by DM Fike
Guntram agreed, but instead of accompanying me to the lodge, he told me to meet up for training at noon. He then took his own modest veggie and fruit plate into the library. He’d been obsessed with researching sigils lately, although for what purpose, I wasn’t entirely sure. He hadn’t taught me anything new for a while, and he hadn’t shown off any new tricks with the boobrie that I noticed. I chucked his odd behavior into the “forget about it” category along with all his other annoying habits.
Noon came and went, and Guntram still hadn’t shown his face. Well, if he had better things to do, so did I. I made a beeline for the homestead border, checking the sky for one of Guntram’s kidama ravens to follow me. To my surprise, I didn’t see a single one, not even hopping on the library roof itself. This gave me pause. Guntram’s birds always hung around like an annoying alarm system. Their absence meant Guntram must have ordered them to do something else for him, but what could that be?
I shook my head in disdain. Oh well. At least I could travel to Carol and Dennis’s store in peace. I didn’t want to be out of lightning pith again for the next battle.
The store was only a hop, skip, and a wisp channel away. Carol and Dennis were an older couple who maintained one of those dingy pitstops out along a rural wooded highway. Catering to mostly locals and desperate outdoorsmen, the gravel parking lot stood empty as usual. I pushed past its grimy glass door to find no one behind the register, but a deep smoker’s voice drifted from the back storage room.
“Be right there!” Dennis called.
“No rush!” I replied, heading toward the general supplies tucked on the opposite side of the store. An old fluorescent light flickered on and off above me, accentuating that post-apocalyptic vibe. “It’s just me, Ina.”
Since Dennis had noticed my recent AA battery investments, he’d ordered a ton more and left the open case out on the shelf. I found a crumpled set of dollar bills in my pocket and sighed. I had enough money left to buy a set of AAs but none left over for a pop.
The sting of caffeine withdrawal soured my mood as Dennis came out to collect my cash. He raised an eyebrow at my paltry purchase. “What? No drink?”
I picked up the loose coins he gave to me as change. “Not unless this buys me one.” I plopped them into the “take a penny” dish.
To my surprise, Dennis scooped the coins out and counted them out. “29 cents. It’s close enough for a 35-cent refill at the self-serve machines.”
“Really?” I asked, already eying my favorite brand of diabetic-inducing delight. “I thought you needed a reusable container for that.”
Dennis waved me on. “Bah. Get yourself a small paper cup. Fill ’er up. We’ll call it even.”
“Thanks,” I beamed, my faith in humanity restored. I downed a cherry cola, rinsed it out in the bathroom sink, and even threw the paper cup away in the recycling bin. Score one for me.
“Bye, Dennis,” I called as he fiddled with the tobacco products behind the counter. “Say ‘hi’ to Carol for me.”
He grunted something in reply. Had I not been distracted, I might have understood him. But as I stepped back outside into the parking lot, my eyes caught something that made my heart skip a beat.
Rolling off the freeway came a familiar silver Subaru. I knew even before the ebony-haired driver with sunglasses opened the driver’s side door who it was. I faltered, my back against the store’s entrance, looking for a place to bolt, but the car had me pinned with nowhere to go.
I either had to throw magic at game warden Vincent Garcia or suffer through a conversation with him.
Vincent removed his sunglasses, revealing vulnerable dark eyes. “Ina.”
I folded my arms, an obstacle against him and a balm for my shaking hands. “What are you doing here, Garcia? You said you’d quit bothering me.”
“So, you did get my text. Why didn’t you reply?”
“I’ve been busy. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“You’re right,” he replied sheepishly. “It’s not. If you don’t want to see me, I understand. I’m simply relieved that you’re okay. I swear I’ll leave you alone now.”
An awkward silence fell between us. I took a few steps around him, and Vincent didn’t come any closer. In fact, he backed off, hands in the air like a hostage victim.
I should have walked away. I’d already decided to ghost him for good, and there wasn’t anything left to say.
