The lady of the waters, mistress of the spirits that governed the aquatic gate, Arch-magister of the canal quarter, poked the dead body with the end of her crystal rod.
"What possessed you, to waste a Vampire's Tooth Blade on a simpleton peasant!" she glared at the repentant captain who stood before her.
"I…. He threw himself in the way, I was about to get the boy."
"Yes, about that. Somehow he managed to enter the dream-realm."
She glanced at the sky, as though pondering her next move.
The captain tentatively raised his head "That cursed ability of his, if he couldn't escape us like that, we would have caught him long ago. I wish that-Hrgggk"
The crystal rod lay against his throat, somehow constricting his vocal cords.
"The dreamwalker gift is worth more than mere fire magic. It is the only mass teleportation technique in existence that cannot be blocked or traced and furthermore has no transfer limit!
As long as you've seen the place, you can be there. Can your tiny mind imagine how useful that is?
You could bring entire army's inside fortress gates, bypass any barrier, ignore any obstacle!"
The guardsman shrank away from the Ladies Gaze.
Her white lips began to twist into a smile.
"Well, if anything, because of tonight, we know how dangerous Epsilon is. He killed for the first time."
The guard captain glanced at the body and then back at the magister, puzzled.
Understanding dawned as the lady snapped her fingers.
"Did you know that your body is eight tenths water? Amazing, isn't it. But don't believe me, allow me to demonstrate!" The body on the ground turned to dust and a gobbet of water splashed to the dirt.
"But… I suppose that someone here, will eventually talk. And then Epsilons good name will once again be heard throughout the land, beneath the tales of woe we've been spinning for him."
The captain made a circular motion behind his back. The men arrayed around the square began to load their weapons.
"So to make this work, I suppose I'll have to kill everyone."
"FIRE!" the captain barked the order and bolts of lightning and fire lanced from the riflemen.
The lady gestured with the rod and a wall of water rose from the earth, absorbing the attack.
The captain tried to stab her, but his arms began to convulse.
The still air around the town was pierced by a cacophony of screaming.
The lady stepped back through the spinning circles of the whirlpool gate and entered the council chambers.
"I left no witnesses. No-one will shelter him, now that he's a mass murderer."
She let out a high pitched laugh. No response.
She glanced around the chamber. The council was silent. Silent and unhappy.
Each shadowy figure began to speak. Voices and appearances disguised, even the council members themselves couldn't tell each-other apart.
"When you work the waters, every problem must look like a jug."
"You did not think, you simply exercised your power."
"At least the boy has control."
"Foolish. You did not recover the blade, nor amulet."
"You allowed him to escape."
"And lastly you left no evidence of fire magic. By destroying the burnt structure, you removed the piece that would have implicated epsilon. The glass will not be considered proof."
"Finally, by returning here immediately, you've closed the gates. We will not be able to use them for the full day. Had you remained, the council gates would have remained open for reinforcements, as you should have realized."
"Go back to your tower. We are disappointed in your performance."
"You'll be hearing from us all."
The council members disbursed, leaving one angry magister to howl at the walls in frustration.
She'd have his power- and his head! Even if it was the last thing she did!
------------------------------
Epsilon awoke, feeling distinctly terrible.
"Good, you're awake."
He curled his head forward to look at the speaker.
It was difficult to see with their head outlined by the sun. A wave of nausea overwhelmed him and his head fell back. Overhead, emerald leaves rustled and shifted in a soft wind.
"The mountains. I'm in the mountains…" the events of the last day began to piece themselves together inside his mind.
"Oh, firelords fulminations! I… I… Well, I suppose, sorry doesn't really quite cover it." Epsilon managed to raise his head to look.
There were tears welling up in the corners of the girl's eyes.
"It's… okay… No, actually, it's not okay! Doric's dead, I'm now a wanted criminal and… and we have no idea where we are!" She paused to wipe her apron with her face.
Epsilon had to let his head fall back as his body was overcome with another wave of nausea.
"What, exactly, did you give me? It can't have been real fire-flower nectar, if you had a barrel full of that then you'd be sitting on a pile of gold in Hubtown- And I wouldn't feel so fracking terrible!"
She leaned over him, looking into his eyes and sighing.
"I'm sorry, but I gave you… well, it doesn't have a name, but it's brewed it up from rockflower, tangleweed sap and desert cactus blooms. It was… Doric's, secret. He showed me how to do it once.
Anyway, it tastes like the best drink you've ever had, but knocks you out and leaves you sicker than a sun-struck vamp."
