“Hey!”
“Focus,” her master chided. “Gerald, bring out the zombie warriors.”
“Right.” Gerald screamed as a bloodied soldier leapt at him from the ruins of a building. His golems were currently dealing with more soldiers, so Gerald was, for a moment, exposed. Katie got ready to intercept the soldier with her shadows, but a frying pan appeared in Gerald’s hand. The bureaucrat bonked the soldier over the head with it. The soldier dropped to his knees, and Gerald hit him again, his eyes wide as the soldier slumped to the ground. “Why do people keep trying to kill me?”
“In their defence,” Timmy said as he whacked another soldier over the head with his shovel and kicked another in the gut before letting the soldiers on their side deal with him. “You are part of a group that sank their fleet and attacked them with a zombie kraken. Quite frankly, they’re going to try to kill all of us. And, speaking of zombies, Katie… use Roger to help clear the rooftops. It’ll take the rats forever.”
“Okay.”
Gerald stumbled as Roger flew overhead, spraying their enemies with acid. Katie had to take special care to make sure he didn’t hit them by accident. It wasn’t long before they were out of the docks and past the winding maze of streets and alleys that led up to the complex of buildings at the heart of the island, which was where they ran into more determined and organised resistance.
Of course, that was exactly what Avraniel and Spot had been hoping for.
Katie and the others hung back as the elf and her dragon ripped into a phalanx of pikemen backed up by mages. Avraniel handled the mages herself, driving them back with brilliant bursts of searing flames. Spot, meanwhile, circled overhead, breathing fire on the pikemen to scatter them and break their formation before he dove in. Some of the island’s soldiers had brought attack dogs. Those dogs took one look at Spot and fled.
“I almost feel sorry for them,” Katie murmured as they pressed on with Gerald at her side. Her magic was the best at protecting the bureaucrat, so he’d gotten used to staying close to her. In front of them, bodies flew every which way as the war cries of their enemies turned into screams of terror, calls for retreat, and pleas for mercy. With Avraniel and Spot leading the charge, all they and the soldiers who’d accompanied them had to do was mop up the stragglers and make sure the elf and her dragon weren’t cut off or flanked. “Careful, there are golems up ahead.”
Avraniel cackled evilly as the golems came into view. The elf’s face was covered in soot, and her cloak of phoenix feathers shone with all the radiance of the midday sun. It made it hard to look at her. The golems were about nine feet tall and made of gleaming metal the colour of copper although Katie didn’t believe for a second that they’d been made out of something so fragile. “Spot and I can take the ones on the right. Old Man, take the ones on the left.”
The swordsman cut a crossbow bolt out of the air and swung his sword. The wall the crossbowman was hiding behind was cut cleanly in two. Presumably, the crossbowman was too. “Very well.” He pointed to the other end of the courtyard. “Keep moving. We will handle the golems and then catch up to you.”
Katie nodded and continued on with Gerald. The two of them rushed after her master, but Amanda was now in the lead. The ancient vampire’s magic flared, and she was suddenly surrounded by half a dozen illusionary soldiers. The illusions distracted anyone she ran into long enough for her to retaliate with her rapier, her bare hands, or her fangs. Unlike Katie or her master, Amanda’s bare hands could rip through steel and toss people aside like they weighed nothing at all. Behind them, Katie heard the screech of metal and the roar of flames. Spot flew through the air ahead of them before he turned back and dove in, his jaws wide open as he crunched into the back of one golem. The construct struggled to stay on its feet, and Spot bit and clawed at the armour plating covering its inner workings.
“They have a lot of people on this island,” her master muttered. He jerked back to avoid an attack from a soldier who’d hidden in a nearby alley. He slapped him upside the head with his shovel and shoved him back to trip over the soldiers behind him. A jet of fire shot toward him, and he drove his shovel into the ground. The stones that made up the street rose up to form a wall and block the alley. Behind it, Katie heard wild cursing. The blast must have backfired on them.
