by Tom Larcombe
“I just did.”
“But if you'd told me that back when you were sketching it out, we could've saved a lot of time.”
“Are we in a hurry? I thought we weren't headed out until after dark and you said actually making the belt would only take five or ten minutes.”
Charles' mouth, already open to reply, snapped shut.
“She's got you there Charles,” Greg said.
“Et tu, Brute?” Charles said to Greg.
He turned to Amber
“No, I guess we aren't in a rush.”
“Then, can we make my belt now so I can try it out?”
Ten minutes later, Amber was wearing the belt, pointing out where it needed a few little tweaks. Charles made the small modifications she requested and Amber proclaimed herself satisfied with the gear belt.
“So what crystals am I getting?” she asked.
“Two with a cloaking shield and two with darksight,” Greg said.
“What's darksight?”
“Let's you see in the dark like it was dusk or dawn,” he replied.
“Hey, that means you aren't giving me any crystals with the attack stuff Charles told me about, like the ball if fire?.”
“No, we aren't,” Charles said.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Quick,” Greg replied. “What's the approximate volume of this room in cubic feet?”
“What?” she said.
“Come on now, give me an answer.”
“I don't know.”
“And that's why you aren't getting anything offensive,” Greg said.
“What's that got to do with anything?” Amber said.
“Well, what if I gave you a crystal that produced a one thousand cubic foot ball of flame and you tried to detonate it in a room that didn't have that much volume? Guess where that flame would be going.”
“Oh,” Amber said, “and you can figure that on the fly?”
“Rough estimates at least. It only takes singeing yourself once to learn how to do it pretty well,” Charles replied.
She looked at him knowingly and he blushed.
“Yes, I made that mistake once and only once. Greg hasn't though since he's the one with Fire Magic. You need those calculations a little for Earth Magic, but it's much more important to be able to do them on the fly if you have Fire Magic.”
“Then what about the sleep crystals?” she asked.
“I've only got three of those,” Greg replied. “I can give you one if you want, but make sure you toss it at least ten feet away from yourself. Your shield would probably hold against it, but why take the risk?”
“Never mind,” she said. “I guess I didn't think that through.”
“Besides,” Charles added, “Your Air Magic, through the Dilectis Caeli, isn't exactly non-offensive.”
Amber blanched as she remembered the look of Eric's remains, then nodded her agreement.
“Speaking of which,” Charles said, “we really need to get Kathryn to test your Air Magic, see if she can tell how much you've got separate from your gift. You may need some training in that and she could do it if you need it.”
“How about we worry about tonight for now and that later on,” Amber said.
I guess she's more nervous than she appears, Charles thought. I can't blame her. I remember the first time I did anything like this. I was a nervous wreck, although I tried not to show it.
Amber slotted the four crystals she was given into her belt. Then she practiced trying to get them out quickly. It was harder than she'd thought and, while she was dropping one of the crystals for a third time, Charles found himself glad she'd given in and wouldn't be carrying any of the offensive crystals.
Because if she dropped one of those other crystals enough it would be sure to go off, he thought. And casualties from friendly fire is not something we want, tonight or ever.
Despite his nap, Charles wasn't feeling in top shape. He was awake and alert now, but realized he still needed to top off his energy.
“Dinner anyone?” he asked.
The other two nodded eagerly, so Charles set to cooking. After dinner he felt better, and his energy levels were back closer to normal. He looked over at Greg, who gave him a crisp nod. Then he looked at Amber.
“Okay, I want you to understand something Amber. We may have to hurt or even kill people when we go in there tonight. We'll try to avoid that whenever possible, that's why we made the sleep crystals, but sometimes it isn't avoidable. Are you going to be okay with that?”
He knew she still had problems with Eric's death, but he didn't know if it was just his death in general or if she were blaming herself for it and that was her problem. He hoped she herself knew or things could get hairy for her after tonight's mission.
“I'll handle it,” she said. “It's not like I haven't seen lots of people die before, but Eric's was both up close, and very personal. That's the only reason it's been bothering me.”
So her problem is that she did it herself, even if indirectly. As long as she doesn't have to blame herself for another death she ought to be fine tonight.
With dinner finished, sunset was in another hour and a half. Charles didn't want Amber to have time to worry, so he booted his computer back up, noting with relief that Amber hadn't harmed it, then turned to Greg and Amber.
“We need to kill some time. Both of you grab a seat on the couch over on the other side of the room and watch. Don't want to fry the computer when we get to the good part.”
He clicked to get to Netflix, then chose the comedy he'd been wanting to watch for a while. After that he took his seat over with the others.
“Sorry the picture isn't that big, but I still can't find a hardened monitor or television big enough to bother with.”
“For about the hundredth time,” Greg said, “I appreciate being able to watch this stuff at all without having to go to the theater and sit all the way in the front so I don't fry the projector. No need to apologize.”
