Rod's Tales

Rod's Tales

This page is reserved for a series of short stories--some are very short at 200 words or so--in a Urban Fantasy series.

After having some fun and practice writing very short stories I decided to place them on my blog. Titled "Rod's Tales", they are about a young Mage who has some interesting, different, some deadly, some not, some light hearted adventures.  When they reach 22 or more I will do an Indie book. There are dragons here, gnomes, dark Mages, unicorns, a roc--later ones have a touch of romance. He has lessons from his Mage Mentor and on his own. He has one enemy who is a dark Mage and a dragon who keeps attacking him in a unique way.  He runs into others who need help and makes friends with some different "people". 

The stories didn't stay very short; a couple got as long as 3,000+ words,  I wanted to put three at a time, but that will only work for some of the story sets.  The longer stories will be cut up with from two to four parts, some sets will be one whole tale.

Comments are welcome: if you like them, think they need more editing--some probably do, you just hate the whole idea, want more, which ones you like, etc.  

First three stories to begin with a total of 486 words.

#1:

Rod gaped at the dragon, after that trick it needed a lesson. He gathered mana-hard to do with the large, very bad smell created by what he was now covered with-made itch gas-blew it upward. Right on target the beast screeched and flew off. Rod used mana as much as possible to wash the stink off, but still needed a very hot and long shower.  

 #2

 Rod stamped his foot, it did no good, the Gnomes stayed. He glared at them-nothing. They stayed, looked just like statues. He frowned, drew in mana-decided a fake storm wouldn’t help. They were used to extreme weather, it didn’t bother them.

    They would kill his neighbor’s dog, if he transported the pit bull here to fight them. Which left one thing, he readied a blast--a new thought formed. There was something else to try. He paused, thought more on his idea. With a nod to himself, he sent illusions of yellow hats-fedoras on three of them, Santa Claus hats spouted on two of them, one now wore a bright pink Hispanic hat, another purple and neon green furry rabbi hat. Most now wore bright purple tutus, or florescent blue bikinis. Three seemed to be dressed in red shirts and black pants of a popular Science Fiction TV show. Another two had on camo outfits and hunter’s caps with ducks on them. One appeared to wear skin tight overalls that had an orange zebra scheme. They all unfroze, looked at each other; stared at him with amazed expressions. He shrugged his shoulders, pointed at the lawn and house, to himself then swept his hand over all of them. He hoped they got the message that this was his place and they would wear what he wanted them to.

       After a long moment where they seemed to talk to one another, they left one by one. When they reached the end of the lawn, their clothes reappeared. They stopped and stared at each other and him, like they wanted to try it again, but after the tallest spoke something they all left. He nodded he had gotten rid of them with no foul, no ball. He hoped they appreciated that. Now though he could plant his garden on that prepared  spot without worrying that they would harm him, his pets, or eat his vegetables.

  #3

 Rod spun, the other mage tried to sneak up to him. With mana Rod made 3 projections. One lit up, the second one joined it, they moved closer to the dark mage  A cloud from the attacker rolled his way. The third projection blocked it. The second one flew out of the first when it moved close enough to the dark mage. It stunned bad guy, who dropped. Rod left him tired up in the building when he left. It would teach the guy a lesson and hopefully discourage any other attacks. 

#4

Again an attack Rod leapt back, spoke Latin. The dark mage sent blades swirling his way. A wall blocked them, water gushed at the dark mage-not only put out dark’s fire attack, but soaked him. He tried to dry off, but his projection misfired. Rod sent Mana power above the guy who drew out a necklace to strike at Rod. He didn’t see the cloud that turned hard over his head. As Rod spoke Latin again the not soft cloud fell, struck him hard. He dropped and moaned. Rod went over-the guy’s wet robe stunk of wet wool-but the mage was out. A picture of cool lemon drink popped into Rod’s mind for he was sweaty now but that would have to wait. He picked up the guy, slipped off his necklace and found a wand-the guy’s pocket felt slimy with soaked mana projection powder-and took his wallet. The mage would find his wallet later, but Rod wanted to know who he was. Rod looked at the dark mage, dropped him and took off for home. 

