The
runes engraved in the shining steel barrel of Alicia's weapon lit up
green at the touch of her fingers, and Alicia giggled delightedly.
They wouldn't do that for anybody else; she had passed the
contraption to Ion, to Lovisa, and to Eluani, and when they traced,
the runes only glowed faintly white before flickering out almost as
soon as they had begun. Alicia felt that the weapon trusted her and
only her, and so she was drawn to it.
Alicia
was familiar with weapons. She was a skilled archer, she enjoyed
fencing for sport, and she practiced magic just like all of the Earth
Sylphs had. But this contraption was entirely foreign to her: a metal
device that half resembled a bow and half resembled a gun and fired
the projectile of neither. A trigger switch positioned under the hub
produced a click and a twang of the rear bowstring, which issued
forth a starburst shaped, six-pointed metal blade that expanded as it
soared through the air. The first time Alicia had managed it, she had
been so startled that she yelped and flung the weapon right along
with its projectile, which landed by three of its points in the earth
fourteen feet away. That had told her that she needed to spend more
time with this weapon than with the bows and staves that were more
familiar to her.
That
being said, Alicia didn't understand why she had been given this
weapon at all. It was out of place among her other weapons: a massive
mechanical wooden bow, two staves carved with runes that also lit up
when she touched them, and a long steel bo-staff painted with
primitive-looking images. Still, the weapon was made for her, and so
she was determined to unlock its secrets. She and her comrades were
out in the fields attending to their morning training for the fourth
day since the end of the festivities. She stroked the weapon
gingerly, tracing the runes to illuminate them. The weapon, she had
been told by Cordelia, was called a shuriken blaster, “shurikens”
being the six-pointed starlike blades. The shurikens were pretty
little blades—in fact, they were the only blades that Alicia felt
could be rightfully called “pretty”--but they did not captivate
her in the way those runes did. “You're trying to tell me
something, aren't you?” Alicia said to the weapon as she continued
to illuminate the runes as if searching for the answers within the
glow. “I just don't understand what it is yet.”
A
whirring sound in the air above her called her to attention, and she
quickly ducked her head. The javelin pierced the sky and landed in
the dusty soil several feet away, its tip splitting off into three
prongs and taking hold of the ground like a metal claw. “Alicia!”
Rodin called to her sharply. “What are you doing? You can't just
stand around!”
“I
was just looking over my weapon,” Alicia said, “that's all.”
“You
shouldn't be looking at it,” Rodin said as he passed her by to pick
up the javelin, “you should be using it!” In spite of her anxiety
about the strange weapon, this was all the pep talk that Alicia
needed. She set off on her swift feet in search of a training
manikin. Rodin trailed behind her, insistent upon keeping the
princess out of more trouble than was necessary. She was a decent
fighter, and she was a borderline wizard with a bow, but her
attention span was her Achilles heel. But Rodin enjoyed shadowing
Alicia, who fascinated him nearly as much as Morgana. He would have
given anything to train with the both of them, but Morgana's training
was done out of sight and behind closed doors.
Movement
in the tall rushes ahead of them revealed the presence of a possible
manikin. It moved from side to side in a mechanical fashion, daring
them to cross it. Rodin palmed his javelin and went ahead of Alicia,
then the two of them stood as still and quiet as statues. The thing
in the rushes stopped moving, and the silence around them was only
broken by the sound of the wind and of their comrades going about
their own training in the distance. The click of the javelin as Rodin
locked the tip in place was almost startling. Still, they waited.
Alicia thought she saw the thing move again—only the smallest
flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye.
As
Rodin raised the javelin, its core pulsated in tune with the blue
stone around his neck and those on the silver rings he wore on his
right hand. Now he could see it; the hazy form of a manikin, crouched
down to its heels in a right-hand corner, its bow fitted with an
arrow but held at a passive stance. It was visible to him for only a
moment, but a moment was all that he needed. The javelin flew, making
no sound except for the airy whir that couldn't be heard fast enough.
It struck the manikin just below its right eye, and the defeated
manikin disappeared. “Bulls-eye!” said Rodin, smiling cockily.
“Let
me get the next one,” Alicia said. “I'm not as good as you are.”
