Tommy Black and the Coat of Invincibility

by Jake Kerr

  She trusted me.

  I pulled my arm out of its sling and held the cane in my hand. With a fluid motion, I slid the blade of the Staff out with my right hand. I paused with the blade poised above my head, and at that moment I knew it would work. The magic of the blade was part of the artifact and could not be turned off. I was one with the Staff, and while it was still full of surprises. I knew this—

  I brought the blade down through the air. It reminded me of the moment two years earlier when I was walking with my grandfather through an empty alley, and I used a broomstick to fight imaginary creatures. The feeling of swinging the imaginary blade through the air felt the same as the feeling of swinging this very real blade through the air.

  The difference was that it wasn’t slicing just through air. It slid through the magical shield with no resistance at all. As the blade reached the floor, the blurry shield fell into smoky tendrils that floated to the left and right. A gash that split the air between us and the Nazi magicians was open and widening.

  Naomi wasted no time and cast spells in quick succession. For not being a damage spell, it was wicked looking. Black tendrils of what looked like viscous fluid spread out from her hand with a hiss. The moment they reached a magician the tendrils wrapped around his body, pulling his legs and arms together and tying them tightly.

  I had just taken in what was happening to the first magician, when she had three more bound. One of the magicians tried to flee, but her spell caught him before he had taken three steps. He fell forward with a thud.

  I sheathed the blade of the Staff, and looked at Naomi. “I couldn’t even see your hands move!”

  “Child’s play,” she replied with a smile. She touched my arm. “Great idea with the sword. I’m going to have to come up with some other name than Streetlight.”

  “How about Deathblade or Slash?” I asked as Iggy walked up.

  “I was thinking something more like Butter Knife.” I rolled my eyes as Iggy leaned over and looked at one of the magicians. The Magicians’ mouths were covered with the black oily bindings that held them.

  “These are the Brotherhood of Saturn,” Iggy said.

  “No way!” Naomi replied. She walked over and looked at two of them. They were struggling to free themselves. “I studied them a bit. I thought they were banished by the Nazis.”

  “That was just a story to hide the plans the Nazis had for magic,” Iggy said. “They are widely considered the most powerful magicians in the world.”

  I turned to Naomi. “Five of the most powerful magicians in the world, and you beat them!”

  “We beat them,” she replied. She turned and started down the hall. “Time for us to grab a Coat.”

  My step was a bit lighter and my shoulder hurt a bit less. Naomi had smiled when she noted that we had beaten the magicians together.

  36

  STAFF & COAT

  Iggy caught up to Naomi and told her he would lead. She objected, but his ability to see through illusions made it a necessity. There was also the fact that her shield had deteriorated after the assault from the German magicians.

  As Iggy moved to the front, I asked Naomi, “Should we take a break while you re-cast your shield?”

  Naomi laughed. “It took me six hours to cast.” I didn’t reply. I couldn’t imagine the physical and mental demands it would take to move precisely and in a certain way while gathering magical energy for six straight hours. It sounded impossible.

  At the end of the hallway was a single door. It was a deep brown and polished to a sheen. “What do you think is behind that?” I asked.

  “A Cup and a Coat,” Naomi replied.

  “It will be either the Archmage or more defenses,” Iggy added. “We should be prepared for technological weaponry. The Brotherhood of Saturn was most likely his last magical defense.”

  Iggy shoved the door open, showing no fear of whatever was behind it. The room was dimly lit, but I couldn’t see much more than that. Iggy walked in and looked around. “It appears—” His voice was cut off by an explosion, which sent him flying toward us. Even with him taking the brunt of the force, it still knocked me backward.

  I ran over to Iggy. His eyes were closed, and flame flickered along his body. “Iggy! Are you okay?” I went to shake him, but yanked my hands back from blistering heat. I looked back just as Naomi finished casting a spell. “Iggy’s badly hurt!”

