The Inscribed Angle

by Andrew Bardsley

  When Freya was asleep, in the middle of the night, she was awakened by a howl close to her. Like a blast of cold water in her face, her adrenaline brought her into full wakefulness. Not very far from the rocky alcove she was hiding inside, was a large wolf stood looking at her. It had its teeth bared and was moving closer. The wolf’s eyes flashed red and seemed to blur in its movement. Freya’s brain reacted fast as she used magic to push her up and out of the way of the wolf’s attack. Just as she was up in the air, the wolf landed where she had sat moments before. As Freya landed behind the wolf, she used her Earth martial art powers and shot out shards of stone, shredding the wolf’s back. As the slivers penetrated the wolf, it howled in pain. Before the wolf could react, Freya bombarded it with more slivers of stone, until it was ripped to pieces. As the wolf lay bleeding out, Freya tried to get her heart beat to slow down. For the rest of the night she got little sleep, even though she moved to a different location.

  Next morning, she began the final ascent of the mountains. As she slowly reached the pass, the temperature got colder. Freya used a fire technique to heat up the body, so she could move forward in the cold weather. The pass was sheltered and once she was cleared, she started her decent on the other side. When she was below the tree line once again Freya had cover from the raw wind cutting into her.

  Freya spent the night again in the mountains under another log. She needed to do some research on the farseeing device and miraculously was able to connect to the system and search for somewhere to stay in the city. Luckily, Freya had developed a few farseeing system personas, while she had been developing inscriptions, as part of her research. Some of these, personas had enough money that they had accumulated from her work to cover rent for a property. Freya wanted a property that was isolated, giving her a level of privacy and close to this side of the mountain. After going through a few agencies, Freya found one that catered to rich clientele that valued privacy. All of the houses, they rented out were large properties in the foothills in the mountains, and all very expensive. She had a large amount of money in her account, so Freya could easily afford the cost, for a long time. Over the farseeing network she was able to rent, for a year, one of the largest properties. This had its own security fence and system, to ensuring privacy. It was situated in the hills, that it was impossible to spy on it from the outside. This was important to Freya, as being an unaccompanied minor might get her into trouble.

  Through the farseeing network she got the magical code to enter the property and take ownership for a fixed year period. Freya decided that it was best to try, and get into the house, in the early hours of the morning, so she mapped her course to the entrance to the house. It was about three in the morning when Freya reached the outside of the property. At the gate she inscripted the magical security codes. Using a personal magical mark, for one of her personas, Freya took control of the property. As the security gate locked behind her, and the lights lit up the entrance way, Freya felt, safe for the first time since the attack on her home.

  The entrance way was very secluded, with a strong door for security. Freya noticed traces of the magical security system everywhere on the property. As Freya was in control of the access to the property, the door system acknowledged her presence and allowed Freya entrance. The house was on three levels. It had multiple lounge rooms for entertaining large house parties. In one room was a fully stocked bar. Freya quickly raided it for any food she could find. Mostly she found bags of nuts, and other small foods she could nibble. As Freya was sitting down to eat what she could manage, she pulled up the magical interrace to the house. This was accessed through a farseeing pane of glass. On the security system Freya added her own inscription lockout, that were magical in nature. This would prevent anybody else accessing the property’s system. As part of the privacy arrangement for the property, there was the ability to take deliveries without anybody accessing the house. After the delivery was put in a lockup it would be transferred to the house. So there was no interaction with any delivery person. Freya ordered some food and much needed clothes for herself over the farseeing network. All of it would be delivered in a few hours. For now, she was in want of some much-needed sleep. Going to one of the smallest bed rooms she finally laid down on the bed and was quickly asleep.

  Freya woke up slowly later that day, it took her a while to realize that she was not in her room at home. When she remembered what had happened, all the rushing distressed emotions of a five-year-old hit her like a wave, tears pouring out of her eyes. For the next hour the little girl cried by herself, alone in the large luxurious house.

  Trying to cheer herself up, she went exploring around the house to see what her new house was actually like. In the center of the house was a swimming pool, that was maintained magically, just like the rest of the house. The most important room for Freya was a large office with the latest farseeing technology. She sat down, after having to get some pillows to put on the chair to reach the screen and started to try and find out any information about the raid on the institute. There was nothing in any of the normal farseeing new services. Freya did not know how to find out more information about what had happened, so she put that on a list for jobs for later.

  Deciding that whatever happened in the future, she would need money to survive and to solve what happened to her parents; Freya started to do work under her different personas on the farseeing net. In the past Freya had been developing and researching new magical inscriptions, which she received royalties for use of them in different magical products. She worked on a few of her current projects, this had the added benefit of taking her mind off of her current situation.

  When Freya was tired of the work, she went to get the food and clothing that had been delivered in the meantime. After she had changed clothing and showered, she prepared a meal to eat. Eating by herself in this large house was a lonely experience.

  Freya thought to herself, “How could I get around the city without people stopping me? As a five-year-old I can’t be by myself.”

