Castle Kingside

White smoke smelling of burnt wood drifted along wintry gales over the castle district’s towering stone walls. Enshrouded in an illumina lamp’s scattered light, well-doers in merchant cloaks and exquisite dresses stood on their toes while their heads leaned side to side. Their attempts to peek past guards blocking the gate to Malten’s wealthiest neighborhood did nothing to relieve their curiosity or impatience. Inconvenienced mumbling hinted their displeasure with the delay.

A chicken’s bewildered clucking made the chaotic situation more hectic. It came from a cage tucked under a combat sorceress’s arm. Angelika’s red-brown curls drooped from under a crimson hood as she stared at the floor, baring the curious glares of bystanders.

Dimitry stood beside her. Arms crossed over his chest, his foot’s tapping hastened.

He didn’t have the luxury of idling in a growing crowd.

It was already dark.

After discovering lomnent’s role in manufacturing sticky bombs, Dimitry scoured Malten for the key ingredient necessary to produce the powerful adhesive—lomn bark. A process that took longer than he hoped. Eventually, he located a carpenter who dumped enormous quantities into a fireplace after using the wood to build mining support props and beams. It didn’t take long to convince him to sell the alleged waste product.

With lomnent production started, Dimitry hastily designed a new casing for the explosive itself. Differing slightly from its predecessor—a cast-iron sphere with a hole on top—the updated model had the addition of a sturdy, hollow snout. It functioned as a grip, allowing the lobber to dip the bomb’s round base into lomnent before throwing it. Although Dimitry preferred to test the weapon immediately, the blacksmith Elias had to create a mold, send it to Amphurt’s foundries, and receive the first delivery of casings. Two days would pass before sticky bomb trials could begin.

Dimitry didn’t intend to use the downtime to rest. Especially when an issue more critical than weaponizing black powder existed: completing the greenhouse.

Enchantresses would soon arrive to coat the former altar room with the glows of incendia, illumina, and hastia. The combination of the three made indoor farming feasible. But Dimitry would ask them to enchant the greenhouse with an additional spell, one that he hoped would allow for the production of multiple generations of hybridized seeds before spring’s advent.

Accelall.

It was magic vital to timely crop growth. And yet, doubts remained. Could sorceresses weave accelall into an enchantment? If so, what effects would it have? Was it hazardous? Many such questions flooded Dimitry’s mind.

Only experimentation could provide answers.

That was why he waited outside the castle district: he needed to get to Vogel’s Enchantments while time for testing remained. Once the night of repentance drew closer, Dimitry would be too busy with other tasks.

But the crowd he stood in only grew. A court sorceress and an armored guard impeded entry regardless of how people asserted their status or exaggerated their urgency. What happened in the castle district that no one was allowed in?

Dimitry glanced at Angelika. “Do you know what’s going on?”

The caged bird she held clucked. “Don’t talk to me.”

“Are you still mad that I made you carry a chicken?”

Angelika’s head shot up, a frown on her face, and with burning red cheeks. “What kind of sorceress delivers poultry?”

“Is it that big of a deal?”

“No shit!” she spat in a hushed tone. “I have the Vogel name to uphold. Lords are watching me haul a chicken while I should be fighting on the city walls. But here I am, messing around with you.” Angelika turned her gaze back to the floor. “I’ll never live this down. I want to die.”

Dimitry didn’t know whether he should laugh, feel bad, or tease the uncharacteristically blushing sorceress further. Unfortunately, he had time for neither. “Come on.”

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to ask the court sorceress to let us pass.”

Angelika grabbed his cloak. “She’ll see my face!”

“And?” Dimitry glanced back. “Where did the brave mage who wasn’t afraid of anything go?”

“Please,” she begged, “don’t do this.”

“Why are you so timid all of a sudden?”

“How would you like to humiliate yourself in front of someone who did everything you ever wanted to do and more?”

It was odd to hear words of praise from Angelika. “Are court sorceresses really that amazing?”

“That’s Leandra. She’s a damn war hero!”

Dimitry stroked his chin. With credentials like those, it was no wonder that they protected the queen. “Well, if we accomplish what we came here to do, we’ll be heroes as well. You can’t defend a country that’s starving.” He gently peeled her pleading hand from his cloak. “Let’s go.”

