The Spring of Storms: The Fourth Season of Elsewhen

By B. T. Jaybush

The World of Amedia is wracked with storms as the planet returns to its native state following the death of Magic. Astra Fairweather and the other apprentice Wizards — the only Wizards remaining with access to Magic, save Banterell Lightningbolt, the same Blight who caused the death of Magic — cast about for some way to protect Amedia from itself.
There is no way.
There is, however, a chance to protect those Plain folk who are threatened by storms ... the drawback being, it will require that Astra work hand-in-hand with Blight, since neither one has enough Magic on their own.
Blight swears that he has changed, that Amedia admitted it was in error in calling for the death of Magic and that Blight —who now prefers to be called “Banty” — seeks only to save Plain lives. Astra and her friends are skeptical, but Astra’s “shadow girl” appears, saying that to work with Blight is necessary; all that need happen is to survive until Summer returns.
Still uneasy but calmed by shadow girl’s revelations, Astra sets out to save lives. Assisted by her boyfriend Nik and her partner Danni, Astra and Blight shield two cities from the devastating storm onslaught, only to find those cities later flooded by the storm aftermath. Blight again assists in rescuing survivors
Not everyone can be saved, though, and the thousands of Plain deaths drive Blight beyond the bend. Killing thousands of Wizards had already left Lightningbolt with a tenuous grip on sanity; now, he falls over the edge into full madness, leaving Astra as the sole source of Magic on Amedia ... exactly where the Amedian sentience wants her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B. T. Jaybush
• Release date: Jun 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463799208

B. T. Jaybush

B. T. Jaybush is the pen name of Brian and Timothy Jaybush, a father and son team specializing in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Paranormal worlds. • Winners: 2008 Zirdland.com Novel Writing Contest (“Relics”) • Finalists: 2010 Santa Fe Screenplay Contest (“Outpost Station,” the screenplay version of “Sydney Chambers: Captain”) Brian Jaybush cut his teeth reading science fiction, starting with Asimov's I, Robot at age 10 and progressing insatiably from there. He has been writing all his life, starting as a journalist in junior high school and continuing with legal and technical writing later in life (BA History, 1975; Juris Doctor, 1978). Retirement from 30 years in the telecommunications industry has allowed him to concentrate on fiction writing full time, in partnership with his son, Timothy. Timothy Jaybush also began reading and writing science fiction at an early age, leading to an uncanny ability to construct unusual and entertaining story lines. In addition to working full-time, Tim graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Philosophy.

Book preview

PENDING DISASTER

The concept of Amedia turning on its people was new to the apprentices ... to all Wizards, for that matter. Amedia had always been all-seeing and all-benevolent, the perfect superior being. Now, they were being told that it was Amedia behind the Wizard deaths they had suffered and it was Amedia that was unable to control its climate, causing the deadly storms which were wracking Wizard’s Reach and the Amedian mainland.

This was, by itself, difficult enough to swallow. Then, this harsh reality was increased exponentially by the notion that, in order to save themselves and the human population of the World, they must work with none other than Blight, the very symbol of what had so recently gone wrong ...

—From A Chronicle of Elsewhen:

The Year That Never Was,

by Maikela Gentlehaze,

Primary Historian, School of New Wizardry

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

The Ides of Aphrodite, 7438 – EY Day 225

Early Morning

Hurricane strength winds howled past the sturdy walls of Thunderhead Castle. Rain pelted against the vast common room window, blown nearly horizontal by howling winds from across the great ocean that lay several hundred feet below the Thunderhead cliffs. I stared at the sodden glass moodily, holding hands with my boyfriend … my betrothed, Nik Firewind, as we sat sideways on one of the common room’s dozen divans.

Of a sudden, Danni Quickblaze bounced into the large room. Without a word she dragged one of the large chairs over from its usual spot near the central fireplace and flopped into it, sitting just to our left.

Kind of puts a damper on wanting to go anywhere, doesn’t it? Danni grinned at her own witticism.

Danni and I were the trailblazers of our little group of apprentices, the ones who go on ahead to check out wherever it was we were planning to go before anyone else was allowed to go … and she was absolutely right: The storm happening just outside the window was no place for anyone to venture, certainly not without pressing need. Even in good weather our ventures were dangerous; they were also exciting, which I suspect was why Danni was so restless at being cooped up in the castle. Our job was necessary, despite the danger, because the dozen of us — well, really only eleven, with Hammel Broadprairie still in a coma — were the last Wizards on Amedia capable of using Magic.

