Issue #58 – Alert UMW: Mages
Part 3
“Hi.” Lisa led Kay and Kareem into the room, not needing to do any acting to look just a bit nervous. She’d never met other spellcasters in a situation that wasn’t a battle and wasn’t sure this meeting wouldn’t become one. She stopped a few steps inside, letting the others get in and close the door behind. The people in front of her weren’t what she expected; they looked so normal; not much older than she was.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was expecting some kind of cult with hooded robes or lots of jangling jewelry. As it stood, she was wearing more ornamentation than those four combined. All seven people now in the room stared awkwardly for a moment.
“Um… this might seem like a strange question.” Lisa started. This played out so much differently in her head. It shocked her to realize she’d actually been hoping it was just another fight. “But do you guys do… magic?” The words left her in a rush.
Jennifer glanced at the others. Jeremy was looking to her, Theresa was trying to shrink into her chair, and Elle was smirking in preparation to say something snarky. Jennifer beat her to the punch.
“Do you?”
Lisa thought quickly. “This might seem strange, but I downloaded this book… And when I follow some of the instructions, things kind of, well… happen.” She wasn’t the best actress, but it didn’t take a lot to appear awkward at the moment.
Her explanation seemed to lift some of the tension in the room.
“Really.” Elle leaned forward. “What kinds of things? Can you make a groundhog grow to horse size?”
Lisa blinked. Was that really a thing in the Book of Passions? She now had both it and the Book of Reason in digital form, but she’d never seen anything like that. Then again, the Books revealed or hid pages on an often arbitrary basis. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Lame.” Elle said automatically. “So what can you do?” She wasn’t just looking at Lisa.
“Don’t mind Elle.” Jennifer cut her off. “It’s nice to meet other mages. That’s what we settled on calling ourselves; it was a long, obnoxious discussion.”
“Wizard has too much of a beardy vibe, and Jeremy wouldn’t let us call him a witch.” Elle explained. “Oh, by the way this is Jen and the girl trying to hide behind her palmtop is Theresa.”
“Jennifer.” came the swift correction.
Kareem raised a hand in greeting. “It is nice to meet you all. I’m Keenan and my friends are Linda and Sharon.”
“Mages.” Kay said, trying the word on for size. “I like that. We were talking about ‘practitioner’, but that’s way too serious.”
Jennifer suppressed a scowl. She liked ‘practitioner’. “Right. Anyway, hi. Do you three go to Mary Wash too?”
“William and Mary.” Lisa said, suddenly wishing they’d spent more time on a cover story. “I did a little hacking to find out who else had the Book and you guys were the closest. The way I see it, people like us need to stick together.”
And here it was, the reason for them being there and the tipping point that might turn this from an uncomfortable social situation to a brawl. There was suddenly lead in her stomach despite all the contingency plans in place.
“Plus,” She added, hesitant, “I think we should work together to make sure no one abuses this. There’s a lot of potential to hurt a lot of people with what we’ve got now.”
“And potential to invite backlash.” Kareem added, “Just as descendants have from some groups.”
Looking indignant, Jennifer shook her head. “We aren’t abusing our power here. In fact, we’re doing our best to learn about it the right way.” She became aware of where Jeremy and Theresa were directing their gazes. “Alright, Elle might be abusing her power a little.”
Elle sniffed indignantly and folded her arms. “That’s so unfair. I’m not abusing them. It’s not like they’re being enslaved or anything.”
Without context for that comment, Lisa felt herself tense and her back stiffen. “Exactly who ‘isn’t’ being enslaved.”
“Oh, about seventy animals around campus if you’re counting hives and colonies as one animal.” Elle said offhand. “I’ve got a ‘friend to all creatures’ thing going with my magic. I give them treats, my problem solving skills, and help them work together. In return, they do what I ask.”
Her eye lit up. “Oh, hey! I thought of a wizarding name. You can call me Feral Elle.”
“Why are we doing names?” Theresa asked timidly. “We’re not prelates or anything.”
“Plus,” Jeremy added, “It’s not really a codename if your name is in it.”
Ella scoffed. “I didn’t say codename, I said wizarding name. Like Jen can be Jenny the Pink.”
“Jennifer!” the young woman in question snapped. “And why would I be ‘the Pink’?”
Lisa cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but I think we’re getting sidetracked. Like you said, it’s cool to meet other people like ourselves, but… well I think we can be more. If we all work together, trade information and all keep an eye out for other people with magic, I think we could be amazing.”
