by L. R. W. Lee
“Most definitely.” The side of his mouth hitched upward.
“Okay, so knowing that, what’s your plan to stymie them?”
“We need to destroy the stockpile of explosives as well as the rock beetle eggs. We destroy the eggs, and it’ll take them a while before more become available. I know where the various nests are that they’ve been collecting eggs from.”
“The nest in our cave—”
“I erected an Air barrier the first time someone attempted to come in.”
“You didn’t tell me—”
“I didn’t want to worry you. It wasn’t important.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he waved it off.
“It’s an insorcelled man they’ve got collecting eggs. He was confused when he couldn’t get in, but he eventually gave up.”
“An insorcelled man? What, by himself? But what if the beetles…” I didn’t finish the thought.
My stomach twisted. Humans were expendable to Father.
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“We know where they’re assembling the explosives as well as where they’re stockpiling them. We destroy the nests first.”
I drew back. I wasn’t going anywhere near rock beetles unless Kovis begged me to.
“And you won’t have to.” Clearly Kovis had been listening to my tumultuous thoughts. “Everything we do will be from the protection of this cave.”
I raised a brow.
“They’re collecting eggs from ten caves. I’ll point out each one, then using the Terra magic that the rebels so kindly gifted us, you can sense the position of the nest within. You tell me where the nest is, and I’ll freeze the eggs.”
“I’ve never used Terra like that before.”
“I have every confidence you can do it, Ali.”
“Won’t the rebels see ice soaring overhead?”
“I’ll send my Ice magic on my Air. I’ll manifest the ice only after it’s inside the cave. No one will see anything.”
I put a hand on his arm. “You can do that?”
Kovis chuckled. “I didn’t say I’d done it before, but I don’t see why not. I am the most powerful sorcerer this empire has ever known.”
I rolled my eyes. “Braggart. So how do we knock out the stockpile?”
Kovis flicked his brows. “I believe it’s a simple matter of you melting the metal casings down.”
“Like what, in a puddle?”
“Exactly, using the barrier’s Metal magic. A quick freeze will kill the eggs inside. I’ll also freeze the eggs in their assembly area while I’m at it.”
“And they’re just going to let us do this?”
“Oh, that’s where we have a little fun. We’re going to drench them with water from every direction. You use the Water magic from the barricade, I’ll use my own. You’ve gotten a whiff of them. They could all stand baths.”
“So we’re doing them a favor.” I grinned and shook my head.
Kovis turned his hands palms up. “What? That’s how I see it.”
I snickered. “Somehow I doubt they’ll agree.”
“Which is exactly why I shall redouble my Air barrier and we’ll beat a hasty retreat.”
It was a plan, imaginative as well as daring. I just hoped nothing went wrong. Too much rode on our reaching Dream.
We gazed out over the rebel outpost. We’d readied our capes at the entrance. We’d don them then float out on pillows of Air, if all went well.
I’d battled in The Ninety-Eight, so this exercise shouldn’t have been any big deal. But I’d relied on skills I’d practiced time and again for that. I would have to figure out how to use Terra to sense, which I’d never done before. I’d also never melted metal down. And Kovis… I had to stop, or I’d be a complete mess with no hope of success. And we had to succeed, or citizens would die in the next rebel attack on a Terra mine.
Just do your best, Ali. It’s all we can ever do. Best for best.
Kovis hadn’t used that phrase in ages, but it certainly applied.
Ready?
As I’ll ever be.
Kovis pointed at the first beetle cave. It was situated about two men’s height above floor level. A crude set of steps had been carved from the rock, and that poor insorcelled man had undoubtedly been forced to climb them to harvest the eggs. Perhaps it was a good thing he wasn’t himself. I hoped he had no awareness of what he was being made to do.
I halted my thoughts and focused. I needed to locate the nest. I grabbed a thread of Terra from the barricade before us. How to sense? I imagined becoming part of the floor just inside that cave. As I did, I started to perceive the difference in density between the walls and the open space. Score one for Ali. I moved out across the floor, but nothing weighed on me. Was I doing this correctly?
