G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic

by Bobby Brimmer

  I looked over at Visine to get his take on things. He knew that I was thinking about telling Tovaan that we were with the GHOSTs in order to gain his trust. Visine subtly shook his head from side to side, clearly saying no. Out of respect for my sidekick, I waited a whole five seconds before doing it anyway.

  “Look Tovaan, we are with the GHOST squad. That Lady Servant idiot is trying to destroy the world. We are here to stop him. You don’t want the world destroyed now do you?”

  “And of course I should take your word for the fact that the world is in this mortal danger?” he smirked.

  I was continually impressed with the facial expressions of a man with no lips and eight tentacles. Who could be more expressive without words, I wondered? It’s Tovaan’s tentacle face versus Visine’s shoulder shrugs, I thought in the voice of a boxing announcer. But somehow I didn’t think Visine or Tovaan would enjoy hearing about it. So I brought my focus back to the conversation at hand, hoping to appeal to Tovaan’s good nature.

  “Tovaan,” I said stretching his name out, “Does this look like the kind of face that would lie to you?” I said pointing to myself.

  He laughed out loud, almost to the point of tears. Then he took a few deep breaths and another swig of his drink before responding.

  “Look kid, I don’t think you truly appreciate my situation. Do you know what would happen to my business if word got out that I was talking to the cops? I gotta think about my future,” he smiled.

  Tovaan leaned back, crossed his arms and gave me his best “I’m sorry, I can’t help you” face. Like I said, dude was expressive. Visine reached into his coat and pulled out the rest of the money that we acquired from the highwaymen. He tossed the purse on the table in front of Tovaan. Picking it up, Tovaan hefted it a few times, clearly checking the weight.

  “Feels a little light gentlemen. Especially if you want me to break my word to a former client,” he said.

  “I also have about five hundred bucks in cash, will that ease your conscience?” I asked.

  “It’s not worth as much here, exchange rates, you understand. But it helps,” he replied.

  I looked over at Visine and his expression made it clear that he wasn’t very happy with me. But he reached into his pocket and produced a couple hundred bucks, tossing it onto the table. I turned back to Tovaan.

  “That’s all we got.”

  He sat there a moment, counting the cash and the coins. Then he looked up, first at me, then to Visine, then back to me.

  “This Servant you are looking for wasn’t a very pleasant character. Perhaps in the spirit of cooperation I can allow you to make up the difference with a favor,” he said.

  “What kind of favor?” I asked.

  Visine was also eyeing him with suspicion. Part of me thought about dragging Tovaan outside and forcing him to tell us what we needed to know. But time was of the essence, especially now that our prey was only an hour ahead of us. So it seemed like the quickest way to get the information that we needed was to give Tovaan what he wanted. I gave him a look to make it clear that my patience was wearing thin.

  “Nothing too extreme,” Tovaan quickly replied, waving his arms, clearly trying to calm our suspicions. He lowered his voice to a whisper as he continued, “But you work for the GHOSTs. Perhaps if I ever find myself in legal trouble on the other side, I can count on you to lend me a hand,” he finished.

  I sighed and looked over at Visine. He gave me one of his classic shrugs, a gesture that basically said “just get the info already”. I gave my friendliest smile to Tovaan.

  “Assuming that you are actually innocent of the crime in question, I will do what I can to help you.”

  “That seems fair,” he smiled.

  “Okay so, what the hell is an orbus and where did Lady Servant go?”

  Tovaan leaned farther over the table, dropping the level of his voice even lower as he spoke.

  “An orbus is a very complex device with many uses. While I do not know his exact intentions, I can assure you that it involves the collection of a great deal of magical power. The orbus acts as a conduit, a channel to focus magic. Where you come from magic is more rare, so the device would allow him to gather vast amounts in order to power a large ritual. This is a very dangerous device and not to be used lightly. Once a ritual is begun it cannot be halted until its completion. The magical process will most likely destroy the device,” he said.

  Well so far so good. The information that Tovaan was giving us sounded in line with the guesses that Kara had made about the device. It gave me a little bit of confidence in the fact that our friend here wasn’t just pulling our chain. I was just hoping that this additional information might help Kara figure out what was happening and where it was going down. I gave Tovaan a look to make it clear that we were in a hurry. See, I can be expressive without words too.

  “Yes, yes, you need to know where they went. Per the arrangement I provided a specially designed horse-drawn cart to take them on their way. The orbus is a fragile device and must be transported very carefully. They could not have been traveling very fast. They did not share their destination with me, but they did head east down Lewey’s Lane. I would guess that they were heading towards the stone arch,” he said.

  “The stone arch?” I asked.

  “A heavily traveled passage between worlds. Large enough for a cart,” Visine chimed in.

  Tovaan nodded, “They are probably arriving at the arch as we speak.”

  As always we were playing from behind. I stood up and turned towards Visine.

  “Do you know how to get there from here?”

  “Just head down Lewey’s, to the east, you can’t miss it,” Tovaan interjected.

  “Fair enough,” I started to step away from the table and stopped myself, “Hey, since we are playing catch up here, any chance that you can give us some horses?”

