by TR Cameron
Cara nodded as she stepped into position beside her. “Deal.”
Rath spoke up as he joined them. “Deal. Stupid bouncy Mirennas.”
Diana wanted to catch her breath or to at least wipe the grime off her face, but there was no time. The enemy’s strategy was clear—delay the teams with cannon fodder while they did their nefarious thing, whatever that was. The BAM agents advanced through another series of twisting corridors until the narrow passages opened into another room. They repeated the grenade procedure from before, but an instant after they’d thrown them, the ordnance rolled back into the hallway.
The agent cursed as she and Cara dashed forward to escape the blast range. Even with their precautions, exploding grenades were not something they wanted to be near. The room was dedicated to exhibit preparation and an open space housed four large rectangular metal tables with thick bases that rose to stomach height. The top of the room was a huge transparent affair that allowed visitors above to watch the workers below. A thin railing discouraged guests from stepping on the ceiling itself, although Diana imagined it would easily support them if they did. The glass was comprised of two-foot squares supported in a heavy black grid.
The enemy was well prepared for their arrival. No rifle-wielders were present—maybe the bastards finally ran out of them—but three wizards and a witch stood at the back of the room to block the only other exit. They’d spread out to avoid the possibility that any individual attack would impact all of them at once. There was a frozen instant in which the opposing forces took stock of one another before the BAM agents raised their rifles and fired a series of single rounds at their enemies. The targets flicked their wands out casually to deflect the bullets. The two women sighed, let their carbines fall to their vests, and closed in for hand-to-hand combat.
Cara went left, Diana right, and Rath simply sprinted directly ahead at a witch.
Diana shouted, “Are you sure you don’t want to give up now?” The two on her side of the room laughed mockingly and thrust their wands at her. She slid to avoid the beam of concentrated light that slivered above her and shards scattered from the point of impact. A stinging sensation on the side of the neck brought a grimace but she thought nothing more of it as she pressed into the attack. She’d faced worse before.
The other wizard reacted to her slide evasion and launched a trail of small shadow orbs in her direction. Diana twisted away from the first few but couldn’t evade them all. The last two struck home and her deflectors absorbed them. One shattered and another went fully dark. The other pair were also faintly colored.
Okay, so we have a couple of powerful scumbags.
She bounced up and extended her right hand to aim a bolt of force at one of the shadow mages. He gestured with his wand in a Z pattern, and a swirling ebony barrier sprang up in the bolt’s path. A whooshing erupted as the magics met, and her attack was sucked into the void.
Diana reached for her Ruger but was forced to abandon that plan as another beam of light sought her out. She ducked behind a nearby table, which proved no protection as the beam burned through it an inch above her hair.
She rose and stretched her arms. Let’s see how you bastards like this.
While Rath focused his fury on the witch in the middle, Cara had one-on-one odds with the wizard who remained.
Lightning sizzled at her, and one of her deflectors popped. Kayleigh had explained that the deflectors created an aura, which was why they intercepted the magic before it reached her electrical protective vest. She ignored the attack and continued her sprint. Her opponent scowled and rotated his arm to make circles with his wand. A coherent rope of crackling power lengthened with each spin to puddle on the floor.
He flicked the lightning whip, and it snapped an inch away from her eyes as she backpedaled frantically.
Damn.
He retracted it and spun it out again with a flick of his wrist. The whip descended toward her in a curve and she instinctively threw an arm up in defense. The attack was too swift to avoid, and two more magic deflectors blew.
Double damn. He’s actually good with it.
She ducked behind a table and the vibrant rope curled over the top to lash her shoulder. Her last deflector and several resistors were destroyed, even though it had seemed like only a glancing blow.
With no choice, Cara clawed for the Ruger in the holster at the small of her back, drew the weapon, and fired as she brought it up. She pulled the trigger three times as quickly as she could. Two shots missed as the wizard spun reflexively to avoid the bullets, but the third reached him before a hasty shield replaced the whip and caught him in the thigh.
He fell to one knee but maintained enough composure to fire another blast of forked lightning at her. She ducked. This time, the table proved adequate and from her temporary haven, she looked right and caught a glimpse of Rath’s engagement with the witch. The enemy held her wand like a knife in her fist, the point down, and a shimmering blade of force protruded from the end. Rath delivered enthusiastic blows with the batons, but they no longer sparked. The woman was skilled at defense and deflected his blows before she delivered a kick to his chest that hurled the troll to slide back several feet.
The marshal’s jaw clenched in anger, and before she had time to think about it, she used her left hand to hurdle the table and fired the revolver’s last three bullets at the wizard who had already launched his attack on her. His blast sizzled all around her as the remaining resistors were consumed in a crackling medley of soft pops. The vest didn’t absorb all the spell’s power, though, and she landed hard to twitch and shout as the sparking energy bit into her flesh. The sight of the trio of holes in the wizard’s chest tempered the pain, and she was almost able to enjoy the way he slumped to his knees and fell forward onto his face. She closed her eyes to focus on staying conscious while the lightning wreaked havoc on her nerves.