#5

Rod ran from his car, his buddy needed help. The guy’s house shimmered and that very large white-gray unicorn with tan socks and mane didn’t look normal. It saw Rod, neighed-growled. Rod backpedaled-slid to a stop. When his skin tinkled he knew the shimmer was a shield. He called up mana, sent to the unicorn as a leave now projection. The beast moved its head back and forth-ignored the order to leave. He tried to blast it with a lightning bolt. It ducked and glared back at Rod. Something burned and Rod saw that the bolt had hit a tree, smoke bellowed as the fire grew. Wind blew the smoke to him, the scent of burning living wood made him sneeze. Rod rolled his eyes and put the fire out. The unicorn watched how he did it. Rod thought and his eyes grew wide at a thought. He called more mana, drew a rain storm to the house. He made the clouds group together above the beast. Rain dropped on it in sheets of huge drops. So much rain came down the wind tasted wet, and felt cold, even half of the yard away. The unicorn whined and glared at Rod who sent an itch to the beast’s hoofs, now that it was distracted. It let out it’s neigh-growl again, whinnied. Two moments later it looked at him, started to walk away. Before it left his friend’s property Rod took away the itch, but the rain followed it for a mile as a reminder. His friend, shut down the shield, came out of the house, greeted Rod with a hug and a thanks. Rod said, “Hey, we’re buddies”. Tom said, “We are. But it is good to be reminded at times like this. Rod agreed.  

#6

Splat! Rod ducked, looked up, that dragon was back. Ugh, that big pile stunk-he spat for the smell was so powerful his tastebuds could taste it. What had it been eating? After he concentrated he turned Mana into a lightning bolt sent it upwards. It hit, but the dragon sailed on. What? He launched a cold ball. It exploded before the dragon, again it flew on though. 

Another huge one fell, right above him, he ran as fast as he could, formed an umbrella above him, slanted downward. The splat made a bigger mess-he gagged from the stench, but it missed him. But his skin still burned from how close it was. Where had it come from? He used something he had just learned from his mentor; studied the beast. It looked strange--Oh! Dang dragon; that was an image-it even had the right mana signature and probably smelled as the real one did. He found the real one as it dropped another load. Rod blew mana upward, like a wind storm. It hit the pile, sent it back to the dragon, he followed up with a dozen cold balls. Only five hit it, but the beast slanted to one side as one wing iced up. Another ball froze the pile just before it impacted its belly. The dragon cried out. He sent an itch spell, like last time, however this one effected one spot on it’s back it could not reach. It staggered as it flew away, it would stink-even to the beast-when it landed in its home and defrosted. And the itch would last a few days, unless it could figure out a way to blast it with its own fire. Rod smiled, which turned into an intense frown, when he realized he still had to figure out how to clean up the new messes. 

Next one will be either one whole story or half of one depending on which story I choose. 


# 7 One 794 word tale this time.

Three days later, the same dark mage attacked again. Rod hadn’t expected it so soon-he found himself on his hands and knees throwing up green slime, after a sudden projection hit him. With the thought that the guy-he still didn’t know his name-had watched too many old movies he touched his bracelet, but couldn’t say the Latin word to turn it on. He was too busy vomiting. What he threw up made his stomach and food tube feel like they were being scratched and fouled. The taste made him want to vomit for real: decay, old blood, what he thought runny green mold would taste like. A force hit his rear and sent him into the green slime. Yecch, the vomit stink mixed with dark mana odor made him upchuck again. 

    

When that force smacked into him again he realized it was the guy’s foot. He must not have appreciated Rod’s win the last time. Maybe he wanted his necklace back. Rod tried to speak again, but found his vocal cords covered with something-the green slime probably. He stood, tried to turn around to kick the guy back, but found the dark mage expected that. A mana blob knocked him onto his back and covered his mouth. It took Rod a moment to see that the blob had blocked his air. Within heartbeats black moved into the edges of his vision, pain blossomed in his lungs. With the concentration, he had learned as an apprentice, he formed a ten prong hook to pull the blob away, at the same time he willed the blob to let go. The mana touched his body which meant he could control it. It better be before his body ran out of air and he died. 

