Chapter 15 — First Date

I came too sometime later. My head rested on something softer than the wooden floor. I reached back to find a purse.

“What?” I mumbled, sitting up.

“See, he is well,” Fren’s voice said in the dim light. “As I foretold.”

“Good,” Lana said, relief evident in her tone. The room was lit, someone had found the matches and the several candles around the shop. It was probably Lana, Fren didn’t like fire.

The store was a disaster. Most of the shop’s wares were destroyed. I could recover some, using my mana to bind objects of stone was a spell I was more than familiar with, but the sheer volume of stones that needed repair made buying new ones an easier proposition.

The pixies’ bodies were gathered into a pile. Each of the four clearly dead. The one on top had a large wooden plank from one of the shattered shelving stands stabbed through it. Maybe Fren’s work?

As I sat up and the world swam so I took my time before sliding a few feet to rest my back against the cool wall of the front counter. Its support against my back a welcome help.

“Are you alright?” Lana asked once I got adjusted. “Cal, can you understand me? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Four,” I said with a grin, while she held up only three.

She looked questioningly at Fren.

“He has poor taste when it comes to joking and serious occasions,” Fren said with an awkward shrug. His body had changed from the hunched nightmare of the battle to one more preferential to human sensibilities.

Well thanks Fren, I thought, “I’m fine now. How long have I been out?”

“Long enough for your she mate to slay one of the shadow fae. She is now blooded.” Fren made the statement with an odd note of approval and satisfaction.

“Blooded?” Lana asked from beside me, but the question was directed at Fren. She shifted to a more comfortable position than kneeling directly on the floorboards beside me. Fren towered above us like a great oak.

“You are now an enemy to one of the Queens of the fae,” Fren said.

“The Queen of Crows. The Morrigan, the Queen of darkness, Mab. Take your pick on the name, it’s all convoluted in history,” I said, “but she’s a big deal. You have killed one of her minions and are now forever marked as enemy. Welcome to the club.”

Fren grinned above as if having an enemy was a wonderful thing.

Shit, I thought. I mean, it shouldn’t matter but if Lana ever did stumble upon one of the servants of that queen, she was in a world of trouble. I’d killed fae on both sides of the table, so I was doubly screwed, or an independent operator. Semantics mattered, especially when dealing with the fae. Still, the simple truth was that by trying to get to know me Lana’s life had irrevocably been changed in a single evening, and not for the better.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Damn, this is a mess.”

“It’s okay. She doesn’t sound like a great person anyway,” Lana said. “And I don’t know what else I could have done.”

“Well-spoken warrior. I am glad to have shared in battle with you,” Fren said, matching his words with a formal bow.

I watched Lana’s smile for far too long as my head and thoughts swam­—and since when did Fren have more game than me? Lana didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by talking to the hulking forest ancient. Maybe I had hit my head when I collapsed, and this was all a dream? “When did she kill one?” I managed.

“As you lay unconscious, unable to fight, defend, or plead for parley. She rose up and destroyed the wicked fae.” Fren said, his voice booming with pleasure.

“Way to phrase that in the most helpful way possible Fren…” I grumbled, attempting to stand, now that the world wasn’t spinning so severely. Lana helped, lending me some extra strength with her arm. It was warm and strong. Fren smiled and gave an overly obvious wink as he considered us. This day is just going fantastic, I thought. “So, you killed one, good job.”

“More like finished it off. I think it was the one that got hit with the flying brick, it didn’t die but was trapped under the shelving until you… did whatever it was you did at the end.”

I gestured to the pile of dead pixies, the topmost creature with wood impaling its… well, it was small enough it nearly had torn the thing in half. “That one?”

Lana grimaced, then nodded.

“I’m sorry,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “This has been a crazy night. I’m sure you’ve never had a first date like this huh?”

“Date?” She asked, looking me up and down, “I was just coming to make a friend.”

“Oh, yeah… Just ignore that I ever said that. My brain is all over the place right now.” Freaking hell! I’m worse than Fren, I thought.

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Fren was busy running a hand down his own face at my words while shaking his head and looking apologetically at Lana. “For Cal, this is the most interaction he has had with a female in a long time. I am sorry he considers this enough to constitute a date, I will educate him further in this regard.”

He got the words out before I could shut him up. I took a deep breath, again imagining the pot I could plant him in in the back alley. I pinched myself to make sure, “Yeah… this is my real life.” I mumbled then rubbed the bridge of my nose before gesturing in a way that could encapsulate everything from my bloody head wound, Fren, the shop in tatters to Lana’s own injuries.

“Well, date or not, I do have to say you know how to make things interesting,” Lana said.

“She has elevated pheromones around you as well Cal, you’re doing great!” Fren said in a whispered voice like thunder with a massive thumbs up. Fren, the wingman I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy. The comment and my clearly frustrated face were enough to make Lana laugh.

“Well, I’m sorry you had to kill something and got hurt,” I said, to break the building tension of the moment.

“Oh, you read me wrong. I’m glad I got to fight. Those creatures were disgusting.”

“Fae most awful,” Fren agreed, nodding.

I couldn’t stop my eyebrows from raising, “You know, you really are my kind of person.”

