CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jules hadn't been lying. As soon as we got the corrupted tass through the door, I realized the Technomagi weren't messing around. Sandra wheeled carts of machinery to each of the three workbenches she'd set up while we'd been gone. One served as a metal working station, another as an electronics bench and the third had an ornate casting circle inscribed on its surface, far more compact than anything I'd seen O'Meara use.
Tom, Dick and Harry were overjoyed with the precision my vision provided them. It was nice to feel useful again, but I hadn't been in a spellcraft circle for anything more than hour since O'Meara's injury. The trio never seemed to tire as they directed me to move around the circle for a better angle. I watched their threads expertly manipulate the spells they grafted into the parts that Sandra machined, layer by layer. Harry handled most of the summoning energies duties as I attempted not to blink.
The evening disappeared in a blur of movement and magic.
I found myself back in the van being talked at by a chipper Rudy the following morning. I swore I would eat him, but I couldn't find the energy.
"What’s the matter, Thomas? I thought you got along great with night owls," He quipped.
My groan of pain wasn't the only one in the van. "The next time I make a contract I'm building in a nap allotment. Most cats sleep eighteen hours a day you know."
Glad we dodged that bullet, Richard thought at me. We barely got this thing done at it was. He patted the metal disk in his lap. The shield’s three spell nexi shone in my vision. Green, yellow and purple: Summoning, Kinetic energy and Space, respectively. I had no idea how the spells worked and only an inkling of what they did, but I knew the thing was a ticking time bomb. They attempted to use as little of the orange tass as possible, but the threads they spun with it frayed even as it was woven into a spell. The device wouldn't hold together long.
But it only had to last one duel.
I felt good about this little crew. Tom sprawled against Harry in the back of the van, his head resting on the smaller man's lap. Sandra sat in the passenger seat cleaning the controller that had been salvage from the crashed cougar-copter. Her hands were completely unbothered by the bumpy road as we drove toward a picnic area in a state park on the edge of town. Notably, it was on the edge away from where Noise's pack lived. Jowls had curled up in a box between the two front seats, squeezed in so tight he looked like a cat muffin.
"Good to see they're taking us seriously," Jules muttered, jostling me from sleep a bit later.
In front of the van lay a sparsely snow-covered picnic area. A golden ward covered the majority of it (one of Ixey's) and several tables had been cleared of snow. Dorothy stood atop one, a green Frisbee twirling around a finger. Two dogs and a wolf sat in front of her with rapt attention, the black lab I'd seen before along with a German Shepherd. She threw the disk, and the canines took off like a shot, barking like hounds on the hunt. The wolf leapt up, but a burst of yellow pushed the disk just out of the arc of his jaws. Dorothy continued to channel, using subtle bursts of energy to steer the disk away from the pack. They made feints and false grabs until the German Shepard nabbed it by lunging off another picnic table.
Two other women applauded nearby. I only recognized them from their auras, but Richard gave me their names. Rinoa wore her hair in multicolored spikes, so sharp and perfect that it had to be either a magical effect or a wig. She wore a long dress that appeared to be the uniform for the Cabal but covered her top with a leather vest. I couldn't decide if the look was punk or simply awkward. The German Shepard, called Tack was her bond. The last woman, Naomi, appeared remarkably birdlike, rail thin in her black dress, with a prominent nose. Her hair was buzzed short, but her large smile made up for it. While the punky magus next to her seemed to be cloaked in dourness, this woman projected warmth like a summer's day. By process of elimination I assumed her familiar was the wolf chasing the Frisbee, Morie.
The rest of the figures gathered I knew. Veronica sat on another picnic table cross-legged with Neelius in her lap, their eyes closed. In a field back from the picnic tables crouched Ixey's small form, her jacket catching the already fading light. O'Meara peered down at her from her motorized wheelchair, no doubt backseat magicing her sort of apprentice.
All in all, it looked more like an obscure cosplayer picnic or pre-prom party than a gathering of magi.
