Ever had that feeling you needed backup but there was no one to call?
I was screwed.
Fortunately, there was enough going on around us that Bannen’s rant about safety and recklessness—which was rich coming from him—got interrupted ten minutes in. Maksohm had a very tight jaw and a look that promised death and dismembering in the near future as he guided a particular man to me. The rogue mage had three different binding spells on him, one for magic, two for physical restraints, and at this point, the only thing he could freely move was his head and legs. He looked resigned, his round face falling into lines like a bulldog denied the freedom to run around and chase things. I judged him to be mid-fifties, but the lines on his face made him look older. Just how much stress had he put on himself with this insanity?
Maksohm parked him squarely in front of us, jaw set in a manner I knew well. My team leader was furious enough to blow a gasket right now. “Repeat what you told me.”
The man looked up, eyes staring at me in that perplexed manner I’d seen far too often in my life. “What are you?”
“Renata Hach, Void Mage,” I answered crisply. “Who are you?”
“Graham Cabot,” he responded, exhaustion straining at every word. His eyes traveled to my right, where Bannen stood, and his confusion doubled. “You bound a man to you like a familiar, and you think you can judge me for doing all of this?”
“Okay, first?” Bannen stepped up, coming nose-to-nose with the man, fists clenching angrily at his sides. “Void Mages have to call human familiars, nothing else but human intelligence can protect them. Second, I am also her husband. Third, you can stow that attitude, because what you did here, this isn’t even on the same scale as whatever stupid rule you think we’ve violated. You set Toh’sellor loose. That is quite possibility the most moronic thing I’ve ever seen a human being do. Lizards have better sense.”
“We didn’t set it loose,” Cabot shot back, growing irate at this accusation. A flush of color hit his cheeks, unnatural looking in the pallor of his skin. “We saw the situation for what it was and took steps to avoid repeating the past!”
Was that supposed to make sense? “I’m sorry, what?”
Feeling (wrongly) that he had a sympathetic audience, Cabot snapped his head around, his tone half-pleading as he explained, “Toh’sellor is an unknown quantity. Even the mage that took it down seven months ago couldn’t destroy it completely. We knew, given time, it’d escape confinement again. The thing would grow into a monstrous entity that would consume whole mountain ranges unless someone did something. We set out to discover its true nature, truly study it, figure out a way to destroy it completely. We didn’t—we didn’t just set it loose, deities, you think we’re that irresponsible? That wasn’t our goal at all. We wanted to understand it. We had to, in order to destroy it completely.
“This,” he inclined his head to the chamber at large, “was set up at great personal expense by all of us, so that we’d have the time and privacy to run a thorough study. We brought Toh’sellor out here, so that it couldn’t harm any other people. We took many precautions; you can see that, can’t you? And then we ran tests continuously, we barely rested properly, as we didn’t want to give it any more time to grow outside of our control.”
“And the minions you unleashed on the rest of the world?!” Bannen demanded incredulously. “The warped familiars in particular? Because there’s no forgiving that.”
“They weren’t full-blown minions, just animals touched with its power. There’s a significant difference. And we had to see how they’d respond in real life situations, didn’t we? We were practicing containment, to see the limits of containing infection and still have the animals be alright. The familiars were especially vital to the study because of their magical links. We needed to see if they were any different or hardier than the average beast. We had to know how to contain and destroy something Toh’sellor had touched,” the man snapped back. “Besides, they couldn’t really do any harm, they were set on limits. Within twenty-four hours, they would have collapsed on their own without any interference.”
I couldn’t have responded if my life depended on it. These…I honestly couldn’t think of a word strong enough. These witless, asinine fools honestly thought that they were doing the world a favor. That by bringing Toh’sellor out here, away from the protections the MISD had it under, they were looking out for the interests of the world. Worse, they assumed that minions of Toh’sellor—no matter what he said, they looked and responded like minions—couldn’t do ‘much damage’ in twenty-four hours. I now understood why Maksohm wanted me to hear this from the horse’s mouth. “Of all the foolish, crazy, harebrained…Cabot. I am the mage that took Toh’sellor down seven months ago.”