When she followed him to retrieve the javelin, she nearly got her
wish. Three manikins emerged from the front and sides and lunged for
them. Alicia yelped, leaped backwards, and made a desperate attempt
with the shuriken blaster as Rodin abandoned his javelin and conjured
a sword to his hand. Its blade glistened in the sunlight like threads
of silver filigree. A shuriken pinked a manikin's shoulder, and as it
staggered, Rodin lunged for it, eliminating it with a slash across
the chest. Another shuriken coasted over a manikin's head. Alicia's
feet danced wildly as she fought to stand her ground. Another
shuriken sailed past the manikin's face, and another only scraped the
side of its cheek. With an angry screech, the manikin lunged for her,
and she nearly tripped over her feet as she leaped backwards and away
from its threateningly-gleaming sword. As it thrust forward, it was
eliminated by Rodin, who came up behind it and stabbed it in the
back. The manikin collapsed, and the final one immediately turned on
him.
Alicia
dropped the shuriken blaster and unstrapped the mechanical bow from
her back. One shot, and the manikin collapsed, disintegrating like a
broken fog as it hit the ground. Rodin's cheek had been scraped and a
gash was cut in his forehead. Alicia rummaged through her pouch for a
box of wet cloths and a silver ring twisted into the shape of a
fairy, the wings formed by two bright emeralds. She gently wiped at
the gash, and the cloth produced a heady herbal fragrance and felt
delightfully cool against the sting. She slipped the ring on and
softly ran her fingertip over the gash. As the emeralds glowed warmly
in tune with the stone around her neck, the wound began to fade from
red to pink.
“Thanks
for having my back,” Rodin said. “That was an excellent move with
the bow.”
“Of
course,” said Alicia, “and thank you.” The wound was fading to
reddish brown, and Alicia got to work on the scratch on his cheek.
“If
you're so good with the bow,” Rodin said, “then what do you need
the blaster for? It seems like more trouble than it's worth.”
“I
have to
learn it!” Alicia said urgently. “It's counting on me!” She
gingerly stroked the weapon's runes and smiled fondly when they
glowed in response. “There's a message for me in that green glow,
and it's waiting for me to find out what it is.” She patted the
weapon's barrel in a motherly fashion.
“You're
a strange one, Alicia,” Rodin said with a chuckle. “But I can't
say that I've ever met anybody more interesting.” He regarded her
with a warm smile, which she returned. The distant shouts of
approaching manikins called them back into action.
The
only light in the cellar was the light that emanated from the runes
carved in the amulets on the table. It was a beautiful light, a
contented light, nothing like the oppressive rays of the sun that
beat down on the faces of those unlucky enough—or foolish enough—to
stay out in the fields. As Morgana ran her fingers over the runes,
they whispered secret words of power that filled her with glee. She
allowed herself a throaty laugh as she guided an amulet through the
air without touching it, setting it into an open slot on her ebony
staff. The amulet twisted and shifted its shape until it rested
comfortably in the slot. A flicker of white light that illuminated
the cellar issued forth from the staff's core, indicating that the
magic of the amulet had been well received. Morgana laughed and gave
the staff a twirl, mixing together the magical energies from the
amulet and the staff's core. Her heart fluttered, and she felt a
tingling sensation that began in her fingertips and distributed
itself throughout the rest of her body until it filled her entire
being with euphoria. Her fairy aura brightened as her own magic
intermingled with this new energy. Under her breath, she found
herself involuntarily muttering the incantations whispered to her by
the runes. She opened her clenched fist, and a stream of flames burst
forth from her palm. Screeching with delight, Morgana waved her hand
wildly, hurling flames at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the
furniture, and willing them to increase in size and intensity as she
did so. In her other hand, her staff felt hot, and it shook wildly as
if in anticipation of the spell that it was holding inside. She waved
it, and the spell was released—the room was cloaked in a thick,
noxious haze. Morgana drew back and quickly slipped one of her
amethyst rings over her finger. Its single stone gazed at her like a
shimmering purple eyeball, blinking in the glare of the flames. She
felt the caress of invisible hands and the wrap of invisible arms,
sheltering her from the poison. The air around her grew thick. Out of
the corner of her eye, she watched her aura as it briefly danced like
the flame of a candle until it settled.