“Perhaps we should chat less and devote more attention to our advance,” Amanda murmured. She parried an attack and grabbed her opponent. He screamed as she dragged him closer and drank him dry in a matter of seconds. She licked some blood off her lips. “We do need to hurry. I imagine that the Eternal Empire is already sending reinforcements.”
“You have blood on your chin,” Timmy said.
“Ah.” Amanda wiped the blood away with one hand as she dodged a spear and ran her opponent through. “Thank you.”
They reached another courtyard – Katie wondered how many courtyards this place could possibly have – and she barely had time to blink before her master shoved her behind him. The ground in front of them buckled and shot upward, and Katie yelped as her master grabbed her and Gerald and dragged them toward the ground.
“Get down!”
She felt his magic surge inside the makeshift barrier, and with good reason. A split-second later, her ears were ringing and clods of dirt were flying through the air. Her master’s barrier had been completely blown apart by a barrage of spells. From the smoke, the acrid scent of ozone, and the ripples in the air, it had succumbed to a combination of fire, lightning, and wind magic.
“Split up!” he barked. “Katie, take Gerald.”
Katie didn’t need to be told twice. She grabbed Gerald by the sleeve and ran off in one direction while her master and Amanda ran in other directions. There were a lot of people here. She took a quick peek and almost lost some of her hair when a sizzling bolt of lighting crackled overhead. There had to be at least a hundred soldiers and a dozen powerful mages. Another jagged bolt of lightning raced toward them, and Katie and Gerald dove for the relatively safety of a low wall.
“I think it’s safe to say they have started to regroup.” Katie stayed as low to the ground as she could. She took another look around. There were garden beds and a fountain too. This place was probably quite nice to look at when it wasn’t full of people who wanted to kill her. “Gerald, are you okay?”
The tall man dragged in a deep breath. “I think so.” He patted himself down quickly. “Everything seems to be where it should be.”
She giggled. “You’ve got dirt in your hair.” He reached up to wipe it off, but she stopped him. “Don’t bother. I’m pretty sure you’ll get more in your hair before we’re done. Now, do you have anything we can use, maybe a smoke bomb or something?” She, her master, and Amanda would not be bothered by something like a smoke bomb.
“Give me a second.” Gerald lifted one hand. Several objects blinked in and out of existence: a chicken, a pot plant, and a paperweight, amongst other things. Finally, he came up with several glass containers, each roughly the size of her fist. He also had a pair of masks like the ones the demolition rats occasionally used. “Some of my colleagues gave these to me after they confiscated them from rabblerousers near the border. If I remember right, you’re supposed to throw them. They release smoke when they break, and the masks are supposed to keep it from bothering you.”
Katie slipped one mask onto her face as Gerald did the same. “Okay. We’ll throw them on the count of three. One, two… three!”
They threw the containers as quickly as they could. Another bolt of lightning thundered toward them, and Katie threw her magic into reinforcing the wall they were hiding behind. Her shadows trembled, but the wall held. The glass containers shattered, and bright orange smoke billowed out in every direction. The soldiers and mages reeled back, coughing and clutching at their faces and eyes.
“Hmm… now I remember. It’s not normal smoke. It’s based on some kind of vegetable extract.” It was hard to hear Gerald clearly through the mask.
Katie woul
d have to ask him for the recipe later. She only hoped that the rats they were both carrying would be okay. But when she looked into her pockets, the rats weren’t there. Instead, they were running alongside them, and they already had their own masks on. “Quickly! We have to get them before they regroup.” She waved her hands in the air. “Roger!”
The giant zombie winged toward the courtyard, only to be tackled out of the air by what appeared to be some kind of glowing squid thing. Katie scowled. It was a summoned creature, which meant there had to be a summoner here – a strong one if they could summon something powerful enough to fight Roger. Ordering Roger to deal with the summoned creature and then track down the summoner, Katie and Gerald ran into the smoke. The soldiers and mages were still stumbling about in disarray, but some of them had enough sense to realise what was happening.
