by Rose Francis
Biting my lip, I took another sip of tea before glancing at the scanserv again, a grin ticking my cheek at the small vibration that made it jump slightly against the table, announcing a new alert. Turning it over, I rose from my chair and immediately snatched my coat off of its hook.
Snatching up my trunk hastily, I made my way down to the center to help the sigilist set up.
I realized I'd been beaten to the chase when my eyes set on Adair, who'd arrived there well before me, and setting my trunk down beside his, I gave the presentation table a quick glance for whatever might still be needed before setting in to help them get everything prepared in time.
What followed that was the usual exhaustive salesy intro after the other magicians milled in and took their seats. The Advisory Council had decided to take the opportunity to pitch us on further work opportunities in the deadlands, and though it raised some suspicion in me, Adair's affect was at the forefront of my mind.
The talks preceding the presentation tended to be fluff, and everyone knew that, but this was no time to be messaging back and forth on one's scanserv. And with such obvious ire, no less. When I'd first met Adair, he'd seemed detached and wore a mostly deadpan expression, but his growing irritation as he sent the messages back and forth with his mystery participant made it clear he'd lost control of that for whatever conflict that was brewing in his personal life.
I tried to rip my attention from him, not wanting to feel as vulnerable as he made me feel, not wanting to consider that whomever he was messaging might be a lover or deeply significant romantic connection he was having trouble shaking.
But it was difficult to say the least. I was mesmerized wherever he was concerned apparently, and though his back and forth exchange of possibly vitriolic messages was none of my business, whatsoever, I was paying veiled attention, nonetheless.
When the presentation finally rolled around, I stole a glance at him again and saw that he'd returned his attention to the gathering. His expression was difficult to read, and he seemed to be focused on the presentation like everyone else in the room.
It was an exciting moment, even if I was still suffering the effects of a somewhat sleepless night. If the council approved it, the majority of the magicians would be able to return at least half of their day to the projects they'd been engaged in before the threat emerged.
We'd be set with the task of continual optimizations to the solutions we already possessed, but it would be far less grueling, the quotas and expectations much less demanding.
My hands joined in a wave of applause at the first repelling burst of magic crackling the air against the projected energy from the offensive simulator. The machine worked on the vibrational frequency fed into it, projected from our own calculations of what we thought the full-grown noxic might work with today.
Sensing it as real, the potion attacked the vibration defensively, and it's crackling gold plume vapor did so with tenacity, seeming to have enough werewithal to tangle with the hostile vibration forever if need be.
We knew better, of course. The sigils would need to be recharged, but they were feeding a strength into the potion that would certainly allow us to rest and operate on a daily schedule without worry. In battle, the potion could last us up to a week, depending on the duration of our conflicts.
When our names were called with that of the young sigilist, I made my way to the main podium with a professional nod, exchanging a quick eye-lock with Adair, who I could now see was in a well-concealed fit of rage over something.
Turning my attention from him, I shook hands with the few council members who'd been able to make it out for the presentation, and mentions of fittings and appropriate devices were discussed briefly before we were disbanded with the rest of the magicians and told to take a celebratory day off.
I noted a flash message take Adair's screen before stepping out of the room fully, and the anger that rose in reaction wafted off from him with a palpable charge. Respecting his privacy, I kept my attention trained ahead of me, all the way out of the room.
It wasn't until I was far down the hall that I heard a growl that made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
6
That growl hadn't come from an intruder. It came from within the hallowed magical halls of our colleagues. From someone I'd been fascinated with, and that was undeniable. No matter how many times I tried to shake it from my mind, it was him I saw when my hands instinctively reached for my scanserv device. He didn't need to be fully changed for me to know what it meant to hear a growl of that nature coming from a man.
Our eyes locked, but I looked away before a message could pass between them. It wasn't my business to report was it? And even if it was... Old boy was a half-were, half-nymph, and that left little room for any humanity, whatsoever.
It was what he'd been guarding, even the reason he'd kept me at bay, perhaps.
And now I was faced with keeping a secret that could result in his disgrace and ejection from the magical community. He was brilliant, but he wasn't the only one with a mind in these halls, and a brain can be replaced with another.
The Advisory Council held appearances at far higher value. It just wouldn't do to have a half-were leading our magicians in the formulation of magical defenses. Wouldn't do to have the name of a half-were attached to potentially monumental achievements.
Our kind had a history with shifters, and our fear had largely won out where there might have otherwise been room for reconciliations.
It was why weres were relegated to the more dangerous parts of the land and formed relationships with those currently powerful amongst humans, why they formed allowances with the necromancers we'd long cast out.
Oh gods, this wasn't good.
Adair clenched his jaw, and apparently not knowing what else to do, turned and made his way down the opposite hall, towards a direction he'd have to travel triple the length of to get to his side of the tower.
I followed suit, turning on my heel, but I took my usual route, and when I made it past the brief congratulatory short talk emerged from colleagues and a few traders along the way, I nearly collapsed in my reading chair, drained, overwhelmed, and sure I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink that night.
