Wordscapist: The Myth (The Way of the Word Book 1) (32 page)

    Zyx’s eyes widen. “I’m sorry, Mastersmith. I was only…”

     “Our priority is to hunt the boy down. I believe that is what the CCC is trying to do too. I think they will accord leniency to any actions that are directed at hunting that abomination down.”

     Zyx lowers her eyes and tries not to show any reaction to the innate hypocrisy in Silvus’s words.

     “So, I ask you again. What have you planned to flush him out?”

     Zyx takes a deep breath and speaks, “Mastersmith, I’ll unleash the spooks. They should be able to lock on to him the moment he does anything at all with his gift. The slightest flare, and they’ll be all over him. They might not do much damage, but they’ll give us the sign we need. I’ll tie in a notification spell to the both of us, and we can move in quickly and hunt him down.”

     “Good!” Silvus purses his lips as his eyes light up in anticipation. “That is a good plan. I’ve got a couple of surprises up my sleeve for that boy. He might have caught Zauberin and her gang by surprise, but we will get him, Zyx. And there still might be hope…”

     Zyx freezes as she hears the words. He still hopes to capture the gift, to become the Wordscapist! There really was no end to the man’s madness. She smiled. That was exactly what she loved about him.

Slick

    The morning made everything feel a lot better. For one, everything was a lot prettier. The rain had stopped, the bone chilling cold making way for a pleasant, cool wind. The fire was gone and I didn’t miss it too much. Dew and De Vorto were nowhere to be seen. They had let me sleep, and I was grateful for that. The rocky cave we were in hadn’t offered many comfortable options, but I’d managed somehow, between a rolled up jacket and a couple of smooth rocks. As I stretched and walked out, I realised that I wasn’t limping either. My leg did feel much better, almost completely healed. I tried a few test kicks and everything worked well. A fine day indeed!

     I felt the pulse at the back of my head, the surge of power that was waiting to be called. I wondered if that had something to do with how quickly I had healed, like one of those vampire or werewolf creatures in popular fiction. I wondered how I would fare before garlic or silver. Silver I could stay away from, but I really did like garlic. Maybe super wordsmiths had other allergies. I wouldn’t mind being allergic to pumpkins. I wasn’t fond of them. And I didn’t see how anyone could wear a string of pumpkins around their neck.

     I pulled myself out of that silly reverie. Everything was different alright, but today I almost felt like I could deal with it. Almost. I clambered out of the cave and saw a wide expanse in front of me. It was a pretty place, provided you found rocks pretty. The fog was moving in and out of the rocks, adding a certain mystery to the scene. That was when I noticed Dew.

     She was standing very still barely a few feet away from me, staring out at something in the fog. Her body was tense and her scape sign was up. It was alive and flaring, ready for action. Something was wrong! I sensed movement above me and saw De Vorto hovering nearby, motioning me to stay still.

     I looked carefully at the thick fog, trying to make out what it was that had spooked these two so much. I couldn’t see anything. I shot a mental thought at Dew, “What is it?” Just one word came back. Faeries! I could barely believe I’d heard her right. I squinted into the fog, trying to see what they saw. A moment later, I saw them. Almost unconsciously, my mind brought up faint words that cleared my vision, revealing the forms that were walking - almost gliding - towards us. Damn it, I had to stop doing that. My mind was racing ahead on becoming a wordsmith, and De Vorto had warned me that it was dangerous. They moved closer until we could see them clearly. Their forms were still vaguely blurred, but I doubted that had anything to do with the fog. I stared at them, trying to see them for who they were. These were Sliverette’s kin, her folks. That was definitely not a comforting thought.

    It was difficult to describe them. At first glance, they looked like a clutch of young, pretty, pale people. There was a sort of vague beauty to them, pleasing at a subconscious level. But no one feature stood out, no strong characteristics that made an impression and stayed. Then I looked more closely. I thought about Dew’s lessons on glamours, and focussed hard on seeing what really lay beneath. That generic beauty was just the surface. Slowly, the illusion faded, and I could see more. Much more.

