by Ian Somers
The man turned slowly and faced me. We were thirty yards apart but I could see him clearly enough to identify him. It was Zalech … but not as I remembered him. His face was horribly scarred, his neck seemed to be made of metal and when he smiled at me his teeth reflected the sunlight like a mirror. The ‘tin man’ was exactly how a child would describe him. He looked thinner than before and his eyes were even crazier than they had been when I saw them in north-east some weeks before. It was his reaction to seeing me that was most shocking, though. He wasn’t surprised or startled as I thought he might have been. In fact, it almost seemed like he’d been expecting me. I stopped dead in my tracks, knowing that somehow he had planned all this, and that I had walked into his trap.
We stood in the centre of the deserted road watching one another. My heart was pounding hard and beads of sweat were leaking out of my face. I’d wanted this for many days – it had been all I’d thought about – but now that the time was at hand, I wasn’t so sure that I could take Zalech on. He looked so confident.
‘Well?’ he shouted to me. His voice was bizarre, like a robot from a sci-fi movie. ‘Are you not going to say something, Bentley?’
‘I didn’t come here to talk.’
‘I admire your bravery though I see in your eyes that it is quickly deserting you.’
There was an arrogant smirk on his horrid face that confirmed that I had indeed walked into a trap. Somehow he knew I’d show up. I wanted to tear him limb from limb, but I kept my distance. I didn’t want to make this easy for him. I now realised I’d made a huge mistake by coming alone and wanted to keep Zalech talking until Hunter showed up.
‘I had expected you to be full of blood and thunder,’ he shouted, his voice echoing off the buildings on the empty street. ‘Yes, to come rushing at me with all your power and venom. Yet you stand there with the eyes of a lamb, realising that you have stumbled into the wolf’s lair.’
The entire situation, particularly Zalech’s appearance, was odd to say the least, but I noticed something awfully peculiar: Zalech was gently waving his hand left and right, in a slow and hypnotic type of way. Was he totally insane or was this some new technique that I knew nothing of?
‘Come on, Bentley!’ he shouted again. ‘Are you not going to say something?’
‘I’m the one who’s going to kill you.’ I felt a sudden wave of courage in me and also a clever lie came into my thoughts. One that would surely wipe that grin from Zalech’s face. ‘The girl – the prophet you kidnapped – she predicted that I would be the one to kill you.’
I said it with enough assurance that Zalech’s air of confidence fizzled away … momentarily.
‘You are a skilled liar,’ he said, smiling again. ‘Yes, a very skilled young man indeed. I have heard so much about you and your many talents. Yet you lack the one talent that would save your life.’
‘What talent is that?’
‘Surfing.’ He laughed wildly and his arms stopped swaying. ‘Although, I doubt you could surf your way out of this no matter how talented you are.’
A shadow gradually crept over the buildings on the street and the sun disappeared. At first I thought it was a figment of my imagination or a passing cloud, but when I looked behind Zalech, towards the coast, it was as if a vast mountain was rising from the depths.
After a couple of seconds I came to my senses and saw it was no mountain. It was the sea that was rising. It was hundreds of feet high. It didn’t look to be moving at first, but as the seconds passed by I knew it was hurtling towards the shore at a phenomenal speed.
I looked back at Zalech. He was smiling and his eyes were wild.
‘I am sure you would like to kill me,’ he shouted over the deep rumbling sound, ‘but you cannot beat the devil at his own game.’
I sent two volleys of psychokinetic energy at him. The first had no impact and was simply deflected away. The second did strike him. I saw his body shake as the shot met his chest but he was only pushed back a couple of steps and was virtually unharmed. I stood there staring at him, dumbfounded that he took the brunt of an energy spear.
‘You missed your chance, Bentley!’ he roared at me over the terrible crashing sound of the approaching wave. ‘Now you will see what true power really is!’
