by Chris Africa
"Is that your stomach I hear, growling around in there like a wild animal? I'll make porridge."
Andrev groaned. "Please, not porridge again."
"What's wrong with porridge?"
"It's like something you feed old horses who can't chew." Even they would appreciate variety, he mused.
Granny frowned and stirred. "You also feed it to growing boys when they're hungry and there's nothing else to eat. So stop complaining and appreciate what I'm serving. And while you eat, consider your attitude. It has everything to do with your magic."
"What?"
"I said to consider your attitude. Don't talk about it." Granny thrust a bowl of mush into his hands. "No promises, but there might be berries in my book bag."
Berries would improve the gruel. He searched the bag until he found a small pouch of blueberries and brandished it. Maybe he could eat only fruit.
"Share the berries," Granny called over her shoulder.
A grumble escaped his lips before Andrev examined his mindset. He couldn't help being miffed about eating porridge again, even with a few berries to improve the texture, but for now, he remained quietly annoyed. He took the bowl Granny offered him and scooped blueberries into it, saving half for his mentor.
Mentor. The word had a subservient ring, but he supposed that was acceptable. So far, he had learned a lot—mostly facts he could learn faster from a book—but he hoped this new revelation about suppression magic would make his visit much more interesting.
"So how does my mood relate to magic?"
"You ate all your porridge," Granny said.
Andrev realized with surprise he had eaten every bit of the sludge. "The berries make it tolerable."
"Are you sure it's not the lack of grumbling?" Granny raised her eyebrows.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"One of my gifts is the ability to see your aura, the natural field of energy surrounding you," she said. "Yours is red and muddy. Had I never met you, I would have known from yours that you are angry, competitive, intolerant, and obsessive. These qualities drive away people."
Obsessive and competitive? Maybe. Angry and intolerant? He did not agree with her, though he had discovered as a kid if he walked around scowling and uncooperative, people left him alone, which suited him.
"Okay, how does that relate to berries in porridge?"
"It relates to everything! Your aura is continually touching and overlapping the surrounding auras. Muddy red is a repulsive field. It repels people, animals, and even the energy surrounding objects such as food. I'm curious to know whether food has ever tasted good to you."
Andrev couldn't decide how to react. He was a negative, obsessive, angry person who repulsed people and even the flavor in foods?
"Food doesn't taste bad to me. I just don't see what other people think is so great about stuffing their faces. I eat when I'm hungry." That sometimes meant not eating for a day. But he had read about people who fasted, so there was nothing wrong with that, was there?
"And you don't care that you repel the people in your life."
"People annoy me, and I upset them without trying." Andrev shrugged. "It seems better for everyone if I drive them off. They stay away, and I don't offend them."
"Uh-huh! That's what I thought." Granny handed her bowl to Andrev. "Clean these up, and we'll start your first lesson."
25: Chassy
Chassy scurried across the city with Nita close behind. Slipping back into the lean-to with Cherise and William, he transformed into himself.
"Chassy! What are you doing?" William's shocked voice met him.
"Whoa—clothes! Put on some clothes!" Cherise squealed. Why did she sound disgusted?
Dizziness struck him as his friends complained. Oh, yeah, that. He dressed his bottom half and collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed by exhaustion. Running around the city as a dog had used so much energy he lost focus. Nita handed him an apple, and Cherise shoved a water skin in his face. Eating and drinking did not refresh him, but the dizziness subsided.
"Are you okay now?" Nita asked, at the same time William demanded, "Tell us what you saw."
"There was only one guy inside. From the outside, it looks like there are two floors in the building, but it's actually one giant room with tall shelves. They're crammed with ordinary stuff like bowls and stones. I even saw a harness. And in the middle is a cabinet that might be more valuable items or maybe the cabinet itself is somehow special. It is bigger than this hovel, with drawers on all sides. I ran around as much as I could, but this place was enormous. And of course my legs were so short I could only see lower shelves."
