Peter and the Heart of Alchemy (War of Contractia Book 5)

by Tj Dixon

  “There have been more than a few murders and disappearances in here. That’s why the Old Guard are here, but even they haven’t been able to catch the culprit.”

  “We’d better keep our guard up in here too then.” I tell Rin.

  “Just when we thought we could relax.” Rin sighs.

  “Are you looking for anything in particular, or just browsing?” The woman asks us.

  “Do you have the History of Ishki?” I ask. Rin’s aura seems to shake as if my question unsettled her.

  “Yes. It’s in this section.” The woman answers, pointing at a map. Then she points at a different part of the map. “You’re currently here.”

  “Thank you.” I smile.

  “Do you have any books on alchemy?” Rin asks. “I couldn’t find any last time I was here.”

  “Yes, but they’re kept on the fifth floor. That whole floor is mostly filled with books on alchemy, but it is restricted to nobility and qualified alchemists.”

  “Pity.” Rin sighs.

  “Do you have any books on the stars?” I ask.

  “Yes. There are a few books on this floor that reference them and there are some books that go into more detail on the sixth floor. That floor is restricted to a few people who have her majesty’s permission though, so you aren’t going to be able to see those books.”

  “If I’d known I’d have asked her for permission.” I sigh and the woman blinks.

  “Ask her majesty?” The woman asks in disbelief.

  “Yes, but I didn’t, so never mind. Rin, let’s check out the History of Ishki.”

  “That book can’t be removed from the library, so you can’t check it out of here.” The woman tells me with a frown.

  “I wasn’t planning on taking it with us. I just want to read it.” I assure her. “Are we allowed to fly and port in the library?”

  “You can fly, but you’d have a hard time porting.” The woman tells me.

  “Thanks.” I smile and then grabbing Rin’s hand I fly straight to the section that the woman pointed to on the map.

  “Is this where it is?” Rin asks as I set us down on the floor.

  “It’s the right section, but it could take a while to find one book in such a large section.”

  “We might not even find it.” Rin says and I get the impression from her aura that she rather hopes we don’t.

  “Why don’t you want to find it?” I ask, confused.

  “I want to find it.” Rin lies.

  “You know I can tell when you lie.” I remind Rin.

  “I’m not lying. Maybe your senses are muddled by the library’s magic.” Rin tells me and I suppose it is possible, but I’m not convinced. If Rin is so insistent though, it is probably pointless to push her on this.

  “Maybe.” I admit and start looking for the book. It takes a while to find, but nowhere near as long as I thought it might.

  “You found it?” Rin asks as I take the History of Ishki off the shelf. She seems disappointed and nervous.

  “Yes.” I answer and open the book. I start reading but after a few pages I get more and more frustrated. “Something feels wrong.”

  “Wrong?” Rin asks, clearly confused.

  “This just seems wrong.” I tell her and after a few more pages my frustration is so strong that I slam the book shut.

  “Are you alright?” Rin asks nervously.

  “Yes, but… I can’t read that book.” I tell Rin and put the book back. Rin seems confused with an odd mixture of relief and fear.

  “Can’t read it?”

  “It just feels wrong and makes me angry. I don’t know why, but… Let’s see if we can find something else interesting in here, unless you have any other suggestions.”

  “There’s always the wind races. I bet you’d enjoy that.” Rin tells me with a smile.

  “That does sound fun.” I admit.

  “Let’s get out of here then and port straight to the arena. What’s wrong?” Rin asks, seeing my troubled expression.

  “Nothing really. It just reminded me of another arena.” I reply forcing a small smile.

  “I’m sorry!” Rin gulps. “I didn’t mean to remind you of your time as a slave!”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve fought in the academy arena since, so I don’t really know why it reminded me of the arena in the old capital. Anyway, let’s head to the exit and port to the wind races like you suggested.”

  “Ok.” Rin nods and grabs my hand before leading the way out. It seems she remembers the way too. It doesn’t take long and once we are out Rin ports us straight there.