The movie lightened everyone's mood quite a bit, even if Amber claimed it wasn't the type of thing she'd normally watch. The sun was down when the movie finished and everyone started gearing up to head out.
* * *
* * *
Chapter 14
Amber excused herself for a minute.
“I'll be right back guys, it would be a shame to make you put this bag piece on and then not use it, right?” she said.
She ran down to her apartment, taking the stairs so as to save time, and tucked a few things into the bag. She'd known it was going to be heavy after she filled it and had them take that into account.
The bag portion of her belt had several pockets along the edge of the interior. A box of ammunition fit perfectly in the largest pocket. Then she tossed the tiny first aid kit she always tried to keep around into the main body of the bag portion. A few energy bars went into the other pockets, then she slid the revolver in on top of everything else. A filled water bottle went into one of the larger pockets on the belt itself and she was ready to go.
I know these guys have done this a lot, but I didn't see where they planned on taking any food. Charles told me eating could help restore your energy a lot faster, so it might be a good plan to take some for them also.
She took the rest of the box of energy bars with her when she returned to Charles' apartment. After knocking on the door, she let herself in.
Amber desperately tried to keep a straight face when she saw Greg and Charles. Her belt was a little odd looking, but in addition to belts they had bandoleers as well, along with a few other things she couldn't even identify.
“Do either of you have extra food in case you exhaust your magic? Charles told me it comes back a lot faster if you eat.”
The two men look shamefaced as they shook their heads.
“Then find a place for these,” Amber said, handing each of them a handful of energy bars, “and make sure you take a bottle of water also.”
Charles looked at Greg.
<
br /> “Is she serious?” he asked
“I'm surprised neither of us ever thought of it, although I think we did once and decided it took up too much room. But energy bars? Why not? It isn't going to hurt and it might help.”
“Bottles of water also?” Charles asked.
“You ever eat any of these energy bars?” Greg asked. “The water is almost a necessity.”
Charles sighed, but headed into the kitchen for bottles of water.
“I think you made him ashamed of himself,” Greg said. “He hates to think anyone can do preparation better than he does.”
“Hell, it's all in the books I bought from you. Do you know how many of them quote the 'army travels on its stomach' or the 'logistics is everything' ideas?”
“Of course I do, that's why I'm feeling kind of stupid also. I think we were just falling back into old habits. It's been a couple of decades since we did anything like this and I didn't even consider updating our methods. Evidently Charles didn't either.”
“Well, for whatever reason, I still think it's a good idea,” Amber said.
“I'm not arguing that,” Greg replied. “I think it's a great idea. I'm just embarrassed that I didn't think of it first.”
Charles came out of the kitchen and handed a bottle of water to Greg. Then they both spent a couple of minutes figuring out where to keep the food and water on their gear. One they had it settled in place, Greg jumped a few times.
“What are you doing?” Amber asked.
“Making sure I don't rattle and nothing falls off,” he said. “Sometimes you need to move quietly and when you need quiet, you surely don't want to rattle or drop something.”
“I suppose that makes sense. But couldn't you just do a silence crystal also?”
“I could, but what happens when you approach someone and all the sudden they don't hear anything at all. They get really suspicious. My concealment shields work on a person's mind to make them not register the subject of the shield, not on their eyes. I don't know how I'd make someone not hear the noises made by a single person while still letting them hear everything else.”
“It sounds like it would be the same thing.”
He shook his head.
“The senses work differently from one another. It's easy to remove a single person and things like their shadow from someone's sight, that's fairly straightforward. But with echoes, sound absorption, and things like that? It's a lot harder to remove all of the audible evidence from someone's mind.”
“Are you ready to hide us on the walk Greg?” Charles asked.
“What?” Amber said.
“Greg's got this little trick he learned a long time ago. Based on a song that was popular at the time. He discovered if he hums it, his magic responds by making everyone around see right through him and whoever else he's concentrating on.”
Greg started humming away, occasionally singing a word or two as he started. Amber made out the words 'invisible' and 'cellophane'. But nothing else. She didn't recognize the tune and nothing seemed to happen, but Charles looked at Greg, Greg nodded, and they headed for the door.
On the street, Amber started to believe that something was actually happening when she found herself stepping around people who didn't even appear to see her. Charles and Greg were having the same issue, but Charles came over near her.
“Make sure you don't get too far away from him,” Charles said to her softly. “We don't know how far the effect reaches and this isn't the time to find out.”
Despite having to walk around people, they quickly made their way to the target area from her father's map. When they reached it this time, Charles reminded her to put her mind shield up. He didn't appear to do anything himself, but she trusted that he was holding a shield himself. Greg, on the other hand, reached out to his belt without looking and drew a crystal out. As he held it, she noticed a very dim glow from it for a moment. She was pretty sure he'd just activated a shield for himself as well.