She
was safe. She stuck her nose into the dissipating haze and breathed
it in. Its scent was overwhelmingly sweet, like the syrup from the
sugarplum trees back in Arganell. She swallowed, exhaled, and laughed
merrily. She was Morgana the Wizard, Morgana the Mighty, Morgana the
All-Powerful, wielder of poison and friend of the flames. The air
itself could bend to her will. She could obliterate an entire
landscape with the snap of her fingers. A wave of her staff would
bring the immediate demise of any fool who dared to cross her. She
had tapped into the kind of magic that was so cleverly hidden away
from the eyes of men and even the eyes of other fey, the kind of
magic that could and would easily turn a careless user into a
miserable pile of ash. What good were companions with power like
this? The fools who traipsed around in the burning sun with their new
toys were of no use to her. She found her camaraderie in the magic,
and her ever-increasing power was its glorious token of their
friendship.
The
racket from outside shook the cellar walls, and Morgana growled. They
would disrupt her training after they perished trying. She twirled
her staff again and willed the flames that had fallen dormant inside
the core to awaken. She donned her hood, dashed up the stairs, and
moved aside the massive cellar doors without touching them. With a
cry of fury, she hurled a flame through the air and watched it
combust on the grass. Only then did she realize that nobody was out
there to receive the warning. The air was disconcertingly still.
What
was I thinking? Morgana
scolded herself as she called off the flames with a wave of her
staff. Of
course it isn't them, they're all the way out in the fields! In
the pit of her stomach, she felt a chill. Something had shaken the
cellar walls, and it hadn't been the mechanical stampede of the
knights' automaton horses, nor was it the fallout of a mis-aimed
spell. Without bothering with her own horse, waiting like a statue in
the stables, she took off towards the fields.
Lovisa,
Eluani, and Sanjaia did not doubt their gems' warning of a
disturbance near the palace. Yet, the air was peaceful, disturbed by
nothing but the sounds of distant combat against manikins. The
automaton horses, commanded by the rapidly pulsing glow of the gems,
increased in speed with every gallop, and their riders had to steel
their bodies to keep from being bumped around. Lovisa's heart pounded
as hard as the metal hooves of her horse. After only four days of
training, they were already threatened by something unknown, and she
was sure that whatever it was, they would not be ready for it. “Train
as you fight,” Cordelia had told them on the first day, “and
fight as you train. There will be times when you will have to do both
at once.” Lovisa had not been entirely sure what she had meant, but
it was comforting to recall the advice either way.
“Can
you see it yet?” Lovisa asked Eluani urgently, raising her voice
over the sound of metal hooves.
“I
can't!” Eluani replied. “There's too much going on for me to get
a clear image! All I can see is that Morgana is out there and she's
in danger, and if she had opted to train with us instead of going off
on her own...”
There
was a loud popping sound followed by a brilliant red and orange
flare. The horses were immediately drawn to it, and Lovisa was able
to forgive them for being machines; the horses that she knew would
have reared and retreated. Even as the earth began to shake, the
horses continued on. Sanjaia's trident issued an upbeat note as it
was removed from its hold, and the next thing either of them knew,
his horse was halted in its tracks as he leaped off of its back. He
landed, staggering, on his feet and charged forward.
“Are
you insane?” Eluani cried. “What do you think you're doing? Get
back on your horse!”
“If
we have to fight,” Sanjaia called up to her, “then those
mechanical beasts will be nothing but a hinderance!” There was
another tremor, and he jammed his trident into the ground to steady
himself, vaulting around it and going on his way once it ceased.
“There
is fire, Sanjaia!” Eluani cautioned him. “Did you not see that
explosion?” But there was no stopping him as he made his way,
skipping over rocks and leaping over hills and bouncing off of the
trunks of trees. He slashed the air rapidly, as if cutting down
invisible enemies, and his trident sang a war song. “He's an
idiot,” Eluani said, “but we can't let him go alone.” She
dismounted her own horse, and Lovisa reluctantly did the same. They
took off after him, following the call of the singing trident, until
another tremor nearly knocked the three of them off of their feet.