  

Light touched his eyes, a heartbeat later the blob pulled away with a hard pull: his skin pulled away with it for a second, before it snapped back in place. He dropped rolled away from the dark mage, who threw fire at him. Air heated up, but all the flames missed. He sucked in air, even the hot wind created by the flames, tasted good when it filled his lungs. A second later he sent a wall of water toward the dark mage. Rod tried to grab more mana, but couldn’t in his state. He tried again, but still nothing. Damn he needed some.

  

Wait! He had one bunch, with his mind he reached out for the blob the dark mage had used. It floated in the air near the ground. He sent it at the other man, with his will. It broke apart and the sections formed blades. Each hit a shield, three changed to black ink and covered the shield. The mage couldn’t see for a moment. He let the shield dissipate, the ink dropped to the ground. One blade mophed into a throwing star and flew his way. The mage batted it away, but it cut his hand and spun back his way. He formed a metal net and caught it. By then Rod felt better, flicked his bracelet until one section fell free. This time he got the command word out. It turned into an image of a knight. The knight went after the dark mage. After one attempt to stop it, the guy saw it was an image not real. He tried sunlight to make it vanish, but it came his way. Three feet away the knight drew a pistol, aimed at the dark mage and fired. The mage’s eyebrows went up as he ducked. The mana bullet flew over him, dropped a net-a real one. It covered him. He swung one way and another summoned more mana, but Rod ran to him, found his head covered by the black net, punched him hard in the chin. The guy went down and Rod gave him a shot to the head, before he formed a stronger mana net around the other mage. 

It squeezed enough to press the guy’s arms together and legs mostly together. He looked the dark mage over, said, “This will only release you if you go to Mana HQ and tell them why you want to kill me.” 

Rod walked away, didn’t turn around even though he wanted to watch the guy stand tied  up like that, then take small steps as he went down the street. If he had the were withal he might transport himself, but the net would go with him. He might be able to overcome it, but Rod had worked days on it and it had it’s own store of mana, blocked from anyone else using it. He hoped the guy would go to the HQ so he could learn why he kept attacking Rod. 

Story # 8 is 749 words long and is a single tale this time:


Two weeks after this Rod went to visit his Mentor. He thought he might need a refresher course on the things he had learned when he was an apprentice to the woman. He seemed to be taking too long to form projections. The sudden round of attacks had been too close. He had won but not by much.

At his knock, she opened the door to him and greeted him with a quick hug: which was her habit when he came to visit. Harriet’s smaller house felt as cold as he recalled and her perfume was the same as always. The scent reminded him of her lessons, he had always thought she wore a touch too much. The house also had a strong odor of coffee and tea-she liked to drink both and he could still remember the taste of the strong cinnamon tea and dark coffee. 

  

Once he explained why he came, Harriet said he needed to apprentice someone. Rod’s eyes grew; he looked at her in shock--him be a teacher for someone? She calmly walked to a bookshelf and rummaged through it for a long moment. She gave him the book she had found so he could continue his own studies. It smelled old and the paper had a yellow tinge; though not too bad to interfere with reading the words. Harriet promised she would give him a few lessons if he came by once a month, but the apprentice process would help him more. 

He tired to shake his head but she placed her cool hand on his face to stop him. “Yes, you can do it. I know you, I taught you. The process will help you relearn the basics and force you to do better.”

After a moment to think about Rod said, “Okay, but I will get to decide on who and when.”

“Of course, but just make sure it’s soon and keep it on your mind.”

After another quick hug and setting a date for his first monthly lesson, he went home. Once there however she called him and told him to read the first section of the book and to meet her at her farm, which was an hour;s drive out in the country. It was small like her house, but still it grew a few vegetables. 