There was a were in our midst, and more importantly, I had a pony in the race.
I didn't want him to be ejected from the tower. I'd barely cracked his shell. Ripping open a bag of spiced seeds, I popped a handful into my mouth, reaching down to flick the clasp on my trunk after a moment, I slid out an old edition of the standard bestiary. The emergence of more creatures each year made it necessary to update our editions, and there were extensive notes on the progress of the were communities.
They'd mostly chosen their preferred animal forms and come together under governing systems that, like any, were power based – only the power therein wasn't wholly dependent on intellect or magical skill. Weres, wolves in particular were concerned with the most physically and spiritually powerful among them, and the supergenes that produced those sorts didn't come around in every litter.
You couldn't always see it right away in a wolf pup, but there were challenges and “games” that eventually brought the truth out, and royalty was usually instant when an Alpha was discovered.
Halflings, on the other hand, weren't given the royal treatment, even when they showed signs or definite proofs of being alphas. They were easily pushed to the very edges of any given wolf society, if not cast-out altogether. To be a were and a magician, in these times... It was madness.
Not that Adair had any control in the matter. He was a product of his parents' errant thinking, but what a price he'd be made to pay if he were discovered. Biting my lip, I flipped to the known potions and stones used to disguise the scent of were blood, along with other protections.
I'd been raised amongst magicians all of my life, and never once had I felt a need to outright thwart them or do something I knew in my gut they might have my head for. But there I was, looking for loopholes that he
might use to stay under the radar.
Frowning at the weak potion list, I considered that the Advisory Council had left some of the more powerful formulations of out of the official editions. Surely what was listed here couldn't serve a were older than six at the natural potency level of the herbs, even coupled with power sigils charged for an entire moon phase.
I considered that Adair had to have some remedies of his own to have evaded detection this long, and that was when I remembered his earlier irritations and the initial moment that had caused him to withdraw within himself.
And that's when I remembered the Favors. ...That was tonight. Would he attend? He'd seemed displeased to have received an invitation.
~
I'd always avoided the Favors, as a general rule after the... nymph problem years back, but tonight, I felt like I had to be there. I wasn't Adair's keeper, but I felt strangely responsible for him now that I knew his secret. Surely, he had some of his own protections to have made it this long undetected, but... there was something else going on beyond that.
The way his fingers had hammered into the scanserv in response to gods-knew-who had made that much clear, and I had a sneaking suspicion it was all tied to the invitation we both received.
He generally held himself together well from what I could see, but how long would that last? He'd lost enough control that he'd allowed himself to growl in a public space.
In a hall of magicians.
Surely, he knew the risks of such foolishness.
I know the wolfish kinds tend to be daring and throw caution to the wind, but some actions are just rankly ill-thought out. Why land oneself in potential danger without necessity, with no protections from the acid-burnt world in which we struggle to survive?
I flashed the trader's sensor with my scanserv and selected a long white Lily. It was customary to bring one to the Favors, a tradition to be observed. Passing over the wrapped flower, the trader gave me a knowing look I wished I had an adequate comeback for.
Opting to grin at him instead, I returned to my sojourn, drawing to the end of the hall and onto the ascending ramp. You didn't “descend” to enter Favors. You made your way up to the higher-rooms of the tower.
I passed the usual characters, elder magicians with their noses raised like they didn't have a moment to spare, students carrying piled books that made up the week's study aids, the “creative sorts” passing in a group of three, swinging sealed old buckets of paint – the sorts who'd be posting informational 'Guard against Noxics' posters.
Speaking of posters, looked like they were already up. I spared three of them a glance as I swept close to the upper ramp.
The council would be going into high gear now.
Activating the ramp-gate with a wave of the scanserv, I watched the flicking of a green light only just precede the clanging open of the small fence. Sweeping past it, I made my way up, promptly turning onto the second level.
Writhing vines lined and decorating the metals walls outside of the inner-courtyard assured I was on the right track. The telling scent of magnolia and moon root filled my nose.
The Favors would be swarming with nymphs. Clenching and unclenching my jaw, I held my focus. The halfling I was here for was worth the strain. I'd get in and get out, after a word.
I wanted Adair to know I wasn't going to tell. He wasn't alone. I was here if he found himself in a bind.
He'd probably long grown accustomed to relying solely on himself, but a man, of any sort, would be a fool to ignore a sincere extension of friendship in a hall of magicians.
We could be dangerous under the right conditions, and that just wasn't a good scenario for someone with secrets as huge as Adair's.
Passing into the courtyard, I kept my attention trained ahead of me, already feeling the eyes of the lingering nymphs looking for a good magician to juice.
Popping the customary Lily in the vase posted by the main entrance, I stepped beyond tables loaded with varied sorts of ambrosia, my eyes flicking to the maze of rooms inside.
