Emergence: Return of Magic book 1 (17 page)

Arielle took his hand and squeezed it as she joined him in
front of the high priestess Trielle.  They waited patiently for her
communion to end, and Trielle opened her eyes and smiled after a few minutes.

He felt Trielle’s magic as she sung a spell in a lyrical
voice, and then he could feel more than the magic, he felt the presence of the
goddess herself, at least in spirit.

Trielle asked him, “Do you vow to accept Arielle as your
bonded for life, to share with her in all things and become one with her before
the goddess and clan.”

“I so vow,” he said without hesitation while staring into
Arielle’s bright blue eyes.

Trielle turned to Arielle and asked, “Do you vow to accept
Kurien as your bonded for life, to share with him in all things, and become one
with him before the goddess and clan.”

Her strong melodic voice was full of joy and certainty, “I
so vow.”

He felt the connection between them start to build, he could
feel her emotions, full of joy and happiness, and love.  He also knew the
bond would strengthen over time, and they’d be able to share words silently
with each other, but he wasn’t thinking about that, he was lost in her as their
emotions fed off of each other.  His joy and her joy seemed to reverberate
together, and rise higher.  He was so lost in his bonded that he didn’t
notice Trielle quietly leaving the temple, all there was in that moment was
her, and her emotions tangling and mixing with his.

He kissed her softly, or she kissed him, he wasn’t entirely
sure which.  He undid her robes, and caressed her body as they flowed down
her curves into a puddle of cloth around her feet.  She slowly undressed
him and then they lay on the ground together, joining, making love in the
presence of the goddess, sealing their bond and making it permanent.

It was an amazing experience, and one hard to quantify as he
felt her every touch, and his every touch on her.  They were literally one
in the pleasure of their joining, and when they rose to the heights of bliss
and came together in rapturous ecstasy, the bond solidified.  There was no
need to speak, their shared emotions said it all, and when they dressed he took
her to his home.

He wondered for a minute, if sex was that good for bonded
couples, how they ever got out of bed in the mornings.  The shared sensations
had been quite overwhelming.

Arielle laughed, “Be good love, we need to be awake and
alert in the morning.”

He smiled and knew she only half meant that, they still had
time for another round, or two, when they got to their bed…

Tarrock watched the small scale demonstration and was
satisfied, and impressed, with his science officer.  There was a first
time for everything apparently. 

The humans they had found were in the room with the
experiment, and were gasping and clutching at their throats, one was
vomiting.  He watched with a fierce smile as they breathed their last.

Plants and even a small tree they had dragged inside the lab
started to rot and wither before his eyes.

He asked, “How effective will this be outside?”

The scientist said, “Anything within a mile will die
quickly, five miles will get sick, and slowly die.  After that…” he
shrugged, “It depends on the wind, the full area affected will not be uniform.

Tarrock nodded, his eyes alight, “And you have two of the
full sized devices?”

The science officer nodded, “Yes, there weren’t enough
materials in this town to make more.”

Tarrock smiled, “And the distraction?”

“Those weapons are ready as well sir.”

Tarrock nodded in approval, “Very well, Garrock, gather the
crew, we leave in ten minutes.”

Garrock replied sharply, “Yes sir,” and smartly headed out
the door.

He felt a bit of impatience as he waited for the crew to
gather, and then they headed back toward the mountains.  They could run
fast, but it would take at least ten hours before they arrived.  Sometime
mid-morning as it was late night right now, though they could see just fine by
the light of the moon.

His plan was rather crude, but he had confidence in it
because of that.  They would attack with the main force of their crew, set
fires, kill what they could, and then escape.  The main attack of course,
was merely a distraction, the true damage would be after they bugged out, from
the presents their scouts would leave behind.

If it worked they would head far to the east on this
continent and repeat the process, the tree creature had been cooperative enough
to reveal a second infestation of magical creatures on the East coast.  He
truthfully didn’t believe they’d be able to find and destroy every last one,
not with a mere two hundred crewmen, but what other choice did he have?

