Mages Must Fall

by Jeffrey Biles

  Terrance leaped across rooftops, his magical enhancement offsetting his blood loss for now.

  The one hole in his story… why hadn’t they both used magic? Why not a big spike?

  A device. The attackers had carried a device that decreased magical ability, but somehow left their mages unaffected. It was difficult to grab hold of magic until he had escaped the house. It was perfect- it explained why there wasn’t a big spike and why Wanda hadn’t spiked her magic. It would also distract the Mages' Guild researchers and put them onto the wrong path.

  He grinned in satisfaction. It was a close one, but he had made it out. They always made it out.

  As he skipped along the rooftops, the blood loss caught up to him and made him miss a jump. He smashed into a wall and tumbled down. Unconscious.

  He woke to someone shaking him.

  Terrance startled at the motion, grabbed the stream of magic, then saw that it was John. He coughed. Tried to move. He was weak, but everything still seemed to work.

  “Did she make it?”

  John shook his head.

  Terrance had to play his part. “I didn’t think so. They concentrated on her first.”

  “Hell of a thing you stumbled into. First time those lizard people have attacked en masse since the last Inquisitor died.”

  “I guess doubling up really scared them. They had to increase their strength before attacking again. Find some new tricks.”

  “New tricks, eh?”

  “They had a… whatever it was, it was hard to grab magic in that room. They were able to do it, either through practice or through some other device that helped them break through… but without our magic, we were caught flat-footed. I barely…”

  He coughed, leading John to tap him awkwardly on the shoulder. Affection?

  Lorenz was more matter-of-fact. “Well, we need to get you back. File a report. Then you rest.”

  They’d probably bring in someone else to replace him for a while. No more rescues until he was better- and probably not even then. How suspicious would it be if two of his partners died?

  He put his arm around Lorenz’s shoulder and hobbled back to the Guild.

  “I have good news!” said Johanna. It was the brightest he’d seen her for a while.

  Terrance had been given some substance that made his pain dull and his senses blur, but even in that state he could see how round her belly was with child. “Should you really be jumping around like that, with the baby and all?”

  “The baby’s excited too, I can tell! It’s so close. And this is just the thing to brighten up your recovery. I know the baby’s grandfather!”

  “Arnt?”

  “The other one- your father!”

  Fuck. He had hidden that information on purpose. It wouldn’t do to have anyone knowing that his father had been killed by the Inquisitors. And when they found out about his brother being cleansed and his mother’s later suicide… he would be suspect, at the very least. And all this trouble had started around a year after he had become an Inquisitor. No, things would not be good.

  But she was happy. He thought Johanna cared for him; he couldn’t be sure of that, but at the very least she was concerned that he stick around to give her more children. So why was she happy?

  “I took your blood. You know, while you were bleeding. Because I’d been wondering for a while, you looked so familiar, and I tested it… the Grand Inquisitor’s blood flows through you! And that means it flows through our child. Think of it! My line and the Grand Inquisitor’s line. The Grand Inquisitor is a contradiction of a man, powerful yet overcome with many deformities. The mothers of his children, mages who volunteered, often grieve before the child can draw their first breath. They have all long stopped trying to conceive with him. But you… you lived. That means you have the strongest of his traits, but without the deformities.”

  His father… the Grand Inquisitor. His father — or, who he thought of as his father — had been cleansed seven months before his birth, so the math checked out. His own child with Johanna would be born five months after conception since both of them were using magic to conceive.

  That meant his mother was raped. Raped by the Grand Inquisitor. And probably raped again, in the soundproof room, the night before she killed herself.

  He would kill that man. He would destroy him. Everything he stood for. Cut him down in the bloodiest, cruelest manner possible. Show that rat what cleansing really…

  “You’re basically royalty, Terrance!” Johanna’s outburst interrupted the rampage of his thoughts. This was the most ecstatic he had ever seen her. “Power, lineage… We’re going to have so many babies.”

  She kissed him, and his thoughts receded along with the pain.

  24

  He spent another day lying in a Guild bed, healing himself as much as they allowed him to and then waiting for the resultant exhaustion to recede. He couldn’t heal away the blood loss, but things were sped up by whatever serum they were giving him. “A gift from Klaus and the Department of Discovery,” was all the nurse said.

  Then he was released to go back to his flat.

  He wasn’t expected back on duty for another couple of days, so he spent his time scheming at Wile’s, studying at his flat, and walking about the city trying to bring his chaotic thoughts together.

  “We’re grateful for the new recruit,” said Wile, “but that was quite a risk you took.”

  “I wasn’t thinking straight,” said Terrance.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” said Frederick. “What good is chasing the storm if you don’t stab it in the back every once in a while?”

  Frederick made thrusting motions with a fake sword. Since he had let up on the drinking he had become, somehow, both more energetic and less inhibited.

  “I certainly appreciate it,” said the new recruit. He had a more refined manner than many of the others they had brought in, which showed in both his speech and his movements. “My name is Bertram. Our last meeting was quite frantic, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m Terrance.”

