I expected to see a third shot finally take the witch down, but my mother hesitated and several of her spheres flew in and started to pelt the witch’s shields with darts and lower grade sonic attacks meant to knock someone out.
The witch waved her hand and barked a spell, and my mom started to fall, but her jetpack turned on and headed for the ship.
My father groaned, and then said, “I’m going to kill her.”
The witch looked woozy, but far from taken out as she retaliated and the spheres seemed to fall apart into pieces. My mother, who I hoped was just unconscious and not dead, was quickly approaching the ship and angled to come up on top.
I demanded, “Sia, report.”
Sia replied, “Your mother has been knocked out in an unknown fashion, but her vital signs are strong.”
I sighed in relief, the witch must have wanted her alive. Probably to torture her. I also decided this was a good time to test my new abilities, and I pictured the witch floating a few hundred kilometers straight up, in space, and willed it to happen.
Absolutely nothing happened, at all. I was also sure it wasn’t me, because I’d truly believed my mother was right. The only thing I could figure, was that somehow magical shielding was organized on the quantum level, just like my teleporting skills, which somehow canceled out whatever my powers did. Which, meant that I was back to trying to hack through shields and hoping I didn’t die in the meantime.
The witch still looked disoriented, which meant this was the best chance, if she recovered I was sure she’d be able to bolster her shields against any of my attacks. So I pulled out my sword, and threw it. My mind guided it down and increased the speed of it greatly until I reached my three-hundred-foot limit on telekinesis. I could hear the roar as my sword cut through the air. I watched as my sword flew the last seven hundred feet at incredible speed, slammed into the witch’s shield, and kept going, pinning her chest against the house at a steep angle.
Gerard said, “That was mildly frightening.”
I smiled, and kissed his cheek, “Thanks, but I was desperate.”
I watched for a minute as the remaining spheres went around knocking out the rest of the ogres, orcs, and goblins, no doubt inserting the mind control tech as well. The goblin mages managed to take out a few more before they were knocked out by the sonic stunners, and then they were darted when their magical shields failed.
Dad said, “Aren’t you going to dispel your mother to wake her up.”
I smiled, “I’m thinking about it. You know she’s going to be mad at me for killing the witch. Plus, her whole quantum attack to defeat magic didn’t work.”
I teleported my sword back to my hand, and used aqua-kinesis to clean off the blood, and then sheathed it. Mom was still shielded, but that wouldn’t stop magic, anymore than my powers could, and I prayed for dispel magic.
She groaned as she woke up, and sat up.
“What happened?”
I said, “You got greedy, and the witch could have killed you, but only put you to sleep.”
Gerard said helpfully, “Katrina killed her.”
She sighed in annoyance, “Fine.”
Gerard said, “She also said that quantum attack idea doesn’t work.”
I clarified, explaining my thoughts that magic must operate on that level as well, which is probably why it’s so inconsistent, and there are few rules, because magic can bend and modify reality itself.
She grunted, “If you’re right, then I may never be able to shield against it.”
I nodded, “Get your goblin mages to do it.”
They were weak, but a few extra seconds could make a huge difference, as my mom just found out, again. I was a little annoyed at her, she really could have died. Witches controlled and modified nature, which meant the witch could have just as easily stopped her heart, as put her to sleep. Especially one so powerful.
The spheres were done and were flying back up toward the ship.
“What now?”
My mother looked at me, “Well, we own the eastern half of Chilik, I’m going to look into a few things before we go after the mage. Would you mind coming back for that, just in case. In a day or two.”
I sighed, “Of course,” I replied as we sunk down into the ship.
She asked, “Did you try to penetrate the shield?”
I shook my head, “I just tried to teleport her.”
She frowned, “You might have more luck if you visualize breaking through the shield, it might be faster than the other way, even if it resists.”
I sighed, I wished I’d have thought of that, maybe it was my fault after all. I tried to teleport her, but didn’t think about it breaking through her shields to do so. I’d try it next time. Although, using my sword as a spear from the heavens was kind of fun.
“Alright, I’ll give it a try.”
She looked thoughtful, “Let’s try it now, I’ll have a goblin mage shield a rock or something.”
I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t object. We walked back to the robotics bay, and the bottom opened up again and we were lowered down to the ground by the anti-gravity beam. Gerard and I waited patiently while my mother found a goblin mage, and had him surround a small boulder with a shield.
I pictured not only the rock teleporting, but my own unstoppable energies easily bashing through the thin papery weak magic shield. I doubted it was really that way, but visualizing it that way would help. Then I willed it to happen.
The rock disappeared.
I managed to smile, right before Gerard caught me as I fell over.
My mother frowned, “What happened?”
I shook my head and could barely stand, but my strength was coming back already, “Obviously I can do it, but it also takes a lot of my power to pull it off. Much more than using a weapon and telekinesis would, although it was quite a bit faster. I’m afraid if the goblin’s shield drained me this much, that a really strong mage’s shield would make me pass out long before I broke through. Not to mention I fly often during a fight, which would be a bad time to lose consciousness.”
She nodded, “I get it, the power is too costly.”
“Let me try something else.”