He read it and drove to the farm, but as soon as he parked and got out something hit him and drove him forward. He tasted dirt and blood from a cut lip as he hit the ground. At least it was soft, freshly plowed and wet. He leapt up, spun around, she stood to one side and smiled her teacher’s grin. He frowned, knew this was a test, but what type? It wasn’t her usual method of teaching. She hardly ever got violent like this, but he also knew she liked to surprise her apprentices. He remembered his first lesson with her, he had been fifteen and had been using his mana powers to try to keep out of trouble in his poor neighborhood. His drunk dad and TV watching mother thought he was telling stories, but he could do things. She believed him and showed him what he could do if trained. As she wanted, he did his homework for school, avoided gangs and studied with her. Now he still did what she wanted.

The ten spinning stars that came his way from the house, surprised him though. He blocked them all. After three more attacks-one ended with him in a mud pit in the pig pen-she nodded, said that he had forgotten somethings she had taught. He spat out the mud, didn’t want to think what else he have tasted along with it. His anger blew, he would show her he knew something-sent a dozen attacks at her-she blocked every one yelled, “No!” and without so much as a wave froze him and his power. 

She said, “Never react in anger! You have forgotten that too. You have become too big headed, you will learn that book and come back to me for old lessons!”

He knew she was right and submitted. Along with his studies he began to look for an apprentice. At the end of that lesson Harriet smiled and said that she knew he would learn and be an even better mage. He nodded, for he knew he had gotten lazy and arrogant, but he would learn not to be either. 

The end.

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A new one finally, but because the whole thing is over 1600 words I have cut it in half. The next half will be in a few days.

 Story 9, Enjoy:

 Rod ran for his car. A bird stink along with diesel filled the air on the way. The mini Roc-small but still larger than an elephant-swooped at the SUV. He knew the driver and some of the kids inside; he didn’t know why it decided to attack, or for that matter why it had come to this neighborhood, but he needed to chase it away. He had been resting after helping someone capture a family of supernatural creatures, they couldn’t look at while they trapped them. It hadn’t been fun even though a bit comical if it hadn’t been so dangerous. 

     The brass color of the SUV, or maybe one of the six people inside may have disturbed the bird creature somehow. The SUV swerved away from the Roc, but it would recover from the miss too easy. Rod called Mana to himself and formed a wall above the vehicle even as he got into his car and started it. The Roc hit the wall, bounced. It squawked twice before it tried again. The second bounce was harder on it since it took longer to recover. By two-seconds. The SUV stopped, spun around with a turn any that would look good in any spy movie, headed in another direction. 

     Rod thought, no this way, now it would take him longer to get to it. Rod stuck his head out of his driver’s window, the air buffeted his eyes, got in his mouth as he breathed-yecch. Roc smell mixed with what came from the engine in the SUV did not mix well at all. He decided he could take it for a few seconds. 

     The mana build-up started to feel like his bladder needed to be empty now. The bird attacked twice more as Rod traveled half a block. The driver was doing a great job. As Rod closed in on the SUV, he caught a smell of burnt rubber, as it took corners fast, braked hard and spun around again--braked again. The last time the bird attacked it landed on his wall-its wings outstretched to keep its balance-and pecked at it. Rod felt pain as it destroyed his Mana construct. With a suddenness the wall disappeared. It popped like a combination of gigantic soap bubble and rubber band. The backlash hit him hard. He hit the brake hard, when his chest hit the steering wheel. He would have fallen from the pain if it hadn’t been there. He breathed hard, rubbed his temples and calmed the nausea that also grew. 

    After a long moment he stuck one hand out the window, spoke Latin, made hand motions. Something buzzed toward the Roc. With an aerial dance the bird avoided the spinning saw blades. One nicked it, but did no real damage. Rod called back the mana before the blades could do any harm to anything else. He created a wind to blow the bird away, but it ignored; probably used to storms even concentrated ones funneled its way. 

     He needed help--probably special help. With that thought an idea came to mind. He grabbed his cell phone, hit speed dial a friend’s number. No police around so no one would care that he used the cell while driving, but it wouldn’t matter if they did. Once someone answered, he asked the friend to bring what he had just captured, Rod had need of them and maybe solve his friend’s problem at the same time. As he hung up he tried to throw two boulders from a nearby garden along with a fallen tree. The roc avoided the rocks even though the tree brushed one wing. It screamed and faulted, but only for a second or two before it recovered. 

