by Skyler Grant
"Aefin then," Cleo said, as she slipped her shirt back on, fingers working on the buttons. "If we can find it."
The ancient home of the Elves, Aefin, was known to move about. Sometimes it would stay in orbit around a star for as much as a week before vanishing.
Even most Elves seemed to have trouble finding their home world. It was only the most ancient that lived there.
"You're the genius," Banok said.
Cleo beamed at him. "You're poking fun, but you're right. I am. We've got connections out there I can tap. I'll find it. How does it feel? What was done to you, I mean. Do you ... actually have more power?"
It was strange, but Banok didn't really know. Yes, his senses were certainly sharper, but there was a difference between that and the ability to generate effects.
His lifeforce felt bountiful, and he wasn't drawing off his well. However, that wasn't a promise of more power.
Banok tried something simple he could scale up, an elemental manifestation. Drawing air about him he brought a breeze into the room. It wasn't much, but elemental manifestations had never been his strength. Even such a minor effect should be lightly tapping his well ... so far nothing.
The breeze intensified, growing slowly into a strong wind that sent Cleo's hair rippling.
"You make a good wind machine," Cleo said.
Still nothing.
Banok brandished his hand and a miniature twister manifested in his palm, swirling. Nothing.
"I've got some punch when we need it. Find us those Elves," Banok said.
18
They needed information and supplies, and the Catspaw's crew was certain to have a price on their heads. It was risky, but Cleo thought a visit to Fogport was in order. Fogport was as disreputable a port as one would ever find. The entire planet was shrouded in a thick and heavy fog that confused both the eye and sensors.
Under such a blanket Fogport had grown into a place where one could conduct any sort of business, arrange any tryst, cater to any vice, and not worry about any transaction records.
For a time the planet had been anarchy, but like most anarchies it didn't last. These days docking berths came at a high premium in anonymous credit transfers, and violence against anyone with a valid and current permit was strongly and brutally discouraged by the Fog King.
Although they were surely seen entering the system, once the Catspaw slipped within the layers of fog they might be anywhere on the planet.
Cleo and Banok left the ship, closing the hatch behind them. They were both heavily armed for this excursion. There was no point taking chances.
It was almost perfectly silent, although some details could be seen a hand-span away. Much after that everything became indistinct.
Banok wasn't quite this limited. With his heightened senses he could see a little further, and the fog didn't seem to affect his life-sense, which meant even at a distance he could perceive where others gathered.
"Ever been here?" Cleo asked, pulling a leather jacket tight around her.
"Never," Banok said. "I hope you have some idea where we're going."
"I guess you wouldn't. There isn't exactly any life here for a Tender," Cleo said.
"More than you'd think. There are mosses out there, a lot of them. There is a cave system too with some real animal life," Banok said, after surveying the area more intently with his life-sense.
"You really did get an upgrade," Cleo said, taking his hand and moving into the fog. "We're heading for a safe house used by the Dabo. Heard of them?"
"Terrorists, aren't they? How do you know them?"
"Got it in one. Young Elves. When the old ones go all ascended and leave their planets empty, lots of others move in. Dabo don't like that, they kind of revere the old ones and they get very murdery to get people off those lands. And uh, we've never met. We're kind of going in uninvited," Cleo said.
"This is going to end well," Banok said.
Cleo's spirit must have also helped her to navigate this fog. At regular intervals they passed ground-cars, drivers hawking their services loudly through the fog.
They passed through the airlock of a small building. On the other side the fog ceased. The structure was a ramshackle one, built for locals and not visitors. Those here weren't protected by the Fog King's law, which meant everyone they passed in the lobby was heavily armed, and all gave them ample distance.
They climbed three sets of rickety stairs. An Elven youth slouched near a heavy-looking door, a pair of Elven dueling swords on his hips.
"Keep moving," the youth got out before Cleo slammed her knee into his groin, grabbing him by the neck went when he doubled over, and slamming his face into the door frame.
"Get the door?" Cleo asked Banok.
