I hesitate. Lie and try to make things sound better than they are, or go with the truth?
“That’s the place,” I say.
She shakes her head, not as an outright refusal, but more to show what she thinks of my idea. “This is a very bad plan.”
“I never said it was a good one,” I say. “But hear me out. If Sin is leading Victor on a wild chase, that means he will be nowhere near the house. And we did only see the two of them come through the portal. It’s possible right now Gran’s house is the safest place in this world.”
“I suppose.” Rose doesn’t sound convinced.
“Or, it’s also possible the place is crawling with wizards and they already have another sorceress and are currently draining her power.” I say the words quickly in hopes she won’t hear how horrible what I’m saying is. “If that’s the case, then it’s important we go there to stop them. There’s no guarantee Al will succeed at breaking the spell he’s going after, and if he is, there’s no guarantee it will be enough to stop the overall effect the spells are causing. We can’t get to every portal, but we can’t ignore the ones we can get to.”
I wait, expecting Rose to tell me I’m being stupid and reckless.
Nothing.
“Aren’t you supposed to be keeping me safe?” I don’t know why I remind her. After all, I am trying to convince her to come with me. “Al’s not going to be happy with either of us.”
“Right now I don’t care what makes him happy,” she says. “As far as I can see, you have as good a plan as any. And it’s made much better by the fact you are including me in it.”
Can’t argue with that. “All right,” I say. “Let’s go stop an apocalypse.”
Aldric
Chapter Twenty Two
The sun has long since set by the time I reach the building where I previously found Fitzroy.
Enough time for me to come to grips with what I’m about to do. Fitzroy will be more powerful than ever when I see him as he feeds off my sister’s magic. My magic on the other hand has been all but drained. All I have left is what didn’t get burned away when Lou wiped out the darkness. And then there will be the other wizards. His minions.
I’m outmatched, and walking into certain doom.
Still, he didn’t kill me last time. Perhaps he’ll hesitate again this time. All I need is to survive long enough to get to the sorceress. I hate to kill her, but I have no choice. I need to break the spell, and this is the only way I know how.
Perhaps there’s a chance I can save Loraine in the process. If I can, I’ll have to get her to go to Lou. They can protect each other. Just as I never could.
If I thought it was quiet around the building last time, it’s nothing compared to now. For five blocks I haven’t seen a single person, wizard or otherwise. The lack of pedestrians does not help with the bad feeling gnawing at my stomach. In fact, it makes things much worse.
I’ve seen the city this dead before, but almost always much later at night, and usually in more residential areas. In the heart of the city, it’s wrong not to see at least a few faces. It’s as though on some subconscious level people know something big and terrible is about to happen.
I wonder how they would react if they knew exactly how bad things are.
Breaking into the structure shouldn’t be any more difficult than last time. I could easily slip into the door at the back and navigate around the corridors once again. The problem is, I won’t be able to sneak up on them any more than last time. Through the back or the front makes no difference. They probably already know I’m here and are waiting to kill me the moment I pass the fence surrounding the property.
There is one way I might be able to make it further into the building before anyone has a chance to stop me. My eyes fall on one of the cars parked in the paved area of the property. I’ve seen Sin drive her vehicle enough times to understand how the process works. Besides, what I have in mind doesn’t require me to be particularly good at the action.
I use my sword to slice a large hole in the fence rather than waste time walking around. By the time I make it to the closest car, I can sense the wizards inside the building. There are quite a few less than earlier, but there are still at least five, including Fitzroy. All of them have noticed my arrival and are coming to stop me.
A touch of magic explodes the lock keeping the vehicle’s door shut and another turns the machine on. I press my foot to on the pedal and the vehicle responds with a loud roar, but no movement.
Of course. I haven’t used the handle in between the two front seats to tell it to go the right direction. I take a moment to look at the markings next to the control stick. It’s lined up with a P now and below are the letters R, N, and D. I move it to the R and press the pedal. The car jerks back at what might be an alarming speed if I hadn’t shut down all sense of panic within me long ago. Panic will only get me killed even faster right now.
The car smashes into the fence before I figure out the other pedal causes it to stop. The metal pole I hit teeters and then crashes to the ground behind me. Outside, a handful of uniformed men and women stream out of the building and surround the car. They shout and wave their hands to try to stop me. It’s only when one of them pulls the same small hand weapon I was injured with last time that I react.
I drop to the floor and slide the stick into a different position than the first two. I use my hand to force the pedal down as far as it will go and I hold my breath, hoping I have done everything I need in order to move forward.
The tires screech as they often do when Sin makes a hasty move with her car, and for a moment I can feel the vehicle move.
It doesn’t last as I careen into the building, causing the space within the car to explode with dust and white bags full of air. The windshields crack as bricks and wood fall on top of the car, followed by a puff of dirt choking out most of the little visibility left outside the windows. Other than a few bruises, I have little damage from the crash. The building and car aren’t as lucky.
When I try to open the door, it won’t budge, so I’m forced to use a bit more magic to blast it open. A little more I won’t have when I need to fight against Fitzroy.