Epislon took this in quietly.
"That's…. quite something. I don't think I've ever heard of a drought like that. So, you used it to make me sleep?"
She nodded.
"Okay, that was for the best, but is there any way of reversing the effects?"
"Nup, not that I know of. Doric was always in the kitchen trying this and that to get the same taste without the side-effects. Always said it would make him rich, never told no one neither. Some folks thought he was lazy but…"
Epsilon rose and said with fierce intensity "This Doric created an original concoction with no help, no training and no magic! The last time I met the head of the alchemists guild, he'd burnt his own lunch! I-eugh." Epsilon fell back.
The girl smiled sadly "Be glad I only gave you just enough, or you wouldn't remember me or yesterday."
Epsilon, breathing deeply from the sudden exertion, tried to focus through the fog of sickness.
"First things, first. We find out where we are and then I need to get you some protection."
"Protection?" Her voice was both hesitant and suspicious, "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"An apprentice contract. What were you thinking of exactly?"
"Uh, nothing."
"Seriously, what ideas do you have? I'm still not working at my best."
"Nothing." Epsilon didn't press her further.
"So, what's this apprentice contract thing then?"
"It's a pact between us, it allows you to tap my abilities when close by and visa versa. Although it's something of an even trade, it's called an apprentice contract because it's most often used by masters for one on one teaching. It requires a lot of trust, since for quite a while, our magical relationship will be mostly take and not much give. I could go into the history of the contract more, but I feel like I'm going to be sick."
"Relationwhat are you implying exactly?" She sounded strained.
"If I take you on as an apprentice, you can tap into my reserve of energy when trying to cast spells. It will let you train much faster and harder without fatiguing." Epsilon explained calmly.
She picked Epsilon up and propped him against a tree.
Stepping back, she held up the staff so he could see.
"So, how exactly do you work this thing?" She asked, wiggling it in the air.
Magic failed to occur.
"Anyway, before you go talking about contracts and stuff, I really don't think I have any magic at all.
I mean, I would have noticed."
Epsilon managed to recover enough from the sickness of being upright to respond.
"If you were not tested and had no contact with other devices, beings or persons of the magical persuasion, you might never have shown signs… although being in an Inn you should have had some contact with travelling journeymen of the guild. When it comes to testing for talent they're meticulous to the extreme. " His brow furrowed as he tried to untangle the inconsistency.
The girl looked at her feet, apparently embarrassed.
"Actually, ah, well, Doric, he didn't really like folks of the magical type. Everyone knew it, respected it. I've been with him since I turned up in that dustbowl, so, I suppose, that might be possible."
Epsilon waited for her to return from the painful memory.
"There's actually, a slim chance for your master. I wouldn't mention it otherwise, but he seemed like a sensible man."
She looked at him anger and confusion written on her face and in her stance "What are you talking about! You said that the blade killed on touch! And you're a… a mage, no more than that you're a sorcerer, you're the most magical person I've ever seen! Why did you think he was sensible?"
Epsilon blinked.
"I'm hunted day and night because of my gift. You didn't receive a forced invitation to join the guild because of your master… And I didn't say that. I said it drained people. When a Vampires tooth pierces the skin, it siphons everything, life, power, memories, personality. They go into a chalice, made from metal infused with the powdered tooth that was the twin of the one ground into the metal of the blade.
It is technically, always fatal. But, that is only if the contents of the chalice are absorbed or emptied.
This time, they were gunning for me, but from what I remember of that water-witch, she was both vain and staggeringly stupid- seriously, there was this one time when we were sent to help a farming community, and she decides out of nowhere to make it rain over the fields- in the harvest season. Got all offended when the farmers didn't thank her as well, when she had just half-ruined the crop."
"Anyway, there is a small chance she did not recover the blade and without it, they cannot begin renewal ritual that will allow them to use it again. Until that time, it cannot be emptied and I can think of no council member or arch-magister that would lower them-selves to absorbing a non-magician.
If we had the untouched chalice and a powerful enough healer, we could conceivably bring him back without the use of necromancy. Healing magic heals injuries and ailments of the body and Doric's only problem is that he no-longer has a body."
The girl was brightening with every word.
"Just, please, don't get over-excited. There are a great many 'If's and 'Maybe's there. But actually, we can probably figure one thing out. Who would be the next person to go to your town?"
"Rough riders caravan. They do the gem shipments. Headed up by Elmanuel Lawrence."
"Good man?"