  “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Hans was behind Bertram, holding himself stiff with an exaggeratedly serious face, mouthing what Bertram said a half second behind. Terrance struggled to keep his face serene until Natalie whisked Hans away and set him on some other task.

  “We have quite the operation here, but I’m sure you’ll get used to it with time.”

  “Oh, my father speaks of his work often, so I am no stranger to stratagems. Actual battle, though… that is a new occurrence for me.”

  “Your father…”

  “Warriors’ Guild.”

  That explained how calmly the man had acted.

  Wile perked up. “Now that’s something. Our first contact in the Warriors’ Guild. I wonder what they think of all this.”

  “My father has spoken of your Lizzie, first as a joke, and then with admiration. He did not withhold his admiration when in the presence of his confidantes, so I have reason to believe the admiration has spread. There is a quiet dislike for the Mages' Guild, perhaps a jealousy, and this symbol you have created is something to latch on to. A joke that signifies so much more than just a joke.”

  “This guy is sixteen?” asked Frederick.

  “My father taught me well.”

  Terrance contemplated the situation. “Any chance we could talk to him and see if he can give us on-the-ground support?”

  “Place is probably crawling,” said Frederick. “Justice Guild has some people there. Inquisitors probably have some people there. Killing an Inquisitor is a big deal. They’re probably being tailed by someone or other, since they didn’t get banged up too much in the whole affair. Talking to them right now would be too much risk, even for me.”

  “I concur, as much as it saddens me. I will miss them terribly.”

  “Well, it’s only for a bit!” Frederick continued talking to Bertrand, mostly trying to unbalance him with a joke or a half-mocking phr
ase, but the boy kept his composure.

  Terrance took his leave and went to where Natalie was studying. “Anything new since last time?”

  “I’m close on something. Once we get it working, it’s gonna confuse the hell out of the Inquisitors.”

  “Good. We’ll need new tactics- the one I just pulled is all used up for a while.”

  “Do you ever wonder why none of these things I’m making have been done before?” asked Natalie. “They’re not hard. I’m smart, yes, but there are plenty of people in the Mages' Guild who are smarter than me, with better training, I’m sure of it, and they’ve had thousands of years to develop new techniques. Why am I getting these things with just a small amount of work?”

  “I guess they’ve never looked,” said Terrance. “If you have Mage cloaks, and swords, and can openly cast fireballs, and have the Palace under your thumb… why would you need to create an explosive magic that you just leave on the ground, to be tripped over by a random passer-by?”

  “That makes sense. And this next one would be even less likely to develop.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ll show it to you when it’s ready. It’s going to completely change how we fight. I can’t make us completely invisible when we use magic, but this will be a close second.”

  “I’m sure glad we saved you. We’d be a mess without your research.”

  She beamed.

  He wandered around, checking on the other rescues. He didn’t know them as well, but each one still made him smile.

  He had created something here.

  Something alive and beautiful.

  Something more than a sword.

  But also, a sword.

  He couldn’t wait to ram it into the bowels of the Mages' Guild.

  The days passed, and Terrance rejoined the Inquisitor force. Though Wanda had never been a source of light-heartedness, the whole unit felt more somber with her gone.

  “It could happen to any of us,” said Lorenz.

  John grunted.

  The Grand Inquisitor himself offered his condolences, although he did not make any mention of his relation to Terrance. Either Johanna had kept it a secret or the Grand Inquisitor didn’t care.

  Resource Management was still running around frantically, looking for all the world as if the sky was falling. Hopefully Natalie would finish her new trick before Resource Management finished whatever it was they were working on.

  But wait- wasn’t it Department of Discovery that invented new things? They seemed fine, aside from the residual tension that came from two other Departments getting overloaded. Maybe Resource Management was keeping this one to itself, or maybe Discovery had seen through the budget bullshit and refused to change their focus.

  Terrance didn’t have long to think because they were soon called off on another mission. Him and John, to the slums in the southeast edge of the city.

  He would have to control himself this time. They would kill. John would rape. This is what must happen, for now.

  The man they were to cleanse was older than most. Mid twenties. A face with one early stage bruise forming, an expression that was beaten down yet defiant.

  “So it comes to this. I did what I had to. He had it coming.” The man spat.

  There was art on the walls; unusual for a place in the slums. Line drawings in a familiar style… but no time to think about that right now. They had a job to do.

  A young child cried in the other room, followed by a hurried shushing.

  “Shut him up and let me die in peace, you cunt!”

  Terrance almost breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice to kill someone who wasn’t innocent for a change.

  “I’ll take this one.”

  The man accepted his fate, knowing he couldn’t fight. Terrance stepped up and sliced the head clean off of the body, then set to work cutting off limbs and staking them to the ground in the proper position.

  Mana pooled in the crevices, cleansing the man of whatever he had stolen.

  When he finished, Terrance looked up to see a woman staring at him and holding a baby.

  A bruised, battered, emotionless woman.

