Liz stood tall and took a step towards him.
“Damn right! I can take you down,” she said.
She went in for another punch, but he blocked her with his forearm. He grabbed her hand and twisted, forcing her into a crouch.
“You broke my damn nose,” Jason spat. He kicked her in the stomach and let her fall to the floor, releasing her hand. She looked up as she gasped for breath and saw him gingerly touch his nose. He winced and then turned his angry gaze back to her. “Come here,” he said, fury making his voice shaky. Grabbing her arm, he hauled her to her feet. Liz gritted her teeth against the pain in her stomach and now her arm.
“I’m going to have some fun with you,” he hissed. Liz looked at him through tear-filled eyes and saw something move behind him. The Scion wolf stalked into the corridor and eyed them hungrily. It paused for a moment, its saliva hanging in long, gooey strands to the floor, before it charged at them and leapt.
Liz pulled back, trying to get away, keeping Jason between her and the beast.
The wolf landed on Jason’s back and threw him forward with a roar. Liz fell too, pushed to the floor by Jason’s grip. She rolled with the momentum and stopped a couple of meters in front of him. Jason was on his stomach, the beast on his back. It sank its enormous teeth into his shoulder while raking his back with its claws.
Jason screamed in agony as he thrashed about in panic, trying in vain to dislodge the wolf.
Shuffling backwards on her bum, Liz’s hand knocked against something. She looked down and saw Jason’s gun. Picking it up she pointed it at the beast and wondered where to shoot it.
She called on her Magical sight in order to determine where the best place to shoot the thing might be. A few options presented themselves, but the one place that seemed to call to her the most wasn’t actually on the creature at all. In the wall, an electrical cable sat very close to a water main. She opened fire. After the third bullet, water started to spray from the pipe. After the fourth it burst, drenching Jason and the wolf.
The Scion flinched away from the water in surprise, nearly releasing Jason, who tried to pull himself free.
But Liz kept firing, altering her aim slightly to hit the electrical cable above it. A few rapid-fire shots later and the broken cable swung free and contacted the water. Thousands of volts shot through the water, shocking Jason and the creature.
Both of them spasmed on the floor and then went still.
Breathing hard, she stared at the pair. She couldn’t quite believe what she’d done. She’d beaten them, and she’d survived. She couldn’t wait to tell Amanda.
Liz decided it might be best if she kept the gun with her. She really didn’t like firearms much, but she could see the appeal for a dangerous mission like this. Even with Magical abilities, sometimes you just needed to blow them away.
Straightening up, she listened for the staccato gunfire and headed toward it.
***
Amanda threw a couple of punches at Raal. She followed this with a swift kick to his ribs, which knocked him sideways. Her Essentia hits flared and sparked in her Aetheric Sight as she fought.
Raal staggered to the side but stayed upright. Brandishing his knife, he attempted to get in quick as Amanda brought her leg back down from the kick.
Amanda saw it coming and caught the attack without too much difficulty.
All the while, her other minds did their best to shore up her Aegis. Lucian and Raal threw more and more Essentia at her. They hammered a spike of Magical energy into her defences in an attempt to break them down. She held them off, much to their apparent frustration.
Feeling comfortable that her Aegis would hold for the time being, she concentrated on the fight. She caught Raal’s fist. Using his own strength against him, she twisted him around into a hold with one hand pinned, the other holding his knife to his throat. She forced it closer, making its stored Essentia fizz and pop against Raal’s Aegis.
With Raal pinned, she looked up at Lucian. She watched him send the other Magus off to fight Yoh and Maya as he backed off even further.
“I told you, this ends tonight, Lucian,” she threatened him.
“Actually, no, it doesn’t,” Lucian replied as Essentia flared around him. He was Porting away. Energy surged from an unknown source. It washed over Lucian’s casting and caused the effect to fizzle and die.
Amanda looked around. Lucian did the same, a look of confusion on his face. Amanda suddenly realised who it might be.