Cabot stared at me as if I’d announced I’d go hang myself up in the sky and be the next moon. “You are?”
“Yes, she is,” Bannen growled at him. “And it nearly killed her the first time, and she had to do something insane again to take it down quickly this time, and if I have heart failure because of all this I will blame you. You. I will blame you. Do you really think that after she took that monstrosity down, that we just ignored it? We have Magus Trammel studying it—”
Eyes widening, Cabot mouthed the name ‘Trammel’ and looked ashen.
“—and the MISD have plans to build a facility to house Toh’sellor with round the clock security and instructions to call Rena if Toh’sellor even hiccups,” Bannen continued, getting louder with every word. “And she still drops in on that thing regularly because we all have nightmares about it getting loose again. None of which is made easier by you stealing it and running to the opposite end of the world. Thanks for that. You destroyed every protection we had in place, caused monstrosities, and then turned them loose on the world in the name of your precious experiments, in the name of your so-called science, and hurt a lot of innocents in the process. You stole and destroyed familiars, which I never thought a mage would do to another mage, and I hope you are taken to the devil’s bedroom and hung like a tapestry for that alone, because that’s unforgiveable. And I’m not even speaking on a personal level, because that’s entirely different. Because of you, I now need therapy, because I just saw my wife do something that nearly killed us both the first time and I will have continuing nightmares that someone else will think to steal Toh’sellor in the future, which will no doubt mean she’ll be forced to do something stupid again—”
When Bannen got going like this, he could rant for hours. I grabbed him by the arm and drew him down, hugging him to me and murmuring near his ear, “Shh. Shh, I’m still with you. Breathe.”
“Familiar bond’s really not happy, love,” he whispered, hugging me back. “Just stay next to me for a few days, okay? I promise not to kill anyone if you do that.”
That bad, huh? “Yeah, I can do that.”
“I don’t know what to say about your intentions,” Maksohm growled at the very abashed Cabot, “but your methods are beyond reprehensible. Tell them what el—”
“WHY ARE THERE MORE MONKEYS?” Chi howled in a wounded way from one of the branch tunnels.
I turned around sharply, looking for him, but it took a few seconds before he came into view. From the left side branch of the cave’s tunnels, he appeared, expression a thundercloud. Stomping toward us, he got right up into Cabot’s face, radiating anger in a nearly visible blaze. Reaching up, he smacked Cabot sharply on the top of the head. “What.” Smack. “Were.” Smack. “You.” Smack. “Thinking.” Smack. “With.” Smack. “The.” Smack. “Monkeys!”
Maksohm caught Chi’s shoulders and pulled him physically backwards, which took some serious wrestling, as Chi didn’t want to move and put most of his strength into staying put. “Chi. Chinnadurai. Calm down, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” Chi snarled with all of the outrage of a stepped on cat. “There’s more monkeys. MORE. MONKEYS. And because they’re alive, we’ll have to return them, and I don’
t want to return them.”
Poor Chi. I backed Maksohm up, as he clearly needed it. “Maybe they’re infected? They’ve been around Toh’sellor without any protective shielding. I’ll take a look, alright?”
He shot me the most hopeful look. “Really? You’ll do that?”
“Even if they aren’t, we won’t haul them back to Njorage,” Maksohm promised. “Not worth the effort and the city doesn’t really want them back anyway. We’ll just turn them loose here.”
Even with these assurances, Chi stabbed a finger at the shaken Cabot. “I’m not done with you about this.”
Cabot mumbled something under his breath that only Maksohm caught, and our normally even-keeled leader grabbed Cabot by the back of the neck and shook him like a rat with rabies. “You deserve everything and more. Tell them what else you did,” he snarled.
A dark premonition swept through me, pausing my breath.
The mage gave me a mulish look and then turned his face away.
