The large vehicle was buried under the accumulation of odds
and ends from over a half-century. Uncovering it was a tremendous effort. If
only Zhanna and Mary had been working on it, unburying it would’ve taken them
days. Showing an organizational skill that Zhanna had never suspected, Mary had
asked for help from the village in general. Two of the mercenaries that were in
town between assignments had volunteered to help. Willie and Mark were
middle-aged and serious, veterans of many contracts. They had both worked with
Zhanna’s brother and came in to help, silently and without looking her directly
in the face. She wasn’t sure if it was guilt or something else but was simply
pleased with their assistance.
The two mercs were joined by a young man that was not from
the village. In fact, no one in the village had ever seen him before. He had
arrived earlier that morning, walking in from the main road. His body showed
the gangliness of teenage years. Looking a bit like a mobile scarecrow, he had
jerky movements and hunched shoulders. His dark hair and eyes reminded Zhanna
of others in the village, and he looked faintly familiar. She just couldn’t
remember where she had seen him, but she
was positive that she had seen him before.
His mumbled introduction had been simply his name, Ivan. He
asked no questions. Instead, he got to
work immediately and continued with a focused ferocity that surprised all of
them. The two women were glad he was there because his efforts added to that of
the mercs made sure that the job was done quickly. Every once in a while,
Zhanna would look up to see that he had been watching her. His quickly
shuttered expression of desperate hope made her uncomfortable,
and she had hoped that he would say something to her about why he had come.
It had been several hours, and he had not said anything to her. However, he certainly knew how to work.
With the five of them all doing what they
could, it only took a couple of hours to dig out the vehicle so that the tarp
could be pulled away.
Zhanna feared that
after all this work that the vehicle was not going to be any good. Mary had
insisted that the car was something that her great-grandfather had gotten as a
reward for his mercenary work and that it should be in working order. Zhanna
hoped Mary was right.
Finally, they were at the point where the vehicle was no
longer buried, and the surrounding floor space had been cleared. It was time to
see what they had.
<< If I had a horn, I would blow it. But since I don’t, I
won’t. >>
<< Dascha! This
is serious so stop trying to make me laugh. >>
Willie and Mark each grabbed a corner of the tarp and peeled
it away from the car, like a banana skin being pulled off the fruit. In the dim
light of the shed, they could all see the vehicle.
At first, Zhanna did not know what she was looking at. The
car was massive, with dusty dark blue paint and chrome trim. The Russian-made
Buick looked more like a tank than it did a modern car. But the glass windows
were without defect, and even the paint
seemed to be in good condition. Considering its age, it was better than she had
any right to expect. Breathing a sigh of relief, Zhanna looked over at the
other woman happily. Smiling tiredly, the young witch said, “It looks amazing!
Thank you so much, Mary.”
Mary just nodded, offering up her own exhausted smile. The
two women watched quietly as the three men dusted off the vehicle, closed
opened valves, checked a variety of fluids, and added gasoline to the empty
tank.
Dascha was watching these preparations with an unblinking
stare and motionless pose. Turning her eyes to follow the cat’s intent gaze,
Zhanna watched for a while before addressing her familiar, << It looks like some form of arcane ritual, complete with
chanting. >>
<< A new spell
of transportation? Not one I’m familiar with. >>
<< Oh dear,
first snark now bad puns. >>
<< It’s a new
skill. >>
<<<>>>
The car had seen better days. It was filled with dust and anonymous debris gathered through decades of hidden existence. The three men
had been extremely enthusiastic throughout the process. Zhanna had heard but never experienced before, the
affinity men seemed to have for vehicles. It was on full display as the men exclaimed in the discovery of features and functions, happily analyzing the size and
capability of the car.
The younger man, Ivan, was especially taken with the
vehicle. His rather solemn face lit with enthusiasm and he became far more
animated than when Zhanna had first met him. She was conscious of the fact that
he kept glancing sideways at her when he thought that she wasn’t looking at
him. Briefly, she wondered what it was that he saw or wanted.
<< It’s a bit
curious. I don’t think he is particularly attracted to you, but he really wants to ask you something. I just can’t tell
what. >>
<< I know,
Dascha. I can almost feel a desperate need for an answer, but I don’t know what to do about that. It certainly isn’t
because he’s attracted to me. >>
<< Da, I know.
I’m sure he would want you to have his kittens,
but that’s not what he’s thinking about. A cat can tell these things. >>
<< Really!?
Sometimes you are just disgusting! >>
<< It’s a
feature. >>
Before Zhanna could continue their discussion, the tone of
the men’s conversation changed. There was a note of worry that crept into their
voices. The young witch straightened up from where she had been leaning against
the wall and walked over to them.
“Is there some sort of problem?” she asked.
Mark answered her quickly, “Almost everything looks good,
Zhanna, but this car has been sitting for so long that it is possible that it
may not start. We are going to try helping it to start with assistance from one
of our cars to see if it is capable of running. Whoever wrapped it up was smart
enough to drain the gasoline and most of the other fluids out of it, so we don’t have to deal with a big mess.
