Wildfire and Steel

by J. J. Green

  The Dirksen ships were not slow to take advantage of Nightfall’s weakness. They were drawing closer to the ship and concentrating their fire on the remaining weapons.

  “You did it,” said Reyes, though his tone was not celebratory.

  Was Reyes jealous? Castiel didn’t particularly care. If Langley Dirksen’s son envied his ability, the fact meant nothing to him. Except for one thing: though the Dirksens as a group might relish the fact that they had a mage working for them, the Dirksens as individuals might be less happy about the situation. Castiel imagined that politics and power struggles within the clan could yet impede his progress.

  His sudden appearance and rise to prominence could arouse suspicion and envy among its members. With the exception of Langley, the Dirksens might deeply distrust anyone who carried the name Sherrerr, no matter how many times Castiel demonstrated his loyalty.

  Then there was the natural resentment that mage abilities excited in people. Castiel was all too aware of this. He had felt the same way himself for many years. He guessed that some of the Dirksens would like nothing better than to put an end to this upstart intruder, even at the clan’s expense. He was certain that this was how Reyes felt, and especially so. Langley Dirksen’s son had once been the focus of his mother’s attention, but now that attention was directed at Castiel.

  “They’re boarding her,” the pilot exclaimed.

  Castiel couldn’t see any Dirksen ships next to Nightfall on the shuttle’s display. He had removed his comm in order to concentrate on Casting, so he slid the device into his ear. One of the Dirksen vessels had indeed successfully gained entry to Nightfall. The boarders would be fighting the ship’s crew in the passageways, trying to gain control of the ship.

  “Retreating to a safe distance,” said the pilot.

  “Why?” Castiel asked.

  “I’m guessing the Sherrerrs might not want us to have their ship,” said Reyes.

  “You got it,” the pilot said.

  Acceleration forced Castiel forward as the shuttle swept away from Nightfall. Dirksen ships were taking out the weapon that his Cast had failed to break. Other Sherrerr ships continued to try to defend the flagship, but the Dirksens were successfully fending them off.

  The battle for Ostillon was turning, and Castiel’s contribution to the fight had been instrumental, the key success. No Dirksen could deny it.

  In return, Castiel would demand recognition. He wanted a seat at the Dirksen war council. His own dwelling and compensation were to be expected, but what he wanted and needed was control. Without power within the clan his position could become precarious.

  As the shuttle sped from the scene of the battle, Castiel closely watched the result of his work unfold. A second Dirksen ship gained access to Nightfall. The ship’s final working weapon ceased firing. A shuttle departed from the second boarding Dirksen ship, possibly transporting Sherrerr captives to Ostillon.

  Nightfall hung in silence in the glittering black, Dirksen vessels surrounding it. Brilliant streaks of pulse fire cut across space as the remaining Sherrerr ships fought to save their captain.

  Castiel wished he knew a Cast that would allow him to see inside of things. He greatly desired to watch the close combat of the Sherrerr and Dirksen forces in Nightfall. He wanted to see the exchanges of fire, the hand-to-hand combat, and the blood. He wanted to hear the screams. But that was all denied to him. Was there such a See Cast? He didn’t know if it didn’t exist or if Mother had kept it secret.

  He recalled that brat, Darius, claiming he had invented a new Cast once. If it was true, the first thing he would do when he captured his brother would be to force him to create more Casts. Was Darius on Ostillon? Castiel hoped so. He hoped that, along with his other siblings, Darius had not been able to escape. Things were soon to become more stable, and then Castiel would be able to initiate a thorough search for his brothers and sisters.

  As long as they were free they would be a threat to him. He needed to have them under his control, as well as benefit from their power.

  Castiel heard that a third Dirksen ship had latched onto Nightfall. The flagship was truly defeated.

  The pilot suddenly cursed, breaking Castiel’s train of thought. He looked up at the display. Nightfall’s dark hull was rent with radiant light. She was blasting apart.

  “Are we safe?” Reyes asked.