Katie’s shadows lashed out in all directions. She didn’t bother to make them particularly sharp – she needed to conserve her magic – so they worked more like giant hands, tossing people aside and throwing them through the air. Scattered and disoriented, the soldiers who had accompanied them from the docks made short work of the courtyard’s defenders. Her master and Amanda appeared. He had wrapped a cloth around his face, and Amanda didn’t even seem to notice the smoke.
“Push through,” Timmy shouted. He coughed and stabbed his shovel into the ground. Cobblestones pelted the enemies closest to them. Next to him, Amanda cut down two mages in quick succession and punched a soldier with enough force to knock him clear across the courtyard.
Katie nodded and tried to stay focused. There were soldiers and mages everywhere. More of them had spilled into the courtyard in a desperate bid to hold it. Her eyes widened. One of the mages had managed to shake off the effects of the smoke. The wind roared to life and scattered the smoke. The air at his fingertips shimmered faintly. Katie’s mind analysed what was happening in less than a heartbeat. It was a concentrated burst of air, kind of like an arrow made of wind – and it was aimed right at her master’s back. She opened her mouth to yell a warning, but she knew, instinctively, that her warning wouldn’t be fast enough. And her master wasn’t like Amanda. The spell would blow a hole in his chest the size of her head, and there was no way that he’d survive that. Her shadows surged forward, but she wasn’t fast enough –
Splat.
An octopus hit the enemy mage right in the face. The animal made a weird sound and tightened its grip, sending the mage flailing about as he dropped to his knees and vainly tried to pry it off. Where had the octopus come from? She looked over. Gerald. The bureaucrat was staring at the downed mage and his hand like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d done.
“An octopus?” Katie couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Why do you even have an octopus? And why did you throw it?”
“I honestly don’t know, but he was going to get Timmy in the back, and –”
Katie threw herself at him and pulled him into a hug. “Thank you!”
“Uh, you’re welcome.” Gerald flapped his arms around. “But maybe we should focus on all of the people trying to kill us?”
“Good point –”
BOOM.
Fire rained down around them, and Katie’s shadows moved to form a dome around them as the cobblestones glowed white-hot under the assault. When the heat finally began to recede, Avraniel was skipping toward them with Spot and Old Man behind her. The dragon had a big grin on his face, and his teeth were covered in red. Old Man was also breathing a little harder than usual.
“Nobody died while we were gone, right?” the elf asked. Satisfied that everybody was still alive, she nodded at the other end of the courtyard. “Come on. This is taking too long. Let’s get the damn Eye and loot this place. Have you seen how nice some of the buildings here were?” Katie didn’t miss the use of the past tense. Avraniel had probably blown up those buildings already. “There has got to be some great treasure here.”
They continued to fight their way toward the heart of the complex. The only ones able to keep pace were Timmy’s zombie warriors. Not even Roger had been able to come along. There wasn’t one summoner – there were several groups of them, and the massive zombie had his hands full trying to fight them off. It had gotten so bad that her master had asked Gerald to summon his zombie hydra-griffin, and the zombie had promptly gone off to give Roger a hand. The men and women who’d come with them from the docks had also been forced to stay back, throwing up a makeshift barricade to prevent reinforcements from attacking them from behind. Finally, however, they reached the base of the massive tower that dominated the complex. It was even bigger up close. Katie shivered. There was so much magic flowing through it.
“Is this the place?” her master asked. They’d scattered the last of the defenders only a few moments ago. “Amanda?”
The ancient vampire closed her eyes for a second and then opened them. There was almost no blue left. Instead, they were almost completely crimson and violet. “This is the place.”
“Then we should let ourselves in.” He pointed his shovel at the door. The stone slabs on the ground tore free and thumped into it. The door shook, and runes and seals flashed across it, but it managed to hold firm. “Avraniel, if you would be so kind as to –”
A river of fire cascaded into the door, and all of them scrambled back.
Her master peeked up from behind the wall he’d hastily formed from their surroundings. “Maybe next time, you could let me finish my sentence, so you don’t accidentally burn us all to death.”
