saw another air elemental out of the corner of
her eye, keeping pace with them.
She sent a thought at it, “ Can you hear me? ”
It seemed to spin, like a whirlwind as it kept up, she could
feel Silva’s curiosity match her own.
It replied in kind and again, its mind voice was multi-tonal,
“ Yes daughter of magic. We hear you.”
She knew she needed to be careful with it, elementals
shouldn’t be trifled with, but she thought a few judicious questions wouldn’t
go amiss… she hoped.
She sent, “ I’m a witch, why can I see you?”
The mind tone was amused, “ Because, you are a daughter of
magic.”
She asked, “ What is a daughter of magic? ”
It told her she was… which was frustrating circular logic.
She snorted internally, right, alien mindset witches can’t
understand. The reply was clearly meant and she could tell the elemental
thought it was a clear answer. She thought for a bit, but doubted she’d get a
better answer for that question.
She tried something different, “ Why can’t I look directly
at you? ”
It spun and twirled, “ Forbidden by mistress, no challenge
allowed.”
She thought about that for a minute.
“ Staring directly at you is a challenge? ”
It assented with surprise, as if she was slow or stupid.
“ Who is your mistress? ”
It replied, “ The daughter of magic that commands us. ”
She growled inside her mind, since she had no control over
her body right now. Someone was spying on her? She didn’t bother asking the
blasted thing who, no doubt it would reply with the daughter of magic that
commands them, or mistress.
“ Why warn me of the attack by the assassin?”
It whirled faster, “Mistress want.”
Before she could think of any other questions to clarify
that, the thing disappeared with in a swirl of air and floating sparkling
motes. What did the mistress want? It to warn her, wanted her for something,
or… she didn’t know. It would’ve probably been worthless to ask anyway, the
things were nothing if not cryptic.
She used the rest of the run to practice magic. She could
almost make a respectable ball of fire now, and her air punch would probably
knock down a human, but a shifter or warded witch would just laugh at the
attempt. She gave it a rest though when Silva started to get really nervous
when she hit a three on their internal one to ten scale, once too often.
It would take a long time, and if she pushed too hard they
would wind up taking a step back. She’d done that once and it took them days
to reclaim where they had been. They were making some progress, the
determination they both held to succeed was getting stronger, and Silva was
less ashamed of her fear the more she conquered it.
Still, they’d a long way to go…
Chapter 8
Joe and Ed were sitting at the kitchen table talking when
she walked in from the run. She wasn’t sure where everyone else was, and was a
little disappointed she wouldn’t get to chat with Kelly and Lily, or see Rose.
Ed looked up and shook his head at her.
Joe catching that explained, “There isn’t much we can do to
help. There were rumors during the war of a shifter group that had military
contacts. If the stories are to be believed, they took out covens mostly by
using C-4, rockets, and then cleaned up with assault rifles. If such a group
existed, I never met them, and it certainly wasn’t the norm during the war.
The humans are way too smart not to notice something like that going on for too
long.
“Shifters normally only took out the unwary, and hounded
covens shortly before moving on. I wish I could help, the coven in Albany
sounds like a nightmare that needs to be put down, but I can’t help you. You
could try something like an IED, but chances are you’d alert the authorities if
you bought what you needed in quantities large enough.”
She sighed, “Thanks Joe, I appreciate the thought anyway,
we’ll figure something out. Where is everyone
her eye, keeping pace with them.
She sent a thought at it, “ Can you hear me? ”
It seemed to spin, like a whirlwind as it kept up, she could
feel Silva’s curiosity match her own.
It replied in kind and again, its mind voice was multi-tonal,
“ Yes daughter of magic. We hear you.”
She knew she needed to be careful with it, elementals
shouldn’t be trifled with, but she thought a few judicious questions wouldn’t
go amiss… she hoped.
She sent, “ I’m a witch, why can I see you?”
The mind tone was amused, “ Because, you are a daughter of
magic.”
She asked, “ What is a daughter of magic? ”
It told her she was… which was frustrating circular logic.
She snorted internally, right, alien mindset witches can’t
understand. The reply was clearly meant and she could tell the elemental
thought it was a clear answer. She thought for a bit, but doubted she’d get a
better answer for that question.
She tried something different, “ Why can’t I look directly
at you? ”
It spun and twirled, “ Forbidden by mistress, no challenge
allowed.”
She thought about that for a minute.
“ Staring directly at you is a challenge? ”
It assented with surprise, as if she was slow or stupid.
“ Who is your mistress? ”
It replied, “ The daughter of magic that commands us. ”
She growled inside her mind, since she had no control over
her body right now. Someone was spying on her? She didn’t bother asking the
blasted thing who, no doubt it would reply with the daughter of magic that
commands them, or mistress.
“ Why warn me of the attack by the assassin?”
It whirled faster, “Mistress want.”
Before she could think of any other questions to clarify
that, the thing disappeared with in a swirl of air and floating sparkling
motes. What did the mistress want? It to warn her, wanted her for something,
or… she didn’t know. It would’ve probably been worthless to ask anyway, the
things were nothing if not cryptic.
She used the rest of the run to practice magic. She could
almost make a respectable ball of fire now, and her air punch would probably
knock down a human, but a shifter or warded witch would just laugh at the
attempt. She gave it a rest though when Silva started to get really nervous
when she hit a three on their internal one to ten scale, once too often.
It would take a long time, and if she pushed too hard they
would wind up taking a step back. She’d done that once and it took them days
to reclaim where they had been. They were making some progress, the
determination they both held to succeed was getting stronger, and Silva was
less ashamed of her fear the more she conquered it.
Still, they’d a long way to go…
Chapter 8
Joe and Ed were sitting at the kitchen table talking when
she walked in from the run. She wasn’t sure where everyone else was, and was a
little disappointed she wouldn’t get to chat with Kelly and Lily, or see Rose.
Ed looked up and shook his head at her.
Joe catching that explained, “There isn’t much we can do to
help. There were rumors during the war of a shifter group that had military
contacts. If the stories are to be believed, they took out covens mostly by
using C-4, rockets, and then cleaned up with assault rifles. If such a group
existed, I never met them, and it certainly wasn’t the norm during the war.
The humans are way too smart not to notice something like that going on for too
long.
“Shifters normally only took out the unwary, and hounded
covens shortly before moving on. I wish I could help, the coven in Albany
sounds like a nightmare that needs to be put down, but I can’t help you. You
could try something like an IED, but chances are you’d alert the authorities if
you bought what you needed in quantities large enough.”
She sighed, “Thanks Joe, I appreciate the thought anyway,
we’ll figure something out. Where is everyone
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