Chapter 4

The man in front of Jax squirmed and tried to fight her spell.

“Release me, witch,” Traz cried.

He was struggling to go forward and lift his bow, but he was being forced backwards. Jax frowned and hit him with a new immobilisation spell and then a sleep spell to reduce his conflict.

“How many of your people are hurt?” Jax asked Mai.

Tommy came up to Jax. Cradled in his arms were three small Nix people. They were obviously, children as the tallest were barely 15cm.

Tommy looked very sad, and he said, “The others say their parents are dead, but they seemed reluctant to take them in.”

“Your friend shouldn’t have touched them. They were cursed,” Mai said in disapproval. To Jax, she said, “He will now sicken and die too.”

Tommy chuckled, “From chickenpox? No, I’ve been immune for many years. I got it when I was six. Even my magic and can cure that virus.”

Jax touched the oldest of the children and recognised the illness as one that was common on Earth. She had seen children with it when she had visited the hospital in Darwin.

“This is not the same illness that the other people have. They seem to have some sort of sickness that has upset the cell structures of their bodies. I need to see the lab that this Iqama was using, and we will need to take this man with us as something is very wrong with him,” Jax informed the others.

“Tommy and Eddie, do you want to check out the rest of the Nix people and see who else is sick and if they need any other help or supplies from us?”

“Sure thing, Jax,” the two men said and headed back to the trees where the Nix had their homes.

To Jax’s amusement, most of the Nix had become more cooperative since Tommy had adopted the sick children and made them better. She suspected the warm magical glow around Tommy and Eddie also attracted the small magical beings to them like flies to a barbecue.

Tommy had a very compassionate nature. Jax had been surprised that he had joined the Army, due to his empathy. However, she leant that Tommy also had a strong sense of right and wrong. He wasn’t a pushover despite his easy-going nature, and he would stand for what he believed in.

She, however, had bigger problems.

Mai went with Jax so she could show her where the mage had lived.

“Whoo! What the fuck is that?” Bluey gasped as they approached the black teardrop-shaped spacecraft.

It was at least 40m long, 20m wide and 15m at its highest. The side ramp was down and the top door up. It was evident by the mud and snow on the ramp that it hadn’t been closed in a long time.

Jax chuckled, “My people did come to this planet in spacecraft. Most came here long enough ago that the technology had been lost, and their ships were disassembled. However, as I told Major James, some strange things happen on Tara.”

“This small ship has come from a wheelship. But it came here more recently than ten thousand years ago when the wheelships were supposed to have passed this way.”

“Yes, this ship landed here about two hundred years ago with thirty-two people crammed on board. They said their bigger ship broke into pieces, and they had to escape,” Mia told them.

“At first, our two people seemed to get along, but then something changed, and their leaders had a big argument, and their people split. Iqama became the leader of the village that is near here.”

“Then those who stayed at the village stated having bigger problems. More of their children are born with mutations than not. They seemed to have a lot of children too, often two or three at a time.”

“Mother forbade us to come near this ship as she said it was poisonous to magical people. As time passed, Iqama got this idea that we must be immune to the illness ravaging his people because we didn’t seem to get sick.”

“Yet, as soon as he took our people on the ship, they would sicken and die very quickly as Mother foretold. I believe he was dying, and he was getting desperate for a cure. Our people often saw him ranting at the sky.”

“Ten days ago, he set traps and captured my sister because she was very magically gifted. Way more so than me. Unfortunately for us, the more magically gifted you are, the faster you seem to get sick if you go near the ship,” Mai told Jax’s team.

Bluey walked closer to the vessel but not too close. He then walked around it as he inspected it.

“Hey Jax, this baby has a leak of some sort from this rear engine. I think it has leaked inside too. It has an odd smell, but I think it is a fuel leak.”

“Bluey, don’t go any closer. I know what is wrong,” Jax replied in agitation. “Damn it, I can’t remember how to neutralise the Hyrodenzer fuel?”

“Detergent and water,” David replied.

Jax looked at him in surprise.

David shrugged, “If it is a fuel, then most likely it will work. The detergent or, to most of the people here, soap; will surround the compounds of the fuel. This reduces its volatility.”

“Then the soap and water break these components down, so they are not harmful anymore. It is why the best thing to do when fuel spills on you is to wash it away with carbolic soap and water as it can irritate your skin very quickly.”

Jax smacked her forehead, “Of course, the engineer who taught me how to fix the engines on the planes told me to always wear gloves when handling the fuel and oils and made me wash up with that red soap afterwards.”

Jax tapped her chin as she thought out aloud, “Yes, I think that soap will interact with it and disperse it, but we have an added problem. This fuel is toxic to us. It is spelled to absorb and convert magical energy into a fuel when it is activated.”