Diana stretched her left hand toward the table in front of her and thrust her right at the one that lay beyond it, several feet closer to the enemy. The various objects on them—bones, tools, and a heavy microscope that unfortunately looked very expensive—rocketed at her opponents. They focused on defense. The shadow wizard flung himself to the floor to avoid the barrage, while the other man’s blasts annihilated them before they reached him.
Oh, that’s cocky. You’re first.
The residual rage that still lingered flared a little at his arrogance. Diana dashed in a curve around the tables until she had positioned the light-user between herself and the other wizard.
He tracked her motion and released destruction along her route, and she had a moment of fear that her attack might have been a bad idea before the residual anger that still trembled inside her found a new melody. Suddenly, the key to transforming her passive defensive power to aggressive use was clear. There were still so many questions, but she was out of time. It might only be a theory, but it was the only hope she had. She drew a ragged breath and channeled the energy within onto a different path, and time slowed.
With the first step, Diana felt exactly how draining an intentional and aggressive use of her defensive magic could be. Her limbs became heavy as she drove herself forward. By the second step, she feared how much more energy the effort sucked from her. Nonetheless, the delay allowed her to dodge the incoming blasts and drive her fist squarely into the wizard’s face. She released the power with a gasp of relief, and time resumed its normal flow.
As soon as his falling form cleared her line of sight, she thrust her right arm forward to hurl a force blast at the other wizard. It did little more than ruffle his long dark hair. He rewarded her effort with a contemptuous sneer and extended his wand toward her.
Uh-oh.
Rath’s patience with the stupid witch had run out. His training had not included much in the way of knife fighting, which he now realized was a definite lack.
Rambo uses knife. Must train.
He shook his head at his own blindness as he rolled out of the way of a vicious thru
st. He tried a double outside-in slash action with his batons, one from each direction, in the hope that she would have to choose a side to defend. She accepted the blow from one and blocked the other with the shimmering blade that extended from her wand. Her smile pure evil, she delivered another resounding kick to his chest and he tumbled into a nearby table. Pain blossomed in his back.
Anger came with it to add to the flow of emotion he felt from Diana that had pushed against his mental barriers for the last half-minute. Now was clearly not the time to focus on retaining his smaller size. This particular opponent required his full capabilities. The troll surrendered to the flow and rose slowly to his feet.
Everything diminished as he grew to his full size. The Velcro tabs on his vest separated, and the two halves fell away.
Emerson. Good design.
His belt parted in the same fashion and fell from his hips. The witch propelled a force bolt at him that struck solidly. His chest hurt but the attack did little damage. Gunshots and breaking glass erupted above, and she threw a hasty shield up to intercept the new and unexpected attack. He waved at Tony and grinned. The investigator had found another way through and now had the woman pinned in place with well-timed bullets. Rath bared his fangs and stalked forward with cold deliberation.
The color seeped from the witch’s face as she cast two more blasts at him. He chose to dodge rather than meet the attack head-on. The truth was that he hadn’t practiced enough with this larger size to engage in real acrobatics and so he twisted aside rather than engage in his usual fighting style.
By the time he reached her, she had adapted her magical construct into a longsword. The troll was not afraid. The weapon was a no greater threat than the knife had been to his smaller form. She swung wildly and he stepped through her guard to seize her arm and stare into her eyes. He enjoyed the moment as fear twined into her expression for only an instant. Then, his fist collided with her face and the thin woman sagged in a boneless heap.
He turned toward Diana’s fight as Cara flashed past him in a run.
The last wizard now circled away from Diana but continued to launch balls of shadow in a relentless attack. Her deflectors were all dark or shattered, and she cried out in pain as one of the orbs curved in the air to follow her evasive maneuver and strike her shoulder. She spun like she’d been punched by a troll twice his size and folded over the table, then fell back. There was no time for subtlety. Rath rocketed forward to intercept the mage as the man went in for the kill, but Cara beat him to it.
With a shout that snapped Rath’s head around, she hauled her hand back and flicked it forward at her side with her fingers outstretched. Five glowing darts erupted. The troll had enough time as they traveled to realize they were composed of compressed fire that flickered a bright red and orange. They struck the mage in the spine, and the way he arched and screamed suggested that there was both force and burning involved. The wand slid from his fingers as he fell to roll desperately in an effort to smother the flames. The wounds themselves were already seared shut, but the darts continued to burn.
Diana staggered to her feet and kicked him in the head as the last flames flickered and died. She turned to Cara, her face streaked by the beads of sweat that trickled over the dirt. Fresh tear-streaks washed some of the grit away from her cheeks. She choked out a hoarse, “Thank you.”
"Are you okay?" Tony called over the comms. She gave him a thumbs-up. Now that they had line of sight, the private network’s backup seemed able to activate. “I won’t jump unless you have magic that will make it non-bone-breaking.”
She laughed, then gasped and hissed in pain. “Maybe Rath could catch you. What do you think, big guy?”
The troll grinned and shook his head. “Probably could, but bad idea. Might drop. Tony’s breakable. Here, you look like you need this.” He tossed her a healing potion.
“That stuff’s not easy to make. We only use it in emergencies.”
