A Story, A Story

Familiars

by Michael H. Payne

originally published in Sword and Sorceress 19 (DAW,
January 2002)


     The stink of Crocker's fear hit Cluny like an acorn

dropped from the top of an oak tree, made her tail jitter and

her claws dig into the desk top.  She forced them loose.  "All

right, Crocker.  I'm breaking the link now."

     Kneeling on the carpet across the room, Crocker nodded,

his eyes fixed on the ball of blue fire spinning between his

hands.  With a quick prayer, Cluny lowered herself to all

fours and backed away along the desk, her fur prickling as she

mentally stretched the link between them till she felt it pop.

     Immediately, sparks began crackling through the fireball.

"Hold on," she breathed, but he was already trembling, sweat

now visible on his forehead.  "Hold on, you little--"

     The ball exploded, fire engulfing his hands, and Cluny

leaped to the floor.  "Idiot!"  She scrambled toward him,

pushed her power into his, and water congealed around his

arms, the flame dousing and the healing spells they'd set up

rushing into place.  "You're not feeling the flow!"

     "Tell me about it."  Crocker fell back onto his calves,

ran a wet hand through his hair.  "You snap our link, and I

don't feel anything."

     "Oh, come on."  She glared up at him.  "You do healings

and make light and work doubling magic, so don't tell me--"

     "Sure, small stuff."  He waved an arm, drops spattering

Cluny's fur.  "But I can't even evoke a chapter one fireball,

and with finals next week..."  He sighed, his chubby face lost

in the evening shadows coming through the dorm room curtains.

"The magisters are gonna kick me outta Huxley for sure.  You'd

better request a transfer to another novice."

     Stomach tightening, Cluny turned away.  "I have.  Every

week all semester."

     "You have?"  The shuffle of his robes made her ears fold

back.  "Then...then why hasn't someone asked you to--?"

     "Because I'm a squirrel!"  She whirled back.  "Never mind

that I've memorized the whole freshman spell book!  I'm not a

cat or an owl or a fox, so forget it!  And the magisters say I

don't have the right attitude to be a familiar, that I'm not

deferential enough!"  She bunched her paws into fists and

scowled up at him.  "They only assigned me to you, I'll bet,

so I'd get sick of nursing you along and drop out!"

     Crocker rubbed his ear.  "Actually, I requested you.

After we met during orientation week."

     "What?"  A vague memory, Crocker talking to her at one of

the mixers for maybe two minutes.  "You...requested...?"

     "Yeah."  He gave another sigh and shook more water from

his sleeves.  "Well, if you're stuck with me, I guess we'd

better try this again."

     Staring another second--he'd requested her?--Cluny shook

her head to clear it, scurried across the floor, and jumped

back onto the desk beside his book.  "Well, since the textbook

way isn't working for you..."  She closed it with a thump and

tapped the cover.  "How about you make some light, just a

little in your hand.  You won't need me for that, right?"

     Silence, then a bubble of light began to grow ahead of

her, the room brightening, Crocker's eyes narrow and fixed on

the glowing ball in the air above his palm.

     "That's it."  Her whiskers didn't twitch, so he wasn't

using her power.  "Now, can you make it bigger?"

     "Sure."  He blew on it, and the ball pulsed into a good

handful of light.  "Just like...blowing up a balloon...only

with light."  His eyes darted up from it.  "Now what?"

     "Now?"  She rubbed her whiskers.  Evocation was mostly a

mental discipline, so maybe she could get him to...  "Picture

fire in your mind, lots and lots of fire."  She spread her

claws.  "Then just blow that into the ball instead of light."

     A puff of his fear wafted against her whiskers.  "It's

easy," she said, trying to keep her voice calm.  "Focus on the

fire in your mind.  Then blow just like you did before."

     Several blinks, and he nodded, his eyes narrowing even

more.  He took a deep, shaking breath, puffed his cheeks...

     And Cluny's whiskers sprang straight out, Crocker's spell

grabbing her power and sucking it in.  She tried to snap the

link, but the light in his hand exploded into a huge pillar of

fire, knocking her back into the wall before she could do 

anything.  "Who dares??" a voice thundered, and Cluny looked up

from where she was sprawled to see the pillar flowing into a

fiery female humanoid figure, hair like lava around her broad

shoulders, eyes fiercer than the sun at midday.

