NOVEL NEXT 59. Wizard and Glass
They left quickly, to avoid dealing with, or angering, Rafael. He seemed to have a very close minded attitude as to what a healer should be.
Everyone gave them a wide berth, watching Eloisss carefully. She watched them back as well, flicking her tongue out in a vaguely threatening manner if anyone got too close. The sideways looks and glares were more prominent without Freja with them.
It wasn’t just the centaurs that disliked lamia and Bonny wondered if there was a bad history between them or if there was some sort of anti-snake species-ism going on.
Would the cultists even have attacked, if Eloisss had been with them the day prior? Or would an attack be more likely, if people disliked her? Of course, they might be more likely to get into other trouble if people falsely reported them out of fear.
Fortunately, the trip across the plaza was uneventful. The tower was the tallest building in the city at around five stories high. The tower itself was round, with rooms added to one side of the base. The top floor was slightly wider than the column, with a round, peaked roof.
Bonny looked the tower up and down. “Does that look like a dick to anyone else, or is it just me?”
The other three agreed as Bonny shifted Kanae to one arm and knocked on an ornate door set into the section built next to the tower.
A beaver kin wearing a purple robe answered. “Can I help you? A spell or potion to help with …” He looked at the group of women and went silent.
“Help with what?” Bonny prompted.
He cleared his throat, “Ahem. How about some love potions to help you catch some men? Or maybe a potion to help conceive, if you already have a man?”
“We just need to talk to the archmage or whoever is in charge of the tower. There’s an army coming after the artifact here.”
“No. Women aren’t allowed in.” He stepped back and started to close the door.
Bonny stuck her foot in the way. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you actually do magic here or just sell fake potions?”
“They are not fake!”
“Really? A love potion?”
“Our potions are brewed with the finest ingredients and imbued with the source of magic itself. We also have potions for curing warts and increasing strength and stamina.”
“Are you really a wizard? Or a mage?” Bonny turned to Miu and Eloisss. “What’s the difference between wizards, mages, and whatever anyway?”
“Mage iss a ssysstem given title, with spell skills. A wizard studiess arcane magic and usually developss sspellss beyond their asssigned sskillss. They often have meta sskillss that help with learning or cassting rather than directly invoking sspellss like you do.”
“Oh, like Oakleigh?”
“No, nya.” Miu shook her head. “She is an elementalist. She uses elemental spirits.”
“She used that big ritual circle though. That’s not just elementals, is it?”
“Yes, nya. Wood and storm. Maybe ground and air. Or lightning. You should ask Willowbelle or the fairy. Or maybe Kanae would know?”
The fox shook her head and whined.
“We sshould have brought them.” Eloisss agreed. “They would know more.”
Bonny turned back to the beaver, who had backed away from the door, and asked. “Who can we talk to about magic?”
“No one!” He tried to slam the door shut again, bashing it against Bonny’s foot. When she didn’t budge, he pulled a wand out of his pocket and pointed it at her. “I’ll blast you.”
“Blast? Me?” Bonny laughed and forced the door open. “No. I don’t think so. I don’t think you’re a real magician at all.”
The man turned and ran into the back, yelling for help. “Nestor! Help! There are women entering the tower!”
“What the fuck?” Bonny looked at her companions as they pushed in and closed the door behind them.
The room was lined with shelves, which were filled with unlabeled herbs, powders, and liquids. A stoppered vial near a door on the opposite side of the room glowed purple. An eye dropper sat next to it and a few drops were splattered on the shelf.
Miu pointed at it, “Must be the ‘source’ he mentioned, nya.”
Bonny touched one of the small drops on the shelf. It burned. “I think this is some sort of acid. Triage!” Her finger glowed where she had touched it.
Strangely, something in the vial glowed as well. A weak glow, something close to death. She picked up the vial and looked at it closely. There was a small droplet of something translucent inside.
She showed it to Miu and Eloisss. “I think it’s alive.”
“It lookss like a ssmall sslime. But they are ussually green or blue. I have never sseen a purple sslime.”
“A slime?”
“Small monsters that eat carrion and dead plants.”
“Oh. Okay.” Bonny put the vial down and they headed into the next room.
This room was larger and held some beds to one side and a table on the other. Two more men were sitting at the table, both wearing purple robes and staring at the three girls and fox. One was a human with pasty skin and the other was a reddish brown otter kin that quickly hid some postcard sized pictures.