"The best. Knows every word of the law, pays in advance, takes things outside. He's an archon, so he protects the caravans from bandit magicking."
Epsilon clasped his hands together as though in praise "The goddess of the fates, the lovely Miss Fortune, surely she shines upon our enemies!"
"Eh?"
"This guy is perfect. If he finds it, he'll recognise it at a glance. It's beyond illegal contraband. You can practically get the death penalty for looking at one outside of the museum in the sanctum university of sorcery. He'll almost certainly take it back to Archonstone to be put in the Evidence Vault."
"But, won't they have clairvoyance spells on it or something like that… Oh right, Archon. Magic nullification and all."
"By Jove, she's got it! If it's still there when he arrives, he'll surely find it, identify it and prevent the council from locating it."
"If it's still there, why wouldn't the guy who…" she stopped, on the verge of another bout of tears.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice that."
"Huh?"
"If it was still there, then it would mean that the lady of the waters killed everyone and hoped to pin it on me- It's fifty fifty whether she'd be successful or not."
The shock almost overwhelmed her.
"EVERYONE? All of them, are, dead?"
"It would take a bout of overwhelming stupidity, but that is her other main talent next to offensive water magic. It would be the third time and with such a small town stead, casualties would be limited enough to justify a massacre. That sort of thing happens, well, a lot.... Frankly that it happens at all is bad enough."
She was more than horrified. "It does?"
"Yup. There is a very good reason why I never got a license. It's also why you have so many powerful magicians and such on wanted posters. If your talent is great enough, they are obligated to groom you for the top level positions straight up… Which involves sounding you out on this sort of thing.
If you're smart, you agree long enough to finish your education and then make like a tree.
If you're dumb and good, then you reveal the fact that you don't like mass murder, get drained and get added to the people who died due to 'Magical overuse syndrome'. That way, people who can oppose the administration get plucked before they're threats. No sending out the low level minions and letting people become stronger. They draw you into the heart of their operation and squish you like a bug if you look like a troublemaker."
She looked like she was having trouble absorbing all of that "So, you pretended to be okay with all that?"
"Had to, for years- least until I knew I could get away. I'm older than I look, something of a side-effect of being a really really powerful mage. Well not just me, with all magicians, your body begins to reflect your specialization. My hair used to be brown, now it's white. I used to be taller, I've shrunk. Actually, I suppose it's time I started teaching you stuff formally. You can tell what degree a fire mage is by their appearance.
A novice, will probably have red hair, be large, beefy or tall and lanky. A journeyman, yellow, blonde hair, smaller.
An adept, blue, smaller still. A master, like me… and if someone was go beyond white... I have my theories."
"But what if you were to be like that? If you reached that level, what would you be able to do."
Epsilon smiled wanly "I don't think anyone's ever gone that high. I know I won't be able to get that far…"
He held up a hand, palm flat.
"Pardon me, but, this drink wasn't actually of magic."
"No?"
Epsilon felt like cuffing the girl around the head.
"Then what I've got is an injury of the body, let's get to a town and find a healer before I hurl."
Understanding dawned.
"Ohhh. Oh-kay! Then you know where the nearest town is?"
Epsilon looked around.
"Hrrm. Well I…. Actually, how far have you moved from this clearing?"
The girl looked around at the trees that grew thickly on the sloping ground.
"Well, not very far at all really. I've been waiting for you to wake up."
Epsilon closed his eyes. "Cantus Bellax! Flamma id est Animus Nutrit!"
He rose unsteadily.
"What, was that?"
" 'War song, Fire that is life, nourish.' It's a basic spell to increase vigour and shrug off damage. I could cast it in my sleep."
" I see, so it doesn't heal you, it just lets you fight on?"
"Pretty much." Epsilon took the lead, struggling down the slope and through the thickly growing trees that obscured the view of the landscape beyond them.
He stopped at the other side of the thicket and gazed at the world beyond.
Behind him, the girl let out a gasp of astonishment.
"Beautiful isn't it? I don't think you ever forget the first time you see the floating islands in person."
The slope ended with deceptive suddenness.
Beyond it, the realm of clouds stretched away. Floating islands hung in the sky, with the occasional bridge or ladder connecting them together.
Though the island stretched away into the distance, the nearest ones were but five or six kilometers off the coast of their own. It was fantastic, each island that hung in the sky had its own unique environment. It was like someone had carved each of them from a different location in the world and then brought them all together in the sky.
