The Way of the Sword and Gun

by Stuart Jaffe

  Mixed with laughter.

  No trace of sanity remained.

  With both hands gripping Viper, Malja held Salia hooked overhead. The queen gibbered and laughed and spit and screamed. Malja rushed down the stairs, not wanting to lose her momentum. At the chasm's edge, she hurled Salia into the deep darkness. The eel-beasts, the fitulags, and the unseen creatures below cackled and crowed and hooted their joy at finally receiving a meal. Even as they feasted, Malja heard the Queen's cackles of madness.

  From across the open ground, Fawbry shouted, "Is it over?" When she nodded, Fawbry collapsed with an exhausted sigh.

  Malja eased to the ground and joined her companion in a few moments of quiet.

  Owl

  As Owl rode up to the Library, he wasn't sure which looked worse — Malja or himself. Fawbry and Master Kee were clearing the stairs of blood and rubble while Malja stood before a wide gouge in the ground. She held an apple and took a big bite. Tommy sat near her, dangling his feet over the edge, with a dazed expression and his arms wrapped around her leg.

  "You're alive!" Fawbry said, running all the way around the gouge to reach Owl. It took a while, but no other greeting could have pleased him more. "Thank Kryssta. When you didn't show up here, I was sure you had died."

  "I think it was close. But I'm here."

  "You are here. Which means you did it — you defeated Brother X. And you said you weren't a mythical warrior."

  Owl dismounted and patted his horse. On his way to the Library, he had decided not to share all that had happened with the undead. In any normal circumstances, the use of an Honor Bullet held a supreme sense of privacy. More so than prayer. He saw no reason to break that tradition. Besides, how could he explain it to those not trained in the Way?

  He had been sitting against that transport with the gun pressed against his head. The undead wriggled toward him. And he pulled the trigger. Only a click and nothing happened.

  The undead crept closer. He could smell them surrounding him — a foul odor of bile and blood. Those that still had a voice moaned.

  Fumbling with the gun, he checked it over, but he saw nothing wrong. A Guardian always kept his weapon in excellent condition. It should have fired. He reset the gun and put it to his head.

  Then the undead stopped. They just fell. Once more dead.

  Owl remained with the gun at his head, ready to fire. He waited for several minutes, unsure what to think of this change. At length, when the dead did not rise again, he entertained the possibility that Malja might have succeeded. If Salia's power had been cut, nobody was keeping the dead animated. Still, he did not move.

  Only when his horse meandered by did Owl enter a clearer sense of consciousness. He lowered his weapon and gazed up at the beautiful animal. Sometimes, Kryssta didn't bother with subtlety. He holstered his weapon and climbed the horse.

  Without command, the horse headed for the Library. Good thing too, because Owl required most of the ride to return to full awareness. Seeing Malja and Fawbry somehow made the whole experience a bit surreal, though. Better to leave it buried within for now. Maybe, someday later, he might ask Master Kee about it, but for now, he merely let it lay beneath the surface.

  Malja and Tommy walked over. She shook his hand. "Y'know, with Salia and Brother X gone now, there's nobody in place to take charge. Penmarvia is going to end up a lot like Corlin, and I can tell you firsthand anarchy only works in small groups. Salia City's going to be a bad place for a while."

  "I'm still here," Owl said. "Master Kee is still here. We'll just have to rebuild."

  Master Kee heard this and scurried over. "That's wonderful. I didn't want to impose my hopes upon you but I'm thrilled you'll stay with me."

  "Where else would I go?"

  Kicking at the ground, Fawbry said, "We were thinking of asking you to join us."

  Owl clasped Fawbry around the shoulder. "You're very kind to offer, but I belong with the Order. Please, always consider me your friend, and know you'll forever find a safe haven at the Order."

  "There is one problem," Master Kee said, his face turned down.

  "Problem?" Owl said.

  "The Order is going to have to recruit new students — both magicians and trainees in the Way. That's a lot of work for me. Not to mention all the regular duties of a Chief Master."

  "That's right. You've inherited the role."

