But Delongo seemed unconcerned as he slowly, inexorably seemed to drift off to sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
Dendri couldn’t risk sensing if he was asleep. He had to go based on what he could see through the girl’s eyes.
“I think he’s asleep,” he said to the other two majji.
“Are you sure?”
“I can’t be certain. I can only go by what I see.”
“Do we need to get closer?”
“We should move as close as possible before I attack him. If he wakens before I can kill him or if he resists me, we’ll need to be within physical striking distance. Jal, now you can turn to smoke. I’ll advance through the lines with Ky. We have to do this quickly and silently…before anyone can raise an alarm. It’s not enough to take just Delongo out. We have to get his lieutenants too. Otherwise someone else will simply spring up in his place,” Dendri said. “Let’s just hope this girl doesn’t leave his side. I’ll need her to be looking at him if I’m going to attack him remotely.”
“Can’t you just kill him in his sleep and be done with it? None of his lieutenants will think he’s doing anything more than sleeping.”
“Not true. The moment I exert my presence any decent Aspano majji will know I’m there. I want to be as physically close as possible. Then I’ll slam into Delongo’s mind, kill him and turn my attention to the other majji in the building. I’ll need to be able to see them if I’m to act. I can’t just attack them. I can push the girl into leaving the room and attack using her eyes, but that will make her a target. I want to avoid hurting any more innocents if I can.”
“We’re here to help, don’t forget,” Ky said.
“Ky, I need a fog. A good thick one. To cover our approach. Build it slowly. Make it seem as natural as possible. It will keep us under cover.”
“Any decent Vendii majji will be able to dispel it,” Ky said dubiously.
“They’d have to be stronger than you in order to countermand it.”
“But if it doesn’t respond to them then they’ll know it’s not naturally occurring.”
Dendri thought about it a moment. “We’ll have to move quickly then. A straight line.”
He took a moment to check his weapons’ belt. There was a steel dagger sheathed on one side, a sword with a wicked double-sided blade on the other and two pistols, one on each hip. There was a small pouch of bullets with pre-measured powder twists and a tamping rod.
“Guns are to be used as a last resort gentlemen,” he said grimly.
“The minute the first shot is fired Delongo will awaken,” Ky said.
“Then we had better not fire a gun,” Dendri said.
Ky closed his eyes and slowly, over several minutes, a fog began to build in the air. It was so thin it was hardly noticeable at first, growing gradually. The moment it was enough to cover their approach, Jal turned to smoke and arrowed toward the inn while Dendri and Ky moved forward. Ky had his dagger in hand, ready to act as Dendri reached out and touched the first minds of the nearest guards. Both were nons, so they had no defenses against him. They dropped like stones. They breached the perimeter and ran directly into two more men. These were both majji, one Aspano and one Vendi. Just like Dendri and Ky.
Ky leapt forward before the Vendii majji had a chance to even register his presence, his dagger plunging into his throat before a single sound could escape him.
Dendri seized the mind of the Aspano majji. The Aspano had some skill, but it wasn't enough to keep Dendri out. Dendri gave him a stroke on the spot and he collapsed.
“We have to hurry,” Dendri said, his mind focusing both on his immediate surroundings and on Henni’s mind. He and Ky snuck closer to the inn. The fog began to dissipate, some Vendii majji somewhere reversing Ky’s work, and they began to get exposed. Dendri waited until they were outside of the inn door, when they were about to kill the exterior guards.
Henni had curled up in the bed, facing away from Delongo. Dendri needed her to look at him in order for him to attack him. That meant forcing his will on her. The very act of doing so could alert Delongo…however if he was truly asleep it wasn’t likely. Taking the chance…having no choice…he forced his will onto Henni.
Look at him! he commanded her.
She did so immediately, his will over her absolute. She turned in the bed and looked at Delongo. The minute she did he surged forward into Delongo’s mind.