    They were the faerie. There was strong magic in them. There was the history of hundreds of years and experiences I could scarcely begin to imagine. I could see all this and more, through flashes of reality that buzzed in my head and settled into my consciousness. The most disconcerting thing however was the complete lack of empathy. I felt their eyes on me and I could see that they did not really feel the way humans did. What was precious to me was nothing to them, and they could, without a thought, destroy my world. They were the faerie, and they were very dangerous.

      They spread out, making themselves comfortable. There was one leaning on a rock, another who effortlessly leapt onto and perched atop a huge boulder, others who just sat where they stopped. They looked like this was home to them. Maybe it was home to them.

      One of them stepped forward, looking at De Vorto. It looked like a woman. Not as tall and real as one, but somehow close. She was bigger than De Vorto though. I had definitely got my faerie dimensions wrong when I wove his form. But he was hovering at eye-level, drawing himself up, looking a lot bigger than he was. I don’t know how he did it, but he was on my side, and I was glad he did.

      They stood and looked at each other for a while. I guess there was some telepathic conversation happening. It went on for a while. Dew and I waited tensely to see what would happen. Her scape sign pulsed, indicating its readiness to do anything she willed it to. I almost unconsciously brought mine up. Mine was more ice than fire, but it felt warm to my touch. I plunged my hands into it, and waited. I didn’t know what it was I could do to help, but I was ready.

     As my warp came up, the faerie woman shot me a look, and then looked right back at De Vorto. He turned to look at me and frowned. He turned back to her. This was getting frustrating. I wanted to know what the conversation was about. Dew was glaring at me too, and shot me a few choice telepathic epithets. I did not respond, focusing on keeping my warp stable. This looked like a situation where taking risks was justified, and even necessary.

     De Vorto suddenly spoke aloud, “I want these two to know what is being said.”

     The faerie’s eyes widened in a comically exaggerated imitation of surprise.

     “You speak their tongue,” she said haltingly in a lilting voice.

     “I am not here to play games, Aeiea. I am here to retrieve my body.”

     “But then there would be two of you, Alain. We cannot allow that. Not after you abandoned us in our direst hour of need. Not when you wrought the harm you did, all alone. Not when the new one barely understands how to ride the storm within him.”

      It was a long speech, and she took some time getting through it. I could barely understand her, and the content itself didn’t make much sense either. I just waited, warp in hand, for the hostilities to begin.

     “I cannot help the boy unless I am restored, Aeiea,” De Vorto snapped, “I need my body for that. Without my host, I am a mere shadow of my former self.”

      “And why would I want that to change, Alain. Even as a shadow, you are a threat to the fey. This new threat you have brought bears chaos within that might tear our world apart. Yours even. And you want us to help you?”

      “What threat is she talking about,” I sent a mental thought to Dew. The response took some time coming back. When it did come, I didn’t like it one bit. “I think she might be talking about you.”

       De Vorto and the faerie had gone back to glaring at each other. This was getting a little tiring. I started studying the faerie, one after another, trying to discern differences between the vague pretty forms. My warp shrank as I stopped focussing on it, and then blinked out. After a while, Dew let hers go out too. This was going to take a while.

      “Aeiea, do not anger me!” De Vorto shouted, suddenly. “I demand my host back, or the fey will face my wrath!”

      “Go on then, Alain de Vorto,” Aeiea smirked. “Let’s see you hurt even one of my people in a fair fight.”

      De Vorto glared at her. The faerie were slowly getting up, one by one, rising from their comfortable positions. I now knew that there were eight of them - from what I remembered of Sliverette, that was far too many. Both Dew and my scape signs came back in an instant, flaring brightly. It was time to do something. I wondered what.

      “Do not weave, boy!” De Vorto’s voice was clear inside my head, just like old times. It was a telepathic missive; he wasn’t in my head anymore. But it was bad enough. Unfortunately, for the rebel in me, that is just the kind of trigger that gets me going. I knew I couldn’t speak aloud. I had to cook something up in my head. So be it. I knew what I wanted to do; ensure that none of these crazy faeries could hurt us. I had to freeze them in place, immobile and, if possible, unharmed. I wasn’t too worried about the unharmed bit. They were hostile and had some harm coming as well-earned payback. I let the words swim up, shaping them in a form that just felt natural. It was almost like writing poetry. I had never been much of a poet, but this came easily to me.

