Defender of Magic

by Martha Carr

  The troll grew to eight feet tall, advancing on Sirius, roaring as he swiped through the air with his claws. Correk lit the end of the arrow with a fireball, letting it fly toward its target and piercing Sirius' shoulder.

  "That one was for Alan, asshole. And it's just the first of many," growled Leira.

  Sirius cried out in pain, encircling himself with his wand. "Obumbratio!" Shadows rose up suddenly around him, evaporating along with the injured wizard.

  "What the hell? How did he do that?" Leira gingerly touched the side of her face and all the nicks the flare had left behind in her skin.

  "Dark magic has a lot of ways." Correk tied the longbow on his back and gently wrapped his arms around Leira.

  "I'm okay. That was close." She turned her head at the few people in the park, running toward them. "We have company."

  Correk let go of her and held up his hand. "Never was, never will be."

  The humans froze where they were as the spell spread throughout the park.

  "Do we leave them like that, or do we give them all smiles. I don't know."

  Yumfuck shrunk back down to his five inch stature as Leira bent over and held out her hand. She lifted him up to her shoulder and stretched her back. "How did you know I needed you? Did the little guy turn blue? I wasn't in that deep."

  "No, I'm the Fixer," he said, patting his chest. "You're a magical. You set off alarms."

  Leira's eyes grew wider. "Wow... I never got how much you're like a superhero till just now. You need a cape like Batfuck here."

  "Good, you're making jokes. Nothing broken."

  "No, but there's a Dwarf who may need more assistance. Come on, I say we leave the humans and let them wonder why they're running. We need to get out of sight before that spell wears off."

  Correk arched an eyebrow but followed her toward the church. "How did you end up here in the first place?"

  "Tip from General Anderson. The Dark Families managed to fool him, which means there's a mole in his operation. Not good news."

  Leira took the steps two at a time, ignoring the ache in her bones. The metallic taste returned, and she followed the trail inside the darkened church and down the center aisle, careful not to step on the red carpet runner down the middle.

  They found Daniel in the chancel behind the altar, a Dwarf cowering behind him, clutching a duffel bag to his chest.

  "You lived!" Daniel broke into a wide grin. "And you brought backup. Marvelous. We'll need it." He stepped aside to reveal the Dwarf. "Stand up, Fitz. Show 'em what you've done to yourself. He played with the damn thing."

  Fitz sheepishly stood up, stretching to seven feet, his torso much longer than his legs.

  "Oh..." Leira hesitated, her brow furrowed. "The artifact... did that?"

  "Yeah, go on, Fitz. Tell them. He was a bit of a minger before, but he's gone and made it even worse."

  "Fuck off, Daniel. You're not so easy on the eyes either," whined Fitz. "The wizard said it would grant me a wish. I paid him ten quid for it. It should have worked."

  "It kind of did," said Leira. "Is the artifact in the bag?" She held out her hand and Fitz reluctantly handed it over. Inside was a bowl made of pink quartz. "Probably not a good idea to try to fix him with this thing."

  "You would be right," said Correk, crossing his arms over his chest.

  "Do you have something else? I've got nothing."

  A shudder passed through Fitz, his bottom lip trembling. "There, there, Fitz. The Fixer is here," said Daniel. "Yeah, I know who you are. Word travels pretty fast when the baton is passed, so to speak. Nice to meet you. I'm Daniel... No last name. I don't like using them."

  "So you said," said Leira. "Fitz, how did you get that artifact?"

  "On the dark web. There's a channel just for magicals where you can find anything. I saw a notice on a bulletin board in a chat room."

  "A virtual Dark Market. I wonder if Harkin can help us get on it."

  Correk grimaced. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out he helped create it. Are you ready?" Correk reached up and put his hands on Fitz' shoulders.

  "Just like that?" Fitz squeezed his eyes shut. "Yeah, sure. Okay, yeah. Just do it. I can't stay like this."

  "Fuckin A. I can't believe I actually get to see you at work," muttered Leira. "Okay, I'll be quiet." She held a finger up to her lips and the troll on her shoulder did the same, letting out a cackle.

