by Logan Jacobs
Aerin and I found the harbormaster’s office in a stone tower perched on a sliver of land at the end of the harbor. The place was busy, and a constant stream of people moved in and out of the main floor without pause. One entire wall held a large chalkboard that showed the various slips on Maymak. Next to each slip was the name of the vessel currently docked there.
Aerin waited until there was an ebb in the human tide and stepped up to the desk. The clerk barely glanced at her as he shuffled several sheets of paper.
“We’re looking for a ship,” Aerin announced.
The clerk sighed and pointed towards the board.
“Oh, we saw that,” Aerin said quickly. “But, see, we don’t know the name of the ship.”
“Don’t know the name…” the clerk repeated. “I can’t help you if you don’t have a name.”
“See, the thing is,” Aerin continued. “We were supposed to meet up with our group but we were late getting to Altrua, and the ship left without us. We found another ship, but we haven’t found our friends. They didn’t check in at the inn and they weren’t at the guest lecture this morning.”
Aerin sniffed, and I saw a tear glisten in the corner of her eye.
“Altrua, you said?” the clerk said as he cleared his throat.
Aerin nodded even as she sniffed again. This time she added a bit of a lip quiver as well.
“Well, the only ship from Altrua that’s docked within the last three days is the Passionate Lady,” the clerk said as he scanned his ledger.
“Oh,” Aerin wailed as she held a fist to her mouth. “But that was our ship!”
“Now, now,” the clerk soothed. “During the winter, any number of things can cause delays. Your own ship just arrived. Perhaps your friends will arrive soon as well.”
Aerin turned towards me, and I pulled the quietly sobbing elf into my arms.
“Her sister’s on the ship,” I improvised.
The clerk nodded in understanding as he shuffled a few more papers. Aerin heaved again and buried her face in my shoulder.
“I could send word as soon as any ships arrive from Altrua,” the clerk suggested. “There aren’t that many this time of year anyway.”
“That would be much appreciated,” I replied as I patted the distraught elf on her back. “We’re staying at the Lamb and Crook. Under the name Constello.”
“I know the place,” the clerk replied. “Charming inn. Make sure you try some of cook’s spiced pumpkin seeds.”
“I will, thank you,” I assured him as I led Aerin from the office.
Aerin managed to maintain her sobbing until we started climbing the hillside road that led to the inn. Her sobs turned into a laugh, and she wiped the last of the tears from her eyes.
“That was impressive,” I said as I waited for a cart to pass. “How did you manage the tears?”
“Secret of the trade,” she replied as she danced along beside me.
“At least we’ll have a heads-up,” I mused. “I wonder what kind of trouble they ran into.”
“It couldn’t be any worse than an army of sea gremlins,” Aerin pointed out.
“In which case, we need to start making our plans to get out of the city,” I said. “I hope Imogen was able to find her friend.”
“And some of those animals they use to cross the desert,” Aerin added. “They say you can’t survive a crossing just walking on your own.”
We were near our lodgings in a small public square lined with shops and restaurants. A fountain in the center supplied water for many of the local residents and a pair of massive shade trees probably provided a cool respite during the heat of summer. As this was the official day of rest for Persans, most of the businesses were closed, and there had only been a few people in the park when we’d passed through before. A larger crowd had gathered now, though, and we could hear the din of strange instruments and the happy chatter of locals and visitors alike.
“Wonder what’s going on,” Aerin said as she scanned the throng.
The people suddenly ‘oohed’ and clapped, and a burst of mage fire briefly appeared overhead.
“Looks like a magic show,” I replied. “Want to see if we can get closer?”
“Sure,” Aerin said with a nod. “I’m curious to see what kind of magic isn’t on the forbidden list.”
We managed to maneuver through the crowd without throwing too many elbows, and we found a decent spot standing on top of a bench near one of the closed restaurants. There were four mages in the center of the square, and it soon became clear that they each represented one of the four elements. They worked together to create a pretty spectacular show that included a fireball surrounded by water, a humanoid made of sand that danced, and a complicated finale of small mud frogs that belched fire while they leapt around spumes of water from the fountain.
I watched the entire show with my mana, just so I could study what they were doing. The basic spells were similar to what I had already seen in Ocloara, but it was the way the mages could combine their spells that intrigued me. I wondered if Maderel had seen the way the mages of Persans worked together and if that had been the inspiration for his belief that mages could master more than one element. I decided that I would try to work with Emeline on something similar whenever I had the chance.
“That was awesome!” Aerin declared as the last frog burst apart into tiny little lights that danced on the air for a moment before fading away.
The crowd clapped and cheered, and the mages bowed to their audience. When the mages stood up, they each had a small box in their hands. They started to make their way through the crowd, shaking the boxes. A few people left before making a contribution, but most of those who had watched the show were happy to part with a few coins.
Luckily, Yvaine had made sure to acquire some Persan coinage before we left Altrua, and she had made a point of giving each of us a small bag with a few coins. Aerin and I both dropped a few of the Persan cubits into the box held by the earth mage. He dipped his head, as he had for the other people who had added to his box, but then he stopped and peered more closely at me.
