by J M Thomas
As Aeron’s grunts became louder and more distinct, I realized the noise thrumming the spell through my head was slowly growing quieter.
Panic hit me with a wall of icy terror. Am I fading?
Aeron grimaced as one of John’s better-aimed strikes caught him in the ribs. He shook his head, the blood from the wound on the back of his head running down his neck.
But if I’m not fading, then… the spell is?
His eyes burned. A single nod, then John’s foot crashed into his leg.
That’s it. Hugo’s sole soul trap had a time limit, too. This one is much stronger and lasts longer… But if it’s so limited, why do it at all?
Apparently, kicking Aeron hurt John less than punching Aeron did, so John kept to that method, landing some nasty kicks to his victim's left shoulder as Aeron ducked his head to protect it.
Why? I don’t understand!
Another kick, another frustrated groan of pain. The groan and the rumble of the engine alarmed me. The voice in my mind was getting quieter by the second. Was it Sian betraying you to put me in this state, or protecting me? Is this the plan?
Aeron’s head bobbed up and down, his eyes wide.
It is the plan. Okay. Again, I couldn’t help but wonder why.
Through eyelids already swelling shut, Aeron squinted at me, then nodded his head toward the driver’s seats.
With curiosity mounting, I stretched toward the opposite edge of the tether binding me to my body. When I peeked through the window, I went through it, the face of my spirit form looking in on them. Like Aeron’s fire and John’s black miasma of cruelty, I saw each of them as they were. The plans they made, the meaning behind their words…
As I heard, I thought aloud, relaying each bit to Aeron.
“Enough,” he said, voice ragged, and I turned again.
“It’s enough when I say it is.” John sent another kick flying, hard.
“Nnhh...” Aeron laid back against the wall, eyes narrowed to slits. The second John picked up his leg to send another kick to the same spot, Aeron struck out. His back braced against the wall, a straight line of muscle all the way to his boot.
John’s knee turned backward with a sickening pop. He let out a garbled scream and tripped backward onto the narrow walkway, then grasped at his destroyed leg.
“Is it?” Aeron asked slowly through clenched teeth. He hooked his legs through the gurney’s support strut, stretching against his bonds. “Come on, any second now…”
A boom rocked the ambulance on its wheels. The wall separating us from the cabin bulged inward.
“The fu…” John didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as the bottom of the ambulance became the side, then the top.
Aeron held on as tight as he could, straining to keep himself and the gurney still as we rolled. John’s body flopped around like a rag doll, bones crunching as he rolled. We were on the inside of a boxy clothes dryer, and only I was secured enough to stay safe.
So that was the plan. Deliver me safely, bubble-wrapped like Don wanted, Aeron by my side as my guardian like he wanted. They’d come to a compromise they could both accept.
We came to a standstill, Aeron’s pained grunts erratic and uneven. It was dark without his eyes open, without the fire of his magic. John’s moans were more terrified, less used to the kind of agony he was bearing. Neither of them were in good shape.
Aeron! Aeron, are you alright? Answer me!
My soul was met with silence.
Chapter 29 – When Worlds Collide
Aeron? Are you okay? Please be alright! I waited for a response, but none came. Shh, it’s alright! We made it! We’re going to be fine. You’re gonna be okay! Aeron? He was hanging from his bound wrists, muscles trembling from exertion.
I reached for his right leg. It was locked and twisted into the metal of the gurney. I touched it gently, right at the knee, encouraging the muscle to relax. Shh, deep breaths, love. Slow and deep, right? I reached into his leg, massaging the strung-tight tendons and ligaments.
His leg budged a little, resting where it tangled in the metal. There was no way for me to work it loose, even if I was in my body, not with him pulling against it. He’d have to hold out a little longer, or… the mental image of his arms twisted out of their sockets invaded my mind. I banished it immediately.
Hold on. Slow and deep. I withdrew, looking over my body. I appeared undisturbed, except that the sheet was now disheveled. The stretcher had fared well, staying locked in place though the ambulance and my gurney now lay on their side. Strapped in tight and physically relaxed, I had fared well, much better than Aeron or John had. I might not like this weird state they’d put me in, but I had to admit it’d worked wonders to keep me completely safe.