Whether it was her movement in the bed or just the fact that he had not been fully asleep, Delongo awoke sharply, coming aware of his surroundings with just enough time to throw up a guard. Dendri and Ky burst into the inn. Ky leapt onto the first majji he found. Dendri used his mind to protect Ky’s, to keep other Aspano’s from doing to him what he was doing to them. With Delongo’s mind slipping out of his reach, Dendri bolted up the stairs and headed for Delongo’s room. He burst into the outer room, plunging his dagger into the chest of the nearest majji while trying to seize control of the mind of the other. The Torenic majji whipped up a fireball and lobbed it in Dendri’s direction. Dendri dropped and rolled, coming to his feet an instant later. He threw his dagger at the majji, who turned into smoke, the dagger going right through him.
Delongo burst out of the bedroom and threw a hand out in Dendri’s direction, trying to force his will to his, trying to break through the powerful wall of his mind. Dendri was stretched thin, trying to protect the minds of Ky and Jal downstairs in the chaos, and also fighting the Torenic majji and Delongo at the same time. Delongo did not have that problem. Dendri did not have much time to react before his tenuous control of the situation would evaporate. He pulled a pistol and fired dead into Delongo’s chest just as the Torenic majji resolidified and threw another ball of fire at him.
Delongo was powerful, but he couldn’t change the trajectory of a bullet. Still, he was able to have absolute control over his reflexes and he dodged as fast as he could. Just as the fireball would have hit Dendri full on, it was seized in the air.
Jal. Jal had appeared at his back and redirected the ball of fire onto the Torenic mage. Immunity to the fire they wielded was a mid-level skill, and this was a high level majji, so it bounced off the majji easily. But Jal was a higher level majji and he could conjure up an energy blast that could not be fought against unless you were beyond Jal’s skill. Nuclear energy hit the Torenic majji dead in the chest and with a scream he blistered, seared, and burnt to cinders from the inside out. There was an explosion of ash to mark the end of the majji.
Delongo had dodged the first bullet, but Dendri, who also had lightning fast reflexes, had pulled his second pistol and shot in the direction Delongo was moving in. The two bullets whizzed through the air almost simultaneously, one only slightly behind the other. The first one missed Delongo as he dodged out of the way, the second one hit him square in the thigh. Delongo crumpled to the floor and Dendri was on him in a heartbeat. He straddled Delongo’s body as he pulled his sword and held the blade to his neck. Then it became a battle of minds. Delongo’s was hazed with pain for the moment, Dendri’s was split in three directions as he protected the minds of the rogue hunters.
The two men stared each other down and Dendri felt pure hatred and contempt riding over him.
“That’s right,” Delongo gasped as his black eyes met Dendri’s, a malicious sort of glee inside of them. “Let your emotions take you over! I have controlled mine long since. You are weak. Weak, Adiron. You cannot best me.”
“I already have,” Dendri gritted out.
“I mean mind to mind. You are no more powerful than I am!”
Suddenly the pitcher from across the room came flying at Dendri. Dendri caught the object in mid air using his own telekinesis. They struggled for control of the object, and Delongo reached up and grabbed Dendri by his throat. They fought, the pressure of their minds on the object causing so much torsion that the porcelain shattered. The change in mass altered their ability to grip the shards and the bits came screaming toward both men. Dendri threw up a hand
to protect his face, allowing Delongo to shove him off of him. The men rolled, Dendri’s sword clattering to the ground as Delongo took the dominant position above Dendri. But Delongo was expending a great deal of mental energy and fortitude trying to block the pain receptors in his mind from feeling the bullet wound in his leg. Still, he throttled Dendri, who lowered his chin and struck at the arms holding him down. Dendri’s face, arm and side were burning where it had been peppered with pieces of sharp porcelain, but he paid it no mind. He didn’t waste mental energy trying to shut down the pain, instead he used it to fuel the fury with which he was fighting Delongo. He tried to sink into Delongo’s mind, tried to fight past all of his powerful mental defenses.
