“Listen up, kids,” Major Kat’s voice crackled through the communication stone in front of Trip. Leander leaned in closer to hear over the noise of flying. He’d learned well over the last week that you did not ignore Major Kat. “No clouds in the way today, so Lanport should be visible in another half hour or so. You’ve officially joined the club of people who have flown from one end of the continent to the other.”
Laurel’s voice came through next. “We’ll take five days, maybe a week here to check in with Theresa and get the supplies we’ll need. The fine members of the Meristan armed forces will have orders to carry out I’m sure. Leander, Rebecca, we’ll do lessons in the morning and then you’ll have free time.”
Their flock of planes continued to cruise through the air, and as the Major predicted, a city appeared on the horizon. Smaller than the Verilia, and not nearly so impressive, but he could admit it was at least brighter. The gray stone and dark woods of the capital were replaced with white stucco and tiled roofs. It was too flat to make out the richer and poorer areas, though he knew they would exist somewhere. Leander took it in quickly, as instead his attention was taken up by the construction in the vee bordered by the river delta on one side and the coast on the other. Large buildings interspersed with fields large enough for dozens of planes like theirs. Thick walls ran for several kilometers along the coastline, with towers rising above, before arcing out towards Lanport. A separate wall cut off the military area, like a narrow buffer between the city and the ocean. Leander spied cannons poking out, with ant-like figures scurrying back and forth between them. Laurel said they had free time. Would they be allowed to look at the cannons?
Trip noticed his attention and explained. “Fort Alistar. Most folks call it the Wall, even though the fort includes all this other stuff and the wall goes around the whole city. Fort Sarken may be where we train troops but this is where most of them end up. Close enough to Oudigar and Somorin in case we need a lot of folks ready to react. And where most of the fleet calls home port. This was where me and the Major were stationed before we got called back up to the capital.”
The soldiers kept up a lively conversation about the best places to visit in the city, interspersed with tales of the pranks played on anyone new to the fort. Leander absorbed it all and tried to memorize the places to visit. He would convince Rebecca to have an adventure on their own! Something incredible Adam would have to write down for the sect. And maybe get something good for Esther.
*******
“Hey, give that back!” The shout echoed out of an alleyway as Leander and Rebecca wandered by. They paused and looked at each other.
“We both know how the streets work.” Rebecca muttered, though she had stopped walking and was looking between him and the alley. “If it's not your business you don’t get involved.” She fiddled with the side of her dress, where Leander knew she had sewn a slit for a knife. They made eye contact again and started together towards the other side of the street. Rules don’t apply to cultivators.
When they got to the mouth of the alley, they saw three teenagers with their backs to them, intimidating a pair of younger kids, one of whom was on the ground. Next to him Rebecca took one of the stances Martin had taught them and Leander hastily followed suit.
“Leave them alone!” Rebecca was normally quiet enough but when Leander peeked to the side to make sure his stance was right he saw more rage on her face than he knew she was capable of.
The teens turned and paused. The middle one let out a honking laugh. “A girl and a little kid? I don’t know what you think –”
Rebecca flew into motion and launched a kick at the speaker’s stomach. He doubled over coughing and moaning. Before his friends could jump in she’d pulled the knife and was pointing it towards them. The nervous gestures she usually made were absent as the knife stayed rock steady.
“Get out of here.”
They ran.
After a few seconds stuck in his battle stance, to make sure they were really gone, Leander turned to Rebecca and extended his hand for a high five. That was awesome, way better than his fight with the owl. At least, the actual fight and not what he’d told everyone happened at dinner. She slapped her hand against his with a grin when whimpering came from deeper in the alley.
They turned to see the children they had saved looking terrified and crying. The one that fell was sitting up now, hunched over his knees and rocking back and forth while his friend patted his back. “You can have it Miss, just please let us go too.”
Rebecca tilted her head then her eyes went wide. “We stepped in to help you! Not to take your stuff. We heard those other kids when we were out on the street.”
The speaker of the two stood up and tried to wipe his eyes without being too obvious about it. “Thanks for the help, but we were doing fine.” Leander looked around the alley, grimy, with a pile of trash on one side. “‘Sides, now the next time they run into us they’ll take our stuff and give us a wallop for being with you.”
