8. Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Mace
I 've never spent much time in nature.
Ytopie is in the middle of a valley of mountains, so while we have plains and meadows, thick forests like this are few and far between. I only ever got to pass through them on my way to the caves where the majority of our Geomancers live. Even when I would travel to the Lowlands for the opening ceremonies of the Race, I would take a heavily shielded path from Dalery straight through a mountain tunnel, avoiding this lush, green forest.
Unfortunately, our exit at the elevator made it impossible for us to get to that path. It would have saved us a lot of time up until now.
I like it here, in Gallant Summit. Maybe I could make my home here one day if I could excuse myself from the responsibilities that were thrust upon me ages ago. My eyes drag to Viola, and I cannot stop wondering if she'd join me.
We've made camp for a few hours, just enough time to give everyone the opportunity to eat and rest up enough for a full day tomorrow.
As we tore into a roasted hare, Viola laughed, eyes locked on mine. "What?" I asked through a mouthful of meat.
"Now, do you see why my table manners may not have been the best?" Her voice drips with condescension.
My mind flashes to our dinner together, the awkward way she tried to eat her meat, and my face flushes again. "I never meant to judge you!"
"Sure you didn't." Her tone is straight, but her eyes sparkle with humor.
Plume whips her head to me, trying her best to be dainty while consuming the greasy meat. "You made fun of how she ate?"
"That is not what happened!"
"It is, mhm," Viola mumbles through a mouth of food. "He said he didn't hold me to the standards of fae when it came to manners."
I groan, throwing my head back in a silent plea for patience. "It came out wrong!"
Tulip giggles, elbows resting on her knees as she tears meat directly from the bone. Morrow watches her with stars in his eyes, not put off by the way she pulls the hem of her shirt to wipe her mouth. "We'll make a Lowlander of you three yet. After enough meals like this, you'll give up trying to keep your hands clean."
"Speaking of which," Viola stands, brushing her hands off each other. "I'm off to find a river or something. I need to clean up."
The rest of us stay put, watching her back as she disappears through the branches of the surrounding trees. As much as I would love to slip off with her, I am trying to respect her boundaries and allow her the chance to process the impending visit to her home by herself. In such a short time, we've all learned that Viola has difficulty processing complex emotions with an audience.
We break apart after the meal, and I find myself away from the others as I stretch my legs out in the dirt, leaning back on the palms of my hands as I look up at the sky.
Movement beside me has me looking to my left, where Morrow has settled himself. I never knew much of the man in Ytopie. As we travel and I catch snippets of his personality, I think he could be someone I would enjoy spending time with.
Or at least sharing a drink.
"What did you do to end up in that ritual room, Morrow?" I ask before he can bring up his motivation for sitting beside me. I have been dying to know, but I didn't want to ask around any of the women just in case it's not something he wants to be public knowledge.
Morrow's white shirt has turned muddy and streaked through the journey, and it's rolled up at the sleeves. He fiddles with a button as he answers me, a braid slipping from behind his ear into his face. "Stone had a book I wanted, " he shrugs nonchalantly. "It was a journal from my mother's grandfather. He was an accomplished Summer, best known for using Light during interrogations. It'd been put away as a restricted text."
I wrinkle my nose. "Why would a text on Summer magic be restricted?"
He looks at me now, his square jaw fighting a clever smile. I wonder if the demure expression he held just moments ago was an act or if he grows comfortable with someone quickly. "Light magic isn't just illuminating rooms or places, Mace. It can bring to light something wished to be hidden." At my confused expression, he drops his head, moving closer to me as his voice lowers. "It can pull secrets from someone, Mace. Can you imagine if that power was well known? The restrictions that would be placed on Helios would be akin to an Eshas Yearning magic."
Eshas, a lesser magic under Spring, have the ability to induce physical desire in someone, be it hunger or sexual thirst. It's always a little unfortunate when an Esha is revealed since the magic can so very rarely be used due to regulations. Influence could have gone the same way, but there are so few Autumn Seasonale of it that regulation was never needed. Plus, we cannot make someone do something they would never do – we just make it easier for them to want to do it by smoothing their emotions and coaxing out the compliant part of their souls.
