by Tom Larcombe
The man spotted the Water Wizard trapped by the steel loop Charles had wrapped around her and his face settled into a single emotion: hatred.
“You crazy bitch!” the man screamed. “How do you like it for a change, being trapped with no way out. You were happy enough to taunt me about it and even to help him subdue my mind, but no more. Now it's my turn.”
The Fire Wizard's hands glowed an orange-yellow color as he raised them. Flames started licking along the sides of his fingers. Then he clasped his hands together and pointed his joined hands at the trapped woman. Charles started to manipulate the concrete to protect her, but a shove on his legs collapsed him to the floor. When he looked up he saw that the Air Wizard that he'd thought was dead, wasn't. The hole in his chest was no longer there, although the wound in his arm was, and the wizard took a deep breath then created a gust of wind that blew the fire extending towards the Water Wizard well off to one side.
An illusion? He caught me out with an illusion? Who are these guys? Charles thought.
The flames were bending towards Amber, and as the wind bent the flames, it fed them, extending them outwards. She looked shocked as the flames reached for her, but then the gout of flame began to roil, forming a fire devil that spun the flames away from Amber. The fire devil grew as the winds in the room increased and Amber staggered back several steps.
Charles spun on the floor, his legs sweeping the legs of the Air Wizard out from under him. As the man fell, his concentration broke and the gust of wind pushing the fire away from the Water Wizard stopped. A loud scream of pain filled the room, but Charles was unwilling to look at its origin. It was coming from near the pillar and he was pretty sure that the Fire Wizard had finally landed his flames on target.
The man he was fighting with tried to stand again, but Charles kept his own legs in motion, keeping his opponent from getting to his feet.
“You! On the floor. Move!” an unfamiliar voice screamed.
Charles glanced over and saw that the Fire Wizard held a ball of flame twice the size of his head. It was bluish-white in the center, fading to yellows and oranges on the outside edge. He was staring at Charles as though willing him out of the way.
The ball of fire was held in an arm that was cocked back as though ready to throw and Charles could see the man's difficulty in restraining himself from throwing it right now.
Well, his target already tried to kill me, so...
Charles rolled over repeatedly, putting some distance between his body and the Air Wizard who was now managing to get back on his feet. An unearthly roar struck his ears, and a burst of heat hot enough that he feared his clothes might catch on fire surrounded his body.
Must keep rolling, he thought. At least I'll save time by not having to stop and drop first.
He almost chuckled as the errant thought passed through his mind, but when he hit the burn from the lightning bolt any humor in the situation flew straight out of his mind. He rolled several more times before coming to his feet, then looked over at the Air Wizard.
The man was standing, surrounded by a nimbus of fire. Somehow, he was keeping it away from him. There was a good six inches of air between the fire and his skin. He was sweating though, so either his efforts to keep the fire away were straining him or his shield wasn't up to the task of protecting him entirely.
The Air Wizard was staring at the Water Wizard, or what remained of her anyhow. The fire that had struck her was hot enough to melt the steel and now ashes and a puddle of slowly cooling steel lay on the floor next to the pillar. He turned towards the Fire Wizard and extended his arms. Arcs of blue-white light began to play along them. He roared, his anger and frustration obvious from the sound of it.
A single shot rang out in the room and the man's head snapped to one side moments before the fire closed in and set him aflame for a few brief moments. Ashes drifted to the ground where he'd been standing, but nothing else did. The flames had been hot enough to consume even his bones. The Earth Wizard that had been lying alongside him was gone as well, another pile of ashes on the floor where his body had been lying.
Charles looked over at Greg, who was standing near the Fire Wizard. Greg was staring at the man, shaking his head. The Fire Wizard was still standing, but sagging from exhaustion. As Charles watched, Greg stepped up to him and offered his support. The man dropped an arm over Greg's shoulder and they started moving towards the stairs.
Charles turned back to Amber and saw a grim, but determined, look on her face. She was scanning the room, still holding the revolver ready. He went over to her.
“It's clear now, you can put the gun away,” he said.
“But what about him?” she asked, gesturing towards the Fire Wizard with her chin.
“Greg's helping him. If Greg trusts him that much then so do I,” Charles said. “We'll find out the story behind all of this later on, after we get out of here.”
She reached out and scooped up a crystal.
“You said these would hold about as much as yours do, right? Can I take a few of them?”
“I don't see why not,” Greg replied.
“Wait,” an exhausted voice spoke up. “Don't, they're rigged.”
“What” Amber asked.
Charles looked over and, as he'd thought, it was the Fire Wizard who'd spoken.
“Don't take that,” the wizard said. “They had us putting a hook on when we put the conservation spell on those.”
“A hook?” Amber asked.
“An attachment to another spell,” Greg said. “What kind of hook though?”
“He can get to you through this hook,” the Fire Wizard said. “Can drain your power, or control you, whatever he wants. The hook lets him use all his spells through the crystal.”
“We've got to get out of here,” Greg said. “As quickly as we can.”