     An ifrit.  High Clan, too, Cluny was sure, with those--

     "I haven't got all day!" the ifrit roared.  She swirled

around to fix on Crocker, groaning as he pushed himself up

from the floor in front of the closet.  "You!  Human!  Why

have you disrupted my schedule??"

     Crocker's eyes widened as his head tipped back, his mouth

dropping open.  "Well??" the ifrit shouted.

     The briefest of seconds, and Cluny leaped from the desk,

rushed across to stand in front of Crocker, bowed down all the

way to the carpet.  "Uhh, forgive us, spirit, we meant no 

disrespect.  We were just--"

     "Talking animals??  I haven't got time for this!"  A hand

like a burning tree branch slammed into Cluny, knocked her

sideways into the tangle of blankets on Crocker's bed.  "You

will learn the error of your ways, human!" Cluny heard, and

she clawed her way free just in time to see the ifrit grab

Crocker from the floor.  "You will await me in my realm!  Upon

my return, I will deal with you properly!"

     Flames burst from the ifrit's other hand, hit the wall,

and spiraled open to a blast furnace beyond; a smile sharp as

lightning bolts, and she flicked her claws, Crocker flying

into the furnace, his eyes still wide with terror.  The whole

room flashed, and the creature was gone, Cluny blinking, the

fiery hole in the wall beginning to wheel shut.

     Half a heartbeat she hesitated; then she leaped for the

hole, tucked and rolled and smashed right into the flames,

roaring over her, tumbling her headlong into boiling liquid

pain, her mouth opening to scream--

     And relief surged through her, the breath she drew cool

and damp.  A moment to get her paws under her, and she rose to

find herself standing in a pit of molten rock, the lava

sloughing off the water coating her, her charred fur growing

back as she watched.

     The spell, the dousing and healing one she and Crocker

had set up in case fireball practice got out of hand.  Yes,

her fur prickled under its watery coating, his power drawing

on hers, so their link was intact.  But where was he?

     Squinting against the blazing whites and reds, she could

see that the lava pool she stood in was surrounded by walls of

magma.  She poked at the stuff, steam hissing from her claw,

and frowned.  Like glowing red pudding, nothing to dig into,

no way she could climb out.

     Unless...  If this really was molten rock--she cleared

her mind, concentrated on the flow of her power, focused her

thoughts on the cold spells from Chapter Six of Crocker's

textbook--maybe she could firm it up a bit.

     The motions and phrases came easily, and she felt her

watery coating get colder and colder.  The viscous ground

began to seize up beneath her, and when she pressed her paws

into the glow ahead, the lava crackled, turned gray and

craggy.  It still jiggled, but it wasn't much worse than the

half-dead trees she'd played in growing up.  A quick scramble,

and she dug her paws into more of the magma, solidifying under

her touch and letting her climb higher.

     At least the water spell told her Crocker was still

alive, and he'd have the same protection as long as their link

didn't break.  Unless he'd sunk into the magma: he sure didn't

know the Chapter Six cold spells.

     "Idiot."  Her breath coming faster now with the effort of

holding the cold spell in place, she reached the crest of the

flow, grabbed it, froze it, pulled herself up, and looked down

to see water, a lake lapping against the molten rock walls.

     And bobbing out in the middle, his dark curly hair and

chubby face unmistakable even through the curtains of steam--

"Crocker?" she called.

     "Cluny!"  He sloshed around and started swimming toward

her.  "Where are we?  What was that thing?  How did we--?"

     "You summoned a High Clan ifrit, you idiot!"  She

struggled to keep on her paws, the magma pushing against her

cold spell and against the water rising in the--

     Rising?  Cluny squinted, saw the lake was expanding up

the sides of the pit, felt it draw on her power every time it

sloshed higher.

     "It's our watery healing spell."  Crocker had paddled to

just below her, the water bringing him closer and closer.  "I

used some doubling magic on it, figured I could swim in water

easier than lava, and now, well, now I can't get it to stop."