  “Still working on it,” came the pilot’s stiff reply.

  Rather than allow their flagship to fall into Dirksen hands, the Sherrerr command had given the order to self-destruct. As Castiel watched, Nightfall’s hulking form dissolved into a snowstorm of speeding, flashing debris.

  It was the beginning of the end of the Sherrerrs, and the start of Castiel’s journey to power.

  Chapter Five

  “When we settle down somewhere,” said Parthenia as she scraped fine wood shavings from a stick with a knife, “the first thing I’m going to do is brew enough elixir to fill a water tank.”

  Carina smiled. She was squatting next to her sister, waiting for her to finish adding elixir ingredients to the metal canister. It was good to hear Parthenia talk about the future lives they would lead and not harp on about catching Castiel. Perhaps she’d given up on the idea.

  A gust of cold wind blew, cutting through Carina’s clothing and raising goosebumps on her skin.

  “Hurry up, Parthenia,” Oriana said. “It’s freezing here and I’m starving. Even if we manage to catch anything it’s going to take ages to cook it.”

  Darius had done exactly as Parthenia had asked him and Transported them to the wild lands on the other side of the continent, near where he and his sister had first arrived on Ostillon. His effort had used up the last of their elixir.

  It was a bleak wilderness. Aside from the tall tower in the distance where, according to Parthenia, a ranger called Jace lived, the area was empty of human habitations. The reason was obvious: the land was poorly drained and swampy. On higher ground beyond the tower a dark, dense forest grew.

  They were safe for the moment, that was clear. But the downside of uninhabited regions was that they contained little to support human life. There was no fresh, clean water, nothing to eat, and nowhere to shelter. If they hadn’t had the ability to Cast, they wouldn’t have lasted longer than a few days. As it was, survival was still difficult.

  After long searching, Carina had managed to find a firestone. Bryce had discovered an old bird’s nest that would serve for tinder in a thicket, and the children had gathered whatever dry wood they could find. The water had come from one of the many pools in the area. Though it wasn’t clear, let alone clean, boiling the water would make it safe to drink. They also had Carina’s canister in which to brew the elixir. When Parthenia had added all the ingredients, Carina would make a fire.

  But she remained worried about their long-term prospects. They had been hiding from Dirksen patrols and Sherrerr attacks for nearly a week, struggling to find enough to eat and to stay warm and dry. Carina felt they had been skirting the edge of a drain, managing to avoid being sucked down for now, but how much longer could they keep it up?

  “It’s ready,” Parthenia said, putting down Carina’s knife.

  “Good job,” said Carina. “Okay, everyone. Gather around. I want you to watch me.”

  “But we’ve watched you do that before,” said Nahla.

  “I know,” Carina replied. “And as soon as we have plenty of materials and time, I’m going to make you all practice until you can do this yourselves. You never know, one day you might not have me around.”

  Darius grabbed Carina around her neck. “You’re always going to be around.”

  “I hope so,” she said. “But you’re going to watch me carefully anyway, right?”

  Darius replied, “Uh huh,” and sat on his haunches, staring so intently at the little pile of tinder Carina almost laughed.

  “Oh, hurry up,” said Oriana. “I’m so hungry.”

  Carina struck the knife against the firestone, c
ausing sparks to fly onto the tinder. Before long smoke began to ooze from the dry material. Carina teased a glow by blowing steadily into its center. When a flame licked up, she put the tinder into the little pile of sticks and knelt on the ground so she could blow into the pile. She added thicker sticks when more flames sprang up. Soon, the metal canister was sitting at the edge of a small fire, its contents simmering.

  “Are you sure there are things we can eat in there?” Ferne asked Parthenia as they waited for the elixir to be ready. He was referring to the forest at the top of the ridge about half a kilometer away.

  “There are things,” his sister replied. “I’m guessing we can eat them.”

  “Providing we can catch them,” Oriana said, her hand absently resting on her stomach.

  “This should help,” said Carina. The elixir had simmered long enough. She lifted the hot canister away from the embers so that the liquid could cool.

