by J Jordan
Devon was motionless. He continued glaring at Mila. The fireball washed over him, charring the marble floors in a straight line to the wall. He emerged once more, unscathed. The fire didn’t seem to hurt him physically, but the emotional toll was plain on his face. His mouth was scrunched into a childish pout, his eyes shining with tears. With a reluctant gesture, he waved to the corner of the room.
The soft whirring of mechanisms indicated the case was rising. And it seemed fine, until the sound mingled with crunching glass. The whir became a grinding sound and then grew to a whine as if caught on something. With a heaving sound, and a loud snap, the display case rose from the floor. The problem was apparent. The display case had become broken glass sandwiched between slabs of granite. A piece of torn velvet poked out of the crevices, like expensive jam. Mila roared at the sight.
“Where is the Scar?” she screamed.
◆◆◆
Romney and Rella leapt away as the armature lowered and slid into grooves on the sides of the case. With a loud whir, it rose into the ceiling. Shards of glass spilled into the railings and slowed its ascent. But with a loud pop, and a dribble of fine powder, it continued on. When it reached the top, they heard a scream from above. Romney squinted as Rella waved the brilliant sword in his face. The blade left dark streaks in his vision.
“Take it,” she said.
He reached out and followed her wrist up to the hilt of the sword. The grip exchanged hands and the light dimmed. He held the sword in front of him, examining the blade. The light had gone from a phosphorous glare to a manageable glow. He could make out the details on the blade. It looked like ancient writing. Perhaps a magical inscription or something.
“See?”
Rella was shielding her eyes.
“Cool. But what do I do with it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Hide it in your coat. I’m out of room.”
Rella’s many pockets bulged with various rings and bracelets. The Fangs of Ira were stowed in loops on her bandolier, along with two wands and a seventh dagger she couldn’t name. She had a third wand in her hand, which she began waving at the glass of a display case. A sudden gust of wind pushed the case onto its side, shattering the glass cover and spilling six more wands onto the floor. Romney stowed them in his pant pockets. They stuck out like wooden fingers. The armature came down onto the toppled case. and its rails began to poke at the wreckage. Rella turned to another case and began weaving another spell. They both heard the crunch of glass from the entrance to the room.
Romney wheeled around and brandished the bright sword at the intruder. Lorna raised one arm to her eyes while the other kept Lola steady. Her tone had lost its maniacal warmth.
“Romney, we need to talk. This is really important to me, and I can’t have you interfering. If you don’t hand over everything, then I’ll have to kill you. And after that, I’ll have to kill all of your friends and loved ones. Don’t make me do that, babe. I don’t want you involved in this. Just stay out of my life goals.”
Romney pulled a wand from his pocket and waved it around. It did nothing.
“How do you use these things?”
Rella peeked out from behind her hands and squinted.
“Let it move on its own.”
Lola jerked toward the sound of her voice and fired. The bullet struck the prone case to Rella’s left. She moved away, avoiding the strewn glass as she moved. The tinkle of jewelry gave away her position. Lorna took aim once more, her eyes squinted from under her arm. The shot missed by an inch.
“What does that even mean?”
Romney juked sideways as a bullet whizzed past his ear. He moved for another display, leaving a trail of crunching glass behind. The next shot pocked the concrete in front of him, ricocheted upward, and shattered the glass of another display. Romney ducked into cover behind another case, then held the bright sword out to keep Lorna blinded. He tried flailing the wand in his other hand. It had no effect. Rella peeked out from behind the case to his left.
“Just hold the wand out and do what feels natural.”
“You keep saying that like it means something.”
A rogue bullet shaved granite off the side of his case. He reached out from cover, letting the wand rest in his hand. Like a small voice in the back of his mind, the notion came to him. Just flick it.
The wand flashed bright-blue. A loud pop sounded from Lorna’s general direction, with less weight than a gunshot. It was more like someone popping a packing bubble. Romney peeked out to see the effect. He watched Lola clatter to the ground. There was no more Lorna to hold her.
