Taking Rank

by Hana Steven

  Using this as a base line, I grab my staff and cast a Wind Blast through my staff, using the same amount of power. This time the windblast takes a sizable chunk out of the tree. Curious, I set my staff back down and cast my Kitsune spell. All furred up, I cast the spell again with the same power as I did the last two. The spell has a similar effect as when I used my staff—breaking a good sized branch off of the trunk.

  Taking up my staff again, I cast the spell with both my Kitsune form and my staff. The result is more potent than I had even considered. My spell hits the tree and it explodes. That isn’t just a figure of speech, either; chunks of wood are sent flying in every direction and the top of the tree falls about three feet onto the bottom half before falling sideways onto the ground.

  My legs give out at the sight and I fall to the ground as I hear concerned shouts from over where the others are making camp. I can’t make out what they are saying because there is a ringing in my ears that muffles their voices.

  As the ringing fades I see Kyota kneeling in front of me, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I nod slowly.

  “What happened?” Poseidon asks. “It looks like someone strapped C-4 to that tree.”

  I hear a whine and see Gale still burying her head in her paws.

  Petting my friend, I answer Poseidon, “I was testing my staff. I used a Wind Blast with my staff in Kitsune form and I made the tree explode.”

  “What kind of spells are you teaching her!?” Erik asks, looking to Kyota.

  “It was the same spell Gale used in your duel,” I tell him. “It barely scratched the tree on its own. But with my Kitsune form and my staff it did that,” I say, pointing to the collapsed tree.

  The three of them turn to look at the tree again as another chunk of it falls to the ground.

  “Do me a favor,” Kyota says. “Don’t use your staff while a Kitsune unless absolutely necessary.”

  “Yeah,” I answer. “No problem. I’d rather not have another tree explode on me.”

  “Or something worse,” Poseidon adds ominously.

  “Come on,” Kyota says, giving me a hand up. “You’re clearly shaken, so why don’t you have a seat over by the fire.”

  I nod and let him lead me back to the fire. He sits me by a log and Gale lies down on my lap.

  After several minutes of absentmindedly petting Gale, she gets up and starts drawing something in the dirt.

  I watch her for a few minutes until I get a good look at her drawing; it’s my Kitsune spell. “Gale? What are you up to?” I ask, crawling forward to see the entire thing.

  She has not only drawn my Kitsune spell but has drawn a different six input spell-form. This one depicts a distinctly human looking shape spread-eagle between the inputs. She looks up at me then draws the last line then gives a small “Yip.”

  “This one is my Kitsune spell,” I say pointing to it. “But what’s this one?”

  She puts a paw over the Kitsune spell then moves it to my hand. After settling herself again she uses a claw to put an X through one of the inputs on my spell then does the same in the corresponding slot in the new one. She repeats this for each slot, using different marks, then holds a paw over the new spell before putting that paw on top of her other one.

  As I watch all this a thought comes to mind; she has been making her own transformation spell.

  “Is…is that a transformation spell?” I ask.

  Gale gives an excited “Yip” while her tail wags happily.

  I look back to her spell then back to her as I ask, “It uses the same inputs as the Kitsune spell?”

  She nods.

  After a moment of thought I look over to the fire and call out, “Hey, Kyota?”

  “Hmm?” he says as he looks to me.

  “Would you take a look at this?”

  Standing he moves over to us. “What have you been up to?”

  “Not me,” I answer, shaking my head. Pointing to the new spell I state, “Gale seems to have been working on a little project of her own.”

  Kyota examines the spell for a moment then looks back to the two of us and asks, “This is a transformation spell that uses the same basic spell as yours?”

  Gale and I nod.

  Turning his attention to Gale he asks, “You made this on your own, for yourself?”

  Gale nods again.

  “Can she try it?” I ask. “It looks like a human version.”

  “That it does,” he agrees.

  “What’s up?” Poseidon asks.