“I really hate you sometimes,” Angelika said, her words quiet and defeated.

In front of the narrow gatehouse separating Malten’s castle district from the rest of the city stood a halberd-wielding guard and a yellow-robed woman. Her amethyst eyes glared at Dimitry as he approached, and then glanced at Angelika, who summoned enough courage to lift her face from the ground.

“Surgeon.” The court sorceress didn’t budge. “You’ll have to wait here like everyone else. No one gets in or out.”

Her stern warning did nothing to dissuade him. “I just want to know what happened,” he lied. “Maybe I could help.”

“Do you intend to use more of that strange magic you demonstrated at the summit?”

“That depends. Without details, I can’t know for sure.”

She studied him and beckoned him closer. “It hasn’t been made public yet, but Her Majesty ordered the castle district be sealed off after an incident at the royal stables. We’ve found one arsonist, but we believe there may be more. Would you be able to find them?”

Dimitry considered agreeing with her request for guaranteed passage. However, espousing short-sighted lies to a court sorceress without backing them up would only sully his reputation. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can. But I have another matter that needs urgent attention. One of equal importance, if not more.”

A chicken’s shrill clucks pierced the surrounding commotion.

Angelika’s cheeks blushed a brighter shade of red as she rattled the cage. “Shut up,” she hissed. “Shut. Up.”

The bird’s protests only grew louder.

“No one called for a doctor or little Angelika.” Although stone-faced, a glint in the court sorceress’s amethyst eyes hinted at her amusement. “But if someone needs poultry or medical aid, we’ll be sure to point them towards your cathedral.”

Angelika bowed deeply, her red-brown curls falling to the chiseled stone road. “I’m so so sorry for bothering you, Leandra.” She popped straight back up. “Come on, Dimitry. We’re leaving.”

“Wait.” Dimitry grabbed his fleeing guard’s crimson hood and pulled her back. “I know it may seem strange, Mrs. Leandra, but what we are doing now may save this city. Every moment we waste here will make your and Her Royal Majesty’s jobs harder.”

“Do you speak of heathens?”

“No.”

The court sorceress pulled closer to Dimitry’s ear, her scent that of dilute roses. “Aquatic demons?”

“No. It’s something far more dangerous.”

“Something more dangerous than devils and demons? Out with it.”

“Starvation.”

Her brows furrowed. “Is that what the chicken is for? Do you intend to conjure fowl with your magics?”

“No, but you’re close.” Dimitry smiled. “We’re working on a spell that could help us produce enough grain to feed all of Malten. The chicken is merely a test subject.”

“What spell?”

Dimitry hesitated to tell her about accelall. Although it would become common knowledge if he deemed it safe for enchantresses to weave, he hasn’t come to that conclusion yet. “It’s a secret.”

“Even after you showed us invisall?”

“It’s not you or the queen that I’m keeping the secret from.” He glanced back. “It’s them. I don’t want anyone to overhear.”

The court sorceress’s amethyst eyes examined his face, then looked over his shoulder at the crowd of lower nobles and merchants whose collective grumbling implied panic and impatience. “Another time, then. Where are you headed?”

“Vogel’s Enchantments.”

“I was told by Her Royal Majesty not to let anyone through.” Her yellow-cuffed arms folded across her chest. “Go. Straight there and back. Don’t betray my trust. You may have earned it before, but I’ll just as easily take it away.”

“I’m not so foolish as to deceive a war hero,” Dimitry said.

The court sorceress flashed a rare, crooked smile. “I’m too old to be a hero. That’s someone else’s job now.” She placed a hand on Angelika’s head. “Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere he’s not supposed to and learn every bit of magic from him that you can. Talent will only keep you alive for so long.”

“Right,” Angelika muttered.

“Good girl.” She stepped aside. “Everyone else, stand back!”

A crowd’s heated protests faded behind Dimitry as he passed into the castle district.

Angelika silently trailed him. Like a star-struck teenager ruminating on a movie star’s words, she cradled the clucking chicken cage in both arms while absently watching her shoes thump across a broad road. Her cheeks continued to blush red. They matched her equally red nose.