◆◆◆
With a loud pop, Lorna appeared in the Reymus Collection. Her trigger finger jerked at thin air, an inch from Mila’s nose. She lowered her arms when nothing happened and blinked at the sudden change of scenery.
“Where did he go?”
She looked to Mila for guidance, but the mighty dragon had no sympathy. Milarin the Enchanter roared in her face.
“Bring me the little thief. I will dispose of him.”
Lorna looked to Devon, and then to the three other people in the room. She recognized Tykeso and Cora.
“And what about them?”
There was another loud pop and a sudden flash of light. Rella stumbled into the room, brandishing a sliver of brilliant light in one hand and a wand in the other. No one could see this, because they were covering their eyes.
“The Jade Scar! Bring it here!”
Lorna moved toward the light, combat knife at the ready. A rogue wind lifted her off her feet and sent her careening into a nearby display case. Another gust scooped up Mila and deposited her onto Devon as he tried to make out what was happening.
The light approached Cora and took away her rifle. It dispensed a wand in one hand and a dagger in the other, then gave her a bracelet for good measure. Tykeso and Rikka each lost their guns to the light source. Tykeso gained two daggers and Rikka got a wand of her own. No one could see this, because they were too busy shielding their eyes. The light moved on to the center of the room, toward the three figures strewn across the floor. It came down on one as it stood. A hand deflected the blow, but the shining blade dodged and countered with an upward thrust. The point connected.
The sword’s light dimmed with a sudden rattling and then winked out completely. Devon Reymus grabbed the blade once more and pushed it away from the Katarin stone around his neck. It snapped in half with a simple flex of his hand. He bent low and bristled at her, his eyes filled with dreadful glee.
“The dawn has come.”
Rella dropped the Jade Scar, retreated to her fellow thieves, and brandished her wand with a flourish. A four-to-three matchup would have been an advantage in any other line of work, but not with dragons involved. Luckily, there was another loud pop . All seven occupants stopped and looked to their newest visitor. Arindale Kinsey was standing between Tykeso and Cora, looking at her empty hands. She mumbled to herself as she took in her surroundings.
“But he was right there. I had him cornered. What’s going on?”
She turned to Cora, who smiled and handed her a dagger. Kinsey took the grip and turned it in her hand.
“Don’t ask me,” said Cora. “I checked out of this whole mess a while ago. Just play along. And keep your eye on the secretary. She breathes fire.”
Kinsey looked to Tykeso next, who gave no answers either. It had been a long week for everybody.
Devon Reymus and Mila Rin encircled the group, fanning to either side of the room, Lorna taking up the middle with her combat knife. The two warped figures growled and snapped. Lorna made a sweeping strike at Rella, but caught the full brunt of another gust from her wand. Mila tried closing the gap, only to retreat from a flying dagger. The dagger clattered to the floor behind her, then righted itself on the ground, flew back and smacked her across the back of the head, hilt first. It returned to Kinsey’s hand, the tip falling neatly between thumb and forefinger. She looked in awe at the dagger in her han
ds.
Rikka readied her wand and sent a magic beam cascading into Mila, just as the mighty enchanter had recovered to her feet. The stream of magical energy threw her off balance once more and pushed her scrabbling back into the far right corner of the room.
Meanwhile, Tykeso parried Lorna’s combat knife with his left dagger and made a quick slice with his right. The blade connected with stone skin. Lorna retreated from his reach. There was a new gash in her leather vest. She looked down at the wound and roared in fury, then charged him head on. The tackle lifted Tykeso off the floor, carried him three entire feet, then sent both crashing to the floor. Lorna pinned him on the spot, raining heavy blows on his face and chest. Each fist was like a boulder. Then Lorna seized in pain and retreated from the scrap, turning around to see who had left the new knife wound along her shoulder. The guilty dagger returned to Kinsey’s hand. She threw it again.