“You are a mage,” he said softly to me. Aerin may have heard him, but I doubt anyone else did.
“I am,” I admitted just as softly as I looked at the man. He was my height, with a long braid of black hair and dark eyes that angled upwards. He was probably around my age, although worry lines had already formed near the corners of his lips.
“Be careful here,” he warned. “Farouk considers magic to be a threat, especially magic from beyond Persans. He has patrols who watch for mages, and they will arrest you for even the smallest infraction.”
“I’ll be careful,” I replied.
“It would be best if you didn’t practice at all while you are here,” the mage added. “The rules on what is considered acceptable magic can be … fluid.”
“Would you be willing to show me how you work together at least?” I asked.
The air mage approached us and nudged the earth mage in the back. The earth mage shook his head and moved back into the crowd. I waited for a few more minutes, but the earth mage didn’t return our way. Bit by bit, the crowd dispersed and the mages gathered their packs and left the square.
“That was weird,” Aerin said as we finally started back towards the inn.
“You heard what he told me?” I asked.
“Elves have good hearing,” she said with a shrug. “Too bad he wouldn’t show you how they do that. I would have liked to have seen you create a mud frog that belches fire.”
“I could have surprised Dehn with it,” I mused. “Make it pop up in his bath water or something.”
“Ooh, or in a pot of Maruk’s leek soup,” Aerin laughed.
“But Maruk would make sure that we still ate the soup,” I pointed out. “I’m not sure how good it would taste with mud frog in it.”
“How about a whole army of mud frogs in Lavinia’s archery range?” Aerin suggested.
“She’d hunt us both dow
n and probably cause some pretty severe injuries, but it might be worth it,” I conceded. “Seriously, though, that mage’s warning makes me want to leave this city even more.”
“Me, too,” Aerin agreed. “There’s something unsettling about this place.”
We’d reached the inn and as we stepped inside, Lena met us by the door.
“Imogen is back,” she said. “And she wants everyone to gather in the bar in an hour to meet our guide.”
“So she found Catso... Cataro… the Cat guy,” I said.
“Yes,” Lena agreed. “And Catarosoufallaniekist Debrovolkanar has agreed to meet with us then.”
“You did that just to annoy me,” I objected.
“It’s really not that difficult a name,” she replied with a sunny smile.
“If he lives up to his name, he’ll be a pain in the ass,” Aerin mumbled.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you trash talk an elf,” I pointed out.
Aerin scowled and looked away. I looked at Lena, who shrugged.
“The ancient elven families keep to themselves,” Lena finally said. “They don’t associate with anyone who isn’t of their same standing, which is basically everyone else in the world. But Imogen says Catarosoufallaniekist Debrovolkanar isn’t like that.”
“Yeah, right,” Aerin scoffed.
“We’ll know in an hour,” I replied. “In the meantime, I want to talk to Emeline.”
“About that mage’s warning?” Aerin asked.
“That,” I agreed. “As well as the way the mages here can work together.”
“Whatever you do, you should probably wait until we’re outside the city at least,” Aerin replied. “If you guys blow something up by accident, the rest of us will have to break you out of jail. And I didn’t bring my jailbreak clothes with me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I laughed as I bounded up the stairs.
I knocked on Emeline’s door, and she opened it a moment later. She had a spot of ink on the tip of her nose and a small streak in her hair. I could see several maps spread across the bed and saw a stack of paper on the desk. It looked like she was creating her own updated maps of the places we’d traveled so far.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “I can come back if you’re busy.”
“No, I need a break,” she replied as she stepped back and let me enter the room. “I can’t decide what scale to use, and it’s giving me a headache.”
“Aerin and I ran into some mages as we were coming back from the harbormaster’s office,” I began.
“You went to the harbormaster’s office?” Emeline asked as she moved some maps off the sole chair in the room and invited me to sit.
“I was hoping we might learn something about that clipper ship that was following us from Altrua,” I replied.
“Oh, right,” she said as she perched on a corner of the bed.
“That ship hasn’t arrived yet, and I’m hoping we can clear out of here before they do,” I added. “But I wanted to talk to you about the mages here in Persans.”
“Did you see some of their magic?” Emeline asked. “I hear they can do things that we can’t.”
“The spells weren’t that different,” I told her, “but they’ve found a way for the different mages to combine their magic together.”
“I didn’t know that was possible,” Emeline said. “I mean, I’ve heard stories about that kind of thing being done before the civil war, but I didn’t think anybody still knew how.”
“It makes sense in a way,” I replied. “I mean, Maderel believes that even elementals can learn how to master more than one element.”
“Still, that’s not quite the same,” Emeline pointed out. “Combining your powers with someone else would have to be done carefully, so you don’t end up killing each other.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I thought back to the mage show.
“If you combine fire and water, for instance,” she said. “You don’t want the fire mage to scorch the water mage, or the water mage to drown the fire mage.”
“Right,” I agreed with a shrug.
Emeline frowned, then stood up and moved to the middle of the room. She created a small orb of fire and let it float in the air above her hand.
“Try doing this with air,” she told me.
I studied the fire ball, then concentrated on my mana with the help of the bracelet. A small ball of air slowly formed and hung above my hand. Emeline nodded and then her fireball moved closer to me.