  “We’re shielded, but don’t expect it to handle another one of those.” For a moment I was bothered by her lack of concern for Iggy, but the sound of footsteps from the room behind me made it clear that she was being smart. We had to defeat the Germans before we could help him.

  I stood up and moved to Naomi’s side. “Can you cast the fire spell? Fill the room with flame?”

  Nodding, Naomi replied, “That’s a good plan. It’s a directed spell, but I can lead with it and then just sweep the room once I’m through the door.” Not bothering to wait for a response from me, Naomi held up her hand and shot a stream of flame into the room. There was a scream of pain, and Naomi rushed in moving her flame from left to right. I followed.

  Two men were running from the room through a door to the right. Their clothes were on fire. It was hard to see details, as the whole room was on fire.

  It was a huge library, with bookshelves filled with burning books from floor to ceiling covering every wall. The ceiling was about ten feet high. The entire room was open, with desks, chairs, and floor lamps shoved against the bookcases. Everything was in the early stages of turning into a conflagration.

  “Maybe that wasn’t the best idea,” I said.

  “Come in. Come in.” The words were spoken with a German accent and came from the far side of the room and the thickest part of the flames. “Oh, pardon me. I’m the only one who can’t be harmed in these flames. So I shall come to you.”

  A man strode through the fire toward us. He was wearing Ana’s Coat, and had a cane in one hand, which he slapped against the palm of the other. He looked around. “I should have expected you wouldn’t have trouble with my men. A pity you decided to burn down such a valuable library to do so, however.”

  The flames were growing in intensity, and I grabbed Naomi’s arm. “We need to retreat,” I whispered. Naomi didn’t move. “Remember the park,” I said, louder. Nodding, she backed away with me.

  “Giving up so soon? Oh, I see, you are worried about being harmed by the flames.” He chuckled. “If only you had the Coat.”

  We rushed out of the room, the heat was intense and getting worse. The German followed us. “My name is Keitel, but you will know me soon as the heir of Jamshid.” Naomi whispered in my ear as we made our way back to the front of the house. “Look for a gun. If you find one, pick it up and shoot him.”

  We weren’t very close to the flames, so I stopped. Naomi turned and looked at me. “I have a better idea,” I whispered.

  Keitel caught up to us but kept his distance. “Don’t flee yet. I enjoy the young lady’s irrational confidence.” He looked at her, a smile on his face as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Feel free to hurl whatever spell you like at me.” He touched the edge of the Coat. “You cannot hurt me.”

  “She is the Black Witch, the greatest magician in history.” I laughed. “She is the heir of Jamshid.” I knew I was the only one who could hurt him, but I was sure Keitel would know that, too. To catch him off guard, I wanted him to ignore me as a threat by focusing on Naomi.

  It didn’t work.

  “Ah, Tommy Black.” He looked at me. “Your confidence is ill-placed. Certainly, you feel it.” He said the words as a statement, and as he said them I knew what he meant. The pull of the Artifacts to be brought together was clouding my mind. Part of me wanted to just hand him the Staff.

  I gritted my teeth. “You don’t have the Cup.” It was a guess, but I couldn’t see any place he could store it on his person.

  “I’m not a fool, young man. I bear the Cup, but it is back in Berlin. I wasn’t going to ri
sk it with a trip deep into enemy territory.” That explained something to me—he didn’t have to have both Artifacts in hand to be the focus of their power. He just had to be the one who was connected to them. Before I could say anything, he spoke up, “Of course with the Coat that is no longer a concern.”

  “I’d give Tommy the Coat, if I were you,” Naomi said. I looked over at her. She seemed nonchalant as she spoke. She was casting the light spell, and it struck me that it was much brighter than those she had previously cast. “He really doesn’t like hurting people.”

  “Black Witch.” Keitel practically spat out the words. “This may surprise you, but I assure you that your friend cannot hurt me. You should ask him. He feels it and knows it. I control the power of the Artifacts now.” He turned to me. “Go ahead. You are the Archmage of Light are you not? Create a light.”

