Jax Edison Season One

So, the first season of Jax Edison has ended.  Thanks to everyone who's been reading, and I hope you're enjoying the story so far!  Things are going to get even crazier for our heroes in Season Two, as they find themselves drawn deeper into the trials and crises of the larger world.  New readers can catch up on Season One starting with the first episode.

Season Two will begin in September, following a short hiatus for the summer, while I plot out the next run of stories and hopefully give myself a bit more of a buffer than I had this season.

If you'd like to be made aware of exactly when the next season will start, you can check back here toward the end of August.  I'll post an exact date then.

You can also like the Hemisphere Studios Facebook Page, which will keep you up to date on Jax Edison, as well as all my other stories, books, and such.

Again, thanks so much for reading and have a great summer!

27:Last of the God Kings

Jax and Nikki were led into a vast circular chamber.  Large stone columns formed a ring around a central dais topped by an opulent throne.  A circle of men and women in voluminous robes surrounded the throne, while servants dressed in flowing silks moved silently about, performing various menial tasks.  A man sat slumped on the throne.  A series of vacuum tubes protruded from a large metal plate that had been bolted to his shaved head, along with thick cables that ran up to a giant machine that hung from the high ceiling.  Energy crackled around the cables and the tubes blinked on and off.  He did not seem to be aware of his surroundings.  One of those standing around the throne spoke.

“Who comes before the great God King?” she demanded.

“Don’t you know?” Jax asked, hands resting on her guns.  Those who’d brought them to the chamber had quickly withdrawn, and no one else in the room appeared to be armed.

“Mind your tone,” one of the men said.  “You address the Apostles of his Divine Majesty.”

“My most sincere apologies,” Jax said, removing her hat and offering an exaggerated bow.  “My name is Jax Edison, and this is my wife, Nikki Bones.  We are but humble travelers seeking our missing companion, a Ms. Lora Neely.”

“She is here,” another woman said, gesturing toward one of the servants.  “Lora serves the God King now, as the two of you soon will.”

Lora stepped forward, her mouth slack and her eyes glowing white.  “True joy is found only in service to the God King,” she said, her voice a dull monotone.

“Yes,” Jax said with a smirk, “you look very happy.”  To the Apostles, she said, “If it’s all the same to you, we will decline your generous offer of service and be on our way with Ms. Neely.”

“I think not,” the Apostle said.  “You will serve.”  Her eyes flared a brilliant red.

Jax continued to smirk, Nikki joining her.  “No,” they said in unison.

The other Apostles’ eyes glowed red.  “You will serve!” they commanded.

“We will not!” Jax and Nikki responded.

“None can resist the will of the God King!” the Apostles cried.

“Clearly, that’s not true,” Jax said, “and, frankly, I don’t believe the God King has much to do with any of this.”  She drew her guns.  “But I really don’t care.  You’ve obviously been siphoning this poor bastard’s power to your own ends for who knows how long, and for all I give a damn, you can go on doing it until the sun burns out.”  She aimed both guns toward the dais.  “But we are taking the girl with us.”

The woman at the front of the dais raised her hands above her head, magical energy crackling around them.  “If you will not serve,” she yelled, “then you will die!”

Before she could unleash her attack, Jax put a bullet between her eyes.  As she fell, energy fed back around the remaining Apostles, up into the machine, and down the cables.  The God King twitched, and the tubes in his head glowed brightly.

“Impossible!” one of the other women on the dais shouted.  “Weapons do not harm the Apostles!”

“Mm,” Jax said with a smile.  “I’ve some fairly compelling evidence to the contrary.”  She gestured at the dead Apostle.

Around the room, the servants stumbled.  Lora blinked her eyes, shaking her head.

“Jax?” she looked around, confused.  Then, her eyes flared white and she smiled.  “All are as one in service to the God King.”

Jax fired again, and another Apostle fell.  More energy fed back into the machine, and one of the tubes on the God King’s head burst with a loud pop.  He moaned.

The servants all began to shake off their control.

“What’s going on?” Lora asked, holding her head.  “Where are we?”

“Later,” Jax said.  “We’re in a bit of a situation at the moment.  Get behind us.”

