Amanda landed next to her with a final punch that broke several bones in her skull and ended her involvement in this fight.
The small squad of guards that had split up and had started to ascend both flights of stairs to help their employers, stopped and looked down at Amanda, many of them looking at her with a mixture of fear and awe.
Some of them opened fire, others started to back off, realising they were out classed.
Standing where she had landed, and ignoring the gunfire directed at her, she used her magic to reach into each of their heads and with a quick nudge, they dropped unconscious, one at a time over the next few seconds.
As the last one fell, the gunfire stopped and a silence fell over the house as Amanda caught her breath for a moment, the rise and fall of her chest slowing as she calmed down.
Looking down at the broken woman at her feet, she kicked her in anger and frustration. Amanda then brushed off some of the dust from her skirt and top, noticing a couple of ladders in her black tights before walking deeper into the house towards the East Wing.
The next couple of rooms were devoid of people, but well-appointed with expensive looking furniture and decorative items, the spoils of war perhaps.
She emerged into a corridor, and to her right at the end she could see a large wooden door, and the edge of the Aegis she had been working to break through the whole time she had been in here. The shield looked weak from her constant attacks on it, so she used all her magical might and with a last push, broke through the barrier. The whole thing faltered and failed, dissipating back into the surrounding ambient Essentia as she approached the door.
She placed her senses beyond the door, seeing a darker room with less natural light. The décor in there had not been renewed in years, the paint peeled from the walls, the few chairs and tables were worn and heavily used and there were clear signs of struggle within the debris scattered about the place.
To the right side of the room stood a large heavy duty cage, and within it, sat a young, powerfully muscled woman, her legs tucked in tight to her body, her head back with her eyes closed, her jaw length black hair a greasy mess. She wore rags and carried a number of bruises.
This brought Amanda up short, making her pause for a moment. She concentrated on the scene she could see in the room, noting that this prisoner happened to be the only person in here.
Another door led deeper into the East Wing, and with this first Aegis down, she could now see a second Aegis that shielded everything beyond this door from her magic. Amanda sighed, they were playing games with her, and she got the distinct feeling that when she walked through this door she would be walking into a trap.
She looked at the caged woman again, and realised by using her Magical vision that she also happened to be a Scion. This got better by the minute.
Annoyed, but knowing she needed to find Liz, she walked forward and turned the handle of the door, walking through it into the room beyond.
She paused again, and cancelled her second set of senses. The room had a bit of a rank smell to it, a mix of rotting food and animal musk that made Amanda curl her nose up. Looking over at the cage, she could see the woman had opened her eyes and now stared intently at Amanda.
Glancing round the silent room, she noted the knives, whips and other strange implements of torture on a nearby table. Were they using these on this Scion? She certainly showed signs of such treatment noting the scars on her arms and legs.
Amanda walked carefully over to the cage and crouched down next to it.
‘Hey, how are ye? I’m Amanda,’ she said softly.
The girl just looked at her, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and confusion.
‘Okay so, I’m gonna let you out, you’re free to go. Do you understand? I’m setting you free.’
The girl just narrowed her eyes at Amanda, perhaps she felt confused. Amanda didn’t want to use her Magic on her, as a Scion the girl would recognise it and might not take kindly to it.
The lock to this cage consisted of 3 large metal bars that were levered into holes in the door by a simple mechanical control about 6 foot away from the cage, which itself had a padlock on it. Amanda used her magic to break the padlock and then taking hold of the lever, moved it to the open position, withdrawing the bolts from the door with a loud metallic groan.
Amanda looked over at the girl, she hadn’t moved and looked as wary as before.
‘You’re free now,’ Amanda said, but the girl didn’t move.
Amanda walked over to the cage and pulled the latch open. With that, the door inched open by itself, before Amanda gave it a yank and hauled it open wide enough to walk through.
Amanda smiled at the girl and gestured that she could leave.
‘There you go, you’re free.’
The girl looked around and then back at Amanda.
Over the last couple of years, Amanda had used her Magic to enhance her body, meaning she could move faster and was stronger with better reactions and abilities then ninety nine percent of the world, but when the girl moved, the speed with which she did it caught Amanda utterly off guard. She leapt from the cage, slamming into Amanda and knocking her backwards several feet before landing on top of her. Their Aegises flared as they came into contact, rippling with light and energy.
Amanda had caught both of the girls wrists in her hands, and now watched as the nails on those hands grew into claws a good inch long as she roared at Amanda, her mouth now filled with huge dog like teeth. Spit and drool splattered from her gaping maw as the girl’s body grew in size, her already muscled arms and torso expanded, her wrists growing larger in Amanda’s hands.
‘Aaah crap,’ Amanda gasped to herself.
Amanda used her magic as a third hand, using it to push the girls head back and away from her, keeping those wicked looking teeth from biting her. The Aegises of both girls fought against each other, keeping them from truly touching each other for the moment, but if they continued to fight, that might change. Amanda used all her strength to push against the raw power of this girl who now had maybe double the body mass of Amanda and had started to sprout hair from her face and arms while her nose and mouth started to distend and become more dog, or wolf like.
