Tommy Black and the Coat of Invincibility

by Jake Kerr

  “Us?” Mister Ali’s brow furrowed. “What did you tell him about us?”

  “Don’t worry, Ali. I simply said that a group of my friends and I were looking to join with the Angel. He asked a few questions, but all I said is that we were powerful and a meeting would be worth having.”

  “I don’t like it,” Mister Ali said. Naomi rolled her eyes behind his back.

  “We have nothing to lose,” I replied.

  “So what’s the plan?” Naomi said, pretending that Mister Ali’s concerns didn’t exist.

  Arkady replied, “They are a good ways off. They gave me a location to meet them tomorrow afternoon. We should get transport tomorrow morning to take us there and then come up with a plan for separating the Archmage from any defenses she may have.”

  There was quick agreement. Mister Ali begrudgingly approved the plan, just noting his concerns that we should be extremely careful. “We don’t even know if she’ll be there,” he noted. “What do we do if she is not? We aren’t Russian, and the rest of us will never be trusted as allies.”

  “That’s your biggest problem, Mister Ali.” Naomi said the words loudly. Everyone turned to look at her. “You plan for failure. Success is an accident in your hands.”

  Mister Ali’s face went red. “Young lady, I was succeeding in countless battles before you were even born. The reason I succeeded with the Pehlivan was due to my ability to see.” He tapped his forehead with his finger. “I don’t plan for failure. I anticipate things that can lead to failure.”

  Naomi shrugged and turned to me. “Card game?”

  I nodded but had trouble focusing on the cards and lost game after game. We finally had a lead on finding the other Archmage. All I could think of was that I would be wearing the Coat of Invincibility in a few days. I had no doubt it would not only restore my missing abilities with the staff, but that it would make me powerful enough to perhaps defeat the Nazis all by myself.

  14

  HUNTING AN ANGEL

  Mister Ali pulled me aside as we prepared to leave the next morning. “Tommy, I know that I can be frustrating and that perhaps you and Naomi think of me as too careful or even fearful, but I have good reason.” He kept his voice low, so I knew that the message was only for me. “You have seen a lot and done so much, but you still don’t know what kind of things that people are capable of or the forces that are arrayed against you.” He put his arm on my shoulder and squeezed. “I just worry about you.”

  I nodded. “I understand, but we’ll be okay. You’ve seen how powerful Naomi is, and while the staff is limited, I can still surprise people with it.” I tapped the cane on the floor. Mister Ali didn’t say anything, so I added, “I’ll be careful.”

  At that he let go of my shoulder and patted me on my back. “That’s all I’m asking.”

  As we shuffled into a sedan that was to drive us to the magicians and the Angel of St. Petersburg, I thought of Mister Ali’s history. He had been the “eyes” for my grandfather, pointing out illusions and risks as they fought during the Great War. He saw risk and danger where others did not. No wonder he was worried about me and my friends.

  I watched Mister Ali as the car rumbled over roads pitted with holes and rocks. His eyes constantly darted left and right. His brows would furrow and he would squint as if he perceived something we could not, but then he would move on and look elsewhere. It suddenly struck me that perhaps I had not paid as much attention to Mister Ali as I should have. If he saw threats where others didn’t, what kind of life would that be? One full of stress, fear, and concern.

  Maybe I was finally starting to understand Mister Ali. He just looked at the world differently.

  The city of Leningrad was beautiful but torn with the wounds of war. I knew that it had been a major part of the Soviet revolution, and it appeared to be preparing for the onslaught of the Germans. Troops were everywhere, and a trip that Arkady said would normally not have taken long took us hours, as we had to drive around streets with tanks, checkpoints, and lines of soldiers.

  Arkady sat up front with the driver that we had found at the hotel. The man looked nervous, but seemed intent on getting us where we were going. Mister Ali and Naomi sat on either side of me, neither seeming much interested in the other.

  A few hours after we left, Arkady looked over his shoulder and said, “There is a warehouse nearby. We are to meet at the front and then, hopefully, we will be taken to the Angel.”

