Firesign 1 - Wage Slave Rebellion (29 page)

“What?” said Gavi as she wrung water out of her hair. It was only after she finished retying her ponytail that she looked down to where Mazik was staring. “Oh, for the gods sakes!” she said, her arms flying to her chest.

“Sure is cold out here…” said Mazik.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” asked Gavi as she punched him in the uninjured shoulder with her free hand. She pushed him toward the ladder, blushing profusely.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t look!” said Mazik. “Especially if you are going to, ehrm, put yourself out there like that,” he added with a shameless wink.

“Dick!” said Gavi with another punch, her cheeks ablaze.

“Flirt later, find someplace to hide now,” said Raedren, mounting the ladder ahead of them.

“We’re not—! Oh, shut up you,” said Gavi. Raedren smiled wanly.

“Would you like me to go next?” asked Mazik, bowing to the ladder like a valet holding open a door. “It just seems like, for you…” he said, and his gaze drifted downwards.

Gavi’s free hand flew to her skirt, which she found was still in acceptable shape. She glared at Mazik anyway. “Why yes, thank you.” Then she punched him one more time. “You
ass!
”

That only made Mazik grin wider.

*      *      *

“The most important lesson I’ve ever learned?” said Gavi.

“The single most important one,” said Mazik. “An
early
lesson. I don’t want to hear about something that happened recently.”

“What if it was important?” asked Raedren.

“Who cares! This is about telling stories,” said Mazik. “Come on. The most important one.”

Gavi scratched her neck. “The most important lesson I’ve ever learned. That was probably…”

Gavi stood in the yard behind her house, holding a blunt practice sword. Her father stood opposite her. He touched his hand to Gavi’s sword, and a red barrier pushed the blade away.

“Fight mana with mana,” said her father. “Magick is more effective at penetrating barriers than anything else. Use your aura.”

Gavi nodded, and concentrated on her sword. Nothing happened.

Gavi’s shoulders slumped. “This is hard.”

Her father nodded. “Where are you having trouble?”

“I understand how to control mana in my aura, and I can choose whether my aura weakens others’ or not”—Gavi touched her father’s forearm, and mana crackled between them—“but I can’t get it to stretch around my sword. I can’t get it to move that much.”

Her father nodded, and exchanged her sword for a knife. “Try this.”

Gavi ran her fingers along the dull blade, and closed her eyes. She felt her aura, defining the boundaries of her control over mana. She began tugging on it where her hand gripped the knife, pulling it over the cool metal.

There was a crackle, and Gavi opened her eyes. Mana clashed where her father was touching the knife a third of a way up its blade. Gavi’s eyes lit up.

“Good. Your aura is what will allow you to fight more powerful casters, if you have to.” Gavi’s father moved his hand to the tip of the blade. The hissing stopped. “Once you’ve mastered this, if you can get close you’ll hit as hard as a more powerful caster from range.”

“But I still have to get in close. Any suggestions on that?” asked Gavi. She could almost feel her mother’s worry from inside the house.

Her father nodded. “But you’ll be trained on that during boot camp. Master this first. I’ll help you with tactics if there’s time.”

Gavi nodded and squared her feet.

“Just be sure to remember the most important lesson,” said a voice from the side of the house. The gate opened, and Gavi’s uncle entered.

“What lesson?” asked Gavi.

Her uncle set a case of beer on the table, and turned to her. He smiled a rascal’s grin, though it was underscored with concern.

“Just because other damage isn’t as effective doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Enough damage can kill anything. It’s an unwise caster who forgets that.”

*      *      *

They found one on the third try. When Mazik pulled at the door, it came open, the bolt tearing through rotten wood.

The three of them peered into the building, looking for signs of life. They found none. They gingerly stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind them.

Mannequins loomed over Mazik and the others as they padded through the darkened store. “Anyone see an office or anything?” asked Gavi. She shivered. She half expected one of the mannequins to come alive and reveal itself to be a cultist—or worse yet, a guard with questions. Neither happened.

“Over here,” said Raedren, pointing at two doors. One was locked, while the other…

Creak…

“A wine cellar?” said Gavi, her eyes glowing like flaming emeralds.