“They started testing on their own familiars first,” Maksohm informed me, giving Cabot another shake.
A dull roaring filled my years, anger so intense that it rattled my bones and made my nerves sing.
What these people had done was so evil, so cruel, that I literally couldn’t fathom it. To take a being that was sworn to protect and love you, and use them for your own ends…I didn’t want to understand that kind of mentality. I stared blindly ahead, trying to rein in my magic and temper, not really willing to do either. I’d destroy them for this. I turned my head just so, caught my husband’s eyes, and saw the same unforgiving rage reflected back at me. Bannen would kill them outright if I didn’t do it. This sort of evil didn’t deserve forgiveness.
“Dah’lil. I want to make an executive decision.”
He sank onto his haunches, head canted to the side in question. “What?”
“I want to strip all of the rogue mages of their magic,” I said firmly, without apology, and didn’t glance in Cabot’s direction.
Cabot made a strangled, squeaking sound. “You can’t!”
I ignored that too, holding Maksohm’s eyes. Those dark eyes looked right back at me, evaluating me—no doubt thinking along the same lines as I. The logistics alone of taking over a dozen rogue mages back to Foxboro for trial would be strenuous, and we didn’t really have the manpower to easily pull it off. It would likely end up with someone escaping, or serious injury. It would be far safer for us to strip them of magic now, to take away the one weapon they could use against us.
But he knew that wasn’t the main reason why I’d made the request.
Killing one’s own familiar came with a very hefty penalty. Either lifetime imprisonment or execution. By using their familiars as test subjects for Toh’sellor, the rogue mages had given their familiars death sentences. Torturing them in the process just added to the cruelty. No jury would grant them any sort of leniency.
A cold smile curved the edges of Maksohm’s mouth. “Do it.”
“No, no, nonononono,” Cabot babbled, pleaded, straining out of his bonds.
I had no mercy in me left to give him. Looking straight into his eyes, I opened up my own magic, which purred in happiness to be used again, especially for this. Loudly enough that the entire cavern could hear me, I pinpointed every rogue mage in the cavern, spoke the spell and watched them scream and writhe, trying to escape me.
The spell released and cut through them in an almost visible wave, taking their magic with it, destroying their magical cores in one fell swoop. People screamed, or went white, all blood draining out of their skin. Some fainted dead on the spot, collapsing to the ground.
Worse, their familiars screamed in pain as well, even though they’d been twisted almost beyond all recognition. The familiar bonds must’ve still lain intact, and they felt it when the bond severed. I winced at that, regretting that I hadn’t dealt with the familiars first, as the last thing they deserved was more pain.
“Familiars next,” Maksohm encouraged me quietly, his anger still seething. “I’ll deal with the rogue mages.”
Bannen braced me as I sat up a little straighter. “Thank you, Dah’lil. Alright, husband, let’s put these poor creatures out of their misery.”
It took far too many hours inside that cave to straighten things out. Most of the rogue mages seemed in shock after I’d destroyed their magic, some of them catatonic. A few moved like animated dolls, only shifting when prodded. Others seemed barely able to maintain basic bodily functions like breathing. I had no sympathy for any of them—none of the agents did—and they were carted directly to the ship and dumped into a holding cell.
Of the remaining familiars, I saved two. The others were past hope. I hated to do it, but there was no way to save them. Between Toh’sellor’s influence and the severance of their familiar bonds, all cognitive abilities had ceased. All of the monkeys Chi found were already half-corrupted, and he was perfectly happy the lot of them had to be killed. Agent Blanks was a hero and stepped forward to do that for me, sparing my magical ability from even more of a drain. Chi hugged him and almost adopted the amused agent on the spot.
At least someone was happy about this mess.
The magical artifacts weren’t at all tainted, fortunately, so we could salvage at least something from this mess. I babysat Toh’sellor until Maksohm’s relay team was fully in place, which took a good hour to orchestrate. Not that I had the energy to watch this thing, but needs must.