Except I couldn’t end it like this, with Vincent brooding as if I’d kicked his puppy. Besides, a detail of his arrival nagged at me.
“You drove hours from the coast just to check if I was here?”
“I was going to leave you some cash with the owners. If you came by later to claim it, then I’d know you were alive.”
Wow. I had no idea he was that worried. “But you saw me escape from the fire. You knew I was fine.”
He shook his head. “Too many other bizarre things are happening in my jurisdiction. Two unpredictable wind storms, one outside Florence and one within city limits. They have nature wizard written all over them. A camera at the golf course caught footage of a woman about your build wearing a hoodie enter the area as the wind hit hurricane levels. Unfortunately, the storm damaged the camera soon afterwards, and there was no evidence that the same woman ever left.” His hands had turned to fists at his side, and he couldn’t quite look at me. “I didn’t know if you’d made it out.”
Oh, man. Had the situation been reversed, I’d have freaked out too. Swallowing, I said, “Well, you don’t have to worry. I’m fine. The situation is taken care of.”
That didn’t quite allay Vincent’s fears. “The camera did catch one other person. A blond male in track pants and a T-shirt. He entered the golf course before the winds started. He looked fine entering but left a mess.” His eyes shot up at me, full of accusation. “This wouldn’t happen to be the same ‘harmless hiker’ who visited you in the hospital, would it?”
And right there, he had to ruin the moment. “Was this whole ‘concerned’ act a jealousy play against Rafe all along?”
“Is that his name? ‘Rafe?’”
Why couldn’t I have a filter between my mouth and my brain? “Why do you care?”
Vincent pleaded with arms outstretched. “Something’s not right with that guy. You need to be careful around him.”
“Why? Because I chose him over you?”
Vincent flinched. “Because of his movements on that tape. He was slinking around like a prowler before the winds started. That’s not the actions of someone on the up-and-up.”
“He was stalking a golem,” I shot back. “Something of which you know absolutely nothing about.”
Vincent closed the distance between us in two strides before I realized his intent. “Please, Ina.” His fingers grazed mine. “Be careful around this guy. He’s not all that he seems.”
“And you are?” I slapped him away, hopping over to the side. “You’ve put location devices on me twice, act like a stalker, and then tell me to worry about the guy who’s never pulled any of that BS.”
“I’m sorry,” Vincent tried to apologize, but I didn’t hear him out. I took off like a startled deer.
I half-expected Vincent to follow me, and when he didn’t, it fueled my rage even more than if he’d tried. I jumped through the wisp channel and immediately upon the other side screamed, “Who does that guy think he is?”
It didn’t calm my mixed emotions, but it did scare a group of poor bunnies, who scrambled away from me, the crazy shepherd wailing in the middle of the forest.
CHAPTER 7
I STILL FELT like punching something when I arrived at the homestead, not the best mood for training. Guntram, already unhappy that I’d slipped away, noticed. Halfway through some basic earth sigils, I accidentally buried Fechin scavenging for worms. After freeing the poor squawking bird, Guntram muttered something under his breath about feminine problems.
As the hour ticked on, more kidama ravens returned in a decent-sized fl
ock. Guntram finally released me from duty in order to talk to them. Several perched on his cloaked shoulders, cawing in sharp bursts as they communicated telepathically. Whatever they discussed, Guntram’s scowl intensified. He threw a few birds back into the air, where they disintegrated like a cloud of locusts to the west.
And so, the next few days progressed like an old lady driving on the freeway, slow and obnoxious. I shoved Vincent’s behavior out of my mind as life settled into a routine. I went to bed early so I could steal away to Rafe’s for an hour in the dead of night. He slowly regained his strength from the air golem attack, insisting that I be ready for the next to appear. Three nights in a row, I anticipated a fight with some vaettur or golem but went home full of unspent adrenaline.
I focused that nervous energy on daily training at the homestead, which ended up not doing me any good. Guntram had decided I must master the open earth sigil, so I wasted a decent chunk of time locked up in a prison of dirt, struggling to get free. Then he wondered why my mood slowly soured over the course of those days.