The immense wave was coming at us fast. It sounded like a jet engine powering up and now that it was close I saw the white foam at the crest and the deep mix of brown and blue beneath. I even spotted a boat that was caught within it and cars and buses were being sucked up off the road and were swallowed instantly.
There was a terrible crash as the wall of water fell forward towards the city. There was a rumble under my feet and it swept inland as fast as a bullet. It consumed the buildings as it rolled forward. Everything that lay in its path was swallowed. Then it hit the far end of the street. Fifty-foot high white explosions at the side, becoming black in the centre. The speed and ferocity of the wave was awesome and there was no escaping it.
It consumed Zalech, but I was wise enough to know he was surely immune to its force thanks for his mageletonia. Panic rose inside me and an awesome force came to me. I hunkered down and blasted a sphere of energy out of body and a solid shield protected me from the impact. Everything went black around me. Cars and debris swirled past. Everything was utterly vanquished by the wave. All except for the small circle around me.
It took all my strength to maintain the shield in place and I knew I couldn’t hold out with such immense pressure hitting me from all sides.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Retaliation
When I regained consciousness I was dangling like a lifeless dummy over Hunter’s shoulder as he kicked his way through a flooded road. For a moment my mind was blank but the fog in my head soon cleared and I started to remember what had happened.
I recalled the mountainous wave sweeping inland and gobbling up the buildings beside the sea. I remembered Zalech disappearing into it as it smashed along the street. Then the rushing water hitting my defensive shield. The force of the wave pressed on the cocoon of energy from all sides and put a titanic strain on my hold over the shield. The spherical barrier shrank under the weight of the water and eventually it gave way. My only protection from the flood was gone and I was sure I was a dead man.
But, unintentionally, I had saved myself when I created the shield. Not only had it protected me from the impact of the terrible wave, it had also trapped air around me, and when the shield gave way I was in the middle of a large bubble of air that shot upward. I was carried inside it and when I reached the surface I was blasted up into the air. I spun like a rag doll tossed by an unruly child then came back down with a heavy thud. I’d hit my head off something, probably the roof of a vehicle or a phone box that had been pulled along in the torrent. I managed to keep it together for a while but I was dazed and struggled to use my gifts. I latched onto a long piece of timber and was carried away along the avenue of water.
I was dragged along until the floodwater dispersed onto some side streets. At this point I realised it had not been a tsunami like those I’d seen on the TV, it was a localised tidal wave that razed only a small part of the city. The other roads had not been flooded as badly and soon the water level fell rapidly. The wave had been summoned by Zalech to kill me. But only me. The vast majority of locals had avoided it because they fled when Zalech killed the police officers. That was the only positive to take from the whole disaster. The damage had been confined but the area had been obliterated by the water.
I felt cowardly that I hadn’t rushed Zalech as soon as I laid eyes on him. I should have killed him when I had the chance and not thought of my own mortality. No one person should command the power to cause such devastation. Especially when that person is a raving lunatic. A known mass murderer.
At some point I lost my grasp on the piece of timber and floated into one the side streets and blacked out. The next thing I knew Hunter had picked me up and carried me away from the epicentre of the devastation. He didn’t
stop or even look back over his shoulder until he reached dry ground. He lifted me onto the bonnet of a car then took a few steps back and sucked in deep breaths.
After a moment I summoned the strength to lift myself up on my elbows. Hunter looked relieved when he saw I was awake, but his comfort was short-lived.
‘What the bloody hell were you thinking?’ he snapped. ‘How could you go rushing off like that, you bloody fool?’
‘I’m sorry, Hunter. I don’t know what came over me.’
‘You almost got yourself killed!’ he shouted at me. ‘Man, the Guild is going to be pissed off. They might expel us both for this.’
‘You knew that before you came down here with me.’
‘No! The plan was for both of us to attack Zalech and kill him. If we’d stuck to the plan we’d have been seen as heroes. Look at what your foolishness has caused. Half a city’s been wiped out!’
