Storm's Breath: A GameLit Fantasy Adventure (Nullifier Book 1)

by J. R. Ford

  This wasn’t some high school party. This was burglary. Not that I had much experience with either.

  The first two stories of the Enlightened guild hall were the grainy stone, with circuitry embellished as winding vines, a welcome contrast to the more common pattern on other structures. Shutters opened wide to entice a nonexistent afternoon breeze, but come night, they’d no doubt be closed. Small balconies decorated the second-floor windows, which looked into a dormitory. The navy-colored shale plates rose at a steep angle over the third floor. Window dormers stuck out from the roofing, and a spacious balcony hung from the street-facing gable, where we had seen Edwin the night prior.

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked.

  There’s an unrelenting energy that accompanies waiting. Warriors of yore felt it as they waited for the command. Poets and musicians feel it behind the curtain. I felt it the mornings before exams, knowing I’d prepared as well as could be expected, and all that was left was to wait and hope my preparation was enough. Ana and I felt it cooped up in a tiny room in the attic of the inn. Even with the window open, the air was smothering. We sweated in our new clothes. Our drinking water was warm and disgusting. I stewed in heat and misery. The Infatuation Express had arrived at its final and only call.

  I’d known my hopes would be crushed sooner or later. I’d just been hoping for later. Stagnation had brought back my despair, each thought a pang in my chest. And all we had to do was think and wait.

  Some part of me, the stupid part that never learned, clung to hope. But women don’t compare romantic prospects to their goofball kid brothers. The signal was clear, and I would not ignore it.

  In my desolation, I thought about Heather, downstairs. We’d told her she didn’t have to come if she didn’t want to. I don’t think she feared Edwin targeting her while we were gallivanting.

  Perhaps she thought she could keep us out of trouble. Tall order.

  Meanwhile, Ana and I sat in our cramped room. I rested in a corner, her against a wall, atop the straw pallet.

  She shifted, then undid the top laces of her blouse and fanned herself with one hand. It seemed I wasn’t the only one in heat. I focused intently on the floor.

  “What’s up?”

  “Hm?”

  “You okay? You did get jumped.”

  “Just thinking.”

  “Thinking about what?”

  That wasn’t fair. “Just thinking” is guy speak for “Leave me alone.” Surely Ana knew this. Now I had to come up with something that I could plausibly have been thinking about.

  Seven, lemon, cherry. Big fat nothing. I shrugged.

  Ana sat up a bit straighter against the wall. “Come on, I’m bored. What is it?” Why did she pick now, of all times, to start paying attention to my feelings?

  Maybe I could steal a page out of Heather’s book. “What’ll happen to us when we die?”

  “We’ll wake up in Luxembourg and leave. Maybe together,” she chuckled.

  “I mean, after that.”

  “I’ll go back to New York, and you’ll go back to Atlanta. Heather will go back to England.”

  “And that’s that. Our friendship will be over.”

  “I don’t know about that. I’m sure we could arrange to see each other every once in a while. Do your parents work, or are they on Standard?”

  “My dad’s an architect.”

  “Do you get any allowance? Any chance you could fly up to see me?”

  “Don’t know. Never wanted to go anywhere.”

  “Not a wanderer?”

  “I’ve always had everything I needed in Georgia. I have a monitor and a tower. I don’t really ask for much else.”

  “Think your parents would let you?”

  “My mom would want me to. She’s always trying to get me out of the house.”

  “But your dad?”

  I checked my viewers real quick. Now showing 41. “Maybe if I got a job or internship or something. He’s always pressuring me to find a profession, but I haven’t found anything I like yet. I feel like I might be destined for Standard.”

  “And do you want that?”

  “I don’t need riches to be happy,” I recited, “only a good PC and plenty of time to myself. I wouldn’t mind mediocrity.”

  “You play any online games?”

  “Yeah, a bit of everything. What about you?”

  “No, but I could pick something up.”

  “Just to play with me?”

  “We can try to rope Heather in as well.” She looked into my eyes with that intense gaze of hers which burned a hole straight to my core. That gaze that wanted me to be a better person, that made me want to be a better person. In her eyes, fierce conviction blazed. “Don’t think that if we die, we’ll stop being friends.”

