Dark Mage Rises

by J. J. Green

  “Sure. Let’s walk down to the grove. We won’t be disturbed there and it’ll give you time to read the menu.”

  As they walked away from the house Reyes took Parthenia’s hand, which felt a bit weird, but she didn’t protest. She was disoriented by walking in the new setting and trying to read the list that hovered before her in mid-air. The game modified her sense of touch as well as sight and hearing. Although she knew she was walking on grass, her feet felt as though they were hitting hard, bare metal. Even her sense of smell was affected, she realized. The warm, fresh, clean air she’d been breathing a moment ago seemed to have been replaced by a dusty, acrid atmosphere.

  Parthenia was beginning to find the list of weapons bewildering. Before she’d read half of it she’d forgotten what was at the top. And she didn’t know what many of the words meant. “What’s a lightknife?”

  “It’s an energy beam about as long as your forearm,” Reyes replied. “Great for close fighting. If someone has you in a clinch, think lightknife and slip it between their ribs. It’s high-powered, though, so you run out of energy if you use it for more than a few seconds. That’s one for emergencies.”

  The idea of slipping anything between someone’s ribs sounded horrific to Parthenia, even if it was only make-believe. She was beginning to regret her decision. She glanced at Reyes, wondering how he would take it if she backed out, and jumped as she caught sight of him. In the game, he was wearing heavy armor topped by a helmet that was shaped like a bird of prey.

  He turned and said, “What do you think? Cool, huh?”

  “Am I wearing something like that?” Parthenia asked.

  “You’re wearing the default costume. I customized mine myself. Switch to overview and you’ll see.”

  Parthenia thought “overview” and immediately saw the factory from a high viewpoint. Two figures were walking through it. One was Reyes, with his bird-like helmet, and the other was a woman wearing less heavy or stylized armor. She hardly recognized herself. Instead, she was reminded of Carina. Her heart felt heavy at the memory of her sister. She’d said she would come back but that had been days ago.

  “Nearly there,” Reyes said.

  The game had represented the trees of the grove on the Dirksen estate as pillars that rose from the factory floor to the vaulted ceiling. Where the ground was uneven, the game had made the floor broken and pitted. They reached the pillars and walked in among them.

  “Are you ready?” Reyes asked.

  “Not really,” Parthenia replied. “I know some of the words, but I don’t understand exactly what we’re supposed to be doing.”

  “That’s easy. We fight each other.”

  “That’s all we have to do?”

  “Basically. If you die, you lose. Then we start again. Shall we make it the best out of five? We can use the pillars as cover.”

  What had given Reyes the idea that she would like the game, Parthenia had no idea. She had a feeling it was going to be over very quickly, after she’d been killed quickly five times. “Hmm… Okay.”

  “We can start from opposite ends of the grove and work our way in. What do you say?”

  “All right then,” Parthenia replied. “I’ll wait here. You go to the other side.”

  “Okay.” Reyes set off through the pillars.

  Parthenia thought “arm rocket” and the weapon appeared on her wrist while its specs rose in her vision. Was it the right choice? Parthenia didn’t have a clue, but it was one of the few names she could understand.

  While she was trying to decide if she should pick something else, Reyes reappeared from between the pillars. She raised her arm rocket to fire at him, but he lifted his hands. “Don’t shoot,” he said, laughing.

  When he’d returned to her side, he continued, “You don’t much like this game, do you?”

  “No, not really,” Parthenia replied.

  He lifted his helmet and reached out to remove hers too. Suddenly, Parthenia was back in the grounds of the Dirksen estate. The air smelled fresh and earthy under the trees and the dappled sunlight was warm.

  Reyes Dirksen was smiling down at her. “Sorry. I should have been more considerate. I thought you might like to fight. All my friends love it. But you aren’t like that, are you?”