“I agree.” said Jennifer, still shooting a glare at Elle. “That’s how we’re doing it already; each one of us is learning a category of spells and we plan to teach those to the others once we’ve got them down. I figured that might be the fastest way of doing things, seeing how many spells are in that book and Jeremy’s.”
Now it was Kay glaring and it was at Lisa. “Why didn’t we think of that? Wait, another Book’s gone digital? Which one is it?”
Rocking back in his seat, Jeremy shrugged. “I found another book with working spells a little while after the Book of Passions. I found it while doing a translation project for my German language credit. It’s called Die Gesetze der Bewegung ohne Berührung.“
Lisa was about to ask if she could see a copy when the door on the opposite end of the room, the one attached to the hallway where the basement level dorms were located, flew open and Manikin walked in, wearing the face of Lisa Ortega. The Knights Amore Detestabilis flanked her.
Lisa’s fingers twitched toward the pocket where she’d stowed the miniaturized version of her staff, eager to summon it and blast her doppelganger. Only Kareem’s hand falling on her shoulder, and his calming voice in her mind stayed her hand.
Wait. He said to both her and Kay. She is not alone and believe me, her companions are as formidable as their souls are tortured. They don’t seem to recognize us, so we should get as much information as possible before moving to fight them.
Moving her hand to her side, she nodded mentally. Right. But just in case, Kay, make the call.
“I expected more.” Manikin said, looking over the young people in the room like a drill sergeant receiving new recruits.
Elle raised her hand. “Question: Who the hell are you?”
Manikin clearly registered the query and just as clearly didn’t care. “In my day, even cunning folk were still apprentices and wards at your age. And now this is all the Blue World can offer in terms of practitioners? How far has the power fallen in the intervening years?”
“Practitioners…” Jennifer murmured. “You know?”
“Why didn’t you detect them?” asked Jeremy in a stage whisper.
Taking a step forward, Manikin eyed Jennifer a bit closer. “Because I’m able to counter basic detection spells like the one she’s arrayed. Such things are meant for study aide, young practitioner, not for active use against enemies.”
A panicked noise came from Jennifer’s throat, but she didn’t shy away. “That’s because I didn’t expect to have enemies. As far as I’m concerned, we can all be friends—equals.”
Manikin stood up straight again and Lisa wondered if she’d ever looked so… regal. Then something flickered on her features. What was that? It almost looked like Manikin was briefly impressed with she Jennifer said. Which made no sense, knowing who she served. Morganna didn’t like competition; she’d proven it in her crusade against descendants and again in betraying her demonic allies.
“Once, this was so.” The construct said softly before visibly steeling herself. “But no more. We have been sent by the Heir of Hyrilius to hear your oaths of fealty to her. She comes to this place for its confluence of ley lines and she will not brook challenge for its use.”
Jennifer blinked. “Who’s Hyrilius? What’s a ley line? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
This made Manikin pause. “You truly don’t know? And you call yourself a practitioner?”
“Actually, we call ourselves mages. Or ‘maga’ for us girls.” Elle supplied.
“A vulgar term.” Manikin dismissed her. “If you are to serve the Heir, you will use proper terms and be proper practitioners of spells.”
“Please,” said Jennifer, “We don’t know anything about what you’re talking about. We don’t know who this ‘heir’ is. We don’t know what ley lines are. And we don’t even know how to swear fealty to anyone. We just found this book online and started practicing. No one’s taught us anything, so we never even learned what it is we’re supposed to know.”
Lisa knew her own expressions enough to see fleeting sympathy in Manikin’s eyes. It didn’t last long.
“Be that as it may.” She said at length, “You will learn loyalty to the Heir, or there will be consequences.”
“We’re the consequences.” Dana added from over Manikin’s left shoulder. She closed her hand into a fist over her heart. From the descriptions Warrick, Cyn and Kareem gave, Lisa knew that was how they summoned their weapons. Once they came out, letting Jennifer talk wouldn’t buy any more time.
She stepped forward. “Wait. Um, I know how this sort of thing works, at least a little. If the Heir is coming here, shouldn’t we swear directly to her?
Facing Morganna. It was going to happen again, and soon. For two years, she’d waited for the chance to drive the monster out of her aunt. Having failed once, she didn’t have a taste for doing so again. But she hadn’t expected it to come so soon. Was she ready? Did it matter?
Manikin considered her. Whatever spells placed on the construct didn’t seem to allow it to pierce her illusion. Instead, Lisa got the impression that she’d said the right thing, just not something that would change things.
