by Logan Byrne
“I don’t want us to lose ourselves along the way. All it takes is one life,” I said.
“If you can’t accept the mission as is, you don’t need to go,” Tyil said.
“I’m going, no matter what anybody says. This is my battle, and I intend to fight it,” I said.
“Then you’ll follow orders and stay in line like everybody else,” Tyil snapped.
“Tyil, be calm, she’s young. I remember a young man who once had her passion,” Mirian said.
Tyil shook his head, exasperated, before going back to the plan. I knew what war entailed, no matter if it were fought by mortals or magical beings. I just didn’t want us to do it this way. To kill people because they might kill us later down the line. It was one thing to defend yourself in battle to save your life or the life of another, but to go to somebody’s home and kill them because you thought they might hurt you one day was entirely different.
I just wanted to keep my humanity intact at the end of this ordeal.
“We need to leave tonight,” Tyil said. “It won’t take more than a couple of hours, I reckon.”
“How big is your group?” Pote asked.
“Thirty, maybe thirty-five. I’m only taking the best and those stealthy enough to avoid detection,” Tyil said.
“Good. Take whomever you need, and keep me posted,” Pote said.
“They’re just doing what they think is best,” Britta said as we walked out of the tent a moment later.
“I just wish we could get straight to him, to Kiren. If only we knew where he was right now, we could find him and stop him without spilling any blood,” I said.
“Maybe we’ll find out that intelligence tonight without hurting anybody. We can blow up the depot and get rid of the supplies without a life having been lost,” Britta said, patting my upper back.
“Maybe,” I said, unsure.
Faus was sitting this one out; Tyil didn’t think he brought enough to the table. I was sure Faus was more than happy to hear that, given that the cave excursion was likely more excitement than he needed in a single week.
Charlie, Britta, and Blake were all going with me, and each one of them brought a different talent in Tyil’s eyes. Shifters like Charlie, cats as well as birds, were at the top of his list.
Charlie was as light as a feather even with that big jaguar body, and he would be able to sneak around the depot without making a sound. Bird shifters could fly around and perch, helping us see the enemy’s position and giving us signals when we needed to attack.
We learned the depot was an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn that Kiren had taken control of two months ago. He originally shuffled banned items and magical substances there before converting it to a training and storage depot just three weeks ago.
Duskhowlers shuffled in and out of the warehouse, doing their final bit of training and learning the harshest spells and counters that Kiren hoped would overpower the resistance and anybody who stood in his way. They would be his personal army, going door to door and forcing the will of any being, mortal or otherwise, who dared defy him.
Instilling fear was his weapon of choice, and a faceless, masked army of magical beings was the bullet that would make the weapon worthwhile.
There must’ve been around thirty-two of us that teleported into Brooklyn under the cover of darkness. A few cars drove by, and we could hear a dog with a deep bark in the distance, but there were no mortals in sight. We were a few blocks from the depot, because Tyil was intent on casing the building and property first before going in gung ho.
As we stood in an alley waiting, I saw something, someone, familiar. Flashing through the shadows before coming up to me, Xelia showed her face and smiled, giving me a hug.
“You’re here,” I said, smiling back.
“You didn’t think I’d let my students go in alone, did you? Besides, I’m available every chance I get to screw with Kiren and his plans,” Xelia said.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked. “It’s going to be crazy in there.”
“Lexa, darling, I’m up for anything. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? I’m already dead, so it’s not like they can kill me,” she said, laughing in a self-deprecating manner.
“Okay, first I want the bird shifters to fly around and see what we’re dealing with. How many guards are there, how many doors, windows, anything. Just find out the information we need,” Tyil said.
Four people shifted into a variety of birds—one was a hawk, two were owls, and the fourth was a falcon. They were the perfect size to not draw any attention to our operations. “While they’re gone, we need to go over the plan in more detail. Xelia, you said you had information?” Tyil asked.
“Kiren wants to use a mix of mortal and magical weapons in his assault on the realms. We know this facility is more storage than manufacturing, so destroying it will obviously be a large blow because his supply will run thin, forcing him to use more resources and make more items. Inside there are wands, guns, explosives, and other magical weapons including silver bullets, roots, herbs, and other items that can be very deadly to all magical beings and creatures. He wants to have a wide spread so that any creature that defies him can be exterminated like a cockroach,” Xelia said.
“How do you know all this?” someone asked.
“I have a friend on the inside, working for us. He’s been feeding me information when he can, though it’s been difficult for him to get many messages out. He’s assured me he’s out at this point, he graduated from Kiren’s little academy a week ago,” Xelia said.
“And we can trust him?” the man asked.
“I trust him with my life, or rather lack of life,” Xelia replied.
One of the bird shifters, the hawk, flew back down and shifted into human form before walking towards us. “It looks like everything is how we thought. There are three entrances that we could find. Two doorways, and one large metal gate that looks like it’s used for loading and unloading their goods. There are guards stationed at every entrance, and much activity inside the facility that we saw through windows on the top of the building.”
“How many guards are present in each doorway?” Tyil asked.
