by Tim Susman
“Master Colonel Jackson.”
Kip raised his eyebrows, and Lowell scowled. “He’s earned the title.”
“Anyway. I think we can both agree that he would be a terrible leader of a Calatian army. But you—people know the part you played. We wouldn’t have East Georgia if not for you.” When Lowell remained silent, the fox went on. “Besides, I can’t imagine you’re very welcome in the American army.”
“No, that is true.” Lowell sighed. “But I must decide whether I want to continue with my military career or join one of the anti-slavery movements in the South. As the new country forms, the laws we put in place will have a long reach into the future. I am glad there will be no slavery in East Georgia, but…there are many other places.”
They had reached the great doors. “I hope you will continue to visit us, whatever your choice,” Kip said. “It has been my great pleasure to get to know you.” He opened the door and gestured Lowell through.
“And the same pleasure has been mine, Master Penfold.” Lowell preceded him into the Great Hall.
Four phosphorus elementals lay sprawled around the fireplace, emanating warmth, and one raised its head as Kip and Lowell went by. “Hallo there,” Kip said out of reflex, but these elementals were all newly-summoned, bright and glowing, and he’d never talked to them before.
Still, this one tilted its head, as if trying to work something out. Maybe it had been summoned previously and remembered Kip. The effort was too much, though; it lay its head back down and closed those ember-bright eyes.
No tingle touched Kip’s nose, so no demons were about. The fox paused at the top of the basement stairs. This might be the last time he had the chance to see the room where he and Coppy and Emily had once lived. The Tower was being cleaned, but the smells of thousands of Calatians still lingered, and he was unlikely to be able to catch Coppy’s scent anymore. “One moment,” he said, and walked down the stairs, Lowell following behind.
The door had been left open. The semi-circle they’d cleared in the floor for Neddy, the first elemental Kip had summoned, was no longer visible, as the entire floor had been cleared and all the old, moldering papers pushed and stacked to the side. Emily’s little room at the back had been used as a toilet; Kip could smell that from here. But the stone walls, the smell of dust and age underlying it all, everything felt familiar and yet distant.
Lowell came up behind him. “Are you going to go in?”
Kip shook his head. “I only wanted to see it. This is where—this is where they put us when Coppy and I started here. And Emily, too.” He pointed. “She stayed in the back, we slept in the main room.”
Lowell sniffed, but didn’t say anything else. Kip leaned against the door. “I wanted to be a sorcerer so badly. Coppy did, too, but—he wanted to go back to the Isle and help people. I just wanted it for its own sake, at the beginning. I was obsessed with creating a Great Feat.”
A hand rested on the shoulder that wasn’t occupied by a raven. “It seems to me that you have done that,” Lowell said. “Not in the traditional way, but…this Calatian territory will endure, and I doubt anyone will be able to replicate what you’ve done.”
Kip nodded. “Malcolm said that too. ‘Sorcery is just imposing your will on the world,’ he said, ‘and what have you done if not that?’” He sighed. “I wish Coppy could have seen it.”
“I didn’t know Coppy.” Lowell’s hand squeezed Kip’s shoulder briefly and then released it. “But I wager he’d be proud of you.”
It bothered Kip that Coppy was distant enough now that his memory didn’t evoke throat-tightening emotion; it was an ache rather than a wound. But the thought of Coppy leaning back and smiling over these last few months of Kip’s life and where they’d led brought a smile to Kip’s muzzle as well. “He’d hate that I was naming a school for him,” he said.
“I understand a little more why you are, now,” Lowell replied. “I wish I’d had the chance to meet him.”
“He’d have liked you,” Kip said, and turned around. “He liked everybody.”
They walked back up the stairs in silence and crossed the Great Hall to the stairs going up. “We had classes here.” Kip gestured as they walked. “And private lessons up where we’re going, in the masters’ offices. It was—well, magical. Learning sorcery meant so much.”
“It gave you a key to unlock your chains,” Lowell said quietly as they climbed the stairs. “Even if you didn’t know it at the time. And now you’re unlocking someone else’s.”
“If the book is back here now.”
Fortunately, it was, the thick tome sitting on Odden’s desk. Lowell stopped at the door to stand guard while Kip hurried to the book and opened it. It took him only a moment to find the page he wanted, and with his finger on it, Kip summoned and bound Nikolon.
“I have wanted to ask you something,” he said. “When the Road was destroyed, you were unbound. But you continued to carry out my instructions.” Nikolon watched him, unblinking. “Why?”
“Because you asked me to.”
“But you were no longer bound.” Nikolon’s expression did not waver. “Were you?”
“I do not believe so.”