"I wonder what that Jaybers fellow does all day," Nita said.
"I think he sits beside the cabinet and guards it. There is only one chair."
"In the dark?"
"There are several lamps around the room, but it is pretty dark. I was far away, but I saw hatches in the roof where those archers can get inside. And there's a door in the floor near the cabinet."
"What about outside?" Cherise asked.
"There are a lot of guards outside," Nita added. "There are guys with swords or daggers at every corner of the building and six archers on the rooftop. To be fair, they look lazy and sleepy. I bet at night they are useless. From the outside, the building appears to have no windows and only one door."
William raised his eyebrows. "I wonder where the door in the floor goes. Chassy, did you see ladders hanging from the roof hatches?"
"No, but I wasn't looking. I was mostly trying to evade." Chassy shuddered, recalling how the guy had flown at him screaming and waving his sword. He destroyed dozens of items during his tirade.
"I have several ideas of how to get into the building," Cherise said. "But none how to escape Lyesfare afterward. Every exit I can imagine involves a dozen armed thugs on our tails, and they close the gates to lock us in."
Chassy thought that sounded likely. Once they broke into this warehouse of treasured items, the watchmen there would alert the rest of Gnarkvetch's lackeys.
"I wonder if Chassy can talk to bees," Nita said.
"Bees? What good would that be?"
As she revealed her strategy, Chassy mused he should have known not to question Nita's planning skills. Her ideas were always the best. But he would need a lot of sleep and a good meal to pull this off. And then another good meal when they had finished.
***
Tonight's black moons hid their tiny slivers of light behind a bank of rain clouds. Chassy appreciated the extra darkness, but it was impossible to see where they were going. This tempted him to turn back into the cougar with its keen eyes and unfailing sense of smell until he reminded himself that wasn't his agreed-upon role this time.
Chassy thought he may have taken advantage of the food situation, garnering not one but two separate meals of sausages, cheese, bread, and apples. Cherise also offered an onion, but he couldn't understand why she enjoyed eating the uncooked root. Nita napped in the afternoon and ate a small snack of bread and fruit, but her use of the ring hardly seemed to affect her. Maybe exercising magical power was like using a muscle, getting stronger with practice.
"Okay, let's go," Nita whispered.
Chassy took a deep breath and ducked out into the night, heart thumping in his chest so hard he was sure everyone in the city heard it. If Nita's plan worked, it would be one of the most dangerous things he'd ever done. If it flopped, they'd end up back in the iron cages or executed. He reached out to his allies.
We hear you, they answered. Focusing was hard while walking in pitch black. Nita held his arm to steady him. Cherise and William walked on his right side and behind.
Birch responded first, head of the group that had led him earlier. He would guide Chassy in the darkness back to the warehouse. The rest of the pack surrounded them, flowing like shadows behind their leader.
Next, he contacted the rats. They stole from humans only what they needed to survive, staying out of the way as much as possible. But
Gnarkvetch's underlings handled animals cruelly, and the rat family hated these humans.
These men kick dogs just for being nearby. They kill rats for eating food, when there is so much to spare. This is no way to treat other creatures, Orfeus said when Chassy asked for their help. We can help you. We scare everyone.
The rat king—the nearest human word Chassy could find for what he called himself—sounded maniacal, almost gleeful at the opportunity to attack. Humans who harassed them had earned strange nicknames, and Chassy learned all the guards at the warehouse had such monikers. The rats surged through the streets, and Chassy knew they were there only by the feeling of their presence.
Finally, the bees. This was the most difficult group to convince. Rain! they protested, their tiny bodies closely attuned to the weather. He could not tell which of them was responding. It sounded like the entire group talked at once.
Before the rain, Chassy said.
Until the rain, they agreed.
Despite the darkness, they saw the warehouse long before they drew close enough to see what it was. The door guard, "Squash Nose," had a torch planted in the soil beside him, and beacons blazed at each corner of the storehouse, from the ground, and on the roof.
