by Frank Hurt
Wallace, what grief did you just send me? Ember cleared her throat and explained, “the situation isn’t one of psychology or choice, Doctor Rout. Their animal subforms have become lodged in another dimension somehow. I thought Wallace would have given you my report on this?”
“Oh, I read it, I read it.” The old woman dropped her hand dismissively again. “Who can concentrate with an animal corpse clogging up her nostrils? Maybe you can, but some of us are used to civilization.”
Ember squinted at the woman. She sniffed the air one more time and caught a pungent aroma. She blinked and sniffed again as the scent of carcass entered her nostrils. The smell was coming from in back.
4
Completely Cocked Up
They were still waiting for the pilot car to arrive and lead them through the torn-up section of Highway 23. Ember unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over the center console to the plastic bucket she kept on the floorboard behind the passenger seat. Its lid was released allowing the stench to atomize freely in the cabin of the Highlander. She snapped the lid back down and returned to her seat without explanation.
Gloria peered at Ember for a full minute before she said, “I suppose you’re going to make me guess what that was? Is this your idea of a driving game?”
Ember grinned and brushed a wisp of blonde hair from her face. “They’re just pig ears. I buy them from a butcher shop and keep them in the car.”
“Right. Because that explains so much.”
“They’re snacks. For a friend.”
“Some friends you must have.” Gloria wrinkled her nose and waved a hand over her face. “I’ve never known anyone who would find such a rancid scent appealing.”
“They probably shouldn’t be stored in a vehicle in July,” Ember conceded, “but I don’t like showing up at my friend’s house empty-handed.”
“I thought you were taking me to see these injured changelings? Now you’re wanting to stop off on social calls?”
The pilot car had arrived, leading a parade of trucks and cars from the other end of the construction zone. Ember chuckled and put the Toyota in gear. “You’ll see.”
There were two more construction zones on the highway leading to the small town of Plaza. Alarik had warned her that North Dakota had two seasons: Winter and road construction. He told her there were back roads she could take—had even driven her on them back before she rented her own vehicle—but Ember wasn’t quite familiar enough to take the unmarked gravel roads. Where she grew up, nearly all roads were paved and hosted functional signage. Here, most locals navigated the route by referencing landmarks.
Doctor Rout never ran out of things to complain about. She may have been a competent Healer, but she wasn’t someone Ember would go out of her way to socialize with. Maybe Gloria will have luck healing them and be on her way back to Malvern Hills before the weekend.
The little, yellow house with the white picket fence on the outskirts of Plaza still had its patriotic decorations on display. The American flag danced in the late morning breeze, and the red-and-blue bunting around the white picket fence fluttered as though it was waving at passers-by. Ember waved back.
Her gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Gloria. “Who are you waving at? There’s nobody out, that I can see.”
Ember shrugged, a little self-conscious. “I like to wave at that cottage whenever I drive by. It’s a habit I guess.”
Gloria squinted at the driver. “You are quite a strange young lady.”
The doctor’s diagnosis wasn’t wrong. Ember could do nothing but nod; it’s difficult to argue against a blatant fact.
Half a dozen vehicles were parked in front of the house at the Schmitt family farm. Ember recognized four of them as belonging to members of the scouting parties sent in to explore the supposed industrial accident near Mandaree in 2001.
The family’s German Shepherd bounded for the new arrival, barking and wagging her tail happily. Ember helped Gloria out of the SUV before tending to the dog. “Hello, Lucky! Oh, what could you possibly want, I wonder? Could it be…this?” She opened the rear passenger door and selected a pig ear from the plastic pail. She made sure the lid was on tight before she turned to toss the treat into the air. Lucky caught the ear in her mouth and began running laps around the vehicle as Ember clapped and laughed.
“Your…friend is a dog.” Gloria shifted her weight to the cane and sighed. “A bred dog, at that. Bring my bag and let’s meet the patients.”
“A bred…you mean Lucky’s pregnant?” Ember looked at the dog, trying to see the evidence. She found none. “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure? Oh no, of course, I must be mistaken. I’ve only been a Healer for two centuries. But what do I know?”
