06 Drawn, But Not Quartered

My dad was an authority figure, and not just to me. He was the owner of a successful business and he spent a lot of time on the phone, even at home. Constantly talking to his employees and telling them what to do with a word choice and inflection that brooked no excuses. When he spoke to me he was kinder, but at the same time he was entirely willing to use that tone on me as well.

It should have come as no surprise that a magical girl named Authority was capable of talking in that same way. I found myself flat footed, caught between an insane mission brought to me by a fairy, and taking Diane to safety like I promised. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t push anything out.

“Well?” the Authority fairy demanded.

“I-” My teeth gnashed together as my excuse killed itself on my lips. Somehow I felt myself get a little spine instead. I told her, “No.”

“No?” the Authority repeated. “There had better be a good reason for that, because the Starbane is breaching our reality and you’re the only one who can stop them right now.”

“I know,” I said, which was true but I had been doing my best to ignore that fact. “I’ve got… things to do.”

The authoritative fairy that I was really starting to not like crossed her stubby arms. “Do tell us what that better thing to do is. With the strangeness of this veil, there’s no telling when reinforcements will arrive.”

“That’s enough,” the other fairy told her gently. She fluttered close to me and spoke to me the same way. “What were you doing before we arrived?”

“I was taking Diane to the gym bunker,” I answered, grateful for the change of tact.

“I would like to be somewhere where I won’t be in danger of imminent death,” Diane added. “Starbane Strife takes great liberty to detail the ways starbanes can take you off guard, and I was recently informed the anthology is based on real events.”

“Then we’ll do that before considering the next steps,” the gentler Authority told me, and I narrowed my eyes at her. The tactic was one I recognised. She was still holding onto leadership, as was fitting for someone called Authority.

“Please,” Diane said.

“Yeah, let’s,” I agreed after a moment, burying my dislike. “We were going to follow the river up to the kayak shed, then see what we could see from there. Our aim is to enter the gymnasium through the side door.”

“That’ll be a time sink, but we can do it,” Authoritative Authority said, then flew up into the canopy.

“We’ll be keeping a lookout,” Nicer Authority told me. “We won’t be far.” Then she flew up after the other one.

I was left feeling frustrated, when I should have been feeling grateful for the help. Maybe relieved that these two Authorities had survived.

[Simulacra often forget they are not the real thing,] the Familiar told me as it started walking in the direction we were headed. [Remember that you are above them in all hierarchies while under a veil.]

“Thanks, that’s good to know,” I said, even meaning it. I glanced at Diane. “Come on, let’s go.”

I didn’t even make it five steps before one of the Authorities zipped back down in front of me.

“Scoutscale lying in ambush ahead. Hugging that tree.” She held position for a moment, pointing at a thick tree trunk I couldn’t see anything odd about. I couldn’t tell which one this was until she asked her next question. “I forgot to ask, what offensive grimoire are you using?” It was the one I liked less.

“Bright Light Enthusiasts,” I responded shortly.

She waited for a moment and I didn’t elaborate. “Then you’ll need the mana for a real grimoire before assaulting the beacon’s construction site. I’ll find you targets.” Then she was gone again.

“I liked the grumpy one better,” Diane murmured. I hummed a melancholic agreement as I held a hand out towards the tree Authority had indicated and started pacing around it, keeping mindful of my distance to the river.

The scoutscales were brown in colour, which was why I didn’t see it against the trunk until I got an angle that made it stick out awkwardly. It was the horns along their spine that gave them away. I murmured the name of my spell and lit up the forest for three or so seconds before I noticed my mana had gone up again. My new unbound count was seventy.

I left the scoutscale attached to the tree. The way they just stuck to whatever they were touching when they died was fast becoming my most disliked trait of the freaky lizards.

“How lucky are we that we didn’t come across another ambush like that?” I murmured in my familiar’s direction once that was done with.

The Familiar answered as it trotted along in front of Diane and me. I wasn’t sure when, but it had somehow captured my wisp under its false chin, like a bright visual bell on a collar. [A common objective of the Enemy after casting a veil is to repurpose scout forms into ambush forms once areas are under their control. Given the activity we have encountered so far, we believe securing this section of the forest is of low priority to the Enemy.]