  She went to the farseeing interface in the office and looked up protection services. Freya found with a bit of searching, that there were agencies, that would provide body guards for protection. Examining the detail of the services that were provided, Freya found that one agency had specials services for escorting minors, of celebrities or rich people. The service was just what Freya needed. A body guard would be provided and a vehicle for transportation. This would help her to move about more freely. She excitedly ordered a bodyguard for the next morning. For rest of the evening Freya worked away on some different projects. When it came time to sleep, she went to the same bedroom, which had been magically cleaned and went to bed.

  Chapter 4 Alone

  Early the next day, Freya was in the office working on her inscriptions when the house interface indicated that her appointed body guard was waiting outside the gate. Freya was ready to go and was dressed for a day out. The clothes she was wearing were what you would have expected from a small girl with rich parents.

  Freya paused to send a message through the house farseeing system. “My little girl, Freya, will be out in a minute. Take her where she’d like to go and protect her.”

  As the security guard acknowledged the message, Freya quickly walked out the door, and through the security gate. Outside was a woman dressed in smart clothing, which while appearing formal also looked like you could easily run in, with various inscriptions marking the clothes. Freya noticed that there were some inscriptions done by a specialist that would enhance her speed and observation powers. Freya also noticed that she had several weapons hidden across her body.

  The body guard spoke in a pleasant tone, “Hello you must be Freya. I’m Alice. I will be with you as you go out today.”

  Freya nodded excitedly and said in a quiet voice, “First, I would like to go to an adventure park close by, and then I need to do some shopping.”

  Over the last few days, Freya had been lonely and wanted to play as any small child
would. She had already found the address on the farseeing system and looked at the reviews for the park. Alice guided her into a vehicle and got into the back seats with Freya. She gave directions to the park location to the driver in front, and the vehicle sped off. As it hovered over the road, the magical signets propelled it towards its destination. Within five minutes, the vehicle was at the entrance to the adventure park. Instead of parking, the vehicle pulled directly in front of the entrance. Alice instructed Freya to stay and wait in the vehicle, until she came to get Freya out. Freya watched wide-eyed as Alice got out and glanced all around the area. Her eyes seemed to scan everywhere, before she went to Freya’s side of the vehicle and got the little girl out. Freya felt like she was an important person as they walked into the park's entrance.

  Freya, with Alice’s help, bought a season pass for herself, and then entered the park. She immediately went to the junior area of the park, that had smaller rides and climbing frames. Alice watched her from a short distance as Freya started to play. Despite her troubled past week, Freya found that it was easy to make friends with other children. For the next few hours Freya was able to forget all her troubles and just be young.

  When she had had enough of the play-ground, Freya needed to shop for a few items. When she decided to leave the adventure park, the vehicle was waiting out front to whisk her away. The drive through the city was an exciting one for Freya, as she had never been in a large city. She was able to watch the crowds of people walking along the streets with amazement. Soon the vehicle reached a shopping district. This was centred around several pedestrian streets. The streets were of a cobbled stone, and full of little market shops and in the buildings, large market stalls.

  The first thing Freya bought was some dubious meat on a stick to eat, as she was hungry, Freya tried to by some for Alice, but she refused saying that she had eaten prior to the assignment. Walking around, Freya was quickly able to pick-up some clothes she needed. Some of them were for carrying on with her martial arts training. While finding a shop that sold martial art equipment, Freya went to an information kiosk and inputted her requirements. A small magical ball of light guide then led the way through the crowded market streets, to a large shop.

  As Alice and Freya entered the shop, one of the attendants walked over to Alice and said, “Hello, how can I help you today?”

  Alice looked at the man flatly and said, “I’m not the customer, it’s her.” As she pointed at Freya.

  The store attendant registered a brief moment of doubt, before masking it as he smiled and said to Freya, “What can I do for you little girl?”

  Freya, said in a small voice, as she did when she was acting her age, “I want all a copy of every farseeing training manual you have. Also, all the practice weapons for all the styles, I will need one of each. The final item is a high-level animated practice mannequin.” Despite her small voice, something about her tone seemed more self-assured than was typical for her age.

  The man looked doubtful, and said, “Is this all for you little girl?”

  Freya showed some of the money funds she had available and said, “My family wants it delivered to this address by the end of the day.”

  As soon as the store worker saw the amount of money she had, his doubts were pushed aside as he quickly organized the purchase for Freya. The next hour was spent with Freya picking out the best of the available equipment of each type. Alice had a slight smile on her face as she watched the shop salesman bluster around the little girl.

  The next shop Freya went to was a magical inscription tool shop. She did a similar thing and bought all the best magical inscription equipment tools she could ever hope to need. Finally, Alice ordered the vehicle to come and pick them up at the edge of the market district. As Freya was driven home in silence, she was not looking forward to being alone again.