“Seems like someone doesn’t want you to leave, Lucian,” she said, unable to hold back the grin that spread across her face.
Lucian scowled at Amanda. He backed off a few steps, then turned and ran. He burst through the far doors and disappeared from sight.
“Feck,” Amanda cursed to herself. She couldn’t lose Lucian now, not after coming this far. With Lucian gone and his attacks on her Aegis no longer worrying her, she quickly refocused. She redirected her Magic and dedicated her three minds to ripping Raal’s Aegis apart.
“Give it up, Raal, you’re done,” she warned him.
“No, you can’t…” he grunted.
The extra power she brought to bear overwhelmed Raal’s defensive shields in a matter of seconds, and they quickly faded to nothing.
Wasting no time at all, Amanda reached inside his head with her Magic. With a quick working, she knocked Raal unconscious and let his limp body drop to the floor.
“Finally,” she gasped as she bolted across the room. She sprinted straight for the same door Lucian went through just seconds before. Crossing the room, she vaulted over a few sofas and managed to glance back at the fight in the doorway. Liz, Xain, and Orion had just arrived to help Yoh and Maya. They could handle the remaining Harbingers between them
Lucian had probably seen Liz and the boys arrive a few seconds ago, which had led to his swift exit.
Using her Aetheric Sight, she followed the trail of disturbed Essentia through the corridors beyond the room. He only had a few second’s head start, and this Magic had left a wake of churning Essentia behind him. She passed a larger knot of disturbed energy, noticing the Flux Magic signature it gave off. He’d tried to Port again, but the trail continued on, telling her he’d failed.
Amanda felt sure that was Yasmin’s doing.
Pushing on, Amanda ran faster than any athlete could manage, taking corners at speed. She shifted gravity as she needed it and ran along the walls to get around some of the turns.
Ahead, an old metal door stood ajar, and the trail of disturbed Essentia faded from view. Skidding to a stop just before the door, Amanda frowned. Had he gone through the door? She concentrated and worked some Temporal Magic. Essentia surged as she looked back in time to when Lucian passed through this way. She saw him charge into the corridor, clearly frustrated as he reached the door. He took a breath and worked some kind of Magic. A second later, he faded from view. Then the door opened all by itself.
He was invisible.
Amanda cancelled the Time Magic effect. If he couldn’t run or Port away, he was going to hide, it seemed. He’d only come through here maybe ten or twenty seconds ago at most. He didn’t have much of a lead, and he now needed to be much more careful and quiet if he wanted to get away from her.
Amanda stepped slowly through the doorway, her Aegis back to full strength. On the other side of the door, Amanda found herself back in the sewers and subterranean passages beneath New York.
A metal staircase descended from the steel mesh platform she stood on. She was inside some kind of wide, brick-lined shaft with rusty pipes snaking down the walls. Her Aetheric Sight penetrated the darkness, revealing everything, but not Lucian. Where was he?
Amanda approached the top of the steep stairs and looked down. Rather than trusting the rusty structure, she vaulted the railing and fell lightly to the floor below, her Magic making her landing gentle and silent.
Passageways led off into the darkness in several directions. Pipes lined the walls with the occasional pum
p or some other bit of mechanical engineering jutting out into the walkways. Puddles covered the floor as mist and steam hung in the still air.
Amanda noticed eddies in the steam down one passage. She smiled to herself. He was being careful, but not careful enough.
Walking into the tunnel, she rounded a corner and spotted Lucian up ahead. No longer invisible, he was little more than a dark shape in the shadows.
“I should have you arrested for stalking me!” he rumbled to her as Magic flared out of him and slammed into her Aegis.
He wasn’t holding anything back. His Magic hit Amanda hard, flaring brightly in her Aetheric Sight as it raked across her Aegis. The attack faded suddenly. She looked up, but Lucian had disappeared again.
She spun around, hunting for him, but couldn’t see him. It was a game of cat and mouse, apparently.