  “Impressive.” I admit and it is an understatement. The arena is dug into the sandstone of the ground and forms many circles of seats. The design isn’t that different to other arenas I have seen or fought in, but the scale is far greater than any I have seen before. There must be at least a couple of hundred circles of seats. The outer circles could probably fit a couple of thousand people on each circle.

  The arena stage could probably fit two small armies without any trouble. I can sense the shield between the front circle and the stage. It feels almost as powerful as the city shield. Not quite, but almost. There is also a short sandstone wall about a foot tall around the arena and I can sense an enchantment, but I can’t tell what it does. Clearly some sort of protection to prevent people entering without permission.

  “So how do we get in?” I ask Rin.

  “We queue at one of the gates. It seems busier than I expected.” Rin tells me, pointing at a long queue to our right.

  “That’s the queue to get in?” I ask a bit concerned.

  “Yes, but it shouldn’t take too long. They’re used to a lot more people than this.” Rin tells me with a reassuring smile.

  “Ok.” I answer and holding Rin’s wrist I port us to the end of the queue. “I hope you’re right.”

  “At least nobody is going to try to kill us here with so many people around.” Rin grins.

  “I hope you’re right about that too.” I laugh. I keep my senses open just in case though. “At least nobody tried to kill us in the library.”

  “Yeah… I can’t believe we finally get some time to have fun together and someone tries to kill us.” Rin sighs, shaking her head.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” I smile and put my right hand on Rin’s shoulder to reassure her. She blushes bright red and I quickly remove my hand. Now I’m blushing too.

  “How’s a boy going to protect a girl?” A rough female voice roars from behind me. I spin and see a big woman has joined the queue behind us. I noticed her presence before, but I now see that she is towering over us like Kai. Actually she is probably taller than Kai.

  “Peter is stronger than most girls.” Rin says sharply with a harsh glare at the woman.

  “Really?” The woman laughs disbelievingly. Except that I sense deception in her aura. In fact her aura seems vaguely familiar. Odd… I am sure I have never seen this woman before and whilst mostly a typical Contractian, her height and the width of her shoulders makes her quite distinctive. She also has almost as much muscle as a male dwarf.

  “Yes, really.” Rin glares.

  “Well, good luck boy.” She laughs and again I sense deception.

  “Don’t worry. I will protect Rin against anyone who seeks to harm her.” I tell the woman with a suspicious frown. The woman laughs as if carefree, but her aura is threatening.

  “Why can’t we ever just get to relax and have fun together?” Rin sighs. Did she not have fun at the celebrations? I suppose she did organise them so perhaps they weren’t very relaxing for her.

  “We will do. For now the wind races should be fun.” I assure Rin.

  “I hope so.” Rin smiles cautiously.

  “The queue is moving quite fast. It really shouldn’t take too long to get in.”

  “When they have bigger events in the arena they open the other gates too. The arena can seat 150,000 people and it is supposed to only take ten minutes to fill it completely. T
here can’t even be a hundred people in this queue so it shouldn’t take long at all.” Rin tells me more confident now.

  “When does the race start?” I ask.

  “They have them on all day. You pay to go in but you can stay all day if you want to.”

  “Well, let’s stay until dinner time unless there’s anything else you want to do.” I suggest.

  “No, that sounds fine to me.”

  Chapter 2 (Multiple)

  (Rin)

  I sit down next to Peter and realise the stone seats are much more comfortable than I had expected. I open my senses and realise there is a very complex enchantment on them. More complex than I would expect to simply make them comfortable, but after a moment I decipher the enchantment.

  There is a blend of fire and earth magic to keep the seat warm. Earth magic makes it soft. There is even an enchantment to improve the vision of the person sitting on the seat. To create an enchantment this complex on all of the seats in this arena is no small achievement. I have a lot of respect for the alchemist who enchanted these seats.