Something pounded at the door, rattling it. Screeching metal gave way to fresh, cool air as the bottom door, once the right door, swung open to lay like a ramp. The other door lifted, and an LED flashlight illuminated the interior.
“Fuck, Lyons.” It was Don, wielding bolt cutters and a crowbar. His keen gaze flicked around the wreckage taking in the carnage of twisted bodies and metal.
“‘Elp…” Aeron managed, barely. “Bloody fuckin’ ‘ell.”
“Yeah, yeah. Lemme get to you.” Don nearly tripped on John’s moaning body where it lay splayed between the gurney and the ceiling. “So, this is the asshole they were thinking of. Yeah, bastard, you got as good as you gave, didn’t you?”
Without ceremony, Don dropped his tools, then grabbed John by his shoulders, dragging him down the makeshift ramp. A streak of blood painted the path in their wake—over the hump, across the door, through the grass, and out of sight.
In the night, a clear, single gunshot rang out.
When Don came back in, again brandishing his bolt cutters in one hand, I studied his aura. He was a whirlwind of uncertainty, anchored to his next decision by fierce desire for something, I only wished I could tell what.
After hearing what was certainly him killing a helpless enemy in cold blood, I wasn’t sure how comforted I was by that knowledge.
“I can’t see where to cut, Lyons.” Don’s voice was a whisper. “You sure?”
I peeked up through Aeron’s straining body to where Don held the wire cutters open over the chain. The cuffs were cutting off circulation, but the cutters were in danger of clipping through the back of his hand.
Angle it down more.
Aeron took a rattling breath. “Down a bit.”
Don reworked his angle, lowering the long handles of the cutters, glancing at Aeron for confirmation.
Aeron’s hands were clear. There.
“Do it.” Aeron’s voice trembled with his whole body.
Don squeezed the handles inward with a grunt. Aeron dropped onto the gurney, collapsing the bottom half of it from his odd angle.
The lack of sensation was so odd. My body was taking a fair amount of jostling, but I experienced nothing at all.
“Let’s get you outta here.” Don tucked his hands under Aeron’s armpits the same way he had when he dragged John out.
Aeron tried to push himself into another position, then crashed back down. “No… Lessie…”
“I can’t reach Celeste for your fat ass. Come on!” Don gave Aeron a tug, then realized his leg was still pinched by the gurney’s support struts. “Well, shit.” He stretched Aeron out as best he could to get pressure off the leg, then set to cutting the struts away. Each snap of metal was followed by a sharp hiss from Aeron.
Finally, he managed a few more words. “No time. Lessie…”
“She’s fine!” Don looked ready to pause cutting just long enough to whack Aeron over the head with his flashlight.
“No!” Aeron moistened his lips with his tongue. “Lessie…”
Then, I realized he was talking to me. Yes?
He gave a single grunt. “Cabin.”
I checked the cabin. It was engulfed in flame. Three corpses, still strapped in by their seatbelts, melted in the heat. It�
�s on fire, my spirit called to Aeron in a panic. They’re dead. This whole thing’s going to go up..
“Don. Fire…”
“Yeah, I used an incendiary round. Why’d’ya think I’m trying to go fast?” Finally, Don managed to work Aeron’s leg free. He dragged him out, then came back for me. “Hey, Aeron, is it safe to move her?” he called over his shoulder.
“‘Urry. Gentle,” came Aeron’s ragged reply.
Don gingerly undid the straps holding my body sideways to the gurney, positioning himself so I’d fall onto him. He caught me, careful not to touch or disturb the winged snake emblem sticking out of my chest.
He carried my body through the doors and into the cool night air. I followed as if my shoelaces had been tied off to that emblem on my chest, hovering like a bobbing balloon as the voice in my soul faded to a whisper. Don laid me next to Aeron on the rocky ground.
If I’d been in my body, I’d be sobbing. Aeron looked every bit as beaten to a pulp as he was, shaking in the cold, his disheveled robe not quite managing to cover the swelling and bruising marbling across his chest. His locked-up tendons and muscles still wouldn’t let his leg lay straight.
