Magic Practice

“I think my archery is coming along great.”

Leah glanced over her shoulder to give Corrie a teasing frown. “You’re a whole grown ass woman using a bow and arrow,” she whispered. “We have rifles, Corrie.”

Corrie rolled her eyes. “What, was I supposed to grow out of thinking archery was cool when I turned twenty-seven? Come on, dude, you’re going to keep using the same boring old Earth weaponry? We’re in an entirely different realm! Branch out a little.”

Leah patted the sword at her hip. “That’s why I brought this. Erde weaponry. As a backup, of course, for close combat, not long range.”

Corrie rolled her eyes again. “You do you.”

Leah glanced around. The forests that surrounded Samūha were thick and green, filled with boulders, creeks, and pine trees. It smelled amazing but Leah missed the beach air and constant smell of salt and sand. The air felt chilly beneath the canopy, filled with the promise of snow, and she missed the warm sun of North Carolina.

The warming layers tucked beneath her leather armor kept the cold at bay for now, but her thin gloves did little to keep her fingers warm. Leah rubbed her hands together, then tucked a strand of her brown hair beneath her beanie to look around. They’d made it out to a clearing ringed by trees and she looked at Corrie with a shrug.

“Do you think this is far enough away?”

Corrie glanced around. “I think so. We walked for what, an hour? We should be plenty far away from anyone if something goes wrong.”

“Alright.” Leah set her rifle down against a boulder and drew her sword. “You go first. I’m going to practice some drills Ani taught me.”

“Ok.” Corrie settled down onto the ground and folded her legs lotus style as she pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. “Any special requests?”

“Yeah,” Leah replied with a few experimental chops of her sword. “Make me a dog if you can. Big old pupper.”

“Fine, but I’m sticking with cats after that.”

Leah watched for a moment as Corrie closed her eyes. The tall, lanky woman slouched down on herself, her narrow shoulders hunched and her dyed purple hair brushing her knees. After a few seconds, her fingers began to twitch, dragging her pencil across the page as the first few tendrils of smoke began to drift to life.

Soon there’d be a grey, smokey dog standing beside Corrie. She’d conjure it to life, form it out of nothing but magic, and give it commands. Leah had seen it before, of course; Corrie had summoned magnificent beasts during battle, dragons and behemoths and all sorts of terrifying things. Her little sister, the one a few months away from joining the Navy as a nuclear engineer, was now a mage. A conjurer, to be precise. She could open portals, call animals, weapons, practically anything she wanted.

It made sense. Their older sister, Ripley, was a mage, a rare sort of empath who could use emotions to fuel a blast of devastating magic. Their mother, Margie, could heal instantly with a single touch and put up impenetrable shields. The magic suited all of them. Corrie loved to draw, Ripley had always been a force to be reckoned with, and Margie had been a nurse for years.

Leah’s power seemed just as fitting. She could run, really run, faster than the eye could track. And she could use the static charge built up from running to unleash bolts of lightning, a skill she was still trying to perfect. They’d come out here to practice without interference from the others at Samūha and to just have some time alone. The few livable buildings at Samūha were overrun with a couple thousand refugees, the last remnants of a once proud society. Survival was nice and all but Leah missed her privacy even more than she missed the beach.

Leah moved through the steps Ani had taught her last week. Step, lunge, fall back, block, switch feet. The sword still felt a little strange in her hand. While Ripley had joined the Army as an MP, Leah had joined as a heavy watercraft mechanic. She felt more comfortable holding a wrench or power tool but she was getting better at sword play. It was just a matter of being solid on your feet without being too afraid to move around.

Footsteps in the grass turned her around to Corrie. Sure enough, a fully developed dog sat at her sister’s side. Glowing white eyes stared at Leah from its grey, smoky face, but it looked better. Less formless, more real, and Leah took a step forward before something caught her eye.

Another creature, standing a little ways behind Corrie. This one looked just as strange as the dog but more solid and powerful. Its black fur seemed to shimmer and shift as it breathed and it massive head swayed beneath a wicked looking pair of horns. It took a step closer to them and Leah felt her stomach turn cold.

“Corrie,” she hissed. “Corrie, did you summon two animals?”

The dog lost a bit of its form as Corrie pulled herself out of her meditative state. “No, just the dog. Why?”

Leah eyed her rifle. It sat next to Corrie, too close to the strange animal, and she set her feet in the grass. “Don’t panic. There’s something behind you. Just come toward me, slowly.”

Corrie carefully set aside her sketchpad and rocked up onto her feet. The animal huffed in anger, its breath steaming out through its nostrils, and Leah flinched as it began to move. It rushed Corrie and the woman rolled out of the way with a shriek, narrowly evading its stomping hooves. The dog faded away into nothingness as Corrie lost all concentration.

