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

by Tj Dixon

  “Yes. Just a bit stunned. There goes my chance to impress you.”

  “I didn’t realise how dangerous that bird was. I’m actually impressed that you volunteered to go in and ride it.” Peter tells me.

  “Thanks. I would have been fine, but something disrupted my magic.” I tell Peter.

  “There’s no need to make excuses.” The attendant tells me. “You did really well to get that far, and you reacted so quickly when the lizard bird turned on you.”

  “That wasn’t my magic. It was yours, right, Peter?”

  “Yes.” Peter nods.

  “Well, thank you for reacting so quickly. Oh, and I wasn’t making excuses.”

  “I know. I sensed something a moment before the bird attacked you.”

  “Do you know what it was?” I ask.

  “I’m sorry.” Peter says shaking his head.

  “Let’s move on to the next thing. Perhaps the spinner?” I suggest.

  “Good idea.” Peter agrees, looking up at the people spinning around in a circle up in the sky. They can’t be the same people that we saw on it when we first entered the park since that was at least forty minutes ago. I suppose some people may have stayed on it that long or come back, but most people only do it once. Ten minutes of exhilaration is generally enough.

  “We’d better hurry. It’d be a pain if we missed the next spin and had to wait a whole ten minutes for our turn.” I tell Peter and grab his hand. He picks us up with flight magic before I can and races us over to the queue.

  We pass the bug fighting arena on the way. The squealing of giant bugs fighting each other to death sounds awful. Perhaps we’ll give that one a miss. I suppose this is similar to killing creatures on our bounty hunts, but the bounty hunts are about protecting people. This is just for entertainment. At least it isn’t people fighting in there though. Some of these parks used to have men and boys fight to the death, but this one always used bugs instead.

  Peter lands us at the end of the queue. Above us are rings of people spinning happily in the air. In front of us there must be close to a hundred people and there must be at least as many in the air. We should get on the next spin.

  The attendant quickly approaches us. She is wearing black mage robes and has a smile on her face, but it looks forced. She looks at Peter for a moment before turning to me.

  “Two spins, one each?” She asks me.

  “Yes.” I nod and turn to Peter.

  “How much?” Peter asks.

  “Twenty silver.” The attendant says with a frown. That’s the other reason most people only do it once.

  “Ok.” Peter says and counts twenty silver, which he hands to the attendant.

  “There’s a minute left.” The attendant tells me, pointedly ignoring Peter now that she has his money.

  “Ok.” I nod with an annoyed frown. Another young couple, perhaps our age, land just behind us. The attendant quickly moves on to get their money. Soon the spinner gently lowers everyone above us down to the ground.

  As soon as everyone is standing on the ground we are all slowly raised up into the air with powerful flight magic. We are moved into rings and to my surprise Peter is pulled away from me. I turn my head and see he is directly behind me. I wanted to do this hand in hand. The young girl to my left is holding hands with her mother so we would certainly have been close enough to hold hands. This is so annoying.

  Magic starts to slowly move us forwards in the ring. After a moment it speeds up and we are soon spinning wildly, although we stay in exactly the same formation. In fact it isn’t wild at all since an experienced mage is in perfect control of us. It feels wild though, as the wind blows through my short blonde hair. If my hair was long it would be in my eyes, so I am glad it is short. This just feels good.

  If only Peter were beside me, but at least he can see me. I can’t even turn my head to look back at him anymore because the wind is so strong. We must be spinning round the ring in about two seconds or less. It is a large ring, so it must be about… I don’t know.

  I’m too dizzy to think clearly. I may as well just enjoy myself. Wait, surely Peter is looking at me right now. I need to make sure I look dignified despite the wind and dizziness. All of a sudden though, I feel the flight magic get interrupted. I am too dizzy to use flight magic of my own. I shoot forwards out of control.