  Looking behind Kyota, I see she and Erik have both come over to see what is going on.

  “If you are sure about this,” Kyota begins, “then go for it.”

  Gale yips excitedly while jumping up in the air. She quickly moves over to a clear spot and starts to concentrate.

  After a moment she is enveloped in swirling silver wind. The swirling wind grows bigger for a moment then disperses to reveal a young girl who looks to be a little younger than myself.

  The first thing I notice is that she is completely naked. She has black fur on her hands and feet that gradually changes to silver at the wrists and ankles before fading away to lightly tanned skin before reaching her knees or elbows. Silver hair flows down around her shoulders, reaching the small of her back, while a black-tipped silver tail sways behind her as the matching fox ears on top of her head twitch a little. A smile that reveals abnormally long canines spreads over her face as her jade eyes examine her padded hands before looking over the rest of her body as she twists around a bit.

  “What on Earth!?” Erik exclaims.

  The girl looks over to us at his exclamation, her smile broadening before she rushes toward me chanting, “It worked! It worked!” in a voice reminiscent of Gale’s yipping.

  The girl jumps onto me knocking me onto my back while giggling excitedly. “It really worked,” she says again, smiling up at me as she hugs my waist.

  “Gale?” I ask as I recognize the look in her eyes.

  “Yep!” she replies happily.

  “Before you continue that conversation,” Erik begins, “Could you find her some clothes?”

  Looking up I see him pointedly looking away from us.

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Gale says, sitting up on my legs. Wrapping her arms around herself she states, “I’m a little cold.”

  “Not surprising,” Poseidon states, “You normally have fur to keep you warm, and now you don’t.”

  “I still have fur,” Gale counters, holding up an arm.

  “Only on your arms and legs, though,” I say, propping myself up on my elbows. “If you don’t mind getting off of me, we can go find some of my clothes for you.”

  “Okay,” she cheers, getting up and offering me a hand.

  I take the hand, the canine pads rough against my palm, and let her pull me to my feet. Back on my feet, I lead Gale back over to my bag and find some clothes that we can make work for her. Once clothed, Gale scurries over in front of a startled Erik.

  “I’m dressed, you can look now,” she says while twirling about.

  “I-I can see that,” Erik sputters. “Thank you for putting some clothes on.”

  Gale giggles, “You talk tough, but you’re just a big softy. Aren’tcha?” With another giggle, she says, “It didn’t bother you before I looked like this.”

  “You were a fox then,” Erik replies, his ears turning red as he looks away from Gale again.

  “Doesn’t change the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything,” Gale teases.

  “Actually,” Poseidon chimes in, “for a fox, fur is like clothing. So in a sense, you weren’t naked then.”

  Gale looks over at her, then says, “Spoil sport.”

  “Definitely a Kitsune,” Kyota chuckles. “Always looking for a good prank.”

  “Of course,” Gale states with a grin. “And he walked right into that one on his own.”

  “He did at that,” Poseidon chuckles.

  Erik groans, “Not you, too.”
<
br />   “Relax, little bro,” she replies. “It’s all in good fun. Now why don’t we all go and get dinner?”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” cheers Gale. “I can’t wait. It always smells so good but I had to settle for hand outs.”

  “We gave you your own plate most of the time,” I counter.

  “Yeah, but only the meat,” she argues. “I want to try the whole thing.”

  “We’ll get you your own plate,” Kyota says with a chuckle.

  We make our way back to the fire for dinner. When we are all full, I write another letter to Beth. I leave out Gale’s new spell as I want to see her reaction. With my letter sent, I get comfortable near the fire with my book.

  Gale sits beside me and watches for a bit before asking, “Can you teach me to read? I learned a bit from Amelia but I still don’t know how to read.”

  I look to my friend, “We can look for a beginner’s book in Kingston. For now, how about I just read to you?”

  “Okay,” she agrees happily.

  We read while the light lasts then get ready for bed.

