Darkness Ascends in Magic City

by TR Cameron

  Nylotte frowned. “Does it now? Seems strange that the entity in the sword hasn’t done that for you.”

  “Entities,” Ruby specified. “They didn’t believe it was possible. Apparently, in this, the Atlantean has knowledge they do not.”

  Diana asked, “The Atlantean?”

  Ruby waved a hand. “The representation of the artifact in my head is an Atlantean man. He’s a jerk.”

  Nylotte replied, “Kelly’s Atlantean.”

  Diana sighed. “Cali. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re getting meaner or just senile. Anyway, I don’t think what form the artifact chooses as its avatar is a vital concern. Do you have any other way to learn this information?”

  Ruby shrugged. “My mentor on Oriceran doesn’t have that skill, as far as I know. Certainly, she’s neither shown that ability during our bouts nor offered to teach me.”

  Nylotte replied, “Not every artifact can do it, and not everyone who uses an artifact can, either. It requires a deep level of synergy between the wielder and the weapon.”

  Ruby frowned. “Does that mean I’ll be risking a deeper connection with the Rhazdon artifact, too?”

  The Drow looked thoughtful. “It’s entirely possible. I couldn’t say for certain, as this isn’t something I’ve had personal experience with before.”

  Diana said, “I understand how important being able to do this would be for your fighting style. That certainly adds weight to one side of the scale.”

  Ruby’s head bobbed. “Very much so.”

  Nylotte commented, “I could potentially teach you, but I couldn’t do it quickly. I would have to spend substantial time communing with the personalities in your sword and adapting to them before I’d know exactly how to guide you to the appropriate connection.”

  Diana replied, “Which the artifact has likely already done, giving it an advantage.”

  Ruby said, “You seem to think it’s a good idea.”

  The agent shrugged. “It would be a useful skill for you to have. If that’s the only way to get it in a reasonable timeframe, then the answer becomes kind of obvious.”

  She drew a deep breath, then released slowly. “If I decide to do it, do you have any suggestions about how?”

  Diana nodded. “Definitely. Do it here.”

  An hour later, Ruby was kneeling in the centermost ring of Nylotte’s circle of wards. She had already descended from the outermost portion of her mind to a meditative space and was ready to move on. Diana said, sounding like she was speaking from a long distance away, “If you need anything, we’re here.”

  Since the problem is my brain, I’m not sure what all you can do from there. “Thanks. Here goes nothing.”

  She placed her hand on the artifact, and it squirmed under her touch. Fighting down nausea, she imagined her rug and chairs in the grassland expanse and tried to will herself to go there. Instead, her perceptions shifted, and she found herself on a landscape full of sharp-edged formations and painted in harsh colors. A hot wind whipped through the space, and the Atlantean stepped into view. He said, “So you decided to accept my training. Smart girl.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m in charge here.”

  He laughed. “Oh, of course.”

  She scowled. “No, I mean it. Any games and I might have to find out if cutting off a limb can truly free one of a Rhazdon artifact.”

  He replied dismissively, “Others have tried. Didn’t work.”

  “Like I’d believe you on that matter.”

  The Atlantean nodded. “So you can learn, excellent. Let’s begin. Bring yourself into a fighting stance.” She complied. He continued, “Imagine the sword in your hands.” She did as he asked and felt the cold metal of the hilt pressing into her skin.

  “It’s a simple mental shift. Right now, you cast with your hands, your voice, your body. The key is imagining the weapon is as seamlessly you as those things are. It stands to reason that if the sword is merely another body part, you can cast magic through it.”

  Ruby replied, “It’s that easy?”

  “To find the starting point, yes. To achieve the necessary connection, less so. But I am prepared to guide you once you begin.”

  She drew a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay, I’ll try.” She imagined the sword as an extension of her arm and considered what it would be like to feel the magic spreading from her hand into the weapon.

