Rise (War Witch Book 1) (55 page)

"If it helps," Chara replied as she stood. "I think she only told me because she was hoping to get me in bed."

Rayne gave her another sidelong glare. "Did she?"

"No," Chara snorted. "I have a boyfriend, remember?"

Rayne made an elaborate gesture of her shrug. "Maybe he played along. Izzy likes that sometimes."

Chara blinked. "Did not need to know that."

"Anyway, I got your toys ready," the Half Elf said, waving her to follow. "I know where you got those, by the way, and don't think for a second I'm not curious what you were doing wandering around in the Savage Realm."

"I wasn't," Chara told her as she trailed after her. "I picked them up from someone who did, though."

Leading her behind the counter and back into her workshop, Rayne looked over her shoulder with a grin. "Imicot, yeah. I know."

Chara paused at the door. "How could you know that?"

"I told you before, Chara," the Half Elf replied with a wink. "I know a lot of things."

Frowning, Chara followed her through the door, muttering, "You're not crazy, you're just plain creepy."

"Energetic," Rayne told her, holding up a finger. "With a side of enigmatic."

"Whatever," Chara sighed.

"Oh, hey!" the tiny woman gasped suddenly. "Welcome to my workshop! This is where I make all the magic happen!"

Snapping her fingers, the room burst into light. It was remarkably cluttered, piles of this and that and other things scattered all over the place, none of which Chara could identify, but at least one of which was moving. Off to one side, some sort of machine was huffing and grinding, billowing steam at frequent intervals, while on the other, the wall was covered with half-finished drawings of more things Chara couldn't guess at. In the middle, brightly lit, was a small table and stool, scattered with papers, tools, a small statue of some sorts, and Chara's mystic handguns.

"Uh," Chara said slowly, pointing discreetly at the moving pile of debris. "What's going on with that?"

"What? That?" Rayne asked. "That's just Guido. Don't mind him."

"Rayne, it's a pile of crap that's moving."

"Yeah," she grinned, going over and patting it as it slid around her. "I think I may've dropped a few elixirs on him or something at some point. Maybe it was just over-exposure to the raw, naked, pulsating, power of magic. Or sex. It could be either. I'm good at both. Anyway, one day he gained sentience, so I named him Guido and let him clean the shop."

Chara looked at the piles of dust that had gathered in the corners, beneath heavy cobwebs. "Nice job he does, too."

The Half Elf shrugged. "He's a pile of junk named Guido. What do you expect?"

"Is he safe?"

"Doesn't have a mouth, so yeah."

"Right."

Rayne patted the pile of junk again, getting a weird, clattering shiver from it, before marching over to the worktable, waving Chara over. Skirting the odd mound as it continued shivering, Chara joined her, beginning to think Izra was just being polite, and Rayne was truly mad after all.

"Now these, they’re just cool," the Spellweaver said, holding up the mystic weapons. "I mean, I know stuff from the Savage Realm is way beyond anything we can do here, since their grasp of mystic energies is so far ahead of ours, but let me tell you, getting to really look at the enchantment weaving up close, it was something else. I'm serious. I wet my panties. Like, have to go change so I don't catch a cold, take a cold shower, put some cold ice between my legs and other things that involve cold just to be able to pull the lattice out and have a good look at it wet my panties."

Chara rubbed her eye. "Really?"

"No," Rayne laughed, giving her a playful shove. "I don't wear panties, silly!"

"I feel I should tell you that I understand only about a quarter of the things you say," Chara replied.

"Yeah, it's the curse of being misunderstood," the Half Elf sighed heavily. "Honestly, I only understand most of what I say myself. Some of it goes right over my head."

The young woman stared at her in annoyance. Rayne stared back in excitement. When Chara's expression didn't change, the Spellweaver tried sultry. Chara snapped her goggles again.

"Right, so, about your little toys," the Half Elf said after rubbing her forehead for a moment. "I noticed a few things while I was studying the mystic weave, like how it channels energy to fire, and it wasn't very efficient for a human to use, so I added my own bit of tweaking, as you can see."

"All I can see is that you added a piece of metal to the grip," Chara said.

Rayne looked at that for a minute. "You can't see the lattice?"

