033 - Sky Beyond Sky

* * *

"I understand Master Pontius." Festus backed out of office.

"Well, good. Let it be a lesson for you too. Well done." Pontius sat as his desk, waving the young Alchemist off.

Festus shut the door of his master study and sighed. There were black circles around his eyes, in his hands was a bundle of papers and books.

He sighed again. It had been a long few weeks, many sleepless nights spent sorting through experiment notations. The corridor he was in had many similar doors, these were the offices of many a Magister. On the opposite wall were tall windows facing out, the corridor ran right round the exterior of the tower. Festus looked out briefly, then headed past the door to the far end of the corridor.

"Festus! Festus wait!" Septima hurried down the corridor, her shoes clacking on the marble floor.

"Hullo Septima." Festus waited politely for her to catch up, a slight smile on his face.

"Festus . . you just met with Pontius," Septima had an anxious edge in her voice. "About what?"

"Nothing. Minor stuff. Nothing that concerns you." Festus frowned.

"Not a thing? Not about the results of my experiments?" Septima

"No Septima. Not about your failed experiments." Festus turned away walking down the hallway.

Septima hurried after him. "My experiments did not fail! The material were all wrong, the technique I was given to research was incomplete, I . ."

"Yes, yes. I'm sure, tell that to Master Pontius." Festus walked a little bit faster.

"Please, you have Masters ear, Festus! Wait!" Septima tugged at Festus' sleeves. "I need to know, what has Master Pontius said of my results?"

"If you must know. Nothing. Really. He hasn't told me a thing." Festus shook his head. "Master only called me in to discuss the next outing for the new students. It's to be on Aquilonem, so with my experience there . . "

"I have the same experience you do!" Septima stomped her foot. "Why hasn't Pontius called on me? It's that golden giant, isn't it? That thing you stumbled on, you, you, lucky bastard!"

Festus shrugged his shoulders. "I've got to go Septima. Luck is as much a part of successful research as anything. Remember, it is as Master Pontius always say, a good Alchemist makes his own luck."

They walked to a raised circle of pale blue crystals surrounded by gold and black runes. Festus pointed at a rune, it The runes flashed and a fat Alchemist appeared, upon seeing Festus his face lit up.

"Gordianus!" Festus exclaimed in delight.

"Festus! Just who I wanted to see!" Gordianus stepped from the platform. His robes were brown and black, appearing much more like a blacksmith's apron than a noble Alchemists robes. He looked to be in his mid thirties, a wide grin on his chubby cheeks. "You just came from Aquilonem, no?"

"Yes, me and, uh, have you met Septima?" Festus smiled awkwardly.

"Gordi." Septima said flatly.

"We've met." Gordianus snorted. "Listen, while you were there did you see Ovidius? Did he come to meet you?"

"No. Why?" Festus replied.

"Well, don't go spreading it about, but I've just come up from the Hall of Alumni and poor Ovidius name plate has cracked." Gordianus shook his head. "Sad affair when a fellow Alchemist dies. Anyways, he was on Aquilonem doing a spot of research or some such."

"Dead? On Aquilonem? How the hells could that happen?" Septima exclaimed in shock.

"No idea. I'm on my way to find out, just reporting to the Praetor. You take care Festus. You too Septima." Gordianus hurried down the corridor.

Festus frowned. An Alchemist dead, not a good sign. The assignment was on Aquilonem . . if it wasn't safe then Master Pontius might schedule it for a different planet, and that would mean a different supervisor would be assigned. Hmm.

Festus gazed out of one of the tall outwards facing windows lost in thought. Outside there were countless stars, whole bright constellations. About the size of a peach was a planet, a blue and green sphere slowly turning, half way between night and day.

* * *

The jaws of the white wolf closed on Magnus, two rows of pointed canines in a mouth as big as he was. The wolf didn't bite down, lifting him up and holding Magnus between his teeth, then setting off at a brisk pace back out into the woods.

Magnus struggled, flailed his arms and legs and yelled, but the wolf only snorted, biting down harder and kept trotting at the same pace.

It leapt with ease over rivers and through hills and mountains, never slowing, running for hours with Magnus in its mouth, never biting down hard enough to injure him, though Magnus knew it easily could. Held fast between the giant teeth . . if it decided to bite down it could tear him in half.

Magnus felt a hell of a lot better than he had previously, after entering and emerging from the swamp he'd felt a force, a vitality. He felt fantastic, like he had before the whole blasted ill fated experiment, like he hadn't felt in weeks and weeks. He felt alive!

Ha ha . . . alive, for now. What a time to feel alive, in a wolf's mouth. Magnus finally gave up on struggling, his thoughts turning back to the swamp, to the red threads and green strands. He shivered at the thought of the enormous lizard. First the giants in Kloster, then the giant lizard, now a giant white wolf . . can I not escape these oversized creatures?

Magnus knew that the world was full of fantastical and bizarre beasts, Pa Lund had told tales of a giant fish he once almost caught, and Uncle Willis always talked about seeing the bones of dragons littered around the Iron Coast . . but at home his father always laughed them off, told Magnus that they were no more than fancy and tall tales.

Ha!

That was before the giants, of course. After the black skinned creatures came to Kloster, and Festus making all the giants, well, Magnus started believe that anything could be possible. It was something else though, believing it might be and actually being carried along in the mouth of a giant bloody wolf!

The wolf stopped. Magnus felt there was something different in the air, like thick static electricity, just before a thunderstorm. The beast paced about, whining, then ran on, up a steep flight of stair, the electric feeling fading away. It ran onto a wooden floor, the sound of claws clattering on wood quite distinct from the ground, and stopped.

Sitting on its haunches it dumped Magnus, covered in wolf drool, to the ground.

"What do you think this is? I can't eat that." A high pitched wonderfully melodious called out. "Stupid mutt!"

"Awooo!" The white wolf howled pitifully, laying down and covering its head with its paws.

"More useless dead junk! Throw it out, quick, before it starts to rot!" Every word sounded like a songbirds call in Magnus ears.

"I'm not dead." Magnus said politely, sitting up.