by Drew Hayes
“And what if it impairs me?” Beverly suggested. “If it’s a trap, then we’re even more screwed.”
“At this point, the degree in which we’re screwed is largely academic. We can only die once. And besides, everything we found in the caches—everything—was helpful. If there was ever a time to trust a mysterious magical scroll, this is probably it.” Tori glanced back at the area where the doorway would appear. She thought she caught the slightest waver on the earthen surface but dismissed it as a heat shimmer.
Grumbling under her breath, Beverly reverted to her human-form and pulled the sling free from over her shoulder. With a few motions, she unwound it and produced the scroll, which looked a bit beaten around the edges but otherwise no worse for the wear. Carefully, she unrolled the item, laying the parchment flat against the mesa’s rough surface, until a single circular symbol at the bottom was exposed. With a slight exertion, Beverly turned her left hand’s fingernails into sharp claws and pricked herself on her right thumb. As the red bead swelled atop her pierced flesh, she looked up at Tori once more.
“You sure about this?”
“Not even a little bit, but if you have a better plan, I’m open to hearing it.”
Beverly gave her answer by pressing her thumb into the small circle at the bottom of the scroll. “Commence,” she said, her words barely above a whisper.
Immediately, the symbol began to glow, the parchment turning into golden light and weaving itself around Beverly’s arm, working its way upward until it reached the magical tattoo etched around her neck. As soon as the two sources met, they exploded outward, completely engulfing Beverly and forcing the others to cover their eyes.
When the light finally cleared and Tori blinked away the last of the static-like spots from her eyes, a wide grin split her face as she took in what stood before her. Lance chuckled as well, and for the first time since they’d arrived on it, the mood atop the mesa turned hopeful.
“Yeah,” Tori said, taking in Beverly’s altered form. “I think we can work with this.”
* * *
Ivan stood positioned in a line with Thuggernaut, Arachno Bro, and Balaam, all four men staring at the wall where Tunnel Vision was about to open a doorway through space. Doctor Mechaniacal was in front of them, counting down the seconds until it was time to give the apprentices a way back. Only their mentors were allowed to be present for their return, a precaution meant to make the apprentices feel safe as well as ensure no staff were harmed in the retrieval process. These four were more than capable of handling anything a simple robot threw their way.
“Gentleman, in a few moments I am going to open the doorway. I want to remind you that once I do, it is prohibited by guild law for you to interfere with what lays beyond. Whether it be to help your own apprentice or hinder another, your influence can be nothing more than the training you imparted to them previously. I trust there are no objections?” Doctor Mechaniacal made a point of turning his helmet since his eyes were obscured, making sure each guild member knew he was looking at them. When no one replied, the helmet turned to Tunnel Vision with a curt nod.
“Do it.”
As the wall before them began to shimmer, Thuggernaut leaned in and whispered to Ivan, “Nervous?”
“More than I expected. You?”
“Same.” Thuggernaut paused, checking to make sure the portal wasn’t open yet. “When Doctor Mechaniacal came to get me, they’d just released the platinum robot. I didn’t get to see any of the fight.”
“You know that isn’t really—”
“I know. Still, have to keep up appearances,” Thuggernaut said.
“Just checking. At least they made it this far, and from what you said, they took down a few golds in the process. I wasn’t expecting them to do quite this well,” Ivan admitted.
“It’s an interesting group, full of surprises. I never thought ours would pair up, or that AB’s would join them later. Kids today. You can never tell what they’re going to do.”
Thuggernaut’s voice faded away as the wall in front of them turned transparent and then opened to a hot desert landscape. Initially, all they could see was the massive tail whipping about from the robot’s rear, but almost immediately a new sight caught their attention. Even the veteran council members found themselves slightly taken aback.
“Full of surprises, indeed,” Ivan chuckled.
* * *
It was not a subtle plan. Given what the scroll had done to Beverly and the goal set before them, it would have taken someone with a mind far greater than any of the three gathered to work any sense of covertness into the tactics available. Recognizing that limitation from the outset, they didn’t bother to try. Instead, they opted for a strategy that put Beverly’s temporarily-altered state to good use. All things considered, the plan wasn’t a bad one. But it was literally as subtle as a giant green dragon barreling through the desert with an insect summoner and a fire-conjuring woman clinging to its back.
The scroll, as it turned out, increased the size of its user tremendously. Tori marveled at the massive limbs tearing through the sand as Beverly charged the scorpion-like robot head-on. In the back of her mind, Tori knew that Beverly’s limbs should be insufficient to support her new weight, that the enlarged woman should have been immobile. Yet science seemed to have taken the day off as the twice-transformed woman raced across the sand. Magic played by its own rules, and Tori was beginning to understand why so few people could straddle the scientific and the arcane.
“Are you okay?” Lance asked, yelling from his position on Beverly’s back. He and Tori could both hear the shots striking her scaly hide, but they didn’t seem to even register with Beverly, let alone slow her down.
“Can barely feel them.” Her voice shook loose debris from the nearby mesas as they raced past them. Tori could actually feel the sonic waves shake her too-human body as it worked to hang on. Fire-form would be safer, but she needed a good grip if she wanted to catch a ride.
