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

by Tj Dixon

  “Different, but mostly better. I come from a noble family of sorts, but not one of the better known or wealthier families. I have had offers from more than a few merchants to marry their son. Sherry has too. They want to improve their family status. We’ve even had a couple of merchants try to sell us a slave to marry.” Cherry tells me, but the waitress interrupts.

  “Are you ready to order?” She asks.

  “Yes, sorry.” Cherry says and picks up the menu. “We’ll both have the flame grilled flying ikiti for main course. I’ll have the creamy mushroom soup and Peter will have the crispy fried sea drakes to start with. Do you do desserts?”

  “Yes. I’ll bring the dessert menu once you finish the main course if you still have room.” The waitress tells Cherry.

  “I will do.” Cherry smiles.

  “Any other drinks?” The waitress asks. Cherry looks at me but I shake my head.

  “No thank you.” Cherry answers.

  “I’ll be back with your starters as soon as they’re ready.” The waitress tells us before leaving us alone.

  “She could have picked a better moment.” Cherry says shaking her head. Then she frowns. “Anyway, I always assumed whoever I dated would be trying to prove to me that they are the right person to marry. I never imagined I would date someone who I needed to convince. I think I prefer it this way, because I know you’re not after status or money, or trying to buy your freedom by marrying me. You treat me with respect, because of who you are and who I am, but there’s just one problem. I have no idea how to convince you to marry me. Any suggestions?”

  “Sorry.” I gulp. “I don’t entirely understand what marriage is.”

  “Why do you even need to decide who to marry so soon? Not that I’d mind if it turned out to be me, but it still feels wrong.”

  “It was Rin… Oh, I’m not meant to talk about other girls.”

  “It’s fine this time.” Cherry says sounding and looking serious as she stares into my eyes.

  “Rin told me to choose by the time I go on my date with her.” I tell Cherry.

  “That makes it seem like she’s convinced you’re going to choose her though. If you don’t choose Rin, why not take longer to decide who you marry? You just told me you don’t even really understand what marriage is.”

  “I’m not sure. Rin is important to me.” I admit.

  “But you haven’t chosen her yet, have you? These dates aren’t just for show. You are still seriously considering each of us. Still seriously considering me?” Cherry asks sounding nervous.

  “Of course! I wouldn’t…”

  “Your starters.” The waitress says, lowering the food down onto the table with flight magic. I am unsure whether to be annoyed or grateful for the interruption.

  “Thank you.” Cherry tells the waitress, not sounding very happy at all.

  “You’re welcome.” The waitress says sounding a bit confused and quickly leaves us alone again. The sea drakes are inside red shells and have tiny but vicious looking claws. I spear one of the sea drakes with my fork.

  “You don’t eat the shell.” Cherry quickly warns me.

  “Oh. You’d have thought they’d take it off then.” I say tearing part of the shell off with my knife. This could take a while.

  “This is the way you’re meant to serve these.” Cherry explains.

  “Oh.”

  “That woman has really bad timing.” Cherry sighs before taking a small spoonful of her soup. Then she smiles. Once her mouth is empty she tells me. “I may not know how to convince you, but I’ll be the best partner you could wish for if you choose me. That’s a promise.”

  Partner… That’s what Rin and I described ourselves as when I started at the academy. I suppose marriage does sound like it is choosing a partner. Would I be betraying Rin if I chose someone else now? When we said we were partners though, I think it was a bit different. We weren’t talking about marriage. That word never even came up.

  “Enough talk though. Let’s eat before this gets cold.” Cherry tells me and takes a big spoonful of her white creamy soup.

  “That would be a waste.” I admit and continue attacking this sea drake. It isn’t easy to eat and they are only about an inch long and half an inch wide so there isn’t much of the delicious pinkish white meat on each one. Despite the effort to get at it though, that meat convinces me I chose the right starter. I chew my last mouthful and look up to see Cherry has already finished.

