Reality's Plaything

by Will Greenway

  “Then let’s prepare to leave. Tie everything down. Even if we can’t fly we can still use this rope to rappel down the cliff. I can climb up the far side and tie it off. It’s more risky, but a good alternative.”

  Irodee and Sarai stood and immediately went to work.

  Bannor eyed Wren. “You intended to do it your way all along.”

  Wren met his gaze. “Bannor, I refuse to waste time arguing. We’ll try it your way. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try a more practical approach.”

  His jaw tightened. He stared at the savant.

  “Oh, grow up. I’d be fascinated to see your method work. The ethereal affecting the physical…” Her voice faded. She let out a breath. “Pardon my staidness. I learned to keep things simple; less goes wrong.”

  He growled. “My way will work. Can you even climb that cliff?”

  Wren stood. Stepping to a big needleleaf, she clambered up. She used no branches for a purchase, only the grip of fingers and toes. She grinned down at him. Bannor couldn’t see how she held on. The tree bark provided little purchase. “Think I can handle rocks?”

  “All right, I get it.”

  She hopped down and helped with the packing.

  He stared at the savant for a moment, before adding his hands to the stowing. She always seemed a pace ahead of him. Could he be that dumb, or was Wren simply that smart? He disliked shying away from something because he didn’t understand it. The savant chose to be a puzzle. She veiled herself in half-truths and obscurities, daring him to discover her true nature. Here I am, try and learn my secrets.

  They carefully stowed all of Wren’s alchemical apparatus. All the pack strings were tied down to ensure whether they flew or climbed, things would be ready for the trip.

  The last shred of light vanished behind the crags. Irodee and Sarai sat down on the log to await the next step. Bannor gazed around the clearing, their temporary stronghold in the forest wilderness. He would remember this place with its birds, trees, pitfalls and revelations. Glimpses of the stormy road ahead had been revealed to him. The path behind was legion with snapping dogs ready to devour him if he mis-stepped. About that, Wren had been lucidly clear.

  He met his betrothed’s gaze. Sarai’s glowing eyes never blinked. Rely on no one, her expression said. We can only trust ourselves.

  Bannor tried to remember Sarai before Blackwater and the slavers. Was she always so suspicious? Had that carefree smile and whimsical wit all been a ruse for his benefit, or did he see only what he wanted to see? Maybe only now did he see the true face of things.

  No, he would never forget Hades flats.

  It was the place where his life changed.

  He examined his hands, raw and aching from the day’s work.

  His gaze found Sarai again. Whatever real or imagined changes she’d gone through, her support remained constant. She trusted him. The Garmtur’Shak Nola, he knew its unpredictability now. A single wish had kept the gallows from breaking his neck. Later, that same talent had nearly killed Wren. A desire to see his betrothed had given him the ability to soar the astral winds. An urgent need transformed Sarai into an elemental.

  He had all of the tools and none of the control. Discipline.

  Weren’t all disciplines simply a way of viewing things? In this case, it was knowing exactly what he wanted to accomplish. Willing what wasn’t yet real into existence.

  Flexing his fingers, he studied the cracked skin.

  “Bannor—” Wren started. Sarai put a finger to her lips and gripped the savant’s shoulder.

  He focused. These are not the way my hands should be. Bannor opened and closed his hands. Visualizing his healthy undamaged flesh superimposed over the chapped members.

  I wish…

  In his mind, he stripped away the cuts and dirt.

  I wish…

  The cracks in his mental picture vanished.

  I wish…

  He peeled away another layer and the color returned to normal.

  He flexed his fingers. The pain ebbed.

  The wounds faded out.

  So simple. So alluring. He now understood what Wren had meant by a power that encouraged experimentation, an ability that might fly out of control on his next attempt.

  Bannor walked to Sarai and cupped her face in his renewed hands. He felt tears trickling down his cheeks. He kissed his betrothed.

  “I love you, Little Star.”

  She smiled. “I you, My One.”

  He turned to Wren. “I’m ready.”