“But it is a priority?”

[Of course. As the simulacrum’s finding has shown, a forest is a place the enemy has deemed worthy of concealing a miasma beacon. With that in mind, you are lucky to have encountered this little resistance. Other sections of the forest will be significantly more populated.]

Mainly the spots where the starbanes were doing things no doubt. I nodded my acknowledgement and kept moving, the glowing Lampers in the river letting us keep our bearings with ease. We soon arrived where the river widened significantly and the crawl of water slowed to a snail’s pace. This was where I’d been kayaking just yesterday.

Now it was full of freaky glowing aliens. They were more spread out here, on account of there being more space, but it made the scene from the treeline an odd sight. Apart from the light of my wisp, the Familiar, and the glowing bioluminescence of the lampers, there was no light. The river just curled around the concrete ramp leading up to the shed at the top, and then it was only black on the horizon.

From where we were in the trees, the shed full of plastic kayaks was only a fifteen or so seconds sprint away, maybe less. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that trying that at that moment was a terrible idea.

“How do they even see?” I wondered out loud, more mindful to keep quiet now that we were on the forest’s edge.

[Each form of the Enemy is capable of bioluminescence,] the Familiar told me as it started climbing up a tree, still keeping my wisp hostage. [However, the light they emit is mostly imperceptible to humans. Only a small number of forms, including Lampers, shed light in the range your eyes are able to comprehend.]

“Do they have night vision as well?” I asked.

The familiar butted my light wisp into a knot in the trees like a squirrel hiding a nut before it answered my question. [The low light vision of any Enemy form is far superior to that of any nocturnal animal native to Earth. This is why the risk of casting the wisp was minimal, as the Enemy functionally has perfect visibility already.]

“Okay.” I thought for a moment. “Authority?”

“Yes?” “What is it?” the two fairies responded, zipping down from above us.

“How many Starbane do you see?”

“I saw two striders some distance away. A third was much closer,” the gentler Authority told me. “There were a lot of lowly forms I haven’t seen before, spread out somewhat evenly. Just, standing there in the grass. My count was eleven.”

“Twelve,” the less gentle one corrected. “One was hiding behind the kayak shed, you didn’t have an angle on it. I did also catch a sixball dropping onto the grass and skittering towards where we came from. Three hookblows as well. Two between us and the shed, and another by the farthest strider.

“That’s…” I swallowed. It was a lot. “Familiar?”

[Hookblows are among the most physically powerful of the Enemy’s lowly forms. They bear a physical resemblance to Earth’s primates, specifically the gorilla, but with an additional smaller pair of arms under the larger, more powerful pair. The larger pair of arms also has a retractable claw on each limb that extends when the arm reaches out. You should avoid receiving a punch from this form, as you would find yourself caught on a hook at the same time.]

“I’ll do my best,” I said, sounding far more confident, or maybe flippant, than I actually was.

The Familiar jumped down and curled its tail around its feet in the air in front of me. [As for the other form, the simulacrum’s description is not detailed enough for us to draw a conclusion. Please reprimand them.]

My lips thinned as I looked at the Familiar’s form. It was asking me to do something I wasn’t used to, and I had no idea what to say.

“What else can you tell us about these mysterious still statue things?” Diane asked the Authorities while I was still getting the Familiar’s request through my head. “From what you told us, they could be newly unearthed heads like the ones on Easter Island. That is not what I would call helpful.”

I found myself thankful that the person I had risked my life to save was good at being a bitch. It would take a lot for me to be able to say something like that.

The Authorities fluttered there in the quiet for a few seconds before the Authoritative one spoke up. “They were grey and stone like. Four legs, like a wolf with no neck, and the head was crystalline and reflective. Orb shaped, if not for a frame casing around the orb. They resembled casters, but they’re lowly so that’s impossible.”

[That description was barely adequate. Please inform them of that,] the Familiar told me before dropping to the ground, still as a statue apart from the fact that it fell and landed on the ground. [The form in question has not been sighted on Earth before, and as the first magician to encounter them, you will have the pleasure of designating the name your culture uses for that form, Donna.]

