Fairy Opera Chapter 3: Hot Pursuit

 

Hot Pursuit

“Hurry up, they’re coming!” I held a sword out, pointing towards the horde of zombies that careened towards us. “Get that sky engine working!”

“I’m trying! The heat spell isn’t hot enough!” Tae yelled from behind me.

“Then make it hotter! Ruby!” The sword in my hand shivered.

“Sorry, Rock! That’s the spell as it was written!” Ruby fluttered around my head. “I can’t modify it on the fly!”

“Is that really how magic works?” I felt a wash of adrenaline come over me.

The first zombies came within striking range. I sliced the arm off of one zombie, spraying goop all over my clothes. Two other zombies tried to grab me.

I stabbed the zombie on the left with the point of my sword and pushed the one on the right away with my elbow. The zombie almost bit me, its teeth clamping shut inches from my neck. I kept my hands on its shoulder, keeping its biting mouth away from me.

The zombies stopped advancing and split their formation. A gigantic rhino-sized zombie lumbered into the clearing where the ship was crashed.

“Um, Tae?”

“I’m working on it, Rock!”

“Ruby.” I gulped. “I don’t think you could give me that fireball spell again?”

Ruby’s wings fluttered. “I don’t think a low-level fire spell can take out a rhodon.”

“Do you have anything more powerful?”

“Sorry, I only brought a couple spells with me.” Ruby landed on my shoulder. “Just trust Tae.”

I held out my sword. The rhodon stamped its feet on the ground, throwing up dust. It snorted.

I held my tiny-looking sword at the monster. I had only a bit of formal sword training, from when I was a small child. But it was better than nothing. I had found this sword on the ground next to the sky engine—it was probably the only reason I was still alive.

The rhodon charged. I stepped aside, feeling the monster’s breath as it passed by me. I then stabbed the monster in the back. It did nothing, only drawing a bit of blood. I ripped my sword away, staggered, and recovered my balance.

The rhodon pawed the ground again. Its nostrils flared and it snorted. Then it lifted onto its hind legs and prepared to charge once more.

“Got it!” Tae grabbed my shirt. “Get on!”

I leaped onto the small wooden platform that was right behind me. Our makeshift skyship floated up, just missing the horn of the gigantic beast as it passed underneath us.

I leaned against the sky engine as I attempted to catch my breath.

“You were stellar.” Tae steered the craft with small stick wedged into the engine. “I don’t think anyone else could have taken on a beast like that.”

“Thanks. But we aren’t home yet.”

Ruby laughed. “You made it, Rock. You’re better at this than I expected you to be.”

“I’m still not going on that adventure with you.”

Ruby shrugged. “Meh. You’ll come around eventually when you find out what’s at stake. By the way, your pronunciation is really good. I wasn’t expecting you to be able to speak Scode.”

“Scode? I’m speaking Common when I read those scrolls.”

“What?” Ruby appears genuinely confused. “You were speaking Scode.”

Tae nods. “Yeah. It was like you were speaking a whole different language. One that kind of sounded like a mix between a teakettle and a blacksmith’s hammer.”

“But I was speaking Common.” I looked between Ruby and Tae. “Right?”

“Nope.” Tae shook her head.

“Not at all.” Ruby flew up right into my face. “You’re strange. How did you learn how to speak scode?”

“I can’t.”

Ruby blinked. “You can’t.” She snapped and a scroll appeared in her hand. “Read this.”

“Null Basic. Record, dismiss, protect.”

A small ball of energy appeared in front of me. It played a recording of the last few seconds in front of us.

“Right.” I tilted my head. “I just said what was on the scroll.”

“Rock, you’re speaking a totally different language when you read those scrolls.”

“I am?” I was genuinely confused at this point.

“You are.”

At this point I remembered the sigil on my hand. I took off the glove on my left hand.

Tae looked at the symbol and frowned. “I thought you were making a questionable fashion statement with that glove.”

“Yeah, I was hiding this.” The symbol glowed with a dim light. “I think this may be what is causing everything to happen.”

“I don’t know much about that.” Tae came closer and examined the symbol. “I don’t recognize it.”

“There was a man. Wearing a cloak, he said his name was Orion.”

Ruby fluttered her wings. “Ah, the local chapter master.”

“Chapter master?” I frowned.

“Right. You don’t know this yet, because I haven’t told you. You’re a magician.”

“Okay? Is that what this symbol means?” I held out my left hand.

“Yes. It means that you are capable of using magic.”

“I heard that people used to use magic a lot.” Tae turns away and does something to the steering stick. Our floating raft shifts. “Before the Empire outlawed it and killed all the magicians.”

“But I’m a magician. Does this mean that the Empire will try to kill me?” I looked at the symbol on my hand.

“Yes. That’s why Orion told you to keep that glove on your hand.” Ruby flies up and sits on the top of the sky engine. “Because if the Empire knows you’re a magician, they’ll do anything they can to capture you.”

“But why me? Why am I the one who was chosen?”

“I have no idea. You’d have to ask my boss.” Ruby shrugged.

“Who’s your boss?”

