The Painter Mage: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  I hadn’t felt it in the medallion I wore. Or maybe I had and didn’t realize what it was.

  “Then he turned on me. That’s when you showed back up.”

  I made my way around Devan. I started to touch her with ink-stained fingers when Taylor caught my wrist.

  “Let me,” she said.

  She went to work with her blue ink, starting with a spiraling pattern around Devan’s feet. She added a triangle around that. Then she slowly pressed power into it.

  After a moment, she released the power she was holding and breathed out softly. “She’s going to be fine.”

  “Fine? The Nizashi—”

  “Is holding her in place. She’s already fighting through whatever he did to her. Give her a few minutes, and she’ll be back to normal.”

  I started to relax. Devan would be fine. Whatever the Nizashi had done to her would fade. I didn’t even need Taylor to tell me. I could see it in the way Devan began to slowly lower her arms. I think she began to blink, too.

  “Can’t you make her a little more friendly when she comes around?” I asked. “Maybe nicer, too?”

  “I think she’s still aware of everything, Oliver.”

  “I hope so,” I said, touching her arm lightly. “At least like this, she won’t argue with me quite so much.”

  “I think she’d tell you that you were being stupid.”

  “No. She’d call me an idiot.”

  Something popped outside the garage, like a soft explosion.

  “Shit,” I hissed. “The Nizashi isn’t completely gone.”

  Taylor went to the edge of her circle and peered out through the garage and into the night. “We could close the door. The protections placed on the garage by the Elder should hold.”

  “They didn’t hold when Adazi attacked. The garage wasn’t completely sealed by him. I’m not sure it was meant to be any sort of bunker. More like a place for him to work. I think the protections he set into it kept him from blowing it up.” Sort of how they kept Devan from doing the same. Some of the things she did here were pretty violent. I’d learned to stay away when the door was down.

  “What are you thinking then? That we face him again?”

  I grunted and lifted Devan. It wasn’t easy, given the way she was stuck in place, and I could already imagine what she’d say to me when she unfroze, but this wasn’t a time to worry about hurting her feelings. I wanted her alive. “That worked out so well for us the last time.”

  “We’d be better prepared this time,” Taylor suggested.

  “Yeah. The Nizashi will be, too.” I made it to the edge of the circle. “Help me with the door.”

  Taylor glanced at the truck and then looked back at me. “You’re kidding. You think the truck is safer than staying in the garage?”

  For all I knew, it might actually be the safer option, but that wasn’t my plan. I figured we had two options. If the Nizashi didn’t chase us, then we could race as quickly as Big Red would take us toward Jakes’s house. If there was magic that would give the assassin pause, it was shifter magic. With a couple of shifters on our side, we should be able to at least hold him off. Maybe then, we could capture him.

  But there was still the issue of the other Nizashi. They came in threes. One was dead. One had attacked in the garage. Where was the third?

  I wasn’t completely certain we could reach Jakes’s house. But we could reach my house. It might not look like much, but all the protections painted into it by my father were enough to hold off even the most dangerous magical monster. And what I’d seen the Nizashi pull, they were seriously dangerous magically.

  “Help me get her in the truck,” I said.

  Taylor took another look outside then turned back to me, shaking her head as she did. “This is a bad idea.”

  “Yeah, probably,” I agreed.

  We stepped outside the circle at the same time.

  I felt the naked change of power as we did. We were exposed, left open to whatever the damn Nizashi might do. Nothing I had would do much more than slow him down. If we didn’t or couldn’t reach Jakes’s, at least in the house we could draw on my father’s power.

  Taylor grabbed the passenger-side door and yanked it open. “Go,” I urged.

  She climbed inside, and I tossed Devan in after her, then I ran around and jumped in the driver’s side, slamming the door behind me. The engine started up with a low rumble, too loud in the quiet night. If they didn’t know what we were planning before, they did now.

  I threw it into reverse and backed out, stomping on the gas. Immediately, an explosion of power hit the side of the truck, sending us skittering to the side. “Not getting to Jakes’s, then,” I muttered.

  Taylor’s eyes went wide. “Now you’ve got us trapped in a truck,” she said. “Nice.”

  “Not trapped.”

  I closed my eyes and focused on the direction from where I’d felt the power. It came from near the house. I gunned the truck in that direction, weaving toward the house as I did. Another blast of power struck the front of the truck. I plowed through it, praying to the gods that Devan’s patterns protected us. We struck something solid that bounced off the truck.

  “Was that the Nizashi?” Taylor asked. There was an edge of panic to her voice.

  “I hope so.”

  I slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop right in front of the door to the house. Reaching over Taylor, I grabbed Devan under the arms—and thanking the gods that she was as light as she was—kicked open the door and ran into the house. Taylor followed and slammed the door closed behind us.

  I leaned on my arms, panting. Devan lay on the floor, sprawled awkwardly. “She’s going to be pissed at me when this is over,” I muttered.

  “I’d think she’d be happy to be alive,” Taylor said.

  “You don’t know Devan. She’ll be grumpy.”