Lora moved behind Jax, next to Nikki, who’d been standing very still with her eyes closed since the shooting began.  She opened her eyes and looked over at Jax.  “Any time you’re ready, dearest.”

“How dare you?!” another of the Apostles screamed.  “You violate the sacred chambers of the--”

“Oh, shut up,” Jax said, aiming her gun at him.  “This is your last chance.  Let us leave, or you all die.”

He prepared a magical attack.  “It is you who will die!”

Jax looked at Nikki.  “Now, love, if you don’t mind.”

All at once, thick roots burst up through the floor of the chamber, wrapping themselves around the remaining Apostles.  The roots twisted, and the chamber filled with the sickening cracks of breaking bones.  A final surge of energy fed back through the cables, and all of the tubes on the God King’s head exploded.  He screamed and fell out of his throne, the cables coming loose from his head with a series of hisses and pops.

Jax leaped up the steps of the dais, catching the God King in her arms.  He looked up at her, blinking rapidly.

“What... where..?”

“I imagine it’s a very long story,” Jax said.  “For now, please accept my apology for the mess.”

He managed a weak laugh before passing out.

***

“More time than I would care to imagine,” the God King said later, in answer to Jax’s question regarding the length of his imprisonment.  He lay in bed, his thin frame growing more frail by the moment, as he aged rapidly before Jax’s eyes.  “Yes,” he said, “they were keeping me alive.  We Indovinare were long-lived, but not that long.”

“Indovinare,” Jax whispered, incredulous.  “You were one of the Architects of the Awakening?”

He chuckled, and it became a cough.  “The Awakening,” he muttered.  “Yes, me and mine brought about the Awakening, then you and yours rushed back to sleep.”

“I don’t understand.”

He gestured with one gnarled and twisted hand.  “You bear guns,” he said.

“Yes.”

He nodded.  “I knew something of the world, while I sat in thrall to my would-be disciples.  I saw the proliferation of machines, the use of technology.”  He coughed again.

“We have the use of certain machines,” Jax said, “though our technology is nowhere near that of the ancient world.”

“No,” he spat, “nor should it be.”  He sighed.  “I lived in that ancient world, with its plethora of machines, its ubiquitous technology.  All that blinking and beeping and other goddamned noises.  The belching of fumes and the vomiting of vile chemicals all over the place.”  He shook his head.  “We were supposed to end all that.”  He looked at her.  “Machines don’t work very well, do they?”

“The simple ones do,” she said, “but the ancient computing devices and other more complex technology hasn’t worked since the Awakening.”

“Mm,” he grunted, a satisfied smile on his face, “and they won’t, you mark me.  Magic sets electronics on the fritz something awful.”  He was silent a while as he labored to breathe.  “You need to understand,” he said, “in my day, technology had made the world so much smaller than it had ever been.  By the time I was grown, people were sending holographic avatars of themselves out to have sex with total strangers on the other side of the world.”

“Holographic?” The word did not come easily to Jax.

“Holograms,” he said.  “Don’t worry about it.  You’ll never see one.  My point is,” he went on, his voice growing weaker, “that our technology made all of us smaller too.  Our thoughts were smaller, our dreams were smaller, even our desires were smaller.  If we couldn’t see it on a screen, we didn’t want to see it.  If you couldn’t reduce it to ones and zeroes, it wasn’t worth a damn.”

“So, the Awakening was in response to that?”

He shook his head, his breath coming in wheezing gasps.  “No no no, it wasn’t a response, it wasn’t intentional at all.  It just happened.  One minute, magic was the stuff of made-up stories, the next...” he smiled, “poof.”

“Then, what--”

He gripped her arm with the desperate strength of a dying man.  “No questions!” he hissed.  “I don’t have time.”  He locked eyes with her.  “We made the world big again, we made people big again, and humanity has been shrinking everything back down ever since.  Magic didn’t fit in technology’s box, so you people went and made other boxes for it.  Spells, chants, rituals... it’s all garbage.  You don’t need it.  You never did.”  He gestured for her to lean in closer.  She did.  “I don’t have much left,” he wheezed, “but whatever I still have, is yours now.  Make things big again,” he gasped.  Then, with the very last of his strength, he leaned up and kissed her forehead, before falling back, dead.

