Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (4 page)

Brovkyl stroked Ketya’s hair and then pulled away to kiss her forehead. His strength reminded her of why she loved him. Magicless himself, he was in a unique position to understand the trials she faced. However, beyond his ability to understand, was his power to make her shed the bitterness she'd held onto. His robust smile had carried her past all thoughts of vengeance, and their modest home was always full of warmth and banter.

His thick hand reached for her stomach. Gently he placed his palm over their future child. Ketya stepped away from Brovkyl and went to fetch some water for dinner. The thought of losing him was too much to face.

Earth – June 1981

Elizabeth

After lunch the next day, Mark and Luke met me in our overgrown backyard. I shivered with anxious anticipation as I watched Luke make his way out the creaky porch door and down the wooden steps. 
God, you move slow!
 Mark must have been thinking the same thing because he started bouncing and punching my shoulder.

“I can’t believe I get to come with you on a mission,” Mark exclaimed. “Is this gonna be like a James Bond film with explosions and code names? Will I get to wear a wrist watch and use it to relay secrets?” Imagine Tigger gone gangsta. That’s what my brother looked like right now.

“No one’s stopping you from talking to a wrist watch,” I replied as I waved away the cloud of mosquitos around my head. “But a James Bond film? No, unless I missed the one where Bond recited magic spells.”

“Well, where too?” Luke asked as he fished the car keys out of his pocket. It was a hot afternoon, despite the cloud cover. Luke’s lethargic motions betrayed an impatience to get on with whatever we were doing and return to air-conditioning. 

I shook my head no. “You won’t need those. We’re teleporting.”

Mark’s eyes grew wide. He came around to stand an inch away from my nose. “Teleport?” he whispered. “You mean one minute here, the next somewhere else?” I nodded. “Get out of here!” he yelled and punched my shoulder.

I stumbled back a step under the force of his overenthusiastic blow. “You’re welcome,” I replied as I rubbed my sore arm. My voice was sarcastic, but a suppressed laugh lurked beneath. It was great to see Mark excited.

Luke, on the other hand, turned a little pale when I mentioned teleporting. 
This is gonna be one hell of a day for you, Brother.

“Ready?” I asked. Giddy as a child, Mark nodded and resumed bouncing.

Luke let out a slow sigh and scrutinized me.

“As I’ll ever be,” he said.

First, I released the spell I’d prepared that would translate everything Mark and Luke heard to English. I also had the teleportation spell most of the way complete. I inputted the final parameters that accounted for our present time and location, took a deep breath and met Mark’s eyes. He stopped bouncing and looked back expectantly. I said the final word of the spell.

The sight of our backyard faded from view. For a split moment, I was blind and numb and then my stomach took a small, familiar dive as my body realized that the gravitational pull had suddenly decreased. The cool, dry air met my skin to let me know we had arrived. We were standing right in front of a window on Enlightenment Station.

Mark and Luke stood motionless. I watched their eyes bug out as they realized we’d left our backyard for outer space. Stretched out before them was a vast expanse of blackness dotted by thousands of distant, bright stars. The layer of dust, clouds and atmosphere that normally veiled our view of the night sky was stripped away, leaving before us the crisp, unfiltered majesty of space. 

By comparison, the station itself felt small. We were standing in a curved, gray hallway with soft pinkish lights and maroon carpet. Floor to ceiling windows composed the outer wall. The inner wall was smooth and metallic. Automatic doors spaced evenly apart were the only interruptions on the otherwise flawless surface.

Mark leapt into the air, hit the wall and yelled, “I’m in space, baby!” No one can say I didn’t know my brother. Thank goodness, we had the hallway to ourselves. Then he turned to me with gratitude edging his smile. “God, this is awesome!”

It didn’t seem possible, but his saucer-sized eyes grew even wider as something from his peripheral vision caught his attention. A spaceship was coming in for a landing. He turned to stare. 

Luke, on the other hand, had yet to move a muscle. He looked out into the blackness. I searched his eyes for that sparkle. There was none.