     The SUV drove by another well done garden, this one with fist size rocks. Maybe he had used the wrong idea for a weapon. He used mana to pick up what amounted to a large handful of the fist size rocks and with a shouted Latin word, slung them all at once. The Roc tried to twist around the “shotgun” blast. Most hit it in the belly and head, however. The roc stumbled in the air, fell to the pavement. It sat up, shook its head, all too soon. With a loud chirp it stared at Rod, but leapt into the air and started after the SUV again. 

     Talk about being one minded, Rod thought. Sweat on his forehead slipped toward his eyes; he took a moment to wipe it away. The SUV skidded sideways when it took a corner too fast, but recovered and took a sudden turn to the left down a short alley. That caught the Roc by surprise and it had to recover. Rod threw fire at it and formed another wall, produced a giant eagle battle call, but it all of it just slowed the bird.

Part two of Nine
Sorry this is late I got busy with other writings and forgot. It's shorter than I thought it would be so I am including a second which is number ten:

 After what seemed like a very long time Rod grew tired. He reached for more Mana but found only a little; he had used up what was near. Mana-a type of energy-formed from a natural process, produced by the very smallest of the building blocks of all things-that included energy. It could change those tiny materials which in turn changed the larger form. In other words it could transport any matter, turn it into any type of energy, change its shape or texture or color, or just make something from Mana itself. Rod was fortunate or as he sometimes felt unfortunate to be one of the very few who could use that energy. He could gather it in from any source, but only within a certain range. Now he reached out with his Mana sense and found some miles away. Just on the outer range of his ability to draw it to him. He reached out and stretched himself to pull it in; just like one if his resent lessons with his mentor. He saw spots before his eyes for a moment, his head hurt-no his brain hurt, he cried out, but it came.

      The driver must be getting tired too, and seemed to be running out of ideas. However, Rod’s friend pulled up a minute later. Rod almost shouted “yay!” He stopped, jumped out of his car, ran-stumbled toward where the guy parked. HIs head felt like the Roc had swiped his head with its wings three times-harder each hit-even though it never got close enough to touch him in reality.  With a grunt, he somehow managed to help the friend take out three boxes. They carried them over to a clear area of the street. Once both were back at their cars, Rod flashed an image of the SUV over the area where the boxes sat. It would only fool the bird for a couple of seconds, but as it looked at the fake SUV he used mana to open the boxes. Three reptile-like creatures with sharp beaks rolled out on multiple legs.  As one they looked up and saw the Roc--it noticed them at the same moment. It squawked, flew toward them. A fight between them started. After five minutes or so the Roc won as it cut the last one in half with its beak. At that moment, Rod and his friend used mana to move a much larger fourth box from the friend’s car, to the bird and open it. A much larger insect-reptile rushed out, saw the Roc eating its young and let out a strange growl. The Roc looked up startled. It backed off, but chirped its own challenge. A  battle began, the bird flew up,  dived, pivoted in the air, landed, took off in a short hop, while the insect thing hissed, leapt, crawled faster than Rod thought it could. In the end it twisted its body in a half circle with one part in the air to stare at the Roc as it dived from ten feet up. A hard clunk indicated that the Basilisk had won, while a squish sound combined with a meaty thunk showed that the Roc won also. Rod smiled, the family of Basilisk were dead as was the Roc. It had landed on the mother Basilisk with its beak ready to stab. It not only crushed the female with its weight, but its sharp beak stabbed it all the way through. 

     After a moment to recover from the gross stink of the Basilisk’s blood he called his mentor who could provide a truck equipped to haul the roc away. Others would take what was left of the Basilisks. The Roc had to be moved that evening because it would not stay dead. Now though when it turned back into flesh and blood it would be miles away; hopefully far enough to have it forget why it wanted the SUV. 

     Rod figured a dark mage had sicced it on someone in the SUV, or did it just because he or she could and thought it be evil fun. He imagined someone singing, “Its good to be bad.” 

