by TR Cameron
Her sparring partners almost always underestimated her at the outset, as the initial attacker had. A couple of would-be muggers who’d tried her over the years had fallen into the same trap. Now she saw in her assailants’ frowns the realization that they’d encountered someone worthy of at least a modicum of respect. The nearest one whipped the baton at her ribs, twisting to put the power of his approach behind the blow. She spun away from it, only to find another of the weapons slicing downward at her head as she completed the first revolution. A step inward with her nearer foot reduced the area he could strike, and she grabbed his wrist, pulling the weapon down and past her. She chambered her knee and drove a kick back at the first one who’d swung at her, and he stumbled backward.
She didn’t surrender the man’s wrist but instead yanked his arm up, spun underneath it, and used her leverage to force him to flip to avoid having the joint broken. Ruby snapped a kick that drove the toe of her heavy boot into his temple, and his eyes rolled up in his head. She dove forward as she sensed someone at her back and narrowly avoided a baton strike. The weapon passed close enough that it ruffled her hair. She fetched up against one of the gaming tables and felt the pressure of the anti-magic emitter as it tried to suck away the magic she was using to disguise herself. The amulet snapped to life as she pushed off the furniture to get out of the emitter’s range.
The Mist Elves’ illusion skills were more than capable of evading the efforts of low-end anti-magic emitters, given how intertwined the powers were with their very existence. Unfortunately, gaming tables usually featured the heavy-duty models, which would rapidly drain her backup concealment option. She flowed out into the wide aisle that separated the gambling area from the former bar she’d enjoyed her beer at only minutes before and turned to face the remaining attackers. The one who’d been unarmed had retrieved the fallen baton, which was something she’d hoped to do.
The element of surprise had allowed her to take out the first two quickly, but the rest of her enemies advanced warily. Damn it. They look like they’ve done this before. The groups she’d fought in martial arts practices often had the same attitude. No way around it. I’ll need my magic to give me an edge. Just have to hope for the best.
Mist Elves based their fighting style on the elements: the planet’s surface, for solidity; the air, for acrobatics; water, for the ability to flow where danger wasn’t; and fire, for quick and devastating attacks. She ran toward the centermost opponent on the assumption that his partners would be less likely to attack if he was in the way. The man set his feet and swung the baton like a baseball bat, throwing all his force into a blow that would have crushed her chest if it had connected.
It didn’t, of course. She’d planned for his actions and gave herself a boost of force magic to assist her jumping flip over him. Ruby grabbed his neck as she rotated over his head, then used it to throw him as she landed. A slight twist added to the move would have broken it, but she resisted. Her training taught her to kill if necessary, but she didn’t judge it so at the moment. She spun immediately, lifted her left arm vertically in front of her torso and face, and wrapped it in a cocoon of force magic. It intercepted the strike that one of the men aimed at her head, but she felt the shock of another impact her leg before it crumpled underneath her.
She threw herself to the side in a roll to avoid the follow-up strikes. Her leg went from numb to needles and pins as the blow to the nerve bundle started to wear off. However, she was a prime target while on the floor, and the men circled to either side of her. She scrambled backward in a crabwalk but had to abandon it as the one on her right aimed a blow at her knee. Ruby yanked it back and caught the strike on the sole of her boot, then snapped out a weak kick at the man’s knee. He skittered back, and it gave her the opening to roll away from the other one’s attack at her head.
She used another burst of force magic to lift her from the floor and send her spinning horizontally into the backpedaling opponent. He went down under her, and she made sure to stomp on his weapon hand as she pushed herself back to her feet to face the other one. Belatedly, she realized she’d lost track of the man who’d overseen the theft while the others dealt with her. The bullet that burned through the top of her left shoulder provided an agonizing reminder of his presence and location. Muttering a litany of swear words her family would be properly shocked to hear spill out of her mouth, she ran at the remaining one with the baton while weaving to avoid getting shot again.
She stretched out a hand and used a tendril of force to bring one of the fallen batons to her. It slapped into her palm in time for her to use it to deflect a downward strike from her foe. She circled, and he did the same in the opposite direction, apparently not realizing she was trying to bring him into the last one’s line of fire. Nice when they’re not entirely competent. Although these are pretty good, all things considered. A flick of her wrist tested her opponent’s defense, and he smoothly intercepted the baton tip headed for his face with his weapon, then countered with the same move.
Ruby leaned back to avoid it, then spun to the side as he stepped forward. At the moment his balance shifted, she snapped a kick into his knee. The blow lacked the force to break the joint, but it was sufficient to compromise his footing. She spun in reverse and whipped her elbow around at his face. The shock of impact occurred earlier than expected as he deflected her strike, and she instinctively swept her arm down in a block that intercepted the sidekick he launched at her ribs. They were too close now for batons and traded quick punches and kicks, blocking with forearms, shins, and feet.
She clenched her jaw at the dual realizations that her opponent was well-trained and the wound in her shoulder slowed her down. She relaxed her control and let her natural magic flow from her, creating a veil over her fist as it traveled toward his face and an illusion of the incoming attack a half-foot to the right. He reflexively moved to block the danger his senses perceived, and the punch connected. He stumbled away from her and dropped his baton in surprise. She leapt into the air and delivered a flying sidekick to his chest that knocked him sliding backward.