It takes me a minute once I’m out of the car to figure out just how far into the building I made it. Navigating through the corridors is going to be difficult now I’ve made some changes to the layout.
A choked cough alerts me to someone trying to sneak up behind me. I swing around and block the sword aimed at me by grabbing the assailant’s arm and kicking him in the knee. He drops to the ground with a cry of pain which I multiply by breaking two of his fingers in order to pry the weapon from his hand.
The second I have the sword in my grip, I slam the butt of it against his head and he drops. Still alive. Haven’t done that in a while. It almost feels wrong. My instinct tells me to run him through and take his magic, but the impulse isn’t strong. Wizard or not, he and the others were just like me once. We were all boys who happened to be born with a power which others took and manipulated into something wicked.
However, I won’t be too upset if I’m forced to kill any. They are still attacking me first. And they are helping Victor destroy two worlds.
I biff the sword at another wizard who attempts to sneak up on me. The blade goes through his thigh to take him down. Before he can recover enough to toss his magic at me, I surround him with my own and draw the air from the space. Luckily for him, he passes out before suffocating. I release him so he won’t die and move on.
The sound of a small explosive is followed by a sharp pain in my side, much like the one I’d felt before in my shoulder. I look down to check the damage. Only a graze.
When I turn to the hole in the wall I’d driven through, I see two of the small projectile weapons pointed at me while the other three uniformed people rush to cover where they can also draw their own weapons.
The next two shots miss, giving me the time I need to raise a wall of protection, blocking the entire hole I’d ma
de. No need to waste any more magic taking them out. The magic should be sufficient since they don’t have the ability to break it without power of their own.
Good thing, too. I don’t think I have the power left in me to take out one of them let alone all five. In fact, the wall might be the last big magic in me.
I draw my sword and pick my way through the rubble and to the untouched section of the building. It doesn’t take me long to find Fitzroy and the last two wizards. They are positioned in front of the same door I recognize as the one hiding the portal and the sorceress. I might not have recognized it if they weren’t standing in front of it, obviously guarding it. But Fitzroy was never very smart about such things.
“Your forces have dwindled since the last time I saw you,” I say. “People haven’t quit on you, have they? They would probably be more loyal if you didn’t let them see how much of an idiot you are.”
Fitzroy laughs. The sound is a little more like Farah’s whine than I remember. It must be the difference between hearing him through the filter of tainted magic and not.
“Oh, Aldric.” The smile slides from his face. “You always were so amusing.”
“Really?” I say. “I’ve always thought of myself as quite somber. It must have something to do with how much fun I’ve had today.” Out of the corner of my eye I see a bit of blonde hair. “Hello Loraine,” I say. “How are you feeling now?”
“Coming here was a bad decision,” Fitzroy says. “You couldn’t defeat me before, how do you expect to do so now with so little power left?”
I hold my hand out to tell him to stop. “I’m sorry, but I was talking to my sister. If you’ll just hold on one moment, I’ll be right with you.”
Fitzroy moves in blinding speed. A speed I would have easily matched earlier today, but now I don’t have time to do anything more than flinch as he slams his hand against my throat and pushes me against the wall.
“Your sister is lost to you.” I think he’s attempting to sound dangerous, though I can’t quite get past the memory of him as a lanky teen to feel quite as threatened as I probably should. “There is nothing left for you here but death.”
“I agree.”
And I plunge my sword into his stomach, past the layer of protective magic he has surrounding himself and directly into the source of his power.
Because of my angle, I’m not able to aim or put as much pressure behind the attack as I might like, but it’s good enough to do what I intended. The link between Fitzroy and Loraine disintegrates at the touch of my blade and they both cry out in surprise and pain at the same moment.
Fitzroy stumbles away from me, his hand dripping blood as he pulls my blade with him.
His face is contorted with fury as he looks up from his wound to me.
“You could have had everything,” he says.
Even if my blade was free, there was no way I could have moved fast enough to stop him. I just can’t compete with his magic, even without the boost he’s no longer getting from Loraine.
His sword slices through my tunic and shirt, and digs deep into my flesh. I know it hurts. On some level I can feel the white hot pain, but my mind has somehow shut those thoughts out.
I seem to be falling in slow motion. Dropping first to my knees and then forward. My arms won’t move to block the fall, but I don’t register the pain in my face and shoulder any more than I do the pain in my stomach.
No longer am I able to see the people or the space around me, all of it is gone, and I am back in my safe place within my own mind.
A single bubble of magic hovers before me. All signs of the darkness’ assault on it gone.
As I approach, the images within shift and move as though they are alive. An image of Lou turns to look at me, her dark hair bouncing over her shoulders. Her eyes sparkle when she sees me, and her entire face shines.
The edges of the image blur and fade as I approach and I know she will disappear entirely long before I’m able to reach her.
And then another memory appears, similar to the first, but this one is of Loraine. As much as I love her, I wish it wasn’t her image becoming stronger as I approach. Lou’s smile is much more soothing than Loraine’s frown.
