Alison huffed putting one hand in front of the other as she climbed the ladder. A cool breeze tickled across her neck and she let out a breath as she focused on keeping the two bowls floating behind her. It was one thing to climb the ladder on her own. Having working legs still took some getting used to.
But climbing the tower of the Free City along with floating the bowls with her magic behind her was different. She knew she had a certain range that if she went past, she was going to drop them and ruin breakfast. Controlled breathing was the key. One wrung after another. One mental check after another.
As she climbed she saw an angle of the Free City that she rarely saw otherwise. The tops of the tents and the homes. The people still sleeping as the sun washed over it with golden light like a warm embrace.
She felt the gaze of the of the presence that watched over the city. The lady of the Free City that watched over them and wandered along the streets. She had not truly met with her but she had felt her numerous times. She wanted to properly meet it despite her other half’s protest.
“I believe that the food will be cooling soon. We’ll have to warm it up again,” they said in her head and she rolled her eyes.
“Thank you, Penny,” she replied. “We can handle that pretty easily though. We just need to get there.”
“You insist upon climbing. We can simply fly to the top. Easily.”
“You’ve mentioned this before” she huffed and leaned her forehead against the cool metal. Powering through the ache in her arms she continued to climb while keeping the bowls at height behind her.
Finally, she climbed over the to the top of the tower. She raised her hands directing the bowls into her palms. There was a roof above their heads, with some covers around along what would be windows. One half of it was positioned so that one could sit on benches.
There were papers along those benches and a few on the ground. A small lantern was against the opposite corner, a telescope on a stand and laying on the ground was Vincent. His face was scruffy and hair scraggly around his head. In one hand was a pen and his face was peaceful. She smiled as she looked down at him deep asleep. She set the bowls down on the bench and walked over to sit beside him.
“He looks so different when he sleeps.”
She leaned forward and lowered her head. Closing her eyes, she was no longer on top of the tower. She was standing in a shallow grey river. The water splashed at her feet as she stood again. She stared at Penny, the black veins that decorated their skin pulsing. They were still a pale clone of her with eyes black.
“He thinks too much when he’s awake. Too many things running through his mind at once.”
“You are the same. Your worries stress you out and impairing you in the same way.”
“I’ve tried to let things go. Live in the moment.”
“Your guilt-ridden dreams have ended yes. Thanks to him.”
“Thanks to him and my brother and Morrigan. And you.”
The demon blinked and Alison knew they didn’t know what to do with the compliment, “That may be true. But from knowing you, I know you would have succeeded in your own time. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
She smiled ducking her head down, “I appreciate that.”
“Appreciating honesty is an odd trait,” Penny said. “I believe he is awakening.”
“You still dislike him?”
“I never did. And now through our shared time I believe I am fond of him.”
She raised her eyebrows, “Seriously?”
“It would be difficult to share a body and mind with you and not have your feelings become mine to some degree,” they said simply. “That is the nature of our contract.”
“That’s actually funny,” she snickered. “Oh man Vince is going to love that.”
Vincent stretched his arms above his head and groaned cracking his back. Rubbing his fingers through his hair slowly he looked at Alison. He saw the black lines around her eyes that slowly faded until she was free of her daze. She’d done that enough times that it stopped bothering him out a long time ago.
“Morning you two,” he tried to smile but a yawn beat him out. “Is it early?”
“You really just worked up here all night and passed out?” she asked raising an eyebrow.
“I might have,” he picked up a page. The long charts that he’d been sketching over the entirety of the previous night and trying to bring to life. “Yeah I definitely did.”
“We know you did Vince,” she walked back toward the bench and picked up the bowls with her magic. They floated over her hands as they glowed to red life. Once she was satisfied with their heat, she floated it over to him. “Eat.”
He took it and prepared for the bottom to be hot but it was mild. Pulling the cloth off he saw the eggs with pieces of vegetables and meat within it. His stomach groaned aggressively and he laughed as a spoon neared his head. Taking it he dug in hungrily as she sat across from him doing the same.
They ate until their bowls were both empty and the sun had properly started to rise over the horizon. Setting his bowl down Vincent leaned back and groaned. “That was good. Who made that?”
“Annie of course. Last out and first in.”
“How does she keep doing that?” he asked scratching his jaw. “I swear she’s got magic in her.”
“She’s just devoted to working and feeding the people here,” Alison pushed her bowl aside and sat across from him. “Besides if she was a mage, we’d be able to sense it in her somehow.”
He raised his eyebrow, “You’re that good at it?”
“Absolutely,” she tapped her head lightly. “Penny helps a lot.”