“Five, maybe six,” the shifter said.
“Earlier reports had it at three,” Xelia said.
“I’m not sure about your other reports, but it’s definitely five to six now,” the shifter said.
“He beefed up security. Maybe since his showdown with Lexa he knows to be cautious,” Tyil said.
“He knows we’re coming?” I asked.
“Not necessarily, no. He might just be taking extra precautions to protect his investment. Okay, we need to move. We need to split up, with two groups of ten taking out the guards at the doorways. The others will take on the loading dock and secure that. More guards will be able to funnel out of there quickly, so the majority should go there,” Tyil said.
“We can take a doorway,” Charlie said, looking at our small group.
“I’ll go with them. Anybody else joining us?” Xelia asked.
Five more volunteers stepped forward, three mages and two shifters, including a grizzly bear shifter, before we put our hands in together like some cheesy campfire allegiance.
“Watch each other’s backs, and don’t let them get the better of you. Do what it takes,” Xelia said.
The pit in my stomach that I felt before every operation became more pronounced as we approached the warehouse. We’d snuck around the entire block, working our way to the back entrance, where we felt we’d have the upper hand. There was a massive sense of uncertainty as we were moving in, with me, and likely the rest of us, having no idea how this was going to go.
This wasn’t like in M.A.G.I.C., where we could coordinate positions and attacks. Those missions mostly went off without a hitch, but this time was very different. There wasn’t a master plan with maps and surveillance. There was only a rag-tag group of rebels who were going to have to resort to brute force instead of
diligence.
“There they are,” Xelia said quietly, as we hunched over about two hundred feet from the back entrance.
There was water to our right, about fifteen feet of asphalt to walk on, and a faded green door with six guards in front of it. They didn’t seem too alert, talking amongst themselves and looking very nonchalant. They had no idea what was about to hit them.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“It looks like they’re possibly all mages. Scratch that, I see a shifter. What kind, I don’t know, but he doesn’t have a wand and doesn’t look any other kind of magical,” Xelia said.
“It’s too high to go above them,” Britta said.
“Not for me,” Xelia said. “I can make the fall down, but it would be easier if I could get up there without catching their attention.”
“I can get you up there. Charlie, coming with?” I asked.
“You know it,” Charlie replied.
“Once you two jump, we’ll attack,” Blake said.
I grabbed onto Charlie and Xelia, teleporting the three of us on top of the building. We were high up, way higher than I was comfortable with, but the top of the building arched, so we slid down the side and came towards the back corner where the men were stationed.
We landed silently on the ledge. Charlie shifted and Xelia shrouded herself in darkness, and I looked over at the others before taking out my wand.
“Levio,” I said quietly, wrapping my wand around Charlie and myself. I felt the sharp decline in weight before I moved to the edge, watching the other group moving in closer behind a short concrete wall at the edge of the property.
We jumped off, Xelia using her vampiric abilities to grasp onto the building like a spider, the slightest sound of flapping clothing making the only noise besides the men talking.
I saw a pipe to the side, and pointed my wand at it to throw it at one of the guards. He grunted loudly, falling to the ground, before the others took out their weapons.
“Show yourself!” one exclaimed, the nerves in his voice diminishing his authority.
“Up here,” Xelia said. The guard slowly looked up before letting out a gasp.
Xelia and Charlie pounced while the others ran in. The duskhowler initiates started to throw off spells, Britta and the other mages deflecting them with ease, before our shifter turned into a grizzly bear and theirs shifted into a male lion.
They ran at one another, both hopping onto their hind legs, their massive, meaty bodies slapping and slicing into one another.
“Rigormorio Maximus,” I said, striking one of the guards, whose wand flew out of his hand well before he hit the ground.
“That one! He’s going to alert the others!” Britta said, pointing at a guard who was running away.
“Not on my watch,” Charlie said, breaking into a full sprint towards the guy. But the duskhowler fell before Charlie reached him, struck by a spell, and dropped to the ground. Charlie stopped and turned around.
“Sorry, I got nervous,” Britta said, an embarrassed grin on her face.
Our grizzly shifter slapped down the lion, forcing him out of his shift, before Blake held him down and covered his mouth with duct tape handed to him by someone in our group.
A senior mage began to use his wand to create magical restraints around every duskhowler, some of them conscious while others were definitely knocked out.
“We need to hide them in case a stray duskhowler stumbles on them,” Charlie said.
Blake and Xelia gathered up the duskhowlers, binding them all together and pushing them near the small concrete wall as Britta and I took out our wands.
“Obscurio,” we said, twirling our wands in front of them, and a blanket of invisibility hid them. The spell would likely last an hour or two before they’d become visible again. Hopefully we could come back and arrest them well before that, given the restraints would last six hours.
“We’ve taken down the front entrance. Rear team, what’s your position?” we were asked over our earpieces.
“Rear team has taken down the back entrance. All enemies sedated. Cargo team, copy?” our senior mage asked.
“We’re in position to attack,” Tyil said. “Get inside the building but don’t draw any attention.”