Ember looked around the yard and into the sky with her eyes closed. She scanned for any sign of changeling spies—a recurring habit of awareness she acquired since she had been the target of reconnoitering in the recent past. She hadn’t noticed any new spies in the days since dispatching the last three earlier in the month. Brilliant, still no new tails.
The patriarch of the family, Ronald Schmitt, stepped down from the deck and gave Ember a hug. He shook Gloria’s hand when Ember introduced her. “Doctor Rout, thank you for coming all the way over here from Britain. We are eager to see if you can do anything to help my son and his friends.”
“I’m certain I will, Mister Schmitt.”
“Call me Ron, please.” Ronald offered his arm and helped her walk up the steps. “Nobody has been able to provide them with relief so far. Some have gone out of their way trying.” He glanced at Ember and gave her a knowing look.
Ronald’s wife, Muriel, was present as was their son Arnold and his wife Stephanie. Four other changelings were there, too: Kenneth Newman, Marvin Richter, Joseph Anyon, and Peggy Barth. Along with Arnold, they comprised half of the ten scouts that were involved in the Mandaree Incident. Ember had hoped all ten would be present. Better half than none.
Every living creature possessed an aura of varying strength and colors. NonDruw humans had relatively thin auras compared to half-Druws, who in turn exhibited weaker magic energy than full Druws—Malverns and changelings. Some intuitive, upper-level mages could feel magic energy known as mana. Changelings could smell the presence of mana. To Ember’s knowledge, she was the only person alive who could actually see mana and auras, however.
Ember focused on the energy surrounding each of the people in the room. The auras of the five scouts were distinctly unhealthy; their auras were twisted and knotted, discolored. From her attempts at helping them in the past, she knew their animal subforms were completely absent. They were unable to shift because that part of them was trapped in another dimension.
Or so the working theory went, anyway.
“Can we get you anything to drink, Doctor?” Muriel asked.
“I suppose a cup of tea might be too difficult to brew, would it? Black, with honey.”
Stephanie was the one to stand up. “I’ll get a pot of water boiling. Ember, anything?”
“I’ll be fine with a glass of water, cheers.”
Pleasantries were exchanged among the group until Stephanie returned with a steaming teapot. Ember’s glass of ice water had a lemon wedge straddling the lip. She’s always so thoughtful.
Ember smiled and said, “you never told me Lucky was expecting.”
Stephanie frowned. “That’s because she isn’t.”
“Doctor Rout says she is,” Ember tilted her head at Gloria.
Gloria licked her pale lips and watched Stephanie drop a dollop of honey into an empty ceramic cup. “Without properly examining her, I estimate that she’s between two and three weeks along. She’s in her prime and fit, and there is no immediate sign of any complications.”
“I told you we needed to get her fixed!” Muriel poked her husband in the ribs with an outstretched index finger.
“But she’s a purebred,” Ronald offered as his defense. “It’s a little late to do anything about it now.”<
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“I wonder who the father is.” Stephanie filled Gloria’s mug with black tea. “I’ll bet it’s the Woodbury’s mutt, that black wirehair that’s always running loose.”
Gloria accepted the teacup with both wrinkled hands. “That, I cannot say.”
The doctor finished one cup of tea while she confirmed details from Ember’s report concerning the two groups of scouts and their exposure to what Gloria referred to as a “radiation cloud.”
“Very well, let me examine each of you. I suppose it would be too much to ask you to drag a chair closer? Or are you going to make an old lady get up and come over to you?”
Kenny shifted uncomfortably on his chair against the wall. Even from across the room, Ember could see the man’s fingernails were bleeding from his habit of nervously chewing on them. None of the others were standing up, either.
It was Arnold who pulled a kitchen chair next to Gloria and sat down as the first volunteer. The Malvern woman sat her teacup down on the end table. “Give me your hands, young man.”
Ember stiffened. “There’s something else you should know, Doctor Rout, before you connect with Arnie’s aura.”
