Multiverse 2

by Chris Hechtl

She liked how her brother had filled out, how he had started a scraggly beard. It wasn't much but not bad for a first attempt. That night he built a fortress around them of snow to keep out the animals and bandits.

  “It's cold.”

  “Not for me. And I suspect not for long once you build a fire,” he said, nodding to the center of the room. She looked up to make certain he had made a smoke hole and then worked her magic. By the fire light they ate and picked through their fortune; dividing it between them for easier carrying.

  “Now we don't have to use our magic to earn things. We can use this and our earlier hoard to buy what we need. That way the hunters won't know where we were.”

  “The sooner the better. And strutters too. A dapple one,” Kayla said. She had much admired the long-legged strutters. They were normally bedded down in the caves or barns now though due to the cold winter. Their thin bodies and lack of fur didn't allow them to handle the cold bitter air well.

  “I'll see what I can do,” her brother said with a suffering sigh. She slapped his arm. He glanced at her.

  “A pair of riding foxes will work just as well I suppose. At least until we come to somewhere warmer,” she said with a shiver. He nodded.

  They settled down for the night on either side of the fire.

  ~~~~~(|)---(|)~~~~~

  As they traveled they passed through towns and met people but never stayed long. Kayla was at first wary of such groupings, aware they were fugitives. Snowden was as well so he tempered his urge to be brazen about passing through. He felt immortal, but one look at a bow or crossbow taught him caution. Seeing a huntsman cut down an elk near the outer edge of Sledgeworth Mill drove the point the rest of the way home.

  They also realized that every lord or merchant they met would wish to use them for their powers or to sell them to those that would. Or sell them to the hunters that were most likely chasing them. This drove them further away from centers of humanity once they had stocked up on travel goods.

  Twice in the third month of their travels they met and fought off monsters—one after the red kit Kayla had chosen to ride and the second attack came from a group of wyverns who had been feasting on a buck they had come across. “Tis nearly spring,” Kayla observed. “Soon now the men will be out in the fields ploughing and the other animals awake from their slumbers,” she warned.

  “I know,” Snowden said, picking a wyvern claw out of the frozen ground. He examined it and then tossed it aside. “Let's away before more come,” he said. She nodded.

  Sometimes Snowden acted with suspicion and seemed to be a monster himself when people they encountered offered them kindness. Kayla did her best to reign in her brother's wintery reception. Her brother had a right to be wary, but he didn't need to go into excess to create their isolation.

  Near the village of Haldenburg, he froze a pest of a man trying to be friendly to Kayla. She quickly thawed the chilled man then rounded on her brother for his stupidity. The victim left. Witnesses saw what had been done. Snowden took his sister urgently by the arm and got them out of the area.

  “It's your fault, you idiot! You didn't need to freeze him!” she hissed at him.

  “What is done is done. We're in for it now.”

  “I know. Because of you,” she insisted. He worked his jaw but didn't say anything. Nor did he volunteer to help her saddle her kit. He was a bit rougher than he intended getting his own fox ready to go.

  “I thought we were going to trade for striders?” Kayla said snidely.

  “Hush. You know we need to get out of here and right quickly,” Snowden said, using his mount to herd hers to the gates of the village. They nodded in passing to the porter and then went on their way, moving quickly out of sight before word of his ill deed spread through the community.

  Both knew it would be only a matter of time before the porter was asked which way they went. So once they were certain they were far enough away and out of sight, they changed their clothes and then changed direction.

  ~~~~~(|)---(|)~~~~~

  A week later Kayla heard a rushing in the air, like the beating of mighty wings. She looked about, but there was no moon out so wasn't certain where it came from. Still, to be safe she grew branches around the group and then urged the branches to sprout wicked thorns that turned outward.

  The next morning Snowden saw the changes but didn't comment as they departed their campsite. They saddled the foxes and mounted up just as a flock of birds fluttered into the air. Snowden's head snapped around to the potential sight of danger but the real threat came from the opposite direction. A net shot across the clearing, covering the sky. Behind it came a hail of arrows.

