by T J Kelly
Harris took on the Earth user, the two of them battling it out, the enemy throwing spells, Harris launching Flash-bangs and Shift-sliders again and again. Peter was holding his own, Seth was busy with the two other men in brown, and that left me.
A small corridor opened between the raging magic and the wall of cinders.
I didn’t know how he knew, but he did. “Lia, stay behind us!” Peter roared.
Hardly.
Without another look at him or the Andersson brothers, I slipped through, taking only one knock on my shoulder from a shield of all things. Then I was on the other side. No more rocks, no more guards, no more magic. Just me.
And the man I came to destroy.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Justum Venerit
My uncle was still tied to the chair. His head was lolling to one side, bleeding from the scalp.
“Who are you?” David Novato asked. Armageddon was right. He didn’t recognize me. At least, not yet.
He sounded surprised and suspicious, but he had a nice voice, which really upset me. There shouldn’t be anything appealing about my enemy.
“Praelia Nox,” I answered. Using my magician’s name told him that not only was I capable of challenging him, but I was there to confront him. Not by accident. I wasn’t some lost hiker who slipped by the guards. Not when my name meant Battles the Night.
“Well little one, you chose the wrong battle. I’m Justum Venerit, and it’s time.”
I didn’t have to ask what he meant by that. I knew. His name meant “justice arrives,” and I had experienced his little boy’s memories with grief-stricken agony. David Novato was ready for vengeance.
Everything fell into place. Why David waited so long to finish the task he had set for himself, why my uncle was alive. Timing was crucial for magicians. Minutes it took to cast a spell, numbered dates on calendars, special holidays, anniversaries. David waited to complete the circle and give himself the most power. His birthday, the same day his parents were killed.
Justice arrives.
At least, that’s what he thought. But who decided what was just? Somebody at the top. Somebody who was sanctioned by the Council. Somebody who had been groomed and trained their entire life to do what was right. David Novato didn’t mete out justice.
I did.
The world around me slowed to a crawl. The moment had arrived, and I was both shocked and pleased to realize that all my worries, the doubt I had been carrying with me, vanished as if they never existed. Justice arrives.
Brought by me.
My fists clenched as I launched myself at him, the same way I saw him tackle my uncle while I was inside Armageddon’s mind. David would never expect a small girl like me to hurtle herself at a big guy like him. But speed helped me leverage my slight weight against him, and I knocked him off his feet.
The thunk his head made when it hit the ground was remarkably satisfying.
My magic was building, but the second I came near him, it was worthless. There was no way to let it out. I tried to use a spell, interested to see if my trigger - imagining a thing as if it were real and then it would happen - might give me an edge. I was disappointed when nothing happened but rolled with it. I was prepared. From that point on, I would always be. My destiny was as an agent with the Irregulars, and I wholly embraced it the moment I spotted David Novato in the flesh. I had a job to do, and I was born to do it.
I leaped up and tried to stomp David’s face, but he flipped out of my way and landed on his feet, facing me.
His bloody lips spit out a filthy word.
“Tut tut, David. You kiss your mommy with that mouth?” I taunted him. I knew somewhere inside him, a jolt of fury and pain went through his body, and I hoped it would throw him off his game. That was why I brought up his mother to begin with.
He stopped circling and launched himself at me.
I expected that. He should have realized that I was familiar with his fighting techniques because my first blow was pulled straight from the David Novato book of physical plays. I could tell what he would do the instant he shifted his shoulders.
Hesitating to allow him to get close, I twirled away so he didn’t have enough time to react. I couldn’t use Air or the Earth to enhance my leap, but I still caught plenty of natural air to clear his lurching form as he dove towards where I had been standing a split second before.
I shifted my weight with the spin I added to my movements and smashed my fist down onto his temple as hard as I could.
We both fell. I had been lucky so far, but he would figure out a way to slam his fist into me the way I had done to him. I rolled when I hit the cinders to put distance between us before standing.
“Who the hell are you?” David growled. He spit blood on the ground.
“Are you hard of hearing? I told you, I’m Praelia Nox. Surely you recognize my name. And I know you recognize my uniform. I’m here to fetch Armageddon.”
David let out a bark of laughter, but there was no humor in it. “This is his last night,” he said. “Not even you can stop that. The time has come for him to pay the final price for what he did. I have him trapped. I broke his home-and-hearth magic. There is nothing more he can do to stop me. You’re so young, and alone. My quarrel is not with you, and you may leave unharmed if you do so now.”
It was my turn to laugh. When did he get all noble? “Like you have a choice. An attack on an Irregular is an attack on us all. I’m the one who doles out justice, not you. I won’t leave without him. If you’re left bleeding in the dirt when I do it, so be it,” I said. Except I was easier to understand because I wasn’t speaking with a fat lip.
The only answer I received was David charging me again. I was too close to the magma to keep my uncle from getting knocked in. I dove to my left.
At that moment, my biggest cause of regret was that I hadn’t spent enough time working on my left-handed skills. I was too slow. That’s how David got his hands on me. He latched onto my right arm and swung me around, using the momentum of my body to slam me into the ground.
