by H. L. Burke
Ezra glanced out. “Is that her?”
Lotta nodded, her mouth pressed into a firm line. Auric glanced around Ezra. A woman in black stood in the street below. A glinting mechanical monkey perched on her shoulder. Auric swallowed. While non-magicians occasionally had animated metal pets—for instance, Father made Jaspyr for Rill years before she had been allowed to learn magic for herself—it was rare. Such creatures took a good deal of time, skill, and effort to craft, meaning they were usually only found in the company of those wealthy enough to commission several weeks’ worth of work from a master magician, or in the possession of magicians who made them for themselves.
“Who is that?” Auric asked.
“Shush!” Lotta pushed the curtain over the window.
“I don’t think she can hear us,” he pointed out. “Look, please, just tell me what’s going on. Maybe we can help each other.” If her device worked and powered the factories, it would certainly ease his conscience, if not also get the pressure from the Magicians’ Congress off his back.
“That woman tried to kill my Lotta with magic!” Ezra cracked his knuckles. “I’d like to get my hands on her.”
Auric frowned. “But how? There’s not enough magical energy in the Capital right now to power a simple flare spell. Anything with enough potency to use as a weapon would be out of the question.”
“She did it somehow. She had a bottle thing, and it had magic in it. I could see it.” She shuddered. “She opened the bottle, and let the magic out, and it attacked me.”
A chill swept through Auric. Bottled magic, like the vials Alvin had showed him at the office today.
He peered around the curtain. “I have someone who might be able to help you get your generators into the factories.”
“They need to be in the tunnels, not the factories.” Lotta shook her head. “Then the energy will travel through wires into the factories to power the machinery.”
“We can hash out the details later. For now, the point is, I need to get you to my friend so we can set everything in motion.” He put out his hand. “I know we just met, but I need you to trust me, and that means giving me my tablet back.”
Ezra eyed Lotta. She gave a curt nod, and Ezra handed over the tablet.
“All right.” Auric nodded. “Take a few minutes to gather some things, enough to be gone overnight as well as anything you’ll need to show my friend your generator plan, then we’ll get out of here.”
Her jaw dropped. “What? That terrible woman and her demonic monkey pet are right outside. You think we can just leave? Are you mad?”
“You forget, I’m also a magician.” He tapped the side of the tablet with his stylus. “The thing about magical energy, even if she has managed to bottle it, she’ll have to release it to use it, and when she does, I’ll have just as much chance to harness it as she will.” He twirled his stylus between his fingers. “I’m quick with my symbols.”
“You’ll get us all killed.” She crossed her arms.
Auric gritted his teeth. He was trying to help her, after all. The least she could do was show a little gratitude. “Would you rather hide like a cornered mouse in a hole?”
“We can’t stay here forever, little one.” Ezra stroked her cheek, his bushy eyebrows melting together. “We would starve, for one thing. I’m almost out of pipe tobacco, for another.”
She laughed. Auric’s heart skipped. She had a hearty but musical laugh, like a trumpet blast of joy, so different from the giggles of society women or even Rill’s trilling.
Lotta picked up a leather satchel, stuffed some clothes and a few loose tools into it, then hurried downstairs saying she was going to grab her schematics.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, magician.” Ezra scowled. “If you get my Lotta killed, that evil woman and her monkey will be the least of your concerns.”
“Trust me, I want to get us all out of here alive as much as you do.” Auric fought back doubt and prepared for the possible showdown.
Ezra narrowed his gaze at Auric as if weighing his soul. The burly man then walked into the other room and began to pack a satchel.
The advantage of his wax meant he could chart out his spell ahead of time, waiting to form the last symbol until the energy manifested. What to do, however? An attack? A sleeping spell to knock out the woman? Some sort of energy bolt to kill her? No, he didn’t know the full story. He wouldn’t leap to deadly force until certain it was the only option. Also, how much energy was in one of those vials? If he crafted a spell that used more than provided, it would fizzle out rather than activate. If too little, there would be enough remaining energy for the woman to launch a counter attack. He needed to use up just the right amount.
