Wander-A Night Warden Novel

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  Several seconds later, the circle underneath me vanished, and I looked around. I stood in a small island of uncharred floor. Small nails were spread out on the floor everywhere.

  Tristan walked over as I took a moment to gather myself. I stood with a grunt as he picked up a large handful of the nails with a handkerchief.

  “Runed and poisoned.” He held it up and turned it. “This Lyrra doesn’t want visitors.”

  He wrapped up a handful of the nails and put the handkerchief in a pocket.

  “The spell was a dual cast.” I examined the outside of the duster. It reverted to its dark brown leather and I noticed that none of the nails had punctured the material. “Aria’s reputation is still intact.”

  “Like your coat,” he said, raising an eyebrow at my duster. “My shield wouldn’t have protected you from the nails.”

  “No, they were designed to cut through magic.” I approached the door while looking for a handle. “Casting a shield to deal with the blast would leave you vulnerable to the nail attack, with no time to react.”

  “They were expecting a mage.” He nodded. “But they weren’t expecting you.”

  “Their mistake.” I found a panel next to the door. “Think you can bypass this?”

  The idea of casting again, even something simple like reversing a lock, made my head throb. The pain was getting worse with each cast. I noticed several of the runes inscribed on the wall were set for timed explosions. It was Lyrra’s way of making sure she had an escape route. If those were triggered, we would be out of time.

  He walked over to the panel and nodded. “Once I do this, they will know we’re here.”

  “Oh, you mean the explosion wasn’t a clue?”

  “The explosion was a passive deterrent,” he said, forming runes in the air that floated at the panel. “This is an active magical incursion. This means they will know we survived the explosion and send someone or something to investigate.”

  I heard another distant foghorn.

  The door opened, and I felt the three ogres before I saw them. They rounded a corner, jerked their arms, and cracked their necks. One of them bared a hideous smile with yellow teeth. Standing behind and dwarfed by the three monstrosities, stood one of the Twins.

  “I’m going to go with: they sent something,” I said as we entered the large hangar-like space. Vehicles were parked around the edges of the room. Large shelving units created aisles and rows of storage materials. Covered in dust, they appeared untouched since the Purge. The door slammed shut behind us, and I could sense the detonation trap reset itself.

  “Three ogres?” he muttered under his breath. “Maybe they did expect you.”

  “Lyrra believes in being thorough.” I opened my duster to allow easier access to Fatebringer. “I’m surprised there isn’t a pack of rummers as well.”

  “Hello, Stryder,” the Twin said. “I told Lyrra we should have killed you back at that dump you call a bar, but she wants you to join us.”

  “Join you?”

  “She’s restoring the Night Wardens, Stryder.”

  “To what?” I felt my face flush as the anger rose. “We never murdered innocents—or does Lyrra consider the rummers acceptable losses?”

  “I told her you wouldn’t understand. You lack her vision. Too interested in justice, not the law.”

  “We always stood for justice. We fought for those who couldn’t fight for themselves, we were their voice. That’s what it meant to be a Night Warden. We had honor.”

  “That honor was real helpful during the Purge.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t here to have a meeting of the minds. Lyrra had convinced those with her that the only way to regain respect was to rip the power from those she felt had it. They had become the very thing Night Wardens stood against.

  In her mind, if that meant sacrificing the homeless or anyone else to achieve her ambition, the ends justified the means.

  “I never bothered to learn your names. Which do you prefer? Thing one or Thing two?” I drew Fatebringer. “Either works for me.”

  “The name is Rina, asshole,” she said with a glare. “I’ll whisper it in your ear as I cut off pieces of you and feed it to them.”

  “Rina Asshole, got it—that’s pretty exotic.” I smiled. “Is that Scandinavian?”

  “Are you deliberately trying to piss her off?” Tristan said under his breath. “Because it seems to be working, judging from her expression.”

  “Yes,” I muttered, still holding the smile. “Mages are a touchy bunch. Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Wizard?”

  “I’m not a wiz—touché.” He nodded and formed two flame orbs.

  “I’m going to personally gut you.” Rina growled, unsheathing two blades and held them in a hammer grip.

  “Don’t dismiss her,” I said, stepping to the side. “She prefers her blades, but she’s a strong mage.”

  “Duly noted.” He formed another orb and held it in place in front of him. “Are these Redrum ogres?”

  “Can’t tell yet, but you’ll know.”

  “I’ll take the mage,” he said, blading his body. “You can have the ogres.”

  “Don’t strain yourself or anything,” I said as we walked forward.

  “It’s not like you can cast,” he said. “This makes the most sense.”

  “I don’t want to explain to Rox why you were ghosted. Keep your ass alive.”

  “I can say the same to you—don’t become a ghost.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not ‘don’t become’—nevermind.”

  “Crush them.” Rina advanced on us. “Leave the old one alive. I’m going to enjoy seeing your intestines all over the floor, Stryder.”

  The ogres rushed at us—fast.

  I greeted Ogre One with two shots in the forehead, dropping him and turning him to dust. I gave silent thanks to Tessa for the negation rounds and dived to the side as Ogre Two tried to introduce my face to his fist.

