by Pam Uphoff
They stepped off the dance floor as the music stopped.
"I swear, I'm taking them right back to Middle of Nowhere." Her mother sounded exasperated.
Inky followed her gaze and spotted Sandy and Franki, stepping out onto the terrace.
Her dad sighed. "Perhaps we should position ourselves out there, blockading any extreme privacy."
"Too late. At least they all know that spell. Now." Trump shrugged. "Come dance, handsome."
Asti's shoulders were shaking. "Your family is . . . astounding. Dare I ask what the Middle of Nowhere is?"
"Desolation Territory. Section nineteen. Daddy bought it, and hired Oldham Engineering to build houses for half of us. He thinks the mere lack of men will make us behave."
"Oldham Engineering . . . Quicksilver's magic construction company, right?"
"Right. She's finished doing all the corridors for the King, and started working for the mining companies out in the New Lands. She's . . . really impressive."
"Yeah. Funny though, how the men practically run away from her. I happen to like intelligent women." He dropped a kiss on her forehead.
"You don't deserve me." She laid her head against his shoulder. Looking away.
And spotted a woman wearing an illusion. She concentrated . . .
Jade.
Right here.
Grinning hungrily at the poor idiot she was dancing with. Prince Elrich's boring life was about to liven up. Or end.
"Asti. Go find my parents. Tell them Jade is here. I'm going to keep an eye on her." Heliotrope stepped into the crowd, keeping an eye on the other witch. I need to scare her enough to make her run for home. Follow her. Find Tunguska.
Jade danced the prince out to the terrace. The man was in his forties, and looked it. Unusual in a person with that much glow, but then the whole royal family glowed, even the ones who'd learned how to shield leaked a bit. Elrich didn't appear to know anything about shields, either to keep his thoughts in or other people's thoughts out.
Shields. Heliotrope raised her mental shields, and edged out the doors to watch Jade leading the prince down a sweep of steps to the garden. Not that he was unwilling. He was a man, and Jade a beautiful woman . . . leading him off into the twilight shadows. No one else on the terrace noticed them.
Heliotrope swallowed and strode after them. Shook her head at a woozy desire to look away, to not notice . . . she tightened her shields and wrapped an unnoticeable spell around herself. She trotted quickly across the terrace and down the path.
For a moment she thought she lost them, then a man's laughter from the left had her slipping that direction. Yes, there they were. Stopping for a kiss . . .
Jade broke off to frown, slit eyed over his shoulder.
Prince Elrich followed her gaze and shrugged. "No one there, and who cares?"
Heliotrope walked closer, pulling power. "You should care. This is Jade. She's a witch, wanted for her part in Prince Rebo's assassination."
Jade laughed. "Go away little girl, or I'll kill you too."
Elrich's eyes jerked back to her. "What?"
She chuckled. "Don't worry, Sweetie, you'll love every moment of it."
Heliotrope concentrated power into a fireball in her hand. "Prince Elrich, You should run away, right now."
"Now see here!" The prince swiveled his head between them, took a step away from Jade.
Heliotrope threw the fireball, a stun spell, sleep, a push . . .
Went flying, hit the ground hard and pushed herself back to her feet. A whiff of smoke from a tree marked the final destination of her fireball, and Jade must have bounced the other spells as well. She wasn't the least bit stunned, sleepy or pushed.
"Oh you pathetic little creature. Is that how you sisters fight among yourselves, no power to speak of? Little girl fights?" Her left hand barely waved.
Heliotrope yipped as heat blasted straight through her shield, barely deflected, burning the length of her skirt. Heliotrope rolled, both to put out any sparks and make herself a harder target. Pulled power and put it into her shields. Physical and mental . . . if she put up an energy shield she'd have no power or concentration to throw spells herself.
Something hit her shield, and echoed agony through her head. Pain spell, the reverse is . . . the pain faded and she tried to force herself to her feet. Got knocked flat and rolled.
Jade was laughing, power glowing in both hands. An intricate spell . . . death, disruption of synapses . . . And something else as well. Heliotrope felt like she was mired in a nightmare, slow, slow, too slow, she was going to die . . .
Jade threw the spells. Past Heliotrope. Turned and ran.
Something vaulted over her. Some one. Xen. Running after the Black Widow. More footsteps. Some following Jade, some surrounding Prince Elrich. One stopping and throwing himself down beside her.
"Helio? Helio?" Asti pulled her into his arms.
Her vision was blurry, she swiped a hand across her eyes. "I couldn't do anything. I'm weak. Useless!"
He helped her stand up, but she pushed him away. "Useless." She fumbled the ring off her finger. "I can't marry you. I'm weak. I'm worthless."
She staggered down the path Jade had taken. It led to a gate, let out onto an alley. She followed streets almost blindly. Found herself at the ruins of Ba'al's Temple. Took the corridor to the right.
Stumbled down the road to Ash, to that house.
Answer was waiting on the porch.
"Teach me how to fight."
Chapter Twelve
Fall Equinox 1397
Black Island, Southwest Cific Ocean
Teri kept half her attention on Jade, while she sang the songs of the shortening days. The older witch was still a bit shaken after her discovery in Karista.
