Unknotted

Potions and Magic

Georgie

“Jik, look up where the closest portal will take us.” I pushed the gas petal to the floor. Bruce roared and sped down the dirt road. “Hold on tight, Peth!” I cut across the lane and sped onto the highway’s on-ramp.

“Georgie.” Peth’s voice was muffled by the cab’s rear windshield and the rumble of Bruce’s engine. She pounded on the glass. “Georgie!”

I glanced back through the rearview mirror and my heart stalled at the smudge of blood across the window. Peth pounded again, leaving more bloody prints.

“Pethany!” Jik scrambled to pull out the first aid kit stored under the rear seat, yanked the window open, and clamored through.

“Jik, how is she?” My heart kicked out of its slowing pace back into high gear.

“That blasted enchanter shot me,” Peth forced through clenched teeth. “I don’t care how cute he is, I’ll kill him.”

“Relax, my little chocolate bar.” Jik leaned back through the window, dropping his voice to me. “She’s been hit in the stomach. I’m not sure how long she will be alert for.” He slipped back through the window.

I ran through options. Jumping through the portal to take her to Helt was too dangerous. The questions her injuries would raise aside, who knew if the nearest portal would even put us on the same continent, let alone same hemisphere? There had to be other members of the Ebbing Society inside Keadan but, because of security protocols, I didn’t know any. Peth needed medical attention. Preferably of the magical sort. Even the blasted hospital was hours away.

I checked that I was still the lone vehicle on the highway. The thing about the Expansion War was that it was bad for business, but great for clearing up traffic in border sub-territories. I pulled the phone from my pocket, thumbed through my contacts, briefly pausing on Helt’s name before continuing down the list. Then I hit dial.

The phone rang and rang until it went to voicemail. I hung up and dialed again. This time a tired voice answered.

“Yeah?”

“Kova, it’s Georgie.”

He groaned. “What trouble are you three in this time?”

“Where are you? Can you meet us in Keadan? Near Lothnoy Creek?”

Shuffling in the background and a grunt from Kova. He had likely still been asleep, which made sense since it was the middle of night on Tredema. “I will have to wait for the tide and hop two portals. Is this really an emergency? Last time—”

“Bring your medical potions bag. It’s your sister.” I glanced in the rearview mirror. She was slumped against the window, blood oozing against the glass. Jik’s face drawn tight as he worked to stop the bleeding.

“Tides.” More movement in the background. Faster movement. “What happened?”

I swallowed hard. “Just hurry, Kova.”

***

For once, the Core didn’t appear to be working against me. Shortly after hanging up with Kova, the tide returned after only a ten-minute hiatus. My fingers tapped a rapid beat against the steering wheel as I pushed Bruce faster. We tore through downtown Lothny Creek, grateful the Keadanians hadn’t set up a new police force.

My phone chirped and a text from Kova popped up.

Kova: Just arrived. Where are you?

I shot off a message identifying an intersection a few blocks away from the station where I knew there were no cameras and tossed the phone into the middle consul. “How’s she doing?” I asked for what must have been the hundredth time.

Jik was elbow deep in Peth’s yellow blood, putting pressure to her bullet wound. He had given her a blood-multiplying potion as soon as the tide hit, but Peth was still nodding off.

“Fine. Just fine,” Peth mumbled, her words slurring together. Her lids fell heavily over her eyes. “Jik…?”

“Yes, pumpkin pie?” He cupped her face, brushing her hair back. “I’m here.”

“Don’t call…” She lost consciousness.

Jik’s lip quivered. He shook her. “Peth? Pethany?”

“Jik?” I twisted around in my seat. “Is she…” I couldn’t voice what Peth might be.

“I don’t know.” He yanked another potion from the medical bag, yanked the stopper out with his teeth, and tilted its contents into her mouth. “Blast, where’s Kova?”

I shot around a corner, tires squealing and raced to the end of the road, slamming on the breaks at the last moment.

Kova, his green complexion paled to yellow, hopped into the back with Jik and Peth. His bulky troll frame made Bruce bounce and rock as he set up beside his sister. His dark blue hair was a mess, as if he had spent the last twenty minutes since my call pulling at it. He wore the blue uniform of portal station security, an employee tag resting against his broad chest. Had he not had those credentials he never would have made two portal blasts in time to meet us.

“Hang on,” I shouted. I flew under the highway’s overpass toward the forested area surrounding the town. Only when I drew close to a near invisible turn off did I slow. Off the main road, the path grew jarring, the secluded road riddled with holes. It was little more than two ruts carved into a narrow strip through the forest. I was forced to slow further, but where else could I take Peth? The hospital was hours away and with their tendency to ask too many questions, it would be too easy for our pursuers to locate us.

Trees hugged close. Branches scraped along Bruce’s sides. Had my heart not been lodged in my throat, had every thought but taking Peth to safety not consumed me, I would have been annoyed. She was supposed to clear this path last week.

The forest was dense enough that the sun barely penetrated the foliage. Bruce clicked on his head lights, and I turned on the overhead floodlights. Three painfully long minutes down the winding path, the trees opened up to a hollow where only three mammoth trees remained. I pulled to a stop before the center tree. A staircase of polished and treated wood circled its trunk to the barebones of an unfinished treehouse mansion in the branches above.

I slammed Bruce into park and jumped out. “How is she?”

“The bullet went straight through.” Kova scooped Peth into his arms and jumped from the truck bed. His long legs took the stairs three at a time. Jik scurried after, both medical kits in hand.

“Straight through what?” I shouted, but Kova didn’t pause to answer.

(Chapter concludes in part 2)