by CD Coffelt
The energies Justus pulled from around him were more than he had ever tried, and the earth trembled with the scream of magic. He was out of time. To protect Dayne meant he would lose Sable. And probably his own life. The two mages staggered from the heap of canvas and began to gather their elements. Justus prepared to hurl his elements.
He stiffened when another mage gathered the Air and Earth elements. Through the swirling gouts of Air and Flame, a figure rushed Dayne, slamming into him. Dayne staggered and fell with Macy on top of him. Dayne’s Fire element disappeared.
Another Fire element erupted, weaker than Dayne’s talent. The Earth element made the gravel in the midway tremble, and the surface of the street began to rise under his feet.
But these adepts were not Dayne. And Justus was out of patience.
The clouds over Justus’s head boiled, the sky opened up, and Heaven came down.
Water, a massive deluge, poured onto the fairway, smothering Fire, throwing Air into small puffs of wind, and drowning Earth. For a while, there was nothing to see but the gray curtains of his elements together with Water.
Justus heard one of the mages choking and coughing. He gathered the man into a solid coat of Air and held him. The other two sputtered to his left, and Justus wrapped them as he did the first one. He bound them all together and, with a flick of his hand, sent the watery twist of Air into the distance. Far away.
He saw a human with a cell phone, another with a camera. With a negligent motion of his hand, sparks erupted from the cell and then from all around the street. He could smell the scent of ozone and carbon as people dropped their fried cameras and equipment. Justus spared some regret for those who may have sustained injury, but he heard the sirens in the distance and he had other concerns for the moment. He forgot the humans when his eyes fell on the two mages left on the fairway, Macy hunched over Dayne, cradling his head in her lap.
She held the hunter, murmuring, “Don’t think. Stay calm. Think of smooth waters.”
She looked up at Justus and held one finger in front of her lips when he started to speak. She shook her head, and he drew back from the fierceness of her gaze.
He stopped when he heard a whimper behind him.
A man groveled in the dirty water of the drowned street, and Justus barely recognized Wesley. The self-confidence had oozed away like the mud from the asphalt, his wet hair clung to his skull, and a thin stream of blood trickled from a cut over his eye. Wesley hazarded a glance over his slimy shoulder, and his eyes widened at Justus’s flat stare. For a moment, Wesley held still, like prey under the hard glare of a predator, but then he broke and scrabbled in the mud to flee. He gibbered, stumbled, and slid around a building on the fairway.
Justus turned away.
Without hope, he threw his senses outward and was not surprised when he did not feel Sable. He clenched his teeth until he was sure the enamel would crack.
Her essence was gone; he could not sense her.
Macy held Dayne mostly upright, moving away slowly, her arm around his waist. She looked back and jerked her head at Justus to follow them. He kept a ten-foot distance between him and the couple and followed them through the wet street.
The street was nearly empty. The strange procession of mages dodged the remaining people and emergency personnel. An EMT strode to the limping pair, asked a question, and Dayne shook his head, but did not speak. The emergency worker frowned, but allowed them to continue walking from the fairgrounds. Justus saw Dayne point and murmur something to Macy. She nodded and they turned to the open ground away from the houses and parking lot. Soon, they were on the edge of a field of eight-foot high corn stalks.
Justus trailed behind them.
“I gotta rest for a while,” Dayne said. His words slurred into another moan, and he dropped unceremoniously under an umbrella of corn.
He felt Macy reach for her element, and Air flattened an area around them the size of a fifteen-foot radius.
Incredibly, she huffed a soft laugh and glanced at Justus. “Crop circle,” she said. “Aliens are always the answer to everything.”
She looked back at Dayne, and her face cleared of any laughter. She shook her head and her mouth trembled. “It’s like needles being jammed into your head, into your ears and eyes. Fighting the compulsion.”
Macy suddenly whipped around to face Justus. “You had better be worth this.” She gestured her hand in a vague semi-circle. “All of this.”
