Components of a caster, p.16
Components of a Caster, page 16
“She froze her,” said Zizy, and jerked up her crossbow, but she stilled before she could take aim at Carmela.
Laysa whirled around. “Why would you do that? I said she’s our guide. Zizy’s just trying to protect her.” She has to be using a remnant for this. It’s nothing like spellwork.
“And she knows about me and the remnant,” said Carmela. Pulling out a long spiky leaf she placed an outstretched hand to Skinny’s temple.
“No. You can’t just do whatever you want.” She could see Zizy and Skinny’s eyes frantically moving, their bodies frozen.
“Can’t I?” Carmela said. “Don’t I have to? My duty is to protect the remnants. Our duty, Laysa, is to make it so they don’t exist. In record or in thought. Did you think this job was full of simple decisions? We are tiny ants made of flame. We do what we must, we soldier on, all so they can return to us once more. Nothing else matters.” She reached up toward Skinny’s head.
Laysa reached into her bag and pulled out her component box, but before she could get it open, a familiar coldness darted over her skin and she froze. No. Not again.
“Really, Laysa? I’ve taught you everything you know. What were you going to do, put me to sleep?” Rolling her eyes, Carmela opened her robe and tugged on a long ash-grey sash brushed over in frost. The frozen net around Laysa tighten as a metallic smell filled her nostrils. “You were doing so well with the bee pin. I knew you would figure out how to use it. You surpassed my expectations brilliantly. You have the talent and the drive to take complete control of it in time.” Carmela smiled, satisfied, but then pursed her lips. “Unlike Lel. He just kept the pin in a box, too sad to deal with what the deities gave him. I was upset at first when my Curator couldn’t get into that ridiculous house of his. I thought I’d have to track it down again but then you showed up in my office with it and solved so many of my problems. You’ll be a great replacement for Lel.”
The son. It made sense now why he couldn’t get in and had to hire outside help. And why he burned it down with Pace in it. But, if they hadn’t gone straight to Carmela, would he have just tracked them down too? Laysa trembled at the thought of what could’ve been.
“You brought additional problems of course.” Carmela twisted the curious sash between both her hands, and Laysa watched as Skinny and Zizy jerked with each twist. “But I can deal with that. I can march through anything.”
Laysa pushed against the cold bonds that held her in place. Regardless of Carmela’s power, she had to protect them. She had no components. No sigils. Nothing but the idea of spellwork itself and the bee pin.
She took a deep breath and opened herself up to the Hylo, searching for the purple beacon. There was power there. If it meant she could stop Carmela for even a moment, Skinny and Zizy could escape and it would be worth whatever happened to her.
Pushing against the thick black river, she struggled toward the light. She would get there, get beyond there. She would protect them. Struggling for air, she felt her energy wane. No, no this is my fault. I need to help them. They’ve all helped me. I can’t let her hurt them. I have to protect them no matter what. She pushed, diving into the oncoming wave of energy she felt building up around the beacon.
A snap. A blaze of sapphire-gold light flared in her vision and then retreated. She couldn’t sense the purple beacon anymore, but she felt warm and sure. Her body and mind buzzed with energy. With that energy came connection.
“Stop it stop it stop it stop it,” she heard Skinny screaming in her head.
“If I can just get out of this, I can stab her. Why didn’t I listen to Emba about removing magic? Stupid, stupid Zizy,” Zizy chorused along with Skinny.
And quietly, confused and barely awake, came Pace’s deep voice: “Laysa?”
“Laysa! Stop it this instant. You foolish woman,” Carmela shouted. She reached out to Laysa, but frozen Laysa didn’t feel it. She saw Carmela snatch the bee pin from her dress, ripping it away.
Laysa felt a tug of power from the Hylo, but the connection remained to the bee remnant. If she could hold it for a moment more, that would be all she would need.
I’m going to save you all. Okay? Just stick with me, Laysa thought to her friends, ignoring Carmela yelling her name.