  Tovaan looked taken aback, “horses are not cheap. Especially one big enough to support your friend here,” he said looking at Visine.

  “Come on, one friend helping out another?” I tried.

  “I am sorry. While I sympathize, our arrangement was one of business. I am not in the business of charity. Unless you have something else of value, I cannot help you,” he stated.

  I turned towards Visine, “You got anything else to trade?”

  Visine opened his coat and revealed a pair of very nice pistols. Tovaan shook his head.

  “I am sorry, those weapons are useless here and too much trouble to sell on the other side,” he responded.

  “Crap. What about other weapons, I have blades and such?” I asked.

  I laid one of my throwing knives down on the table. It was made from modern steel and I hoped that finding that quality of metal was difficult in this medieval setting. He picked it up and the expression on his face made it clear that he wasn’t impressed. Then it hit me.

  “Wait, I have these,” I said, pulling out my two silver daggers, “silver has to be worth a lot here.”

  Tovaan’s eyes lit up. It was clear that he liked the blades. And I knew that he had a good eye because they were very expensive. They were a foot long, weighed over a pound each and were expertly crafted. Between the price of silver and hiring a specialty craftsman you didn’t want to know what they cost. Tovaan tested the weight and quality, flexing each blade in his hands a few times.

  “In honor of our working business relationship, I believe that these will do. Follow me, your horses are waiting in the stables,” he said standing up.

  As the three of us headed out the front door I noted that our two friends were patiently waiting to follow us. Once we were out the door I was able to sneak a glance back and catch them getting to their feet. We walked into the stable and waited patiently as Tovaan spoke with the stable boy. The boy led us over to a pair of stables, one of which contained a normal sized gray and white spotted horse for me. The other held a large brown Clydesdale of a beast for Visine. Both horses were in good shape and although I didn’t
think they would win the Kentucky Derby, I was fairly confident that they would get us where we needed to go. Tovaan walked over to me, taking one of my hands into both of his, and gave it a thank you shake.

  “It was a pleasure doing business with you gentlemen. I look forward to seeing you again in the future,” he said.

  Then he took a small bow before turning and heading for the door. He stopped abruptly as the two robed gentlemen from the bar turned the corner. Tovaan noted their blades and instantly threw his hands in the air, making it clear that he was not a threat.

  “This is no affair of mine. My business here is concluded, please allow me to pass,” he said.

  It was abundantly clear that the two men were here for Visine and me. They stepped to the side and allowed Tovaan and the stable boy to leave before walking towards us. Once the four of us were alone, the two men stopped and tossed their hoods back in order to reveal their faces. It struck me as an act of warrior’s pride, the desire to look their targets in the eyes. Their stark white hair stood out against the dark gray of their skin. I was about to ask Visine what our opponents were when he saved me the trouble.

  “Dark Elves,” He spat out.

  Chapter 22

  The two dark elves stood there, brandishing their swords and looking us over. The first carried two, short, heavily curved scimitars. The second held a single sword, longer, also curved, but with a much skinnier blade. It reminded me of a long cavalry saber. As they moved towards us they also started to move farther apart, almost as if they were trying to get into position to flank us. Then, as they were about twenty feet away, something strange happened.

  The area that we were all standing in started to become very shaded and dark. Almost like something was choking the light out. Nothing seemed to be directly emanating from the elves, but it was clearly their doing. I figured I had a handful of seconds before the lights went out completely.

  “They are born of darkness. They will be able to see, we will not,” Visine said.

  My body was covered in bruises, the sword wound in my side hurt, and we were running out of time. Even though I respected Visine as a warrior, it seemed far more likely that fighting blind was going to be my forte. So in the interest of keeping him safe and out of my way, I decided to call dibs.

  “Step back, these two are mine,” I stated.

  Visine stepped back and kept our horses out of the fray as I drew my sword. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as the darkness surrounded me. While I obviously couldn’t see in the dark like the elves, I was pretty good at fighting without my vision. If we had more time, I would regale you with stories of training techniques and being forced to fight while blindfolded. But the truth is that you have probably seen it all in one martial arts movie or another. Sure they take some liberties in their stories, but at the core a lot of that is based on some real world stuff.

  That being said, I’m sad to say that there isn’t some kind of mystic power that I can use here. I can’t feel their Qi in the air or project my spirit out and reveal their location. The key to fighting blind lies in the fact that people in general are much noisier than they realize. Every step, every breath, shifting your weight, a sleeve flap, a pant leg ruffle, and even the grip of your hand on the leather wrapped handle of your sword, point me in your direction. I would have to use all of this and more because the two elves that I was currently fighting were some of the quietest opponents that I had ever met.

  As I took in the sounds of my surroundings I learned that all elves were not created equal. In this case Twin Blades was clearly the less skilled of the two warriors. Tracking his movements by sound was fairly easy. Saber however was virtually silent. I was pretty sure that Saber was standing just out of range as Twin Blades moved into position. But if I was wrong then this could all go very bad very fast.