That got another laugh, and I decided date or not, this was the best night I’d had in ages… minus the pounding headache, head wound, property damage, and Fren hitting it off with Lana more than I was.

“Do you have the energy to do a harvesting spell, or should I procure the monster cores on your behalf?” Fren asked.

“All yours buddy. My head is still ringing.”

Fren got to work, clearing the floor about the bodies. His magic was more instinctive, primal, and raw than what I did, and that was saying something. It didn’t require the structures mine did. Circles, rituals, and words to contain the free powers that could otherwise harm me.

His magic… well, it reminded me of the bible. Genesis to be exact. ‘Let there be light’ and there was. Fren began to hum, the notes a language of their own, pure vibrational tones. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once. As he sang the bodies simply changed. His voice all that was needed. The pixies’ bodies would dissolve in a short time anyway, now devoid of a soul that anchored their formed bodies to the magic needed for survival in this realm. It would take the better part of a minute for Fren to finish his spell based on past experience. I wanted to ask Lana what they’d talked about or done that I’d missed, but she was transfixed on Fren and his magic.

I realized everything else she’d seen was while in the fight, quick dirty magic when she had been terrified or unable to really watch. It’d also been pitch dark when I’d done my last spell. So, I left her too it, amazed at her resiliency. I’d only ever had to ‘induct’ a few people into the fold of magic. People who I’d saved from beasts and creatures in the city or nearby woods. One was now a regular to my shop, probably more than anything to reassure himself that I was real and that the events they’d been a part of had actually transpired.

When Fren finished, four gleaming spheres sat on the ground. The bulbous, grey skinned humanoid creatures now gone.

Fren stooped down, clasping the gems in his bark-like writhing hands. “I’ll put these in the basement until you are well enough to consume them,” he said, then directly began marching for the stairwell.

“What were those?” Lana asked in a near-silent whisper.

“Oh, he harvested the mana cores… uh, the powers of the creatures we killed. I can use them to become stronger.”

“That was magic?”

“Sort of. What he does is kind of what existed before magic. Or I guess magic would have existed then, but nobody knew how to use it? Or if they did, we don’t have knowledge of it now…” I cut off as I saw her wide eyes and her body lean in slightly as she grappled with the theory. My mind was still a jumble and I knew I wasn’t doing the best job of explaining things.

“What?” she asked, “Explain that again.”

“It gets complicated. I mean ancient writings are kind of few and far between. Nothing’s very clear past a few millennia back.”

“Okay,” Lana said, taking a deep breath. “I am clearly going to need more context if I’m going to understand anything.”

“Likely days and days of it,” I said, “And the way my heads pounding I’m not the best one to tell you right now, but I will. I’ll tell you everything you need to know, but for tonight—good work. Thanks for finishing off that last one before it got up to trouble.”

“I’m sure Fren would have figured it out,” she said hesitantly.

“About that, how did you’re getting to know him go?”

“Well…” Lana said, her cheeks growing flushed, “I hit him with a second plank. It didn’t do much. Then he applauded my strength and said we should check on you. I figured if the plank didn’t do anything I wasn’t going to be able to stop him with my bare hands, and for all I knew he really was your friend.”

I smiled, picturing it all happening while I was out cold. I’m sure it had been more awkward than she was letting on, given Fren was involved.

“He said you’d hurt yourself,” Lana said. “Doing all of this,” She gestured to the room. Rock shards lay everywhere. I’d destroyed literally thousands of dollars of product, and my beloved shop was in shambles. My rage grew, but with it my splitting headache reared its head again. I’d overdrawn on my power, which had been amplified by my emotional state. That was dangerous but I’d survived and would be fine. I could sense my own core was undamaged. I’d only injured it once before, a scar and imperfection that had long since healed with painstaking meditation and cultivating. I’d developed a very powerful fire spell in my youth that had almost killed me and burned out my ability to use magic from my soul. Once I’d mostly recovered Clair had said I was ready for testing.

I groaned looking at the shop, my insurance company was not going to enjoy the call I was going to have to make in the morning.

“Okay,” I said, looking it all over and taking a deep breath. “First, I need to take something for my headache. Then we can take a better look at the shop.”

“What was that word you yelled out? ‘Mot’? Is it magical?”

“No, just Latin. Probably not even the right Latin word if I’m being honest. I was sixteen when I started learning magic commands and my instructor simply told me to choose or invent words that worked. So, I found a Latin dictionary and muddled my way through for most of them. It ties a spell to a word and saves your brain from having to process everything each time. I can teach you more later but for now, that’s probably as good of an explanation as I can manage.”

Lana shook her head, clearly trying to cope with it all. Somewhat hesitant, she continued. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you… I’ve met people who said they were wizards. They weren’t, not like this.”

I sighed, “It’s okay. I should have presented it better. I have my own hang-ups about telling people about the supernatural.”

Lana bit her lower lip, the conversation stalling. I yelled for Fren down the stairwell to get the blinds to break the silence. A dozen blinds began to lower over each window simultaneously around the shop as he worked his magic. Vines and branches pulled them down to shield the shop from the street front. It was late, but not too late and surely the noise had alerted someone in the area. We were probably lucky nobody had come knocking yet.

Come with me, I’ve got a first aid kit upstairs. Lana followed me up the stairs to my room.