  “I guess not.” Parthenia wanted to tell him more. She wanted to tell him how she’d been brought up to be ladylike, and that her father had despised the idea of any of his children doing anything as rough and uncouth as fighting. But revealing even that much about her past to Reyes felt wrong.

  “Shall we take a walk through the trees then, as we’re here?” Reyes asked. Without waiting for an answer, he took Parthenia’s hand and set off.

  As she’d already denied him the chance to play his game Parthenia thought it would be churlish to protest, so she went with him, dangling her visor in her other hand.

  “This is my favorite part of the estate,” said Reyes. “When I was younger, if I wanted to hide from my mother I would come here. I would sometimes spend hours up a tree watching the servants searching for me.”

  Parthenia smiled. Though his mother was holding her captive, she couldn’t help herself from empathizing with Reyes. Their upbringings had been similar. Belonging to a powerful clan brought privilege and comfort—extravagance, in fact—but it had its downsides.

  “It’s so hot,” Reyes said. “Let’s stop here in the shade for a moment.”

  Parthenia wondered at this proposal. The day wasn’t particularly hot. Reyes led her under overhanging boughs to the hushed, shaded interior around a tree’s thick trunk.

  “I wanted to tell you, Parthenia,” said Reyes. “I’m so glad you came into my life. I like you a lot.”

  Parthenia stiffened. How should she respond? If she rejected him outright, what might he or his mother do? “Well, I like you too,” she said. She was about to qualify her statement, but Reyes was too fast. He swooped in for a kiss. Parthenia swerved out of the way.

  “What’s wrong?” Reyes exclaimed. “You just said you liked me.”

  “Not like that,” said Parthenia.

  “Why? Why not?” His fists were clenched and his face was turning red with anger.

  Parthenia didn’t know what to say. Whatever she said—because your mother is holding me against my will and you think that’s okay was what sprang to mind—would only anger him further.

  She pushed through the branches and out into the grove.

  “Don’t run away from me,” Reyes shouted. “Come back here.”

  Parthenia ran through the grove, dodging trees, heading toward the mansion. It felt strange to be heading for her prison as a place of refuge. But what else could she do? She was trapped. When would Carina come?

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Carina lifted the giant main pincers of her mech and lowered them, testing them to their fullest extent. In response, a light appeared in her head-up display. Check. She tested the secondary pincers. Check. She turned in a circle, testing the maneuverability of the legs. Heavy thunks resounded and her visual displayed 360 degrees of the rear part of the stadium, where the mechs and their tech teams waited for the battle to start.

  From her position, she couldn’t see her opponent but she could hear him or her going through the same checks. It was as she’d thought when she’d seen her first Mech Battle: the operators put the machines through thorough checks before entering the arena. The moves they went through in front of the crowd before engaging in the fight were only for show.

  This gave Carina an idea. If she acted on it she would never be allowed to participate in another battle but that didn’t matter. She only needed to win this one. The black market arms dealer would be waiting for her after the show, ready with the weapons and everything else Carina needed, provided she had her prize money and winnings. Bryce had bet everything they’d earned over the previous days.

  “Tammy,” the mech manager’s voice sounded over Carina’s comm. “All set? Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, ev
erything’s working fine.”

  “I can see that,” the manager said. “I’m asking about you.”

  “Oh, er… I’m good. Looking forward to it.”

  The man—he went by his old stage name of The Stomper—had been nervous about giving Carina a chance, but excitement had overtaken his nerves as the betting on the battle mounted up. His ploy of selling Carina as a mysterious young newcomer had worked. Her masked image had been displayed on all the entertainment channels, and the manager had even scored an interview on a late-night show, where he’d made up a bunch of nonsense to intrigue the audience. Carina had caught a glimpse of the show before she’d turned it off in disgust. He’d told the interviewer that it was a grudge match: that Carina’s family had once worked for Spearcorps, who were sponsoring the opposing team, but they’d all been laid off and were now on the streets.

