by Martha Carr
“That wasn’t my doing.” Jackson set his jaw, his hands on his hips.
Leira recognized the gesture she had made herself a thousand times and rolled her eyes. “Let’s just start with finding this artifact that can slow the magic down and we can work from there.” She walked on, taking bigger strides as she watched the trolls rolling through the grass away from the path. The trees gave a loud rustle as birds took to the air, flying away from her.
Jackson looked up at the flight of the geese overhead and reached out, grabbing Leira tightly by the arm, flowing his own magic into her, leveling down the energy. Leira was about to pull back when she felt the energy get easier to control and something more. She looked up at Jackson, startled. “I felt your intentions. Damn, that was weird. You really are trying to do this father thing.” The tall grass at the edge of the path straightened up as the energy slowed. The edges closest to her stayed bent in a perfect circle. Wonder if that’s what made crop circles.
“Call it instinct. Not bad at having a dog either. We have to stop by my cabin and look after Roscoe. He’s too old to stay alone for very long. Not big on long walks anymore but he needs an ear rub every so often. What? Keep talking to keep ‘em calm. That’s what the parenting book said.” He let go of Leira’s arm slowly as she took a deep breath, waiting to see if the energy surged through her system again.
“You’re using a parenting book on me.” Leira let out the breath she was holding and gave a crooked smile even as she shook her head. “I’ll give you some credit, Jackson. You are trying pretty hard, here.”
Jackson reached into a deep pocket of his tunic and pulled out a handful of caramels. “I even have these just in case…”
“Just in case I throw a tantrum at the Dark Market?” Leira let out a snort of laughter and took one from his hand. “You may have to just get to know me and let the Dr. Spock stuff go.” Leira saw a horse and buggy coming around the bend, packed with Elves and Gnomes and even a Kilomea headed in the direction of the market. She turned and started walking for the market, stepping to the edge of the grassy path as the buggy passed them. The Kilomea looked over the side at the grass circle and up at Leira, grimacing.
“That was not a friendly grunt.”
“They don’t do friendly very well. If he’s not raising a weapon at you, just ignore him. They aren’t very subtle creatures.”
Leira felt her chest expand easily, taking in air. “See that’s the kind of fatherly advice I can use. Thanks for the assist back there. It helped. The energy flow has slowed down.”
“It can be tricky for any magical creature coming into their own who didn’t grow up on Oriceran. When the gates finally open there will be a lot of people losing their shit trying to get their sea legs.”
The market came into view, the large colorful tents taking up most of the horizon and the chatter from the market carrying all the way to them. The horse and buggy that had passed them on the road was making a turn coming back this way with a new load of customers. Leira stepped aside again with Jackson right behind her as they came closer to the entrance.
Jackson walked up to the table out front and knocked hard on the top. “Ronnie, wake up. I know you’re in there. Ronnie!” He pounded a little harder, shaking the stones on the top. “Does Louie know you sleep under the table with his wares spread out. This isn’t the best neighborhood.”
The old Gnome poked his head out from under the table, rubbing his eyes. “Louie isn’t here. Come back later.”
“Not exactly the best sales pitch, Ronnie.”
“Not exactly a good salesman.” Ronnie looked up into the sunlight as he crawled all the way out from under the table and stood up. “Oh, it’s you, Jackson. Same answer, Louie’s not here. He’s off on some mission or adventure. Not really sure.” Ronnie opened his mouth wide, yawning. He reached under the table and pulled out a battered bowler hat, brushing off dirt and placing it on his head, tilted to one side.
Leira stood to the side, picking up different artifacts and holding them in her hands, feeling the hum of the stored energy. Ronnie kept taking sideways glances at her, interested as he spoke to Jackson. “Not sure when he’ll be back. He doesn’t keep a regular schedule.”
“Tell him I’m looking for him and it’s important.”
