I step out of the stall and back out into the main area. I hear Yugoth tell someone, “Get out” and hear their protests in another language. I take refuge in another unused stall near Vets. Not that I’m a coward. I just don’t really want to deal with airport security. And yes, they have cameras here, though not in the stalls.
I recall Silithes and call her forward.
Same message for her – “Yugoth, be ready.” Unlike Shey and Vets that gets a roll of the eyes and a very non-plussed look.
“MACINERNY!” bellows Yugoth. I hear him telling people to get out of the bathroom. There are some protests and from the sound of things; he’s basically throwing them out.
Great. We’ll have privacy. That’s not what I want. I want witnesses. I want a buffer.
I step out of the stall and prepare myself. He rounds the corner and looks at me with disdain. “Now you die parasite!”
I make sure to jump over to the whole over side of the bathroom and position myself away from his direct line of action.
“Coward!” he bellows as he steps forward.
He doesn’t make it too far. Vets crashes through her stall door barreling into him and slamming him against the row of sinks. She lands several crushing blows and is flung to the side.
The next stall opens during the fracas and Sil steps forward, “Hey baby, remember me?”
Yugoth responds by growling, “Tznok!” The following wall of force flings Sil backwards head over heels though the stalls she was standing in front of.
Damn, he’s a caster too.
Vets is not put off by that much at all, she immediately jumps back up, sword in hand and takes a cut at Yugoth, who rightly jumps backward into the sink area. She follows after him and comes flying back out, slamming into stalls as well, thanks to another wall of force spell.
“You can’t hide behind them forever you insect!” Yugoth bellows.
I say nothing. I have no gun. I have no knife. He rounds the corner to the stall area and glowers at me, a ball of fire appearing in his hand. “Burn!” he shouts hurling the fireball at me.
I dive back into the sink area from the stall side rolling over to see the fireball explode the tile wall into flames. My eyes jump back to the other side of the sink area to see that Vets is back in the game, slamming into Yugoth and pushing him back against the opposite wall. Vets’ elbows and fists are flying and opening wounds about Yugoth’s face.
As if that’s not enough, airport security has finally caught up. Two guards emerge and immediately draw their weapons on the strange armored creature trying to beat the snot out of the large man.
Yugoth pulls a swift move, he sweeps Vets’ legs out and pushes her to the ground. He looks over at security and in what I can only think is a moment of arrogance or stupidity holds his hand out and hits the guards with the wall of force, sending them flying pell-mell into the wall next to me.
I pick myself up and roll into the stall area. “Shey!”
I don’t have to say anything else. With a cascade of her sparkling fairy dust she goes to normal size and lights to the ground next to me, a very serious look on her face and bow in hand.
Yugoth rounds the opposite corner and looks at us, “Now you die.”
Sil explodes from the stall she crashed through and stands between us. “No asshole, this is where you die.”
Yugoth’s face is one of surprise as his arm is grabbed by Vet’s armored hand and he’s dragged out of sight back to the sink area. Shey, quick as a whip crack takes a rolling dive into the sink area, springing up with bow pulled back and arrow ready. “Vets out of the way!” she yells.
The arrows lets loose. One followed by another, and another, and another in rapid succession. I step in and see Yugoth pinned to the wall, one silver arrow in each eye – one in his throat and one in the chest. Sil rounds the corner with Vets’ sword in her hand and takes in Yugoth.
“Nice grouping Twerp.”
That’s an understatement.
Then Sil slashes Vets’ sword and Yugoth’s body falls, his head still pinned to the wall.
Security is starting to come to their senses now. I can only think of one thing to do.
“Demons! Oohtsig Snool is here! Ahh!” then I run to the entry as if they are supposed to protect me.
Sil looks at me like “really?” Shey tiny sizes and buzzes away. Vets picks herself up. Security looks at me, then the demon girl and death-headed masked armored warrior.
Sil hands Vets her sword, “This is yours” Then she turns to security. “I’m a demon…. grrr” in a tone that could only be described as seriously deadpan.
