by D. R. Rosier
Chapter Twenty-Two
My head throbbed, as I was woken up with a slap.
I was chained against a wall. They had suppression bracelets on me, and I felt the old man’s grip on my power as well. There were four guards in the room as well, but none of them had magic, I also couldn’t feel any wielders in range.
The old man said, “You will tell us who you are, and how you got your power.”
“Who I am?”
He growled, “Your family.”
The light went on, they feared there might be another family line of diviners, that I wasn’t the only threat. I also guessed I was probably outside the city. They’d suppressed my magic, and taken me away from any sources of magic, so even if I was able to escape from the suppression, I wouldn’t be able to free myself.
But there was one other thing.
They obviously didn’t know about lasers, or the power of highly focused light, because there were several light spells in the large room.
“What is the king afraid of? Why do you suppress the women in this kingdom?”
He narrowed his eyes, “I’m asking the questions here.”
He looked meaningfully at a table with several knives, vices, and pliers on it.
“One more chance, tell us what we want to know, or we’ll have to… persuade you.”
Damn, I’d hoped to get some information before I attempted escape. But being tortured wasn’t on my to-do list. I also hoped that the ladies were locked up where the others were now, and okay. The look in that one guard’s eyes as we entered the city lent me a certain urgency.
I didn’t have much power, and I thanked the goddess that Melinda had kept the suppression bracelets on me so long, and that I’d practiced so often with light spells. It required almost no effort at all, and happened almost instantly.
I turned off the bracelet, and twisted the light on the wall to my right and left to create lasers. I missed with both, because it was hard to judge the angle, but it took less than a second to track the lasers onto the diviner’s head.
By the time he realized he was in danger, he was dead. One asshole diviner down, four to go.
The guards hesitated for a moment, as my full power returned. I pumped up the power of the laser, and twisted the spells on the other two lights in the room.
Only one of the guards managed to duck before he died, but his face was burned, and he was blinded. A moment later, he too was dead, and I was pissed.
I carefully focused the lasers on my chains. It took a longer to burn through steel, much longer than the split second it had taken to burn through the soft flesh of the eye and into their brains. It was about five seconds later when I felt the chains break. I grimaced, so much for stealthy. It was also far too late to hide the truth of my existence, so there was no longer a reason to tiptoe around.
The light spells were imbued into lamps that were spiked into the stone walls. I didn’t know where mine was, but it wasn’t within the reach of my magic. I used one of them to cut another off the wall, picked it up, and headed outside with the mother of all headaches.
I was fairly sure it was a mix of oxygen deprivation, and a minor concussion.
There were two more guards outside the door, which I dispatched quickly with the light before they could even draw their weapons. I was close to the shore, maybe a quarter mile from the city. I started to run toward the docks and the sea side entrance of the city. By the time I was close to the gate, I also had all four elements at my disposal from the guards nearby.
The four at the gate didn’t have a chance. I had no interest in taking captives, so instead of freezing the air I made four person sized vacuums, and they fell dead before I reached the gate. I felt a fire wielder on the wall send magic my way. With a thought I grabbed that magic and sent it back his way. He exploded into flames and screamed.
That wasn’t my style, immolating someone to death, but the guard had picked his own death by the attack he’d used.
The streets cleared very quickly as citizens ran into buildings, and closed doors. By the second block the only ones outside in the immediate vicinity were the guards and myself. Like a wave at a ballpark, the city very shortly looked abandoned as everyone took shelter.
The fact that they did it so quickly meant it was probably a common occurrence. Just more proof this government was evil.
I ran into a squad of four guards, and again used a vacuum as my attack, but made it larger. One large one for all of them, and then some twenty feet around them. I didn’t hold it long either, just a second or two, and then I released it. The atmospheric pressure difference caused an implosion, that didn’t harm the buildings nearby, but turned all four guards into crushed bloody messes.
Someone must have seen, and knew what I was, because they called out to stand down and screamed that the diviner escaped. Maybe they were cowards, or just smart, but after that I didn’t run into any more resistance as I ran for the jail.
A part of me was disappointed by that. I was really pissed off, and god help them if Lia or Sharon were harmed. Really, any of the four, but it was my mates that I worried about the most. I was in shape, I ran and worked out most every day, and had figured out a comparable regimen when aboard the cramped ship. But I had a splitting headache, and was filled with anger and adrenaline.
That’s why I was fairly out of breath, when I finally arrived at the jail. I could sense thirty sorceresses, and felt a wave of relief that the ladies were in the jail with the rest.
The guards froze when they saw me, at least ten of them, they didn’t attack, but they didn’t run either.
My voice was a bit raspy, as I said, “I’m leaving, and I’m taking them with me, any objections?”
The guards looked terrified, like they were already dead, and I knew then if they stepped aside and allowed the women to escape, that they’d be executed later for it. I also knew desperate cornered men would fight. What a damned mess this rescue had turned into.
I wasn’t sure if I could catch ten spells, block, or suppress ten sorcerers at once, so I attacked.
I probably needed to enhance my fighting style, but I went with what I knew, and once again sucked the air away from all of them.