  “Nice?” Cherry asks.

  “Very nice. How was your soup?”

  “Delicious. We might have to come back here. Just joking, but it was nice. Seriously though, when you choose, don’t forget what I said. I really would be the best partner I possibly could be for you.”

  “I’ll take those.” The waitress says lifting the dish and my plate with magic. “And for your next course.” She says, putting two large plates on the table. My knife and fork, perfectly clean again now, land on my plate. Cherry used a spoon for her starter so her knife and fork are of course still clean. “Enjoy.”

  “We will do.” Cherry says, staring ice shards at the waitress, who quickly leaves us alone again. “They do like to rush you here.”

  “Yes. We’d better not let this get cold though.”

  “I know.” Cherry nods and picks up her cutlery. “We’ll talk properly later.”

  The ikiti looks like a pair of small steaks with a green and blue sauce spread over it. There are potatoes and vegetables beside it. As Cherry takes a bite I notice something odd about the food. There’s a subtle but powerful enchantment on it. It feels a bit like the happy juice, but at the same time very different. I suppose it is just to make it taste nicer, but it seems very strong if that is all it’s intended to do.

  “Not eating?” Cherry asks.

  “Don’t worry, I’m eating.” I say and start to cut a piece off of the nearer of the two steaks. Just as I bring the meat to my mouth I notice the presence of someone standing beside us. The waitress again? What now? I turn and see one of the mages from the independent company standing there. She is a typical Contractian like most if not all of them.

  “Can we help you?” I ask curiously. I only just get my shield up in time as she blasts me with lightning. My shield holds easily, but then Cherry blasts me with lightning too.

  Chapter 9 (Peter)

  My shield holds against Cherry’s attack too, but she really isn’t holding back. I’m shocked beyond belief that she is attacking me too, but there is no time to think about it. My shield isn’t going to hold for long if I just sit here.

  I jump up into the air, sliding my legs and feet out from under the table. My shield holds long enough for me to get out and up high enough to start dodging. My mana is badly drained just from those few seconds though and there isn’t a great deal of room to dodge, because the ceiling is only about twelve feet above the ground.

  Ten lightning bolts strike up at me from all around the restaurant. I dodge them all, but then Cherry jumps up into the air. Or tries to, anyway… She catches her feet on the table and falls forwards onto our meals. I am distracted by her fall and almost forget to dodge the next attack. There are twenty lightning bolts this time though, so it is fortunate that I do dodge.

  My attackers all seem to be from the independent company, other than Cherry. I can’t believe Cherry would attack me like this of her own free will. Remembering the enchantment on the food I have no choice but to assume that Cherry and everyone here is being controlled by magic.

  Other than Cherry, who is still rolling around on the table, they all jump up into the air and form two walls of flying mages, trying to cut off any possible route of escape. My mana is low so brute force isn’t going to work and a port block is up so I can’t simply port away. I also don’t want to kill anyone. Especially if they are being controlled.

  I spin wildly to dodge their latest attack and then dart forwards at one of the mages. She hits me with lightning but my shield holds, just. I plant my lips on hers and dr
ain her of magic. She is too shocked to resist and falls unconscious to the floor as her mana falls dangerously low. I stop before she is in too much danger and narrowly avoid the next barrage of lightning bolts from all around me.

  I am past the wall of mages but I can’t just leave Cherry here even if she is trying to kill me. As I think that, I feel her presence behind me and I barely dodge her overpowered attack. She falls unconscious towards the floor as her mana is almost entirely drained by her rash attack.

  I catch Cherry before she hits the floor and then dodge the next lightning barrage. I fly towards the door we entered from but then notice the waitress standing on the other side of the door with an overpowered shield blocking the exit. The walls all have shielding similar to the shielding on the academy walls. It is too powerful to break through.

  “Peter?” Cherry asks sleepily. She seems to have recovered from the mana drain quicker than I expected. She also appears to be herself again.

