Wallace

Vivian had her people gather our things from the guest house, including the remains of Val's amulet, which now lay in a heap on the table between us. The diamond was still connected to a short length of chain, but most of the gold and silver links had broken when they'd torn it from her neck.

"It can't be fixed?"

Val shook her head, "Maybe if it had been enchanted in pieces, as in your style," she nudged a short section of chain with her finger, "But this was enchanted all in one piece. Even if I hadn't used a few of the links for a spell, the damage would likely have been sufficient to destroy the enchantment. "

"But you could use the material for an enchantment? Is that how you drove a knife straight through iron plate?"

Valentine nodded, "I managed to get my hands on some of the chain when they were trying to drag me out of there. Gold provided the Strengthen magic, and I used your trick to get the Body mana."

"It was Cassius, but sure, I'll take credit."

Val began sorting the links of chain, separating the gold from silver, "It may be possible to create a new enchantment using what's left, but that can be a tricky business. Who's to say that the remains of the old enchantment won't interfere with the new?"

"We're not that short on materials, Val," I pointed out, "Hell, we've still got plenty of money from the sale of your stake in Pelignos. We can pick up some materials in Caniforma and put together something new."

"Well, if we're considering new enchantments, I believe the topic of tattoos had come up- Don't grimace at me like that. Only good fortune brought us home safe today. The next time some highborn twit comes after me, I don't want to find my strength slipping away because some slave soldier or elf mercenary was able to tear away an enchanted bracelet or necklace. You don't know what it's like, Wally. Even without magic, without even the clothes on your back, you are no one to trifle with. But without my amulet, I can hardly make it up the stairs. My strength can be taken away from me, and today, it was taken away from me."

"I know Val, I know," I sighed, "But what if I make a mistake? You're talking about human- or fey -experimentation. One of the things we need to solve is healing. What if our healing enchantment not only speeds up your body's natural healing but your ageing as well? What if it makes cancer cells grow at an accelerated rate? Just the idea makes me sick."

"I need this, Wally. For any of that to matter, I need to live long enough to face the risks in the first place. You've had plenty of time to consider this, please. You must have something by now."

I nodded reluctantly, "Yeah, and I've come up with some clever ideas. I've also come up with a bunch of clever ways this could go horribly horribly wrong."

Val hopped up excitedly, kneeling on her chair, "We can test it," she realized, "You come up with the enchantment, and then we test it. No tattoos, nothing permanent, I promise. I just need to know what materials we need for the enchantment, and we can give it a try at the Maiden."

I acquiesced and transcribed my notes onto a bit of scrap parchment, "Here. Just- clue me in before you do anything crazy, okay?"

Val climbed down from her chair and came around the table to give me a peck on the cheek, "Thanks Wally."

Vivian had sent a servant to notify us, so I was standing out front when two of Simon's vehicles came rolling up the cobblestones. Val came rushing out to join me just as they began to slow, and seemed busy fumbling with one of her jumpsuit's many pockets. One was small, about the size of a compact car, and open-topped. Though small, there were three rows of bench seats, with the final row of seats facing backwards. The lights were clearly magical, but Simon had arranged them in the style of a modern car. White up front to light the way, and red in back so you didn't get rear-ended. The rear lights even brightened as the vehicle slowed under braking. The controls seemed conventional enough, with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, two pedals, and a lever placed low on the floor. The lever made a ratcheting sound as the driver pulled up on it, and the lever remained in place as she stepped down from the driver's seat.

Following close behind was the vehicle I'd traded for. It was the large six-wheeled contraption I'd seen in Simon's garage. Much like the little runabout, it had front and rear lights. Though it was hard to make out much detail staring into the vehicle's headlights, it appeared that the driver had lit only a small portion of the vehicle's total allotment, and I guessed that it had some pretty serious high-beams.

While the runabout had wheels about the size of what you'd see on a little European eco-box, the truck's came up almost to Val's chest. The vehicle as a whole was quite long, twenty-five, maybe twenty-four feet. It was big, but nowhere near the length of a full-size flatbed truck. I'd seen the six-wheeled Mercedes once when it had come to the Toronto Autoshow, and while this was definitely longer, it was only by a few feet.

The layout was nothing alike, however. It did have an enclosed cabin, unlike the little runabout, but it was placed much further forwards than on a typical pickup truck, giving it a cab-over look. The cab only took up about six feet of the truck's overall length, but it was also around six feet high. I might not be able to stand up inside like Simon or Val might, but at least I could sit inside, warm, and out of the weather.

The rest of the truck's length was taken up by a shallow cargo bed, empty, as far as I could see.

The truck creaked to a halt, and a second of Simon's little dolls climbed down to meet us.