  --

  For the next several weeks Freya’s life fell into a routine. Every day she would spend some time working on researching new inscriptions, and then spend some time at the adventure park, in the junior play area. By now she had met a few girls her own age and like her, they came on a regular basis, with either a body guard or a nanny accompanying them. One of her favourite friends was a girl with blond hair named Racheal. She was always accompanied by both a bodyguard and a nanny, who most of the time would sit and chat with each other. Freya found out that her parents were movie producers who worked all the time and left Racheal in the care of others. Like Freya, she was lonely and was glad to have a friend. Soon the two of them were inseparable at the playground.

  On an eventful day when Racheal was leaving with her nanny and bodyguard, Freya was still playing in the adventure park. As Racheal was leaving the adventure park entourage, Freya suddenly saw a large black vehicle swoop down. Several people exited before anybody could react to the car’s appearance and quickly stunned, with magical bolts, Racheal’s nanny and bodyguard. Freya started to run toward the attacks, but Alice grabbed her and pulled Freya back to safety. Not resisting, Freya shot off an inscription magical device, at her friend Racheal. This had two effects: one would give her a certain level of protection from physical harm for a few days, and the other was a location device, that Freya would be able to track. Freya watched as her friend was quickly bundled into the large black vehicle, it then moved away as it sped into the air.

  Alice said to Freya, in a no-nonsense voice, “I’m taking you home where you will be safe. The vehicle will be waiting in the entrance to the park. Let’s move quickly.”

  Freya was not worried about her safety but wanted to get home for other reasons. “Ok, can we get home as fast as possible?”

  Alice thought that the little girl must be scared. They quickly ran to the waiting vehicle and Alice helped her inside. Within minutes, Freya was in her house under the protection of the security system. As Alice, left she smiled in relief that her ward was safely home, not envying the explanation that the other bodyguard would have to give.

  As Alice was driving away, Freya was busy making plans. She quickly ordered a self-driving vehicle, with her farseeing devices. When this was done, she got dressed in a black set of clothing, that she normally used for martial art training. While she waited for the self-drive vehicle to arrive, Freya spent some time in-scripting the clothing with protection symbols. In the gym room, she picked up a stun baton and energised the inscriptions to their full power. She also had a back pack with some dark clothes for her friend.

  As the self-driving vehicle arrived at the house’s front gate, Freya quickly ran out and climbed inside. Using her farseeing devices Freya was able to locate where Racheal was at the present time. She was in the city, in a rundown industrial area. From a map, it looked like she was being held in an old warehouse. Freya set the vehicle destination to an area close by the warehouse and ordered it to go at the quickest possible speed. The vehicle flew over the city and reached its destination within twenty minutes. Freya instructed it to land in a secluded area a short distance from the warehouse. The area was deserted, and by now it was starting to get dark, Freya checked, and Racheal was still in the same location.

  Freya started to creep closer to the warehouse. A lot of the area was derelict, so Freya was able to use the rubble and scrubby brushes for cover. If the map was right, Racheal was inside one of the offices in the warehouse. Freya managed to move silently past several guards, who were just standing around and talking about a successful snatch of the little girl, while paying no real attention to their duties. They were eager to get the ransom money for her. The large black vehicle was parked inside the warehouse, hidden away. A few people were unloading the vehicle as they were discussing about its disposal.

  Once past the perimeter guards, Freya managed to sneak through a side door into the office area. Outside the room that Racheal was being held in was one guard on a chair. From the end of the corridor Freya formed a bolt of electricity to stun the guard. As the energy accumulated for a few seconds, Freya got ready to run into the room hold
ing Racheal.

  The bolt of energy flashed across the distance from Freya’s hands towards the guard. Every signet lit up on his clothing, flaring with protection, but each were overwhelmed in turn by the massive amount of energy Freya had put into to her attack. As he fell to the ground Freya had already ran past him and opened the door.

  Racheal was in the corner of the room, crouching against a corner. Freya was dressed in all dark clothing with a hood over her head. Racheal’s first reaction was to scream at the top of her lungs. Quickly, she ran over the frightened little girl, and shushed her, removing her hood “Racheal it's me, I’ve come to rescue you and take you home.”

  Racheal had a confused look on her face but just nodded as Freya said, “Let's go, just stay close to me and be quiet.”

  The two little girls started to move to the door, but suddenly there was a large woman blocking the door. Freya quickly shot a stun bolt out of her hand, but with no time to accumulate much energy the bolt dispersed harmlessly over her clothing in a static flash of energy. Before the large woman could react, Freya had jumped and stabbed her with the stun baton in an area of the neck she had left exposed. As Freya discharged all the energy of the weapon the woman crumpled on the floor. The two girls quickly left the room, clambering over the body. The only exit that Freya could find out of the warehouse, was through the main storage area all the men were in. Moving through a side door into the large storage area both Racheal and Freya, started to creep around the edges, trying to stay behind large boxes.

  A man suddenly came back into the large area shouting, “She’s gone, and the other two are out cold.”

  This led to a large commotion with the remaining men who were unloading the vehicle. Some them started to look around. Racheal and Freya were quickly spotted in their exposed position. As the men were rushing over to recapture them, Freya turned to Racheal. “I need you to close your eyes and not open them until I tell you it is ok to do so.”