The Fire Bringers: An I Bring the Fire Short Story (IBF Part 6.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Elf, realizing what’s happening, sets their fur on fire—but it’s only small flares, not an inferno like Bohdi could cause. The pistol fires, too—but there are just too many of the creatures. Amy pulls Durga behind the tree. She doesn't have enough strength to open a Gate that extends from where Durga and she hide to the other team members. She has just enough strength to open one for her and Durga. She just needs a few minutes undisturbed.
    As the life of the Light Elf and the man slip from their bodies, Durga cries.
    “More in the trees!” cries a Lemurlike.
    Clasping Durga tight, Amy runs.
    x x x x
    Bohdi steps out of the In Between right into the main office of Amy’s lab. He finds himself surrounded by a desk overloaded with papers, bookshelves that buzz with magic, and framed anatomical illustrations of dragons, totoros and bakus; but there is no Amy or Durga. He sees Durga’s coat thrown over a chair. Focusing, he sends his projections throughout the building — but sees no trace of them.
    Steve’s projection emerges a few feet from Bohdi. His bionic eye is glowing purple. “Neither of them are on surveillance cameras. Looking through old footage now.”
    They could have slipped through a gate to Alfheim to visit associates there—that is the most likely reason for their absence, but Bohdi’s gut is a twisted mass of worry. “Have they gone to the Tenth Realm?” Bohdi shouts. His skin feels cold, though inside he feels like he’s burning up.
    The side of Steve’s lip curls. His head ticks to the side. “I’m playing your robot butler at the moment while hosting the Light Elf and Dark Elf peace accord that may be the event of the century. Be. Nice.”
    Bohdi takes a deep breath. Steve is being very nice; he’s putting off important and powerful people right now to help Bohdi. Part of it might be because he doesn’t want Bohdi upset — especially not in a major metropolitan area — but somewhere under that calculus there may be caring, too.
    An alarm goes off in the building and the lights in Amy’s office flash red. Steve’s projection looks at the ceiling. “That is an intruder alert. You didn’t check in at the front desk, did you?”
    “Of course not!” says Bohdi.
    Steve’s projection takes a step closer and raises a finger at him. But then he stops, his mouth opens, and he says. “Durga World Walked through the gate to the Tenth Realm on her own.”
    Bohdi almost steps through the In Between. But he needs to calm down, he doesn’t want to get to the Tenth Realm and set it on fire. Well, he does, but Amy would be pissed. He sucks a hard breath through his teeth and wills the molecules speeding up around him to be still. Telling himself that Amy and Durga will be fine for a few minutes in the Tenth Realm, he slams out of the door of Amy’s office instead, Steve’s projection trailing along.
    He tries to walk calmly … instead he storms through the hall. Shouting over the alarm at Steve’s projection, he fumes. “We should close the World Gate to the Tenth Realm.”
    “No, we should not. We need to observe it to keep our enemies from taking sanctuary there — ”
    “Our enemies are the Lemurlikes … we’re enabling our replacements!” Bohdi snips.
    “Of course,” Steve’s projection replies smoothly. “And I approve.”
    Bohdi shakes his head. Steve’s about to go off on his ‘this peace won’t last forever, we always get along at the beginning, someday I’ll go too far,’ schtick …
    “Fuck you and your self-sacrificing bullshit, Steve,” Bohdi snaps, his hands fisting at his sides.
    “Because you’re upset, I’m going to forgive you for that,” Steve’s projection snaps back.
    Bohdi should say he is sorry — because he feels it, but he can’t. Despite Steve’s doom and gloom predictions, Bohdi, Steve, and Amy are still friends. Talking about their replacements is acknowledging that someday they won’t be anymore.
    Instead of apologizing, Bohdi says,