  Bannor and Wren concealed themselves in a cluster of rocks, and Irodee and Sarai covered it over with branches. Lying in a clump of needle-leaves with his arms crossed, he let the tangy-acrid scent fill his awareness and help him to relax. He felt Wren’s presence next to him as if layers of itchy wool surrounded her and pressed against him.

  Wren’s voice echoed in his head without making a sound. All right, I’ll get you launched then follow your lead.

  He didn’t know how to reply. “How do you do that?” he asked aloud.

  Don’t use your mouth. Think the words. Enunciate them in your head. Savants naturally communicate between each other this way. With training we can mind-speak with telepaths and mundanes.

  Bannor clamped his jaw shut and thought the word. He saw it spelled out in his head in large red runes.

  Mundanes?

  Ow! Not so loud. I’m right next to you. Mundanes—people without magical abilities.

  He made the letters not so large. Never thought of normal people as being mundane.

  Much better. Don’t worry, Bannor, you will.

  Another of Wren’s veiled statements, using that ‘I’ve seen it all’ tone that made him want to punch her. He wondered if she could sense his thoughts when they were linked this way.

  Yes, Bannor, I can. When you feel the urge to take a swing, step right up. Make your first try a good one. I’ll drop you before the second.

  He imagined tiny Wren challenging him a fistfight. Not likely.

  Bannor sensed her shrug. People are easier to climb than trees. A girl doesn’t survive fifteen summers in the guild without learning how to earn respect. Think on it. Okay, enough banter, launch now?

  Wait.

  He took a breath. My One, there isn’t that much will in the whole kingdom. If Sarai was right, Wren would have beaten him again.

  This is where it stopped. He would make this work.

  They needed the strength of will to move Irodee. Mage’s lifted heavier things with their magic. He and Wren could do it with theirs. He considered what they needed to do, pictured it in his head, and slowly blended desire with reality. He felt a burning rush through him. Wren, go!

  Bannor felt the savant reach inside of his mind. There was a twisting sensation and blackness. When he became aware of himself again he stared down at his reclining body. The details of the clearing stood out in sharp contrast. Around him the outline of a forest-canine glowed and crackled. It felt different this time, charged and solid, like a second flesh. Wren appeared again as an exotic hawk with flames for feathers and talons of diamond. Her image gleamed, casting shadows on the trees and rocks.

  She fanned her wings and dust blew through the clearing. The savant’s voice echoed weirdly. “Bannor, what in Ishtar’s name did you..?” The bird form surveyed the South. “How in Hade’s am I going to cloak us? We rise above the trees and they’ll see us in the next kingdom! I can’t dim my image.”

  Irodee rubbed her eyes walking to within touching distance of the bird form. “That you, Wren?”

  “In the flesh, more or less.” She chuckled. It made sparks fly into the air around her feathers.

  Irodee stared where Wren’s body lay next to Bannor’s. “Seen you do this before. Never so bright.”

  Bannor felt dizzy. As he acclimated himself, he noticed networks of multicolored rays of light connecting he and Wren to the sky.

  He spoke. His voice sounded oddly distorted and hollow. “Wren, what are all these lines aro
und us?”

  The bird form’s head swiveled, eyes like jewels flickered. “What lines—I don’t…” Her voice dropped to whisper. “Ishtar help us.”

  “Force lines.” Gazing up into the sky, Sarai grinned. She focused on him. “The currents of magic that surround planes and planets.”

  “Irodee don’t see anything except Wren and Bannor.”

  Bannor saw a shudder go through Wren’s form. “You must have bent every force line on the continent. I couldn’t cloak us if I tried. Every mage on Titaan will know exactly where we are. Let’s go. Hold on, Sarai.”

  Whatever these force lines were, they made Wren confident. She swooped over to Sarai. The elf shouldered a pack and held her hands up.

  It appeared as if Sarai and Wren merged into a single ball of flame. The burning image shot over the trees like a meteor. Sarai’s whoop of delight dwindled into the distance.

  Irodee knelt by his body and Wren’s obviously waiting for him.

  A roar broke through the night.

  Rankorhaaz.

  The focused magic and the comet of Wren and Sarai had brought the demon out of hiding.