"No, Rayne, I can't," Chara snapped. "I'm not a mage."

"Oh, right!" she laughed. "I keep forgetting you're still you."

Chara cocked an eyebrow, realized she was emulating Ramora, and got annoyed for no reason she could name. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," the Spellweaver told her, waving it off. "Since you can't see the lattice of enchantments, I'll explain it using small words."

"I'm going to punch you in a second," the other woman warned her.

Rayne stuck her tongue out before continuing. "The manner in which mystic energy is converted from the charging crystal, through the lattice weave, and out the barrel here was inefficient, like I said, for a human to use, which makes sense, since these were designed to be used by Werefolk, which you aren't, and is why you have to use two hands, because it kicks like a horse in heat, so I added a trellis to the lattice that captures the kinetic energy of the discharge and feeds it back into the charging crystal, making the stored energy last longer, and reducing the kick to pretty much nothing."

Chara stared at her for a long moment. "I think I got most of that, but I have no idea how that works."

"All magic is energy," Rayne said. "Just like all energy is magic. Grannax wove all of creation from the energy that flowed through the Void, meaning all things that are solid are a form of energy trapped in a stable form. What it means, Chara, my pretty, is that all things come from the mystic energies of the Void, and all things return to the mystic energies of the Void. Once you understand that, you can channel any kind of energy, any way you want."

"Hold on," the young woman said, lifting a hand to keep the Half Elf from rambling. "If that's the case, then any mage could capture the energy another mage put into a spell, and use it to recharge their own Avatar."

Rayne gave her an impressed look. "In theory, yes, but that's a pretty advanced form of thinking coming from someone who isn't a spellcaster."

Chara shrugged. "My best friend is a Cleric, so I've picked up a little bit about mystic theory from talking to her."

"Excellent!" Rayne cried, waving her hands over her head. "As you said, a mage could capture the mystic energy of a spell and channel it into their own Avatar, at least, in theory. Much like with solid objects, once that energy has been channeled into a spell, it's, technically, being given form and function. Mystic energy is without either of these things until it's channeled, so while the theory holds, no mage has ever successfully managed it, because they would have to render the spell back into its base form of mystic energy first, which isn't something that is accomplished easily, or on the fly."

"Okay," Chara nodded, understanding for the most part. "So, tell me how this new trellis thing is going to make the weapon kick less.”

"It's not breaking the kinetic energy back down into mystic energy on the fly," Rayne said, tapping the grip with her finger. "It's doing it through a series of enchantments I added to the lattice as a whole."

"I think I get it," the other woman nodded. "Though, now I'm back to wondering if you’re insane, or a genius."

"Bit of both," Rayne replied with a maniacal grin.

"Right," Chara sighed. "So, what's with the metal bits?"

"Ah, yes!" the Half Elf cried, sliding her hand around the grip, her forefinger passing through a loop of steel, while the rest of her fingers fit under the brace that ran from it to the base of the grip, leaving her thumb clear to press the firing rune. "It just makes it harder for someone to knock it out of your hand while giving you a better grip. I call it a handguard!"

"Ingenious," Chara deadpanned.

"I thought so," the Spellweaver said, using the mystic handgun to scratch her ear.

"So, they work now?"

"Yup!"

"Anyplace I can test fire them to be sure?"

"Out back."

"Let's go."

"Sure," Rayne nodded, then stopped. "No! Wait!"

Chara sighed. "What now?"

"I forgot something," the tiny Half Elf replied, gallivanting about the room as Guido chased her, clattering merrily. "It's here somewhere. Give me a second. I know I tossed it in this general direction. Or that one. I may have left it in my bed. Run up, get naked, and check for me, will you?"

"No," Chara said flatly.

"Fine, be a spoil sport," Rayne pouted. "You're the one missing out."

"Can we just go test them?" Chara pleaded.

Rayne reached down and stuck her hand in Guido, who shivered in what was either delight, or horror, and pulled out a belt. "There it is!"

"What is it?" Chara asked, feeling exhausted.

"Duh, a belt," Rayne told her as she slid over and pressed into Chara, slapping it around her waist and fastening it quickly. "How's that? Too tight?"