  "And its duties."

  "You'll be fine. Besides, you know I can teach the Way."

  "No," Master Kee said, and Owl's hurt was palpable. "Only a Master can teach a student." Malja crossed her arms but Master Kee held up his hand to stop any protests. "Therefore, when taking into account your defeat of our most skilled practitioner, Brother X, as well as all your contributions to helping stop Queen Salia, I see no reason not to award you the title of Master. Master Owl, do you accept?"

  A smile broke across Owl's face so wide, he thought his skin might split. "Yes, Chief Master. I accept with humbleness and honor."

  "Marvelous." Chief Master clapped his hands, and Owl thought the man would have loved to open a bottle of wine if they had one. "Then there is one more matter we need to put in place before we can truly rebuild our Order. Malja, you have the code to decipher the Library texts. Please share it with us, so that we may prevent this from ever happening again."

  Malja's face took on a strange twist. She stepped back as if ready for another fight. "No," she said.

  "Don't do this," Chief Master said, his old face aging more. "You can't possibly be thinking of using it for yourself. I know you want to find your home world, but it's too dangerous. You've just seen that yourself."

  "I'm not going to use it. Magic like this is too powerful for any one person. Or any group." She looked directly at Owl. "You want to rebuild? You do so without the Library."

  "It's not right to lock away knowledge."

  "I won't share the codes. If I could forget them, I would."

  Chief Master's face scrunched up. "This is wrong. How are we supposed to become responsible magicians, how are we to learn the proper methods of control, if we can't have access to a true source of magic?"

  "Both of you," Owl said, "stop it. Chief Master, she is right that we must tread carefully. If anything, Salia has proven that the power of the Library is vastly dangerous. And Malja, Chief Master is right that we shouldn't lock away knowledge just because it's dangerous in the wrong hands." Owl took Malja's hand and bowed, hoping that a little subservient behavior might quell the rage he feared his next words would incite. "Look into your own past. Did you fare better having Jarik and Callib withhold knowledge from you? Was it right for them not to tell you of your mother or the world you come from? Should you have—"

  "Enough," Malja said, pulling her hand free in one rapid motion.

  Owl lowered his body even more and prayed to Kryssta that when she hit him, he would survive. But no stunning blow came. Instead, he felt her soft lips against his ear. She described an image to him, a group of symbols that she had memorized.

  "A fifth symbol," Owl blurted out. "That's why Salia got it wrong. The markings on the map only showed four symbols."

  "What symbols?" Chief Master asked.

  Malja gently lifted Owl's chin. "I put my trust in you," she said. "Don't ever make me have to come back here and regret that decision."

  "Well, then," Fawbry said, stretching his arms, "I suppose we should get going. There's plenty of ladies, er, towns in Corlin that require our help."

  Malja whistled and the dappled gray cantered over to her. Tommy made a face that caused Malja to grin. "Yeah," she said. "I like this one."

  Fawbry said, "Then give her a name."

  Malja looked at the horse a long time. Owl could tell that this meant something to her and that the others knew about it too. It reminded him how little he ever understood of these three.

  "I've got it," she said. "I'll name her Horse."

  "Horse?" Fawbry laughed and Tommy joined in. "That's the best you could do?"
<
br />   "Well, she is a horse."

  "You named your weapon Viper and for this wonderful creature — Horse?"

  "Stop laughing," Malja said, but she was laughing too.

  Owl couldn't imagine a better time to ask about Tommy.

  "I, um," he said, putting out his hand. "I have an offer for the boy."

  Malja's pleasant attitude shifted fast like lightning across the sky. "What offer?"

  Owl crouched in front of Tommy. Though the boy had performed incredible feats of magic, he looked much the same as before. No sense of madness lay behind his eyes. Not yet.

  "Tommy, you heard us, yes? Chief Master and I are going to rebuild the Order. It will be a place that's safe for magicians. Safe for them to learn how to control their skills. A place where they can be amongst those like them and where they can help others like them. Most of all, the Order has always been a place where magicians could further their collective knowledge, so that perhaps someday, they can stop the harm magic does to the body and mind. This is the perfect place for you to live. You wouldn't have to worry about food or shelter. You could spend your days learning with friends. Would you like that? Would you like to stay with us?"