I beelined for O’Meara as soon as somebody popped open the van’s back door. She smelled tired, but her smile kindled some life into her eyes as I thrust myself into her hands. She only hesitated for a second before her fingers found my ears. Touch was wonderful, and I hadn't realized I'd been craving it.
I’m maintaining professional distance. Richard commented on that thought. Do you need brushing or something?
I waved his concerns away and focused on getting a large portion of myself in O'Meara's lap. I missed her already. Some independent apex predator I was. "How are you doing? What are you doing here?" I managed between purrs.
"Exhausted as always, and lonely, which is new. But I can't live through you anymore, so I figured I'd visit your little circus. After all, it’s going to be a few decades before I can channel again." Her voice had a bit of strain in it.
"It’s not gunna take that long, I promise."
"It's not your responsibly to heal my injuries, Thomas. I'll heal on my own time and dime."
This wasn't an argument I was going to have with her. Not until I had my harness bursting with the tass I needed. O'Meara’s soul was a good one, and I wasn't about to see her sidelined for a decade or more.
"What's the meaning of this, Inquisitor!" Veronica said. I could see her clutching her pearls in my head before I turned around.
"Now look what you've done," O'Meara whispered as I pulled myself away to stand beside her. She patted my side. "Meaning of what, dear Veronica?"
"Can you not at least pretend to be neutral in this conflict? Understand that treating this place as your own fiefdom won't last forever. Sending your familiar to assist this...House will come back to you someday." Veronica strode toward us.
"Oh, but she is neutral," I said. "It’s just that I'm not her familiar."
Veronica's eyes narrowed, and so did Neelius'. I felt the prickle of his gaze.
I opened the porthole in my head. Trouble? the trio asked.
Nope, I replied as the bird leaned forward, peering. My link shifted a bit. Apparently Lady Cavell hadn't told them everything she'd seen about my particular talent.
"I'm bonded to Tom, Dick and Harry for the moment."
"For the moment?" The bird fluffed his feathers, then smoothed. Veronica's stern expression didn't waver.
"Well, our contract's length is indeterminate at the moment. To be maintained as long as it’s profitable." I smirked at their bewilderment. "Thomas Khatt, freelance familiar, at your service."
Veronica’s jaw worked in such a way I could almost see the questions piling up on her tongue. Neelius was looking at me as if I'd offered him a rotting rat to eat.
"I'm still working on the business cards, but I offer fair rates if your House ever needs a substitute cougar." I pulled away from O’Meara with a long, languid stride.
Richard strolled casually in my direction from the picnic table where the technomagi were setting up camp. Rudy was sitting on Sandra's shoulder, and laughing at something, judging from the twitch of his tail.
"We thought you were O'Meara's bond at the shallowing," Neelius said.
"I wasn't bonded to anyone at the shallowing." Kinda a lie. I had a contract at the time. It occurred to me that I never had gotten that in writing, and while I was fairly sure the contract involving my bond would be honored or risk angering my link, I made a mental note to get all future employment outside of bonds in writing. A proper business required a paper trail. A reckoning with the dang Talking Animal Union would come at some point and I'd have to buy Oric's goodwill.
"An omitted fact," snapped Veronica.
I chuckle
d and walked around them. "Excuse me, but my client needs my attention."
I walked over to Richard with Veronica’s eyes burning in my back and met him halfway, making sure to circle his legs in a gesture of affection. The trio mentally giggled. Well, she is nervous.
What, she's not usually an angry woman? I asked.
Usually that's Neelius' job, Richard thought.
You have unnerved her, Harry chimed in.
I paused. She should know that we bonded. One of them was watching when we bonded at the park.
But unless it was Neelius himself, they could only sniff the magic out. And there were plenty of other magics to be sniffed out, the trio commented
"Not to mention you're bonding is a bit different. I've never heard of a fey chain that anchored in one's body." Richard reached down and touched the place where the ethereal chain merged with my spinal column, and I shivered as if he had poked my very soul.
Don't touch that! I scolded them with a fiery sense of violation.
They apologized, but we lapsed into a mental silence as we joined the gaggle of technomagi and squirrel waiting for the appointed hour of the duel, just after sunset.
