by Phil Stern
Well, the Haven girls had followed her this far, and were unlikely to give up now. Sighing, Adrina leaned against the car, patiently waiting for her pursuers to show up.
*****
Concentrating intently on the ruby witch some distance ahead, Danni sensed her sudden burst of speed and turn. “The bitch has definitely made us,” she sighed from the passenger seat.
“How is that possible?” Pulling around an old man in the right lane, Amber hit the gas. “I thought their magic wasn’t as sensitive as ours.”
“Who are you to talk about sensitive?” Grinning, Danni continued to tightly hold her earth stone. “Now she’d stopped. I think she’s on foot again.”
“Hmmm.” Slowing down again, Amber frowned. “So what do we do?”
Now cruising by some low-rent apartment buildings, they both glanced over to see the rear of Adrina’s car flash by, still parked in the alley some distance in from the main road.
“Turn around,” Danni urged. “We need to go in there. She may lead us to a ruby safe house or something.”
“We’re not supposed to make contact. Just follow and watch.”
“That’s all we’re doing,” Danni replied. “Just following and watching.”
Doing an illegal u-turn, Amber cruised back the other way, then carefully turned into the lane between buildings. Adrina’s car was a hundred yards ahead, with some bum poking at the trunk. Drifting forward for a bit, they finally came to a halt a hundred feet away.
“She’s around here somewhere,” Danni said. “I can still feel her.”
“So can I.” Amber really wished they’d been allowed to bring Coven Sticks to Earth. So what if it was a mundane dimension? But obviously, Eleanor wanted to remove any temptation to get into trouble. “So we check it out?”
“Sure.” Pausing a moment, Danni then nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Shutting off the engine, they exited the vehicle on either side, slowly advancing on the ruby witch’s car.
*****
Now cloaked in an invisibility spell, Adrina just watched her two antagonists approach. They were all alone now, the homeless people having wisely fled at the approach of the second car.
Well, even these Haven girls must know she’s around here somewhere. Stepping out of her own magical aura into full view, the ruby witch casually dropped the medallion onto the ground behind the front of the car. Immediately morphing into the hissing black cat, it then slunk around to the right rear tire, crouching and waiting.
Rocking to a halt, both Amber and Danni put hands to their earth stones. So they were nervous? All the better.
“Why are you here?” Adrina demanded, sauntering a few steps closer. “This dimension is closed off to any reinforcements from both covens.”
“We could ask the same thing of you.” Warily drifting a few feet to her left, Amber put a little distance between herself and Danni. “We saw you enter an apartment back in the center of the city. What were you doing?”
Thinking quickly, Adrina just smiled. “Oh, you mean Tiffany’s place? Why, I was just saying hi, that’s all.”
Danni frowned. “You know Tiffany?”
“Oh, sure. We’re old friends.”
Briefly glancing at each other, the two Haven sorceresses now seemed even more uncertain. “You should leave Earth now,” Amber declared. “We can escort you to a direct contact point with Zarth.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Regretfully, Adrina shook her head. “This is such a beautiful dimension.”
Taking a deep breath, Danni began gathering her power. “Listen. If you don’t leave peacefully, then we...”
With the merest mental flick, Adrina sent a tiny ruby pulse out to her medallion. Instantly, the waiting cat leapt up onto the top of the car’s trunk, launching itself through the air at an unsuspecting Danni with a wild yowl.
At the same time, the Leven operative smoothly pulled out her handgun and fired three rounds at Amber. With commendable reflexes, the Haven sorceress erected a personal shield in time to harmlessly incinerate the glowing ruby rounds, though Adrina would have deliberately missed if she’d been slow.
Turning on her heel, the Zarth native raced away from her two stunned opponents, quickly disappearing deep into the alley.
The cat, however, remained behind. Shrieking and raging, the wild feline managed to inflict several deep scratches on Danni’s face and neck before the sorceress desperately flung it up against the near wall. Far from chastened, the maniacal beast merely dropped down to the broken pavement and charged anew.