     After a few deep breaths, Rod leaned back on his car, wiped sweat from his forehead again, rested, while he waited for the truck and to make sure there were no other problems. He knew he would be sore the next day, even though his Mana sense and storage would not be harmed. His friend stayed also with an eye on all of the creatures. The Basilisks should stay dead, but it was good to be cautious around the supernatural; one never knew when they would change the rules on humans. He smiled; sometimes you really could use one problem to take care of another, sometimes killing wasn’t bad. And those new lessons from his Mentor really did help after all.            

The end

Story Ten:

Rod’s friend called for help again. He drove to where Tom said to. Joanne lay on the ground. A dark mage and a skinny orc stood above her. Rod thought it was his enemy at first, but soon saw this guy dressed-black silk pants, long sleeved shirt and expensive Ray Bans. Tom came from the side and went for the mage, so Rod stalked the orc. After all he had experience with mana creatures. Rod smelled old blood and rot as he neared the three. Another step and he realized it came from the orc not Joan. The mage smelled of sweat and bad cologne, fresh perspiration stained his underarms. Tom reached out with his hands and clapped. The loud noise not only got the orc’s and mages attention, but produced a mana force that staggered the mage, almost knocking him over. Rod thought he did it to test the mage as well as to distract him from whatever he was doing. The orc spun toward Tom but must have noticed Rod for he pivoted again. Rod used the mana he had called and sent a solid A shaped force against the orc. The pointed part of the A hit him hard in the throat, chest and stomach. The orc fell back with a pain expression, but recovered, stood, came at Rod. They dueled back and forth, Rod received a dozen scratches, three bled for a while, and what might be a sprained waist, but it looked like he broke one of the orc’s arms, after knocking him for a literal loop. However he was tired now and had used up most of the mana in the area Tom hadn’t used. He sighed-the scent of his own blood distracted him-he still spat out dirt and grass when in a sudden movement the orc ignored fire and ice and reached him. Rod had dived to one side, landed on his face, bruised his nose and bit the ground. He reached into a pocket drew out a crystal, broke one end off, uplifted it to his mouth like he drank from it then, roared loudly and threw the crystal at the orc, It caught it, looked at it, but when it tried to drop the crystal it wouldn’t leave his hand. He reached for it with the other hand but his first hand solidified, He grabbed it and pulled with the other hand. Rod heard a rock tearing sound, but before the orc could rip it all the way off his second hand started to turn solid. He gasped and backed up, both arms soon became, it spread to his shoulders and chest. He yelled, growled, then screamed as it reached his head. One last attempt to pull it loose and his top froze. His legs still moved, but soon they were stone too. Rod walked to the new statue, thought that he had never smelled rock with an odor that bad. It smelled like the orc had all ready became rotten. He turned to the other fight still going on. Mana weapons and parts of spells lay here and there. Tom seemed to be winning, but the other still fought hard. Too hard, Tom was tiring. Rod thought for a moment and decided there was some mana around after all-he sucked in the spell parts and a blade thing that was all mana. With a motion he created a shield in front of the dark mage, which deflected all the guy’s attacks. He jerked in surprised, glared at Rod, but still tried to fight Tom. The girl woke up, sat up, looked around. She frowned at the fight, looked amazed when she saw the now rock orc. She pulled a crystal necklace from under her top and concentrated. A red bolt flew from it and hit the dark mage in the back. He jerked, turned his head, looked down at her. He shivered, back up, pain showed on his face. He touched something hidden in his clothes, swirled his arms around like a silent movie villain and disappeared. She got up explained, that he had taken her by surprise when she tried to fight off the orc. He must have wanted her necklace and maybe her too. She thanked them both. Rod nodded glad that he was able to help and that others knew how to fight evil also.

end

Again it's been way too long since my last posting here, I got busy with writing and formatting by e-books and just plain forgot. But here are two new ones a bit over one thousand and three-fourths of (1799) a thousand words.