The rats arrived well ahead of them, their little gray and white bodies blanketing the ground and scurrying up the side of the building. This drove the guards to a frenzy of stomping, kicking, and screaming. The archer named "Pickle Rump" thrashed around until he flung himself off the side of the building. Squash Nose ran over to help Pickle Rump, leaving the door untended. Rats now covered every guard head to foot. Chassy hoped they weren't being badly hurt though he had to admit some seemed to deserve it.
Nita and Cherise hurried toward the door. Nita had transformed to look exactly like Squash Nose. Chassy watched as she knocked and the door opened. Rodents streamed into the building. Jaybers—Rat Killer—opened the door, so Nita and Cherise yanked him out and rushed inside.
That was all he saw through his human eyes, but Orfeus had made it inside. Instead of the random pictures he was accustomed to receiving when he communicated with an animal, Chassy was shocked to realize he was viewing the room through the rodent's eyes. Mostly he could see the floor until Orfeus crawled up one shelf and gave him a rat's-eye view of everything. Nita and Cherise raced toward the middle when the door in the floor opened and yet another guard popped out. This wasn't supposed to happen, and there weren't enough rats in the building to distract this guy. Orfeus chattered frantically at his compatriots to find a way in, but the front door was closed now and the hatches in the roof were built to withstand even the rains that threatened them. Chassy edged out of the shadows toward the building, but William held his arm.
"Steady, Chassy. Let them do their job," William whispered. "We need you safe and sound to get us out of this city."
Chassy winced but nodded in agreement. He always had a hard time remembering how well Nita could take care of herself. He focused on the fight going on in his head. Three more guards had emerged from the floor and arranged themselves in a circle around Nita, but they seemed not to have noticed Cherise hidden in the shadows. She crouched low and then swept across the room toward Nita, flipping her body into the air once, twice, and vaulting off the back of a startled guard for more height. Chassy gasped as she hurtled toward the cabinet in the center of the room. Instead of crashing in misery, she kicked out at the right moment and sent the cabinet crashing backward. It landed with a dull thud on top of the door in the floor, sealing out any more foes. A fire bell rang in the distance. It sounded like it came from the roof.
Nita dropped her disguise and threw back the hood of her cloak. The silver on her arm and face glowed like a moon in the dim room. Even her eyes lit up now. She cupped her hands together and created a little glowing ball in her palms. Chassy noted nervously three of the four men approached, and only one of them focused on Cherise.
"Boys, I think we got us the Silver Sorceress. You'll make quite a prize for Master Gnarkvetch," the tallest guy challenged. "You'll be lucky if he executes you."
Nita raised her arms above her head and dashed the ball to the floor, where it exploded, splashing silver flames across all three men. Moon Flame, Orfeus named it. The men gave up their positions and scattered, swatting their bodies and screaming as though caught in a campfire. They disappeared into the shadows where Orfeus couldn't see them and abruptly quieted.
Chassy shuddered. Only one guy remained with his sword held ready. He and Cherise circled each other until Nita approached and his attention shifted to her. He looked nervously back and forth between them and turned to run, but Nita stretched out her hand and held him. Then she walked up to him and whispered in his ear, and he collapsed on the floor, unmoving.
Should have killed him, Orfeus thought in disgust. His job finished, he climbed back down the shelf and headed toward the front door.
Chassy snapped back to his own body where William was swearing. It had taken too long. The fire bell had alerted the rest of the city guard, and they were flooding in to take back the warehouse. But Nita and Cherise were still inside. Their allies melted back into the darkness.
There was a gap in this plan, and Chassy could not think how to fill it.
26: Nita
The fourth guard fell to the floor with a grunt, but Nita held her palm open and ready, peering around the room. In this state, she could hear and see more keenly. A rat watched from the shelf, and his friends waited at the front door. A fire bell being sounded from the top of the building meant reinforcements approached.