“So you completed my instructions because you wished to?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Well. I wanted to thank you. Come over here to look at this book.” Kip pointed down to the page with the entry that read: “NIKOLON: First-order demon. Physical magic. Good for beginners.”
The vixen walked over and stared down at the book. “I see it, master.”
Kip called magic and told the fire to very precisely burn the ink out of the book, and maybe a very little bit of the paper. Nikolon watched as her name vanished from the book. “There,” Kip said. “Nobody can put it back now. If I find it elsewhere, I’ll do the same again. And I promise I will summon you no longer.”
The vixen kept staring down at the paper. Kip couldn’t read her emotion. “Unless you want to be summoned, uh, I mean, you always seemed like you wouldn’t like it…”
“Your summonses have not been particularly onerous,” Nikolon said. “If you are in need, I would not object. But if you are not, then I also enjoy peace.”
“Thank you. If I am in great need—well, you know, there are lots of other names.” Looking at the book, thinking that each one of those names represented another demon like Nikolon, that statement made Kip uneasy.
Nikolon didn’t take her eyes from the book. “Why do you do this?”
“Because you served me well. And you carried out my orders when unbound, and you didn’t curse me when you had the chance.”
“Thank you, Master Penfold,” the vixen said.
As he spoke the dismissal spell, Nikolon stood straight, her tail swishing as though it were a normal Calatian tail. “Curses take many forms,” she said in a soft voice, and then she was gone.
Acknowledgments
I’ve never written a full war book before. This was a learning experience that could not have happened without contributions from a number of people.
This year, I launched a Patreon to support my writing (https://www.patreon.com/timsusman), and serialized this book through it (if you want to get to the fourth book more quickly, that will also be serialized on my Patreon, and more stories when these are done). Patrons as of this writing include: Furlia, wolfeye, tav fox, Shader, Pinemarten Avatar, and John Hawley. Thanks to them for their support!
Camielle Adams and PJ Wolf read an early version of this manuscript and gave me helpful feedback.
My fellow Unreliable Narrators Ryan Campbell, David Cowan, and Watts Martin all provided valuable feedback that helped shape this book (a comment from that group after reading The Tower and the Fox is largely responsible for the existence of this book). Some of the Happy Little Comets writing group, specifically Alisa Alering, James Brady, M. Milks, Dayna Smith, Brooke Wonders, and Becky Wright, either contributed to the brainstorming and plotting or provided critique or both (you have them to
thank for the survival of Master Albright into this volume). Malcolm Cross proved an essential resource for 19th century warfare and life in general and pushed me to improve my prose.
Laura Garabedian worked around a strenuous and busy schedule to deliver her usual fantastic artwork both on the cover and the interiors. Mark and Grant from Argyll have been fantastic publishers, and I’ll always be indebted to them for believing in this series.
And Mark, Jack, and Kobalt continue to be the best family a writer could ask for. Their constant love and support make these books possible.
About the Author
Tim Susman started a novel in college and didn’t finish one until almost twenty years later. In that time, he earned a degree in Zoology, worked with Jane Goodall, co-founded Sofawolf Press, and moved to California. He has attended Clarion in 2011 (arooo Narwolves!) and published short stories in Apex, Lightspeed, and ROAR, among others. He has also published many more novels and short stories under the name Kyell Gold and has won several awards for his fiction under both names. You can find out more about his stories at timsusman.wordpress.com and www. kyellgold.com, and follow him on Twitter at @WriterFox.
About the Artist
My childhood was spent moving, changing locations and school environments. My constant companions became a dragon’s horde of fantasy novels and my animals. This connection to creatures through the lens of fantasy has always been a touchstone for my work.
Through the years, I’ve experimented with many different media, wandering many paths. Now I’ve settled into the twin focuses of watercolor and oils. I find the dichotomy of their approach refreshing, and each time my hands move from one to the other I approach my work with new ideas and a cleaner view of where I should go.
Art is a way for my to communicate my love of the natural world and the fantasy I see within it. I think that the creation of a narrative around wildlife and fantastical animals can lead people to see the world and the many lives encompassed within it with more compassion and joy, returning the wonder of childlike curiosity to their lives.
I enjoy employing abstract backgrounds with minutely detailed subjects. The duality of the abstract work with small areas of focus lets the viewer fill in parts of strange color fields with their own story. My inspiration from nature and the narratives I like to weave around the strange beasts in my paintings lets me tell soundless stories to those who wish to explore them. In my paintings, bears covered in moss and trailing mushrooms emerge from the mist, gryphons dive from heights unknown with jewelry trailing them, and sphinxes ask questions unheard from behind blank masks. Where they come from, and what they want to say is left for those who watch them to determine. I hope through my work people can find a bit of mystery, of that wonder you have as a child making shapes in clouds, imagining what monster is in the closet, and making each walk in the woods a journey that may take them to Narnia, to Middle Earth, or a world of their own making
http://www.fairytaleswithtails.com
Also by Tim Susman
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Breaking The Ice: Stories from New Tibet (editor) - On a hostile ice planet, survival is guaranteed to nobody.
