Darkness Rises: Age Of Magic - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Rise of Magic Book 6)

by CM Raymond

  “Hand it over and I’ll let you go.”

  Hannah gave him a slight shake of the head. She didn’t want to hurt him; didn’t want to hurt anybody. None of these people were the enemy. Given time, they would likely be friends. But the plan didn’t account for that kind of time. Still, here she was fighting to get scraps of food for a woman she hardly knew. On a different day it might have been Polly standing there with threats on her lips.

  “Now!” the man shouted.

  Reaching up, Hannah dropped her hand on his forearm and narrowed her eyes. “One warning, douche nugget. Get your hand off me and I’ll let you keep it. Try me.”

  A sneer spread across his face. From the looks of the guy, he was among the strongest of the prisoners. He certainly wasn’t used to not getting his way, but he was in for a surprise.

  Hannah’s eyes turned bright red, and the smile melted from his face. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Hannah sent power through her arm into the man’s body.

  It was just enough to create a brief, steady tremor through his torso and limbs, but it nevertheless dropped him to the ground. She felt a little badly for attacking a desperate man, but only a little. With one look at her, the man scrambled to his feet and ran out of the crunch empty-handed.

  After jostling through the sea of hungry humanity, Hannah found Polly sitting ten yards away in the grass. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but the bright red residue of the accident was splashed all over her shirt. The magician dropped to the ground, crossing her legs underneath her. She ripped the loaf of bread in two and handed half to Polly.

  The woman took the loaf, shaking. “You didn’t have to.”

  “I know,” Hannah shrugged. “Nobody ever has to do the right thing, but it’s what I do. And I got to kick some ass in there, too.” She passed Polly a wink and a few pieces of fruit as she pointed to the man she had shocked in the circle with her magic.

  “Ah…Joshua. He was a good kid when he first got here, but they have a way of breaking us fast. That little show you just saw down there?” She nodded toward the spot where a few stragglers were still combing the ground for bits of nourishment. “All part of keeping us in line.”

  “Why don’t you all just rebel? I mean, there’s like three times the number of you, and they put freaking weapons in your hands every morning.” Hannah took a bite of bread and waited for a response.

  Polly shrugged. “It’s been tried. Before I was here, a group did just that. Backup got there fast enough, though, and their little rebellion was struck down. And then they made an example of them.”

  Hannah had watched tyranny all her life, so she knew exactly what Polly was talking about. “That sucks.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. What really sucks is that their examples were all children.”

  Hannah felt the familiar power bubble beneath her skin. She watched as the guards wove through the crowd making lewd comments to the young women and threatening the men. Wartface paused in front of an old man nibbling on the edge of a block of cheese. “You didn’t win that,” he said with an evil grin.

  Reaching down, he snatched the cheese out of the man’s hand and popped it into his mouth. The old man looked back at him. His eyes were glassy, but he held his tongue.

  The guard laughed. “Not like you need the energy, pops. I’ve seen you peck at the rocks underground. You’re pretty much a waste of food and water.” Raising his foot, he placed it on the old man’s chest and kicked him backward. The old man’s frail body hit the dirt.

  “Oh, hell no.” Hannah shouted, jumping to her feet.

  Polly grabbed Hannah’s cloak, urging her to sit, to look the other way. She took a deep breath. It took every ounce of strength to restrain herself.

  A few minutes later their lunch was over. The guards whipped the prisoners until they started moving back into the mines. Polly was near the front of the group, but Hannah got stuck near the back.

  As she shuffled forward, a voice caught her ear.

  “Well, well, well, what have we here?”

  She didn’t have to turn to know it was Wartface. She could practically feel his eyes creeping over her. “You must be new. I wouldn’t forget a body like that.”

  Hannah kept her eyes on the ground, trying to ignore the ugly man. She thought about breaking out of her chains. She thought about tearing him to pieces and pulling the mines down with her bare hands.

  But she remembered the plan. She had promised Parker she would play it safe. I can stand a little more of this, she thought.