Jax stumbled away from the bed.  The spot where he’d kissed her had stung, and now it burned.  Soon, it was as though her brain was on fire.  With a scream, she fell to the floor, clutching her head.

***

“And that’s when you killed her.”  Rian Delacour sat forward in her chair, hands clutched together.  She’d been sitting and listening to this wretched girl tell her interminable story for what seemed like hours, and she’d still not received confirmation that Jax Edison was dead.

“No,” Lora Neely said with a small smile.

“No?” Rian’s voice turned cold and distant.  “I hired you to do a job, Ms. Neely.  One for which you came highly recommended.”

“Oh, I know, Ms. Delacour,” Lora said, still smiling.

“What are you smiling about?!” Rian demanded.  “You look entirely too satisfied for someone who has failed so completely.  You show up out of nowhere, after months with no communication, make me sit through an idiotic story about some adventure you and Edison went on, only to finally tell me that you didn’t manage to do the one thing I hired you to do!”  Her face flushed as her anger grew.  “And don’t think for one second that I’ll keep this to myself!  If you think you will ever get another job after this debacle, you are sorely--”

“It’s okay, Ms. Delacour,” Lora said, still wearing her small contented smile, “I don’t want another job.  I don’t need one, really.”

Rian blinked, confused.  Then, realization dawned.  “You mercenary little bitch,” she growled.  “Edison bought you off!  She found you out and beat my price.  That is just...” she shook her head, disgusted.  “Time was, you could count on assassins to honor their contracts, no matter how much money the mark waved in their face.  They took pride in their work, once upon a time.  Now...” she waved her hand at Lora.  “Young people,” she muttered.

“No, no,” Lora shook her head.  “It’s nothing like that.  It’s just...” she sighed.  “You won’t understand this, Ms. Delacour, but, you see, I’ve abandoned the life of an assassin.  I follow The Path now.”

“What path?”

“Ja’naam,” Lora replied.  “It’s a word in the language of the Faer Folk.  It means ‘path of renewal’.”  She smiled again, this time a bit ruefully.  “You were right about one thing, Ms. Delacour.  Jax found me out.  After her meeting with the last of the Indovinare, she has powers unlike any you’ve seen.  She could see straight into my mind and knew instantly what I’d planned.  She was angry, to be sure.  I’d planned to kill her wife first, then strike her down while she was distracted by grief.  I thought for sure she’d kill me,” she shook her head, “but she didn’t.  She invited me to join her.  Once she shared what she knew with me, of all we were, and all we can be, well... being an assassin... it just seemed so small a thing, you know?”

Rian shook her head.

Lora laughed.  “It doesn’t matter.”

At that moment, ten young women entered Rian’s office, each of them bearing some kind of weapon.

“What is this?!” Rian demanded, fear creeping up her spine.

“I stopped by my old school on my way here,” Lora said, “and had a bit of a reunion with some old friends.  I proclaimed The Path to them, and they’ve pledged themselves to walk it with me.  Plus, I’m about to have a lot to carry, and needed some strong arms.”  She cleared her throat as she drew a long knife.  “You see, Ms. Delacour, what Jax Edison has in mind is going to cost a bit of money, and, since we don’t really have any to speak of, we decided to take yours.”

Rian stood, backing up against the wall behind her desk.  “Now, wait a minute Lora,” she said nervously.  “I thought you’d given up the life of an assassin.”

“Oh, I have,” Lora said, walking around the desk, light gleaming off the blade of her knife.  “The life of a mercenary assassin, at any rate.  But all of us have pledged our skills in service of Jax Edison’s mission.  We are the Ath Bar’en,” she said.  “The Swords of Alchemy.”

“Alchemy?”  Rian hoped she could keep the mad girl talking long enough for someone to come to her aid.

