Dealing in Magic

by Martha Carr

  Perrom came to a clearing in the woods and blew the horn again. There was a distant rustling in the trees and Leira was sure she heard a low growl as something heavy padded its way at a gallop in their direction. Out of the dense forest a lion burst through into the clearing. Antlers towered above his large head, spreading out in both directions. Atop the lion was a Wood Elf with long, dark dreadlocks and earrings decorated both ears all the way up the sides. Vines were woven into his hair that moved and writhed, with blooms that opened and shut. A silvery hamster poked its head out from one of its pockets and saw Leira, ducking back inside.

  Leira’s eyes widened at the sight of the lion but she stayed her ground even though his head was at her eye level and his large yellow eyes looked toward her as he curled his lip. Not as bad as a dark mist but maybe worse than a felon with a gun. Nice kitty. Like Santa got his wires crossed trying to make a better flying reindeer.

  The Gardener’s pupils darted around the deepening forest, looking for any other eyes that might be watching them, scanning the skies. A lone harpy flew overhead, crying out but kept flying looking for something easier to capture and eat.

  “I have something to show you.” Perrom held out the altered insect for his father to see.

  “No introductions? No, good to see you Dad?” Leira whispered to Correk, her eyebrows raised. Correk ignored her and watched the Gardener. He had only seen him a few times when he was younger and every time he was struck by his command of the forest.

  The Gardener slid off the lion and put his hand firmly on the animal’s back. The lion huffed out a great breath and slowly lay down, letting out a low rumble. Leira could feel his hot breath where she stood and made herself stand firm.

  The Gardener stepped forward and looked at the bug, turning it over in Perrom’s hand. He looked up in surprise. “Where did you get this?”

  “The humans have them on Earth,” Perrom said, gravely. “It appears you were right.”

  “Someone has betrayed us. One of our own kind.” The Gardener let out a loud banshee yell, throwing his arms in the air, his hands balled into fists. The lion suddenly stood, his ears back, and he let out a roar in sympathy with the Gardener. The Gardener beat his chest with his fist, the scales along his chest flipping over to match the honey brown of the lion and back again.

  “He is losing his shit. This is over a bug?” Leira spoke softly, her jaw set.

  The Wood Elf’s irises all rapidly moved toward Leira, focusing on her, scowling. “Who is this? She’s from Earth! You brought a stranger into my forest.” His voice echoed among the trees. Leira could hear things rustling in nearby bushes, moving further away from them. The lion’s enormous head peered around the Gardener at Leira.

  Leira felt the same thread of anger pulsing inside of her whenever a bully tried to prove his strength. Not a gun but this will have to do. She let the magic enter her feet, easily coming up from the rich Oriceran soil, lighting up the symbols along her arms and flashing up her neck. Wanna play rough? Let’s go.

  Correk looked over at Leira and back at the Gardener.

  “Do something about your guest.” Perrom stepped between his father and Leira.

  Correk bristled and stood beside Leira, his fists clenched. “I’m not her handler. She makes her own decisions.”

  Perrom looked from his friend to Leira and his expression softened. “We are all on the same side,” he said in a low voice, still standing in the middle. He turned to his father. “They don’t know the whole story. How bad this has gotten. We need them as allies if we’re going to stop this, you know that.” Don’t dig in your heels. Don’t insist on doing things your way. Don’t drive me away.

  His father was still breathing hard but he held up his hand, calming the lion who lay back down, turning his head, rustling the leaves overhead with his antlers. “Why do you trust them?”

  “Them?” Correk bristled, spitting out the word.

  The Gardener took a step forward, holding himself up straighter.

  “This is why they’ve gotten away with so much already! You trust no one!” Perrom shook with anger.

  The Gardener eyed Correk. “Light Elves have been known to take what they want, trampling through these woods.”