He didn’t let go, though. He held on and sprained my wrist, jarring my elbow and shoulder in the process.
Darkness rose inside me with a fury. I wasn’t wearing my star necklace. There were no inhibitors in place to stop my thoughts from killing the man I faced. Except for his own magic, which rendered mine worthless.
My face was down, and I was eating dried cinders. It was agony to move but I finally managed to smash my left hand against the pocket that held a Flash-bang. It went off, the power from the mechanical spell knocking me aside, hard, and David couldn’t maintain his grip.
I continued the spin from the blast and unzipped one of the smaller chest pockets. I hadn’t counted on my entire right side being out of action, no longer able to access most of the weapons I brought with me.
My hand found an herb bag, which I threw at David’s feet. A cloud of smoke engulfed him. I was bemused to notice the lead I had added had a strange effect. Not only was he shrouded in a blinding fog, but there were also small bursts of lightning that zapped him hard enough he yelped. Lead pulling the power of Fire out of wet mist.
I scrambled for a new approach. My earlier fury after leaving my team behind kept me from forming my own strategy outside of relentless fighting until my enemy went down. And that wasn’t really a plan.
All that preparation on our trip, and the only actual plan I had included three other people. Two agents busy fighting remarkably powerful guards alongside a guy I was so angry with that I left them all behind in the middle of a mission.
It had been a foolish, dangerous thing to do. And maybe I should have stayed by their side until we subdued the guards even if that risked allowing David to escape or kill Armageddon while we were busy. But it was too late to change things, and I needed an end game. Quick. I could barely function with all my injuries, and my uncle was too weak to help me even if I could cut the bindings and wake him.
Fighting in the field was a lot dif
ferent from the trials when I competed for my family’s company. There, I had to gain political and public support and beat the other competitors. It was all about flash and glitter and endearing myself to an audience while proving my skills. Armageddon had been watching, and I had the comfort of knowing he would have stopped them from murdering me, even though it was against the rules.
With David or Justum Venerit as he called himself, I had to find a way to stay alive while defeating him. I wasn’t even sure how to do that since without magic, I couldn’t vanquish him.
The calm, detached part of myself, the one that the darkness enhanced, already had the answer. If I couldn’t vanquish my enemy, I had to kill him.
As simple as that.
Just like my uncle assured me, we all made the decision when the time came, and that time was now. Resolve filled me with confidence in my choice. No more fears, no more worry.
David Novato couldn’t be vanquished. But he could be killed.
And I was just the girl to do it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I Make a Choice
Pulling out every crystal and herb bag I could reach, I threw them at David hard and fast. All I needed was for something to distract him enough that he didn’t realize how close he was to the edge of the cliff. My right side was killing me. I thought adrenaline would eventually kick in and I would stop feeling the pain, but so far, that turned out to be a myth. There was no way I could hold him down and kill him with my bare hands because of my injuries, but I could still kick him with enough force to push him over.
David Novato bellowed as he slammed into the ground. I had a few more Flash-bangs in my pocket, made of the blue volcanic glass the Andersson brothers had collected. They responded to the magic we had cast inside them almost happily, as if they recognized their element was all around and wanted to show off.
He wasn’t close enough to shove over the rim into the magma pit. I ran and kicked him, stomping as hard as I could on his ribs. He was blinded by the smoke but still knocked me down with one of his wild swipes. I rolled to the side so he couldn’t grab me and slammed my boots into his ribs again.
He slid away from my attack, closer to the edge.
I leaped up and drew my leg up to stomp him again when I heard the one voice that could distract me from my fury.
“Lia!” Peter shouted.
Anger and resentment boiled up inside me. He sounded concerned. Like he cared. Like he was still my best friend. I could even see his Light almost leaping from his skin, trying to reach me.
Except it couldn’t. Suppressing magic must have been an innate ability for David, instinctual even. Although I had smashed him to the ground and kicked him half to death, his anti-magic spell was still working. There was no way for Peter to flood me with enough Light to make me question what I knew needed to be done.
I didn’t even know why he bothered. Peter was taking his orders from my aunt too seriously. “Come on, Lia, stop. Let us help you,” he said.
Instead, I stomped down again and broke several of David’s ribs. Good. It was time for him to understand what pain was like on the receiving end.
Three figures made their way closer, difficult to make out because of the smoke from my herb pouches. My team, done with their own battles, coming to interrupt mine. Dark swirled within me, fighting against the other elements, dragging down my balance. Justifiable vengeance was all that was on my mind. And trying to finish before my team could stop me. This was my fight, and I would end it myself.
The entire world dimmed. Or maybe the darkness inside me could still blind me even when it was stopped from getting out.
Especially if it was stopped from getting out.
No tears fell, not from regret or the darkness. I stomped David’s ribs again, and then I plowed my boot into his temple.
The movement knocked me off-balance, and I fell beside him. I jerked away so he couldn’t grab me, but he was moving too slowly, his hand instead lifting to his head. He was losing consciousness. I shifted my weight onto my good side and pushed myself to my knees, cautiously scooting closer to hover over his body. I leaned against him when I realized he wasn’t responding to my proximity and lowered my hand to his throat.