  Ruby focused on visualizing that feeling, making it as real as she could in her mind. She was uncharacteristically patient with herself, letting the image build at its own pace. When she found blockages barring her way, the Atlantean gave her advice, and she moved gently around them to find new paths.

  In the end, Ruby felt like she had made progress, maybe even succeeded. Maintaining the idea of her sword as an extension of her arm had become, if not easy, then not incredibly complicated, either. She said, “I’ll have to try this outside, of course.”

  “Naturally.”

  “Thank you for your help.” She returned to the real world, where her sword lay on her palms. She concentrated on it while also sending her thoughts toward its inhabitants, asking for their help. After a moment of intense visualization of the weapon as an extension of her body, it began to glow softly.

  Diana clapped, and Nylotte said, “Well done, Ruby. It will take more practice and more effort to make it part of your arsenal, but you’ve taken an important first step.”

  She rose and nodded, but inside she groaned. Where am I going to find time for more training?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  After returning from her meeting-turned-training-session with Diana and Nylotte, Ruby decided the status quo couldn’t be allowed to stand any longer. She summoned Morrigan and Idryll to the bunker, and they gathered in the living room. The other two sat, but she was too keyed up for immobility.

  She paced as she laid it out for them. “Okay, even after our intervention with Andrews, he’ll still use the Drow as an excuse to hinder us. It gives him the greatest amount of cover and deniability if we make good on our threat to go to his higher-ups.”

  Idryll asked, “Why threaten? Why not just do it?”

  Ruby sighed. “The thing is, while I don’t like him personally and I think he made some bad choices professionally, Andrews is fundamentally on the same side we are. At Taka Tower, he made the call to redirect his resources toward the real threat rather than us. So, except as a true last resort, I wouldn’t feel right burning him. Literally or figuratively.”

  Idryll grunted. “I don’t have a problem with it.”

  Morrigan shook her head. “I’m with Ruby on this one. He’s a scumbag, but not fundamentally bad. Maybe the hard reset we gave him will help.”

  Ruby continued, “So, he’s one nexus of problems, and we’ve done what we can with him. Elnyier is another, and hopefully, the visit from the Mirra will make a difference. I doubt it, but at least there’s a line in the sand that she has to consider now. That leaves our other nexus of problems, the hat-wearing Drow.”

  Idryll said, “When he goes down, I get the hat. I’d look great in it.”

  Morrigan laughed, and Ruby replied, “Done deal. Taking him out serves multiple purposes. It gives Andrews less excuse to mess with us, damages Elnyier's aspirations if she’s using his actions to influence the Council, and, oh yeah, by the way, protects everyone in Magic City from the chaos he sows. Time to quit reacting and start acting.”

  Morrigan asked, “How do we find him?”

  “Demetrius has been working on that problem and is pretty sure he has a solution for us. Or, more specifically, he’ll have one sometime this evening.”

  Magic spilled out of the receiving room, and Margrave stepped in to join them. “Howdy, neighbors. I bring toys.”

  They accepted reloads for the items they’d expended in the battle at Taka Tower. He also handed over a thin rectangular container holding five darts, with a slide on either side of the case. He said, “Left-hand slide deploys them one by one. Yo
u have to redo it for each dart. Right-hand one pops them all up at once, in a declining pattern. The change allowed me to make the case smaller, and it will be a lot easier to get a grip on the darts.”

  Ruby accepted it and admired the craftsmanship. “You do good work, my friend. And I’m sorry to say we need a restock on pretty much everything. We’re out of backups.”

  Margrave shook his head with a laugh. “Expensive business you’re in, this defending the city stuff.”

  She sighed. “Yeah, tell me about it. I’m pretty sure I owe Shentia about a year of my life at this point.” He laughed, and she continued, “I’ll get some money thrown your way. Not sure how. Maybe I’ll embezzle some from Morrigan's bank account.”