  Chapter 8 (Peter)

  We’re gently lifted up into the air. I am slowly and carefully flown behind Cherry. Her aura shows her annoyance. I am a little annoyed too, because we can’t talk very easily like this. It doesn’t seem likely we’d be able to talk anyway though, given the sort of attraction this is. Also I get to watch Cherry the whole time and I don’t have the embarrassment of being watched back. At least not by Cherry. So I’m really not that annoyed.

  Magic starts to slowly move us forwards in the ring. After a moment it speeds up and we are soon spinning really quickly, though it is controlled precisely. I love the way Cherry looks as the wind blows through her hair and from her aura she is really enjoying this. She’s clearly feeling a bit embarrassed but mostly just enjoying it. Like when we were in the wind tunnel I study the spell as we spin, to take my mind off of the way too cute sight of Cherry.

  The spell is very intricate and very efficient. The flight magic is focused on each of us and then linked together with very fine threads of wind magic. It uses much less than you’d need to fill the whole area with wind magic and the fixed shape ensures we are all kept exactly the same distance apart.

  All of a sudden I sense lots of the threads of wind magic torn apart. The spell broken and fading we are all carried forwards by our momentum. I only have a moment to react but in that moment I create makeshift threads, or more accurately, planks of wind magic to hold the shape together again. The spell is still fading but I jolt us to a halt just before it can fade completely. The stop is much sharper than I would have liked, but it cancels our momentum.

  We fall straight down, but the mages below create a simple wind cushion to break our fall. We end up on the ground in a bit of a mess and with the odd bruise, but without any serious injuries. I sit up and breathe a sigh of relief before frowning. I’m not sure who did it, but I am sure that this wasn’t an accident.

  That was a very precise and powerful attack to cut so many threads of wind magic, without hitting a single person. Given how fast we were moving it would take a very skilled mage to do that intentionally. At the speed we were moving it would take a miracle to achieve that by chance, so I don’t believe for a moment it was sheer luck.

  “Peter, are you alright?!” Cherry asks me urgently. She’s sitting just a few inches away and is now facing me.

  “Yes. I’m fine. What about you?”

  “Yes. I’m alright, but what happened?” Cherry asks in a bit of a daze. Nobody seems to be getting up. I suppose everyone must be too shocked.

  “Someone attacked the spell. I held it together for the moment it took to stop us spinning. Then the mages down here created a wind cushion to prevent anyone dying or being seriously injured from the fall.” I explain. Cherry blinks a couple of times as I’m talking and then bursts into nervous laughter when I finish.

  “How did you use magic?” Cherry asks once she stops laughing.

  “How?” I ask confused.

  “I was way too dizzy to even use simple flight magic. Weren’t you affected at all?”

  “I guess I may have been slightly dizzy. I didn’t really notice.” I admit. Cherry shakes her head and laughs for a moment. Then she leans forward, closing the inches, and puts her arms around me. I blush, just as embarrassed now as I was when we went through the wind tunnel. She feels soft and warm as her body presses against me. So is her left cheek as it brushes against mine.

  “If I wasn’t sure before, I would be now. I love you Peter. If you’re going to marry someone, please let it be me.” Cherry says and my blush must be twice as bright now. Then I feel something wet fall onto my cheek. It takes a moment to realise what it is. A
tear.

  “Cherry, what’s wrong?!” I ask urgently. Was she hurt after all?

  “Nothing. I just need to calm down. I must be in shock. I’m hungry too.” She sniffs. Her aura is clearly unsettled so it seems reasonable.

  “How about we port somewhere and eat lunch?” I suggest. It is still early for lunch, but we can eat it whenever we want to.

  “Are you two alright? If you have any injuries I can provide a healing potion.” A mage asks from behind me. To not notice someone right behind me, I was even more distracted than I realised. In fact there are now mages all around us talking to everyone who was on the spinner.

  “Yes. We’re fine.” Cherry answers.