This time, the bleeding blonde caught the leaping beast by the neck. The cat’s face now spit and snarled at Danni from just above her closed fist, it’s thrashing body hanging down vertically below.
But that state of affairs only lasted for a mere moment. Pumping a thunderous surge of earth fire into the cat’s neck, the medallion overloaded and exploded within Danni’s black-gloved hand.
Yet this only made things worse. Molten ruby magic instantly peppered Danni’s upper body, with one large cinder barely missing her left eye. Screaming, the sorceress covered her face with both hands, her own magic now battling the residual ruby power for supremacy.
All thoughts of pursuing Adrina abandoned, Amber helped her Coven-mate extinguish the last vestiges of ruby magic, using an all-purpose magical salve to cover the worst of her slashes and burns. Hustling her back into their car, the two young women raced off for the nearest Boundary portal and Haven, where Danni could get proper medical attention.
Two minutes later Adrina nonchalantly strolled out of the alley, getting into her car and proceeding towards the cabin owned by Blake’s family in New York State.
*****
At almost the same exact moment, Blake took the last exit off the highway in Pennsylvania. Heading west for an hour on the back roads, he finally drove up to the old inn house. As agreed, the establishment was empty, with a sign reading “Closed For Season” on the front door.
Knowing that either the Haven or Zarth witches might be after him once Tiffany’s sister made her appearance, Blake had rented this place with cash, no questions asked, a week before. It was here that they hoped to ease Valensa out of her ruby stone addiction and into...well, something else.
Blake’s property up in New York was merely a passive diversion. Presumably, anyone pursuing him out of Philadelphia would surely continue over the state border to check his family’s rural cabin first. With that in mind, Tiffany had arranged a nasty surprise for any ruby visitors who might drop by there unannounced.
Just how nasty, Blake wasn’t sure. Before he’d even thought to ask, Tiffany was off to Haven for some big “conclave” attended by her entire coven.
By now Valensa had drifted off into a violent, dreamlike state, thrashing and moaning every so often in the back seat. Pulling around to the rear of the inn, Blake quickly hustled the unsteady young woman inside, settling her down on a bed within a first floor room.
Then, feeling quite ridiculous, he grabbed a shovel and pulled out Tiffany’s hand-drawn map. Wandering outside once more, he somehow matched the terrain to his crude guide, soon finding the right spot.
Still, he spent the next hour digging nearly a dozen holes within the tiny area. Thus, it was with nearly indescribable relief that Blake finally felt the shovel slam into the lead box. Ten minutes later he’d unearthed it completely, holding the heavy container in both hands.
Carefully carrying his treasure inside, Blake put the box on the table in the large first floor kitchen. Staring at it for almost a minute, he finally lifted up the top. Inside, resting on a lining of rich, green velvet, was an earth stone. Without setting or necklace, the raw rock still seemed imbued with both an odd majesty and unmistakable power.
Hesitating the merest moment, he then picked up the inert magical talisman. Of course it did nothing unusual, merely feeling cold and hard to the touch. What had he expected? Inter-dimensional portals to open before his very eyes? After all, he’d unwitti
ngly handled Tiffany’s earth stone many times, without incident, before he was aware of it’s true nature.
“Get a grip,” Blake mumbled, tiredly rubbing his eyes. Still, Tiffany really should be taking care of this herself. She said she’d probably be back...
From the first bedroom he heard Valensa moan and kick the wall. Dopy with fatigue, Blake actually jumped up from the chair and spun around, reaching for his service weapon. Breathing heavily for several moments, he then slowly sat back down again, forcing himself to relax.
Well, for whatever reason his magical girlfriend was still gone, and it was all up to him. Feigning confidence he didn’t quite feel, Blake tightly gripped the earth stone, rose from the table, and walked a few steps out of the kitchen down the hallway. Grabbing the door handle, he then swiftly entered Valensa’s room.
