Fear narrowed her eyes. “What mission is that?”
“Get on board before I sanction you for insubordination.”
Once on board, Malice took the controls and blasted off the moon. He ordered Fear to calibrate the algorithms of the ship’s sensors to pick up a unique magic signature.
He handed Fear a piece of dragon shell. “Analyze the Magic Dust component of the shell,” Malice said.
“That’s priceless,” Gully said. “Where’d you get such a large specimen, Mage Marshall?”
“It’s not priceless, it’s evidence. Belongs with twelve full dragon eggs stolen by our target.”
Gully silently mouthed the words, ‘dragon eggs’ and ‘twelve’. “That’s what I call Magic Shit!”
“I’ll need to scan the cell residue,” Fear said with calm professionalism, although he detected an undertone of impatience.
Malice tossed a quarantine ball in the air. Inside, Magic Dust residue orbited the thin sealed layer that prevented it from leaking into the breathable atmosphere and contaminating the ship.
Fear set to work modeling a three dimensional representation of the spell’s matrix core structure. To the human eye it seemed like dust. Colorful and often sparkling, occasionally with an assortment of foul odours. But essentially dust.
But that’s where the association with common house dust ended. For this was Magic Dust. Graded from one. Relatively harmless. To seven. Lethal against most armor.
There were of course three higher grades. Eight, nine and the theoretically possible but never witnessed Amargedeon grade Magic Dust, ten.
A holographic representation formed in the air.
“It’s like nothing I’ve seen before, Mage Marshal,” she said. “I’m not sure I can—”
“Get Gully and Lexx to assist you.”
Ten minutes later, they had a working model of the spell. And an algorithm that could detect its signature.
“Done,” Fear announced.
Lexx nodded. “That’s a good one to inoculative against. I’ll send a copy to our immunization team so they can—”
“Negative,” Malice said. “Feed it into the ship’s sensors and link to all Mage Marshall Satellites. As soon as you lock onto its unique magical signature, I want this ship on the trail. Got it?”
The three recruits crowded around the magic scanner.
Malice didn't have to wait long. The vast distances of space and time were nothing once magic was restored to the universe some hundred years ago. Spell tech engines replaced faster than light drives.
Where distant colonies were years, if not decades away, with the advent of Spell-drives, those same vast distances could be traveled in a matter of weeks, if not days. It was revolutionary and heralded a Renaissance of space travel. Which inevitably brought the borders of alien races into conflict.
War unlike any known to most of the galaxy broke out. A magic war. A hundred years later, there was finally peace.
And Malice was determined to make sure that peace endured. Whatever the price.
“Locked in, Mage Marshall,” Fear said. “Destination Mars.”
Mars was an accident human colony. Sophisticated. Industrialized. Terra formed. Wealthy and over populated. That spelled trouble in Malice’s mind.
“Full speed ahead,” Malice said. “Everyone strap in.”
The three recruits ran to their seats and buckled up.
The cabin filled with a myriad of rainbow colors. Residue of magic lay-lines temporarily made visible by the Magic Dust residue of the Spell Drives.
Ten seconds later the lay line vanished. “We’ve arrived at destination, Mars,” Lexx said.
Malice piloted Star Marshal One to Nu Washington spaceport and landed the ship. He headed off the bridge, as he said, “Report to the loading bay.”
The three sprinted ahead of him and he suppressed a smile at their enthusiasm. He made a mental note to curb their enthusiasm before each of them ran headlong into booby-trap spell anytime soon.
Waiting for the recruits were three Airbikes. The Mage Master series. Capable of traveling through the air or along terrain.
Gully’s eye popped wide, “These are Mage Master 2 series. There’s a Rage Force mode voice activated start, capable of zero to six hundred miles an hour in one point four seconds. Top speed one thousand miles an hour. Silent Motion mode enabled top cruise speed is four hundred miles an hour. I hear they’re faster even than the Wydra Five series. Greater angle of ascent and descent. Stops on a dime. To refuel, the new Mage Master batteries use kinetic spells. Ninety-eight percent efficiency in converting energy from the motion of rolling tires as they traverse across land. Alternatively, they can hover over a fixed point at any altitude below ten thousand feet or fly for short distances. ”
Lexx nodded. “Spelltech Nanobot living-steel plating. One inch thick. Maximum defense against all non-magic projectiles. Capable of surviving direct hits of Spelltech blasts of level six Magic Dust. Living-steel wheels three feet wide and clad in Living-rubber.”