Using my Magic … my Instinctive Magic, that I share with the others through tiny green stones that some of us wear as a ring and others wear as a pendant. My Instinctive Magic lived on even after Amedia’s Magic died. Killed by Blight.

Blight? Banterell Lightningbolt, a Wizard once banished from Amedian society and expected to die from old age. He didn’t die, though, because Blight is Instinctive, like I am. That means we have Magic even when the World doesn’t. Isn’t that just great? My worst enemy has the same gift I do. At least he doesn’t share; I don’t know if I could handle a bunch of near-Blights.

Even had we been crazy enough to want to go out into the storm right then, neither Danni nor I, nor any of the other apprentices, were going anywhere. We were too busy keeping Thunderhead Town safe.

The weather had been just terrible for a while. After a colder winter than anyone could remember we were now well into a spring of storms … storms so bad that all eleven of us had little time to do anything more than protect Thunderhead Town from their fury. The Castle where we live could handle the weather but many of the buildings in town couldn’t, so the others have been using my Magic to maintain a bubble of air over Thunderhead as a sort of dome. The rain may pour and the wind might howl but the air inside the bubble remained calm and mostly dry.

I was not directly involved in the protection. The Wizard Council — five of us apprentices: four heirs to Council positions, Sanora Rainwater, Maikel Seabreeze, Antoine Deephaven, and my boyfriend Nik, plus my best friend, Jenna Gentlehaze, who serves as proxy for her province’s living-but-incapacitated Council member — decreed it best that I remain safe within Thunderhead Castle while everyone else tended the bubble. It was, after all, my Magic that drove everything and there was no telling how the Plain folk of Thunderhead Town would react to again having Wizards in their midst.

Even if we were saving their lives.

What tenuous lives they had become. The town overflowed with refugees from the surrounding area. Hundreds of local residents had fled to what safety the bubble supplied when the storms began to wreak havoc with their own small towns. Even my own family abandoned the house where I grew up to make their way to Thunderhead Town. Fortunately, I was able to offer them shelter in Thunderhead Castle. Unfortunately, they were but one of dozens of families crowded into the Castle. Not that there isn’t room; the Castle is huge, having housed the entire population of Amedia when it was first built. Room is only a part of the equation, though. Everyone must also be fed, and food has become a scarce commodity in Thunderhead, both Thunderhead Castle and Thunderhead Town.

Food was the one thing the Council allowed Danni and I to travel in search of. We’d found enough to keep everyone fed to this point … but it’s bad out there in the World. Wizard’s Reach, where Thunderhead is located, isn’t the only part of Amedia to be experiencing vicious storms.

Which raised the question in my head: What could the eleven of us do for the rest of Amedia? What good was it, sheltering our little corner of the planet from the storms, if the rest of Amedia should fall to the nightmare that our World had become?

We’re going to have to go soon, Danni, I told my partner. We can’t save Wizard’s Reach without saving all of the Mainland.

Nik took my hand and squeezed it. "I’m not sure we can save anyone, he announced. The Council has pretty much come to the conclusion that this is just a holding action we’ve undertaken and that total destruction is inevitable."

I blinked once, then turned to look at my intended. That doesn’t sound like them.

That’s not very encouraging, Danni added, speaking at nearly the same moment.

Nik sighed. You two haven’t been in the thick of the protection detail, like we have, he said softly. Life in Thunderhead Town is miserable, Astra. The people are crowded past anything they’ve ever known and everyday items are hard to find. Food is more than scarce. And despite everything we’re doing, every apprentice has been harassed and even threatened more than once.

It was my turn to squeeze his hand. We can’t just give up, Nik, I said, sounding desperate even to myself. Giving up is simply … well, not what Amedia needs. The World is counting on us.

Maybe the World is dead, Nik little more than whispered.

Now hold on there, Norland, Danni growled and leaned forward to better see Nik past me. "Amedia can not be dead. It’s hurt, of course, and sick — sick beyond measure. But the World can’t die just because Magic has been killed. It just can’t."

Danni’s last words sounded almost as desperate as mine had sounded.

The storms have only been plaguing us for a couple of sixdays, I added.

That’s true, of course, Nik conceded. But when you consider the horrible Winter we had, it’s been months now. With most Wizards dead and gone, the people have just lost hope. They see that we’re trying to help and a few of them appreciate it, but most of them … I don’t know, they just seem to hate us. Because we can’t be everywhere, can’t make it all go away.