With the attacker down, the first man came into view again. He was lifting his pistol now, pointing it at the people behind the bars of the cage. She had no time for finesse and no way to intervene without calling upon her magic. She clapped her hands in front of her, and a wave of force rippled out from them, directed at a downward angle to hit the floor before it reached the innocent cashiers.
It was still in full effect when it struck the man with the pistol and propelled him forward into the bars of the casino cage with the strength of a team of horses all kicking him at the same time. The cracking sound as his bones broke carried over the bedlam in the casino. He crumpled, and she met the eyes of one of the Mist Elf women in the cage, who gave her a respectful nod.
The adrenaline left her, and Ruby staggered to a nearby wall and slid down it to the floor, the throbbing in her shoulder suddenly overcoming all other sensations. She put her head down, the long platinum hair occluding her face, and focused on solidifying her disguise again. Moments later, there was nothing left to suggest she was anything more than a regular human caught up in the crossfire.
Nothing but the gazes from behind the cage bars that kept returning to her. Ruby shook her head. I definitely shouldn’t have let Jennifer pick our meeting place.
Chapter Three
Ruby must have lost focus because the sudden thump and groan that accompanied Jennifer sliding down the wall to sit beside her almost made her scream. She pushed down the instinctive response and shook her head. “Damn, woman, you should warn a person.”
Jennifer snorted, then coughed. The casino’s ventilation system was still working on the dust and tiny debris created by the explosions. “I called your name a bunch of times. Not my fault you zoned out.” She pushed a hand back through the tangled mess that her previously perfectly straight blond hair had become and scowled as it got caught. “I missed almost everything, I think. I spotted you as the
guards blasted the last guy with magic.”
Ruby blinked, then nodded to cover her surprise. “Yes. It’s good that the guards stepped in.” Her parents had always taught her that people tended to see what they expected, which offered a decided advantage for a group that used concealment and disguise as naturally as hers. “Did you hear anyone say anything about what the point of this was?”
Her friend shrugged. “Looks like a robbery to me. I mean, what else could it be?”
Ruby shook her head. “If it was a simple cash heist, these people were way dumber than they seemed. You’d be better off doing that almost anywhere than in Ely. Hell, it’d be easier to steal from a casino on the Vegas strip, and according to Ocean’s Eleven, no one other than George Clooney or the Rat Pack has managed that, ever.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes. “I’m not positive that basing your opinion on a movie is the wisest choice. They teach you that in grad school?”
“Ha. Ha.” A shadow falling over them deflected the witty retort that Ruby was sure would have immediately leapt into her mind. She looked up to see a powerful-looking woman standing next to them, dressed in a County Sheriff’s uniform: lots of brown fabric set off by metal, leather, and plastic in black. The officer was solid. The muscles at her biceps and thighs pushed obviously against the outfit, but she still looked like she’d be fast and light on her feet. Sizing up opponents at a glance was one of the things all her martial arts teachers had considered important, so Ruby had a lot of practice at it.
The woman’s voice was unexpectedly relaxed, given the gravity of the circumstances. “Hello, ladies. Hold on a second.” She turned and shouted, “Paramedics, over here, now.” A man ran up to her after only a couple of moments, and she pointed. “Looks like a shoulder wound, at least. Check that out.” She went down to one knee so she’d be more or less at eye-level with them. “So, I’m Sheriff Alejo, and I’m overseeing the situation here. Seems like you had a front-row ticket.”
Now that Ruby wasn’t craning her neck to see the other woman, she noted the slight wideness to her face, the darkness of her long hair, which had been pulled back into a professional braid, and the thin black eyebrows above her brown eyes. She looked like someone who’d be happy to welcome you into her home for a party but would be equally comfortable bodily throwing you into one of her cells if you caused trouble. Ruby replied, “Yeah, it got pretty exciting there for a minute.”
Jennifer interrupted, “I didn’t see too much, but I think the bar blew up in our faces. Oh, no, is the bartender okay?” Her face fell as the reality of what had happened finally broke through whatever defenses she’d used to hold it at bay.
The sheriff shook her head. “Afraid not. A few didn’t survive the attack, mostly those unlucky enough to be positioned right by one of the bombs.”
Ruby frowned. “Only a few? That’s good, but what was the point of the explosives if not to kill people?”
Alejo’s eyes came to rest on hers, and she read suspicion in them, but not specifically directed at her. Yet, anyway. “Seems like they used them as a distraction rather than to inflict maximum damage. There were a lot of easy ways they could have been much worse.”
“Sounds like experience speaking.”
She shrugged. “Twenty years in the Army, you see a thing or three. Let’s get down to the important stuff. The other people I’ve interviewed said they saw a white-haired woman fighting the attackers. I presume that’s you.”
Ruby nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why? What do you care about the casino’s money?”
