Everyone was in a pretty good mood after that—seeing another possible ally in the midst.
“It’s a long story.” She said—going over and giving her a long overdue hug.
“We thought the rest of the circle had been taken out. Scattered possibly. I didn’t see any survivors.”
“You wouldn’t. I lost Amber Smith at the height of the battle two nights ago. I…found her body yesterday. Looks like she was wounded—later executed by the looks of things. There wasn’t anything that I could do for her.” Ashley said, retrieving something from the folds of her night cloak.
“She was carrying this.”
Alicia took the object from her and studied it. “It’s a magical codex. But why this? Where did it come from?”
“The personal library of the High Sorcerer.” The other woman confirmed grimly.
“It’s useless to the armies of the Third Watch. But rumors are still persisting of a top field commander of theirs with magical abilities all their own. Nobody’s been able to confirm it though.”
Sarah was shocked.
“There’s a magical familiar in the ranks of the armies of the Third Watch?” She breathed.
“That’s what Ashley was postulating a week before the attacks on Old New York. We think this person may have been responsible for the bombings and fallout in Boston and Newark.”
“So what happened, Ashley? Why did Amber risk her life with this information?”
“Nothing was safe after the initial invasion. I’m sure Sarah Winters here can confirm, but most of the Guilds nationwide have either been evacuated, or locked down, or sealed off by the Third Watch, Seventh Arm, or even the Tenth Legion.” She paused for a moment to let the news sink in for the surviving witches.
“The Supreme Chancellor means to finish us all off, Alice. The Great War was the tipping point. Now they mean to complete the job.”
“What about the magical kinsfolk living in the city?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ve already heard by now of their latest…project. It will be the end of them all if it’s activated—even for a short time.”
“It’s a device?” Alicia whispered in horror.
“A pathological eradicator—tailored to magical kinsfolk in this area. It was originally a prototype. But I guess some where’s down the line, they managed to perfect the delivery system. Once it goes off, it will flood the city with a lethal gas that kills in seconds. Nobody will have the time to react or breathe.”
“What about us?” Tillie wanted to know.
“It’s not going to affect you, Tillamook. Just anyone like your élan friend over there.”
Teena’s eyes widened in horror.
“What about those in the Underground? The Resistance?”
Ashley’s brown eyes betrayed little emotion or sympathy.
“They will die as well. It’s a perfect weapon of lethal magnitude. The Regency Council knows all about your little…hideouts within the city itself but because of costs and availability of personnel, they decided to come up with a blanket solution which would wipe out everyone—above and below ground as well. Take out their little problem all at the same time.” The woman said quietly.
“Make no mistake kids—we’re all marked for death.”
Tillie’s eyes narrowed in anger.
“Then we have to take out the weapon—directly. It’s the only way.”
“It’s at a staging ground next to the Hudson River in the lower Eastside of the Bronx. Near Brooklyn. You’ll never make it. Too heavily protected and fortified.”
“Well, we just can’t stand here and do nothing.” Alicia said in protest. “We have to do something.”
“Like what, Alice? Stage an offensive against the armies of the Third Watch—like you planned—to give the Underground time to evacuate the city?”
Everyone looked like they had grown roots.
“H-how do you know about that?” Tillie choked out. “That was my idea!”
Ashley shrugged. “I have my sources.”
“No one else could have possibly known about the plan.”
“You think you’re the only one without informants, Tillamook? The Witches Guild in Lower Tam had plenty over the years—tracking the movements of the Third Watch and anyone else who might be associated with them.”
“So that’s it? That’s what made you turn spy for the other side?” Sarah guessed off hand—giving reason for Alicia to back up a bit in alarm.
Ashley shrugged again. “If you only knew which side you were truly on all this time—then yes. I suppose you could consider me to be a spy. Or a well planted double agent—recruited by the intelligence agencies of the Regency Council.”
Alicia went to grab her daughter in that instant—but Ashley was quicker.
The woman immobilized the other teenager before she could mount a defense.
“Mom!” Tillie cried out in fear as Ashley pointed a magical incantation at her throat.
“Don’t.” Ashley warned as everyone reacted to the change of circumstance.
“Do anything and she dies. Guaranteed.” The woman remarked coldly. “I will not hesitate to kill her if you push me.”
Alicia’s face tightened in rage as her former friend stepped away from the corner of the alleyway—dragging her little girl with her.
Remember your training, honey! The woman telepathy projected to her with swift urgency. You’ve been in situations like this with both me and your father! Remember that!
Tillie’s eyes locked with her mother’s then and she nodded silently.
REMEMBER.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dead Man’s Bluff
Five years earlier.
“—so I’m supposed to feign helplessness—like the damsel in distress in my fairytale books?” Tillie charged off as her father held her by the throat—while her mother was the aggressor in this scenario.
“That’s right sweetie. Most people will never think that you would be helpless if you faked it. But you have to put on a pretty convincing show if you ever hope to fool the enemy in a situation like this.”
