Into the Darkness

by Michael Clement

  That took a lot of skill and practice.

  And, it was a skill that pirates and smugglers used all the time. I wondered which profession Gavin was a member of.

  The primer told me that the energy that each girl had was hers. I could cast spells they had prepared, stealing them from them. And, when I became talented enough, I could inscribe spells on their bubbles for them.

  Or, I could use our bonds to draw on their ambient energy. That was what the draw energy spell was used for.

  The ambient energy was the power that most mages used to cast cantrips. A wizard could cast spells like, light candle, all day long and not feel tired. That was because of the ambient power that floated up from their mana vaults.

  Each of the girls had ambient power also, just leaking out of their own vaults. This spell took some of that energy and funneled it to me. The amount that I received was a third of their total power. So, Hana, who had three spheres, would net me one new sphere of power.

  Wizards who tamed familiars drew on that power.

  It was what I would use to create more arcane bubbles in my mind.

  I decided to start small with Hana.

  She had three arcane bubbles now. The primer said that when mages and familiars had sex or did something that supercharged their emotions, then the weakest partner, gained more sigils.

  Sigils were the official name for Blister’s bubble term.

  Hana was a Hidden Goblin, like me. Someone in her family had slept with a Goblin, and Hana had been the result. Unlike me, she had more of their flaws, as far as humans were concerned.

  Her acne.

  Her large feet and hands.

  Her ears were a little too big and pointed outward.

  Even her hair, which was greasy, screamed Goblin. Most Goblins hated washing. I was the only one that I knew who liked soaking in hot water.

  Reaching out through our link, I opened my eyes inside of her mind.

  Floating in front of me were her three black bubbles. Spheres would be a good description as well. I liked bubbles better than sigils. That term felt too stuffy.

  Looking down, I saw Hana’s mana vault. Like mine, it was leaking golden fumes that rolled up and around the bubbles.

  I focused on her bubble that was linked to mine through the taming spell. The primer said to cast the second spell on that bubble.

  The taming spell had felt like a black lance studded with a sharp point with a barbed end. It had pierced Hana’s soul and bound her to me.

  Then, I looked closer. The taming spell hadn’t pierced her soul itself. Instead, it had lanced through her arcane bubble. That’s why the two spheres were connected to one another. Mine had the marks on it declaring that it was a taming anchor.

  Hers had similar marks on it, and the two were connected by a golden thread.

  Taking a deep breath, I decided that there was no time like the present.

  I cast the spell.

  Hana’s bubble shook and wobbled. It had been rotating around her mana vault. Now, it moved, floating up above her other bubbles.

  When the golden mist reached it, instead of flowing over it, or around it… the bubble absorbed the energy.

  The bubble kept absorbing mist, making it glow brighter.

  Leaning back, I watched it as it grew fat and pregnant with power.

  Then, the sphere pulsed and sent the energy swarming down our link and to me.

  Alright, dumb idea, I moaned.

  Then, the power crashed into my mind.

  Moaning, I shuddered and groaned. My mind was already hurting from gaining several new bubbles. It really wasn’t ready…

  I laid down and screamed as the pain nearly overwhelmed my sanity.

  In my mind, a new bubble formed, as Hana’s power rolled through my soul. The damn primer didn’t mention how much it would hurt.

  Groaning, I fought to not throw up or scream.

  The new bubble pulsed within me, and I could see a tether that wrapped around our bond, leading back to Hana.

  Power flowed from her to me, filling up the new black sphere.

  Moaning, I focused on breathing.

  The door to the cabin slammed open, and women flooded the deck of the airship.

  “Bazal!” Mary shrieked, as she pounded toward me. “What are you doing?”

  “New spell,” I groaned.

  “Hana collapsed,” Brynn yelled, sounding more worried than I had expected. “One minute she was talking to us, the next, she just keeled over.”

  Dammit.

  I should never have done this without her knowing.

  I fought my way to my feet and slipped through the girls, who followed behind me, peppering me with more questions.

  Hana was still alive. I could feel her pulse in my mind.

  She was on the bed, lying in an awkward position. I moved her so that she was resting more comfortably and then laid down next to her.

  That felt better. Her ambient power was still flowing into my mind. But, it felt like the intense, initial draw had finally settled down.

  I had read that it would be rough at first. I just hadn’t realized how painful it would be.

  “You linked with her magic, didn’t you,” Mary observed.

  I nodded.

  “Without telling us,” Brynn snapped.

  “I didn’t know I was going to try it until, well, I did.”