Why are there storms, anyway, Danni wanted to know.

Because there are no Wizards to handle the weather control — Nik began, but Danni cut him off.

No, I mean, why are there storms at all? Why does a lack of Magic cause storms in the first place?

Nik frowned and looked at me. Astra? I shrugged.

"The lack of Magic doesn’t cause storms, I said slowly, drawing back memories of lessons I’d had at some point. Lack of Magic allows storms. Stormy is Amedia’s natural state. I think it has to do with there being so much ocean. Something about the temperature difference between the air and the water …" I shrugged; how was I supposed to know? I only learned Plain knowledge as I was growing up and six months of training with Wizard André had only allowed me to scratch the surface of Wizard knowledge.

Maybe we should talk to Wizard Hucklebee, Danni suggested, and Nik smiled for the first time in a too long.

That’s a good idea, he said, sounding close to cheerful for the first time in a while and turning his gaze on me. The Council meetings have been closed, so we haven’t had real input from Wizard Hucklebee, or Wizard André, either. I don’t expect them to have answers, but if they can even help us understand the problem better, maybe we’ll be able to come up with something better than just keeping the rain away.

The last comment was directed at me. The air bubble over Thunderhead had been my idea — based on a lesson I’d had with my mentor, Wizard André — and Nik had never liked it as a solution. He’d agreed that it would be better than nothing, but he hadn’t been willing to give up the idea that there was something better we could do. Now he wanted me to join in and validate the possibility that there was a something better to grasp at.

I was always open to consulting with Wizard Hucklebee and said so. Sure. Let’s go.

Danni touched my arm as I stood. You want me to come along? While she and I were partners in what we did, I imagine she felt like a third wheel when it was Nik and me undertaking something.

I glanced at Nik, raising my eyebrows in question.

Yes, come with us, my boyfriend said without hesitation. Danni, you and Astra are a team. If we ever come up with something to do instead of just cowering beneath a bubble, you two are both going to be on the front line. You might as well be in on it from the beginning.

Danni grinned and I could feel her energy level increase, just from her hand on my arm. Great!

The three of us turned and headed for the massive double doors that led out of the dormitory common room.

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

The Ides of Aphrodite, 7438 – EY Day 225

Mid-Morning

As we passed through the doors and into the hallway waiting area just outside the dormitory — a widening of the hallway with a dozen chairs lining the wall opposite the doors — I caught a flicker of motion in the shadows to my right. While I didn’t get a clear look at who was there, in my mind there was only one possibility: my shadow girl had come to visit once again.

Who my shadow girl was remained a mystery to me, but I trusted her more than any other person I had ever met. It was my shadow girl who had first told me I had Magic, appearing out of the shadows on First of Winter, more than a year before. I’d seen her a few times since and each time she’d told me something I’d needed to know, or explained some issue that was troubling me. As far as I was concerned, she was a part of Amedia itself, though she insisted that she didn’t want me to think of her that way. If I could not speak with my World directly, I felt, at least I could speak with her when she came to me.

Now I stopped dead in the hallway. You two go ahead, I told Danni and Nik. I just remembered something I need to do first. I’ll meet you in Wizard Hucklebee’s office in a few minutes.

Even as Danni nodded and turned to continue on, Nik frowned at me. Is something wrong, Astra?

I shook my head. No, it’s fine. This won’t take long. Never had my shadow girl stayed with me for more than a few brief moments.

Nik looked doubtful, though. You’re sure you’re alright?

Positive. I forced a smile, nearly shivering with excitement. The chance to speak with my shadow girl once more was just so overwhelming it made me ignore the part of me that demanded I should tell Nik about her. I can’t really explain why I hadn’t.

I’ll be fine, Nik, really, I said, feeling a sudden urgency for Nik to be gone. Go on, Danni needs you. You can explain everything to Wizard Hucklebee better than either of us. I’ll be right there.

Still looking dubious, Nik finally nodded in acceptance and hurried after Danni. I turned to the shadows where I’d seen the flicker of motion and hissed, Are you there?

My answer was a brief glimpse of one of the dormitory doors opening and a robed figure darting through. I hurried to follow, stopping just inside the large room as I found myself face-to-face with the wraith who was my shadow girl.