Avraniel snorted. “As if, idiot.” She pointed. “The door is down. Let’s stop wasting time.”
Timmy nodded. They made their way up the steps and to the door, and Katie reached out into the dimly lit interior with her magic. According to the shadows ahead, there was no one waiting for them, which was extremely odd. There should be soldiers and mages here. They stopped on the threshold.
“Master, I think this is a trap. There’s nobody here.”
“I think you might be –”
Avraniel shoved past them. “Stop blocking the damn door.” The elf’s boot touched the floor in front of them. The air shimmered.
“Wait!” Timmy shouted. “Don’t –”
The world came apart, and Katie was suddenly falling, falling, and falling.
* * *
Gerald was not fond of falling. As a child, falling was something he’d experienced fairly often since he’d never been particularly coordinated, and it had generally been accompanied by pain and the occasional taunt from his peers. But out of all of the different types of falling that he’d experienced over the years, he could honestly say that falling down a deep pit with dozens of razor-sharp metal spikes at the bottom was one of his least favourite. This was bad. Those spikes would most assuredly do horrible things to his anatomy, which was another way of saying he would end up supremely dead.
In the second or two at the most that he had before he fell to his presumably awful and painful death, he considered using his magic to summon something that could either break his fall or grab onto the walls. Unfortunately, his mind drew a big, horrible blank, most likely due to his overwhelming terror. Was this really how he was going to die? He’d always wanted to die an old man in his bed having retired at the usual age and lived out the rest of his years in relative peace writing a biography, going fishing, and perhaps tending to his own private herb garden that he’d set up behind a cottage in some quiet part of the country near the library that he would work at part time.
Well, so much for those ideas. Hopefully, the people here would have the decency to give him a proper burial.
But maybe he was getting ahead of himself.
Streaks of motion raced out of the pockets of his cloak, and he screeched to a halt mere inches from the spikes, suspended above certain, pointy death by a dozen metal wires. He dragged in a deep breath – he’d used so much air screaming that he was about to pass out – and then rolled over onto his back on the makeshift net. There was a rat per
ched on each of his shoulders and another two on his stomach. The rodents must have used their wire to break his fall. But how had they anchored the wires? He glanced to the side. Tiny weapons had been driven into the smooth stone that covered the walls of the pit. Amazing. He was going to have to file an official request to have rats permanently assigned to his person forever. The rat on his right shoulder poked his cheek gently and squeaked briefly.
“I’m… I’m fine. I think.” Gerald patted himself down to make sure. Good. There didn’t seem to be any extra holes in him. “Where are we?” The rat on his shoulder shrugged its shoulders and replied. “You think it was a teleportation trap of some kind? That’s… not good. The others could be anywhere, and whoever did this must be incredibly powerful.”
Teleportation traps could be created using extremely advanced runes and seals, but they were exceptionally rare. Gerald had never seen one outside of a book before, and he hadn’t noticed any runes or seals before he’d started falling either. However, there were mages who could do similar things by teleporting people and objects, but they were even more rare. Old Man could teleport, but Gerald had only ever seen him teleport himself and those nearby. Old Man had also only ever teleported to places he could see or knew well. The ability to teleport a large group like theirs, which contained people with powerful magic, to a place that was out of sight, all without being noticed, was something that Gerald had never heard of before.
“Do you know where we are?” One of the rats on his stomach drew what appeared to be a crossbow. Attached to the bolt was a rope. The rat pointed at the top of the pit, which was roughly thirty feet above them. “You’re going to go up and take care of the guards up there? What about me?” The rat made a face. “Oh, right. You’ll come back and get me. Do you need anything?” The rat rubbed its chin and gestured. “Needles? I have plenty of those.” Several dozen needles appeared, and the rats quickly hid them away in their fur. How were they doing it? It must have been a ninja thing. “Okay, um, I guess I’ll wait here. Be careful.”
Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire (The Unconventional Heroes Series Book 3) Page 41