Maybe this would be fun after all.
Banok boosted his strength and slammed his palm into the door. The frame splintered as the door burst open.
There were six Elves inside. All young, four men and two women. They didn't look especially like terrorists at the moment. They were sprawled around a living room watching a display. It didn't take long for them to go for their guns. Banok gestured, conjuring a gust of air to drive them back while he advanced further into the room.
Cleo followed, her pistol already out and pressed beneath the jaw of the Elf who had been guarding the door. He was bleeding heavily from his nose.
"Despite what it looks like, we're not here for a fight," Cleo said.
"I'm kind of here for a fight," Banok said.
"We're totally here for a fight," said one of the women in a thick Elven accent, rising to her feet. "You're not robbers. Not with magic like that. I'm Elwa. Who are you and what do you want?"
"They broke my nose," said the man Cleo held.
"They're kind of more pathetic than I thought they'd be," Cleo said to Banok.
Elwa moved, stooping to reach under one of the cushions, and Banok drove her back with another blast of air.
"I use fire next time," Banok said. He added to Cleo, "People fighting for a cause are always wimps. It's the ones fighting for money you need to watch out for."
"Guess so," Cleo said, shoving the Elf forward to stumble into the couch with the others. "We're looking for Aefin."
"Even if we knew where Aefin was we'd never tell a bunch of eagalia desarna like you two," said one of the still seated Elves.
Cleo shot him in the thigh, the youth howling as he clutched it. "I speak some Elven, asshole."
"Was it a good insult at least?" Banok asked.
"Nah, he called us grubs. It was pretty lame, but I was already getting sick of getting jerked around so shot him anyways," Cleo said
Elwa raised a hand. "Stop threatening us—stop shooting us, and maybe we can come to some kind of understanding."
"Or not," said the Elf with the broken nose, cradling it in both hands as he turned around and took a proper seat on the couch.
"They're good in a fight. They're powerful. We can use them," Elwa said.
"We are both those things. I know you just got a big arms shipment, it's how I found you. Yet I find you sitting here looking sad instead of shooting up perfectly innocent people. I'm guessing something is wrong," Cleo said.
"I'm not actually our leader," Elwa said.
"No crap. You're terrible. You don't care about your people, you had a sad sack on guard duty, and nobody inside armed," Cleo said.
Elwa glared at Cleo. "Our leader is Vanwyn. She got taken along with our guns. She's an ancient, she'll know your Aefin location. Help us to get her back and maybe she'll be feeling grateful."
"Better be. Get your weapons, kiddos, and lead the way. Even think of turning them on us and we finish you," Cleo said.
The warehouse was just adjacent to one of the docks. There were no guards outside, but then they would have been nearly useless in the fog. Inside was another matter, and Banok could detect almost a dozen life signs.
The Elves were scattered behind them, all with blades in their hands.
"What are we dealing with?" Cleo asked Banok.
"Dwarves. The Elf is on the second floor, she's been wounded," Banok said.
"The Haroka," Elwa said, slipping up behind them.
"Oh good. More terrorists," Cleo said.
"Least you won't feel guilty killing them," Banok said.
"Wasn't planning on it," Cleo said.
Banok led the way, using a bolt of air to explode the doors to the warehouse. With a magical shield conjured he led the charge as Elves and fog rolled in behind him.
The Dwarves weren't sitting around unarmed. Three shotgun blasts caught the magical barrier, the green energy rippling.
The Dwarves were dressed in heavy armor and equipped with powerful weaponry. Cases around the warehouse were opened, revealing the arms within.
The Elves charged forward with their dueling swords, not waiting for Cleo and Banok to handle things. That was a rather severe mistake with shotguns, rifles, and even a flamethrower putting quick work to them.
Cleo wasn't having any luck. However well she placed her shots the Dwarven armor was too heavy. Even a round that caught a helmet visor reflected off.
They'd been sitting here waiting to be attacked, waiting for the Dabo to do something as foolish as they had ultimately done.
