"Is Assault Legal on Emphyralis?"
Helena and Honora watched Britiana and ZsaZsa painting the overlapping circles of the transfer spell. This part took over an hour. At one point ZsaZsa sat back on her haunches and wiped her forehead. It seemed like they were only painting, but drawing magical arrays was taxing on a mage, especially one this big. "I'm thirsty. Do you need anything?" she asked Britiana as she pulled out a leather bladder of everberry wine and took a drink.
Britiana connected two lines and sighed. "I have some," she said. She also had lent her ability to Darius, so she rubbed her temple as well. She didn't drink everberry wine. Instead, she opened a small metal flask. A strong smell spilled out of it.
Helena and Honora inhaled involuntarily. Even ZsaZsa was surprised. "Dragonwyne?" she asked.
Britiana nodded with a wry smile. "I had to let Darius use my telepathic ability for a bit," she said and took a mouthful of the mellow, breathtaking and invigorating drink.
"What's that?" Helena asked curiously. They'd already offered to help with the array, but it was very precise and unless they'd practiced it before, they couldn't be sure of accuracy, even following the diagram they'd been given to study.
They were curious about everything regarding the "dragons".
"It's a special drink for Dragons. It not only refills our energy, but if you drink too much, it's one of the only things that can get us drunk," ZsaZsa explained helpfully.
Honora nodded. "Even just smelling it is really...whew," she said.
Britiana grinned. She looked up. "Darius and Sariya are back," she said.
"We'll go see," Helena said.
Britiana nodded. "We'll still be busy for another couple of hours," she said. Since drawing one, the second one wasn't taking as long as the first.
The older twins left the basement and went up to the living room just as Deianira, Delaney, Darius, and Sariya came down from upstairs.
Amalthea looked at them. She'd been observing from the camera. "We need a new camera for the house. I can't see anything because of the fog," she said. "Lyzzie and the others are on the way, too," she said.
"I'll go help Britiana and ZsaZsa," Delaney said.
"You don't need to rest? You did a lot of shadow walking," Deianira said in concern.
Delaney smiled. "I'm fine. When you get to Emphyralis, you'll understand. I'm already stronger than I was when I left," she said and headed toward the basement.
Amalthea had watched both scenes. She looked at Darius and Sariya probingly for a long time before turning away. "I can't wait," she murmured, responding belatedly to Delaney's words. "Lena, Nora. The area around the mausoleum is clear. It's not one yet. Go get us some tacos. Show our visitors some local food," she said with amusement.
Their visitors arrived around 10 p.m. not long after they went to bed. Everything has lasted for a couple of hours.
"Okay. I'll put an order in the app on the way," Honora said, taking out their phone.
"Wait," Darius said suddenly. He handed them each an understated bracelet. "If 'tacos' is food, then put it in these. It'll stay in the same state as it goes in," he explained.
They took the bracelets and could see how they worked immediately. "Thank you, we'll give them back when we get back," Helena said.
"No need. These are small and empty. They're just extra trinkets my sister practiced on when we were children," he said.
The two nodded again and walked out the front door. When the door closed, they looked at each other with wide eyes. Making dimensional storage items was not impossible on Terranthea, but they were difficult and usually only the oldest and most powerful witchborn could make them. The pouch Delaney carried around with her was a family heirloom they gave her to use when she was traveling different worlds.
To make this as a child? They looked at the bracelets they slipped on their wrists. Small? The space inside was easily the size of a shipping container.
Tacitly agreeing not to dwell, they changed into cats and entered the tunnel leading to the mausoleum. They only took the cat-sized tunnel, so they didn't pass the other on the way.
As for the others, they made better progress returning, each able to use their specific dislocation skills to move to each junction quickly. They were back at the front door of the house within twenty minutes or so, a lot less time than it took to get to the cemetery.
Lysithea entered the living room and ran to an office in a side room where she found a phone and turned on the computer. She quickly scoured every short form video and microblog app for videos of what happened in the cemetery. The cemetery the Heck mausoleum was located in was in a popular tourist spot for being "haunted".
She turned to her computer and utilized a special bot she'd already built and adjusted its setting before setting it free on the internet. Soon posts and videos with titles like "Witch graves protected by Angels," soon began appearing online. She had to admit that in his otherworldly uniform, gleaming sword, ethereal skin, and pointed ears, he could indeed be "angelic".
Amalthea watched her sister disappear. She glanced at Phryne questioningly. "Some mortals saw him take down a demon and called him an angel. Aunt Lyzzie is doing some internet propaganda. She'll probably be doing more later," Phryne explained, gesturing to Amadeus.
Amadeus took the demon out of his dimensional storage. "A demon for study, my lord," he said. "These cloaks come in very handy. Lady Britiana should market them and sell them to the military," he said.
Darius nodded. "I thought about that earlier," he said with a slight smile and brought out the demon spawn. "Do you have a protected room?" he asked the women.
"Not in the house, but there's an air raid shelter connected to the tunnels. It was constructed in the forties by our family," Amalthea answered.