Five of them attacked. The ground started to shake, and several air and fire attacks came at me. I didn’t think I could catch them all, so I created a bubble of compressed air, with a layer of vacuum nestled inside of it, and rose up off the ground.
My hastily erected shield stopped the air attacks cold. The fire attacks spluttered when they hit vacuum, and the earth attacks just plain missed as I hovered in the air. I promised myself I’d start to practice suppressing groups as large as I could on the way home, I was sure the crew would help me with it. Except maybe Kelly.
They didn’t get a second round, as the vacuum ended them quickly, and then I settled to the ground, released the magic, and walked into the jail. There were five more guards inside, with magic at least, I couldn’t detect the non-magical ones.
Unfortunately, all five were in the same spot as the sorceresses, and I walked down the hallway, and slowly entered the room.
I felt relief and horror at the same time.
Relief, because my fear of rape, which I had been very carefully trying not to dwell on, appeared to not be a reality. I hadn’t been knocked out all that long, and the four ladies all looked at me with worry, for me. None of them looked abused. I was sure they would have been, given more time.
Horrified, because all five of the guards held a woman at sword point, as hostages, with their arms around the women’s throats, and their swords pointed at their stomachs. Even if I could channel earth, and tear the swords away, they’d still be able to snap necks.
One of them said arrogantly, “Surrender, or we’ll slaughter these witches.”
I raised my hands slowly, and at the same time, I suppressed the bracelets on Sharon, Marie, Jenna, and Lia. It took almost no effort to do four sets, and at their widened eyes I nodded, while a
t the same time I suppressed the magic of the five guards.
I felt Marie tear the swords away, while Lia sent compressed air into their mouths, and then released it. Sharon pulled water from a bucket in the corner, and it was turned to ice and impaled into the guards in the blink of an eye.
The women being held all twisted out of their grips, and as soon as they were clear, Jenna lit them up. Even the ones that were already dead from Lia and Sharon’s attacks.
I turned to Lia, and smiled, “So… we need a new plan.”
Jenna snorted.
Lia’s lips twitched, “This is pretty bad. Give me a moment.”
All the young ladies started to babble.
Lia channeled the captain, and silenced them all with a deep breath, and a look.
It was kind of hot actually, or at least, I thought so. I might have been a bit biased.
Lia said, “We’re here to rescue you and take you to sorceress haven. We ran into a few snags, but we can still leave. We’ll just be leaving a lot more turmoil behind us than we expected. Damned diviner had to come back today, of all days. Marie, free them please?”
Marie used her earth magic, and removed all the bracelets.
I said, “The wagon is outside.”
She shook her head, “That will take too long, the diviner must have noticed the ward, and I’d bet anything the fleet is combing the shores of the island looking for our ship.”
“We could fly?” I asked a bit boyishly. It wasn’t one of my finer moments, what can I say? I really liked to fly.
Sharon snickered, but agreed, “That might work.”
There was a burst of magic from Marie, and the stone roof exploded outward, and I heard it crash into the courtyard.
I saw Lia’s small smile despite her grudging tone as she said, “Not very subtle, but it should work.”
Some of the girls looked nervous, but they didn’t complain when Lia compressed the air around us, making it almost solid. Then we rose into the air above the city, and took off to the southwest at a fairly quick speed. Lia had more than enough power to carry all thirty-one of us.
Compared to a plane, train, or even a car it was relatively slow. Maybe forty miles an hour. Still, it would probably take a little less than a half an hour to get back to the ship at that rate.
Subtle and stealthy were definitely out of the window. All I felt was relief though, when against mission discipline or not, Sharon and Lia both hugged me…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lia looked at me, “So what happened?”
I went over what happened to me, and then asked, “What happened to you four?”
Jenna grimaced, “It could have been worse. We woke up in the cell with the others, with bracelets on. A few of the men leered, and one of them said he’d be back later to visit with the new flesh.”
Sharon shuddered, “The bastard actually said we were a little old for his taste, but he’d make an exception. It was maybe five minutes later when you showed up. So outside of being terrified that you were dead, and what would happen later, we’re all fine.”
“Stop,” I said to Lia.
She looked at me strangely, but stopped us, and I looked down at a large mansion in the middle of the woods.
We hadn’t passed it on the way in, but as the crow flies it was on the way back to the ship.
“What is it?” Marie asked before Lia could speak.
“There’s another down there, a sorceress in bracelets.”
A water sorceress.
Lia frowned, and looked guilty as she said, “We don’t really have time.”
“If we stop to ask permission, but,” I let my actions speak, and once again used vacuum, this time to tear a large window out of the side of a house. I surrounded the girl in a bubble of air, much like the large one around all of us, and pulled her out of the window, and up to us.
Jenna snorted, and Lia just opened up a hole so I could pull the newcomer in. Then we took off toward the ship.
She was attractive, too young of course, but she was already striking at sixteen. Long honey blonde hair, and piercing green eyes, which were narrowed in anger at the moment. I also couldn’t help but notice her dress was of extremely high quality.