At least she wasn't tracked back to the house! But, oh, how I would have loved to see her faced down by one of those silly Karista witches. Purple Heliotrope, of all the witches, hit her with so many spells at once that the final push spell had actually crumpled her shields. Not enough to hurt her, and of course she'd retaliated with a storm of spells herself . . . and then fled ignominiously when Xen showed up.
I actually wish she was powerful enough to have hurt Xen.
A whoop from below pulled her attention away.
The volcano was low enough and close enough that they'd climbed it for the Equinox ceremony. Teri and the other three Halfmoons were on a ledge just down from the summit, the three sort-of-teenagers were two ledges down, the empty Crescent Moon ledge between them.
And Wavelength was holding up her hands, sparks running up her fingers and coalescing into a tiny fireball above them.
Teri laughed, and laughed harder at Jade's furious glare.
"Step up, Wavelength! The Black Island Pyramid has it's first Crescent Moon!" Teri grinned, and turned herself to step up a few rough steps to the ledge of the Full Moon.
Oh, this is good. For boosting me up like this I'll even let the snotty little brat keep her name. And I can order my subordinate Jade to start her on proper magic lessons.
Chapter Thirteen
Early Fall 1397
Ash, Foothills Province
"Feel what I am about to do, and shift power to the correct shield."
Heliotrope reeled back to her feet and felt Answer preparing the next one. Lowered her mental shield enough to get a tiny taste of the spell . . . laugh? Hiccup? She raised her mental shield, draining the power from the energy and physical shields. The spell bounced, and she threw the power into the energy shield.
Wrong guess. The push spell knocked her flat.
"Don't guess. Know." Answer showed her teeth. "These are just simple spells. Next week we'll start studying complex spells and spell webs. Always nice to have one in reserve—and use it before you're too exhausted to power it. But most magicians will start with these simple basic spells in quick sequence."
Heliotrope suppressed a moan and started trying to sense the next one, even as she climbed to her feet. Another push, bu
t what was building up behind it? Ah, a shock spell. She grounded her physical spell pushing power into it, but this time the energy shield was ready, right behind it . . .
***
"The problem is, I don't see how we can make it work for Ash."
Heliotrope closed the door of the Inn behind her and spotted Q, head down in a book, talking to herself.
"What? I thought you could do anything?" She tried hard not to limp as she walked over to the table by the window.
"Oh, hi, Heliotrope. I didn't know you were in Ash. I'm trying to figure out how to get a telephone system working."
"Oh . . . " Heliotrope thought that over. "Yes. Dad's oldest movies show wires strung all over the world. Hard to imagine, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I figure we could skip the wires and optical cable stages . . . but cell phones are nearly as bad, huge towers every few miles. That leaves satellite relays as the only possible method."
"We could probably get a satellite up . . . if we could build or buy one . . . and the computer equipment to handle the antennae and relay the signal . . . plural, for every town that wanted comm service."
Q leaned back and slammed the book shut. Blinked. "Whoa. Nice shiner. What happened?"
Heliotrope sat down and stretched her sore back. "Push practice with Answer can get interesting. But I am getting better at getting the right shield up in time. The next time I find Jade . . ."
Q blinked. "Heliotrope . . . you can't tackle Jade alone . . . and you were lucky you found her out on her own. That was, what? Two weeks ago?"
Heliotrope glowered. "I know I wasn't raised with a sword in my hand, like you, and I grasped power at the usual age. But I will learn to fight."
"Yes. But when it's time to fight, fight smart and get at least two other witches to help so you can form a triad."
Heliotrope felt her jaw relax as she thought about that. "Obsidian and Indigo also lost children."
Q winced. "You are stronger than either of them, but less well trained. Oh, don't raise your eyebrows, Indigo spent a lot of the year we were gone, here, getting lessons. A few weeks is not enough time to catch up and practice enough that it becomes second nature."
"I'm learning. I can do this." Heliotrope scowled and changed the subject. I need to think. Fight smart. She reached out and tapped Q's book. "The first thing you need to do is put up some detectors in Karista. Use all the high buildings, then go around checking for reception."
She drummed her fingers. "I'm going to go talk to Obsidian."
Q sighed. "You're good with the tech. Please don't get yourself killed."
***
Heliotrope detoured home to grab a horse, and told the woeful Indigo to buck up and come with her.
Obsidian was hovering over four year old Mars, who looked irritated.
"I want to go play with Rufi!" A definite whine in the boy's voice.
Heliotrope winced. "You can't smother him. Let him go play while I talk to you."
Obsidian's fists knotted. She was living ten miles out of town, in her parent's house, which must feel horribly empty with four children missing.
"I'm not . . . I can't lose my last baby."
"They aren't dead. Let's talk about how to get them back. Jade was hunting for a man to kill two weeks ago. I was too weak. I need a triad, for the next time. You, me, Indigo."
Obsidian sat up straighter for a moment, then sagged. "You two are Halfmoons. I'll never give birth."
Heliotrope eyed her. "I heard it was a bad gene. "
"My witch gene. Instead of destroying Y bearing sperm, it's destroying whole embryos."
