Wander_A Night Warden Novel

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “That should help,” he said and gestured. The orbs created a lattice. “I don’t have your skill but this is the next best thing.”

  I nodded. “Clever.” I shot two rummers, turning them to dust as they closed in on us. “We need to get to the other side, where the controls for the floor are.”

  With the pendant around his neck, his casting was at full strength. I could see him getting angrier with each rummer he erased. I would’ve worried if it didn’t bother him.

  “These deaths are senseless,” he said under his breath. He released several more orbs, blasting the rummers into circles and ghosting them. “Someone capable of this kind of slaughter needs to be eliminated. Lyrra needs to die.”

  “If the twin upstairs was Rina, this is Willow.” I shot three more rummers, followed by two more. I emptied the cylinder and speed loaded another seven. “She’s not a blade master, like her sister. This one will cast. Be careful with her misdirection.”

 

  “Thanks for the tip. You can shut up now.”

  “I didn’t say a word,” Tristan answered, confused. “Are you hearing voices?”

  “Yes.” I dodged away from a rummer’s swipe and fired, reducing it to nothing. Another rummer raked the back of my duster, and Tristan blasted through it with a fire orb. “Recent development with the sword.”

  “May I ask, does the voice sound like Vinnie Jones?”

  “The actor?” I stared at him for a second before I leaped forward to avoid another circle. “I think you really need a vacation from your partner. Why would it sound like Vinnie Jones?”

  “Never mind.” He stepped back and pivoted at the last second to let a rummer lunge past him and into a circle. He looked suddenly behind us. “We have company.”

  I turned just in time to see the door bulge inward and explode. On the other side of the large hole, a face peeked through, and then the wall began to crumble. The wall collapsed and a large figure stepped through. He was easily eight feet tall and half as wide. I took in the complete image, and it wasn’t pretty. Behind the one that broke through the wall, I saw another face, equally ugly.

  Tristan gestured and a wall of energy formed, blocking the trolls’ advance. “That won’t stop them forever,” he said as the trolls started pounding on the energy wall. “It also seems they’re immune to the circles.”

  “Trolls.” I looked across the room at Willow. “How the hell did Lyrra get trolls?”

  “Irrelevant,” Tristan said, moving across the floor faster. “We need to put some distance between them and us.”

  “Too many rummers ahead, unless you can cast an entropic vortex?”

  He gave me a hard stare. “You’re asking me to combine the components of two highly unstable and dark spells.”

  I had several reasons for asking him to cast this spell. I needed to know his current power level after his shift, and his willingness to attempt a dark spell. Everyone had heard about the void vortices he cast in the city, but he wasn’t showing any indication of going dark. His reluctance was a good sign. Any mage who was eager to try dark spells was a threat—to themselves and the city. I should know.

  I would hate to have to ghost him if he lost it and went dark. Rox would fry my ass several times over if it came to that. I’d rather face the angry trolls intent on stomping us than an angry Rox.

  “Not dark—gray.” I gave him a shrug. “If you’re too scared to do it, I guess I can cast it. I w that with your recent power shift, you would be able to handle this. No worries. I’ll be out of it for a while afterwards. Can you handle the trolls on your own?”

  “I’ll do it.” He glared at me. “Only because you’re too old and infirm to handle the rigors of the casting. It’s not like the Golden Circle is going to tack more death to my sentence.”

  “And the two trolls.” I added, pointing behind us.

  “And the two trolls—yes.” He gestured and began blending the runes.

  “For someone who isn’t a dark mage, you know the obscure runes well.” I glanced over as a rummer leaped at him. I fired, dusting him mid-air.

  “I study all the runes. It’s why I’m a mage and not a wizard,” he said. “If I get this wrong, we won’t be around to discuss the error. I don’t even know if it will work.”

  “You’re basically creating a large, free-form, negation round in vortex form.” I ghosted another rummer that approached, and jumped to the side to avoid a circle. “It’ll work.”