Ixey summoned forth several brilliant globes of light as the sky dimmed. With a flick of her wrist a top hat appeared in her hand with a small explosion of green sparks. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Dogs and Cats. We are gathered here today to witness a legally binding duel. The first conducted in Grantsville in nearly fifty years!"
Both sides scoffed in offense, and Jowls bristled. "That not how it’s done!" two voices cried out. Voices belonging to both Jowls and Neelius. The two familiars glared at each other for a moment and then back at Ixey.
Ixey grinned impishly. "Nobody's ever interested in the local history. Now as the officiant of this duel I am required to ask both parties to consider working out your disagreement without a dangerous contest. Will you do so?"
"NO!" both Neelius and Jowls shouted back. Jules and Veronica eyes met across the space of the picnic tables, and they nodded to each other.
"We decline," Veronica said.
"As do we," Jules said.
Ixey twirled theatrically. "Then the participants will declare their weapons and present them to me."
Jules stepped from his perch on the picnic table and with a heave of effort hoisted from the table the device we'd spent all night creating. He staggered over to Ixey and presented it to her. Tension circulated through the minds of the magi. If she saw the bits of tainted tass in the aegis' construction, then she could rule it as unfit for the duel. And without it, Jules would most assuredly lose. Tom, Dick and Harry had attempted to shield that flawed tass from view while the shield was inactive.
I held my breath while Garn stared at the aegis from Ixey's shoulder. With the shallowing, I was guaranteed to get the tass I needed in time. Without that, I lost a guarantee. His black garnet eyes shone in the harsh light of the globes. Moments passed. I counted my breaths before his tiny head nodded.
Ixey looked to Veronica. "Do you have any foci to declare?"
"We do not need anything of the sort," Neelius replied as Veronica looked down her nose at Jules.
Richard thought, Meaning: I thought this would be easy. She forgot that Jules grew up in House Hermes. The House that invented dueling.
Ixey snapped her fingers. Behind her, blue flame leapt up from the lines of an intricate circle on the ground. "Then the duelists may enter the circle.”
"Oh, this is going to be fabulous! I just know it!" Jowls bounded from his seat and skipped across the ground before impacting Jules's legs. He made two circles around them before Jules scooped him up and carried him into a smaller circle inside the dueling circle. The trio clapped for the pair as Jowls shot everyone a grin.
Veronica stood only after Jules had taken his place, striding to her position with Neelius perched on her arm. "Proceed."
Now that the dueling magi had entered the circle along with their familiars, Ixey knelt at the edge after depositing Garn opposite. The shine of a warming spell rendered him easy to find on the frozen grass. Veronica faced Jules with a small frown and a wrinkle in her brow. Jules expression was stony, but Jowls grinned up at his opponents.
"Fellow magi! Friends and fellows!" Ixey's voice rang out across the park. "Bear witness. This is a contest to resolve the Dominion of a shallowing between House Technomagi and House Morganna." Both of the duelists stood a little straighter. "In the absence of the Council, these houses will abide by the results of this nonlethal duel. The first magus to falter will be declared the loser. Neither magus will stray from their appointed position. Should one die, they win the match."
So if you really want to win, you could commit suicide? I asked the trio.
Hey, if you believe in your case enough to die for it, you have to respect that, Tom thought as he pulled a beer out of his backpack.
I note that there was no mention of a familiar’s death in there, I thought.
Well sure, killing a familiar is one way to exhaust a magus. He took a swig from his bottle and passed it to Harry.
This endeavor suddenly seemed like even less of a good idea.
After the opponents declared that they understood the rules and stakes, the golden bubble of a protective ward encircled them, guarding against outside intrusion.
Veronica and Jules faced off a good thirty feet away from the other. Jowls at Jules feet, Neelius on Veronicas outstretched arm. Each stood within a smaller circle. The trio explained if that circle was breached, it inflicted a great amount of pain on the magi that stood within it.
"Ready your weapons!" Ixey called out.