Where would the nest be? Wait, how was our cave organized? Surely these creatures built them similarly. Ours had a long tunnel connecting the back entrance and the nursery. I refocused and felt my way along the shaft until the density of my surroundings again told me I had reached another open area. Score two. But was the nest here? Or the beetles themselves. I shuddered. Fanning out around the space, I felt a largish something above me, but it moved. I nearly shrieked.
Kovis put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. You can do this, Ali.
I continued feeling my way across the space until I located something with weight… in a circular shape. This had to be the nest. It didn’t weigh as much as that creature had.
I think I found it.
Kovis joined my mind through our bond. It still felt odd having him in my head, but I was getting more used to it. With each time he’d done it, it had grown more intimate and less foreign. I’d done it to him, but it was a different sensation when he joined me.
He homed in on the location I’d identified. Then on his Air he sent a rush of Ice magic. A heartbeat later he exclaimed, Yes! Well done! There were a dozen eggs, but they’re frozen now.
How can you be sure they were the eggs?
My Ice felt them. They were spheres.
I wished we could just freeze the beetles, but they were too large. I returned my presence to the cave and listened. No noises sounded that would indicate anyone was the wiser. I’d have been surprised if there had, but you never knew.
Let’s do it again, Kovis said.
He was right, time was moving.
I reached out again and again, to each of the ten nests, and together we destroyed those eggs. I shed no tears.
Task one complete, we turned our attention to the stockpile. Destroying this and the eggs in the assembly area would attract attention, so we had to be quick. At least we knew exactly where everything was located.
I grabbed a thread of Metal magic from the barrier and looked to the stockpile of explosives. The rebels had placed them in several straw-lined wooden boxes, wood dividers separating each. The crates had been stacked on top of each other to a man’s height. I’d start on the ones at the back and move forward.
Melting metal couldn’t be that hard. The metal casings attracted my Metal affinity, and I located the first sphere. I imagined it melting, turning into liquid that flowed from the crate onto the ground below.
You’re doing great, Ali.
I’d made it through half the cache when three rebels ambled toward the supply, more explosives in hand. Despite starting at the back, with metal oozing down the crates and pooling on the floor, it was impossible to hide the mess.
The rebels cried for help then launched into the pile, furiously moving the crates to get to the cause.
Keep going, Ali. I think it’s time for their showers.
I focused and redoubled my efforts. Sweat started trickling down my back as a torrent of water began spraying the rebels, driving them off.
But more rebels joined in the fight. Kovis expanded the field of spray, pummeling them so they couldn’t stand.
I kept melting spheres. More and more and more of them.
I had ten explosives left wh
en I heard the shout, “Over there!”
Not to rush you, Ali, but…
Kovis iced the eggs I’d uncovered, and I melted the metal on the seventh remaining sphere. I worked quickly—six, then five, then four left.
We need to go.
Just three left. I can do it.
I focused and melted another.
Ali, no time. Kovis grabbed my arm.
Metal flowed off another sphere, exposing the egg.
Kovis dragged me away and threw up an Air barrier.
You didn’t freeze the eggs in the assembly area, I protested.
I did.
When?
Talk later. Run!
I heard shouts behind us, but they weren’t growing closer. Not yet. It seemed they hadn’t broken through, but it wouldn’t be long.
Kovis threw up another barrier behind us as we reached the open area at the front of the cave. We grabbed our capes and buttoned them as shouts sounded directly behind us.
“Here we go!” Kovis said as he raced out the entrance, with me on his heels. I caught myself on a pocket of Air, but a heartbeat later I plunged down, down into the snow. It surrounded me, and I panicked. I needed a hard surface against which to cast my winds in order to fly. The snow was light and powdery, and I sank down until I’d hit a solid layer. Which way? Which way?
Calm down, Ali! Move toward the light.
I burst through the snow into the crisp air. But a shout overhead had me flying toward Kovis in the blink of an eye.
