Several monsters down, I dared a quick glance to see what she was doing, how ready she was to attack.
Her eyes were narrowed, the tip of a tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. I recognized a thinking pose when I saw it.
“Rena, don’t think, destroy!” I commanded.
“There’s no specs on this thing,” she growled back, aggravated, not once looking in my direction. “No pattern, no structure. I can’t figure out what spells to use to destroy it!”
Alright, while I saw the problem, still— “You won’t be able to find one! Toh’sellor is pure chaos!”
She darted a look at me, eyes wide. “Seriously?”
“Just destroy it like you would air or a gas!” That last part was a complete guess on my part.
“Even air has structure, you know?” she bit off, not at all appeased by this idea. Still, she went back to studying it, this time the furrow in her brow not as deep as before. I had to assume that she’d thought of something.
Whirling, I went back to hacking at things. The one nice thing about the plant monsters was that they didn’t have blood, which meant I didn’t have blood splatter on my clothes. Instead it was some sort of green substance that was a little sticky. I had a bad feeling it would not wash out.
“Wait. I see…now that’s interesting.”
Slash, roll, and I had my back to her again, brushing against her shoulder. The bond gave a happy hum at the physical contact. “Your definition of interesting or my definition?”
“There’s a core element, a stabilizing rock, I suppose you could say. It’s similar to what I’ve seen in all of the minions.”
“That sounds promising,” I said hopefully, turning it into an almost question.
“I’m going to hit that first. It’s worked on all of the minions, maybe it will work here too.” There was a strange string of words, a spell long and sonorous, and I grinned even as I cut down two more. Good girl, she’d finally figured it out, eh?
When she stopped speaking, I whirled, expecting the Toh’sellor body to just wink out into a pile of nothing.
It writhed, as if impacted by a strong flame, flickered in and out, and then regained itself at about half of its size.
“Oops.” Rena sounded more than a little apologetic.
Seriously? I gave her a squinty-eyed glare.
“Let me try that again.” With a contrite smile, she went back to staring at it hard. “I didn’t quite get it all.”
Alright, obviously this is going to take her a little while to figure out. At least she’d had an effect on the thing. That was a good sign.
Bly yelled out some irate words that sounded half like swearing, only to be cut off abruptly. I paid him no attention. Rena’s magic obviously had an effect; she just needed another go at it.
She’d gotten it down to half strength, but that meant the shard now actively retaliated against us. Survival instincts were kicking in. Its minions came so hard and fast that I literally couldn’t spare a breath. Protecting both Rena and Steph had been mildly challenging before—it now became horrendously difficult. Rena especially, as she didn’t have the extra attention to spare either to dodge or even try to fight back.
Whirl, slash, dodge, retreat two steps only to bull forward, both swords swinging. I tracked Steph’s location by ear, as she shot off spells. I tried my hardest to deal with three at once but somehow a fourth got past me, heading for Steph.
Swearing, I pivoted on a foot, throwing the sword in my right hand and taking it down before it could reach her unprotected side. I knew the instant that I did so I had left myself open and would pay the price of it.
Sharp pain seared through my left arm, making me gasp. I ducked into a roll, escaping whatever had just hit me, coming up and switching the sword to my right hand. I knew for a fact my left arm was broken. That pain was all too familiar to me. This really pissed me off as my left arm just healed. Did I have some sort of magnet for bad luck in that arm?
“Bannen!” Steph screamed, worry and fear sending her tone high.
“Fight!” I commanded without looking at her. I couldn’t tell her I was alright, it would have been a lie, but I can fight just as well with my right hand as I do my left. My mother had made absolutely sure of that during my training.
The monsters sensed a weakness and came at me hard and fast. I kicked, slashed, stabbed, and tried to keep my wounded side away from them. The last thing I needed was for them to take advantage of it.
Rena’s voice rose behind me, almost to the point that I could hear the words, not that I understood a single word she said. The last syllable left her mouth with a sharp click of the tongue and everything, for a moment, went perfectly still.
