“Do you really think you’re going to find anything useful in there?” Silver asked once I was in.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Figured it would give me something to do while we waited out the storm. You don’t have to stay if you’d rather take a break.”
Silver’s large, calloused hand touched the side of my face and I turned to find out what he wanted my attention so badly for. “We should take this time to talk. If there’s anything, it’s probably on the one we sent to Sparky.”
“We are talking.” I went with the oblivious route, hoping he would drop the subject I assumed he wanted to bring up.
He gave me an exasperated look. “You know what I mean.”
I sighed and turned away. “Right here and right now is a horrible place and time if you ask me.”
“Then when and where?”
Silver would want a direct answer instead of letting me push it off indefinitely. “After we’re done with this case and not here. Maybe when we get back.”
“That’s too long.”
“Why?” I thought it too short.
“What do you mean ‘why’? It's already been a couple of days,” Silver snapped.
“Why do we have to talk about this? Strange things happened under stressful circumstances and I'm sorry I hit you.” My words came out so fast I hoped he was able to keep up. And then dropped the topic.
“I'd like…” Silver trailed off and looked out the window of the office. “I guess this will have to wait. Get down and hide.”
Immediately I used my invisibility spell and stood up to see what was going on. People with guns were rounding every one up and they weren't with the Navy.
What happened to our escorts? They were armed.
“I said get down,” Silver hissed. He stood against my side to figure out where I was exactly. “You know what to do.”
I went and hid under the table in the room, making sure to pull my long hair in with me. Silver put too much faith in assuming I understood what he meant.
He stood next to the table and waited for them. Less than a minute later one barged in with a rifle pointed at my partner. “You, out with everyone else.”
I peered out enough to watch Silver put his hands up and walk out the door. No fight? My partner remained armed and he wore his armored jacket just as he had this whole trip.
Sneaking out the door behind them, I traveled along the wall away from the group our captors assembled. How did they get on base?
I covered my mouth to muffle the soft whimper as they shoved my partner to the floor. He sat with the others who worked in the warehouse - both Spelltech and Navy alike.
There were four men here - two Humans, a Dwarf, and an Elf. All armed. I made my way slowly around the warehouse, being careful to remain quiet.
Two Humans rounded up everyone while the Elf stood centered in the room. The Dwarf remained by the front door. As I got closer to the door, I spotted our escorts on the ground. There was blood, but not enough to have killed either one of them assuming the internal trauma was not worse. Their weapons were gone.
Giving the one near the door as much space as I could, I went around to the windows to see what kept our new door guard’s attention. It was hard to make out through the heavy rain, but there were others - a lot of others - on the dock near the ship. Were they after the prototype system?
I could not get out. Not without teleporting and even then I had no idea where to go. How much of the base had they taken over? I would possibly be expending my arcane energy only to end up a hostage like everyone else.
What could I do? I was literally as trapped here as everyone else. Taking out the Dwarf would only alert the Elf and then they would all be in jeopardy. Trying to take down both of the Humans would result in the same. Going after the Elf…
I eyed the group huddled on the floor. They were not bound. Silver at least would act as soon as I did, but I would still need to take down the Elf and one of the Humans quickly which would leave me exposed to the Dwarf. I was not the one wearing armor.
As I stepped toward the Elf, he moved to get closer to the group held hostage on the floor. An argument had broken out between the Human men and Silver.
“Where is she?!” One of the men grabbed him by the front of his jacket.
“Haven’t seen her since before you pulled me out here. Have you checked the bathroom?” The smirk on my partner’s face told me he enjoyed antagonizing his captors.
And for as much as Silver walked the line with his statement, because I knew he could track me to some extent while invisible, he had not lied to them.
“Hey, you want the TIO up our asses also? Bad enough we’ll have the Navy chasing us until we can unload the goods.” One of the men near Silver stopped the other from hitting him.
The one who prepared to hit my partner looked down at the badge clipped to his belt. “Damn. Fine.” He dropped Silver. “We still need to find the one that’s loose.”
“Tell us where she is and we’ll let her live.”
“You won’t hit me because I’m with the TIO, but you’ll kill her? You do realize we both work for them, right?” Silver asked.
I managed to get fairly close behind the Elf who seemed content to simply watch the events unfolding.
“Dammit, just tell us where she is.”
Dropping my invisibility spell, I slammed a ball of conjured electricity into the side of the Elf’s head. He fell to the ground instantly.
“Behind you.” Silver smirked, his shield appearing on his arm and his sword sheathed on his belt.
I ran and slid on the floor between the two men as they turned, pulling out my staff and extending it to hit both of them at the same time. While they both fell from the hit to the groin, Silver’s shield flew over me. I heard it bounce off of a couple of things before a loud grunt came from near the door on the other side of the warehouse.
“I think that’s the longest throw I’ve seen you do,” I said getting to my feet.
“You could have just said ‘nice shot’.”
I shrugged. “Now what?”