Katie awoke to the sound of her own sensual moans, her back
was arched, her legs were spread, and she could feel John’s very talented
tongue in her most private of places.  She smiled languorously and ran her
hands over her stomach, and onto her breasts.  Lightly teasing her own
undersides before pinching her nipples as she arched her back, ground against
his face, and cried out in ecstasy.

She wondered for a moment how she slept long enough to get
so close to orgasm before she woke up, but that thought fled her mind as his
lips claimed hers.  She moaned at the taste of her own pleasure as he
speared her and felt pleasure shoot up her spine.  She felt wanton and
desperate for more of him as she wrapped her legs around him, and thrust up as
she pulled him down, wanting him deeper, wanting it harder. 

She could never get enough of this man, and she’d never felt
so full, or pleasured, before she’d had him inside her, filling her, stretching
her, and reaching all the sensitive places deep inside of her. 

“Fuck, John, that feels…” she gasped his name as she felt
the pleasure break over her body and mind again like a tidal wave, and she
surrendered to it completely, to him in complete trust, riding the pleasure of
him, letting it wash away her control and all of her concerns as he started to
piston in out of her hot moist center while she tightened and fluttered around
him.

She caressed his chest, neck, and face when she could move
again, and locked her eyes on his.  She felt him stiffen further, and
expand, stretching her out.

He whispered, “I love you Katie.”

She gasped as she felt his burning hot length twitch inside
her as he buried himself deep, and he started to fill her.  She loved him
too, and wished to say it, but her voice was cut off as she joined him in
ecstasy once more, her body greedily claiming that offering as she squeezed his
invader in her tight velvety sheath and milked it out of him. 

When she could speak again, she said breathlessly while
returning his gaze, “I love you too.”

They kissed softly, and lay next to each other for a while,
recovering from their intense joining.  She felt several aftershocks of
pleasure shoot through her body as he pulled her against him and held her.

John asked, “Ready for the day?”

She giggled, “Absolutely.”

After a bath to get cleaned up, they rounded up Hendricks
and Nim, and then went down to the courtyard.  There were a great number
of elves there, close to a thousand, and maybe fifty dragons at a glancing
count.  She found Kurien and Arielle through the magic, and headed that
way.  There was something different about them, they were connected
through the magic, obviously so, but she didn’t have the time to sate her
curiosity about it, as Sianne started to speak.

“Our outer scouts have caught sight of the enemy, and they
are travelling to the same area they were in last time.  You all have your
orders, carry them out and we will be victorious.  Good luck, and may none
of us join the goddess this day.”

She must have missed a meeting, because she had no idea what
orders she was talking about, but then she wasn’t a part of the main battle, so
really had no need to know.

As the elves started to move out Kurien said, “So where do
we need to go?”

She frowned as she closed her eyes, the elves and dragons
were moving almost directly north, toward the river, and the pool where the
sprites lived.  Her power to detect the balance wanted her to go north
west, and south west.  That… was a problem.  She was hoping they’d
just need Hendricks after all, but apparently there had been good reason to
need Davidson as well.

She was frozen for a few moments, not sure what to do.

“We need to split up, there are two places we need to
be.  No, I don’t know why.  Take Hendricks with you.”

Arielle frowned, “How will we know where to go?”

She cast the communication spell, and another copy of
herself appeared, just to Hendricks, Arielle, and Kurien.

“I’ll let you know if you get off course, and tell you when
to stop.  Nim, John and I will go southwest, you go northwest.  I’m
not sure how much time we have.  Hopefully this will work.”

They split up and went their separate ways, she knew they
weren’t happy about it, and neither was she for that matter.  She’d been
comforted that her elven friends would fight at her side, but apparently that
wouldn’t be.  They’d be about two miles apart she thought, so by the time
either could come to the others assistance it would probably be too late. 
Still, Nim knew how to use a weapon and she had no reason to hold back on her
magic today, she hadn’t used any the last few days until a few moments ago.