  Irodee stood. She watched where the sounds emanated. “Bannor, must go now.” He saw the fear in her eyes. What if he couldn’t move this ponderous woman? Rankorhaaz would find their untenanted bodies.

  The Myrmigyne pushed back her hair and walked toward him. She held her fists up. “You can do it. We go now.” Rankorhaaz’s bat-like form closed on them across the flats.

  He lunged for Irodee and prayed.

  * * *

  Magic. It’s study and use is among my greatest joys.

  I find awe and wonder in the myriad permutations that the laws established by Alpha and the First Ones can be bent in order to achieve a desired result. Tan’Acho is the ultimate goal wherein the laws themselves can be redefined rather than tricked and sidestepped as I do now. I live for it.

  —From the Dedriad, ‘musings of an immortal’.

  Chapter Twelve

  « ^ »

  Bannor threw ephemeral arms around Irodee prepared to put a death embrace on the woman. Tension shot through him. Distantly, he felt the heart of his physical body race.

  Contact.

  The Myrmigyne burst into a blaze of blue light. Bannor’s astral body and Irodee’s physical one meshed. He heard her gasp and experienced the knotting of her stomach as they soared away from the ground.

  Power rushed through him as he rose higher. The magic lines pulled him whatever direction he wished to travel.

  It worked!

  It took no effort to carry Irodee. Her mass had become magickly co-joined with his. Bannor dodged to avoid Rankorhaaz. The demon ponderously turned to follow.

  “Bannor!” Irodee’s voice sounded tiny and scared. “What did you do? Can’t see myself!”

  “Irodee, we’re together in my magic.”

  He felt her swallow. “We land soon?”

  “Hopefully—” He yelled as spasms wracked him as if rats were trying to chew their way out of his insides.

  He spun to see the source of the attack. Rankorhaaz hovered in the path of one of his force lines. Sparks erupted around the demon’s mammoth frame. It swelled in size.

  Feeding.

  “Odin’s eyes!” Bannor charged.

  From thought to impact took less than an eye blink. Irodee’s scream rang in his ears as they slammed into the monstrosity.

  The collision sent pain cascading through Bannor. It felt as if he’d jumped out a third story window and landed without bending his knees.

  Caught off guard the demon pitched through the air howling. Streamers of energy trailed him like water escaping a punctured bladder.

  Bannor felt broken inside, but he’d abated the demon’s attack.

  We’re stronger now but also more vulnerable. No wonder it upset Wren.

  “Bannor not do that again!”

  He wasn’t strong enough to attack again. The monster hovered and flailed as though disoriented. Rankorhaaz would recover soon.

  Where’s Wren?

  She probably had her own problems. We have to deal with Rankorhaaz now.

  “Irodee—shoot him!”

  “Not have body!”

  “Imagine your bow. Draw an arrow and shoot him between the eyes. Try!”

  The Myrmigyne didn’t question again. He sensed her forming the picture. He felt the bow grow taut and the arrow touch her cheek.

  Bannor concentrated his will. “Shoot!”

  A shaft of energy sizzled across the intervening distance and exploded into the demon. Rankorhaaz screamed. Not in rage.

  In fear.

  Irodee gave a war cry. “Bannor, it works!” He felt a crushing hug.

  The demon clawed at the smoking bolt lodged deep in his shoulder.

  “Again!” Bannor yelled, staying focused.

  Irodee’s astral bow thrummed twice. Sparkling arrows traced out.

  Rankorhaaz twisted to get out of the way. The arrows shrieked home in his side and back. He fell from the sky and exploded into the flats.

  “No!” The demon’s agonized scream made Bannor wince.

  A greenish ball arced upward from the spot where Rankorhaaz hit. It erupted, illuminating a patch of the sky. A fissure opened in the heavens and something darker than the surrounding night poured through. The pieces of the blackness resolved into dozens of smaller winged shapes.

  Wren’s voice cracked through his consciousness. Bannor! Grab my body fast! Get Irodee to Sarai.

  Trailing fire, Wren’s hawk-form dove at Rankorhaaz, diamond claws extended. Bannor didn’t watch. The demon’s wail made a chill dance through him.