Tori chanced a glance over the shoulder she was tucked behind. Not only were they close to their goal, but that the doorway had actually opened. Tori could make out a few figures just beyond the cliff’s entrance—no doubt Doctor Mechaniacal and some helpers to welcome them back or collect their remains. It was only a little farther, given Beverly’s pace, but to get there, they’d have to pass directly by the robot. It clacked its pincers in anticipation, and the tail that had been whipping wildly about halted, twisting itself around so it was pointed directly at the approaching dragon. Acting more on instinct than logic, Tori lifted herself up, right next to Beverly’s ear, and screamed as loud as she could.
“Get down!”
The giant dragon had barely thrown herself to the ground before the massive red beam of energy shot overhead, sizzling through the air where Beverly had been only seconds before. Scrambling to get up lest she make an easy target, Beverly still took a minute to twist her head around and stare at Tori with a gigantic eyeball. Though she didn’t speak, the implied question was evident.
“The last two models had cannons. Seemed like a good chance this one would too.”
Beverly let out a huff and hurried forward, eager to get moving again. If the tail needed to recharge, there was a good chance she might be able to get past before it succeeded. If it didn’t... well, they were probably screwed no matter what she did.
Mercifully, a second blast didn’t follow the first, and Beverly raced forward until she was nearly within striking distance of the scorpion-bot.
“Laaaaance,” Tori called, noting that they were getting closer than she wanted to be.
“Give me a damn second to line this up. You’re the one who made me hold the gun with only one bullet.” Lance was propping himself over Beverly’s shoulder, one hand holding the gun as it rested on her scales and one clinging on to her miraculously-expanded uniform for dear life. He took a deep breath, drawing as tight a bead as he could, and gently pressed his finger against the trigger. “Firing in three!”
True to his word, three seconds later, a familiar boom rang through the air as Lance fired the final round of the sonic cannon. When the plan had been hurriedly conceived atop the mesa, there was ample debate about what he should aim for. A leg might knock the creature off balance, but taking down a pincer would remove half the melee threat. Ultimately it was Beverly, the only one among them who knew what it was like to be a powerful, armored creature, who told Lance where his shot would count the most.
The blast of sonic energy tore forward, smashing directly into the scorpion robot’s dozen or so glowing red eyes. It let out a high-pitched screech. That was all Tori needed to commence her own attack. Fiery bolts burst forth from her hands, scorching across its already wounded eyes as the scorpion robot scrambled to recover. While Tori doused its eyes in fire, Beverly swung wide, veering around the pincers as she made a run for the doorway. Within seconds, Tori’s angle of attack was gone, the eyes shielded from view as Beverly passed the metal monster’s legs. She returned her focus to the act of hanging on with all her might. The time for doing damage was over; now they could only hope it had been enough.
Hurtling forward, Beverly quickly closed the gap between herself and the doorway. The robot, much to their relief, didn’t try to turn around and catch her as she ran past. That relief was cut short when Tori realized the tail was raised carefully overhead, tracking their movements as a familiar red energy began to glow from deep within the cannon’s depths.
“Round two is coming!” Lance hollered, having noticed the same ominous glow as Tori. Beverly let out a snort of awareness but said nothing. Words would be wasted at this point. The cannon would be firing from point blank range if it got its shot off. They either made it through the door or died in the charge. No one had any tricks left up their sleeves.
Pumping her legs with all her considerable might, Beverly took three more steps forward then vaulted into a horizontal leap toward the doorway. Hands extended forward like she was sliding for home, it was clear that in only a few seconds she was going to crash into the side of the cliff, since she was far too large to fit through the doorway.
“Release!”
A sharp pop, like a balloon bursting, filled the air as giant-dragon-Beverly vanished, leaving behind only the normally large one. Despite the change in size, her momentum was still going strong, sending her, Tori, and Lance forward like they’d been thrown from a catapult.
There was a moment of uncertainty among the figures awaiting them, followed by a hurried scramble to get out of the way as they realized the three apprentices had almost no control over where they’d be landing. Beverly smashed through a table that was filled with soft drinks and sandwiches; Lance felt a rib break as he crashed into, and then through, a chair; and Tori was whipped about through the air until she slammed back-first into the room’s far wall.
Whether it was due to exhaustion or her focused effort on staying human, Tori’s body didn’t shift, in spite of the impact. Her breath fled her lungs and her eyes opened wide, terrified words trying to escape but with no air available to form them.
Since she was facing the doorway, Tori could see the glow of the robot’s tail as it took aim directly at the room they were now all gathered in. Her hand shook as she pointed toward it, trying to make the others notice, but before anyone else’s head so much as swiveled, the tail cannon fired directly at them.
Tori’s eyes clamped shut as she waited for the wash of pain followed by what she presumed would be an infinity of nothingness. When neither came, she slowly allowed her lids to part and see how she’d survived. What greeted her wasn’t particularly surprising, at least not given all she’d learned in her apprenticeship, but it was still damned impressive nonetheless.