When she felt she was in the right place, she found a place
of concealment in the brush, and then using her communication spell ensured the
other group was in place as well.  Now all they needed to do was
wait.  She didn’t think it would be long now.

-Tarrock

Tarrock ran forward, his heart pounding in the excitement of
battle.  Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all, he’d never felt this rush of
adrenaline sitting in the command chair, and firing beams of energy at their
enemies.

They raced up the mountain, his mouth a rictus grin as they
rushed into the glade by the waterfall.  His crew didn’t waste any time as
they made use of their new toys.  He watched as several of his people took
their primitive devises and stabbed them into trees.  He laughed as the
seal within those weapons were broken from the impact, and a thermite reaction started,
setting the trees on fire.

He had no doubt the fires wouldn’t do too much damage or
spread to other trees, not with magic in the picture, but it would be chaotic
and distract from the real attack.  There was one thing about this
distraction though, that was real enough to him.  Two of his people
stabbed several small wooden casks and tossed them in the sprites pool. 
The disembodied giggles he’d heard from the water faltered, as the oily
substance spread across the pool.

From what the dryad said, water elementals don’t do so well
with fire.

He stabbed his thermite device into a rock, breaking the
seal, and almost burned his hand as he tossed it toward the water as it flared
to life.  He growled viciously in delight, as the top of the wading pool
turned to bright fire, and the giggles turned to screams and his dead crew
members were avenged.

He was about to give the order to retreat when he heard a
gurgle next to him and turned.  Garrock had an arrow sticking right
through his neck, and blood poured out at an alarming rate through the severed
artery.  He watched in disbelief as his second fell to the ground, dead.

He looked up in the trees, and realized they were surrounded
by more elves than he could count, and that the fire in the trees were already
spluttering out.

He loudly called out, “Withdraw!” and dodged in a random
direction as the elves loosed their arrows.

-Kurien

Kurien watched from concealment, it bothered him to see
Katie standing out in the open, even though he knew she wasn’t really
there.  He also noticed humans breathed way too loudly, it will be a
miracle if they aren’t seen or heard.  He wasn’t sure what to expect, but
when it came it was a shock.  Four of the alien beings moved silently through
the woods in his direction, carrying some kind of large and obviously heavy
container.

They looked far from helpless, with three hands free they
had both a bow with a knocked arrow, and a crude looking sword in their third
hand.  He waited until they stopped, and were distracted by putting the
case down, then he burst out from his place of hiding.  He was connected
with Arielle through the bond, and she moved in the same exact instant. 
They took two by surprise and sliced the back of their necks, which made them
drop like stones.

The other two reacted quickly and discarded their bows and
drew a second sword.  These weren’t just thugs, they were trained
warriors, and he attacked with measured strokes of his sword, feeling out their
capabilities.  He was faster, much faster, but the alien was using two
swords and although slower, that and their strength made up for the difference.

Kurien was having a problem getting through his opponent’s
guard.

Dodge, parry, strike, and never stop moving.  He could
feel Arielle’s frustration, and his bonded called on their goddess, increasing
their stamina and speed even further than their natural ability.  He
smiled then and used his own magic as he barely kept ahead of two attacking
swords, and gritted his teeth when he took a minor wound to his hip.

But his magic had done its job, and the roots of the trees
started to come out of the ground, and wind around the two remaining aliens’
legs.  They could no longer move or dodge very well, and a few moments
later, he sliced a forearm and disarmed one of his enemy’s swords, then struck
out lightning fast and slit its throat.  He turned to help Arielle, but
she was just finishing up with hers as well.

He reached down to touch the case and heard Hendricks say,
“Don’t touch it!”

-Katie

Katie grimaced as the aliens came into view, four of them
carrying a large case, along with a variety of weapons.  She nodded to
both and then in the depths of her mind intoned, “
Earth
,” and stone
spikes shot up from the ground at an angle, impaling their feet, and their
legs, holding them in place as their blood ran from their bodies.