“Yes,” Lora said, standing uncomfortably close to Rian now.  “We call Jax Edison the Alchemist, for she is going to take the base element that is the world we know, and transmute it into something much better.  Of course,” she said, “not everyone will pledge themselves to Ja’naam.  That in and of itself isn’t a problem.  We’ve no intention of forcing anyone to walk The Path who does not feel called to it.  However, those who profit from keeping the world small will always seek to thwart us, and that we cannot allow.  You should be honored, Ms. Delacour,” she said with a smile, “for you are the first of such people to die.”  With no further warning, she sliced off Rian Delacour’s head.  

As the twitching headless corpse fell to the floor, Lora looked down into Rian’s wide staring eyes and smiled in response to the dead woman’s permanent scream.  “But don’t worry,” she promised, “you won’t be the last.”

End of Season One

Season Two: Scourge of Empire

coming in September 2013

26:The Hidden Temple

It was late in the day. Jax, Nikki, and Lora made their way through a strip of forest that marked the boundary between the plains to the east and the vast deserts to the west.

“I still don’t understand why we had to leave the caravan,” Jax said to Lora.  “They were headed for a market.  If we’re going to find these slavers of yours, going to a place where -oh, I don’t know- slaves are bought and sold might be a good idea.”

“I told you,” Lora said, “that drifter we picked up said that most slaves taken in the east don’t even make it to the western markets.  They’re bought by this ‘god king’.”

“And that drifter you put so much stock in also said he was the only begotten son of the goddess Aael, who will usher in the Third Golden Age of Wonder and Majesty,” Jax countered.

“Well,” Lora said defensively, “maybe he is.”

“Maybe,” Jax said, “but I always imagined demigods would smell a bit better and retain more of their teeth.”

“Well I,” Lora began to retort, “always thought... that you...” she sputtered to a stop.  “Fine!” she shouted. “Why don’t you just go back to the caravan, then!  I’ll find my family myself!”  She stormed off deeper into the woods.

Jax rolled her eyes.  “Oh, for the love of...”

Nikki slid her hand into her wife’s.  “Shh,” she said, smiling.  “It’ll be okay.  She’ll wander around the woods in a mood, then I’ll find her.  We’ll look for this temple she’s so set on finding for a while, and when we don’t find it, we’ll head west and meet up with the caravan by their next stop.”  She sighed.  “I don’t think Lora likes traveling with the caravan.”

“Well, I don’t like traveling at all,” Jax complained.

“Really?” Nikki looked up at Jax, surprised.

“Really,” Jax said.  “One thing I’m learning from this trip is that I really am done with this life.  I have a new life with you,” she smiled at Nikki, “and I want to get back to it.”

Nikki leaned against Jax as they walked.  “Well,” she said, “I, for one, have no great desire to move on past this forest.  As I understand the geography, there’s nothing but desert to the west of us until we reach the mountains, which are several weeks away.”

Jax looked at her with concern.  “Will you be able to make it across the desert?”

Nikki patted her arm reassuringly.  “Don’t worry, love.  It won’t be like Engine City.  Even in the harshest deserts, there is some small amount of plant life.  It won’t be pleasant, and I’ll hardly be at my best, but so long as I get enough water, I’ll be fine.”

At that moment, they found themselves surrounded by men and women dressed in leather and silk, each with a gun pointed at Jax and Nikki’s heads.

“Um, I should also point out,” Nikki said quietly, “that I’ll need a minimum of bullets in my head.  Of course,” she amended, “that’s really a general rule, and not specific to surviving the desert.”

Jax’s hands moved very slowly toward her guns, but the sounds of hammers being pulled back made her pause.

“Do not,” one of the women said, with the thick drawl of a Western accent.

“Good advice,” Jax said, raising her hands above her head.  Nikki did the same.

The lead woman gestured with her rifle.  “Move,” she ordered.

Jax and Nikki walked single-file behind two of their captors, while three others walked behind them.  Jax began to mutter the words to one of her new spells under her breath.  She stopped when she felt the butt of a rifle against the back of her neck.

“All attempts at spellcasting will cease,” the man behind her said, giving her a rough shove.  “Any further attempts to work magic, and I will beat you unconscious.”

Jax nodded curtly.  “Fair enough.”

They walked on, making their way along a small trail.

“Where are we going?” Jax asked.

