“Looks like. Hmm, I’m kinda guessing, since this is military encrypted. I can only read the logs because the backup hasn’t put into long term memory yet. It’s still in the buffer.”
“That doesn’t make sense. It’s been days,” I pointed out. I was not up on most technology but I knew that it operated at a speed only gods would be able to match.
“Well, it just sitting there. I think it got damaged somehow,” she furiously swiped at her screen. “Yeah, it’s just sitting there. It's relaying my signal but not doing anything else. I can’t even get it to do a self-diagnostic.”
“I guess even shielded it wasn’t enough to survive going through a portal in the middle of a massive node,” I nodded sagely. Not to be too superior, but score another one for magic. “No need to tell Conrad too soon. I’ll give him a call when we reach the school.”
Chapter 18
“Does anyone else think that it's unusual that we haven’t seen anyone yet?” Beth asked as she bounced along the road atop her mythical beast.
I looked around thoughtfully. It was the third day of travel. We were in a forest full of majestic trees that towered over us. The road we were traveling on had gradually widened into something that you would expect to see on a moderately successful trade route. Although it was simply packed dirt, the road was not overgrown at all. “Yes.”
Beth and Stella looked at me. After a moment Stella broke the silence. “And?”
“Well, you ever see those movies where there is some horrible monster stalking the helpless campers and they disappear one by one?”
Stella looked at me in complete confusion. Beth looked somewhat nervous, “Yes?”
“Well, the good thing is we’re not helpless campers,” I comforted her.
“Derek!”
“Fine. There’s a monster in the woods, but I’m sure it will be fine.” I waved a hand in the air, dismissing her worries. She didn’t look comforted. Stella stopped and after giving me a glare of annoyance knelt down and placed her hands on the ground.
“Well, there is something pretty large in the area. I can feel its footsteps on the earth. It’s not that close to us; however, it is moving parallel to us.”
“I am pretty sure it’s just Mirabel shadowing us,” I assured them, once I was done teasing them. I had felt the presence of a dragon about a day ago. Since Mirabel had a functional flying form, I should not have been surprised that she hunted in the area. Flying in dragon form, she was probably only a few hours away, assuming she did not just teleport over to hunt.
“But why is the area deserted?” Beth asked doubtfully.
“Well, it could be that the explosion in her Valley still has people running,” I began.
“But that was weeks ago. This is a fairly big road,” Stella responded.
“I am not really sure but,” I started again. This was a bit awkward. “It’s possible that she may harbor some resentment again humans other than those that destroyed her home.”
“You think she’s hunting the people around us,” Stella asked with a frown.
“But she’s really nice,” Beth paused as she said this. “Well, she has really nice pets,” she corrected herself as she patted her mount.
“It’s a possibility,” I admitted. Being land bound I couldn’t exactly scout around. “Maybe the authorities just restricted the roads leading to the valley. It was a pretty big explosion, even for a land prone to demon invasions.”
“That seems an unlikely amount of coordination for a country that seems to operate locally,” Stella objected before seeing Beth’s nervous expression. She added with a certain stilted giggle. “Then again what government wouldn’t make an effort to protect its people?”
The road wasn’t exactly a highway; however, it was obviously well traveled. It wasn’t exactly a good sign that we hadn’t seen anyone yet. “We’ll find out one way or another. Try to keep track of that presence. As I said its probably Mirabel...”
We continued onward in a rather subdued pace. While the unicorn seemed just as happy as before, Stella was wary, pausing frequently to touch the ground. Beth was worried, mostly because we were worried. Likely, she did not understand how weak her force field was yet. Hopefully, she wouldn’t find out before I could find some way to increase her body’s durability that didn’t involve three days of torture.
The unicorn noticed it before the rest of us. It started snorting and dancing nervously. Almost like a mundane horse. Considering that it regularly charged Mirabel, attempting to kill her, I knew there was something off. The first real sign I saw was smoke some five minutes later. Ahead of us on the trail wisps of smoke rose above the trees. Then the smell hit us. This was likely what had set off the unicorn. The smell of burning flesh, mixed in with a strong caustic odor. It took a moment to place it, however even without freaky enhanced senses I recognized the smell o
f some sort of acid.
“Stella, wait here with Beth. I’m going ahead to see what’s there.” She nodded and sat down where she was, one hand pressed to the ground and the other held in the air as if she was about to make an oath. I assumed it was another sensor spell to detect flying creatures. “Beth, keep practicing your shields. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Be careful,” she cautioned fretfully.
I’m not really one for stealth. I could have gone invisible but the only things I would worry about would likely see me, glowing in whatever manner they sensed the invisible. So I shrugged to myself and jogged forward, straight down the path.
Within minutes I came across what was burning. Apparently a caravan of six wagons. It was more of a guess than a count since the pieces were scattered around a makeshift clearing. Most had caught on fire and were simply smoking remains. As I looked around the clearing, I noted the lack of bodies. Lots of blood, though. Perhaps it was more apt than I knew when I brought up the horror genre. Pools of dried blood soaked the area, now dried into the ground and only showing black residue. I kicked several of the smoldering wrecks away trying to find out where the burning flesh smell was coming from.
The fourth pile of wreckage uncovered the first human remains. This one was more a blackened skeleton. Glancing at the surrounding trees, I saw that entire swathes behind the wagons the trees were burned in straight lines. Obviously either a plasma rifle with a diffuse setting or a breath weapon. Then I noticed several charred trees with score markings as if they were struck by lightning.
They could have been from human mages defending themselves with spells. However, they were facing the wrong way. Whoever breathed fire shot the lightning as well. I overturned another wagon part and saw a half melted man. More a boy really, the lower half of him was mostly dissolved by acid and his face was frozen in a rictus of agony. Hopefully, he didn’t feel it long, it looked terrible.
I wasn’t feeling very well either. It wasn’t the gore. These weren’t my people, I felt only a faint sadness as I recognized the waste of potential. No, my ill feelings came from a vague realization that it most likely wasn’t Mirabel that was stalking these woods. With a fresh perspective, I looked around the clearing. Sure enough, now I was looking for it I recognized the depressions in the earth weren’t at all natural. Something very large, perhaps larger than Mirabel had been here and wreaked some havoc on these travelers.