  According to Visine the elves could see through the darkness. I decided to use that to my advantage. With jerky movements I kept turning my head side to side. Occasionally I would stop and tilt my head in a certain direction, giving the impression that I thought I had located one of them, but each time I made sure that I was looking in the wrong area. When people believe that they have an advantage they often get sloppy and overconfident. They press their perceived offensive advantage at the cost of their defense. Twin Blades stepped in slowly, his left blade down low as he slashed with his right. As he swung I moved just out of the way of his attack before stepping forward with my own blade. I made a quick swipe with my katana and in an instant there was one less dark elf in the world. There was a thud as his head hit the ground and started to roll away, his body crashing down a moment later.

  I immediately slowed my breathing and opened up all of my senses to my surroundings. Saber was good and I needed to get a lock on him before it was too late. Although sound is normally the most important sense in these situations, I wasn’t about to overlook any advantage that I might find. There was a small breeze blowing through the barn, the odor of horses almost overpowering. But I could feel it blowing against my face. The currents swirling around inside of the stable were fairly consistent and predictable and when I felt a break in the breeze, I had a position on him. It was in that very moment that he attacked.

  It was the combination of touch and sound that saved me from those first two attacks. Although he moved silently, his blade did not. As it swung through the air I could hear it whistling towards me. Nothing as loud and helpful as a movie sound effect might lead you to believe, but a cutting of the air nonetheless. I barely got my sword up in time to block his attack, his blade bouncing off of mine after impact. Then I felt the air ripple in the wake of his blade, a definite upward movement. I used all of the information that I had gathered from this attack to picture his location and stance. Then it was a matter of guessing the fastest and most efficient strike that he could bring from said position.

  Stepping forward I brought my sword up at the last minute in the hope that I wouldn’t give away my guess. Our blades slammed together right in front of my face. A fraction of a second later and I would have been dead. I couldn’t keep playing defense, so the moment that our swords touched I stepped forward and drove my shoulder into his. There was a momentary shuffle in his step as he shifted to avoid getting knocked over. I quickly kicked out and caught his leg, sending him to the ground. My goal was not to do damage but rather to get him off balance. Keeping your opponent off balance is almost always a huge advantage in a fight, but in this case it was a complete game changer. You see as he stumbled towards the ground and shifted about to regain his footing he made noise. Plenty of noise!

  I immediately rushed forward and brought my sword into a downward strike. He was down on one knee as he blocked my attack with his sword. This was the beginning of things turning in my favor. I swung two more times with blazing speed. He managed to block each attack, but as long as I kept things on the offensive I could dictate where his sword was going to be. Not being able to see him was less important if I never gave him a chance to counter. At least that was my plan. As I have mentioned before, under normal circumstances I am faster than my opponents. Unfortunately that knowledge was derived from spending years fighting humans. If my earlier fight with Fangsy had been any indication, the supernatural community operated on a different speed scale. And if Hollywood was to be trusted then I should assume that this elf was going to be fast.

  I managed a dozen more strikes before his speed, skill, and ability to see in the dark allowed him to counterstrike. Forcing me to leap out of range meant that he had a chance to get back to his feet. I heard the first couple of steps before his footfalls yet again became silent. He believed that he had regained his advantage. But unfortunately for him something had changed, his breathing. Although it didn’t last long, our sword barrage had been intense. Between that and Saber pushing himself hard in order to get me back on the defensive, he was requiring just a wee bit more oxygen. Luckily for me he decided that breathing was more important than remaining silent.
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  I allowed him to circle to my left so that he could take a position just a bit behind me. Tilting my head in that direction I let him know that I had an approximate idea about where he was standing. I turned a little more to my left, a couple of feet off of my target, and I let a small smile cross my face. My body language was making it clear that I thought I knew where he was, but my aim appeared off just enough to give him the confidence to attack. I shifted my weight in that direction and started to swing my sword. As expected he chose that exact moment to attack. I was standing in the exact position I wanted to be in and I twisted into his attack.

  As my sword arced through the air it met his blade in mid-swing, the loud clang of metal on metal surrounded us. With our swords locked together I sprung forward, continuing my twisting momentum, and drove my right elbow into the side of his head. Years of skill were aided by a little luck as I caught him perfectly in the temple. He stumbled back and I moved with him.

  I held my sword firm against his, preventing his weapon from getting in the way of my next attack. While maintaining my blade with my left hand I used my right to pummel him in the face. I drove him backwards and kept him off balance as I waited for the perfect opening. Then, when I knew I could get away with it, I shifted my stance and put the full force of my weight behind a strike. It was an open palm to the side of his head. The slap to his ear would be disorienting and the impact against his jaw would break bone. I heard the appropriate pop and knew that I had succeeded. To his credit he didn’t cry out in pain but instead kept struggling to regain his balance. But now it was too late.

  Although breaking his jaw didn’t cause him to yell out in pain, it did break his concentration and force him to release the tension he held on his sword. The moment I had the opening I sent my blade deep into his arm. The strike was quick and it didn’t possess the power behind it to sever his arm, but it did bite deep into the muscle. That forced a yelp of pain from his throat as he dropped his sword to the floor. Sweeping his feet out from under him, I dropped down onto his chest with my knee. There was a cracking sound as a few ribs popped under the pressure. I placed my sword at his neck and pushed just hard enough to draw blood.