Banok pulled on the power of the earth. Magic like this once would have drawn a year of his life, now he barely felt it. Reaching out to the Dwarve's armor he twisted with the elemental power.
The Dwarven armor shattered, each suit suddenly became the equivalent of a shrapnel grenade with the wearer in the center of it. Suddenly naked Dwarves dropped to the ground, those still alive screaming in agony.
Cleo knew what to do with the helpless and the wounded, silencing any still moving with quick shots to the head.
"Nice trick," Cleo said, when the last was dead.
"Shame about the Dabo," Banok said, looking at the corpses strewn around the floor.
"Yeah, we're both shedding tears. These Dwarves weren't locals. Find the Elf and let’s get back to the ship before the Fog King hears about this."
19
Vanwyn had been tortured, but it was nothing that Banok couldn't fix. The Elven woman didn't look ancient, but rather young, although with silver hair. Flecks of the same silver in her irises were common to all the ancient Elves.
When Vanwyn awoke it was to find Banok and Cleo sitting nearby and staring at her.
Vanwyn sat up, her hands moving to ribs that until recently had been broken. Finding them healed she ran that silver-flecked gaze over the both of them. "Well, not Elves. At least neither of you are Dwarves. Grovekeeper, Spirit-touched."
"We've got a fairy, she's sort of like an Elf. We can fetch her, if you'd like," Banok said.
"I'll pass. You rescued me? Did my people send you?" Vanwyn asked.
"We did, and they aided us. I'm sorry, they didn't make it," Cleo said.
"Their wills were always stronger than their judgment. They were young, it is no loss," Vanwyn said, without a hint of sympathy.
"I thought I was cold," Cleo said.
"The ancient ones are all like this," Banok said.
"Well," Cleo said, thinking it over. "I don't actually care. Aefin, we want to go. Tell us where to find it and we don't throw you out an airlock."
Vanwyn turned an expressionless gaze on Cleo. "Threats. How disappointing and uninteresting. What is it you hope to find on Aefin?"
Cleo glanced at Banok, who shrugged and said, "The power of the Druids is my power now. It is Elven, and I don't understand it."
"And you think you'll find those answers on Aefin? Your power is Elven and ancient, and you will never understand it. Aefin will not cure your condition, but simply remind you of the futility of it," Vanwyn said.
"Right, the airlock it is then," Cleo said cheerfully.
Vanwyn raised her hand. "Further threats are unnecessary. Why don't you tell me what truly troubles you, for it is not that power you now wear so awkwardly."
"Right, because a terrorist is our best source for ancient Elven wisdom," Cleo said wryly.
"I was ancient before the human race existed. This lifetime is but one of thousands and the things I have been is more than your mind can comprehend. I owe you a debt for saving my life, one freely acknowledged. Tell me the answers you truly seek," Vanwyn said.
Banok really hated the ancient Elves, but if he didn't think they could be useful he would have never gone ahead with the idea of finding Aefin. He explained everything, from finding the amulet to how he gained the powers of the Master Druid. Vanwyn listened mostly in silence apart from the occasional question for clarification. When he was done she sat there in silence for several minutes.
"Well, this is awkward. I thought the other day was bad," Cleo said.
"Not discussing that in front of the ancient Elf," Banok said.
"Darkness stairs. I've had it happen multiple times in my life, and I've little eagerness to live through it once again. What do you intend to do?" Vanwyn asked.
"We're not heroes, and if something threatens us we shoot it in the face. Whatever this is, it has come for us once. We're going to find its face," Cleo said.
"What she said," Banok said.
Vanwyn nodded. "Well then. You hold the power of a Grovemaster, that of one who long ago turned against my people. Power of that sort is never really destroyed, but it was tainted to such a degree an Elf could no longer bear it."
"That isn't much help," Banok said.
"I didn't say it would be. It is power. As you master it, you can create a Grove, and you can empower others. You can restore your Order to what it once was. You must not fall or the power can be seized by the one who kills you. The wisest thing to do would be to run far from this fight and sit it out. Deny your foe that which lives within you," Vanwyn said, with her gaze fixated upon Banok.
