Ferryl Shayde

by Vance Huxley

  Kelis relaxed again. “You and I are going to have a long talk about keeping secrets like running trees and statues that fight.” Her smile belied her chiding tone and she lifted her arm. “This should be dry.” She stroked it gently. “Oh! It really works!” Abel jumped because he felt a tingle in his own tattoo, the plant. What was that? “Like a trickle down my arm.” She stroked it again, gently. “I can see how that can be soothing, once I’m used to it. Now how do I magic a leaf to dance?”

  “Slow up. The idea is to make the leaf hover. It’s dancing because I haven’t got it right. Until you can manage control, anything else is dangerous.” Abel really needed to talk to Ferryl about this, if she’d just come back. “The magic is a feeling like you just described, down your arm but into the glyph. They are called glyphs, the real ones, not symbols.” Abel drew the version for leaf hovering, the two coils, in the dust on the cave floor. “Draw this on your palm with one finger, firm strokes with real intent. The intent matters.”

  “Oh, I intend floating a leaf, believe me.” Kelis looked at the dust drawing and copied the marks onto her palm with her finger. “I can’t see it.”

  “Memorise it, picture it there.” Abel nearly giggled, remembering how impatient Ferryl had been as he struggled through this.

  Kelis held out her hand and sure enough, three seconds later, sighed. “Nothing. Are you sure this is magic. Not some windup? No, because I felt that drawing which is impossible. Unless magic works. So magic works.” She giggled. “I should be screaming and running about. Maybe it’s because we’ve been pretending to do magic for a year and this is just the proper version?”

  “Time, patience, intent, and you must be calm.”

  “Yes sensei.” Kelis giggled then tried to be serious. “Have you found one? An old oriental geezer with a little white beard?”

  Staying serious wasn’t easy with Kelis in this mood. “No oriental anyone. Stop talking, calm down and concentrate. It took me days, but I hadn’t learned the flower stroking trick.”

  “So how did you find out about magic?”

  “Tree chasing me? Stone statue fighting? They were a really big hint. I saw the glyphs on the stone, and the statue and tree had one.” Abel glanced at the stone slab. “Do not copy anything on that slab, please. If you break the holding spell it will destroy the house, and probably the village.” Abel locked eyes. “Please? I really do mean that.”

  Unfortunately Kelis stopped giggling and started thinking. “How did you learn this stuff?”

  “Later, grasshopper. What comes first?” Abel kept his voice light, and Kelis laughed.

  “One leaf, floating. I hear and obey.” Kelis straightened her face, stroked her arm three times, then stopped and stared at her hand. “Nope. Days?”

  “Yup.”

  “At least it’s peaceful here, and that mark makes me feel really calm and somehow safe. I can sit here and forget…” Kelis stopped, tensing a little and moving as if to cover the bruises. “Too late now.”

  “We know about your Dad drinking, me and Rob.” Abel sighed. “We’d both find you a spot on a settee.”

  Kelis relaxed. “Dad would go crazy if I did that. Though I might if I could be sure it gave him a bloody heart attack. Ah, sorry.” A faint blush stained Kelis’s cheeks. “Anyway, you say he can’t get in this garden so it’s safer than your settee. Better yet?” She smiled, stoking her mark and Abel felt the little tingle. “I might camp here. If it gets worse, I can bring Mum.” Kelis stopped, stiffening. “Can you sort of forget that, all of what I just said? I won’t bring anyone, I swear.”

  Abel opened his mouth to answer but leaves and dust swirled and he felt Ferryl pour back into her tattoo, or rather she stormed back in. “Why is she here? Why did you bring her? You fool! She’ll tell everyone! Men always want to impress women! Typical!”

  “I’ll leave you in peace. Ignore the gross things you see on the way home.” Abel began to leave and thought of something else. “Don’t tell Rob until I can explain properly, please?”

  “Not a chance. We’ll tell him once I’ve sorted out this leaf thing. I want to see him try and explain it away as a trick the first time.” Kelis giggled. “I stood there for ages trying to work it out before I gave up.” She went back to staring at the leaf and Abel left as quickly as possible so he could answer Ferryl, still ranting in his head.