Rebecca and Leander made eye contact one more time. They’d spent a lot of time together when they were the only two kids in the sect and had gotten to know each other well. Leander gave a nod.
“They won’t bother you, we’ll make sure of it. We’re cultivators of the Eternal Archive”. She announced the last proudly but the boys looked confused rather than impressed.
“Okaaay, and how are you gonna do that?”
“Bullies only respect fear.” Rebecca re-sheathed her blade but her eyes stayed sharp. “We’ll make sure they’re the ones afraid.”
******
“Watch it!” Kat shouted after the three teenagers running through the market. Maria laughed and pointed out another stall to Laurel.
“I love living in the capital, but nothing beats the market in Lanport. You can get anything here. Those are fresh mangosteen, we’re stopping.”
Laurel let herself be led. She didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to be, so she’d agreed when the other women invited her out for a night on the town. They made their way through the bustling market and then into one of the outlying areas when the sun went down. Not a slum like the Flats, but definitely a neighborhood that had seen some wear and tear.
“Follow me.” Kat was puffing on another cigar and walked through a maze of dark alleys, unconcerned. Laurel followed with a bemused expression. Being strong enough to break through walls made a dark alley at night a lot less eerie than it would have been otherwise. Though she was slightly worried for sanity in the army if a dark alley was the senior officer’s idea of a night out. Maria was bouncing up and down, fully aware of their end destination and eager to arrive. The alley ended in a wooden door, banded with studded iron, a small window with a latch was carved out at eye height, which Kat rapped on in a strange pattern.
Laurel kept the laughter inside when the window was opened and a grunted “password” spat out.
“Password is ‘let me in jackass’” Kat said.
“Stars above Donahue, would the world end if you played along just once?”
“Who knows? But why risk it?”
A deep sigh and the small window snapped shut, followed by the click of three locks, then the door swung open. The trio filed inside, past a large man with a pinched face sitting on a stool with the day’s local paper folded under his arm. He would barely look at Kat and gestured them back with a defeated air. Their journey continued down a narrow hall, paneled in light wood and well-lit with evenly spaced lanterns. Contrasting the aesthetic of the back alley exterior, the color lent an airiness to the low-ceilinged passage, and the smells of incense and alcohol permeated the space. A long flight of stairs down and they faced another closed door. This one opened without any input from them, and they stepped inside.
A wall of raucous noise hit them as they stepped across the threshold. Laurel glanced back and noted some crudely curved runes for keeping the noise from traveling. They stood on a balcony overlooking a wide room, support pillars breaking up the space into smaller areas. Some contained tables where games of cards were being hotly debated and gambled upon. Others had groups of dancers or comfortable seating. A gleaming bar lined the left side of the room, bartenders slinging drinks across as fast as they could make them into waiting arms. A band played low music on the opposite wall, masking any single conversation from eavesdroppers.
“Kat, you’ve outdone yourself,” Laurel said, grinning as she surveyed the playground.
“Not so fast, L.” The pilot signalled the doorman and hopped up on the wide banister railing.
“Fresh blood!” the shout echoed out through the rest of the room. As one, the horde turned towards the door. Laurel gave a little wave and cheering erupted. They descended onto the floor where an elegant woman in a floor-length blue dress met them.
“Kat Donahue as I live and breathe, and Maria Varska. Should I be terrified that you two are showing up with a new member for our little group?”
“This is Laurel Stormblade, and I think she’ll fit right in,” Kat said.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The woman raised a single eyebrow. “Then right this way, the initiation will be set up by the time we get there.
“Now, knowing these two, they didn’t tell you anything. My name is Violet, and you are in the Moonrise Cascade, the best drinks club in Lanport, and all of Merista.” The nearby patrons put up another cheer at the pronouncement. Laurel followed along, keeping track of the crowd growing behind them as they neared the back of the room.
“But of course, we can’t let just anyone in. We have standards.” More laughter and cheers.