Sweat broke out across his forehead. Maybe Lotta was right. Maybe he was about to get them all killed.
All right, God, he prayed. Please, I need a miracle here. It’s not for selfish gain, I promise. Lotta returned, the pale light filtering through the curtains to dance across her warm brown skin. Auric flushed. Well, not completely for selfish gain.
“I’ve got everything,” she announced. “Uncle Ezra?”
He emerged from the other room. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
“Do you have a back door we can slip out of?” Auric asked. “Probably best to avoid a direct confrontation if we can help it. If we can get to the main street and hail a cab, I think we’ll be safe.”
“Yes, follow me.” Ezra took them down the stairs, past the kitchen, and into a small back room which looked to be used mostly for storage, full of barrels and more spare parts. The back door was dead-bolted, but Ezra eased the lock open and peeked out into a shadowy alley. “No one there.”
“Let me go first!” Auric pushed forward. He stepped around Ezra, and his fingers tightened about his stylus. “I think it is clear. Let’s—”
An explosion rocked the house. The ground trembled, and the door frame shook. Several metal parts clattered from a shelf.
“Are you in here, girl?” a cold, feminine voice called out from the front room.
“Run!” Auric yelped.
Lotta and Ezra followed him. They sprinted down the narrow space between houses.
A chattering jeer rose above the pounding of their footsteps, and Auric glanced back. The woman stepped into the alleyway. She raised one hand, holding aloft a glinting vial of glass. Yes, it was definitely one of Alvin’s collectors. Auric whirled and stood his ground.
Lotta skidded to a halt, tugging on the back of his coat. “Don’t be an idiot! Come on!”
“No, you come!” Ezra hoisted her over his shoulder and bolted.
Lotta gave out a shriek of rage, but Auric forced himself to focus on the magician. The monkey danced before her.
“You’re new to this mess. Whoever you are, the girl isn’t worth it.” The woman smiled. “Let me finish my job, and we can both go home. I only have enough stored for two spear-flares, and I’d intended one for the girl and one for her guardian.” With her free hand she drew a tablet nearly identical to Auric’s from somewhere in her bodice.
Spear-flares? A somewhat basic but effective magical attack. Magical symbols spun in Auric’s head. He scratched out the first few symbols of an appropriate spell onto his tablet as the woman popped the wax seal off her vial. Dropping the vial to break against the cobblestones, she bent over her tablet, stylus appearing in her hand.
Auric wrote the final symbol. Light blazed across the lines etched in the wax accompanied by a whiff of lavender.
The woman’s evil grin faded as she finished her spell. No light rose from her tablet. Auric allowed himself a smirk before dashing after Lotta.
“Get him, Baltazar!” the woman shouted.
Auric glanced back to see the monkey hurtling towards him like a streak of silver light. The metal beast collided into an invisible wall and bounced back onto his tail. Auric grinned and kept running. His barrier spell should hold for at least twenty minutes, plenty of time for him to get a head start.
/> He caught up to Ezra who stood, out of breath, at the mouth of the alley, the red-faced Lotta still squirming in his arms.
“Let me go!” she snarled.
“No time! This way!” Auric pointed towards the main thoroughfare. He had to get her to Cordon’s home. She’d be safe there.
Chapter Thirteen
Jericho blinked several times, rubbed his forehead, and tried again to concentrate on the book. Rill sank onto the couch beside him and laid her head on his shoulder. He groaned. That wasn’t helping his concentration.
“What?” She frowned.
“Nothing.” He shoved aside the book and stared at the ceiling. “Magicians’ bylaws are dull as all get out, is all. Your father never bothered to teach me them, so I’m trying to catch up.”
“Ah.” She kissed his cheek. “You’re a quick study. You’ll get it. Think about how easily you took to magic.”
“Magic makes sense, symbols in a row that channel Fey energy to do basic tasks. It’s simple. It’s elegant. It serves a purpose. This?” He waved at the thick volume. “Bureaucracy is the exact opposite of magic. Everything is ten times as complex as it needs to be, and the whole goal of it seems to be to prevent anything from being accomplished.”