“I have my orders.” said Manikin. “The Heir wants us to hear your oaths. And I will hear them now.”
“Oh.” Jennifer glanced at her friends, tense. “Well in that case…”
She reached up as if raising her hands in defeat, but instead whipped off her hair clip, presenting the amber stone forcefully in the direction of Morganna’s contingent. “Bydded goleuni.”
A flood of energy erupted from the gem, a sheet of flowing and overlapping whiteness, like liquid light that swept out in front of her and consumed the room beyond.
“Run!” Jennifer shouted the moment the spell finished. Taking her own advice, she bolted for the stairwell doors, pausing only to yank Theresa to her feet in passing.
“What was that?” Lisa asked as the girl passed her with her friends.
“A seriously amped light spell. I’ll explain when we’re not being threatened by crazies!” Jennifer flung open the door and held it for the others. “Hurry up, it won’t last long.”
Lisa nodded to Kareem and Kay who followed the rest, but she herself only moved to the door. “You go on ahead, I can slow them down.”
Jennifer shook her head before grabbing Lisa’s shoulder and pulling her through the door. As soon as they were both in the stairwell, she slammed the door and began to sketch on the door’s surface with an eyebrow pencil from her purse. Her movements were quick, practiced and precise as she drew out the symbols that Lisa normally prepared instant runes to make.
“You’re not going to slow them down as much as a sealed door.” She explained, finishing the runes and slapping her palm against it. The runes pulsed faintly and shifted, one set rotating within the bounds of the other before fading. “There. Nothing’s coming through here without a bulldozer.”
Seconds later, a blade formed of red, twisting ether made tangible punched through the door frame and sliced vertically through the hinges. It came within inches of Jennifer’s shoulder, causing her to scream and nearly run into Lisa.
She was so shocked, she didn’t wonder where the other woman had gotten a staff before rose light surrounded her and she felt herself sinking.
***
Just outside the administration building of UMW stood a bell tower. It had stood for over sixty years and over time, the lower, more reachable areas had become a target of graffiti so often that over the years, it had gone from a minor crime to a tradition.
Both the exterior and the interior walls of the hollow base of the structure were covered with student’s signatures, personal messages and artwork. It was lacking during summer session, bearing only a few fresh tags so soon after it’s end of year cleaning in June.
Jay noticed a few off-color limericks that made him smile as he set to work. The carpet concealed not just the sledge hammer, but a solid length of metal as thick as his calf and five feet long. It was tapered to a point at one end with the other flat. Lines had been etched into it, some branching and splitting at odd angles while some curved into one another to form patterns. When he picked it up, a high pitched hum filled the air until he stopped moving it.
Magic wasn’t his forte. It seemed arbitrary to him and frankly, he didn’t see the point in having more power than the strength and invulnerability of the Knight Inexorable. Morganna could keep it all as long as she gave him that much. He just wished she didn’t require him to interact with magic so much. A guy could only take so many musical metal sticks.
But that was part of the deal being the Knight Inexorable. Morganna told him to do it, so he did it.
Taking the device in both hands, he raised it before plunging the sharp end into the cement floor of the tower. The hum came again, louder and it seemed to resonate with the structure around him. Sometimes he forgot just how strong he was.
On his way to pick up the sledgehammer, he paused. Something was wrong and it took him a moment to realize just what it was: the limericks were gone. Not only that, but the walls had changed subtly, becoming more rough, like real stone.
What exactly that meant was up for debate. Morganna said she needed to build a tower there for some reason and for some other reason entirely, he was instructed to drive the metal stake into the ground before Morganna arrived.
He took up the hammer and bought it down hard enough that he thought he might drive it all the way into the ground in one swing. Instead, it moved down only about an inch. Were the walls moving further apart? Another strike, and this time, he was looking.
Yes, yes they were.
Jay frowned at this as he put it all together. Morganna wasn’t building a new tower; she was transforming this one. That made him think of the body in the tank and of how Manikin seemed to serve Morganna solely because she was the ‘heir’ of whoever Hyrilius was. Nothing she had was her own. Even the source of his own powers was something she’d had Manikin steal and Dana and Wayne’s powers came from something or someone else.
In the grand sum of things, she was a parasite; a powerful one, but a parasite all the same, requiring others to support her power. It was a weakness. But what would change once she had her own body back? Would she need the ones she used now for much longer?
Continuing to pound on the stake, he began to make plans to get out quickly if that turned out to be the case, powers be damned. Strength didn’t matter to dead men.
About Vaal
Landon Porter is the author of
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