"What is it?" Cherise hissed in her ear.
"I just want to be sure no one else is inside before we search."
"Well, the door is blocked," Cherise said. "Do you think anyone could have come in from the ceiling?"
Nita glanced up, but the hatches were still closed. She wished she could talk to animals, like Chassy. She would ask them to have a look around for her. She conjured a little ball of light in her palm, tossed it into the air, and sent it weaving back and forth across the room. Aside from some smashed objects from various shelves and the overturned cabinet on the floor, she saw nothing.
Cherise moved to stand with her back to Nita.
"I think it's all clear. Let's check this cabinet first." Nita backed slowly toward the cabinet. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined a circle around them as she drew it in the air with her hand. There! No one would break through the barrier without alerting her, and her hands would be free to help Cherise search.
Cherise was already pulling open the drawers though one entire side had been jammed shut by the fall. Using the scarf from Xander, she squeezed her body far into the cabinet, trying to rescue some items that were caught in the compartments stuck underneath. Her efforts freed up a couple of knives and some rocks. She tossed them on the floor but kept a rapier with a belt. Nita frowned but held her tongue; hopefully she could use the weapon.
"Are you sure it's in this bureau? Or even in this warehouse?" Cherise tugged herself free of the pile.
"From what Chassy and Robert told us, this is our best bet. The shelves are full of everyday junk, and there must be a good reason this cabinet is set aside here in the middle." Nita opened a door that was more like a cupboard with two shelves. All the items from the shelf had fallen to the back, so she stretched in and dug around with her hands, feeling for anything like cloth. She pulled out something with feathers. It was a colorful hat with a high top.
"Ooh! I'll take that!" Cherise reached for it.
"Cherise! We can't take these things. They belong to the villagers." Nita stuffed it back into the hole. "In fact, you're going to have to give that rapier back when this is all done."
"I bet the people we freed would be happy for us to have these things as a reward. Besides, why shouldn't I have a little fun?"
"We will not loot this warehouse. " Nita rummaged until she felt another piece of cloth. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled it out and noticed t
he three silver beads sewn into the collar. "This is the only cloak I've seen." As she tossed it over to Cherise, a scroll fell out. Nita picked it up and unrolled the crumbling top, smiling when she saw the fancy script lettering that named it "The Legend of the Aegis."
"That's what we're looking for. Let's get out of here."
"But did you hear the fire bell? And now it's stopped," Nita said. "I suspect Chassy's friends have done everything they can do for us."
Cries came from above and pounding from below the broken cabinet. Nita could hear the ceiling hatches being thrown open above them and voices ordering ladders dropped.
"What now? Front door?" Cherise asked.
Nita shook her head, certain they surrounded the warehouse. "Grab the cloak. I have an idea."
First, to reinforce the building. Nita drew another circle around herself and Cherise, then used her arm to wave it into a glowing bubble that surrounded them. She was tiring from the depth of her magic and closed her eyes to focus. She imagined the bubble growing larger, until it filled the entire center of the room, the top almost reaching to the ceiling. She burst open the front door to allow the remaining rats to escape. She could physically feel the guards dropping from their rope ladders, hitting the top of the bubble in surprise, and sliding off. Pushing out with her mind, she made the protective bubble even bigger. Guards shouted as the shelves collapsed around them to make room for the bubble.
"Get out!" Nita shouted, not wanting to hurt anyone. "Get OUT!"
The bubble was like an extension of her hand. She could feel the racks crashing and the men moving around it. Most were on the side by the door, but more were coming through the roof hatches. She pushed out toward the walls, filling up all the spaces, except one place where a terrified guard had gotten himself trapped between bubble and wall. If she kept pushing, it would crush him to death. Nita sighed with frustration. She would have to extract him before she could continue. The shield wanted to be smooth and round, and she struggled for several seconds before she could create a tube in the bubble with the top open for air. Then the poor guy panicked and tried climbing out.