“Yeah, I don't know if the spell they've got on this place would've let anyone call the cops, but if they did, we want to be gone,” Charles said.
“Not that,” Greg said, pointing to the unknown Fire Wizard, “he said he was forced to contact his master when we arrived, before he managed to break out from under the influence on his mind.”
“Let's go then,” Charles said. “At least we've got an idea of what they're doing here. And if your friend there comes along with us, we might be able to figure out even more.”
The Fire Wizard nodded his head tiredly.
“I'll go with you. Nowhere else to go, not after being trapped here for almost a decade.”
Charles saw Amber's eyes widen at that statement, he was pretty sure his own had widened as well.
This has been going on in my town for a decade? he thought. That's just one more reason to take care of this problem. My god, a decade? And I missed it all that time?
He felt guilty, wondering if the other wizards that had been killed had been trapped here for that long also. Then wondering if he could've done something about it a decade ago if he'd realized what was happening.
He shook his head ruefully.
Maybe I'll be able to find out, but I think this one is going to have to be reported to the Council. I hate it when I have to bring them in on things. It's so much nicer to just not ever draw their attention.
“You okay Amber?” Charles asked, remembering the grim expression on her face a short time earlier.
“I'm fine, I think,” she said. “I was about to feel bad about shooting that guy, but I just can't. He tried to kill you and if he was fighting this guy, then he was probably involved in keeping him trapped here for ten years. Plus he was about to throw some of those lightning bolts at me before I shot him the first time. I feel bad about it, but just not as much as I thought I would, or thought I should.”
“That's my girl,” Charles said, patting her on the shoulder. “It might come back to haunt you though, so be aware.”
Amber looked like she was in deep thought for a moment, then she shook her head.
“No, I don't think it will. Killing Eric does
and I wasn't even directly responsible for it, but this guy? No, I don't think so. It was self-defense, right?” her voice rose uncertainly at the end.
Uh-oh, Charles thought, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'll have to keep a closer eye on her. With the potential for power that she's got, it could be a problem if she doesn't have a conscience. But it sounds more like she's trying to convince herself than anything else, so I don't think it's going to be a problem.
“But what about you? Are you okay?” she asked, pointing to the hole in his shirt and the burn mark from the lightning bolt beneath it.
“I'll be fine,” he said, “it hurts like the dickens, but I can function with it. I've had worse before.”
Greg and the Fire Wizard were talking as they moved down the stairs. Charles overheard a little bit of it. The wizard's name was Theodore and he'd been kept a prisoner here for almost a decade like he'd said. The other three were prisoners as well, but they'd given up and become puppets for the man who was holding them prisoner.
“If you really want to put a wrench into his plans,” Theodore said, “then clear out all the documents he keeps in the offices downstairs. That'll mess up his distribution system as well as the sources for his power. He's got all the records on that stuff down there in filing cabinets.”
“Wait a second,” Charles said, “he's got all his records in this building?”
Theodore turned to look at him.
“As far as I know. He might have a copy of them in his other manufactory as well. That one's different though, as far as I know the only thing it produces is power. That's where he finishes charging the crystals after we set the conservation and hook spells on them.”
“What is a conservation spell?” Amber asked as they made their way out of the building.
“Remember I told you there's a spell on my crystals to keep the magic from draining back out?” Charles said.
She nodded.
“That's a conservation spell. It conserves the energy in the crystal. And, on that note, here's the offices. Let's see which one has filing cabinets. Amber, keep an ear out, okay? If you hear anything moving around, let us know quickly.”
She nodded and stayed in the hallway, back against the wall.
Charles, Greg, and Theodore entered the office. There were three filing cabinets against one wall and they made a beeline for those.
“Wait a moment,” Charles said. “I know he magically locked one of the other doors, but those are used regularly so there wasn't anything else. Let me check this out first.”
Theodore nodded.
“I know he rode me to place firetraps in some areas in here. This is as likely as any other place for one of those.”
“Rode you?” Greg asked.
“Took control of my body and magic. He only has Spirit Magic, but he can control other people's magics through their bodies when he has control of them.”
Greg whistled faintly, his face taking on a disgusted look.
“Yup, there's some sort of fire trap on this,” Charles said. “I don't suppose you can remove it since it's your power?”
Theodore cocked his head to one side.
“Yes, actually I can. I hadn't thought of that myself and wasn't sure until just now. I just called the power back to myself. If that was the only thing on there we can open it.”
“Would you get the others? Assuming they have the same traps?” Charles asked.
Theodore nodded and moved to the next filing cabinet. Charles opened this one and started stuffing the folders from inside of it into a bag. Greg turned to the desk in the room and started rifling through it.
“What are you doing?” Charles asked. “Come give me hand.”
“I had a thought,” Greg said, pulling out a handful of paper. He started crumpling it into balls and when the filing cabinet was empty Greg stuffed the crumpled sheets into it.
“Right before we leave, I'll set those to burn slow and not so hot so they leave a bunch of ash. Maybe he'll think we didn't get this stuff and it got burned up instead. What do you think?”