"No, it's fine," she said slowly.

"You look uncomfortable," the Spellweaver told her. "Figured I'd check."

Chara looked her in the eye, which was difficult. "I am. You have your hands on my ass."

Rayne grinned. "So I do. Would you like to grab mine?"

"There's this thing called personal space, Rayne," Chara growled. "Learn to respect it."

"Fine, fine," the other woman grumbled. She slid back to her worktable and gabbed up both the weapons.

"I don't really need a belt, you know," the young woman said, looking down at the odd open-ended leather pouches on the front.

Rayne spluttered at her. "You do now, sweet cheeks."

With that, she slid the two mystic handguns into the pouches, the grips facing each other. Chara looked at them for a moment, then reached down, arms crossing, to pull them free.

"Okay, that's neat," she chuckled, sliding them back.

"Yup," the Half Elf grinned. "Plus, they're enchanted, so your toys won't fall out. Only way they come free is if you want them to."

"You did all this in a week?" Chara asked, somewhat amazed.

Rayne shrugged. "I don't sleep much."

"You don't say."

"I did say."

Pursing her lips, Chara nodded. "Let's go outside, okay?"

"Anything you want," the Spellweaver snickered. "I like being in public. Should I take my shirt off?"

"Please, Gods, no," the other woman sighed.

"You're just no fun at all," Rayne sulked, kicking the back door open and waving her customer on.

Behind the shop was a stretch of courtyard as wide as the building, and roughly twice as long. Glancing to one side, Chara saw the back end of the shops around the corner, while the other way showed that each building had its own private space behind it. In many, she could see small gardens, or pavilions. Rayne's, naturally, had a half-constructed monstrosity the purpose of which was impossible to define.

"I'll set up a target," the Half Elf declared in glee, skipping across the weed-infested cobblestone to snatch up a large piece of metal and set it on some crates at the far end, past the hulking behemoth of whatever.

As she returned, Chara gestured at the thing. "What is that?"

"What's what?" the Spellweaver asked.

Chara groaned.

"Oh, that!" Rayne cried. "I totally forgot that was there."

"How could you... never mind, forget I asked."

Pausing to stare up at it, Rayne rubbed her chin briefly. "It's either an airship, or modern art. I can't remember."

Guido clattered happily as he slid around Chara's feet, chasing some butterflies. She had to admit, her life had certainly gotten more interesting. She just wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not anymore.

"Go for it," Rayne told her, tugging her goggles down.

"Sure," the other woman muttered, pulling one of the mystic weapons free and gripping it with both hands.

"No, no," Rayne scolded her. "Remember what I said!"

Hesitating, not wanting to get thrown on her ass, Chara dropped her other hand, holding the weapon out at arm’s length, easily sighting down the barrel. A lifetime of popping rabbits with a bow in mid-jump made it a simple matter, really, but still, she took a single steadying breath and pressed the firing rune.

The weapon didn't even quiver as it belched a small ball of brilliant blue fire with a heavy
whup
that hit the sheet of metal dead center, leaving a hole as big as her head, ringing in dripping steel.

"Woo hoo!" Rayne yelped as Chara stared at the target in awe.

"Last time I used it, it was totally different," she said slowly, staring at the weapon.

Rayne shoved her goggles up. "I can imagine so. It had a lot of weird mystic energy clinging to it I had to clean out. Probably made it act all kinds of crazy."

"Esteban did say that it had lost a lot of its magic, and had other kinds seep in from being in storage for too long," she nodded. "Still, is that what it was always supposed to do?"

"Definitely," Rayne told her wide a wide grin.

"Wow," Chara breathed slowly.

"Come on, let's head back in," the Half Elf giggled.

"Sure," the other woman nodded. "I figure we should talk about what I owe you."

Rayne gave her a sly look. "That we should, Chara. That we should."

With Guido clattering along behind them, Rayne led Chara back into the store, through her workshop, and to an almost invisible flight of stairs tucked in the corner. Hesitating only a moment, she followed the half-mad Spellweaver up to her loft apartment, finding it oddly neat and tidy.

"Have a seat," Rayne said, waving at a couch as she tugged the one ponytail she had up loose. "I'll make us some tea."