by Hiatt, Bill
I tried to be as poker-faced as I could. I didn’t want to let Alcina see how shaken up I was.
“As for us, lover, we have a date on my little island. First, though, I need to get you in the mood. Just look into my eyes, and I will put things back the way they should be.”
I had already guessed that eye contact probably helped Alcina work her magic, so I closed my eyes as tightly as I could…only to feel the pressure from the tentacle around me increase painfully.
“Don’t make this difficult, Taliesin. Just open your eyes, and in a very short time, you’ll be glad you did.” Even her voice was seductive, and I could feel her power touching me already, even with my eyes closed. My heightened magical resistance would make it harder for her to control me, but if I remained her prisoner, she would eventually break down that resistance. The tentacle tightened again, and now I could hardly breathe.
“You…won’t…get…what…you…want…if…I’m…dead,” I managed to gasp. The tentacle relaxed enough to let me breathe, but it was still uncomfortably tight.
“I suppose you have a point, and there will be plenty of time later to make you mine. Perhaps I should get you settled in on my island.”
I didn’t really want that, either, though it beat being crushed to death. My current position, close to the portal that had just closed, left some hope that Nurse Florence could still find me by following whatever tenuous connection yet remained between this spot in the ocean and Goleta Beach. The more time that passed, though, the more tattered that connection would become. Worse, the further I was moved away from that spot, the less that connection would help, and Alcina’s island seemed to be some distance away.
“Give me a chance to catch my breath,” I said, hoping she might give me a minute or two, but she knew as well as I did what I really wanted.
“I think we should return to my island at once,” she said, and I risked opening my eyes just enough to see the mass of sea creatures begin to move toward that distant island. There were so many of them that they would hinder the progress of the octopus holding me, but only briefly, and then it too would move, far away from any immediate hope of my rescue.
Then I had one of the most abrupt light-bulb moments in my entire life. Suddenly I remembered something Morgan had said to me when I first confronted her outside the hospital. “She settled on an island, not exactly in Annwn, but certainly in an otherworld of some sort.” At the time, I hadn’t much cared where Alcina’s island was. Now it was the most crucial piece of information I had.
The only reason I couldn’t open portals to and from Annwn was that Arawn, the former king, had blocked my ability to do so. But if this wasn’t Annwn, I could theoretically open a portal out of it back into my own world. The original Taliesin had known how, and so I knew how. The problem was practice. After Gwynn hold told me why my efforts to connect to Annwn were failing, I had had no need to practice that particular kind of magic—and it was complicated kind of magic, especially since I was coming from a place I had never been before. Still, almost anywhere would be better than here at this point. As long as I got back to my own world, even if I didn’t succeed in returning to exactly the same spot, I would at least have a chance. True, ending up at the North Pole or the Sahara, or perhaps right in the path of an erupting volcano would be…well, complicated at best. However, being forced back into subjection to Alcina would be far worse.
Unfortunately, the moment I began to summon the power needed to open a portal, which was considerable, Alcina felt it, and the octopus again tightened its grip. Alcina didn’t want to kill me, but she would do a lot of damage if necessary to keep me—I was sure of that.
As if to confirm my worst fear, the octopus plunged me deep into the salty water. It brought me up again, almost immediately, and, dripping, shivering, and gasping as I was, my concentration was broken. I would have to start all over again, and Alcina could keep battering me enough to destroy my focus without killing me.
I reached out for the octopus’s mind. It was surrounded and utterly controlled by Alcina, just as I expected, and I wasn’t foolish enough to try to break that control, an effort that would have been a total waste of energy. Instead, I used a method that would require less focus to work. Lashing out as hard as I could, I sent a lance of pure thought clattering against Alcina’s control and the mind beneath it, striking that mind with stunning force and simultaneously throwing Alcina a little off-balance.
All I had won was a temporary respite. The octopus’s hold on me loosened, but it would not remain stunned for long, and if for some reason it did, there was plenty of other marine life Alcina could use against me, including a number of sharks. In just seconds, I had to punch through into my world. I felt the power building; I felt the wall between worlds thinning. Alcina was screaming at me, but I resolutely tuned her out. Fish jumped at me, but none of them could really distract me. One of the sharks circled closer, but I didn’t think Alcina had quite figured out how to have the shark restrain me without mauling me, so it got close to me but then hesitated.
In that moment of hesitation, I felt something like a click inside my head as my mind made contact with my own world. Right next to me, a portal glowed invitingly. With a little magical help, I struggled free of the octopus’s tentacle and threw myself through the portal. Alcina’s screams rang in my ears, and I felt her mind striking against mine, seeking a weak spot in my defenses. Before she could find one I was through the portal, which I slammed shut behind me. Unfortunately, I was stiff and bruised from the octopus, and before I could attempt something like flying, I had fallen into the ocean. The one in Alcina’s world had been a bit warmer, like the Atlantic; this one was Pacific cold and a much bigger shock to my system, but at least it gave me hope that I was on the right coast.
