Wander_A Night Warden Novel

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  “Fuck you, Stryder.” He tried shaking his hands but the orbs had transferred from the handcannons to his hands. “I don’t need guns to take care of you or your wizard.” He tried to gesture and discovered he had lost all motor skill ability. The consistency of the spell was similar to sticking your hands into a vat of honey.

  “A creeper,” Tristan said with an edge. “I saw this during the war. I thought this spell was banned and then lost.”

  “It was banned after they created this variation.” I gestured again and fell to one knee. Gasping, I stood shakily. “Not lost.”

  Quinton scoffed as he kept trying to shake the orbs off. “You can’t even cast without falling over. Lyrra is going to ghost you before you can blink—old man.”

  “That may be true, but you won’t be here to see it.” I uttered a word of power and the creeper went from a spell designed to destroy inorganic material, perfect for disarming your enemies, to destroying organic material, perfect for disarming your enemies—literally.

  The screams didn’t start right away. It took a few seconds before Quinton realized what was happening.

  “Can you stop it?” Tristan asked. “Once that spell gets started, it’s almost impossible to stop.”

  “It’s keyed to the unraveling runes from his guns,” I said as Quinton began to scream. “Night Warden weapons are tied to their wielders’ runic signature.”

  “Once the runic signature is gone, it will dissipate and become inert,” he said. “Simple and lethal.”

  The creeper had disintegrated Quinton’s arms, leaving nothing in its wake. It consumed everything—clothes, skin, muscles, bone, and blood. Everything would be destroyed and converted to fuel the spell until it ran its course.

  “Kill me, you bastard,” Quinton pleaded through tears. “I hope Lyrra rips you apart. Please—please…it hurts.”

  I drew Fatebringer and crouched down next to Quinton.

  “How many of people in those beds begged for their lives before you forced Redrum into them?” I pointed to the bunk beds as the rage rose inside of me. “How many?”

  “It wasn’t me—it was all Lyrra.” He writhed on the floor and ground his teeth. “I was just following orders. She would’ve killed me if I didn’t do it. She’s lost her mind.”

  I looked at the door to the inner armory. I was certain she was in there waiting for me.

  “You should’ve picked an honorable death, Q.” I aimed Fatebringer. “Now I have to put you down like a wounded animal.”

  “Do it, Stryder.”

  I pulled the trigger.

  The creeper continued to erase all trace of Quinton.

  I turned to face Tristan. “I need you to do me a favor.”

  He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “We still have to face Lyrra,” he said, giving what was left of Quinton’s body a wide berth. “Then we can discuss favors. You can start with my new Zegna.”

  “I need you to get upstairs and call Rox, the NYTF and the Dark Council.” I looked at the rummers in the beds. “This place needs to be sealed—permanently this time. Have them set up a cordon. We can’t let these rummers get out.”

  “That would be a catastrophe.” He looked at the beds. “Do you have an exit plan?”

  “I’m a dying dark mage, wizard.” He winced, and I smiled. “There’s no place for me up there. The Night Wardens are finished. I’m just writing the final chapter. This is my exit plan.”

  “What about Koda and your friends?” he asked. “What do I tell them?”

  “Tell them the truth.” I reached in my duster and pulled out Dark Spirit. “I went out on my terms, doing what was right.”

  “It was an honor fighting alongside you,” he said, extending a hand. I took it and nodded.

  “You’ll be an excellent mage in a few hundred years.” I placed the sword on the table and drew Fatebringer. I emptied the cylinder and speed loaded the entropy rounds. “Keep practicing, and don’t go dark.”

  “I noticed the runes on the levels,” he said. “You were never planning on coming back, were you?”

  “Like I said, you’ll be fairly decent in a few hundred years.” I holstered Fatebringer, grabbed the sword, and drew the blade.

  “Goodbye, Night Warden Stryder.”

  “Take care of Rox.”

  He nodded and took off at a run.

  “This is going to be the shortest-lived host you’ve ever had.” I ran the edge of the blade across my forearm and power exploded into my body.

  Images raced across my vision. The power burned through me, and I had to grip the table to remain upright. The wound on my arm sealed almost immediately. I felt my magic interlace with the sword, solidifying the bond between us.

 

  “Don’t get excited. We still have to face one of the strongest Night Wardens I’ve known, and she’s batshit crazy.”

 

  I looked around and shook my head. “I’m afraid that’s not an option,” I said with a dark laugh. “I’m going to need you to mask your presence until I draw you again. Can you do that?”

 

  I sheathed the sword, placed it in my duster again, and drew Fatebringer. I pressed my hand against the panel next to the door. The locking mechanism slid back, and the door sighed open.

  “Time to die.”

  FORTY

  THE INNER ARMORY was half the size of the outer armory. The walls were thicker and the runes inscribed on them more potent. There was no ambient magic, and silence greeted me as I stepped all the way inside. Shelves and tables gave it a workshop feel. In the back of the room was the vault, where the most dangerous artifacts were stored.

  The vault door was ajar, letting me see that the vault itself was empty. The runes in the vault pulsed with power, and I noticed a large active circle on the floor. It seemed out of place, considering artifacts were no longer being kept here.