Shadows in Snow (editor) - More stories from the unforgiving ice world of New Tibet.
Common and Precious - A kidnapped heiress comes to sympathize with her desperate captors, while her father discovers the limits of his power in trying to rescue her.
* * *
The Calatians
Book 1: The Tower and the Fox - Kip and his friends encounter prejudice and mysteries in their first few months at Prince George’s College of Sorcery.
Book 2: The Demon and the Fox - The forces of revolution grow in Massachusetts as Kip and his friends rush to solve the mystery of the attack on the College of Sorcery.
Writing as Kyell Gold:
Love Match
Love Match (vol. 1, 2008-2010) — Rocky arrives in the States from Africa and navigates the treacherous worlds of professional tennis and high school.
Love Match (vol. 2, 2010-2012) — Rocky begins his professional career, at the cost of his family and romantic relationships.
Love Match (vol. 3, 2013-2015) — As his career trends upward, Rocky’s romantic life becomes less stable. (coming 2020)
* * *
Out of Position (Dev and Lee)
Out of Position – Dev the football player and Lee the gay activist discover how to navigate their relationship. (mature readers)
Isolation Play – The continuing story of Dev and Lee, as they contend with family and friends in their search for acceptance. (mature readers)
Divisions – As Dev’s team fights to make the playoffs, Lee fights to keep his sense of self. (mature readers)
Uncovered – The playoffs are here, and Dev needs his focus more than ever. So when Lee becomes too distracting, something has to give. (mature readers)
Over Time – Dev and Lee try to plan their future while dealing with crises all around them. (mature readers)
Ty Game — Dev’s teammate Ty navigates an arranged marriage while also falling in love. (mature readers)
Tales of the Firebirds — A collection of stories exploring the lives of some of the other characters from the Out of Position series. (mature readers)
* * *
Dangerous Spirits
Green Fairy – A gay high school senior struggling through his final year finds a strange old book that changes his dreams and his life.
Red Devil – A gay fox who fled his abusive family in Siberia seeks help from a ghost who demands he give up his gay lifestyle.
Black Angel – A young otter struggles to understand her sexuality as her friends prepare for post-high school life and dreams of women in other times plague her.
* * *
Argaea
Volle – The story of how Volle came to Tephos, a spy masquerading as a noble, and the first adventure he had there. (mature readers)
The Prisoner’s Release and Other Stories – The story of how Volle escaped from prison, and the story of what happened after, plus two other stories following characters from “Volle.” (mature readers)
Pendant of Fortune – Volle returns to Tephos to defend his honor, but soon finds himself fighting for much more. (mature readers)
Shadow of the Father – Volle’s son, Yilon, must travel to the far-off land he is meant to rule, but he will have to fight treachery to take the lordship. (mature readers)
Weasel Presents – Five short stories from the land of Argaea, including “Helfer’s Busy Day” and “Yilon’s Journal.” (mature readers)
* * *
Forester Universe
Waterways – The full story of Kory’s journey to understand himself and what it means to be gay. (mature readers)
Bridges – Hayward seems content to set up pairs of his friends. But what does he really need for himself? (mature readers)
Science Friction – Vaxy never took sex seriously, until he found out the professor he was sleeping with was married… (mature readers)
Winter Games – Sierra Snowpaw was an unsure high school student when someone he thought was a friend changed his life. Now he's fifteen years older and still looking for answers. (mature readers)
The Mysterious Affair of Giles – A servant in a British manor house tries to solve a murder.
Dude, Where’s My Fox? – Lonnie chases down a fox he hooked up with at a party as a way to get over his breakup. (mature readers)
Losing My Religion – On tour with his R.E.M. cover band, Jackson mentors the new guy in the band as his own life falls apart. (mature readers)
The Time He Desires — A Muslim immigrant struggles with the betrayal of his son and the dissolution of his marriage, as well as his own long-past trauma.
Camouflage — When Danilo is sent 500 years into the pa
st, he must choose between safety in an unfamiliar world and his own sense of what is right. (mature readers)
* * *
Other Books
The Silver Circle – Valerie thought the old hunter was crazy when he warned her about werewolves—until she met one.
In the Doghouse of Justice – Seven stories of superheroes and their not-so-super relationships. (mature readers)
Twelve Sides — Twelve short stories about side characters from the above books. (mature readers)