by Davis Ashura
Lien rolled her eyes. “You’re fast and strong,” she said, “but wait until someone dumps you on your butt. Talk to me then about how fast you are.”
“He’ll be fine,” Serena said. She felt protective toward William. After all, he would be on her team, and she didn’t want him doubting himself and having them lose as a result. In the end, she was every bit as competitive as Lien.
“We’ll see,” Lien said. “You better get out there if you want to play. I’m reffing.”
William stood up and offered a hand to help Serena rise.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Let’s go kick some ass.”
William jogged to his position on defense. A whistle blew, and the game started. An opposing forward flung the woda toward William. A braid of Air and Fire accelerated the ball. It whistled toward his head. Serena shouted in alarm. The woda would strike him—
William brought up a braid of Air quicker than she could have managed. He deflected the woda to their center safety, who passed it on to Karla Logan, one of their guards. She sprinted down the sideline. A tremor tripped Karla, and she stumbled.
The woda slipped out of her control, and Samuel Dillon, an opposing halfback, grabbed the woda. The half goal stood open, and Samuel might have scored; but Serena was there. She intercepted the woda. William, who should have remained on defense, ran alongside her.
“Stay in position!” one of the forwards yelled at William. “You’re on defense.”
Chastened, William pulled back and soon lost himself in the ebb and flow of the game. He chased the woda, and occasionally tackled or tripped the players of the other team. He received blows as well. One particularly hard one smacked into his calf, and he slammed to the ground.
His leg ached, hurting all the way to the bone, and it took him a second to lever himself upright. Unfortunately, the fall left him out of position, and the other team scored an easy full goal.
“Dammit!” William smacked the turf. He hobbled back to position and did his best to disregard his throbbing calf. The blow had already started to bruise.
“You need to stay alert,” Dwight Karl, their center halfback, yelled at him. He’d yelled at William the whole game.
“Go to hell!” William shouted back. “I was alert.”
Dwight stepped toward him with a glower.
William clenched his jaw, squared his shoulders, and faced Dwight with a stomach full of fire.
Serena stepped between them. “Step back,” she said to both of them in a voice as cold as frozen steel. “We need a full goal to win. Get to your positions and stop screwing around.”
William glared a moment longer at Dwight before stalking away. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He didn’t even know what he wanted to say. What he did know was that there was no way in hell he would lose his first game of enrune. His team would win no matter what it took.
William gritted his teeth, the game resumed, and Jerry Kind, the opposition right forward—the same dickhead who’d clubbed his leg—stole the woda. He ran down the pitch.
William raced to cut him off.
Jerry tried the same spin move he’d used a few minutes before.
Not this time. William hammered to a stop. A bar of Air at the ankles felled Jerry in a heap. William snatched the woda out of the Air.
Players from the other team moved to intercept, and William juked past them. He spun out of a tackle, dribbling as needed.
No thread touched him. He moved too fast. The way to the goal was clear. The full goalie shuffled his feet, trying to keep William in front of him.
William picked up speed. His vision focused. There was no rule against what he was about to try. He drained the lorasra between him and the full goalie and kept on coming. From twenty-five feet out, he flung the woda. It shot toward the top right corner of the goal.
Normally, the full goalie should have easily been able to deflect the shot.
But only if he had access to lorasra.
William’s shot went straight in.
“That’s cheating!” the goalie thundered. “You drained the lorasra.”
“There’s no rule that says I can’t,” William countered.
“Because no one can do it. Goddamn raha’asras shouldn’t be allowed to play,” the goalie fumed.
Both teams stood in the center of the pitch, arguing over whether William’s goal should count.
Lien, as the referee, decided on the validity of William’s play. “If there isn’t a rule against it, then it’s not illegal.”
The other team grumbled and glowered, but eventually accepted her decision.
“That trick won’t work twice,” the full goalie shouted.
“It only had to work once,” William shouted back.
Seconds later, the game ended with William’s side the victor.
The two teams shared the customary handshakes, although a few of the players from the opposing side still shot William dark glares. Afterward, he took a seat on one of the bleachers. His calf still ached from the rapidly worsening bruise.
Serena plopped next to him. “Let me,” she said. She put her hands on his bruised calf and sourced her lorethasra, and the scent of mint floated. She wove Spirit, Fire, Earth, and Water and sent the braid into his muscles.
He sighed in appreciation. “Thank you,” he said. “You’ve got a much gentler touch than Fiona.”
“You’re welcome,” Serena said.
Her hands remained on his leg a few more seconds as she poured out her healing braid.
For reasons he didn’t understand, he reached out with his Spirit and touched hers. She didn’t sever the connection this time. Instead, she stared at him with her disconcertingly direct and intense eyes.
Once again, he sensed the bone-deep regret she felt for what she’d done to him.
After everything they’d been through, how could he remain angry with her?
“Thank you for being a friend,” he said, and for the first time since she’d betrayed him, he felt at peace in her presence.