“Aeron, I… I don’t know what to do with the thing.” Don asked, kneeling over me. “What do I do with the snake needle necklace?”
“Don’t.” Aeron brought his good arm up to show the resist magic bracelet. “I can’t cast. You’re gonna ‘ave to… do as I say.”
“I can’t cast, either!” Don ran his hands through his hair, grabbing it and pulling at the roots. “I’m not a trained mage, you rat bastard!”
Tell him through his scope, Aeron. My spirit form settled around his shoulders in a move I hoped was comforting. He’ll know what to do and say, and you won’t have to talk.
“Yeah, right.” Aeron dropped his hand. “Schmitt, listen, dammit!”
There was a rustle as Don pulled out his scope. He rolled up his sleeve and strapped the item to his forearm, checking the distance from his face. “Alright, I hear you. Tape first, got it.”
I eyed the tape on my chest as he gingerly peeled it back. I cast a glance behind me, just in time for the ambulance to go up in a ball of flames.
“They’ll have a beacon to come to. I just hope our guys make it here in time.” Don swallowed hard, then ripped off the second piece of tape. “I’m focused as I’m gonna get. Alright. Say it one more time.” His eyes squeezed shut. “Nunc vacat vobis liberum? Is that it?”
My spirit slammed into my body. It was like my muscles had leapt up to grab me and mummify me in my own skin and sinew. My bones were my own again; my heart beat loudly. My ears heard, not my soul. My eyes saw, but only as they’d ever seen…
The auras around me were gone.
Don gingerly pulled the caduceus from my skin, holding it in his hand as he heaved a relieved sigh.
I could move again. I could breathe again. It was so weird, being back in a body. My rib still hurt—not sure why I’d expected it to suddenly feel better. I rolled over and worked my way up on my hands and knees, sitting on my feet. “Don…”
“We’ve gotta get to some better cover than this,” he said, eyeing Aeron. “And we’re not gonna get far before trouble comes for us.”
“I can shoot if you have a spare pistol,” I offered, and Don looked at me with raised eyebrows. “What? I can.” Then, I noticed how badly my hands were shaking, and I clenched them into fists. “Right, I see your point. How can I help, then?”
“What do you have on you?” he asked, unzipping his gun bag and pulling out a first aid kit. He took one look at it, one look at Aeron, then put it back. “No time.”
“I think… I think Sian wanted me to keep the caduceus… his snake thing. He put the cap in my pocket. I have my seal in my bag, back at Hugo’s, and…”
“You can touch the seal?” Don’s eyes widened as he crouched on one knee. “Yeah, right, true blind. Alright, here.” He handed me the caduceus, and I fastened the necklace around my neck. The tip slid over the needle and twisted into place as firm as a cap on a pen.
“Think you can use these to get those casting cuffs off him?” Don passed the bolt cutters to me. “I don’t care about the regular cuffs, but we might have a chance if Lyons can cast again.”
Aeron held out his wrist to me, but I found myself hesitating. “If he can’t… can we just… go?”
Don looked suddenly sad. “I’d like that,” he admitted. “But my gut says we’re probably already surrounded.” He cringed. “Gotta get a vantage point to know for sure.”
“Then leave us here.” I knelt over Aeron, taking his hand in mine. “I’ll get the bracelets off, keep them from getting too close, if I can.”
“If you need anything, holler. I’ll be close by.” Don picked up his bag. “And hey… be careful. They took this spot eons ago because there’s a portal to the place where they get their summons. It’s sealed off, but… there’s a chance things could sour further.”
That’s exactly what we need, things souring even further. I scanned our dimly-lit surroundings. “Where exactly are we?”
I did not like the look on Don’s face one bit as gravely shook his head. “We came through the chain-link border fence onto five hundred acres of densely-wooded watchling training compound. We’re completely outside guild authority, local law enforcement patrol routes, and smack dab in the middle of watchling central.”
His unspoken “And I just killed three of them” hung in the air between us as he glanced around the woods. The ambulance fire cast an eerie orange glow on his grim-set face.
“This is where they learn to hunt us.” Without waiting for a reply, Don slung his kit over his shoulder and scurried up the nearest foot-thick oak. The dude climbed like a fluffy-tailed squirrel.