  “You know that she can hear you.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  I lifted her one more time and pulled her to the middle of the living room. The first thing I’d done when we returned to Conlin had been to make a massive circle on the floor, carving it into the wood and filling it with ink. This was where I set Devan. If for some reason the house failed, the ring was still there.

  Our last line of defense would be getting into the basement, but I hated the idea of going down there. We’d be trapped without much of a way out. At least on this level, we could escape if the house started to fall around us. And I didn’t think the Nizashi had enough power to really do that kind of damage to the house, though I’d been wrong about that before. Jakes and Taylor had made nice work of destroying the house when she tried stealing my father’s book.

  Taylor stood at the window, peering out. “Where do you think he went?”

  “Maybe I killed him with the truck.”

  She looked over her shoulder at me. “You think so?”

  I shook my head. We wouldn’t get that lucky. Taylor turned back to the window, wiping her arm across it as if to remove fog. “Quit that,” I snapped. The fog had been placed on the windows intentionally by my father. It was part of the protections upon the house.

  “Sorry. Nervous, I guess.”

  “We should be safe—”

  Of course, as I said it, a thundering explosion hit the front of the house. The door shook. Windows rattled. Hell, I think the whole house moved on the foundation. But it held. Had the house not had everything my father placed upon it, I doubt we’d still be standing where we were.

  “Well, that answers that question,” I said.

  “What question?”

  “Whether the house could withstand a Nizashi attack.”

  Another thundering attack hit the house. The lights flickered for a moment.

  Taylor arched a brow at me. “You think the Elder planned for this kind of attack?”

  I had no idea what my father had planned for. He must have known something like this was possible given the care he’d put into the house. I let myself start to relax w
hen another thundering explosion hit.

  This time I felt the house move.

  “Oh, shit,” I said. I went to the window and looked down. There, as I feared, the house had moved, if only slightly. A lip of the foundation was barely visible. The house itself might not fall, but the Nizashi didn’t really need the house to fall. He could clear it from the foundation—from the protections placed by the Elder—and then get up from underneath. Even going into the basement wouldn’t help.

  “Too bad you didn’t think of this, Dad,” I said.

  “What is it?”

  The next attack was stronger, hitting the house in seemingly the exact same location as the ones before it. Now that I understood what was happening, I could make out what he was doing. With each attack, he hit like a battering ram, twisting the house on the foundation.

  “Ollie?”

  I spun as another attack struck the house. It sent me toppling forward, and I sprawled out next to Devan. “Hey, Devan,” I said cheerily.

  “You’re an idiot.” She spoke slowly, as if her words were hard for her to get out.

  “I know. Nice friends your father has here.”

  “Yeah. You should see his enemies.”

  I’d seen some of his enemies, but not the kind that would make power like the Nizashi necessary. Hell, with power like this, why hadn’t he sent them after the Druist Mage? They could take him out, and then Devan wouldn’t need to worry about her betrothal to that monster.

  “What happened to you back there?”

  “Time bubble,” she said.

  “Time bubble?” Taylor asked, looking over at us.

  “The Nizashi closed me in a time bubble. I couldn’t move. It was his way of containing me.” Her words started to come more naturally, as if the effect of the Nizashi’s magic was finally wearing off.

  “So he could take you back to your father,” I said.

  “Something like that,” she said. “Help me up?”

  I took her hand and pulled her forward. We stumbled a minute as the next attack came, but Devan held me up as much as I held her. “In case you were wondering, he’s making a nice attempt at moving the house. He clearly thinks we need a little better scenery than we’ve got.”

  “Maybe waterfront?”

  “I doubt he’s that nice,” I said.

  Devan reached the door and started pulling it open.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, grabbing her wrist.

  Had she wanted, she could have jerked away from me and simply barreled outside. Devan is strong, and she’s got a bit of a temper about anyone telling her she can’t do things. I think it stems from her father. The temper, that is.

  “I can handle this, Ollie.”

  “You’ve just come back from a little time nap, and now you want to run outside and face this guy? You really think that’s a smart move?”

  “There are no smart moves when it comes to the Nizashi,” Devan said. “But I’m not going out there. For what I’m going to do, I just need to get past your father’s protections. Trust me, Ollie.”

  I tipped my head toward her, studying her, and then let go of her wrist. There was no reason not to trust her. In so many ways, Devan was more capable than I was.

  She waited until the next attack struck. Then she pulled the door open slightly and leaned outside. She whispered something, but I couldn’t make out the words. For all I knew, it wasn’t even English. Then she jerked her head back in and sealed the door closed.

  The next explosion struck right where her head had been. Even Devan jumped a little.

  “Well, that was useful,” I said. “All you’ve done is make him mad.”

  “Give it a moment,” she said.

  “Give what a moment?”

  She stared out the window next to the door. I joined her. Darkness had fallen in full, but a shadow blurred across the lawn, moving at a lumbering steady pace, with a rhythmic sound.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  There was a loud smack, and then the next explosion missed the house. The shadow blurred again, sliding around the house.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  There came another smack. Another explosion followed, though this one weaker than the last. A few more shadow movements, each followed by the same sound. Each time the magical attack weakened as it struck. Most even missed the house.