  Her sister warned, “Try it, and I’ll visit powerful vengeance upon you. Hack Dralen's instead.”

  Ruby grinned. “I figured we’d already drained his accounts. Sure, we can take whatever’s left.”

  They joked for a few minutes more, then Demetrius’s voice came over her comm. “I’ve got them.”

  She, Idryll, and Morrigan instantly sobered, and Margrave looked confused by the change. She explained, “We just got the call. Time to head out to work.”

  He nodded. “I’ll leave you to it and get started on that resupply.” He left quietly, and the trio moved into the arming room.

  Ruby said, “Don’t cut any corners. This one’s going to be tough.”

  She pulled on her base layer, zipped it up, and used donning of each additional item to still her mind and focus her will on the night to come. Physical defense came first, in the form of her heavy boots, her vest, and lightweight armor plates over her shins. She’d been using that part of her body often to block and strike with, and the loss of a tiny amount of speed was a good exchange for reducing the pain of the frequent impacts.

  Magical defenses came next. She slipped on her fully recharged shield bracelets, added her shield and illusion pendants, and slid healing flasks into her belt and vest. As usual, she wore a healing capsule and energy capsule underneath her clothes. By the time she completed her defenses, she’d eliminated almost all concerns other than dealing with the Drow and his people.

  Then it was time for offense. Ruby checked to ensure the throwing daggers hadn’t magically vanished from her boots and reached to pat her wrist dagger, only belatedly remembering she’d returned it to Shentia. She touched the pistol in the holster on that hip instead. She didn’t need to check that its loadout held anti-magic bullets. She’d cleaned and readied the weapon earlier in the day, doing the same for Morrigan's gun.

  The EMP snapped into a holder on her belt, and she touched each of her grenades in turn, reminding herself of their positions. It wasn’t hard since she kept the explosives to the left of the belt buckle, lightning to the right, and the flash-bangs on the left side of her lower back.

  The spare darts went on her left side as well because she would need to pull them out with her right hand now that the dart gun was on her left forearm. Next, she slipped the stun knuckles onto her right hand. Finally, she slid into her sword harness and reached back to check the draw. Shalia and Tyrsh touched her mind as her hand gripped the hilt, signaling their readiness to assist. She completed her preparations by slipping on her mask. “I’m ready.”

  Morrigan said, “Me too.”

  Idryll sighed loudly. “All those movies where it takes women forever to get dressed? I understand that now. Can we get a move on?”

  Instead of replying, Morrigan opened a portal. She said, “D told me where we’re heading. This will put us about a block away.”

  Ruby replied, “Outstanding. Let’s do it.”

  They stepped through to another part of the city. She had no real idea where they were. The rooftop offered no obvious landmarks other than the light spilling into the sky from the Strip in the distance. Morrigan led the way to the other end of the building and pointed at the warehouse across the street. “He says that’s the one.”

  Ruby asked, “Tree, how sure are you of this? How did you figure it out?”

  Her boyfriend’s response was uncharacteristically subdued. “I called in a favor to refine the triangulation algorithm and applied it to all sightings of the anti-human movement group. Cross-indexing that by time taken to travel, I wound up with three general zones where they could be based.

  “I pulled down all the information I could get from PDA drones that had surveyed those areas. That narrowed it further, and I put up some of my drones to watch. They spotted a bunch of people going in there, and they’re definitely not warehouse workers. I’m highly confident that’s their operating base. Or it’s empty and is simply a portal spot.”

  Ruby replied, “Good enough for me.” Morrigan opened a portal so they could step through to the other building, and they scouted the rooftop warily under their veils, looking for surveillance or traps. They found none and advanced to the centermost of the five skylights positioned equidistantly across the structure. A couple of dozen people were inside, not engaged in any particular activity. Ruby said, “Looks like we got to them before they started whatever adventure they have planned for the night.”

  Idryll remarked, “Too bad for them.”

  Morrigan asked, “We going in quiet, or we going in loud?”

