by K. F. Breene
Could he?
“He is also standing still. This is a magical duel and his ingenuity has grown. Sadly, mine has not. I can barely keep his attacks off of us. It is time for you to earn your reputation, Sasha. Find a way to cut him down.”
My mouth dropped open as a beautiful layer of mist sped our way. I threw up a shield at the last minute but Cato had already disbanded it. The shield wouldn’t have worked, anyway. That spell had magical drills. He was expecting a shield, and it would’ve bored right through mine.
Shit. He was so far above me I was in awe. How the hell was I supposed to stop him?
“C’mon, Sasha!” Charles grabbed my arm and ripped me forward. “You’re in your head. Nothing good comes when you think. Let’s get moving. Get the blood flowing. I need to kill something.”
“Amen,” Paulie said, jogging with us.
Charles was right. I didn’t stand still and wait for spells to come to me. I… did other things. Like run around like an idiot. Things always seemed to work out that way. Somehow.
“Okay. Nathanial is kicking our ass magic-wise. So a sword in his back is warranted, I think. Also, we need to get Jonas out of there. So… into the belly!” I took out my sword and applied a burst of speed. We had a thick crowd of aggressive enemy to get through before we even made it to the building. It’d take a second.
I zipped off blasts of fire to stun two huge guys in front of me before firing off a nasty, spiky spell toward Mr. Wizard and his stupid white robe. As Charles and Paulie stepped forward to stab the men, I watched Nathanial stagger on his perch as his shield was hit and raked by my spell. Before he could turn his head in the direction of the spell, Cato had used the distraction to fire a spell of his own.
“We have to keep moving. That Nathanial can throw spells without looking, I’d bet. And I won’t be able to—“ A snowflake-looking spell flew toward me. I didn’t know what it was, what it did, or how to get rid of it.
“Run!” I screamed. I pushed the boys into a wall of men and then blasted my way through. Limbs went everywhere—thank God they were all once attached to the enemy at one time and not my guys. Plants sprang up out of the ground and started to grow into the monsters they’d become. Fireworks and distracting spells crackled in the sky. An explosion blasted the building right next to Nathanial.
Yes, I had done all of that. No, I did not remember initiating any of those spells. Death was on my doorstep, and he wore an absurd white robe.
Chapter Nine
All else forgotten, Jonas launched through the door. His bare chest met a furry body. They both hit the ground and rolled. Jonas was up first, standing in front of Emmy with his hands out wide and his eyes on fire. The wolf he’d tackled rolled to its feet as another two stared at him with hackles raised and teeth bared.
“You Tim’s lot?” Jonas asked in a growl. “Because if so, I won’t kill you.”
The wolf closest, which still had dirt in its coat, huffed. It shook out its body. The growls from the other two cut off.
“Right. Emmy is on our side. Carry on.” Jonas glanced back at Emmy. Her face was pale but her mouth was set in grim determination.
She unslung her whips. “Rookie mistake,” she muttered.
“Time to get bloody, baby. Ready?” Jonas connected gazes with her. Something in his chest shifted—he felt grounded. And with her at his back, though she’d probably never really fought a day in her life, he felt guarded. She had his back. He had hers.
He couldn’t help a smile.
She grinned back. “You’re crazy.”
“Yup. Let’s go. Mongrels—there’s nothing in that way. It’s the dungeon and a maze. Get me to Sasha.”
The lead wolf growled once—its version of talking back—before it turned to the north and started loping at a fast pace. Jonas grabbed his sword off the ground and wasted no time, not bothering to look behind him to make sure Emmy was keeping up. And in another few seconds, he didn’t have to look back at all—he was the last in line. Damn, but the female was fast.
They took a turn around a corner as the noise of battle increased. Sword clanks and explosions drifted from the distant front of the building—they must’ve exited in the back. Other than a couple dead warriors with ripped-out throats no one lingered on this side. As they neared the middle of the building, though, Jonas could see fighting through the holes in the side of the structure. His guys had found their way in already! It was looking good.
