Ferryl Shayde - Book 3 - A Very Different Game

by Vance Huxley

  Jenny grinned, turning back towards Pendragon. “I thought you could do with a hand.” She hurled a fire glyph at the sorcerer. “I didn’t think slippy-glyph would stop those.”

  “Good thinking Jenny. You help deflect attacks while we clobber him. I’ll cover you if he switches targets.” Abel knew Jenny didn’t have the same skill as the others, so hopefully that would work out better. Though despite them all hurling glyphs as hard and fast as possible, none of them had scored on Pendragon. Worse, Abel had already gone through a whole belt of magic and the sorcerer showed no sign of weakening.

  ∼∼

  As Ferryl offered to surrender, Zephyr crept down Abel’s leg under his jeans, a long thin tendril of self. She eased out of the back, where Pendragon wouldn’t see that Abel had pulled in his shield, and slithered out of the garden into the road. Behind her, glyphs began to fly, but Pendragon was concentrating on Ferryl. When the last of Zephyr drifted over the edge of the kerb to lie hidden from sight she would have heaved a sigh of relief, if she’d ever been able to sigh. The rest of her, already several metres along the gutter, had something more important to do. Zephyr didn’t like fighting without her tether, in case she lost who she was, but Abel trusted her.

  A wisp of almost-nothing drifted back across the path to a manhole cover, then bled through the crack around the lid. The rest of Zephyr followed, too slow but she couldn’t thicken up in case someone spotted her. The stink in the sewers made no difference to the wind spirit, a plus to not being able to sigh. Zephyr thickened once all of her arrived in the sewer pipes, flowing quickly along them and up to one of the bedroom en-suites. A cautious peek showed no sign of anyone lurking, so she poured out into the room.

  Zephyr flowed down the stairs, sticking to shadows, until she located the prisoners. Thin again now, her shimmer bled through the cracks around a light fitting and into the space between the ceiling and the upstairs floor. It didn’t take long to spread out across the right room until she could drift enough of her down around another light fitting to see her targets. Furniture had been scattered, pushed to the side so all the Taverners could be crowded together on the floor.

  Most of them sat on their hands, glaring at four apprentices with live glyphs swirling in their hands. A small group in the centre sat, listless, with their hands in their laps. Those had to be the ones on tethers, obeying the last instruction. She poised, but none were dying so she checked on ways to get to them. A wiring duct led down to the skirting, and from there Zephyr trickled between floorboards and across until she was beneath her target. She listened. The Taverners were quiet but the guards were talking about the sounds of fighting outside.

  “I’m worried.” A woman, the one Kelis defeated at Redwolf’s, paced back and forth. “You didn’t see those four. No finesse but they are strong and willing to go all the way. That sorceress is no pushover and she won’t let them surrender.”

  “Don’t lose your nerve, Ginny, just because you were captured once. You’ve got more magic this time, and we have Pendragon with us. If there’s a problem we’ve got another four apprentices inside the house, and the others outside ready to pitch in.” The man laughed and strode forward towards the seated Taverners. “The master checked and that sorceress ran a bluff, a good one, but it won’t work now. I’m going to look these over, because there are too many for our master to control. We’ll all get a few, on our own tethers, which will make us as powerful as some sorcerers.”

  “You might, but my master only hired me out. If there are any extra apprentices, he’ll get them.” This man seemed disgruntled and definitely uneasy. Gunfire thundered out the front, shouts and a cry of pain. A scream followed, quickly cut off. “One of us should check, to see what’s happening.”

  “No need, Pendragon is stronger than your master. He’ll deal with Ferryl Shayde and the bound shade, and four real apprentices will sort out those beginners if they won’t take a tether. There’s plenty of shooters as backup if necessary.” The four descended to bickering about whose master was strongest.

  ∼∼

  Zephyr could hear gunfire outside, she daren’t wait any longer. She sent a tendril up through the floorboards, tight against Eric’s back, and felt for the tether. It took her a little while because it wasn’t in use, but then she found the invisible glyph anchor on the top of his shoulder. A slightly thicker part of her coiled around it, very gently under his shirt, and inspected the flows. It looked right, close enough to what she’d worked out with Ferryl for her to unravel it. Portions of the mazzlement glyph would loosen it, letting her get into the flows. More tendrils drifted up behind other Taverners until one wrapped around the anchor for every tether.