Mazik descended the short steps, his teeth chattering as the night cold seeped into his wet clothes. He peeked into one of the crates behind the wine racks. It was filled with merchandise. “Among other things. Mainly other things. It looks like whoever owns this place just needed a place to store their collection.”

“I guess so,” said Gavi. She rubbed her arms as she followed Raedren into the basement.

Mazik rapped his knuckles on the back wall, and received the dull
tuh tuh tuh
of a solid concrete wall in return. “Good,” he said, and then sank to the floor with a relieved sigh. Gavi and Raedren joined him.

“Ahh…” said Gavi, her voice suddenly small and quiet. “Tired.”

“Yeah,” said Mazik. He peeled off his damp robes and tossed them at the wine rack across from them. They missed and pooled limply on the ground.

They sat there for a while, doing nothing. They just existed, enjoying a moment of peace and quiet while no one was actively trying to kill them.

Some minutes later, Raedren was the first to speak. “What are we going to do now?”

Mazik patted the cultists’ knife, which was still shoved into his belt. By dint of great effort he forced his weary body to shift enough to pry it out. “We’ve still got this, so they haven’t won. We just need to figure out what to do with it.”

“Any ideas?” asked Raedren. Unlike the other two, he already had most of his strength back.

“I open the floor to suggestions,” said Mazik, waving a hand lazily.

“Destroy it,” said Gavi, with uncommon directness.

“I like it. Let’s do it,” said Mazik.

Ten minutes later, Mazik slumped back against the wall, exhausted again.

“Okay, so that’s out,” he said, letting the knife fall from limp fingers. “Not even a damn scratch.”

“But a blacksmith might be able to do it,” said Gavi as she rubbed her sore shoulders. The corner of the basement looked like it had suffered a miniature nuclear meltdown, which wasn’t far from the truth.

“Maybe,” said Mazik, his brain beginning to wake up now. “Though if I were those cultists, I’d be watching all the forges around here, if it can be destroyed at all. Though, they can’t really watch all of them, right? We just need to find one that’s unguarded. I’m probably just being paranoid anyway. Though if we were
more
paranoid, they wouldn’t have found us earlier. Still, we could end up running around without…”

“He’s arguing with himself again,” said Gavi.

Raedren nodded. “It’s a common occurrence.”

“Well, I like the idea,” said Mazik. “Anybody know a good blacksmith?”

“I’m not even sure where we are,” said Gavi, leaning back against the wall. She shivered and pulled her skirt as far as it would go over her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs.

Mazik groaned, pushing himself halfway up. “I guess we need to figure that out, then.”

A hand pushed against his chest, gently forcing him back down.

“Sit,” said Raedren as he shifted to his knees, his hands already glowing.

“I told you, I’m fine,” said Mazik.

Ignoring his friend’s protests, Raedren began administering to Mazik’s wounds. It didn’t take long for him to realize that something was in the way.

“Off with the shirt,” said Raedren.

“You sound like such a gentlemen when you say it that way.”

“Well, I do try,” said Raedren, his attention never wavering.

Mazik tugged his shirt off and tossed it toward his robes, missing completely. Then he winced, both from the pain in his wounds and the coldness of the wall, before settling back.

“
Génde stor Avlte en kan lor leura che Aflnagin Acnatch dert può iyr jeut dernan—Dull Pain
,” said Raedren. The mana around his palms changed to a pale green and seeped into the worst of Mazik’s wounds.

“Why don’t we go to the city guard?” Raedren suggested. Mazik’s eyes were closed, his face relaxed.

“They would probably know where to find a blacksmith,” said Gavi.

“Um,” said Mazik, his lips opening slowly. “We can look for them too. We can go for whichever one we see first.”

“At the risk of making this sexy, please loosen your pants,” said Raedren as he traced a long bruise on Mazik’s side that disappeared beneath his belt.

“Sure sure…” said Mazik groggily. He undid his pants and pulled them down, exposing his underwear. Boxer briefs, Gavi noticed. She turned away.

“Mmmm,” said Raedren as mana radiated off his hands and seeped into Mazik’s skin. After another minute, he straightened up. “That should do it. Did I miss anywhere?”

There was no response.