Blake grabbed the door handle, breaking it open, before our senior mage walked to the front to pacify any duskhowlers who might be hanging around. “We’re inside.”
The building itself wasn’t anything special, a non-descript warehouse with dirty floors and an even dirtier smell. We slunk through the corridors, not running into a single soul, before reaching a corner would test our fortitude.
The mage passed the corner, and a curse hit him square in the chest without warning. My stomach dropped, nervous butterflies forming, before I gripped my wand and ran in. “Lexa!” Blake called.
“Arma Maximus,” I incanted, casting a shield as a group of duskhowlers began to toss every spell they’d ever learned at me. They hit the bubble, each one making a popping noise, before the grizzly shifter came and retrieved our fallen soldier, pulling him to safety as he struggled to breathe.
Britta began swirling her wand around his heart, whispering an incantation I hadn’t heard before, while the other mages came to support me. “We need to attack back,” one said, gripping her wand.
“Ignitus Maximus!” she said, a blaze of fire funneling through the hallway and out of my shield. I heard blood-curdling screams as the duskhowlers tried to fend off the attack. I looked back at the fallen mage, everything moving in slow motion, before looking up at Blake with a vacant look in my eyes, my mouth hanging open. What was happening? What was all this?
“Come on, we need to move,” the female mage said, shaking me, before I snapped out of it and looked ahead. The hallway was burnt, singed, as the lifeless bodies of duskhowlers lay on the ground in front of me. Blake grabbed me, pulling me forward with the group, as evacuation forces came and retrieved our mage, letting Britta continue our battle.
“It already happened, Lexa. You have to let it go and worry about it later,” Blake said.
“They know we’re here! Attack!” Tyil said over the communications system.
We funneled into the main room of the warehouse. The ceiling was made of glass, like the bird shifters had talked about earlier. There were mountains of wooden crates all around us creating a sort of maze that I didn’t want to get lost in.
Some were labeled, holding crystals, gemstones, wands, and rations, while others were sprayed with strange symbols I didn’t recognize.
A blaze of fire from an explosion burned in the opposite corner of the room, catching my attention as I was drawn back into the fray of battle. I shook my head, snapping out of it, before seeing a werewolf charging towards us. “Oh no you don’t,” Blake roared, his claws coming out and his eyes turning red.
He met the enemy werewolf, slashing at him like a wild beast, before I looked up to see Charlie running on top of the crates above. Xelia was with him, planting charges around the interior, their combined aerial prowess making them perfect candidates for the job.
“The girl! Lord Kiren desires her!” a duskhowler said, pointing his wand at me.
I remembered my training in the camp, slinging my wand around me and throwing solid links of chain towards him. I grabbed onto his wrist, pulling it taught, before he flew forward and skidded across the ground.
“Nice one,” Britta said, before stabbing her wand forward, slapping her left palm on top of her right wrist. A surge of orange energy flew out, causing the other duskhowler to start sneezing uncontrollably as he dropped his wand and sneezed one after another.
“Hey, it’s simple but it works,” she said, smiling and shrugging.
Britta and I ran into the main area of the room, the floor section without any crates that was instead filled with resistance agents and duskhowlers fighting it out. I looked over at the loading bay door, seeing it break open as Tyil and the others pushed forward and seized control.
Above, bird shifters dropped charges on top of random piles of crates that were stacked up high before flying out to grab more. We were really doing this, we were going to destroy his depot.
“They’re holding a unicorn hostage in the basement of the building,” Tyil said over the intercom. “Intelligence just came in. We can’t allow one to die.”
Unicorns were valuable in the magical realm. Not only were they beautiful and magnificent creatures, but their life aura provided healing properties that could be used to bring anybody back to life. Kiren must have one trapped down there, imprisoning it, as its life force was slowly drained away.
“We’ll get it, Britta and I,” I said.
“Take somebody else, too,” Tyil said.
“There’s no time, they’re needed up here,” I said, grabbing Britta’s hand, and the two of us ran back towards the hallway we just came out of.
“There’s a door here. When we passed by it, I saw stairs inside,” Britta said, and we ran past the burnt part of the hallway near where Britta helped the senior mage.
She flicked her wand at the lock and it shattered, crumbling to the floor, before we ran inside the derelict stairwell and down the stairs as quickly as possible.
“Hey!” a voice said, after we rounded a corner into a dimly lit hallway.
The man shifted into a tiger and Britta and I backed up, our backs hitting a dead end behind us. “Stay back, we don’t want to hurt you,” Britta said.
“Hurt me?” the tiger shifter asked, laughing. “I think it will be the other way around.”
He started sprinting towards us and I flicked my wand towards him, sending a spark of brilliant blue energy flying right at him. He vanished, the tiger leaving the hallway, before I looked at the ground and saw a mouse scurrying along the floor.
“He has more than one form,” Britta said nervously.
“Then we’ll fry that one, too,” I replied.
“Ventio!” Britta said, and the hallway quickly turned into a wind tunnel. The mouse started to fly backwards before shifting back into a tiger, the weight of the beast far too heavy for Britta’s spell.