Morrow continues, his voice strained with barely contained anger. "The text belongs to my family, to me, and as I knew of its existence, I sought it out. He promised it to me for my explicit discretion and assistance in what he called 'a small, simple ritual'. It wasn't until I joined you all that I realized what was going on." His large hand rubs over his face, muffling his next words. "I'm just glad Viola was a willing participant. I don't think I could've gone through with it if she wasn't."
I regularly think about Viola's willingness to sacrifice herself for the good of Krillium and how spectacularly that backfired. Her heart was in the right place, though. I wonder how she feels about that decision now, as we haven't much spoken about it. Does she regret what she did?
"If you knew the magic existed, why couldn't you just set your intentions and use it?"
He shakes his head and stretches out, mimicking my position. "It's a lot like your Influence magic. It takes a bit more focus and finesse since you're in there messing in someone's brain."
"I don't think I'm in people's brains," I laugh. The normalcy of just having a conversation on magic with a peer could almost make me forget I'm in the forest, running from a God.
"You are, though. When you push that calm through someone, you're pushing the anxiety or obstinance out of their brain. Light is the opposite. We're pulling secrets from the brain."
Plume looks up at me with curiosity, and I wonder if she's heard part of our conversation. She quickly turns back to Tulip, though, who is sitting beside her and talking her ear off about some of the beasts she's seen in the forest. We both lower our voices, unwilling to welcome the women into our discussion at this time. Something about Light's ability feels like it needs to remain a secret.
"Where is the book now? Did you have time to study it?"
"It's back in my home, but yes, I did get to study it some. I'm glad I did, now. Who knows when that kind of thing we will encounter in this…" He gestures widely. "This unbelievable situation."
I laugh, understanding his point completely. "You mean you didn't sign up for running from a megalomaniacal God in the company of what may be a new God who spent her whole life as a mortal? This isn't just a regular day in your life?"
Morrow throws his head back in a booming laugh that draws Plume and Tulip's attention. He waves them off and looks at me, mirth sparkling in his eyes. "Look at you, Mace, having an actual personality when you're not sitting at a table with a stick up your ass." He claps me on the shoulder, and I careen forward, trying not to take his jab too personally. "But no, I did not anticipate this. Though I must say, I don't think I would mind following Viola if it turns out she is a God. She's rude and brash, but at least what you see is what you get with her."
Almost as if summoned by the mention of her name, Viola's voice comes careening through the trees. "Mother fucker!"
In seconds, I'm on my feet, sprinting towards the sound of her voice with Morrow not far behind me. I hear him yell to Tulip and Plume, "Stay here. Do not move!" Our feet crash through the trees loudly.
"Back off! I can do this on my own."
We crash through the woods to a riverbank where Viola stands with her feet frozen into the water.
The river has frozen over all around her, and she is trapped just off the shore. "I didn't realize that since I was touching the water, I would freeze in too. I was trying to practice," she spits, embarrassment making her vicious. She whips shadows towards a tree, wraps them around the branch like a rope, and tries to pull herself out, but her feet will not budge.
I blink, gobsmacked at what I'm seeing. "How did this even happen, Vi?" She winces, and I realize I used the nickname Max always did when they were in the Race. "I mean, what were you doing out here, Viola?"
She drops the shadows, and her familiar, Shadow, slithers down her arm and moves his body in circles around the ice, enjoying the coolness on his underside. She glares down at him. "Himureal mentioned that since he's here now, my magic would experience a surge and be more powerful. I wanted to practice away from everyone, just to be safe. And yet …" she gestures at her legs, still frozen in the water, "here I am, stuck in my own magic. Luckily, the cold of it doesn't affect me."
With the easy intimacy of our earlier conversation, it was easy to forget a basic truth about Viola Mistflow.
She will never admit she needs help, even to her detriment. She is used to being alone.
In the garrison, when she told Himureal that we had just slept together and nothing more came out of it, I thought she was trying to protect me. She had told me she saw me, forgave me, and cared about me right before it happened, hadn't she? She's kissed me and came onto me since then, even let me into pieces of her history, but it's all had an undercurrent of aggression.
If I do not get her out of this ice, I will no doubt be the recipient of that aggression, and not in a pleasant way .