Darius nodded. He didn't quite know what a bomb shelter was, but he had a general notion. He went to find his sister. She and ZsaZsa were still working. She finished drawing a symbol and looked up. "What is it?" she asked.
"Give me two spare cloaks," he answered and showed her the capsules. "We have specimens, but we still need our cloaks," he said.
Britana crinkled her nose and stood. She took two spare cloaks out of her ring. These didn't have the added glamor effect and were prototypes from when she was making the stasis capsules. She tossed them to him.
He caught them and draped them over his arm. "Thank you. How much longer?" he asked.
"Probably a couple of hours. It's not taking as long as it did the first time," she answered.
Darius nodded. "No need to rush. Then, I'll be off," he said.
"I won't see you off," she returned. She dipped her brush in draconite pigment and began drawing again. ZsaZsa waved at him. Delaney didn't even acknowledge the exchange as she was drawing a symbol.
He left the storage room and went back to the living room. "Who'll take us to the shelter?" he asked.
"I'll take you," Amalthea volunteered before anyone else could.
Darius nodded his thanks. "Let's go," he said to his men and Sariya.
Phryne and Deianira didn't argue with her. They just both sat on the sofa.
"We'll be back. I sent Lena and Nora for tacos. Save us some," Amalthea admonished. She was the oldest sister and a bit bossy because of it.
They waved her off, used to her bossiness.
Amalthea huffed. "Follow me," she said to the Dragons and Sariya. She opened the front door and turned into a cat and darted daintily into a certain tunnel. The foursome followed her.
--
Termina, Georgiana
A middle aged, tired woman with tanned skin and graying hair held hands with a young girl with bright red pigtails and freckles scattered across her nose. A man carried a red-haired toddler who was limply laying against his chest as they ran through an empty parking lot.
The woman ran into an alley and the man followed. She waved a hand. "Celare!" she shouted, winded. The entrance of the alley flickered.
A few minutes later, people ran by, shouting coherently, but they didn't see the people in the alley. The adults sagged in relief. The girl was silently shedding tears. "What's happening, Grandma? Where's Mommy?" she asked silently.
Tears filled the woman's eyes. She hugged the young girl close to her. "David, where's the nearest safe house?" she asked.
The pale, freckled, red-haired, stoic man pulled out his phone and opened an app. A location beacon popped up. "A few blocks," he said, adjusting the sleeping toddler. They had to put her to sleep with magic to keep her quiet.
They moved cautiously along the street. To be fair to this world, most people didn't go around hunting witches or think about hunting witches. They just went about their lives the best they could. Few people paid them any attention.
They thought they'd make it, but as they were nearing the "safehouse" they heard people shouting. David paused and took the women into a diner. "I'll see what's going on. Get Pip something to drink," he said. The older woman nodded, taking the time to rest.
David approached the safehouse cautiously. It was a run-down no-tell motel. There was a group of people outside, crowding around the entrance, shouting and trying to get in. David quickly came back to his mother and daughters. The girl was drinking a soda quietly.
He sat down and opened another app and looked for news. Sure enough, witches inside the hotel were reporting that they were under siege. "This isn't good," he said.
Corinne sighed. She took out her phone with trembling hands and dialed a number she never thought she'd dial. She heard the phone on the other end ring. It rang several times before someone finally answered.
"Corey? Why are you calling?" Deianira had answered this phone. It wasn't a personal phone. It was a dedicated phone that was installed in the house for certain people.
Their mother hadn't been an only child. Corinne was the great-great granddaughter of their aunt. They kept up with that side of the family until Corinne broke with the family. She denounced magic and chose a mortal life. She hadn't seen that side of the family since she was young. She married, bound her magic, bound her daughter's magic. Then her daughter married a witchborn against her wishes.
David wasn't very powerful. He was almost as useless as mortal, but her granddaughters were powerful. Corinne tried to convince her daughter to bind their power, but she refused. Then the unthinkable happened. Her granddaughter killed someone in self-defense. All she did was push a man that was attacking their house. He tripped and hit his head on a rock, but it didn't matter. Her actions led to his death.
Ever since then, they've been on the move while trying to protect Pip, that is Piper, from demons corrupting her. They were also now wanted for questioning in the death of the man. Just an excuse to hunt them down.
As for Corinne's daughter, Kathleen, when a group of witch hunters found their camp, she led them away to give them time to get away. As for her fate, none of them knew. Corinne was old and wanted to do it, but Kathleen insisted she was younger and faster.
"The Termina safe house is surrounded by witch hunters. My granddaughter..." Corinne swallowed, "is forsaken and Kathleen is missing," she said in a whisper sob.
David lowered his head and patted the head of the young girl who was holding back her tears again. She'd barely developed her powers and lost them already. Luckily, she was a pure-hearted child, and demons would have a hard time corrupting her, but she was already hearing the voices.
Deianira sighed. "Are you safe right now?" she asked.