“Isn’t Authority the one who saw them?” I pointed out.

[Those are two simulacrums of a smaller than usual size, not magicians. The forms in the fields are sentries in function, and are monitoring the use of magic in their vicinity. However, they are not searching for you, and would only attempt to tackle or trample you if directly engaged in conflict.]

“Okay.” I looked back out into the darkness with thin lips. “So assuming they all converge on me the moment I reveal myself-”

[Which is certain.]

“-is my Authentic Energy Channel going to be enough?”

This time it was the authoritative Authority that answered my question. “I’m not certain on the time to kill for that spell, but assuming you need multiple seconds for each starbane the biggest problem to overcome will be manufacturing a way to get that time. The striders in particular will give you problems, since they always look for ways to blindside you.”

“Okay,” I said again, thinking. “Familiar, if I got that projectile grimoire and cast a spell on Diane’s gun, would I still get the mana from the starbanes she kills?”

The Familiar’s tail twitched. [The limiting factors for harvesting mana are proximity and availability. So long as we are there when the starbane form is slain, we will gather the mana.]

“That sort of thing only gets complicated when there are other magical girls,” Authoritative Authority told me, speaking over the Familiar at first. “For now you’re the only one here. You have a monopoly on mana.”

“That’s good to know,” I said, looking at the Authority. “Your description was barely adequate, by the way. Words of my Familiar.”

She crossed her arms and glared at me a little, but didn’t snap back with anything yet.

“Give me the Grimoire of Projectile Enhancements,” I told the Familiar.

[That tome will cost you fifty unbound mana,] it informed me.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Take them.”

Novice Projectile Enhancement Spells added to personal grimoire. Unbound Mana reduced to 20.

The book in my hand glowed just like it did the last time this happened, only I didn’t let it float away and the light was blue this time. When it was done my personal grimoire had a third medal on the front, and a matching tab on the side. This one was illustrated with a generic magic circle surrounding an arrow with movement lines trailing behind it.

“I’m looking for something to use on the BB gun,” I told the one that indexed my book.

[Turn three pages forward from the tab. Rifling Acceleration is on the right.]

The directions took me to what I imagined a gun nut’s wet dream looked like. The name was what the Familiar said, and the directions to activate involved dragging the magic circle along the length of the barrel after preparing the spell. Simple enough.

“Be careful how much mana you give that spell,” the voice of Authority told me from just above my shoulder, making me flinch.

“Don’t do that!” I hissed as I pulled my personal grimoire away from where she could read it over my shoulder.

“The spell will require an up-front investment of mana, which it will use until it runs out,” Authoritative Fairy Authority continued without apologising. “More mana means the gun will shoot lethally for longer, but if you invest too much on that, you won’t have any left to cast your energy channel.”

I squinted at her, waiting for an apology that never came. In the end I gave up on getting one and looked back at the page describing the spell. The familiar adjusted the placement of the wisp of light so I could read better, but I didn’t manage to find where the mana costs were written. This wasn’t a situation where I could focus on reading a book, either.

So I went to Diane and gestured for her to hold up the gun without thinking about it too hard. If I slowed down now, I’d never get anything done. Then a starbane would find us, bring its friends, and we’d die. Diane held up the gun, evidently on board with that sentiment.

“Rifling Acceleration,” I cast, and a purple magic circle appeared aligned with the tube that shot the pellets, near the centre of the thing. My bound mana fell to empty and my unbound went to sixteen from just that, and it fell further when I dragged my finger through the purple circle towards the muzzle. I kept an eye on how much I was investing and stopped when I had eleven mana left, a second circle like the first appearing just before the opening in the barrel. That would give me five or six seconds of channelling, which had been enough to harvest more mana so far.

“How fast does that make a pellet go?” Diane asked when I was done.

[The spell will accelerate each pellet to a velocity faster than sound,] my Familiar explained when I couldn’t. [Please do not aim the gun at our magician.]