That thought abruptly shifted as they came to the next corner and saw the larger battle in progress. Vicious, grisly fighting covered the front of the building. Blood pooled and ran in rivulets along the packed dirt. Magic soared and exploded overhead, white and black. Attack spells of all kinds zinged through the fighting, taking out warriors in nasty ways.
Jonas spotted a huge bear rending through a line to get into the building. He saw Cato a ways off, in the street surrounded by magic-workers, all working with fast hand movements as they looked up.
Jonas followed their gaze to a man in a white robe with a grim but expectant expression.
“That’s Nathanial,” Emmy said at his side. She was looking where he was. “He’s better than them. I’d feared he was. They won’t be able to take him with magic.”
Jonas swept the road with his gaze for Sasha or Charles. His stomach started to knot when he didn’t find her with the other magic-workers. Hesitantly, knowing what he would see, he then looked harder at the battle. As he did so, he saw a flash of green unfurl right before a dull roar. A plant grew upwards into the sky, drawing shocked glances.
“She’s in the thick of it. Shit! She’s probably trying to go after that magic-worker.” Jonas glanced up at the robed worker before looking back to the fighting crowd. He glanced ahead of the plant and saw the door she must be trying to reach. She probably only had Charles with her, and possibly Paulie.
“She is such an idiot.” Adrenaline filled Jonas’ body. He flexed and tightened his grip on his sword. He then turned slowly to Emmy.
Her beautiful blue eyes were pools of worry and fear. Her face was even whiter than before as she glanced up at Nathanial and then back at the bloody spectacle before the building. She was way out of her league.
“Go hide,” Jonas said softly. “Stay safe. You’re free now. When this is over, no matter what happens, find someone loyal to Cato and say you need Nathanial’s tracker off of you. I have plenty of money and everything you could possibly need. Find someone from—“
Emmy slapped him across the face. Red blotches appeared on her cheeks. “Don’t be daft. I’m going to kill that sonuvabitch Nathanial and earn my place among your people. Lead the way to this Sasha.”
“You don’t know how to—“ Another slap cut Jonas off. “Fair enough.”
With a grin he couldn’t suppress, he glanced down at the wolves. “You guys going or what?”
With a huff, they took off running. Jonas followed immediately, sword out. In ten paces he reached his first opponent. A sword slashed out, fast and controlled. These guys were an experienced and adjusted class of warrior, if this male was any judge. Of good stock, too. But very… cultivated. Boring.
Jonas knocked the sword to the side and rushed forward with glowing arms. Adrenaline and Emmy’s essence pumped within him. Made him feel stronger and faster. Better. He gored his fingers through the eyes and then ripped down the face. He brought his sword around and stuck it in the male’s gut before he was moving on. He stuck the next warrior, a large female with lightning fast movements and then retreated a step when someone else rushed him. A crack rent the air. A red and white stream of blood and fluid gushed out of the male’s eye socket. Another crack, immediately after the first, took out the other eye.
Jonas couldn’t help a half-second to gawk.
Emmy ran right by him. He was surrounded by survivors in this life, it seemed. And they made the best warriors.
The two of them and the three wolves cut through the front of the building. Aiming for the line th
at would intersect with the whirling and sizzling cacophony of magic. Nathanial was throwing things down at Sasha and she was answering as only she could—completely unpredictably.
“She’s way out of her league,” Emmy yelled. “Is that a dinosaur?”
“She’s new to all this and she doesn’t have any real teachers. Yeah, she’s way out of her league. But she’ll rally.”
“Not for long.” Emmy pointed to the road. Cato staggered and went down on one knee. She then pointed directly overhead at Nathanial. He turned slowly. Too slowly, it seemed like. White was building around him. His focus shifted to the cluster of warriors and the one mage, struggling to fight her way through. Jonas saw the pale gold of Charles’ sword, and the gold of another sword—Paulie.
“No!” Jonas yelled. He looked at the building, trying to find a ledge or something to climb up on. Gauging the distance between him and the white mage. It was too far to throw a sword. He turned to Emmy. “Can you throw a knife?”