  “Die,” Irodee muttered.

  They plunged to where his body and Wren’s lay. What would happen to Wren when he tried to absorb her?

  No time to question. The savant’s order was clear. He swept the debris away and scooped up Wren’s body. Pain shot through his arms.

  “Irodee! Help me!”

  It felt like lifting a mountain. Wren’s form did not merge with his astral form. Magic crackled around the savant’s physical body. The air rippled as if he were pulling her figure through murky water.

  Irodee groaned, adding her strength to his. The woman’s will was strong. Together they struggled to move skyward.

  “So hard.” Irodee gritted.

  They dipped several paces almost hitting the trees.

  “Stay focused!” He snapped. “We’ll drop Wren’s body!”

  The landscape flickered beneath them. Bannor glanced back. Dark forms flapped after them. Wren’s bird-shape dove and struck among the demons her claws blazing like stars.

  Bannor and Irodee staggered through the air over the canyon rim. The ground fell away. The gorge yawned beneath them. The silhouettes of the trees far below looked like spikes. The ribbon of the river glinted in the moonlight, foaming and studded with rocks.

  Irodee gasped. “Tired Bannor.”

  They fell fifty paces.

  “Concentrate!” Bannor’s mind burned. He could feel blisters growing on his hands and arms as magic poured into his astral form.

  Through naked will they clambered back up to their original altitude.

  The horde of shapes closed, too many for Wren to stop.

  The jagged outline of the far rim hove into range. Bannor could see a single bright dot winking off to their left. He headed for it.

  He felt on fire. Irodee let out a moan. Their hearts pounded in tandem.

  “Not much further.”

  Irodee struggled to do her part in the pairing. The world grew fuzzy. The cries of the demons grew in volume. Below, the rocks beckoned. All he needed to do was let go. The torment would stop. Wren would never manipulate him again. She would become a bodiless spirit trapped forever between the astral and physical planes.

  A ghost.

  Sarai’s voice rolled in his mind, cold and loveless. Let her go, my One. Our problems would be solved.

  Their fli
ght faltered and they dropped again.

  Bannor screamed a battle cry and Irodee joined in. They halted their fall and started a climb.

  Save yourself.

  They’d closed half the distance to the glowing dot on the rim. He could now see the gleam of the demon’s eyes. Bannor’s arms felt ready to rip from their sockets.

  So easy to simply let go.

  We can be together, forever.

  Bannor screamed. “We’re-going-to-make-it!”

  The cliff edge closed. He could see a figure backlit by a small fire.

  A demon cackled. Something ripped through his shoulder. A scaly humanoid form whipped by. He gasped. They tumbled downward. Irodee yelled. They slowed and fought upward again.

  Hideous laughter came closer then changed to a howl as something hissed past Bannor’s head. The black creature spiraled out of sight, a long shaft protruding from its eye.

  One torturous pace at a time they ascended canyon wall. More arrows stabbed into the darkness followed by agonizing wails that dwindled into silence.

  With one last effort, they heaved themselves over the rim. Bannor put Wren down.

  He released Irodee. The Myrmigyne flowed out of him like quicksilver. The viscous shape swirled upward and solidified into flesh. The huge woman slumped to her knees with groan.

  “Bannor! Back to your body!” Sarai commanded. She held a huge black bow. Her hands blurred as she whipped off more arrow shots.

  A dark radiance surrounded the elf. Her violet eyes burned. Winged shapes filled the sky. She continued firing. “Now!”

  The urgency in Sarai’s voice gave him a surge of new energy. He shot toward camp. The serpent demons pursued.

  Unburdened, he covered the distance in instants. Wren broke off her sky battle and streaked toward the camp. They met over the site of his hidden body.

  The trees and bushes looked singed. His jerkin and leggings smoldered. He could feel the beat of his own heart but it sounded dangerously slow.

  “Don’t stare, damn it, get in there!”

  Bannor felt himself shoved. There was a flash of blackness and disorientation.

  “Sorry if this hurts.” Talons pierced his chest. He felt a burst of agony.