by Tao Wong
“He’s not here. Please leave.”
“Do you know where he might be?” I asked, pushing my luck.
“We don’t know. We’ll let him know you’re looking for him when he’s back,” the matron said again.
“You don’t even know who we are,” I said, crossing my arms. “And he can’t be harvesting any more mushrooms without more mana batteries.”
“You’re the mage?” The matron’s tone went from coolly polite to completely unfriendly in a flash. She crossed her arms even as the younger female suddenly looked full of hope. “Leave then, Mage. You should know the courtesies required. You have been requested to leave numerous times already.”
I found myself growling slightly at her words, leaning forward as I realized something was being hidden. Before I could say anything further, Alexa spoke up.
“Our apologies. We were but concerned. We’ll leave now,” she said. Without a further word, she got into the car and turned the engine on, leaving me staring at her. The initiate waved for me to step in when I looked at her, forcing me to choose between being abandoned or getting more information.
“What was all that about?” I growled when I sat inside.
“Courtesies and rules. We’re in their home. If we continue to push things, we’ll ruin our reputation,” Alexa said.
I snarled. “They know something.”
“They do, but if we stay after being requested to leave so bluntly, it’d be tantamount to declaring war with them. Then where would we be?” Alexa said with a snort.
“Fine…” I crossed my arms, understanding her point if not particularly impressed with the results. “How are we going to find him now?”
Alexa smiled slightly and pointed to the glove compartment as she slowly backed us away from the house. Inside, I found a small vial, one that contained a dark-red, viscous liquid.
“That’s blood,” I said with a frown. “Corey’s?”
“Yes. Unlike you, I never trusted the troll to keep his word without some insurance,” Alexa said simply. “Are you able to track him?”
I frowned again, extending my senses within the blood. It was old, though the preservation runes set around the vial had slowed its degradation. Corey’s aura was still captured within, though within a few days, it’d be gone completely. I wonder what Alexa would have done then? Possibly just gotten another vial. I wanted to berate her for taking someone’s blood as insurance, considering how dangerous something like this could be in the wrong hands. Then again, here we were, using it. And realistically, the amount taken was so low, it would be difficult to cast a really dangerous spell.
“Yes,” I said. “Give me a few minutes. It’s weak.”
Alexa nodded, having the car in idle at the entrance to the road from the turnoff. I eyed our surroundings again before I fished in my backpack for the compass and drew a deep breath, getting ready to track our missing troll.
***
An hour later, we were rolling down a worn, potted country road. The singular sign indicating it was Private Property was hanging askew from a single, rusted nail. Obviously, between that, the road, and the peeling paint, it was clear the farm we were now traveling toward had been abandoned for some time. It still amazed me that buildings, especially ones so close to town, could be so easily be abandoned. Perhaps it said something of the sad state of humanity and our society that there’d be dozens of people on the streets and even more abandoned, discarded buildings like this within miles of each other.
“What do you think he’d be doing here?” I muttered, staring at the abandoned farm. Obviously, we weren’t the only trespassers here in the last few years, though I had no intention of leaving my mark. I never did get the point of casual graffiti, not emotionally at least. Even if someone did want to leave a sign of their passing, they should at least do so in a manner that actually informed others of who they were because C.M. could be anyone.
“Probably looking for herbs,” Alexa said, eyeing the broken windows and the single, fluttering curtain. “House or barn first?”
“Neither,” I said as I glanced at the compass. It had shifted since we drew close, able to provide slightly better guidance, and was now pointing unerringly toward the small copse of trees behind the buildings. Once I explained the matter, Alexa pulled the car over and set up her spear. I, on the other hand, jittered, debating taking my backpack and loading it with more survival gear or not. In the end, I stuffed in more bottles of water, an emergency blanket, and some extra food. At Alexa’s half smile at my antics, I explained. “Mages are prepared for anything.”