“Now what? Are you mad?! You put all of us in danger with that stunt,” the Magister yelled, his face turning red. “We should have sat still and let them do what they want. Now we’re going to die.”
“Not my style,” Silver shot at him. “And certainly not hers either. Let’s get these guys tied up.”
While they worked, I went back over to the windows to see what was going on. The torrential downpour made it difficult, but people still ran about the ship. Lightning struck the water not far away.
“What’s going on?” Silver asked, coming up behind me.
“I’m not sure. There’s people around the ship. I’m assuming not Navy since even the guards sought shelter.”
He crossed his arms and stared out the window. “They obviously don’t care about anything here. We’re just the closest to the dock.”
I raised an eyebrow at my partner. “You planning on letting them do what they want?”
“I didn’t say that, but we need to know what they’re planning. I need to go ask some questions.”
Better them than me. He could get extremely intimidating when he interrogated someone. I learned not to interfere. The best thing I could do was keep watch.
A few minutes passed before Mason came over. “Want a temporary partner?”
“Huh?”
The priest wrung his hands. “Well, your buddy is busy making those guys crap themselves so I thought you might like company.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I’m afraid I’m not very talkative though.”
“That’s fine. I’m not much for conversation either. Well, at least not small talk.”
“Could you teach Silver?”
Mason laughed. “You two are certainly an interesting pair. By the way, nice work back there in freeing us. I have no idea how the two of you came up with a plan before he got stuck with the rest of us.”
“There was no plan. I couldn�
��t leave to get help because I don’t know how much of the base they’ve taken over. I might have ended up in the same situation.”
“Telepathic communication?”
I shook my head. “I guess we’ve just trained enough together.” So much for not being talkative.
Chancing a glance back into the warehouse, I hoped Silver hurried - even with the storm slowing them down, we would not have much time to stop whatever their plans were.
~*~
“It’s the ship,” Silver said as he approached. “They plan on stealing the whole damn ship.”
“The prototype system?”
“It has to be. There are no other projects built into it right now,” someone in a Navy uniform said.
I sighed and looked out the window at the ship again. “Should we let it go and leave it to the Navy to catch them?”
Silver folded his arms and turned his attention out the window. “You, of all people, are suggesting we do nothing?”
“We’ll be fighting not only an unknown number of enemies, but also the weather. There’s only two of us and too many of them between us and the ship never mind who is on-board.” I gestured in the direction of the chaos happening outside.
“Not just the two of you, lass,” the Dwarf from the DAC said. “I think between the lot of us we can provide a distraction. As long as you two don’t mind takin’ point.” Then she pointed up at the Elf from the EAC. “Want to make a game of it?”
“You know I’ll win.”
“Bah!” The Dwarven woman smiled broadly. “Grab a partner and let’s get it done. We ain’t dealt with Jake this long to let someone walk away with this project. You too Magister Prissy Pants.”
The Magister turned his nose up in the air. “I refuse to partner with any mage not from the Arcane College.”
“Ain’t the point,” she argued. “We pair with a divine caster for the best chance at pullin’ it off. Not a one of us can cast as fast as the lass. And don’t you want a chance to show all of us how high and mighty Arcane College mages are? You certainly boast about it enough. Especially a few drinks in.”
“Not to mention after watching these two, it looks like we can have some fun,” Mason pointed out. “I’m in.”
As they organized themselves, I turned my attention to the remaining civilian and military personnel. Would they be okay when we left? I bit my lower lip. “What about everyone else?”
One of the Navy officers picked up a rifle we relieved from our captors. “I wouldn’t want to provide cover fire in this storm, but we can protect the people here.”
Silver put a hand on my shoulder. “How low did you run yourself with freeing us?”
I closed my eyes for a moment to make sure I gave an accurate answer. “Negligible. As long as you don’t want me to teleport a group, I should be good for a while.”
“Then let’s do this.” Silver flipped his sword around and the remainder of his armor appeared. Plates similar to the black, heavy textured material of his jacket covered his legs and his boots had a black metallic guard over them.
I raised an eyebrow at my partner. “At least you’ll be better anchored out there.”
“Really? This is the first time I’ve gotten to use the whole set and that’s all you’ve got to say?”
I shrugged. He never mentioned Coburn had completed the set. I thought he still only had the jacket.
Silver shook his head and opened the door, the wind and rain threatening to push me back into the building. Once we got set up outside, Silver and I would make a run for the ship, attacking anyone in our way with the others creating a distraction and taking out the stragglers.
That was the plan anyway.
We gathered outside and the others immediately began casting for the initial distraction. The moment the spells went off Silver shouted, “Go!”
I ran behind my partner, hoping he would cut down the wind, but it shifted and I fought to keep moving forward. A familiar golden sphere appeared around us, making it easier to run. It also made us a target.
My partner brought his left arm back and threw his shield, hitting three of the four people running toward us with guns drawn. He stopped to catch it and I slid under his arm, throwing shards of ice at the one remaining.