She knelt beside Dayne, putting her arms around his bent shoulders as another groan slipped from his set mouth.
Maybe, Justus thought, he could do something. After all, the ward stone had shielded Sable. Maybe it would shield the hunter also. At least he could try.
Macy looked up when Justus stepped closer, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her look turned to concern when he started to reach for Dayne’s shoulder. She shook her head and opened her mouth.
Justus had no patience remaining for her or Dayne and gestured roughly in a cut-off motion. He focused on his ward stone and thought of a shield. Similar to the one he used with Sable.
His outstretched hand touched Dayne’s shoulder.
Lightning broke into his skull, and for a moment, the pain cut him like the device Tiarra had set off to find the potential adepts. Very similar, but not quite the same.
This was worse.
Aware he was lying on the ground, Justus didn’t know how he had gotten there. He didn’t remember falling when the pain struck him. He opened his eyes to Dayne’s flat stare, and two things struck him: the absence of pain in the mage’s face, and Justus was at Dayne’s mercy.
Without breaking eye contact, Justus levered himself into a sitting position, and Dayne watched his progress without expression. He was aware of Macy hovering between them. And the shield of Air she had woven between him and Dayne.
To protect whom, he wondered.
“Hurts like a son of a bitch, don’t it?”
Dayne’s voice was rough with remembered agony. Justus didn’t dare move his head. The throbbing headache was starting to subside, and blinking his eyes was bad enough. Nodding his head was beyond his capabilities.
Dayne tipped his head to one side. “You got quite a skill there, hiding from all of us. I am guessing it has to do with being unbonded to Tiarra.”
“Yes,” Justus said slowly. “Part of it.”
He tested his mouth, using his tongue to see if any teeth were cracked. He tasted blood, but no broken teeth.
Dayne grunted and rolled to his feet. He stared down at him, and Justus felt his jaw tighten.
Dayne glanced at Macy. “You can release the shield. It’s okay.”
The other mage held out his hand to him. Justus hesitated briefly, and the man grinned suddenly. “No, I don’t feel any needles in my head right now. Don’t worry.”
Justus took his hand and allowed the hunter to pull him gingerly erect. He fisted his hands and held them at his side when Dayne looked at him curiously.
Macy stood by Dayne, laying one hand on his arm. “Did I hear Tiarra’s orders right? Before she…left with Sable?”
“She said she didn’t need him anymore.” Dayne gestured at Justus.
“She has Sable, and if she can turn her, fire up her emotions, she will have the assistant she needs,” Justus said.
“For what reason?”
“For power, I suppose,” Justus said.
Macy frowned. “She is crazy, you know.”
“No, she isn’t.” Dayne shook his head.
“Actually, yeah, she is,” Justus said.
Dayne and Macy turned to Justus, startled. He looked up at the evening sky and sighed. Where would Tiarra take her, and how long did he have? Somehow, he didn’t think Sable would give in very easily.
He brushed off his jeans and gestured to the night sky. “We’d better get back, round up our vehicles. What about your helpers?”
He started walking through the tall corn with the hunters following him.
; “What? Oh, those thugs? I don’t know. How did you leave ’em? I wasn’t exactly paying attention at the tail end of our party.”
Justus shrugged his way through the itchy corn. “They should be okay. I wasn’t looking to kill anyone.”
He heard Dayne guff a laugh, but after that, the hunter was silent until they reached the edge of the field.
“I rode with them, so I don’t have a car,” Dayne said.
Justus didn’t answer, but started to lead the way to the parking lot, then stopped. “Oh, crap,” he said. “Shit, I left my car in the way. I bet they towed it to hell and gone.”
Macy slipped around them. “I’ll check. You guys stay here. If I have to use magic, it won’t trace back to either of you,” she said. Macy walked away without waiting for an answer. Soon, they were alone in the brush.
Justus cleared his throat. “She’s quite a woman, your wife.”
“I don’t think I could live without her.”