Vee hunkered down next to me, holding her TMC out so I could speak with Master Mary. My master asked again, for at least the fourth time, “And you’re all alright?”
“No one’s seriously injured, fortunately,” I assured her again, patiently. “Or I should say, all the injuries are well within our abilities to heal, and no one was infected by Toh’sellor. My legs were dislocated but Emily saw to me and I’m recovering now. It was close, though. If Dah’lil’s shield had failed, we would have been in serious trouble. But I got Toh’sellor down in time, and Vee scattered the attacking rogue mages long enough for us to get the upper hand.”
“Sounds like you had the right people with you for the job. I’m relieved to hear it. Now, when is that troublesome creature coming my direction?”
“Literally any minute. Everyone’s poised and ready to start transferring. I’m just checking in with you first. Got a place set up for it?”
“I do. That nice young MISD couple came in yesterday and built the most complex set of shielding I’ve ever seen, to show me how large it was, and we figured out the best place to put it. Gill cleaned out the garden shed—”
I couldn’t help but snort, because Bannen had certainly called that one.
“—and we’re all ready to go. Send it on, child.”
“Then here it comes. I’ll come check in with you about two weeks from now. We’ll be in the neighborhood anyway, they’re building at least one of the facilities outside of Westhaven.”
“Good, I can get the full story from you then. Hug Bannen for me and stay off your legs until you’re fully healed.”
I didn’t care what anyone said, Bannen was clearly her favorite. “I will.”
Vee ended the call, already panning the area to spy Maksohm. “I’ll tell him she’s ready to go.”
“Thanks.”
Bannen and Vee passed each other as my familiar-husband strode toward me with a mug of hot cocoa in his hand, and because he’s made of awesome and win and the blood of his enemies, he handed me the cocoa. I downed half of it in one go, as I still felt shaky after going berserker earlier. Ah, the taste of chocolate on my tongue. Bliss. “I love you.”
“Not in front of the others, darling,” he chided teasingly.
Fortunately for me, my familiar-husband didn’t carry grudges. If he did, I wouldn’t be getting cocoa out of him hours after scaring ten years off his life. He sank down onto his haunches, putting our heads on more or less the same level, his eyes darting between Maksohm
making his calls and Toh’sellor. “He almost ready to send this thing on?”
“Almost, I think.” I hoped. I didn’t have a lot of energy left. “I thought I should go with it, maybe portal along, but I called Master Mary earlier and she assured me I’m not necessary. So when it gets sent off, I vote we go back to the boat and find somewhere to sleep.”
“I’m totally a-okay with this plan,” he responded fervently. “You shouldn’t be trying to move anyway.”
Maksohm came toward us and I could see the drain of his magical core. The man walked so heavily I was surprised he didn’t leave mini-craters behind him. If he didn’t get something to eat soon, it wouldn’t be pretty. Concerned, I handed him my mug, and he took it without question and drained the rest of it. With a sigh, he handed it back to me with a thankful nod. “I needed that. Vee says Mary’s ready?”
“Yes, they’re waiting on us.”
“Then let’s send this on.” Maksohm turned and lifted a hand, signaling Agent Rowe and Agent Isak. “We’re ready, send it.”
Agent Rowe would have the toughest part of this job, as he had to maintain the shield around Toh’sellor the entire trip, which meant hopping through four different portals. He looked grimly determined to do it—in fact, had volunteered to do it—and he gave me a game nod as his partner opened up the first portal. I called to him, “Mary’s a good cook, make sure you eat something when you get there!”
He waved a hand in acknowledgement, but didn’t speak. He wasn’t a man of many words anyway. Toh’sellor followed him through the portal like a disobedient puppy and just like that, it was gone.
I watched the space it had occupied for a long moment, almost unable to process that after weeks of stress, the worst of it was over. We’d put Toh’sellor back into its stasis and were once again in control of it.
“Let’s not ever do this again,” Bannen proposed. “All in favor?”
Everyone within hearing lifted a hand and chanted, “Seconded!”
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