She wasn’t really ghostly, but she wasn’t much to look at, either. She wore a robe that was so decrepit as to have no color left to it. An enveloping hood was drawn up over her head, casting such a deep shadow that I couldn’t see her face. I had never seen her face. Her hands were worn and dirty, and when she spoke, her voice held deep exhaustion as well as wisdom. In spite of it all, she still struck me as being only slightly older than my current age of thirteen.

You must face the storms, Astra, she said without preamble. You must face them, and you will do it alongside of your greatest fear, your worst enemy.

I recoiled at her bluntness. "I need to go out into the storms?"

The entire hood nodded. Your friends are doing their best, but even using your Magic, they do not have your power or your instincts. They do not have your drive. The storms will win eventually — the Council is right about that — but the time isn’t yet. This spring must pass so that summer can happen once again. Summer must happen again, or all is lost.

So I need to fight directly. I felt myself frown. "I can do that. I’ve sort of been itching to do that. But what do you mean, ‘alongside of my worst enemy’? My worst enemy is Blight. I’m supposed to fight the storms with him?"

Yes, she said, simply.

I took a step back, stopped only by the bulk of the door behind me. No, I whispered. "How can I do anything with Blight?"

Because you must, my shadow girl hissed at me. "Blight … Banterell Lightningbolt is just a lost spirit. What he did was wrong. Killing Magic was wrong, he knows that now. He didn’t know it was wrong when he did it. He did it because Amedia told him to and Amedia didn’t know it was wrong until it was too late. The World tried to make things better for everyone and ended up creating this mess. It’s horrible and it can end us all, but it was done for the best of reasons. It was done for the right reasons and so it must be corrected in the right way."

My shadow girl paused, straightening to gaze at me from behind the shadows of her hood. That isn’t what you wanted to hear.

I found myself panting in fear. No! I was nearly shouting; it took me a moment to recover myself before I could continue. No, of course not. Fight alongside Blight? That’s crazy. That’s … that’s …

That is what Amedia needs from you, I was told in no uncertain terms. That is how it must be. You and Lightningbolt are the last founts of Magic that there are. Neither one of you can do this alone. Both of you —

She broke off, then continued in a more compelling tone. Together, you can stand. Together, you two can see the World through to Summer.

I shook my head. What happens in the summer, I began to ask, but the hood in front of me shook in negation.

"That isn’t the issue, not yet. Surviving is the issue. Working together with Lightningbolt is the issue."

I can’t —

You must, my shadow girl insisted. "You will. Right now, go and speak with Wizard Hucklebee alongside your friends. The Wizard will explain about Banterell, who has already offered his help."

I was finding it hard to breathe. The Council isn’t going to accept this.

The Wizard Council has had its time, my shadow girl told me. Their feelings on this issue don’t matter. It is what must be.

She was still for a moment, then took two steps backward into the common room, before vanishing in a blink. It wasn’t the first time my shadow girl had vanished before my eyes; the last time, she’d later apologized for doing it. This time, though, I had the distinct feeling that she’d done it on purpose. To cut off my questions and arguments, perhaps. Or maybe because, as she’d emphasized, it was simply how things must be.

Either way, I needed to get myself to Wizard Hucklebee’s office. My shadow girl had told me to go and I had promised Nik that I would be there.

I peeled myself from the door I had backed into, then opened that door and fled through it, hurrying down the hallway and toward whatever it was that awaited me.

LETTING AN ENEMY GET CLOSE

The Ides of Aphrodite, 7438 – EY Day 225

Late Morning

Ah, here she is now, Wizard Hucklebee said as I entered his office, looking at me across the room as though I had done something wrong by being a few moments behind the others.

Sorry I took so long — I began, but Wizard Hucklebee waved off me excuse.

A few moments are of no matter, he said perfunctorily. We have a lot to talk about, though, so sit down and listen.

The Wizard had brought in more chairs, beyond the two in front of his desk, when it had become clear his office would be frequently used for conferring with several of us at a time. I pulled one over beside Nik and Danni from against one wall and sat. My thoughts spun with what my shadow girl had just told me but I did my best to pay attention.

Now, Wizard Hucklebee began, I’ve just had a most unexpected and disturbing visit. A few minutes ago —

Blight, I said without conscious thought, as the Wizard’s demeanor suddenly put my shadow girl’s words into context. The Wizard will explain about Banterell, who has already offered his help, she’d told me. Even as she was telling me that, Banterell Lightningbolt — Blight — had been down here with Wizard Hucklebee.