Later in the evening, William stood on the front porch of Mr. Zeus’ house alongside Jake and Jason and breathed in the cool weather. The lights were turned low, and the overhead fans slowly swirled. Unusual for the three of them, they spoke softly. None of them wanted to break the magical moment. An afternoon storm had lingered until well past sunset and broken the oppressive humidity. A trade wind blew, cool and relaxing.
William stepped off the porch and stared at the night sky. Stars twinkled and puffy clouds glowed ivory under the light of a half moon. He stared west to the Triplets but saw no further weather coming their way.
“I heard you cheated by draining the lorasra in front of the goalie,” Jason said to William.
William returned to the front porch. “There’s no rule against it,” he said with shrug. “Besides, my daddy always said that if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”
“Your Irish father said that?” Jason asked.
William grinned. “I guess I must have heard it on TV then.”
“What were you watching?” Jake asked.
“NASCAR.”
The other boys groaned in despair.
“You hayseed,” Jake added.
“Didn’t you used to go to the Daytona 500 almost every spring?” William asked Jake.
“Yeah, but I don’t go around quoting NASCAR sayings like some redneck.”
“Speaking of red, I heard William and Serena had a real heart-to-heart discussion after the game.” Jason leered. “I heard she had her hands all over his leg.”
“How’s that related to red?” William asked.
“Answer the question,” Jason said.
“You never asked a question, stupid,” William said.
Jason rolled his eyes. “Fine. Did you and Serena have a heart-to-heart? Did I hear right that she had her hands on your legs and wouldn’t let go?”
“No. We didn’t have a heart-to-heart talk,” William said. Technically, h
is answer wasn’t a lie since their heart-to-heart had been Spirit-to-Spirit. “And yes, she had a hand on my leg, my calf.”
Jason made a noise of triumph.
“She healed me,” William said, speaking slowly as if to an idiot. “Jerry Kind hit me pretty good on the calf.”
“Someone told me the two of you were almost kissing,” Jake said with a knowing grin.
“Who told you that?” William asked. He and Serena had sat close to one another, but not enough to kiss.
“Lien,” Jake answered. His left eye twitched, a sure sign he was lying.
William shook his head. “Lien never said that.”
“Will the three of you stop gossiping,” Mr. Zeus said from inside his study, poking his head through the windows that opened onto the porch.
“Sorry,” Jason said. “We’re only trying to find out how William feels about our resident mahavan.”
“Former mahavan,” William said. “And for people who don’t like Serena, the two of you sure seem stuck on her.”
“You three should have been born girls,” Mr. Zeus grumbled as he opened the front door. “How’s the boat building going?” he asked William.
“She should be ready soon,” William answered. “I’m calling her Blue Sky Dreamer. We’re fitting her with both a jib and a mainsail.”
“What happens after that?” Jason asked.
“Then I learn to sail her,” William replied. He held up his hands. “But don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere until I’ve mastered my abilities.”
“I think it was a wise decision to have Serena teach you how to fight using the Elements,” Mr. Zeus noted.
William eyed him in surprise. Mr. Zeus tolerated Serena, but he didn’t have much good to say about her.
“She’s a mahavan by training,” Mr. Zeus explained. “She knows how to fight. It’s what they do.”
“Do you think the Council will rescind some of Serena’s restrictions?” William asked the old man.
“I doubt it,” Mr. Zeus replied.
William frowned. “But if she could dream to Fiona, it would help us understand what’s going on in Sinskrill better than we do now.”
“We don’t need Serena for that,” Jake said. “You or I could probably dream to Fiona. She loved us, too.”
William wanted to smack himself. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“And when you do go to Sinskrill, I’m coming with you,” Mr. Zeus said.
“What?” Jake blurted.
“Did you really think I would wait here while the three of you risked yourselves?” Mr. Zeus asked.
“Jake’s not going,” William reminded him.
Mr. Zeus snorted in derision. “He might still find himself in danger,” he said. “The three of you are too young to understand this, but without you, my life would have no meaning. I mean to protect all of you.”
No one seemed to know what to say after that.
Christmas was only a few weeks away, and all manner of holiday lights, flashing ornaments, and shiny tinsel festooned the Village Green. Some might call it gaudy, but William thought it was pretty. He especially liked it tonight, when hundreds of people stood packed in tight for the traditional lighting of the Christmas tree. There was a festive air to the Village Green, and the aromas of popcorn and candy carried along with strains of traditional Christmas music from a string quartet set up in front of the gazebo. All of it reminded William of holidays at home, of making popcorn strings with his family and listening to Christmas music on the radio.
Jake stood nearby. “The tree looks nice.”
William smiled in pride. He’d helped haul the Asian spruce down from the slopes of Mount Madhava and set it up next to the gazebo. He’d even participated in decorating the tree. Tonight, though, would be the first time all the lights would be lit.
Mayor Lilian Care held up her hands for quiet, and the crowd slowly settled down. “We need not waste time going over why we celebrate Christmas,” Mayor Care began in her aristocratic English accent. Before Arylyn, the matronly woman had served as a governess. “On our home, we celebrate all the major holidays from around the world. Most recently it was Diwali and Maidyarem Gahambar, the Zoroastrian winter feast. Now it’s Christmastime.” Mayor Care broke into a grin. “Besides which, we magi like parties, which means that when the world dies, the last, best party will be here on Arylyn.”
