The Breath -Sixth Whale Book 1

*1*

" No wizards, they pick on the women then." In truth, there was little difference between witches, warlocks and wizards. Nothing but opinions, to have a boy blessed by the breath was a gift, something worth being proud of. I blessing from the creator himself. So they were taken to special schools and their magic was tamed and their ability to be one with the wild things was gone. Girls were treated as a curse, left to die in woods and mountains and wild places. Although many would just leave the babes at the door of the nearest witch mother or father. It was why the Halves were so crowded. Warlocks like the man before him were a rare sight but he recognised him as the son of a witch.

The Halves referred to a series of tight and twisting streets that had developed slightly above being slums near the back entrance to the docks. The streets got their name from all being half the width of any normal street, despite the buildings seeming to be twice as tall. They were designed to house as many people as possible in the smallest space available and could be easily considered a success if just measured by that. They were however lacking in most other departments. The tall, tightly packed building hardly let any light into the streets, sending the area into perpetual dusk and for those who spent their whole lives there, it was disconcerting to leave. The bright light of day that filled the rest of the city was blinding to some and gave headaches to others. The wide-open spaces made them feel almost lost as if adrift at sea. Due to this a multi-generational reluctance to leave had solidified itself into the population and very few could imagine a world outside. Children had been raised who had never seen grass. It was an insular world and was overrun with witches. It virtually radiated magic.

The Witchfather had been stopping the spread to the city but as they drew closer to the breath magic sickness was taking root. Normal people couldn't be around high concentrations of magic without it seeping into their heads and driving them insane. He had over the centuries noticed the trend, a church or temple leader who was half-mad rose into power, overexposure to magic pushed him the rest of the way and then their sickness would spread through their followers like a plague. Once the breath was over he had to relocate at least half the witches. From what he could remember there was a new island. He would take them there, he could create somewhere livable for them with a few days but it would leave the Halves unprotected. More importantly, it would leave what lay hidden under his home unprotected. He sighed. It was not something that could be taught. He would iron out the details later. For now, he needed to make sure the magic folk wouldn't do anything stupid. He looked over at the dazed guest. " Sound the call, I'm holding a meeting at dusk." The younger man blinked slowly and without argument left. The trace would wear off after an hour or so. He wondered if he should make it last longer, but having an extra heckler in the crowd would liven things up a bit.

Now alone he went through to the room with the old straw bed. He lifted the pile of rugs and headed down the hatch and into the dark.

The dark was comforting, it wrapped around him like an old friend, reminding him of a time long past when he'd once been young and reckless. He didn't and couldn't regret his choices, but sometimes he missed being one with the darkness, nothing more than a shadow of thought. His silver eyes crossed the vast empty carven until he spotted 11 balls of light, floating lazily around in a group. Standing to his full height he approached the projection of the pod and soon saw 11 whales floating gently. He smiled softly at them, his creations. The largest whale seemed to look at him. He ignored it and headed to the sixth whale. It was swimming upwards for the breath. Floating above its back were several masses of land. The whales picking up debris in their gravitational pull had been unexpected. The combination of each whale's tiny sun, collection of comets and asteroids, and the frequent trip between reality and the magic field had some wonderful and unexpected results. Life wasn't meant to be contained in marbles it was meant to fly freely through the void. Seeing what was happening here had confirmed it. Of course, the void itself could just be another marble. He knew there was a surface, but it wouldn't do good to dwell on such things. He could not leave the pod.