The Four Nations Tournament

by James E. Wisher

  Lady Tiger limped along past rundown buildings, shacks, and dumps. Her whole world was pain, everything hurt, her shoulder, her back, her legs, everything. She focused through her misery, putting one foot in front of the other like a robot.

  Every building on the street looked like its owner didn’t know the meaning of the word maintenance. It wasn’t the worst slum she’d visited in her career, but it ranked right up there. Despite the rundown appearance, the local landlords secured their property surprisingly well. Every door she tried was tightly locked.

  She reached the end of the first block and still hadn’t found a suitable place to hole up. Her trembling legs argued that maybe they could take a quick break. She ignored them. Lady Tiger feared that if she sat down, she’d never get up again.

  She groaned and stumbled along on her quest for a hideout. What was she going to do? Father Salvador would be on her trail sooner rather than later. If she didn’t find somewhere out of sight quick, she’d be out of luck. Lady Tiger paused to catch her breath and glanced across the street.

  Her gaze landed on a warehouse, a small one, probably a wholesale business at one point, less than half the size of the buildings the Blessed Army had used as a base. What drew her attention wasn’t the size, but the fact the door on the side of the building flopped back and forth in the light breeze. It was the only thing she’d seen remotely resembling a place to hide. It might not have been ideal, but she’d run out of options.

  Mustering her strength, Lady Tiger limped across the street and went inside. Someone had busted the doorframe which explained why the door flapped around the way it did. The interior of the building matched the neighborhood perfectly. Smashed crates mixed with heaps of torn clothing and other assorted junk.

  A quick search of the cluttered area inside turned up a length of string. It wasn’t much, just a simple piece of nylon paracord. She looped it around the doorknob, pulled the door tight, and tied it off so it wouldn’t swing around and draw attention she didn’t want. Her solitary hope was that Father Salvador would overlook the building as nothing special.

  But just in case he didn’t, Lady Tiger drew the last of her reserves and sketched a ward just inside the door. It wasn’t the most powerful defense she’d ever constructed, but whoever opened that door next would be in for a rude welcome. She’d done all she could, now it was time to find somewhere to rest.

  Lady Tiger picked her way through the piles of garbage trying to find somewhere out of the way to lie down. She slumped on a filthy mattress hidden under a pile of broken pallets. Despite the urine stains and large cockroach crawling across it, it might’ve been the finest sight she’d ever seen. It looked like some vagrant had been using this as a temporary home. Probably the same person who broke the door. Hopefully he wouldn’t return and set off her surprise.

  Lady Tiger settled in and closed her eyes. She was so exhausted she didn’t even care if someone found her. All she wanted to do was sleep. In moments she got her wish.

  Once Conryu was out of sight of the hotel room, his expression grew cold. These sons of bitches tried to kill his friends and came near to succeeding. He couldn’t allow that to happen again. He wouldn’t allow it.

  “Where are they, Prime?”

  “One group of four is climbing the northern staircase. The lower floors are mostly empty of living people and the few that are there can’t be distinguished between guests and marauders.”

  Of course they couldn’t. That would have been too simple. When it came to sensing their life force, one human was much the same as another. He’d just have to clear the hotel one floor at a time. Shouldn’t take long if he searched while remaining in Hell. It would’ve made a good job for Kai, but he wanted her to stay behind and protect the others. This was the first time he’d wished for an extra ninja on his team.

  First things first. He turned toward the northern staircase. He’d deal with that group then clear the rest of the floors.

  The wall of ice sealing the entrance to the floor had already melted down to little more than a puddle. With a wave of his hand Conryu dispelled the rest of the barrier. The thump of heavy tread was rapidly approaching and soon enough the first of the soldiers appeared below. The man spotted Conryu and raised his rifle.

  With a thought Conryu reduced it to so many iron filings. Conryu leapt from the landing and slammed his fist into the unknown soldier’s chin. With his Diamond Skin spell in effect, the blow landed like a sledgehammer. The soldier went down and didn’t get back up. Directly behind him were three more men in black uniforms. They got off a few rounds before he disintegrated their weapons.

  All three of them drew knives, as if those would do any good, and surrounded him. He let several blows land intentionally. His father would have had a fit if he’d seen that, but Conryu wanted them to feel as helpless as their victims. Twice more he let the razor-sharp steel skid across skin harder than granite.

  When one of them tried to stab him in the chest, Conryu caught his wrist and squeezed. The bones crunched in his enhanced grasp.

  He yanked the man towards him and head butted the soldier in the nose.

  The heavy blow caved his opponent’s whole face in.

  The other two looked at each other and in their moment of hesitation he waded in, kicking one of them in the chest with enough force to lift him off his feet and send him flying down the steps.

  Conryu uppercutted the second, snapping his head back, and sending him flying into the wall.

  It took only a second to tell this lot wasn’t a danger.

  “Are there any more coming?” Conryu asked.

  “No, Master,” Prime said. “The next nearest human is eight feet below us and a hundred and twenty feet to your right.”

  Conryu nodded. “Reveal the way through infinite darkness. Open the path. Hell Portal!”