Security responds with gunfire and I slip out into the hallway. Quickly I send both Vets and Sil back into holding. To the guards, it would be a demonic mystery. Goodness knows I didn’t want those two defending themselves against the guards.
I look across the concourse and Clyde’s eyes are on me. I just shake my head to let him know Yugoth didn’t make it. He nods back at me.
More security arrive - after all gunfire will do that. I just try to look scared and sit down against the wall. When security does get around to interviewing me, I just try to act traumatized and pepper them with “How do you know there won’t be more! Are we safe?”
Sometimes offense is the best defense.
Shey is very tiny and following me up by the ceiling out of most’s sight. I make my way to the seating of the nearest concourse, followed by Clyde who quietly sits down next to me.
“He should have listened to me.”
I didn’t look at back at Clyde to respond. “Not one to listen, apparently.”
“This is certainly going to get the Lady’s attention, Arthur. Perhaps that will work in your favor – predators prefer to avoid strength. All the same, take this.” He hands me a pen.
I look at it and through the true sight spell I have I can plainly see it is enchanted somehow. “What is this?” I have to ask. “Is it mightier than the sword?”
That gets a groan from Clyde.
“Actually it’s a frost wand. Ten charges. To transform and engage it twist the cap back and forth twice, then push the top. The wand’s trigger word is, ‘frezere.’ But I’d prefer you not use it. I am going to tell the lady that it’s your sword. She won’t know – she’ll just know it’s an enchanted transformed item. Perhaps that will give her additional pause. Here’s my card, assuming you survive the flight, please send it back to me.”
“Thanks Clyde, I have to ask – why?”
That gets a sly smile. “Well, first I think you’re likeable. Second, I think the lady is not. Third, we are of a common purpose – ending this madness. There are some of the flesh and blood that welcome the opening of this realm to their kind. Some others, prefer to be masters of their domain. Me, I don’t care for being told I am a lesser creature by either – whether I am or not.”
“Fair enough Clyde.”
“A man of few words,” he tells me with a smile. “Now that fairy of yours hovering above us isn’t going to be a problem, is she?”
“No she will not,” I say loud enough for her to get the message.
Clyde nods at me, pats me on the back and stands. “Good luck on your flight.”
“Thanks Clyde.” I take a deep breath as he walks away, knowing I have a challenge in front of me.
Chapter 51
To anyone else it may seem like an insect or a piece of large dust that landed in my lap. But I know it’s my pixie Sheyliene. After landing, she scampers inside the fold of my blazer, then grabs the lining and pulls herself upward, finally coming to rest at what feels to be one of the pockets.
“I’m going on the plane with you. It sounds dangerous,” comes the tiny voice from inside my blazer.
I have to admit, she’s right. It does sound dangerous. “I’d be happy to have you with me Shey, but you’ll have to stay tiny and out of sight.”
“Just like I am now,” is her quiet but exuberant response.
“Yea Shey”
<
br /> Having Sheyliene in my pocket does make me feel a bit more comfortable. Just knowing she can flit out and put some arrows into my adversaries is almost as comforting as carrying my .45.
Almost. But not as much. Guess I’m a control freak, I very much like being able to protect myself.
“Hey, I have some others to take care of,” I whisper to her and get up. I look around to where I might re-summon my crew that needs an escape from the void of the "white". That would be Pffif and Sil. Vets tends to be good in the white for whatever reason.
I get up and walk past the bathroom where the incident just took place, doing my best to look afraid. I get to the next men’s room and find a stall, close the door and sit down. Pffif is the first summoned. I put my index finger to my lip so he knows to be quiet. Then I close my eyes so he can go invisible. I open my eyes and see his outline in a green glow because of my true sight spell. “Wait for Sil, she’ll be following.” That gets a nod and then he crawls under the door.
I summon Sil. I don’t have to tell her to change to human form. I guess the fact we’re inside a bathroom stall in an airport is a good clue. She stands there looking at me strangely.