Diane’s eyes widened, so I assumed that was extremely lethal, which was the entire reason I cast that spell in the first place. She suddenly looked awkward with the gun in her hands, and pointed it a little further away from where I was.

“Okay, now the plan,” I said, pausing when the Authority fairy I didn’t like threw up her stubby arms. She failed to start complaining, so I continued. “We move to the kayak shed, kill anything trying to kill us while we have our backs against a wall, then keep moving. How does that sound?”

“What if there’s something in the shed?” Diane asked.

“Then I’ll burn it out, or we’re screwed,” I answered. “I’m willing to take advice from a veteran.”

“A distraction could be a good use of mana, if you have any left after that enchantment,” Authoritative Authority suggested. She had one hell of a poker face, because I didn’t detect any obvious dislike in that suggestion.

I didn’t comment on my mana level, since that would prove her right. But I did look up at where my wisp had floated itself away from the tree. “We’ll throw that out and turn it up before we move. Could one of you drop it off?”

The two fairies looked at each other and had a stare off for a few moments. Then they played rock paper scissors. Three rounds of it. I had no idea what they saw where I could only see the featureless tips of their arms, but eventually the Authority I did like floated forlornly over to my wisp and grasped it in her stubby featureless arms.

First, I turned the light down. “Fly that out and drop it when you think you’ve gone far enough. I’ll adjust it brighter when I see it start going down.”

“It might not be enough to attract the starbane,” the other Authority pointed out.

“Then we’ll have tried,” I said. “And we need to keep moving anyway.”

Gentle Authority nodded and flew off with the sole star in the sky clutched in her grasp. I watched it drift away from the treeline, gently curving this way, then that, before finally starting to drop straight down. Closing one eye, I placed the falling light inside my thumb and first two fingers, waited a few more seconds for Authority to escape, then turned my hand as far clockwise as it could go.

Several nightmare creatures were revealed.

First and most obvious was the four legged giant the Familiar had described. The strider looked like it had a ribcage between its two pairs of legs, but looking for longer than a single moment revealed they were actually arms curled up where they wouldn’t get in the way. It was the elbows which gave that away. Their legs were thin at the top, but widened more the closer they came to the ground, sort of like tree trunks, resulting in a vague flat-topped pyramid shape. Its head was tiny in comparison, and I only noticed it because there were two mandible-like tusks coming out of the sides of its mouth.

Underneath that monstrosity was a hookblow, which was really only similar to a gorilla in size and the way that it stood. It had no fur to speak of, instead having a gangly form with loose hides revealing the bone structure underneath. Where a gorilla normally had a dark coat, this one was instead a bright red that contrasted against the mottled green that the strider was. Both of them moved their apparent heads when the light of my wisp revealed them, and began to approach the source of light without hesitating.

Those two were far off to the side of where we were headed. There was another strider half illuminated almost directly between us and the shed, but this one had two hookblows underneath. I almost didn’t see the other alien type, I was so distracted by the towering green things. But I did notice them when I was taking the time necessary to watch their reactions.

The unnamed sentry forms looked a lot like those four legged robots that researchers recorded being kicked to show how far balancing technology had come. Each was standing still, randomly scattered across the fields, and they were all striking a wolf pose, like they were howling. Only their heads were near perfect spheres with irregular surfaces. But with a frame casing, like Authority had said.

Fewer starbanes reacted to the wisp than I’d have liked. There was another strider far away that started moving with the first I had seen, but the one by the river stayed put along with its two hookblows.

“Go for the big one,” I told Diane. “I’ll use Authentic Energy Channel on whichever thing gets closest first. Once the strider falls, we’ll start moving.” I didn’t mention my fear of whatever was lingering just beyond the light of my wisp, which could very easily reinforce the metaphorical hive we were about to poke. Instead, I focused on the magic that slowly drew itself into existence in front of my hand and looked for targets. It was good to know that I could work casting into sentences. That way I didn’t need to repeat myself.

Diane took that as a cue to start firing, and I winced the first time a pellet cracked out of the gun and whistled past my ear. It hadn’t even been that close. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to waste mana, so I found the nearest thing that would try to kill me and pushed my energy beam in its direction.