  The comment increased Mister Ali’s irritation. “And then what do we do? Tell this woman to just give us her artifact? May I remind you that we cannot harm her?” Mister Ali shook his head. “I’ve lived this with Declan time and time again. March in without any kind of plan, destroy anything that looks suspicious, and then hope it all works out.”

  “That’s my kind of plan. I like it,” Naomi replied.

  Arkady was shaking his head. “No. That is not the plan. It’s just that there are too many unknowns. How can we plan when we don’t know what we are facing? We need to be nimble and prepared for anything.”

  I had to admit that Arkady seemed to know what he was doing. I didn’t necessarily like that Naomi often paid more attention to him than me, but in terms of us needing a mission leader, he was the best thing we had.

  “I’m ready,” Naomi said, and in response she opened her palm and started casting the small light spell she showed me earlier, the she said calmed herself.

  “I can’t disagree with your logic, Arkady,” Mister Ali said. “But let us at least agree to go slow and be observant. We should also have a plan for retreat.” Mr. Ali looked at the driver. Arkady turned to him and said some words in Russian. The driver shook his head and said, “Nyet.”

  No one said anything, but I didn’t need a translator to know that there wasn’t going to be any escape plan. I looked at Mister Ali who seemed pained, and then at Arkady who actually looked unhappy, as well. Naomi was ignoring everyone as she pushed her blonde hair behind her ears, cracked her knuckles, and began casting the light spell again.

  The car made a sharp turn to the right, and the tires crunched over gravel. Up ahead were three large buildings with metal walls that looked like flimsily constructed warehouses. The walls were bent in spots, exposing a dark interior, and the second floor was lined with large windows, many of which were covered with plywood.

  We drove up to the middle warehouse, which had a huge set of closed doors facing the road. As the car stopped, the driver looked around nervously and then said something in Russian.

  “We’re here,” Arkady said, opening his door. Naomi opened her door and practically leaped out of the car. Before I had even slid out of the car she was making movements with her left hand. I walked up, and the four of us stood facing the warehouse.

  Behind us the car backed up and turned to drive away. “So, what next?” I asked.

  “They are to meet us here,” Arkady replied, looking around.

  “Are we early?” Mister Ali said.

  “They didn’t provide a time. They said just to be here in the afternoon. I was under the impression that this was a base for their operations and that they had someone here all the time.”

  Mister Ali turned to me, “Tell me what you see.”

  “There is a large two story warehouse in front of us.”

  “Yes. That is not an illusion.”

  “To the left is a road leading between another warehouse that is behind us and to the left. It is paired with another warehouse behind us and to the right. There is a parking lot with a few small trucks to the right beside the warehouse in front of us. Behind it is a fence.”

  Mister Ali breathed out. “Good. There are no illusions. That is a good sign.”

  A horrible screech filled the air, and the large sliding doors in front of us parted. There was nothing but darkness behind them, but I could make out a group of men walking out. They were in plain grey uniforms without any markings. One of the men pointed at us.

  “I don’t like this,” Mister Al
i said, a moment before the men crouched down, and with dizzying speed unleashed a flurry of detonations at us. I dove to the ground instinctively as Mister Ali flinched.

  I heard a few thuds followed by Naomi shaking her head, her hair flying in a mist of yellow around her head. “Did those idiots not think the first thing I would do is cast a shield?” Holding up her hand, she launched a detonation at the group of men, who couldn’t seem to understand how we were still standing. They scattered as the spell flew toward them. It exploded on the ground, tossing a few of them backward and in the air.

  “No shield spell? This won’t be a challenge at all.” Naomi looked positively giddy. There were about ten men that I could see, several of whom ran back to the warehouse, while the rest moved to surround us. Two of them were casting what looked to be shield spells.

  “They're casting shields,” I said as I walked next to Naomi. She was looking around, presumably picking her next target. She had the same kind of smile on her face that I saw on my grandfather during the attack on the Persian Garden restaurant.