The water was much rougher, though, than Goleta Beach had been when I left, and the surf was decidedly heavier. Almost immediately I had to roll under a big wave to avoid being slapped down by it, and my night vision, which fortunately was still working, showed me other big waves rising from the ocean. After dodging two more, I knew I had to get out of the ocean, but trying to swim to shore in all this turbulence would be difficult, so I tried gently but quickly flying upward. I still hadn’t practiced much, and the combination of my waterlogged condition and the relatively strong winds added to the difficulty, but just moving straight up, out of the water and above the reach of the waves, turned out to be easy enough to execute.
As I started to climb, however, I could sense enormous power building almost right next to me. Alcina was opening another enormous gateway, obviously with the intent of bringing some of her marine army through with her. Unfortunately for her, the bigger the portal, the harder it is to keep stable, so it was easy for me to give it a couple of blasts of raw magic and cause it to collapse. I figured Alcina had to be getting tired by this time, and it would take her a few minutes to try again. That gave me time to establish where I was and plan my next moves.
Free for the moment from both the battering of the sea and Alcina’s attacks, it was not hard for me to spot the pier and realize I had made it back to more or less the same spot from which I had left. I must have managed to hook on to the remnants of the connection Alcina had used without even realizing what I was doing.
Then I heard the guys shouting, and looking toward the northwest, I could see a battle in progress. Morgan had taken to the air, a wise move on her part, since she had no way to counter Zom. The guys had gathered around Shar, close enough to touch Zom and be protected from any magical attack, including lightning from the ominous storm clouds above them. That left the battle at an impasse for the moment, but it wasn’t hard for me to sense that Morgan was responsible for the agitation of the sea. Zom might protect the guys against magically generated high waves, but a true tidal wave would submerge them and could still drown them at that point with no further magical impetus.
I could also sense Nurse Florence somewhere around, trying to counter Morgan’s magic. S
ince the ladies of the lake worked better with fresh water, Morgan was winning, but slowly. However, I doubted her goal was actually to kill all of them. What she wanted was clearly to keep them busy until the last traces of the portal through which I had been pulled had faded away, making it impossible for Nurse Florence to follow me. It was a good plan—except that Morgan had not counted on my escaping and coming back. Whatever else happened, I needed to get rid of her before Alcina managed to get another portal opened. I did not want to have to deal with both of them at once!
Awkwardly I zigzagged in Morgan’s direction, fighting the more and more powerful winds every second. She was still preoccupied with other things, but when I got close enough, I yelled, “The meeting is over. Leave now, or face my wrath!” Unfortunately, the tynged allowed her to go in peace once the meeting was over. I drew White Hilt, and its fire cut through the darkness, but the tynged clamped down on me mercilessly when I thought about shooting flames at her.
Morgan was surprised, to say the least, but she recovered quickly. “You should have just let Alcina take you,” she hissed at me, practically spitting the words. “Now you have brought more pain to yourself and to your friends.”
“You’d better get out of here,” I cautioned. “The tynged won’t protect you if you refuse to leave.”
Morgan scowled, but she knew I was right. “Don’t be so foolish as to think that this is the end, Taliesin.”
“What is it you want, Morgan? You have Alcina back. Why not just take her and go?” I know—foolish questions. What likelihood was there that Morgan would reveal her motivations to me?
“If your wits were half as sharp as you think they are, you would already know!” she replied angrily. Then she turned and flew toward the south, out over the ocean, and was gone. I landed near the guys, who rushed in my direction.
“Tal, are you all right?” asked Nurse Florence, who had noticed the seawater dripping from me.
“Better than I look,” I replied quickly. “But we need to brace for another battle. Alcina might open a portal somewhere nearby at any minute, and it would not surprise me at all if Morgan doubled back and tried to catch us off guard.”
“Maybe we should just leave, then,” suggested Nurse Florence. “Let’s take advantage of that security net that Vanora is wearing herself out to create.”
“I still have no idea what Morgan wants, but if she gives up for the moment and goes away somewhere with Alcina—” I stopped for a second, shocked by thinking of her only as Alcina—“I mean, if she goes somewhere with Carla, we may never get Carla back.”
Nurse Florence sighed. “You have a point.” She said something else as well, but I was distracted for a moment by the feeling that someone else was nearby, perhaps invisibly. Focusing my attention, I could just make out Khalid, using his usual strategy of trying to hide behind Shar. Damn! That kid just would not stay out of trouble.
“Khalid,” I called. “I can see you. You may as well come out.” At that point he stepped from behind Shar and dropped his invisibility. They guys were all understandably shocked to see him, and even Nurse Florence, who, like me, could have seen him if she had concentrated, had been too busy countering Morgan to notice.
“Khalid!” snapped Shar. “I told you to stay home! You can’t just go running into battle untrained. Just because you have a weapon doesn’t mean you can use it effectively.” Khalid was doing his almost-tearful I-was-just-trying-to-help expression, and I could hear in Shar’s voice that it was working.
“I could help,” Khalid protested. “I’m fast, and I’m stealthy. None of you even knew I was with you!”
“Which means if you had gotten into trouble, none of us would have been able to help you,” said Shar, somewhat more gently.