  Why did my heart hurt so? Was it history reminding me that words were cheap? How many old gaming buddies had told me, “We’ll still be friends after our time together is over,” only to fade away?

  “Pav? Are you crying?”

  “Promise me you’ll try. I don’t need you to succeed. I only want you to try.”

  Ana laughed. “I’ll do better than try. Have you known me to do any different?”

  I thought of the endurance with which she pursued the Storm’s Breath, all for Heather, whom she’d known a total of five days now. My head still told me conviction was easy when you spent all day with the person you made your promise to. Distance and time erode relationships like waves upon cliff. No matter how strong the stone, it’ll end beneath the sea.

  The words wouldn’t come out. I coughed, as manly as I could, then tried again. “I trust you.”

  It was true. Against every single thread of logic in my head, it was true. Like a moth, burned once by the flame, only to flutter back for round two.

  Ana smiled at me. That smile had broken me once and would break me again.

  10

  Darkness crept up on us. I jittered in anticipation. Indistinct Portuguese misted the floor. Ana had wrapped herself in a blanket against the chill seeping through the window, while I’d bundled up in my cloak. I must’ve dozed, for Ana was suddenly shaking my shoulder.

  Post-nap confusion fogged my mind. What time was it? What day? “Time to go?” I croaked.

  Ana nodded. I stretched my legs to get the blood flowing. The events of the day caught up to me in a rush, and pangs of sadness gripped my heart, but only for a moment.

  There was work to be done. Practice helped me compartmentalize. Granted, I’d never coped with dejection via burglary, but the principle remained.

  Heather was there, looking dour. She stood by the door, one hand holding her spear.

  “You sure you want to bring that?” Ana asked. “It might bang against something.”

  “You said they’re good in enclosed spaces, and I’m not going in there unable to defend myself.”

  “Suits me. But let’s avoid blows if possible. One strike of the Lightning Blade will wake the whole guild up.” She peeked out the window, then hauled herself up over the top. Soft footfalls sounded from above. I followed her.

  Pull-ups are hard. I should really work out. I somehow managed to scramble up beside her. Heather came last, handing me her spear.

  The inn roof was fairly flat, especially compared to the steep slope of the guild hall’s roof only a six-foot gap away. A shuttered window waited for us.

  Ana nodded, then launched herself over. She landed on the roof with a thump and wobbled for a second, then her fingers found a crack in the shale. Stabilized, she reached for the adjacent window. The dormer above it supported her weight, and with a grunt, leap, and spin, she was sitting above the window, legs tucked so they wouldn’t dangle.

  I took a deep breath. No looking down. I jumped off and smacked into the roof. My feet scrambled for purchase, and I stopped myself from slipping down.

  The problem was, now my top half was falling backward. My fingernails found nothing in the tiles.

  My stomach pred
icted my future. I was going to fall.

  I looked down: twenty feet or more to the cobbles below. That was broken leg distance, at best. At worst…I imagined the laugh Edwin would get, finding my body crumpled right outside his doorstep.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I maneuvered on my feet, buying a long second with which to prepare for my swift descent. If I rolled when I landed, I might even keep from breaking my legs. It worked in video games, so it should work here, right? If not, I’d drag myself back to the inn with my hands before I let Edwin find me. I gritted my teeth.

  “Pav!” Ana whispered, frantic. I looked to my right, and she lay prone on the dormer. A hand extended to me.

  If I missed, I’d fall and likely crack my skull. If she wasn’t strong enough, we’d both plummet.

  I didn’t want to pull her down with me. Anything but that. But just a few hours ago, I’d said I trusted her.

  I pushed off with what grip I had left, launching myself toward her. I reached for her hand…and clasped her wrist! She blew out breath as she struggled to pull me up, but she had no leverage. I hung there for a second, only our grips on each other saving me from a painful and humiliating death. My toes found some support on the roof, easing Ana’s burden.

  “Hold on,” I said, and drew my dagger with my free hand. Some shimmying with the tip and the latch holding the shutters closed fell free. I opened one shutter, carefully, quietly.