“So why are you studying them?” She picked up the book, flipped it open, and stared at the pages. “We’ve always done well enough working outside the constraints of the Magicians’ Congress.”
“I thought if I learned how the system works I could be of more help getting Hedward’s license back.” He shrugged.
A smile quirked the corner of her mouth, though she didn’t raise her eyes from the pages.
“What?” He pushed the book down so he could look her in the eye.
“Nothing. It’s just that’s the first time you’ve called my dad by his Christian name. It’s always been ‘sir’ or ‘Master Spellsmith’ or ‘your dad’ if you’re feeling casual.” She touched his hand. “I like that you’re becoming part of the family. Maybe someday you’ll even call him ‘Father.’”
“Or skip right to Grandpa.” He kissed her lips.
The door to the hall popped open, and Jericho straightened. Auric entered, glancing this way and that as if afraid something might jump out and bite him.
“Back already? Did things not go well?” Jericho asked.
A girl in trousers and a short black jacket peeked around Auric.
“Or maybe they went extra well?” Jericho raised his eyebrows.
A burly man pushed into the room. “Are you sure we’ll be safe here?” he asked in a heavy accent. “Who are these people?” He glared at Jericho and Rill. Rill eased closer to her husband.
“Of course. Whoever attacked you has no idea who I am or where I am staying, so they won’t be able to find you here,” Auric said. “This is my sister, Rill, and her husband, Jericho. You won’t find more trustworthy people. Rill, Jericho, meet Lotta Tyckner and Ezra … sorry, I didn’t catch your full name?”
“Also Tyckner.” Ezra’s shoulders relaxed. “Well, you did protect us from the magical assassin and her demon monkey, boy. I suppose we can trust you a little longer.”
Jericho and Rill exchanged a glance. Magical assassin? Demon monkey?
“Hey, Auric, you mind telling us what is going on? Just for laughs, maybe?” Jericho frowned.
“I’m a little blurry on the details myself.” Auric scratched his chin. “From what I managed to gather before we had to flee for our lives: Lotta is an inventor with a design for a generator that can essentially end the energy crisis … oh, and there’s someone trying to kill her, but she has no idea who or why.”
The girl—Lotta, Jericho gathered—sank into the nearest chair, her head in her hands. “It’s ridiculous! People are so stupid. I’d never hurt a fly. My father never would’ve either, and now he’s dead and I’m running for my life because people are stupid. I hate people!”
“Oh, you poor thing!” Rill crossed the room and placed her hand on Lotta’s shoulder. “Jerry, call for some tea things, all right? The girl is shaking.”
Jericho wryly observed that the “poor girl” was probably older than Rill and at least a hand taller. Still, that didn’t stop his wife from draping herself around the stranger like a comforting mother. He pulled the bell cord before turning to Auric.
“Someone tried to kill her? Is this really the safest place for her to be? You might’ve been followed.”
“I took precautions.” Auric wiped a handkerchief across his forehead. “We took a cab well out of our way, then hopped the public steam-trolley to another neighborhood and took a different cab back here. That should be enough to throw off anyone after us, I’d think.”
“Good thinking.” Jericho glanced across the room to where Ezra stood, still eyeing him suspiciously. “Did you see who or get any hints as to why?”
Auric shook his head. “I saw who, but that doesn’t mean I know who. Blonde woman, tall, all in black, obviously a magician. She even had a mechanical familiar, kind of like Jaspyr if Jaspyr were a nasty, shrieking monkey rather than an adorable fox.”
“I can’t imagine too many people match that description.”
“Do you know how many magicians live in the Capital?” Auric threw up his hands. “Even just dealing with Academy graduates, we’re talking a few hundred a year, then taking into account all the magicians who train their apprentices in house … it’s a pool of thousands. Even if she is the only blonde with a monkey, finding her will be like seeking a raindrop in a puddle.”
“All right, so let’s approach this another way.”
Someone tapped at the door. Before Jericho could open it, Rill hurried to do so, addressing the butler and ordering a long list of tea and treats. Yeah, she had the hospitality side of things well in hand.