I turned back to Aeron, the cutters in my hand. “How do I keep them from hurting you?”
“You don’t.” Aeron shook his head, working his jaw. “Jus’ cut.”
“Then why not have Don do it?” I eyed the cutters in my hand.
“They’d zap ‘im, too. Nasty fuckers.” Aeron laid his right wrist out against the ground.
Swallowing hard, I positioned the cutters over the metal. “Ready?”
He nodded.
I leaned on the bolt cutters with all my weight. The metal gave way with a snap. Aeron shook like it was electrocuting him, his eyes rolling back in his head as his body spasmed.
I pulled the cuff off his wrist, but it didn’t help. “What do I do?” I was about to freak out when I remembered the other cuff. Grabbing his flopping wrist, I snapped the second cuff.
Instantly, he relaxed.
“I’m gonna kill Don for making me do that.” I wiped the sweat from Aeron’s forehead with the back of my hand as he sagged, laying in the dirt with his eyes shut. He did seem to be breathing better, though, and his leg had finally unclenched and lay flat, albeit still twisted.
“Lessie.” Aeron wiggled a finger, gesturing for me to lean in closer.
I did, my face an inch from his. “Yes?”
“I’m… sorry.”
I made a move to negate him, to tell him he had nothing to be sorry for, but he wasn’t finished.
“I’m sorry in advance. Whatever comes next, this is not… what I planned for. I can’t… control it. Not like this.” I could hardly believe it, but he looked afraid. “I dunno what darkness comes for me, Lessie.”
“You were never in control, Aeron.” I smiled and brushed his hair back out of his face. “And, if this is our first date, it’s the actual worst.” I winked, then kissed his forehead. “You’ll have to do better on the second one.”
“Hmm…” He didn’t quite manage a smile, but his lip twitched a little. “We ain’t ‘ad a curry yet. You might change your mind.”
“All right. I reserve my judgement for when we’ve had curry.” I let my fingers trail through his hair. “But until then, you’re on the clock.”
“‘Elp me sit up.” Aeron strained to lift his head.
He didn’t get far.
“Hold on.” I slid behind him, leaning my back against a tree, hoping that the support would keep my injured rib from protesting the movement too much. It was a futile hope. Slowly, gritting my teeth against the pain, I pulled him toward me. Finally, I rested his head on my chest as my knees cradled him between them. He pushed up, trying to cooperate with my work, but moving him still wasn’t easy.
With one hand, I supported his head, and with the other, I held onto his shoulder to keep him from falling over to the side. My rib was definitely protesting, and I was glad he couldn’t see my pained expression.
His palms fell open at his sides as he muttered words in another language under his breath. The blood from his gashes and cuts ran like hungry kids who’d just heard the dinner bell. As soon as it reached his hands, it rained into the sky in reverse, disappearing a few feet into the air as if it’d evaporated.
I watched silently, and in wonder, over his shoulder. With considerable effort, he flipped his palms over, slapping them onto the ground with a muffled thump.
“They’re coming,” was all he said. He slumped against me, pinning me against the tree.
“Do I stay here and help you?” I managed from beneath his crushing dead weight. “Or get help?”
He shook his head. “Run.”
Scraping my shoulder blades against the tree, I wiggled out from behind him, propping him against the tree as best I could. I looked around for something, anything I could use to cover him. Branches, leaves, dirt...
“Go!” Aeron snapped. He leaned his head back, grimacing as his open wound scraped ragged bark. “Just go, Lessie. I’ll be orright.”
But which way? I spun in place, the wooded treeline looking too slow, and the broken asphalt too exposed.
“Dance for me, love.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Go on.”
Taking a deep breath, I forced my foot to take a step.
Then I was running.
Chapter 30 – In Deadly Clash
I hadn’t gotten far when they converged on us, circling from the woods like a pack of wolves. Men and women brandished weapons, everything from spears to pistols to knives. Several had large, stoppered beakers strapped across their chests on bandoliers. There had to be fifteen or more watchlings in all, each wearing a distinctively-patterned poncho over their clothing.
