Forged in Fire

by J. A. Pitts

  Inside the building I found most of the pallets set up in the middle of the great room still held the wounded. Family and friends tended to them. Those physically wounded had all gone back to their lives, but those who had suffered spiritual damage battling the ghosts and wraiths remained. They were whole, unscathed to the naked eye, but their spirits had been damaged, some severely. Riven from their bodies, Skella’s grandmother, Unun, had explained.

  “Their spirits will find their way home,” she’d assured me when we first arrived after the battle. “He’s a good boy. He’ll come back to us.”

  She meant Gletts, of course. Skella’s brother and her grandson. He’d fallen protecting Skella, Katie, Melanie, and Ari as they tried to escape the battle.

  A spirit in the form of a Tyrannosaurus rex had attacked him. He saved the others but fell, his spirit damaged or fled.

  I bowed when I stood before Unun. She bathed Gletts, wiping down his lithe limbs with a gentle touch.

  “You needed something from me?” she asked, not taking her attention from her grandson.

  “Knowledge,” I answered. “I would ask if you could help me understand something, some magic I wish to perform willfully.”

  She glanced at me, then to Skella. “What do you know of this, Granddaughter?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “She’s my friend. She asked to speak to you, but she did not go into details as to why. I expect that she has a good reason for seeking answers.”

  Unun studied her a moment more, then turned her gaze upon me. “It is rare that one of your race has a need for what you call magic that goes beyond seeking power or revenge.”

  Except for Qindra and Justin, I didn’t know anyone else who used magic. I’d have to take her word for it. “Fair enough. Let me explain what I need and you can decide if you deem me worthy of your time.”

  She nodded, motioning Skella to take her place at Gletts’s side.

  Skella moved there and raised her eyebrows at me once she was behind Unun. I smiled and diverted my attention to the old elf.

  “Walk with me,” Unun said.

  We left the building and walked around to a large garden full of covered beds. Harvest had been a month earlier, and the soil had been tilled and covered for the spring planting.

  “You saved us and have been kind to my granddaughter,” she began. “But I am not pleased with the cell phone you have given her, nor the method of her employment with you and your clan.”

  Blunt enough. “We are protecting the world from the same spirits that wounded Gletts.” It was mostly true. Protecting seemed a bit of a stretch. More like watching so we could react if something happened.

  She thought on this a moment and nodded. “We will set that aside for now. Tell me of this magic you seek.”

  We walked among the orderly garden, and I told her of the times I’d gone walkabout. I didn’t sugarcoat any of it, but left out the parts that didn’t matter, like how I’d gotten myself into trouble with a couple of rough cowboys. But I explained how I’d been dog drunk the first time I went astral. Then I explained about the time Skella and Gletts came to our hotel room, having poisoned Katie and me. Finally, I ended up with Anezka’s place, the house of horrors, where I’d been sucked from my body and down to the hidden cavern.

  “You see,” I said. “Each time, I’d been influenced by other things. I want to go walkabout on purpose. I think if I can learn this, I can cleanse the ley line that runs under Chumstick. This is a good thing, right? Better for all of us.” It would also allow me to free Qindra and stop the house from being a collector for horrible energy. Somehow, I knew Justin was going to use that like a battery to perform some significant magic that we would all regret.

  “I may be able to help you,” Unun said. She had her hands folded in front of her as she walked, looking totally like a monk or something. She exuded peace and tranquility. I, on the other hand, must have glowed like a roman candle.

  “Let us go back to the infirmary and gather some herbs we’ll be needing,” she said. “We are familiar with a similar magic. One not unlike how Skella and Gletts travel the mirrors.”

  I hadn’t put the connection together quite that way, but it was an interesting thought. We walked around the garden one last time. I tried to keep my thoughts mellow, my actions cool, but I was anxious, jumpy. If I could make this work … holy crap. This could change things, big time.

  When we finally walked back to the infirmary I was about out of my head with anticipation.