“As long as you aren’t about to make me pick out the perfect ink and embossed paper for the occasion, I think we’ll be just fine.”
Maria snorted at her attempt at a joke. “Nah none of that stuff here. Maybe when you join a club for nobles.”
They had reached the back area of the room, not fully visible from the original balcony. Oil lamps suffused the area with a warm glow, and shafts of moonlight from cleverly concealed skylights and mirrors added to the mystique of the evening. What felt like every other patron crowded across the wide room behind them, carefully staying behind the last line of pillars. There were tables set out at intervals with a confusing array of items on them. The first had a tiny wrinkled pepper, it must have been a while since any new members showed up. The next had a flute, and the third was bare, but had a barrel filled with water sitting next to it.
“It’s a simple test really. First, you drink this.” Perfectly timed, another employee appeared next to Violet, holding a tray with a single glass. Inside was a drink the color of lightning. Laurel could smell it from a meter away. Potent. “Next, eat the pepper, and drink the yellow.” Another server with a tray, this time a canary yellow cocktail shimmered in the lamplight. “Play a note on the flute, drink the red, and put out the flame before the fuse reaches the end.” Another perfectly choreographed moment where one server held up a red drink, while another lit a fuse lining the back wall, starting a slow march from left to right, another five meters away. “Without going in front of the tables, of course.”
The hoots and cheers were riotous now that the game was explained. Make a fool of yourself by getting drunk and splashing water across the room. This was great. Setting up a sect was important, and games of byd or reading was enjoyable, but this was the most down and out fun she’d seen since arriving in the country. And Laurel Stormblade did not back down from a challenge.
“You’re on.”
She grabbed the blue drink and tossed it back. Some sort of fruity thing to start but a horrifically bitter aftertaste that lingered as she ran to the first table. It took two chews before the taste of the pepper registered.
“Fuck!” She forced herself to swallow it. At least her taste buds would be destroyed enough not to care about the next two drinks. Heightened senses were not always a boon. “What the fuck is that?” Laurel could hear the laughter but put it to the back of her mind.
The yellow drink did nothing for the burn. If anything, it felt like the alcohol pushed it further down her throat. She panted over to the table and grabbed the flute. The devious nature of the challenges revealed itself. Hard to blow a wind instrument when your mouth is on fire and your eyes are watering. Pursing her lips, she gave it her best shot, and a harsh whine came out the other end. Good enough.
The red drink was more mellow, with some sort of floral flavor playing pleasantly across her tongue. Or maybe she thought that because her mouth refused to tell her anything more specific. The fuse was two thirds gone when she reached the final table. Her mana churned and she was a moment away from using it to fling water from the barrel at the wall when she pulled back. The others had conquered this without magic. So could she. An about face showed a wall of writhing people behind her, shouting encouragement. But what she needed was right there.
She ran up to the nearest person with a belt knife and pulled it out before they could realize what was happening. Spinning, she flung it across the distance where it landed in the wooden wall with a gentle thud. The fuse severed and the fire winked out.
A beat of silence, and then the crowd roared.
“Welcome to the Moonrise Cascade, dear, enjoy.” Violet melted back as the crowd surged forward. Kat and Maria found her and whisked her off to the bar.
“Okay the most important thing about the Moonrise is that on your first night, you drink for free, and so do the people that introduced you,” Maria said. “If you don’t wake up hungover tomorrow, you’re doing it wrong.”
“I doubt you have anything that can get me hungover but let’s see what you have that can override that godawful pepper.”
“Challenge accepted.”
******
Rebecca and Leander crouched with their new friends on a roof overlooking another dirty alley, this time one that wedged along a section of the wall furthest from the ocean. Jeb and Artie, the boys they had saved, had known a lot about the thugs stealing from them. They used to be part of the same gang, working odd jobs in some of the market districts. Then Gern had hit a growth spurt and ousted some of the others, pushing them further into the poorer districts to make it easier for Gern and his cronies to get the good jobs.