  A large room and a closed door waited for me. The moonlight revealed an empty bed and green patterns painted on the walls. I reeled myself in with my feet and slipped inside, quiet as the mouse to which Edwin had compared me so disdainfully.

  Heather thumped against the roof and tumbled through the open window. Her spear clattered against the window frame. I caught and extracted her before she could make too loud a racket. As she regained her feet, Ana lowered herself down behind us.

  “Good catch,” I breathed. She nodded.

  We padded to the door and I pressed my ear to it. No sounds. It creaked a little as it opened.

  In both directions, the corridor extended into darkness. A window overlooked the stairs leading down on our left; to the right, it ended in a closed door. The latter was the door to Edwin’s room, assuming he slept in the room behind the balcony where he’d lounged last night. We made for it.

  Bang! Behind us — one of the orange-robed goons from yesterday had slammed a door open. The moonlight made a silhouette of him and glinted on his naked blade.

  “Intruders!” he shouted. Another bang, from the other direction. Goon Number Two had trapped us.

  “We were just leaving,” I said, my voice tight with stress.

  “They’re trying to kill Edwin!” Goon One shouted.

  “Assassins!” Edwin yelled, grinning. He’d slipped into the hallway behind Goon Two.

  I heard the dormitory rising downstairs. Then Goon One charged us.

  Ana stepped forward and intercepted his blade with hers. Thunder crashed. When I opened my eyes, his chest had been slashed open and scorched black. The glow from Ana’s sword was tinted purple.

  She didn’t see Goon Two coming from the other side, but I was there. He came in with a great overhead swing, and I cringed even as I raised my sword and dagger in a protective cross as Ana had taught me. His sword bashed them aside, and I danced away from the next attack.

  I presented my point to him, and, as I expected, he swung to knock it aside. I dipped my sword under his as I leaned forward and brought it back up with the step. My point entered his chest without resistance. He staggered back.

  Edwin was pale as a ghost in the dim corridor. “Run,” Ana told us, then ducked into the room from which we’d entered. Heather and I followed.

  To his credit, so did Edwin. His whip flicked at Ana, who parried with her sword. Boom, flash, and Ana was on the ground, convulsing, her blouse torn at the shoulder with angry red flesh beneath.

  “No!” I shouted, then attacked. His whip would do nothing in close quarters. But he flicked it back and looped one glowing coil around his fist just in time to parry my first thrust. He tumbled over the bed before I could attack again. His hand jittered, and I lurched back to avoid the lightning that crackled in a line between us. Another gesture, and Heather ducked away from sparking lightning. Moonlight turned smoke opaque.

  Someone pounded at the door, and Edwin was between me and the window now. Heather was shouting something. Ana clambered to her feet with aid from the footboard. Edwin snarled and cracked his whip at me while conjuring the lightning with his other hand. I ducked the whip, and the lightning missed Ana completely, instead running a line of electricity through the bed at an askew angle.

  The door banged open. Voices resolved: “Yao! Someone get bandages!” I spared a glance and saw Heather jabbing her spear wildly, stemming a tide of yellow-robed apprentices, using the disengage technique to keep them from batting her spearpoint away. She held them back.

  Ana lunged for Edwin. Her legs shook, but still she pressed him back, sword scraping against whip as he parried her strokes and unleashed close-range blasts of lightning. I tried to press in, but his wild attacks deterred me.

  A glow caught my eye. The bed was afire, no doubt a result of all the magic Edwin was throwing around. Smoke was flooding the room, not that Edwin or Ana cared. They only had eyes for each other.

  The window was still open. The inn was a leap away, if we could stick the landing. Otherwise, it was a long fall.

  Heather screamed from the doorway. Before her, a blond kid no older than fourteen reeled, his leg spurting blood. Heather wavered, and the other apprentices closed in like hyenas.

  “Run!” I shouted, then attacked Edwin. He spun to meet me, cursing, and two sparks appeared between us.

  Without hesitation, Ana stepped onto the windowsill and leapt for the inn. I stabbed at Edwin, pressing him into the corner, forcing him to coil his whip in defense.