“Thank for not keeping me in that place,” she says in a hushed tone. I stand up from the toilet I was sitting on and pull off my blazer, extract my tickets and boarding passes, which gets Shey buzzing out to land on my shoulder.
“Take this and follow Pffif to Kitten’s car.” Sil takes my jacket, and puts it on covering up her corset.
“Thank you Arthur, this is very considerate,” Sil says to me, before popping the door and leaving as briskly as she can. I know she’s not talking about the jacket – she’s talking about not being left in the white. She despises that place.
“You’re too nice to it,” Shey says in my ear once Sil is too far to hear.
“It never hurts to be nice Shey.”
Shey flits away more than likely to scout our trail, and I have no idea if my last comment was even heard.
I check the time and realize I have little. The flight will be boarding in ten minutes, max. I begin to stroll down towards my gate, stopping to sit before reaching it. No sense in being in a hurry, last thing I want is to stand in line with “the Lady.”
Shey, as tiny as a cricket, buzzes down and finds her way into the pocket of my shirt. I remind myself I won’t be alone, and by gum I am not unarmed. Well, yea I am – but Shey has her bows and I know she could pitch me a knife or two.
After futzing around with my phone for a bit, I pick myself up and head to the gate. I poke my head around the corner and yes – we are boarding. And yes, no sign of the little brown skinned lady who’s really a monster. Already on board? I can only hope.
“Okay, here we go” I say lightly and feel a light pat inside my pocket. I smile at that.
Boarding is nicely uneventful. I’m greeted at the airplane door by friendly stewards and turn to head to my seat. But there’s this little Egyptian looking woman sitting in the first seat of executive class, glaring at me. I accidentally meet her gaze and I do the first thing that comes to mind: smile and say, “hey.”
Then I get past her as fast as I can without running and make my way to seat 32b.
That was a seriously hateful eye she put upon me.
Take off happens without a hitch. “I think we’re in the clear,” I say very lightly to the fairy in my pocket. That gets me a funny look from the lady to my left seated next to me, like “of course we are.”
I kick my seat back, take a deep breath and close my eyes. Seven hours to rest. Nice. I drift off lightly.
I wake to the sound of the man seated next to me along the aisle. “Sure, Miss I don’t mind swapping seats while you speak with your friend.”
He begins to stand and I hear the little five foot something Egyptian looking lady saying, “Thank you, it’s been so long since I’ve seen my friend Arthur.” Her hand is on his forearm and I know she’s doing a neuromantic number on him; I’ve seen Sil do it so many times – trust. Her face is sunshine and light and as he heads down the aisle she takes his seat next to me.
She reaches over me to the lady sitting next to the window and gently takes her hand. I pull back away from her. “I hope we don’t keep you awake talking, I know you’re oh, so tired.”
“Thank you” is the what the woman says to the little Egyptian looking lady.
She’ll be asleep in moments. Damn.
I turn to look at the Egyptian lady now sitting next to me. Her face turns from sunshine to clouds and darkness. “Well Protectorate assassin,” she says in a low spiteful way “choose your next words and actions very carefully.”
Chapter 52
I do choose my words carefully. In fact, I use only one. “Okay.”
Hateful green eyes are boring through me saying volumes, though the lady herself isn’t saying a word.
Shey buzzes out of my pocket quickly, but not quickly enough. Jxisga’s hand flies and plucks my Pixie out of the air. She regards Shey for a half a moment and then pops tiny Shey in her mouth, crunching her and apparently taking some measure of pleasure in the process.
I feel Shey return to the white and the Lady’s expression goes from a happy, eating a pixie face back to a be prepared to die face.
“You ate my Sheyliene…”
Her other hand darts out and grasps the side of my neck. I experience a bad feeling, like I hit my funny bone. That feeling courses through my body. I am frozen. I can’t move, can’t talk - can’t anything. My breathing is very shallow. With her other hand she reaches over to my shirt pocket and takes Clyde’s pen. All the time looking at me with those hateful green eyes.