  Correk rolled his eyes but went back to focusing on Fitz. He pressed down on his shoulders, his hands glowing around the edges. "Cinis cinerem, pulvis et cinis. Reditum parit."

  Fitz's mouth popped open and his eyes widened in surprise. His bones creaked loudly, and his face twisted in pain as Correk continued to press down on his shoulders. "I change my mind!" screamed Fitz, but it was too late to go back. His muscles and bones reshaped themselves as Daniel leaned away, squeezing one eye shut, the other staring at the metamorphosis.

  Finally, standing before them was a five foot Dwarf covered in sweat, his clothes hanging off him.

  "I gotta say, Fitz. Now that I've seen the options, you're not bad looking like this," said Daniel.

  "One last question, Fitz," said Leira. "Did the wizard give you this artifact personally?"

  "Wizard?" Fitz wiped his forehead on his sleeve. "What are you talking about? I didn't get that bowl from a wizard. It was a Light Elf, like you," he said, nodding at Correk. "He said his name was Wolfstan Humphrey."

  Leira felt her heart beat faster. "Sirius lied. He's the pawn in this whole thing, not the leader."

  "He said someone would show up when the time was right to pick up the bowl and I was to tell them he said hello. I suppose that's you two."

  Leira leaned back in a wide stance, her hands on her hips. "Wolfstan's fucking with us for his own pleasure. Fine. That's the way you make mistakes. His first one was using the general. Somewhere in that is a flaw and I'm going to find it. His second one was using the web. That thing leaves a trail better than magic." She looked at Correk, not saying anything.

  He worked his jaw but finally let out a sigh. "No, his first mistake was not asking Sirius what artifact he was going to use and handing it over to us. This bowl may hold some answers on how to help Peyton. We'll ask Harkin for help. He'll know how to use this thing and dig into the web."

  "Look at that. Your dad is our secret weapon," said Leira, patting him on the back as the troll let out a low whistle and shrugged.

  Chapter Two

  "Damn the heat," Leira muttered, tapping the thermostat with her finger. “I’ve already changed my shirt twice today.” The metal bracelet with its inset stone jangled on her wrist as she brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear and tapped again. Nothing. "It's not the heat, it's the fucking humidity."

  "You're from Texas. This is East Coast heat. Junior heat." Correk chuckled and reached into a box of blueberry Pop Tarts, pulling out a silvery wrapped package and tearing it open with his teeth. His long, pale hair was tied back with a thin, leather cord.

  "Those are better toasted."

  "Takes too long."

  "I'm surprised you didn't try a fireball on one of them." Leira noticed him look away and smiled. "You incinerated it, didn't you?"

  "Not all of them. Yumfuck seemed to like them. Hey, did you move my Cheetos? Pack of individual bags."

  "What? Nope. Didn't move them." Not a lie. Leira reached for her mug of coffee and felt a twinge, lifting her shirt to check on the purple and blue bruise on her hip. "Say nothing. I earned this bruise fair and square."

  Correk stopped chewing and looked at Leira, choosing his words carefully. "You went alone, and Sirius was waiting for you. Wolfstan has gotten to the Dark Families..."

  Leira cut him off, slurping the hot coffee. "We got more pieces of a thousand piece puzzle of a blue sky with just a few clouds. It was a win." She stood in the half-finished hallway with her hands on her hips. "And we rescued Fitz and even wounded Sirius. He'll be out for a few days at least."

  "That only leaves the g
overnment, a few hundred other dark wizards and witches, some shifters..."

  "And Fleeker, last time I checked. I get it."

  "Top of the list."

  "Still going to do my part to keep it from becoming outright chaos." Leira turned the dial, drawing magic through her feet and swirled the energy around the thermostat, her eyes momentarily glowing. "This thing really is broken."

  Correk bit into the Pop Tart and gave her a sidelong glance. "Please take the troll when you go out hunting for them again. It's a request, that's all."

  "Said the Fixer."

  "He was growling last night for no apparent reason. We both knew you were in trouble."