  “This will take awhile,” Unun said. “And I would appreciate it if you were not here while I work. Your presence agitates me.”

  Wow, that was harsh.

  “How long do you need?” Skella asked.

  “A few hours. You are as bad as she is,” Unun said. “I will be done when I am done. One cannot rush this type of thing. Honestly, do either of you ever breathe?”

  Skella grinned at me as Unun worked her way through the infirmary. She spoke with everyone she passed, even placed her hands on the wounded, giving each a moment’s concentration, praying maybe.

  “Come on,” Skella said when she noticed I was fretting over the delay. “Let’s go someplace else.”

  “I thought you had to stay with Gletts,” I said.

  “Oh, right.” She pouted, the young girl she really was coming through the goth makeup and the stoic demeanor.

  “I’ll call Rolph,” I suggested. “See about meeting him for dinner somewhere. Then I’ll come back here. Sound okay?”

  It was early. Likely Rolph wouldn’t be able to go out for a couple more hours, but Unun had an air about her that told me she was not rushing anything. Partly to teach me a lesson, I was fairly sure.

  “I’ll call you when I’m done. That okay?”

  She shrugged. “Sure. I’ll just go back to singing to Gletts. He seems to like it.”

  She had a lovely voice. I’d heard her sing on several occasions. I stood to the side as she began a quiet tune of coming home. I let myself out, crossed the village and went into the woods where I’d entered on several previous occasions. I could leave, but I’d need a guide to get back.

  By the time I’d made my way out to the edge of Stanley Park it was getting closer to dark.

  Rolph was finally over his flu and agreed to meet me for dinner. He gave me the name of a local Thai place he liked, and I grabbed a cab. I hadn’t seen the guy in a few months. And with Juanita down in Bellingham with her sister, I bet he needed some company about now.

  Thirty

  Rolph and I weren’t exactly friends in the truest since. He had tried to wound me once. I’d have said kill, but I had the feeling if he meant me dead, I’d be dead. The sword Gram was his obsession. Had been since he’d reforged it several hundred years ago as a child, after the dragon we know as Frederick Sawyer had wiped out his village back in the old country. These days it’s called Sweden.

  Rolph had quested for Gram ever since it left his possession. I had no idea how he’d lost it. When he’d forged it from the shards of the original sword he’d done a bad job. The blade had not been as strong as it should have been and the magic—the spirit—hadn’t been there.

  Not until I reforged it this past spring. While I’d repaired the physical blade, I’d somehow managed to imbue it with the magic it had once possessed. Gram was a dragon-slaying blade, and she’d claimed me more than I’d claimed her.

  Rolph was jealous. He coveted Gram beyond reason. Of course he wanted to kill Frederick Sawyer for killing his family. But there was also the fact that he was a dwarf and dwarves covet things of power. It was in their nature.

  He was better than some dwarves I’d met, so in the end he managed to fight his instincts. He respected my smithing and weapon skills, especially after I’d killed the dragon Jean-Paul. So we were at a truce: common enemies, common obsessions. Enemy of my enemy and all that.

  He was a good guy, overall. I just wouldn’t trust him with the family jewels.

  The Thai place was
packed, but they turned the tables quickly. We got a place in the back, and he ordered beers for us. I’d never had Thai beer, but he knew what to order.

  The meal was delicious and the beer adequate, if a little too light for my taste. We settled back and ordered a third round of beers while we exchanged news.

  While he was seriously worried about Juanita, she was doing well. It was sweet to see him fuss about it. He even had pictures of her on his cell phone. The six months or so since she and Rolph had been together had been good for her. She looked thinner and oh so much happier than when she was hanging out with the actor JJ as one of his three regular hookups. Here she had one man’s attention and seemed to have blossomed for it.

  “You’re going to be a papa,” I said, holding my beer up to toast him. “May you have a happy and healthy family.”