The rebels peered out of the cave, mouths gaping, never having seen anything so strange as a person flying. By the time their minds caught up with their eyes, we had made it a good way up the pass. Anyone wanting to follow would have no trouble tracking us with the trail we left in the powdery snow, but I doubted anyone would be able to navigate the white stuff anytime soon.
That had been too close, and my heart still beat faster than usual. Kovis’s heart thumping wildly through our bond told me he fared similarly.
You said we’d beat a hasty retreat, I said some time later.
Kovis let out a full-bodied laugh. Indeed I did. That’ll teach me.
We stymied them, Kovis. We did it! And not one rebel was hurt.
He smiled. Of course your Father will know where we are.
My mouth fell open. Of course he would. I hadn’t expected to be seen, so I hadn’t even considered it.
It’s fine. Do you suppose he knows about the connection between Wake and Dream on Sonmel Island?
I don’t see how he could. No one knew it was possible to go to Wake from Dream and live.
I hope you’re right. If he does, he’ll know that’s where we’re headed and be expecting us.
My stomach lurched at the notion, but no, Father couldn’t possibly know. Velma had just figured it out. It had never been done before. I refused to think differently.
The landscape of Cochem Pass had all been similarly decorated, like white icing on a chocolate cake, but as we drew closer to The Canyon, I could feel its energy intensify. My skin prickled much like waking an appendage that had lost feeling after sleeping on it.
Sunlight muted the nighttime brilliance of the gulf’s colors, but like after a rainstorm, greens and purples and reds and turquoise and yellows and blues still danced in the sky. It seemed as if we flew in a rippling rainbow.
Gods, this is amazing! Kovis enthused. Almost better than sex!
I snorted. Must everything be compared to sex?
I thought you would have figured this out by now, Ali dearest. We men measure nearly everything in terms of food and sex. The only question is, which one is winning at any given time.
My laugh broke free of all restraint, and I cackled until my stomach ached.
Not long after, we reached the yawning gorge. Sparks of energy made me squirm, and I couldn’t stop the tremors. It was exciting but also a bit scary to have so much energy pulsing through me. It wasn’t like when I’d overloaded myself with another sorcerer’s power at The Ninety-Eight. No, this was an exciting, pleasurable scary, like I might enjoy it so much that I’d never want to leave. If winter solstice was even remotely close to this, I understood why my friends had reacted as they had, blushing and gushing about it.
Kovis held up a hand, and we stopped, floating above one of the canyon’s walls. His body trembled with power too. He couldn’t hold himself still.
“Still enjoying it?” I asked.
“And how. I could stay here forever.” His voice came back dreamy sounding.
“Kovis, we can’t. How do we get across?”
“Why cross? Mmm.” Kovis’s arm jerked randomly, then one of his legs lurched. He bobbled on his air cushion. “Whoa…”
Based upon how buzzed I felt, I had to accept that perhaps my Air magic stemmed from here, but not all of my powers did, because I wasn’t overcome. But it was clear I needed to act, and fast.
“Because we have to save Kennan from my father, for starters.”
“Kennan. Mmm. Yeah, Kennan. Save him.” Kovis giggled. “From your mean old daddy.”
Gods, he was more intoxicated than my siblings and I at the mushroom caves.
I peered over the edge and couldn’t see a bottom. It went down, down, down into the abyss. While I could see the other side, it was a long way off. How had Nomarch Kett and his insorcelled warriors crossed this? How would we cross when we needed something stiff on which to buoy our air cushions? I pushed down rising panic. I had to think straight, I was the only one who could keep us moving.
We floated in a field of turquoise. It was Ice magic, definitely. I knew the feel of it. Was this why Kovis was so blitzed? I shook the thought away. It didn’t matter.
“Kovis!”
“Mmm?” A grin lit up his face.
“Kovis look at me.”
His eyes were only half open when he glanced over. He’d be of no help.