She felt a little sick as they cried out in pain and dropped
the container.  Nim and John darted forward and ended two of them
quickly.  The others glared and tightened their grips on their weapons and
fought back with an insane ferocity.

She focused through her distaste of what was necessary, and
the pang of guilt even though she knew these aliens came here to destroy and
kill.  “
Water, ice
” she intoned in her thoughts.

The aliens jerked, and started to choke, and water started
to pour from their mouths, then it suddenly stopped flowing as it turned to
ice, that ice expanded within their lungs, bursting the organs.  The
aliens lived long enough to suffer.  She shuddered, she thought of other
ways to kill, because she’d been disgusted by the idea of burning them alive
with magic, but these alternatives seemed no less horrific to her now.

Still, she took a deep cleansing breath and walked over to
the case, the feeling of the balance still told her it was in danger, they were
in danger.

John asked in a concerned voice, “Are you alright?”

She shook her head, “No, but I’ll break down later,” and
fanned the flames of her determination, she must not fail.

“Hendricks what are these?” she asked aloud to the illusions
of Hendricks, Arielle, and Kurien.

-Tarrock

Tarrock was angry as he ran through the woods.  Their
attack was supposed to draw the enemy away with shock and awe, to allow the
real attack to go through.  The enemy wasn’t supposed to be waiting for
them with an overwhelming force.  He supposed it was just as well they
hadn’t dawdled when they arrived, or they wouldn’t have done any damage at all.

He looked around, there were maybe thirty of them
left.  The first volley of arrows had instantly killed more than a hundred
of his people, the ones too slow to react and dodge in time when he’d shouted
his warning. 

They’d all run, but the elves had managed to take down an
additional two thirds of them before they outraced the bastards.  There
were so many of them, it was a miracle any of them escaped.

He heard a loud roar as they reached the bottom of the
mountain and he looked up.  The sky was full of… he wasn’t sure
what.  Flying reptiles, as big as a lander.  Then they dove, there
were gold and silver ones, in addition to bronze, red, blue, green, and violet.

A large silver headed his direction, its eyes looked like
dancing amber flames as it opened its mouth, and he was engulfed in fire, which
was the last thing he’d ever see.

-Katie

Hendricks replied, “Alright, you can open it up, but don’t
jostle it too much.”

She studied it for a moment, the latches were along the top
and the sides of the large square case toward one side of the box.  She
assumed it was some kind of cover.

Kurien asked nervously, “What the hell is it?”

Hendricks said, “Some kind of chemical weapon, and I think
we have to assume it’s going to work if Katie’s balance thingy is going
off.  Just relax, I was a bomb expert and this thing is primitive as
hell.”

Katie froze, and then continued unlatching the case even
slower.

“Okay, it’s unlatched.  What now.”

Hendricks said, “This one didn’t have booby traps, so just
be gentle and pull the short side off.”

She tried to get a grip on it, she expected something bad to
happen, but the side just slid off easily in her hands, and she moved it away
getting her first good look inside.

There were two very large glass flasks, turned upside down
over a large metal bin.  Between the two flasks, was a much smaller one,
above a crossbar that kept the flasks from emptying out.  It looked pretty
simple in concept.  She’d seen enough television to know if the two flasks
emptied, and the liquids mixed, that would be very bad.

Of course, when she’d watched those shows her heart hadn’t
been hammering, or her hands shaking.

Hendricks asked, “Do you smell anything?”

She nodded, “There’s a nasty metallic smell actually.”

Hendricks grunted, “That’s the fuse, obviously electronics
don’t work, so they used an acid, as soon as it finishes eating through the
metal, well, you get the idea.”

Now that he mentioned it, she could see where the metal was
thinning.

She asked, “Okay, so what do I do?”

Hendricks said, “Well, there’s a small screw on the small
flask, if you tighten it, the drip will be stopped by a glass flange.”

She laughed a little hysterically, “Does anyone have a
screwdriver...”

She bet Davidson had one, and that he’d been a bomb expert
as well.

She frowned, “The thing depends on gravity right?  Without
a pump, can we just turn it upside down?”