She removes her hand from my neck and turns to put the pen in a little clutch purse she has with her. She pulls out a small round brown glyphed item from the purse and sets it on the arm of the seat between us. “A little privacy, in case you scream,” she says.
She gestures discreetly and says some guttural words. I feel my ears pop. Great. We have a nice silencing dome around us. The sensation of my limbs begins to return and then just like that, I have control again.
Now it’s my turn to give a hateful stare, but mine is met by a wicked grin.
Before I can say a word, she holds up a finger – “wait.”
“I’m going to ask you three questions. You will answer them quickly, honestly and with no embellishment. If you lie to me, I will know it.” There is an uncomfortable silence.
“Assassin, were you sent here to kill me?”
That’s easy. “No. I’m just heading back to…”
Finger upraised again with stern look tells me to shut up.
“What Protectorate objectives are you working under now?”
“None, I’m not on the clock.”
That gets more uncomfortable silence and glaring.
“Do you know the whereabouts of my brother?”
Now that question I didn’t see coming. I’m pretty sure my surprise registered physically.”No idea. Hey, isn’t he your twin? Can’t you do some twin thing to find him?”
“Dolt” was her curt reply. “But yes, I could. When I have tried, he evades me. Our rift is deep.” That gets her to look away in contemplation. She turns back to me, scrutiny in her eyes.
“You realize that should we battle upon this plane, everyone but me will die? I am the only one that can fly away from a falling plane. You know I can’t afford to have a plane full of people claiming to have seen me.”
That puts a dent in my options. It’s one thing for me to die, a whole other to make hundreds others follow. “Okay... so we don’t battle then?”
“Signs of intelligence. Arthur Micnelly... Now you will show me the sigils of those bound to you.”
I roll up my sleeve and she grasps my wrist roughly. I sense that same barely perceptible tingle that Sil puts out. She looks at them and releases my wrist to glower at me. I get it, next one. So I undo the button, roll up the other and set it out for her.
Her fin
ger traces Silithes’ sigil. “You will give her to me, right now.”
“Can’t do that – I’m human.”
Her face registers disgust at first, then something that may be akin to understanding. “You carry a sister of the Order of Nilisarna, this cannot be abided.”
All I can do is shrug at her.
“Bring her forth.”
“Really, here?” I look around the cabin at all the folks that would be surprised, then panicked by Sil’s appearance.
She gives me a teeth baring snarl, then looks away presumably to collect herself. Taking a small breath, she turns back to me. “Later then.” More uncomfortable staring follows.
“So are you a sister or the order too? Special forces succubus…” I thought it a clever icebreaker.
“I am asking the questions here, assassin. But, yes, I am and you should mind your tone.”
Maybe that ice was better left unbroken.
“I thought we determined I am not an assassin. Mercenary, maybe. Certainly off the clock now. And that’s an observation more than question.”
There is a small glint of something that rolls across her eyes. Her what would be a very pretty face doesn't crack its unemotional mask. She moves back slightly making herself a bit more comfortable, giving me a little breathing room. But the stare doesn't let up.
I am being intimidated by a five foot something, 105 pound girly-girl of Egyptian descent. And I am intimidated; I know how just plain ol’ raw bone strong Sil is. I have little doubt tiny lady Jxsiga, could snap my neck like a brittle twig. Still it’s a funny juxtaposition. And I snickered.
The lady’s stare turns to glare again.
“You find your predicament amusing? Or perhaps you don’t take me seriously? Thinking maybe you can overpower me?”
“Yes, I find my predicament amusing. Give me some credit, I’ve lived with Sil for a long time and know I can’t overpower you. Still, you’re sooo tiny.”
Oops.
It’s the lady’s turn to snicker with a small, wry smile, “So it can learn.”
.A smile from the lady – small victory for me. I nod and smile back.
The Wielder: Sworn Vengeance (The Wielder Series) Page 19