“What is this? Return me at once!”
I cleared my throat, “We didn’t have time to stop and chat. This is a rescue, to prevent them from stripping your magic. We’re headed to sorceress haven. Who are you?”
She frowned and looked around nervously before she asked, “You’re those pirates?”
I nodded a bit confused, “We can’t take you back, no time, but we can let you down. Are you sure you want to go back though? They’ll take your magic away.”
She frowned in thought, and I wondered why this would be a hard decision.
“Who are you?” I asked again, suddenly getting a bad feeling. Elaborate dress, nice mansion instead of a jail cell, it didn’t add up.
She looked at me a moment, and then straightened her shoulders, “Daphne, my name is Daphne.”
I heard Jenna gasp and noticed the dawning understanding on everyone’s faces. Except I still had no idea what was going on.
Lia looked thunderstruck, and then gazed at me accusingly, “You just kidnapped the king’s daughter.”
Sharon snickered a laugh, and Lia glared at her.
I shrugged, that was bad, but my head hurt too much to care.
“So which is it princess, magic, or title, you can’t keep both.”
At least now I understood what the decision was.
She looked a bit torn.
“I… never imagined I could keep it.”
Jenna asked curiously, “I don’t suppose you know the true reason why your family strips all the sorceresses?”
Daphne shook her head, still lost in thought, “I’ve argued about it with father enough, he’s adamant about it and won’t say why, no matter how hard I begged. I do agree though, that the official reason is ridiculous.”
Lia sighed, “There’s no way they won’t chase us now, if we have his daughter.”
Daphne frowned, “You should leave me then, I can make my way back.”
I frowned, “I don’t like that idea, unless you want to. Besides, after killing a ton of guards, and one of the five kingdom diviners, there’s no way they won’t chase us.”
Daphne stared at me a moment, and asked in a disbelieving voice, “You killed a diviner?”
I shrugged, “I’m one too.”
Her eyes widened a bit at that, but then she turned away.
She shook her head, “It’s a part of who I am, and I’ve dreamed of keeping my magic but never thought it would be possible. But to keep it, I’d have to betray my family, and side with the kingdom’s enemies.”
I nodded, “Consider yourself a prisoner then, until you decide I mean.”
Her eyes widened in shocked outrage for a moment, but the tirade got cut short by one of the other girls we’d rescued. Her voice was full of disgust, hate, shame, and anger.
“Do you know what your kingdom does? What your father not only allows but encourages? While you’ve been living it up in your mansion, we’ve been in jail, getting raped daily by most of the guards. Trust me, all of us were looking forward to being stripped of our magic, just to get away from our keepers.”
I clenched my jaw, and Sharon squeezed my hand, as if to comfort me. Like that made sense at all.
Daphne turned white faced as the blood drained from her face.
I could see she wanted to deny it, and that she hadn’t known any such thing. I could also see quite plainly that she’d believed every passionate word out of the other girl’s mouth. I wondered if she’d pick denial, or accept the truth that her heart had already seen. Honestly, I was expecting the former, denying uncomfortable truths is simply human nature.
The princess chose neither, and changed the subject.
Her voice was strangled, when she said, “I will come with you, and listen to what you have to say.
Will I be allowed to leave if I so choose?”
I looked down at her wrists and understood. She’d wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. The bracelets wouldn’t allow a lie, and deep down she knew the truth when she heard it.
“Yes.”
Lia glared at me, I guess I spoke out of turn.
Damn, married for less than two days and I was already in the dog house. Sharon looked amused, so maybe it wasn’t that bad. Still, I wasn’t kidnapping a princess, even if I said she was a prisoner, I hadn’t meant it.
Lia turned and nodded, “We will, of course it will be around about, we can’t just sail back into Pheles, but we can get you home if you choose to return.”
The girl looked less angry now, the princess hadn’t been the only one to realize the truth, and she’d studied the princess’s reaction to her words as I had.
“Have you ever even gone to the city, and seen how the guards treat the people? How they abuse their authority?”
Daphne shook her head, and her voice was soft, “No. I’ve always lived at the castle, or the summer cottage. I never had the freedom to do so. I said I would listen, and I will.”
She seemed amazingly mature for her age, she was handling her snatching rather well, and although she was pale from what she’d just learned, she still had a self-assured presence about her, and a dignity of sorts. Daphne was royalty, and even at sixteen it showed.
At the same time, she’d obviously been sheltered from the truth, and was naïve to the realities of her own kingdom.
It was also a little amusing that she’d called that behemoth of a mansion a summer cottage.
It was quiet for the rest of the trip to the ship, as we were all lost in our own thoughts. The girls looked hopeful, perhaps for the first time since bracelets were put on their wrists. I couldn’t even imagine what they’d been through, or at least, not very well.
Sharon looked worried for me, which was really sweet, but unnecessary. I was angry at what was done, but I was also in control. Lia seemed fine now, and even held my other hand, I guess I was forgiven for speaking out of turn. It was her mission after all, so I couldn’t blame her for cutting me off at the knees like she had.