Story Eleven and Twelve

enjoy:

  Rod threw the glass fragment toward the gnome. The small being leapt up, caught it. He looked it over, threw it at the foot tall trash heap with old clothes, rotten fence posts, grass clippings and what might be a smashed baby carriage that lay in the neighbor’s yard near his. Rod had no doubt that It landed just where the gnome wanted Rod though. Rod looked heavenward, that Project of mana should have blinded the gnome for a few minutes. Long enough for Rod to get close enough to throw his Mana charged net on the guy.  He looked at his brown house, it was small barely large enough for him and his training. 

    Now what? The gnome was sent here to be a pain, by whom he didn’t know yet. He didn’t deserve to be blasted, burned or have something large and heavy dropped on him. Rod sniffed and added to his thought, even with the gnome sweat stunk. It was too warm to be out here working hard to get rid of this guy. Speaking of dropping and stinking, maybe that dragon would drop something Rod could direct toward the gnome. That would chase him away. But when he scanned the sky, of course no dragon--where was him when he needed him. Shouldn’t have expected him to come by at this moment. 

     A flicker made him look around, it came from the glass fragment. It seem to glow-glow? However speaking of flying creatures and flickering. He brought out a whistle from a pocket. He blew it hard and long while he thought of tiny yellow flying people. The tone changed, the gnome held his ears, but Rod knew he could stand it. A few minutes later, while the Gnome acted like he relaxed on a lounger, two fairies flew up. They looked exactly the same to Rod. He offered them bread and beer, if they did him a favor. For a second Rod thought he could go for a salami and pepperoni deep dish pizza with beer right now. 

    The two owed him one anyway but best to be courteous especially when dealing with the fea. And he didn’t want to call a favor in for this. They would do this for fresh sourdough and pizza--no source, meat, cheese, veggies--maybe some garlic and/or basil and/or rosemarie and of course bowls of beer. Whatever beer he could get that had the highest alcohol rate. They talked to each other in chimes and tinkles. They turned back, nodded at him, and flew off. 

     In about ten minutes-Rod was reading a book on his own lounger, that way he could act like he was ignoring the Gnome.  The two fairies came back at that moment. They repeated what he offered and he said he would pay it, they whistled loud and musical. A large group of fairies flew in and buzzed the gnome. He looked startled. 

      Rod said, “I invited them to move in. They will need a place to sleep and another to use as a latrine. They are a choir, so they will be lots of singing and playing--all hours of the night and day. Oh, yes on and off shining also.” The fairies started up with a really off song, sounded like cats fighting and brass lids clashing. They also flickered their glows to the music. They’re not bad at that, Rod thought, maybe they hang around a disco or a modern club. An hour later they switched to certain human certain songs that they repeated fifty times each. Then back to the original song. 

      The Gnome screamed, put his fingers in his ears, said something that sounded like “You win,” and took off. The fairies finished their song and stopped. Rod ordered the plain pizzas, some with straight garlic and basil. He went to the store bought some German and Assue beer. He didn’t need a lot of that though. They all drink and ate, the twins came to him, thanked him--something they had learned form humans-followed it up with an “any time”. They all flew off. He looked around at the mess they left behind. But at least the gnome would not be eating his plants or listening in on conversations and gossiping on what he learned, nor attacking any of his guests or neighbor’s dog. Not a bad deal in that case and the fairies liked him even more which was always good. 

  end eleven

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“Hey, Joanna wait.”

She moved away with a hurried walk. The city streets didn’t have a lot of people for which he was glad. A drunk sat with his back to the stone front of a closed for the night office building. Cars ran by, a delivery truck rumbled by.

Just before she reached an open conveyance store Joanne turned back to Rod and said, “Why?”

“I’m sorry if I didn’t say something right, but you are welcome to the class.”

“No--it wasn’t you. I don’t want to go, I don’t need it.”

Rod frowned, “Oh?”

The air seemed to turn warm along with her anger. 

“There will be too many new people there and even though I can store Mana, I create much of what I use--that is how I glow. I don’t have wings, but I can glow and sing.”

Rod thought, yeah she is a good singer , can hum and make a type of chiming sound, I hadn’t heard anyone else do. 