  “Peter, the race starts over there. The racers have to reach each of those small globes of light in order before passing through those gates over there. They can attack each other as long as they don’t use lethal spells. Obviously whoever passes through the gates first wins.” I explain.

  “It’s a bit different to the wind race in Utopia Camerona. Those glowing orbs I suppose are very similar, but those sandstone gates floating in the air look odd. More importantly though, fighting each other and the sheer scale of the course…” Peter grins.

  “You think you’re going to enjoy this?” I ask.

  “Definitely. As long as it isn’t too violent anyway.”

  “Don’t worry. They take precautions to ensure nobody is hurt too badly.” I reassure Peter.

  “They’ve started.” Peter points eagerly. I missed the start, but I got to see Peter’s happy reaction. I’m glad we came here. Peter’s carefree smile is more than enough reward for the silver we paid to get in. It is starting to feel like it really is a date. I blush but Peter is too focused on the race to notice.

  The ten racers are all wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts. It is a cold day but like Peter’s clothing their clothes are undoubtedly enchanted to keep them warm. Each racer is wearing a different colour so it is easy to tell them apart and the vision enhancement makes it easy to see them despite how far away we are.

  The racers are throwing the odd gust of wind at each other but mostly they are focused on their flight magic. Emma told me about a race which ended up with everyone too badly injured to continue but this doesn’t seem too violent. It is a welcome relief from the fights of the tournament and our bounty hunts.

  “She’s good.” Peter whispers as a mage in blue flame patterned clothes overtakes the lead racer. The previous lead racer in her orange flame patterned clothes is obviously very unhappy and throws a weak fireball at the new lead racer. It misses and Peter laughs happily and for some reason I feel disappointed. Before I can work out why I’m disappointed the lead racer has passed through the sandstone gates.

  “A victory for Salamander Divine Flame!” The commentator yells enthusiastically and the crowd roars with cheers. Peter blinks.

  “Divine Flame? Do you think she’s a relative of Aventurine?” Peter asks me.

  “She must be, but probably a distant relative. Aventurine never mentioned the name Salamander.”

  “You seem frustrated by something?” Peter frowns.

  “You’re too good at reading auras. It’s nothing important.” I sigh. I don’t want to have to talk about other girls in the club whilst on my semi date with Peter. Especially Aventurine. She’s a noble and one of the prettiest girls in the club. Worse I know that Peter thinks she’s pretty and she seems interested in him too.

  “Did you enjoy the race, Rin?”

  “Yes. It was quite impressive and not too violent.” I answer honestly.

  “It is a nice change from all the fighting.” Peter nods with a bright smile.

  “They’re about to start the next race.”

  “There must be lots of racer mages if they do this all day.” Peter laughs as he turns his attention to the new row of ten mages floating at the start of the race.

  “I think they alternate between three groups of ten. That’s what Emma told me.” I tell Peter as the race begins.

  “So thirty mages race all day?” Peter asks.

  “Yes.”

  “The same thirty mages every day?”

  “No. They have different racers every race day. They also have different events every day. Tomorrow is team races and the other days are… more violent.”

  “I’m glad we came today then.” Peter smiles.

  “Me too.” I smile back. “They are good wind mages, but I bet you could do this just as well as any of them.”

  “With practise.” Peter nods. “They all must have a lot of experience to do this so well though.”

  “I’m sure they do. I wish you could do something like this instead of having to fight.”

  “It wouldn’t take me to the stars.” Peter points out.

  “Oh well, with the war it’s not like it could happen anyway. I still wish there was a future without fighting though.”

  “Me too.” Peter says sadly. He wipes his right eye as if wiping away a tear. Noticing my stare he says quietly. “Just a bit of sand or something.”

  “And the winner is Zasper!” The commentator calls out. It seems we missed the end of that race. We just focus on watching the races for a while without really talking. Peter quickly cheers up again.