“Say your piece, out with it then.” Gloria peered at Ember above her wire-rim glasses. “What don’t I already know?”
“Well, it was in my report, but—”
“If it was in your report, then I know about it already.”
“Yes, but when I tried healing Kenny, I felt something strange. An alien presence of some sort—”
“Yes, yes.” Gloria dropped her hand dismissively. “You tried playing Healer, and you were snookered. Is that about right?”
“Well…yes, I guess that’s right. But—”
“But you’re not a Healer, are you?” Gloria shook her head and waved Arnold forward. “Just sush up then and try not to be gobsmacked when you see a real Healer work.”
Peggy Barth coughed heavily from her seat on the recliner. She growled with the voice of a lifetime chain smoker. “You look here, lady, I was there when Ember tried helpin’ Kenny. She’s been fuckin’ tryin’ to help all us. I ain’t gonna sit here while you come in an’ just start—”
“Oh, listen to the rubbish-mouth!” Gloria turned in her seat, keeping her head straight as though her neck couldn’t turn on its own. “You’re another one, I can tell. Just how old are you, anyway?”
“Me? I’m 52.” Peggy broke into a coughing fit.
“Yeah, well you look 152. It doesn’t take a Healer to smell that you’re a walking ashtray. I shudder to think what your lungs must look like. You can wait your turn, but until then you can go cough up a lung somewhere else. You’re hurting my ears.” Gloria dropped her limp-wristed hand in Peggy’s direction before turning back to Arnold. “Now give me your palms, young man. Let me get a good look at you.”
Gloria closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers around Arnold’s forearms, her thumbs to the inside of his wrists. Her fingers looked randomly splayed, but Ember knew that they were purposefully aligned to the patient’s chakra. She had seen her own mother perform this action countless times when Benedette Wright tried teaching her daughter how to connect with and realign a person’s aura.
When Ember attempted to do the same with Kenneth Newman, she failed miserably. She sensed—perhaps even awakened—a foreign energy within Kenny. She nearly became trapped when that alien energy became aware of Ember’s meddling. Only with Alarik’s quick thinking was she able to break free. She lost the better part of the next day, intermittently vomiting and passing out.
She expected to see the same happen to Gloria—or maybe worse, given her advanced age. Ember sat her water down and leaned forward, her gaze studying the old Malvern woman. At the first sign of trouble, it’s up to me to pull her away.
Gloria held Arnold in her grip for what felt like hours but was closer to two minutes. She suddenly gasped, and her eyes snapped open.
Ember jumped forward, reaching for Gloria.
The old woman released Arnold on her own and waved her hand dismissively at Ember. The Healer leaned back in her chair and shook her head. “Where’s my tea?”
Stephanie handed the cup to Gloria, who at once emptied it. She handed it back for a refill.
The doctor breathed deeply and took her glasses off. She looked even older with the spectacles removed. She rubbed her palms over her face and spoke with covered eyes. “There’s no mincing words here. Young man, your aura is completely cocked up.”
There was silence for some time, interrupted only with Peggy’s raspy breathing. Ember asked, softly, “did you see it, Doctor? Did you see that…alien presence?”
Gloria pulled her leathery hands from her face and nodded. She slid her glasses back on and looked at Ember with cloudy eyes. “I saw it. But it didn’t see me. It isn’t a sentient being so much as a remnant. An echo. What were you calling this other dimension?”
“I haven’t a name for it, exactly,” Ember said. “It’s somehow between Earth and Aedynar.”
“Aedynar, yes, that was what you called it. You mentioned an object from that world?” Gloria picked up the refilled teacup and held it in both hands, absorbing the warmth it emitted.
“The Aedynar Artifact, we’ve taken to calling it.” Ember looked at the woman standing behind Arnold. “Stephanie?”
Stephanie nodded and left the room. She returned with a cotton drawstring bag, which she held out to Gloria.
The old Healer’s hand was shaking, Ember noticed, as she sat the teacup back on the end table. Some of the tea spilled over the edge, splashing onto the cork coaster between the cup and cherry hardwood. Gloria hadn’t removed the artifact when she looked at Ember. “This feels something like the foreign energy within them, doesn’t it?”