Now they watched as Gern lounged in his hideout. They had been watching for hours. Leander was so bored, but Rebecca had the same gleam in her eye from yesterday so when she said they needed to watch, he listened. But it was the same nonsense over and over. There were at least a half a dozen of the same kind of guy he could name in Verilia, and that was only in the area of the Flats he spent the most time in. Rebecca was his friend, so he stayed. Martin and Laurel had learned to cultivate together and now they helped each other a million years later. If he was very lucky, he would have that with Rebecca.
********
Theresa poured tea as she and Laurel sat on the balcony of the city lord’s manor. Not as opulent as the King’s palace, but far more pleasant than the meeting rooms they’d used at Fort Sarken. The women relaxed, reveling in the silence while looking out over the Wall at the dark plane of the ocean, the sun rising behind them.
“Tell me.” Laurel said.
“It's been harder than I expected.” Theresa leaned back and closed her eyes. Laurel noted the dark circles that had grown in the month since Theresa had come to Lanport.
“It’s working, I can tell that without any effort. The ambient mana is much calmer than a city this size would generate otherwise.”
“You’re right, I’m just complaining.” She opened her eyes again and smiled at Laurel. “I’m happy you’re here though, I think it's time to manifest the interface and I could use some backup. “
“Where are you putting it, the manor, or the army headquarters?”
“Over in a secure bunker in the Wall. Edward wants to keep the nobles or anyone without a high level of loyalty from deciding they should have their own magically enforced city-state.”
“Not uncommon. In the past a ruler would allow sects to live and cultivate in large population centers in exchange for their defense of the same. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for those cultivators to question why they needed a ruler at all. Of course royals in those times were often powerful cultivators, which made rebellion a different prospect.”
Both women sipped their tea in silence.
“Are you going to step in on your novice’s little adventure?”
“I think I’ll let it play out for now.”
********
“Is everybody ready?” Rebecca stood next to Leander as she addressed their troops for the day. Jeb and Artie were standing in front, hard looks in their eyes. Behind them were a ragtag collection of teens and younger kids, all pushed out by Gern’s bullying. Leander pulled at his tunic. Annette had insisted they pack one nice outfit, and Rebecca had forced him into it this morning over his protests. He didn’t see why it would matter so much, street toughs don’t care about fancy clothes.
He refocused on Rebecca’s instructions.
“.... then on the emerald signal you need to pour out the bottles…”. They had gone over this so many times in the last two days he could recite the plan in his sleep. His dreams last night had actually involved being forced to juggle the props that now filled the pack he was carrying.
“...He will never bother you again.” Rebecca finished talking to the muted ‘yeah’s and ‘alright’s of the locals. Finally, they could get started.
They split off into groups of two and three to make their way to Gern’s lair. This had been his own contribution to the plan, to avoid the attention of guards that might be concerned by a crowd of angry kids stomping through the streets. Through alleys and the occasional tunnel, they crept closer until they reached the hideout. It wasn’t much, an empty courtyard in a poor area of the city. The smell said no one bothered cleaning it either. Rebecca’s sharp hand gestures put everyone into position as they waited for the sun to sink the last inches past the horizon, throwing the city into dusk.
When she judged the time was right, Rebecca stepped forward while muttering a quick “pearl”.
Three of the smaller kids held up thin sheets of metal he and Rebecca had borrowed from the army, and began to shake them around. Leander had been impressed when one of the locals had suggested it, picking up the trick from hanging out the back of a theater with nice actors. If he didn’t see it happening he might actually believe a thunderstorm was rolling in.
“Emerald!” came a hiss from a few meters ahead. He rushed to catch up. Two more kids stationed slightly further along opened vials of something Rebecca had found at the fort. Not so much borrowed as ‘secretly donated to the common good’. Thick gray smoke began spilling out, infusing the air with the sharp smell that came after lightning, and a foul aftertaste if you opened your mouth at the wrong time. He and Rebecca walked the last steps forward as she gave one final command. “Ruby”.
Glow stones, packed by Annette in their supplies, lit up behind them, adding to the creepy effect. They crossed over into the small hideout to see Gern and some of his cronies on their feet. Some had picked up sticks or cudgels but their hands shook and their eyes were darting everywhere, trying to pierce the smoke.