Everyone clapped and hollered agreement.
Mayor Care shouted over their ruckus. “Let’s light the tree.” She waved a wand made of holly and tipped in ivory—a joke since there was no such thing as a magic wand.
The Christmas tree lit with ringing tones that ranged from high-pitched to deep as a church’s bell. Some of the lights changed color, flashing through the spectrum while others sparked like miniature fireworks. From many more came plucked-string notes forming the melody of a song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
William continued clapping enthusiastically, not caring that he was grinning like an idiot. Screw it. Christmas was his favorite time of year.
“What holiday do we celebrate after Christmas?” Jake shouted above the noise of the clapping.
“New Year,” William shouted back. “The regular one. After that comes the Chinese version.”
Lien squeezed in next to them. “Have you seen Daniel?” she asked.
“I heard he and Magnus were fixing a leyline near Linchpin Knoll,” William said. “He’ll probably show up later.”
Lien scowled. “If you see him, let him know I’m looking for him.”
“Sure thing, boss,” William said, doffing an imaginary hat, and he watched as Lien wandered away.
“Is it me, or do those two seem like they want to date but are afraid of what everyone will think?” Jake asked after she left.
“Lien and Daniel?”
Jake nodded.
“It’s not you.”
Mayor Care held up her hands again, calling for quiet once more. “I’m told my speech before the tree-lighting sounded flippant,” she said, shooting a glare at Councilor Duba. “Therefore, I’ll try again, and this time I’ll aim for a more serious note.” She cleared her throat.
“Why do we magi honor all the religions of the world? It may sound puzzling, but in my view, all truths and all religions are sourced in the One who created us, in Him who granted us asra. Our magic is something that touches upon His true essence in a way that mere objects and things never can. He is the ether, and our asra is of Him, of the vastness that transforms the natural into the supernatural.
“Celebrations such as this tree-lighting, held in honor of a carpenter from Nazareth, are meant to remind us to remain humble and to listen for the soft song of the Lord calling us home.”
More clapping met her words.
“Where we’re from, He’s known as Devesh,” Rukh said.
He stood at William’s elbow, and William startled in surprise before glowering at Rukh and Jessira. Those two moved like ghosts.
“What?” William asked, not sure he’d heard right.
“Devesh. It’s our name for the Lord,” Rukh replied with a smile. “Merry Christmas, William. Merry Christmas, Jake.”
“Yes, Merry Christmas,” Jessira added.
“Merry Christmas to you,” William said, his irritation ebbing.
Jessira tugged on Rukh’s arm. “You owe me a dance,” she said as they moved on.
“When have I not owed you a dance?” William heard Rukh reply. He sounded put upon.
Jessira laughed. “After all these years you’re finally learning.”
William lost sight of them when they entered the large group of folks dancing near the gazebo. A saxophone player and pianist had joined the quartet, and the band began playing something jazzy.
William tapped his foot in time to the beat.
“There’s Serena,” Jake said, pointing.
She noticed them and came over. “Looks like you want to dance,” she noted, apparently taking in William�
��s tapping foot. She pulled him forward. “I’ll return him in a bit,” she said to Jake. “Right now I want to talk to him in private.”
She hummed “Gloria” as she led William to the edge of Clifftop. From here, the terraces of Cliff Earth descended to the dark waters of the Pacific.
“You seem happy,” William said.
“I am happy. I have family and friends,” Serena said. “And as your friend, let me offer you some advice. If you ever want to attract the attention of a girl, you need to not always be with Jason or Jake.”
“What do you mean?” William asked, although Serena was right. Most of his time was spent with Jake or Jason.
“I mean I’ve heard some girls wondering why none of you ask them out.”
William shrugged. “I’ve got other things on my mind.”
“Like freeing Fiona and Travail?”
William nodded. While he loved his life on Arylyn, freeing Fiona and Travail was always at the forefront of his thoughts. He had to get stronger, faster, and more dangerous to pull it off. A realization occurred to him. “I spend a lot of time with you,” William countered.
“True, but for some reason I don’t count.”
William frowned in disbelief. Serena was beautiful. Even a blind person would know that. “I’m pretty sure you’re all woman.”
“Good answer,” she said with a laugh. “Now I’ve said my piece, let’s dance.”
William hesitated. Dancing with Serena seemed like more than what “friends” should do. He reluctantly let her draw him closer to where the musicians were playing some fast-paced number. Thankfully, the song ended right as they arrived.
“Well, that’s that,” William said. He stepped away from her, ready to go flee the dance floor.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Serena said with a laugh. She reached for his hand and spun him back. “You don’t get off that easily.”
The next song started. “True,” by Spandau Ballet.
William mentally groaned. “You planned this, didn’t you?”
She answered with the amused smile he’d never been able to decipher.
William sighed and held out his hands, waiting for Serena to settle against him. They slow-danced, but William remained tense throughout. Friendship or no, it felt awkward to hold Serena, especially feeling her pressed against him.