Devon stood before Cora, his hands wrenched into makeshift claws, a wicked snarl stretched across his face. She raised the wand in front of her, in an attempt to threaten him, but the thin length of wood had no flare. A strange thought passed through Cora’s mind, which impelled her to raise the wand over her head and swirl it around in large circles. She kept her best glare on for effect, but the truth was she had no idea what she was doing, or why. The effect of this motion caused Devon to pause his advance and look up. His menacing grin faded by degrees. Cora followed his gaze up to a nebula of glowing orbs. They swirled in a giant whirlpool in the air, crackling as they moved. Each circular motion of the wand brought two more to life. The strange thought told her this was good enough for now. She stopped the circles and pointed the wand at Devon. The orbs of light came down on him like magical artillery, knocking him to the ground and leaving pockmarks all over the floor.
Mila struggled under the magical beam but managed to gain a foothold in the corner of the room. She pressed her hands against the walls for leverage and, with a mighty heave, met the beam with dragon fire. The two streams pressed into each other, pushing and giving with each pulse of magical power. Mila ran out of breath first. But the second stream of fire was better focused. She gained ground on Rikka, lost some in the magical stream to gain back her breath, then continued advancing. The two powers were mere feet apart. Rikka struggled now to hold the beam in place. Mila’s wild eyes moved ever forward, ready to swallow up the elf the moment her wand failed.
And it’s a good thing she was so focused on this, because she didn’t see Rella’s wand aimed at her gut. The gale sent Mila into a flame breath spiral, cratering into a nearby case and skidding across the floor, spewing an indiscriminate fire whip in every direction as she tumbled. This broke up the skirmishes in the room long enough for the dragon slayers to regroup and for the dragons to recover. They stared each other down once more.
The faint ding of an elevator snapped the tension. Romney Balvance appeared at the entrance, an iron war hammer slung over his shoulder. Without a word, he joined the slayer line by Cora. Six on three was a good bet, especially with their magical gear, but then Romney took a wand from his pocket. He flicked it at Lorna. There was a loud pop where Lorna had been and the clattering sound of a combat knife hitting the floor.
Six on two was even better.
◆◆◆
Lanvale SWAT had just arrived on scene and was setting up their base camp, when they heard a loud pop. Not quite a gunshot, Agent Yaldarra would later recall, but more like someone with a large square of Bubble Wrap. They turned to the noise and found the world’s most wanted criminal staring at them from the front entrance to the building. The Wyvern backed slowly toward the door, opened it carefully, turned and met the OIB agents entrenched in the lobby. She turned back to the police barricade and found it had moved several feet toward her. Now agents and officers had their various weapons trained on her. Six of these weapons were mounted to armored vehicles. The two forces closed in on the Wyvern, shouting various commands, all of them to the effect of “give up, it’s over.”
Lorna’s smile was blood-curdling. Her eyes said, “What a glorious day of carnage this has been.” She charged the nearest officer and punched him in the neck. Eighty-nine officers and provincial agents descended on Lorna Reymus, hoping to be the one who caught the infamous Wyvern. Many of those fine men and women would regret this move.
It would be a long night for everyone involved.
Romney Balvance and the Katarin Stone
Katarin is a strange mineral. It is commonly found in mountainous regions, especially at higher elevations. In its natural state, Katarin is often confused with granite due to its similar grayish-white color and its smooth, granular consistency. Unlike granite, which often contains various other stones in its makeup, Katarin always contains a single blue material that shines when it catches the light. This blue material is what defines the mineral’s strange properties. The name “Katarin” is derived from the ancient Tambridesian form of the Goddess Katrese. Katreseans believed Katarin was the corporeal form of Katrese, making it a sacred symbol of their religion.The Katarin stone acted as an eye for the goddess, allowing her to gaze upon her creation. It was believed that the blue shine of pure Katarin stone was the goddess winking at her children. It was customary to wink back.