Stalking forward, she entered a wider section of tunnel with passages and tunnels leading off from it. She dropped down onto the damp concrete, splashing in a puddle as she landed.
Moments later, she had a strong feeling that someone was near. Magic blasted her Aegis. Amanda yelped.
As if out of thin air, Lucian appeared right beside her and hit her in the kidneys.
She staggered and backed off as she struggled to stay on her feet. Looking up, Lucian was gone again. She cursed. She needed to focus and not get too flustered. Taking a breath, she gathered her thoughts and tried to sense where he might be.
He appeared right beside her.
Lucian’s Magic flared, and a kinetic blast slammed into Amanda. She was sent flying and landed awkwardly.
Gunfire rang out in the darkness.
Ignoring the pain, Amanda scrambled to her feet. Looking up to see who’d fired, she spotted Shaun in a side tunnel holding a smoking gun.
“Shaun?”
“In the flesh,” he answered.
Just a few feet away, Lucian dropped to one knee, his Aegis fizzling from the Essentia rounds Shaun had used.
“Thanks,” she said, looking back at Shaun. Behind him, a bloodied Raal stumbled into view.
“Shaun, move!” Amanda yelled.
Raal grabbed Shaun’s wrist, disarmed him, and threw him out of the tunnel like a rag doll. He landed on the damp stone floor not too far from Amanda with a grunt.
“God damn it,” Amanda hissed.
Raal stepped towards Amanda and raised Shaun’s gun. Amanda rushed Raal. She caught his gun hand in hers and raised it. Twisting around him, she got him into another hold, his gun pointing up beneath his jaw.
“For what you and your coven did, you deserve much worse than this,” she hissed and pulled the trigger.
Blood splattered onto her face as the ear-shattering noise of the gun made her flinch.
She released him from her grip and let Raal fall face down into the sewage and muck at the feet.
Amanda starred at Raal for a moment, waiting for something inside her to change. She waited for the guilt or horror of her actions to surface. Instead, she felt a sense of relief. She’d killed a Nomad, and the world was better off without him.
Beyond Raal’s corpse, the scowl on Lucian’s face darkened, and she could see his fists balled in rage. He still wore his shades, but she didn’t need to see his eyes to recognise the fury inside him. Amanda slowly rose from the slight crouch she’d been in, watching for Lucian’s next move.
Magic flared. Invisible energy slammed into her. It launched her violently through the air as if a car had hit her at eighty miles an hour. She flew across the room and hit a makeshift wooden partition, smashing straight through it in a shower of splinters and pain. Her Aegis cushioned the blows. She landed halfway through the next room, tumbling and rolling through dirt and puddles. She came to a stop in a crouch, gasping for breath.
Looking up, the rest of the wooden partition exploded out into the room as Lucian leapt through the flying debris, landing a few meters away.
“It’s all been fun and games so far, bitch, but you goin’ down now. Let me show you what we do to Arcadian scum like you,” he scowled.
Amanda pulled herself up to her feet, a hundred cuts and bruises calling for her attention, but she ignored them. This wasn’t over yet.
“Bring it!” Amanda challenged him.
She lowered herself into a ready stance, as she watched Lucian draw a knife from his belt as he walked.
A few feet from her, he went in for the first stab. She closed the gap. Getting in close to him, she used her forearms to block his swings. She knocked his attacks away and countered with strikes of her own. Amanda’s Aegis flared with energy as Lucian’s Multitasking mind sent attack after Magical attack at her, wearing down her Mystical defences.
Amanda’s extra minds worked double-time to bolster her shield and keep Lucian’s Magical attacks at bay. He was a skilled Magus, clearly a higher rank than she was, but she was resisting him. She knew her connection to Essentia was a strong one—stronger than most, or so Gentle Water had said.
As she fended off another attack, she wished he’d make a mistake. Something she could take advantage of, giving her the upper hand.
His Essentia strikes faded, and he hit her with another Kinetic Ram. She stumbled back, off-balance for a moment.