Delongo was doing likewise. Even as he and Dendri struggled physically he was looking for weaknesses in Dendri’s mental barriers, looking for a way to overpower the other majji.
It was only Dendri’s superior skill that allowed him to mentally grab hold of Delongo’s body, snatching him off of his body and throwing him violently into the dressing table. The small table was crushed by the weight of the other man, the mirror within it shattering. Dendri rolled up onto his knees and grabbing Delongo again with his mind he slammed him into the opposite wall across the room. Had he been fully focused, he would have done it harder, would have been able to crush his body with the power of the blow. But Dendri was too tired from protecting the minds of the others and from all of the majic energy he had been using since this all began. Only his advanced level was keeping him on his feet, so to speak.
Delongo rolled to his hands and knees, laughing.
“They must have been desperate to drag you out of mothballs,” he said, just before he got his feet under him and threw himself both physically and mentally at Dendri once more.
“Dendri!” Jal cried out from the doorway.
“No!” Dendri exclaimed.
Delongo looked up at Jal and an evil smile curved his lips.
“You can’t protect them all,” he said to Dendri. Then he seized Jal’s mind, breaking through Dendri’s secondary protection. Delongo leapt off of Dendri as he controlled the other majji, made him form a fireball and throw it down at Dendri.
Dendri rolled away, but his sleeve caught fire. The pain was searing and devastating. Dendri grabbed for the blanket on the bed and wrapped it around his arm, dousing the flames. Dendri then mentally shoved Jal out of the doorway and slammed the door shut, closing himself into the bedroom with Delongo.
“You can’t beat me. I’m too strong for you!” Delongo sneered.
“I don’t have to best you, I just have to wait long enough for you to bleed out,” Dendri said. That made Delongo look down at his leg. He had shut off all the pain receptors that had been telling him how badly he had been injured. Blood gushed from the wound with every step he took.
“I’ll see you dead first,” Delongo hissed.
With that he seized the sword on the floor with his mind and sent it shooting point first at Dendri. Dendri caught the blade with his mind just before it would have pierced his chest. He fought with Delongo for control of the blade, the power of the two men warping the steel as it was twisted between them. Dendri staggered back as his mind blossomed in pain from the struggle. He was almost completely majically tapped out. He could no longer protect the other two men and had to leave them to their own devices. All of his strength had to be focused on his fight with Delongo.
The sword turned as Delongo stumbled to the ground onto his good knee. Dendri could feel blood vessels in his eyes bursting as he used the last of his mental strength to turn the blade toward Delongo and send it shearing through the air and into his chest. Delongo’s mind had given out first, his blood loss finally taking its toll. There was a look of surprise on Delongo’s face as he looked down at the sword in his chest. He reached as if to pull it free…but then he collapsed dead on the floor.
Dendri crumpled to the ground, panting for breath, his mind a screaming agony of pain. The door slammed open and Jal was there, kneeling beside him, picking his head up.
“I’m sorry,” he said fiercely.
“It wasn't your fault,” Dendri said hoarsely.
“I should have been strong enough to resist his controlling me,” Jal said angrily.
“He was too strong for you.”
“Dendri, we have to go. We can’t stay here. The building is on fire. There’s an entire army outside that now knows something has happened here. We have to go.”
Dendri nodded and struggled to get to his feet with Jal’s help. Ky entered the doorway just as he was able to throw his arm around Jal’s shoulder and let the man support him against his side.
“We have to go,” Ky said breathlessly.
“I could swear I just said that,” Jal said grimly.
“If we go out the front there’ll be an army in front of us.”
“T-there’s a b–back door.”
The men swung around to see Henni cowering in a corner of the room.
“Can you show us?”
“It’s through the taproom,” she said, scrambling to her feet. She led them out of the room and down the stairs. As Jal had said, the room was on fire. The main room was full of bodies, the lieutenants lying dead across tabletops and on the floor. They picked their way over the bodies and through the burning room to the back door.