“Mmhm.”
“What?”
Vincent just stared at her and it was strange. She wasn’t that much younger than him but in the past three years she had grown so much more than he had could explain. He knew it was because of her contract with Penny. It was a demon but nothing like the ones that prowled the desert outside of the city.
They were more than just a way for Alison to control her powers and not die. More than that, the two had melded together in a way that he doubted he could explain even if he was a mage. In a lot of ways, the person he’d met before wasn’t there anymore. Likewise, neither was Penny. They were something new together.
“You’re staring Vince. We don’t look that great for you to be distracted. Not this early at least,” she said teasing.
“Full of yourself aren’t ya?” he picked up a map and held it toward the rising sun and sighed. “This one is no good.”
“What do you mean? We’re no map reader but this looks fine right?”
“Cute that you think that,” Vincent smiling lightly. “No these are messy.” He scattered through a few pages digging through his work and picking up another page. “This one though. This is at least worthwhile to keep going on.”
She stared at the map, looking at the outlines of the surrounding lands of the Free City. She could recognize where the city was and the location of a few outliers. But she saw the beginnings of blue and red lines through the map. “Is this another storm chart?”
“Yeah. The Calamity has been quiet for the last few months but the dust storms have been kinda aggressive. Making sure the crews have something up to date before they go out on another mission.”
“Has Boss talked about any other jobs for us?” she asked turning over and leaning on her hands. “We know the last one was money.”
“Yeah, it was. We’re still going through all of it. But yeah Boss has got his people out looking for the next score. There might be one coming soon,” he motioned toward the charts. “So, I gotta get to work.”
“You’ve done enough work for at least a week,” she said rotating her finger in the air. Each of the pages were picked up slowly by her magic until they were all stacked up together in a neat pile.
“I’ve still got a more charts to make. None of these are even finished,” he complained but she squished both his cheeks hard and pulled on them. “Ow ow. Please stop.”
“We’re deciding you need a break,” she told him letting go of his face and taking his hands and pulling him up slowly. “So, come down. We’ll figure out what we’re going to do from there.”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“You do not,” she replied confidently. “Come on. Or we’ll float you down.”
“I hate that shit,” he told her.
She grinned wide. “We know.”
He relented because he knew she wouldn’t back down from this until he agreed to her. So he walked and picked up all of his maps and grabbed his bag that was under the bench. Stuffing them within he collected his drawing tools and also his telescope. Slinging it over his shoulder he moved to the ladder and began climbing down.
Alison watched him go and began to climb down before stopping. She stared behind her toward the main gate of the city and her eyes hazed over slightly. She stared beyond the city and her chest filled with warmth and she couldn’t break the smile on her face.
“Hey Vince! Al’s coming back!”
Vincent glanced up at her and wondered how she knew that but didn’t think too hard about it. Magic was magic. Alison tried to explain it to him multiple times and it went over his head. The pair of them got to the ground together and Vincent waved toward the gate.
“Go. I’ll catch up.”
She beamed at him and kissed him before running toward the doors. The streets were mostly empty so she was able to make it straight to the gate. She jumped and used her magic to float high and landed along the wall. The gatekeeper jumped to his feet and back to attention but she just laughed.
“No need to be so formal Eric,” she said grinning at him. “We’re just excited to see Al. It’s been a long time.”
“Oh Alistair’s on his way back?” the guard asked and Alison nodded quickly. “I think I see them coming now. Weren’t there three of them?”
“Yes,” she was perplexed and tilted her head. Looking over the edge of the gate, she stared at the approaching shapes and there were only two. Grasping the rampart her eyes shifted and bled into black as she used the enhanced vision of her contract. Narrowing her eyes sharply she saw them vaguely.
She could see Benidict and Noir, her brother and his white mare, but Eaergo was there minus his rider. Turning she jumped back down and felt the dull shake as the horses approached and the gate was lifted. The horses ran past her and circled back around slowly stamping against the ground.
Alistair got off his horse stumbling and Alison rushed over to him. She would never be comfortable with him looking down at her, mainly because he teased her about it nonstop. But when he landed his distressed face showed exactly how serious things were and her heart skipped a beat slightly.
“Alistair,” she said gripping his arms lightly. “What happened? Where’s Morrigan?”
“She’s gone sis,” he said staring at the ground and she felt him shaking against her grip.
“Gone?”
“Gone. Not dead,” Benidict said sliding off his horse and squeezed Alistair’s shoulder tightly. They shared a look and Benidict turned to look at his lover’s twin. “A stranger, a necromancer, did something to her. Put her under some sort of haze. Mind control. She thought that the necromancer was Her Majesty.”