  Heather looked shell-shocked. Tears streamed down her face. “Go!” I shouted, and she stumbled toward the window, planted one foot on the sill, and jumped out.

  No time to worry about her, only to follow. I cringed away from sizzling electricity and jumped. Cool air whipped at my face as the void suspended me. Then I crashed into the inn’s roof.

  Fortunately, it was less steep than the guild hall’s. I rolled to the side, coming to a stop near the gutters. Gasps brought fresh, clean air to my lungs.

  I looked up to see Ana crouching beside me, looking back at the guild hall. “Get up,” she said. “We have to go.”

  Heather looked down at her spear, its point dripping red. “He was from the class yesterday. I never got his name…”

  Then Edwin cleared the gap between buildings. He rolled as he landed, red robes and cape whipping around him, coming up with a crack. Ana scuttled to the side and charged him. He dodged, and Ana had to stop herself before she ran clear off the edge of the roof. Edwin pressed her, and I pressed him. I still had my rapier and dagger, and I came in stabbing. Flashing lightning barred my path. As soon as it flickered out, I closed in, Ana coming from the other side. He flicked his whip in a wide circle and retreated toward the corner of the roof. He’d run out of room soon.

  He seemed to realize this just as I did and sent out another crackling pair of sparks. A long line of lightning appeared between us and him, and in the flashing, I didn’t see his whip coming. Its sharp crack sundered the rumble of his lightning spell as it struck my forearm.

  I collapsed, every muscle in my body tight as a noose. I couldn’t even scream, my jaw locked tight. The world went dark. I don’t know how long the spasms consumed me, and for a time afterwards I lay still, my muscles refusing to move no matter my urging. Wind blew smoke into my mouth and nostrils, making me sputter and gasp and open my eyes.

  Ana and Edwin still fought, Ana trying to close into a range where one cut from the Lightning Blade would put Edwin on the tiles, Edwin warding her off with whip and spell. They were painted on one side by the flames bi
llowing out of the windows of the guild hall. Heather stood where we’d landed, her spear pointed to dissuade the terrified faces eyeing the jump from the burning building. Firelight glinted on tears, but her teeth were bared, and she kept screaming, “Don’t do it! I’ll kill you!”

  One close call with the whip and Ana found herself on the corner of the roof, nowhere to retreat. And my damned arms still could barely move! I had to watch as Edwin brought his arm back for one final strike.

  “Stop!”

  I couldn’t see who’d shouted the command. It came from the street, from someone in view of Ana and Edwin, for both of them paused and looked.

  “In the name of the Azure Lance, if you kill that woman, you will be under arrest!” Then I recognized it. Absame, the captain of the Azure Lance. He chanted the words for some reason, his voice a deep baritone which rang through the hazy night.

  Edwin grinned a red grin. Then his wrist flicked. Ana dropped flat, but the whip cracked across her back. She began shuddering.

  Two sparks flashed just before Edwin, and for a brief moment, fire erupted. He stumbled back, shocked only figuratively.

  “The next goes through your heart!” Absame sang. “Come down from there!” I pushed myself onto hands and knees with trembling arms. Everything ached, but before Ana could vibrate her way off the roof, I crawled over and held her tight. The convulsions eased within seconds. Heather came over to us.

  Apprentices started leaping to the inn but kept away from us. Edwin seemed to have abandoned the fight, instead glaring at Absame.

  I spared a glance for the Lancer captain. He had a long-sleeved chainmail hauberk beneath his azure tabard. He swayed on his feet, back and forth in a regular rhythm. One hand held a spear; the other pointed at the rooftop, pulsating in familiar somatic gesture. The spell which had separated Edwin and Ana had been his.

  A minute later, a couple emerged from the inn’s stable with a ladder. I recognized them: Emily and Jacques, both in azure surcoats. The ladder just reached to the lowest eaves. Ana motioned for me to descend first, and after belting my weapons, I did, carefully lest my muscles give. The arm where I’d been struck throbbed with each rung. Emily and Jacques supported me at the bottom. I stayed close to the ladder in case Ana slipped, but she made it down before collapsing into my arms. Emily, Jacques, and two other Lancers surrounded us.