I was familiar with the rock, so I summoned it back to the ground, “Can you have him shield it again?”
I waited for her to do that, I was also feeling a lot better, but continued to lean against Gerard anyway. When it was shielded again I tried something completely different. When teleporting I’d pretty much shredded the whole shield to do it, and teleport takes a toll all on its own.
This time I visualized a telekinetic stab, it would have a similar effect like a sword on an unshielded person, it also hardly cost any power for me relatively. I could use telekinesis to lift tons, a little stab was nothing. Then around that, I pictured a nimbus of that ambiguous power which wouldn’t destroy the whole magic shield, merely break through it in one small spot, protecting and allowing the telekinetic stab to slip through the shield.
So… a stab surrounded by that quantum energy. The quantum energy wouldn’t be doing anything else but poking a hole in the magical shield, it was my normal everyday telekinesis that would do the damage. I hoped.
Once I was sure I had it visualized perfectly, I realized I had another problem. Telekinetic energy was something I had to visualize moving, like an invisible hand that reached out and did something. Teleporting was more like making a wish, I just visualized it and willed it to be done. I wasn’t sure how to combine those two different triggers into one.
In the end, I discarded the nimbus part, and simply willed that small part of the shield to open as I stabbed forward with the telekinetic energy. In other words, I let my power figure it out.
Crack! The loud sound actually startled me.
A large piece of the small boulder chipped off where I was aiming, and the boulder itself was shoved back about two inches. I wouldn’t say I was fine, but it didn’t take nearly the same amount of effort, and I was recovering qu
ickly, though hungry as hell. To be fair, I’d cast dispel magic twice, and killed the witch with my sword and telekinesis, so I’d used a lot of power to begin with, before we even started this. Cleric magic still took a lot out of me, I decided I should practice more.
“I think that might work, but there’s still a danger if the mage’s shield is too strong. I can’t really limit the power use of it, I think my new power knows exactly how much it will take to do my bidding, and then tries to do it. If there isn’t enough, I’ll pass out.”
My telekinesis didn’t work that way, but the strange power that gave me teleportation, and the ability to put a tiny hole in a shield, did.
I shrugged and quipped, “Well, if that does happen, the mage would be so strong he’d have probably killed me anyway.”
Gerard frowned at me, “Not funny.”
Not really, no, but it was true. At least now I had a chance against a truly powerful mage, and I could still use the old method of pure force over time, if I could afford the few seconds that way would take. Worse come to worse, I could still do what I did to Jareth. Just pick up the mage, shield and all, with aero-kinesis, and toss them away fast and hard. I was far from safe in a battle, but at least I had a few options right now.
Mom asked, “What did you do exactly?”
“I just used the new power to open a small hole in the shield, while I used normal TK to stab through it. It cost a lot less energy to open a small hole, than it did to disrupt the whole shield to teleport.”
She shook her head, “I think you might be wrong, if it takes too much power your ability might simply not work, like when you tried to teleport the witch. Super abilities are keyed into the survival instinct.”
I shrugged, “Hopefully I’ll never find out. Because if my power just fails to work, I’d probably be dead anyway, unless I still had time to run or find another way.”
My mom nodded, “You worry too much, just kick their asses. I’ll contact you in a day or so?”
I knew what that meant, she was dying to get into her lab. I gave them both a hug, and teleported me and my husband home.
Then we ordered a whole lot of food…
Chapter Fourteen
It felt almost surreal as we left our suite and headed for the dining hall to have dinner. It’d been four days since our wedding night, almost a full day since we’d left my parents, and though our enthusiasm for each other, and our bed, hadn’t waned one little bit, we decided interaction with other humans was a good idea.
We still had three days left to find alone time, though I was almost sure my mother would be calling us by tomorrow. Gerard as always was in his armor, but with the new skintight super-suit underneath it. Outside of waiting for my mother’s call, I definitely considered myself off-duty and was wearing one of my newer light blue dresses.
The dining room was packed, as usual the king, his family, and the higher nobles had their own table on a slightly raised dais, and there were two other longer tables. One containing the guards and warriors who guarded the castle and king, and the other which we moved toward, which had about twelve paladins tonight, and a number of minor court and castle functionaries.
The general mood in the room was good according to my empathy, and as we got closer to the table I heard Cynthia’s voice call out.
“Hey you two! Coming up for air then?”
I blushed at the open but good humored laughter, even as we changed course and sat across from the only other female paladin I’d met. I’d helped the king two days ago, which was a secret, and my parents yesterday, but I supposed to everyone else it would look like we hadn’t left our suite in four days.
Gerard grunted, “She tired me out.”
He just snickered when I elbowed him. With good reason, his metal armor would always beat my elbow.
“So how was your ride home, and your visit in Linmoor?” I asked with a voice loaded with innuendo.
It was my turn to snicker as Cynthia glared at Gerard. I got revenge on them both at once, and I tried not to smile too smugly as I piled food on my plate. Although, I guess we had worn each other out, so it’d been true enough.
Jareth snickered as he moved closer, and he nodded at my chest, “What’s your excuse this time?”
I assumed he meant my dress, and wasn’t actually nodding at my breasts.