  “She said to crush you, but I may forget myself and accidentally kill you, wizard.” Ogre Two said with what I think was a grin. It was too disturbing to look at. More importantly, aside from the unnatural speed, it was forming intelligent, coherent statements. I didn’t like what this strain of Redrum was doing. Ogres were creatures whose main purpose was the wholesale and complete destruction of basically—everything. Redrum making them smarter? Terrible idea.

  “I’d like to forget you, too.” I let my senses expand and realized Ogre Three was trying to flank me. “When did you guys get so smart?”

  “Lyrra made us this way,” Ogre Two said and lunged as I backpedaled. “We will rule this city by her side.”

  An orb of flame sizzled by my head as Rina gave me the finger. Tristan closed in on her and she got busy trying to stay alive. I ducked under a swipe and leaped forward into a roll to avoid a foot stomp. I overshot my leap and ended up next to ogre three—who greeted me with a backhand that introduced me to a world of pain as I slid across the floor.

  “I said don’t kill him!” I heard Rina scream as she released a barrage of daggers at Tristan. “Break him—just don’t kill him.”

  “You heard her, break him,” Ogre Two said. “Just leave him breathing.”

  They rushed forward. For a split second, my brain listed several spells that would neutralize them both in gruesome and messy ways. It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t me, but Izanami.

  “Don’t need the help, thanks.”

 

  “How are you even speaking to me from inside the coat?”

 

  She whispered the last part like a lover whispered a name. It felt like a violation. It was wrong and it pissed me off.

  “Shut up or I’ll melt you down myself.”

 

  I raised the duster to absorb another blow. Being hit by a moving bus felt gentler. The coat
dissipated most of the blow as the impact sent me sprawling, but my arm felt like jelly.

  I took aim and gifted Ogre Two with three rounds, center mass. He looked down at his chest and then up at me. He was about to say something, but the words died on his lips, along with the rest of him as he burst into dust.

  “Two shots left,” I muttered as Ogre Three ducked behind a row of large metal crates for cover. For a second, my brain couldn’t process the image. Ogres never took cover. They rushed headlong to their targets. Through walls if necessary.

 

  “No, thanks. You creep me the hell out.”

  I opened Fatebringer and emptied the cylinder, while speed-loading another seven negation rounds. I was about to move into position when I heard the metal scraping. The Ogre had grabbed a container from one of the shelves and launched it in my direction.

  The duster could probably withstand the impact, but I wasn’t about to find out. I slid forward under the arc of the large metal box and fired twice. Two rounds buried themselves in the ogre’s throat. It clutched its neck and tried to speak. All I heard was a rough gargle before it decorated the shelving with more dust.

  I wondered why Tristan was holding back from ghosting Rina, when I saw the runes along the floors. Dampeners were etched all over the surface. She had a pendant around her neck. Every time she released an orb, it would pulse a brighter orange. It seemed to counter the effect of the dampeners on her casting.

  I took aim at the pendant, adjusted a fraction of an inch to compensate for movement, and fired twice. The first round hit her square in the chest. The second round punched through the muscle of her heart, tearing through it mercilessly. Shock registered on her face as she looked in my direction and grabbed her chest. She was dead before she hit the floor.

  I walked over to her body, took her blades, and put them in a pocket. I removed the pendant and tossed it to Tristan. “Next time—you get the ogres.”

  “She was quite formidable.” He examined the pendant and grasped it in one hand while he gestured with the other. The pendant did its pulsing, and he nodded. “This should be adequate.”

  “I’m glad you approve.” I looked down at Rina. “She has a sister who is just dying to meet us.”

  “You’re worse than Simon,” he said with a wince. “Two more levels?”

  “Yes.” I looked around the floor. “I’m surprised Lyrra hasn’t unleashed rummers on us.”

  “I’m certain she will, once we locate her position.” He put the pendant on and gestured around it. “It’s been my experience that the leaders of these movements prefer to have someone do the fighting for them.”

  “She’ll fight,” I said after a pause. “She was the Night Warden combat instructor. If she isn’t here to greet us, something else is going on. Don’t let your guard down. Over there.”

  I pointed at the stairwell that would lead us to the next level below. Down the corridor, I saw a bank of elevators. I wasn’t about to put myself in a metal box with no way out so she could just ghost me like a fool. I was crazy, not suicidal.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  WE REACHED THE second level. I examined the wall and saw more of the detonation runes, when an explosion rocked the floor above us.

  “Your partner?” Tristan said, looking up.

  “Doubt it.” I let my senses expand and felt the presence of something large and disturbing. I didn’t sense her particular ‘nothingness.’ What I did sense gripped me by the gut and squeezed. “Oh, shit, Lyrra, you’re one twisted bitch.”

  “What is it?”

  “Koda is fine.” I shook off the feeling of dread. “My guess is she took off, which is probably the smartest thing she’s done in her life. She won’t be coming down here.”

  “Are you certain?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “What did you sense?”

  “Trolls.” The silence descended on us like a weight, as we both strained to hear any evidence of the creatures.