The monsters in front of me went from a fighting frenzy to frozen, then dissolved slowly, spreading in the wind like a fine dust. Whirling, almost wheezing for breath, I turned, frantically looking for that shard of Toh’sellor.
It wasn’t there.
Where it had been was an empty space, devoid of anything remotely living, only a bare patch of dirt remaining. I could not believe my eyes for the longest moment. No one, in living history, had managed to destroy Toh’sellor, and they’ve been trying for over two hundred years. “Rena. Did you…did you just destroy it?”
She grinned at me wildly, flushed and triumphant. “I did.”
It was impulse. I reached her in three long strides, caught her around the waist with my good arm and hugged the stuffing out of her. She laughed, hugging me back just as hard, nearly vibrating.
“I can’t believe she just did that,” Bly said, over and over again. “I can’t believe she just did that.”
Emily, Steph and Lori pounced from different directions, joining in on the hug, which somehow turned into us almost bouncing in place. Up until they jostled my broken arm. Hissing between clenched teeth, I backed away a little.
“Bannen,” Rena’s voice went up an octave, “are you hurt?!”
“Just a broken arm—” I tried to assure her.
“You broke your arm?!” Rena’s face twisted into an expression of horror. “How did you do that?”
“Covering for me,” Steph responded. “I’m so sorry, Bannen, I knew it hit you, I just didn’t know how bad it was. Master Vonda, can you heal him?”
I put up a staying hand. “Let’s make absolutely sure that all of the monsters are gone, and leave this area, before we worry about my arm. Yes? Strangely enough, I’m not keen on staying in an area where even the grass wants to attack me, so let’s leave first, worry about arm later.”
“Wise,” Whit agreed, already herding people back in the direction we had come. “I have sent my Tricksy out to scout for us, but we should not take it for granted that just because that thing is gone, everything else is.”
Everyone must have realized this was good advice because they were quick to take it. None of us had the energy to run or even jog, but we were speed walking back. The only concession to injuries—because there was more than just my arm—was a quick bandage wrapped around it before we set off.
What took us four hours to fight through took thirty minutes to walk. We strode free and clear of the area and I breathed deeply as soon as we were out of the barrier.
“What happened?” Mage Holden demanded, looking torn between hope and anxiety.
Rena, with a victorious smile on her face, announced: “We won.”
I tried not to hover over Bannen as Vonda reset his bone and applied two healing spells, but I hovered. The odds of us waltzing in and out of that madness completely unscathed were minimal, I knew, but that didn’t mean I was alright with Bannen being hurt. Far from it. My bond kept flaring up, unhappy, and I felt like wincing every time it did. Bannen, I knew, didn’t like it when I was in danger, but I liked him being hurt equally as well. Which was to say not at all.
Bannen grabbed me with his right hand, smile a little tight around the edges although I’m sure he meant for it to be reassuring. “Relax, Rena.”
&n
bsp; “I really don’t like it when you’re hurt,” I told him anxiously, peering at every move that Master Vonda made. Unlike him, I could see exactly the nature of the spells involved. Fortunately, her specialty was healing, and each spell she applied was flawless.
“Well,” he said casually, “I don’t like to be hurt either. But this isn’t the first time I broke a bone.”
“Really?” Actually I could believe that; Bannen was a bit of a dare-devil. I absently pulled his hair back off his shoulders so that Master Vonda had clearer access to his arm and shoulder. “How many bones have you broken?”
He let go of me, ticking them off on his left hand. I could see him casting his mind back, remembering, and then he stopped with an uncertain frown.
“Bannen.” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan as I knew what that look meant. “Did you just lose count?”
He gave me a particularly charming smile. “Can I list off the bones I haven’t broken? That’s easier.”
In other words, yes, he had. “Just how many bones have you not broken?” I demanded incredulously. “Did you spend your entire childhood in splints?”