Before I can make a suggestion, Morrow steps forward, fire blooming on his hands. "Wrap those shadows again, or you're going to fall into the water," he says quietly. Not one to take orders, Viola's face contorts in defiance, but she quickly acquiesces to his demands and pulls shadows from the forest to lead from her hands to the branches.
Morrow looks at me with wonder, having never truly seen what Viola can do outside of her snake familiar and the ritual. Flakes of shimmering dark black coat the area around us like mist. The shadows swirl around her legs like fog. "What would happen if I combined Light and Shadow?" He whispers at me as he pushes the flame magic to the river and melts it.
Viola uses the shadows to swing from the water and lands in front of us with a sheepish smile. "Thanks Morrow. I didn't know until recently that I could make my shadows so solid."
Morrow's curious question strikes me, too, and I don't mean to ignore Viola, but I turn to face him. "Wouldn't the magics cancel each other out? Light banishing Shadow, Shadow smothering Light?"
His body loosens, and he widens his stance, holding his hands out in front of him. "Let's find out."
He gathers the specks of black, and just as he's about to tip them back into his mouth, Viola notices what he's doing. "Are you combining with my magic?" She looks at him excitedly and slips her boots off to let them dry.
Morrow grins widely at her. "Let's see what happens when Light and Shadow share a dance, yeah?" She chuckles and leans back against a tree, swirling additional shadows around her feet to provide more ambient magic for Morrow to collect. When his hands are full, he tips it back into his mouth, and his eyes roll back into his head.
A bright flash illuminates the clearing before we are swiftly plunged into darkness.
Darkness blows away on a rouge wind, and when it clears, we are no longer in the forest. We're standing in a flat in Ytopie. I look around with wonder at the white couch and rug in the sitting area, the gold fixtures on the ceiling glowing from the storm grid, and the brightly colored abstract paintings on the walls.
It looks lived in, with dirty dishes in the basin and a rumpled green blanket on the couch. There is no balcony and only one room off the main. It's got the distinctive feel of a man living here, and I can't imagine it would be more than one because of the size.
"Where the fuck are we?" Viola whispers, coming up to my side. I see her eyes flitting about the space, trying to catalog everything she sees.
"We're in my home." Morrow's voice is rife with pain, and when I look back at him, he's doubled over, sweating. Combining magic is exhausting, and these opposites, in particular, must've taken a lot from him. "Did the magic bring us to Ytopie?" A hacking cough overtakes his words.
"It would appear so," I say, looking around the small but well-appointed home. "What did the Shadow magic feel like?" I ask, turning back to see Morrow rise to his full height, still looking worse for the wear.
He rubs his throat. "Like swallowing smoke. It was very hard to get down." His voice has a rasp to it, and he winces as he speaks.
I walk across the room to his couch, where a table with a small journal sits in front of it. "Is this the book we were discussing?" Morrow narrows his leaking eyes at it and nods. Excitedly, I lean down to pick it up.
My hand goes right through it, and it disappears.
I straighten and reach out to touch the couch. My hand swipes through it as if it were air, and it fades from view. I turn to face my companions, and they both have wild looks on their faces. They're exchanging enthusiastic glances, Viola practically bouncing with excitement.
"Illusions! We can create illusions," Morrow says with wonder. "I was thinking about how much I missed home as I cast the spell, so I guess that's why it showed us this."
Viola's grin is wide and mischievous. She walks around, disturbing small items and watching them fall from sight. "Imagine how handy this is going to be. This will be brilliant in a battle."
"You would immediately think of how to use it against others," I grumble, pulling her into my side.
She shrugs, leaning her head against me for just one brief moment before wrenching away from me. I try not to take it personally. "One of us needs to have our head in the game."
Morrow waves his hand, pulling his intentions back, and the rest of the illusion fades, bringing us back to the forest clearing. We quickly head back to camp, where Tulip and Plume have been biting their nails since Viola's initial shout. We sheepishly apologize for how long we were gone.
"What was the holdup?" Tulip admonishes, eyes flitting between Viola and Morrow, leaving me wondering if she just tolerates my presence.
Morrow preens and wraps his arm around Tulip's shoulders, hiding the residual pain he feels as best as he can. He turns her and walks to the edge of our camp. "Well, I had an idea and took the initiative…"