  Tommy brushed his fingers along Owl's cheek, and for a fleeting second, Owl thought the boy meant to stay. But Tommy turned to Malja and took her hand. He clung tight as if he feared somebody might force them apart.

  Owl bowed to Malja once more, this time as a sign of respect. "As it should be," he said.

  "I know you meant well," Malja said, "with the best intentions. But Tommy and I won't be split up. We're family."

  Owl jolted straight in shock. "Oh, no. I can't believe I forgot," he said. "Fawbry, please forgive me. With all that's been happening I never explained how I found you in the first place."

  "It doesn't really matter," Fawbry said.

  "But I found all of you in Corlin because I ran into Fawbry's family."

  "M-My family?"

  "Your parents. They've been worried about you. Hoping to find you. You must go see them. Please. I promised I'd get you to them."

  Malja must have noticed the same apprehension Owl had detected for she laughed. "Don't worry. I'll see that he meets them."

  Malja

  From the moment they entered the low-ceilinged house, Fawbry's parents never stopped nagging. They were upset that Fawbry had taken so long to come home. They thought his colorful robe looked weird — not like that of a respectable young man. They worried about his safety, especially considering the stories they had heard about that woman and the deplorable condition of the sweetest, darling little boy the mother had ever laid eyes on since her own Fawbry had grown up.

  Malja ignored as much as she could. She chuckled at the thought of sweetest, darling Tommy — these folks would petrify in fright if they ever glimpsed that little boy's power.

  The rest she swallowed down without comment. Because as annoying as this old couple was, Malja couldn't help but warm at the way they fawned over Fawbry. Even as they picked on his every step (or misstep as they would see it), they saturated him in kind attention. The old woman baked his favorite sweet rolls and hummed a tune she said was his favorite as a little boy. The old man listened to tales of the little towns Fawbry had helped out and with a lascivious wink, asked about the women.

  The big surprise was Galba. Fawbry's parents had arranged for him to marry this lovely but awkward girl. Apparently, as far as they were concerned, Galba was his girlfriend.

  "Mother, I don't even know the girl." Fawbry paled and looked to Malja as if begging her to take out Viper and slash through his family so they could make an escape. Malja just shook her head and enjoyed the couple's banter as they talked up the girl — about the only time they weren't nagging their son.

  "Don't look so," his mother said. "Trust us. We picked good for you."

  "That's right," his father said. "Galba's a good cook. She works hard. And she's got a healthy bosom on her too."

  "And excellent birthing hips. I want some little ones from you two. That's the right of a mother."

  "You'll be a grandmother, dear."

  "Not if my boy keeps gallivanting in the company of that woman."

  * * * *

  That night, Malja tucked a blanket around Tommy and watched him sleep in an actual bed. She wasn't sure she could sleep on such a soft mattress, but Tommy's slumber came swift. He had slept heavy every night since defeating Salia, and Malja worried this might be a side-effect of all that magic. Not that sleep itself was so bad. But if this was a permanent side-effect, then what other damage might have been done?

  Except he really hadn't displayed any significant sign of damage. He never did. That bothered her even more.

  The bedroom door opened a crack, and Fawbry poked in his head. "Can we talk?"

  Malja followed him downstairs to the kitchen. Sitting at the wooden table, Fawbry looked terrified.

  "Take me with you," he said. "I can't stay here. They'll drive me insane. And while I'm sure this girl they want me to marry is wonderful, I don't want to be married."

  Malja frowned. "I've been upstairs looking at Tommy and thinking about family. It's strange what that word means. He and I, well, we've just got each other. We need to stick together; otherwise, we're just empty."

  "That doesn't mean this part of my family is the important part. They raised me, but Jarik and Callib raised you."

