Ferryl Shayde - Book 3 - A Very Different Game

by Vance Huxley

“Like I said, half the lads at school will be happy to make friends.” Maybe that was what Ferryl meant, she needed to practice her pretending. “You’re doing a pretty good job now.”

  “I’m frightened and it isn’t pretence, because even the memories I have of past hosts won’t help this time. The world has changed too much since then. Before I went into the pit there were two sorts of girls, unless they were heiresses. By eighteen the girls had kissed one or two boys and were married, housewives and mothers, or too many boys and had become a fallen woman. Now I’m building a new life in a world where women can be anything.” Her hands squeezed harder and she started to say something, then stopped.

  “It’s all right, I’m a good listener.”

  Ferryl hesitated, then instead of answering out loud her ‘voice’ sounded in Abel’s head. “But now I can’t get the words out. If these are emotions, they are scary. They swirl and rush, and maybe I’ve suddenly found out why you blush and move away when a girl gets too close. Maybe why you have careful rules about kissing. Because letting emotions run around uncontrolled is dangerous. When someone gets too close, and you want to get closer but think maybe you’ll be pushed away?” Abel understood that all right. He knew how short and skinny he looked among lads the same age and how the likes of Claris and Arabelle, the girls in the Acro team, always treated him like a freak. “I’m a freak. I’m terrified of allowing myself to like someone in case they are frightened or disgusted.”

  “I’ve had some of that. None of us feel that way about you. We all know what you are and I’ll bet every one of us considers you a friend.” Abel floundered a bit because he couldn’t understand how Ferryl couldn’t know.

  At least his answer pushed her back into speaking aloud. “But you pulled away when you realised you were kissing me.” Ferryl didn’t sound bitter, just resigned.

  “Because you are possessed, not because of you. I like you, the you that’s Ferryl.” Finally plucking up his courage, Abel told her the one thing that might make a difference. “I enjoyed the last dance, and the kiss afterwards. I felt really guilty about it later, but not because of what you are. Just about the possession part.”

  Her little chuckle came as a real relief. “But I told you she isn’t possessed, not really. This host can never give permission, or ever be allowed to remember her life before now. That dance and kiss was all me, a me who had stopped acting and pretending.” Abel was looking at her now, and Ferryl had a smile but looked cautious. Abel couldn’t keep up. He’d just told her he liked her as Ferryl, so what now? “This is ridiculous. I can scare a leech glyphless, and stand off a sorcerer.” Ferryl’s smile faltered and the worry came through much stronger. “I should have asked before I felt anything, but I didn’t know I’d need to.”

  “Can you talk or think in Latin or Greek, or Danish, because English has stopped making sense. What do you want, Ferryl?” Abel wanted to hug her so she stopped worrying, but had no idea what Ferryl wanted. He shut his eyes, which might be an improvement over looking away.

  “When I try to say, my throat locks up which makes no sense because I control this body. Everything has stopped making sense, now I’ve let some emotion in. How do I get closer to someone, to learn more? Can I trust them, let them inside my defences? Because now, after that first taste, I want to feel all those emotions again, as me.” Even as only thoughts, her words seemed rushed, running together as Ferryl pushed on. “The more I talk about it, the more I’m sure it was me that really liked that dance, being a normal girl at a party. But not so that I could build someone a new memory. After that dance I want my own friend, Ferryl Shayde’s friend, so I can learn more. Someone who’ll take me on my first moonlit walk, share a milkshake or fairground ride, all the things I saw on your TV late at night. I’ve even found someone who seems to like me. He knows what I am and isn’t frightened.” Her hands lifted Abel’s and when he opened his eyes she kissed one knuckle, very gently. “What should I do next?”

  Abel knew just what he wanted to do, kiss her. He couldn’t, Ferryl was too pretty. That stopped his head spinning. Too pretty was a really stupid reason. The truth was that girls, or getting close to them, terrified him because he expected them to suddenly start laughing at him. Except this girl felt that he might be disgusted or frightened. He really didn’t think of Ferryl and her body as two people, not anymore. Maybe because she’d been a companion in three different bodies, so he knew her, not her disguise. So what was his excuse now? Abel screwed up his courage. “I don’t know.” Then very slowly, carefully, he pulled her hands forward and kissed her knuckles.