Finally, after several long moments filled only by the AC’s steady hum, Luke spoke. “This station belongs to your society of magic folk?” he asked.

“Yes,” I acknowledged, feeling proud. Any minute now, he would start glowing.

“Do you guys build these stations and ships yourself?” Luke asked. 

You have got to be kidding me.

“Our engineers design the stations and some of our ships. We outsource most of the construction though,” I replied.

“Why? Can’t you just say a spell or something?” Mark asked, without turning away from the window.

I laughed. “Conservation of mass and energy still applies. For a big, complex structure like this, we’d need to find an energy source to fuel the spell. When you add in the time involved and the intricacy of the spell, it just turns out to be much more efficient doing it with lathes and nail guns. Some magic goes into it of course, especially when it comes to defense systems, but most of it is built by just ordinary alien workers.”

Mark peeled his eyes away from the window to give me a sideways look with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess for you, some creature with feelers, five arms and six eyes would be ordinary,” he said. 

“Runs in the family,” I countered.

 Luke ignored our banter and continued his line of questioning. “How do you pay for it?” he asked. “Not just the station, but the food, the ships… is there a governing body that regulates space equipment and gives out permits? Is there a tax system?” 

Seriously? That’s what you want to know right now?

Just then, Anton appeared behind us. Hearing the familiar whoosh of air that accompanied a teleport, I turned to face him, but Mark and Luke continued to look out into space.

“Same as anyone else,” Anton chimed in. “We offer goods and labor in exchange for money.” Mark and Luke nearly jumped out of their skins. Both spun around to face him as he continued to explain. “We just have to do it without revealing the magic.”

Mark patted Anton on the shoulder to acknowledge him.

“How is the exchange rate between alien currencies determined?” Luke asked.

How the hell should I know?
 
Do you realize where you are?
 It was pointless. If I made him levitate, he’d ask how I calculated the right amount of lift. If I showed Luke a dragon, he’d ask about its dietary needs. Hell, I could probably conjure up a sensual mermaid with eyes only for him, and he would want to know what kind of educational opportunities she had available underwater.

Anton gave me a sympathetic look. 
Take it easy, 
he consoled telepathically. 
Trust Luke to absorb all of this in his own way.

 “The same way it works on Earth,” I replied.

Anton smiled, amused.

Luke looked poised to ask a follow up. Fortunately, Tamer came into view and headed down the hall toward us. Suddenly, my oldest brother forgot all his dumb questions, and instead, seemed transfixed by my cousin’s appearance. I grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him. At my touch, he snapped out of it. Well, sort of. “All you kids have nothing better to do?” he muttered under his breath.

Mark was almost as surprised as Luke. “Dude, I can’t believe you’re in on this too,” he exclaimed as he gave Tamer a hard pat on the back. My cousin grinned.

“Yeah, well someone’s gotta save the world while these two are busy making googly eyes at each other,” he replied, pointing to me and Anton with his chin.

Googly eyes?

“I can’t believe I lived to see the day you’re wearing something other than a dirty t-shirt and torn jeans,” Luke said, sounding more relaxed. An easy smile finally graced his face. “I almost didn’t recognize you,” he marveled. It was true. With his dark skin, prominent forehead scar, and thin frame, Tamer usually looked more like a street-rat than an elite operative in a trim uniform. That was not the case now.

Tamer and Anton were dressed in similar uniforms, but in different colors to indicate their relative positions. In order of increasing rank, Tamer’s uniform was green, Anton’s was blue and my uniform, if I’d been wearing it, would have been burgundy red. Their jackets were plain, well fitted, with high collars that wrapped around their necks. Each uniform had a thin black stripe down the left side, and next to the stripe was a vertical row of decorated silver buttons.

Dressed so similarly, Anton and Tamer looked more like cousins than Tamer and I did. Both were about the same height with dark hair, skin, and eyes, although Anton’s coloring was a touch fairer on all three counts. The biggest difference was that Anton’s build was more muscular than Tamer’s. His face was rounder and his arms and chest were well toned.