  “That was stupid,” Mary said, not sounding upset, or angry. She was just stating a fact. Like, jees, it’s sunny today.

  A better name for the spell would have been, Power Leech.

  “I have to keep harvesting ambient energy from each of you if I am going to be able to cast more spells,” I told the girls. “I just didn’t know that it would hurt you.”

  “But, you will have to do it anyway,” Brynn announced. “We need you to become a wizard.”

  “Why?” I groaned. I just wanted to go back to sleep.

  “Well, I need you to become a wizard,” she retorted. “Otherwise, Jeffrey will get his wish, and I will become his bride, over your dead body.”

  “Your family will kill Bazal if he fails?” Taesa asked.

  Brynn nodded.

  “I don’t want Bazal to die,” Taesa mused. Then, she looked at me. “Take what you need. Anything.”

  I reached out and squeezed her hand, pulling the pale woman next to me. Now, I had Hana sleeping on one side, and Taesa cuddling on the other.

  “I understand that you will need to leech me,” Brynn said. “After the initial connection, it doesn’t hurt. I just wish you would have told us first. I don’t like surprises.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling foolish.

  “Apology accepted,” Hana murmured, as she slowly opened her eyes.

  Then, she kissed my cheek, shocking me.

  Hana looked at Brynn. “When will I feel better?”

  “When your power level balances out, which should be soon. You don’t have much power, so it will be easier for you.”

  That meant it would be harder for the other three women.

  Dammit.

  - 32 -

  “Don’t leech any of the rest of us until your body has time to adjust,” Mary observed as we walked down the airship’s ramp, “or, your brain will melt.”

  Not might melt.

  Will.

  Sighing, I shaded my eyes. It felt weird to be back in the sunlight.

  And, I had forgotten how long it took me to get used to colors again.

  Hana was pressed up against me, and I was helping her walk.

  “Colors,” she murmured, still not quite herself.

  But, her words reminded me that she was as much a Goblin as I was. And, I wasn’t sure if she was even aware that she was one.

  Brynn led the way through Charleston’s airfield, as she held an excited Abigail in her arms. Gavin stayed close to her. He had been quiet since I punched him in the nose.

  Mary walked behind us with Taesa. I could hear them chattering along. Taesa had
n’t been in the light in a long time. Mary had found dark robes and a shawl to dress her in so that she wouldn’t draw too much attention, but I could feel that the sunlight was bothering her eyes as well.

  Charleston’s pocket of light was more significant than Savannah’s had been. I didn’t know enough about how the pocket technology worked, all I could do was observe it. In Savannah, I had been able to see the edges of the light from the center of the city.

  In Charleston, I couldn’t see the darkness. It was both comforting and worrisome at the same time. Being so far away from the source of magic bothered me in more ways than one.

  Charleston was a prosperous town, full of activity. It had an active port in the eastern portion of the city, along with a vibrant smithing community of dwarves in the northern part. In the remains of the Southern United States, it created more airships than all the other cities combined, not to mention guns and cannons.

  “Halt…”

  The word rang out like a gong, startling all of us. I was simply unprepared to defend myself, here in the light, which was a mistake.

  I was a Goblin. I should have known better. But, I had been lulled into a feeling of safety, after exiting the savage darkness.

  Armed dwarves marched toward us, armed to the teeth. They each had several rifles strapped to their back. Stuffed into their belts were dozens of pistols, knives, and even hand grenades. All of the dwarves had dark skin that bordered on black, and hair that matched it.

  And, they looked pissed.

  “Maranda Althea Fisher,” the lead dwarf growled. “You are under arrest for dismemberment, cannibalism, murder, kidnapping, and lewd behavior.”

  In his hands was a set of silver manacles engraved with ebony black runes.

  Mary scowled. “I despise that name. My name is Mary, not Maranda.”

  Shit.

  The only thing Mary had to say when confronted with the list of crimes was, ‘I hate that name.’ Not, I didn’t do it. You have the wrong woman.

  I had seen Mary’s dreams and nightmares. She had done everything that the dwarf had accused her of, and thousands of other, even more, horrific atrocities.

  But I didn’t care.

  Mary was mine now, for better or worse.

  Annoyed, I pushed my way to the front, placing myself between my wife and her accusers.

  “Stop,” I hissed, prepared to summon my stone armor and hellfire.

  The dwarf in front of me scowled. He had a thick black mustache that fell the center of his chest. In his hands was a double-barrel over/under shotgun whose barrels looked like twin cannons sitting one on top of the other.