“And deadlier than anything the Wydra fly, too,” Night Fear said. “Two Hell Burner canons. A pair of side-winder Mage Seeker missiles. And a whole lotta love-me-up, ‘till Sunday morning, mister!”
Malice yawned and said, “It’s sickening enough to have to watch you three in your orgy of mutual masturbation over the Mage Master. But we’re late to hunt down a Tech Warlock.”
“A warlock?” Gully said and swallowed hard. “Oh shit! Apologies, Mage Marshal.”
“Oh shit is the correct response, Recruit. Mount up.”
Night Fear reached out to stroke her Mage Master’s sleek silver Dragonhead exhausts. A bolt of blue forked lightning sprang out from the Dragonhead exhaust and coiled around her like a serpent. Bringing her to her knees.
“Congratulations, Recruit,” Malice said. “You triggered the Attack Suppression System. How does that make you feel?”
“Like an A.S.S?” she said.
“Remember only the registered rider can operate, or even touch the Mage Master. It’s bonded to your soul by a bonding spell. Got it?” Malice asked and used his Senior Mage Marshal admin-override privileges to release Night Fear.
Malice climbed aboard his Mage Master. “Prepare for bonding.”
The Mage Masters projected a spell light over each of their designated riders. Each recruit shivered with the sensation of the center of their chest plucked by an invisible hand. A plume of blue smoke drifted out of their chests and spiraled into their own Airbike.
Malice ordered the loading bay doors to drop. On his Mage Master’s windshield a holographic projection of their tracking target appeared. “Our enemy is a clever bastard shape shifter. No engagement with hostiles without my prior consent,” Malice said. “And stick to me like glue. Got it?”
The three chorused, “Yes, Mage Marshall!”
Responding to Malice’s voice command, his Mage Master blasted out of the landing bay and soared over the spaceport. The recruits whooped with delight as they followed.
Fear yelled, “What would you give me to let fly one of these Hell Burners up Malice’s ass?”
Malice’s gravely voice growled in her ear, “Recruit Fear, did you not read your Mage Marshal manual where it advises your training officer can hear every fucking word you say before you even think it?”
“No, Mage Marshall,” Fear said and ignored her friends snickering.
Malice erratically veered his Airbike out of the flight path. “Incoming,” he shouted.
The sky erupted with green and blue explosions. The deafening vibrations felt like earthquake tremors in the saddle at five thousand feet altitude. Shaking the recruits violently.
Fear fell backwards, somersaulting off her seat. She instinctively reached out and clutched at thin air. Plummeting to her inevitable death.
CHAPTER 4
Night Fear’s Mage Master doubled back, circling. It dived and flew under her tumbling body. She felt the seat cushion her fall the way a flying hamm
er cushions an insect against a concrete floor. The wind in her lungs blasted out as the sky erupted with another volley of explosions.
Malice yelled, “Get out of the sky, Recruit.”
Fear’s Mage Master responded automatically.
The sky fell silent. Fear glanced up at a thousand tiny pink and purple lights. She’d never seen anything so beautiful. But something in her dim, distance past called out from her childhood and warned her about the lights.
In the center of the tiny globes of light, a creature, a beautiful girl, danced and sang. Her voice, merged with the thousand other voices of the globes of light into a heavenly, mesmerizing choir.
Lexx was less cautious. Mesmerized, Lexx allowed one of the lights to settle in her cupped hands.
“No,” Malice cried out and soared across the sky toward her. “Shake it off, Recruit. That’s an order.”
“It’s so beautiful, like a fairy,” Lexx said and began weeping. The light expanded over her fingertips. It morphed into a pair of jaws and snapped over her hands.
Lexx screamed as the fairy light bit off her hands and spat them out into the sky. Lexx slipped slowly from her saddle.