Opting for the first of the doorways, I stepped just beyond the threshold, stopping just where I could hold a good vantage point of the entire room.
The usual ambrosia of nymphic scents wreathed my nose, and I tensed when I scanned the lot of them, some posted against walls like adornments, long and lithe and wanton.
Others, scantily-clad and unabashedly on the prowl.
No Adair.
Turning to go, I stepped back into the courtyard and drew a breath, clearing the allure of the nymphs out of my head. Like liquor, they struck the magical system as heady. It was the collective Achilles heel for our kind, and most of us didn't try to resist it or even hide it.
I peeked into another few doorways that were equally all-wrong, after that, but a quick scan didn't turn him up.
Then I drew into the fifth of the doors, and I knew before I spotted him that this was the one. This would be the room hosted by the pale-haired nymph from the rail, and it could have only been him who'd sent the invite.
Adair would be here.
Sweeping slowly past the high-octane energy of the nymphs gathered there, I steeled myself as much as I could against their passive charms. Carefully making my way through the forms gyrating to the tinny music, I clenched my jaw.
It was more than a man could take. Their lithe nymphic bodies alluring at every curve and jut of their tight musculature. They glistened under the lights, like spiraling bulbs or slow-traveling stars.
Rings glowing with drawn-magic flecked the thin, conic fingers, bent lazily over the edges of liquor goblets and bushels of sumptuous berries where nymphs leaned lazily against the ivy-crawling walls.
Drawing a steadying breath, I panned the room when I traveled into a thin enough patch of space on the dancefloor.
My eyes met Adair's then, and he did a smooth sort of double-take before his eyes lingered, only returning his attention to the one so intent on chatting him up for fleeting moments. I saw a mixture of curiosity and hope in his eyes. It was veiled under other things, of course, but there, none the less.
Hope for what, I wasn't sure.
He was posted up by the wall, by all appearances hemmed in by a lecherous official he didn't seem at all interested in.
Summoning as much courage as I could, I approached, giving the lower-council member a nod. He wasn't a council-man with tons of influence, being little more than an organizer for the deadlands, but I wasn't foolish enough to ruffle even his feathers by ignoring his station.
The puff-cheeked official's eyes found me first when I drew close to them, and I hoped he didn't see the wheels turning in my head.
“Have you forgotten the paper? I thought we agreed to turn it in soon, so we don't have the council waiting.”
I spared the lower-councilman an obligatory nod before returning my attention to Adair. This was his “out.” Would he take it, or had I read everything entirely wrong?
His gaze flicked to me with veiled surprise, and several eternal seconds ticked by before it was clear whether or not he'd take the bait. I realized with a rush of relief that he would when a smile ticked his cheek.
“Forgive me. I'd nearly forgotten.”
“Well, time is ticking,” I prompted with a twitchy smile.
I was a horrible liar. Horrible. Hopefully, that wasn't clear to the councilman.
“I'll just take a moment to say my farewells, and walk down with you, alright?”
“I'd appreciate that. Sorry to interrupt the festivities.”
I could feel the tension in the lower councilman, but even he was hard-pressed to interrupt what appeared to be a lingering assignment. Appearances were, after all, everything.
“Come to the Favors much?” I asked, with an air of chatting him up as Adair slipped away, keeping up appearances and saying his farewells.
~
My skin prickled with warmth walking alongside Adair again, this time in the direction of his bunk. I hadn't been invited, exactly, but we both
knew we needed to talk, and there was no better time than the present.
My gaze sweeping the ornate walls of the hall where he was stationed, I admired the delicate metal-work adorning the doors and window at the hall's end. Swanky didn't cover it. Adair was favored for some reason, someone wealthy person's kin, had to be.
The recognition bulb above his door flashing at the prompting of his scan-serv, he turned and waved me in as he pulled the door open.
The scent of WillowDew met my senses. A calming agent and scent-mask. Clever. I hadn't thought of it when I had the bestiary open earlier.
“Drink?” He asked, turning to me when he withdrew his coat.
A warmth of gratitude beamed off of him.
“Alright.”
A grin ticked his mouth, and he opened his wine cabinet, drawing out two goblets and two cups. Sparing me a glance, he chose a bottle and uncapped it, pouring it slow and smooth.
“In the market for a wolfish half-were are you?”
I bristled at the comment. Gods, it wasn't what I'd meant by this at all. My eyes averted to my feet. Perhaps... we could cover the were thing tomorrow. After session. Away from... tempting, small spaces.
“I just wanted to see that you returned alright,” I replied, drawing back with clasped hands toward the door. “You seemed, upset, earlier. But you look fine now, so...”
“Hey...”
His hand closed around my forearm when I made to turn and leave, and our eyes locked. The world and everything in it stopped in that moment.
I drew a breath at the velvet word that plumed the air next, sending a surge of warmth across the surface of my skin.
“Stay.”
END
***
Get all the rest of the Dark Moon Pack ACID Series:
Episode Two
Episode Three
Episode Four