  “And, who might you be?” he growled at me.

  “Bazal Cowan,” I answered, using my mother’s maiden name. I hated her husband, my step-father. Using his last name was an insult that I couldn’t stomach.

  And, it wasn’t like I could use my Goblin clan name.

  That would incite a riot.

  “Well, Bazal Cowan,” the dwarf said with a sneer. “You will get out of the way.”

  The stocky creature pointed his shotgun at me and grinned. He expected and enjoyed bloodshed, and I was just the sort of target that he liked.

  Mary wanted me to kill him. I could feel it through our bond. In her eyes, it was the most natural and expedient solution. But, the dwarves had chosen well. Here, in the middle of the airfield, there were few shadows. Mary was strongest in the dark or the twilight.

  In the light, she was almost defenseless.

  Suddenly, I realized something.

  We weren’t the heroes.

  In most people’s heads, they are the heroes--or the victims--of their own life’s stories. But, rarely do they see themselves as the villains.

  The five of us, and probably Gavin as well, were villains. Taesa ate people, drinking their essences until they turned to dust. Mary was an out and out sociopath who slaughtered people because they weren’t pure enough. Brynn was a Basilisk who had eaten my brother after fucking him. And, Hana. Well, Hana didn’t mind chopping people up, if it helped her belong to the group in general.

  Fuck.

  If I killed this stupid dwarf and the other constables… well, then we would genuinely be the villains.

  But, I wondered if that would be such a terrible thing. Villains at least knew what they wanted from life. Heroes usually only existed to stop the villains from succeeding.

  I wanted magic.

  It had always been my passion.

  Brynn had asked me why once.

  The answer was easy. As a child, I had been just another Goblin in the pits. It was kill or be killed.

  And, the Goblins with magic… lived the longest, had the most food, and to be honest, fucked the most.

  The dwarf growled at me and pressed the muzzles of his shotgun into my stomach.

  I wasn’t giving him Mary.

  We might be villains. But, the girls were my psychotic, sociopathic, murderous, lunatic wives.

  Mine.

  Not his.

  I didn’t fucking care what Mary had done--or would do in the future--as long as she was part of my…

  Family.

  There. I said it. Just to myself, at least. I called the woman my wives. Goblin males had lots of fuck buddies. But, wives meant family or possessions.

  And I would protect what was mine.

  “Stop,” Brynn decreed.

  - 33 -

  I could hear the regalness oozing out of Brynn’s voice.

  The dwarf looked over at her, as she glared at him with annoyance. She wasn’t trying to turn him to stone… yet.

  “I am Brynn Tawret of Ashmouth,” she announced. “Step away from my husband.”

  I shivered.

  It was the first time that I could remember here claiming me in such a decisive way.

  And, interestingly, she hadn’t used my last name for hers, or the name that she had given the priest. But, I sensed that this indeed was her last name, at least in her mind.

  The dwarf glanced at her, and then he chuckled.

  “You, my dear,” he growled, “are no Tawret. A beggar, maybe. But, a princess, never.”

  All of us were dirty with ripped and torn clothing. The stink of the darkness rode our skin like brimstone mixed with shit. And, I suspected that we were even nastier smelling than I thought.

  Brynn scowled.

  Then, she sighed and slowly raised her left arm. Her shirt sleeve slid down and there, tattooed into her skin was a crimson snake’s head, a big one.

  Turning her arm in front of herself, she raised so that it was parallel to her face.

  Then, she breathed on the snake.

  Smoke began to leak from the tattoo, as she raised her other arm to her face and mirrored her first breath. The second snake was as black as night.

  When she looked up, her eyes were serpent golden and slit from top to bottom.

  Her clothing began to move and whisper, as the serpents that were tattooed in an ouroboros encircling her whole body began to slither.

  A blue snake pushed up out of her cleavage and blinked at the dwarf as it spread its hood wide.

  A dark green snake slithered down her left leg, and a white phyton crawled over her shoulder to peek at the constable.

  Both the dwarf and I backed away at the same time.

  The only difference is that he mumbled, “Impossible. All those fucking snake kissers are black.”

  Brynn laughed.

  Then, her skin slowly darkened. I stared at her, as caucasian Brynn disappeared, to be replaced with a woman with skin the color of black coffee with maybe a dollop of cream in it. Her brown hair became black and twisted, into tight knots that flowed behind her n a stream.

  But, I had seen her white mother.

  Brynn’s skin was too dark to be a mixture.

  What the fuck was going on?