  Then, out of nowhere, a hand grabbed her ass. “Woohoo, that’s what I call fresh meat.”

  Hannah stopped in her tracks. Her anger boiled over.

  Fuck the plan.

  She turned to look at Wartface, who had a wicked little grin on his lips. “You like that, girl?”

  Hannah gave him the biggest smile she could muster. “Not as much as I’m gonna like this.”

  She grabbed her shackles and closed her eyes. As her magic flowed into them, the iron turned into sand and blew away.

  “W-what the hell?” the oversized douchebag managed to stutter. Then she opened her ruby-red eyes, and he nearly swallowed his tongue.

  She put her palms together and spread them apart slowly, and an ice blade appeared out of nowhere. He raised his hand as if to stop her; as if anything he could do would stop her now. With a flick of her wrist, she chopped his arm clean off at the elbow.

  He screamed, falling to the dirt.

  Hannah took a step closer. She reached down and picked up the severed limb.

  “I hope you enjoyed grabbing my ass,” she said, looking at the bloody appendage. “Because it’s the last bit of pleasure you will ever know. The rest of your life—about five more seconds by my count—will be sheer torture.”

  The large man pitifully tried to crawl away, but with only one arm it was useless.

  She leaned down, and his screams filled the air.

  Hannah kept her promise, although her estimate had been a bit long. It took him only three seconds to die.

  She stood up and looked around. Several of the prisoners were staring at her with a mixture of horror and hatred on their faces.

  Then she saw eight more guards charge toward her.

  “Ah,” she said. “That’s right. That was why we had a plan.”

  She twisted her arms, making two perfect fireballs, one in each hand. “Who’s next?” she said, red eyes staring them all down.

  One of the men pulled a whistle on a string from inside his shirt, and sent a shrill into the air. The door to the giant house, the one she had assumed belonged to their captain, crashed open, and men began pouring through the doorway.

  “Shit,” she muttered. “That must be the barracks.”

  Hannah watched the men assemble. They formed a line, swords and short spears at the ready and their eyes on their leader. Quick math told her that she would be in for one heck of a fight. Facing over twenty armed men wouldn’t be a breeze, but she had never minded breaking a sweat.

  “I suggest you stand down,” Hannah yelled to the men before lobbing one of the fireballs over their heads. It burst into ringlets of fire that danced down onto them.

  In response, a whistle blew again. This time the noise came from behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as another twenty marched out of the woods.

  “Shit,” she mumbled under her breath. She would need backup.

  Yeah… Hadley. I’m gonna need a bit of help down here, she projected to her mystic friend on Unlawful.

  Although she couldn’t hear it, she knew he was laughing his ass off.

  Heating up down there?

  Hotter than the space between Gregory’s legs when Laurel walks into his cockpit, if you know what I mean, she sent with a little grin of her own.

  Her eyes swept the crowds of fighters in front of and behind her. They stood motionless, waiting for the foreign witch to move first.

  Yeah, Hadley said in her mind, shouldn’t be a probl
em. Karl’s in the middle of a pretty damned good story, so once that’s done—

  Hadley, I’m not shitting around.

  Me neither, he sent. You’re missing a good one. And what happened to the plan?

  Plan’s dead. And if you don’t get your ass down here soon, I will be too!

  CHAPTER THREE

  Parker listened in as Ezekiel described the basics of storm magic to Laurel. The old man and the druid stood back to back, casting clouds all around the ship to offer cover from unknown eyes below. The old magician explained that Laurel should be good at storm magic, since it was only one step removed from nature magic and utilized the foundational concepts of her people’s native form.

  The young woman’s eyes blazed green as she kept her arms lifted toward the heavens. They had maintained the clouds around them for a better part of the previous day, and hadn’t rested until the middle of the night, when Gregory had raised the ship to a higher altitude. But now they were back at it.

