“I don’t know,” Maria said. “From what happened here and what I saw on the news it looks like they’re serious, whoever they are.”
“They are.” Maria turned to see Heather walking down the hall. “I met two of them on the stairs down here. They were dressed in the uniform of the Blessed Army.”
“Blessed Army?” Sonja asked.
“Religious fanatics who like nothing better than killing wizards,” Maria said. “How did so many of them enter the city?”
Jonny and Kelsie had gotten their wits about them and joined Maria by the door.
“We studied the Blessed Army in strategy class,” Jonny said. “Our commanders said they were the enemy we were most likely to have to actually fight.”
“Did they have any suggestions about the best way to do so?” Kelsie asked.
Jonny shook his head. “Nothing that would apply to this situation. This is pure urban warfare. There could be an enemy around every corner. I still say our best bet is to hole up somewhere and wait for the authorities to come and deal with these guys. Worst case scenario, we might get shot by our own people.”
Sonja groaned. “I’m all for going back to bed, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to rest now. In fact, I’m in a mood to show these assholes what happens when you wake up a sick wizard.”
“We have a responsibility to protect the civilians,” Heather said.
Maria glared at her. “What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at the stadium with the team?”
Heather brushed her hair out of her face. “I felt like I was coming down with something this morning too. Coach Chort agreed that I should rest and join them for the afternoon matches.”
“I suspect there aren’t going to be any afternoon matches,” Maria said.
“At the very least,” Sonja said, “we should check on Crystal’s parents and the rest of the guests on this floor. Maybe we can seal off the stairwells and keep any more soldiers from entering.”
Maria nodded. It was a good compromise. “Okay. Does anyone have any objections?”
Kelsie and Jonny both shook their heads.
“I can create walls of ice to seal off the stairwells,” Heather said. “That should hold off anyone trying to come up for a little while.”
Jonny found an undamaged gun and took the lead. They went door to door, finding more corpses than survivors. Every survivor they found Maria directed toward Sonja’s room. It was near the center of the floor and she was certain no bodies littered the floor. A small spot of luck, Crystal’s family was still safe, unlike many other, less fortunate people.
After clearing all the rooms and finding no more soldiers, they headed to the nearest stairwell. Heather chanted and conjured her wall of ice while everyone else kept watch.
“It’s a slaughter,” Jonny said. “You study war and combat in school, but seeing it in real life is something else. I thought I’d be able to handle it, but my hands are shaking.”
Maria squeezed his shoulder. It was taking everything she had just to keep it together, but if he lost it, it might start a chain reaction. “You’re doing great. This is a new situation for all of us.”
“Thanks.” Jonny offered her a weak smile.
Heather finished the wall of ice and wiped sweat from her brow. “That’s one down, three to go.”
“Can you manage three more?” Maria asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about me. This is nothing for a fully trained wizard.”
Maria’s face twisted. “I’m thrilled to hear it.”
Arrogant bitch. She wanted to punch Heather’s perfect face in, but this wasn’t the time or the place. The time would come though, she knew it.
Lady Tiger limped through the slums and away from the warehouse. Her spell had ended moments ago. If he survived, Father Salvador wouldn’t be long getting on her trail. Hopefully, the spell killed him, but in her heart of hearts she knew it hadn’t. His mad devotion would give him all the strength he needed. That same madness would also compel him to hunt her down and finish what he started.
She groaned and leaned against a building. Though there was little time to spare, she needed to rest, just for a moment. She closed her eyes and listened. Other than her ragged breathing, only silence filled the air. The locals had abandoned the area. Good decision on their part. It never ceased to amaze her, how rats, both human and animal, recognized when the time to escape had arrived.
Overhead, the sky was clear. Under ordinary circumstances it would’ve been a simple matter for her to race into the sky and fly to safety. Today, just thinking about casting a flight spell made her head throb. Speaking of throbbing, her shoulder sent jagged blasts of pain into her with each heartbeat. She glanced back the way she’d come and found a trickle of blood. Her hunters would have no difficulty tracking her with a trail like that to follow.
A quick glance around the area revealed little she could use. The buildings were all in various states of decay, but there was one in a little better shape than the rest. The sign over the door said “Boardinghouse.” She might find something there to use for a bandage.
She staggered across the street, up the steps, and through the door. No one stood behind the counter so she just reached over and grabbed a room key. She made her way down a short hall to room three and unlocked it.
Yellow-stained sheets covered a narrow bed. It didn’t look like anyone had changed them in months. Well, desperate times led to desperate actions. She sat on the edge of the mattress and tore her robe open. Her stomach twisted at the pain but she kept going. When the wound had been exposed, she focused her will and summoned fire into her hand. It was very difficult for wizards to heal themselves, but she could still stop the bleeding.
Clenching her jaw against the pain, she pressed the fire into the injury.
Everything went black.
Maria darted a glance at Heather as the group marched down to the final stairwell. Aside from her face having gone a bit pale, the woman appeared to be handling the casting of so many powerful spells without difficulty. Little as Maria may have thought of her as a person, she couldn’t deny Heather’s skill as a wizard. Under other circumstances, she would’ve happily hung Heather out one of the windows by her ankles, but right now having an experienced wizard to back them up came as a huge relief.
