by James Wisher
Chapter 32
The cry of gulls mingled with the salty scent of the ocean. Bright sun shone down on Lon as he sat in the outdoor cafe which was to serve as the third potential ambush location. He loved it down by the ocean. The water kept the temperature more comfortable. He’d found a good spot. From his corner table Lon could keep watch for long distances in both directions. Right now all he saw were shoppers hauling baskets of fish or vegetables or whatever they’d bought that morning. None of them looked remotely threatening. He hadn’t seen a warlord or sorcerer that didn’t work for him at any of the ambush points.
He smiled. The Crimson Legionnaires probably wouldn’t appreciate the implication that they were working for him. Speaking of which, here came one of them now. A stunning blond strode toward him, wearing a blue sundress that flapped in the breeze. She was assigned to play the part of his contact on the assumption that whoever was targeting them would be less intimidated by a woman than a man.
Anyone stupid enough to think that deserved to die. She might have been smiling and waving at him like an old friend, but up close her blue eyes were as cold and emotionless as any killer Lon had ever met. When Alden, the lead sorcerer, had introduced him to Imogen Newall, one look at her hard features and flat eyes had made Lon very happy to have her on his side in the coming battle.
They embraced like old friends and she sat across from him. A serving girl took their order and left them alone.
“Anything?” Lon asked.
Imogen shook her head. “Do you think this one will be a bust as well?”
Lon shrugged. There was no way to tell what might happen. Alden and Chun had hidden themselves on opposite sides of the street and a squad of guardsmen were waiting a block over in case any soul force eaters showed up. If anything happened they were as ready as they could be.
Lon and Imogen chatted about nothing in particular and sipped tea for an hour. They watched the pedestrians, the other guests, even the sky drew an occasional glance. There was simply nothing around.
“I think we can call this a bust,” Lon said.
“Agreed.” Imogen stood up and Lon joined her.
He kissed her cheek and tossed a silver coin on the table to cover their drinks. They parted ways, Imogen heading toward the docks and Lon deeper into the city. He’d go to the next site and a little later she’d show up and do her performance again in a different dress with a different hairstyle. Lon was torn as he walked down the street toward a park a quarter mile away.
Part of him was glad the first three sorcerers were honest, but another part wished the attack would just happen. He was getting worn down by the tension. This was why he’d never wanted to join the inquisitors. The constant stress was too much for him.
He hadn’t gone more than a hundred yards down the street when he sensed power gathering ahead of him. He raised a shield an instant before a ball of soul force detonated five feet from him.
Lon went flying to his left. Pieces of shoppers went every which way. He skidded to a stop against the wall of a dry goods store. Some poor woman’s torso landed beside him.
Standing on a rooftop across the street was a burly man. Black veins crisscrossed his arms and power crackled around his fingers. His core was nothing extraordinary, but rings on both middle fingers seethed with demonic energy.
He raised his hands and Lon sprang into the air ahead of another blast that sent cobblestones flying toward the fleeing shoppers. When Thomas had come up with this plan, Lon doubted this was how he pictured it going.
A golden blast struck the stranger in the back, staggering him half a step closer to the edge of the roof. Alden shimmered into view. More power gathered in the air around him.
Before he could renew his offensive, black flames roared down at him. Alden dodged with a hair’s breadth to spare, his attack ruined. A second enemy appeared in the sky above, a pale, dark-haired woman with black pits for eyes. She carried a scythe wreathed in black flames and sat on a pale horse with flames dancing around its hooves.
The sorcerers circled the corrupted humans. Both sides knew whoever attacked first would leave themselves open to a counterattack. It was a standoff which worked to Lon and Alden’s advantage since they had reinforcements coming. Hopefully the strangers didn’t.
More sorcerers approached from the east and south. He sensed no corruption so it had to be Chun and Imogen. Below him the people had fled the immediate area, thank heaven. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about any more noncombatants getting hurt.
Imogen drifted to a stop beside him. She hadn’t had time to change out of her blue dress. “I thought we were expecting monsters of some sort.”
“You don’t feel those two qualify?”
“Good point.”
The other power source was close. Lon scanned the sky. His breath caught.
She had curly copper hair and went barefoot, just like he remembered. After their first encounter Lon had done his best to find a mention of a sorcerer fitting her description in The Tower archives, but he’d come up blank. Either she’d changed her appearance or she’d come from beyond the kingdom. In her right fist she clutched Chun’s long black hair. His severed head dripped blood on the stones below.
The female sorcerer looked at Lon and grinned. “We meet again.”
“You won’t escape this time, witch.”
She shook her head. “That’s not how I remember it happening before. And this time I brought two friends along to play.”
“As did I. Let’s see how you do in a fair fight.
The redhead tossed Chun’s head to the street where it splattered like a melon. “Let’s hope they’re stronger than this one.”
She sent a blast of lightning at Lon. He spun out of the way and the battle was on. Lon chased his opponent through the sky, dodging blasts and sending an occasional counter her way. She was as fast and strong as he remembered. Despite his boasting, Lon wasn’t certain he could beat her.