  He doesn’t know. I couldn’t believe my luck. Keitel knew that I had lost the power to control the staff, but as the use of the sword had indicated, I had not lost the power of the staff. He didn’t realize I could hurt him. He assumed that because I had no ability to control the power of the Staff it meant the Staff had no power.

  I held up a hand in a sign of hopelessness. “It’s true, Naomi. I hoped that I could come up with a plan or that you could defeat him, but we can’t. Even Iggy can’t hurt him.” Naomi stared at me. I hoped she would trust me to know what I was doing.

  “Iggy?” Keitel asked, but he quickly realized who I was talking about and smiled. “Of course, your Ifrit slave! I must hand it to you, Master Black. I am impressed you were able to enslave an Ifrit.” He twirled his cane. “Too bad he is dead.”

  “What happens if I just give you the Staff?” I asked.

  “Tommy, no!” Naomi cried out, and spun her head to look at me, I saw a quick wink behind the mess of hair that had flown over the front of her face. She knows I have a plan. I had to suppress a smile.

  “I’m sorry, but it is our only way out. He is too powerful.”

  The German looked ecstatic. “Of course! You understand! I will do nothing to any of you. I have no need of two teenage children. Be on your way. I don’t care.” He held up his own cane. “You see, I’ve been anticipating this day for so long that I had a cane made to match yours.” He tossed the cane to the floor beside him. “Hand me the Staff.”

  I took a step and tapped the cane on the floor. “There is just one problem.” I took a few steps closer to Keitel and tapped the floor with each one. He looked nervous as I tapped the cane while approaching him.

  “Stop that infernal tapping. Just hand me the staff.” After a few more steps, I stopped in front of him, slid my arm out of the sling, grabbed the cane with the hand of my hurt arm, and held the Artifact out. The nervousness on Keitel’s face changed to desire, and he reached for the Staff.

  I once again held the cane in my hurt hand and withdrew the sword with my right hand. I swung it around and aimed it at his forehead, the blade an inch from his skin. Keitel inched back in surprise, but then smiled. “You cannot hurt me.”

  I knew that the blade would slice through his skin and bone as easy as it would air, so with great care I pushed my arm forward until the edge of the blade pressed against Keitel’s forehead. Despite my care, a small cut opened. “Ow!” Kettle pulled his head back in surprise. Blood beaded on his forehead.

  “Move an inch, and I will remove your head,” I said as Keitel lifted a leg to step backward. “Don’t move at all. If I see anything move I will slice it off.” He looked like he was frozen in indecision. I was sure that he couldn’t quite believe that I could hurt him, as he was wearing the Coat. His entire plan collapsed due to his arrogance and his faith in something he didn’t understand.

  I lowered the tip of the sword to the center of Keitel’s chest. “You will now remove the Coat and hand it to me.

  “Never!” His calm smile was replaced with a mad sneer.

  “You have two options, my fellow Archmage. You can hand me the Coat and then return to your Cup, knowing that you will have lived to fight another day. Or you can die, and I’ll have to clean your blood off the coat before I put it on.” I pressed forward with the sword, which made Keitel step back. “One more step, and you die.”

  “You will kill me anyway!”

  “If that were true you’d be dead already. Now remove the Coat. I really hate doing laundry.”

  Keitel hemmed and hawed after that but seemed to understand the truth of my words. Still, he replied, “You will hand me over to the French, and they will kill me.”

  “No. I will let you go.”

  “I do not believe you.”

  “Naomi, what do you think I will do?”

  She sighed loudly. “You’ll let him go, even though that is about the stupidest thing you could do.”

  “He is not removing the Coat. Should I kill him?”

  “You should have killed him already,” Naomi replied, sounding impatient.

  Keitel stared into my eyes, and I held his gaze. My confidence had grown with each sentence I spoke. Naomi had set me up perfectly, and I was entirely in control. “My patience is at an end. I shall kill you now.”

