Rooks glared at the view. She saw nothing but Volanter ships from top to bottom. “Alright. Make them regret getting this close. All mages, shockwaves on their rears.”

The Volanter didn’t do many multi-person spells. Rooks and Inez came to that certain conclusion. The Volanter also lacked in summons, probably because they relied so strongly on their familiars. Finally, the Volanter could not switch up spells during battle. Their circles had fewer elements, and thus, less ability to adapt. All were good points in Iruedim’s favor.

Inez began her portal circle, leaving holes for the shockwaves. The shockwaves found their spots quick, and Rooks watched as pieces of Volanter ships sprinkled behind the Volanter line.

Rooks didn’t think the shockwave worked very well on big ships, and Volanter had shields at their rears. Still, she had something else in mind.

“Press ahead. Let’s give them no space. Make them feel it.”

“If we keep doing the shockwave…” Inez objected.

“Their ships will shield us from the damage. Do it again.”

Before Inez or any other mages could comply, the Volanter fell back. A shockwave rocked the rear of Fauchard.

Rooks sighed. “They figured out a way to do it to us. If we get into a shockwave brawl; how long could the ship survive?”

Inez shrugged. “Probably a while. Their ships aren’t that damaged. Ours would probably take as many hits.” Inez touched her chest. “Personally, I think they’d outlast us, but they probably think the opposite.”

Rooks raised her eyebrows. “Why?” She knew why. The Volanter were ever cautious and could probably come to no other conclusion.

“Cause they’re as underconfident as I am,” Inez answered.

Rooks laughed. She turned back to her screen. She looked between the windshield and the computer view, as she watched the Volanter retreat. “Advance on them – slow. Don’t make them think we’re giving chase. Just get some of our cushion back.” Rooks wanted the Volanter further away, so she might as well not antagonize them. “Belay the shockwave.”

Inez stepped out of her casting position. She stopped to think of a new spell.

Pan’s dragon pulled alongside a liner of a ship. As the ship sailed through space, her dragon matched its pace and twisted to give Pan a view of the ship’s windows. Pan also twisted, still clinging to the dragon’s fur.

She squinted and saw a hall beyond the dark windows. A moment later, they zipped through a portal and into the ship’s interior.

All lay in perfect, dim quiet.

The dragon retracted its scale cage. Pan slid off its back and felt an instant humid warmth. It soaked into her straight black hair and gave her the volume of her dreams. The gentle s-waves that sometimes formed curved confidently into place.

Pan stopped and stared at her dragon. It watched her, with calm eyes.

“We should find the engine and destroy it,” Pan said.

The dragon started in that direction, and Pan followed. She put her hand on the familiar’s back. The black fur streamed under her fingertips, and as the familiar ran, that fur streamed by. Pan tried to grab the tip of the dragon’s tail and failed. Then, her familiar left her in its dust.

Pan stopped. “Unbelievable. I thought it mellowed out.”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at the empty hall. Twisting designs and runes snaked along the molding. A pattern of leaves and branches, carved into the ceiling, suggested a forest setting and lent power to the heat. For a moment, Pan remained in the hall. Then, she started to run again.

A portal opened before her, and Pan skidded to a stop. The Eidos trotted through. Its neck waved as it ran, making it look even stupider.

The Eidos unfolded its back and let out a young, and dare Pan say, handsome Volanter man.

He stood tall. White was his base color, but he had thick bands of black on his tentacles and arms. His fingers were long and elegant, though some might call them creepy. His face held super human beauty, from his uplifted cheekbones to his angular jaw. He was symmetry incarnate.

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“Such a shame,” Pan said.

“A shame?”

“That face on that body.” Pan shook her head. “It’s a tragedy. You could have been an art model.”

“Such a shame,” he echoed. He gestured to her.

Pan raised an eyebrow, cocked her head, and waited.

“Such tireless circle craft attached to a misguided child of the Volanter.”

“I don’t think you have custody of me anymore.” Pan took a step back.

The man laughed. “I don’t need custody. You and I have a contract.” He gestured between them.

Pan made a face. It was a tired face. She’d long since finished arguing with people whose minds could not be changed.

Her telekinetic circle followed. Too fast for him to counter, it threw him against the wall, where a portal of Pan’s waited. He popped out into space, and Pan ran down the hall, passing his clueless familiar. It stayed there, waiting for him, baying at the window.

Pan thought this Volanter man might be a nicer person than her. Oh well. He was nice and relatively speedy, but he was dead now.

Besides, she was faster, and victory belonged to the fastest. Being bound to those circles had given Pan a casting advantage. It was as if she had a stronger connection with her reaped circles than any of the Volanter had with the original creations. Because once, those circles had been part of her.