Her timid demeanor reminded Dimitry that she was cute when she wasn’t pretending to be badass. He suppressed the urge to spook Angelika back to reality for his own entertainment. Something else caught his attention.

The smell of burning wood and hay grew thicker with every step. White smoke rose from recently extinguished and partially cindered castle stables. That was where Saphiria’s horse lived. Hopefully, Dorothy was safe. The princess couldn’t bear another heartache.

An iron cage stood not far away.

Surrounded by armored men and well-dressed civilians, it blocked the street, a prisoner behind its bars. He preached. “The queen abandoned the Church’s teachings! She makes deals with demons and allows a heretic to blaspheme archbishop Fronika’s cathedr—”

A knight wearing a plume feather helmet slammed his steel-clad fist into the prisoner’s stomach. “You’re lucky we still need you alive. Just you wait.” He turned back to the crowd. “Does anyone recognize this arsonist or saw who he was with when they set the stables ablaze? Speak now for a reward.”

Dimitry examined the caged man. Why was he preaching? Did he act out of zealotry, or were his actions a sign of the Church’s interference?

“Damn refugees,” Angelika mumbled. “I mean him, not you, Dimitry. You’re okay, sometimes, I guess.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

In recent years, Vogel’s Enchantments stood silent prior to nights of repentance. End of month vol shortages and magic taxes made enchantments too expensive for all but the wealthiest. Only knights and their squires would pass through the narrow storefront, seeking last moment dispelia imbues for their rock hammers to prepare for the heathen raids. However, tonight, not even they came. Guards told everyone to stay home following the stable incident.

Leona pressed her elbow into the counter and propped her chin onto an open palm. She sighed. Mother and Angelika were working, Ignacius explored the northern lands, and Emilia practiced inscribing seals behind a locked door upstairs. Everyone was more productive than her—even her younger sisters.

Although Leona technically minded the house and shop, standing idle was hardly a good use of her time. She had already folded the laundry, baked vegetables for tonight’s supper, practiced casting rarer spells like incitia, and organized vol pellets by shade a dozen times.

Was there anything else she could do?

Her eyes drifted towards an overhead shelf displaying perfume bottles. Now was an excellent opportunity to prepare for the upcoming banquet. The Horowitz family’s eldest son would become old enough to succeed the count’s tanning business, and it would be the first joyous occasion in some time.

Leona needed a scent that would match the celebration. Something cheerful. She pushed past bottles of lavender, citrus blossom, and sandberry water. The first two suited working in the store and casual strolls through the city, while the third smelled too musky. Like a perfume one would wear to a funeral. She pushed aside several bottles to reveal a back row of containers.

Among them was a small green vial. Magnolia oil. Its creamy sweet and slightly sour scent radiated merriment.

Perfect.

Her hand shot up to retrieve it. She pulled back a wooden plug preventing the thick liquid from spilling out and applied a dab to her neck.

It was a good choice.

Maybe too good.

The Schwarz and Meier boys would doubtless attend the banquet. Afterward, like always, they would send Leona gifts without mustering the courage to give them to her directly. It was difficult to take a marriage proposal seriously if it came from a servant’s mouth instead of her prospective groom’s.

But Leona couldn’t remain indecisive. She had to get married soon.

It was time.

She spent years telling herself that she would wait until she mastered enchanting to start a family. However, no matter how much she practiced, no matter how much she dedicated herself to the art, progress came slowly. Her frail circuits and cores would overload if she accepted too large of a job, and she still didn’t learn every spell, let alone master them.

Her fleeting youth was the only thing going for her. However, it wouldn’t last. Leona turned twenty this year. Despite spending her life training, she still lacked her mother’s enchanting skills. Even her sisters, both younger than her, surpassed her in every way. She wasn’t a talented fighter like Angelika, nor did she possess Emilia’s genius.

Perhaps it was time to abandon her dreams in pursuit of womanhood. At least then, she would be useful. There weren’t many children these days.

Mindlessly swirling her scarlet hair around her finger, Leona noticed the repetitive thoughts invading her mind. She sighed. That was why she hated being here alone.

The shop’s door burst open, hitting the canister racks on the wall with a reverberating thunk.

Finally. A customer.

