Wild cards
Chapter 14
…
A tear in reality opened wide and two men leapt through. They were assaulted by the sudden change in climate, cool, refreshing, and wet. Both were grateful for the dramatic shift. They were less grateful for the shift in terrain however. The water came up hard and fast to meet them. There wasn't even time to scream.
For Harry it was a new experience, being in the water. He quickly decided he didn't like it. He struggled against the inevitable forces. The water dragging him down. Just as he thought he was certainly lost a hand reached out and he was thrust forcibly upward.
He broke the surface gulping down sweet precious air with wild abandon, clinging hard to the body holding him above water.
"You okay Harry?"
Not really, he thought, "I think so" he said, "did you mean to come here?"
Andrew looked around, "Looks a bit different than I remember."
They were twenty meters' out from the shore, the pilons of several docks sticking out of the water between them and the stone pier. The only sign of the docks themselves were the flotsam and jetsam floating on the waves.
"What happened?" asked Harry as he took in the destruction.
"Don't know" said Andrew, "bad storm maybe, or something else."
The idea of 'something else' after what they'd just escaped had Harry looking around with growing concern.
"Can we get out of the water now?"
Andrew quickly caught Harry's drift, "Sounds like a good idea."
It was only twenty meters but for someone who doesn't know how to swim, twenty meters is quite daunting. Even with Andrew right next to him Harry felt like every stroke might be his last.
Finally reaching the pier, they hauled themselves out of the water and flopped onto the hard, dry land. They lay there, soaked and panting, thoroughly exhausted.
"You remember… how you said, there were worse places we could have landed?" Harry said.
"This isn't so bad" Andrew replied.
Harry looked at the older male, "Just what would you consider bad?"
Right on cue, the giant sea serpent erupted out of the water like an angry geyser. Its roar was a clap of thunder and the waters churned as though boiling in its presence.
"That's a pretty good example I think" said Andrew nonchalantly.
Despite Harry staring in abject fear the sea serpent didn't appear to have noticed them. It turned and turned looking around as though lost. It shrieked and roared and dove under the water only to come right back up and start the process over.
"What's it doing?" Harry shouted through a rising wind.
"Creating a storm by the look of it" Andrew shouted back as he swished his wand at the serpent.
Harry marveled a little that he hadn't lost it in the water, but a more pressing thought immediately took precedence.
"You said it looked like a storm hit this place?"
"I did."
"You think that might've had something to do with it?" Harry asked, pointing at the twisting serpent and the quickly darkening sky.
"Good chance" Andrew admitted.
"Should we go?"
Andrew pondered for a moment, "Yeah, probably."
In no real hurry Andrew wandered through the ruined town on his way out. Harry followed, trying not to panic at the blackening sky which his companion seemed oblivious to.
"Unusual seeing one of those so close to shore" he said conversationally.
"Really?" was all Harry could think to say.
"Usually deep-sea creatures. That's where you find the big things in the water, way out there."
"Oh" it was interesting information but it hardly seemed a good time for conveying it.
"You're worried about the storm, don't be" he said casually, "serpent storms are localized things and they take time to build. We'll be out of range before the first raindrop falls."
"You're sure?"
"Positive" the shop owner said, "I've seen these beasts before, the real ones and the summoned ones."
"You could summon that thing?" he realized how silly the question sounded as soon as he'd said it.
Andrew just smiled, "Someone will summon that thing. Several someone's most likely" he said holding up his little wand.
Harry stared at him blankly.
Andrew chuckled and tucked the wand back in its case, "Spose that's fair. You are new to the whole magic thing. Like giving you all the puzzle pieces but not telling you what it's supposed to look like."
"Oh yeah, absolutely" Harry nodded trying to look like he understood any of what had just been said.
"Alright, quiz time" said Andrew as they strolled through the ruined gates of the city, "what is this?" he asked patting his little box with the wand in it.
"Your scanning wand" Harry thought was the answer.
"Correct. And what have I been 'scanning' with my scanning wand?"
"Everything" Harry replied.
"… Okay technically that is correct" he admitted, "what was included in that everything?"
Harry thought for a while. He thought back to all the times he could remember Andrew waving his wand at something. There'd been the sea serpent, that terrifying lava dinosaur, the magma dog the…
"Monster!" Harry exclaimed, "this has something to do with the monster cards.
"No Harry" he said, "this has something to do with all the cards."
"But how?" the monsters he understood, but the magic and traps?
"Impressions" he said, "that's what I'm scanning. That's the first step to creating a card, gathering an impression."
"So that's what you were doing this whole time."
"Not much else I can do" he defended, "you've got the cards, not me, and this wand is no good for other magic."
Harry considered his words. He was the one with cards. He was the only one with the means to protect them on this trip.
"If you want, I can…" he began to remove his board.
"Nope, can't do it. Those are your cards."
"But I…"
"Nope. Besides, how am I gonna scan and work the D jack if I have to protect us as well. Only got so much magic ya know."
"Oh, well, if you say so."
"I do say so" Andrew declared, "now, getting back on topic. Cards, first step?"
"Impressions" said Harry, quickly returning to the previous topic.
"Right. The next step is interpretation. Back in the shop I have four books. Each is filled with the accumulated knowledge of the D walkers. Everything they knew of everything they'd seen, all recorded for a single purpose. To interpret impressions and make them into usable cards."
"So, you could scan anything and make a card out of it?"
"Well, not anything" said Andrew, "some things don't possess a strong enough impression to interpret. Mostly mundane things but sometimes, well, you just never know till you try. I once scanned a bowl of chili that turned out a card."
"Really?" this sounded both silly and exciting.
Andrew nodded, "It was called 'Dragon's breath'. Both the card and the chili. The card could turn any monsters type to dragon. Having tasted that chili, I totally understand why. Whooooo boy was it hot."
Harry laughed and listened as his friend told the tale of the chili cook off in Jalapeno Texas. Somewhere along the way he absently noted his cloths were dry but he paid it little mind. Andrew had just gotten to the part about the judge tasting 'Charlie's chili', and that seemed much more important than his not wet cloths.