Jonny ran up to the stairwell door, kicked it open, and checked the landing. “Clear!”
He’d done it four times now and each time he seemed to gain a little more confidence. Jonny stepped away from the doorway, grinned at Heather, and said, “You’re up.”
Heather raised her hands and began the familiar cadence of the wall of ice spell. Even though she didn’t understand the words, Maria could almost recite the spell along with her. The ambient moisture in the air had barely begun to gather when Maria heard the tread of heavy boots coming up the steps.
“We’ve got incoming.” Jonny raised his rifle and aimed it into the stairwell.
Sonja moved to join him, fire dancing around her hands. The mist gathered more slowly and Maria knew why.
“You need to move away, Sonja. Your fire magic is interfering with Heather’s spell.”
“Who’s going to hold back the soldiers?” Sonja asked.
“I got this,” Johnny said.
Sonja let the fire vanish and stepped aside. A moment later the first black-clad soldier appeared at the foot of the stairs.
Jonny opened fire, driving the first man back. The mists continued to grow thicker and ice formed on the floor.
The Blessed Army soldiers returned fire. Bullets pinged all around the doorway. Jonny fired a few more shots as the ice continued to thicken.
He staggered and fell on his butt. The ice reached three-quarters of the way up the doorway. Bullets hammered into it, but failed to penetrate.
Maria rushed over and knelt beside Jonny. She found no blood on his chest and when she felt around none of the bones appeared broken. Her spell had held.
“Are you okay?”
>
“Yeah, I think so. That hurt like a son of a bitch.”
Heather lowered her hands and sighed. “There, that’ll hold for a little while.”
“Good. We need to get somewhere safe so I can heal this bruise on Jonny’s chest.” Maria helped him up and Kelsie hurried over to grab his gun. Maria doubted she had any idea how to shoot it, but they might need it later.
Sonja led the way to the nearest room and pushed the door open. It was one they’d evacuated earlier, so no bodies covered the floor. And thank goodness for that, Maria couldn’t have dealt with cleaning up a slaughterhouse.
Once they were inside and the door closed Sonja collapsed on the bed. “I need to rest.” So saying she closed her eyes and was snoring in moments.
Maria guided Johnny to one of the chairs and sat him down. “I’ll have you fixed up in no time, just hold still.”
He grinned. “Seems like you spend a lot of time fixing me up.”
“Well, next time don’t get shot. Now be quiet so I can concentrate.”
She started casting while across the room Kelsie relaxed in the second chair and put her feet up. Light magic gathered and surrounded Johnny’s injury. The damage wasn’t bad enough to require a full healing field. It was nowhere near as serious as what happened when Lady Raven struck him.
Everyone could rest for an hour while she finished her spell. Once they’d caught their breath, they’d have some serious decisions to make.
The soft murmur of voices brought Lady Tiger back to her senses. With awareness came pain, her shoulder screamed at her and she let slip a soft whimper. She clamped her hand across her mouth to seal off any more noises. Whoever she heard had to be either after her or up to no good. Whatever the case, she was in no shape to fight off a child, much less an adult with a gun.
“We have to be getting close,” a male voice said. He sounded vaguely familiar but her thoughts were too jumbled to place him.
“Oh we are, I can smell her corrupt soul,” Father Salvador said.
So he’d come after her. It wasn’t that she doubted he would, more that she’d allowed herself an instant of hope that he might not have survived the blast. Lady Tiger should have realized by now that hoping was a waste of effort.
She turned her awareness inward and tried to summon her magic. A backlash headache set the room spinning. She’d be getting no magical help. Even at perfect health she wouldn’t have been able to physically fight off Father Salvador and whoever he brought with him. Much as it galled her, she needed to find a place to hide.
This room was no good, the trail of blood she left came right to it. But with Father Salvador out in the hall there was no escape that way. Lady Tiger racked her brain and looked around. There had to be something.
The only other piece of furniture in the dumpy room was a rickety wardrobe. If she hid there Father Salvador would find her in a second.
Lady Tiger slid off the bed and tiptoed to the tiny bathroom. Her eyes widened. Someone had smashed a hole through the bathroom wall into the next apartment. Why someone would do that she had no idea nor did she care. It was the perfect escape route.
As quietly as possible in her injured state, she eased her way through the opening, careful not to rub her wounded shoulder against one of the studs. The next apartment wasn’t in any better shape than this one. The priest would find her on the other side of the hole the moment he arrived.
Only one option remained. When they entered the apartment next door, she would slip out into the hall and escape. As plans went this didn’t please her, but she had no other choice. At least she’d stopped bleeding all over the place. She just needed a little distance between her and them and maybe she could hide.
Lady Tiger held her breath and listened. “She’s gotta be in here,” the first voice said.
She grimaced. It sounded like only two of them were after her, but if she guessed wrong and a third man remained out in the hall, she died.
A loud crash sounded when someone kicked down the door. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Father Salvador said.