It was one of the sentry forms that had set itself just ten steps away from the treeline. With five mana to channel, I struck it relentlessly until I noticed my unbound mana count jump up, and cut the spell to focus on what to.

B: 0/24

U: 10

The number by the U had gone down to just one before the mana came to me. Just over four seconds had been spent channelling on that one.

“You need a stronger spell!” Authority told me from overhead.

“Shut up! I’m poor!” I shouted back, then pushed my beam at one of the hookblows that was fast approaching. It had looked tiny next to the strider, but the real size of the thing was revealed as it rushed towards me. I could remember standing by a glass wall at the zoo and being impressed at the size of a gorilla. This thing would stand in that same spot and make the gorilla feel impressed.

My beam struck it just off centre in its chest, and unlike everything else I’d beamed so far, this thing didn’t stop in shock or pain. It just kept barrelling towards me. The demented thing even punched out with one of its arms, and I caught a flash of something moving from side to side very close to my eyes.

It fell over after that, my energy channel finally taking its toll. I almost felt relieved, the tinge of burnt fur oddly fulfilling in my nose.

Then the other hookblow reminded me it existed by leaping over the corpse of its dead twin and lashing out with a double fisted punch that hit me square in the torso.

I went momentarily blind from the pain. When I came back to myself I was made immediately aware of how difficult it was to breathe, as well as two sharp points digging into my back. The hookblow was bellowing indistinct sound, as well as spit onto my face, and I registered that it had insanely sharp teeth as I raised my casting hand up to start pushing a deadly beam its way. I noticed its head flinch sideways as I started to move.

It didn’t give me the chance to fight back. My world turned into a blur as it flung me overhead. I got to experience flight for maybe two seconds before I crashed onto the ground, bounced, landed again, and rolled to a stop on my back against something tall.

Something tall and green.

I pushed my arms forward to channel my beam at the strider. One of its legs rose slowly, then crashed down in a flash next to me. But not on me. I took the blessing for what it was worth and kept casting, even as the body of the strider descended and the arms started reaching for me. But they had to unfurl from around something to reach for me, and my panicking brain thought it was a vulnerable point or something, so I redirected my purple beam there before the arms could pick me up.

It must have worked. The strider stopped moving and then toppled to one side just before the first hands could reach me. There was a splash when its body hit the ground, and the earth shook as well.

I breathed for a few seconds as my mind caught up with all of that. Then I remembered I wasn’t the only one fighting starbanes right now.

“Diane!” I shouted as I scrambled, staggering to my feet.

“I’m okay!” she called. The second hookblow had fallen next to the first, and Diane was hurrying around that and towards me with the Familiar running along next to her. She was wide eyed, and looked like she could really use a brush for her hair. For having just been that close to a living hookblow, she looked fine.

With her safety confirmed, I started picking my way over the log-like legs of the strider and glanced towards the starbanes under my wisp.

The light cut out as soon as I saw the two striders and the rest of the aliens moving towards me in a tide. My wisp was gone.

“Hurry!” I called out to Diane, then extended the index finger I was using to hold my personal grimoire. The fact that I hadn’t dropped it was a miracle. “Wisp of Adjustable Brightness.”

I needed to be able to see. Fighting in the dark would just get me killed. This time when the wisp floated out of my fingertip, I swiped it in my other hand and threw it in the direction we were heading. While I was waiting for Diane to catch up, I turned the brightness of the wisp up, though not to the same level I had the other one. We needed this one to last.

“How many shots does Diane have left?” I asked with a hiss when they got close enough. My chest was really hurting.

[Thirteen. Then the magazine will need to be refilled.]

I heard the words, but I wasn’t able to figure out what they meant. My pain was that bad. I focused on something I already knew about instead. “We need to get to the shed.” I was already moving that way, but my legs weren’t working as well as I wanted them to.

“Are you alright?” Diane asked as she pointed the gun towards where the other starbanes were coming from.