  He stepped through into the endless darkness and closed the portal behind him. Cerberus came trotting up at once and barked at him. Conryu gave him an absentminded pat on the flank before opening a viewing window and easing his way down and to the right.

  It didn’t take long to find a family huddled alone in one of the rooms. They were hiding in the closet as if that would keep them safe should the soldiers show up. There was no threat there.

  He continued floor by floor checking every room and finding nothing but scared guests. It looked like the invaders, whoever they were, had focused their efforts on trying to kill the families of wizards.

  When he reached the lobby, Conryu found a war waiting for him. He’d known looking down from above that it was bad, but seeing it at eye level, even if he remained safe in another realm, took things to the next level.

  Soldiers in black uniforms mixed with a random assortment of the worst-looking people you could think of. He imagined they’d emptied out a juvenile detention center. Everyone had at least a machine gun of some sort and many sported hand grenades dangling from their belts. A constant stream of bullets flew back and forth. There wasn’t a safe place to be had in the lobby. Stepping out into that madness, even with this magical protection, would be risky.

  Conryu retreated to a storage room out of sight of the invaders, left Hell, and was assaulted by near-deafening noise. The crack of machine guns and the explosions of grenades mingled with the shouts and swearing of the wounded. The noise hammered at his ears and made him wince.

  He took a moment to consider the best way to deal with the terrorists and decided to try one of his new tricks. He drew a circle of dark magic and cast a summoning spell.

  The circle became a disk and out of it stepped three black hounds. Flames dripped from their mouths and their eyes glowed red. Each beast resembled a miniature Cerberus with only one head and standing as tall as his elbow. The hell hounds all looked expectantly at Conryu.

  He pointed at the lobby. “Take down anyone with a gun inside the building. Don’t kill unless you have to.”

  The hell hounds growled and he took that to mean that they understood. Unl
ike some demons, they couldn’t speak. Some people thought that made them stupid, but they were extremely intelligent. The spell, combined with their inherent obedience to Cerberus’s master, would compel them to do as he said. Conryu snapped his fingers. That was all the signal they needed.

  The hounds howled, sending a chill down his spine. How many beings, human or demon, had heard that sound before having their throat ripped out? He shuddered to think about it.

  The hell hounds leapt out the door and into the lobby. New screams mingled with the clatter of weapon fire. It didn’t take long before the guns grew quiet and cries from the dying took their place.

  Conryu emerged from the storeroom and watched as hell hounds took down a man and bit his arm off at the elbow. It didn’t even bleed as the flames they constantly generated seared the wound shut. It was brutal, but they were obeying his orders.

  In less than five minutes all the enemy soldiers had fallen. The hell hounds padded over, their tongues lolling, and sat at his feet. He patted each of them on the head, scratched behind their ears, and said, “Good boys. I’ll tell Cerberus how well you all did.”

  He opened a portal and sent them back to Hell.

  “Master, people are coming.”

  Probably the Kingdom soldiers coming to see why no one was shooting at them anymore. Conryu put his hands up just as a camouflaged man with a machine gun burst through the door. Ten more came in behind him.

  They looked around at the carnage filling the lobby and one by one fixed on Conryu. Eleven guns centered on his head and chest. Even with Diamond Skin protecting him that many weapons directed at him made Conryu nervous.

  “On your knees! Now!” the first soldier shouted.

  Conryu did as they ordered and was quickly surrounded. Prime stayed quiet and floated up near the ceiling.

  “Identify yourself,” the soldier said.

  “Conryu Koda. I’m on the North American Alliance’s team. When we found out what happened I came here as fast as I could. I’ve got friends upstairs.”

  The soldier grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. Most of the guns were now pointing at the floor.

  The leader of the soldiers—he had some markings on his uniform, but Conryu didn’t know what they meant—waved at the carnage. “You did this?”

  “Not personally, but I summoned the hell hounds that did it.”

  “These bastards held us off for the better part of an hour and according to our spotters, you dealt with them in under three minutes.”

  Conryu nodded. “You’re welcome. Can I go check on my friends now?”

  “We need to clear the rest of the building to make sure it’s safe,” the officer said.

  “I already checked it. There aren’t any more— Say, just who are these people anyway?”

  “Best as we can tell they’re a mixture of local anarchists and Blessed Army fanatics. How they slipped into the Kingdom I have no idea, but I promise you heads will roll.”

  “Great. Am I under arrest?” Conryu asked.

  One of the other soldiers came over and whispered in the officer’s ear. “No, my man just confirmed your identity with the Ministry of Magic. I’ve been told to extend you every courtesy. I’ll get those cuffs off you.”

  “That’s okay.” Conryu flexed and snapped the band, letting it fall to the floor. “I’ll meet you upstairs.”

  He collected Prime, opened a Hell portal, and vanished into it.

  Not wanting to startle his friends, Conryu stepped out of his portal well away from the room where he’d left the others. The hotel was safe for the moment. It took a weight off his mind. The next thing to do was find out if Mr. and Mrs. Kane were okay. Maria had to be worried.

  He grimaced at the mess Kai left in the hall and picked his way through the bodies to the door. He knocked once and Maria opened it immediately.