“What? But she’s long dead,” Alison said her voiced hushed.
“Exactly,” Alistair mumbled. “We don’t know what happened to her or what they did to her. All we know is she just disappeared.”
“Where to?” Vincent asked finally joining them.
“We don’t know,” Benidict said. Raising his head he set his face, the pain washing away to the steady and focused face of a Sanguiknight. “But I have a few ideas.”
“We’re all ears,” Vincent said glancing at Alison who nodded quickly.
“The guess that we came to together is that they’re going to Cerise. Or rather the ruins of it.”
“What reason is there to go to Cerise?” Alison frowned hard. “We’ve been there more than once and no others have returned to the ruins.”
“Whoever the person was, they definitely have some other plan in mind than to sight see. And that’s why we’re here. We need your help,” Benidict looked at the both of them. “Whoever this person was they were formidable. Myself and Alistair are able to handle Morrigan but we have no idea what this person can do.”
“Of course we’ll help,” Alison said quickly. “Morrigan’s our family too.”
“Yeah. No way we’ll just let her stay under someone’s mind control,” Vincent added and squeezed Alistair’s shoulder lightly. “You already know that.”
“Yes,” he smiled then looked at his sister. “How quickly can you create a portal to take us there?”
“Give us about an hour or two,” Alison told him.
Vincent nodded and gave her hand a squeeze. “You guys have been riding nonstop. Get something to eat and take a breather. I know you want to keep going but your bodies aren’t going to be able to take that.”
As if saying it made it more real Alistair felt the weight of the past few days of travel weighed on him. He felt Benidict’s hand in his own and squeezed it back. “You’re right. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was. I don’t know how you do it Ben.”
“Many decades of practice,” he said offering a gentle smile. “Is anyone serving breakfast yet?”
“Annie is. Come on let’s get you guys something warm. Give the horses a second to breathe.”
“I’ll take them with me,” Alison offered.
Eaergo threw his head back and Noir stamped in indignation but Alison reached out to the two Cerisan horses. They calmed slightly looking at her. Grasping the reins to Alistair’s horse as well she led the trio toward the stables. Vincent brought the pair of them in the opposite direction toward one of the inns.
The streets had been empty but now more people were starting to wake up. Emptying buckets, opening their stalls, or for the other bandits wandering into their tents for bed. But the inn in question had a few people already inside and fresh bread and sizzling meat was wafting out.
“Come on Vince, you can’t still be hungry,” Annie said seeing the three of them but then waved to the others. “Ben! Al! I didn’t know you had come back. Where’s Morrigan?”
“We’ve only just arrived,” Ben said and smiled. “As for Mori we sent her back to bed. She did far too much riding and needs her rest.”
“Ah. I understand. Hard working woman overworks herself,” she said and motioned to the tables. “We’re making a second batch of the eggs and bacon from earlier.”
“That sounds great,” Alistair said giving her a small smile.
“Find a seat to yourselves,” she pointed. “I’ll bring it to you soon.”
They sat together around a circular table. Without Morrigan the pair of Sanguiknights looked almost deflated. The circumstances of her not being there weighing on them. But to keep things airy Ben looked at Vincent, “Anything new at home?”
“Had a big job a little after you left,” he said shrugging. “Me, Alison and the old man along with a few others. No idea what they mined or where it came from but they tried to caravan it through the desert and there we were. They had a lot of man power so it must have been worth it. And it was. Prime Sanctum steal. We’ve been shopping it around a lot to make a pretty penny.”
Benidict whistled softly, “That’s a good find for the city. If pressing matters weren’t upon us I could direct you to some people who would pay well for it.”
“Well assuming we don’t die in the next few days you can still do that,” he replied smirking but he couldn’t keep it on his face as a memory came back to him. “You said a necromancer is the one that did whatever it was to Morrigan?”
Both nodded as Benidict spoke, “Yes. They used zombies to impersonate the people of Cerise in a temple to Her Majesty. At least I hope they were impersonated. The way they spoke was far too akin to people I’ve actually met. But yes they were a necromancer. Why?”
“You think they’re connected to those two that came through a few months ago?” Alistair asked and Vincent nodded. “I can’t imagine how.”
“I don’t know. Just something on my mind,” Vincent leaned back in his chair. “In the same breath, we haven’t heard from Vayne in a long time. Too many necromancer’s in a short period of time but I’m probably just jumping to conclusions.”
“Maybe you are. Mori always told me to be cautious,” Alistair frowned hard. “We go to the castle and investigate. If they’re there, we break her free of whatever this is. And then we find out who the they are.”