“No, fortunately we had a pair of really good healers in my hometown. I was never laid up for more than a week at a time. And I haven’t broken my pelvic bones, my jaw, my back or my shoulders.”
Master Vonda and I exchanged a speaking look. Basically, he’d broken every major bone in his body at least once?
“Bannen,” Master Vonda said mildly, like a mother would to a rambunctious child, “I think we would prefer it if you didn’t break anything.”
“I don’t actively go looking for trouble, you know,” he defended himself.
Somehow I didn’t believe him. I don’t think Master Vonda did either.
“Well.” She put the sling back on, this time tied more securely to keep the arm better protected. I helped settle it under his hair, pulling it back and adjusting the sling so that it didn’t pinch his skin. “Don’t try to do anything with it for the next seven days. Fortunately, it wasn’t a true break, more like a fracture, so it shouldn’t take as long to heal. Unfortunately, your shoulder is still a little weak from the dislocation.”
“Of course it is,” Bannen sighed.
From somewhere behind me, Master called out, “We’re returning to the hotel!”
Already? Granted, we didn’t have anything left to do here now that the injured were tended to. Master had given a full report to Magus Holden, so technically, we were done. All that was left was to collect our reward from the Council Exchange once we returned to Corcoran. In a way, I was relieved, as I wanted nothing more than a hot bath, a good meal, and about twelve hours of sleep. Fighting that long, that intensely, was exhausting.
But in a way, I wished that the job wasn’t over. I had a bad feeling that when we returned to Corcoran, they would force Bannen to return home. Just the thought made me want to cry.
Perhaps Bannen sensed where my thoughts had gone. He patted me on the head. “Come on, smile. We won. Let’s enjoy that.”
I tried for a smile. It more or less failed. What good was the victory today if I didn’t win the overall war? Was there no way to fight this?
I followed everyone else to the wagon, standing behind Bannen, ready to support him from behind if he lost his balance climbing on. I kept a hand resting just below his shoulder blades, not because he looked unbalanced, but mostly to keep our bond from pitching a livid fit. Contact with him seemed the only way to keep from feeling like I would vibrate right out of my skin. His dominant arm was the one hurt, of course, I’d have to help him until it healed. He climbed up the left side.
Derek came up the right.
Because of my history with Derek, I became hyper paranoid whenever he was anywhere near me. This was no exception, as I didn’t trust him around Bannen either. I kept an eagle eye on him and because of that, I saw it when he deliberately stepped sideways, body checking into Bannen’s side.
My familiar stumbled, hitting his injured arm squarely into the wooden side of the wagon. He gasped in pain, barely catching himself with his good hand. I leapt up to his side, helping him sit. He had gone pale with agony, eyes unfocused, but even as he breathed heavily, he tried to assure me, “I’m good, give me a second.”
He wasn’t. He was already hurt, and that sad excuse of a human being had hurt him again on purpose. For the first time ever in my life, I saw red. With no regards to the consequences, I whirled, grabbed Derek by the shirt, and punched him dead in the face.
Derek’s head snapped back and he lost his balance, falling off the wagon entirely. He landed on his back, the air knocked out of him, gasping for breath around a bloody nose. My hand ached in response to that. Punching someone hurt more than I thought it would.
Everyone sat stunned silent except Shunith, who growled at Derek, planting herself in between the fallen apprentice and Bannen. I was still fuming, that punch not nearly enough to satisfy me. What I really wanted to do was get down there, kick him in the ribs a few times, and maybe break both arms. Derek stared up at me aghast, literally shocked that I had finally retaliated.
“You listen to me,” I snarled at him. “You touch Bannen again, I will remove every single bone in your body! You hear me? I can make you human jelly and I will if you cross us again.”
“You can’t—” Derek protested, wallowing up to his feet like a floundering sea otter, hand cupping is bleeding nose.
“Derek Lawson.” Master Whit grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him up. “I am not your master, but I speak for all of us when I say this: we are done with your bullying. I, for one, will put it to the Council that you should not be allowed to take the Tests.”