Leona’s slumped shoulders and leaning posture straightened. She performed a slight bow. “How can we be of assista—”

Something clucked a panicked cluck.

Was that a chicken?

A sorceress with red-brown curls and red robes passed through the door. Angelika clutched a wooden cage to her chest. How strange. Usually, she prefaced her entrance with boisterous comments or stomping, letting everyone know that it was her. Today, however, she was silent and contemplative. And it looked like she went shopping.

“Hey.” Leona strode towards her. “Shouldn’t you still be at work? Is everything all right? Are you hurt?”

Angelika shrugged and pointed back with her thumb.

A man not much older than her followed her inside. His mysterious pale green eyes met Leona’s gaze. They didn’t waver like most. “I apologize for the unannounced visit. We are in a bit of a hurry.”

Dimitry. The foreign wizard who saved mother’s life and possessed magic unknown to any sorceress in Malten.

Leona couldn’t afford to bother him with trifles. His knowledge was invaluable. “Think nothing of it.” She curtsied. “Please, make yourself comfortable. Shall I prepare some tea?”

“I appreciate the offer, but unfortunately we don’t have much time. Is Raina home?”

Of course he sought mother’s help. Although Leona was an enchantress too, anyone could tell her skills paled in comparison. “My humblest apologies. She’s working for Her Royal Majesty. I’m not sure when she’ll return.”

Angelika lowered the chicken cage onto the floor. “Still out there enchanting that damn wall, huh?” she mumbled. “Hope mom’s alright. Maybe I should check up on her.”

Although Leona too lived in fear of a heathen striking down their mother while her back was turned to the coast, they had a guest. It wasn’t the occasion for brooding conversation. She forced a smile. “If it’s her, she’ll definitely be fine. Do you want to leave a message for when she comes back?”

“No,” Dimitry said. “I don’t want to bother her while she’s doing something so important. Would you like to help me with my experiment instead?”

“An experiment? Me?”

“Who else, idiot?” Angelika grumbled.

Next time Angelika had nothing to wear to a party, Leona wouldn’t lend her any of her dresses. Not that there were many parties these days. “What kind of experiment, may I ask?”

“I want to try enchanting something.”

Was it that obscure, dark-glowing preservia again? An entire week passed since she last channeled it for him, and she couldn’t pass up another chance to learn more about the foreign wizard’s spells. Leona was desperate to learn more—it was her last hope for making progress as an enchantress. “I’ve noticed that you didn’t bring bedclothes today. I dried some earlier. Would you like them to imbue with plague-curing magic?”

“No, not that. We’re trying something new today.”

Something new? Did he refer to that other magic? Leona froze. Once she noticed her stiff shoulders and stifled breathing, she quickly corrected her posture. “Do you mean invisall, perchance?”

“Something like that.”

“Accelall?” Angelika asked.

Dimitry nodded.

Leona’s mouth opened but uttered not a word. If what Dimitry said was true, multiple spells ending in ‘all’ existed. How many more were out there? And why didn’t Angelika say anything if she knew about them? What other secrets did she and her boss keep from the world?

This was definitely a learning experience Leona couldn’t let slip, lest her younger sisters surpass her further. “What do you need me to do?”

Quiet footsteps descended the backroom’s creaky staircase. A girl with messy brown locks and an inscribing pen necklace hung around her neck emerged from the doorway. Emilia, who couldn’t even muster the courtesy to greet their guest, leaned back against the wall. “Sounds interesting. I’m watching.”

Contemplative vacantness vanished from Angelika’s eyes. “Hey! Look who decided to show their face.”

Emilia placed a finger over her mouth. “Let the adults talk.”

“What?” Angelika dashed to lock Emilia’s arms behind her back. “I’m older than you, you know.”

“Go away.”

“Make me.”

“If you don’t back off, I’ll bite you.”

“Just try it.”

Although Emilia struggled to break free, she was too weak despite being only slightly shorter.

Angelika’s triumphant grin savored its victory. Then, after leaning in, her face curled. “Eugh. You smell terrible. When was the last time you took a bath?”

“Five days ago.”

“That’s disgusting.”