“If it wasn’t for her…” Justus trailed off. He swallowed. “She is special.”
They were silent.
“Sorry, by the way,” Dayne said.
“You didn’t quite kill me. Either time.”
“It’s my job. What can I say,” Dayne said. He stirred.
“I can feel Macy’s signature,” Justus said. “She isn’t very far away.”
Dayne looked at him, his brow furrowed. “You feel adepts and can shield them. Like me and Sable?”
Justus nodded, and Dayne didn’t speak for a minute.
“Why do you say Tiarra is nuts?” Dayne asked quietly.
Justus looked at the distant horizon with unseeing eyes as he thought about his answer and the pain it always brought him. It was ancient history, or should be, but the memory always did this to him. Justus sucked in a breath and again felt for Macy. She was getting closer, probably in a vehicle, by the speed she was traveling.
Justus looked at Dayne’s concerned face and figured it was time to trust someone.
“She was forced into her magic. Raped.”
Whatever the Imperator expected, it wasn’t that. Maybe a guess or a theory. Maybe even an opinion, but not that truth. His eyes widened and mouth dropped open.
“How do you…how do you know?” said Dayne.
“I felt it. Not when it happened, but after. And she kinda told me.”
“Told you.” Now his face held shock. Dayne gaped. “If you were that close, you must have…”
He stopped.
“But you aren’t bonded,” Dayne said.
“No, she didn’t know what I was until afterward.” Justus laughed harshly. “I didn’t know what I was until afterward. I was seventeen, and it was my first time. And here was this gorgeous woman, who seemed willing. It was only after…” He didn’t finish.
“Wow,” Dayne said. “Hell of a thing. Bet you were surprised. Hell, I’ll bet she was surprised.”
“She tried to bond me then, but I was shielded and didn’t even know it. She reached out to me, and I instinctively used Air to push her aside and then literally flew out of there and left her screaming.”
The memory came back to him, the way his eyes stung as the sweat dripped into them. And her words that seemed to tear from her throat and into his brain.
“Don’t you know what you can do?”
Justus shied from the memory and concentrated on the approach of Macy as she drove up to them. Dayne wasn’t looking at his wife. His contemplative expression was on Justus.
“As a tener unus?” Dayne said.
Justus nodded. “Magic roars to life when a potential wizard is forced. It tears the mind to shreds as it manifests and leaves nothing of the person behind. Their morals, personality, values—all gone, devoured by the sentient magic.”
He ignored Dayne’s gasp and opened the car door when Macy stopped the car. He waved at her when she started to get out from behind the driver’s side. “Nah, go ahead and take me home, if you don’t mind.” He got into the back seat.
Dayne took the passenger side by Macy and turned to face Justus. “She was raped then.” His tone was flat. “Before she came into her magic.”
Macy jerked around to stare at her husband.
Justus didn’t answer for a while. He crossed his arms, putting his fisted hands on his sides. “You are right, Macy. She is insane, but she usually hides it well,” Justus said.
It was quiet in the car then, each concerned with their thoughts. Justus gripped his shirt in his fists.
“Let me off in front of the shop. I have another pickup if you want to take this back to wherever you are staying.”
Dayne cleared his throat. “Probably better find a different place now. At least until we can get a read on our position in this mess.”
“Maggie’s house. Go stay there. They won’t be back for a few weeks.”
Dayne looked at Macy, and she nodded. “Okay, that is where we will be.”
Justus stood on the curb in front of his shop and watched the car until it rounded the corner and was gone. Then he unlocked his front door, took two steps in, and closed it. That took every bit of strength he had left. As he leaned against the doorframe, his heart still pounded and the vestige of the terrible pain was in his head.
He lifted his fisted hands and mashed his mouth into a hard line at the sight of his still-trembling fingers. He fumbled for the ward stone around his neck, pulling the black chain out of his shirt.
The muddy-colored stone hadn’t changed in appearance, but the difference wasn’t the color or shape of the stone.