They reached the factory without mishap, Greg humming throughout the entire walk. The front door was guarded by two men now, both of them armed with pistols at their belts. Amber was sure if she put up the spell she'd used the last time that they'd both be very hazy and glowing fiercely. Their stance was unnatural, they didn't shift or move like a normal guard would, not in the entire five minutes they stood there while Charles softly spoke, laying out the plan.
They certainly moved when Charles took out a crystal and lobbed it, underhand, onto the ground between them. Both of the guards collapsed to the ground. They approached the door as a group and Greg stopped humming. He took a look at one of the guards.
“Whoa, that guy's mind is a mess. Did you want me to try to fix that?” he asked.
“How long would it take?” Charles asked.
“No clue, it wouldn't be short though.”
“Then no, not now. Maybe we can take care of him later on, after we find out what's going on here.”
Amber stared at the two guards. Both of their bodies had adjusted to a more comfortable position after falling. Now one of them was actually starting to snore. She shook her head.
I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
Her eyes snapped back to the door as it creaked open. Charles had a satisfied look on his face that told her he'd just unlocked it with his magic. He took a step through the door followed by Greg.
Here we go, she thought.
With one of her hands on a darksight crystal and the other on a concealment shield crystal, she thought she was as ready as she was ever going to be.
* * *
The darksight spell wasn't necessary. The hallway they stepped into was dimly illuminated and there was enough light to move around without running into things. She followed Charles and Greg down the hall, stopping with them as they paused and checked doors.
“Only offices so far,” Greg said, as he checked the third door on the left.
“Same here,” Charles replied, closing another door.
There was a deep pitched thrumming noise from someplace farther into the factory. After about five doors to either side the hallway stretched out for a long distance with no more doors. But the walls to either side were vibrating and the temperature rose as they continued down the hall.
Must be some sort of machinery on the other sides of the walls, Amber thought. But what the hell are they trying to hide in here? With all the effort someone went through to keep it unnoticed and guarded, there must be something important inside.
At the end of the hallway was another door. This one didn't have any guards on it, but it was locked with both magic and a key lock.
“Well, I wonder what they're so worried about hiding here?” Charles said. “Get a load of this wizard lock, Greg. I haven't seen anyone use that version in decades. I guess someone's a bit behind the times.”
“I can get the wizard lock if you can do the manual one,” Greg replied. “I have a feeling that they have to be done at the same time or close to it.”
“Let me see.”
Charles went still for a moment, then his eyes fluttered rapidly.
“Yes, the two locks are tied together. The key one needs to be done within a second or so after the magical one or it'll set off an alarm.”
“On three then?” Greg asked. “I'll disarm the wizard lock on three, you unlock the key lock after three.”
“Sounds like a plan. Amber, would you count us off, softly? Just one through three will do.”
“Sure, are you both ready?”
The two men nodded.
“One... Two... Three,” she counted.
Right after three she heard the key lock click open. She assumed Greg had gotten the wizard lock on three like he'd said he would. A moment later, her suspicions were confirmed when Charles reached out and swung the door open.
A wave of heat rolled through the open door and the thrumming noise got louder. Charles peered through the door, but quickly pulled his head back in.
“What are they doing?” Greg asked.
“Monitoring machinery. There's a bunch of big cylinders with control boards at their bases. There's a few other things also that I didn't get a good look at. But there are three men monitoring the control boards, and they aren't close enough to one another to hit with a single sleep crystal.”
“Should we check and see if they're influenced by Spirit Magic?” Amber asked. “If they're here willingly, then I'd feel a lot less guilty if we had to hurt them.”
“Huh,” Greg said. “I thought you were the one that said you could handle it if we had to kill someone.”
“I did,” she said, “but only if they deserve it. If these guys are under someone else's control I'd feel pretty bad about hurting or killing them, wouldn't you?”
“Yeah,” Greg said, “but sometimes you don't get a choice. We already know that whoever runs this place is messing with a bunch of people's minds. So, we have to do something about it.”
“Yeah, but how much help is it to kill or hurt someone whose mind is being messed with. Isn't that kind of counter to what we're supposed to be doing?” Amber asked.
Charles sighed heavily.
“She's right,” he said, “you know it and so do I. I think we were just going to ignore it because it will make things harder for us.”
Amber focused her mind on the spell Greg had taught her and leaned her head quickly around the corner.
“Oh yeah,” she said. “Those guys are even more heavily under some sort of Spirit Magic than the guards were.”
Charles sighed again.
“Greg, you got anything for this? I don't think Earth Magic is going to be too helpful at the moment.”
“Let me take a look, I'll see what I can do.”
Greg leaned his head in quickly, then pulled it back.
“Yeah, I might be able to do something about that. I mean, of course I could with fire, but we don't want to hurt them and who knows what's in those autoclaves. That's what those tubes you saw are, I think anyhow. They look like massive autoclaves.”