  We clinked bottles, and he drained his in one long pull. “Skoal,” he said when he slammed the empty bottle onto the table.

  Rolph had been my first “other” friend. He came out to me in the spring, let me know that he was a dwarf, helped me forge the sword. He had all kinds of inside knowledge into this world. No reason not to pump him for info on the whole astral-project thing.

  He was patient, listened to me ramble about the other times, some I’d discussed with him before, but he let me find my way through the telling. Helped sometimes, repeating things, finding connections.

  “This walkabout, as you call it. Will you try to reach the witch this way?”

  “Yes,” I told him. “That bastard Justin is out there killing women and horses, looking for me. And all the time more spirits are drawn to Anezka’s place, collecting like a huge battery.”

  “Interesting thought,” he said. “Perhaps he is planning an extraordinary spell of some sort, something that will utilize that much power.”

  “That’s my thought. Can you imagine what he’d be trying?”

  He shrugged and flagged down a waitress. “Two more?” he asked me as she came over.

  “Sure, why not. I’m not driving.”

  He grinned and ordered a couple more beers. At the last second he added crab wontons. The man liked to eat.

  “I think you should be careful,” he advised. “The house traps spirits. You in walkabout would be a spirit, would you not?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll need to go slowly. Test the waters. Maybe do a couple trial runs where someone can wake me and pull me back into my body.”

  “Is that possible?”

  Good question. Not like I had much experience at any of this. “I’ll test that, too.”

  The last beer and wontons vanished and Rolph still hadn’t asked about Gram. I took that as a good sign.

  “I spoke with someone in the king’s organization,” he said, peeling the label off a beer bottle. “You are known to them.”

  “How so?”

  “They were once part of Jean-Paul’s organization. I am not sure in what capacity, but they had no love for him. As a matter of fact, they feel a debt of gratitude to you for ridding the world of his vile depredation.”

  “That sounds promising.”

  He nodded. “They consider you a liberator. A hero of the realm, as it were.”

  “Cool. I think maybe I should meet this King of Vancouver.”

  Rolph thought on it long and hard. I let him have his space, waiting with hands crossed on the table in front of me, emulating Unun in her patience.

  “They offered me certain opportunities as a compatriot of yours,” he said at last. “Some I would have been more than willing to explore before Juanita found she was with child.”

  “Being a dad is serious business,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll do the right thing.”

  He sat back, pushing the wonton plate away. “I have to take many things into consideration. My life span is different from your kind. It concerns me that I will outlive Juanita and perhaps the child.”

  “Will this child not carry your traits as well? Including life span, at least living longer than my folks, for example?”

  “I do not know. And I believe that is the crux of my worry.”

  “Do you love her?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Of course.”

  “Then spend the time you have with her. Let her know how you feel and raise your child to be strong and open-minded.”

  The words seemed to settle him a bit. We paid the bill, and he hailed me a cab. Ever the gentleman. “Keep in touch,” I told him. “And let us know if there’s a baby shower or anything.”

  “Damn,” he swore. “Another thing I had not considered. Perhaps her sister can do this for her. Does that seem fair?”

  I patted him on the arm. “I’m sure the two of you can work it out, big guy.”

  The cab arrived. He held his hand out for me to shake, and on impulse I hugged him. I think it was because of how scared he seemed about the baby. I rarely hugged anyone.

  The look on his face was worth it, however.

  “Be safe,” he said to me, holding the cab door open. “I will be sure to send you any knowledge I can find about this necromancer.”

  Oh, right. I’d totally forgotten to ask. Too many competing thoughts.

  “Please do,” I said after the door was shut and I rolled down the window. “He’s a crazy one. Watch your back.”

  He patted the side of the cab, and we pulled away. “Stanley Park,” I said, leaning back with my eyes closed. He was basically a good guy who had a hard life. I really did wish him the best.

  Now to see what Unun had cooked up for me.