“I’m fine,” I told her, then pushed my magic channel at one of the sentry forms that had just stepped into the light. Keeping the beam on target was harder than usual. My body kept wanting to curl in on itself. I understood, but I couldn’t right now.

After four or so seconds, I dropped the beam and picked up the pace. My breath picked that moment to hitch, and I was coughing and spluttering when we finally made it to the wide concrete ramp that led from the shed to the water. I felt awful, and I couldn’t focus on making myself feel better because defending myself from the aliens that were trying to kill me was more important.

At the very least I remembered to keep my distance from the glowing things in the water. Experiencing the hookblows up close was enough for me.

[Keep moving into the shed, Donna,] my Familiar told me. [Then the four hookblows that are trying to kill you will have to squeeze inside the building to reach you, slowing them considerably.]

Four? Hadn’t we killed two of them?

[Hasten yourself.] The words cut through what would have been the start of a downward spiral of thoughts. I blinked and listened to the advice.

“Okay,” I said, following after Diane to the shed. It was then that I realised the roller door was down. There was an admin office attached next to it, but that was closed and locked too. We were stuck outside.

[Donna, you need to melt the lock. It will take five seconds of channelling your spell.]

I looked for the lock and found my Familiar sitting sideways on the roller door, looking down at where it was padlocked to the ground. “Okay.” My hand was shaking, so I fell to my knees and placed my hand close enough that range wouldn’t matter. I pushed, and my Familiar counted down for me.

[Now turn and attack the strider.]

I did, and the strider darted to the side as soon as my purple beam struck its front. Several other starbanes were dropped as it dodged my beam. The only good thing I could take away from that was how they were farther than fifteen metres away from me, and I had been told my aim wasn't that good.

Unfortunately, there were a whole bunch more starbane right there. They were all howling, shouting, or hissing. Because of course they were.

[Aim for the scoutscales first,] my Familiar told me. [Maintain aim when Diane lifts you from behind.]

Scoutscales? I thought we were fighting hookblows and striders. There weren’t any sixballs here, right?

Nevertheless, I focused on the brown forms as they passed under the yellow light of my wisp, and then they were lit up purple as well. With how I had to spend multiple seconds on each one, the starbanes advanced relentlessly. I turned my beam on a second scoutscale shortly before I was lifted from my armpits, and my already shaky aim was sent off target as I was dragged back into the now open shed.

One of the robot looking sentries happened to be behind it, and stopped moving when my beam touched it. That gave me an idea, and I swept my beam from one side of the tide to the other. Everything except the two hookblows at the front stopped moving for a second, and that was enough for us to make it properly to relative safety.

I focused my beam on the nearer hookblow, of course. Diane stood beside me and aimed the BB gun at the other one. She was aiming where I would’ve just pulled the trigger with abandon. Had my Familiar told her to do that? I did notice her pull the trigger and make a hookblow’s head jitter, so she was firing. Then the hookblow was filling the entrance to the shed.

It raged as it tried to reach us.. There were kayaks on both walls, and it was too bulky to squeeze into the narrow space between where we were. At least facing front like it was. That didn’t stop it from trying, of course.

As for me, the hookblow was the only target, so of course I blasted it. It raged as my beam danced across its chest, smashing the kayaks racked on the walls but not reaching us. It bellowed at us, almost exactly the same as the other one had, and Diane put a pellet into its mouth.

The sudden expression of its shock struck me as funny for some reason. I found myself laughing at how it shut its mouth and covered it with its tiny hands. Then it slumped, dead, and filling the only entrance.

I barely noticed. Laughing had been painful, extremely so. Finding that funny had been a terrible mistake. Now I was moaning on the floor. The anaesthetic from the deep organ mending I had cast on myself should have still been working, at least a little, but it didn’t feel that way.

[Donna, you have secured a reprieve,] my Familiar told me, and I moaned in response. [Now is the time to heal and resupply while they drag the hookblow’s corpse out of the entrance.]

A loud clang nearly deafened me as the whole shed shook.

[You are also in danger of a strider removing parts of the wall or roof. If you are unprepared when that happens, you and Diane will both die.]

“Urgh…” I groaned. This was way too much responsibility.