Why is she frowning? Of all the memories for me to return to as I die, this seems like the worst choice.
While I try to reach past Loraine to catch hold of Lou in hopes of keeping her image with me a moment longer, Loraine’s memory reaches toward me.
And smacks me in the face.
Chapter Twenty Three
My eyes snap open and I reach for my cheek, more surprised than injured. Loraine is hovering over me looking stressed and furious.
“Honestly,” she says, “Must I do everything?”
I look around trying to figure out what’s going on. Even though I seem to be alive and awake, I’m not sure I understand how either is possible. After all, the sword into the belly should have killed me.
The wizards who were flanking Fitzroy are now glaring at me from inside a thick bubble of magic. Any time they try to struggle free, the bubble shrinks a little, trapping them much tighter.
“Loraine?” My throat is dry, making my voice sound more gruff than usual. “What’s going on?”
“I just saved your life. Obviously.” She tugs at my arm as though trying to help me up, but I resist. None of this feels right. I should be dead. “Come on. We need to go.”
“But,” I say still dazed. “How did this happen?”
She heaves the longest sigh I’ve ever heard. “You broke the connection between Fitzroy and me. Then he stabbed you.”
“I should have cut off your head.”
It takes me a moment to find the source of the other voice. And then I see Fitzroy on the ground, clutching his wound and wrapped in his own bubble. He’s alive, but not in the best of shape if the stain on his shirt is any indication.
“Traitor,” he says. “You are worse than scum. You and your whore of a sister.”
“Tsk tsk,” Loraine says. “Is that any way to speak to the people who have your life in their hands?”
He answers by spitting at her, but the glob gets caught by the bubble and makes a mess all over him instead.
“Pleasant,” she says. “And to think I used to believe you were cute. Well, it’s amazing how a few years of sleep can change a girl’s perspective.”
She turns back to me and grins exactly as she used to when she was a kid. Despite everything going on, I can’t help but smile back.
“There’s the Aldric I remember.” She pats my cheek. “Now get up. We need to leave.”
I do as I’m told and am surprised when I feel no more pain than a dull ache and some bruising. I dip down and grab my sword. Loraine makes a noise as though she’s just remembered something bad.
“Right,” she says. “About the sword. Sorry.”
“What?” I look at the blade, but there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with it. There better not be anything wrong with it. “What did you do?”
“It’s your fault.” She does an amazing job at making me feel guilt with the one line. I’m still not sure what I’m guilty of, but I’m sure I must have done something wrong. “Of course you had to use it because no other sword would have worked, so I suppose it’s not entirely your fault. I did such a good job with the spell on the blade. My best work, I think.”
“Loraine,” I say. “Explain.”
“I may have absorbed the magic within your sword when you used it to break the spell between Fitzroy and me.” She pats the top of the hand I’m using to hold the blade. “Sorry. It’s just a regular sword now. It can only cut through normal sword cutting things, whatever those might be. But on the bright side, all of the magic Fitzroy was stealing from me came back to me when you severed the connection as well. This was a lot of magic by the way. So right now I have more power swirling around inside me than I have ever had before. Hence the unbreakable bubbles. Clever, huh? I make them each just powerful enough they can still break
them if they’d like, but it will cost every last drop of their stolen magic in the process.”
I put my hand to my head. This is all too much for me right now. “Loraine,” I say.
She spins around in a circle as though she was going to start walking away, but decided to face me instead.
“Yeah?” she asks.
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
“Of course you are,” she says. “If I weren’t you’d have been killed long ago. After all, why do you think Fitzroy was so keen to keep you alive?” She towers over him while he grimaces in pain. “That’s right. You weren’t as in control over everything as you thought. I hope you didn’t tell a lot of people how to have their own sorceress slaves, because that might end badly for you wizards. Oh, wait. You did.”
She skips past me and when I don’t follow, she turns and gives me an expectant look. “Coming?”
“But, what about the woman trapped in the portal?” I ask. “I came here to break the spell.”
All amusement drains from Loraine’s face and she is suddenly on the verge of tears. She shakes her head a barely discernible amount. “There’s nothing we can do for her,” she says. “The only way to help her now would be to kill her. And the spell she’s trapped in is very complicated. Killing her would only push forward events, making it impossible for us to save your friend.”
I stare at the door and feel the pull of magic from inside. There must be something to be done for her. We can’t leave her here to continue suffering the way she is.
And then I grasp what Loraine said.
“My friend?” I ask.
“The dark haired one,” Loraine says with a nod. “The one with you when you were shot. This was dumb of you by the way. You should have run first chance you could, not stuck around trying to convince me to leave. Obviously I had no choice. My magic was attached to this idiot.” She kicks the bubble holding Fitzroy and he grunts as it tightens around him as a result. “I couldn’t go anywhere. But it’s important we find your friend and fast. Victor and Rilla are going to use her to power the last portal. We need to stop them since once she’s trapped in the spell, there’s nothing we can do to save her or the worlds.”
The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword) Page 43