  “No! Wait!” Keitel reached up and shrugged his shoulders, sliding one arm and then the other out of the Coat. I gave him more room with the sword, and he reached around and pulled the Coat off. He held it out to me.

  I took the Coat of Invincibility and put it on.

  Everything went black.

  It felt similar to when I stopped time with the Staff, alien and unsettling. Inside, however, I felt enormous power. It was then I realized that I was in the realm of Zahhak’s prison. It didn’t feel like he had summoned me, more like I had a closer connection to the power of the Artifacts and this was now part of that power—I could get a bit closer to the source of the power, Zahhak himself.

  I tried to see if I could talk to Zahhak or see him, but his presence was still beyond me. Some day, I thought, and returned to the real world.

  Keitel cowered, loathing in his eyes. I turned my back to him and walked toward Naomi. As I approached her, she smiled widely, her dimples transforming her from the intimidating Black Witch back into my best friend.

  “So Streetlight, are you going to really let him go?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are such a softie.”

  Flames licked along the ceiling, and it suddenly hit me that the room was uncomfortably hot. “We need to leave.” Naomi put her arm through mine and pulled me toward the door. I glanced back. Keitel had already disappeared.

  We stood across the street watching the French firemen attempt to put out the flames as the house we had just left burned brightly. Naomi hadn’t let go of my arm, and we watched the flames in silence. I liked to think we looked like a young French couple.

  “So where did Keitel go?” I asked.

  A voice behind us answered. “He is on his way to Germany via their network of spies and safe houses.”

  “Iggy!” we both exclaimed as we turned to see him standing there. Naomi dropped my arm and gave him a big hug. He looked in good shape.

  “I thought you were dead,” I said.

  “Nothing heals an Ifrit faster than a fire.” I shook his hand. It was like shaking hands with a marble statue. “It was kind of you to let him go free,” Iggy added.

  “It was stupid,” Naomi replied. “You should have killed him or at least turned him in to the French army.”

  “Well, I think it’s better to know who the Bearer of the Cup is than have that be unknown. Plus, we know the Cup will no longer work.”

  Naomi stopped and looked up at me. “That’s actually quite smart, Streetlight.”

  I shrugged. “Not that it will make our job much easier. We still have to travel through hundreds of miles of enemy territory to get to Berlin, find Keitel, fight through whatever defenses the Nazis put in place for the Cup, and then retrieve it.”

  “It’s a date!” Naomi exclaimed.

  “Wait, did you say a
date?” I asked.

  Naomi ignored me and turned back to the blaze across the street. She cast a spell, and the pure white light in her palm blazed brighter than it ever had.

  THE END

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  * * *

  Book One from The Guildmaster Thief series

  Overnight, Ralan went from street rat to guildmaster. It was not an improvement.

  Ralan Miller loves being the younger brother of the most powerful man in Ness. He can goof around, insult the other guilds, and not worry about the consequences. That is until he makes a small mistake that puts his brother's political maneuverings at risk. His patience at an end, Ralan's brother inflicts upon him the worst possible punishment.

  Humiliated and hurt, Ralan looks to get back at his brother with one last bit of mischief. What he doesn't realize is that this last act of defiance will have major repercussions, changing the entire political landscape of the city and putting Ralan's own life at risk.

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  * * *

  Selected Stories, with introductions by Hugh Howey, John Joseph Adams, Ken Liu, and Brian White

  Stories of space, love, loss, hope, and more are all part of this debut collection from multiple award-nominated author Jake Kerr. Featuring the best-selling novelette "The Old Equations," these stories range from contemporary tales of innocence ("Looking For Bad Guys") to the apocalyptic story that launched Kerr's three linked stories in The Apocalypse Triptych anthology series ("Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince").

  A mixture of breathtaking science fiction and contemporary shorts, Selected Stories highlights Kerr's position a leading practitioner in science fiction's humanist tradition.