  “It won’t help them.” Naomi said it as a statement of fact, and there wasn’t a bit of pride in her voice.

  “Arkady, we could use a quick illusion,” Mister Ali said, as his eyes darted around.

  The Russian was already focused on the movements of his body. He wasn’t remotely as precise or fast as Naomi. I thought of using the staff, but what could I do? Even putting everything in darkness seemed to be more problematic than helpful. We needed to see what we faced.

  There was a rumble, and I looked over to see a tank approaching from the road to the left. “A tank!” I yelled.

  Naomi turned and launched her spell at it. There was a whoosh, and then a large explosion. It wasn’t the Hammer of Jamshid. In fact, I didn’t know what spell it was, but it appeared to be a more powerful version of the detonation spell.

  “That was an illusion!” Mister Ali exclaimed. “They are trying to distract us!” Mister Ali pointed. The magicians in gray had fled back into the warehouse.

  “Where are you, Angel?” Naomi yelled out. “Come out and play!”

  “Hush, Naomi. We need to know what we are facing.” We all looked around. I had turned my head for an instant, but in that time Naomi had started walking toward the warehouse. “Naomi, no! We need to work together.”

  She turned. “Stay there. You are protected by a good shield. I’ll find this woman myself.”

  “Naomi—” I said, but I knew that there was nothing I could say that would change her mind. She walked straight ahead.

  A whistling sound came from the left, and then a huge explosion shook the ground. I was thrown back along with Arkady and Mister Ali. The wind was knocked out of me, and as I struggled for breath I looked over to Naomi. The ground she stood on was unharmed, while the ground around her was charred, with a deep hole to her left. Naomi was coughing and brushing dust off her pants. It looked like she was bleeding from her forehead.

  “Naomi, are you okay?” I yelled.

  She turned to me, a grim smile on her face. “I hate technology,” she said. She lifted her left arm, brought her right arm around, and then extended them to the warehouse to our left. A massive column of flame shot out and filled the entire front of the building.

  “Arkady, are you okay?” Mister Ali said. I turned to see how everyone was. Mister Ali was covered in dust but seemed otherwise fine. I looked at Arkady, who was kneeling with his head down. I couldn’t tell if he was hurt.

  He said something that made no sense. I was concerned that he was dazed and took a step toward him. He looked up. “I held the illusion. We are butterflies.”

  “Butterflies?” I looked at Arkady and then Mister Ali. They looked a little shaken up but otherwise okay.

  “It is an illusion, Tommy. We appear to be butterflies to those looking at us. We will hopefully be small enough that others won’t notice us.”

  “But what about Naomi?” I asked. She had walked around the crater that the projectile had blown in the ground and was marching toward the left warehouse.

  “We are not strong enough, Tommy.”

  “Is she?” I asked. Mister Ali didn’t reply, as Naomi brought forth a series of detonations and blew holes in the warehouse.

  “Angel, I know this won’t hurt you. But you don’t want me to hurt your men, do you?” Naomi shouted as she cast some detonations at the roof of the warehouse, and it started to cave in.

  I was in awe. She was an Angel of Destruction. The warehouse was being obliterated by her barrage of spells. There was a whoosh from the right, and I turned in alarm. The men in grey had returned and were casting powerful offensive spells at Naomi. She didn’t even look back at them. She pushed the palm of her hand toward the men, and they all flew backward, falling and then skidding across the ground away from her.

  “The Djinn’s Breath!” Mister Ali exclaimed. “That spell was lost to history. Very few know it even existed!”

  A howl of buckling metal filled the air, and the warehouse collapsed. Naomi stopped in the middle of the road. I watched her from behind. Her hands moved in a blur, the energy pushed back on her hair, each strand flickering behind her head. No one emerged from warehouse. One of the metal walls twisted and fell inward.

  Naomi turned and faced us and then looked to her left and then to the original warehouse. She was standing in the middle of the road that led off between and then behind the warehouses. “Now don’t you prefer to have us on your side, Angel?” Naomi yelled out, looking around. “You don’t want us against you!”