  "They kept me alive, but they weren't family. They used me like an experiment. And, don't forget, they threw me away, left me in the forest to die. Did your folks try to kill you when you were ten?"

  "No," he said, picking at a splinter in the table.

  "I look at you here with your folks, and I see a loving mother and father. I know they annoy you, but trust me, you wouldn't want them gone. If I truly believed in the brother gods, I would beg them to bring back my Uncle Gregor."

  Fawbry shook his head slowly. "I know all that. I suppose you're right. I just . . ."

  "What?"

  "I just thought you and Tommy were my family, too."

  Moonlight peeked around some clouds, casting its pale light into the kitchen and across Fawbry's face. Malja thought he might cry. And she felt a tug inside her chest unlike anything she had ever experienced in life.

  "I didn't realize," she said. "I mean, we are your family."

  "You are? You feel that way too?"

  She didn't know. But she considered how Tommy would answer, and that much was easier. "Yes," she said. "You're part of our family."

  Fawbry rubbed his eyes. "Thank you."

  "But you've got family here, too."

  "No," Fawbry said, hitting the table harder than he intended. "I mean, yes, I do have my family here, but I can't stay here. Not after all I've been through with you and Tommy. How could I live a life of being a husband and working a farm or whatever job my parents set up for me? I can't do that. How do I do that after Queen Salia, after Jarik and Callib? I've seen too much to just go back."

  Malja got up and paced the kitchen. She understood exactly how Fawbry felt. But she had worked out the next several steps for her and Tommy, and it seemed wrong to take Fawbry where she planned to go. But it also seemed wrong to sentence him to a life of boredom with a nice girl he didn't really care for. Didn't seem fair to the girl, either.

  She placed her hands on the table and leaned in with an intimidating glare. "Listen to me," she said and proceeded to tell him of what she saw in the portal — the man in an identical black assault suit, the way he reached through the portal for her, the final look on his face. She then gestured to the kitchen and said, "You have more than a family. You have a home here. The people here are like you. They understand you. I don't have any of that. I want to find my home."

  "Then go back to the Order. Use the Library and—"

  "I won't risk destroying this world — that's something I could never live long enough to pay honor for. I have a plan though, and if it works, I'll use the maps Tommy copied and I'll find
my world. And I'm taking Tommy with me."

  Fawbry looked at his stump. "Through a portal? How?"

  "I'll find a way. I'm not losing another family."

  Then Malja saw something that astonished her. Fawbry swallowed hard, stood, and put out his good hand. "Me neither. I don't care what you say. I'm coming. We're family. And, besides, you always need me."

  Malja chuckled as she wrapped her arms around Fawbry. She let the hug hold long enough for him to know she cared but no more. That kind of affection still always felt awkward.

  Sighing with relief, Fawbry said, "So, now what? You want to have Tommy open a portal?"

  "Never. That's the kind of magic that's hurting him now. Maybe you and Owl are right that magic isn't all bad, but portal magic isn't any good that I can see. No, I think we've got a lot of traveling to do."

  "Good. The further from here the better. I've had it with girlfriends."

  Malja wrinkled her brow. "That might be a problem."

  "Wait, now," Fawbry said, suspicion leaking into his voice. "If we're not going to use magic to open a portal, then—"

  "I only know one person who's smart enough and crazy enough to try to build us a portal without using magic."

  Fawbry's face dropped. "Don't say it."

  "I'm sorry, but if you're going to come with us, we've got to go see your old girlfriend — Cole Watts."

  Fawbry let out a short laugh. Then he flopped into his chair and howled laughter until tears rolled down his cheeks. "It's never dull with you," he said. "But that's how I like it."

  "Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow, we set out."

  "As a family," Fawbry said.

  Malja placed her hand on Fawbry's shoulder and thought of Tommy. "As a family."

  Afterword

  Thank you for reading The Way of the Sword and Gun. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed returning to Malja's world. If you did, I ask a little favor. Please go back to wherever you purchased this book and leave an honest review.

  Reviews have an enormous impact on an author's success, and the few extra seconds it takes you really helps us authors out!