“So are scouts, but we’re not staying the night,” Alexa said. “If it’s longer than an hour, we go back.”
“But—”
“I’m not wasting more than a day on a troll,” Alexa said forcefully. “We still have a ritual that’s breaking to deal with.”
“He has a family who is waiting for him!” I protested.
“His wives will make do. His son looks about old enough to take on the responsibilities of the family anyway,” Alexa countered as she headed into the forest. I fell into step with her, occasionally glancing at the compass and the ground. Not that I could track a herd of elephants through a glass store, but a man could hope.
“Wait. Wives?”
“Yes, didn’t you see them?” Alexa turned to glance at me. “Don’t tell me you mistook them for males. They’re not that different.”
“No, I knew they were women,” I said. “And none of the stories ever mentioned female satyrs!”
“Uh huh,” Alexa said.
“But wives?” I muttered, thinking about it. Well, I guess it made sense. Sort of. I mean, humans had multiple-wife cultures, so why shouldn’t monsters? For that matter, I shouldn’t be surprised if monsters didn’t even get married. They were, literally, monsters. Though supes might be a better term, since they weren’t actually monsters. Ugh. My head hurt sometimes figuring out terminology.
Alexa ignored my mutterings, focused as she was on our trek within the forest. Thankfully, there seemed to be an often-used deer track here, which we presumed had been used by Corey too. In either case, at one point, Alexa even stopped to point out a relatively clear footprint embedded in dried mud.
“It rained, what, last night?” I inquired out loud and got a nod from Alexa. With some indication we were on the right track, the pair of us sped up.
Forty minutes later, slightly out of breath, Alexa raised her hand and stopped me from stepping into the clearing. I frowned, the fading light of day making it hard to see within the forest. “What?”
“Light Ball, inside the clearing please,” Alexa said simply, her spear casually leveled toward it. Rather than ask why, I muttered the words for the spell and made a Light Ball blossom within, pumping a small amount of mana in it but keeping a tether to it just in case.
Light Ball Cast
Synchronicity 94%
Efficiency 82%
The light blossomed, shedding a gentle yellow light that filled the clearing and cast back shadows. As the light reached upward, my gaze was attracted to minor movement that set leaves shivering and branches bouncing.
“Whaaat?”
“Shhhhh,” Alexa hissed and then took a step backward. When she realized I hadn’t followed her lead, she hissed. “Back.”
“But—”
“Giant spiders,” Alexa said softly. “If he’s been caught, he’s dead.”
“That’s not right,” I said but followed her lead, backing off. I proceeded to pre-cast Fireball in my mind, building up the spell formulas while I had time. “In Lord of the Rings—”
“Not a book,” Alexa said, cutting me off. “And Corey’s not a full-blood troll. His regeneration is probably only twice or thrice as efficient as yours. He’s dead. Or so close, he might as well be.”
“You can’t know that,” I said, coming to a stop and growling softly. The Fireball formed in my mind, ready to be used, whi
le I tied off the Light Ball and began dual-casting a Force Spear.
“No. I can’t. But I’m not risking our lives for a dead troll,” Alexa said.
“But…” I paused, then realized something. “He’s alive. He has to be, or else his blood wouldn’t be working as strongly.”
My words made Alexa pause for a second before she shook her head, waving me backward. “Doesn’t matter. He’s not our responsibility.”
“It’s our fault he was looking for those mushrooms,” I said, spreading my feet. “And I don’t understand why you’re refusing to help.”
“Because he’s a troll,” Alexa hissed while scanning the treetops around us, her spear held in both hands.
“Who’s got wives and kids. A family,” I said. “Who worked for us, talked to us. Hell, even shared his snacks with us.”
“Lower your voice!” Alexa snarled softly.
“Yes, do shut up!”
“I won’t—” I paused, my brain catching up finally. Eyes wide, I turned toward where the third voice had erupted from and blinked. “Corey?”