  “I would like to extend Heaven’s Park’s deepest apologies for what happened. This is the first time we have ever had an accident on the spinner or any of our other magical experiences. We’ll be looking into it urgently to find out what went wrong and ensure it never happens again. We have water mages over there. They can help clean you and your clothes without any need to get undressed. We will also of course refund the fee you paid and provide you each with a free lunch token in way of apology.” The mage tells us apologetically, as she hands Cherry some silver coins and a couple of blue metal coins. Cherry hands them to me and I put them in my coin pouch.

  “Thanks.” Cherry tells the mage, still sounding like she’s in shock.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” The mage asks, clearly concerned.

  “Yes, just a bit shocked by what happened.” Cherry answers honestly.

  “Is there anything else I can do to assist?” The mage asks.

  “No, we’ll be fine.” Cherry answers sounding a bit more like herself now. Cherry pulls away from me and then stands, so I get up too.

  “It wasn’t an accident. A very skilled mage attacked the threads holding the magic together.” I tell the mage, who frowns.

  “If that had happened everyone would have been thrown forwards. Why would that cause everyone to come to a stop?” The mage asks disbelievingly.

  “I restored them with a temporary fix and brought us to a stop before the spell could fade completely. It was of course already broken.”

  “Weren’t you on the spinner?”

  “Yes.”

  “So how did you use magic?”

  “The same way as normal.” I shrug.

  “But you must have been too dizzy.”

  “I wasn’t. It’s up to you whether or not to believe me, but that’s what happened.” I tell her, a bit annoyed by her attitude.

  “I’ll inform the inquisitor. She will be investigating so it is up to her to decide whether or not to believe you.”

  “Fine.” I shrug and then take Cherry’s hand. “Where do you want to eat?”

  “Before that let’s get ourselves clean.” Cherry tells me. I nod and cleanse us both with water magic. The mage, who had been about to port, looks at me in astonishment.

  “So how about near the river?” I suggest to Cherry.

  “Let’s eat near the entrance. There are some nice restaurants there and we have the food tokens. It would be warmer to eat inside and I’m feeling a bit cold. We can eat the picnic later.” Cherry tells me.

  “Ok.” I nod before porting us to the area near the entrance. “Any restaurant in particular?”

  “If they take the lunch tokens there, how about that one?” Cherry suggests, pointing at a windowless blue stone building about a hundred feet from us. It is smaller than most of the buildings. The entrance is just a small wooden door painted blue. It isn’t any bigger than the entrance to my room. The other buildings have large entrances that remind me more of the academy entrance.

  “Sure. What sort of food do they do there?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure, but it’s meant to have a very nice atmosphere in there. I’m sure the food must be nice though.” Cherry tells me.

  “Ok. Let’s try it.” I answer, not really understanding what Cherry means by a nice atmosphere. Does the air feel and smell nice in there? Today is her reward though, so if that’s where she wants to eat then that’s where we’ll eat.

  “Thanks.” Cherry says and still holding hands she leads the way towards it. As we reach it Cherry knocks on the door. The door opens on its own and a young woman standing in front of us in a blue silk shirt and skirt smiles as she sees us. There are green patterns along the sleeves of her shirt that gently radiate mana. She is standing in a small blue painted wooden room with a second door behind her.

  “Welcome to Blue Love Inn.” She says in a very friendly voice.

  “Do you take these?” I ask, showing her the blue coins we were given.

  “Of course. Please follow me.” She says with an even bigger smile and leads us through the inner door and into the restaurant.

  The restaurant is painted blue with short blue wooden walls to either side of us. There are gates through the walls to reach each table, which is fairly private. Walking past each gate we can see the table and people sitting there but sitting down you wouldn’t be able to. We can’t hear anything even though some are clearly talking. I can sense an enchantment so I assume it must prevent sound carrying past the walls.

  All the people here seem to be the same mages we saw at the entrance to the park wearing those matching blue mage robes with a green leaf pattern embroidered on the front of the robes. Presumably they’re an independent company.

  “It’s busier here than I expected, given the time.” Cherry tells me. The woman leading us down the corridor between the walls nods.