  She walked over and hugged Correk from behind, ignoring the squeaks in the old pine floor. "Those things are better hot. From a toaster. We have one here somewhere in one of these boxes." She bit him softly on the ear, still rounded from the glamour he kept in place to hide in plain sight.

  "I tried. The electricity sparked out in the kitchen again. The heat in here has left them reasonably warm."

  "DC in the summer with no air conditioning. You know this city was built on a swamp. I can't take it..."

  "You lived through Armageddon on the streets of Paris and are undone by the heat."

  "Let me fix it. Chill this place down. I can set an intention..."

  "We said we would keep the magic to a minimum. Keep a low profile, not leave energy trails for anyone to follow..."

  "Where's a Crystal to hug when you need one?" Leira threw up her hands and went upstairs to their bedroom to stand in front of the large fan. The bedroom was the only completely renovated space in the red brick townhouse along N Street in Georgetown.

  She pulled her sweaty DC 101 Rock Station t-shirt away from her body and lifted her hair off her neck as she looked at the overturned picture on the dresser. She picked it up and looked at the photo from the dinner in the kemana.

  Almost a perfect day. They even managed to get back to dinner after Wolfstan pulled his dramatic exit. She wiped the dust off Harkin's face. Still on the run. We'll fix that too.

  "Mom, you're the really brave one." She smiled at the picture of her mother and grandmother hugging her from either side, swallowing hard.

  Correk came in and stood next to her in front of the fan, a few long strands of silver hair clinging to the side of his damp face.

  "You okay?"

  "I didn't realize till we moved that I lived in a small radius of Austin almost my entire life. And our place before Nana disappeared was not far from Estelle's. It's how I knew her in the first place."

  "This will feel like home eventually."

  "I know. I've already found the good coffee places and there's Rock Creek Park. That place even has corners where Yumfuck can run wild without being seen. Still, it's not weird Austin."

  "DC is weird for a whole new set of elected reasons."

  "True. Are you ever sorry we turned down Turner's tricked-out mansion in Foggy Bottom?" she asked quietly.

  "Only at night when the fan sputters and I run out of Cheetos to bribe Yumfuck to fan me."

  Leira gently elbowed him. "That would be funnier if it wasn't true. We own this place. That's a better deal. It's like we're grownups."

  Correk lifted Leira's chin and kissed her. "Turner understood. I think he was even proud of us. Did you know I kept a key?"

  "Did you know he gave me one?"

  "Doesn't seem as cool now."

  "He said he wanted to make sure we had access to his gym and that arsenal of weapons. But who exactly would we be fighting with that armory? Not humans. I can't do that."

  "Turner has always been good at seeing what may be coming next and preparing."

  "That's disturbing. He showed me a couple and he has weapons I’ve never seen before. Lois called to see how we were doing. She said the Silver Griffins are having more and more trouble reigning in magicals."

  "I know... I see it every day as the Fixer. Elves and Gnomes turning up missing or dead at the hands of dark magic. Turner understands even if he doesn't like it."

  "Maybe I'll head over to the old mansion today."

  "You're doing it for the air conditioning."

  "Not denying it. He keeps that fridge stocked like he knows we're going to stop by."

  "Because we do all the time."

  "He even has frozen Snickers. He's not fighting fair. How are you doing taking over as the Fixer? That was abrupt the way Turner pulled back as soon as we got here."

  "He's got other projects now. The open warfare in Paris really unnerved him. But he's been known to show up occasionally. Like he can hear me trying to figure out what spell to use." Correk ran his hand under Leira's shirt and up her back. "Turner keeps an eye out for you too, whether you know it or not."

  Leira held up the bottom of her t-shirt, exposing the round scar on her belly as the breeze made her shirt billow. "I know he does. I run into his magic trail from time to time. It's like a fingerprint."

  "We'll get this place fixed up in time. Our second place together."

  Leira gave him a crooked smile. "We'll always have Estelle's. This place isn't that bad." She patted Correk on the shoulder. "We need to get going. Daylight's burning."

  "I'll get changed. You're going to have to let go of the fan."

  "One more minute." She finally pulled herself away from the fan and walked down the hallway, past the kitchen that was still layered in dirt in some of the corners from years of neglect by the previous owners.