“Yes. While it was nice to hear you defending me, your friend is right. We should go,” Corey said, limping out from the undergrowth where the camo-clad troll with his grey skin was easier to see. I absently noted he had a bag hanging from his shoulder.
“Incoming!” Alexa snarled and side-stepped suddenly, allowing the dropping spider to miss her and fall to hang between the two of us. While she did so, she struck out and stabbed a second spider. On instinct, I released my first held spell, the Fireball smashing into the large spider and burning through its skin, sending it shaking and twisting in the air. With an abrupt, strangled shriek/squeak, it dropped the rest of the way to the ground even as its body burned from within.
“Die!” I snarled and football-kicked the small-dog-sized spider away. In passing, I absently noted the monster had red spots on its back and big, big fangs. Fangs? No, different word. I didn’t have time to care. As it skidded among the dry leaves, creating a mini-tsunami of discarded vegetation, I followed up my attack with my Force Spear, pinning and killing the creature.
“Time to go!” Alexa said, having extracted her spear and now using it as a bat. As the loud, skittering noises and the rustling of the branches increased, I started backing off at speed, Force Balls conjuring beside me. As spiders dropped toward us, I fired my spell effects at the large arachnids, battering them away.
Of course, the only negative of that was since they were falling on their threads, physics eventually had its way and swung the damn monsters back toward us. After the second swinging spider nearly took me in the chest, I really sped moving backward. Thankfully, the spiders weren’t willing to follow us too far from their nest. Either that or the accumulated losses from Alexa’s and my repeated attacks finally made them give up.
“Where’s Corey?” I asked after we had backed off another twenty feet from the point where we last saw the spiders stop. I received a shrug in reply from Alexa, and my eyes narrowed. A quick fumble and check and I realized the needle was now pointing back the way we came.
When we finally made it back to the car, we found Corey leaning against it, a cigarette between his lips.
“You left us!” I said, waving my hands.
“I did,” Corey admitted unashamedly.
“We came looking for you!” I said heatedly.
“And it was real nice.” Corey nodded. “But I didn’t ask you to. And it wasn’t me who was busy attracting the spiders. If you’d been quiet, I would have been able to sneak back out.”
“Sneak?”
Corey nodded, patting his bag. “Blood blossom spider eggs. Worth a pretty penny, but their parents are very territorial. Took me days to get in and out.”
While I fumed, Alexa pointed at the bag, her voice cool. “And the mushrooms?”
“Got them too. Four more. You want to take them here or for me to drop them off at your place?”
“We’ll take them here,” Alexa said, and Corey nodded, pulling the bag off his shoulder.
As he rummaged within, he continued. “Going to need another set of batteries. Pulled the ones you gave me out while I was working, but I’m down to one recharge.”
I growled and jerked slightly, but Alexa tugged on the backpack over my shoulders. I reluctantly gave it up and watched as Alexa fished the mana batteries out, receiving the Wynn mushrooms as well as the now-defunct batteries from the troll. After confirming our next appointment, we left, leaving the troll to head back home by himself. A part of me—the nice, polite part—wanted to offer the troll a ride back. However, the grumpy, hurt, and bewildered portion won, and I stayed silent till we were back on the highway.
“How can you be so, so, blasé about that?” I asked with a slight snarl.
“He was right. He didn’t ask us to rescue him,” Alexa said with a shrug. “And he still got us another four mushrooms.”
“But he left us to die!”
“Don’t be so melodramatic. It was just a nest of blood blossom spiders. At worst, you could have burned the trees and really scared them off,” Alexa said, lips parting. “Of course, I’m glad we didn’t start a forest fire, but we were never really in danger.”
“But—”
“Henry,” Alexa said, using my name to catch my attention as she drove. “He’s a troll. You’re a mage. I’m a Templar. We have a nice, simple business arrangement. Stop trying to make it more than it is.”
“Why’d you even agree to go looking for him if you didn’t give a damn?” I asked.