  I let my senses expand and felt—nothing. No, not nothing. Someone was masking their runic signature. I crouched and pulled up my duster in time to deflect a dark orb aimed at my head. It bounced off the coat and hit the wall, dissolving the area it hit.

  “You know you can’t hide, Lyrra,” I said, keeping my coat close to my body. “Why don’t you come out so we can kill each other properly?”

  “You should’ve joined me, Grey,” she said. Her voice echoed off the walls, making it hard to pinpoint where she was. “You still can. Together we can restore the Wardens to their glory.”

  “The Wardens are finished, Lyrra.”

  “No!”

  Another orb of black energy raced at me. I slid to the side as it went past. I dropped to the ground and rolled as it came from behind and burst where I stood.

  She materialized then. She was as beautiful as I remembered. Black hair cascaded down her back. Her bronze skin shone in the light as she took a defensive stance. She wore Night Warden leathers—runed to enhance her speed, reflexes, and strength.

  This was not going to be pleasant.

  One glance into her eyes and I knew she had stepped over the edge. “What was the plan?” I asked. “Detonate the upper levels and release the rummers into the city?”

  “How did it feel when Jade died in your helpless arms?”

  I crushed the anger and rage before it had a chance to rear its head. She wanted me emotional, reacting to her words. I raised Fatebringer and fired—faster than I had ever moved before. She was faster.

  An orb crashed into my chest and sent me sprawling. I recovered fast and got to my knees. I needed a different approach.

  “It hurt,” I said, after a pause. “When I lost Jade, my world ended. Everything that mattered died with her.”

  “It was your fault, Grey.” She formed a black orb and let it dance on her fingers before reabsorbing it. “You wanted power. It didn’t matter what it cost.”

  “I know—I didn’t reali
ze the price would be so high.”

  “You can join me now,” she said softly. “We can fix it. I can stop the poison in your body.”

  “Do you think I still can?” I stood slowly. “I mean, so much has happened. So much death.”

  “Only through death do we really appreciate life.” She pointed toward the rummers. “Look at them. I gave their life purpose again. They were living on the streets—like trash! Now…now they’re mine. My army.”

  “Now you have an army.” I glanced in the direction she pointed. “What will you do with them?”

  “We will take this city, Grey,” she said. “Take it back from those who wanted to crush us. I—we—will restore the Night Wardens. Do you see it?”

  “I see it.” I kept my voice even. I needed to get close enough to end her. I took several steps forward, and she jerked her head at me. “We can do this, just you and me.”

  “Liar.” she formed a handful of black and red orbs. Runes danced around them, and I had the feeling that they weren’t going to bounce off my duster. “You have power. Real power within you. You want to take my army—you want to kill me!”

  So much for the sword hiding its presence. I raised Fatebringer, and one of the orbs left her hand and sliced through the barrel. I threw the half I held at her and unsheathed the sword. Black tendrils enveloped me as the sword absorbed the light around it.

  “You’ve killed innocent people—for what?” I kept my eyes on the orbs in her hand and held the sword in front of my body. “This has to end, Lyrra.”

  “It will,” she said. “Right after I kill you.”

  The orbs flew off her hand and came at me. She gestured and materialized a sword in her hand. I dodged most of the orbs by leaping to the side. Two of them punched right through the duster.

  She closed the distance and slashed at me. I parried her thrust and stepped into her with my shoulder in an effort to throw her off balance. She pivoted around my shoulder charge and buried an elbow in the side of my neck.

  Pain gripped me as I staggered back and I almost dropped the sword.

 

  “You can’t face me, Grey,” she said as she circled. “I beat them all. Everyone who called me insane is dead or a rummer now. Even your old patrol mates.”

  She had killed them all. The Night Wardens I’d known knew were mindless creatures now, lying helplessly in those bunks. I let the rage go and the bond surged in me.

  She formed more orbs, but they moved in slow motion as they raced at me. I dodged them as I ran at her. I thrust forward and she parried, turning and swinging to cut my legs. I leaped over her slice, gestured, and blasted her with an orb.

  “You can cast?” she said as the orb lifted her off her feet and detonated.

  The blast slammed her body into the far wall with enough force to shatter the stone. She slid down the wall and started laughing as I approached. I saw the blood trickle out of the side of her mouth. She spat blood on the floor and traced a rune into the ground before I could rub it out with my boot.

  “What did you do?” I felt the first tremor seconds later. She had detonated the runes above us.

  “I killed you,” she said with a smile. “This is going to be our grave, Night Warden Stryder. Now all of the Wardens will be together.”

  I ran to the door leading to the outer armory. Half of the level had collapsed and buried the bunk beds holding the rummers. It looked like the other half was about to come down any second. I ran back into the inner armory and my eyes fell on the vault.

  I scooped up Lyrra and jumped into the vault, pulling the door closed behind us. Once the door closed, the circle activated and the world vanished.

  FORTY-ONE

  I OPENED MY eyes and found myself in a large bed. My first thought was Lyrra and the rummers. I sat up and a gentle but firm hand held me in place.