Explosions rattled the buildings as his companions fought their own battles. The Crimson Legion was known to be a close-knit group. Seeing their comrade killed had probably put the others in the mood for a fight. They were lucky in one regard: the two corrupted humans together weren’t as powerful as the black knight that had faced Lon on his previous visit.
A blast broke on his shield, forcing Lon’s full attention back to the redhead. He conjured a pair of griffins and sent them in to engage her. His opponent raised a shield in time to stop their initial rush. The constructs scraped their claws and beaks against the golden bubble to no effect.
She poured a ton of energy into her barrier, more than she needed to stop his constructs. He discovered why when a pair of giant arms shot out of her shield and grabbed his griffins by their necks. Lances of power shot out from the shield, piercing his griffins and tearing them apart.
As he watched, her shield shifted from a sphere to a ten-foot-tall humanoid figure that wrapped around her. He could just make out the woman at the center of the construct, tendrils of energy connecting her to it. It contained a lot of soul force and he doubted she had enough power to maintain it for very long.
If he kept out of her reach and wore her down Lon might have a chance. He circled the construct, trying to read its structure. The woman had skill. He found no weak spots.
With no better options Lon conjured a spear and hurled it at the construct’s left knee. It struck and shattered into splinters, doing almost no damage.
She pointed the construct’s hand at him and golden arrows streaked toward him. He dodged, flying in a circle around her. His opponent spun with him, just a fraction too slow to catch him in the barrage.
Lon almost flew into a second hail of arrows when she pointed the left arm in his direction. He dove at the last second. Two arrows clattered off his personal shield and then he was past.
He hardly had time to take a breath before she shifted her aim again. Arrows smashed the buildings under him to rubble as he flew on. He needed to end
this fast before they leveled the neighborhood.
He conjured another pair of griffins, one on either side of her. They bit her construct’s arms and yanked them to the side. Lon raced into the gap, conjuring a sword with most of his remaining power.
The blade struck her construct’s chest and pierced through. She fled out the back an instant before his sword would have pierced her chest. The golden giant vanished.
The redhead hung in the air, gasping for breath.
Lon leveled his sword at her. “Surrender, tell us everything you know about Connor Blackman’s plans, and you’ll be spared.”
“As if I value my life more than my loyalty to Connor.”
She pointed at a damaged building and a ball of energy streaked toward it.
Lon hurled his sword, changing its shape as it flew. His power wrapped around hers. When it detonated his shield blew apart, but the building survived.
He spun back, but the redhead was gone.
Chapter 33
Imogen watched as Chun’s head fell to the ground and splattered. The cold fury that constantly burned inside her flared into a full-fledged inferno. Chun had been a good man, loyal comrade, and adequate sorcerer. That last was probably what got him killed. She’d often wondered, when they first met, why the archmage chose him for her Crimson Legion.
He hadn’t been especially skilled or powerful. As they worked and spent time together Imogen had come to understand. He was loyal and dedicated. Give him any task, vital or minor, and he’d do it and do it well. The more people she met, the more Imogen realized that was a rare talent.
And now he was dead. Murdered by one of Connor Blackman’s agents. Before Imogen could lash out at the traitorous sorcerer Lon flew after her. The two of them raced through the sky exchanging blasts. Imogen frowned. She wanted to kill the woman herself. Well, she had other options.
Alden was locked in a sorcerers’ duel with the man on the roof leaving the girl on the demon horse for her. The pale, she hesitated to say woman as Imogen wasn’t certain her opponent still qualified, stared at her, head cocked at a forty-five degree angle, an insane smile stretching her face to its limit. The girl had no power of her own, but her scythe fairly crackled with corrupt energy. Had the weapon driven her insane? It could happen if an ordinary person laid their hands on a demonic weapon.
The scythe slashed through the air, sending a ten-foot-wide blade of hellfire racing toward Imogen. The Crimson Legionnaire conjured a golden ax to hack a chunk out of it. Hellfire blazed past her on either side. Its inherent wrongness twisted her insides.
Yes, handling such power could definitely drive a person insane. She had to put the woman down before she hurt anyone else.
Imogen conjured golden armor and strengthened her ax. She raced to close the distance between her and her opponent. She was barely able to dodge out of the way when the girl countercharged, her flaming scythe sweeping toward Imogen’s neck.
Imogen spun, her ax hacking at the girl’s back. The demon horse brought its rider around far faster than a normal horse could manage on the ground. Ax met scythe, the two grinding against each other, black and gold sparks flying.
The demonic weapon immediately began to degrade Imogen’s ax, forcing her to spend more power to maintain it. The girl cackled and hellfire flared, disintegrating the ax and almost taking Imogen’s hand with it. The horse spat a stream of flame that drove her back. The golden armor held, but Imogen had to spend even more power to renew it.
At this rate Imogen was going to use up all her soul force just staying alive. Perhaps she’d underestimated the scythe’s strength. She didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with demonic weapons. Her specialty was in questioning and extracting information, the same as Alden. They’d been assigned this mission assuming they’d have someone to interrogate. She doubted the grinning lunatic facing her knew anything useful or that Imogen would be able to extract it if she did.