“Stop!” Rebecca’s normally gentle expression was nowhere to be seen. She had added some sort of makeup to her face and even Leander had been a little frightened when he first saw it.
“Gern of Lanport. Your foul deeds have reached the ears of the Coven of the Mountains. Betraying those close to you, stealing from the weak, hurting those who cannot protect themselves. We have judged and found you wanting.” She started a slow glide forward. Leander’s job was to block the exit. He crossed his arms and puffed up his chest, attempting to look imposing in the fancy outfit.
She came to a stop barely a meter in front of Gern. His closest allies shrank back, pressing themselves against the wall and looking as small and helpless as they could.
“This is your one chance. Do better, or the next time one of my order steps foot in Lanport, will be the last day you draw breath.” On the last word of her prepared speech, Rebecca gathered all her mana and pushed. Air blasted out from her hand, hitting Gern square in the chest. The larger boy stumbled back and fell to the ground, staring up at Rebecca in horror.
With a subtle hand gesture, their final allies released a last set of smoke vials, obscuring everything and letting Rebecca and Leander slip back down the alley, while appearing to the bullies as if they had disappeared. They hurried away, grabbing the boys who had kept the thunder effect rolling the entire confrontation, and falling back to the meeting point.
Leander didn’t even try to hide his smile. He wished they had thought of paying back every bully he’d run afoul of in the Flats before leaving. But he could be content with this. He turned to share a high five with Rebecca, who was leaning against a wall, panting like she’d completed a workout led by Martin. She looked upset, even though they won. The other kids they had met had no such reservations. Once they all made it back to their meetup there were rounds of cheers and hugs for the cultivators. Leander pulled out the snacks he had been given from the army fort, along with a bottle of wine he had snuck out on his own, and they had a party until it was time for them to head back. The whole time he kept watching Rebecca. She recovered her energy enough to mingle, but the smile never reached her eyes.
********
Rebecca was sitting alone on a bench when Laurel found her. She sat down as well, looking out on the practice field with its perfectly clipped grass. During the day it housed drills and training, but for now it was empty except for a few soldiers sparring in their free time. They were leaving tomorrow, so it was time to have the conversation, as much as she had been dreading it. Enough wisdom had eventually trickled into her that she knew she had to let the kids fight for what they believed in, even if they made mistakes. Actually holding herself back and then sympathizing in the aftermath was another story.
It was Rebecca that eventually broke the silence. “Why didn’t it feel better?”
Laurel was unsure if she had ever felt so old as this moment, with a child asking her for insight. “You aren’t the first person to begin cultivating because they don’t want to be hurt anymore. It’s not a bad reason for seeking power, as these things go. You aren’t the first person to want to use that power to help others. That’s an even better reason, though few of us can maintain that drive. But you fell into a trap.”
She glanced sideways and saw Rebecca’s hands clenched in her lap so hard the knuckles were straining white.
“You intervened that first day to help those boys. But you did the rest in order to hurt this Gern character. You lost the thread of helping someone and picked up using your power to subdue someone else instead.” Tears were streaming down the younger girl's face as she turned to fully look at Laurel for the first time since she sat down.
Laurel gave a rueful smile. “I’m getting too poetic. It feels bad because you took it too far. You actively sought out someone to hurt, and that should be something you think hard about before doing. Not never, mind you, sometimes you have to fight. And sometimes people really deserve a punch to the face. But it should be for a reason other than hurting someone, who isn’t even the person you’re mad at.”
She threw an arm around Rebecca’s shoulder and shook gently. “You’re young. You made a little mistake. It will be fine.”
“It will be fine?” The girl sounded incredulous.
“Of course it will. You didn’t kill anyone. And you kept the sect name out of it, nice touch there.”
Rebecca broke out into a loud laugh. Laurel gave in and joined her.
“We’re leaving in the morning, go get some sleep. Don’t think you get out of anything just because you’ve exhausted your mana either. There’s a reason novice’s can’t support anything like a real external technique. You’re lucky all you have to do tomorrow is sit and recover while the pilots do the work.” She shooed her sect member back inside and joined her in their final preparations. The real journey would begin tomorrow.