“Where can he… Hey, I know you.” Ronnie pointed a stubby finger at Leira. “You’re that Elf chick from Earth that Louie likes. You have some badass power or something. No wonder you can handle those stones like they were marbles.” Ronnie smiled, placing one hand to the side of his mouth and saying, conspiratorially, “He told me not to tell you, but he kind of has a thing for you. Louie likes women who could kick his ass.”
Jackson stared at the Gnome. “That’s my kid.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder at Leira.
The Gnome’s eyebrows shot up and wrinkled his forehead. “Well, then this is awkward.”
Leira gave a crooked smile watching Jackson glare at the Gnome. “It’s still weird,” she muttered.
“You want to find Louie, ask the kid here. He’s working for you now, isn’t he?” The Gnome’s voice rose to a defensive whine, trying to regain some ground with Jackson.
“Not me, exactly and I’m not in charge of watching him this week.” Leira absentmindedly picked up a blue glass stone and held it closer to get a better look at the silver veins running through it. The stone rattled in her palm as rays of piercing silver light shot out in four directions, illuminating the nearby tables and bushes.
Leira quickly dropped the stone back in the box and took a step back as Jackson stepped between her and the table. Confused vendors looked up, trying to find the source of the light as customers stood around, their mouths open. Jackson noticed the Kilomea from earlier looking in their direction, squinting his eyes. He held his gaze and planted his feet, his hand resting on the hilt of his knife.
“What the… did you see… how the hell… you captured light…” The Gnome spun around and around, looking at Leira and Jackson, words sputtering out of his mouth.
“Silence,” hissed Jackson between clenched teeth. “Stop moving or I’ll nail your hairy feet to the ground.” He looked at Leira who was standing firmly, keeping her eye on the Kilomea. “You okay?”
“Doing just fine. I can hold my own in a battle, you know.” Leira gave a low growl, her eyes briefly glowing.
“Probably better than me, I’d wager. Let’s not find out today. You get the message to Louie.” He swatted at Ronnie, closing his mouth for him. “Stop gaping like that. You’re attracting the mealy gnats.” He jabbed a finger into Ronnie’s chest. “I know you have ways to contact Louie on this world or the other. You tell him I said it was go time. He’ll understand, and you forget what you saw here. Don’t mess with my kid.” His voice was menacing.
“Oh brother.” Leira rolled her eyes and set off back down the road at a fast clip. The sooner I get away from the market, the better.
Jackson looked up, surprised and took off at a jog to catch up with Leira. “What now?”
“Don’t mess with my kid? Really?”
Jackson put out his arms at his sides. “Seemed natural to say it.”
“I’m usually the one doing the messing, and I’m not in need of defending. You keep saying you know Nana. She would have kicked your ass for good measure if you said something like that around her. You’re gonna need to fine tune your routine or we can’t keep taking this act on the road.”
“Duly noted. Is it okay if I point out we’re headed in the wrong direction? Cabin is this way.”
“Deep in the woods, should have known. Let’s go…” Leira plowed ahead without asking directions. The sooner we can get home, the better.
“This is kinda fun, isn’t it? Our own little adventure… I really think there were a few bonding moments back there.”
“How about you try one of those caramels and we walk in silence.”
“Now, see? That’s just like me too. Some things are just hardwired.”
Leira smiled in spite of herself as they walked deeper into the woods. Behind them at the edge of the road the Kilomea watched them fade into the green forest, carefully studying the pair.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Charlie Monaghan couldn’t help himself. He had to make a personal appearance at the gathering. Everything about the meeting was unusual. It was being held in the middle of a remote field in the middle of Iowa among tall green plants not normally seen on Earth. A long low wooden table was set up in the middle of the rows, away from the nearby road where anyone might accidentally see the remarkable sight and worse, film it for social media.
There were enough conspiracy groups building a case that the magic popping up on Earth was actually very real. Along with it came a lot of stories about being overrun by magic that was seeping onto posts and tweets. It wasn’t that Charlie cared if the general population knew magic was all around them. But he wanted it done on his terms and on his timetable and after he had his share of the new world order. The one he was determined to create.