  “I don’t know,” she said, not risking a glance over her shoulder at Ezekiel. “Only the strongest druids can do it, and I’m a novice compared to them.”

  “There are some, far away beyond the Frozen North, who have made the seas their home and the storms their protector. While it takes great dedication, many of their young people develop the skills. If only you were more committed, you’d have better success.”

  “That’s pretty badass,” she said with a laugh. “Hey, Zeke—”

  “Ezekiel.”

  She laughed again, knowing that only Hannah could get away with anything but Ezekiel, Founder, or Your Magical Highness. “Watch this. I think if I really focus I can make this cloud look like your face, white beard and all.”

  Ezekiel shook his head. “Why’d I let a druid join the group?”

  “Because I’m so committed,” she said with a smile.

  “Just focus, child.”

  Parker turned his attention to Hadley, who leaned against the railing a few feet away. His mouth was curled in a grin, but his eyes, painted over in white, held a look of concern.

  “What is it?” he called to the mystic.

  The white of his eyes faded along with his smile. “Hannah. Shit’s gone sideways down there. She needs us.”

  Parker whistled into the clouds. A loud pounding sound like the crackle of thunder could be heard over the ship’s engine, then Sal trampled into sight. He skidded to a stop at Parker’s feet.

  “We gotta go help your girl,” Parker said, throwing a leg over the dragon’s back and gripping Sal with his knees. He didn’t need to ask twice. The dragon sprang to action, taking three steps before launching into the air.

  “Not without me, you don’t!” Aysa shouted as she pushed off the railing with one foot, barely making it onto the dragon’s back. There was no denying that the young Baseeki girl had guts. She fit right into the BBB.

  “Better hold on,” Parker yelled through the whipping wind. “It’s not like riding a horse.”

  She wrapped her one arm around him and squeezed. “Just fly, you jackass. I’ll be fine.”

  Parker smiled and patted Sal on the shoulder. They dropped sharply, and before they knew it they had broken through the clouds and were soaring toward the chaos below.

  ****

  Hannah spun toward the men who had just emerged from the woods. They were an easy target, given her new propensity for nature magic. She focused her energy and placed her hands on the ground, calling to the line of trees no more than ten feet behind them. They hesitated, but slowly answered her request. She watched as the trees bowed toward the enemy. Before they knew anything was happening one of the men was grabbed, wrapped up in the tendrils of the forest, and pulled out of the open field.

  His screams echoed off the rock wall across the open expanse as he disappeared.

  The others shot glances at one another before running from the edge of the forest toward Hannah. She spun her left hand, the second fireball still burning. Pitching it to the ground in front of them, she directed energy into the tiny orb and it exploded, making a wall of fire. It pushed the guards back toward the murderous trees.

  With those men occupied, she turned toward the contingent coming from the barracks. “I can do this all day,” she spat at them, although she knew it was a lie. Already the power from casting was beginning to take its toll. But she just needed to fight long enough for the BBB to show up and start taking names.

  She pulled her dagger and glared at the fighters, hoping that some might run in panic. No such luck. Instead, they raised their bows toward the sky, preparing to rain arrows down on her.

  “Ready!” their captain yelled.

  She threw her knife, directing it with her magic. It found one man’s throat and sunk into another’s chest before returning to her hand, but it didn’t stop their attack.

  “Aim!”

  “Oh, come on,” she said. “That was terrifying. Half of you should be shitting yourselves by now.”

  “Fi—aaaah!”

  A moment before they released, a sound like a hundred birds filled the sky. The men looked upward and started screaming.

  “There you go,” she said with a smile.

  Sal swooped down from on high, cruising over the heads of the archers. They fell back in a panic. The dragon circled back toward Hannah, and she could see the two figures on his back. He slowed just enough for them to jump, hit the ground, and roll into positions on either side of her.

  He charged back into the crowd, grabbing one of the soldiers in his talons and lifting him into the blue sky above. The man screamed as Sal pulled him to his doom.

  “Hey, Babe,” Parker said with a smile as he pulled the magitech spear from his back.