  “Oh, that’s all, is it?” he said as he gestured, and the area around him grew dark. “I’m doing this against my better judgment.”

  “I understand.” Mages and their egos. We were a sorry lot when pushed. “Let me get clear. I’ll stop Willow and explain the error of her ways—violently.”

  I ran forward, avoiding circles as they appeared before me. I had to stop a few times and backtrack as they formed in clusters too large to jump over.

  I saw Willow casting in the distance. She stood in the center of a protective circle. Nothing I fired would reach her through that shield. I needed her outside of it and irrational. I slowed my pace, emptied Fatebringer, and speed loaded more negation rounds.

  I had a speed loader with entropy rounds, but I was saving those for Lyrra. I knew they were banned, but she deserved no less than to have her body torn and ripped apart. I was thoughtful that way.

  As I closed the distance, Willow noticed me and sent a flame orb my way. I raised my duster to take the brunt of the impact. The orb crashed into my side, sending flames everywhere.

  “Stryder, why don’t you die already?” she said and formed another orb. “No one wants you around—you’re a relic.”

  I needed to time it perfectly. She was dangerous with her flame orbs. Another rummer lunged at me. I kicked it into a circle, turning it to dust. I stood my ground. I would have to drive her into a rage, angry enough to come at me herself. I knew just the button to push, but first the rummers had to be stopped.

  “Anytime you want to let that go would be good.” I glanced back at Tristan. He held a large mass of dark energy in front of him.

  “Would you like to hold this?” I could tell it was difficult to maintain. “It’s not like it’s unstable or can erase us if I do this wrong.”

  I sensed a large group of rummers advancing on his position. “You have incoming.” I kept my eyes on Willow. “Unleash that thing and get clear.”

  I felt the surge of energy as he completed the casting. The mass of energy shot forward and enveloped a rummer. It morphed into a small tornado and began drawing the rummers into it and disintegrating them.

  “I keyed it to the Redrum so we should be safe, but I wouldn’t get too close. It’s volatile and unpredictable.”

  “You’re not half bad as a mage.” I nodded in grudging admiration.

  “I have my moments,” he said, dusting off his jacket. “It won’t work against the trolls, though. Their resistance is too high, and I won’t risk a stronger vortex.”

  “How long will it last?”

  “Not long, but it should remove most of the rummers.”

  The rummers were being pulled from every direction into the vortex. Keying it to the Redrum meant they didn’t stand a chance against the force of the spell. I glanced at Tristan. In a few decades, he was going to be a formidable mage.

  The floor shuddered as the trolls roared. The wall holding them back began to collapse, and Willow laughed.

  “I don’t need to do anything.” She pointed behind us. “Those two will rip you apart.”

  Tristan faced the trolls. “I’ll slow them down. You stop her and get this floor shut down.” He gestured as he closed the distance on the trolls.

  “Rina went quick.” I stepped to the side to avoid a circle forming under me. “I made sure she didn’t feel pain. It wasn’t what she deserved, but it was right.”

  “Fuck you, Stryder,” she hissed, taking a step toward me. “No way could you ta
ke down my sister.”

  I removed Rina’s blades from my pocket and tossed them on the floor in front of her as I stepped back, careful not to step in a circle.

  “Those look familiar?” I asked, knowing what the response would be. “She wasn’t as skilled as she thought. Maybe she missed some of the training?”

  Her face transformed into a mask of fury as she bent down to pick up the blades. They burst into flame as she channeled magic through them. I stepped back several more feet.

  “I’m going to kill you myself, old man.” She leaped at me, jumping out of the protective circle—exactly as I planned.

  My duster was strong and I had confidence in Aria and her word-weaving spells, but Willow’s blades were covered in some nasty runes and looked dangerous. I didn’t want to take the chance of being cut by them.

  Most of the Night Wardens believed I couldn’t cast. I had spread the rumor of an erasure early on as the consequence of my casting the dark spell. Only a few people knew the truth of my condition.