  “You’re stuck in another time. The treaty ended all that.” Correk said the words in a low, even tone out of respect for his friend but he was tense. Leira let the energy continue to flow through her making a perfect, endless loop, back into the ground as she waited for someone to make the first move toward friendship or foe. The symbols along her arms were turning over at a measured pace as if they were watching as well. The options were all open and Leira was willing to be patient.

  “This is bigger than we realized, isn’t it? Not just a few bugs or a few seeds. Something bigger is going on here.” Leira looked at him more carefully and saw the pain in his face. “Someone is threatening your kingdom.” She let the magic seep out of her veins and back into the ground. The symbols stopped turning and Correk looked over to read their last message. He looked up at Leira and put his hand on her shoulder.

  “We are here to help, Gardener,” he said, calmly. “Tell us what’s been happening and we’ll listen.”

  The Gardener’s breathing had slowed and he tilted his head, narrowing his eyes as he raised his hand again and whistled a long, bending note. There was the sound of saplings breaking as a large beast moved through the brush. Leira’s eyes grew wider as a black rhino appeared from the north, coming to stand next to the Gardener.

  “Dear Lord…” Leira tried to hold in a gasp as she looked at the moving parts that made up the midsection of the rhino.

  “Someone is stealing the animals of the Dark Forest and experimenting on them. They’re trying to combine magic and engineering to create something new.”

  Correk shook his head. “Experimenting here on Oriceran?” The shock registered on his face as he watched the beast move and the computerized parts of the animal respond. “Not Rhazdon, surely…”

  “No, not Rhazdon. Technology was never of interest to her. Someone with a more modern way of looking at things. Someone who we think is looking to the future and wants to get ready…”

  “For the gates opening.” The words spilled out of Leira’s mouth and she knew it was true. “Are those parts made from artifacts?”

  Perrom’s eyebrows went up in surprise and he looked at Leira and Correk but nodded his head.

  Leira kept looking at the rhinoceros doing her best not to imagine the future. “To what end?”

  “Humans want to push the limits of technology mixed with magic to see what kind of life is sustainable and for how long. They’re willing to pay almost any price and share the most interesting new inventions.” The Gardener was spitting out the words.

  Leira’s old training as a detective kicked in and she saw the pieces starting to fit together. “Human beings want in on the benefits of magic but they don’t have the right DNA. But they do have technology and are hunting artifacts…”

  Correk interrupted, filling in the other pieces. “Oricerans want the technology to use after the magic is drained from our planet to Earth.”

  “Is that what happened the last time? That can’t be true.” I’m missing something. Leira put her hands on her hips, still keeping an eye on the two large animals only a few yards from her. “This is one of my weirder days lately and that’s saying something. I’ve become Alice and I’m trying to fight an unseen Queen of Hearts.” Leira looked up, the answers coming to her. “That’s it. This is about control, even now. Where are these experiments happening? It’s on Earth, isn’t it? Or you’d hunt them down yourself.”

  The Gardener grimaced. “Yes, whoever is helping them from our own kind has guided them well. They are on Earth, where it’s harder to search for them.”

  “The artifacts race, some of it is to power these experiments.” The rhino snorted and pawed the ground. “Is he in pain?”

  The Gardener ran his hand along the rhino’s bac
k, stopping just short of the cold mechanics. “No, I’ve made sure of that. Magic keeps him sustained but there have been others that I’ve had to put down out of compassion. They have been using animals from Earth but I’ve managed to stop some of their raids on their planet and this one. Still, they get through and steal mostly seed pods from Oriceran.”

  The vines curled up around his dreadlocks pulling them back and working them into a loose braid. “I’ve rescued what I can but it’s not much. This all started with the insects. I’m afraid it was Wood Elves who came up with that idea. They saw it as harmless equipping cicadas with small bits of electronics they got at the Dark Market. They infused the parts with magic but in such small amounts. That was nearly impossible to put a stop to but I tried in vain.”

  “My mother was sick and took up most of his attention and time.” Perrom’s voice caught and his eyes glistened.