Ember nodded once. “The mana within this artifact is solely from Aedynar. The best I can guess is that the energy you felt within Arnie, and I felt within Kenny is—”
“Is half Aedynar, half Earth. Yes, I concur.” Gloria blinked and repeated, “I concur.”
The old mage carefully studied the hollow leaf-shaped Aedynar Artifact. She gingerly touched the five spheres along the edge of the heavy brass-like object. “How did you get this, Ember?”
Ember didn’t look at the artifact directly; the oily mana infused within it glowed so brightly it hurt her eyes. She shook her head. “I can’t say.”
Gloria squinted above the top edge of her glasses and frowned. “You can’t say? Or won’t say?”
“It’s from Aedynar. It’s made from mana by a powerful mage from Aedynar.” Ember met Gloria’s gaze coolly. “Beyond that, I’ve promised my source that I won’t reveal how it came into my possession.”
Gloria swallowed and clenched her wrinkled jaw. She dropped her hand dismissively at the wrist in Ember’s direction. “If this is all you can tell me, then I’ve gotten all the use I can from you. Leave me with my patients so I can focus.”
Peggy opened her mouth and began to speak, but Ember held up her hand. “It’s okay. I brought you a Healer, as promised. Ron, Muriel, would you be willing to bring the doctor back to her hotel in Minot when she’s done?”
Muriel nodded. “Doctor Rout, you’re welcome to stay the night if you prefer. We have a guest bedroom.”
“That would be nice for weary bones,” Gloria nodded once. “I’ll need some time to see if this artifact can be of any use in the healing process.”
Ember stood up. She looked down at Gloria and said, “there are just two rules: first, the Aedynar Artifact does not leave this house, under any circumstances. Second, all of this must remain secret. No reports to the Viceroyalty, and especially no mention of any of this to Director Higginbotham.”
Gloria looked up at the ceiling and shook her head slightly. “She thinks I’m an idiot.”
5
Don’t Have to Become Hamburger
Stephanie was walking Ember back to her car when she asked, “she’s kind of rough around the edges, isn’t she?”
“I can’
t say I disagree.” Ember closed her eyes and scanned the farmyard for unwanted guests, as a matter of habit. “Gloria—sorry, Doctor Rout—comes highly recommended though. She’s a Fifth Level Healer.”
“Oh, I’m sure, I’m sure. I’m not questioning your judgment, Ember.” Stephanie chewed on the inside of her cheek.
Ember held out her palm, as though she was offering verbal assistance. “But…?”
“But, she doesn’t seem to like you very much.” Stephanie shrugged apologetically. “It’s not my place to say that, I know.”
“I kind of get the impression Gloria doesn’t like people very much, Stephanie.”
The changeling woman laughed so suddenly it made Ember blink. She realized Stephanie didn’t laugh very often. It’s probably easy to lose one’s sense of humor when your husband is suffering from debilitating depression.
Lucky darted from the barn, running for the two women in a full gallop. The dog held the chewed pig ear in her jaw, pausing only to gnaw greedily. A hundred paces behind, Stephanie’s ten-year-old twins, Maxim and Marta, were racing one another for second place. Marta won by a yard, but it was Maxim who breathlessly spoke first. “Hi, Ember!”
“Hi, Max. Hi, Marta.”
Marta was gasping for air but still managed to blurt out a full sentence in one breath. “How did you scratch your arm? Did a cat do that to you?”
“As a matter of fact, it was a cat, yes.” Ember glanced at her arm. “A very big cat.”
“I got scratched by a cat once,” Marta said as she studied Ember’s wounded skin. “Mom said it was because I pulled its tail. I don’t pull cats’ tails anymore because they don’t like that. Maybe you shouldn’t pull cat’s tails, either.”
“That’s wise advice, Marta.”
Marta beamed at the adults. “Ember, did you hear about our calves?”
“No, what about your calves?”
Maxim answered, “We won red ribbons for them!”