“Quiet,” the man behind her said, shoving her.

“So,” Jax said, with mock-innocence, “you don’t know?”

The man behind her growled, lifting his gun to strike her with it.  “I said quiet!” he bellowed.  He was about to smash the butt of his gun against her head when one of the women walking ahead shouted a word in a language Jax didn’t recognize.  The man stopped, reluctantly lowering his weapon.

“We are bringing you to the Temple of the God King,” the woman told Jax.

“Oh good,” Jax said, “we’ve been looking for that.”

“More fools you are, then,” the woman chuckled.  “No one goes looking for the Temple.”

“Well,” Jax admitted, “we haven’t really been looking for it.  We’re looking for our friend.  She’s the one who’s been looking for it.”  To Nikki, she said, “Remind me to apologize to Lora when we find her.  Turns out this temple of hers is real.”

“Oh, it’s real enough,” the woman said.  “And you’ll soon see your friend again.  We found her wandering just outside the walls.”

“Yes,” Jax said, “she does that.  Thank you so much for looking after her.”  She smiled.  “So, we’ll just pop by and pick her up, then?”

The man behind her growled.  “Let me crack her skull, just once.”

The woman ahead of Jax shook her head.  “She’s just winding us up.  You know the God King likes them undamaged.”

“Tell us about this God King,” Nikki said, before turning to Jax and mouthing the words “stop it”.  “Where did he come from?  How long has the temple been there?  What is his name?”

“He has been lord and master of the Temple for as long as anyone can remember,” the woman said.  “It is written that he built the Temple with his bare hands, using stone he tore from the side of a mountain.  As for his name,” she went on, “it is not for you to know.”

“Do you know it?” Jax asked, ignoring a pointed glare from Nikki.

“Only the First Among the Apostles know it,” the woman said, shaking her head.  “Only they are so blessed.  To all others, he is simply the God King.”

Nikki would have asked more questions, but at that moment, the trees began to thin and they arrived at their destination.  Three stone pyramids rose up from behind a wall, gold adornments glittering in the sun.

They passed by the guards at the gate, entering what appeared at first glance to be a small village.  The pyramids dominated the center of the complex, with smaller buildings made of rough stone and wood sprawled out around them.  Small farms and gardens dotted the remaining open space, and there was even a small central market.

“What is this place,” Jax whispered.

“You have reached the sacred Temple of the God King,” the woman told her prisoners.  Then, before she could say more, her eyes flashed white a moment, and she turned to her captives, eyes still glowing slightly.  She looked straight at the two women.  “Prepare yourselves,” she said.  “He will see you now.”

25:Into the West

“Easy,” Jax said. “Just a nice, gentle squeeze.”

She stood behind Lora, as the girl took aim with one of Jax’s pistols at a line of glass bottles and metal cans.  They were at the edge of a large merchant camp, off the side of a road making its way through the broad plains.  Lora followed Jax’s advice, and was rewarded with hitting three out of five targets.  She looked back and smiled wide.

“I did it!”

“That you did,” Jax said, grinning.  She reached forward for the gun.

Lora hesitated, her lower lip extending in a pout.  “Another?” she asked.

Jax laughed.  “No,” she said.  “I think we’ve all had enough indiscriminate shooting for one night.”

Lora’s expression turned sheepish as she handed over the gun.  “I said I was sorry,” she insisted.  “It was an accident!”

“Yes, well,” Jax said, reloading the gun.  “That may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that one of our apprentice mechanics is missing part of an ear.”

Lora chewed at her bottom lip.  “I should go apologize again,” she said.

“No, you shouldn’t,” Jax warned her.

“But-”

“Let it lie, girl.”

Lora sighed, nodding.  Then, her face brightening again, she asked, “But I am getting better?”

“It would be very hard for you to do any worse.”

The pout returned.

“Aw, now,” Jax laughed. “I’m only teasing.  Yes,” she assured the young woman, “you are doing much better.”

“Then can I have my own gun?”

“Not that much better.”

“Aw.”

“Come on,” Jax put an arm around the girl’s shoulders, “let’s get back to camp.  Sun’s going down, and we’ll want to be getting to bed.”