  “But then they made the deals for the seeds and let me guess, some of the insects got mixed up with the trade. A human being saw them and wanted to know more.” Leira made herself look up at the rhino as he turned his large head, looking directly at her with deep grey eyes and long eyelashes.

  “We need to shut this down.”

  “That is easier said than done. We haven’t been able to figure out who’s doing it or where their labs are or we would have destroyed them already.”

  “Not destroy, bring to justice.” Leira held up her hand to stop the Gardener. “It has to be that way. Our planets are growing closer to the day when the gates start to open and we will all be mingling like one big dysfunctional magical family. If we don’t figure out a system of law, of checks and balances then this turns into mayhem pretty fast. It doesn’t take long for dystopia to show up when revenge is on the table.”

  “There aren’t laws to cover this,” said Correk.

  “Then we create them. We set a precedent. Bottom line is we figure it out instead of blowing up shit. It’s not the only response. Granted, it’s sometimes a favorite of mine but not a first choice. But first things first.”

  Perrom looked at Correk.

  “She grows on you, trust me.”

  Leira ignored them and looked directly at the Gardener. “We still don’t have the whole picture. It would be far too easy to step wrong without all the facts. You need our help, surely you can see that. You’ve tried to do this on your own and it’s only grown worse and more entrenched. But together we can build a bridge between these two worlds and see if it’s possible to do the right thing instead of slash and burn.”

  The Gardener of the Dark Forest rubbed the soft ear of the rhinoceros as the animal twitched. Against the backdrop of the hum of life within the forest there was another, steadier hum of the computer parts at work inside of the rhino. The Gardener was tired and he knew it, drained from the effort of trying to protect his sanctuary. Mythology was no longer enough to keep out intruders. “Where do we start?”

  “Wait, what?” Perrom whipped his head around. “I’ve been asking you the same thing for months!”

  The Gardener looked wearily at his son. “You want revenge and that has no ending to it. As long as there were two sides, someone would have been willing to pick up the sword or a wand and carry on the fight. If this Eden is to be protected, we need peace. But I don’t know how to do that on such a large scale.”

  “First, we cut off their supplies as much as possible. Tends to bring the rats to the surface. That means rounding up the damn artifacts and cutting off the chain of seeds to Earth. Then we see what surfaces. The harder we choke them the more desperate their moves will become and then they’ll finally make a mistake.” Leira pounded her fist into her palm.

  “That will take an army,” said Perrom.

  “Fortunately, I’ve got one already. I work for them. And if the other world finds out about what they’re doing, maybe, just maybe they’ll rally behind us. That one can be kind of tricky with humans sometimes. But sometimes, at just the right moment they surprise you and then anything is possible. You’ll see.” Leira took Perrom’s arm feeling the silky scales beneath her fingers rippling at her touch. “Will you come with us? We need your help on Earth.”

  “I will if you’ll help me with a project of my own.” Perrom looked at his father. “It’s time, we’ve talked about it.”

  The Gardener nodded sadly, “Go ahead, the survival of the project will depend on what we decide to do here. They should know.”

  “We’ve started returning some of what we’ve protected and sheltered here on Oriceran, to Earth. To create a new sanctuary and for a while it has been a great success.”

  “But now it’s threatened,” said Correk. He looked up to see a flock of snow geese overhead in a V formation.

  “We wanted to get ready for the opening of the gates as well. If the prophesies are right and Oriceran is coming to an end…”

  “Wait, what? To an end?” Leira looked from one person to another, concerned. “Like Krypton gone?”

  “That’s one theory,” said Correk, sourly. “Not everyone believes that’s what will happen when the gates open.”

  “But if there’s a chance that it’s true, we wanted to be prepared. And if it isn’t, we helped replenish the Earth. Two sanctuaries. There was no down side.” The vines released the ponytail and let the Gardener’s dreadlocks spread out over his shoulders, opening small, trumpeted white and violet blooms.

  “It all seems connected at the root. Something put this entire thing in motion. We’re not seeing it, but we will. Pull that string and soon and we may be able to pull it all down,” said Correk.