“Maz?” said Raedren. He moved until he could see his friend’s face. “Ah.”

“Asleep?” asked Gavi.

“Yup.”

Mazik’s chest rose and fell, his face peaceful thanks to the perfect relaxation of exhaustion. His head began to tilt gently to the side, and then toppled. He continued sleeping on his own shoulder.

“Awww, how cute,” said Gavi. She poked him on the cheek. He kept on sleeping.

“I guess we should let him rest,” said Raedren. He shuffled around his recumbent friend until he was crouched next to Gavi. “I’ll take care of you now.”

“You’re not going to make me strip, are you?” asked Gavi.

“Maybe,” said Raedren. “But I promise not to enjoy it.”

“You’re so kind.”

*      *      *

Mazik stirred a couple hours later. Something soft fell off his head as he sat up, his neck creaking. His eyes opened, and he looked around groggily. He was still in the basement. There were the wine racks, the crates of merchandise, the cold walls, the discarded clothing, Gavi without a shirt on, the—

Mazik’s eyes snapped open, his mind fully awake. There was Gavi, standing a few meters away, shaking the water out of her blouse while wearing a skirt and no shirt. Mazik stared at her naked back, bare except for a simple white bra, and was secretly glad she was turned the other way.

Gavi draped her wet blouse over the wine rack, accidentally knocking the clean shirt already hanging there onto the ground. She bent over to pick it up, inadvertently giving Mazik and excellent view of…

Mazik shook his head, choking off that thought.

Were Mazik a smarter man, he would have looked away. He was not. He kept staring, and that’s when the situation got awkward, because Gavi turned around.

Gavi’s eyes widened, and so did Mazik’s. Gavi’s hands flew up to cover her chest, and Mazik kept staring. Gavi turned partially away, crossing her legs so her skirt didn’t fall off, but that only ended up accentuating what she was already showing. Mazik kept staring.

Finally, Gavi cleared her throat. “Erh. You’re awake.”

“Uhm, yes. Hi,” said Mazik. He tried to look away, but only managed to get as far as her face. “I guess you found some other clothes.”

Gavi turned back around and pulled on the clean shirt. “Yes. This
is
a clothing store. Couldn’t find pants my size, though,” she grumbled as she buttoned up the shirt. “I covered your head with the towel while I was changing, but I guess that, uh, didn’t work…” She trailed off, blushing.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to look.”

“It’s okay,” said Gavi as she squeezed water out of her skirt.

“If I meant to, I wouldn’t have gotten caught,” added Mazik.

Gavi turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. “Ass.”

Mazik grinned, glad the awkwardness had mostly passed. “Well, I guess there’s only one thing for me to do now.” He began taking off his boots.

“…I’m going to assume you’re not doing what it looks like you’re doing.”

“Of course I am!” said Mazik cheerily. “Fair’s fair, right?” he said as he sat up, fiddling with his belt. “I saw you, so you should see me.”

“Wait wait wait, you don’t have to—” Gavi started to say, but Mazik stood up and—

Turned so his back was facing her. His naked back. He looked over his shoulder and winked.

“A back for a back. We even?” he said, letting his pants droop to give her a peek of his underwear.

Gavi’s face warmed up, but she wasn’t about to let Mazik know that. She snorted and shook her head. “Yes, it’s fine. You have a lovely back,” she said as she grabbed another shirt and threw it at him.

“Why thank you,” said Mazik with a mischievous grin. He pulled the shirt on and sat down, leaving it unbuttoned. He patted the ground next to him. “Come on, sit down.”

Gavi stared at him for half a second, and then walked over and sat.

“How are you feeling?” asked Gavi.

“Better,” said Mazik. He stretched his arms over his head, and then settled back. “Magick just isn’t the same as relaxation and a nap.”

“True.” Gavi glanced at Mazik, and couldn’t help but notice how fit he was
⁵¹
. She blushed and turned away, focusing on a pebble in front of her.

Silence filled the basement. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but the silence of two people who were comfortable enough around each other that they didn’t need to be saying something all the time.

After a minute, Gavi shivered. “It’s cold in here.”

“Yeah,” said Mazik, who could have buttoned his shirt, but didn’t.