  “Are you sure?” His face hardened. “I know Night Wardens have sensory training to read their surroundings, but the range is limited. Can you be mistaken?”

  “I hope so.” I approached the door to the second level, but kept my distance. I examined the door but detected nothing odd. “Just hasn’t happened yet in my lifetime.”

  “Bloody hell.” He looked upstairs with a look of concern. “Ogres on Redrum are difficult enough, but trolls would be almost impossible.”

  “It has to be a mistake.” I kept my voice even as I examined the wall and floor around the door. “There hasn’t been a troll in the city since the war.”

  “Wrong,” he said, looking at me. “Simon was chased by one a while back. We barely managed to stop that one and we had a soul render.”

  “The date that flattened Masa, Flat Earth, and a large part of the city…that was a troll?”

  “Just one.” He nodded, looking around the door.

  “I thought that was just you two—well, mostly you.”

  He glared at me and shook his head. “It was the troll.”

  “Sorry,” I said, raising a hand in surrender. “It had your signature ‘obliterate every building in proximity’ feel to it.”

  “We’ll have to resort to more conventional methods to attack the weak spots, unless you have a soul render in your bottomless pockets?”

  “I forgot to pack my troll-killers.” I patted my coat. “Because I usually walk around with rare artifacts of power.”

  “Like the blade of power you are carrying.” He looked at the duster. “Can you use it without succumbing?”

  “Not an option,” I said, my voice hard. “We discussed this.”

  “We may be left without the option.”

  “Do you have a spell that can do the job without sucking us into a void vortex?”

  “Their resistance would require me to cast something beyond a void vortex,” he replied, and I knew what he was going to say next. “I would have to unleash an entropic dissolution.”

  “Shit. Hell no.” I shook my head. “Let’s find Lyrra and end this. Do you sense anything on the door?”

  He approached the door, standing next to me. “I don’t sense any stasis traps on or around the area. In fact, I don’t see any runes on this door at all.”

  “It’s never this easy with her.” I grabbed the handle of the door and turned it. It opened onto the second level. This floor, unlike the top level, was bare. About half the size of the first level, it was used as a training area when the Keep was active.

  I could still see the faded lines on the floor of the training circles and battle quadrants.

  “Training level?” Tristan looked both ways as we stepped in slowly. “No dust on the floor.”

  “Looks like the floor is being used—but rummers and ogres don’t need training.”

  “How many Night Wardens has Lyrra recruited to her cause?”

  “There weren’t many of us left to recruit, but if she did a whole ‘restore the Night Wardens to glory’ campaign, she would convince some of the older members, the rummers and ogres would intimidate the others.”

  “How many Wardens were left after the Purge?”

  “I never took a census, I was blacklisted as a dark mage after Jade,” I said. “Shadow Helm was destroyed and these levels were sealed off. We were scattered to the wind, except for a few who remained as symbols of our glorious past—relics to be paraded when it suited the Dark Council or the NYTF.”

  “I didn’t mean to…It would have been good to know if we were facing a hundred Night Wardens or a thousand.”

  “One hundred or a thousand, the outcome is the same: We don’t walk away.”

  “That’s encouraging.” He looked behind us.

  “Thinking of going back?”

  “No, I felt a surge of magic.” He frowned at the door. “What’s that?”

  The door slammed shut behind us and the floor activated. Circles flashed
on and off all around us in a random sequence. We stood in a small area by the door, a designated safe zone, which would be safe until a circle formed under our feet and erased us.

  “Fuck me.” I shook my head and looked around for higher ground. Now I understood why the room was empty. “We need to get off the floor. The room is set to lethal levels.”

  I heard the sharp intake of breath as the first of the circles formed near us and disappeared.

  “Oblivion circles?” he exclaimed right before I heard the foghorn of death. Rummers were rushing at us from across the floor.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  “IS THIS THE welcome you were expecting?”

  “How sensitive are you to magical surges?” I said as I reloaded Fatebringer.

  “If you’re going to ask me if I can feel disturbances in the force, I’ll shove you into a circle myself.”

  “What? No.” I pointed at the floor. “The circles are random but they require energy. There’s a subtle surge right before each one forms. This is how Night Wardens hone their sensing skills.”

  “My apologies,” he said, raising a hand. “It’s clear I’ve spent too much time around Simon.”

  “These circles help Night Wardens sense magical fluctuations around them,” I said. “The greater the skill, the greater the area of awareness.”

  “You use lethal oblivion circles,” he said, staring at the floor ahead of us. “Bloody hell, you’re all daft. It’s not surprising there aren’t many of you left.”

  The wave of rummers had reached the middle of the floor. Farther back, I could make out the other Twin.

  “The lethal setting is used once the skill is mastered—takes decades.” I looked at the approaching rummers. One had stepped into a circle, triggering it, and burst into dust a second later. “Clearly Lyrra intends to end us here.”

  “I’m curious,” he asked with mock seriousness, “what gave it away? The horde of rummers or the oblivion circles getting progressively closer?”

  “Don’t stand still.” I stepped several feet to the side as a circle formed next to me.

  He formed several hundred miniature orbs and unleashed them. They ejected small filaments and rested on the ground, connected to each other.