  With sufficient time, Carina guessed that she might be able to make a trap to catch a forest-dwelling animal, but she’d had an idea that might be quicker and less reliant on woodcraft.

  “Bryce,” she said, “I’d feel better if you stayed here with the younger children. Do you mind? You could make us a shelter to sleep in tonight while I’m gone.”

  He looked at the forest and then the sun, which was entering the lower quarter of the sky. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay in there by yourself?”

  “If Parthenia and Darius spent hours walking through it alone without incident, maybe that means nothing dangerous lives there. But I wasn’t planning on going by myself. I wanted to take Ferne with me.”

  “Cool,” said Ferne. “I’d love to come.”

  “Can I come too?” Oriana asked.

  “No,” replied Carina. “I only need one of you in case I catch something heavy.” She wanted to encourage her sister to be more independent and less clingy with her brother. For all Carina knew, the two could be separated at some point. Oriana was old enough to survive alone, if she didn’t pine for Ferne.

  “Okay,” said Bryce. “I already found a dryish spot about four hundred meters that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction to the forest. “When you come back, look for us over there.”

  “We will,” said Carina as she pulled her shirt sleeve over her hand again to pick up the canister and screw on the lid. The elixir would cool some more on the way to the forest.

  “Be careful climbing that ridge,” said Parthenia. “It’s slippery.”

  “Come on,” Carina said to Ferne, who happily jumped up and joined Carina’s side as she began to walk toward the forest.

  “What are we going to do after we catch Castiel?” Ferne asked when they’d been walking for a few minutes.

  “What do you mean? Are you asking what we’re going to do with him or where we’ll go next?”

  “Both, I guess.”

  “Honestly, Ferne, I’m not happy about taking you all with me to help capture Castiel. I know I agreed with Parthenia that he’s too dangerous to be left to his own devices, but I’m having second thoughts about involving you guys too. The Sherrerrs and the Dirksens won’t stop at anything to get him back, or to capture any of you. I’ve been wondering if I should take you all away and try to put as much distance between ourselves and Castiel, and the entire galactic sector as possible.”

  “Maybe we should kill him,” Ferne said quietly. He was looking away from Carina as he spoke.

  “I don’t know if I could do that,” Carina said. And if anyone was going to do it, it had to be her. She couldn’t expect any of Castiel’s siblings to murder their brother, no matter what he’d done. Their mother had already killed their father. That was enough trauma for a lifetime.

  ***

  A ditch sat at the bottom of the ridge where the forest grew. They slid down the bank into the lower area and Carina found herself up to her knees in mud. This stuff was slimy and evil-smelling too. Ferne, being lighter, hadn’t sunk in so deeply. He helped Carina to free her legs from the clinging suction. They crossed the ditch and began to climb the bank.

  The canister of elixir had cooled until it was only warm. Carina slipped the container into her shirt so she had both hands free to scale the steep slope.

  Ferne climbed beside her. At one point, his grip on a tree root slipped and he slithered down a short distance. Carina waited for him to climb up to her level.

  “I used to think it would be nice not to have to live in our big house with Father,” Ferne said as he toiled upward, panting. “I wanted to go to school like other kids and play outside in parks and in the streets.”

  “You might still be able to do that, one day.”

  Ferne reached Carina, and they continued to climb together. The top of the ridge and the outskirts of the forest lay a few meters higher.

  “I know this must sound funny,” said Ferne, “but sometimes I almost wish I was back in our house in Ithiya.”

  “I think it’s natural to feel like that. Your life was a lot easier then. Living out in the real world is hard.” Carina guessed Ferne also missed his mother, though he didn’t say it. Wishing Ma was alive again would mean wishing the woman continued to remember her life of enslavement and torture, the murder of the man she loved, and everything else she’d endured. She’d suffered enough and had been glad to let go. Ma was better off where she’d gone, wherever that was, though Carina missed her too.