Scions were created by the Archons millennia ago, before recorded history, and they all belonged to one of the bloodlines that stretched back through time to the Archon who created it. This girl clearly belonged to the Were Creature bloodline of Scions.
A loud bang sounded off to Amanda’s left, she turned her head just in time to see three men enter the room two of them wore all black special forces style clothing with balaclava’s, while the third and last through the door, wore light coloured slacks and a shirt, contrasting the guards dark outfits. He had swarthy skin and dark hair, tied back in a ponytail, and Amanda immediately noticed his strong connection to Essentia, meaning she faced another Magus. The men wasted no time, the two guards opened fire on Amanda and the scion the moment they saw them, peppering them with Essentia infused bullets.
The girl took a good share of the initial opening salvo, the slugs hitting home and slamming into her body while their magical energy started to overload her Aegis. The few that hit Amanda, bounced off her Kinetic Shield, but not before damaging her own Aegis as well.
‘Whoa, feckin’ hell,’ Amanda exclaimed in shock as she braced herself against the attack, rolling away from it.
The girl immediately leapt off of Amanda and withdrew into a cowering ball on the far side of the room.
The guards didn’t follow her, they concentrated on Amanda and continued to spray her with gunfire that hissed and popped off her magical shields, slamming into the concrete, kicking up dust all about her.
At the same moment, the Man, probably a Nomad Amanda guessed, called on his Magic and a huge Kinetic blast slammed Amanda into the ground, winding her as it forced the air from her lungs. Her Aegis held though, as did her Force shield, keeping the worst of the attack from hurting her too much. The tiled floor about h
er cracked like a spider web from the force though.
At the same time, using his Multitasking effect, he released a powerful blast of Essentia at her, trying to overload her Aegis and open her up to further attack.
Amanda rolled onto her side and then knees, moving away from her attackers, using two of her minds to bolster her protections, putting some strength and power back into it. She gritted her teeth and attempted to catch her breath after the Nomads first assault. The attack had been well planned, had she not been as prepared as she had been, things might have gone much worse for her.
Amanda lashed out with her Magic at the same time as she defended herself, attempting to crush the guns the guards shot at her with, but the Nomad must have seen it coming and used his own Magic to block hers.
Amanda jumped up, quickly moving into a standing position to face her trio of attackers. Her red hair fell about her in a hellish mess, her dusty and dirty clothes telling the story of her fight so far.
The Nomad blasted her with a kinetic blast again. Amanda leaned into it as it forced her backwards, her feet skidding over the dusty floor as they lost their grip forcing her to put a hand to the floor to keep from falling over. But her Force shield held, flaring with energy briefly as it washed over her with minimal pain.
Amanda jumped forward as the two guards closed the gap between them, standing between her and the Nomad behind them. Amanda could see Essentia fuelled items all over these pair, but continued forward anyway. They dropped their weapons which swung on their straps to the guards hips as they moved to defend themselves. Amanda moved in quick, she lashed out at the man on her left who defended against her well, his wrist guards releasing small Essentia blasts into Amanda’s Aegis, forcing her to use one of her minds to continually refuel it.
Her supernatural speed allowed Amanda to fend off both of these highly trained men, but they distracted her from the concentrated hammer of Essentia that struck from the Nomad behind them, weakening her Aegis substantially.
Engaging in hand to hand fighting is all well and good, but when there’s a third party who could kill you while you’re distracted, then things need to change. She didn’t get the chance to do anything however, as something big and heavy, maybe the metal cage, flew across the room. Lifted by the Nomad’s Magic, it smashed into Amanda and both guards sending all three of them flying across the room and into the furniture on the far side. This whole moment blurred together in a mess of pain as the world tumbled around her and crushed her under the debris of wood and metal until she came to rest, covered by remains of the attack.
She lay there in darkness, her Aegis flickering and failing under the pressure of the chairs and tables that the tumbling metal cage had smashed into fragments and covered her with.
A hundred things seemed to press, crush or stab into her, and her right arm felt decidedly wrong. She daren’t move it for the moment, fearing that the numbness would fade to be replaced with pain.
Magic flared close by, the loud crashing of wood and metal followed as the debris shifted and dim light streamed into her vision once more.
The majority of the stuff that had been on top of her had been thrown off her in one magical feat of strength. Now Amanda could make out the figure of the Nomad stood over her.
‘Well now Amanda, seems like your little crusade didn’t quite go according to plan. Shame, I thought you would be more of a challenge than this.’
Amanda spat blood from her mouth.
‘Funny fecker huh?’ Amanda chocked and coughed. Talking hurt, but if she could keep him talking, maybe she could turn this around.
‘You can call me Joaquin, and I will enjoy this,’ he gloated.
Amanda’s mind swam with pain, she struggled to bring her thoughts together in a coherent way to make some Magic, so she shut her eyes and tried to get a hold of them before this psycho ended her for good.
‘Enjoy it? Enjoy what?’ Amanda asked, attempting to keep him occupied.