Sanjaia cried out and jammed the trident into the earth again. Lovisa
and Eluani wrapped their arms around eachother tightly, and Eluani
could feel that the girl was trembling. Looking ahead, she could see
the faint but apparent form of a massive creature, pounding the
ground flat with its anvil-thick feet. The insignificant forms of
Morgana and Sanjaia were nothing but ants to this colossus. Without a
second thought, Eluani broke free of Lovisa's embrace and made a
bee-line for Sanjaia, who was making his way towards the creature
that for now was only movement in the distance. “Sanjaia, come
back!”
she hollered. “Come
back here right now!!!” She
was taken aback by the fear in her voice—it had been so long since
she had allowed it to be expressed. Sanjaia was as surprised as she
was to hear her carry on like that. “What is it?” he asked. “What
did you see?”
“You
can't fight this alone!” Eluani said with all the urgency that she
could manage. “It's...it's a behemoth, a colossus!” The rumbling
of the ground beneath their feet as it came closer was foreboding and
ominous. There was another popping sound as another flare lit up the
field, and Eluani knew now that it was a distress flare. She grabbed
both of her partners by the hand and took off, and the two were
forced to keep up as best as they could. Lovisa felt her stomach
tighten as if squeezed; their first battle, after only four days of
training, and it would be against some massive beast that shook the
earth! She fought every urge to break out of Eluani's grasp and turn
back.
The
moment that she set eyes on the creature, Morgana knew that both
flames and poison haze were going to be useless. It was a behemoth
constructed of compounds of stone and steel, and unlike the golems
that she was familiar with, this one kept its core well out of the
way. Still, she knew it had to have a core, and the only way to bring
the monster down was to catch hold of it. The prospect excited her;
yes, she would bring it down from the inside out before it even knew
what hit it! Unfortunately, the spell that was needed to do that
evaded her. She had used the training manikins until she was bored by
their inability to measure up against her power, but there was no
manikin that matched this creature in either physical characteristics
or ability. She could only hold it off as best as she could, and the
thing was certainly not very willing to be held off. It was an
implacable machine, only merely inconvenienced by the chains of
spells that had managed to bring down manikin after manikin. Still,
if she could hold it off long enough to locate the core...
A
fireball the size of a watermelon burst forth from her hand and
exploded into a magnificent blaze when it hit the ground. To
Morgana's surprise and subsequent horror, the golem was completely
unfazed; it continued its hulking march without paying any notice to
the explosion, and its path was taking it straight to the Palace of
the Jewel. Morgana closed her fingers tightly around her gem and
closed her eyes, consulting it and soon receiving the answer that she
needed. Dropping her staff and placing both hands on the ground, she
created a wave that began at the top of her head and traveled down to
her fingertips. It was released from her body in the form of a
violent tremor. The creature stumbled, and for a few seconds it was
driven to a halt. But Morgana found that the spell had completely
drained her. The world spun around her, and she threw her arms around
herself to steady. Her heart pounded, her head throbbed, and she
fought back vomit that burned the back of her throat. She was unable
to come to her senses before the monster came to its own. It
continued pounding along on its way to the palace.
Ignoring
any further discomfort, Morgana released another earth-shattering
shockwave. Again, the golem faltered and struggled to regain its
footing. Steadying herself and fighting against the nausea, Morgana
released another one that knocked her on her back. The heavy sounds
of rock and metal knocking together indicated that the colossus had
been brought down, but Morgana could only see the sparkles appearing
before her eyes. She moaned and convulsed helplessly on the ground,
and without really thinking she sent out another flare. Don't
you go under! Morgana
willed herself. Stay
with me, you clod! You aren't done! But
her eyelids grew heavier by the second, and even if she managed to
remain conscious, there would be no more spells for a while.
Her
eyes could no longer remain open. The golem stirred back to life and
continued on its way, and she could do nothing, reduced to the level
of a squashed ant. It infuriated her—all of this power had been
drained out of her so easily! I'm
going after it, she
told herself. I'm
getting off of my miserable ass and I'm going after that thing! It
was her last thought before she fell into the darkness.