Good times.
Speaking of impatience at getting nowhere fast, the kidama ravens reported back to Guntram once or twice a day. They apparently never told my augur what he wanted to hear because he always sent some back on their search with increasing ire. On the third evening, he cursed as he stomped around the kitchen making tea.
I made a plate of fresh mountain berries and cheese that Sipho had made from a visit to the mountain goats on nearby Mt. Jefferson for Guntram. I hoped the beginning of summer, and thus more flavorful meals, would cheer him up. But no such luck as he barely touched his food and took his tea out to the library for another late night of sigil research.
I was still musing about Guntram’s behavior that night when I visited Rafe. “You know a lot about shepherds, right?” I asked as we strolled through the forest behind the motel. He’d recovered well enough for a walk.
“I suppose,” he hedged. “Why do you ask?”
“You remember Guntram, my augur?”
Rafe stopped dead in his tracks. “Yes?”
I stared at the fingerflame burning in my hand so we could see in the dark. “He’s obsessed with sigil research, but I don’t understand why. There’s no active vaettur threat, besides the ones coming through the weird portals. But we banish those, right? What could he be doing?”
Rafe folded his arms, deep in thought. “He could be studying how to dissipate the golems that will follow.”
“But he never saw the air golem,” I pointed out.
Rafe’s eyes narrowed. “He must realize, like I do, what’s to come.”
“I guess that does make sense.” I rubbed my neck with my free hand. “I wonder what’ll happen when he realizes no air golem will ever show up.”
Rafe latched onto my shoulder, his grip tight. “You must tread carefully here, Ina. You can’t let the other shepherds get to the golems first.”
I couldn’t understand his sudden intensity. “Why?”
“Because they’ll wonder what happened to the fire and air golems. They’ll find out about me. After all I’ve done to help you, I don’t want to be shut out now.”
I skirted out of his reach. “It’s okay, Rafe, really. I promise not to say anything. You’ll be fine.”
But Rafe wouldn’t let it go. He fretted with fists clenched at his side, swearing me up and down to secrecy about our plan. Even when I had to leave, he continued to obsess about the possibility that a shepherd might show up in Florence looking for him. He ranted about it as I teleported away from the hotel.
His distrust of my word put me in an even more foul mood. That’s why the next day, when the flock of ravens showed up right after breakfast, I decided not to just let it pass. Before Guntram finished imprinting with the one on his wrist, I tapped him on the shoulder.
“Where are you sending them off to?” I asked point blank.
Guntram paused, obviously torn about how to reply. I slouched, thinking he would choose his normal tight-lipped strategy, when he surprised me by saying, “To find more creatures connected to the boobrie.”
His direct approach startled me. “You’re looking for a golem?”
Guntram frowned. “How do you know that term?”
Whoops! I hated that Rafe might be right and I’d give him away. I scrambled for an excuse. “Azar mentioned them after we beat the fire golem.”
Guntram’s tense shoulders relaxed. “Then you might have noticed the fire golem appearing on the heels of the khalkotauroi. I anticipated the same to happen after the boobrie. An air golem should have appeared.”
I bit my lip. Rafe had been absolutely right. I maintained what I hoped would be a neutral expression and simply said, “Oh.”
Thankfully, Guntram didn’t notice my nervousness. “It’s been several days. One should have appeared by now, but my kidama insist that one has not shown itself.”
“Maybe we got lucky,” I offered, trying to get him to ease off the golem search without giving anything away. “Maybe it won’t come this time.”
Guntram sighed, a look of complete defeat on his face. “How I wish that were true, Ina. More than you know.”
The raven on his wrist must have sensed Guntram’s melancholy because she hopped up his arm to ram her head against his cheek. Ravens might not be considered the most affectionate of creatures, but they really loved Guntram.
My augur idly stroked her black feathers. “I wish I could explore the area myself.”