Night Fear guided her Mage Master underneath Lexx and caught her friend.
“Malice to recruits, target Hell Burner canons on Fairy Light mode.”
Their Mage Master canons roared and pumped rockets into the sky. Exploding magic tech at the Fairy Lights. Many Fairy Lights began to flee upwards.
“Recruits, to ground, now.”
In a sharp descent, they converged on Malice. He took one look at Lexus’s severed wrists and seemed satisfied. “The Fairy Light’s cauterized the wounds.”
Gully shook his head. “Fear, take Lexx back to the ship.”
“No,” Malice said.
Fear agreed with Gully and said, “The ship’s medical robot can—”
“Do nothing for her,” Malice said and drew his Curse Maker. He aimed at Lexx.
Fear pushed Lexx behind her, blocking Malice’s aim.
“Stand aside, Recruit.”
Fear’s eyes popped wide. “What the hell?”
“I’ll warn you one last time before—”
“Malice, you can’t execute a Recruit for a minor infraction—”
“It’s for our own safety,” Malice said.
“No, Marshall, if you want to kill Lexx,” Fear said. “You have to shoot me first.”
“Fine,” Malice said and shouted, “Curse Maker Bolas.”
His Curse Maker’s speech synthesizer confirmed the ammunition selection.
Fear felt an arm reach around her throat from behind. She glanced down at a severed stump. Reflected in her Mage Master’s windshield a pair of six-inch fangs grew out of Lexus’s mouth.
Night Fear jolted. She spun around to face Lexx.
Her friend's face seemed contorted beyond human anatomical possibility. Her eyes glowed as if possessed by Fairy Lights. Her jaws separated as serrated teeth extended toward Night Fear.
Malice squeezed his trigger. A shell blasted out of the barrel. A pair of sizzling green and glittering interconnected cords burst out of the shell. Each end was weighted. The cords wrapped around Lexus’s neck and tightened.
Severing her head from her shoulders.
Malice grabbed Fear and dragged her off her saddle. Lexus’s head spun on the ground. The weights of the bolas exploded. A mesh net of green light sealed the severed head.
Gully stared at the green pus and slime flowing out of Lexi’s nostrils, ears and eyes.
“What is that stuff?” he asked.
Malice shrugged as he returned his Curse Maker to his holster. “Fairy Flu,” he said. “A side effect of untamed Magic Dust exposure. Don’t worry you were inoculated on day one back at the academy.”
“It can’t infect you,” Fear said as if repeating something she’d read somewhere. “Unless a Fairly Light bites you.”
“Correct,” Malice said. “Read your manual?”
“No,” Fear said, “something I remember my mother teaching me.”
Malice sneered.
“Let this be a lesson to you, Recruits,” Malice said. “Always use a quarantine bubble net to secure any magical element you’re unfamiliar with.”
Fear shook her head in a violent attempt to come to terms with the death of her friend. “She was my—”
“You have no friends,” Malice said. “That’s why you’re here.”
Fear felt her hands ball into fists. “So you can kill us one by one? Why kill us all now and get it over with now?”
Malice sneered, “This is how you learn. The easy way or the hard way. It’s up to you.”
Fear vomited on the wheels of her Mage Master.
“Mount up,” Malice said. His Mage Master indicated their target.
“The Tech Warlock’s attempting to leave Mars in his ship. If Recruit Lexx’s death means anything to you, let her death not be in vain.”
The Spelltech Speed Star engines of Malice’s Mage Master roared into life. He accelerated across the spaceport’s landing strip. Ordering his Mage Master to deploy a side-winder Mage Seeker missile.
A large freighter ship began to take off into the sky.
Malice’s missile tore across the spaceport and hit the ship. It exploded. The ship faltered in its ascent and fell to the ground.
The shockwave pummelled the Mage Masters as they hovered in the air.
Gully glanced at Fear. “You OK?”
She nodded.
“Let’s do this for Lexx,” Gully said and flew after Malice. She followed on her Mage Master.
Fear reached the downed ship as Malice circled it. “Only way in,” Malice said, “is through the landing bay doors. Remember, stick to me like glue.”
Fear and Gully nodded.