She wondered where her friends were. Were they close? Would they find her? She called out through her Mental Link.
~Yoh? Maya? Liz? Anyone? Are you coming?~
There was no answer. She frowned. She hoped that meant they were still inside The Pit Club and its Aegis, and not something worse.
“You’re good at this, Amanda, a regular Bruce Lee,” Lucian complimented her as he approached, tossing his knife and catching it. “You should consider joining us. We could use you, girl.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid I have issues with torturing children, so…” she said in disgust.
Lucian punched and slashed at her. In his overconfidence, he let his arm hesitate a moment too long. Amanda saw it. She grabbed it, planted her feet, and twisted it into a lock. Both of their Aegises flared with a rainbow of light in her Aetheric Sight as they came into contact.
Lucian roared in frustration as she twisted some more. Lucian’s Essentia surged, and a Kinetic Ram slammed into her chest, sending her flying.
She hit the floor on her back and skidded over the cracked concrete. She could feel several cuts through the shredded back of her top.
For crucial seconds, she laid there winded, fighting for air, until she finally caught her breath and sucked in a lung full.
Lucian turned, his face filled with fury as he healed his arm.
“I have you now,” he said. Reaching up he grasped at nothing and then swung his fist down. His Magic surged once more, as another force blast slammed down upon her.
Amanda raised her arm to protect herself. She flooded her shield with energy as the attack stuck home, hitting her and the ground around her.
The old, weak floor couldn’t take the punishment though, and gave way in a violent disintegration, taking Amanda and Lucian with it.
There was a sudden feeling of weightlessness until gravity took hold of her and pulled Amanda down. Stone broke apart all around her, pelting her with bits of concrete while dry, bitter particles filled her nose and mouth.
She landed on the pile of rubble that had fallen away beneath her. Jagged edges stabbed into her back, making her wince in pain. She rolled and got to her feet, skidded down the pile of rubble, dodging the occasional falling rock. Reaching the floor, she peered through the dust cloud, wondering where Lucian might be. She didn’t want to get caught off guard as she crept through the haze.
She picked her way over the rocks, using her hands for balance, staying as quiet as possible.
She made out movement through the haze ahead and moved towards it. It was Lucian, reaching the floor after climbing down the rubble.
Reaching a more even surface she walked with purpose towards the Nomad, refilling her Aegis as she went.
The dust clou
d thinned and Amanda slowed as Lucian watched her approach. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw his face. She’d met Lucian several times now, and every time she’d seen him, he’d been wearing his shades. They were deep black wrap around ones, and she’d taken them for granted, assuming they were just a fashion statement.
But the fall had knocked them off. Seeing his face without them might have been interesting enough on its own, but seeing what they had been hiding changed everything.
Lucian didn’t have any eyes.
His sunken eyelids were sewn shut and surrounded by scars. She’d noticed the hint of scarring on his skin around his shades before, but again, hadn’t thought much of about it.
This revelation stopped Amanda in her tracks. She stared at him for a moment, re-evaluating everything she thought she knew about him.
So, if he had no eyes, how did he see?
She took a quick step back as Lucian took a step toward her.
“Getting scared, are we?” he taunted, but Amanda didn’t listen.
Quickly, she focused on the Essentia around him, and easily found the Magical set of senses that hovered just in front of his face, and crucially, outside his Aegis.
Of course, she thought, he used Magic to see. He didn’t need eyes. And now that she thought about it, she’d seen this casting on him each time she’d met him, but had thought nothing of it.
Magi often used additional sets of senses to get a second view on things, look round corners, and more. This ridiculously common effect nearly always went unnoticed it was so commonplace. Seeing things from an alternate viewpoint could be useful, but Amanda had never thought of countering such an effect as it had always seemed inconsequential.
Lucian, however, needed those senses to see. Without them, he would be blind. But he had no need to worry because the commonality of the effect pretty much guaranteed that they were discounted.
Magi Legend Page 42