“Have you gotten a good look at yourself?”
Diana sighed, made a painful circuit of the room to collect the fallen wands, and limped to stand by the door. She caught the rifle Cara threw to her. “Okay. See if you can get down to us some other way. We’ll move on.”
Chapter Fifteen
They reached the secure room in the same moment that the heavy round door swung open.
It’s like a bank vault in a fifties movie. Bizarre.
The five enemies present turned to face them. Diana categorized them instantly based on body language. Two moved to protect the other two, and that pair drifted toward the central figure in the arrangement. The leader, seconds in command, and their seconds. She shouted, “Down on the floor—now!”
They didn’t comply, of course.
They never do. A girl can dream, right?
Replicating their pattern from the previous room, Cara went left, and Diana cut right, while Rath attacked down the middle. The leader stepped into the vault and vanished from sight. His two lieutenants blocked access to whatever was inside and raised their wands at the seven-foot troll who bore down on them with cold intent. Diana pulled the trigger of her rifle until it clicked empty. She hoped for a lucky shot on the wizard on her side and sighed when the bullets bounced harmlessly away. While she’d expected a shield, it would have been nice for her not to be right for once.
Shadow magic reached for her in the form of waving tentacles that emerged from the wizard’s wand. She threw herself to the side in a frantic evasive maneuver and dipped her head to avoid the one aimed at it. The barbed spikes along it sent the reality of their murderous intent home.
Shit. These bastards are tougher than the others were.
She clicked the release strap for her rifle and dropped the weapon behind her. It was useless now.
The mage dispatched a continuous flow of tendrils to grasp her. Fear and anger surged within at the memory of being trapped by a similar attack. The emotions emerged from her hand as a shuddering bolt of force that she dragged in a line across the wizard’s body. He staggered at the unexpected series of blows, and his spell faltered. She rocketed forward again and flicked her left fingers to knock his wand free, but he held on stubbornly and whipped it in her direction.
The dark tentacles uncoiled again. This time, they were narrow and cylindrical and entwined themselves into a thick bar. She avoided it with a backspin to the right and leapt at the wizard. Diana registered two things in mid-flight. The first was the broad grin that stretched across her adversary’s face. The second was the short wand in his off-hand that she hadn’t seen. It fired a thin cone of shadow directly at her heart.
Cara was exhausted and the blast she’d delivered in the previous fight had drained her. Offensive magic always did. There hadn't been much occasion to call upon that power in the Marshals, and training beyond the basics had seemed a poor investment of her time.
I guess I was wrong about that.
Her rifle clattered as she forced the human duo ahead of her to duck for cover under their hastily prepared bulwarks—a pair of rolling carts from the vault. Still, the ancient stone blocks that had been stacked inside them proved adequate to shield them from her bullets. She raced forward and slid to a stop on her knees on the opposite side of the obstruction. By her reckoning, she was closest to the one she’d identified as the low man on the totem pole. She paused to take a breath and froze when the barrel of his weapon appeared in the open area underneath the cart, two feet away from her face.
Rath was buffeted by chill blasts from the witch on the right. They struck with surprising force and almost burned. Trails of icicles were left in his fur from the places contact had been made. After he’d absorbed the first strike, he decided avoidance might be the better choice.
The man on the left raised a rifle and fired at him. The bullets hurt where they scraped along the outside part of his arm. The impact twisted him slightly as the metal projectiles furrowed through his flesh. He bared his fangs at the pair and angled toward the one who had shot him.
The next ice bolt caught him in the head. The momentum snapped it sideways and he staggered as he lurched aside. The man ahead now raised a pistol and fired. The gunman’s face seemed different—almost exultant. Rath knew better than to remain where he was, so he instinctively somersaulted to avoid the shots. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten that his large form wasn’t nearly so acrobatic, and two more bullets found their mark.
He had never been shot with anti-magic bullets before, he realized, as the rounds burned into the muscles of his thighs. The troll went down hard and the momentum carried him in a tumultuous roll back the way he’d come. This was the first serious pain he could remember since being locked in the cage with its magical and mundane torments. His eyes latched hatefully on his opponent, who now lowered the pistol toward Rath’s slowing form.
The cone of shadow struck Diana with enough force to overwhelm her. It wasn’t only physical, although it was sufficient to alter her trajectory and spiral her into a painful landing on her side. The magic struck at her very essence, and its tendrils sought to consume the life inside her. Her energy ebbed, and she could almost see it flow out as the shadows surrounded her. The wizard struck again and more darkness poured over her prone form in a continuous assault. She thrashed impotently. For a moment, she feared it was all over.
What a stupid way to die.
The anger at her own failure provided the necessary spark, however, and her vexation ignited as the vital catalyst to heat the molten pool that lay within. Heat spread slowly through her to push the shadow back, although it didn’t quite eliminate it. Conscious thought ceded to raw animal instinct as she rose in a fury and thrust both hands out. The shadows that had sought to engulf her recoiled. They jerked slowly into a lazy orbit around her. Then, they coalesced around her clenched hands before she drew both arms back like an artillery unit launching its payload.