  Glancing over at us, she shook her head. “I am guessing that the attack from this warehouse was a diversion.” She nodded over her shoulder at the warehouse she had just destroyed.

  She pulled up the black ball of energy that I knew was the mighty Hammer of Jamshid. “I wonder if I should just explode that one—” She motioned toward the center warehouse. “—And see if we can extract her and the Coat from the rubble.”

  She had an intense look on her face as she stared at the warehouse, with her eyes glinting in the sunlight. She looked amazing—beautiful and powerful. I had even forgotten how powerless I was. I didn’t need to be the Archmage. I just wanted to fight next to her.

  “Naomi, look out for the truck!” Mister Ali shouted. Naomi was about twenty yards from us, and as I looked around I couldn’t see a truck. My eye caught a rather sad and bedraggled dog limping toward her along the road, but there was no truck. Naomi looked around, confused. Not seeing anything, she focused on the original warehouse, calling forth the Hammer of Jamshid.

  Mister Ali took off running toward her. “There is a large truck coming toward you! It is too big. Your shield won’t protect you!” He shouted between breaths as he ran toward her and the dog. Naomi appeared to be so focused on her spell that she didn’t even notice Mister Ali calling to her.

  I knew exactly what was happening, even though I couldn’t perceive it. We were all fooled by the illusion of a dog, but Mister Ali saw the the reality. “Naomi! Move!” I screamed. She turned to me, looking like she didn’t understand why I interrupted her. Alarmed, Naomi braced herself for the collision as she noticed Mister Ali barreling toward her.

  He reached her a few seconds before the dog, knocking into her with the full force of his compact and muscular body. Naomi flew backward while the unseen truck slowed as it ran into her shield. Mister Ali struggled to get to his feet as the limping dog appeared to almost grind its way forward, tearing through Naomi’s shield.

  “No!” I cried as the air shimmered, and Mister Ali was knocked backward by the small dog. Some element of reality must have disrupted the magic. And as I looked at Mister Ali lying on the ground, the illusion of the dog was replaced by the reality of a transport truck with huge wheels heading toward Arkady and me. The shield had slowed it down, and we were able to dodge the truck. It passed us and then made as if to turn for another attempt.

  A series of explosions to my left knocked me to the ground.
I pulled myself up to my arms and knees to see the truck not just a mangled mess but actually melting under the intense heat from the flame emanating from Naomi’s hands. I scrambled up and ran to Mister Ali, Arkady right next to me.

  By the time we got to him, Naomi was already on her knees leaning over him. I looked down to see Mister Ali’s neck twisted in a way it shouldn’t. I couldn’t breath. I closed my eyes and tried to focus, but all I could picture was the a small dog and then a truck and then Mister Ali’s broken body. I tried to speak, but no words came out.

  “Don’t move. I have a strong shield around you.” It was Naomi. I looked up, but couldn’t see much through the tears that blurred my vision. I saw her blonde hair, a shimmer of light, and then she strode off behind me.

  Before I could turn to see what she was doing, I felt the pressure of Jamshid’s Hammer being cast press against my chest. The spell hit the warehouse in front of us, and the metal exploded into shards.

  “Where are you?!” Naomi screamed. “Show yourself!” She shot detonations at the pile of rubble and metal just to underscore her point. They exploded into clouds of dust.

  “Naomi!” Arkady yelled. “Stop!”

  She ignored him and looked at the third warehouse, the one that hadn’t had any activity. She called forth Jamshid’s Hammer again. “Naomi!” She cast the spell and again the entire warehouse exploded in front of us. The force knocked me backward, leaving me coughing and a little dizzy. “She is not here, Naomi!” Naomi finally looked at Arkady. Her face was red and wet with tears. Her hair was wild and covered half her face.

  “What?” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “These were Germans, Naomi. Nazis.” I looked at the wreckage all around us. This was a trap set by Germans? How did they know we were here? What did they want with us?

  “Germans?” Naomi asked, dropping her hands to her side.