Dust tickled her nostrils, and she sneezed into her sleeve, then sneezed again as she inhaled the dirt smeared on it. When she’d collected herself, she answered, “I don’t, although if they wanted to give me some as a reward or something I wouldn’t say no.” The joke didn’t cause even a ripple of amusement on the other woman’s face. “It looked like they were going to hurt the workers in the cashier area. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Alejo nodded slowly. “Even though it was one against six.”
She shrugged. “I’ve done martial arts for exercise pretty much my whole life, and part of it has been fighting when the odds aren’t even.”
A chuckle escaped the other woman. “Odds. Even. Casino. I see what you did there.” She brushed a stray hair off her forehead, and Ruby could picture her tipping back a cowboy hat, or maybe a sheriff’s hat, with the same motion. I bet she’s all “Aww shucks” right up until the moment she punches a bad guy’s lights out for him. She shifted her gaze to Ruby’s left. “And you? Notice anything different?”
Jennifer shook her head. “No, I didn’t see much. The explosion threw us backward, and I was groggy for a while. When I got up, Ghost was fighting, then one of the guards blasted everyone.”
“That tracks with what others have told me. By ‘Ghost,’ you mean your friend here, right?”
Ruby interjected, “It’s a high school nickname. You know, from a time when we were much less mature.” She glared at Jennifer. “Ghost was nicer than Casper, anyway.”
The sheriff straightened with a low groan. “I can see that. My skin and hair got me called ‘Dusty’ until I beat down enough people to convince them to stop saying it.”
“Maybe I should’ve adopted that approach.”
Alejo chuckled. “Never too late to start. Seems like you have the skills to make it happen.”
Ruby let out a long exhalation. “Honestly, I don’t know what came over me. I guess getting blown up made me mad. Caused me to lose connection to my brain or something.”
The woman towering over her called a name, and a uniformed man stepped into view. “This is Richardson. He’ll get your specifics, along with some contact information in case I want to have another word with you later.” She ambled off and the paramedic, who had been working on Ruby’s shoulder the whole time, spoke.
“It’s a deep graze. I have it packed up, but you should visit a hospital or urgent care for further care. We have people who can’t move under their own power to take care of.” It wasn’t a denigration, merely a statement of the moment’s reality, delivered with a note of apology.
She smiled at him as he rose. “No problem. Thanks for taking care of it. Already feels better.” It didn’t, but that’s what a normal, polite person would say, and she did so although she was neither.
As he moved away, Jennifer observed, “He was cute.”
Ruby sighed. “Really? Now?”
Her maybe-friend shrugged. “Might be he wants to go to medical school. You could do worse than marrying a doctor.”
She closed her eyes. “Not in the cards.”
“Cards. Casino. Hah.”
“Yeah, I’m a laugh riot.” She mustered her energy and pushed backward with her feet, sliding her back up the wall to stand. The room wavered a little but then steadied. “I need to get home. I’m going to grab the tram over to my folks’ place.” A ground-level monorail connected all the casinos in a large loop, and all residents of the town had free access to it through a small key fob or smartphone app.
Jennifer rose as well. “Want me to come with?” Her tone suggested she didn’t want to, which wasn’t a surprise. She was pure human, as far as Ruby knew, and the rest of Ruby’s family were visibly not. It made some people uncomfortable and made others intrigued. Only a narrow band in the middle took it in stride, and most of her high school friends weren’t part of that segment.
She shook her head. “No, I’m good, thanks.” They parted with a hug and a promise to get together again, and she wondered if Jennifer shared the opinion that it would be some time before that particular commitment was honored. Then she was free and moving toward the rear of the casino. As she passed the cage, a cashier gave her a small bow. He’d twisted his fingers into a symbol she recognized, one of the easiest to identify among the physical version of the Mist Elves’ language: “Thank you.” She touched her eyebrow in recognition, “Fare well,” in the same language. As with many of their words
, it had a dual meaning. In this case, both a goodbye and a wish for health and fortune. Accompanied by a certain facial expression, the context would flip and it would become an insult. As much as we’re like humans in many ways, we’re unlike them in at least an equal number.
She headed toward the tram but turned away when she was near the back of the casino and walked down an unmarked hallway. A tingle of magic was the only thing that distinguished it from countless others along the way. At the end of it lay a blank wall, but a murmured spell and a wave dispelled the illusion long enough for her to find the button that opened the door and press it. She slipped inside and closed it behind her. A railing surrounded a wide rectangular hole in the floor, easily twelve feet on the long side and ten in the other direction. A circular staircase descended through the opening for those without the requisite skill set for the preferred means of travel.
She leaned over the railing and saw only darkness. The black metal of the steps disappeared in the lack of lighting. She grinned, leapt over the banister, and fell into the endless black.
Chapter Four
Of course, the darkness wasn’t truly endless. It only seemed that way from above. She kept her body vertically oriented with small bursts of force magic against the shaft’s stone walls. Dim lights inset into those walls indicated her depth, counting down to the bottom. When three showed, she pushed force magic underneath her. At two, she increased it, and at one, she killed her velocity enough to land softly on the ground. She quickly stepped forward, vacating the passageway for the next person who needed it. The illusion at the top would have prevented anyone else from entering the room while she was dropping, but it never hurt to move rapidly after landing, in case.