Malice studied the huge blast doors of the landing bay.
“I’ll need help,” Malice said. “Mage Master Knock-Knocks.”
Fear and Gully ordered their Mage Masters to fire knock-Knocks.
The canons roared to life. Expelling spell tech rockets that morphed into giant green fists hammering at the landing bay doors. Punching a hole, big enough for their Mage Masters to pass through.
They accelerated into the vast expanse of darkness that was the cargo hold. Guided by the sweeping headlights of their Mage Masters they flew into a thick, blood-red rolling fog across the half mile width of the cargo hold.
A rumble like thunder preceded a hailstorm of spell-tech canon fire.
“Evasive maneuvers,” Malice shouted and the three peeled off in opposite directions.
Night Fear’s Mage Master took a direct hit and plummeted. “Brace for impact,” Fear’s Mage Master said bluntly.
CHAPTER 5
Fear’s Mage Master hit the floor of the cargo hold and exploded. Hurling Fear to the edge of the cargo hold where a huge crack had formed.
At a hundred meters wide, the ravine stretched the length of the cargo hold and disappeared down into the ground. Below her, the crack revealed the fractured ceiling of an underground shopping mall extending for miles.
As she skidded across the cargo hold and into the ravine, Fear drew her Curse Maker and ordered a safety net. She aimed at the ravine and squeezed the trigger.
A sparkling Green mesh netting blasted out of the barrel and stretched across the ravine. She rolled into the netting and bounced up and down. She looked around. Neither Malice or Gully were anywhere to be seen.
***
Malice headed into a strafing barrage of Spelltech canon fire. He spotted a G-RUNT unit. Twelve feet high, this yellow rusting armored robot aimed a pair of canons at him. Providing covering fire for the Tech Warlock’s escape down the ravine on the back of an Airbike.
“Warning! Level seven Magic Dust rockets detected,” Malice’s Mage Master reported. “Recommend evasive tactics.”
“No,” Malice commanded. “Press on.”
His Mage Master took a direct hit and reported a weapons malfuncti
on.
Malice ordered his Mage Master to engage. “Ram speed,” he said.
He rammed his Mage Master into the G-RUNT, sending it toppling down the ravine and crashing into the shopping mall.
Malice ordered his Mage Master to purse at maximum velocity. But the Warlock’s flight was a faint. His Airbike blasted up through the ravine and collided with Malice, sending hi plummeting to the floor of the cargo hold.
His Mage Master took a direct hit from the Tech Warlock’s canons. A boa constrictor spell rocket coiled around his Mage Master and crushed it. Malice leapt from the saddle, landed and rolled.
His Mage Master exploded as he sprang to his feet and ran after the Warlock.
He looked around for the recruits. They were nowhere to be seen. He ordered his helmet visor to locate them. His helmet told him there was magical interference.
“Of course there is,” Malice said. “Magic shits everywhere.”
His visor displayed the dragon shell signature of Magic Dust that Fear had prepared for him. It led him to a second cargo hold. Smaller. Full of dark, damp narrow alleyways and a fog that seemed to slither with the head of a fanged cobra.
Malice drew his Curse Maker and pressed on into the darkness.
***
Fairy Lights, in the thousands, began to descend upon Night Fear. She bounced helplessly up and down on her safety mesh netting.
She aimed her Curse Maker at them and shouted, “Curse Maker, maximum spread Fairy Lights.”
Her Curse Maker confirmed the order. She squeezed the trigger and fired a barrage of spell missiles. The nearest few hundred Fairy Lights began to flee, ascending to the ceiling of the cargo hold. But many more continued to descend upon her.
She aimed her Curse Maker upwards again, and shouted, “Curse Maker, multi-bubble with safety line.”
The Curse Maker confirmed the order and she squeezed the trigger.
Quarantine bubbles captured and sealed a dozen Fairy Lights. They began to ascend. Fear gripped the safety line and felt herself lifted off the netting. She drifted upwards and across the ravine to the far side. She dropped to the floor and ran.
***
Malice made his way to the center of the second cargo hold. There, a dozen full-size dragon eggs sat under a floating array of warming lights.
Tech Warlock Page 2