  Zephyr paused. If she just broke them, the guards might notice. Many Taverners might die before they had time to fight back. Unfortunately, if she warned them, that might trigger the tether so Pendragon could hear. She inspected the anchor again, while also trying to follow what must be happening outside. A long scream towards the front of the house startled Zephyr, and Pendragon’s apprentices!

  Ginny, the woman apprentice, spoke first. “That was inside the house. Celeborn, go and see what’s happened.”

  “It could have been a glyph from outside and if not, Denny is waiting for anyone coming through the door. Pendragon told us to stay here and you know what he’ll do if we disobey.” A startled yell from the back garden stopped them arguing.

  “It’s going wrong. I knew it!” The woman shut up, then murmured, “I hope he didn’t hear that.”

  “I’ll go. Pendragon isn’t my master so I’m allowed to think for myself.” As the speaker opened the door, glass smashed somewhere and the smell of smoke wafted in. “Someone’s inside and fighting!” The apprentice set off at a run while the other three stared anxiously at the door as it closed behind him, so Zephyr took her chance.

  Just like talking to many at once, she thought. The same thing down each spooky-string. Each tendril twisted tighter and began to unravel the swirls and flows of magic, dismantling the glyph. An endless time passed as she worked, totally engrossed, until she felt a loosening. Zephyr paused on the ones that had started to break, waiting until the others gave way. Some tethers seemed to be stronger than others. If she’d had a mouth, Zephyr would have smiled because Una had definitely resisted hers, leaving it a little looser than others.

  More shouting, then screaming, then a crash in the corridor was all the distraction she needed. The tethers dissolved and Zephyr connected spooky-phone to each victim. “Don’t move! Stay very, very still and say nothing. I have broken the tethers, but the apprentices will hurt many Taverners if they realise.” Zephyr paused, but nobody did more than twitch slightly. She’d been thinking while waiting, and they had one chance. “I will tell everyone to hold hands when Una shouts, ‘Go.’ That way Shawn can put a shield around everyone, and give them chance to get set. I will try to provide a diversion. Back soon.”

  The door rattled for a moment but nobody came in. Instead, a voice in the back garden called out in obvious alarm and someone ran past the window. Ginny took a couple of steps that way, trying to see what had disturbed the apprentices outside. “We should run, get out of here. There’s too much noise for a public place, the church will notice. Then if Pendragon kills a priest we’ll all be dead or on church tethers!” Another window broke somewhere and the door rattled again as a dull thump echoed down the hallway outside.

  “You fool, he’ll kill us if we run. Unless he’s dead. Curses, I can smell smoke. For once I wish he’d contact us. Apprentices or not, they’re making him keep a full shield up and stopping the master from using the tethers. Maybe he does need help.” The man paced up and down then pointed at the seated Taverners. “You! Sit still.”

  Zephyr froze her spooky-phones, all connecting out of sight though a few little sections might be visible if the apprentice looked hard. She detected magic over to one side and sent a tendril to investigate, then wished she could smile or maybe snarl. Pendragon had made the Ta
verners throw their lead bars to the side of the room, but hadn’t drained the magic from them. “Everyone knows. I will distract the apprentices. Pick a time, Una.”

  “Go!” Una didn’t hesitate, she shouted straight away and caught hold of the two nearest hands. For a moment chaos reigned as Taverners pulled hands from under them and fumbled to get a grip. All three of Pendragon’s apprentices were frozen in shock for vital moments as the tethered victims burst into action, then they raised their hands. Before anyone could cast, the air in one corner of the room howled and began to boil, something growing up and out. Glyphs flew, one from each apprentice, but the cloud of vapour had a shield!

  “Kill the kids with tethers, the strong ones.” The oldest apprentice, Celeborn, realised the real danger. He was in a room with thirty magic users and had just lost control over them. Too late, the volley of glyphs crackled and died against Shawn’s shield, a shield that spread over everyone sat on the floor. Though casting such a big shield had weakened it, and the apprentice-strength glyphs caused showers of sparks and cracks spread in several places. “Deal with whatever is inside that seeming, Ginny, we’ll stop the kids.” More glyphs grew in the man’s hands.