  “That doesn’t feel like don’t know.” Ferryl leant forward and kissed his knuckles again, so their faces were centimetres apart. “I’ve never done this as me, without using a memory to guide me.”

  “Neither have I, not really. Nor shared a milkshake or a rollercoaster.” Not without magic or possession, Abel meant, but for once kept his trap shut instead of launching into a long explanation. Abel’s head crept forward.

  Ferryl barely breathed but Abel felt it on his lips. “We could make a list?”

  “As long as you like.”

  They lowered their hands and her head came the last few centimetres, or maybe Abel’s did. The kiss wasn’t like with Kelis, a zing of magic, or the carefully measured ones with Jenny and Claris, or anything like those at the dance, but it felt very nice. The sort of nice he’d like to do again. With that in mind, Abel leant forward to put his arm round her, and Ferryl’s arm came round him, and the second kiss definitely lived up to expectations.

  “Oh. Oh! Abel?” Oddly enough, for once Abel didn’t leap back and turn scarlet. He turned very calmly and smiled up at Kelis.

  “That’s me, and this is Ferryl. I think we’ve just sorted out the handholding communication problem.” Since they’d both got an arm around each other, well past sorted out.

  “You actually needed to practice? What happened to oh, no, I won’t do that?” Kelis glared at Ferryl. “What did you do to him?”

  “Ferryl did nothing. We had a talk and now I know her better. Ferryl, not the host, who will never wake up. I admitted I think she’s pretty but I also like her, the real Ferryl. The real Ferryl likes me enough to hold my hand in public without any rules.” In some part of his mind Abel noted he wasn’t blushing for once. “Now would you like me to have this conversation with Emst, or Laurence, or the next sucker?”

  Kelis looked shocked, then confused and a little lost before turning on her heel. “No. You’re right. None of my business. Though I’d better warn Rob and Jenny.” She strode off down the corridor. Abel stared at the open door, baffled. Kelis kept giving him grief about not kissing girls properly or teasing him about never having a real girlfriend, so why did she stomp off like that?

  Ferryl sighed and leant on his shoulder, so Abel hugged her. “I hope Kelis isn’t really mad at me. I really don’t want to upset any of your friends. Do you think Jenny will be upset?” Her tone lightened. “Rob will complain and make me a better offer.” After hugging tighter for a moment Ferryl sat up straight again. “No more acting. That will be strange.” She stood, with a little smile that seemed much less sure than Ferryl Shayde’s usually did, still holding onto Abel’s hand. “We should go and tell Rob ourselves, because Kelis went straight upstairs.”

  Abel would have rather sat here quietly, but Rob would soon find out and he’d rather have reinforcements when Kelis came back. Instead, he and his thousand-year-old girlfriend went to face the music. Or not, because Rob claimed he’d known all along which was why he’d volunteered to ride with Emst to the New Year dance. When she came downstairs Jenny seemed to find it hilarious. She kept looking at the two of them sat together, then making jokes about older women and giggling. Even Kelis seemed better when she came back downstairs. She eventually made a few digs about watching out for the quiet ones, because a thousand years of experience hadn’t saved Ferryl.

  Abel walked back through the village hand in hand with his new girl,
and kissed her goodbye at Kelis’s gate without any heart-searching about if he should or shouldn’t. They sat together that night for the Bonny’s Tavern meeting, and Ferryl escorted him to the door at the end of it. Rob putting both hands over his eyes while they said goodnight more or less set the seal on the whole thing. Abel wasn’t sure if his mum would just roll her eyes because she’d expected it or give him grief when she found out. Rob insisted anyone with half a brain and one eye would have seen the way Abel had been looking at the new Ferryl.

  ∼∼

  Maybe Abel had been looking at Ferryl too much, even at the dance, because the Taverners at school didn’t seem surprised. Tobias, the student who’d talked of getting a tent, made his usual comments about clean living, country air, and yet another pretty girl. This time he definitely looked at Kelis when he said pretty and asked if any of them wanted a partner to play Bonny’s Tavern on Skype. Within a couple of weeks, Fay Shayde, from Germany, settled into Stourton Comprehensive. According to Ferryl, these schooldays were definitely brand-new memories. She’d never attended any sort of school before meeting Abel.