On one side of the table sat a row of six businessmen from around the world, nervously tapping the table or busy fingering one of the nearby plants, marveling at how it moved with the sound of their voices.
Charlie checked his wristwatch. Thank God, no time is missing. He had taken a large glass of liquid courage before driving to the site from the Axiom headquarters only an hour away from the fields. These were his privately-owned fields, over two hundred acres set aside for experiments the government wasn’t as anxious to approve. “The time is nigh, gentlemen…”
He was interrupted by sparks scattering across the table as some of the group ducked or covered their heads with their arms. A portal opened just on the other side of the table in the exact coordinates Charlie had so carefully provided for the other attendees. Out stepped a group of Light Elves with Spalding following closely behind, closing the portal with a sizzle and a snap.
“Right on time.” Charlie gave his best smile, waiting for the Elves to sit before he took his own seat at the head of the table between the two groups. He gave a nod to Spalding and sat down carefully, his chair wobbling on the uneven ground. “This won’t be a long meeting. There is too much at risk to stay out in the open like this.” Charlie kept smiling as he chatted amiably, the smile never reaching his eyes. “Let’s get right to it. No need for introductions. We all have enough friends. Our aligned goal is to make sure if this prophesy you’re so sure is going to happen, actually takes place and there’s a mass migration onto Earth that we all come out the winners in the eventual war of magic.”
“It’s inevitable…” said a man with a trim beard, gravely shaking his head. The Elf across from him studied his face, slowly raising his arms and putting them on the table, his long silver hair falling around his shoulders. The man barely registered a flinch, bracing himself for something that never came. The corners of the Elf’s mouth turned up slightly into a sneer.
One of the Elves at the end of the table looked up at the bright sun and pulled in magic through his feet, the symbols lighting up along his arms as he waved his arms overhead, gathering the clouds to hover over them, casting a long shadow across the table. The human side of the table all shifted in their seats, glancing up at the darkened sky and across at their new business partners.
“What do you have to offer us if we agree to work with you?” It was an older Elf with a long pink scar down the otherwise flawless pale skin of his face. “Why would we side with you against our own kind and offer you the assistance of magic?”
Charlie sat forward, excited, rubbing his hands together. “You can offer magic and artifacts. We can offer cutting-edge technology that unlike magic, keeps improving and evolving.” Charlie batted his hand in the air at the protests from the Elven side of the table. “Together we can create something that neither side was able to do alone. The perfect synergy of two sides.”
Charlie stood up and raised his hand, waving it high in the air. The ground suddenly thundered and shook as something large moved toward the center of the field at a rapid clip. Both sides of the table stood up, craning their necks to see as some of the Elves raised their hands, creating fireballs in case this was an ambush after all as some of them had suspected. Spalding waved them down, smiling calmly and waited for the beasts to emerge from between the tall emerald green stalks.
Bison rumbled through the stalks, crushing them beneath their hooves, stopping just yards away from the table, pawing at the ground and snorting. Standing next to them was a Wood Elf whistling to them in different pitches, controlling their moves.
Both sides of the table gasped as they saw that the middle of each animal, where there should have been the organs was instead a translucent engine made of artifacts reshaped for the task. All the moving parts were visible as if that was needed to add to the shock and awe. The bison had a wild and crazed look to their eyes but the Wood Elf whistled to keep them back, his irises moving in every direction so as not to miss a single detail.
Only the older Elf seemed unfazed and instead took a longer look at the Wood Elf, one side of his lip curling in distaste. “Ah, a changeling. How charming.”
The Wood Elf narrowed his eyes and focused on the Light Elf but only for a moment, before turning away.
“As you can see, gentlemen and Elves, we have progressed beyond magic and technology to a third element… bionics. Welcome to the new world order of animals and even insects that can serve as the missing link between magic and technology.” Charlie paused for effect, watching both sides gasp and marvel at the sight of the animals.