“He has your compass and mana-battery system,” Alexa said. “It’s not exactly impossible for him to find someone else to recharge the batteries, is it?”
“No,” I admitted and then frowned at the Templar. “So, that’s it? You decided to follow up to make sure we got my gear back?”
“And take any mushrooms he had collected. And the breakage fee for the contract,” Alexa added.
I crossed my arms and growled slightly, glaring at Alexa as my irritation grew. Gah. These, these… supes. They were all callous, annoying idiots. Business deal. I growled, falling silent as Lily’s reminder resounded in my mind. As much as I sometimes thought I knew Alexa, I also had a tendency to forget that the same woman who snored in her sleep and had to be taught what Cowboy Bebop was was also a cold-blooded killer of supernaturals.
Perhaps… perhaps helping her complete her quest might not be the best idea there was. Lost in thought, I fell silent as we drove the rest of the way home.
Chapter 15
“You seem troubled today,” Caleb said to me after my latest ritual attempt fizzled out, breaking at a baker’s dozen of points. I prodded at the spell formulas, irritation coursing through me as I realized I had literally just looked at these lines.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“No. You’re in the twenty-third dimension, the elemental plane of metal and Kuala Lumpur,” Caleb said, tapping the ritual. “Or your summon would be at least. And maybe portions in Johannesburg.”
“Fine.” I leaned back and crossed my arms while staring at the older mage. He returned my glare calmly until I broke. “I had an argument with Alexa.”
“If this is a relationship issue, you may leave now,” Caleb said.
“Of course not!” I said. “It’s just, she treats the supernaturals like they’re not, you know, human. And I can’t help but think, well, does she think of me like that? Should I be helping her?”
“And you believe supernaturals to be human like you,” Caleb said simply.
“Well, not exactly like me,” I said slowly. “But the races, they’re sentient. Good.”
“Some. Some are very similar to us. Others have strange beliefs and rituals, biology that requires different things. The vampires and their need for blood, lycanthropes who lock themselves away every twenty-eight days, the ghouls who must eat corpses to survive,” Caleb said. “The Templars have good reason to treat
each race coldly. There is a long history of each race preying upon humanity.”
“But they’re not doing that now,” I said stubbornly.
“True. Modern society and overpopulation have allowed many races to live in relative peace with humanity. Resources are significantly more abundant,” Caleb said. “But even if as a percentage the number of malcontents has dropped, the increase in all populations has seen a total increase in attacks. Add the slowly decreasing number of Templars as years of continued secrecy take their toll, and you begin to see how they have taken a harder line.”
“But she wasn’t like that earlier!” I said, crossing my hands.
“Really?”
I opened my mouth to retort but closed it, and my brain began the slow process of evaluating all the things Alexa had ever done. We’d worked a ton of quests together, but I recalled how she almost always pushed for the harder ones, the extermination quests. Almost always monsters, almost always creatures who were, without a doubt, something that needed killing. Even when we took on more mundane tasks, she never really interacted socially with our employers. Oh, she was cordial and polite, but she never tried to find out about their lives, never asked how they were doing.
“Huh.”
“You object to Ms. Dumough’s attitude, but have you considered that your own might be a product of your advantages?” Caleb said.
“My advantages?” I asked.
“Unlike most, you are protected.” Caleb pointed to the ring on my finger, the object of magical import. “You cannot make a mistake that will see your instantaneous death. Creatures of true power are barred from attacking you, leaving you to contend with only the lowest, and those offer you the respect and wariness that is your due as a mage. Few would turn away a closer relationship with a powerful mage.”
“You’re saying they’re friendly because I could be useful?” I asked, somewhat hurt by the implication. I wasn’t exactly Mr. Popular at school, being Asian and a nerd, but I wasn’t exactly unpopular either. I just had my own friends. I thought it was just a case of finding more people who were like me, like a giant convention.