The killing blow never came though, instead Amanda heard what sounded like a very angry and very large dog growling and barking while things, like maybe bodies, slammed into each other.
‘Oh, sounds like you might be busy,’ Amanda joked. Something had happened to distract Joaquin from Amanda, so she took this time to fully concentrate on fixing herself up.
As the seconds passed, she pulled her thoughts back together, finally getting a hold of herself. Quickly she restarted her Multitasking effect, setting one mind to healing her broken body.
Her right arm had been crushed and broken in several places while cuts and bruises called for her attention, but with a powerful wash of Essentia through her body, the bruises faded, the cuts closed and with some stomach turning sounds, her bones knitted back together and popped back into place.
She used the rest of her minds to pull in and solidify the Essentia around her, recreating the Aegis and Force Shield she had lost.
Opening her eyes and feeling much better, she sat up and surveyed the room about her. A little way off to her left, the body of Joaquin lay upon the floor, his torso ripped open and crushed while a look of wide eyed surprise sat frozen upon his face.
The thing responsible stood before her, back lit by the light streaming through the windows beyond, its huge size brought the memory of the thing that attacked her in the alleyway in New York flooding back. Suddenly she wasn’t a Magi anymore and she remembered the fear and terror as the Scion Horlack tried to kill her. She hadn’t known of Scions or Magi or Magic back then, she’d just been a girl trying to make her way on the streets of New York.
She jumped and shuffled back in fear at seeing the half human, half wolf thing that towered over 8 foot tall before her, but quickly got a grip of herself.
It shrank then, shifting forms and changing back into the dark haired girl that Amanda had found in the cage. She stepped forward, her face moving into some light allowing Amanda to see the smile on her face as she offered Amanda a hand.
‘Here, let me help you up,’ she said in an American Accent.
Amanda hesitated for a moment and then took it, allowing the girl to pull her off the pile of wood and metal and back to her feet. She had a surprising amount of strength.
‘I’m Celest,’ the girl offered.
‘Amanda,’ she replied, and shook the hand she already had hold of in greeting.
‘Sorry for attacking you, I… I had no idea who you were, or what you were going to do to me.’
‘Not a bother. I’m just grateful you came to my aid when you did,’ she said, looking down at the remains of Joaquin. ‘That could have ended much worse for me.’
‘What are you doing here?’
‘The Nomads who use this place, they have my friend,’ Amanda said.
‘They bring people here all the time, if she’s here, she’ll be somewhere in the rest of this wing of the house, through that door,’ Celest indicated the open door that Joaquin had burst through moments ago.
‘Thank you Celest, you have done more than enough for me.’
‘You think I’m going to run and leave you here?’ Celest asked.
‘Well…’
‘I’m coming with you, these men have held me captive and tortured me for weeks, I want some revenge.’
Amanda looked at the heavily muscled girl stood before her, she stood a good half foot taller than Amanda making her an imposing opponent even before she shifted forms. The determination on Celest’s face was enough to show that she knew there would be no changing her mind. Her clothing had been reduced to little more than rags though, and did nothing to cover her up.
‘Then, may I suggest...’ Amanda said as she walked to a table, hovered her hand over the top of it, and suddenly a pile of clothes appeared just under her hand.
Celest walked over, and smiled. She looked at Amanda and pulled her in for a powerful hug.
‘Thank you,’ she said as she pulled off the dirty rags and quickly got dressed in the newly created clothes that fit her perfectly.
> Moments later, the pair approached the door that led deeper into the East Wing. The door stood open, and although the Aegis remained in effect, the door created a way through, a portal through the Aegis.
Beyond the door they found a long corridor lined with more doors on either side. Each door had a barred window set into it, so Amanda looked through the first one, seeing a small room with a single bed, a basic toilet and a wash basin. They were cells. This one looked empty, but Amanda wasted no time in walking up the corridor, looking in each one. She only walked three doors up before she found an occupied one. A girl in her mid to late teens lay on the bed inside, she wore only a dirty vest and knickers, and her left wrist was chained to the wall. She could see marks on her arm where they’d injected her with drugs, the effects of which were clearly etched on her face.
‘Jeysus,’ Amanda said, and with a swift use of Magical force and enhanced strength, pulled the door from its frame and stepped into the room, crouching next to the girl.
‘We have to get them out of here,’ Amanda said to Celest. She had never seen anyone treated like this before and it made her sick to her stomach. If this is how Lucian runs his business, it became just one more reason to shut him down. This girl needed their help. She grabbed and pulled the chain from the wall and started to move to lift the girl from the bed.
‘Amanda, you have a friend here? Probably held by the remains of Joaquin’s men?’
‘Yes,’ Amanda answered.
‘She, and any others in these cells can wait until we have swept the rest of the building and made sure they’re safe. We must finish the job first.’
Amanda deflated slightly, took a breath and looked up at Celest.
‘You’re right, let’s finish this,’ she said. She looked back to the girl on the bed and took her hand in her own. ‘We’ll be back, I promise,’ she said, the girl’s eyes swam about the room, and Amanda wasn’t sure she’d heard her.
Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness Page 22