Master Bly came up spluttering. “Now wait just a minute. Derek is a gifted mage—”
“He’ll be a permanently gifted apprentice at the rate he’s going,” Master Vonda snapped, coming up to stand solidly at Master Whit’s side, showing where her opinion lay. “We are all sick of your little pet, Bly. You complain about Tarkington and Rena, but Rena does not actively go stirring up trouble. Derek has already been disciplined by the Council once, did that not open your eyes? And here he’s taking his frustrations out on Bannen, who went above and beyond the call of duty today. Bannen protected two people when he was only required to protect one! And his thanks for that is for your apprentice to deliberately reinjure him?”
Everyone nodded agreement. Master Bly saw it and for the first time he looked at Derek a little differently. I think he realized in that moment just how much damage Derek’s attitude had done.
Master faced Derek and Bly both, looking far more serious than I had ever seen him. “I demand recompense for Bannen’s sake. Derek will forfeit the money he earned today and will give it to Bannen instead.”
Derek squawked a protest but a cuff to the back of his head by his master swiftly shut him up. Master Bly whispered angrily to him, “It’s either that or you get reported to the Council for this. Shut up.”
Not at all happy, Derek clamped his mouth shut, a hand to his nose.
I still didn’t feel it enough, not for all that Derek had done, but I recognized it was the best that could be done without me becoming the bully. I glared, huffed, and turned to Bannen. Carefully, I examined his arm, but fortunately the healing spells that Master Vonda had put on it had kept it from being injured even further. Given another few minutes, it would be not alright, but healing as it should be. “Does it hurt?”
“Not a bit,” Bannen denied. A half-truth—no way it was painless. He grabbed me by the neck and hauled me closer to plant a firm kiss on my forehead.
I blinked, spluttered, and felt a blush rise in my cheeks. “What was that for?”
“Coming to my defense.” He winked at me. “That was a lovely right hook, Ren-ren.”
Ren-ren?! “Why thank you, Ban-ban.”
Bannen’s expression was comical. “Er…on second thought, I don’t think I’ll call you that.”
“I certainly wou
ldn’t,” Master laughed. “Bannen, how is the arm?”
“I’ll live, sir,” Bannen assured him.
Master Vonda climbed up to examine his arm anyway, putting on another healing spell for good measure, and this one did something about the pain as well. I could see it when it took effect, as a line of tension in Bannen’s shoulders eased. I sat on his good side, our thighs and shoulders pressed together, and vowed not to move an inch from him until we were far away from Derek. Then she picked up my hand and examined it before putting a healing spell on my knuckles.
I watched her do it and only then wondered, “How is it that you can fight people without injuring your hands?”
“I use bladed weapons for the most part,” Bannen reminded me. “And if I know I’m heading into a fistfight, I wrap my hands first. A fighter’s skin gets tougher, but it doesn’t make him immune to injury.”
Interesting. I supposed, since I didn’t really grow up with my brothers, that there was a lot about scuffling that I didn’t really know. “Thank you, Master Vonda.”
“Anytime, child.” Master Vonda leaned in a little and whispered to me, “Glad to see you finally fighting back.”
I blinked at her. Huh. This was the first time I’d done so. I hadn’t thought of myself as a ‘protector’ before, but something about this situation had hit right in the bond. Literally. Our bond had screamed at me so loudly I didn’t even remember the moment I moved. I got a whole new insight on how Bannen must feel when I enter danger. How did he even function and think when the bond demanded blood like this?
Derek was let back on the wagon, grudgingly, and no one offered to heal his nose. Steph and Emily sat on Bannen’s left side, acting as a physical shield between the two. I kept a weather eye on him as well. Our start back to the hotel was quiet, the air taut with tension. Perhaps because Master was afraid something might happen again, he sat next to me instead of joining Master Vonda in front.
“He’s jealous,” Master whispered to me.
It took a second for me to realize what he meant. “Derek?”
The Human Familiar (Familiar and the Mage Book 1) Page 19