  Abel didn’t fancy walking through the village arguing with himself so he went around to the far side of the house. “I didn’t bring her in.”

  “You didn’t?” At least Ferryl stopped ranting for a moment, startled. “She followed you?”

  “No, she found the pebble with the glyph in the road, and was already curious about all the damage. I must have dropped it when the Bound Shade attacked. By then sheer terror probably outweighed your barrier, and I never even realised I’d lost the glyph. The barrier hasn’t been a problem since then.” Abel found a stone bench and sat, explaining the whole thing. Apart from giving him an ear-bashing for dropping the stone, Ferryl agreed he hadn’t done much wrong. Abel finished with, “So I’ve got to teach her to protect her from the nastier creatures. At least she’s got a ward to protect her from Seraph.”

  “Good. You had me as a warning, but a real ward she drew herself will be better.” Abel kept his mouth shut. He could still feel the occasional tingle from Kelis. “She must learn about me, but not immediately. Eventually, as her magic develops, she will realise I am different and not just a tattoo. It is best to tell her first.”

  “Put some clothes on before you turn round and introduce yourself.”

  Ferryl giggled. “You are worse than the Puritans, though I could tell you a few things about them.”

  “Not until I’m older. Probably about thirty years older.” A sudden thought struck Abel. “At least we can get her house protected. It’s a good job you remembered the protection glyph.”

  “Only because it is a part of the garden protection glyph, the barrier. Kelis can help with the school and village. Perhaps she could be the witch and you the sorcerer? That would be better than usual because the two types usually argue.” Abel relaxed because Ferryl seemed to have accepted Kelis, but Ferryl continued, “There have been more attempts to breach the barrier.”

  “Who?”

  “Not a who, an it. Humans are deterred and simply don’t test the barrier. Magical creatures are barred, painfully if they push hard. There is no woodland at the sides, so hidden intruders can come closer and that is where someone is testing.”

  “You just said not a human.”

  “The testing is creatures. The intent behind them, the driving force might be human because some were pushed to where I’m sure the barrier killed them.”

  “I said no killing!”

  “If something pushes past pain, past damage, then perhaps it is a good job they die. Do you want something that determined inside here? Ferryl paused to let Abel think and no, he didn’t. “To push that far, the creatures are either terrified or bound.”

  “What can you do?”

  “Use you to strengthen the spell, now you can use your own intent. Better yet, some of the trees were too young to use when I built it, but are strong enough now and completely untapped. If you draw the glyphs without me controlling your hand, so the binding is stronger, we can tie those trees into the rest of the garden. I will instruct you.” Abel would have argued about binding a tree that couldn’t object but it made sense because this also protected the tree. He spent the rest of the afternoon crouching in the rain, drawing lines in mud and glyphs on roots. Ferryl insisted he buried the roots again to hide the glyphs, because Abel didn’t have the control to burn into the live-wood under the bark. Kelis must have stayed in the cave because even when he went home Abel could feel the occasional tingle from his flower.

  * * *

  Abel felt a lot of tingling in his flower over the rest of the weekend so Kelis really did want to make her leaf float. Now he’d thought about it, Abel should have insisted both
Kelis and Rob were told right at the beginning. Having three in on the secret would make protecting the village and school easier, because one could draw while another covered what she did. Abel thought Kelis should be the one drawing because her glyphs would be strong, firm clear lines. According to Ferryl that would work better. He debated with himself about telling Ferryl he could feel Kelis’s mark, but she had enough worries.

  On Sunday evening, Abel had to concentrate on his homework or he’d be in trouble at school. Maths bored Ferryl so she went off for a float around the garden. He looked up as Ferryl’s wind form shimmered in through the barely open window and settled back into her tattoo. “Something is testing our barrier, the one in the garden. Probably the same something that tested Castle House.”

  “Is this barrier strong enough?” Abel closed the page, because he wouldn’t be able to concentrate until he knew.

