Devouring the Neverglades: (Beta Version) Chapter 4 (Patreon)

“What were you four even thinking!? Honestly!” Aunt Betty was a pretty woman, in her twenties if I wasn’t mistaken. She was also a really good cook, even better than Mama, and Erik often teased us that his mother was the best.

Of course she was also incredibly fearsome because Betty was a butcher. Right now the five foot nothing woman was glaring at us, covered in snake blood as she had already removed the head and was working her way through the incredibly thick skin.

She had needed to pull out her super sharp knife to cut through the leather. The stuff she used on Mega Gators.

“We were able to do it!” Erik whined at being scolded, which was the exact wrong thing to do. Scolding parents, afraid for their children, should just be agreed with until they cooled off.

“And all the more fool you! Now you’ll think you can hunt Great Boa’s all on your own!” She yelled, throwing both hands into the air uncaring about how it streaked blood over herself and a bit of splatter hitting Sammy. 

The poor boy winced and continued to remain very quiet.

Betty was cool, but she was also the demon of punishments.

“Umm…” I started but felt my own bravery flee at her glare. 

“What is it Vicky? I know this was definitely one of your plans. Don’t think I won’t talk to your mother!”

“I just… I think the snakes core is still there?” I spoke sounding more like a question than anything, yet Betty stilled.

“How would you know?”

“I felt it… It’s like a buzzing?”

“Where? Can you show me?” She demanded and I nodded. Quickly hurrying over and with a single breath I felt it, narrowed it down and ran both hands over the skin until I had the exact spot. “Here. There is something magical here.”

Betty took no further prompting in a few seconds she had split it open very carefully digging deeper until there was a glint of blue light. 

Then she cut muscle and viscera away until she pulled free a snake's heart that had a little uneven blue stone growing out of it.

“I’ll be. That’s a core all right. You must have killed it before it could use up its Mana.”

“Sammy got it in the eye pretty quick.”

“Probably didn’t think we could hurt it until it was too late.” Erik and Willis added, nodding to each other at their words.

“Huh. Well. Isn’t that something.”

—--

“It’s a good find Monster.” Papa told me happily as I showed off the prize to him at the meal gathering that night, everyone was eating Snake chowder tonight, and we were even sitting with the adults as a reward for our work today. 

“Hmm, a little small, but it wasn't drained in the snake's death.You lot killed it quick. Good job.” Uncle Charles offered while looking at Erik with a proud smile that made the boy flush a bit at the praise.

“It’s only because of Vicky that we did it. She felt the monster.” Erik offered, and all the adults looked at me with interested eyes.

“It was only because of the boys that we killed it,” I demurred, but I didn’t lose the looks I was getting.

It had been months since I was confirmed to have magic and yet the lack of any real tangible benefit had left the knowledge mostly falling to the wayside.

Although apparently Papa had gotten a few offers of marriage for me. Which he had yelled at them for trying to push, since I was too young.

“Felt the monster?” Papa asked, and I nodded slowly.

“I can’t do anything with my magic yet, I don’t have any spells or anything, but I never stopped practicing. I can feel the… vibration of magic now, from at least a few feet away.”

Old Man William grabbed the core at that before looking at me. “Close your eyes girl. Vincent, make sure.”

Papa nodded after a moment realizing whatever William wanted and he put his rough hand over my eyes. I’m sure he could feel me rolling them.

Then I felt the wavelength of the core move around.

Gotcha.

Papa’s hand was pulled away. “Can you tell us where the core is now Victoria?” William asked and I smiled as I looked straight at Uncle Charles across from us. “You handed it to Uncle Charles first, and then he slipped it into Eriks pocket I think.” I answered having felt the core move. The spatial sense of it shifting was actually pretty accurate, especially at this distance. I mean. It was almost like echolocation in a way.

Erik blinked before checking his pocket and finding the little core had been stuffed into it without him knowing. “Pops!”

“Heh. Still need to work on your awareness Erik.” He said laughing, but then placed the core back on the table. “So you can tell where they are?”

“Yeah it’s like a loud noise on my skin. I can feel the vibration.”