Emmy took out a knife and jogged to the side, out from under the overhang. A male rushed toward her. A furry gray body interceded, taking the man down, but another was there. Jonas lunged but Emmy had already turned and stuck her knife in his throat.
The spell was a white arrow, created and waiting on the order to send. Nathanial leaned forward with bent arms. Here came the push.
The strangled yell got caught in Jonas’ throat as the spell burst forward. A loud boom sounded, like a gunshot. Nathanial staggered back as red blossomed on his shoulder—Paulie had shot him. The spell was already let loose, though.
“C’mon!” Jonas screamed. He grabbed Emmy and yanked her with him. He stabbed and clawed his way through enemy as if they were papier-mâché. Emmy rallied right behind him, clearing out the cluster with precise whip-strikes to vital areas. Still that spell fell.
The cluster of people around Sasha broke up. Warriors staggered and crawled out of the way. Running from that spell. A hole was left in the middle where three people stood. One small human, and her two large bodyguards, staring at that spell descending straight for them.
“Sasha!” Jonas recognized the Boss’ hoarse scream. It was distant, though. The Boss couldn’t help this time. No one could.
* * *
I stared at that arrow of death. The spell whirled and twirled. Nathanial had taken his time with this one. Concocted an exquisite torture device that would melt off my skin and boil my bones. Very pleasant.
Time slowed down. I heard Jonas scream for me from somewhere, and then Stefan. Good, they’re still alive.
My gaze rose to the man on the ledge. Red squeezed up through his fingers as he held his shoulder. A condescending smile was aimed down at me.
Rage boiled up. And then cleared. I remembered the feel of his magic from the spell around the building. I recalled how he constructed his traps. His viciousness and showmanship.
Showmanship.
He was intricate, but did that help anything? Or was it just lipstick and mascara?
I felt that spell hurtling toward me. I thought about the components and what he was trying to do. I remembered the way Cato dressed up my crude spells and added flourishes and embellishments. Mine and Cato’s had only necessary elements.
Half the crap in that arrow wasn’t necessary. It was showmanship. It was stroking a huge ego.
Sweat beaded my brow as that thing thundered down toward me. I had five heartbeats.
I closed my eyes and forced Cato and my magic into that spell. I rooted around. I felt things. I played. I toyed. I just felt.
Like a flash of light in the darkness, it suddenly made sense. His thinking, his way of bending magic, his flourish—it made sense. And it still had the crude base, it was just covered with the sleight of hand and trickery of a Las Vegas show.
I’d never be able to disentangle, but I could alter. I could change a few major components in the hardwiring to render it into a completely different kind of spell.
I ripped and gouged with my now-balanced magic. I knocked the spell off-kilter and then stuffed in changes. I soaked the thing in the perfect yin and yang of Cato and my link. And then I held my breath.
The arrow fell onto me like a puff of dragon breath. It billowed out and around Charles, Paulie and I, and then detonated. Instead of an acid pour, the air around us erupted in sparkles. Pinks and blues and purples, it was like a rave and glitter party rolled into one.
“What the hell? I look like a chick!” Charles stared down at his shimmery hands.
“At least you’re not dead. Send him back something terrible, Sasha, and let’s get under cover.” Paulie glanced down at his gun, which had started to smoke and sputter. It was only a matter of time before the heat spell reacted with the gunpowder in the bullets. But the shot had been worth it.
I rolled a collection of Toa’s delights into a tight ball, with my special touch, and sent it off. Nathanial would unravel it, since I didn’t have that protective flourish around it, but it would take him a minute. I glanced back at Cato, who was staring out at me. He gave me one nod. Then he shifted his focus back to Nathanial.
He’d seen what I did, and he’d probably be pretty sparkly himself soon.
I started running toward the door. “Let’s get to that asshole and take him out with something sharp!”
Chapter Ten
Jonas saw Sasha sprinting toward the building with a mostly clear line. No one had recovered as quickly as she had—the original spell must’ve been a real nasty one. The enemy seemed to know what to expect. But it hadn’t landed.