  Ruby replied, “A little of both. We’re going in smart. Idryll, open the skylight without breaking it, please.”

  The shapeshifter muttered something that sounded like an insult as she complied. Ruby dropped in all three of her lightning grenades, followed by a couple of flash-bangs. Morrigan, on the opposite side of the opening, dispatched her gas and sonic arrows. Idryll asked, “Are you finished?”

  Ruby nodded. “Go for it.”

  The shapeshifter grinned and jumped through the opening. Morrigan said, “She’s a maniac.”

  “Right?”

  As Ruby followed Idryll down, her sister’s voice observed, “Perfect companion for you, then. You’re both nuts.”

  She landed on a blast of force to kill her velocity and replied, “Well, you’re with us voluntarily, so doesn’t that make you crazy, too?”

  Morrigan replied, “No, just stupid.”

  She grinned, amused by her sister’s words and the chaos of the people running around in reaction to their sneak attack. “So, same as always then.” One of the Drow’s gang noticed her and shouted, and her grin turned to a look of quiet determination. “All right. Stay nonfatal, be safe, knock out the opposition, and find the leader. Go to it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Morrigan descended slowly into the space, the grapnel on her belt suspending her in midair after a few seconds. The initial barrage had taken out about a third of the group, but they were still notably outnumbered. She drew and fired her flash-bang arrow at a cluster in the corner that seemed like they were getting organized. Her targets stumbled away from the cacophony, cursing and moaning.

  She selected a razor arrow and put it through the leg of a motionless Kilomea crouched behind a forklift, who was waiting for Idryll to draw near enough for him to pounce. Confidence in her accuracy had returned in full, and she felt the likelihood of a fatal wound was minimal. I’ll do my best, but that means taking easy shots as they present themselves, too. Dropping him early ensures I don’t have to risk a reaction shot at him later. She was aware her thoughts amounted to justification rather than deliberation, but she was good with that.

  A burst of flame rose at an angle. Morrigan slapped the button to release the grapnel, falling the rest of the way to the floor to avoid the fireball and landing on a blast of force magic.

  She smoothly drew and fired an arrow at the elf who’d tried to burn her, but he waved a hand, and her projectile veered harmlessly to the side. She sent another on a slower arc, knowing he’d do the same again but using his distraction as an opportunity to close. Her bow transformed into a baton, and she shoved it into the holster on her thigh.

  By the time she reached the elf, her daggers were in her hands. She at
tacked him as she arrived, not allowing him enough time to marshal magic defenses. He slapped at her hands ineffectively, apparently entirely reliant on his magic.

  She sliced him several times in the initial flurry, which discomfited him sufficiently that when he raised his hands to summon a spell, it failed to materialize. Morrigan lashed out with her foot, slamming him in the groin, and he crumpled. “Idiot.” She summoned a veil and ran for cover, sheathing her daggers and retrieving her bow on the way.

  Idryll reveled in the freedom to lay into the surrounding enemies. The battle at Taka Tower had been frustrating on several levels. It had been evident to her they had no chance of adequately defending the building, so their main objective was out of reach from the start. Then the Drow’s swords had proven too much for her defenses. She had a plan for that if she met him again, and she intensely hoped that opportunity would materialize.

  In the meantime, taking out his minions was deeply pleasurable. She used her natural agility to great advantage, sliding out of the way of attacks, shifting from one opponent to the next to sow confusion and create targeting challenges, and slicing with her claws at areas that would cause pain and distraction rather than lasting damage. She’d partially transformed to increase her speed and strength, and already several opponents were down.

  A Kilomea caught her with one of the pair of axes he wielded and knocked her off balance to slam into a nearby wall. He advanced quickly, weaving the blades through a defensive pattern that showed his mastery of them. He’d struck her with the flat part of the weapon, her last-minute twist allowing her to avoid the edge, so the wound was more to her pride than to her body.