“Why would someone want to kill your girlfriend?” Jericho whispered.
Auric’s face reddened. “She’s not my … it’s not like that. I’m trying to keep her safe, not court her.”
Jericho gazed at the girl. Definitely pretty, not in the perfect-in-every-aspect way Rill was, but he could see where Auric would be interested. His friend wasn’t fooling anyone. “Probably for the best. She’s taller than you.”
“She is not!” Auric hissed.
“I’m pretty sure she is, by a good half-inch at least.” Jericho’s straight face slipped in spite of his best efforts.
“Oh, shut up. This is serious.” Auric motioned towards his bedroom door. “Can we talk alone for a moment?”
Jericho followed Auric into the other room and waited for him to speak.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t know who attacked her, but I have a good lead. When I was at the congressional offices, there was another petitioner, Terryn Alvin, who had this new method of ‘bottling’ magic. He is collecting it in rural areas where there’s more to go around and importing it to the city.” Auric fidgeted with his collar. “The thing is, he said his prices were too high for any but the most wealthy. This woman used a vial of collected magic when I saw her and Lotta said she used another in an earlier attack. She must either be wealthy or have a wealthy patron.”
“Is it possible she also figured out the bottling process?” Jericho asked. “Rill has something similar she’s working on with her threads. With the need, I’m sure many people are trying to fill the demand.”
“Maybe. However, Alvin is still my best lead. Lotta’s generator could fix all the problems, get the factories working again. Why would someone want to stop that?”
Jericho tapped his fingers against his leg. “Change is difficult for people, even if it’s good change. This method of hers isn’t magical, is it? She looks more like an engineer than a magician, what with those goggles around her neck.”
“Yes, she’s an inventor, no magical background that she’s mentioned.”
“To switch from dependence on magic to relying on technology will take money and influence away from a lot of powerful people.” Jericho inhaled, wondering
how Auric would take what he was about to suggest. “How do you think your friend Styles would react if you told him his family business, their legacy, is now obsolete?”
Auric waved his hand dismissively. “Styles isn’t like that. He wants the best for the Republic, for the factory workers.”
“You’re sure?” Jericho raised his eyebrows. “You’re willing to bet Lotta’s life on that?”
Auric glanced at the door. “I know you don’t get along well, but I’ve known Cordon for years, Jericho. He always looked out for me when we were at school together.”
“And gained nothing from it?” Jericho pressed.
Auric dropped his eyes. “I may have helped him with his assignments and papers from time to time, but I volunteered. I was a better scholar than he was. It made sense for me to help him keep his grades up.”
Jericho let out a long breath. “Auric, you’re a good man, but a poor judge of people. I’m asking you, begging you, not to tell Styles about this.”
Auric recoiled. “I’m a fine judge of people, and your issues with Cordon aren’t my problem. You just don’t understand how Capital politics work, Jericho, but that’s the world we’re playing in right now.”
Displeasure rippled through Jericho’s gut. “Yeah, sure, I’m just an uneducated country magician, not sophisticated enough to get the nuances of city life.” He stepped to the door.
“Oh, don’t be that—”
Jericho shut the door between him and Auric. “Idiot,” he said under his breath.
Rill looked up from pouring tea, her gaze narrowing. Jericho forced a smile. Tilting her head as if trying to get a better view into his psyche, she set down the tea pot. “Sugar, Lotta?”
“Three please.” The girl nodded.
Auric exited the bedroom, walking right past Jericho. “I’m going to go talk with Cordon. I’m sure the staff has already told him about our guests. He probably wants to know what’s going on.”
Jericho’s stomach twisted as Auric left.
***
When Auric tried to speak to Cordon, he found him out for the afternoon. Not wanting to face Jericho again so soon after their disagreement, Auric retreated to the library, a large room with an impressive collection of books on a variety of subjects. He selected a book on the founding of the first artificial rifts roughly a decade before. He knew the history, and even the magic behind them, but now that his fate was so tied into the rifts, he felt he needed a refresher.