“The best plans are simple ones,” Benidict agreed but didn’t say more as Annie brought their food. Small bowls were with hot food and cups of cool water on a tray set down and passed between the three of them. “Thank you, Annie.”
“This smells great,” Alistair agreed digging in immediately.
“I even brought you something,” she said looking at Vincent and tossing him a piece of bread. He caught it and let out a complaint at it being hot but bit in hungrily. “If you need anything holler.”
“Will do,” Vincent mumbled taking another bite.
They ate together sharing stories and updates on what they’d been up to and eventually Alison made her way over to them. She took a seat next to Vincent and shared a look with her brother. “You ready with the spell?”
“Yes. We had to practice it a few times but we have it down now. We’ll be able to open the portal there and then we can start a tracking spell to find Morrigan if she’s there.”
“Good,” Benidict tilted the cup back and finishing the last of his water and burping. “I’m forgetting my manners the longer I’m here. Mori would have a field day with me,”
“That she would,” Alistair chewed the last corner of a piece of bread. “But we’ve both seen her be just as uncouth so she would have no leg to stand on.”
“See without you I wouldn’t be able to win arguments,” Leaning over he kissed Alistair’s cheek and smiled meeting his eyes. “We’ll find her.”
“I know,” returning the smile for a moment he stood. “Ready?”
“Ready Al,” she stood as well and Vincent joined them.
They journeyed back to the tent that Vincent and Alison shared and Vincent armed himself, taking his sword, and his gun. Splashing water on his face he sighed staring into the basin. “What’s up Penny?”
The demon paused mid step and tilted their head, “How did you know?”
“I may not be magically gifted but I can still tell when someone enters the tent. Even though you’re sounding more and more alike you and Alison are different when in control,” He turned around to face her and sure enough there they were with their black eyes trained on him. Their face was pensive, thoughtful in a way that Alison’s couldn’t. “What’s wrong?”
They approached him and dragged their fingers across his jaw lightly. As they stared at him he felt the intensity of her gaze, an intensity that he’d only felt form Alison previously. When he would catch her watching him work out of the corner of his eyes and her entire face seemed to warm.
Penny continued to stare at him a moment longer as if soaking in his image. “We have a bad feeling about this. A danger is awaiting us at the former Cerisan castle.”
“A danger is always awaiting us somewhere,” he said trying to smile but their expression did not change. “More than the usual amount?”
“Yes. And neither of us want to see you hurt. Alison and I felt it while we were crafting the spell. We reassured ourselves but we are still concerned. Worried. Scared. All of these things.” They looked away not satisfied with that.
“I didn’t know you cared that much.”
“At first we didn’t. But we’ve grown fond of you in a way that we didn’t think possible. Alistair, Benidict and Morrigan are important to us. And I know Alison will protect them as best she can.” She turned to look at him then the clarity in their eyes pointed like knives. “But I know that I will protect you before them.”
Vincent stared at them and there was a level of brutal honesty in their eyes that he appreciated though he didn’t like the implication. Regardless he nodded his head slowly, “Okay. Alison and me will protect everyone else and you’ll protect me. With things like that we shouldn’t have any problems, right?”
Penny narrowed their eyes, annoyance flashing through them. But they nodded slowly and then leaned forward to kiss him. It caught him so off guard he almost stumbled back but they stepped back staring at him. “Please be careful Vincent.”
Still surprised he finally said, “I will.”
The two of them came out of the tent to Benidict and Alistair who both looked at them with raised eyebrows. Alison took a deep breath and laced her fingers together. “Considering your faces, We’re assuming you both are ready. Let’s do this.”
Raising her hand and curling her fingers she felt the magic jump through her fingers. Thrusting her hand to the side she chanted and in moments she was forced to float on the air again as Penny formed beside her, clutching her hand tightly. Together they chanted the spell, the demon language scratching at the air.
Alistair watched his sister and he shuddered uneasy. He’d seen his sister do magic with Penny before but this was different. This was more potent. The two of them were in sync in a way that had only gotten stronger since their contract three years ago. But she was still his sister and he watched her with confidence.
Penny and Alison thrust their hands forward and the air tore open as the magic punched a hole in reality. A wall of cold light beckoned to all of them from the other side of the continent. The moment the portal was finished Alison gasped as she reabsorbed Penny back into her and her feet touched the ground.
Vincent stood behind her and she leaned against his chest getting her bearings again. “Next stop castle, Cerise.”
“Yeah,” Alistair stepped through the portal hesitantly before looking toward the others. “Let’s go find Morrigan.”
The Harlequin Library 