  Unlike the previous handholding just for communication, and awkward moments when the girlfriend charades meant hugging and kissing, Abel relaxed. Ferryl liked him, and she knew him better than anyone except his mum, Kelis and Rob. Better yet, with a sorcerer-length life ahead he’d got time to work through all those first milkshake and rollercoaster ride moments. From the comments Ferryl made about film experiences she wanted to try, Abel would definitely need more than a normal lifespan.

  There were plenty of others either breaking up or chatting up, and the gossips soon turned to Claris and her new bloke. The rugby player who had been dressed as a frost giant certainly matched her usual boyfriends a lot better than Abel had. Claris began to act more like herself, laughing and flirting, though the nasty edge seemed to have gone. Rob started spending break times with Kathy, a girl in the same year who took sciences but had only just started playing Bonny’s Tavern. When she mentioned that she’d been playing the game with Rob over Skype to understand the science involved, that finally diverted Kelis from tweaking Abel.

  The rest of Abel’s life settled down, giving him a chance to catch up on his schoolwork. After coming back from town without her earrings, his mum asked Abel to help her look on the internet to decide between three used cars. When she finally traded in her old car and arrived home in the newer one, Abel put hexes under the bonnet and the boot carpet. He even filled the Fiat Punto logo up with magic, just in case it was a real hex.

  It wasn’t just his mum’s car being traded in, riding around in the BMW wouldn’t be an option much longer. As soon as the divorce had been finalised it would be swapped for a minibus and a small second-hand car. Mrs Ventner couldn’t drive, so the minibus would be her investment in the company, but she wanted Kelis to have a car. It would be a terrific incentive for Kelis to pass her test as soon as possible after her seventeenth birthday. According to Kelis it wouldn’t take long, because she’d put the Highway Code on a wit.

  Even creating wits wasn’t real pressure, more like a necessity. The additional courses they were taking, especially the biology and the extra work on human biology, were probably too much without magical memory sticks. Abel, Kelis and Rob gritted their teeth and etched the biology information into a wit. The results were strange. None of them were sure how much they actually remembered from the lessons and how much from the wit. Abel and Rob stuck to using a shin bone to start with but Kelis wouldn’t confirm where hers went. Jenny could put a locking glyph into compressed earth, but getting one into a branch without marring the surface still defeated her and school work interfered with magic practice.

  The only real pressure came from trying to launch the game, Bonny’s Tavern. Mr Forester, or Jenny with him watching over her, cut back the scale of the launch again and again but there still wasn’t enough cash in the kitty to make a decent impact. At the very least there should be adverts in gaming magazines and online, on some of the forums. The only way out seemed to be another loan from Mr Forester, but Jenny warned he’d want more shares.

  Even a loan wouldn’t help with making the church into another refuge. The alterations were just too expensive to be practical, because of the rules and regulations about really old buildings. Even if the Tavern relied on Jenny’s dad again, or his firm, and he did it for cost, they couldn’t afford the amount of work needed. Kelis’s mum offered furniture, including fitted wardrobes and the kitchen if necessary, because when she rented somewhere that sort of thing would be included. Even if it wasn’t, everything from the big house wouldn’t fit into a flat or two bedroom house.

  Unfortunately the church needed a whole additional floor fitted with internal walls to create upstairs bedrooms, and serious plumbing and drainage work to accommodate bathrooms. Some of the windows would probably collapse once the boards were removed, while repairing the others would be specialist work and expensive. The wiring and plumbing would need a full inspection and might need replacing.

  At the moment, every penny from the Stourton magic contracts went into Frederick’s house. The place had been spruced up enough for renting as bedsits, but needed more work to cater for abused women who might have children or tenants with real medical problems. There’d be no skimping because with the charity link, the place would get close scrutiny once the game launched. Any of the Taverners with spare time provided labour, but too much of the work needed professionals.