“Wait!” I said abruptly. “I sense Alcina.” I hadn’t felt another large portal opening, so she must have decided to leave Sea World behind and just come herself. Looking around quickly, I could see her walking slowly up the pier toward the beach. “Shar and I will go after her, because we are least likely to be affected by her mind control.”
Actually, the tyngeds Nurse Florence had arranged with each of the guys might have protected all of them from being controlled by Alcina…except that I had forced Nurse Florence to make several modifications, including one that released any of them from the obligation to protect me if doing so would threaten their own well-being. I didn’t want people being forced into suicide missions on my behalf, and after Samhain that kind of scenario had seemed very likely. If someone chose to die for me, that was one thing, but no one should be compelled to do so by magic.
Anyway, since Alcina’s compulsion was so strong, someone under a tynged to protect me and under orders from Alcina to attack me might very well have his mind ripped apart by the conflicting demands; chances were good that the personal well-being safeguard of the tynged would release him at that point and let Alcina have him. Even had I anticipated this situation, I would have insisted on structuring the tynged in the same way, but I did wish they could all be protected from being enslaved by Alcina in some way that wouldn’t destroy them. Probably they could be, but there just wasn’t time now.
“Nurse Florence,” I continued, “do your best to counter whatever magic attacks she throws at us. The rest of you, keep an eye out for Morgan; she could be back any time. And Khalid…stay out of trouble!” Khalid nodded sullenly, and Shar and I were off at a run toward the beach end of the pier.
“She can control sea creatures, so try to stay out of the water!” I thought to Shar as we ran. Hopefully there was no nearby giant octopus for her to summon, and I didn’t think the waters were exactly shark infested, but I had been taken by surprise too often in the past to take anything for granted.
I could smell the lightning in the air before it struck. Somewhere nearby, Morgan was milking electricity out of the already-prepared storm clouds. As far as I could sense, the guys all dodged successfully, but without Shar nearby, they were vulnerable.
“Shar, go back!” I shouted. “I’ll take care of Alcina.” Shar stopped dead in his tracks, clearly skeptical. Given what had happened last time, I couldn’t really blame him.
“I’m protected this time, Shar. Just go!”
Reluctantly, he turned back as thunder roared and there was another lightning flash.
“Running to see me, lover?” asked Alcina mockingly as I got closer. “And here I thought you wanted to get away from me.”
I let White Hilt flare and then demanded her surrender. She just laughed. “Are you really going to burn this Carla you care so much about? Go ahead, if that is what you really want.”
Well, she had me there—I obviously couldn’t kill her. However, if she were as tired as I guessed from traveling between worlds and summoning huge armies of sea creatures, I should be able to restrain her.
I was at the end of the pier, and she stood only a few steps down it. I started singing, pouring every ounce of magic I had into the song, willing her into immobility. Given how strong her own will was, an attack on her body made more sense than a direct attack on her mind.
Of course, Alcina had wanted me to get close enough for her to enthrall me with fake love again, and I could feel her seductive energy twisting all around, probing my defenses, eroding them one grain at a time. Yes, I was protected, but only for a little while, though I avoided looking into her eyes, slowing down her magic at least a little bit.
I could feel Alcina trying to push back my attack, resisting the paralysis I was throwing at her. She was weak, not as weak as I had hoped, but probably enough. The strain of both attacking and defending at the same time would wear out a caster twice as fast as doing just one or the other. Both of us were strained by that same burden, but I felt her wearing out just a little faster than I was.
Focused as I needed to be right then, I could only be dimly aware of what was going on to the west, where the guys and Nurse Florence were once again fighting Morgan. From what I could tell, they had reached another
impasse, but I could feel more ocean spray hitting me as the waters around the pier became more agitated. It would not be long before Morgan had created some major disaster. I had to overcome Alcina before that happened.
At that moment I realized there was a way to win our magical duel much more quickly. I could cast the awakening spell on her again, knock her back into a coma, and throw myself into the battle against Morgan. We would drive Morgan off, and we would have Alcina—no, Carla—we would have Carla again, and this time when we peeled off the second casting of the awakening spell, we would be ready. Alcina would not be able to take control of the situation the way she did the first time.
The problem was that the results of hitting someone with the second casting of the awakening spell were unpredictable. The fact that Carla had been rendered comatose the first time didn’t mean that the effect would be the same this time. The spell could just as easily kill her.
It wasn’t that I had started loving Carla again. Those feelings were still gone, perhaps forever…but at the very least, she was a friend, Gianni was still like a little brother to me, and her parents treated me like a member of the family. Anyway, hell, whose life would I be willing to risk? Anyone’s? I doubted it.
On the other hand, I remembered how much I hated being enslaved to Alcina—and I wasn’t even aware of what was happening at the time. For all I knew, Carla was conscious of every second and screaming silently for help, any help. Would I want to live like that? No, I would choose death for myself rather than being a spectator to the evil someone was creating using my own body. Yeah, I know—it was easy to say something like that when I wasn’t actually faced with the choice, but I really thought I would pick death under those circumstances.
It was one thing, though, to make a choice like that for myself; it was a completely different thing to make that choice for someone else.