  “Man,” the Stomper had said, “the Dark Avenger really hates Spearcorps. It makes her mad just to hear the name.”

  Carina guessed the audience probably knew it was all untrue but they didn’t care. Believing in the fantasy was fun and a distraction from the slow crippling of their autonomy and freedom by the Dirksens.

  The resulting increased interest had worked in Carina’s favor. The stadium was sold out.

  “Great,” said The Stomper. “Try to last as long as you can out there. Give them a good show. If the fight’s over in a couple of minutes we’ll get complaints.”

  Carina rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “I’m just saying… ”

  Ignoring the man, Carina rechecked the mech’s weapons. They were limited due to the safety factor. If a mech hurt an audience member, the company would receive more than complaints.

  Each of her main pincers converted to massive hammers, and huge spikes could spring out from the mech’s knees. Extremely short-range grapples fired from the machine’s midriff in case she wanted to hold the other mech at close quarters and her pincers were gone. She figured in that scenario she could hit it with her—the mech’s—head. Her secondary pincers doubled as drills.

  Carina had to give The Stomper some credit: the mech she was fighting in was one of the least beat up he had to choose from. Though the fact only emphasized his lack of faith in her.

  An ear-piercing jangle sounded. One minute to go. The noise of the crowd permeated even through Carina’s solid surroundings. Somewhere out there, Castiel was probably waiting. Would he try to Transport her out from her mech the minute he saw her? It would be a difficult Cast, even for an experienced mage. She would barely be visible through the narrow slits in the control center, and Castiel would have to Cast at some distance.

  Nevertheless, the possibility was her greatest danger, so with great misgiving she’d asked Bryce to bring the twins and Darius along to the battle. Without their help, she would never be able to Repulse Castiel’s Casts. She would be too busy fighting. Her siblings would have their work cut out for them that night, and they would need to remain hidden from Castiel, though he would know they were there somewhere.

  “You’re on in ten,” The Stomper said. “Good luck, Tammy.”

  “Thanks.”

  Carina gripped the controls and focused. She had only one goal: win five fights. She had to trust her siblings to do their work or she would find herself back on the Dirksen estate and Parthenia would remain captive.

  The gigantic doors in front of her split down the middle and swung inward. A roar went up. Carina’s display blinked and darkened in response to the brilliant lights shining from the pit. Across the stadium, Carina could see another set of doors opening and her opponent standing in shadow, light reflecting softly from dull metal.

  The other mech took a step, beginning its walk into the stadium. Carina waited.

  “Go in now,” said The Stomper.

  Carina didn’t reply.

  “Move, Tammy.”

  The other mech was inside the pit and was beginning its performance of pretending to check its systems.

  “Tammy,” The Stomper yelled. “What the hell are you waiting for? Get in there!”

  Watching the mech, Carina waited a little longer. The noise of the crowd was rapidly fading, degenerating to confused babbles.

  The Stomper shouted, “If you don’t move now, so help me I’ll—”

  Carina ran through the doors. “Ran” was a strong word to describe the lumbering gait of the giant mech from a standing start, but she pushed the machine to its extreme speed. She only had one chance and she had to get it right.

  The other mech didn’t even notice her coming. She slammed into the machine, knocking it off its feet and into the doors, which had only just closed. The mech bounced against the wall, splintering the rock-hard surface, and slid to the ground.

  The crowd went crazy.

  Disregarding the ear-splitting howls and whoops, Carina let her momentum carry her over to the prone mech. The Stomper was bellowing something but she ignored him too. After raising her pincers and simultaneously turning them into hammers, she brought them down with maximum force on the hip junctions of the opposing mech. These were perhaps the toughest parts but Carina had the perfect shot. If she damaged these, the mech wouldn’t be able to move and the fight would be over.