  “Not strong enough to stop whatever came, and the testing is deliberate. It came part-way through the barrier in the bushes, which means it could have come all the way if it wished. Instead it withdrew, which probably means whatever sent it will come next.”

  “We have to strengthen the bushes. Can’t we make a sort of trip-wire, or maybe a trap, a magical snare? Those two little hoplins were snared.” The little creatures looked like a miniature armadillo that hopped like a kangaroo, and had a mildly poisonous bite. Not terribly dangerous to people or even Mrs. Tabitha, but two of them could take a kitten. Ferryl considered them useful for dealing with rats and mice, but neither were a serious problem in Brinsford so she killed them.

  “Hoplins are weak. We could set a trap, but to kill or wound rather than catch. We will find it easier to defeat a wounded opponent, and if it runs we might be able to capture it. Even if it escapes I might track it or work out what came from the traces.” Ferryl stayed silent for a while but Abel didn’t interrupt her as she paced around his arm, deep in thought. When she ‘spoke’ again, Ferryl sounded hesitant. “If we strengthen barriers using your ward that will tell you if they are breached, and maybe some idea of direction. Though I am not sure how that works, if perhaps you could be attacked through the link, because I have never had a personal ward.” She paced again, wrestling with some problem. “No, we cannot risk it until you are stronger, until you can defend using your own intent instead of mine.”

  “But we can set a trap, a strong one?” If something or someone might sneak up on his mum, Abel didn’t mind how lethal Ferryl wanted to make it. “A trap won’t catch Mrs. Tabitha, will it?”

  “She is too smart, but in any case our surprise will only catch an intruder using direct magical power. I will use a version of the barrier around Castle House, but concentrated because there is less magic to use. This will kill rather than catch, or wound if whoever comes is stronger than expected.” Her harsh laugh had no humour at all. “There are things and people we do not want to capture unless they are already wounded.”

  “Tonight, or can we leave it until tomorrow night because I’d prefer to finish my homework. You can help me?” At least that made Ferryl laugh, though she reassured Abel that whoever had been testing would wait to assess whatever its servant had found out. She left to keep an eye on the back fence, and purr with Mrs. Tabitha because cats made more sense than mathematics.

  * * *

  Over the next week Abel added glyphs as instructed to the net among the bushes behind his house. He daren’t try to snare a creature elsewhere because he wouldn’t be able to go and deal with it. Ferryl agreed to recruit more local guardians, and exchanged purrs with more village cats. Abel couldn’t do much more during the week because it grew dark at seven. He couldn’t go wandering around the neighbouring fields, setting up more deterrence in the hedges, without someone wondering why.

  Kelis kept giving him little looks, her eyes alight with mischief, and he could feel his flower tingle regularly. They could only meet in the week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings now, because of homework, and at Rob’s on the Thursday Kelis introduced protection marks to the game. By the time Abel came into the room the damage had been done. The sign outside her drawing of the Tavern held a picture of his flower in a shield, to protect the building from unwelcome magical creatures. Rob liked it, and Abel simply didn’t dare say too much about the design because while she explained, Kelis put her hand on her arm and grinned. Abel still didn’t want Ferryl seeing his mark on Kelis, especially after her reluctance to put it on traps.

  Kelis must be practicing in her room at home, because Abel could feel her while he did his homework or practiced control. He daren’t say he knew, and now began to worry about keeping a secret from his tattoo. His own control improved to where the gravel hovered even if it rippled, and the leaf stayed above his hand but still fluttered and danced a little. Twice on the way back from Rob’s, Ferryl allowed him to form a glyph to burn down flying stingers. He missed one on the first try, but hit it after she reminded him to watch the target. As long as he kept his eye on the creature, the glyph acted like a homing missile.

  Abel worried that the mystery tester would come in the day and catch his mum, but Ferryl scoffed at that. Magical creatures, especially those up to no good, much preferred darkness. Although few humans could see them, some caught hints of movement so darkness really did help. Though Ferryl felt more and more certain there would be a serious visit because the testing dropped off. Whoever it was, they believed they had enough information. Ferryl directed Abel to add a few more lines, and redraw some of the lines Ferryl had put in using Abel’s hand.