She felt the strength of Pace’s familiar perseverance as he said her name frantically. The tenacity and thoroughness of Skinny’s convictions melting away at her terror. The joy and delight of Zizy’s inner glow being snuffed out by her guilt. They all sounded in her mind. She connected with them through the bee pin, and with that connection she felt the wave of Hylo energy move swiftly through her. She didn’t fight it. Laysa focused her intent and, with the help of her friends, said, “Strullo.”
Cracks sounded loudly and the hull of the ship exploded into fragments in a blast of white heat. The warmth quickly vanished from Laysa as the floor broke out from under her and she sank like a rock into the water.
Her eyes darted around for Zizy or Skinny but all she could see was murky water as she continued to sink. Unsure if the water was clouded because of its nature or the aftermath of the splintered ship, she drifted downwards. Laysa saw bits of boat, wooden planks, tattered velvet scraps, and damp feathers bobbing and floating farther and farther away from her. The surface seemed miles away and the brackish green light illuminating her view began to dim. She had tried to protect her friends, her family, from her own folly. She hoped she’d succeeded.
Everything felt distant as if she was looking at herself from the outside. She imagined she blended in with the clutter of the broken ship, lost and tired. Blood trailed from her body in various places, but she couldn’t feel it. She tried reaching out with her mind for Zizy or Skinny but felt nothing. Power could be destructive, and in that moment Laysa understood more about the world than she ever had before.
Warm hands grabbed her arm, and Zizy’s familiar and loveable red face swam into her view. There were two cuts above her eye, but as Zizy smiled brightly at Laysa it’s like they weren’t there at all.
Zizy put her arms around her and stopped her from sinking. “Laysa!” She motioned her head and began swimming away, and when Laysa didn’t follow she turned back, frowning, and caught her from sinking again. She held up a vial of green liquid and put it to Laysa’s mouth. Laysa tried to raise an eyebrow but found she couldn’t control the muscle. Zizy opened her mouth just the smallest to pour in the liquid.
It was odd and tasted like unsweetened cream. A gassy feeling rose in her, and she couldn’t keep her lips together as she burped underwater, bubbles of air escaping away from her. She panicked thinking she was about to be out of air, but as soon as the burp completed she realized the water tasted like nothing. It had no feeling when it entered her mouth.
“Breathe, Laysa. Breathe,” said Zizy rubbing her back, treading water for them both.
Laysa tried to shake her head no. Instead she made her eyes as big as she could to display her panic.
“If you don’t, you’ll be the first person who drowns while being able to breathe underwater.”
Feeling dubious, Laysa tried to breathe. It was hard with water spilling in her mouth and rather uncomfortable. She tried breathing through her nose. Surprised that it work, she gave it a moment. Focusing on not drowning, she realized she could feel Zizy’s warm skin under her fingers and pushed through the paralysis, mumbling, “Can’t move.”
“I figured by the rapid sinking,” Zizy said holding her tight, ruby red hair floating behind her. “I’ve got you.”
Laysa was getting used to the uncomfortable feeling of sucking in water to breathe. It was cold, which made it worse somehow. “Where’s Skinny?”
“Come on, I’ll show you. We’ll be slow going, but just hang on to me.”
Feeling tired but not completely helpless anymore, Laysa held on to Zizy and they swam further down past items that were sinking as she had done before. The table from the entryway, broken but kept together by its cloth, made a beeline for the bottom of the bay.
“Where are we going? Surface?” Laysa asked.
“Carmela may be up there. I want her to think we’ve drowned,” said Zizy, brows furrowed.
“Drowned?”
“If she thinks we’re dead, she’ll leave you alone.”
It wasn’t the worst idea they’d ever had. But could it work with someone so…intent? “What about when she finds out we’re not? And that we do have the mirror remnant from the boat.”
“That’s a future Zizy and Laysa problem. Let’s just be glad we survived today. Look.”
On the bottom of the sandy bay next to a broken chest and what used to be part of a mast sat Skinny. Legs and arms crossed, scowling into the murky water. A small dull-purple crystalized ball encased her head and neck where Keen was in his usual position, wrapped around her like a tight scarf.