With a grin, Jonas started sprinting to meet her. Emmy kept right at his side, wielding her whip better than most people would use a sword or pencil. She slashed and cut people ten feet away and had them flinching to the sides as she, Jonas and three wolves ran through.
Ten feet now. He could see Sasha’s dirty and determined face. Charles, blood-spattered and gritty, stabbed a large male guarding one of the entrances. And then Jonas was upon them. He stabbed a female in the back, ripped her out of the way, and burst into the space of Paulie. The halfsie spun and thrust a sword toward Jonas’ gut.
“It’s me, human!” Jonas growled as he knocked the strike aside. “Damn you’re slow.”
A relieved twinkle lighted Paulie’s eyes as Sasha exclaimed, “Oh thank God, Jonas!”
She launched her small body into his arms with a fierce hug. Jonas squeezed her back, filled with a sense of joy and relief he couldn’t remember the equal.
“Glad to have ya back, bro, but we gotta go. That white mage is no joke.” Charles stepped forward and slapped Jonas on the back.
A whip cracked to their right, drawing all of their focus to Emmy. Using both hands equally well, she slashed and flayed anyone running within her circle of violence. Two males waited just outside her reach, watching her with wary eyes, preparing to charge. They knew her capabilities.
Sasha backed off of Jonas long enough to squint at Emmy. Jonas’ stomach did a strange flip-flop of uncertainty before Sasha said, “Ah. The tracker. I see it now. What a sneaky devil.”
“Can you take it off?” Jonas asked in a gruff voice.
Charles started laughing as he rushed forward to charge the men eyeing Emmy. He dispatched one as Emmy stepped forward and snapped the eye out of the other. Over the screaming, Charles said, “Worried about the human not liking your lady-love, huh, bro?”
“You analyzing feelings like a chick, now?” Jonas growled.
“Tracker’s gone. That was an easy one. He didn’t put all his stupid swirly hogwash on it. Speaking of, let’s go kill him.” Sasha slapped Jonas on the back, winked at Emmy in welcome, and then motioned everyone forward.
* * *
We entered the building at a half-jog. As we emerged into the low light and shadow, I lost visibility as my eyes struggled to adjust. I ducked off to the side and stepped into an empty room. The others followed me and waited for the wolves to get through before shutting and locking the door.
“
Okay. Regroup.” I caught my breath and willed my eyes to adjust faster. After being in the sunlight I absolutely hated this terrible low light. “We have Jonas, so we’ll call that mission accomplished.”
Charles nodded. Jonas had found us, but we’d still take the “W” on that one.
“Now. We need to get up to the second floor and get that creep. Without him we can clean this place up.” I turned my gaze to the stupidly beautiful woman huddled next to Jonas. A freaking knock-out was this girl, but sad-looking. Kind of hunched and broken. Her eyes were shadowed and haunted and she didn’t seem to feel comfortable with Charles standing next to her. It was almost as if she tried to physically lower herself to make him look more powerful.
And judging by his preening, Charles was feeling masterful and had no idea why.
I rolled my eyes. “Charles, you’re making—Emmy? You’re making Emmy nervous. Get away.”
“Why? What did I do?” Charles gave her a wounded look as he moved to my other side.
“Emmy, can you get us there?” I asked in what I hoped was a soft voice.
“If you treat her like a victim, she’ll feel like a victim. If you treat her like a vigilante, she’ll get her revenge and move on.” Paulie stood near the door, listening for what was happening on the other side.
Jonas threw him an approving glance.
“Oh, well, excuse me for trying to be sensitive.” I rubbed my forehead.
“As sensitive as a steel mace,” Charles muttered.
Emmy’s expression went from shy vulnerability to blatant confusion.
“There is nothing that is professional with this gang.” Paulie grinned at Emmy. “Get used to it. And now the humans have the dominance.”
“Not at all, bro.” Charles adjusted his sword in his sheath. “We got two of the awesome race plus two additional halves of the awesome race, versus one whole and two halves of the virus race. Three to two.”