  “What did you do?” I asked Devan.

  “Nothing but disorient him a little.”

  “You can do that?” Taylor asked.

  Devan shot her a look that would have withered a mummy. “What do you think I just did?” she snapped.

  We waited, each of us probably expecting the attack to resume. Moments stretched to minutes, still nothing more came.

  Finally, I opened the door with my last charm—the one shaped something like Agony—clutched in my hand, and peered out into the night.

  I don’t know what I expected. Maybe another attack. Maybe some remaining fire. Something. All I saw was Devan’s troll figurine sitting on the steps, almost as if he was looking up at me.

  5

  I made my way around the outside of the house the following morning. The sun was up, but the air still held most of that autumn bite to it, hinting at the coming winter. The trees around my house hadn’t changed yet, no colors to the oaks that would eventually turn brown, not giving off any of the bright colors of the maples found elsewhere in the park.

  The house had shifted on the foundation, but the effect was less than it had felt like the night before. About an inch of block showed on the front side of the house. There was no other obvious damage. I wondered how I would slide the house back to where it was supposed to be. It’s not like I could just push it. The Nizashi had taken nearly a dozen magical blows to move it as much as it had.

  A car came down the drive, appearing over the slight ridge leading to the street. Jakes stared through the windshield of his cruiser, his wide aviator lenses reflecting the light of the morning sun. He pulled to a stop in front of the garage and got out.

  “What happened here last night?” he asked. His eyes focused on the house, and he made a quick circuit around the perimeter.

  “Pretty standard night for me, really,” I answered. After a night’s rest, even one as fitful as last night had been, I was feeling a bit punky. “You know, magical throw down. Taylor showing off her Hermione skills. Devan caught in a time bubble. And me being my usual badass self.”

  The door popped open and Taylor came out. She nodded to Jakes before moving off toward the garage.

  “Hermione skills?” Jakes asked, watching her as she made her way to the garage. He gave her an appraising look, but I couldn’t tell if it was one interested in the way her tight pants hugged her butt or more like someone checking out a horse. With Jakes, it could go either way.

  “Yeah, you know. Like Harry Potter.” I made a waving motion with my hand, mimicking what I thought Taylor had done the night before with her paintbrush.

  “When did you have time to read on the other side?” he asked.

  “Read? Hell, I watched the movies. Devan won’t admit it, but she’s a sucker for that kind of thing. Bad guy gets it in the end and all.”

  “Hey, spoiler alert,” Devan said. She came from the far side of the house. I hadn’t known she was there. Dirt stained her hands, and I wondered what she’d been digging in.

  “It’s not like you were going to watch it, anyway,” I said. “And in what movie doesn’t the bad guy get it in the end?”

  She shrugged. “What if he hasn’t seen it?” she asked, motioning to Jakes.

  “Whatever,” I muttered and turned back to Jakes.

  He kept his eyes fixed on Devan as she went back into the garage. She carried something in her hands, but I couldn’t see what it was. “There was an attack here last night?”

  I nodded.

  “And it moved the Elder’s house?”

  “It’s my house now. But yeah. Moved the house.”

  “Care
to tell me what happened?”

  “I would have called you last night for the party, but I think we handled it pretty well. I mean, we almost died and everything, but seeing as how we didn’t, I’d consider that a success.” I started across the lawn, stepping away from the house and the truck still parked in front of it. Jakes walked with me. “The body we found outside the Rooster. He’s one of the Nizashi.”

  I watched Jakes’s face as I said it. I might have heard of the Nizashi while working for the Trelking, but I didn’t know much about them. Not nearly what Devan knew. The expression on Jakes’s face told me that he knew more than I did.

  “And last night’s attack… It was the others?”

  “Only one.”

  “Where is the third?”

  That had troubled me, as well. “Don’t know. I don’t think he was here last night. Just his buddy.”

  “They were after her?” He continued to look toward Devan with a look similar to what he’d given Taylor.

  “That’s what it looked like. She was in the garage. Taylor was there, too. The first attack came when I had just left the garage.”

  “Nothing else?”

  “Look, Jakes, the Nizashi went straight toward her. Had her in this time bubble. Had Taylor and I not been there, he would have dragged her back across the Threshold and to her father.”

  Jakes turned back to me. “It’s impressive that you managed to hold him off.”

  “Well, I am sort of awesome like that. Devan was frozen. Taylor used a pattern and attacked him, managing to keep him at a distance. When I got there, I think it only made him madder. I managed to distract him long enough for Taylor to finish her pattern. It bought us enough time to get back to the house.”

  Jakes nodded. “Where the Nizashi attacked again.”

  “I tried to come find you for help,” I said, nodding toward the truck parked in front of the house. “We didn’t quite make it. I think I hit him, though, so maybe you’ll have some evidence you can use.”

  “Do you think I need evidence, Morris?”

  “I wanted to do my part and report the crime to the police.”