  “You know the rules, Gale; make sure you change back before going to bed,” Kyota calls as I lay out my bed roll.”

  “I will,” Gale returns glumly.

  “You can always change back in the morning,” I tell her.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” she replies before dropping her spell and struggling out of the bindings that were just her clothes.

  Once free she curls up in her usual spot by my head.

  “Goodnight,” I tell her.

  Goodnight, she replies.

  I turn to her, confused at hearing her voice. “Did you just say ‘goodnight’?”

  You heard that? She asks in response.

  This time I realize that I am not hearing her with my ears, but rather I am hearing her in my own head much as I do my own thoughts. “Why can I hear you in my head?”

  I don’t know, she replies. We can ask Papa in the morning.

  “Papa?” I ask confused.

  Kyota. He’s like a dad to us both, just as you’re like a sister to me.

  “Sister?” I repeat, mulling the idea around in my head. “Yeah, we’re sisters.”

  I hear a giggle in my head then Gale says, Goodnight, big sister.

  “Sleep tight, little sis,” I reply as I lay my head back down and close my eyes.

  Chapter 5

  A Sorcerer Appears

  I am awoken by Gale just like any other morning, except this time she’s already re-cast her new spell and is in her human form.

  Gale giggles and sits back on her feet. “Papa is starting breakfast, want to help?”

  “Of course,” I respond, sitting up. “Are you helping, too?”

  “Yep, Papa already said I could,” she informs. “But I had to wake you up first.”

  “I’ll be right there,” I tell her. “I just need to go to the bathroom first.”

  “Okay, hurry back!” she cheers.

  When I return from the bushes, I find Gale carefully chopping bacon near the fire.

  “Good morning,” Kyota says as I approach.

  “Mornin’,” I reply. “What are we making?”

  “Bacon and eggs,” Gale responds.

  “Yum. What can I do?”

  “Want to make some hashbrowns?” Kyota asks.

  “Sure,” I reply as I dig in my pack for some potatoes. As I give the tubers a scrub, I ask, “Last night, after she turned back into a fox, I could hear Gale’s voice in my head. Any idea why?”

  “Really?” he asks. “Maybe her transformation acted as a catalyst. Feeling another’s emotions like you could do before is called Empathy. Being able to talk to one another in your head is a stronger form called Telepathy. It’s possible that being able to talk when she transformed triggered some change that allows her to ‘talk’ to you over your mental connection.”

  “Does that mean I can do that right now, too, or just when I’m a fox?” Gale asks.

  “Possibly,” Kyota replies. “It’s also possible that Sylphy can do the same. You just have to try.”

  Can you hear me? Gale says in my head.

  Yeah, I think at her voice.

  Cool! Papa sure knows a lot about this stuff, she replies.

  How can you call him ‘Papa’ so easily? I ask.

  He’s Papa. It’s not so weird to call him that, rather I think it’s strange that you still insist on calling him Kyota, not even Cole.

  I pause in my peeling of potatoes as I debate a response. After a moment I reply, I-I’m scared that…if I do that, it will be real. That…he might disappear like my real parents.

  Your parents didn’t abandon you, she replies softly. Those bandits kidnapped you. Papa told you he wouldn’t abandon you, didn’t he? Trust in him. Trust in yourself. Trust in me, for I will never leave you alone.

  I glance over to her and see that she is giving me a small smile. After a moment she inclines her head toward Kyota and goes back to her bacon, now starting to sizzle in the pan she is tending.

  “Well, you two clearly discovered something,” Kyota replies. “You have both been quieter than usual and acting like you're having a conversation.”

  “Yeah,” I reply. Taking Gale’s advice and swallowing my fears, I continue, “You were right, Dad. We can talk to each other in our heads.”

  He gives me a look at being called dad, then says kindly, “That’s good. But try not to do it too much; it might give people the wrong idea.”

  “What do you mean?” Gale asks.

