A deal worth making

I think I’ll get used to teleporting very quickly once I’ll have moved to a domicile that allows it at home. I set down slightly outside the walls. I do maintain that I did what I had to do. But I have no desire to permanently watch the results. I am here for science in the service of violence.

First things first. My basic idea is to find a way to deliver magic harm at greater range in an unusual way, as my enemies are likelier to be able to counter the usual ways. For that to work I cannot degrade myself in the key areas of lethality and rate of fire. I can make do with less sustained fire, as I hope to use my new tools to be created to advance or flee.

I use the lever to draw the string back. This is easier than I thought. That worries me a bit. I take a good hard look at this state with my perception abilities. Then I pull the trigger and the string is released without a projectile to propel forward. I study this state a bit less hard. Then I go for restauration. It works. The string moves back and locks itself in place, ready to fire, if I provide ammunition.

I retrieve a bale of hay from the semidestroyed shed to use it as a target. Then I go to the second stage of my weapons test. I anchor two components of my flight spell on a quarrel, the weight reduction spell and the spell for reducing wind drag. I send the quarrel towards the bale. That reveals a major flaw with my plan. I suck at shooting magic crossbows. I miss the bale completely.

I say something anatomically implausible about the crossbow’s parents and launch into the air to fly a search pattern.

Anjali resigns herself to not finding the peace necessary for meditation, as the second visitor knocks. „Enter“ she calls out. She has not expected Hildegard. She also hasn’t expected her to bear a pot of tea and two beakers.

This niceness needs to be rewarded. They cannot afford to fight among each other, unless they want to turn this cave figuratively uninhabitable. That succubus is bad enough. This girl is not her enemy.„That is nice of you. A warm cup of tea is a reminder of good things.“. Hildegard does not know how to take the answer, so she tries a neutral path „At home we drank tea on feast days and when visitors came. That is, the kind of visitors that required restraint. The others got beer. Does tea remind you of home?“. Anjali takes this as a nice try to speak about things that warm the heart. Hence she responds „Thankfully it does not, perhaps because I never was in a place where tea is a rare treat. I do not want to be reminded of home. They cast me out. I would be curious about beer, though. I never had it.“ Hildegard’s eyes get wide „You never had beer!?! We will get you beer when we return home … if we return home.“ Anjali takes the opportunity „Do you still think of home? Obviously I thought that I was dead. When we lived against expectations I took that as fate wanting us to start a new life.“.

Hildegard bursts out laughing. Anjali is quite surprised. Hildegard manages to get words out „We are fulfilling the wishes of fate to their full extent.“. Anjali cannot help a snort and concedes „Quite. I was thinking of a house in a seaside town and becoming a jeweller in the best case, but you are right.“ Hildegard takes her up on that „Were you apprenticed to a jewellery maker? I am afraid I am not accustomed to the way things are done in your homeland.“ Anjali smiles „How could you? I was trained. Not with an independent jeweller, but with one of the people already working for the family doing the engravings on the stuff to be enchanted. It was seen as a useful ability to be encouraged in a future witch. I think one of my elder cousins actually enchanted the protective arm ring I had engraved. Did you do any arts?“ Hildegard shakes her head in the way the Westerners do „No. Only singing and sewing or embroidery would have been appropriate. I am no good at either. I am the oldest child. My path was always clear. Training to run a castle during peace or war, marriage, bearing children.“ She stops abruptly, having returned to the sensitive topic. Anjali tries to make her voice as commiserative as she can „Will they take you in back home while you are with child?“ Hildegard folds her hands around her beaker „Usually they would be disappointed. But there is a question that may change the situation a lot and I need to ask. Are sorceries hereditary?“ As Anjali draws a sharp breath, Hildegard is distressed and goes on „I am sorry; I did not want to reopen old wounds.“ Anjali closes her eyes and draws a deep breath to steady herself, before she answers „It isn’t your fault. My grandfather is to blame. I will never forgive him. There are exceptions to that rule. Rare exceptions. I am one of them.“

Hildegard empties her beaker in one gulp. There is a silence. Anjali follows her example. Hildegard breaks the silence „I think I interrupted you for long enough. I’ll take over breakfast from Branislava tomorrow. Maybe we’ll see each other?“ Anjali replies with a short „Yes“.

As Hildegard has just reached the door, Anjali speaks up. „Wait. There is one other thing I better tell you right away. You were exposed to a dose of fertility magic large enough to break a curse. It is quite likely that you are bearing twins or even more.“

Hildegards eyes are almost bulging, as she wordlessly nods and leaves.

I am using the full mage sight to find my lost ammunition, disregarding the discomfort. That gives me ample warning. Something big is under the snow. In fact it seems to be under the ground as well. It is moving. I drop behind a bush and check my ward. After a moment of consideration I also cock the crossbow and put a quarrel in. It is time to test a nastier part of my designs. I anchor a spell that should do nothing to the flight characteristics of the missile. Then I wait.

It does not take long. A paw with long and broad claws breaks through the snow. Should I shoot it while it does not see me? I hesitate. There is no evidence that the newcomer is hostile. Even if it is hostile it may have allies who know where it was to go to. The best outcome is for me to not be seen. Unfortunately I suspect a teleportation to be quite visible to anybody with magical senses. I cannot lead this thing to the cave. It moves through the ground. That also means that if it turns out to be hostile I need to kill it and be sure that it is dead. If I fly away now it’ll probably see me. The night has not completely fallen and again it may have magical senses. I must let it come completely to the surface and preferably let it get away from the hole in the ground it’ll leave behind.

It needs only seconds to emerge. I count six legs, all with claws fine for digging or disemboweling me. It has no head. On its shoulders sits a trunk it sways from side to side in seeking motions. All of it is covered with white fur. It starts vibrating with an unbelievable frequency, removing dirt and snow from its fur. The trunk keep swaying while the monster turns in a small circle. Then its trunk points in one direction. It starts heading for the building housing the entrance to the cellar the cheese was kept in. I cannot find a fault with its preferences.

The cheese also betrays me. I cannot help it. I fart. The trunk races into the air. For two seconds neither of us moves. Then it jumps, whirls around turning exactly towards me and screeches. I pull the trigger and watch the quarrel bury itself into the trunk near where it meets the body. Four tentacles emerge from its fur. I teleport behind it a few meters up in the air. A salvo of organic needles pop up from the tentacles and are shot towards the bush I was hiding behind.

The monster is now in range. I start flinging thunderbolts. Two more tentacles presumably associated with the hind legs pop up and start twisting. I accelerate sidewards. The next salvo races towards the place I had been. My evasive action and the wards prevent serious damage. Two needles hit my left calf and penetrate a centimeter or so. I change course upwards and keeping the thunderbolts coming. It sprays pink blood out of its trunk and collapses. I check my leg. No venom.

The same cannot be said for my shot. My magic senses tell me that it is still producing the venoms of five different kinds of snake in large quantities. The beast's magic goes away. It is dead. My poisons were chosen so that the prey would still be edible, but this thing is too alien to try eating it. I retrieve my weapon, abandon the quarrel I was looking for, make sure I have seen the beast from all angles so that I can make an illusion of it and teleport home.