Morgana
awoke to a wonderful fragrance and the sensation of something cool
pressed against her cheek. Her body no longer ached, and the warmth
of her aura had returned to her. She sat up and found that she had
been taken to her quarters in the Palace of the Jewel. She was
wrapped in soft white blankets, and her head had been elevated by
thick down pillows. Her cheek was pressed against a wet cloth that
smelled of a mixture of lilac and mimosa.
“Morgana!”
In an instant Lovisa was by her side and taking her by the hand. “Oh,
look at you! You look so much better!”
“I
suppose that I have you to thank for that,” Morgana said, sinking
back into the pillows that she wasn't ready to leave just yet.
Lovisa nodded. “The first
thing I saw,” she recounted, “was that gigantic beast—Eluani
called it a golem—coming right towards me. I froze up! I was so
sure that I would be crushed under one of those feet! But then I saw
someone lying motionless in the grass, and I didn't know it was you
at first, but I had to do something. 'There's somebody!' I said to
Eluani and Sanjaia. 'There's somebody lying on the ground!' Then I
was off like a flash, though I felt awful for leaving them, and when
I saw that it was you I screamed! Oh, I was terrified! I thought that
you'd been killed! I carried you off into the woods and I set us both
down in a thicket of bushes. I couldn't see or hear any other enemies
around, but still, I wanted us out of sight just in case! As I held
you, I could feel that there was life still in you—the energy was
suppressed, but it was there, and oh, I was overjoyed! I kissed your
cheeks, I kissed your forehead...I had been so sure that you were
done for, and I hated to think of losing you! I pressed my fingers to
your collar and I could feel your heart beating. You weren't gone,
your energy had just been drained. So I opened up my vial of healing
serum and forced it down your throat. It only took a few drops before
I felt that your energy was returning. I stayed with you until your
breathing became steady, then I set you up against a wild cherry tree
and climbed. I had to see what was going on with Eluani and Sanjaia.
“The
monster had gone insane! It danced and convulsed erratically as if it
didn't know what to do with its body anymore. I thought it was going
to put a hand or a foot down and squash them both! Sanjaia was
squawking out some discordant mess on his violin that had no tune, no
rhythm, and no sense of order or arrangement. I thought that the
sound might have driven the monster insane...or else something else
had driven them both
insane. I was terrified, and I felt completely useless! There was
nothing my bow could do against a creature made of steel, and I was
sure that my magic wouldn't amount to anything. Eluani and Sanjaia
were in danger, and there was nothing I could do! I felt awful, and I
still do, for being so useless! But you were in danger too, and all I
could do was stay by your side and make sure that you were going to
be all right. Your aura had come back then, though it was glowing
very faintly. I even cast a spell to boost your energy. When I did,
your heart beat fast for a few seconds and your aura started to
flicker, and I was scared that I had done something to hurt you. I
grabbed the vial quickly, in case I would need it. But then it
stabilized, and I heard you sort of mumble in your sleep.” She
chuckled halfheartedly. “I'm sure that you had something to
complain about, even then!”
Morgana
gave the girl's hand a squeeze. “You certainly aren't useless,”
she assured her. “I may be alive right now all because of you. I'm
sure those two could take care of themselves just fine.” She
released Lovisa's hand and softly patted it. “Now tell me what
happened to the golem. Don't tell me it's still clunking around
somewhere!”
“The
golem is gone!” Lovisa said. “By the time the others had showed
up, Eluani had been able to bring it down! A golem, she told me
afterward, could always be brought down...”
“...if
you get hold of its core,” Morgana finished. “I know. I've dealt
with them.”
“Eluani
could see where its core was,” Lovisa continued, “but she would
need to hold the golem off before she was able to force herself in.
So Sanjaia played that crazy song on a frequency that forced the
vibrations to sort of break through to the golem's core, and they
caused a disturbance. The core is like the golem's brain, and with
those horrible mixed-up vibrations inside of it, it had essentially
gone insane. It couldn't remember what it was meant to do, or where
it was, or even what
it was anymore. But at the same time, it was fighting to get rid of
those vibrations that were creating such an awful disruption...and
yet it couldn't, because more and more kept coming in and it couldn't
do anything to stop them! That's why it was dancing around like
that—it was in despair, and it really didn't know what it was
supposed to do with itself! When Eluani found the core and looked
inside of it, she saw that the magical vibrations from Sanjaia's
violin were interfering with the magic that was inside the core, and
the result was a jumbled mess of magic that wasn't good for anything
at all. Eluani shut the core down, then, and Sanjaia stopped playing.