  She went into the living room and lifted a frond on the lush potted fern, rubbing the small furry head of the five-inch troll napping in the cool dirt. "Yumfuck, wake up. There's food in it for you." She smoothed back his green hair and let go of the frond.

  Correk came back downstairs dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and his cowboy boots. "This townhouse isn't bad and it's really not that old, not in Oriceran terms."

  "That's because your magical buildings were built centuries ago, and magic is sturdier than mortar. This place was originally built in 1788, which makes it an historical artifact in the human world."

  "That makes me an historical artifact in the human world." Flecks of frosting were sticking to the edges of Correk's lips.

  Leira tilted her head and kissed him, licking the transferred frosting off her lip. She wrinkled her nose at the crumbs falling off the front of his shirt and reached out to wipe them away.

  "I got this." Yumfuck came scurrying into the room and ran up Correk's pant leg to suck up the crumbs like a mini-vacuum cleaner. Leira sighed and shook her head.

  "Let me get dressed and I will do something about this kitchen situation," she said. "We'll get some real food for breakfast, even though you already hit up Sam's Club without a place to cook anything."

  Correk smiled. "You don't need to cook Doritos."

  "Mmmm, Doritos," Yumfuck chimed in.

  "I know you did something with my Cheetos."

  "Huh?" The troll cackled and ran out of the room ahead of Leira. "He's going to figure out what you've been doing eventually," she said as the troll kept running up the stairs to his room on the second floor.

  Leira took the stairs two at a time behind him, dodging the broken one near the top of the first set of stairs. Yumfuck turned to the left and went in his room shutting the door.

  Leira continued up the stairs, turning into what passed for the master bedroom, pulling off her damp t-shirt and stripping down to her underwear.

  "You can just stay like that." Correk came in and gently shut the door with his boot, wrapping his arms around Leira.

  "We won't get much done if I do."

  "We'll get something done."

  She leaned into him and laughed. "Finally, something worth all the sweating," she said, pulling off his shirt.

  Leira pulled a clean t-shirt and a pair of old jeans from the dresser and pulled the t-shirt over her head. "Time to tackle the kitchen."

  "You're not big on spooning afterwards."

  "Not till ther
e's AC. Unless you've changed your mind about badabingbadaboom." Leira let the ends of her finger glow.

  "We made that decision together. No magic."

  "Just checking. In that case, we'll spoon in November." She stepped into her jeans zipping them up and stopped to look at the crowded row of framed pictures on the top of the tall dresser. She picked up the first one of Hagan and his wife, Rose standing in front of a blossoming rose bush in the forest sanctuary. I'm glad I found them refuge.

  Rose looked healthier and happier than ever, and even Hagan looked thinner without a nearby donut shop. "I need to go see Hagan. It's been too long."

  "Bring donuts. He'll act like he's fine with it, but he'll be thinking about them for the first fifteen minutes you're there. You can take Yumfuck too. That will really give him room to run." Correk nudged her over and pulled out a shirt, slipping it over his head. He put on a pair of jeans and got down to search for his boots under the bed.

  Leira set the picture down and looked at the one next to it, a feeling of sadness gathering in her stomach. Ossonia. The Light Elf was standing at the edge of Oriceran's Dark Forest, smiling. It was from better days, long before she was sucked into the world in between. Leira swallowed hard and set the picture down as Correk put his chin on her shoulder. She leaned her head against his, still staring at Ossonia's smile.

  "I haven't given up," said Leira.

  "I know, and neither have I, but there are elements out of our control. Like your grandmother has reminded us more than once, Ossonia isn't going anywhere. We will get her out, but it has to be the right time and place."

  "Perrom's never going to forgive me."

  "Sure he will." Correk stood up straight. "Like everything else, it takes time. Paris changed everything, and not just for them. Our old lives ended after that battle, whether we knew it or not. Too much death and no real winners."

  She turned around and hugged him. “I’m heading downstairs. I need a kitchen that works." She opened the bedroom door and went running down the stairs. Correk leaned over the railing. "No one in this house knows how to cook."