  At school the week passed quickly, between trying to get to grips with the new term’s curriculum and warding as many places as possible. Unfortunately, the cleaners who came in after the students went home kept rubbing them off. Abel moved the locations, finding places they didn’t clean, or didn’t scrub hard enough to shift the wax crayon. Ferryl insisted the marks had to be physical, not like the invisible ones on his hand. At least Seraph and her entourage seemed to be just as occupied with the new lessons, barely harassing the other pupils.

  Abel shouldn’t have felt relieved as he took his coat from his locker Friday evening, because that more or less invited trouble. Seraph’s voice rang out behind him. “Abel Bernard Conroy, since you won’t take a hint and stay away you could at least have the decency to stay out of my way. You will move aside in future, and hide until I have passed. Ow!”

  Abel turned to see Seraph and several of her acolytes. The corridor had plenty of room for them to pass, but she had obviously decided to have some fun on the way home. Now she stared at her hand, still pointing at him, and flexed the fingers as if they were stiff. Another voice asked, “What happened?” Abel rolled his eyes and groaned, because Henry had attached himself to the group and had now pushed to the front. Seraph usually allowed him to join them when she wanted someone chastised.

  “I have no idea. Something stung my hand and I suspect this disgusting little boy is involved in some way. Move him aside, Henry.”

  Henry took the step so he could reach out and catch hold of Abel’s arm. “Poor squeaky, your locker will be left wide open. Anything might happen in there.” Henry pushed.

  Abel’s mind whirled. He could swing, and with Ferryl’s help probably knock Henry down but end up with a broken hand again. “I told you to leave me alone.” That wouldn’t work, so Abel braced himself for a punch.

  “No. Now what are you going to do?” Henry lowered his voice. “Make a hole in a wall? Tyson asked at the club, and no martial arts can do that so it was a trick.”

  “You could put your hand on his and use the flame glyph, with or without control. Unless you want me to do it? I do not care if I burn his arm off but you keep telling me too much strength might bring unwanted attention.”

  Abel stifled a giggle, and put his hand on the one holding his other arm. “Let go Henry. Last chance.”

  “Or what? I knew it was a bluff.” Henry pushed Abel away from the locker and two of the others moved towards it, smirking. �
��Aah!” As Abel pictured the glyph and pushed a little magic into it Henry snatched his hand away and shook it. “What was that?”

  “Less than a brick, Henry.” Abel moved back towards his locker and the two who’d started that way backed off, confused. Abel raised his voice. “As I keep saying, just leave me alone.”

  “We haven’t time for this. I will be dealing with you next week, little boy.” Seraph had lowered her hand, and looked a little less certain than usual. The rest were undecided, looking from Seraph to Henry, now inspecting the blister on the back of his hand with a scowl on his face. “Since you seem unable to deal with this nuisance, Henry, I see no point in you coming to the party this weekend. Father will have hired competent security.” Seraph swept off with the rest, leaving Henry and Abel.

  “There’s something weird about you, squeak, and I’m gonna find out what. Then I’m gonna hammer you.” Abel didn’t bother to answer as Henry stalked off, still shaking and inspecting his hand.

  “Whew. What did you do, use a Vulcan Death grip or a good manners spell?” Rob, only five lockers away, had obviously heard the whole thing even if he hadn’t seen what Abel did.

  “It’s a Vulcan nerve pinch, idiot, but Abel probably used a club because nothing else works on Henry.” Kelis’s eyes danced with excitement and laughter, because she’d guessed what had happened or at least that magic must be involved. “Come on Abel, get your coat and let’s go or we’ll miss the bus.”

  All the way home Kelis had the question in her eyes, and as they walked up the main street from the bus stop she tugged Abel’s sleeve to let Rob get ahead. “You used magic! What did you do?”

  “Something very little, that needs control.”

  “Show me?”

  “Not until you have control, grasshopper.” Kelis pouted, but Rob turned back before she could try again.