They walked the short distance back to the camp, which was mainly the vehicles of a merchant caravan ranged in an arc around a central fire, with tents of various sizes and colors, pitched closer to the center.  As none of the trio knew much of the Far West, it was decided to hire on with the caravan, at least at the beginning of their journey.  Lora worked in the kitchens, while Nikki joined the healers, and Jax rode guard with the other fighters.  Lora had a small lean-to of leather that she pitched against the side of the kitchen wagon, while Jax and Nikki, possessed of valued skills, had been given one of the small sleeping compartments built inside a very large steam carriage.  Jax saw Lora to her tent, then joined Nikki in their cramped quarters, where she found her wife in bed, reading by lamplight.

“More shooting lessons?” Nikki asked

Jax nodded.  “A few more, and she may just hit the broad side of a barn.”

“Well,” Nikk’s tone became clipped, “I’m sure you’re both having fun.”

“Eh,” Jax shrugged, sitting at the edge of the bed and taking off her boots.  “I guess.  The kid is a quick study.”  She paused, one boot on and one off.  “Though, tonight I noticed--”

“Do you think you could stop talking about Lora for five seconds?!” Nikki demanded.

Jax looked at her wife, eyes blinking with incomprehension.  Then, she grinned.  Her grin became a chuckle, which in turn became a deep belly laugh.

“Are you laughing at me?” Nikki became even more cross, tossing her book aside.

“Are you jealous?” Jax countered, still laughing.

“No!” Nikki snapped, arms folded across her chest.  She looked away from Jax, then, after a few moments, glanced back out of the corners of her eyes.  “Maybe,” she muttered.  Her hands fell to her lap, and she looked down at them.  “Ok, yes,” she said softly, “a little.”

“Then yes,” Jax said, wiping at her eyes, “I am most definitely laughing at you.”

“Don’t make fun!” Nikki swung a pillow at Jax’s head.

“Then don’t be ridiculous,” Jax said, catching it.  She saw that Nikki’s wounded feelings were somewhat genuine, and stifled her laughter, reaching out to caress Nikki’s cheek.  “Oh, love,” she said, “why would I waste my time with some slip of a girl, when I have the most amazing woman in the world all for my very own?”

“You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with her.”

Jax laughed again.  “I’m teaching the girl skills she’ll need to survive, that’s all,” she said.  “Trust me, dearest, I look on her as I would a little sister, or perhaps the obnoxious child I never wanted.”

Nikki nodded and smiled, leaning forward to kiss her wife, her jealousy dissipated.

Jax returned the kiss, then removed her other boot, along with her guns, pants and shirt, before climbing into bed with Nikki.  “That all being said,” she put her arms about her wife, “I have clearly been neglecting you.  I should remedy that.”

“You should.”

Jax leaned in and nuzzled Nikki’s neck.

“Jax?” Nikki asked.

“Mmm?”

“Do you really not want children?”

Jax leaned back and regarded Nikki, eyebrow raised.  “That came out of nowhere,” she said.

Nikki met Jax’s eyes.  “Well, now it’s out there,” she said.  “So, do you?”

“Do you?”

Nikki nodded.

Jax smiled and shook her head.  “You’ve never mentioned it before.”

Nikki smiled back.  “I’ve only started thinking about it recently.”

Jax cleared her throat.  “Well, dearest,” she said, “unless you intend to find us an orphan on the way home from this adventure, I’m afraid you and I aren’t going to--”

Nikki placed her finger gently on Jax’s lips.  “You forget, my love,” she said softly, “while I may have the features of a mortal woman--”

“You have more than just the features of a mortal woman,” Jax said lasciviously.

“That counts as a feature,” Nikki replied, crossly.

“I’ll say,” Jax ran her hand up Nikki’s thigh.

Nikki cleared her throat loudly.  “While I may have the features,” she grabbed Jax’s hand, holding it tight between her own, “of a mortal woman, I am in no way mortal, nor even human.  I won’t bore you with the details, but I assure you, darling,” she lay a hand gently against Jax’s cheek, “if we wish it, we can have children.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed,” Nikki said.  “So, I ask again: do you want to?”