Tiffany’s sister was just as he’d left her on the bed, though she seemed even paler and wilder than before. Without question, her withdrawal symptoms were increased. Even as Blake hesitated, Valensa’s thrashing left arm sent the small table lamp crashing to the floor.
Well, it was now or never. Darting over, Blake placed the earth stone on the side table, right where the lamp had been. Then, after checking that the window was securely locked, he retreated back through the open doorway to watch.
For half-a-minute nothing happened. Then the stone let out a tiny green glow, soon followed by another. Valensa, still in her demented state, seemed to stiffen. Her eyes sightlessly popping open, Tiffany’s sister vacantly stared up at the ceiling, mumbling incoherently.
Quickly shutting and locking Valensa’s door, Blake uncertainly crossed back into the kitchen. Thoughtfully closing the lead box, he then just waited. A minute after that the screaming began, Valensa’s voice nearly cracking in rage and pain.
Greatly disturbed, Blake wandered back outside to look up at the evening sky. Never before had he felt so far out of his element. Even Tiffany was uncertain of how Valensa would respond to what they were doing, though she tried to pretend otherwise. Well, they’d soon know, one way or the other.
But he really, really wished Tiffany would come back to Earth and help out. Blake had no idea what she was doing right now, but it certainly couldn’t be as important as saving her own sister.
CHAPTER SIX
MOST WITCHES HATED the sensation of falling through open space, the relentless pull of gravity and wild velocity making them feel helpless and out of control. Short jumps were all right, if one needed to quickly descend from a tree or low building. Actually, some of the Coven’s recent facilities in Vail and other worlds might even require such leaps, though only in an emergency.
But much like cats detesting water, a typical Haven sorceress despised long falls. Somehow, even with all their power comfortably in reserve, it just never felt right.
Of course, with proper training and preparation, such things were well within their abilities. Indeed, a drop from low orbit was actually required of all candidate sorceresses before achieving full-fledged operational status. Groups of three or four were taken up in a small spacecraft, as if on some sightseeing excursion. Then, once everyone had properly admired the view, they were summarily kicked out of an airlock over a low-gravity moon.
There had been accidents, to be sure. One girl had forgotten to raise her magical shield before hitting the thin atmosphere, suffering severe burns. Another had perished on the surface, slamming into the soft ground way too hard and breaking her neck. There had been many other lesser incidents, far too numerous to mention.
Thus, the program was not without controversy. Yet knowing how to escape an orbiting spacecraft was only one of many skills that could well save an operative’s life.
Indeed, now that all of the outer worlds had been opened to the entire Coven, it was impossible to predict which threats a young witch might encounter on any given day. Nerves and adaptability were even more crucial to long-term survival. So if a girl wasn’t up to facing anything the universe had to throw at them, it was better to know right away. Otherwise not only she, but some of her unsuspecting Coven-mates as well, might not ever make it back to Haven.
Almost alone among her sisters, Tiffany Smith reveled in the sensation of free-fall. She’d done the moon jump a record four times, on the last occasion deliberately hitting the atmosphere flush and bouncing up into space again. Nearly running out of oxygen (two minutes, she’d discovered, was an awfully long time to hold your breath), Tiffany had then triumphantly plunged back down into the moon’s air. Wildly zooming downward, she’d whizzed right through a formation of three tentative newbies. Bestowing each of the shocked girls with a cheery wave, Tiffany had magically caught herself just before hitting the moon’s surface far below.
Obviously, this type of uncontrolled descent was a very bad example to set, but sometimes things need to be done with a certain flair. At least, Tiffany liked to think so.
Politely waiting for the new girls on the ground, they’d then all hiked together to the rally point three miles off. And while the training officer that day had said nothing directly to Tiffany, her request two months later to participate in a fifth jump had been denied. Apparently the Coven Council had tired of her antics.
But free-falling into unknown terrain, by yourself, in the midst of a combat environment? That was something entirely new, even by Tiffany’s standards.
