A Hard Night's Day

Chapter Six - Edgar

Edgar

As far as dirt goes, the stuff in Toad Hollow is pretty damn comfortable. It was like a soft down mattress. In reality, if I weren't so utterly drained it would have felt more like plywood. My magick and energy would come back to me just like anyone used beyond their natural stamina, but it was a slow process and it would take a nice, long restful sleep to feel normal again. That just wasn't in the cards. I really needed to invest some time to create an energy storing charm. All the cool Evocators had them and now I could understand why.

"We need to get into town," I said when I caught my breath. "If we don't stop them those beetles are going to lay the place out like an all you can eat buffet."

"Where should we even start?" Grin asked.

Trying to find the bugs would be like looking for a needle in a stack of identically delicious needles. There's so much magick floating around down there that I couldn't think of any one spot they might congregate. But, if the beetles didn't have an agenda maybe they would settle for the first unlucky townsfolk they found.

I struggled into a sitting position, my muscles felt like soft molasses, unable to hold their own weight. I swayed a bit but managed it. Grin offered me a hand and pulled me the rest of the way up. The world spun like crazy. I was happy I didn't puke.

"We'll just have to trust our guts and keep all our senses peeled," I said. "And hope to all the powers that be that they don't find the Brierwood confluence."

Grin raised an eyebrow, "You mean from that old witch legend? If The Gild hasn't been able to find a massive store of energy in the centuries since she disappeared off the face of the Earth, I doubt those little sparkles of terror will. It probably doesn't even exist."

I grunted, "With the way my luck is going today, I wouldn't count it out."

"Heh. How mad do you think the Aurum are going to be when we don't show up for the Gilding?

I spotted the trail into town and we started shambling down it.

"They'll just have to forgive us," I said, but my voice belied my belief. "Saving lives is a little more important. Any Aureate would argue that this constitutes a major breach of the golden rule, 'harm none'".

"True. But you're not an Aureate yet. Maybe we should call for backup? Let them handle it?"

"I would have been one in a few short hours. There's no time to wait around for backup. We both saw how fast and hard those things hit. It's life or death for the people down there and we're the only practitioners with the skills to help, Gild or no Gild."

I could all but see the grin on Grin's face when he said, "Oh, good. I was hoping you would say that."

It was a good downhill trudge, I tried to pick up the pace as much as possible. By the time we reached the parking area at the bottom of the trail I was panting again, but still steady enough to keep moving. The prospective danger of the situation helped to add energy to my steps.

"So, what's the plan when we find the little buggers?" Grin asked.

"All I've got on this point is to burn them with fire," I replied.

He rubbed his hands together, "Cool. I like it."

The town was eerily silent. Usually, at this time of year, there's an influx of tourists getting an early start to snag the best spots on the lake's beach or fishermen getting their breakfast before sailing out for the day's catch. It was as if the fog was dampening the magickal pull of the place along with the sound, keeping everyone indoors and blissfully unaware of the threat zipping by their windows.