What to do? My mind swirled as I looked over at the opposing side of The Canyon, so far away. Wait… it might just work. Kovis was always saying we needed to innovate and try new things. No time like the present. I’d build an ice bridge.
Kovis rolled onto his back beside me, and then over again and again, rolling right into me with a mischievous grin. “What’s say we take a tumble on our clouds.” He guffawed.
I shook my head. I’d told him about my aunts in Dream and their… proclivities. Clearly, he’d remembered.
Kovis, get a grip.
Nothing I’d like more. He laughed.
I tried to ignore him as I unbuttoned my cape and pushed it back over my shoulder so I could use my hands. Careful to maintain the cushion of Air beneath me, I held out a hand and felt the magic flowing past. It felt dense. I’d never felt magic so thick before. I’d always leveraged magic from a sorcerer, never in its raw state. Could I harness it? I had to try.
My muscles quivered with nervous anticipation, as well as the glut of magic, as I envisioned shooting a stream of ice clear across the chasm on the back of my Air, much as Kovis had done to kill the rock beetle eggs. I held out my hands and Ice magic surged at my bidding. I blew back, away from the edge on my air cushion.
Whoa… Kovis murmured through the bond.
The magic was wild and strong, a beast of its own that would not be tamed. I let it go, nearly overwhelmed with the power, but I couldn’t hold on to my cushion and I plunged into the top layer of fluffy white snow.
Kovis just stared.
I wasn’t so much panicked as pissed that I’d fallen deep into the snow again. I recreated my Air cushion, found solid ground beneath me, and pushed myself up, then floated forward, even with Kovis again.
“Snow Princess,” Kovis snorted, then rolled again. “You’ve got a snow crown.”
I ignored him and redoubled my Air beneath me, then added my other hand to steady myself against this power’s staggering strength. After a deep breath, I again envisioned ice flying across the expanse of The Canyon, forming a bridge. I gritted my teeth and closed my e
yes—it took all my strength to direct it.
Wow… Kovis murmured.
My arms shook the longer I held it. I closed my eyes. I would do this. We had to rescue Alfreda and Kennan. We had to stop Father. I repeated the words over and over as power swelled through me and a thick sheet of ice shot up from the depths of the gulf. More and more. I was a conduit, a pathway of release. My arms shook. I had to hold on. I screamed as ice arced toward the far side of the canyon. Every muscle in my body throbbed, but still I held on. Just barely. And then I roared as the power overwhelmed me and I became one with the magic.
My eyes shot open as I felt myself lift off, the Ice magic sending me soaring as it caught me in its raw power. Up and up, higher and higher and higher I flew. Panic surged through me. I had to get free of it. It was hard to breathe. Kovis!
Think hot thoughts of me, came his jumbled reply.
Was he joking? Kovis, I need you!
That’s right, you want me. You know you do. It was a purr.
He was still out of it, but he was right. I had to want something else. I turned my thoughts to my family and longing to see them again.
My pace slowed. The Canyon looked small from where I was. A heartbeat later, gravity took hold and I let out a shriek as I started to fall. My heart raced, and I gulped in air, but rational thought quickly asserted itself. I pushed back my panic and constructed an Air cushion then used it to bob and weave to slow myself as I descended.
I surveyed The Canyon and inhaled sharply. The sky around me was no longer tinged turquoise, although a swath of violet still rippled to my right and pale shamrock to my left. I’d desired to build an ice bridge. Oh, I’d built one all right. One that spanned the entire width of what had been the turquoise band. Crystal clear ice stretched across the chasm, solid from one side to the other. I could only guess its thickness. Below it, turquoise light from the now-capped Ice magic, danced. I couldn’t take my eyes off it the closer I came.
My breathing hadn’t yet returned to normal by the time I returned to Kovis, who continued rolling on his air cushion near what had been the edge of The Canyon. He grinned.
I shook my head as I buttoned my cape. “Let’s go, Kovis.” I was exhausted from the experience, but the sooner we crossed this gulf, the sooner we’d get to Dream.