“Hi, I’m Bonny.” She hopped forward with a hand outstretched.
They ignored her hand. “You’re not supposed to be here.” The human spoke up.
“Why not? We’re looking for information on an artifact.”
“Nestor says no girls allowed.”
“Is this a secret boy clubhouse? Is that why the tower looks like a dick?”
He blushed. “No. Nestor says girls can’t be wizards.”
“Why the fuck?” Bonny turned to Eloisss, “Is the system sexist?”
The lamia shook her head. “There are ssome resstricted classsess, I think, but major optionss sshould be available to anyone.”
“Goddesses?” Since she could, Bonny thought she should check with the authorities that created the system.
Courage, Justice, and Recovery appeared, on her left shoulder. Lust appeared as well, still sitting on her right breast, even though it was covered by her new robe. The two men didn’t react, letting her know they couldn’t see the divine and demonic beings.
“Yes, Bonny. Girls can be wizards. There are restricted classes, but that is usually optional based on user preference.” Courage answered before Bonny could elaborate on her question.
“How does that work?”
“The system itself doesn’t restrict based on sex or gender, but classes are created by mortals and their limited way of understanding things. Different cultures will have different names and options for similar classes, and sexist societies will have more sex or gender based classes.”
“If a guy views himself as female, can he ... she, can get a female class?”
“Yes. Individual perception guides class selection.”
“Oh, thanks. That makes sense. I think.”
“Who’s Nestor?” Bonny asked the two men, who were staring at her. She wasn’t sure how much of the conversation they could overhear, but didn’t really care either.
“He’s the archwizard of the tower. He’s upstairs.” The human pointed through another door.
“Thanks.” Bonny smiled at him and headed that way, her companions following.
The tower itself was hollow, with supplies and boxes packed into the open center. A staircase spiraled up, along the exterior wall, with no railing. They started up, Bonny hugging the wall, even though she wasn’t usually afraid of heights.
They emerged into a circular room at the top. The walls were lined with bookcases with dirty, narrow windows between them. There was sunlight streaming in, but it was dim and distant. A purple glow lit the area from a square glass container in the center of the room.
Two men stood on the other side of the room. One was the beaver kin that had opened the door. The other was an older, heavyset human, with a gray beard and a pair of tongs held in one hand. His other hand wasn’t visible.
“Hi, I’m Bonny. You’re Nestor, I assume?”
Nestor glared at them. “You are not allowed up here. This is a private space for wizards only!”
“This is pretty gloomy for a secret no-girls-allowed club. Whatcha doing?” She hopped over to the glass case, peering in at the glowing purple gel that filled it.
Nestor handed the tongs to the beaver kin and drew a wand from a pocket on his robe. “Leave or else. You’ve been warned.”
Bonny unleashed her new Retribution aura and cast “Demonic Ward!”, chanting the protective spell under her breath. The air around them grew prickly with restrained pain as a faint reddish bubble surrounded the four girls.
“I wouldn’t recommend waving the wand around, but it’s your funeral if you want to keep this up. We’re just here to ask some questions.” She ignored him and studied the aquarium and its contents.
The glass case was open at the top and held a thick purple gel with several items suspended inside. There were a couple of vials, some bones of various sizes, a few coins, and a small purple crown near the bottom. A sense of power emanated from the gel.
“Arcane Bolt!” A purple dart zipped from the wand to impact on Bonny’s chest and Nestor screamed as red lightning played across his own chest in response. Blood seeped into his robe above his heart.
Bonny looked down to see a hole in her own robe above her heart, but she wasn't bleeding. Apparently the Retribution aura reflected damage done to her, but not to her things. The pain was ignorable, far less than wounds she had suffered while running from goblins or fighting Matt. “This is a new robe, dude. If you really want to fight, let me take it off first.”
“What did you do?” Nestor gasped in pain.
“A warding plus retribution aura. It looks like the two combined hurt you more than me. Are you sure you want to fight?” Bonny grinned, evilly. “Be glad you didn’t attack Eloisss here. She would have eaten you alive in response.”
Eloisss hissed and bared her fangs, then rattled her tail in warning: Chh-ch-ch.
The two men froze and stared, not having fully comprehended the danger until that moment.
“So, we’re here to protect an artifact from a demon who’s going to invade in a few days. Is this it?” Bonny pointed at the crown suspended in the gel. “Can I pull it out?”