  “You need rest, Grey.” It was Aria. She wore her usual white robe covered in silver runic brocade, and it shone as it reflected the light of the morning sun. “No sudden movements.”

  “Lyrra… I had her in the circle.” I looked around. “Wait, that circle led to The Cloisters?”

  Aria gave me a look. “Try again.”

  “You intercepted a teleport?” I said, shocked. “How did you pull that off? According to Ziller’s theorems of teleportation, that’s supposed to be impossible.”

  “Not when you’re wearing my runes.”

  “Your runes?” I said, not making the connection. “The duster?”

  She nodded. “Ziller may be a member of the living library, but it doesn’t mean he knows everything,” she said. “Besides, he wasn’t always the best student.”

  “Lyrra?”

  “She barely made the jump.” Aria shook her head slowly. “Her body had suffered too much trauma, and she had taken too much Redrum. Her mind was destroyed. She died shortly after arriving.”

  “I never found out who helped her make the new strain of Redrum.”

  “I was able to get a name—Haran,” she said. “He was an Exile who left us several years ago.” She gestured, and I heard footsteps. “You can pursue that when you recover.”

  “Wait, how did you know to even track my coat?”

  She pointed to the door. Koda came in, carrying Frank.

  “I told her,” Frank said. He made a motion to spit and stopped himself after looking at Aria. “Lockpick over here was in a bad way, and I figured she was better off here, considering her condition.”

  “Did you at least tell Roxanne?”

  “She was the one who worked on Lockpick, along with Ms. Aria.”

  I raised an eyebrow at his formality and nodded. “Smart dragon.”

  “I’m glad to see you’re okay.” Koda fidgeted for a few seconds. “Stryder?”

  “Ask already.”

  “Do you have my fans?” she asked and blushed. “I would have waited to ask, but I feel so wrong without them. Please tell me you didn’t leave them down there.”

  “In my coat,” I growled at her. “I’ll give them to you later. Fans, really?”

  “Please allow Grey to get some rest.” Aria motioned for them to leave the room. “You can visit again later.”

  “I’ll let Cole know you’re still kicking,” Frank said as Koda carried him out. “Do you want me to tell Montague?”

  “Hold off on that for a while.”

  Last thing I needed was a mage heart-to-heart. I knew as soon as Rox found out, he would be here to counsel me on the dangers of using the sword. I could wait a few days for that conversation.

  “How long do I have to stay here?” I asked Aria after they had left. “This is much better than Haven, but I don’t like hospitals—even magical ones.”

  “You bonded with the Izanami.”

  It wasn’t a question.

  “Didn’t have much of a choice.” I looked away. “Didn’t expect to be coming back, either.”

  “But you have.”

  “I have no idea what I’m doing with this thing. Is it still in my coat?”

  “Check closer.” She pointed at my chest. “You can’t be separated from it now. The spell attacking your body has been rendered inert.”

  I let my senses expand and there it was, resting inside of me. “Oh for fu”—Aria raised an eyebrow—“for fudge sake. This thing is inside me now?”

  “I will give you instructions—if you promise to follow them,” Aria said, looking at me and shaking her head. “I mean, really follow them.”

  “Fine, if it means I get out of here faster.”

  “It does.” She walked to door and stopped. “I’m pleased you survived your ordeal, Grey.”

  “Me too,” I said. “There were a few moments there where I wasn’t sure.”

  “Get some rest.” She gestured, the lights dimmed, and the curtains closed, blocking out the sun. The room was cast into a pleasant darkness. “You still have much wo
rk to do, Night Warden.”

  ***

  Several hours had passed, when a presence woke me. The sun had set, and the darkness that settled over my room now had an edge of menace.

  “Did you find the source of the new strain of Redrum?” a voice said from the darkness—Hades.

  “Yes and no.” I sat up in bed, fully awake. “I still need to find the Exile who altered the Redrum.”

  “Clearly she didn’t work out,” he said. “Keep the sword as a token of my sincerity. I’ll have her taken care of.”

  Like I could return it now—the bastard. I looked around and noticed Corbel was missing.

  “No.”

  “No? To what exactly?”

  “She stays with me.” I couldn’t see his face, but his presence filled the room. I saw him sitting in the corner, a shadow in the night.

  “She’s a burden—you said so yourself.” He stood and glided over to the window. “I’ll retire her and end her pitiful existence.”

  I clenched my fist and found the sword in my hand as I left the bed. I felt the power and let it flow through me.

 

  “Come,” I whispered.

  Black energy erupted from the blade as the runes along its length burst with light. Tendrils of darkness impaled me, and I felt the power and consciousness of Izanami join with my own.

  Hades crossed his arms behind his back.

  “Do you think you’re powerful enough to stop me?”

  “Want to find out?”

  “You wouldn’t use it to save yourself, but you willingly surrender to it to save her?”

  “I’m funny that way.”

  “Very well.” He waved a hand in the air and sighed. “I will concede your request. She is released from my employ.”

  “No repercussions?”

  “None. She officially works for—”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “With you from this moment forward.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And I you.” He turned and looked out the window. “This is a fantastic view,” he said, before disappearing.