The hum of a circle filled the hall. Pan froze. She saw nothing ahead. She turned. Behind, she saw the Volanter man.

“You survived space?”

“I have a casting plan for any time that I’m thrown from a vessel. Air Bubble. Warmth. Heal. Portal.”

“Oh.” Pan cast her shield. It encircled her.

“You’re very fast. One of the Anther, or so they speculate.”

“You might want to fight me off this ship.” Pan narrowed her eyes and waited.

“Ah, but you are an interesting development in the Anther’s experiments. You were bound and had speed of casting far beyond any Volanter. Now, you are unbound and have somehow maintained that speed, not to mention stamina. Your spell range is limited, but you’re very good within those limits,” the man said.

“I’m learning more.” Pan took a few steps back.

“I won’t kill you, and I certainly don’t want you off the ship. We need to capture you. Study you. Make sure there will be more of you.”

Pan felt her eyes go wide. “How are we going to do that exactly?” Pan held up a hand. “No, never mind. Best not to say. I know how this works, but let me remind you…I don’t even know your name.” Pan gave him an exaggerated sigh.

“I didn’t mean me specifically.” Though, his expression betrayed his liking for the plan. “I’m Gladiolus.”

“I’m Panphila, reaper of cantrips.”

An intercom went on throughout the ship. “Intruder. Intruder alert. Intruder in vents.”

Most of the warning didn’t make Gladiolus flinch, but the part about the vents opened his eyes wide.

“Your familiar! You didn’t dispel it.”

“It went to Engineering without me.” Pan smiled.

Gladiolus threw a trap circle around her, but Pan countered it. He let it go and slithered by, ignoring Pan as he performed his equivalent of a run. He bumped her, and then, he was off. Pan didn’t know how to describe it. He ran on his tentacles, wriggling them like noodle legs.

Pan laughed. “Leave me your beast, and we’ll play a game of familiar swap. I think I’ll take yours to the mountains for a tourist’s adventure.”

Gladiolus’ familiar brayed in her face and followed the man.

Pan chased after, thoroughly amused.

Gladiolus arrived at Engineering first, but it was too late.

Pan arrived on the tips of his tentacles, and she saw her dragon inside the spiraling engine column. It barely fit. It looked like a blockage in the pipes. From the scowl on the dragon’s face, it must have felt like a blockage in the pipes. Her dragon had squirmed through the vents, found one that led into their very engine, and jammed it up. Now, it struggled to get free.

“Poor baby.” Pan drew a portal inside the spiral and pulled it along her dragon’s length.

The dragon burst free at her side and shook out its wings and fur.

The spiral engine was not so lucky. Cracks bled over the glass, and something between fluid and a light bled out.

“I can’t believe you fit in there.” Pan glanced at its body, which seemed too big for the space.

“Abandon ship. Abandon ship,” called the com.

Engineers fled through emergency doors. None came Pan’s way, except Gladiolus.

“You’re not getting off this ship. Against my better judgement, I could almost kill you.”

Pan activated her telekinetic circle in several spots. One, she hid around the base of the spiral engine. She yanked it free of its base. The spiral spilt liquid light.

Gladiolus, in the middle of a rotating ring, took the liquid to the edges of his tentacles. He hissed, and his spell died. But, not before the first item in the cast finished.

In the hall, where they first met, he’d briefly touched her arm. Now, that spot felt warm, and runes circled her thin limb. Pan’s mouth fell open. Her arm glowed with his magic, and she started to grow numb.

“I marked you with the impression of my numbing circle and delayed the cast. You have yet to learn that.” His tentacles curled tight, and he hunched over them, casting a circle that produced copious amounts of water to wash him clean.

Pan felt the rest of her body numb. With no word from her, the dragon scooped her up, laid her on its back, and formed the shell. Pan bumped from side to side as the dragon disappeared into a vent, thankfully one that was not too tight a fit.

She couldn’t steady herself with her hands, but she could find the energy to cast. Pan imagined a telekinetic ring around her head and shoulders. She held them back from the worst of her dragon’s escape. Still, she bumped and rolled and hit the sides of her coffin-shaped, scale cage.

They never exited the vent. Instead, the dragon cut a hole in the side, and they streamed out into space, headed for home.

The Volanter fled. They took all their ships, damaged but not destroyed. Rooks supposed it was fair. She retained all her ships, including the Scaldin reinforcements. Everyone got away with nothing more than bruises and cuts – at least in terms of ships. Rooks knew she had causalities among her fighters and Lurriens, especially among her people.