  Anne.

  Terrance’s jaw dropped.

  “I won’t forgive you for this,” she said and stalked off.

  John laughed. “Hooo boy, that one’s a piece of work. Speaking of work, good job there. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you enjoy this.”

  Terrance still couldn’t believe it. He’d killed Anne’s husband.

  “Now, you go ahead and go back to the Guild. I’ve got some Master Inquisitor business here.”

  Terrance’s brain scrambled. He knew what that meant.

  He’d killed Anne’s husband.

  Only to replace him with a more vicious abuser.

  “She’s not even related to him by blood,” said Terrance in a voice that he hoped sounded normal. He was seething inside.

  “So you’ve figured it out!” John laughed with glee. “Knew you were smart.”

  “This does not serve the Mages' Guild’s purpose.”

  “No… but she is pretty. Wouldn’t you fuck her?”

  Terrance grabbed magic, put as much as he could into enhancing his body. Jumped forward with his sword.

  John dodged, but not enough. The blade slit his side, making him cry out in a terrible combination of pain and pleasure.

  “Haha! So it was you!” He pulled out his own sword and grabbed magic.

  Terrance shuddered. It was a massive pull of magic- not as big as Terrance’s, but big enough, and John had many more years of experience.

  “I knew it when I saw the cleansing device in your pocket, but no one believed me.”

  Terrance jabbed, but John parried it away.

  “Poor, innocent Terrance. They said I was framing you. They didn’t even look in your pocket.”

  Terrance pulled stone from the wall to stab John. John could sense the magic, pulled up stone from the ground to meet it and break its advance.

  “You’ve got friends in high places, you know. That brood mare of yours pulled some strings, and the Grand Inquisitor himself stepped in.”

  Terrance was running out of tricks. He couldn’t very well weave one of Natalie’s traps, not while he was locked in combat. He pushed forward with a flurry of blows, but John blocked every one.

  “Imagine what’s going to happen to her when they find out I was right. What I wouldn’t give to hear that haughty bitch squeal.”

  Their training, their planning- lately it had all been focused on stealth and evasion, not one-on-one combat. Not like in the early days, when they had grappled and fought with swords nearly every day.

  That sparked an idea.

  Terrance came forward with another flurry of sword blows, but this time he pushed forward faster, held their blades locked off to the side while he rammed John with his shoulder. The two went flying to the ground.

  John still practiced swords often, but Terrance had never seen him grapple. John had probably not seen any need. With a sword and magic, what could threaten you?

  Once they hit the ground, the fight was brief but brutal. Too close for swords, Terrance’s enhanced fists rained blows upon John’s enhanced face until John turned unconscious. At that point, the blows crushed his skull and nearly dented the floor.

  Terrance let go of the magic and sat back, panting.

  Anne was peeking into the room through a doorway and it was her turn to be slack-jawed.

  Now he’d killed his second Inquisitor. There was no going back to the Mages' Guild. If he was lucky, he could get them both away from here before anyone came to investigate.

  He pulled out the cleansing device. “Put this on my skin,” he said.

  She acted as if she didn’t understand him.

  “Put this on my skin, or we die.”

  She grabbed it, pressed it against his skin… but nothing happened.

  Right. They only worked when you had a magical signature, and Anne had n
one. He would have to find one of the rescues and get them to cleanse him.

  But how to reach them? To go back to base would be to draw the Inquisitors there.

  And what to do with Anne?

  He thought of something to solve both problems at once.

  “Go to Wile’s,” he said. “Go to Wile’s shop and tell him that I need help. Have him send a magic user with a cleansing device.”

  She nodded, still speechless, then grabbed her baby and walked out the door as if in a daze.

  “Hurry!” he yelled after her.

  Now he just had to avoid being killed by Lorenz before help arrived.

  Lorenz, and the other two magical spikes coming towards him from the Mages' Guild.

  Three mages, and no element of surprise.

  It was time to run.

  Part V

  War

  25

  Terrance tried not to think while running — it had ended badly last time — but he couldn’t help worrying about Johanna. She had protected him from John’s suspicion, but she couldn’t protect him now. He hoped she wouldn’t overextend herself trying and suffer for it.

  The three Mages coming towards him were running fast, with big signatures drawing massive amounts of power. Terrance drew more power to compensate and pull ahead of them.

  Any turn from his course could be tracked immediately and compensated for, giving his pursuers an advantage, but at the same time he needed to get closer to Wile’s shop so that someone could meet and cleanse him. He settled on a strategy of long lines and right angles. The nearly grid-like geometry this far away from the core would prevent his pursuers from taking full advantage of the turns, while his route would give Anne enough time to reach the hideout.

  He was slowly losing the three Mages, in the traditional sense, but his draws on magic made him a beacon to any Mage in the city. He wondered who the mages were. Surely one of them was Lorenz, but the other two- Inquisitors? They hadn’t told him about any extras in the shift. Or maybe the Department of War? All the others departments besides War would be loath to fight.