“Normally, if two mages are fighting each other, we just toss everything we have at each other because we know the effects will be explosive,” she said. “Now, move your air ball slowly towards my fire ball.”
I did as she asked, nudging my air ball closer to the fire ball. As the two approached, I found it harder to keep the air ball intact. The two balls of energy were pulling on each other, like the poles of a magnet. When they were within a few inches of each other, the fireball began to spark and then hungry tendrils of flame shot towards my air ball. Emeline pulled the fireball back, but not before my own pocket of air had started to burn. I quickly snuffed it out, though a faint smoky smell drifted through the room.
“All the elements have complementary aspects with each other, but they also have opposing aspects with each other,” Emeline explained. “Mages that work together have to be careful that the opposing aspects are kept in check.”
“Maderel told me about a king that had his mages create a volcano for a party he held,” I mused. “He said earth and fire mages were involved.”
“I remember that story,” Emeline replied. “But that wasn’t quite the same thing either. The earth mages created the shape of the volcano, and then the fire mages created the fire during the party. They weren’t both working at the same time.”
“The mages in the square today did some pretty amazing tricks,” I said. “They had a fireball suspended in water and frogs made out of water and sand that could belch fire while the air mage moved them around.”
“I wish I’d seen it,” Emeline sighed.
“Maybe they’ll be back,” I replied. “We can ask at the desk. But what I wanted to ask you is if you’d be willing to work with me to see if we could figure out something similar. I know I’m not an elemental, but if we’re cautious, maybe we could work out some way to recreate what they did.”
“I’d love to try!” Emeline declared. “Maybe it will be easier with a manipulator since you can work with all the elements.”
“The only caveat is that we should probably wait until we’re out of the city,” I added. “The earth mage in the group warned me that Farouk keeps a tight rein on mages here, and it sounds like he’ll use any excuse to throw them in jail.”
“That’s what I’ve heard,” Emeline agreed as she sat back down on the bed, wrinkling one of her maps. “One of the maids that came by earlier was talking to another maid about some mage who was arrested last week for selling illegal potions. She’d been selling them for two years or so, but the maid thinks a jealous ex-girlfriend of the mage’s new boyfriend complained about the mage to the authorities, so they arrested her. The maids were trying to decide who they could go to instead. They seemed to think that the mage wouldn’t be back anytime soon, if ever.”
“And I thought the Academy was bad,” I sighed. “Well, since Imogen found our guide, I’m hoping we can move on soon.”
“Just a few supplies and some of those strange camel creatures and we should be ready,” Emeline pointed out. “I understand Yvaine and Imogen have already set to work on that.”
“They have,” I agreed. “Though Maruk’s not very happy. They traded a few of the items we picked up for the sea voyage for some desert appropriate gear. Maruk tried to argue that we would need it for the return trip, but I gather Yvaine and Imogen chose to ignore that.”
“Too bad,” Emeline replied. “I sort of liked those fuzzy carpets.”
“Well, I think we still have the tea,” I laug
hed. “And some of that rum Dehn managed to filch from the ship’s stores.”
“I wouldn’t mind some tea right now,” Emeline replied as she glanced around her room. “It might help clear my head.”
“I’ll join you,” I offered. “We can wait for our new guide together.”
“Oooh, we can try to spot him before we’re introduced,” the panthera remarked as she stood up.
“That shouldn’t be hard,” I commented, “since he’s an elf, and we know he’ll be here in an hour.”
“It’ll be fun,” she assured me.
“If you say so,” I replied as I stole a kiss. She swatted at my ass as I opened the door and dodged into the hallway.
We walked downstairs to the bar and claimed the biggest table they had. The waitress tried to redirect us to a smaller table, but we explained that we were expecting a large group to join us. She didn’t look convinced, but she took our order for tea and sandwiches and disappeared into the kitchen.
As the time of our appointment neared, Emeline and I kept a close watch on anyone who stepped into the bar. We thought we’d identified Cat when a lanky elf wearing the traditional Persan baggy pants and knee-length coat stepped into the bar. The coat and pants were in a dark maroon color with a complicated floral pattern picked out in gold thread. The elf studied the room, then raised his hand in greeting to someone sitting on the other side of the room. A human who had just sat down waved back, and Emeline and I exchanged shrugs.
Our next best guess was a scowling elf who went straight to the bar and sat down on a stool. He sported a buzzcut and a goatee, and his travel-stained clothing carried about an inch of dust. Emeline and I nodded to each other in agreement, until the elf was joined by a pair of panthera, who looked just as unhappy.
Maruk and Yvaine were the first to join us at the table, followed shortly by Aerin and Dehn. By the time Lena joined our group, we had another pot of tea, a couple of beers, a large bowl of baba ganoush and a stack of zaatar bread.
Such was the sight that greeted Catarosoufallaniekist Debrovolkanar when he, Imogen and Lavinia finally stepped into the bar. The waitress saw the group of three heading for our table and quickly headed over with more baba ganoush and a bowl of the spiced pumpkin seeds the clerk at the harbormaster's had mentioned.