The golem was driven to a halt, like a wind-up toy that had run out
of its wind.”
“That's
all it took?” Morgana was almost insulted. It sounded so easy, and
yet her own magic had nearly killed her before she could figure it
out! She growled and sunk into the blankets. How could Eluani and
that foolish bard have figured that golem out before she could? That
future sight, she
thought with scorn.
“Morgana,
it wasn't easy!” Lovisa assured her, taken aback by her sudden
change in demeanor. “What if the core had not reacted to Sanjaia's
violin, or else had been able to cancel it out? What if the golem had
stepped on them...or fallen on them...or else Eluani had not been
able to detect the core in time?” Her heart began to pound, and she
had to remind herself that none of that had happened and the two of
them were safe. “Their lives were in danger the entire time, and
really, in the end it was all down to luck...”
“I
understand,” Morgana said. “I'm sorry. Where are the two of them
now?”
“The
last time I saw Eluani, she was resting in her room,” Lovisa said.
“The fight took so much out of her! She had fallen to her knees
just like the golem when it was over, and I ran to fetch our
horses—another good thing about machine horses is that they'll
never run off on you! I buckled you onto the back of my horse, and I
helped Eluani onto her own. Sanjaia went with Eluani, but I don't
know where he is now. I hope he's all right. He trembled the whole
way back to the palace!”
“Well,
he's a party minstrel,” Morgana said. “I doubt he's ever even
seen a golem in his life, much less had to take on one of that size
and strength.” She moved the blankets away and carefully rose to
her feet. She wobbled a little, and Lovisa held a hand on her
shoulder to steady her, but she shook it off. “I'm all right,”
she assured her. “You've done enough for me. Go and find that bard,
will you?” She regarded Lovisa with a genuine smile, and Lovisa was
astonished by the beauty of the elfin face that looked so much like
that of a painted doll when it wasn't scowling or stony or pinched up
in disagreement. She smiled back. “I'll go and look for him,” she
said with a nod. “But if there's anything else you need,
Morgana...”
“I
don't think there will be,” Morgana assured her. “But if there
is, I know exactly who to call upon.”
“Come
in, Morgana,” Eluani answered to the light rapping on her door.
I'll
never get used to that, thought
Morgana as she entered. Eluani was sitting on the edge of her bed,
staring into a tourmaline-inlaid mirror as if it was alive with
images that only she could see. “You are doing well,” she said to
Morgana without looking at her.
“Can
the same be said for you?” Morgana asked.
“It
can,” Eluani said with a nod. “I only needed a rest. You were
much worse off than I was.”
“It
wasn't the golem that did it,” Morgana said. “It was...”
“...your
spell,” Eluani finished. “You were careless and hasty with a
spell that had already taken a toll on your body, and it overwhelmed
you.” The criticism stung her, but Morgana couldn't say that she
was wrong. “I hope that was a lesson to you,” Eluani went on.
“You've been gifted with amazing power that must be kept in check
and used responsibly.”
“So
long as you use that future sight responsibly,” Morgana said with a
wry smile. “So, what happened to the golem?”
“It's
still out there,” Eluani said. “Ion and Troy are guarding it, and
the others have gone into the capital to report it. Hopefully, its
core will be extracted and I will get the chance to examine it.”
“Did
Sanjaia go with them?” Morgana asked.
“Hmm.”
Eluani thoughtfully pressed her finger to her chin. “I'm not sure.
I haven't seen or heard anything of Sanjaia since the fight.”
“Can't
your future sight tell you where he is?” Morgana asked.
“You
told me to use it responsibly,” Eluani said, a playful twinkle in
her eye betraying her stoic demeanor. “I'm not sure how responsible
it would be to use it for that, when we can easily go and look for
him ourselves without the aid of any sort of power.”
“Very
well, then,” Morgana said. “I hope the poor fool isn't too shaken
up.” She wasn't ready to admit that she was impressed by the way he
had held his own in the fight—his first
fight—nor
was she ready to admit that she wasn't planning to train alone again.