  “It’s just like whispering,” he answers. “Some people will just assume you’re talking about them behind their backs, or that you’re scheming.”

  “What’s scheming?” I question.

  “It means plotting, planning something, usually in a negative sense,” he answers. “Like, ‘the villain is scheming to take over the city.’”

  “Or, ‘the Kitsune are scheming for their next prank’?” Gale questions.

  With a chuckle, he says, “That works, too. But I do hope that my two Kitsune will keep the pranks tame.”

  I share a look with Gale then we both answer, “‘Kay!”

  Kyo—Dad—chuckles then helps Gale drain the bacon grease into a bowl, which I use to fry up the hashbrowns. With the bacon drained and the hashbrowns frying, Gale pours the egg mixture that Dad made, which contains chopped onions and green peppers, into the pan of bacon and starts stirring.

  Poseidon and Erik join us as I finish frying up all of the hashbrowns, and we all sit down around the fire to eat. Once we have all finished, Dad and Poseidon gather up the dishes and start washing them.

  “You kids should make sure you have everything packed,” Dad tells us as they walk away. “And make sure you are prepared to fight if need be.”

  “Okay, Dad,” I respond, moving over to my pack.

  “What’s with you?” Poseidon asks. “Yesterday you kept calling him Kyota.”

  “She just needed a little push,” Gale answers.

  Poseidon looks to Gale, then shrugs and goes on her way.

  About an hour later we are making our way into what was once a quaint little town. Now, however, the buildings are covered in vines, the yards and walkways are overgrown with grass and weeds, and the wide road heading through town is cluttered with abandoned vehicles that are starting to rust and fall apart.

  We pass by houses and shops until we reach what looks like the middle of the town; a large store with an even larger parking lot covers the left side of the road while the right side is what looks to have been a once well-cared-for park. I can see a gazebo, now barely visible under the overgrown rose bushes that once surrounded it. The park’s grass is untrimmed but somehow still mostly void of weeds and bare spots.

  The thing that really unnerves me is how there are no cars; neither the road nor the parking lot have vehicles on them except up near the store. Areas that are less faded show that there were many vehicles abandoned here until recently.

  I m
ay not have seen any working vehicles, but even I know that it is unlikely that all of the cars in this area were the types that could still be driven.

  As if echoing my thoughts, Gale speaks up, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  A few moments later we are near the middle of this “no man’s land” and several people appear from behind the cars around the open area.

  “Looks like we have another bunch of fools, boys,” a man directly in front of us says. He is wearing rather filthy clothes that look to have once been regular jeans and a t-shirt. His shoulder length brown hair is messy and he has a nasty grin on his face.

  Looking around I see that we are completely surrounded by these bandits.

  “Well,” Poseidon says, “I think we just confirmed the bandits. What do you think, Kyota?”

  “Kids,” Dad says, “Want to see if you can take them?”

  Looking from Dad to Gale and back again, I nod, “We can take them.”

  He chuckles then responds, “Okay, then, you three can handle this lot. If things get out of hand Poseidon and I will jump in.”

  Gale and I nod, then turn our attention back to the bandits.

  With a chuckle, the bandit who spoke before calls out, “If you are done saying goodbye, then why don’t you just surrender. If you behave, we will make sure not to cause you too much pain.”

  The bandits around him laugh as if he had just said something funny.

  “We have no interest in men, but if you hand over the woman and the girls, we’ll let you go,” the apparent leader continues. “The one seems too young for us, but I’m sure we could sell her for a high price. Now, why don’t you come over here, Blondie?”

  I feel a chill run down my spine and can see Gale snarl in a very animal-like way. Even Erik seems to stiffen in anger at the man’s words.

  “I’ve got Bozo there,” Gale declares. “Can you two handle the ones to either side?”

  “Sure,” I answer. “I’ve got the right, can you handle the left?” I ask looking past Gale to Erik.

  “Start at the rear and work forward?” he asks.