Someone shouting in Witchspeak is trying desperately to get my attention but the sphere's spell is making the words indistinct. I feel a stinging slap on my hand and suddenly I am back in my crib staring into a silver-furred face with yellow eyes, a canid nose, and a long, red tongue lolling out sideways from a panting maw.
"Oh, thank the Goddess!" barks a voice from out the maw of the dog-faced apparition. "Icy, you must get with all haste to Stormy."
"Stormy? Who is Stormy? Why must I go to her?" I mumble not being quite back to reality. I shake my head and realize that it's not an apparition before me but Lupa a Wolf-morph Witch who is also a student and resident at Cloud Tower. And Stormy? She is my sister and my crib mate and my Little One.
"Stormy! Goddess! Stormy! What's happened?" I cry now completely revived from my dream state.
This time it is Darcy's voice that replies as she bursts through the wall, her face contorted with urgency and anguish.
"Stormy's fallen into another one of her storm seizures! She's dying, Icy! You've got to save her!"
This has me rivetted into action. "Why didn't you call me through the ear?" I ask, my voice pitched somewhere between rage and hysteria.
"Honestly, we tried and tried several times but you did not answer!" cries Darcy. "I finally sent Lupa ahead to our crib to find out what gives."
"I found you here staring into some freaky sphere spinning on your fingertip completely out of it," breaks in Lupa. "I had to swat the damn thing full force to make it detatch and release you from its spell. What is it?"
"Never mind," I say, "this is an emergency. Where's Stormy, how long ago, how many M-E-U's?"
"Arboretum, 1-9, 5 min. best, tunnels 1 over 8 M-E-U," reports Lupa in Witch shorthand that means that Stormy is in the arboretum on the ninth floor of the first tower of Cloud Tower, this is about five minutes ago by her best estimate, and she had come through the underground tunnels which cost her a single magic energy unit (M-E-U) and she had eight left.
"Same, same, same, direct 2 over 6 M-E-U," reports Darcy which means mostly the same as Lupa's report except that she'd come directly by teleporting herself through two walls to get to our crib at a cost of two M-E-U's and that she had six left.
I assess my own state. Eight M-E-U's are what I have. That damn sphere has sucked out two of my usual ten already! It takes two for direct teleport to Stormy's location which is line-of-sight from our present location in the third tower but as far apart on opposite sides of Cloud Tower as one could get. And that is with just what I am wearing. Then we have to get Stormy's discharge bracelets to her which are actually two, five-inch long, half-inch thick solid gold manacles with about eight feet of solid gold chain attached to each of them. If I carried the bracelets it would cost me another five units – seven units but then I needed six units for the energy hungry ice chrysalis I would need to protect myself to save Stormy whose time is fast running out.
"I'm neg on M-E-U's if I teleport with Stormy's discharge bracelets," I report.
"I can take them there through the tunnels," yips Lupa and I mentally slap myself for being such a twit and not seeing the solution right there under my nose. Lupa in full wolf transformation is the fastest Witch on four paws except for maybe the cheetahs.
"Is there any security at the arboretum and who?" I ask.
"Yes," say Lupa and Darcy together. "But it's Matchka," finishes Darcy.
"Matchka?" I almost spite with rage. "Goddess, why her and why now?"
The huge angora Cat-Witch guard is security all right but she also one who holds a burning hatred of me for some yet unexplained slight I was supposed to have committed years ago now. Goddess knows how hard I have tried to find out what it is I did wrong by her and apologise and make restitution for it but all I can get out of her is hiss, snarl, spit and broken record. No doubt she is standing by doing nothing and enjoying herself thinking that she is getting some perverse revenge on me watching Stormy convulsing, screaming and puking in what may be her final death throws.
"Okay, Darcy. I want you to get Mieze... No! Scratch that! Get M'Trika. Break down her door and kick her out of bed if you have to but get her there. Lupa, when you get back there warn everyone that they are in mortal danger standing anywhere near Stormy that the lightning arching off of her is certain death to anyone who gets hit. Clear them out of the way and be sure too to get Matchka out of harm's way. Bite that she-cat's damn tail off her furry butt if need be to get her out of there but get her to safety. Ladies, the clock is ticking and Stormy may have only minutes left. You have your orders, now move out!"
I watch Lupa transform into full wolf mode, pick up the sack with Stormy's bracelets between her jaws and bolt out the door like a silver bullet. Darcy gives me a meaningful nod and vanishes. Then I take a breath and I am on my way.
I am out of the third tower and floating through the air towards the first. The Alfean sky is clear and beautiful with moons and stars. They are sources of magical energy for many but useless to me. As I float, I close my eyes and pray, "O Goddess, grant me speed and power." Then, remembering that Cloud Tower is also a living being capable of its own transmutations, I plead to it on the wind. "Tower, I know you have every right to hate me for the evil I have done you. But my sister, my precious Little One, is dying and only I can save her. I have barely the power I need to do that. Please, have pity this once and do not resist me but grant me a clear passage through your walls to reach her in time." And then I float on.