  Kayla screamed and acted. She yanked her mount around to face the threat and raised her free hand to ward off the net and arrows. It was too late to get them all, but she managed to use her powers to get the majority of the plant-based objects to sprout and latch onto the wood around them. They formed a grid above them.

  In her moment of concentration, she missed the gasp of dismay and pain from her brother as well as the high yip from his mount. When she looked about them, she noted he was hurt to her dismay. So was his mount. “We need to run! Away brother!”

  “No, we stand and fight here. I can't run. Nor can Kali here,” he stated, gritting his teeth as he warded himself. “Gird yourself for battle, Sister,” he said pointing to her left. She turned in time to see a bolt of ice leap from her brother's fingertip to spear a small land dragon. It mewed and thrashed about on the icicle.

  She raised both hands and a ward of thorns formed around them. Other land dragons who tried to run through the wood hit the thorns and barked, dancing and bellowing away in sudden pain in their feet. She grinned as her brother frosted the tree line around them. He pulled the arrow from his arm and then frosted the wound to keep himself from bleeding out.

  “Assassins!” he bellowed, turning about as he reached for Kali's wound. He couldn't quite reach the arrow in the fox's rear leg. “Show yourself or run. It matters not for me. Either way, face our wrath!” he snarled, whipping up a storm with his sister. She used her powers to call the thunder, then passed the storm to her brother who cooled it into a blizzard. The sudden chill in summer froze the surrounding area, blinding anyone near.

  A far off bellow of reptilian ire made them look about in surprise. They saw a dragon flapping its mighty wings as it rose into the air. A trio of other dragons followed. Two had riders. Snowden's eyes narrowed, and he sent a bolt of power across the distance. Frost and ice immediately formed on the reptilian's wings and heads. Two tried to shake it off; the younger one clawed at its own face to keep its eyes clear. But the additional sudden weight doomed their takeoff. They crashed to the wood with groans and bellows of pain.

  Kayla heard the wood break and winced in sympathetic pain. But she was already at work, weaving the wood around the dragons, forming wooden prisons, muzzles to keep the great beasts from breathing fire and roots dug deep to keep them firmly wedded to the ground. When they struggled thorns began to grow. Only when they stopped did the thorns stop growing.

  “Shall we go to them or bring them to us?” Snowden asked.

  “The hunters have become the hunted? Leave them, Brother. They matter not. We must see to your wound and then away,” Kayla urged.

  “They know where we are and where the nearest towns in this area are. We will need to seek aide for this,” he said, tapping his wounded shoulder, “if nothing else, and they will have more waiting. I am done with running for the nonce. Come,” he said. He got off his mount and then patted the kit on the muzzle. The fox whimpered and tried to lick his injured leg, turning about to get at it. Snowden used his ice powers to cool the wound and slow the bleeding and to anesthetize it.

  “Oh, the poor darling,” Kayla said in dismay, getting off her own mount.

  “See, the other reason for not running,” Snowden said, gently speaking with the white fox. He rubbed its muzzle then held the bridle firmly with his injured hand as he rea
ched for the arrow. “It's okay. Most of it is in the fur; it's not in deep.”

  “Deep enough,” Kayla said. “Don't get bit.”

  “I'd better not,” he said as his fingers wrapped around the shaft. He yanked it out in a smooth movement, making the fox yip in pain. It snapped at him and the wound, but the hand on the bridle kept him from getting his teeth around the young man. He still felt pain in his wounded shoulder until Kayla got Kali under control. She soothed the beast and then used her healing power to scab the wound over. She did the same for her brother.

  “There. That is the best we can do for now,” she said.

  “For him and I yes. For us all, neigh, I think something more,” Snowden said, marching into the wood towards where the dragons had fallen. “Remain if you will, but I will finish this,” he said.