Silver got ahead of me before I got to my feet and hustled to catch up. Fireballs and more ice hit others ahead of us. The bulk of the enemy diverted and went after the casters behind us.
The ship began pulling out of the dock. We were too far away with too many people between us and them.
Repeating our earlier pattern, my partner threw his shield again, getting three of the five heading for us. I slid under his arm, throwing a fireball between the remaining two, the detonation sent them flying.
We came up with this leap idea in training, but never attempted it in an actual fight. And certainly not something this extended. Our tactic would likely not work much longer if at all.
The ship continued to pull away, gaining speed. How would we catch up with it? Teleporting both of us would take too much of my arcane energy if I could even target it while it moved.
And there were still people barring our approach.
I pulled my shrunken staff from its holster and extended it. We needed to switch up tactics a little.
Silver again threw his shield and I used a quick flight spell to launch myself at the remaining enemies, plowing into them staff first. Flipping over it, I shrank it so as to not get caught and landed in a crouch. My partner caught up to me.
“We’re not going to make it!” I shouted to be heard over the wind, rain, and rolling thunder.
“Just keep going! We’ll figure something out!”
Many of the enemies on the dock ran to catch the ship before it left. Had the people on-board panicked and decided to leave their comrades behind?
They damaged the dock and the ship as it pulled away. How many were on-board?
We repeated our leaping pattern three more times before reaching the end of the dock. Teleporting, I could end up dropping us into the water and with the lightning strikes hitting out there, I could not risk it.
I shrunk my staff and shoved it back in its holster. “Hold on,” I ordered, wrapping my arms around Silver.
Just as he locked his arms around me, I cast a flight spell hoping I was strong enough to carry both of us with it. Especially with the shifting high winds.
Landing roughly, I slid on the deck and hit a metal wall hard, dropping Silver en route. I put too much power into my spell to compensate, but we were on-board.
Silver pulled me behind another wall. I labored to catch my breath between the run and the flight. “Are you okay to keep going?” he asked.
I nodded. “Just need a minute.”
“You low?”
“Not as low as if I had teleported us.”
Silver touched the top of my head gently before peeking around the corner. “Looks like they don’t know we’re on-board yet.”
“How many?”
“Dozen, maybe more.”
“Close together?”
Silver nodded. “They’re trying to shelter themselves from the storm.”
I forced myself to my feet. “I’ve got this group if you don’t mind getting any stragglers.”
My partner grinned broadly and spun his sword at his side.
I peeked around the corner, solidifying the plan in my head. Why were they outside in the storm? It mattered little as I prepared myself.
Casting another flight spell, I dropped down in the middle of the group, slamming a ball of conjured electricity onto the deck, catching the people around me. I remained crouched down as Silver’s shield flew overhead, taking out the couple I missed.
He ran by me and slammed another into the wall. He backed off a step to swing his sword at the enemy.
Without thinking through my actions, I grabbed Silver’s sword arm. “Stop! We can’t kill them.”
“They’ll just keep coming!”
“Can’t
interrogate the dead!” I pulled with all of my weight, but his arm would not budge.
He growled at me and dropped his arm. “Fine.”
Taking a breath of relief, I took stock of our current situation. “Let’s get to the ship’s control room and see if we can shut down the engines. The Navy should have been alerted by now.”
Silver led the way, but not before he kicked the man he slammed into the wall. We came across a couple more, both who my partner knocked overboard. What had gotten into him?
“Hey, knock it off! They could die out there,” I argued.
Silver simply growled and kept a hard pace on his path to the control room. I slipped on the deck a number of times trying to keep up.
There were no others in our path, but I could not blame them for not wanting to be out here in this storm.
He peeked in the window to the control room. Crouching back down he held up three fingers to me.
I tapped my chest. The room would be too small for him to fight.
My partner nodded and put his hand on the door handle, checking to make sure I was ready before opening it. Springing inside, I unleashed a strong wind, throwing all three across the tiny room.
Silver jumped over me, prepared to fight whoever stood back up, but none did. He moved one off of the control panel, dropping him to the floor. “It’s been too long since I last dealt with a ship.” His gaze trailed over the controls.
Ship? I started to think I did not know the Elven man with me. “Should we call back for help?”
Silver shook his head and pulled back on a lever. The rumble of the engines ceased under my feet. “We’ve got bigger problems now.” He pointed out the window.
I could barely make out a larger vessel in the distance through the rain. Reinforcements. “Did Sparks have to say pirates?”
“Got to admit he was right on the money for this one.” Silver hauled the unconscious people out of the room, locking it behind us. “Any ideas of how just the two of us can protect the ship with enemies already on-board?”
I took a deep breath. “There’s one way, but neither of us likes the idea.” I pushed my way through the door heading into the ship and took off running. The dual-magic system would be our only chance at this point.
Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4) Page 15