  “Are you alright?” I ask, as I dodge twenty more lightning bolts.

  “I feel dizzy and tired.” Cherry yawns. Then her face goes red. “Why are you carrying me like this?”

  “We’re sort of being attacked.” I explain as I dodge the latest round of lightning bolts. “They’re probably being controlled like you were. I think the food was tainted with a mind control enchantment or something similar.”

  “Mind control? You don’t need to control my mind. I already love you.” Cherry says and I am so stunned that I actually forget to dodge the lightning this time. My shield flickers and fails but absorbs most of the attack. We end up a little singed and shocked, but we’re still alive. It seems to wake Cherry up though. I dodge the next attack. “Peter, I’m going to kiss you and take power. That way I can fly and dodge their attacks myself. You can beat them if you don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Ok.” I agree, though the idea of kissing Cherry makes me nervous, even if it is just to give her power. With no time to think about it Cherry’s lips are on mine and she takes a little power. Not much, but enough to fly for a while. She pulls her lips away from me and then leaps out of my hands into the air. She may be able to fly but she has no power to shield, so I need to end this quickly before she gets hit.

  I weave my way quickly towards the attacking mages who now form a single wall of mages, much closer together than when they were forming two walls. Their focus is on attacking me and Cherry but as I approach they turn all their attacks back on me, which suits me just fine. I easily evade their attacks and charge the mage in their centre. I have to shield her final bolt of lightning but I land my lips on her just like I did with the previous mage that I stole power from. It only takes a moment and her power drained she falls to the floor unconscious.

  The opponents blast me again but I dodge and they end up hitting each other with their attacks. A couple are too slow to shield and fall to the floor unconscious. I dart towards another mage and again drain her of power. They seem slow to react and unable to come up with a counter plan, such as forming a permanent shield to prevent me getting too close. Perhaps the enchantment is dulling their wits as well as controlling them. If so then I am confident I can win.

  I repeat the process and have soon taken power from most of the mages. There are two left when I hear a scream from behind me. I spin around and see the waitress standing just this side of the door now, has her right hand at Cherry’s throat. I dart desperately towards Cherry but all of a sudden Cherry blasts the waitress with what little power she still has. It is an efficient blast of lightning and focused from her back rather than her hands. It hits the waitress in the chest and knocks her out.

  Cherry falls to her knees and two bolts of lightning strike at her. Time seems to slow and I raise a shield to block them. I turn and blast both of the mages with my own lightning. They both fall towards the ground, unconscious and a bit scorched. I spin again and dart towards Cherry. I reach her just as the first mage hits the ground.

  “Are you ok?” I ask urgently and Cherry smiles.

  “Yes, thanks to you. You were so fast just then though. How did you do it?” Cherry asks me with a look of awe.

  “I don’t know. Things just seemed to slow down for a moment or two, but you were amazing to form lightning from your back like that.”

  “I came up with the idea whilst I was trying to earn my date. I’ll show you how if you want.” Cherry grins.

  “I can do it already.” I grin.

  “Typical.” Cherry laughs.

  “So what do we do now?” I ask.

  “Hopefully they’ll be back to their senses when they wake. Maybe we should just leave them here. We don’t want to have to spend our time dealing with this.” Cherry says.

  I look at the mages I drained and then at the waitress that Cherry knocked out. Did the waitress poison the food and if so why? Looking at her aura in more detail though I can tell she is being controlled though the control is weakening. In other words she was a victim too. Then I notice Cherry’s skirt no longer sparkles. In fact it is now a faded brown with a yellow stain at the front.

  “Your skirt is torn.” I point out and Cherry looks down, before looking at me in embarrassment.

  “It was juice. I used an old skirt that was ruined already, since it was going to be enchanted anyway. I wasn’t sure the enchantment was going to work. I didn’t want to ruin my nicer clothes.” Cherry explains with a blush.

  “Ok.” I nod and Cherry pulls a weird face.