She continued, “New Magers sometimes freak out when they learn what I can do. They usually avoid me.”

He blinked when her previous statement made it into the forefront of his mind, She can glow and can make a chiming noise?

Out-loud he said, “You can glow?”

She looked at his eyes, maybe to see if he was teasing, or lying for another reason.

“Yes, I can. Tony and Wanda have seen me--they didn’t tell you ?”

Rod shrugged, not sure about what to say, besides, “Nooo.”

“And why would new Mages freak out, a lot of mages do special things, many young ones think it’s cool.”

 “I do it naturally, it’s part of my heritage.”

  After a long moment he stood there confused, “I don’t care about your heritage, most mages don’t.”

 “They do mine when the suspect.”

 He decided to go with the thought that had formed, “What? You‘re half fairy?”

 She nodded with an angry expression.

 “Okay, some people don’t like half human-half mythos but it shouldn’t be that bad and no one should freak out.”

“They think I am a fake human; a fairy with a glimmer to disguise me; to trick them or to punish them for something or for some mischief.”

“Okay, I can see that but still. I mean they have to get used to mythos if they are to be  mages. But you are full size-pretty much. How in the world did your parents get together for conceiving?”

She glared a him. “You want me to show it on film-or a Mana video? Are you into that type of porn?”

He frowned-she sounded, acted serious yet that question wasn’t worded seriously, but this was Joanna. 

Rod shook his head a very hot and strong cup of coffee would be good, it might help him think better too, “Not what I meant. I’m sorry if I’m confused--did your parents find a certain love spring and drink from it at the same time?”

“They never explained, but it isn’t the first time it has happened.”

“So you got something from the half of your parent who is a fairy?”

She nodded once, hard, “Yes, I can also make fairy dust sometimes, but it’s infrequent.”

He raised his eyebrows at that. 

She continued, “You didn’t know? That’s why Stormina keeps trying to capture me; he wants to use my natural fairy mana. My body keeps making it and he could keep draining me.”

Rod let out an obscenity. Her eyebrows went up.

“You thought he just liked my looks?”

Rod nodded, “You are beautiful.”

“I got that from my mother also, even if only some of it. That could be part of what he wants but mostly he wants my power.”

Rod wanted badly to ask how a fairy could carry even half human baby, but knew she wouldn’t appreciate the question. It must have had to do with her fairy magic combined with the magic from that love spring if that is what happened. 

He again didn’t know what to say so he decided to take a chance--his mentor and friends keep telling him he should stretched himself and take different types of chances.

“Can you control the glow?”

“Yes! Most of the time. If I get excited, or very happy, it can slip on, but that doesn’t happen often. But when it does it gives me away.”

He decided to ignore the last part of her response, “And you are half a human mage?”

She nodded with one short movement.

He took a deep breath, smelled her perfume-wondered for half a second if it was natural, but fairies don’t have a natural smell like that. And he would have noticed it sooner. 

“That means you...”

She waited to respond when a large truck ground its gears, “Yes, that I still need to be able to store mana in crystals and other storage devices.”

“You need all the help you can get fighting Stormina, that would be a one hell of surprise for him if he came after you and found you more powerful than he expected.”  

She looked at him with a half puzzled look.  

He still wasn’t sure how to convince her, he inclined his head to the right in a quarter shrug and he said, “You need something more to beat him. We’re friends. You need this. Think about what I just said. You need training and we need your experience.”

She  sighed, a thoughtful expression formed on her face. After what seemed like a very long time to him she said, “Okay, I’ll come.”

“Good,”

 They walked half way back to the building. He thought of another chance,

“If we’re friends I can ask a delicate question, which doesn’t have anything to do with how your parents mated. Is fairy dust really--hum, poop?”

She blinked, looked hard at him, “No, it comes from our pores--when it does. That idea comes from a writer, not real life.” 

He nodded somehow relieved. He motioned for her to enter the class first. She gave a rare smile and walked back to the class.  He gave his own half smile, he had learned something, taken a chance and thereby helped a friend. That was all good. 

end