"No. I don't know where we can go. We're in an all-night diner but they were right behind us not long ago," Corinne explained in a stronger voice.
"If you have the app, turn on the emergency locator," Deianira ordered. "Someone will find you soon," she said. "I'll stay on the phone with you," she assured her.
"Thank you, Dei," Corinne said.
Back in their home, Deianira had already gotten off the couch. "Delaney!" she shouted into the basement.
Delaney quickly finished drawing a symbol, still carefully. "Coming!" she said. "I'd better see what's going on," she said as she stood.
"It shouldn't be much longer now," Britiana said. "Do you still have the portable transfers? Leave one here in case you need it," she said.
Delaney nodded and went upstairs. "Mom, what's wrong?" she asked.
"It's our cousin Corinne and the Termina safe house," she said and quickly explained what she was told. "Their emergency beacon is turned on. Can you make it to Termina?" she asked.
Delaney nodded. "Tell Corinne help is on the way," she said and stepped into the shadows. She reappeared at the bomb shelter.
Darius had already retrieved their cloaks. They were about to study the demon and demon spawn when she arrived. "Y'all wanna see more of our world?" she asked.
Darius raised a brow. He covered the two cursing, spitting demons with cloaks and activated them. He picked up the capsules and put them away.
Amalthea frowned. "What's going on?" she asked.
Delaney explained briefly.
"I'll go back and help Deianira keep Corinne calm," Amalthea said and left the bomb shelter.
"How do we get to this place?"
"Can you shadowwalk if you know where you're going on a map?" she asked the two guards. They nodded.
"I can also Voidwalk," Darius said.
"Then, I'll take Sariya with me," Delaney said. She opened a map app on her phone and showed them the route to Termina from where they were. She then zoomed in on a place and changed the view to street mode. "We meet at this place," she said, showing the front of an all-night diner.
"You understand?" she asked. The three nodded. She closed the map app. She took a rolled-up parchment from her pouch and stuck it to a wall with magic. The shelter was a good spot for a temporary way station. She informed the family in their group chat. That done, she held a hand out to Sariya. "Ready?" she asked. Sariya nodded and took her hand. She stepped into the shadows and pulled Sariya along with her.
Amadeus and Lazarus followed her.
Darius heaved a deep breath. He stared at the space in front of him until a crack formed and he stepped through. He was surprised to find that he could travel further each trip this time. Magic users here weren't exceedingly powerful, but it was far more abundant than Thelessia. It was easier to Voidwalk.
It took nearly an hour for them to travel more than four hundred miles. On Emphyralis, it wouldn't take nearly so long to travel that far, but there were a number of factors contributing to the slowness.
Darius was the last to arrive. He had to make frequent stops. Everyone else except Delaney was looking around the city in somewhat awe. It wasn't that it was an especially grand city. It was novel. The architecture was different from the architecture of Emphyralis. Everything was square and boxy. The vehicles on the road spewed poison.
"I'm not trying to judge, my lord, but in establishing commerce with this planet, what can Emphyralis gain?" Lazarus asked.
"There's always something to gain," Darius said. "Are the people you're looking for here?" he asked Delaney.
Delaney shook her head. "No, they're on the move. Mom texted me. Corinne and her family are on the move," she answered. "Let's go," she said.
"What about your safe house?" Sariya asked.
"It's lasted this long, it'll last a little while longer," Delaney answered. She used an app to track the emergency signal. "They went this way," she said and took off at a jog. The others followed.
"Wait. No offense, Delaney, you're too slow," Sariya said. "Ride on someone's back and point the way," she said.
Delaney scrunched her nose. "Okay, someone bend down," she said, looking at the boys. Darius knelt to one knee and Delaney threw herself on his back. "North," she instructed.
The entire group went faster. Although to anyone on the street they didn't seem to be running, they were eating up the distance at a quick clip. Suddenly a scream split the air. It was thin, frail, and terribly afraid. Everyone broke out into a sprint and rounded a corner.
A family of four was surrounded by several men and one of them was grabbing a small child. Before Delaney could even hop off of Darius's back, Sariya darted forward and slid behind the man, grabbing the arm that was holding the girl in a certain way that made his hand release. She jerked it behind his back, whirled him, and put him on the ground, face first. He hit so hard he broke his nose and lost several teeth.
Amadeus wasn't far behind her, putting down the five or six other men. Only David was spared because he was obviously cradling the smallest child, trying to protect her.
Delaney looked around at the frankly broken men with a green face. "Is assault legal on Emphyralis?" she asked wryly.
"Depends on the circumstances," Amadeus said, nudging a groaning man with his foot. "No one died. It's fine," he said dismissively.
Corinne was holding the frightened girl, Pip, in her arms, soothing her while crying herself.
"Thank you," David said, cradling the sleeping toddler. "Thank you so much. Are you Delaney?" he asked, looking between Sariya and Delaney.
"I am. Come on. We need to get somewhere quiet," Delaney said and ushered them away from the alley.