“Well that is interesting isn’t it.” Old Man William said, stroking his white beard as he looked me over before looking to Papa.

“Don’t even think about it. She’s six.” Papa denied instantly “But it’s something to keep in mind.” He added.

“No you’re right. She is far too young to crew a boat, even if just for her ability to locate magic.”

“Ah. I wouldn’t be much help. I can only really sense it in a couple of feet. If you took the core across the room, and then hid it, I wouldn’t find it.” I told them adults. 

“A shame then. That could have been very useful.”

“Vicky is a Mage. I’m sure she will be very useful in a few years.” Papa defended me instantly.

“Yeah!” I agreed instantly, because obviously magic was useful. “If it helps. I haven’t stopped practicing, and the distance I can feel magic has gotten further away. I used to only feel it if I touched something.” Of course I didn’t add that it hadn’t really been expanding much after I did get the initial jump in distance.

My worry was that my wavelength strength was a sign of how far I would be able to sense magic as well. 

And I didn’t even know how to strengthen my Wavelength. Purity of my spirit was pretty vague.

“Well then girl, you keep practicing!” Old Man William ordered with a big smile that I returned.

Now to just figure out how to do that.

—--

I screamed into the pillow after reading through the booklet for the millionth time.

The information I needed just wasn’t there. I had hit a sort of dead end. Sure, I could now bring out my wavelength at a moment's notice. I could sense magic around me, and the smell of death that clogged my nose whenever I brought out the magic wasn’t even something that startled me anymore. 

It was honestly kind of comforting in a way.

But I hadn’t improved at all.

A couple of feet, Four and half ish if you wanted to be exact, was the maximum length I could feel magic from. Enough that I could feel something underground if I walked over it. But that was it.

Nothing had made it better. I wasn’t even sure if the sense was more accurate now than it had been.

I had become a bit of a radar for my little troop finding minor monsters hidden in the mud and such. We were pretty popular in the adult's eyes. Bringing home monsters pretty often.

But I am seven now. Had been for a few months, and my magic had basically seen a net zero improvement.

Being a mage had been a big thing for the community. It made me special and different, and it should have made me fucking useful, but it certainly wasn’t!

I sat up after screaming my emotions away and headed out of the room. Booklet left on the floor where I had tossed it, since it was useless.

The fact was, I wouldn’t be getting more information on magic. Papa had asked around a bit on one of his visits to the city. But apparently the moment they heard about my Wavelength strength they would tell Papa to stop wasting time.

Papa. Who was scared of mages had done that for me.

It sucked, that it hadn’t amounted to anything.

A wavelength strength of three was just… Weak I guess? People seemed to react like it was.

I sighed. I just wanted to learn magic. I felt the desire in the depths of my soul to throw a fireball at someone that irritated me!

I left home. Pulling on my new shoes that already looked old considering how much mud I had gotten on them and headed to meet up with the boys.

“Vicky!” Erik called out waving from the entrance of the compound as Willis and Sammy were both sitting with a big pot, and a cage between them.

“Hey guys. Ready to go?”

“Yep. Anna says she saw some Rock Crabs in our area this morning. So we are bringing the pot.”

“And I think I got my trap fixed.” Willis added, hugging his baby tightly.

“Great. Crab with Crawfish is tasty.” I said licking my lips already. Sure I had breakfast, but that was breakfast. I was more concerned with second breakfast, and lunch right now.

“You’re always hungry Vicky.” Erik teased, and I just gave him a look. It might be the same look his mother gave him when he said something stupid. “W-what!?”

“You have never complained about the extra food.” I told him and he had to flush a bit. Sure most of our adventures were focused on gathering more food. Crawfish. Crabs. We went after bird nests sometimes even. 

I was a growing girl! 

Also while we had plenty to eat, there was always a limit. There were no snacks between meals. Or going to the fridge cause you were hungry before meal time.

If you wanted more to eat, you had to catch it, and my little troop had become excellent gatherers of tasty snacks. So much so that the older kids and adults had all started giving us a nickname.