  “It is usually very quiet still, but the Leaf Wind Company decided to eat here because the restaurant matches their uniforms. Getting enough tables for a whole company would be impossible later so they came here before the lunch rush. Here’s your table. I’ll be back shortly to take your order. The lunch tokens can cover up to four gold each, including drinks. There’s complimentary unlimited happy juice on the table, but do you want to order any other drinks now?” The waitress asks but we both shake our heads.

  We sit down on the long comfy blue leather benches. You could fit up to six people in here so there is plenty of room. The table is of course made of the same blue painted wood that is all around us. There are white flowers on the table and the menu is written on blue silk sheets in front of us. The prices are in gold ranging from one to five gold, so I’m glad we have the lunch tokens!

  “What’s fillet of silver fish?” I ask, looking at the most expensive item on the menu. At five gold the lunch token wouldn’t cover it but I’m still curious.

  “Silver fish are a very rare breed of fish that are only found on one very inaccessible and dangerous world. I forget the name of the world. They’re meant to be very tasty, but I’ve never even seen it on a menu before, let alone tried it.” Cherry tells me.

  “So what are you thinking of having?” I ask.

  “Spiced kari is supposed to be delicious.” Cherry tells me.

  “Kari… We came across those when we were travelling to the Kuroneko mountains. They bit one of the elves when she stood on it. She was carrying me at the time and dropped me.” I tell Cherry, remembering the incident with a smile.

  “Why was she carrying you?” Cherry asks, sounding rather unhappy.

  “I was too slow without magic.” I explain.

  “Hmm.” Cherry says before sighing and shaking her head. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I think I might have something else though. Dragon curry. They have that at the academy, but it should be much nicer here.”

  “Hermes had that at the academy once to celebrate our promotion.”

  “Or perhaps drake steak. It’s not often you see that on the menu. Apart from having to kill a drake the meat is really poisonous unless cooked right.”

  “That reminds me of the lizard meat we had at Rin’s after visiting Drake Mountain. The blood was very poisonous, but when drained and cooked it was tasty and safe.” I tell Cherry who looks at me oddly.

  “Is there anything on the menu
that doesn’t remind you of anything?” Cherry asks, sounding a little angry. Her aura certainly appears angry. I think for a moment.

  “I’m not meant to be talking about other girls whilst we’re on the date, am I?”

  “That’s right.” Cherry nods firmly.

  “Sorry. I forgot. It won’t happen again.” I apologise.

  “I think I’ll have the silver fish.” Cherry tells me and I gulp. “Just kidding. I’ll have flame grilled flying ikiti. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I say, recalling my first bounty hunt that went wrong.

  “Well, what are you having?” Cherry asks a little uncomfortably.

  “I’ll have the flame grilled flying ikiti too.” I tell Cherry with a smile. I can get my own back on them. Admittedly I did kill the one that injured me, but revenge is a dish best served on a plate with sharp cutlery. The blue metal knife and fork look very sharp.

  “Ok. I’ll stick to that then.” Cherry says sounding confused, but a bit more comfortable now. “We could have a starter too, since the ikiti are only two gold each. I think I’ll have the creamy mushroom soup.”

  “I’ll stay clear of mushrooms. I had too many back in Nirvali. What are crispy fried sea drakes? You get a dozen of them so they can’t be anything like an actual drake.”

  “They’re a bit like queen prawns, except they can breathe fire. They’re meant to taste nicer too but I’ve never had them. I’ve never had most of the things on this menu.” Cherry tells me.

  “I’ve never even heard of most of the things on this menu. They only breathe fire when they’re alive, right?”

  “Of course.” Cherry laughs.

  “I’ll go with that then.” I nod.

  “Would you like some happy juice now?” Cherry asks picking up the blue glass bottle and taking off the blue metal lid.

  “Sure.” I nod and Cherry pours some into my blue glass and then some into her own. I reach for my glass.

  “This is nothing like I imagined my first date would be.” Cherry tells me and I gulp with my hand on my glass. I’m glad I hadn’t picked it up.

  “Better or worse?” I ask nervously.