“Capture form

Immobilise intent

Prevent escape

Hold in limbo”

     As the words appeared in my head, my warp stopped swirling around, becoming almost solid in my hands. The faeries hadn’t noticed anything and were still focussing on De Vorto as he glared at Aeiea. I felt my warp getting heavier and heavier. I had to cast whatever I had woven soon or it would go out of control. Would it even work?

     I shot another glance at Dew. She was staring at my warp, her eyes huge and round, full of alarm. Before she could shoot me another thought, the faeries made their move. Four of them darted forward, two towards me and two towards Dew. The rest moved towards De Vorto. Well, if that’s how they had calculated the threat, they were very wrong. I released the scape with a breath and a few words…

“Freeze where you are

Until it’s time to thaw”

     The effect was instantaneous – they all froze right where they were. I saw De Vorto glowing bright, in the midst of what looked like another warp. He was ready to strike! He could weave!

     Furious, he glared at me. His warp winked out as he darted towards me. I almost brought up another freeze spell in self-defence, but stopped myself. I didn’t want to take him on.

     “What have you done?” he demanded, flitting inches away from my face.

    “You can weave!” I shouted. He had lied!

    “What did you do, boy?” He almost growled this one out, his form glowing dangerously again.

     “Didn’t I just save us all?” I asked.

    “You attacked the faerie!”

     “You were going to do the same!”

     “I need to reason with them, or they will not return my body.”

     “Why do they have your body?”

     “That is not the point. The point is that you are a bawbag who has once again screwed up. You proved the faerie right!” he shouted, right in my face.

     “They were making their move, attacking us, when I finally decided to let loose what I’d woven.” I wasn’t backing down this time. I was right, and I wouldn’t let him take that away from me.

     “You had no business weaving!” This time it was Dew. I had pretty much had it with the both of them.

    “What do you guys expect of me, dammit!” I shouted, my warp appearing almost instantly, flaring up. All of us fell silent, staring at it, as it glowed between my clenched fists. I took a deep breath and let it go out. It took some effort.

     “Whatever is happening inside you is not stable enough, Slick,” Dew said, more quietly this time.

I nodded quietly, biting my lip to prevent any retorts. That had been scary, the way my power had sprung up when I was angry.

     De Vorto continued glaring at me. He was really angry, and as my rage cooled down, I was beginning to understand why.

     “He acted for the best,” Dew said, speaking up softly but firmly. “I was on the verge of attacking too, only I had no idea how to bring them all down at once.”

     De Vorto threw her a dirty look and then got back to glaring at me. He looked back at the frozen faerie. Some of them were beginning to thaw. He turned towards us, his face more composed.

     “Both of you will walk out that way,” De Vorto spoke in a voice that made it clear that there was to be no further debate, pointing towards the valley below. “You will see a portal that I have set up. Walk through it, and you will find yourself inside my home, where no one else can enter. Go and wait there. I will clean up this mess and come.”

     “You sure you don’t need help thawing them out?” I asked.

     “Boy, you forget yourself,” De Vorto said, his voice carrying more ice than my scape had. I half raised my hands in surrender. I nodded to Dew and both of us set out to find De Vorto’s home.

     As we walked away, the thought came to me that I had just pulled off my first scape independently. It worked quite well, and was super cool too. I stored it away in my head, labelling it as the Freeze spell. I was sure it would come in useful sometime soon, no matter what De Vorto or Dew said.

Dew

     The portal was a little rip in the air. I had a feeling it had been set up so that only Slick and I could see it. De Vorto could definitely weave. We had to talk about this. For now we just went quietly through the portal. I let Slick go first. He was tentative, unsure how to deal with this new phenomenon. Again, the thought came to me, how strange it must be to enter a world where everything was so different. I wondered how it felt. He reached out with his hand, slowly slipping into the portal, stepping through as the rip expanded to encompass him. I followed him, and bumped into him on the other side. He was standing, frozen to the spot. I gently shoved him aside and looked at what had left him dumbstruck. I had to admit; it was quite a sight!