Leah readied herself as the thing bore down on her. At the last second, she dodged away and sliced her sword down the thing’s side. A cut opened up along its flank, spraying the ground with red blood, and it bellowed in enraged pain. She heard its hooves come to a halt as it turned around and prepared itself for another charge.

Corrie rose up on her knees with her bow in her hands. She nocked an arrow and let fly as the thing charged her again. The arrow struck it high in its forehead but didn’t seem to slow it down. If anything, it seemed angrier and it lowered its head, aiming its horns at Corrie’s chest.

Leah gave the rifle one last look before racing toward Corrie. She dragged her sister out of the way and sent them both tumbling across the meadow. Corrie struggled up, her bow still in her hands, and grabbed another arrow.

“Electrify it!” she shouted as she nocked the arrow and drew the bowstring back.

“What?”

“The arrow!” The creature turned around for another run and Corrie took a deep breath. “When I let it go, zap it!”

“I haven’t run enough for that!”

Corrie gave her a hard look as the creature began to charge. “Sort yourself out, Leah!”

Leah sheathed her sword and rubbed her hands together as fast as she could. It hurt; the friction tore at her skin and she thought she could smell burning. But she felt the static build and, as Corrie released the arrow, Leah aimed a bolt of lightning and let fly.

The bolt hit the arrow. It wrapped around it a split second before the arrow’s tip buried itself in the animal’s left eye. There was a strange pop, like an burnt out lightbulb exploding, and the creature let out a strangled cry. Leah pulled Corrie out of the way as the thing collapsed onto the ground and slid forward a few feet before finally coming to a rest.

“Holy shit,” Corrie breathed. “I cannot believe that worked!”

Leah stared at her in open-mouthed shock. “You didn’t know that would work?”

“Well, no, not really. I mean, I figured it could but there was also a pretty good chance you’d explode my arrow.”

“You are really something else.” Leah stared down at her reddened hands. “This hurts. I think I burned myself.”

“Ooh, probably. We’ll get you back to Lydia, have her heal you up.”

Crashing footsteps brought Corrie’s bow back up and Leah drew her sword. They both let out a sigh of relief as Ripley and Maddox burst from the brush and came out into the meadow. The two glanced around, Ripley with a bolt of magic readied in her palm and Maddox with his sword drawn.

“What happened?” Ripley demanded. “Are you alright?”

“We’re fine,” Leah replied. “What the heck are you two doing out here?”

“The air elementals reported a stormfront moving in,” Maddox told her as he sheathed his sword and Ripley let her magic fade away. “We wanted to come fetch you before you were caught in it and then we heard you scream.”

“This thing came after us,” Corrie explained with a pointed finger at the creature. “We had to kill it.”

Maddox knelt down beside the animal and inspected its dead body. “Ah, you have killed a bull. Very well done; these things are extremely aggressive.”

“A bull?” Leah shook her head. “That is not a bull.”

Maddox stood and gave her a confused frown. “That is a bull. A male cow? Do you not have such things on Earth?”

“Yeah, but they don’t look like that!” Corrie cried. “I mean, that thing’s huge, and its fur looks all oily.”

“Ah, you know what?” Ripley rolled her eyes and nudged Maddox. “I know what this is. It’s the spell, the understanding spell. Some things don’t translate so the spell uses the next best thing.”

“Really?” Leah looked at Corrie and shrugged. “I didn’t know that.”

Ripley nodded. “Once I saw this thing with six legs and spines sticking out all over its body. So I was obviously terrified and Maddox was like, oh, that’s just a deer, nothing to be afraid of. Like I’m not going to be afraid of thing with too many legs and covered in knives.”

“Wow.” Corrie toed the dead bull’s body with her toe. “So what should we do with it?”

Maddox glanced at the sky then back down at the bull. “Bull meat is quite tasty. We should haul it back to town, carve it up and place it under a stasis spell. We will need all the food we can gather for the months to come.”

“Ok but be careful,” Leah warned. “We used her arrow and my lightning to take it down so it might be a little shocky.”

Maddox cautiously touched the bull’s horns. A little zap ran from it to him and he yelped once before wrapping his hand around the horn. “It is fine now, I believe,” he announced.

“Big strong man,” Ripley told him with a smile as she grabbed the other horn. “Leah, run back to town and bring back some help. It’ll take forever to get this thing back otherwise.”

Leah watched as the two dragged the bull’s carcass off. Corrie folded her arms across her chest and shook her head.

“A bull,” she muttered.

“It’s a culture shock.” Leah looked over at her and sighed. “We need to keep practicing this.”

“Once the storm’s over and before it gets too cold, we should definitely put this to the test.” Corrie shivered and rubbed her hands together. “I’m going to head back.”

Leah collected her rifle and handed it to Corrie. “Hang onto this for me. I’ll grab it when I get back from town.” She paused, then grinned and said, “I guess Erde weaponry isn’t too bad after all.”

“My point exactly.”