  “I’m telling you the truth.” Cherry protests.

  “I know. I can tell, remember?”

  “Good. I can’t go out looking like this though. Everyone else will think I’ve wet myself even if you know I haven’t.” Cherry tells me rather desperately.

  “I can’t get your skirt as fancy as you had it, but I could probably put an enchantment back on so it just looks plain black. I can’t do it whilst you’re wearing it though.” I tell Cherry who goes bright red.

  “I can’t take it off here!” Cherry protests.

  “You could hide your presence and we could…” I start to say but Cherry shakes her head vigorously.

  “There are precautions against people hiding their presence in case people try to sneak out of here without paying or sneak into the places you have to pay to go in.” Cherry tells me.

  “What happens if you try to hide your presence?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure of the details but it’s meant to be bad.”

  “If you stand directly behind one of the gates to a table and keep it closed, I’m not going to see anything if you take your skirt off. You could stay like that until it is ready to put back on.” I tell Cherry who goes red again but remains silent as she considers it and perhaps tries to think of an alternative. She looks briefly at the mages I knocked out before shaking her head. Then she looks back at me.

  “Fine, but if you look, I swear I’ll kill you.” Cherry tells me with the reddest face I have ever seen. Her voice reminds me of Rin for a moment.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going to look.” I promise.

  “And you can’t let anyone else look either.”

  “Don’t worry. Nobody will see you.”

  “They’d better not.” Cherry warns me. Then she sighs. “If we were back at the academy I could enchant it again myself. There’s no way I could concentrate properly here though, especially without anything to wear whilst I’m doing it. So thank you for helping me out.”

  “I’m happy to be able to help.” I tell Cherry as she goes the other side of the gates to the nearest table. She makes sure they are firmly shut and then bends over, hidden by the gates. A few moments later she hands me her skirt and her face is even redder than before, which is saying something.

  I take her skirt and focus my earth and wind senses. I very carefully apply magic first to mend the tear and then to slowly change the colour to black. It takes a minute and I am very conscious of Cherry watching me as I fix her skirt. I hand it back to her once it is ready.
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  “Thanks.” Cherry says with an embarrassed smile. She waits for me to take a few steps back and then bends over to put her skirt back on. Then she opens the gates and comes out. “How do I look?”

  “You look good. The black actually goes really well with the shiny top.” I tell Cherry who smiles.

  “Thanks. Now we’d better get going before anyone wakes up.” Cherry says and takes my hand.

  “What about paying?” I ask, a bit worried.

  “Let’s just leave the tokens at our table and go. They were free anyway and you brought a lunch for us to eat.” Cherry tells me and I nod in agreement. I quickly put the tokens on the table and then take Cherry’s hand.

  “Let’s go.” I say and start to lead the way out, but I stop and frown at Cherry’s skirt. “That enchantment isn’t going to last long. My concentration wasn’t too good. Is there anywhere here that sells clothes?”

  “Yes, but the shops here aren’t cheap.” Cherry tells me.

  “Let’s see if there’s anything there I can afford that would be suitable.”

  “A new skirt as a souvenir. Now that would be nice.” Cherry smiles and then leads the way out. The fresh air outside is a relief. “That large green brick shop over there sells clothes, but it might be too expensive.”

  “Let’s take a look.”

  “Ok.” Cherry says and we head over there. I take a look at the price tags of the clothes in the window and gulp.

  “Half price and still ten gold for a shirt, and that’s the cheapest item in the window. Perhaps the clothes inside may be cheaper, but I think you’re right. This shop probably is too expensive. Is there anywhere else?”

  “There’s the gift shop. It’s that huge yellow brick building over there. They might sell clothes, though there isn’t likely to be much selection if they do. I think they mostly sell small souvenirs and sweets. I’m not sure what the prices will be like either.” Cherry warns me.

  “I don’t suppose it can be any more expensive than here. Let’s at least take a look.” I say and we head over to the gift shop.