  “Drop the shield. Everyone hit mouthy first!” Una had no intention of sitting under a shield while Zephyr fought her battles. “Kathy, lie flat!” The shield dropped and a storm of hastily formed glyphs shattered against the apprentice’s shield. It didn’t break but it sparked and glowed, a spider-web of cracks blotting out his view of his glyphs so he lost control. Eric cried out as half his hair burst into flame, a very near miss, while a Windhammer bowled several Taverners over. Another wind glyph knocked more of them down as the other man loosed his glyph. Petra and Rachel bounded forward, snatching up lead bars then crashing their shields into him, locking him in place.

  As his shield recovered and cleared, Celeborn saw all the hands raised towards him and frantically tried to finish his own glyphs. “Help me!” He was too late, because the Taverners had concentrated properly this time and over thirty glyphs were poised.

  The third apprentice, Ginny, daren’t take her attention off her own problem. She threw glyphs with both hands, but the vapour boiled higher and two burning green eyes appeared. As the form strengthened and became clearer, she lost concentration and her next glyphs barely sparked on the thing’s shield. “Someone’s brought a bound ogre and it’s shielded!” She took an involuntary step backwards, towards the door.

  Celeborn glanced over, hesitated over what he should use his glyphs on, and lost the chance. He might have survived if he’d concentrated on his shield, but maybe not because the Taverners threw everything they’d got without any real thought for the consequences. His shield blew out in a maelstrom of fire and ice, stoked by powerful Windhammers. The slower glyphs from the weaker casters were mainly wind, but there was nothing left to stop them. A brief storm picked him up and tossed Celeborn across the room into the wall. He didn’t get up. He’d barely hit the ground before three more Taverners were heading over to add their shields to Rachel’s and Petra’s.

  Meanwhile Ginny backed towards the door, concentrating on her shield in case those lunatics targeted her next. She threw occasional glyphs at the ogre as it lumbered across the room, scattering furniture, but it didn’t slow up. Zephyr had to concentrate hard, using up her precious magic to keep the shield solid. She could only maintain it in front of her while casting wind as if her paws were knocking things aside. Zephyr shaped wind to make a bellowing noise, then used the etching glyph to tear scratches in the floorboards under her claws while the woman’s eyes grew wider. The sprite hoped she only had to look solid for a little longer, and that the woman didn’t rally and throw stronger glyphs. Wind couldn’t carry much magic so Zephyr was relying on the small heap of lead bars she’d connected to, and they were running low. But she would keep going as long as possible because the Tavern needed her, as the fearsome Ffod, not a puff of wind. Abel told her not to die so if her shield fell she would run, but until then…

  “Use wind to knock that bitch away from the door, then we’ll pin her with shields and drain her. Get your lead bars back first.” Shawn ran to a corner of the room and picked up two lead bars. Other Taverners scattered towards the edges of the room, where they’d thrown their extra magic. “Come on everyone. Top up.” Once again Zephyr thought being able to sigh would have been handy, because to her great relief a series of Windhammers staggered the woman even through her shield and she stopped attacking. Zephyr sent out a tendril to a nearby lead bar and felt magic flood through her. Her ogre reared up, hunched over to avoid the ceiling, and lumbered forward.

  “Call it off! Call it off!” Behind Pendragon’s apprentice, the door flew open and two men with guns ran in. Seconds later they finished bouncing off furniture and walls, lying groaning while Taverners kicked the weapons away.

  “Drop your shield.” Rachel’s face, twisted with anger, should have been frightening enough without the glyphs in each hand. She pushed her shield harder again her victim, the last apprentice still fighting. A third and fourth shield joined hers and Petra’s, and a dozen glyphs smashed against the startled man’s protection. He flinched as a glowing sword hit his shield, the point punching through before it fell to the floor. “And pray your master doesn’t hurt my brother again.” She looked angry enough to throw the glyphs, but that would be foolish. As they hit the other shield, the backlash would be inside Rachel’s, the magical equivalent of shooting herself in the foot.