Leona’s hand reached to cover her eyes. She couldn’t contain her embarrassment. Why did her siblings have to be themselves in front of a high-class wizard? “I’m really sorry. Please excuse them.”

Dimitry, however, didn’t wear a disgusted frown or so much as raise an eyebrow. He merely watched, smiling as if irreverent to rank and gentility. “Don’t be. My sister isn’t—wasn’t any less of a character.”

Relief coursed through Leona’s body. She wondered if the wizard’s sister was a sorceress more powerful than Angelika, but quickly discarded the thought. “Anyway, I’m certain you’re a busy man, so let’s start that experiment. What do I need to do?”

Angelika’s hand stopped ruffling Emilia’s already messy brown locks. They both stared unflinchingly.

“First, let me make something clear,” Dimitry said. “This enchantment might be dangerous.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just weave it from a distance.”

“You can do that?”

Emilia’s head tilted.

How strange for a trained wizard to be unaware of a practice that common. Unlike her sisters, Leona didn’t let her confusion show. “Of course. Enchanting bolts with witheria and blades with shockia can be lethal if performed up close, so we have to take preventative measures. But allow me to ask what accelall does. Just in case.”

“It accelerates time.”

“Accelerates… time?”

“I know it sounds stupid,” Angelika said, “but trust me when I say it’s pretty fucking awesome. Easily the coolest spell there is.”

Leona hid a fidgeting hand behind her back. If what her sister said was true, she would be the first one to create an enchantment that powerful despite her lacking skills.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Dimitry said. “When I said this spell could be dangerous, I meant it. That’s why I want to make a sample first. Can you do that for me, Leona?”

“With pleasure.” She looked around but saw nothing suitable to carry an enchantment. To save time spent searching, Leona tore a short strip of cloth from her cotton undershirt and held it out on her palm. “Would this suffice?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Leona rushed to grab a chair from the backroom. “Emilia, get the reflectia towelette ready. Angelika, put on the dispelia mitts.”

“’Kay.”

“Got ‘em.”

“What are they for?” Dimitry asked another question with an obvious answer.

Where in Remora did he come from that even wizards didn’t have access to standard enchanting tools? Leona dragged the chair to the narrow shop’s center. “The reflectia towelette prevents magic from leaking into the surroundings, and dispelia mitts temporarily neutralize any nearby enchantments. They’re for safe handling and transportation.”

Dimitry stroked his chin. “I see.”

Leona sat and unzipped the back of her robe with an unsteady hand to reveal her upper back. “Are you ready to channel your magic?”

“Palms under your shoulder blades?”

“Like always.”

Dimitry’s icy hands pressed into Leona’s upper cores, sending a shiver down her spine.

“Oh.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Your hands are a bit chilly is all.”

“Sorry. They get like that.”

“Please, don’t apologize. With the weather as cold as it is, I should have expected as much.”

“Can you two stop flirting and hurry up already?” Angelika urged. “I want to see what happens.”

Emilia nodded.

Eagerness overpowering her embarrassment, Leona thrust a hand into her robe’s vol pocket to retrieve a single, dark green pellet. She wouldn’t need any more than that. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

The vol drained into Leona’s palm. She guided the warm sensation through her right arm and into her back, where it disappeared into Dimitry’s circuits.

“Accelall,” he said.

However, when the vol reentered her body, it differed from how it left. A searing heat, like that from a concentrated incendia enchantment, burned from her shoulder to her left arm. The unexpected scalding pain coaxed a grimace from Leona. She exhaled through clenched teeth.

“Hey!” Angelika stomped closer. “Are you okay?!”

“Back off!” Although she hated yelling at her baby sister, Leona couldn’t let her get hurt. She didn’t know what was happening. What to expect. Even when she trained her circuits as a child, not once did they tremble as if tearing apart. She never let them. Her caution came from a lesson she learned from her mother’s mistakes. Leona was always careful to avoid overload.

Always except today.

“Should I stop?” Dimitry asked.

“I’m fine,” Leona said. “It just caught me off guard.” She shut her eyes, accumulated the intense energy in her left palm, and aimed it at the cloth lying on the counter.

The transfigured vol transformed once more as it left her hand, turning into a snaking beam that could only be felt but not seen. It slithered out of her hand to pierce the target, coil around it, meld into it until vol uniformly coated the cotton strip.

