Forever Night
Chapter 11
Misbegotten Sunlight
She landed on the shore, bruised and weeping. A day's travel reversed in an hour. Marrei commanded a wave to deliver her back to land, and no spell, no power she possessed could override his command.
Though she tried. For the whole hour she tried.
The sand under her scraped her flesh as she skidded over it. She'd clawed and fought against the wave so hard and for so long, that she no longer had the strength to fight the sand. To stand up and run back into the water.
Which wouldn't do any good. The sea king would wait for her, and he would do everything in his power to keep her dry.
He would not harm her in water. She had his word.
But on dry land she had no protections. And there were those who lived in the ocean with the power to walk the earth.
The selkies were his to command, like the waves, like the hippocamps, like the kraken. If she dared to stand against him, the selkies would rise up to fight her.
But she had to do something.
Grief spent itself quickly, and she scrubbed her tear-stained face with grubby hands.
"Okay Levy," she spoke to herself to drive off the sound of the incoming tide, "this is on you now. Gajeel might break free. He's strong, and I believe in his power, but there's no way he could get free of the water without drowning. So you have to help. You have to save them."
She rolled to her knees and studied the pink dawn spreading on the horizon.
"Okay." With her finger, she began to write her plans into the sand. Not yet spells. This would be complicated, and that meant she had to be solid-iron sure of her path and goals before pouring her magic into spells.
She was a solitary mage going up against a king and every one of his subjects on their home territory. That territory was inimical to her physical self. The very first thing that had to be done was protection. She could not help them if she was killed.
So... how about this?
She coded her ideas into her own personal short hand. No one but her could decipher it.
There was something … some idea. She wasn't sure it would work. She wasn't sure she would have the energy to keep it up, but she absolutely could not waste a day getting to him. Them. Them.
She couldn't let herself get so single minded.
She stood, took out her pen and copied into the air the spell she had sketched out into the sand.
Subtle. It had to be subtle. Once set it couldn't use magic in a projective way. That would be felt by those creatures who dwelt below. If she ran, she would be followed. The selkies could wear human forms; they could find her on land. And there was no way she could best the merfolk in the water.
That left the air.
Wings unfolded before her, made of the pink and gold light of the dawn sky, and she brushed a hand over the feathers testing their strength and softness. She turned so that they would affix to her back. There was a brief stab of pain, and then she rolled her shoulders and felt those wings move like they were a part of her own body.
They were no longer magical. They were a part of her very self.
Passive.
Another series of symbols under the glowing nib of her pen, and she had glasses that would allow her to see into the water's depths. The glass took the setting like a prescription. The glass was solid and would do nothing else.
Passive.
Anything else, any magic she had to do for offense or defense would be active. That would get their attention. That would draw them to her. She couldn't afford that. Not until the last minute. Not until she had them.
Dawn warmed her skin. Dawn warmed her feathers. Her wings snapped and she felt the joining muscles in her shoulder blades flex as she spread her wings to take in the early-morning breeze.
Deep breath. She'd done this before, but only in short bursts, and usually for fun.
"Fly," she whispered. She pushed herself free of the earth and took to the sky. "I'm coming."
She would find them.
She would save them.
Author's Note: Ah, she's reassuring herself, but will it do any good? We'll see. Also, I would love to be able to fly, even if I only had my natural strength and stamina. Just to have wings to fly on my own. How cool would that be? Cracked is right, of course, it has its drawbacks, but ... flight. Worth it! Anyhow, Please Review! And thanks to everyone reading!