  The Taverners filling the protection hexes for the new contracts reminded Abel about the client who wanted to meet the sorceress, so he arranged a visit. Fay would be the sorceress with Abel as her assistant, allegedly so Ferryl would be along to help if necessary. Shawn sniggered at that part because he thought Ferryl lived in Abel’s arm but all the Taverners called Fay, Ferryl. It had even caught on as a nickname at school with people who had no idea of the reason.

  The day after a serious meeting between the parents and children about the state of Bonny’s Tavern the game, Abel contacted Woods and Green. Despite the short notice, the magical solicitors fixed up an appointment for the same day as the hexing contract meeting. Ferryl thought Abel would get a lot of priority at the solicitors for at least one normal human lifetime, because of the coin.

  ∼∼

  Ferryl insisted on the Taverneers meeting in Castle House the evening after Abel made the appointments. Despite the weather, she insisted on Jenny coming over, which meant serious business. Abel tried to find out, but she wasn’t telling him in advance. At least she didn’t beat around the bush once they’d helped Jenny to get dry with reverse water glyphs and everyone had a seat and drink.

  “Everyone here knows I have a charred glyph from the entrance, but the information is damaged. I have been carefully testing what is there, sometimes with Abel or more often Zephyr to help.” Ferryl glanced down at their held hands and up at Abel. “Though not everything, because some of the glyphs might be dangerous if I get them wrong. I have experimented alone because I can heal this body, but now I can let you all know about one.” She let go of Abel, stood up and moved into the middle of the room before making a small hand movement. “Cast glyphs at me please. Not strong ones or you may damage the room.”

  The four teenagers trusted her enough to agree, though they all threw very small wind glyphs that wouldn’t harm her. Not that a big fire glyph would have mattered, because each glyph snuffed out before reaching the smiling sorceress. Kelis came to her feet, her hand outstretched, then stopped. “A shield! How complicated is the glyph?” She moved her head from side to side, trying to see. “It’s invisible.”

  “I can see the flows. It looks like something else but there are differences.” Zephyr flew out of Abel’s arm to circle the room, connecting to everyone but Ferryl. “It is a globe, very close to the top of Ferryl’s head and perhaps touching her feet. There is a resemblance to a veil but more complicated, and it will not let me connect spooky-phone.”

  Ferryl
pointed to the shimmering form. “Zephyr will be telling you she sees a globe. Keep explaining, Zephyr.”

  Nobody else saw anything change, but Zephyr kept up a commentary. “The globe is changing, shrinking but not all over. Now it follows Ferryl’s shape, but just a little bit away from her skin. The sorcerer! He had a shield like this!”

  “What did Zephyr say?” Abel explained, bringing a smile to Ferryl’s face. “I forgot she saw Pendragon’s shield. The reason it is close to me, in my shape, is because that is the natural shape of a shield. It will normally include clothing and any small item carried by the caster.” A faint tinge of blue outlined Ferryl. “I have coloured it now, deliberately. You all know you have a natural shield covering your skin, supported by your ward, which is why attacks from magic and creatures are blunted. This shield uses that natural protection, strengthening it and pushing it outwards.” The blue glow moved out to create the globe Zephyr had first described.

  “Why move it out? Isn’t that harder work?” Kelis moved around Ferryl, tilting her head back and forth as she inspected the globe even closer.

  “Does the globe use more magic, or more control?” Jenny rose to her feet to come closer, followed by Rob and Abel. She reached out, very tentatively, and touched the glow. “It tingles.”

  “The harder you push on the shield, the more it will hurt you. Heat or the shock of an impact can leak through a shield, which is the reason for the globe, so that the caster keeps clear.” She chuckled and twirled to indicate the clear area around herself. “Though sorceresses don’t keep a shield up in company because if two touch, the firework display can scorch walls and furniture. There is also a violent reaction if a shield touches items with magic in them, such as hexes. Two shields in firm contact drain magic from both sorceresses, very quickly, another good reason to avoid touching. Don’t throw a glyph while doing that, because if it explodes on their shield it’s still inside yours.” Ferryl held out her hand to Abel and the shield disappeared. “Remember to banish it before holding hands.”