We replaced most of them and we think it should start but the battery obviously
is worn down by age and lack of use.”
Zhanna’s look of incomprehension encouraged him to continue
talking. He smiled briefly and said, “I think it will run, and if it does then
everything but one problem will have been solved.” The young witch tilted her
head in inquiry, so he finally got to the point she wanted to know. “Its tires are too old. They are almost
powdered. We cannot patch tires that are this flat or are this full of holes.”
Willie chimed in, “Let’s first see how the engine is. That
would be the biggest problem, and if that
works, we can then deal with the tires.”
Just then, there was a sputtering and a ragged response from
the engine. Spinning in surprise, Zhanna and the two mercs saw that Ivan had
climbed into the front seat and started the car. It ran raggedly at first but
soon evened out and began to produce a powerful but muted roar. The men excitedly
hurried over to talk with Ivan and look inside the hood of the idling car. Ivan
had a broad smile on his face and was cheerfully responding to the two older
men.
<< Zhanna? That
boy is a witch. He helped the car to start, magically. >>
<< That’s an
interesting twist. Now I really need to know what he wants from me.
>>
<< I will watch
him. >>
Willie called out to Zhanna, “It’s running really well. Now
if we had good tires it would be all set.”
Zhanna thought for a moment. All of the practice that she
been doing with the spell books from Blagogarsk had been pure practice and
drill. She hadn’t done anything that was practical with the spells yet, and it worried her that she didn’t know
how to apply the theory of the base spell to the reality of need. Perhaps this
was the place where she could try something.
Taking a deep breath, she said, “I think I may know
something to do. It may not work, but I think it’s worth a try.”
All three of the men stared at her, some in question, some
in challenge.
Dascha asked, <<
Are you sure you want to try this? >>
<< I am not sure
that I want to, but I think I need to.
>>
“Mark, tell me what a sturdy tire would look like and its
characteristics. I know nothing about cars,
and I need to have an understanding of the tires before I can try a spell.”
Willie interrupted, saying, “I have never heard a spell that
would do something with a tire. Are you sure this is something that you can and
should be doing?”
Although she had expressed her doubts to Dascha, Zhanna was
tired of putting up with disparaging remarks. She responded evenly and
forcefully, “I think it’s a reasonable way of testing a spell. It’s one that
I’ve learned recently, and this seems
like a good place to try it out, providing that you two can tell me what a tire
is supposed to be like. If you can’t tell me, I will find somebody else who
can.”
Mark said placatingly, “I can certainly tell you what a tire
is supposed to be. Just because we’ve never heard of a spell like the one
you’re talking about, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And I, for one, would be
interested in learning useful spells if you find and test them out.”
It was obvious from the expression on Willie’s face that he
didn’t necessarily agree but he wasn’t willing to confront Zhanna again right
now. He simply stepped back with a skeptical look plastered all over his face,
folded his arms across his chest, and waited.
Mark began to explain the use and shape of a car tire. He
talked about the tire shape and that it was attached to the vehicle with bolts.
He covered the desire to make the tire impermeable
so that it did not easily go flat. He also explained that the tire outside was
made of rubber. He stressed the need for sturdy tires that would not wear out
quickly on rough roads. It was a very short introduction to a topic that he
obviously loved, distilled down into only a few sentences for the young witch’s
understanding.
Once Mark was done,
Zhanna motioned the men away from the vehicle. She could feel the weight of
Mary’s gaze on her back and the comforting presence of Dascha along their
familiar bond. Mentally centering herself, Zhanna waited until she felt stable
and subvocalized the words of the spell just like she had done in practice.
Holding the shape and characteristics that Mark described in her mind, she
gathered her will and intent, channeling them along
her arms and through her open hands toward the car.
There was an explosion of light and a muffled sound. The car
jerked and raised as the old tires were replaced with unflattened versions. The
air resonated with a curiously muffled clanging sound that shivered through the
spectator’s bones and rattled the walls
of the shed.
All three men wore identical looks of disbelief on their
faces. Willie slowly approached the
vehicle as if he were afraid that it would either disappear or somehow attack him.
He touched the fender of the car with a hand that shook slightly and bent over
to examine the tire. Straightening quickly, face paled in surprise, he took one
step back and spun in place to stare at Zhanna. “It looks like a new tire!”
Looking slightly calmer,
Mark walked over to the vehicle. He didn’t bend down, but he looked at each of
the tires in turn. After going around the vehicle once, he marched over to
Zhanna, planting himself directly in front of her. He looked her in the face,
half in entreaty and half in challenge.
“They look perfect. Totally perfect.”
“I just tried to create the things that you had told me
about,” responded Zhanna.
Mark stared at her wordlessly for an instant more before
walking back to the car. Ivan had approached it while Zhanna and Mark were
talking, carefully examining each of the tires in turn. As Mark rejoined him,
Ivan addressed the older man, “There are
no tire valves. How will we refill the tires?”
“Zhanna, how much air pressure did you put in the tires?”
asked Mark.
“Air? You didn’t say anything about air!” answered Zhanna.
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