Like the scratches on his forearm from the Spirit element, the stone was ice cold.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Justus decided a bar was a hell of a place to plan strategy, especially with a teenager playing a video game on one of his units. Even the hunters were less than helpful.
His locating magic had failed him. It had not found Sable, and his frustration mounted with his gnawing fear.
Always before, his magic had complied with his wishes, and sometimes uniquely so. The soap-bubble magic was the result of a wish. It had surprised him when it formed the first time, a guardian made of Air and Water. After it shivered to life, it had appeared to his eyes as fragile as a bubble. But another mage moved through the invisible surface, and it burst without leaving a trace of magic.
Now the magic refused to follow his will, no matter how strong his desire to find Sable. He formed the need, sent a tendril of Air to search for her signature, and as always since the day Justus had lost Sable to Tiarra, the magic curled in confused spirals, then dispersed without seeking the one he wanted.
With the last snarky laugh of an electronic villain, Bert grumbled and turned from the game console. “So Wesley took Sable. Amazing, since he’s kind of a social fruitfly. He barely has enough skills to get by in the human world.”
Dayne threw a sour look at Justus. “This isn’t right, talking to this kid. He’s already too far into our business.”
“Too bad, so sad. You need to get over it.” Bert began spinning the barstool. “So, she’s got her. What’s the worst she can do? She won’t, like…hurt her, will she?”
Justus shifted his weight away from the bar and reached for a white towel to polish the bar. “No, I don’t think that’s her plan.” He nodded at Dayne and Macy. “They would know more.”
Dayne clenched his teeth, obviously refusing to answer the teen. Justus curled his mouth into a silent snarl as he noted the hunter’s stubbornness. He flipped a finger out and arrowed the water from a glass sitting on the bar toward Dayne. It splashed against the hunter’s face with a thunk.
Oh, right…ice cubes, oops.
Dayne gasped and jumped up, shouting. The hunter’s eyes narrowed, his mouth set in an angry line. For a brief moment, Justus remained impassive, returning Dayne’s hard look. But a sudden flight of energy left a glittering trail between them, like a flock of hummingbirds.
Justus stood slowly.
“You need to ma
n up, hunter.” Justus’s voice was low. “You need to drop the attitude and learn to control your emotions.”
Dayne took a step toward him, his face florid, Fire in his hand. Justus heard someone’s sharp gasp, but he couldn’t afford to look at Macy or Bert to see which one it was.
“Do you really believe you can take me, Hunter?” Justus asked, his voice still soft. “Are you stronger? Faster? Have all five elements that you can use?”
Dayne paused and his mouth tightened.
“Let me ask you something. What are you feeling right now? Is it frustration? Anger? What is it?”
The hunter licked his lips and then turned to his wife. Macy’s pale face contrasted oddly with her burgundy nail polish.
“Your emotions... You have heightened awareness of your emotions, right? They are stronger, more intense. Sharper. And difficult to control,” Justus said.
“This is what you feel? All the time?” Dayne’s voice was harsh. He kept his gaze on Macy.
She stood and held out her hand. The hunter slid his hand into hers and looked down at the twined fingers, keeping his attention on their hands instead of Justus.
“You learn to fight it, control it,” Justus said. “Bury the worst and use it. Magic is a part of it, maybe even the source of it, I don’t know.”
“Bonding with Tiarra has something to do with filtering the effect,” Macy said quietly. “Her influence shields us.”
“Or holds you back.”
The quiet voice from the area of the bar made him swivel to stare at the teen. Bert’s face was unusually somber. “Everything has to learn control, whether it’s a human, a wizard, or the animals. Humans and wizards because otherwise, it’d be wall-to-wall crazies on the streets. And animals because they gotta eat,” Bert said. He shrugged. “Ultimately, it grows character. Or so they say.” The teen’s snarky face returned. “At least, that’s what my mom tells me all the time.”