  Willow approached, expecting me to use Fatebringer. I didn’t disappoint her. I raised my gun and fired at her three times. She deflected the rounds with her sister’s blades.

  “At least you use them better than your sister.” I needed her closer and irrational. I holstered Fatebringer. “She died with a look of surprise on her face.”

  She screamed at me and attacked. Swinging wildly, she slashed at my face. I slid to the side, gestured, and held my breath against the stab of pain in the back of my neck. She slashed again. I ducked under her attack as I placed a hand on her side, pushing her back and releasing the spell into her body.

  I stumbled back and fell on my side, narrowly missing a circle as she kicked at my head. I raised my arms in a cross-block and deflected most of the impact. She stabbed down as I rolled to the side, dodging the flaming blade.

  My vision tunneled in as I fought to maintain consciousness. I staggered to my feet as she laughed.

  “Why don’t you just surrender, old man?” She feinted with a blade, and I stepped back out of range. “I’ll finish you quick, you bastard.”

  “That’s really considerate of you.” I got my breathing under control and spat blood to the side. “But you’re already dead…your brain just hasn’t gotten the memo.”

  “I’m dead?” she scoffed. “I’m not the one spitting up blood.”

  “The first lesson you learn as a Night Warden—stack the odds in your favor.” I moved back. “Don’t fight fair, because fair doesn’t exist. Misdirect and attack from strength when you appear weak.”

  “Time to die.” She took a step forward, dropped one of the blades, and clutched her side. “What did you do?”

  “I killed you.”

  She took another step and fell to her knees, dropping the other blade. She formed an orb of flame as I shook my head. She was about to unleash it when the orb sputtered and disappeared.

  I saw real fear on her face then, and for a split second, through the haze of pain threatening to split my head in half, I almost felt sorry for her.

  “What did you hit me with?” The fear was evident now as the pain increased and seized her side. “You can cast—they told me you couldn’t cast.”

  “A devourer spell.” I drew Fatebringer. “You’re looking at ten minutes of pure agony. It’ll eat your insides and leave your nerves intact. You’ll feel everything right up until the moment you’re ghosted.”

  “Stryder, no,” she gasped through the pain that racked her body. Her eyes were wide with fear. “Finish it. I don’t—I don’t want to suffer. Not like this.”

  I fired Fatebringer once and saved her the pain. I limped over to the control room in the back. The runic controls were on the far side. I placed my hand on them and disabled the training circles, as the sound of a thunderclap filled the level.

  THIRTY-SIX

  I LOOKED ACROSS the floor to see the trolls destroy the energy wall and step farther into the room.

  “You right bastard. Come on, then.” I heard the voice but couldn’t believe it. It was Frank. He was facing one of the trolls when a bolt of electricity exploded in the room, charring one of the trolls and catapulting the other across the floor.

  I saw Tristan lean against the wall and pat the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. I walked by the unconscious troll that had flown across the floor. Smoke wafted up from his body as I stared at the small lizard. Next to him stood Koda, looking battered but mostly intact.

  “What the hell are you doing down here?” I said to them. “You”—I pointed at Koda—“I told you to cut and run if things got bad. And you, lizard, are supposed to be at The Dive. Where’s Cole?”

  Frank stepped up close, and I could feel the electrical charge in the air around him. “I can see you’ve been getting your ass kicked, so I’m going to disregard the lizard comment.” He pointed one small leg at me and spat to the side.

  “How did you get down here?”

  A small ball of electricity raced across the floor and exploded against the far wall. “I think the words you’re looking for are: ‘thank you for saving my ass from two large scary trolls that were going to shred me and my mage friend’, oh great powerful dragon.”

  “How did you even get past the doors?” I looked at Koda. “Is this your idea of getting away?”

  “You told me to get to safety,” she said, sticking out her chin and squaring off. “They appeared right outside the entrance you told me to guard and could see through my camouflage.”

