Chapter 17

It's been 3 days and one horrendously long Skype call to headquarters, since it's no longer feasible for the whole Task Force to assemble for weekly meetings. Things seem to be steadily getting worse, with more and more reports of strange phenomenon around the country, though fortunately no more major portals in populated areas.

Karl and Mary have made a whole wardrobe worth of outfits for the staff here, evidently designed by Mary. The traditional mage robes are a huge hit with everyone, but the lacy, ruffled blouses and frill cuffed tunic shirts have been hit or miss. The black slacks with a self adjusting fit enchantment are definitely in high demand though. The pair insists on one per person until everyone has a pair, but that's not nearly enough.

Maybe they were actually destined to be a fashion design team, not combat mages.

I've been training daily with Zelda, who is a surprisingly competent water element combat mage, though she prefers to work as a nurse. It's great to learn how to fight against new enemies, and she can create elemental golems that mimic the shape and fighting style of creatures she's familiar with. Her knowledge is a bit limited, but so is mine, so we're both learning new things.

Today we're starting a sweep of minor portals within our region. Reportedly empty ones, small and well contained portals, plus a couple new openings are all on the schedule for the week. 2 or 3 a day is going to be a paperwork nightmare for poor Lala, but she seems quite excited to be busy again. She's double checked all our gear, made post it note contents listings, found and packed a spare set of enchanted clothing for both of us, everything she can think of.

Karl joins me in the theatre room, followed by Mary. "We'll be headed out in 30. Everything is packed and checked, so just finish your final prep and meet us at the Jeep"

"Us?"

"Yeah, since she's an arcane mage I thought it might be important to teach Mary how to close portals. We shouldn't hit anything too crazy, so I'm not too concerned"

No point in arguing I guess, Karl is a good guy, despite his appearance and reputation. If he says he'll keep Mary safe he will. Plus, she should be able to somewhat take care of herself by now. She might not have had much formal schooling, but Karl's tutorial sessions are intense, all the other trainee mages give her pitying looks every time they see a new schedule posted up on the whiteboard outside her door.

Mary is sitting cross legged the back seat of the Jeep, her frilly black and pink dress tucked neatly around her with a large leather bound book in her lap and a panicked look on her face.

"Mary, are you alright?" I whisper, poking her shoulder gently "we're headed out now, you can likely save the review for later. He won't do a pop quiz while we're on the road, I'm certain of it"

This breaks Mary from her worried reverie "Oh, that's not it. There's dozens of ways to close and seal a portal. I am going to be doing the actual closing this trip, but I've never actually done it before and I don't want to mess up"

I smile and give her a loose hug across the seats, first trip jitters I totally understand. My very first patrol I was so nervous I jumped at every snapped twig and almost attacked my patrol partner twice, thinking he was an enemy.

"Plus I've never really been out, you know. Like anywhere at all. I grew up in a live work design condo building, you know the ones with shops and offices on the lower floors?" I nod for her to continue "So my parents worked in the building, my daycare was in the building, my elementary and middle school were at the combined school on the same block, and the high school just behind that. My parents were workaholics, so we never went on a vacation."

Her life story sounds like the setting for a Lycan horror story to tell to misbehaving children. How could anyone survive their whole life within a single block of where they live? Never going to a park, no travel, no running in the woods. I shudder at the thought.

"Then I started at the mage academy. My senior year chemistry teacher in high school was a witch, like an actual witch, not a bad person, you understand? Yeah, but anyways, she noticed I had a talent for magic and got me into the mage academy. It was the biggest adventure of my life, you know, until a week into my first term all this started and then I ended up packed up here. And now I'm headed out to fight who knows what in a portal I'm supposed to close, and I'm freaking out a little bit."

Moon Goddess! This girl only started her training six weeks ago? How can she know anything?

"Does Karl know you'd only been at school for one single month before he began tutoring you?" Mary nodded with a despondent look in her eyes. "What did he say when he found out?"

"He went and grabbed that horrible white board and started writing up daily schedules for me. He says it's an and I quote 'on the job learning opportunity', but that I'll do fine as long as I keep up with his lesson plan"

I've seen Mary's lesson plan, we all have. For her sake I hope it's just to get the basics in, because I'm not certain a human can survive that schedule for long.

"I saw a review scheduled for last night, what did he have you go over?"

"Magic missiles, barrier spells and the top 5 portal closing methods" Well, that sounds surprisingly sensible for him.

"You should be fine. Even the mighty Karl only used a handful of different spells when we wiped out the Orc encampment." This bit of news doesn't seem to have reassured Mary at all.

"Listen here little Mary Mage" This made her giggle, being as she's slightly taller than I am "You'll be fine. You know how to attack, you know how to defend. You've been cardio training in the gym, so I'm sure you can run faster than some old biker. You know everything you need for this mission"

Mary grabbed my neck for an awkward hug, the seat getting in the way of a proper embrace. "Thanks, I think I'm ready now."

With that Karl stuck his head in the door. When did he get here, and how, as I neither heard nor scented him coming?

"Alright ladies, off we go"

The first portal of the day is almost in sight of the base. Barely 3 feet across and sitting a foot off the ground, we tossed our gear bags though first, with Karl reaching back through to pick up Mary instead of 'risking her dress' as he put it.

At first it looked like Mary's first portal experience would be a straightforward and positive one. Notes were taken, vegetation samples collected and afternoon sunlight enjoyed. But our luck simply wasn't good enough for that to last.