Zizy swam over and stopped, treading water lightly beside them. Laysa could see her chest rising and falling rapidly. They needed to surface soon as Zizy couldn’t swim for them both forever.
“When the ship broke, he scurried up onto my head and then suddenly I’m in this thing and we’re sinking fast. It’s hard to swim with it on though,” Skinny said, tapping the outside of the crystal. She barely looked at the two of them. “You did great, Laysa. I…I hated what she was doing.”
Head lowered, Laysa replied, “I’m sorry to have gotten you into this.”
Skinny rose from the sand swiftly. Her shoulder was bleeding from the explosion, cuts down the length of her pale-blue and cloud-white arms. She seemed to be favoring one leg over the other, but nothing diminished her intense stance and glare. “Look—I’m in it now. It changes nothing to keep on about that forever, and it’ll only slow us down.”
Laysa’s head snapped up at Skinny’s words as if they had been flung right at her heart. She’s right. Plodding on about what happened won’t change anything. There’s no time for pity parties. Laysa nodded, chin set high. “We need to get moving.”
“Do you think she’s gone yet?” Zizy said.
“Most likely,” said Laysa. “I mean, as soon as we didn’t surface, I wouldn’t be surprised if she bolted so that no one could connect her. She tried to kick her feet like Zizy and take some of the burden off her. “We need to figure out a way to block her from watching us at a distance though. The sooner, the better.”
“I know an item that can do that,” Zizy said, “but it’ll be costly and it’s certainly not around here. We need to surface, make a plan, and figure out our next steps.”
“We need to go to my mother.” Skinny sighed deeply. “We’re going to have to get to Erto.”
“You reached out to us with your mind,” Zizy said. “Can you do it again?”
Laysa shook her head. “The connection is gone.” She grasped at her collar and felt the waterlogged fabric, smooth and empty where Carmela had ripped the bee pin from her. She wouldn’t have that power again. It doesn’t matter. I have enough to turn things around.
Skinny stroked Keen, head pressing against him, and the crystal bubble slowly dissipated. Clutching Keen against her chest, Skinny swam up toward the surface, her light body buoyed.
Laysa watched her go, her shoulders set tight, and felt a little heartache. Going back to Erto wouldn’t be easy for Skinny, she supposed. But that’s what heroes do: face things head on whether it’s easy or not. She grasped Zizy’s waist tighter as the gnome swam up. It wouldn’t be easy for any of them, whatever this next step was. But she had a part to play here. She’d use what she’d learned, for whatever it was worth, to stop Carmela. And that was all that really mattered.
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Lookout for Book 3 in
A Series of Decisions on Kairas Fall '22
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Major Deities - Divine Consul
Kaira deities, sea, ocean, and water
Noble Endurance land, procession of time, present, past, and future
King nobility, wealth, and sky
Night Bringer night, moon, stars, dreams, and nightmares
Bright Justice sun, law, order, and justice
Noble Death death and the afterlife
Changebearer fertility, motherhood, transformation, destruction, and marriage
The Twins: Protector fauna and protection
The Twins: Constant Preserver flora and preservation
Wild rebellion, punishment, and temptation
Curious Muse enlightenment, liberation, and magic
Minor Deities - Ardent Ambassadors
Farmer grain, wine, agriculture, fishery, coasts, harvest, growth, and nourishment
Messenger knowledge, mindfulness, wisdom, and prophecy
Festivity parties, festivals, madness, and chaos
Lawbringer reason, wisdom, intelligence, skill, peace, and battle strategy
Lust fertility, beauty, and sexual desire
War war, bloodshed, and violence
Mender morality, healing, and plague
Hunter wilderness, hunting, and archery
Trickster tricks, mischief, problems, luck, alchemy, and inventiveness
Loving Artist compassion, tenderness, love, music, arts, and poetry
D. Hale Rambo, Components of a Caster