  Carina reached upward, grabbed clumps of grass, and pulled herself up onto the level surface. She turned around and held out a hand to help her brother up. Then they walked quickly into the trees. Behind them, the sun was already lowering to the horizon. It was a good time of day to be catching animals. The ones who were around during the daytime would be going to their sleeping spots and the nocturnal beasts would be waking up and moving around.

  But they had a long evening ahead of them. Assuming they could catch something, they still had to carry their catch down the ridge, cross the odorous ditch, climb out of it, and then find the rest of their party in the darkness. Casting Transport would be a temptation but they couldn’t waste precious elixir on doing things they could do themselves.

  Carina searched for animal tracks in the failing light. If she could find a well-used trail, it would make her task easier. She didn’t find one before the evening grew too dark to see well, but they did walk into an area of open ground among the trees. Carina looked for a branch low on a tree, and said to Ferne, “This one’s good. Let’s climb up.”

  “You’re planning on catching a bird?” Ferne asked.

  “I’m planning on catching whatever happens by.”

  “Oh, I get it,” her brother replied.

  They climbed about four meters up into the tree and stopped at a branch that overlooked the open ground and would bear their weight. Now it was only a matter of waiting and watching.

  Carina had heard that an animal’s sense of smell was stronger than a human’s, and she worried that any wild creature that came near would detect their scent and be frightened away. She needed the animal to stick around long enough for her to Cast. She hoped the stench from the mud in the ditch would cover their smell.

  Ferne shifted close to her, causing the leaves in the tree to rustle. She put her arm around her brother and they benefited from their mutual warmth as they waited. Night fell and the air grew colder. Forest noises started up in the stillness—distant nocturnal bird calls, shuffling and scraping in the undergrowth, and the calls of frogs—but Carina saw nothing she could Cast upon.

  Carina became stiff and her muscles ached. She knew Ferne must feel worse than her after the soft life he’d led, yet he remained stoic.

  Finally, their patience was rewarded. Ferne must have heard the noise first, for Carina felt him stiffen a moment before she also registered the sound of an animal walking close by. She held her breath and hoped the beast would enter the open patch of ground. In anticipation, and to avoid spooking the creature by her movement, she removed the lid from he
r canister and lifted the container to her lips, all the while never taking her eyes from the gap in the tree’s leaves where she could see the forest floor, barely visible in the darkness.

  A four-legged animal stepped daintily into the spot. Its limbs were slim and delicate. An elegant neck rose from its body and led up to a head that tapered to a fine nose. Small horns sprouted next to each of the creature’s ears. The animal was so beautiful, Carina hesitated to take the next step, but she had a family to feed.

  She drank a mouthful of elixir and closed her eyes, keeping the image and location of the animal clear in her mind. She Cast Enthrall. When she opened her eyes, the creature had disappeared. Had her Cast missed?

  Ferne began to climb down the tree.

  “Where are you going?” Carina asked.

  “You got it. It moved away but then it stopped. I can see it from here.”

  Carina also dropped to the branch below and then the next until she reached the ground. Ferne had already reached the creature. It was standing still, alive but motionless. If Carina had been able to communicate with it she could have instructed the animal to do whatever she wanted now that it was Enthralled. But she didn’t want to do that.

  She quickly pushed the animal down onto its side and then knelt on its neck. “You probably want to look away,” she said to Ferne. As her brother turned around, Carina grabbed the animal’s head and twisted it hard, breaking the creature’s neck.

  Dinner for that day was arranged. But what kind of life would the following days bring for them all? How long could they survive as they had been, hunters and hunted? Carina decided she needed to talk with her siblings that night. They could not continue to live on Ostillon.

  Chapter Six

  Carina licked her fingers and then wiped them on her pants, noticing how grubby the material looked even in the poor light from the campfire.

  The animal she’d killed in the forest had filled everyone’s bellies, according to the looks of satisfaction on her siblings’ and Bryce’s faces. It was the first time since the Sherrerrs had launched their attack they had all had plenty to eat.