  “Does this look remotely safe to you?” I threw up my hands. “I told you to get safe—away from here. Not further into the danger.”

  “That was probably my fault, Grey,” Frank said and looked back at the destruction behind us. “She must have seen me run in. Sassy-pants is a great lockpick. She got past all the defenses, no problem.”

  “I followed him and they followed me,” Koda said. “I didn’t have a choice. Besides, you said run to safety.” She looked around at the devastation. “Next to you two is the safest place down here.”

  “She does have a point,” Tristan said.

  “Shut it, Montague.” I pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the impending migraine. “No way are they coming downstairs. I haven’t even seen Quinton, and I can guarantee he won’t be as easy as the Twins.”

  “Montague?” said Frank. “As in Poindexter Montague?”

  “He’s my uncle,” Tristan said, looking warily at Frank. “But no one calls him that. At least no one living. How do you know him?”

  “Ha! Old Stone Fist?” Frank responded, looking around. “Now, that’s a mage you want on your side in a battle—no offense meant. He would have smeared those trolls without breaking a sweat.”

  “None taken, I think,” Tristan said. “You know my Uncle Dex? He never mentioned a liz—I mean, dragon—of your scale.”

  Frank shook his body, sending bolts of electricity in every direction. “I wasn’t always in this body,” he said with another shake. “It’s complicated. Anyway, is Dex with you?”

  I stared at Frank. “No, Dex isn’t with us,” I snapped. “Maybe when we’re done here, you can have Tristan put you in touch. While you’re at it, don’t you have some other long lost relatives or friends you need to locate?”

  “Someone hasn’t had their coffee today.” Frank stepped around to Koda’s side and stood behind her legs. “Don’t be so touchy. I was just asking. If Dex isn’t here” —he looked Tristan up and down—“I guess his nephew will have to do. Are you any good?”

  “I can hold my own.”

  “See? There.” Frank pointed at Tristan. “It’s good to have a Montague on your side in a fight. Even if they are a bit scrawny and have no clue how to dress for a proper battle. Where were you headed when Grey called you—a funeral?”

  “I was—” Tristan started.

  “Don’t bother,” I said. “You two get topside, now. Tristan and I can handle things from here.”

  “Handle things
?” Koda crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “Both of you look like you can barely stand—you especially.”

  “I’m fine, we’re fine,” I growled. “This is too dangerous. I don’t want you getting in over your head.”

  “We could use the help,” Tristan said. “You look like bloody hell, and I feel the way you look.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I grumbled as I made my way across the floor. “How soon before the trolls come to, Frank?”

  “Not in this lifetime,” he said and kept walking. “What? Did you think they were going to have a chat with you? Trolls only exist to destroy and kill. Thought you knew that.”

  I stared at him with a newfound respect and just the smallest amount of fear.

  “What did you do?”

  “I fried their tiny little brains.” He poked the troll that lay face down in the middle of the floor, not unconscious—dead. The other one was a charred mess, but I could’ve sworn this one was still alive when it landed.

  “You what?” I said, still shocked that he could take down two trolls alone.

  “Magic resistance is off-the-charts with these things, so I used straight electrical energy.” He pointed at his eyes and made an explosion sound. “Through the eyes and into the brain…poof. No more angry troll. Worse than a soul render.”

  “You’re one scary dragon.” I headed to the stairwell leading down.

  “Now you’re finally starting to understand.” He stood on his hind legs and balanced with his tail. “Lockpick,” —he reached for Koda—“do me a favor and help me with the stairs?”

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  WE REACHED THE lower level.

  The wall holding the door was covered in runes. I kept my distance and made sure no one approached that side of the level.

  Tristan narrowed his eyes as he examined the door.

  “Several layers of traps.” He shook his head. “Stasis, disintegrating, and all-around nastiness. Bollocks, there’s no way around that door.”

  I looked around the corridor. All of the surfaces were smooth stone. The door was the only break in the wall, and if I remembered correctly, it was six inches thick.