“Ho Food Patrol! I want some tasty crab tonight!” Michael, one of the older boys called out as he walked out with a saw on his shoulder. 

“Get your own!” I called back, but he just threw that stupid smirk of his. 

“Ah I guess someone doesn’t want that new chair!” He said waving his hand saw.

Stupid Michael, with his stupid carpentry skill he learned from his father.

“If we catch some!” Erik called out. The traitor, because he DID want a new chair.

“C’mon team!” I decided, stomping out of the compound as the boys all followed.

Just another day in the life.

—---

“It should be working!” Willis grumbled as he pulled the trap out of the stream.

“You got a couple.” I told him but as soon as I said it, I knew it wasn’t really helping.

“Two Crawfish.” He said glaring at me. “It should work!”

“How about we ask around a bit. I’m sure some of the adults have made crawfish traps before.”

“I don’t want to ask for help!” He snapped harshly, but it was more stress than actual anger.

He had been working on his crawfish trap for a while. A plan to have a source of extra food for his family.

It wasn’t like it was exactly needed, but there was a reason Willis stuck with my group even though he had an older brother that ran in another group of kids.

His father had died a few years back.

The compound didn’t kick the family out of course. Two boys growing up would be two adults soon enough, and deaths happened.

But it did put a limit on some of the things that even I took for granted.

So when he had learned my troop gathered food, he had joined us. I still remember the first time we had come back with a pot full of crawfish.

The adults had all been pretty impressed and his mother had nearly cried. He had been almost sickeningly proud.

But he had been working on his traps for a while. Otherwise Crawfish catching was an all day thing, but a trap? You could catch a lot of mud bugs that way.

“Bait?”

“The bait is good.” He said, with a big sigh. 

“Are they getting out?”

“No?” I nodded, I trusted him for that. So what was wrong?

“Ugh!” He snapped, nearly throwing the trap before stopping. “Okay fine. Vicky. Help.”

“While I love that you respect my brains that much Willis. I have no idea how to make a crawfish trap. Let’s go ask around, maybe Michael will know if you don’t want to ask the adults? He does carpentry stuff.” I said his trap was mainly wood and he looked it over before sighing.

“Fine. Let’s go ask.” 

I almost denied going with, this was still prime hunting time, but I looked to Sammy and Erik who were at the moment wrestling more than hunting. 

“Sure. Erik! Sammy! We are heading back home for a bit!” I called, then getting ignored we both packed up and headed back. The carpentry area was just outside the compound walls, but on the south west side, instead of the east side where we hung out.

Well I say carpentry area, but it was more tools and workshops for everything.

The men who went out on the boats needed all sorts of things. Hooks, nets, blades, repair materials for the boats, anchors, traps, spears. The list never ended. So we had a few handymen. 

Michael might be the youngest joining the group, but there were two others that handled wood and metal most days. They did head out on the hunts as well, but most of the time they stayed behind to fix things that needed fixing.

We walked around the walls on the well trodden dirt paths until we reached the area, an additional blast of heat striking me told me the furnace was going, and the Willis and I both knew not to cause trouble around here.

Messing up here wouldn’t just earn us a slap on the wrist.

“Hey, what are you two doing?” Michael asked as he walked over, a long plank of wood in his hands as he brought it over to a workbench and started securing it on the bench.

“Hey Michael. Willis needs some help.” I said, and I could feel the glare on my neck when phrasing it that way.

“Yeah? What’s up?” he asked before smirking as he saw the trap that Willis held up, before the boy could even explain he continued. “Get me one of those Rock Crabs. Like all of one. I want to take Suzy out on a date, and she loves the stuff, and I’ll tell you how to fix your trap.”

“Half.” I bartered instantly. But he scoffed. “The whole thing. Suzy’s got this little dream of having so much crab she literally eats herself sick. I’m gonna be the man that gets her that. I’m garbage at catching the damn things, but you brats have been doing it consistently.”

Of course that was because I could sense their magical cores while walking around the rocks and pick them out for catching.

“Fine. One. Singular.” I defined and he nodded. 