Standing at the edge of the doorway, looking more bored than strained, stood Ivan. He’d raised a single hand, around which rotated a circle of runes. The massive blast of energy, so much more powerful at this close a range, burned harmlessly against his shield before flickering out and dying entirely.
Ivan, task handled, lowered his hand, pausing only to pop his knuckles. He turned to face his apprentice. He cleared his throat and took one quick glance over his shoulder where the angry giant robot stormed across the desert before addressing Tori.
“That was... satisfactory.”
Chapter 27
“Kiss my ass, ‘satisfactory,’ that was fuckin’ awesome!” Arachno Bro raised a hairy arm and slapped into a high-five with Lance, lifting the muscular young man off the floor as though he weighed nothing more than a forgotten dream. Thuggernaut walked over to Beverly, who was already scrambling up by the time he reached her. Tori and Ivan’s gaze never left each other as she pulled herself back to her feet, the spasming in her lungs finally under control.
“I think you mean dangerous, unnecessary, and very poorly thought out,” Balaam said, somehow managing to look bored despite the spectacle he’d just witnessed.
“Someone’s just grumpy that his apprentice didn’t make it back with the others,” Arachno Bro snickered.
“Actually, I used a rune and slipped in while they had the robot distracted.” Warren emerged from behind one of the larger pieces of shattered table where he’d been hiding, hurrying over to Balaam’s side.
“What a fine use of planning and tactics, as well as capitalizing on the flaws of the lesser.” Balaam patted Warren’s head as though he were a child, awkwardly ruffling the younger man’s hair.
“I wouldn’t go throwing around words like ‘lesser’ until we know who actually came in first.” Thuggernaut didn’t seem aggressive, but his tone was stern as he steered Beverly over toward the metal-suited man who was Doctor Mechaniacal. “Apprentice, present your winnings.”
Beverly’s hands were nearly back to human as they plunged into her pockets, coming out with four golden orbs, a half-dozen silver ones, and a handful or so of the coppers. Doctor Mechaniacal took the lot from her, and after holding them for several seconds, announced his count.
“Four thousand, eight hundred and twenty dollars’ worth of orbs. Quite impressive, Apprentice. Who would like to go next?” The orbs he was holding seemed to vanish, though keen eyes could spot them rolling into a compartment located just above his wrist.
Warren was there before anyone could so much as speak, plunking down his orbs unceremoniously in Doctor Mechaniacal’s now empty hands. This assessment was shorter, as it was clear even from a distance that Warren didn’t have nearly as many orbs as Beverly.
“One thousand, four hundred and ninety dollars. Very good indeed, but as of now, you are in second place.” Again the orbs vanished. As Warren trudged over to Balaam this time, the older man didn’t look particularly happy with his apprentice’s placing.
“I might as well get this over with,” Lance announced, half-hobbling across the room and plunking a pocketful of orbs into the doctor’s hands. There was plenty of copper and more than one silver, but not a gold in the lot was anywhere to be found.
“Six hundred and forty dollars,” Doctor Mechaniacal announced. He refrained from commenting on the paltry sum as he and the rest of the room turned to Tori.
“Oh, yeah, I got nothing.” Tori held up her hands to show they were empty. “I’ll take the last spot. Bev is the big winner.”
A snort, followed by boisterous laughter, filled the air, all coming from Balaam. “Well now, that is an interesting surprise. Looks like Pseudonym’s puppy has as much killer spirit as her teacher. I can’t say I ever recall anyone surviving the first trial and yet still coming back empty-handed. Truly, you are his pupil, aren’t you?”
Despite all the work she’d been doing on keeping her power under control, Tori knew the air around her was heating up as she stared down the red-eyed jackass and his
ear-to-ear grin. She didn’t know which was more aggravating—him insulting Ivan or her. It sort of all got swirled together in the miasma of pissed off churning through her.
Tori’s mouth was halfway open, her tongue already intent on telling Balaam to go fuck himself, when she felt Ivan’s hand rest firmly on her shoulder.
“It seems you’re right, Balaam. Though since my apprentice did pass the trials of survival, cunning, and temptation, I’d say she showed great potential in this weekend’s activities. Not to mention she was the only one who took the reins and tried to lead. Prioritizing safety and survival over pocket change... no, I can see why you wouldn’t appreciate the value in an apprentice like that. Luckily enough, I do.”
Tori’s tongue fell silent as Ivan’s words drifted through the room. Balaam stared at Ivan with such unmasked hatred that, for a moment, she really thought the two of them were going to get into it right then and there. Given that Ivan had just displayed how powerful he still was in a very visible way, she didn’t imagine things going well for Balaam if they did come to a head.
Clearly he reached the same conclusion. Balaam turned on his heel, swirling his red-and-black robes as he did, and began to march upstairs with Warren in tow. “Come, my Apprentice. Let us celebrate the good work you did, as well as discuss the ways you might improve.”
Something in his inflection made Tori wince. She felt a kernel of pity for Warren as he was dragged up the stairs by his teacher. Could that have been her, if Ivan had passed on the task of being her mentor? No; from what he’d said, they likely would have simply killed her outright. At the time, she’d thought he was being dramatic just to keep in line, but over time, Tori had started to realize that there might be fates worse the one hanging over her head.