Why … yes, it was Blight who visited me, Astra, Wizard Hucklebee stuttered, clearly taken aback. How did you know that?

I … I clamped my mouth shut, even then unwilling to tell anyone about my shadow girl.

He’s the only other source of Magic that’s left, I finally managed, wildly trying to put into words what I’d been told. My Magic isn’t enough by itself to fight the storms. We need his help.

Nik and Danni were looking at me with horror writ large on their faces, but Wizard Hucklebee merely nodded, after drawing a deep breath. That’s exactly what Blight told me, the Wizard said slowly, and I can’t argue that he’s wrong. Blight has been studying the same texts that I have, and has reached the same conclusion. If there is to be any hope at saving Amedia, it will take all the Magic that the two of you can muster, together.

I felt myself shudder. I knew from first-hand experience dealing with Blight, that there was still a core of good in him — that is to say, he wasn’t completely evil, which wasn’t necessarily the same thing. But to stand side-by-side with the person who had so cruelly killed Grand Wizard Stormcloud right in front of me …

My stomach, my entire being, churned at the idea.

Nik was the first to recover his senses and of course, he leapt to my aid. You can’t expect Astra to work with that monster, he insisted, leaning forward in his chair, his fists on Wizard Hucklebee’s desk. It’s less than a year since Blight tried to kill her!

Since Blight killed my family, Danni added, her fists clenched in her lap and her face drained of color. Blight had killed most of her family; only by mere chance had her younger sister, Kalli, survived. Danni and I had rescued Kalli and brought her with us back to Thunderhead; I believe Kalli was most of the reason Danni remained sane and such a fierce partner when she and I ventured out into the World.

I understand that this is a difficult concept to deal with, Wizard Hucklebee said gently, but I’m convinced none the less that it is how things must be. Although, Astra —

He caught my eyes with his and held them in a gaze that both appealed and commanded.

Yours is the most difficult position, Astra. You are the one who will be out there with him.

Not alone, she won’t, both Nik and Danni said … Nik on his feet and nearly shouting, his voice filled with a mixture of concern and love and defiance; Danni mostly sounding determined. Wizard Hucklebee frowned at the two of them.

This is something that only Astra can do, he began, but I shook my head and cut him off.

No, Danni and I are a team, I told the Wizard flatly. She goes with me.

Astra? The word slipped from Nik’s lips as a plaintive plea.

No, I told my boyfriend, then gave him a wistful smile. Nik, you need to stay here with the Council and remain safe. I need you here for me to come back to.

Nik looked thunderstruck, then swallowed hard and nodded. And just like that, it was set. Or so I thought.

I’m sure the Wizard Council will need some time to debate this, Wizard Hucklebee ventured, but Nik shook his head … as much to clear it from my decision as to say no to the Wizard’s suggestion.

The Wizard Council won’t even consider this idea, Nik said, flatly. The idea of working with Blight … well, that’s just going to be too much for most of them to deal with. Consider what Blight did to Maikel. Neither he nor Jenna will be able to look past that. While Maikel now admitted to having been stupid, the facts remained the same: He had followed the army of Wizards to the Amedian Mainland, arriving just in time to be caught in the crossfire of the final battle. His father and most other Wizards had been killed; Maikel himself had been maimed. To this day, he could barely walk and was the only apprentice who could not share in my Magic, due to a residue of Blight’s Magic that remained within him.

Jenna, of course, was Maikel’s girlfriend; it was hard to imagine her supporting something Maikel would so clearly reject.

The Wizard Council has had its day, I said, paraphrasing what my shadow girl had told me, then continued on in a way that left a really bad taste in my mouth. As much as I hate to admit it, Wizard Hucklebee is right. This is something that must be done. The survival of everyone on Amedia — the survival of Amedia itself — is at stake. I say, we simply present it to the Council as an accomplished fact and move on.

Nik looked pained; he took his position as a member of the Wizard Council seriously. That’s a pretty harsh way to think of it, Astra, he said softly. I grimaced.

I know it is, Nik, I told him, forcing myself to be as consoling as I could. But the reality is, Blight and I are the only ones with Magic. We’re the only remaining real Wizards.

Maikel and Jenna and Sanora and Antoine — and I — do our best, Nik muttered.

I stood and moved past Danni, then leaned down to hug my betrothed. Of course you do, I whispered in his ear, then stood and spoke to the entire room once more. "This is something