  She hugged him. “Is it over?”

  “I don’t know about over, but the hotel is secure. There are soldiers on the way, but they insisted on clearing the rest of the floors. I’m sure the other guests will be relieved to see them.”

  “I’m sure. Before they get here you and I need to talk.” She wore a frown even deeper than the one she’d used when he told her about Heather paying him a late-night visit, so whatever she had on her mind must have been serious.

  “What is it?”

  Maria glanced into the room for a moment then back to him. “Heather tried to kill me.”

  “What!?” Everyone in the room looked his way. “Sorry.”

  “My back was to her, and she had a knife made of ice in her hand. If Kelsie hadn’t dispelled it, Heather would’ve cut my throat. I knocked her out, but my spell’s going to be wearing off soon. What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to find out what the hell is going on, and if she doesn’t tell us the truth I’ll threaten to feed her to Cerberus.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t do this in front of everyone,” Maria said.

  “Good point. There are plenty of empty rooms. I’m sure any of those would do for an interrogation. I’ll grab her and then we’ll see what’s what.”

  Conryu went in and scooped up Heather. A faint tingle ran through his arms, but he ignored it.

  “Where are you taking her?” Kelsie asked.

  “Just down the hall. We’re going to have a little chat. Want to listen in?”

  “I do,” Kelsie said. She hopped up out of her chair and hurried over to the door.

  “Me too,” Jonny said.

  The three of them joined Maria out in the hall and made the short walk to the next room. Conryu tossed Heather on the bed and dispelled whatever magic Maria had used to knock her out. Heather groaned and sat up.

  She scrubbed a hand across her face and looked up at them. “Oh, God.”

  “You’re going to need more help than that,” Conryu said. “Why don’t you tell us all about it and we’ll decide what to do with you.”

  “I didn’t want to do it. You have to understand, she forced me. It was my last chance to save myself. I’m not proud of what I did or, I guess, tried to do, but I didn’t see any other way.” Heather broke down and wept.

  Normally the sight of a crying girl activated whatever it was that caused him to be so overprotective, but now he felt nothing. “So Malice put you up to it?”

  “Yes, she thought with Maria dead you might end up with Kelsie and that would suit her plans quite well. I didn’t really want to do it. You have to believe me.”

  “Grandmother told you to kill Maria in the hopes that Conryu and I would end up together?” Kelsie’s disbelief came through loud and clear in her tone. The whole thing was beyond insane, but given Malice’s involvement he shouldn’t have been surprised.

  Heather nodded, but didn’t say anything.

  Kelsie paced and ran her hands through her hair. She muttered unintelligibly, most likely about her grandmother. Conryu knew how she felt. He hated to see her so upset.

  Unable to watch her anymore, he marched over and set himself in Kelsie’s path. She practically ran into him before she stopped.

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “It’s not your fault. Your grandmother is a crazy, evil woman and what she does is not your responsibility.”

  Kelsie started crying. “But if we weren’t friends, she wouldn’t have thought killing Maria would accomplish anything.”

  “That just shows how insane she is. I don’t blame you for what happened and neither does anyone else. The most important thing is that you shouldn’t blame yourself.”

  She hugged him and cried into his chest for a moment. When she got herself under control, she stepped back. “Thank you for that. What are we going to do about Grandmother?”

  “That’s an excellent question.” Conryu turned to Heather. “Will you testify to what she tried to make you do?”

  “If you imagine I’m stupid enough to testify against Malice Kincade, then you’ve got worse problems than I thought.”

  Conryu leaned down so th
at their faces were only inches apart. “Let me rephrase. Are you willing to go to prison for attempted murder rather than testify against her?”

  Heather stared at him with wide eyes. Had she really not thought about the consequences of her actions? “Suppose I agree. What’s to keep her from just having me killed?”

  “What do you think will stop her from having you killed for failing?” Maria asked. “At least if you agree to testify against her the government might offer you some protection.”

  Heather hung her head. “How did it all go so wrong? This was supposed to be an easy job, make some quick money, and now I find myself in this position. I can hardly believe it.”

  “Yeah, you poor baby,” Conryu said. “So what’s it going to be?”

  “Alright, I’ll do it.”

  Conryu nodded, surprised but pleased to hear her finally willing to do the right thing. He felt like he owed her a little something for that. “I promise I’ll do what I can to protect you.”

  “I doubt there’s anything you can do, but I appreciate the gesture.”

  11

  Drive Them Out

  When they finished their interrogation of Heather, Conryu and the others escorted her back to the room. The soldiers from downstairs stood outside in the hall waiting for them. If all the bodies bothered them, they gave no indication. After everything that had happened today, what was a few more corpses? The men looked a good deal more relaxed than they had in the lobby.

  Their commander nodded to Conryu. “The other floors are secure, and we found no wounded. I sent a small team to check the top floor, but I don’t expect any trouble.”

  “That’s great, so what happens now?” Conryu asked.

  “Funny you should ask. Director Simpson just arrived and requested that you come down and have a chat.”

  Conryu glanced at Maria and she nodded. He hated to leave his friends again, but they were as safe here as anywhere in the city. “I’ll head down there now.”