“Here, Willis. Bring your trap over here. You need to have a funnel here, to keep them from finding the exit. Like this.” And he used his hands to show Willis what he was talking about. The boy looked a little embarrassed at the words.

“Here. You can actually adjust the one you have here, also I think this section is a little loose, they are probably finding a way out through it.” He added critiquing the work. 

“So it’s trash.” Willis said bitterly, but Michael just laughed.

“No, it’s fine. You just had a few things to fix. C’mon you think all the hunters know how to fix stuff? I swear Master James is constantly complaining about their shoddy work.” He says with a laugh. Seeing that Willis was being taken care of I started walking away, planning to get the boys back to hunting, but suddenly I stilled as I felt it. 

Magic. My heart pounded in time to the feeling.

I turned immediately around. Walking over to the furnace I felt magic rippling off it.

“Whoa.” I muttered. I rarely came over here, and never when any of the men were working the forge. That was a good way to piss someone off.

I turned around the forge to see James, one of the handymen working on something, but I was more interested in the fact he was apparently pumping mana into the forge.

I didn’t interrupt just watching as he hammered out some metal, apparently repairing one of the harpoons? That the men used.

I watched as he was heating the metal. Doing some work and fixing a chip, or a crack. Not sure what.

Finally he took a break and looked up, having obviously noticed me.

“Little Vicky?”

“Uncle James. I felt magic from the forge.”

He looked confused for a second before barking out a laugh. “Yeah we pump a bit of fuel into the forge, it adds a bit of density to the metal. Makes it harder. You felt it?” He asked curiously. 

“Yeah. It was definitely noticeable. How?” I mumbled, as I looked into the fire.

“Well, it’s the same fuel we use for the lights, just pumped directly into the fire, a little at a time won’t cool the forge down. An old frontiersman trick, it makes stuff just that bit stronger. We are the only ones besides mages that get to play with Mana after all.” He said, throwing me a wink, and I took that information quite seriously.

“Can you tell me what it does? How it works? I just… Can’t do anything yet.”

“Well, I don’t know how a mage could do it, it’s a bit wasteful, but these harpoons need to cut through croc leather. Which isn’t easy. So we pump a bit of the mana water into the furnace, it does something to the metal, makes it damn strong… Don’t tell you mother I just cursed.” he said quickly backpedaling at his faux pa. 

“It’ll be our secret. So the mana just… Goes into the metal from the water? Can I see?” I asked, pointing at the harpoon.

I had held them before. Papa had one after all, but it was usually kept on the boats, and things. I don’t remember if the last time I had touched one was before we found out about me being a mage.

“Don’t touch it, even quenched, it's warm.”

“Okay I don’t need to touch it. Just get close.” I said and I walked over to the Harpoon he had set up on a rack.

I didn’t really feel anything. But there had to be something there. I closed my eyes and breathed. Starting up my magic like I did every morning with the magic circle. Even if it didn’t do anything but glow.

And I felt it.

In the echoey almost echolocation-like vision that was my magic sight, I felt it. The faintest ripples of magic vibrating inside the metal.

It was incredibly faint. Almost not there.

Considering I had felt the mana pumped into the forge it felt almost wasteful, but it was there. Something just the faintest touch of magic.

“Yeah, there is a bit of magic stuck in the metal.” I confirmed opening my eyes and looking at James. The man laughed a bright smile and threw me a wink. 

“Well it’s good to have some confirmation from a mage. But trust me kid we’ve noticed the difference. So what do you think? Pretty smart for us Flats eh?”

“It’s genius.” I told him, confirming. It was more utility than I could get and I was a mage.

It also gave me an idea.

“I don’t suppose we can get maybe a cup full of that fuel for some tests?” I asked and James paused looking like he was considering it. 

“I can’t okay that myself kiddo, even a cup full is… A lot. I’ll run it by everyone tonight.” At my look in response he just laughed. “Don’t worry Little Vicky, you got me in your corner for this. Always wondered what a mage could do, you might just teach me something next.”

I nodded and was soon pulled away by Willis to go test his trap, and then I was stuck trying to find a Rock Crab for Michael.

It was a busy day.