“Wait a second,” Ky said. He closed his eyes and suddenly the sound of something pelting the roof of the building came to them. It increased in sound and speed until the whole building was rocking with it. “Okay let’s go.”
They burst out into the night, right into the middle of a hailstorm. The balls of ice were small, stinging their skin as they went, but it provided them good cover as they hurried out of the building and through the town. There were cries, shouts and screaming everywhere around them, but no one paid them any mind. Just as they reached the edge of the town, Henni stopped and looked back. The men urged her forward.
“Granio,” she whispered.
“You can’t help him. If he’s still alive he’ll be here when the army breaks up and falls apart. But it’s still too dangerous for a girl like you to be left alone here. With no one to control them they’ll be even worse than before.”
“A-all right,” she said at last. She moved forward with them.
Ky had to help Dendri up into his saddle. Then he put the girl on his horse and swung up behind her. Jal turned his horse away from the encampment and the three horses dashed off in the opposite direction. Dendri was slumped over the neck of his horse, barely leading the animal, barely able to keep his seat. Eventually Ky had to take the reins of his mount and lead him as Dendri leaned against the neck of his horse and struggled to stay awake.
Awake and alive.
Chapter Nineteen
The group stopped after a pair of hours of traveling when Jal though Dendri was going to fall from his horse.
“There’s a town a little way ahead. We’ll stop there,” he said.
“No. Home,” Dendri said, his voice a tired rasp.
“Dendri, you’re in no condition to ride the rest of the night.”
“We can’t be sure we’re not being pursued,” Dendri said hoarsely. “Besides, I want to be with Yasra.”
“Dendri—“
“I said home,” he said, shifting his weight higher in the saddle.
“Then at least let Jal ride with you,” Ky said. “We’ll otherwise be at a crawl if we walk the horses the entire way. If, as you say, we might be pursued, then we need a little speed.”
“Very well. I don’t care as long as we go home.”
Jal dismounted from his horse, handing the reins to Ky, who tied them to his saddle. Jal mounted in front of Dendri, giving him a strong body to hold onto and lean against. He spurred the horse ahead at a canter and they began to pick up speed.
Soon the miles were speeding by them.
Yasra had taken to pacing the house nervously. It had been two days since Dendri had left. She continually
tried to reach out to him with her mind, but she received no response. Of course he was too far away, she thought. And even if he weren’t, he certainly didn’t need to be distracting himself trying to reassure her. So she didn’t ask for him to respond. She merely sent him as many feelings of support as she could.
Bess was sitting watching her during one of her pacing bouts. They were in the main parlor. Bess was on a chaise lounge sitting with her feet tucked up under her, and Yasra was moving from window to hearth and back again. Every time she reached the window she looked out of it. The main parlor was at the front of the house and provided a perfect view of the long drive leading up from the main gate to the house.
“We should do something,” Bess suggested. “It does you no good staying cooped up in this house all day. We should go riding around the estate.”
“You can’t ride, Bess,” Yasra said with a sigh.
“We can take one of the light carriages. Or you can put me on a horse and lead me around. It’s high time I learned to ride.”
Yasra sent her a dubious expression. “You don’t like to wear breeches and you don’t have a riding dress.”
“I’ll wear breeches. I’ll borrow some of yours.”
“Bess, I don’t feel like going out!”
“So what will you do all day? Stare out that window? He will come when he comes. Pacing and glaring out the window will not make it happen any sooner.”
Yasra went still.
“Do you suppose I’ll feel it right away?”
“Feel what?”
“If he dies. Do you think I will feel it right away? Will it be like a sucker punch or will it slowly wear away at me?”
“I don’t know,” Bess said, frowning at the thought. She didn’t want to see any harm come to her best friend. For a moment she was angry with Dendri for risking his life and Yasra’s well-being like this. Still, she understood the reasons why her friend had allowed him to go, and why Dendri had felt compelled to help. “Don’t think so morbidly, Yas.”
A Kiss of Magic: A Kiss of Magic Book One Page 22