  But her opponent wasn’t going to give up easily. Projectiles on thick metal ropes shot out and pierced her mech’s midriff. The pointed end of one protruded into Carina’s cab. A damage report appeared in her display. She sent her secondary pincers to sever the ropes while she struck again at her opponent’s hips. Her plan seemed to be working. The mech was trying to stand but its legs were moving oddly.

  The secondary pincers couldn’t cut the ropes. They couldn’t even make a dent. It didn’t matter. Carina brought her hammers down for a third time. The shock of the impact jolted her. She also registered a blow to the side of her legs. The other mech was attacking her with its pincers.

  She was convinced the third impact on the mech’s hips had done the job. She backed up to move out of reach of its pincers. She needed her mech to last her through four more battles. The ropes that attached her to the other mech held fast, however, and she found herself dragging it across the floor of the pit. Her mech’s systems complained about the additional weight. Another blow struck her legs.

  Carina didn’t know what to do. She had no way to cut the ropes but if she didn’t move out of range of the other mech hers would soon suffer a lot of damage. Why hadn’t they called the fight? Her opponent was incapacitated. She’d clearly won.

  She backed up some more. This time, the tension on the ropes tore them from their mooring on the opposing mech. The sudden release caused Carina to overbalance. Her mech tumbled down.

  The horn sounded. The fight was finally called.

  Four more to go.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Parthenia hated the noise of the crowd and she wasn’t remotely interested in Mech Battles. Two giant machines fighting each other wasn’t a spectacle she relished. A sharp, pulsing headache was irritating her but other than that, she was utterly bored.

  Castiel seemed to be finding something about her amusing. Every time he snuck a sidelong glance at her, he smirked. Her brother’s enjoyment of her misery wasn’t a new phenomenon by any means, but Parthenia suspected there was something else underlying his amusement. She refused to gratify him further by asking what he found funny, however, so she resigned herself to remaining in the dark.

  He probably had a nasty plan to execute later on. Parthenia only hoped it wasn’t going to be aimed at poor Nahla, who had suffered from his spite several times over the past few days. Castiel insisted on using her as a subject on which to practice his Casting skills. He Enthralled her to do stupid, embarrassing, and even dangerous things. When he’d made her walk around the entire estate naked, so that every servant, guard, and gardener saw her, even Langley had been appalled and asked him to stop.

  This had resulted in a stand-off of a kind. Langley saw herself a
s the head of the household with the final say on everything that happened beneath her roof. It wasn’t an unreasonable claim, or at least to everyone except Castiel. Langley had gently admonished him and suggested that, if he had to use a living person for his experiments, to choose one of the servants and not his own sister.

  Castiel had been furious, though Parthenia suspected she was the only one who truly understood the depths of his anger. He’d mastered himself—that time. He’d stalked away, not responding to Langley at all. But Parthenia wondered what would happen the next time the two clashed. Langley Dirksen seemed to think that Casting was similar to performing magic tricks. She didn’t understand what an immoral mage could do. She had no idea, for example, of the Split Cast that had killed Father.

  Parthenia wondered if she should warn Langley but she doubted the woman would listen. She would only think she was trying to undermine Castiel in the hope that she might Cast and escape. And Reyes hadn’t spoken to her since she’d rejected him in the grove, which was a good thing. He’d shown his true colors when he was angry that she wouldn’t kiss him. Parthenia realized he’d been manipulating her all along. It would be extremely convenient for the Dirksens to have a mage in the family.

  From the corner of her eye, Parthenia noticed Castiel sip from a bottle. He was Casting, and as far as she knew it was for the third or fourth time that evening, but why? Parthenia scanned the stadium. She couldn’t see anything happening that her brother might want to influence. Unless he was only trying to affect the outcome of the battle. That was possible. Parthenia could see Langley betting furiously.

  A roar went up so loud that Parthenia winced and covered her ears. Her head felt like it was going to burst. She wished she could have just a sip of elixir to Cast Heal on herself but Castiel would never allow it. He would think she wanted it to Transport herself far away, which of course she would.