Imogen glanced toward Alden and found him backpedaling from a furious series of blasts from his opponent. The man’s back was to Imogen and she got an idea. It wasn’t exactly a fair way to fight, but it might work.
Chapter 34
Alden barely managed to raise a shield before streams of hellfire slammed into it. Alden’s adversary stared up at him. The man’s face twisted into a grimace of pain and rage as he channeled his rings’ power. Alden’s golden counterattack was slapped away with contemptuous ease.
He grimaced and dodged another stream of hellfire. The rings were killing the man a little with each attack. Unfortunately, he wasn’t dying fast enough to help Alden.
Six golden blades spun out, streaking toward the dying man from multiple angles.
His opponent roared and a pulse of hellfire burned them all to nothing. Alden blasted him again, finally getting through his defenses. Skin bubbled and sloughed off the man’s chest.
The ring wielder roared at the sky. He seemed incapable of rational speech. A black skull formed between his hands before streaking toward Alden. He threw desperate power into his shield an instant before the skull hit and exploded. Alden’s skin blistered and burned. His stomach churned, but his shield held. When the flames faded Alden saw he had been blown back ten feet.
His snarling opponent drew more power for another attack. Before he could release it Imogen flew up from behind him and buried her ax in his skull. On the roof the dead man looked at peace, his pain-twisted features now smooth and calm. Alden sighed his relief.
Imogen flew past him. “Switch!”
Switch?
Imogen’s opponent galloped through the sky towards Alden.
His relief gone, Alden conjured blades and sent them flying at the girl and her horse. She bashed half of them out of the sky, but the rest struck the horse in the belly and legs. The girl screamed like he’d hit her.
They must be linked somehow. What affected one affected the other. That was good to know.
She swiped her scythe through the air and a wave of hellfire shot toward Alden. It seemed weaker than her earlier attacks. He flew under the flames and sent more blades spinning toward her. They struck a dark fire shield and shattered.
That explained it. The girl had reserved some of her power for defense. Alden wasn’t certain whether he should be grateful or not. At least he didn’t have to face her full strength with each blast.
A golden lance of power struck the shield from above. Lon came flying down out of the sun. A second and third blast got deflected. Alden sent more blades. The first four splintered, but the last pierced the girl’s chest with enough force that the tip emerged from her back.
She didn’t make a sound or appear bothered by a three-inch-wide wound in her chest. The scythe went up and a ring of hellfire blasted out in every direction. Alden and Lon went flying out of control.
Imogen braced Alden a second later, stopping his tumble before he flew too far.
“She’s already dead,” Imogen said. “The scythe is just using the body like a puppet.”
“We need to cut her strings.”
Imogen nodded. “You read my mind. You want to do the sword or the shield?”
“I’ll do the shield. You were always better at cutting than me.”
The black flames burned out. Lon had been blown fifty feet away, but he looked unharmed. A few wisps of smoke rose from Lon’s clothes and hair. Mostly unharmed, anyway.
“Ready?” Imogen had conjured a golden ax that fairly thrummed with soul force.
Alden nodded and said a silent prayer that he had enough soul force left to sever the connection between the scythe and its bearer.
Imogen dove like a falcon, her body a blur as she powered down at the girl. The scythe went up. A second too late.
The golden ax crashed through the girl’s hellfire barrier and sliced her hand off at the wrist. The weapon clattered to the roof below.
The girl raised such a howl that Alden almost forgot to shield the scythe. He conjured a golden hemisphere around the weapon.
Alden clenched his teeth and sent more energy into the shield. It wasn’t going to be enough. In a second or two the shield would collapse and the fight resume. He simply didn’t have enough strength to hold it.
Chapter 35
When Lon finally regained his senses from the hellfire blast he found Alden struggling to maintain a shield around the scythe. Imogen clutched her abdomen and limped through the sky like a deflating hot air balloon. He hesitated a moment then reinforced Alden’s shield. He could help Imogen afterwards. If the shield broke none of them were in any shape to keep fighting.
The girl’s howling was enough to drive a man mad and with her mount’s thrashing it was a wonder she stayed on its back. Gradually the horse slowed. Its chest sunk in, exposing ribs. As a disgusted Lon watched, both horse and rider rotted away, ending as nothing more than a puddle of liquefied meat and hair.
When the ooze stopped bubbling Lon let his shield fade. Alden did the same, settling on the roof and bending over, gasping for air or gagging Lon couldn’t tell. He flew over to Imogen and helped her down to the roof.
“Let me see.”
She grimaced and moved her arm aside. “I wasn’t quite fast enough.”
Her dress was slashed open and the flesh underneath gashed wide enough to expose her insides. Lon winced. Messy, but he could heal her, at least enough to make it safe to transport her to Sasha over at the navy fort. He wasn’t going to lose her like he did that poor devil back at the village.
Lon had just finished sealing all the rents in her intestines when Alden managed to hobble over. “How is she?”
“She’ll live.” Lon kept his focus on healing. “An inch deeper and we might be having a different conversation. How are you?”