Two of the Elves stood, their muscles tensing and their eyes glowing as if they even now still anticipated an attack. Charlie’s eyes darkened for just a moment and the corners of his mouth barely turned up. Just as quickly, he returned to his senses and his smile broadened as he hid the small thread of panic deep inside of himself. “These are just prototypes.” He made himself sit there calmly, not rising out of his chair or waving a hand in the air to reassure anyone. “The beginning of a long journey. One day… one day soon we’ll refine this process and be able to use the same magicology to lengthen human lives or advance what Elves can do beyond just magic to create empires, to win wars. We can take this organic vessel and make each one ten times stronger, and last longer at any task.”
“We would be unstoppable,” gasped a balding man who kept popping out of his chair, only to sit back down again in surprise.
“We could do this with humans.”
“Or Elves.”
“We could replace parts, refine abilities.”
“Harness magic in an entirely new way.”
“Only if we get there first.”
Charlie smiled and waved his hand without looking back as the Wood Elf gave off a long, low whistle and turned, gently nudging one of the beasts as they ran slowly back through the field, trampling the tender stalks under their sharp hooves. “Of course, none of this comes without a price.” Charlie’s pulse picked up as he kept taking deep breaths, his smile firmly planted on his face. “We will need funding for research and artifacts for our experiments. Both in large quantities.”
Charlie stood slowly and leaned forward on the table, looking around at everyone at the table. “Get on board, or get left behind because to be clear, I’m not here asking for permission so I can start. I’m here looking for allies to stand with me to get ready for whatever comes next.”
A cicada outfitted with a small harness lifted up, unseen from the nearby stalks and hovered for a moment, eventually buzzing off to a far side of the field and into the waiting hands of Perrom. He was standing naked in the field, his clothes neatly piled nearby, and all the scales along his skin fluttering to match the nearby stalks stolen from pods on Oriceran making him appear invisible as he moved along the rows. The scales along his feet were a deep, foamy brown running along the dirt as he came closer to where the two sides were meeting.
He got there just in time to see the Wood
Elf turn and stare into the tall plants, his irises moving in different directions and coming back together again. Perrom held perfectly still, waiting for the moment to pass even as he resisted trembling with anger. He recognized the Wood Elf from a village tucked just inside the Dark Forest. Traitor of the worst kind.
The Wood Elf moved away just as one of the Light Elves opened a portal and Perrom got close enough to see the one with a long scar down his face. Leacham! How…
Leacham was accused of trading in stolen goods from the castle, using Willens to get inside the invisible walls. Worse rumors abounded about him taking the life of another Light Elf over a dispute at one of the many pubs that surrounded the Dark Market but nothing was ever proven. No one was willing to speak against him. It was the reason he was only banished from the Light Elves’ kingdom and not sent to Trevilsom Prison for life. He was supposed to have left for the other side of Oriceran… How did he find his way to Earth? He should have been thrown under Trevilsom. Perrom didn’t recognize all of the Light Elves with him but he recognized the different faded symbols they wore on their cloaks that gave away the villages where they were raised. He stepped back on a twig, letting out a faint snap just as he recognized the eternity symbol on Leacham’s cloak. He was a follower of Rhazdon.
Charlie Monaghan looked up in his direction but saw nothing and turned his head back to his guests.
Perrom easily ran back through the field, the slender scales along his skin rattling as it kept up the variations in color and texture as he ran, the muscles in his legs standing out as they turned different shades of green and pale yellow. He got to his clothes and quickly dressed, pulling out the leather pouch full of messenger bugs and whispering into them everything he knew. He set them loose on the wind, watching their small translucent wings open up as they flew off to find their recipient. Perrom set about creating a ball of light, focusing on a destination deep within the Dark Forest to ensure he didn’t land anywhere near the returning Light Elves.