  “Take us to it. This second sanctuary. Use a portal and show us what we’re protecting. It makes it a lot easier to protect something when I know where it is. Correk and I can find our way home from there.” I know we’re close to putting it all together. When in doubt, gather more information. Another Hagan rule.

  The Gardener created a golden ball of light, holding it up and letting it grow, opening a portal. “The second one is in a place called Sabinal on land that stretches as far as the Dark Forest.”

  Leira looked through the portal and let out a surprised laugh. “Sabinal, wait a minute. We can Uber home. That’s Texas.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Leira stepped through and found her feet on familiar territory, looking out over a vast ranch. “I’ve heard of this place. It’s the Five Star ranch and it stretches over three hundred thousand acres. Pretty standard size for one of these old ranches. It even goes into the hill country.” She turned in a circle looking at the distant horizon. A familiar sense of calm came over her whenever she knew she was on Texas soil. It’s easier to breathe.

  In the far distance she saw the outline of a herd of elephants running from the shelter of trees slowly toward a lake. She shaded her eyes with her hand, squinting to get a better look. Even from a distance she could feel the ground shake under her feet.

  “Not something you see every day in Texas,” she murmured, awed at the sight.

  The Gardener held up his hand and told the large lion to stay as he stepped through the opening from Oriceran. The lion roared but stayed where he was as the rhino turned to go back, shuffling deeper into the forest. Leira couldn’t get the sight of what was done to the rhinoceros out of her mind. Correk and Perrom stepped through and took a look around. Perrom’s scales flipped over to a sandy brown and gold, matching the waving tall grasses.

  The portal snapped shut with a pop as sparks sprayed everywhere, sizzling as they rained down.

  “Welcome to the Two Moons Sanctuary. The outside world still knows this place as the Five Star ranch. We thought it best if we kept as low a profile as possible. We are registered as a private animal sanctuary.” The Gardener stood with his feet apart and his hands on his hips looking over the veranda. The scales on his skin gradually melded together into a smooth cocoa color and the pupils in each eye shifted together till there were only two. The vines in his hair pulled back into the recesses of his drea
dlocks and a tit mouse scampered down the Gardener’s neck to his arm, running to his hand. The Gardener placed him in a pocket on his vest.

  He whistled and a pack of coyotes came over the crest of a hill, running straight to him.

  “Second time today I’ve had to trust that I’m not about to get mauled.” Leira watched, wide-eyed as the coyotes came and settled down at the Gardener’s feet.

  “Dad has always been able to communicate with any living being, plant or animal. Beings that think for themselves override it with their will and can’t hear him. But even here on Earth he’s able to draw a low-level amount of magic and give them a sense of trust.”

  “A real-life Dr. Doolittle but more earthy.” And older guy sexy. Like a black version of Aquaman on land. Okay, Berens, head in the game.

  “There’s a perimeter I created around the ranch that the animals can sense is there and they stop, keeping them away from prying eyes.”

  “Texas is known for wide-open views visible from the air. People would know what you’re doing here and talk…”

  “Like I said, we’ve been transplanting animals, birds and plants. Come, I’ll show you.” Perrom let the scales on his skin meld into the same brown skin as his father, his eyes taking on a more human look as he trudged up the grassy plain to the crest of a hill. The others joined him, standing in a line at the top.

  In the distance was the edge of a familiar forest. “Another Dark Forest…well, fuck me. You transplanted full grown old growth trees. That is another wonder of the world,” Leira whispered. She started walking toward the forest, looking back to see if the Gardener was protesting but he was calmly following her, with Correk and Perrom behind him.

  “That must remain a secret for as long as possible,” warned the Gardener. “There are more animals we need to protect that need a colder climate. Animals from Earth and Oriceran. There are plans to open another sanctuary somewhere frozen and another in the middle of the sea. Once magic begins to return places like this will be easier to protect but we are a generation away from that still.”