She dipped into a little curtsy, "Lord Wallace," she said in greeting.

Maybe I was trying to find faults with Simon where none existed, but something sounded a little off in the woman's voice. It was a touch too high and a little breathy. When paired with the slightly surprised, vacant expression that seemed fixed on her face, I took it as more evidence that Simon had perhaps not been entirely honest with me.

I jerked my chin at the truck, "Anything I need to know about this thing?"

"I'd be happy to show you around," she said, with some enthusiasm, "The controls are-"

I lifted a hand slightly and interrupted her as gently as I could, "That's okay. I'm thinking more about how this is fueled, if there are any other enchantments I need to know about, that sort of thing."

The breathy little fey's companion piped up. She was a goblin and lacked the tinge of artificiality that the fey had.

"Simon said to tell you not to worry about fuel, but that you'd have to figure out the rest of his enchantments on your own," she replied coolly, "So if you don't want a tour of the controls, we'll be on our way."

I raised one finger and walked over to the truck, where I pulled open the driver's door to look inside. Wheel, two pedals, several switches for lights, a gear shift, and plenty of space for me to sit. There was a parking brake that had been pulled, and finding no surprises among the controls, I shut the door and nodded at the goblin.

"Should be fine. Thanks."

She lifted her chin, looking at me askance, "And what arrangements will be made for your payment to Lord Simon?"

"He can pick it up from The Blushing Maiden in a few days."

The goblin nodded and gestured for the other woman to get in the car, "That's acceptable. Good night."

"Damn," I muttered, as I watched the taillights recede into the distance, "Damn."

Val came to stand beside me and looked up with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded down the path, where the car had just reached the gate and was turning onto the street, "That's the only time we've been anything close to alone with any of his girls. I should have planned better. You might have distracted them while I took a look with Sense Body."

"You're right," Val grinned, "You should have planned better. Maybe if you had let her show you around, I might have had the time for a more thorough investigation. But you're not the only one with clever thoughts, Wally."

The two of us heard the manor door click open behind us, and Val fell silent.

Vivian joined us. Her disappointment with our course of action was written all over her face, but she had given up arguing with us. She met Val, and the two hugged.

"You two will be careful?"

Val nodded earnestly, "I promise."

I tilted my head towards the truck, "It's dark enough that with the lights on, no one is gonna be able to see who's driving this thing. As far as anyone knows, we're still here, and some of Simon's people are taking a drive out to Crater Farm."

Vivian took a deep breath, "The two of you are quite mad, and I hope you make it to Caniforma safely. My sprites will be out presently with your belongings."

Val remained silent, even as Vivian took her leave and returned to the manor. She waited until the sprites were through loading our stuff into the back of the truck and we were both safely inside the cabin before continuing.

"You were in such a hurry to get them out of here that I did not have time for fine detail," she began, "But what I did find is telling."

The six-wheeler, which I would need to come up with a better name for, was no trouble to drive. Figuring out the now burnt-out pickup truck and its manual transmission had been a pain in the ass, but this just seemed to run. It was like driving a modern manual. Simon had even labelled the gear shift like the one you'd get on an automatic, with Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, and an extra entry for 'Low'.

While far from tight, the turning circle was also pretty good considering the size of the thing, and I had it pointed back down the path in no time.

Val reached into her pocket, the same one she'd been fumbling with earlier, I realized. She withdrew a silver ring that was set with several sapphires, though one looked to have fallen out, "I should mention, we sold the truck to Viv."

"For that?" I frowned.

"I didn't feel like lugging all that scrap metal home, and I needed sapphire in a hurry," she explained, "I had the bits of chain for Sense mana, but I needed this for Magic."

"You cast Sense Magic?"

We reached the edge of Vivian's estate, and I turned out onto the street. There was a metallic rattling behind me as the truck rocked on its suspension, and I glanced over my shoulder.

Clanking around in the back of the truck were several lengths of steel or iron tubing, along with a heap of canvas I didn't remember the sprites loading for us. I shrugged and returned my gaze to the road.

"Sense Body Magic. I know that his girls do other enchanting work for him, but I supposed that any body magic I sensed was more likely to be his doing."

"And?"

"Pieces of both women have been enchanted. Much of it around the brain, but sensitive areas of skin have also been enchanted."

"Do you know how?"

"No, I'm afraid," she said with a grimace, "All I could sense was the presence and strength of the enchantment, not the effect. But considering which areas of skin Simon enchanted, I can guess. Interestingly, the enchantments on the flouncy doe-eyed one seemed to be fading. Those on the goblin were much stronger by comparison."

"Fading? Are you sure Simon hadn't put them on weaker? I didn't think enchantments even could fade."