Then squeezed.
I couldn’t remember ever reading one lesson about how to choke a man to death. There were probably books out there somewhere, but none were in my workshop library. I would have seen them.
Choking a man was hard to do. I wasn’t quite sure I was restricting his air flow enough. And my hand tired quickly. By instinct, I tried to draw strength from the Earth I knelt on.
And it worked. Apparently, David’s ability to negate magic finally stopped when he was almost completely unconscious.
“Peter, untie Ged,” I heard Harris shout.
I was glad Peter was the one ordered to do it, diverting his attention from me. I needed the Dark to keep my mind on my goal. I was afraid he would realize his magic was working again and flood me with Light.
Of course, now that magic was working, I could vanquish David. It would have shocked me if somebody told me that when I was seventeen, I would be willing and able to murder a man. Because now I had the choice of taking him out magically, choking him while he was unconscious would be murder.
The darkness had enough of a pull on me that I almost did it, anyway. But I wasn’t a Rector for nothing, and all the training I received to balance my dark side finally won out. And who knows? Maybe my father’s spirit reached out to help me fight it off. He was the only one who knew what it was like to be a Rector and control the forces tearing me apart. Something inside me was telling me how. Maybe it was him.
I loosened my hand from David’s throat and instead shifted it to his chest, over his heart. I did it to hold him down, but also to draw his magic through our contact.
“Lia, honey, I need you to listen,” Harris said. “You must let him go. We’ll tie him up and take him in. Trust me, you don’t want to do this.”
Oh. He couldn’t see I wasn’t choking David anymore. I didn’t answer Harris, though, because vanquishing a magician was not easy. It took just about everything I had left in me to drag David’s magic out of him. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t alter my focus. I had to stay where I was, doing what I was doing, without wavering. That was how the spell worked.
Magic was a part of the magician, enmeshed in their soul. It took incredible power to rip it out, and mine was fading. I had been through too much, hadn’t rested the way I needed to, was losing my will as the Dark was used up.
But I still had enough left to toss up a shield and stop the others from getting any closer. I did it without thinking, Seth and Harris swearing loudly from the other side.
“Well, at least we know the magic is back,” Seth said. I warmed when I heard his voice. He really was a good kisser, and he liked me. Not like Peter. Seth wasn’t fake with me. I could feel it when he held me.
Unfortunately, that positive thought pushed more of my darkness away and its hold on me broke. That weakened my resolve, but I pictured my uncle, brutalized by a madman, battered and bloody. Then I dug deep into my magic.
David Novato would not rise again with magic inside him. I was going to rip it out and burn it before his eyes.
Maybe that was a little dramatic, but I was still pissed off at what he had done.
“Lia,” I heard Armageddon call, finally awake. His voice was so raw and weak. “Sweetheart, let him go. It’s not his fault.”
The darkness crept back. I loved my guardian, but he was an idiot. David made the choices he did on his own. He was responsible, and he would pay for it.
That was when I made a mistake. The most important rule while engaged in battle was never let anything distract from performing a spell. “Yes, it is,” I shouted. “He knew what he was doing. He used the life force around us to keep you bound. Nobody does that by accident.”
To vanquish a magician, I had to connect to their magic and shred it. I understood how
his power worked inside David because at that moment, while I was tearing apart his soul to get at its source, it was almost like I was in his memory again. It gave me a sense of his spellwork. He could do magic with opposites, too. It was like using the Fire element to create Water magic. David used the life force in nature around him to kill the magic flow. That meant it worked without a trace. No wonder nobody had any idea it was even possible.
A double mistake. Peter heard me shout. I shouldn’t have told them the source of David’s ability, shouldn’t have created a shield to keep them away. Peter was too clever and knew me too well. He realized the magic was back, and he betrayed me.
Again.
His Light poured into me. “No!” I screamed. I needed to vanquish David. And if not, then I had to kill him. It was my duty. My job. It was who I was. It had to be done.
But I couldn’t do it with Peter’s Light pushing out the darkness. The element of Dark was what my family had used to generate our strongest magic for thousands of years. Dark was what gave us power over evil magicians.
Peter swept it away in an instant.
Blindly, I reached for the chunks of lead in my pocket. My wrist was in agony, and I fumbled, managing to unzip it anyway and grasped a ping-pong ball sized lump in my hand. I forced my magic through the lead, using it to flip a switch, seized Peter’s Light within me, and turned it into darkness.
I needed to work fast. Leaning into the effects of the lead, I amped up my strength. It twisted and changed the Light Peter pushed into me, strengthened the Dark flowing out.
Bracing my hand back on David’s chest, I heaved with everything I had.
Armageddon and Peter broke through my shield and tore me away. It felt like my head was exploding when they did. I didn’t know why they wanted so badly to protect the man who kidnapped and beat my uncle. It infuriated me. I shoved my magic outward, trying to force them back so I could finish what I started.