Both magi closed their eyes in concentration as small circles in front of each of them glowed and twisted on themselves. Veronica's pulsed with blue light and then went dark in my vision. It raised into the air and coalesced into a curved blade, a crescent moon of blackness that seemed to eat the air around it. I had only the basics of the duel explained to me last night. The contest was supposed to test both the strength of the magus' channeling ability and their spellcraft.
That sword represented her anchor and the strength she could draw with her own will.
Veronica's anchor is entropic energy. Richard nodded at the sword.
Jules' sword meanwhile was nearly insubstantial, a tiny speck of a dagger no bigger than a pocket knife. A concept perhaps? The planes were infinite and not tied to things within the physical world. Just as O'Meara channeled fire, there were magi who channeled emotions like fear or awe or even concepts like math.
And that’s why he didn't stay in House Hermes. A conceptual plane isn't acceptable for a House of Elementalist Facists. Richard's thought dripped with acid as dark memories flittered though his mind far too fast for me to see.
"Aegis!" Ixey announced.
Jules smiled and thrust his shield through the wall of his personal circle. Its yellow nexus blossomed even before he let go. Had I been in the circle, I might have seen the workings of the spells on the object. Both Neelius and Veronica paused, the woman's lips pressing into a thin line. The effect of the spells was crystal clear. Green surged around the small plate as hundreds of tiny rocks swirled into existence.
The pebbles formed into a phalanx of stones swelling the small shield to the size of the door on the van. The yellow stone flared as the rock fused into a single metal plane.
Jules allowed himself a smirk as Veronica's own shield, a shimmering circle of bent light no bigger than a hub cap, formed around a single purple nexus.
The smugness that flowed from the trio as they smiled was slightly nauseating.
"BEGIN!" Ixey started, and the clash exploded. Veronica's moon blade dashed at Jules like lightening, his shield moving just as fast to intercept it. Veronia’s blade spun into the shield like a buzzsaw, sparking on the metal in a flurry of blows. The shield held and the sword retreated, its blackness no longer all-consuming, but a mere shadow in the fading sun. Veronica’s shield covered her sword as it darkened. While s
he remained unfazed, I could smell the scent of her sweat mingling with her perfume on the breeze.
The shield bore wounds as well, creeping cracks, each one harboring shadows injected from Veronica's blade. The yellow nexus flared and all the summon material shed in a flash of green light. The metal regrew just as it had before.
Veronica sputtered. "You built a custom aegis!" She didn't say the word cheating, but everyone could hear it in the pitch of her voice.
"Well, it’s not like we had one just sitting around," Jowls said.
"It's a good one for general purposes, but I think you'll find it particularly a challenge to pierce." Jules smirked. "Would you like to concede before you break on this particular beach?"
"You've just stalemated. That little needle you call a sword can't get through our Aegis either." Veronica drew herself up to her full height.
Jowls hissed, "Girl, you picked the wrong magus to use a probability shield on." His tail was in full-on lash mode, as if he had mouse in his sights.
Jules’ pin of a sword darted forward. Veronica's aegis spun to intercept, and the needle bounced off it. There didn't seem to be any impact. It was more deflected. I only saw the tiniest wisp of blue in Jules' sword.
"Two-hundred-and-forty-nine blows and your Aegis will be extinguished," Jules announced. "I can land thirty-two in a minute, Veronica."
Jules’ shield is a self-repairing. Veronica's had no such feature. Richard commented.
Veronica narrowed her eyes. "Nice plan, but it’s time to throw it out the window."
Her blade hurled itself at Jules and struck the shield with a thunderclap clang. It bounced off like a boomerang, whirling around Jules and Jowls to dash at them from a new angle. The huge aegis followed just as quickly, spinning through the air as if possessed by a ballerina, shedding and re-growing pieces of itself under each probing blow.
"Ha! Get her! Counter attack!" Rudy cried.
But he didn't. While Jules had no trouble intercepting any of the blows, his sword went after Veronica's own aegis like a methodical wasp. I could see it losing energy under the constant assault. The trio sat in rapt attention beside me, the scent of excitement and sweat wafting off them. Sandra sat back, calm as a cucumber.
Marking Territory (Freelance Familiars Book 2) Page 9