Plummeting down into the valley separating Peth’s two continents, Tiffany initially pulled her legs up into a tight ball. She still hadn’t made any attempt to slow her own descent, letting gravity simply have its way.
By now two black-robed crones had slunk up out of the tree line far below, flitting around on their broomsticks halfway between Orly’s Bridge and the ground itself. They must have some camp down there, Tiffany thought. Hopefully that’s where she’d find Solia.
If she was alive at all. Her fellow sorceress might have been knocked out or badly wounded in the hag’s initial attack, in which case she’d surely plunged down to her death. In any event, Tiffany would soon find out.
The broomstick-riding sentinels soon spotted her, racing up to intercept. Now forming a strong shield around herself, Tiffany extended her arms and legs, body now parallel to the ground, facing downward. This would allow her to “sail” one way or the other through the air, using her own limbs as rudders.
Surprised at both the brunette’s velocity and manoeuverability, the cackling witches only scored glancing hits on Tiffany’s shield as she zoomed past. However, the Haven sorceress now twirled about to face upward, releasing a cogent wave of energy back up at her attackers. One hag was knocked out cold, dropping lifelessly from her broomstick, while the other was severely buffeted about. Oddly satisfied with yet another crone kill, Tiffany rotated back down again, potent magic coalescing throughout her own body.
At this point the ground was much, much closer. Her earth stone nearly throbbing with green energy, Tiffany now sent a compact shaft of earth fire stabbing straight downward. Roaring into the murky, swampy forest, half of the power swept outward in a destructive wave, creating an almost perfect circle of scorched, cleared land. The other half of her energy rebounded straight back up into Tiffany’s own shield.
Obviously, this wasn’t Tiffany’s preferred style. But daintily drifting down to land within the dark, native landscape might simply trigger a crone trap. Dropping right into a vat of quicksand was another possibility. At this point raw power seemed the only way to go.
That is, if she didn’t break her own neck. The returning surge of earth fire savagely arrested Tiffany’s downward inertia with enough force to actually fling her back upward for twenty feet. Her body wrenched in ten different directions at once, the stunned young sorceress soon found herself lazily spiraling down again towards her own magically-crystalized landing pad.
Still, the ferocious velocity of her initial plunge had been broken. Magically compensating for this new, much lower fall, Tiffany lightly touched down within the exact center of the charred and
blackened ring. Immediately dropping into a crouch, she intently scanned the still-flaming border of the cleared circle for enemies.
Nothing came out of the shadowy forest to challenge her, though that might change at any moment. Casting an invisibility spell, Tiffany quickly made her way to the edge of the hollowed out dish, plunging through flickering flames into the swamp beyond.
Climbing up onto a dry rock fifty feet into the marshy woods, she magically scanned the surrounding area. An earth stone was a quarter-mile in one direction, her Coven Stick nearly an equal distance the other way. Clearing her mind, Tiffany concentrated first on the Coven Stick, sending out a magical pulse containing a definite mental image. Receiving its responding signal back, she then set out on foot for Solia.
It only took five minutes for the Coven Stick to reach her, flying down through the trees in the form of a battle hawk. Landing on an overhead branch, it shifted back into a basic rod shape and dropped down into her outstretched hand. Tucking the weapon inside her belt, Tiffany continued on her way.
It would have been nearly impossible for a non-magical being to traverse the swampy area. However, Tiffany utilized impossibly long, powerful leaps to jump onto rocks, logs, tree branches, and other sturdy roosts. At times the quicksand pits grumbled and burbled underneath her black boots, clearly disappointed that she was escaping their grasp. One particularly bold pit actually extended a sandy tendril to swipe at Tiffany’s exposed legs, but a burst of energy promptly kept it in line. Confidently keeping up the pace, the sorceress made decent time to a general rise in the middle of the swamp.
Solia’s stone was only a hundred yards away, somewhere on this dry, quasi-island of normal forest. Hoping she was alone and unharmed, Tiffany pushed onward along a narrow trail.