  Kayla bit her lip and then sighed. She knew her brother's tone when he was like this. She nodded however. She didn't part the wood in front of him to aide in his travel however.

  ~~~~~(|)---(|)~~~~~

  When Snowden found the hunters, he studied them. The great dragon and her kin were bound firmly to the ground. Still they rumbled with growls, angry at such confinement.

  “You came for us—not to capture but to kill,” Snowden said, looking at each of them. “Your mistake.” he said evenly. “One you shan't repeat,” he said as he gathered his power to strike.

  “Wait! We're helpless!”

  “And if we were in opposite position, you would spare me?” Snowden asked, looking at a woman in the eye. The woman was hurt, pinned under her dragon. When she didn't answer, he smiled cruelly. “Yes, I thought not. I thought about letting you go as a warning, but you know where we are. I regret this, a little.” He shrugged. “Oh, who am I kidding, not much,” he said.

  “Your heart is as frozen like your …,” her words were cut off as he froze her. The snow continued, freezing as it worked its way up the dragon. The great beast trembled and tried to struggle free but it couldn't move. Eventually it too was frozen in death.

  Snowden did the same for each of the other beasts. When he turned he saw a land dragon slinking off. It was speared to the ground by a mighty branch turned into a spear. He turned in surprise to his sister standing behind him.

  “Let's go,” she said quietly, turning to leave. “I don't want to ever have to do that again,” she said to him over her shoulder.

  “Me neither,” he said quietly. Until then he had much admired dragons and those who rode them. Not anymore and that thought saddened him somehow. They would be forever fighting off assassins and those who would eventually try to catch and return them to their home kingdom. He vowed to remain free, but he knew, eventually, the hunters would win.

  “But not today,” he murmured as he followed Kayla out of the wood. She silently turned to look at him, but he didn't reply or answer her questioning gaze.

  ~~~~~(|)---(|)~~~~~

  Now aware they were truly being hunted, they fled to the hinterlands where they met another pair of twins. The burly young man was of earth; the girl was of air. They each fell instantly in love with their opposite match.

  Kayla was shy; she smiled and kept touching and stroking her hair as the young man came up to her. He used his powers to bring a plant up from the ground. It flowered into a rose. She took it with a blush and a grin. He smiled to her as well.

  “Well,” Kayla said.

  “Well,” the young man rumbled, echoing her. They smiled again in perfect accord. Power and love crackled between them as they came together. She was taller than he but neither noticed. They knew instinctively they were staring into the eyes of their true love, their soul mate.

  Snowden saw that, felt a bit of alarm and jealousy, but he also felt a grudging admiration. He copied the suitors’ move with his own, using his rusty sculpting skills to craft a delicate rose out of snow and ice in his hand.

  The air girl took one look at Snowden as he offered her the flower and turned away. “I can't! I can't be with you,” she said, eyes tearing up. She was anguished, and he hesitated, uncertain.

  “Why?” he asked, letting the snow flower he had crafted slip from his fingers. When it hit the ground, it erupted into a puff of snow and was gone.

  “You can't fly!” she told him, shedding tears. She brushed at them angrily.

  “Oh no?” He cocked his head considering the moment before he finally got an idea. At first he tried a cloud, but it only swirled at his feet. It couldn't lift him. He saw disappointment on his potential mate's face spurring his efforts further. “It's not fair; you can use your wind to fly.” He frowned thoughtfully, vaguely recalling his reading of the air elementals. There was something there about hot air rising and cold air sinking. “But I think … with a bit of work ….” He hit upon creating an ice path and moved it after her. He formed a launch ramp then created a gossamer flying machine out of ice and snow. She sucked in a breath when she saw it; his ability to craft it so fast was breathtaking to her.

  Before she or the others could object, he laid down on the center keel and used a cold wind to push it off. It flew, though not as gracefully as he would have liked. She took off to follow along using the wing suit she had on as well as a puff of wing to keep her aloft.

  “Are you a fool? You do not belong in the air! You know not what you do!” she said, pulling goggles down over her eyes to help with the wind.

  “Perhaps I am a fool for you,” he yelled back over the wind. He tried to keep the craft level, but it was difficult. He knew his time in the air would be short, so he immediately started working on a way to land.