“But what about dad?” Tillie asked with genuine concern. “If you pop off—he’ll be hurt!”
Her father chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation. “I’m a lot of tougher than I look, honey. Just concentrate on getting free. I have you in a headlock. You’re trapped. My prisoner. What’s your first natural response to this situation?”
“Scream?”
“That’s a good answer, but no. That will make your situation all that more perilous with your would be kidnapper.”
“So no screaming?” Tillie said, squirming a little in her father’s grasp—knowing that her eighteen months of physical training was being put to good use. It hadn’t been that long since she awoke as a witch however.
And her mother could see that she was becoming too powerful in her own right. So her parents decided to take advantage of that opportunity by giving her a world class training session. Or sessions.
All designed to focus her attention and toughen her up. The country was in a state of civil unrest ever since the federal government fell and been replaced by the Regency Council and all the news of skirmishes, battles, and confrontations on the streets proved that the Witch’s Guild of Lower Tam was going to need all the help they could get.
But out here in the Great Lakes area of Buffalo New York, Alicia could train her daughter to become a real powerhouse and weapon for all kind—not just for magical familiars or magical kinsfolk.
“So what to do you, honey? What’s your first move? If it is an enemy of the Third Watch? Or even one of our own? A magical familiar?”
Tillie blinked. “A…magical familiar? Why would a witch turn on one of their own?”
“You may never know. Remember Greta Freeman last year? At the height of our battle with her? When she turned on us? Or how you reacted and almost killed her in a blind rage at the last possible second—after taking a full blast from the sto
len Dragon’s Tear of hers?”
Tillie nodded. “I remember.”
Her mother stepped forward in that instant—causing her husband to relax his hold on her for a second.
“Don’t think for a moment that one of us might do it again—for the sheer sport of it. Or for reasons known only to them. Remember: We are expendable as magical familiars go. Our numbers have never been that great to begin with. We are an endangered race of powerful beings—a bridge between humanity and magical kinsfolk.”
Tillie nodded.
“Okay. I get it now. I’m supposed to treat dad as the enemy.” She bluntly deferred—shifting her weight just a little bit to get a good sense of him and his overall movements.
“Only in this scenario, sweetie. So try to restrain your enthusiasm. He’s only human.”
“Mom. He’ll be fine. Maybe just a bit bruised, but he should come through with flying colors.”
Her husband paused and looked at his wife. “What does she mean?” He ventured worriedly.
In that instant, Tillie powered up and broke free of her father’s grip so fast that he was blown backwards in the blink of an eye. The girl’s normally brown eyes glowed an unearthly color that matched her focus and her power.
He landed on his butt the hard way even as she turned on him in that second—waves of magical power radiating off her in the process.
Her father coughed a couple of times to get rid of the pain he felt in his chest after she rabbit punched him in a heart beat—his vision swimming a bit as a result.
“I never…saw it…coming.” He gasped.
Alicia stepped forward in that second—reaching out to her only daughter in a bid to calm the fire and rage which burned through her body, heart, and mind.
“Easy. Easy.” She calmly said. “It’s over. You won.”
The moment where she was not herself but a fragment belonging to the ancient dragon, Susha still compelled her to attack her enemy in the heat of anger.
Alicia drew her into a warm and comforting embrace. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” she crooned softly. “Just let it go. Return to the moment of where and what you are. You are not the ancient white dragon. You are a witch. Remember yourself. Remember the oath you took to preserve the sanctity of life and all those around you…”
She kept repeating the words slowly, stroking her daughter’s hair, running her hands down her shoulders and then back. Trying to get her to calm down and not lash out.
Because if she couldn’t, her husband would pay a terrible price.
And it worked. In the next few moments, the rage and anger died down inside the girl and she actually blinked a couple of times in the process.
“M-mom…?” Tillie whispered softly. “What happened? Is dad all right?”
Alicia nodded with some transparent relief and joy on her part. It had been that close. Just like last time.
Taking a deep breath to both calm herself and her nerves, the woman nodded.
“He’s fine sweetie. He’s just as you said: A little bruised.”
Tillie nodded—feeling like she had hurt the one person she cared about most of all.
Breaking free from her mother in that moment, she ran over to her father and knelt down—looking at him earnestly.
“You okay?” She began with fresh worry and concern. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
Her father looked up into the eyes of his child—his daughter—and smiled wanly.
“I’m fine, honey. I’m just…a bit surprised. I never expected you to pop off like that—after you gut checked me in the chest.”
Tillie giggled with relief. “Mom did say to treat you as the enemy. So I did. I didn’t expect—well—that leftover fragment from the Dragon’s Tear to reassert itself in me like it did when we fought Greta Freeman to the death.”
The man nodded before holding out his hand then. She stood up and gripped it with all of her youthful strength and pulled.
Alicia watched as her daughter hauled her husband up with some difficulty, but she could see that everything was all right in the end. He was smiling at her and she was doing the same back—before breaking out into laughter.