"Then you should get Gisele to remove your witch power gene, if that's what's messing everything up. Then put back in an unmutated version. Seduce someone and get pregnant."
"I want my children back, not substitutes!"
Heliotrope ignored that. "Give birth. Advance. Then we can co-operate and kill Jade and Teri."
"Any Halfmoon could do that."
"No other Halfmoon cares."
Obsidian's eyes narrowed . . . "Answer's angry . . . but the rest of them? They keep telling me to get over it, that they weren't my kids, anyway. You are right. They won't do anything."
Heliotrope watched her march out the door, Mars on her heels.
Indigo shivered. "I hope you are right. I never thought much of Obsidian, she was so placid, such an ideal mother . . . is she advanced enough to be a baby goddess?"
"She will be, soon enough. And the other archetype of the Mother is how dangerous it is to threaten her children."
Back in the village, Q was testing three repeaters. She had a volunteer running around with her comm, and a grid on her computer. "I can't track it yet, but I think this is going to work. I'm going to get a bunch more, then ask the King for permission to experiment all over Karista."
"Umm, I'll help. Whenever Answer isn't beating me black and blue. I could modify a mapping program . . . "
Obsidian strode through the door, spotted her and walked over. "Gisele removed the sexual selection bit. She said maybe that was what was causing the problem. So I'm going to go to Rip Crossing and seduce Orion."
"Err, I thought he preferred men?"
"Not when he gets an orgy going. He'll fuck anyone then. Want to come?"
Heliotrope shuddered. "No. Asti would not understand."
Obsidian rolled her eyes. "Your babies might not be witches, you know?"
Heliotrope shrugged. "We'll find out the old fashioned way."
"And it won't take me nine months, either. I'll layer two speed bubbles and be a Halfmoon in a few days, sooner, if I can stand being in there alone for long stretches. Poor Mars, I'm going to send him to Kipp for a few days."
"Err, I thought you and Kipp . . . "
"He . . . well, off and on, but more off. He's afraid of women. Damned Oners. So we're mostly just friends." She jumped up and trotted out the door.
Q blinked after her. "She looks better than she has in months. I hope it works."
"I hope I can learn enough to get our children back."
"Umm, look Helio, this is a spell net I keep handy. Two each energy, physical and mental spells, with a transformation spell." She held up a glittering web. "I suspect you know each individual spell."
Heliotrope nodded . . . "Except for the transformation."
"Take a copy and study it. It uses less energy than Nil's nets, so you can deploy it quicker, with less energy. But it still needs a lot of energy."
Helio created a mental box and folded the spell net up into it. "I hope we can get the babies back before I'm here long enough to understand that."
Q nodded. Her eyes dropped to her experiment. "This'll take as long, or longer to get right.
Heliotrope eyed Q's set up. "Can you leave these three with me?"
"No problem. I'll talk to the King, then go steal a bunch of antennas and repeaters from the Oners."
Heliotrope raised her brows. "They let you go back there?"
"How could they possibly stop me?"
Chapter Fourteen
Early Fall 1397
Black Island, Southwest Cific Ocean
Teri snickered as she walked away from the classroom. Jade had been sending Betelgeuse into the fast house as often as possible, but she still hadn't grasped power.
Wavelength was sopping up the magic training as fast as she could get Jade to teach her. And spending time in the fast house.
The maids had given birth to a nice set of red, yellow, and brown hair girls. Arrow and Dagger joined them frequently, and were growing fast. The girl she'd stolen for Hell had joined them a few times but Teri had finally admitted that that was just too many for the incredible stupid women to deal with. So "Hate" was back in her bubble on the porch rail with all the boys.
Boys . . . Teri hated to admit it, but she was feeling a bit sexually frustrated as well. Of course she wasn't as selective as Jade. Any man would do, and she didn't kill them. Well, not on purpose.
Maybe it was tim
e for a trip to Karista . . . how long had it been? Four or five months? No doubt the beauty shop was dead and buried . . . I'll go take a look. Pick up a man somewhere. Maybe even bring one back for Jade to play with.
She walked casually back inside the main house and changed into city clothes . . . I've been spoiled, running around in a short shift all summer. She wrapped a spell of unnoticeable around herself and walked out to the corridor.
Jade wasn't looking her direction, so she stepped through and into her mansion. Empty and dusty. A faint smell of corruption, death and rotting meat. The chef and the groom ought to still be here. And two . . . no, I left my old servants at the little house. I ought to check on their progress. Of course with no fast house they haven't given birth yet.
She walked down to the basement kitchen, and stopped in the doorway to eye the nasty mostly desiccated corpse. "I guess telling the Chef to not leave the kitchen was not a good idea." She grabbed a bubble, scooped up the mess and cast it adrift. "I suppose I'm going to have to give the maids more independence or I'll find my little witch baby project has to be complete restarted."
Then the stable to check on the groom . . . "Good thing we never got around to getting horses." Another bubble, another problem dealt with. She walked out to the main street and flagged down a taxi for the cross town trip to the shop.
The Beautiful Woman was still in business. And doing well, apparently. How . . . odd!
Chapter Fifteen
Fall 1397
Karista, Kingdom of the West