Flux

muffled sounds of protest, which she ignored.
    Akilina placed the cut piece of sweater into her basket. She dumped the shells in then, and poured something oily-looking out of the little jar. In a warbling language Miner had never heard before, she called out a few words. The Bhujanga flapped over and landed on her outstretched palm. It squawked in protest but didn’t fly away as she pinched one of its wing feathers between two fingers and yanked it out. She tossed the hand with the bird upwards and the bird flew back to the wall. She put the feather in the basket.
    From somewhere in the folds of her skirt she produced a small book bound in red leather, with gold curlicues that may or may not have been words. She opened the little volume to a page that must have been previously marked and she began to chant. Again, Miner didn’t understand the language—this one was harsh and cackling, like crows fighting over something shiny—but something about it made him dizzy.
    When flames erupted from the little basket, he jerked backwards so violently that he almost fell over. The flames burned with unnatural colors—blues and greens, mostly—and he could smell scorched wool and something else spicier, a bit like pepper.
    Akilina laughed discordantly and resumed her spell, louder this time. The flames shot higher and Ennek leaned away from them, lest they burn his face. There was a loud sound like a cannon shot. Miner’s ears rang with it, but Akilina just kept on chanting.
    A cloud formed suddenly in the bright blue sky. It was directly over them and it roiled about, a dark and forbidding gray. Ennek lifted his head to look up at it, and from the expression on his face, Miner thought that perhaps it was Ennek who had called the cloud and not Akilina. Miner’s suspicion was confirmed when rain started pouring from the cloud, drenching all of them.
    Miner was glad for the rain. He tilted his face up and swallowed the falling water, cool and sweet. He fancied he could feel it washing the dirt and dried urine from him. Purifying him, almost.
    Akilina, on the other hand, screeched angrily and angled her body over the basket, sheltering the flames and the pages of her book from the downpour. She managed to scorch some of her own hair in the process, but the fire continued to burn until a few moments later, when there was another bang and she shouted in triumph. The fire disappeared all at once. She bent slightly and scooped the contents of the basket into one hand, then smeared it over Ennek’s left pectoral muscle. It looked like some sort of thick, viscous paste, iridescent like a gem or the Bhujanga’s feathers.
    Several things happened at once. The rain stopped as quickly as a faucet turned off and the cloud melted away. Ennek screamed and fell to his side, writhing in his bonds, toppling his bag and Miner’s onto the wet roof. Akilina stepped to the side and watched him. Miner yelled too and tried to knee-walk to Ennek’s side, but he was still tightly hobbled and he fell over as well. Unable to right himself, he could only watch his beloved’s agony.
    Luckily, the magical substance did its work quickly and then softened and flowed off Ennek’s skin and onto the roof. The goo left a mark behind. Miner tried to get a good look at it as Ennek’s screams subsided into harsh panting. It was, not surprisingly, in the shape of a feather. The edges were raised and reddened, as if they had been scarred by a knife blade.
    Akilina bent to inspect the mark and then huffed with satisfaction. “Excellent,” she said to herself. She grabbed a fistful of Ennek’s hair and with startling strength was able to pull him back up onto his knees. As he balanced precariously, looking as if he might be sick at any moment, she let go of him and brushed her hand against her wet skirt.
    “Can you feel it?” she asked Ennek. “My will coursing through you, binding you like a leash? Because I can feel you , Ennek, and your powers are greater than I had imagined. How foolish you were to waste them as you did. You could have been a mighty wizard, you know. But now, with your powers added to mine, I shall rule without limits. I shall reshape the entire world to my wishes!”
    Ennek interrupted her gloating with a snarl. “I’ll never let you. Thelius bound me to him and I broke him nonetheless. I’ll do the same to you.”
    She laughed dismissively. “You shall do no such thing. Now you are my slave, boy. And speaking of