For some strange reason, a curious twist of fate managed to bring out the best of her and she kept wondering how long that trend would last—before the fragment inside her got too strong for her own good.
Or heaven forbid…they accidentally found the Dragon’s Tear itself.
The woman didn’t want to think about the implications to that. A power that had no equal. One of the First Beings to walk the Earth unchecked—lords and masters of all creation—finding a home in a strong-willed eleven year old girl.
***
Alicia held her breath in the next instant as the past became the present once more and her former friend and ally continued to drag her little girl along with her.
Nobody moved. Absolutely nobody. Not Teena. Not Reggie. Not even Charlie.
Charlie…the boy that Tillie had a special fondness for.
“Just remember: Any sudden moves….she dies.” Ashley warned with cold hostility as she continued to make her way out into the street across from the abandoned gift shop.
Tillie didn’t put up much of a struggle against her captor. That was the whole idea. Her idea from the start.
And from the looks of things, it was going to pay off handsomely.
Until…
A sharp chirp in the air echoed overhead—causing everyone to freeze once more.
Then the street filled with so many troopers in white combat armor—carrying rifles and pulse shavers—along with the dreaded hover control bots that chirped, beeped, whistled, and chattered amongst themselves in their own mechanical or binary language.
Ashley froze in her tracks—clearly taken off guard by their sudden arrival.
“I didn’t ask for any of you to show up. I was going to deliver the girl to you—just as I promised.”
Alicia’s face broke into anger, then rage herself. She started forward in that instant—but not before Sarah Winters held her back by shaking her head.
“Let’s see what they want. They can’t be more than a couple regiments at least. That gives us an edge.”
Someone emerged from the crowd—a woman by the looks of things. And she did not look happy at all.
“I had to break my liberty pass because someone tipped us off that you would be delivering unto me a fat prize.” She sneered openly. “The last of the High Witches belonging to the Witch’s Guild in Lower Tam.”
Ashley Dietrich nodded eagerly. “I did! Just as you wanted! The little bitch that eluded you two nights ago in the alley! I knew who she was! She is the daughter of that High Witch over there! Alicia Gunderson!”
The other woman’s face narrowed as she scanned the faces of her would be prisoners in the waning evening light.
“The Dragon Summoner.” The woman hissed unhappily. “Legends say that you are the keeper of the Dragon’s Tear—a powerful artifact from ancient times. I always believed they were stories of legend. Of myth.”
Alicia couldn’t help but chuckle at this bit of misunderstanding.
“I was never the keeper, lady. I was the unfortunate witness to a power so ancient and unpredictable that it has no equal in this world.”
“So who holds the Tear? Who is the Ancient Dragon’s rightful owner?” The woman demanded.
Tillie raised her hand—which contained the chain necklace from which the Tear now dangled free and clear. It glinted softly in the evening light—backlit by a brilliant sunset.
“I am the keeper.” She openly declared—before pulling herself free of Ashley’s startled grasp. Looking back at her, she added: “You’re very lucky that I didn’t unleash my hidden powers. You would not have survived.”
Captain Kara Plummer looked at the teenage girl with sudden interest.
“You. You are the vessel to Susha himself?”
Tillie nodded. “If you want a sample of my power, you are more than free to ask. I
will blow your toy soldiers away on a puff of wind and fire.” She volunteered brazenly.
The other woman stepped forward in that moment to size her up.
“A little witch like you beholden to the ultimate expression of power and glory and you want to use it as a test of strength and will.” She called out in a sing song fashion.
“Curious of what Susha himself would think if he were alive on this very day. But no matter. I will take the Tear. For the glory of the Regency Council and the Supreme Chancellor himself.”
Tillie stared at her unflinchingly. “You can both go straight to hell. I will not turn over the Dragon’s Tear to the likes of you.”
The woman sighed softly. “Do you know who I am, little one? I am the one who decides whether you should live or die tonight. As the rest of your little squatter party standing over there. Or perhaps you would like it if we were to invade that underground city from which you all came from—by taking everyone into custody as enemies of the New Republic?
“Or you could prefer them as hostages before we decide their ultimate fate—governed by the likes of you? It’s your call, young lady. So I would make the most of your decision. Because your life depends on it.”
Tillie looked into Kara’s cold and dead eyes as she started to suspect was something more than the sum of her existence.
“I very much doubt that you could force me to betray my family, my friends, or anyone else I have crossed paths with just for the sake of your entertainment. Or to stroke your ego.” She said evenly—not flinching in the face of her sworn enemy.
The woman studied her for another moment. Then nodded.
“That’s too bad. You could have had a long life as my prisoner. Or possibly my own pet. I have never had the luxury of seeing a magical familiar up close—unless you count the last one I put out of her misery. Would you like to see the video recordings of her last moment of life? She died in pain. I very much doubt that’s how you would want to go.”
Generation Witch Year One Page 22