“I think you should find some more paper so there's more ash,” Charles said. “Give me your bag.”
Greg moved to another office in his search for paper while Charles finished emptying the filing cabinets. When they were ready to leave Greg started the paper smoldering.
“Alright, we need to get out of here now,” Charles said. “We've been here far too long already.”
“Invisibly? In case there's someone watching?” Amber asked, holding the two cloaking shield crystals from her belt.
“Great idea, let's go,” Charles said.
He gestured to Greg and Amber handed him the other crystal. Then Charles took her hand and she invoked the spell from the crystal. Greg took Theodore's hand and did likewise. Cloaked from sight they walked out of the building.
* * *
Outside was a madhouse. There were several police cars parked at various intersections close to the factory and police officers scattered around the area, asking questions of anyone they saw on the streets.
I'm glad she suggested that, Charles thought. It could have been a bit of a sticky situation if we'd just bolted out here. Now to get past them and drop the shields. Although from the way I remember we looked before, maybe we should keep the shields up all the way home.
They did keep the shields up all the way home at his whispered urging. Once they were inside they dropped the shields and he looked around at the disheveled group.
Yeah, it looks like we've been doing something most people wouldn't so that was a good plan.
“Okay, Theodore, let's sit down and talk. I want to get the whole story out of you,” he said.
“Charles,” Amber said.
“What?”
“Look at him. How about we give him something to eat, about three days worth of sleep, and then you talk to him. He's exhausted and he looks like someone from a concentration camp, or like I envision one of those people the Inquisition you made me read about looked right before they executed them.”
Charles took a closer look at Theodore and once more his conscience kicked him.
How could I not have seen how exhausted he is? She's right, he needs rest and food before anything else.
“Greg?” Charles asked.
“Yeah?”
“Do you have any sort of shield that will hide him if someone's trying to use magic to find him?”
“Sure, I can make him seem like someone else to magic, at least if they aren't too close while checking.”
“Too close?”
“About twenty-five or thirty feet. So they'd have to be in the building to find him.”
“Do it please?”
“Theodore?” Greg said.
“Ted, please,” Theodore replied.
“Ted then, can I place a spell on you to make you appear to be someone else to anyone searching for you with magic?”
Ted nodded.
“Yeah, do it. I don't even want to think about what he'd do if he caught me again.”
Charles went to the kitchen and started preparing something for Ted to eat.
He looks like he hasn't been eating well, so maybe start with some broth that has a little bit of finely minced meat in it.
He had it ready in under ten minutes and Ted was almost asleep by the time Charles came out with the broth. He sipped it down quickly while Greg folded out the couch into a bed for Ted to sleep on.
“Sorry that you'll have a boarder for a few days,” Greg said. “But she was right, he needs food and rest badly.”
“I realized that as soon as I really looked at him. I just hadn't done that yet, I was eager to make up for my own mistakes and wanted to try to put things right as soon as I could. So I needed the information. I'll get this list of distributors to the Council first thing in the morning.”
Ted spluttered out some of the broth.
“No! Don't do that!” he said urgently.
“Why not?”
Charles asked. “They can track those crystals down and make sure they never make it to any wizards.”
“Because some of the Council is in on this with him. I never found out which ones, but I heard him talking about it.”
For the second time today Charles forgot his rules regarding swearing.
Shit! That's just what I needed, he thought. So who do I take this to now? Who can deal with the wider aspects of this problem?
He sighed loudly and nodded at Ted, who relaxed and went back to his broth.
Not going to deal with any of that right now, Charles thought. My shoulder hurts and I probably ought to give it some attention.
A tube of antibiotic ointment provided some relief from the immediate pain, soothing away the burning feeling. He left the wound open since it was as much burn as anything else and went to his crystal cabinet. He had a minor healing spell in a crystal, one he'd traded for a year or so back, and he thought that this would be the perfect time to use it. He slipped it out, triggered it, and the wound was soothed even more. He knew, from experience, that by the next morning all that would remain of the wound was a slightly stiff spot and maybe a scar that would slowly fade over time.
* * *
* * *
Chapter 16
Amber swallowed forcefully as the bile tickled the base of her throat for about the tenth time since she'd watched a head explode after she shot it.
It was the right thing to do, she thought. I know that, I know he would've gladly killed us, but still...
Charles, who had been getting Ted comfortable on the fold-out bed, glanced over.
“Are you sure you're okay? You looked a little pale for a moment,” he said.
She nodded her head and forced the memory out of her head again. She stood and crossed the room, reaching for the blinds.
“What are you doing?” Charles asked.
“Closing the blinds so he can sleep better.”
He broke into a chuckle.
“I keep forgetting that you don't have that much experience as a wizard. Leave the blinds open and come over here.”
He sat her down and told her to watch Ted. The sunlight was creeping across the room and several minutes later, it crawled up the side of the bed and struck Ted's arm. As it did, she saw that arm begin to relax. The more sun that struck his body, the more relaxed he appeared to be.