“Don’t know.” Ruby grinned. “But I’m sure he’s watching us somehow.”

“Great.” I looked off into the distance, and spotted Bearskin Island.

“We’re almost home.” Tae steered us in the direction of the island. “Keep that glove on. I won’t tell anyone that you have that mark as long as you promise to keep our story straight. We managed to fend off the zombies and monsters of the skyfloor long enough to build our escape raft with more of the crew, but only we survived. And Ruby, you can hide yourself, right?”

Ruby landed in my hand and turned into a gemstone. “Yes!”

I slid the gemstone into my inner pocket and buttoned it shut. We approached the island. There seemed to be a lot of activity at the docks. When we landed, the port official approached us.

“Who are you? What’s your registration?”

“We were with the Big Hutch captained by Nire. We were attacked by a skywhale and floored. We managed to build an escape raft, but we’re the only survivors.”

“All right. Come into my office so we can fill out the paperwork. This is the third whale attack this month.” He seemed a bit preoccupied.

As I walked to the dock office, I saw a gathering of people around the notice board, just like yesterday. When I arrived at the board I took a step back in surprise. There, tacked to the wood, was an announcement that the Empire had arrested my little sister and uncle. Jak and Ami Briggs.

I turned to Tae. She nodded. We ran through the town towards my house. When we got there, the place was ransacked. Broken furniture lay everywhere, scattered amongst precious blacksmith tools. There were bullet holes in the walls. A bit of blood was splattered on the ground.

I fell to my knees. “No. Why did they do this?”

A voice from behind me spoke. “Because they suspect.”

I turned around and saw a cloaked figure. It was Orion. He pulled back his hood and looked at me. “You have two choices. You can either flee, or you can attempt to rescue your family. Whatever you choose, I’ll go along with you.”

“Why? How does it benefit you to help me?” I was at the verge of breaking down into tears.

Orion turned away. “We must be quick, but we must be careful.”

I started to run but Orion grabbed me by the collar. “I said careful. If you breeze through town like that the peacekeepers will notice you and ask questions.”

“But my family is in danger!”

“You’re in danger!” Orion sighed. “But I understand. I have a solution.” He pulled out a small scroll. “Null Operatus. Set variables X, Y, Z. Fleet of Foot, import.”

My feet lost all their weight in an instant. Orion kicked his feet on the ground and shot up onto the roof of a nearby building. “Come on! It’s not hard!”

I kicked the ground and flew upwards. I landed on the same roof as Orion, though with much less grace. Getting off of my hands, faced Orion.

Tae landed next to me. She grinned. “Now this is what I’m talking about."

Orion nodded. He started rushing towards the town’s jailhouse, jumping between the roof gaps. Tae and I followed.

We reached the roof of the jailhouse. Orion looked at me, held up his finger to his mouth, and then leaned down to look into a barred window.

“I see them.” Orion came back up. “They appear to be fine.”

“Okay. How are we going to rescue them?”

Ruby popped out of my pocket. “Here.” She handed me the fireball scroll.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” I held the scroll in my hand.

Ruby poked me in the nose. “Smash and grab, of course. Those guards don’t stand a chance against a fireball spell.”

Orion nodded. “What do you know of scode?”

Ruby flew over to Orion. “He’s got the knack. For some reason he’s able to get his pronunciation perfect.”

Orion raised an eyebrow. “Well, we’ll have to see.” He held up his hand. “We’re going through the second floor balcony. I believe that’s a locker room.”

We climbed from the roof onto the small balcony that was placed just below us. There seemed to be no one inside the room. Lockers lined the walls. Clothes were scattered about.

Orion put his hand onto the window. “Null Bake. Import silence. Glass freeze.”

The glass frosted over and shattered without a sound. Orion stepped through, followed by Tae and I.

The door to the locker room opened and a surprised peacekeeper walked through.

Orion smacked the peacekeeper in the chin. The peacekeeper fell to the ground in a heap. Orion dragged his unconscious body into an open locker and shut it. “We’ll try not to kill anyone. But if we’re in danger, I won’t hold back, and I expect you not to either.” He leaned against the doorframe and looked around it into the hallway. “Looks like the coast is clear.”

We traversed the hallway and found the stairs down to the first floor holding cells. I went first. We descended and entered the area where the cells were situated, arriving just in time to see Jak and Ami being dragged away, through the front door and out to the execution grunds.

“We’re almost too late!” I broke into a run, but couldn’t make it before the doors closed. Five peacekeepers came out of side doors and held swords at me. I had no weapons beside the fire scroll. I opened it.

“Null Bravos. Set parameters two-one-five. Burn hot. Fire.”

A fireball flew out from my palm and smacked into the body of one of the peacekeepers, sending him flying.

The other peacekeepers backed up. “He’s a mage! A heretic!”

Orion leaped past me and twirled in between two peacekeepers, hitting them several times each at specific spots on their bodies. They collapsed.

The remaining two peacekeepers backed away. I saw, through the door behind them, my family being led to the gallows.

“Ami! Uncle Jak! I’m coming for you!”

“Rock!” My sister screamed.

“I’ll save you!”