  I was just planning to have fun today with Peter on a semi date, but it is really starting to feel like a real date. Should I tell Peter how I feel? There is nobody around to interrupt or overhear us. Well, nobody I know anyway. There are plenty of strangers around but it isn’t that crowded in here so none are right on top of us. It takes a while but I finally pluck up the courage to speak.

  “Peter… Is there anyone who is, special to you? More so than anyone else…” I ask him quietly. For a moment I don’t think he heard my question, but then I notice he is frowning.

  “Do you mean that I love?” Peter asks quietly. I gulp, but then nod. He is staring right at me now and I am unable to even open my mouth. Peter seems even more nervous as he continues. “I’m not sure… What about you, Rin?”

  I sit there staring at Peter and wanting to tell him how I feel. I’m scared though. What if my feelings are just one way? What if I am the only one in love? I manage to open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I try again.

  “Not, sure.” Is the best I can manage. Damn it! It was the perfect opportunity. Why couldn’t I just tell him? Peter looks like he is about to say something.

  “And the winner is Salamander Divine Flame!” The commentator announces, wrecking the mood.

  “Never mind.” I sigh.

  (Peter)

  “Never mind?” I ask in bewilderment. Even while I was watching the races I kept my guard up, but right now I am completely distracted.

  “Yes, never mind!” Rin snaps.

  “Ok…” I shrug but I’m confused. Why was Rin asking me whether I am in love with anyone? Does she have feelings for me? We have been through a lot together since I started at the academy and she means a lot to me.

  Rin isn’t quite as cute as some of the other girls I know, but I probably trust her more than anyone else. Certainly I trust her at least more than almost anyone. Am I in love with Rin though? Probably not, but she holds an important place in my heart. I suspect that I could love her.

  I feel it almost too late, but just in time I put a wind shield around us. As the wind slice hits my wind shield there is an almighty roar, almost like thunder. I focus my senses in time to detect a port, but I’m too late to sense who ported or to try to follow the port.

  We have everyone’s attention now. Even the racers have stopped to look our way. Confident the atta
cker is gone I drop my wind shield and sigh. A moment later about ten mages in red robes run up to us from the outer circle.

  “Explain yourselves…” One of the red robed mages tells us rather threateningly.

  “We were attacked with a wind slice so I put up a wind shield.” I tell her with an annoyed frown.

  “You sensed a wind slice and reacted in time to put up a wind shield?” The mage asks me disbelievingly.

  “Yes.” I shrug.

  “I find it highly suspicious that a slave could…” The mage begins but Rin interrupts angrily.

  “Peter isn’t a slave, and he’s the best damned wind mage I know! Even her majesty is impressed by his abilities.” Rin tells them in a quiet but furious voice.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” The mage laughs, not seeming to realise just how angry Rin is. Not wanting matters to get out of hand or Rin to get into trouble I answer before Rin can say anything else.

  “Rin is just telling you the truth. It doesn’t matter though. You don’t need to believe us. We haven’t done anything wrong. The one who attacked us ported away from somewhere over there.”

  “That’s impossible, since there is a port block and a port barrier up.”

  “Then check for yourself.” I tell the mage and just about manage to suppress my frustration to keep a calm voice.

  “I’m not going to…” The mage starts to say but the mage to her left tugs on her sleeve. “What?”

  “There are traces of a port. They’re very slight and degrading quickly in the port block. They’re already too weak to trace back to their destination.”

  “Hmmm.” The mage frowns. “Fine, I guess I’ll have to believe you. Don’t cause any more trouble though. Everyone, back to your positions.”

  (Rin)

  We watched the races for a bit longer but we just couldn’t relax and enjoy it anymore. So we left much sooner than we had planned to. It was way too early to eat again so we had to think of something else to do. I had expected the wind races and library to take much longer, but it’s not as if I had no other plans. That’s why we’re up here now.

  “The shrine of air.” I tell Peter, pointing at the glowing orb of blue light hovering in front of us. We’re some way above the city now so when I look down it is almost like looking at a map.