“Why don’t you?”
He gestured toward me. “Because we have training to do.”
I raised an eyebrow. “It’s not like we’re making awesome progress.”
“That is true.” Guntram paused to give the matter more thought.
I wanted Guntram to go. I worried about him sitting in the library night after night, the lines on his face deepening as he poured himself into more sigil research. Maybe, if he took a day or two to see with his own eyes that there was no air golem, he could let it go. At the very least, the change of scenery would do him some good.
“Fine,” Guntram relented, “but you must obey my every command to the letter. Golems are not like vaetturs and require complicated sigil work to banish.”
What? I didn’t mean to go with him on some wild goose chase. I held up my hands in surrender. “I was going to stay here on the homestead until you got back.”
But Guntram shook his head. “I told you, we have training to do. We might as well make the most of it and get in some lightning practice. You do have untapped batteries, do you not?”
Ugh. So, that was his play. Given how erratic lightning can be, we never practiced it on the homestead. Guntram always took me to some isolated location where taking down a tree or six wouldn’t hurt much. He figured we could accomplish two goals at once.
“Yes.” I sighed. “I’ve bought some new ones.”
“Then let’s get going,” Guntram proclaimed, his voice upbeat for the first time in days. Slinking behind his confident form, I marveled at my mouth’s capacity to always make things worse.
* * *
I collapsed in front of the campfire later, aching worse than a cowboy in a love song. Guntram hadn’t been kidding about the lightning practice. We’d spent the better part of two hours zapping away at trees that had been ravaged by a blight of beetles. I took pot shots at the barely living corpses of young birches, attempting to focus my energy on a specific target.
I failed each time. Miserably. I comforted myself by thinking I’d never had good lightning control, but I felt even more sluggish than normal. While I managed to nail a trunk here and there, most of my shots went wild. We had to stop at one point to put out a forest fire I’d inadvertently caused.
“You should be getting better at this,” Guntram grumbled as he executed water sigils to douse the fire. “But I swear you are getting even worse.”
“Yeah, well, tell me how I compare to all the other lightning shepherds, and then I’ll feel bad abou
t it.”
Now out of battery power, Guntram and I wandered around the coastal forests. Ravens scouted ahead, scouring for unnatural wind. Guntram understood enough about the golems’ behavior to search close to human towns, but he never stepped foot inside any of them. He stuck mostly to the outskirts, popping on either side of city boundaries using wisp channels.
Relief flooded over me when the sun set and we could finally settle down for the night. I had hoped we’d sleep at the homestead since it was only an hour’s walk away, but Guntram declared we’d camp for the night instead to save us the return trip in the morning.
We both drew water sigils from the surrounding humidity to drink fresh mouthfuls of dew. Once hydrated, Guntram laid out two enchanted handkerchiefs full of food. To my delight, I discovered little dollops of cream on top of the berries, magically cooled within the confines of the cloth.
“Is this from the same goat’s milk that Sipho used for the cheese?”
“It is.” Guntram chewed on a wild strawberry. “Enjoy.”
We settled into quiet contemplation. With the kembar stone tucked away at the lodge, I wouldn’t be visiting Rafe tonight. A twinge of guilt struck me as I imagined him staying up all night, waiting for me to arrive.
And then there was Guntram. I wished I’d never mentioned searching for the golem. It felt worse than lying somehow, a grand deception that made Guntram into a fool. My only consolation is that I intended to help my augur, not hurt him. And even though I wanted to shout out my contribution to the whole golem fiasco, I’d stay silent and let the rest of the shepherds believe they’d handled it all for the sake of appearances.
I wondered how long we would search for something that would never materialize. “What will you do if we can’t find the golem?”
“There’s nothing to be done. It either appears or it doesn’t.”
This ran contrary to what Rafe claimed. “I thought they always appeared after a weird breach.”
“There’s no guarantee of that.” Guntram threw me a grumpy stare. “Not that you’re supposed to know much about them anyway.”