  “Pendragon can’t touch me, Rachel. Zephyr, bust the tether.” A pale-faced Justin kept clear of his sister, or of her glyphs and shield, but he had a couple of his own glyphs ready to help her. His announcement seemed to worry the trapped apprentice as much as the attacks.

  ∼∼

  The back garden of Frederick’s house wasn’t involved in any fighting, not yet. The apprentices Pendragon had left there as guards heard Ferryl assault Pendragon and the fight start, but had no idea what was actually happening. Zephyr had only just flowed under the floor beneath the captives when an apprentice standing near the orchard yelled in alarm, pointing at an area of dug-over ground. “I’m telling you again, I saw something. Something came over the wall and now it’s over there.”

  “No it didn’t, you saw a bird. You’ve been twitchy ever since the master told us who we’d be fighting.” His companion, an older woman, looked and sounded disgusted. “I blame Ginny. She’s been ranting on about the danger, trying to justify getting slapped down by schoolkids and a newbie sorceress.” The woman turned as feet pounded and another apprentice ran round the corner, a glyph already formed. “Not you as well? Relax, it’s just this fool shouting at shadows. We’ve got most of them nicely boxed up or tethered and the master will deal with the rest.”

  Gunfire rang out around the front of the house. “He’s taking his time, and that doesn’t sound like it’s easy.” The newcomer paused. “Forget I said that? Please?”

  “Don’t worry, we all speak out of turn when the tether is down.” The woman eyed up the orchard. “These trees are past their best, but there’s a lot of them once we throw the dryads out. Maybe we will be allowed a little more magic. Pendragon gave us these gold armbands for this job, but those kids carried lead bars all the time.”

  “My mistress wouldn’t allow that.” The original apprentice, the one worried about the patch of bare ground, inspected the old fruit trees. “Maybe I can get visiting rights to the orchard if my mistress and your master are splitting the proceeds.” Leaves fluttered and some branches creaked softly. “Once the dryads are gone.”

  “I hope your mistress got the shares signed off in blood. Pendragon will wriggle.” The woman nodded towards the house. “He wants to tether as many of them as possible to make a bid for the Council. I doubt he’ll let any strong ones go and he’ll split most of the weaker ones among us.”

  “What’s happening in the house? I thought they were all under control but a window blew out at the front.” The l
atest arrival glanced back towards the corner of the house as smoke drifted into sight. “I’m supposed to be round there.” He dithered, torn between obeying his last instructions and being isolated. Pendragon had assured them he’d soon deal with the sorceress and the other four, but the battle out front showed no sign of easing off. “To be honest I’d rather stay here. Safety in numbers and all that. We all thought Ginny was exaggerating, but we tethered eight who were advanced enough to shield. They all claimed the ones who hadn’t arrived were stronger, and Pendragon is being pushed hard enough to need a full shield.”

  “Yeah, he might have taken on more than he expected. Your master told my mistress Abel has a tethered spirit, but Effy swears it’s a bound sorceress, a strong one.” The original apprentice, the twitchy one, pointed at a window. “Now don’t say I’m imagining that. What is it? It’s huge. Has Pendragon bound anything that size?”

  “Not likely. If it takes a big hit, healing something that large will drain a serious amount of magic. I thought only the church bound things that size?” The woman beckoned and all three moved a little towards the window, then got a good look at the shape. “Someone definitely miscalculated if one of those kids managed to let loose a bound ogre. Maybe we’d better get in there to help.”

  “Forget it. I’m sure my mistress’s contract never mentioned fighting ogres!” Twitchy glanced at the other two. “I’ll watch your backs.” A deep bellow sounded from the house, and from deeper inside came the sound of screaming.

  “Not likely. If there’s an ogre loose in there, I’d better tell the master.” The third man glanced back at the corner, towards the sound of more breaking glass and another puff of smoke. “The tether being down gives me an excuse to be away from my post.” He headed for the gate in the garden wall, hurrying as a bright flash in the front garden lit up the side of the house. A loud crash followed and a huge ball of smoke billowed up into sight from behind the wall.