An exhausting while later, the weaving was complete.

Taking a moment to recover, Leona took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. She wiped her forehead. The enchanting required more effort than usual, but it also filled her with pride. It was the satisfaction that came from accomplishing a feat neither her mother nor any other enchantress in Malten had ever accomplished before.

“…What the?” Angelika muttered.

Exhilarated to see the fruits of her labor, Leona’s eyes shot open despite lingering fatigue.

A perplexed surgeon stroked his chin overhead.

Emilia approached with wary steps.

Angelika cupped her dispelia mitts around the cloth strip’s multicolored aura. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Its glow was like that of a rainbow.

Like that of a holy heathen barrier.

Like the one that stood beside Malten’s eastern coast for two years before the Church abandoned the country, causing her father to fight a war he never returned from despite years of hopeful prayers and abandoned tears.

Why could Dimitry create an identical enchantment?

Leona jumped to her feet and backed away from Dimitry. She grabbed a vol pellet from her robe pocket. “Angelika, shoot him if he makes any sudden movements. Emilia, hide. Both of you escape through the back door if something happens to me.” Breathing ragged breaths, her gaze met the self-proclaimed surgeon’s. “Who are you?”

“Let’s calm down.” He held his arms forward. “I’m just as surprised as you. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for everything.”

Leona’s heart pounded against her chest. She was ready to die as long as her sisters could escape. “Why are your enchantments the same color as the Church’s? Only they can make them. Them, and you.”

“I see your point, but think about it. If I was from the Church, why would I cure your mother’s plague and willingly give away my secrets?”

Leona didn’t have a good answer. Then again, she didn’t need one. Priestesses and bishops gave paltry gifts and perks with one hand while plotting schemes and committing atrocities with the other.

Her legs continued to shake as a lump of rage formed in her throat. “Don’t act innocent. Why did you bastards kill our father? What did we ever do to deserve that?”

A hand fell on her shoulder.

It was Angelika’s. “Relax.”

“How can I relax after seeing that?”

“I don’t know what’s going on either, but trust me, Dimitry isn’t with the Church.”

Her most trusted friend abandoned her during an insurmountable crisis. Leona felt betrayed. “How do you know that? You’ve known him for less than three weeks. Did he brainwash you like another one of their servants?”

Angelika glanced at Dimitry as if asking for permission for something.

“Not yet. We’ll tell them soon, just not yet.”

“How about the Precious thing? Can we show them that?”

“It’ll cause more problems than it’ll solve,” he said. “We can’t risk sensitive information spreading that fast. This city isn’t ready.”

“What are you two talking about?” Leona muttered.

Angelika sighed. “Look, Leona. If he was full of shit, I would have shot him long ago. But the world isn’t as simple as we thought. Things talk that shouldn’t, and some demons aren’t the corrupted creatures everyone says they are. I know it sounds dumb, but just trust me for now. Alright?”

Leona gazed into her sister’s orange eyes. They were firm. Steady. Like a mountain lake on a windless day, they held not a shred of turbulence. If Angelika of all people kept calm, there must have been a good reason.

Her shoulders slumped. Shame from losing her cool in front of her siblings and a guest made Leona want to curl into bed and never get out. She bowed deeply. “I’m really sorry for jumping to conclusions. I just—”

“No need for apologies.” Dimitry strolled past her. “I don’t like the Church either.”

Leona looked back.

Who exactly was he?

A cowering Emilia’s head peeked from around the backroom’s door frame. She crept closer.

“I’m ashamed you had to see that,” Leona said. “Don’t be like me.”

Emilia shook her head. “I was thinking the same thing you were. Besides, you were kinda cool. Like the time you kicked those young lords for putting rottcoilers in my hair.”

A decade-old memory played in Leona’s mind, bringing a reminiscent smile to her face. “Even if we’re not children anymore, I’ll never let anyone hurt you. Not even the Church. You can always count on your big sister.”

“Now you sound lame.”

The sinking shame in Leona’s gut returned. “Don’t say that.” She pinched Emilia’s cheeks. “That’s hurtful.”

“Sis, instead of saving me from the Church, save me from yourself.”