Epsilon pointed to the nearest, a circular lake that hung about a two hundred meters down and half a kilometer away.
"There's a ladder from this island to that town, it should be around the curve of this mountain."
"That's a town?"
"Yup, no buildings on top, they carve their towns out of the rock of the islands base. Lakes are usually towns because of the reservoir of fresh water they provide. Mountains, like the one we're on now, sometimes have natural caves and valuable ore and gemstones, but anything this close to a town would have been mined out. Forests and jungles contain exotic creatures, rare ingredients and magical reagents, so people sometimes forage in those. There are many other types of islands too, but I'll tell you about those later.
The problem is that with such small islands and such wildly varied environments, work can be dangerous and short-lived, since any resource will be quickly exhausted without careful management." Epsilon had started walking, skirting around the edge of the floating mountains thickly forested base, looking for the way down.
"This is a good town though, I saw it in a book once and passed through here again six months ago. They were having troubles with bugbears inside this mountain and so I helped them out. And if I remember correctly…. Hnuh?" Epsilon had reached two thick tree-stumps.
"What?"
"This was where the ladder-bridge was connected from here to down there. Rule one of island-craft, don't destroy a bridge unless you need to, they are really, really hard to connect up." Epsilon let his fingers trail over the stumps.
"No claw marks. No leftover rope. No burns. It was untied, recently, by the look of the moss."
His reverie was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.
"I don't know how long that enhancement spell lasts, but unless you have a… another bridge tucked away in that little pouch of yours, we won't be getting down to that town anytime soon."
"Of course I don't have a seven hundred meter ladder." Epsilon answered immediately.
"Well, I was being sar-"
"Why would I need one? I have the balloon, the glider and the wing harness." The girl eyed the pouch with renewed interest.
"I'm sorry, did I miss something? I thought that was your purse."
Epsilon shook his head, the bells on the end of his hood-tails jingling.
"I've been globetrotting with a bounty on my head for around a year. Leading this kind of life, you tend to accumulate magic items and other assorted knickknacks like other people accumulate green-grocers-guild coins. So Improbable Pouches are an adventuring essential. If you find anything too heavy to tote along, you can have my spare until you can get your own sewn."
The girl listened, wide eyed.
"So how are we going to get down?"
"Wings. At this distance it's not worth unfolding the glider or inflating the balloon. So you can put on the harness and carry me down."
Epsilon made an open handed gesture over his pouch and pulled on the drawstring to widen the mouth of the bag…. And kept pulling. The mouth of the bag just kept getting wider and wider, with no apparent regard for its previous dimensions.
"Hold it open please." He handed the pouch to his companion and leaned inside.
After a moment he straightened out, clutching a red leather harness.
"It's pretty simple, just adjust the buckles and straps so that they're real tight, since the last thing you want is to slip out of this in-flight."
She held up the red-leather accessory with a curious expression on her fine features.
"Why… Where exactly, did you get this and why is it so… provocative?"
Epsilon was busy returning the bag to its original size and place on his belt.
"Sky-pirate queen. I spared her flagship and in return she gave me her wings. What was that last part?"
"Nothing." The girl replied, slipping on the harness and buckling it into place over her apron and dress.
"So, how exactly do I work this thing?" She asked, craning her head and trying to see her own back.
"Well, you make the wings appear by shrugging your shoulders."
She shrugged and two tiny, fluffy wings popped out under her chin.
"Oh… you're wearing it around the wrong way."
After that little problem was corrected, she remained skeptical of the usefulness of such obviously tiny and decorative wings for flight. Even with magic, there were limits to what she'd believe in, she informed Epsilon.
"Actually, the wings only grow to full size when the person wearing it is in freefall. Otherwise they'd be a nuisance."
"I… guess that makes sense. So, we just need to jump and they'll work? Are you sure you don't want to be the one wearing them?"
Epsilon flexed his arms.
"With these? I'd never be able to hold you up. What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Nevermind. Let's go mage-boy." And with that, she grabbed Epsilon bodily, took three steps back and charged off the edge of the mountain. There was a brief moment where it seemed like the wings wouldn't work and then- plumph.
Epsilon felt their fall slow as the wings expanded to their full six meter span.
The wind rushed past them as they swooped downwards towards the lake.
"How do I land?" She yelled above the wind.
"Simple, when you get to just about the ground, bunch up your feet and think of going vertical, the wings know what to do!"
"Alright!" She leaned in further, speeding up the descent.
Epsilon eyed the water of the lake as they closed on it rapidly.