He was almost level with her now, the water lapping at her

paws, steam geysering up even as ice formed around them.

Crocker stared at it.  "How...how are you doing that?"

     "Chapter Six cold spell."  She tried to back away, but

she was already at the top of the lava flow.

     "What?"  Crocker blinked up at her.  "But...you're a

familiar.  You can't cast spells."

     The water topped the ridge then, rushed past Cluny into

the pit she'd just climbed out of.  Quickly she cut the cold

spell and jumped forward to Crocker's shoulder.  "What I can't

do, Crocker, is swim."

     "Uh-oh," she heard him say, then the current pulled them

over and sucked them down.  Water in her nose, eyes, ears,

Cluny dug her claws into Crocker's hair, his shoulders 

swinging beneath her.  She had to get out, had to breathe, had 

to--

     She grabbed the flow of Crocker's power, added it to her

own, let their combined force roar into her mind.  Directing

it downward, she smashed at the water, hot air rushing past

her whiskers, her stomach yawing; she pushed her face away

from Crocker's hair, gasped for breath, and saw Crocker 

looking down, his eyes wide and staring.  She followed his gaze,

the lake spreading below, several dozen empty yards between

his feet and the water.  "We're flying?" he whispered.

     "Can't be."  The power burning through her made her pant.

"Flying's not...till sophomore year.  I haven't learned--"

     "What's going on here??" a huge voice thundered around

them, and Cluny's stomach clenched, light exploding to reveal

the ifrit, her eyes blazing down over the lava field.  "Who

put all this water on my magma??"  Her gaze snapped up, an

even greater heat slapping against Cluny.  "You again??"

     "Uhh..."  Crocker swallowed so convulsively, Cluny could

feel it.  "I...I'm real sorry about that, but--"

     "I will not have this!"  The ifrit loomed through the

mists, grabbed Crocker with one clawed hand.  "I should have

done this to you the first time!"  She blazed brighter and

hotter than before; then darkness crashed in, and Cluny felt

herself falling.  She still had hold of Crocker, though, so

when they hit the flagstones, he took the brunt of it.

     Flagstones?  She raised her head and blinked as a flood

of firelight showed her the main quad of Huxley College.

     "Gollantz!"  The fire towered into the shouting ifrit.

"Gollantz, get out here!"

     A dark puff of cloud, and Master Gollantz appeared.  He

blinked at the ifrit, then bowed.  "Your Majesty, it's an

honor to have the Ranee of the Ifriti grace our--"

     "Never mind that!"  Everything spun, and Cluny found

herself dangling from Crocker's neck as the ifrit thrust them

into the face of the school's Magister Magistrorum.  "This is

one of yours, isn't it??"

     "Uhh, yes, Ranee."  Master Gollantz cleared his throat,

his glare making Cluny's hackles rise.  "I believe he is."

     The world shook again, Cluny jumping away and landing on

her paws this time when Crocker thudded to the ground.  "He

summoned me, Gollantz!" the ifrit bellowed.  "In absolute 

defiance of the agreements you have with the elemental houses!"

     "Ranee, I am shocked."  Master Gollantz bowed once again

to the ifrit.  "Rest assured: he will be dealt with."

     The ifrit flared up into a huge gout of fire.  "See that

he is!"  And with a burst that Cluny saw even through her

clenched eyelids, the creature vanished.

     Things got very quiet then, and when Cluny opened her

eyes, she saw Master Gollantz, his arms folded, standing above

Crocker.  "One thing, Crocker," the magister said quietly, but

his voice bit at Cluny's ears.  Crocker's eyes shot open, and

he scrambled to his feet, his robe charred and stained, his

face sooty, his hair dripping, his mouth opening.

     But Master Gollantz held up a hand.  "Just tell me how my

lowest ranking novice summoned the Queen of the Ifriti?"

     "Uhh..." was all Crocker managed to say.

     Cluny scurried forward, grabbed the back of Crocker's

robe, climbed up to his shoulder.  "It's my fault, sir."  She

bowed, then straightened to meet Master Gollantz's glare.