In the kitchen on the store’s second floor, a chicken clucked while Dimitry stared at a cloth strip with a flowing rainbow glow. It lay on a round table. On the oak furniture’s opposite side stood Angelika. She leaned back against the wall, glaring at the mysterious article as if it could flee at any moment. Her siblings watched from further away with hesitation and curiosity in their orange eyes.

Like them, Dimitry wasn’t sure what to expect. The strength and affected volume of an enchantment varied with the aura’s density. This one flickered like thick colored static on an old television set. Was that considered dense? Leona used a single pure vol pellet to enchant an object the size of a pointer finger, yet experienced the same burning sensation he did while channeling the spell. Why did that happen? Dimitry thought it was due to his inexperience, but if a sorceress felt the same surging pain, the source had to lay somewhere else.

His spells clearly differed from normal magic, but how? Why did they create enchantments with colors identical to those on a heathen barrier? Did the Church have access to the same abilities as him, or was it a coincidence? Could they cast accelall? What were the spell’s effects? Was its aura safe to be around?

Dimitry's mind flooded with loosely connected questions. Although experimentation could answer several, it couldn’t answer them all. But that was better than nothing. Fortunately, he came prepared. “Leona. Do you mind if I throw a rock?”

The scarlet-haired beauty wore an unsure guise since their earlier confrontation. “Why?”

“Rather than having someone get close to the enchantment, I want to see how it affects other things first.”

“If you think that’s best. But please, take caution not to break anything. Our mother would be heartbroken if she came home to find her dishes shattered.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Emilia stepped closer. “What do you think will happen?”

Dimitry stroked his chin. “It’ll probably accelerate time like the spell itself, but there are multiple ways that can play out. I’m guessing it’ll make nearby things happen faster.”

“Stop talking and throw it already,” Angelika said.

The wide-eyed yet somehow simultaneously bored-looking girl took another step closer. “Do you mean to see if the rock will fly quicker near the enchantment?”

“Exactly.” Dimitry smiled. “You’re pretty clever, you know that?”

“Yeah,” Emilia said.

“Damned genius.” Angelika groaned. “At least try to be modest about it.”

Leona frowned. “I don’t understand at all.”

Although Dimitry didn’t mind giving an explanation, it would have to wait until later. Excitement and fearful anticipation rose within. His foot’s erratic tapping demanded he explore permanent time dilation and the endless possibilities it offered.

He retrieved a pebble from his coin pouch and tossed it.

The small rock flew in an upward arc as it approached the cloth’s rainbow glow. Then, a short distance from the enchantment, it plunged into the table despite maintaining the same vertical velocity.

A result that surprised and disappointed Dimitry. He hoped that objects passing through accelall’s temporal field would speed up, allowing for the production of projectile accelerators. It would have made for a powerful addition to crossbows, rifles, and eventually cannons. However, what he got was something different.

“Well, that’s useless,” Angelika said. “Why would anyone want an enchantment that makes stuff fall faster?”

Emilia, unsatisfied with her sister’s explanation, pulled on Dimitry’s sleeve. Her curious orange eyes demanded the truth. “What happened?”

“It did exactly what I said it would do—it sped up time.”

“Explain.”

Dimitry would have offered a simplified response to anyone else, but testing the seventeen-year-old girl’s mental acumen was a potentially fruitful endeavor. The truly intelligent were a limited resource. “The exact details are complicated and need some explanation. Are you sure you want to know?”

The girl, slightly younger than a high school senior, nodded.

“Very well. Do you know what gravity is?”

She shook her head.

“It’s the reason we fall. If gravity didn’t constantly pull down on us and keep our feet on the ground, we would drift into the sky.”

“That’s so stupid,” Angelika said. “It’s because we’re too heavy to float.”

Leona listened silently, twisting her scarlet hair around her finger.

“What’s gravity?” Emilia asked.

“It’s a special force. It always pulls everything down with the same acceleration, meaning that if something fell, its falling speed would increase as fast as anything else’s. For example, if you and I jumped off a cliff, we would reach the ground at the same time despite our differing weights.”

“Things drop faster the longer they fall. Is that what you mean?”