  Thirty-one

  My meeting with Unun was short. She gave me the herbs, explained the proper way to prepare the tea, and shooed me on my way. I was in and out of the village in under fifteen minutes. I could really feel the love.

  Skella apologized when she dropped me off at the apartment. She was embarrassed. Katie was very polite to her, and I gushed about her help, so in the end she left happy. Katie, on the other hand, was pissed. “That took way longer than I thought,” she said. “I’ve been worried.”

  “I met with Rolph,” I said, as if that fixed everything. “We had dinner.”

  I looked over to see she’d cooked, of course. She had the skills. Tuna casserole was one of my favorites. I’d have it for lunch.

  “Did you eat?” I asked her.

  “No. I was worried about you.”

  I took her hands in mine and walked her to the table. “Then eat. I’ll tell you what happened while you were at school.”

  “Okay,” she said, sitting where I guided her. “Did you learn what you needed?”

  I explained what I’d learned from Rolph. She asked a few questions, and we discussed sending a gift to Juanita. Once we were cleaning up the dishes, I explained about my ideas for walkabout and what I’d learned from Unun. I was anxious to try the tea Unun had prepared for me.

  Katie was excited. This was right up her alley. She laughed as we made preparations for my first, deliberate walkabout. We moved the coffee table out of the middle of the living room and built a nest out of a sleeping bag, pillows, and blankets. That was for me. We made a bed for Katie on the couch. She got her guitar out so she could sing to me as I went to sleep.

  We lit several dozen candles around the room and cut off the lights. Unun had insisted on natural light. None of the fancy technological contraptions. I steeped a cup of tea from the blend she’d made for me—careful to follow the instructions precisely. The water had to be a certain temperature before I could pour it over the ball of loose tea I had in my cup. I could add no more than a teaspoon of sugar, and the tea must steep for exactly one hundred and fifty heartbeats. I think I got it right.

  Katie stopped singing long enough to whistle at me as I shimmied out of my jeans and panties, so I wiggled my rear end at her before stripping my shirt over my head.

  Once I was naked, I picked up the perfectly steeped tea and carried it to the nest. I sat with my legs crossed and blew on the tea to cool it.

&nb
sp; It was bitter despite the sugar. Luckily I only had to drink a few swallows for it to take effect. I guess I got about half the cup in me.

  Katie took the cup as I lay back. She pulled the blankets over me as sleep took me.

  In what felt like a split second, I was up and out of my body. I could see pretty well, and I was indeed walkabout. My body lay on the ground at my feet, my chest rising and falling in a very deep sleep. Totally cool. I wasn’t dizzy or lightheaded or anything that Unun warned me could happen.

  The entire world, or at least the apartment, was in black and white. Like an old movie. It was both cool and unsettling at the same time. That is until I turned around and saw Katie asleep on the couch.

  There, much to my delight and annoyance, was a colorful rainbow of light arcing from Katie’s sleeping form to my own. I felt like a commercial for the national GLBTQ campaign to prove that gay people love just as deeply as straight people.

  Frankly, I found the irony thick. I avoided rainbows in an effort to distance myself from the crusaders, and here was a vibrant manifestation of one.

  Then I noticed that the candles were burned down to stubs. Maybe it wasn’t as quick a transition as I’d thought.

  Just like the first three times, I had difficulty moving around. Unun had told me I could will myself into a direction if my mind was centered and my thoughts clear of distraction.

  That being the case, I hovered where I was for nearly fifteen minutes. I wasn’t sure how long the tea would last, or how long I could stay in this form, but I didn’t want to waste the time I had.

  Finally, I found the ability to move. I’d moved during my other walkabouts, but it was like swimming upstream through molasses. Here, I was just thinking I wanted to touch Katie, even though I couldn’t actually feel her. I wondered if she could feel me. And just like that, I found myself flowing across the room toward her. It was only three feet, but when you’ve been hovering in one spot, craning around, unable to move, three feet is like a miracle.