"Crocker's been having trouble with fireballs, so I, well, I

was trying to find another way for him to approach the spell."

     "You?"  Master Gollantz's brow wrinkled.  "A familiar

designing a course of study for a student of wizardry?"

     Cluny's mouth went dry, but Crocker spoke up.  "I'm

barely a student, sir.  And Cluny's sure not just a familiar."

     Master Gollantz's brow wrinkled even further, and Cluny

tried to think of something to say.  But Crocker went on, his

eyes moving back and forth between the ground and Master

Gollantz.  "See, sir, at the first mixer during orientation

week, well, all the other novices and familiars were laughing

and talking, and I...I knew I was a fraud, knew I shouldn't be

here no matter what the tests said.  And then, bam!"

     He turned his head toward Cluny, a big smile on his face.

"I saw Cluny sitting in the corner all by herself, and the

flow of her power, it was like...like I was seeing the sun for

the first time.  I'd never really felt magic before I saw her,

and, well, I knew the only way I was gonna get through Huxley

was with her as my familiar."

     She blinked at him, the moment rushing back: her 

frustration that night when the novices wouldn't do more than

glance at her and smirk; the sudden wonderful tingle at her 

whiskers; the short chubby human crossing the room, a goofy 

grin on his face.  All the trouble he'd been since, she'd 

forgotten how...how right she'd suddenly felt.

     "I'm really sorry, Cluny."  Crocker swallowed and looked

away.  "You deserve a real wizard to be partnered with, not an

idiot like me."  His eyes flitted toward Master Gollantz.  "So

please don't blame her, sir.  She was only trying to help me."

     Silence fell, Cluny's throat too tight to speak, until

Master Gollantz blew out a breath.  "I can see that you are

both determined to make my life difficult."

     "Sir?" Cluny and Crocker both said, Cluny's ears folding.

     Master Gollantz pointed a long finger at Crocker.  "Your

familiar will accompany you to all your regular classes from

this moment on, Novice.  Your record will show that you are a

remedial case who cannot function without the constant boost

that a familiar provides."

     Crocker swallowed and nodded.  Master Gollantz's finger

didn't move.  "Further, you will accompany your familiar to

all her classes.  Your record will show that this is a 

punishment designed to teach you the vital difference between 

what a familiar does and what a wizard does."

     "Sir?"  Crocker's jaw dropped.  "But...I can't handle

that many classes!  How'll I--?"

     "Shut up, Crocker."  Cluny covered his mouth with a paw

and looked across at Master Gollantz.  "So, in effect, sir,

I'll be taking the wizard classes while Crocker here learns to

be a familiar."

     "Nonsense."  Master Gollantz scowled.  "The record will

show that this is Novice Crocker's punishment.  And if I hear

even a whisper on this campus about animal wizards and human

familiars, you two'll be cleaning bathrooms till graduation.

I'll be your advisor from now on, by the way."  He stroked his

beard.  "I find myself becoming interested in you."

     Cluny nodded, a thrill sparking her fur.  "Of course,

sir."  She leaned back and whispered into Crocker's ear, "I'll

explain when we get back to the room."

     Crocker opened his mouth, blinked, closed his mouth,

nodded, and started across the quad toward the dorms.

     "Novices?"  Master Gollantz's voice made Crocker stop and

turn, Cluny blinking at the old wizard still standing with his

arms folded.  "Where do you think you're going?"

     "Uhh..."  Cluny looked at Crocker, then crooked a claw

over her shoulder.  "To sleep, sir?"

     Master Gollantz pressed his fingertips together.  "I

rather think you'll be accompanying me to the realm of the

Ifriti Ranee; there's still the matter of your actual 

punishment, after all."  He nodded.  "You will perform one 

task of the Ranee's choosing, and I'll be along to make sure 

you don't make any more of a mess of things than you already 

have."

     "Back..."  Crocker's eyes went wide.  "Back to...all that

lava and everything?"

     Master Gollantz nodded again, and Cluny patted the side

of Crocker's head.  "Don't worry."  She drew a breath, felt

their joined power flowing through her.  "I think we can

handle just about anything right now."