"Ah, it's hard to say. Using Sense in the way you do, overlaying the spell on your vision, is new to me. But this is far from my first time examining enchantments. Now typically it's gear, rather than people," she muttered, "But... ah, how do I explain this? I suppose it's like cloth. There is a difference between rough spun fibres and the fine cotton sheets we have back home. The difference between the two is clear. But you wouldn't, for example, mix up roughspun with sheets that were old and threadbare."

"But that doesn't happen normally?"

"Wally, my torches were some of the very first enchantments made. If anything should have worn out, it would be them."

We both fell silent as we approached the city gate, and I brought the vehicle to a crawl. I worried that I might need to stop and talk to the guards on duty, but they waved us through.

It seemed Simon also had the political stature to go about unchallenged, and in the dark with the headlights blinding them, how were they to know it was someone else behind the wheel?

I found the switch for the high-beams and flipped them on once I was through the gate. It was like unleashing a collapsed star, and the throw and breadth of the light were enough to make any rally driver jealous. It's not like there were a ton of streetlights between here and Caniforma, so I was glad for the illumination, and it was a damn sight better than the dim incandescents the old pickup truck had.

Val shuffled closer on the seat and tucked herself under my arm, "Come on, Wally, use that big brain of yours. What do you think?"

"All of the enchantments were threadbare?"

"Sorry," she added quickly, "Just those around the brain. The enchantments on the skin were identical as far as I could tell."

"So one of two things is happening. Either Simon's figured out how to make enchantments that slowly decay, and he's used that for whatever enchantments he's placed around the brain, but not the skin. Or, enchantments placed on a person decay naturally, and he's refreshing the skin enchantments, but not the enchantments near the brain."

"If enchantments placed on a person do decay over time, then I suppose your enchanting me will be a little less fraught."

"Maybe. But there's a difference, I think, between enchanting the body and enchanting a tattoo placed on the body. Tattoos lose a bit of their colour over time, but it's not as if they just up and disappear. Get a tattoo when you're eighteen, and it'll still be there when you're eighty."

Val pressed her face against the side of my chest, "Hmm," she mused, "It was definitely the skin that Simon enchanted. If it were a tattoo, I'd imagine I would have seen the outline of the design. Not to mention you would have been able to see the ink on their neck and face. It makes me wonder what the enchantments do."

"I bet they do exactly what everyone thinks Simon is doing. Simon's got a modern understanding of anatomy. He's got enchantments around the brain that modify and control hormone production, and if the skin enchantments are concentrated where I think they are, they're to give less subtle feedback than the hormones. He's conditioning them like you condition an animal. Either he doesn't care that the enchantments decay because the training eventually becomes part of them, or it's an intentional feature that dials back the amount of feedback over time, destroying the evidence along the way."

Val let out a grumbly sigh, "This is exactly the sort of business that would get me all hot and bothered if only Simon weren't using it to take advantage of people."

I huffed out a laugh, "I get your concerns, but nearly as important is the fact that we're gonna need to deal with Simon eventually."

"Truly?"

"Yeah. After we met at the theme park, I'd kinda hoped we could keep out of each other's way, maybe help each other out once in a while. But I don't think that's happening."

Val yawned sleepily, "You think he was dishonest with you on our first meeting?"

I tilted my head side to side, "Certainly seemed truthful at the time, or at least, he thought of it as the truth."

Val was fast asleep by the time we made it to Crater Lake, and I struggled to get free of her clinging arms and lie her down on the seat without waking her. I managed, and pushed open the door at the back of the cab and stepped out onto the cargo bed.

The purpose of the poles I'd heard rattling around earlier was plain once I noticed the brackets lining the edge of the bed, and I put up the frame for the canvas cover as quietly as I could. It was simple enough to pull the canvas over the cargo bed and tie it down with them in place. The flap at the back I fastened shut with several wooden clasps and then laid out my bedroll before going to fetch Val.

I lifted her as gently as I could, but she stirred in my arms.

"Mmm, are we at the Maiden?" she muttered sleepily.

"No, Val," I whispered, grinning, "We're at Crater Lake. Come on, no sense sleeping on this hard bench. Let's get you out of your flight suit and into bed."

"Ohhh... I was just having a dream about you undressing me," she giggled drunkenly.

"Well, our walls are made of canvas at the moment, so I think we'll need to wait till we're back at the Maiden."

I don't want you waking the entire farm.

Val fell back to sleep the moment her head hit my shoulder, but I stayed awake a little while longer, listening to the wind rasping over the top of the crater and rustling the crops. Eventually, I joined Val in slumber, with her resting against my left side, the long axe close at hand on my right.