Jax sat back in bed, thinking it over.  “I never did before,” she said, finally, “but now, with you...”  She smiled.  “I think I would very much like having children with you.”  She held up a hand.  “So long as I’m not the one birthing them,” she said.

“No, dearest,” Nikki said with a small laugh.  “That would be me.”

“Okay, then.”

“Okay.”

That sat in silence a while, just staring into each other’s eyes.

“We’re having a baby,” Jax said, her voice full of wonder.

“We’re having a baby,” Nikki repeated, smiling happily.

“Not until this is over, though,” Jax said, returning to herself somewhat.

“Of course,” Nikki quickly agreed.  “When this is over, and we’re home again.”

The two women smiled at one another, then, Nikki leaned forward, whispering in Jax’s ear.  “I believe you were about to remedy all that neglect I’ve been suffering.”

“Why, yes,” Jax answered, grinning.  “I do believe I was.”

Nikki reached over to extinguish the light, and Jax pulled the covers up over them, but it was quite some time before they slept.

24:Honeymoon's End

Jax pulled the sheet of paper from the typewriter, added it to the massive tome on the desk, and placed the book on a shelf, just as Nikki entered the room with two cups of tea.

“Was that it?” she asked.

Jax smiled.  “Last one.”  She patted the thick spine of the spellbook she’d written.  “This book now contains every spell that passed through my head while I was hooked into Engine City. Oh,” she took a cup.  “Thanks, love.”

“Now what?” Nikki asked.

“Mm?” Jax sipped at her tea, walking away from her desk toward the living room.

“What are you going to do with these spells now that you’ve transcribed them?  As you’ve said, many of them haven’t been seen or even known of for centuries.” Nikki took a sip of her her own tea, joining Jax on their small couch.

Jax shrugged.  “I copied a few into my own spellbook,” she held up her battered leather-bound notebook.  “Otherwise, I suppose I just wanted them out of my head.”

“I understand the trade in rare spells can be quite lucrative,” Nikki mentioned idly.

Jax shook her head.  “Ohh, no,” she said.  “There’s no way I’m letting even half those spells out into the magical population.  There are spells in that book that could end the world.”  She shuddered.  “I get frightened just thinking about casting some of them.”

Nikki laughed.  “Oh, love,” she said, “you judge yourself too meanly.  I’m certain if anyone is capable of world-destroying magic, it’s you.”

Jax smiled.  “You always know just what to say.”

Nikki leaned in close. “It’s why you married me.”

Jax touched her forehead lightly against her wife’s.  “One of the reasons, anyway.”

Their lips had just brushed against one another when there was a knock at the door.

Jax and Nikki turned to look at the door, then back at each other.

“Is someone knocking at our door?” Jax asked incredulously.

“It certainly sounded like it.”

There was another knock, this one louder and more insistent.

Jax nodded.  “Yes,” she said, “someone is definitely knocking at our door.”

“Who even knows we live here?” Nikki asked.

Jax shrugged.  “I suppose I’ll answer it and find out,” she said, standing.

“Um, dearest,” Nikki said, “you might want to let me answer it, while you go and put some clothes on.”  She pointed at Jax, who was wearing nothing aside from a short, thin robe that was untied.

“Ah,” Jax said.  “Yes.  We wear clothes in front of people.”

“Traditionally,” Nikki answered, standing up from the couch.  Leaves grew across her body, covering her appropriately.  As she crossed the room to the door, Jax went to their bedroom.

She opened the door to reveal a young woman dressed in what could charitably be called rags.  Her hair was greasy and tangled, and it was clear she had not bathed in some time.  She was thin, giving the appearance of one who had not been eating regularly.  She looked fearfully up at Nikki as she opened the door.

“Are you...” she stammered, “are you the dryad known as Nikki Bones?”

“I am.”

“And is it true you are the lover of the great warrior-mage, Jax Edison?”

Nikki laughed.  “Warrior-mage?  Well, I wouldn’t call her that, child -at least, not to her face- but Jax Edison is my wife.”

At that, the girl on Nikki’s front porch smiled, then broke down in tears.