"Okay, drop me in the lake and then land! On three. Two."
She began to protest while he was speaking "Hang on, no one said anything about dropping-"
"One. DROP!"
She obeyed. Epsilon splashed into the water.
She bunched up her legs, pulling them to her chest. The wings changed angle, flapping harder and slowing her down. She alighted on the edge of the lake, wings shrinking down to their decorative size the moment her foot touched the ground.
Epsilon placed his staff on the surface of the water and used it to lever himself up.
He walked across the lake to her, as she unclasped and unbuckled the harness.
"Don't Ever, Ever, EVER ask me to do something like that again, mid-flight."
Epsilon smiled as he fed the harness back into his Improbable Pouch. "Didn't we have some fun though? Anyway, if I told you that you couldn't land while carrying me, we'd still be on the mountain."
That didn't get a reply.
"Well, let's get along down into the town."
"How exactly are we going to do that? Get a rope and jump down the side of this thing?"
"No, unless you want to enter someone's house by the window instead of the door…"
They both looked at each-other.
"We both want to enter someone's house by the window now, don't we?"
Epsilon nodded in agreement.
"But we really shouldn't…."
Both boy and girl sighed in sensible disappointment.
Epsilon perked up "I know, how about the next town we come to, we use the balloon to knock on some-ones window and ask for directions!"
"They probably get that a lot."
"Come on! It'll be fun."
"No, the moments gone."
"Okay, how about we take the wings and smash head-first through the window of the mayor's office in a town we don't like. C'mon, Pleeeeeassse! It'll be fun for both of us!"
There was a creaking sound behind them.
"Now, I'm not going to jump to conclusions," The woman who stepped out of the stairwell, bucket in hand, began "But that there was something that sounds awfully suspicious out of context."
"I, uh, we, weren't-" Her protestations were cut off by Epsilon.
"We were talking about diving head first through someone's window so we could make a grand entrance into a town we don't like, but not here, because I've been here before and this place is nice."
He blinked and seemed to focus on the woman.
"Miss Forthwright? It is you isn't it! It's been such a long time since I was here, do you remember me?"
The woman turned around slowly and dropped the bucket. "Little Epsilon! You came back! After all the trouble with the bugbears and the mountain gems, oh give me a hug!" She picked up the mage bodily and squeezed him. After a minute she put him back down and looked his new apprentice up and down.
"Who's she?"
"Girl I picked up in the dustbowl, nasty business... I'm afraid that she too is now on the run."
"Well, don't tell me who you are missy, it doesn't matter up here. Just know that Epsilon there not only saved this town by reopening the gem mines, but brought back enough roast bug-bear to feed everyone for a whole month! If he says you're alright, then come on down!" she grabbed the bucket without bothering to fill it back up and trip-trapped down the stone stairs, calling out that 'Epsilon's back' all the way.
Epsilon's mouth curled into a self-satisfied smile.
"I love being unlicensed. I can work for free because I don't have the guild tithes to worry about and when I work for free… it feels good."
He sighed and started down the stairs.
"So where did you get all your coin then?"
"Various places. Stuff I paid you was from back in the day when I'd get some pocket money working for the healers as a power source. By letting them draw on my strength, their people didn't get tired out by using their own. Since they weren't tiring themselves they could cast more efficiently and more often.
I could fuel every worker in the casualty ward for two shifts straight. It's a pity that even with my help, they just couldn't manage three consecutive shifts."
Epsilon picked up the pace as the townsfolk swarmed along the corridor to greet him.
"Is there a healer in the house?"He raised his voice about the babble of greetings.
A hand was raised at the back and an old man tottered forward.
"I'm merchant, the healer for this town, does something ail you?"
"Not much, just a little… would you call it a poison?" He addressed his last words to the girl examining the roughly hew rock of the tunnel wall behind him.
"I suppose."
"Yeah. Just a little bit poisoned, can you manage a cure?" Epsilon looked around at the worried faces of the townspeople "Don't worry, it's nothing serious…"
He trailed off as around the edge of his consciousness, tinges of nausea and sickness began to worm their way into his mind.
"Hmmm, that was much sooner than I expected. Cantus Bellax! Flamma id est Animus Nutrit!"
Nothing happened.
"That was also… unex… Cantus Bellax! Flamma id est Animus Nutrit! Cantus …Bellax! Flamma… id est Animus Nutrit! I- Urghh-"
Epsilon reached into his pouch and then, toppled over, retching onto the floor.