I sighed, “Honeymoon, vacation, not on duty, or the fact I can kill with my mind, take your pick.”
Jareth held up his hands peacefully, and gave a wary look toward Gerard, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Either way, I was still in a very good mood, and a very happy woman right now.
Cynthia belated answered my question, “Very good ride, on the way home I mean. So how much longer will you be holing up together?”
The gamer geeks would be shocked at just how earthy a bunch paladins really were.
“Three more days, but we’ve managed to get out a few times. Just not to here.”
Jareth snickered, and although he didn’t say anything I felt Gerard stiffen and glare at Jareth, which Jareth returned. I wasn’t surprised they weren’t friends, Gerard actually respected women.
Cynthia said, “Calm down boys.”
Jareth shrugged, “Anytime old man. Can you even lift your sword right now?”
I rolled my eyes in disgust, and from the suggestive tone of Jareth’s voice it wasn’t entirely clear what sword he was referring to, but Gerard’s voice came out deadly, “After dinner then,” and he took a swig of his ale.
It was so dumb and puerile, fighting at the drop of a hat like that. But I had to admit, there was a small very savage part of me deep down that wanted to see Gerard kick his ass. Apparently, I was going native, because it also excited me a little, even if I knew better my body didn’t seem to. Still, this was my life now, and apparently paladins were all in competition, so I’d need to get used to it.
More than that, I’d have to join the insanity to fit in, I’d already fought the one time anyway.
I ate and acted like I was bored with the whole thing, but my body was tingling, and I wondered if something was wrong with me. Maybe it wasn’t the fight at all, maybe it had just been his stern commanding tone of voice, and the strong emotions coming from him that was affecting me far more profoundly than I wanted to admit even to myself.
Or both. I was a hero, and fought for a good goddess to save others, but I was also a bit of a hedonistic savage when it came to my husband. Who knew?
Maybe I should visit Arella later tonight, it’d been four days and she wanted me to check in more often, and she’d tell me if I was going off the rails. I’d been on an emotional rollercoaster since I got here.
Grief, loss, desperation to save humanity, the desire to save the elves and the sadness I felt as I grew to know the people and tragedy of the elven royal family. It wasn’t pity I felt, but compassion. Then to find my grief was pointless for my parents at least, and I’d been ecstatic to get them back, and marrying Gerard was an overwhelming joy. It was all… a lot. I also wondered about Edea, and how she was doing, but I knew trying to contact her would be a mistake. Witches were generally loners and paranoid, I hoped that didn’t happen to Edea.
It was good that I had the seven days, not only to cement things with Gerard, but to process all I’d been through. I’d actually shared a lot of it with Gerard which had helped, but a lot of it I kept back as well. The personal grief and tragedy in the elven royal family for instance, was not a story I felt comfortable in passing along, it would feel like a betrayal.
Then there was my power. It was amazing how necessity and a backbone had sped things along. Who knows how many years it would have taken at home where I was both safe and conflicted about my future, to get to where I was abilities wise. That didn’t mean I didn’t have a long way to go, my new power was nebulous and hard to understand, whereas telekinesis, telepathy, and empathy were so easy to understand.
Considering everything, I was proud of how well I was holding things togethe
r.
The tension at the table rose as I and the others cleared their plates.
“So Cyn, do these two fight a lot, or is this new?”
Cynthia laughed, “All the time Kat, it’s not you.”
Good to know.
The courtyard buzzed with excitement and emotions of anticipation causing my heart to beat faster. I knew I wouldn’t be feeling like this if it was going to be a true fight for blood, rather than just a contest for bragging rights. Still, it was easy to get swept away in the emotions of the others, especially since there was a part of me that felt it too.
I was tempted to cut it off completely, even at a low ebb my empathy was taking in all the excitement, but I resisted. I’d just decided I needed to fully join in the world, it wouldn’t be easy but I couldn’t afford to stand at the fence anymore looking in, judging. I could still be myself, I could still hold on to my morality, but I had to be a part of this world, not just an observer that flies in to save the day when it suits me. I had made a few friends of course, but I’d been avoiding most of the other paladins at the castle.
There were several people placing bets as Gerard and Jareth entered the fight ring.
Cynthia asked, “So are you going to bet?”
I frowned, and then remembered what I’d just been thinking, and smirked, “What’s the limit?”
She grinned, “A silver.”
At first that didn’t seem like much, but considering they had fights all the time, and a silver was a good weekly wage for most people…
I summoned a silver into my hand from my money pouch back at the temple room. I could do things like that now that my mother had shown me I could. I was familiar enough with the coins inside of it. I showed it and raised an eyebrow.
Cynthia laughed, “Follow me.”
We started walking through the crowd, and I asked, “So how long have Gerard and Jareth disliked each other.”
Cynthia laughed, “I think you got the wrong idea. They’re actually good friends. For the most part. Gerard does hate the way Jareth treats women, and Jareth finds Gerard a bit holier than thou, but they grew up together and have fought alongside each other many times. More often than not, that’s just the excuse they use to cross swords for bragging rights.”
Goblin Queen: Katrina Baker Novel 03 Page 8