  He crashed more than landed. She dropped to his side, concerned he was hurt. She rushed in to the wreckage but only his pride was hurt. Still, he groaned theatrically. She grabbed his cheeks and kissed him soundly, healing him. She was apparently delighted and enthralled with his creativity.

  Kayla realized she had been tamed by the earth mover. She could heat him to lava with her passion, or he could dampen her passion with dirt. She didn't resent it or think of herself as trapped; she reveled in it. His loving support moved her; sometimes nearly moving her to tears when she thought about it too much.

  The earth man Evan was a strong man, beefy built but stocky and short. He was covered in black and brown hair. He could shape change into a bear, which she found irresistible. She loved to tease him about his being her teddy bear. Doing it in public made him squirm endearingly.

  His sister, Irina, the air girl, was tall, blond, thin, and flighty, but brilliant. She could make herself as light as a feather or throw a kiss across a league. She was a tinkerer, Snowden's ability at making things with ice and snow had intrigued her and tickled her fancy like no other suitor could. His daring, his willingness to risk it all for her love moved her beyond words or other deeds.

  They moved in perfect accord together, almost like they had been together forever. The new twins escorted them to their home on a cliff without saying a word. It was a warren of caves etched into the side of the cliff, open to the air yet underground. A symmetry that reflected the creators almost perfectly. It also was secure; not many would dare to climb the cliffs to attack them. And Evan's ability to create entrances at will allowed him to access the surface in either direction when the mood struck.

  As they settled in, both of the newcomers did their best to make their partners as comfortable as possible. On their initial tour of their home, Irina showed them her library. That sparked a lively interest in Snowden, who grinned in approval at his lover until she blushed and looked away.

  They got the fire and ice twins into education, though it was harder to do with Kayla who was more interested in being out growing things than sitting still. They were shocked and appalled that the home kingdom had kept them ignorant. “They wanted us for our power, not our knowledge. They kept us ignorant to control us,” Snowden explained to his lover.

  “Yet you learned anyway,” Irina said, long fingers curling into his. He smiled. They rubbed noses together.<
br />
  “I found out how to read. I found I loved it. I do miss books,” he told her softly, stroking her yellow hair.

  “I too,” she murmured. “I can't carry much when I fly. Barely my clothes and then not a change. Evan carries my spares,” she said.

  Her brother looked up, grunted, and then went back to silently admiring and feeding grapes to his lover.

  “Together they established a new kingdom in an untamed valley. They fought off monsters and bandits and freed other elementals like themselves. But that is another story for another day,” Kayla read softly, smiling lovingly to her sleeping daughter in her lap. She looked over to Evan and their son, Pawnee. The lad yawned but eventually gave in to the urge to sleep and closed his heavy eyelids. Kayla stroked their daughter's hair gently as Evan rubbed the lad's arm. They waited until the kids were out before they got up to carry them to bed. They were quiet, sneaking past the fire place where the others were reading. Irina looked up with her own pair, smiled and nodded, then went back to reading softly.

  They put the kids to bed and then smiled to Irina and Snowden as they deposited their own kids in the nursery as well. Irina took her husband by the hand. “A nice night to fly?” she asked, grinning mischievously as she tugged him along to the hangar.

  Snowden chuckled softly and let himself be led.

  “I have other things in mind for us, my dear,” Evan rumbled to Kayla before he snatched her up over his shoulder. She giggled as he carried her off to their bedroom for more amorous adventures.

  The End

  Science Fiction

  I am best known for my science fiction efforts. I will eventually write a full Fantasy novel, but I am most comfortable here, in Sci-Fi.

  Some of the stories below were intended to be full novels, but like many of the stories in Multiverse 1, I couldn't really get into them too deeply. I couldn't expand them into full novels. Perhaps in the future that may change.

  Note, I have a half a dozen stories similar to Bootstrap Colony. I am trying not to add them to this, but I may not be able to resist it. :)