‘I’ll tell them I acted alone.’
‘I know you will! What in the name of God happened down there?’
‘It was Zalech,’ I panted – I was still finding it hard to catch my breath and my head felt like a balloon. ‘Somehow he created that huge wave. He just lifted his arm and the sea climbed over the buildings. I never thought anyone could be that powerful.’
‘I told you he was strong!’
‘No. Not just strong, Hunter. He was immeasurably powerful. He’d make Dolloway look like a novice. Something has changed in him. By all accounts he was always a strong mageleton but he didn’t have a power like this the last time we encountered him.’
‘There’s evil at work here. Zalech was never taught how to create waves like that. Someone very influential is aiding him.’
‘He’s not the Zalech you remember. He’s changed. He’s full of scars and metal plates.’
‘A fight with a panther will do that to you.’ Hunter pushed himself off the car and looked up and down the street. People were rushing around; others wandered from one street to the next, aimlessly. ‘We’ve got to get out of here. Let’s hotwire a car and get on the road. This is not a good place for us to linger.’
‘He’s not dead, Hunter.’ I mustered enough strength to get back on my feet. ‘He’s still somewhere in the city.’
‘Forget it, Bentley. We’re not going looking for him. Not while he’s right beside the sea. He can’t be beaten in a place like this.’
‘He’ll disappear again,’ I demanded. ‘This might be our only chance.’
‘A man who’s looking for a fight rarely stays hidden for long. We’ll face him again, Bentley. But next time we’ll do it on more even ground. And besides, you look ready to keel over. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Zalech is lurking these streets looking for you. We can’t waste any more time. Let’s go.’
‘I wonder how many people have died,’ I said, looking at the flooded streets. ‘Is there no end to this hopeless darkness that surrounds us?’
‘There is always the light of defiance, Bentley.’ Hunter raised his arms and above the buildings I saw a vibrant rainbow appear gradually. ‘Darkness can’t chase it away.’
Hunter helped me along the pavement and we tried to find a street without cops. This wasn’t easy; every cop in the county must have arrived in Portsmouth. I started to feel an intense anxiety when we turned each corner, thinking that Zalech would be waiting for us. We didn’t see him again, though.
Hunter found an old van and broke the driver’s window and had the engine going in less than a minute. I climbed into the passenger seat and took off my soaking jacket. Only then did I notice my t-shirt was covered in blood. I pressed the palm of my hand on the side of my head and felt a long gash over my right ear. It hurt like hell now that I knew it was there.
‘Damn it,’ I hissed. ‘I must have bumped my head harder than I thought.’
‘Yep, that’s another scar to add to your collection. A few more years and few more fights and you’ll look like me.’
‘What a horrible thought …’
‘We’ll get it seen to when we reach Williams’s place. That’s if they don’t kill us.’
‘I’ll take the flak. You can say that you saw me sneaking out of the house and followed me or something like that.’
‘No, I’ll own up to my part in this disaster. We’ll take the grilling together.’
The drive back to the Williams estate was an uncomfortable one, not only because of the head wound I’d gotten in Portsmouth, but also I was dreading what Mr Williams would say to us on our arrival. Facing Cathy was an even worse prospect.
The last thing we wanted to do was arrive in a stolen vehicle, so Hunter parked the van a couple of miles from the house then we walked the rest of the way. Our pace became quite laboured once we passed through the tall gates at the end of the driveway and saw Mr Williams standing by the front door.
The old man was silent for a moment and I watched his face slowly growing pink until he started shouting at us.
‘A rogue mageleton is on the loose, you two disappear in the middle of the night, the next morning there’s a tsunami in Portsmouth, and there are all sorts of bizarre eyewitness accounts on the news. For some strange reason I have a hunch that these random events are linked. Please tell me I’m wrong!’
‘We were in Portsmouth,’ Hunter admitted, ‘and yes, Zalech was there too and it was he who created the wave. He created it to kill Bentley. Now, could you please get out of the way and let us in? Bentley needs stitching.’