  “Babe? No.” Hannah tilted her head. “No pet names, OK? Rule number one.”

  “OK, but you know how well I follow the rules.”

  “You two are so cute,” Aysa quipped, “but can we kick some ass now?”

  The Baseeki girl’s face was filled with passion, reminding Hannah just why they were there. She sought justice for the wrongs done to her all those years ago.

  “Yeah. Time to free your people, Aysa,” Hannah told her.

  The three nodded at each other. Aysa drew her bolas from the loop on her belt, and Parker leveled his spear toward the men.

  “For the Boulevard,” Parker yelled.

  “For Baseek,” Aysa shouted in return.

  “For justice.” Hannah gave a wicked smile. “Let’s show them what Team Triple-B can do!”

  ****

  The three took off in a sprint, charging the overwhelming numbers in front of them. Parker knew the odds weren’t great—for the army of slavers. Fighting beside Hannah gave him a confidence he’d never known before, and he had been a cocky son of a bitch to begin with.

  He blasted his spear wildly into the group of men, caring less about aiming and more about keeping them from pulling their bows. Hannah’s magic was good, but it would be no small feat to protect them and the slaves from a volley of arrows.

  Hannah laid down her own suppressing fire, but she used actual fire to do it.

  As they got closer, the men who hadn’t run in fear dropped their bows in favor of short swords and bucklers.

  Parker eyed the man in the lead, ready to blast him with his magitech spear. But just as he fired the man toppled to the ground, causing Parker’s blast to take out some poor sap behind him.

  “Hey, he was mine!” Parker yelled.

  “You Arcadians sure are a greedy bunch,” Aysa shouted as she pulled her second set of bolas from her belt. “It’s a shame you’re also slow.”

  He grinned. “I’ll show you slow.”

  He blasted a group of men, then charged into the chaos. His spear spun like a baton, cracking skulls, slashing at exposed arms, and plunging into unprotected chests. Because of his natural agility and the training he had gotten from Karl, Parker was a master at getting in close and then creating space for himself. He swung the spear in
wide arcs to keep his enemies at bay, then ducked in when he saw an opportunity.

  One guard, a large brute of a man with a thick beard, yelled as he ran toward Parker. Parker thrust his spear forward and the man beat it aside with his shield, but Parker had been ready for that. He turned, using the momentum of his spear, and ducked as the man swung his sword.

  The blade passed harmlessly overhead, but the movement caught the man off-guard. When Parker stuck the butt of his spear out, the man tripped over it and flailed before crashing hard into the dirt.

  Parker finished the man off, then stood up straight, proud of his work. But Hannah wasn’t looking. She was a blur of power and fury, taking on a dozen men by herself. He watched in awe as she combined her physical magic with her fighting skills, sending men flying as she slashed at them with her knife and her other weapons. She shifted seamlessly between fireballs, ice spears, and illusions.

  Sal kept diving in and out, and Parker could swear the dragon was laughing.

  Aysa was holding her own as well, preferring to take men down one at a time. Her bolas twirled in her hands, cracking the jaws and wrists of anyone who got too close.

  Parker was so enthralled with watching the women work that he almost missed another contingent of guards coming around the corner of the barracks to join the fight.

  Parker did some quick math and figured their odds had just gotten a fair amount worse.

  “Uh, guys? What’s our endgame here?” he shouted as he fired his spear into the oncoming guards and ran toward Hannah’s side.

  Just then, thunder cracked overhead and the Unlawful dropped to the ground.

  Laurel, Karl, and Zeke jumped down as Gregory lifted the ship back up.

  “What’s the deal, lass?” Karl said as he unslung his hammer. “Ya leave us any fun?”

  “Don’t worry, rearick, there are more than enough to go around,” Hannah’s eyes were wild and red, but she hadn’t lost her sense of humor during the fight. “Listen, you think you can hold off these ass-maggots on your own? There’s something I need to take care of.”