Tamer’s boney face glowed with mischievous intent. “You think that’s crazy? Wait till you see your sister in uniform,” he said. “She wears a dress.”

I grimaced.

“Liz in a dress?” Luke asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “Glory hallelujah, this really is a dream!” 

Time for a shiny new change of subject. “Well, are you going to tell us what we’ll be doing?” I asked. Tamer proceeded to start explaining, but he wasn’t even three sentences in before Luke interrupted.

“How come his lips aren’t moving the right way when he talks?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not every word he says is in English,” I replied. “Please proceed.”

“No, don’t proceed,” Luke persisted. “What do you mean he’s not speaking English? I hear English.”

“Dude, I have magic powers. Figure it out,” I said as I watched Tamer grab a piece of fruit from a furry alien’s hands as he passed us in the hallway. The alien’s tongue flapped out of his mouth and he regarded Tamer the way a puppy would his loving owner. After shaking his head a few times, the alien continued along. He and Tamer must have been friends.

Tamer kept talking as he fished in his pocket for his blade.

A few more sentences in and it was my turn to cut in. “Anton, you told Tamer we were looking for a simple, beginner level mission right? You didn't forget to mention that?” Anton shrugged and looked at my cousin. 

Tamer finished chewing a piece of his fruit and used the knife to slice off another morsel. “Here, try this,” he offered, handing me the bit of fruit. “It’s surprisingly sweet.” I stared at him, baffled. I was trying to be pissed at him.

“Seriously, try it,” he pushed. I took the slice because I didn’t know what else to do. Was everyone I knew crazy?

“Well?” he asked after I chewed the bite.

The fruit was very sweet and tasted a little bit like Coke. “It’s good,” I said, still befuddled.

“Most of our senior officers come from 1981,” Tamer said. “The result of the Timelaws trying to keep people’s personal histories from crossing with each other. There’s no one in this time available for this.”

“What does he mean by ‘this time’?” Luke asked, but I held my hand up to quiet him as Tamer continued explaining. Luke frowned at me; he did not appreciate that gesture, but I was focused on what Tamer had to say.

“The experience required for this kind of operation… well, we’d be strapped for personnel even under normal circumstances, never mind now when half our people from 1981 are in hiding while they wait for their power to regenerate.”

He was right. 

Anton elaborated on Tamer’s comment even though I hadn’t asked him to. “Sounds like this mission would require more skill than strength.” He paused and gave me an earnest look. “We’re probably the best team around.” 

“Hold on. Seriously, what year is this?” Luke asked again.

I ignored him and spoke to Tamer as he handed me another slice of his fruit and cut himself a piece. 
Okay, I don’t care about your stupid fruit right now. 
“Any estimates on what kind of power levels we’ll need?” I asked.

As I spoke, Anton took a step closer to Luke and quietly replied to his question, “This is the year 2184.”

Tamer nodded and spoke while chewing. “It’s tight. With so many variables, it’s a shot in the dark really...” He swallowed his bite. “Simple truth is, someone needs to take on this mission, and we’re it.” 

I sighed and looked at Luke and Mark. They stared back, expectantly. 
I can’t take them on this mission,
I confided to Anton telepathically. I walked over to the window and stared out at the vast expanse of clear, star-spotted blackness. 

A few days ago, I had glimpsed an alternate timeline where Earth succumbed to the wizards and only Mark, Anton and I had survived. We lived alone in an apartment on an alien planet and tried to forget our friends and our neighborhood. That reality was no longer a possibility, but there were many others like it: timelines where my home, my brothers and my friends were lost because I hadn’t been there to protect them. Using my powers was the only way to keep my family safe.

This won’t end well if you leave them behind,
Anton replied.
Luke will never let you practice magic again.

I closed my eyes as the reality washed over me.
Anton, I can’t. You know what happens if we get caught. It’s not just broken bones. The wizards will torture us: acid, fire, hypothermia, psychological abuse and when we’re close to death, they’ll use spells to keep us conscious and magnify our pain. When we…