‘He might need more than stitching when Ballentine gets here,’ Mr Williams said as he stood to the side and allowed into the hall.
‘What’s he coming here for?’ Hunter asked.
‘What’s he coming here for – he’s coming here because I called it in when you two went missing, and while I was on the phone the first report of the tsunami came on the radio. Ballentine knew immediately that the pair of you were somehow involved. You seem to be very relaxed about all this, Hunter. Do you know how many people died today?’
‘I’m not relaxed,’ Hunter snapped. ‘How many died?’
‘Over a hundred confirmed already. Many more are missing and presumed dead.’
‘That loony has to be stopped, Peter.’
‘Damn right he does,’ I added. ‘The Guild should be assembling an army to fight this guy.’
‘They are,’ Mr Williams said coldly. ‘An emergency call has been put out and there are operatives currently flying in from all corners of the world.’
‘Good,’ Hunter grunted. ‘I’d prefer to be part of a team if I have to fight Zalech.’
‘You’ll be lucky if you ever get another assignment from the Guild! They might even force you into retirement because of this little stunt.’
‘They’ll forgive me.’
‘I’m not so sure. Hunter, you are in deep you-know-what because of this.’
‘Shit, Williams. It’s called deep shit.’
‘Please don’t use language like that in my home.’
We went to kitchen and I placed my head under the tap over the sink. I ran some cold water and winced as it loosened up the cut behind my ear. Cathy and Canavan arrived at the house soon after and came straight to the kitchen. Canavan looked relieved when she saw us but that quickly turned to anger and she scolded Hunter for being so irresponsible. Cathy came to me when she saw the blood on the side of my head and neck.
‘Are you OK? Jesus, look at your head!’
‘I’ll be all right,’ I assured her. ‘Just bumped my head is all.’
‘It’s more than a bump, Ross. You’ll need it stitched right away.’
Mr Williams and Hunter continued to bicker amongst themselves about the disaster in Portsmouth while I was brought to my room by Cathy. Canavan followed us up and she began to stitch my head – without any anaesthetic. It hurt like hell but it was mild considering what Zalech had done to those poor unfortunate souls who had crossed his path in Portsmouth. Canavan took her time, saying she didn’t want to do a rush job because the scar w
ould be worse. She went on to tell me I was an extremely foolish young man.
When she snipped the last stitch she said, ‘I suppose you’re also brave in your own way. Just try not to allow your bravery to guide you all the time. Try to use your brain more often. Cathy has told me that you’re quite intelligent behind all your bravado.’
‘Quite intelligent?’
‘You’re not exactly a genius, Ross,’ said Cathy.
‘I know.’
She finally hugged me when Canavan left the room and descended the staircase.
‘You had me worried sick, you know that? When you weren’t in the house and then I heard the news. I thought…’ she shook her head and frowned. ‘That really was a stupid thing to do, Ross. I know you wanted revenge for your father’s death, but you should have told the rest of us.’
‘It wasn’t just about revenge. I went down there so he couldn’t hurt anyone else. I thought … I dunno … I thought it would have been the same as facing Marianne. I thought that he would rush into a fight with me and now that I was more skilled I could capture him, or even kill him. He was nothing like Marianne, though. He was so in control. I wanted to kill him – I still do – but I was stunned by what I found down there. I didn’t know how to fight him. I hesitated and he took full advantage of that. I guess I am lucky to be alive. I know I won’t hesitate next time I face him. No way.’
‘There won’t be a next time.’
‘He’s not dead and he’s not going away. There will have to be a next time.’
‘I realise that but next time it should be the Guild that faces him and not just you.’ She pulled away and got to her feet. ‘Speaking of the Guild, they’ll be sending someone here soon.’
‘Ballentine is already on his way.’
‘You’ll be in trouble for this.’
‘I know. Maybe they’ll expel me from the Guild.’