Nothing is definitively known on whether Katrese actually watches people through the Katarin stones. The few experts on the subject tend to clear their throats and stammer around their explanations. Romney Balvance would say, “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.” No one else had a complete conclusion.
Katarin, like granite, is also a durable building material. When shaped, a Katarin pillar can stand for ages without wearing down. Hirna Alda is said to be made entirely of Katarin, standing as it did when it was first erected some 10,000 years ago, Ancient era. Many archaeologists hypothesize that Hirna Andrea is made of the same stuff. But, unlike granite, Katarin is a mother to mine. And to shape it into a small, pristine sphere? Forget it. Geologists say the blue flakes embedded within make a crisscrossing network of sorts, creating a sort of mesh that makes the mineral remarkably sturdy.
While Katarin is a common mineral, things made of Katarin are rare. A vein of Katarin can take several years to fully excavate with modern equipment, making it incredibly expensive to produce. Anything made from true Katarin is obscenely expensive, and really serves no purpose other than to make Katreseans spitting mad.
One can only imagine the task using the iron implements of yore. Even with modern advances in mining technology and our ever-growing knowledge of mineralogy, we still have no idea how anyone could break up a Katarin deposit and form it into a perfectly spherical Katarin stone. The more zealous circles of scholarship believe it was an alien race who gave our ancestors the special plasma tools. But they’ll say anything to get on the Epoch Channel.
There are many Katarin stones that use granite to achieve the same look without the arduous labor. And no one faults them for that. There are only a few Katarin stones made from Katarin.
Until that fateful night at the top of the Reymus Building, the world believed there was only one true Katarin stone in existence.
Another strange thing about Katarin is its effects on magic. Bear with us on this one, because we’re still trying to figure it out. The blue Katarin flakes act as a conduit between a magic force and the wearer. Katarin only works in this capacity by direct contact: a subject must wear the stone on their person and must touch the stone to the magical object. Once contact is made, the magic is transferred through the stone to the wearer, who becomes the vessel for magic. This state of magical charge enhances other forms of magic, be they enchantment or, in Devon’s case, his latent ability.
One must be careful in this state. If the wearer touches the ground, he or she will discharge the magical energy into the earth, in a violent display of light and seismic force. This discharge occurs the moment both feet touch the ground, essentially establishing a magical circuit with the earth. Unless, of course, the floor is made of Katarin and
reinforced with a mithril underlay.
This mithril underlay leads to mithril support beams that travels the length of the building, all the way down the Katarin foundation. How does one spend a small fortune on a skyscraper? In the case of the Reymus building, you mask Andaran-grade Katarin as Azerran granite for starters. And the more important question is, Why spend all that money on the floor?
This is what we have gathered, through the various personal accounts of those involved in Romney’s adventures. It is not based on any scientific observation, because scientists laugh these claims out of their laboratories. There are no papers or formal studies on the subject of magic, at least not on the magic we’re talking about. It’s an imaginary force dreamed up by primitive cultures to explain the inexplicable. End of discussion.
Finito, as the Tambridesians say.
The writers, researchers, editors, scholars, and historians have varied opinions on the subject, a cause for great debates and shouting matches, but they all agree on one thing: magic played a vital role in the outcome of Romney Balvance. And if that gets them uninvited to chess night, then so be it.
The fact is that Romney Balvance, Cora Queldin, Tykeso Vandesko, and Arindale Kinsey saw some very weird stuff on the top floor of the Reymus Building—things they could not readily explain, things they would not entirely believe themselves. And it was only the beginning.
◆◆◆
Romney pocketed the “Poppy Wand”—his name for it—and brandished the Iron Fist of Orren in both hands. Devon snarled.
“It doesn’t matter. I will pry those from your charred remains. Each of those relics is a stepping-stone to my ascension.”
“Our ascension,” said Mila.
The two crazed executives moved forward, both hunched over, both snarling and gnashing their teeth. Romney thought they looked kind of sad.