“Here now,” Nikki said softly, putting an arm around the girl.  “Here now, child.  I’m sure it isn’t as bad as all that.  Come.”  She led the girl inside the house and shut the door.

“I’m sorry,” the girl said between sobs, “but I... I...” she broke down again, unable to speak.

“It’s all right,” Nikki said.  “It is clear you’ve suffered no small amount of hardship on your journey.”  She patted the girl on the back.  “There, there,” she said.  “How long has it been since you’ve had a decent meal?”

The girl continued crying, merely shaking her head.  Jax entered the room then, dressed in her old traveling clothes, save for the coat and hat.

“Dearest,” Nikki said, “be a love and run our guest a bath.  She’ll be staying for dinner.”

The girl looked up and her eyes grew wide at the sight of Jax.  “It’s you,” she whispered, “the legendary Jax Edison!”

“Legendary?” Jax looked at Nikki, eyebrow raised.

“Oh yes,” her wife said with a grin.  “Apparently you’re known -at least to the people this girl has spoken to- as a ‘great warrior-mage’.”

Jax smiled.  “Warrior-mage,” she said.  “I like the sound of that.”

“I was afraid you would,” Nikki said with a sigh.  “There will be no living with you now.”

“Now now,” Jax said, loftily waving her hand, “I’ll still have time for my loyal and doting wife.”

“Oh dear gods,” Nikki muttered, rolling her eyes.  “Yes, well, if the legendary warrior-mage would be so kind as to run that bath I asked for...”

“But of course,” Jax said with a bow and a flourish.  “It would be my pleasure.”

***

Later, as the freshly-scrubbed young girl finished her third bowl of stew, Jax and Nikki heard her story.

“It was slavers,” she said between mouthfuls, “a whole gang of them, from the Far West.  They came through our village, taking folks.  They took my parents, my brothers...” she swallowed, then put the spoon down.  “I was able to get away, me and my little sister.  We went looking for help, but she...” tears came again to her eyes and she shook her head.  “The road was a little too hard for her.”  She looked between Jax and Nikki, hope in her eyes.  “As I traveled, I heard stories of the two of you.  I heard about how you helped those in need, protected the weak from monsters and all manner of danger, and I thought you might be the ones to help me rescue my family.”

“How did you find us?” Jax asked.

“A skyship captain told me where to find you.  She made me swear not to tell anyone else, and I promise I haven’t,” she assured them, “but I’m just so desperate, I...”

“No, it’s alright,” Jax said, laying her hand on the girl’s arm.  “Captain Wescott did right, sending you to us.  The thing of it is, though,” she glanced over at Nikki, “we’re kind of retired.”

Nikki stood, gesturing for Jax to do the same.  “Excuse us for a moment, would you, dear?” she said.  “I need to speak with Jax.”

Nikki led Jax away from the table, into the living room.  “We need to help her,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Jax asked.  “We help her, there’s going to be fighting.  Fighting and killing.  I’ll need to strap those back on.”  She pointed to the gunbelt hanging from the peg on the wall.

“I know,” Nikki said, “and I’m not suggesting we throw ourselves back into the thick of it.  It’s just...” she looked back toward the kitchen.  “If we turn this girl away, could we really go on living happily here in the forest, knowing we bought that happiness at her expense?”

Jax sighed, shaking her head.  “No,” she said.  Then, smiling, “Just this once?”

“Just this once.” Nikki returned the smile.

Back in the kitchen, the two women told their young guest that they would help her.

“Really?” she said, beaming.

Jax and Nikki nodded.

“Oh, thank you!”  She jumped up from the table, rushing forward to hug each woman in turn.  “Thank you so much!  I can’t begin to tell you how much I...” her voice trailed off, and she looked up, slightly embarrassed.  “I have no way to pay you for--”

Jax waved the statement away.  “Don’t think on that for a moment,” she said.  “We’re happy to help, Miss... I’m sorry,” she said, “but I don’t think I got your name.”

“It’s Lora,” the girl said, reaching out to shake Jax’s hand.  “Lora Neely.”  She smiled.  “And I’m just ever so happy to finally meet you.”