Ignoring the taunt, she kept listening for footsteps in the hall. It didn’t sound like anyone was out there. She needed to move before they found the hole in the bathroom wall.
She steeled herself and stepped out of the room. A strangled gasp of relief slipped out when she found it empty. With a final glance back the way she’d come, Lady Tiger tiptoed down the hall. At the end of the passage she came to a door and eased it open.
She nearly wept when she found just another apartment. There should’ve been an emergency exit or something here. Not that she imagined the owners of this dump were concerned with safety. Her options exhausted, Lady Tiger entered the apartment and eased the door shut as quietly as she could.
In five minutes at most Father Salvador would find his way down to this room. This unit was in a little bit better shape than the others, but that wasn’t saying much. A bed with reasonably clean sheets filled the bulk of the space along with a side table and wardrobe. Nothing that would do for a hiding place. A single door led to a tiny bathroom with a window.
Like a lost explorer in the desert offered a glass of water, her eyes locked on that window. It had a latch, which meant it opened. It was a narrow opening, but if she forced herself, she should be able to wriggle through. But oh God was it going to hurt.
Pain was better than death which was better than failure. Lady Tiger climbed up on the toilet and flicked open the window. It opened out into a trash-strewn alley. The drop only measured about eight feet. Even injured she should be able to handle that.
Distant, muffled voices reached her. No more time for debate.
Using her good arm she grabbed the frame and pulled herself up. Her head fit through okay then it was time to get her injured shoulder through. She clenched her jaw and lunged.
Her sight went gray for a moment, but she was halfway out. Wriggling and pushing with her good arm and legs she made it the rest of the way through and dropped to the pavement. The impact sent lightning bolts lancing into her shoulder, but she refused to pass out again.
Focusing through the pain she limped away from the apartment building. She needed to find somewhere to rest so she could open a portal out of this miserable city.
Heather tried to still her trembling hands as she watched Maria cast her healing spell. The girl had skill and when her power reached its full potential, she would make a fine wizard. If she lived that long.
Though Heather liked to claim she stayed in practice, she’d used more magic today than she had since her last tournament. Not that lack of practice should have affected her power, you were what you were until you died. In the back of her skull the first faint throbs of a backlash headache built. If there’d been one more stairwell, she doubted she would’ve had the strength to seal it. Not that she would have admitted such a thing.
She surveyed the room, trying not to be obvious about it. The little fire wizard snored away on the bed. Malice’s granddaughter sat with her feet up and appeared dead to the world. Finally, Maria stood beside the injured boy and both of them faced away from her.
There’d never be a better opportunity. How she’d escape after killing the girl was another question. At the moment it didn’t look like there were many people in a position to stop her from simply walking away. Weak as she was, Heather had power enough to deal with a half-dead fire wizard, a weakling girl, and an ordinary boy. She’d have to be careful with Kelsie, since she feared what Malice might do if she accidentally killed the girl.
What it came down to, was whether she valued her career more than someone’s life. Thinking back to the way Maria looked at her, like Heather was little better than a common whore, she decided that Maria’s life wasn’t worth as much as her career.
Chanting a spell would surely draw attention better avoided, so Heather gathered magic using nothing but willpower. It took longer and set her head to pounding, but soon an ice dagger began to form in her hand. As it conti
nued to expand and harden she hid the weapon behind her back.
Just when she feared her head might explode from the backlash, the spell ended. Ice as hard as steel filled her fist. She squeezed so tight her knuckles ached.
Now or never.
She raised her blade to strike.
“Break!”
The ice dagger shattered. She stared at Kelsie. Of all the people she’d imagined getting in her way, Malice’s weakling granddaughter didn’t even rate a spot on the list.
Her moment of shock cost her. Maria chanted, “Sparks fly and bind, Lightning Grasp!”
Before Heather could react the spell coursed through her body. Her muscles spasmed and she collapsed to the floor.
Maria stood over her and stared down. “I knew it was a mistake to trust you.”
Her foot crashed into the side of Heather’s head and everything went dark.
Father Salvador snarled when he found the hole in the bathroom wall. The sneaky witch had found a way past them, God curse her. It shouldn’t have surprised him, like any vermin she knew how to hide.
He staggered a step and leaned against the wall, panting for breath.
“Are you alright, Father?” Jeremiah asked.
The pain in his face and chest was nearly unbearable, but bear it he would. The witch’s betrayal would not go unavenged.
“I’m fine. We need to get after her before she gets any further away.”
He ignored Jeremiah’s concerned frown and kicked the door out of his way. He turned left and marched down the hall. It was the only way for her to go. They’d have heard her if she tried to walk past them.
Room after room revealed nothing but the filth the locals lived in. At last he came to the final door on the floor. She had to be in there. He kicked the door in and raised his rifle. Nothing but another empty room.
“Why do you taunt me, Lord?” he shouted at the ceiling.
With the butt of his rifle Father Salvador smashed the wardrobe to pieces. Of course the witch wasn’t inside. He looked under the bed, but again came up empty. That left the small bathroom. Could she possibly escape him twice the same way?
The Four Nations Tournament Page 14