Dimitry smiled. “Exactly right. Now, remember what happened to the rock. It fell faster than it normally would when it was near the accelall enchantment.”

Emilia’s head tilted. “Did gravity become stronger?”

“Close, but no. Anything near that rainbow glow experiences more time than we do. Although gravity’s pulling force stayed just as strong, it also pulled down on the rock for longer. The rock had more time to accelerate to a higher speed. That’s why it fell faster.”

As though something clicked in her mind, Emilia’s mouth cracked open. “I think I understand.”

Full of joy that Dimitry did nothing to deserve, he looked down at the messy-haired girl like a proud father. Emilia understood his explanation in one go despite living in a medievalesque world ignorant of science. Angelika’s words rang true. Her younger sister was a genius.

She glanced up again. “But why didn’t the rock fly forward faster near the accelall enchantment than when you threw it?”

He sighed. “Although we need to do a lot more testing to say for sure, I think only forces applied near the enchantment stay as strong as they normally do. Anything moving beforehand slows down to compensate for the time dilation effect. They still experience more time, but slower speeds cancel it out, making it appear to move in the same direction just as fast.”

“I don’t understand.”

Dimitry could say more, but that would be a waste of an opportunity to cajole Emilia into working for him. The quick learning her innate intelligence offered made her the best candidate to test if others could cast modified magic with sufficient scientific understanding. “That’s fine. If you’re ever interested in learning more, stop by the cathedral. There’s so much more to know.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Her orange eyes downcast, Leona stared at her boots as if in deep regret.

“What were you two talking about?” Angelika asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” Dimitry said. “For now, put on your dispelia mitts and place the chicken cage over the enchanted cloth.”

“Why?” Emilia asked.

“We’re testing how accelall enchantments affect live creatures. If it doesn’t harm the chicken, it won’t harm us. Probably.”

Angelika dropped the wooden cage onto the table with a loud thunk. Sensing something wrong, the chicken within shrieked shrill clucks before crashing into the cage’s corner for lack of control over its own legs. Although its cries sounded normal again, the poor creature wasn’t safe. Half of its body remained in the enchantment’s area of influence.

Included was a wing that couldn’t escape the time dilation effect. The feathers on its surface swayed at unnatural speeds, and the muscles beneath twitched quicker than any patient with pinched spinal nerves. Then the limb went limp.

Not long passed before the skin on the chicken’s exposed extremities turned blue. Cyanosis. It was a sign of oxygen deprivation in humans and a logical outcome for the bird. The creature’s lungs couldn’t fill themselves with air and circulate it as fast as time accelerated cells consumed it.

Less than a minute after the experiment began, the chicken was dead. Parts of its body continued to twitch.

Well, that didn’t look safe.

Dimitry silently thanked the animal for its sacrifice. Unlike most poultry, which fed only one family with their deaths, this one would feed an entire kingdom by advancing magic greenhouse technology.

“Holy shit…” Angelika jumped forward. “That was awesome!”

Emilia nodded. “Can we do it again?”

Although Dimitry thought himself a monster for giving an unwary animal a painful end, perhaps he wasn’t the worst one here. “I think that’s enough animal testing for now.”

Eyes wide open, Leona watched without uttering a word. And then she clapped. “I weaved that…” She hopped a quick hop. “I weaved that!”

“Nice one, sis.”

“I knew you could do it.” Angelika pushed the cage away and threw her gray-glowing dispelia mitts over the enchanted cloth.

The scarlet-haired beauty ran to grab a knife, then glanced back. “Dimitry, did you eat yet? Do you like baked vegetables and chicken pie?”

“…sure.”

“What next?” Emilia asked.

“Yeah,” Angelika repeated. “What next?”

Dimitry's eyes scrolled past the three exuberant sorceresses, then landed on the voltech rifle pressed to his guard’s back. Could an accelall enchantment increase its power? There would be complications, but with additional accelall testing and improvements, it might be possible. It was a task worth undertaking. If they pulled it off, they would produce an invaluable weapon for the upcoming night of repentance and a way to enter the good graces of every mage in the city despite possessing suspicious Church-like magic. “Hey, Angelika.”

“What’s up?”

“Do you want to find out if you could become the most powerful sorceress in Malten?”