"Hiding away didn't work for the last one who held this power. If it hadn't been for me going where I probably shouldn't, it would have been lost. No, we'll stick with the shooting in the face strategy," Banok said.
Vanwyn nodded and the Elf gave the briefest and coldest of smiles. "Then I would ask to join your crew. I do owe you for saving my life and the Dabo ... well, perhaps it has all grown a little stale."
"We still might be throwing you out an airlock unless you get useful real quick. But if not ..." Cleo said. "We don't really need anyone else."
"You need to return to the site of the power of which you lost track. You must reclaim the amulet," Vanwyn said.
"It fell into a sun. It's kind of gone," Banok said.
"And you should know better. Power like that is not destroyed. Whoever your foe is, they will already be figuring out how to reclaim it, and you must do so first," Vanwyn said.
Banok glanced over to Cleo. "That possible?"
"There are probes to study stars. Layers of heat-resistant materials that can get close, but something that can go inside one and claim an object? No," Cleo said with a shake of her head. "There isn't anything like that."
"Magic then," Banok said.
"I have an idea, if you would care to hear it. If you allow me to join your crew," Vanwyn said.
"Lady, again, we're not heroes. We're mostly thieves and killers, or whatever we're doing at the moment," Cleo said.
"It matters not. I am without a place and I do not like it, and what you have ahead of you intrigues me. You will find me useful."
"Fine," Cleo said, letting out a frustrated breath. "I suppose we don't have an Elf. Be useless and annoying, and you get the boot. On a planet, if you're lucky."
Vanwyn tilted her head. "Then under your leaves I find shelter." Those silver-flecked eyes turned back to Banok, "You have no elemental familiar within you. Surely you can see how this lacking on your part might be useful?"
An elemental familiar.
Banok didn't, that much was true, but elementalism had never been his area of expertise. Those who did specialize in it often bonded themselves to an element, and
that bond manifested itself in some kind of physical being, an entity, depicting the element.
It was a lot like the spirit that inhabited Cleo. Every mountain, every flame, every wind had a spirit that could be bound. The larger, the more noteworthy, the more powerful and the more difficult the spirit who appeared might be, the harder they were to control.
Banok could only think of one thing Vanwyn might be suggesting, and it was quite totally and completely mad.
"You want me to try to bind to the spirit of a star? A now, magically super-powered star," Banok said.
"You'll probably burn alive and take the rest of us with you," Vanwyn said calmly. "Any normal human sorcerer making such an effort would without question. You are the wielder of an ancient power, however, and it might be that is enough."
Banok looked to Cleo. "Am I insane for even considering it?"
Cleo massaged at her eyes. "I don't know, Banok. I'm the one who always has a plan, but we're outside of my experience. My gut says that we've come together with her for a reason though, because of just that. We're idiots if we don't listen."
Vanwyn studied Cleo thoughtfully. "There is something to you, isn't there? This is not just about him. Are you lovers?"
"Not yet," Banok said. There hadn't yet been a proper opportunity to get with Nyx, and until that happened nothing with Cleo was either. It was already frustrating.
"Start as soon as you can," Vanwyn said. "You'll find it boosts the powers of the spirit, and heightens what it is capable of."
"Will it do anything for fairies?" Cleo asked, curious.
"A magical creature? Certainly. Whatever her area of expertise is will be amplified. Is he sleeping with everyone then? I wouldn't mind the amplification of my own abilities," Vanwyn said.
"Well, this just went from weird to uncomfortable," Banok said.
Cleo gave Banok a wry look. "Listen, I know you are kind of smitten and crazy in love with me. I get it. But do you mind? Seriously. Not even a little hot for the cold and snippity Elf?"
"I'm a little hot for the cold and snippity Elf," Banok admitted.
"Then you'll get it on too. But she's after Nyx and after me. We all get super-powered together. It's terrible strategy not to seize every advantage you can before you go into a big fight," Cleo said.