Hendricks said, “No, don’t do that.  Look up at the top
and you’ll see why.”

She got down a little lower, and could see a similar pan on
top, and a small metal tube in the base of the large flasks.  Turning it
over meant no waiting for the shit to hit the fan.

Hendricks said, “We got this one disabled, and a couple of
scouts are getting rid of it, taking it far away.  We’re on the way to you
now, a little over ten minutes.”

She shook her head, they wouldn’t get here fast enough, she
could feel it.

John said, “Can’t you use magic on the screw?”

She frowned, why not? 

She stared at it and intoned, “
turn
” in her
mind.  The screw did indeed turn, but there was a secondary effect. 
Magic had an effect on chemical reactions, and she’d just focused a large
amount of magic in that spot, and she heard a sizzle as the remaining acid ate
through the metal like a knife through butter. 

She gasped and stepped back as there was a clink, and the
bar holding the stoppers in the large flasks split.  The supporting bar in
the middle, which exerted upward pressure was no longer a consideration and the
chemicals started to fall into the basin.

“Fuck!” she said with feeling.

She watched as a white gas started to build and spread from
the device.  She shook her head, no fucking way was she failing now. 
She’d been through too much.

She pulled Nim and John close, and intoned, “
Filter,
”
in the depths of her mind.  A bubble shield surrounded them, keeping the
toxic smoke and fumes away, but she watched helplessly as the closest trees
started to rot, and the gas seemed to be pouring out now, faster and faster.

She needed to think, but she had no time.

It was an act of desperation, but she whispered, “Funnel,”
and a small twister built, and sucked in the smoke.  It was a funnel of
death though, and when she ended the spell the smoke would… disperse, possibly
farther than it would have originally. 

She asked, “Any ideas, this is taking a lot of magic, I’m
down a quarter of it in my staff and it’s shrinking fast.”

Nim frowned, “Cleanse it, like the fields.”

She brightened and closed her eyes, imagining the toxic gas
and smoke simply, being washed away, turned inert, and whispered, “Cleanse,”
and the magic rushed out of her staff, draining close to half of it, which
seemed about right to her.  She cut off the magic feeding the twister, and
it died a few seconds later. 

There was no smoke. 

Still, she kept up her air filter shield for a few more
minutes, just in case, that one hardly took more than a small trickle to keep
going.  She was sure it was fine though, she felt no threat to the
balance, not for the moment anyway.  That urgent feeling and direction was
gone.  She hadn’t failed after all.

She muttered darkly, “If I ever see Davidson again, I’m
going to kick him in the nuts.  And remind me to pick up a Swiss army
knife, with a damned screwdriver on it.”

Nim laughed, and John winced…

It’s been two days since the battle.  There’d been a
large victory feast, and a bonding feast for Kurien and Arielle.  She’d
felt a little conflicted about leaving that morning with John and Nim, but Nim
was taking her to her inheritance.

Kurien, Arielle, and Bria hadn’t come along, although they
said if she ever needed then to contact them and they’d come.  But they
had their own thing to do as well.  Kurien and Arielle were planning to
take Hendricks back to his unit, and attempt to open up a peaceful dialogue
with the governor.  Perhaps Colorado’s governor would have been a better
contact, but so far there was no proof he’d even survived.

The aliens were all dead, the remnants of the attackers that
escaped the elves ambush had met their end by dragon breath, tooth, and
claw.  Right now there was no pull to a new problem, so she agreed it would
be a good time to visit there with Nim.  It wasn’t all that far, it only
took them a couple of hours at a horse’s walk to reach the mountain that had
housed Merlin’s knowledge, and was now hers.

She’d felt the magic barring the doors, but that same magic
was no barrier to them, almost as if the place had expected them.  It
looked like a crude cave at the entrance, but a short way inside the walls
became smooth and the corridor a perfect arch.  Nim gave her a tour,
showing her a well-appointed bedroom, stock room, living area, and a library
that was alarmingly large.