The old woman scooped the children up, holding them tight to her chest. Gavi let out a relieved sigh.
“I’m at about a third mana.” Raedren shifted in tandem with Leafy, keeping himself between the orck and Gavi.
We need another plan. Gavi glanced at the guard, wondering briefly if she would be easier to land a hit on. But all her attacks had been on Leafy so far, so his defenses ought to be lower.
“Gah!” Raedren cried out, and Gavi’s attention snapped back to her friend. She found him on the ground, his staff lying several meters away. Leafy loomed over him—and by extension, Gavi, since the two adventurers had been standing only a step away from each other. The orck turned his attention to her.
Gavi gasped as the orck struck, her hands stinging as she barely kept hold of her sword. She was forced backward from the weight of the blow. Leafy kicked Raedren out of the way, then swung at Gavi again. She barely got her sword up in time, only for it to be torn from her hands.
The orck raised its blade. Gavi was wide open.
She cried out as pain erupted in her side, and her legs buckled. Leafy’s sword had scored a long slice down her side and hip. The soft barriers Raedren had cast earlier, as well as Gavi’s own MPB, blunted much of the blow, but it still cut through her armor and touched flesh.
Blood boiled up through the wound as her severed belt sagged. Gavi grabbed it, making sure her holdout crossbow didn’t slip free of the holster on her back. As she landed on her butt, Gavi was certain that if Raedren’s barriers hadn’t been there, she would already be dying.
Not that death was off the table. Leafy lifted his blade overhead to crush her skull like a watermelon.
“Biné!” Green bands of mana wrapped around Leafy’s limbs, restraining him. Gavi looked toward Raedren, and found him staggering toward her. He picked up his staff for support and smiled weakly. “Sorry about that. Got disoriented.”
“No problem. Thanks.” Gavi planted her hands on the ground and lifted herself up, pivoting until her feet were under her. Now that the immediate shock had worn off, she realized that her legs could still support her weight. The injury wasn’t actually that bad. It just could have been a lot worse.
Raedren grunted—and then he dashed over to Gavi and raised his staff. A barrier appeared just in time to catch the guard’s attempted ambush. Gavi stifled a gasp. How can they move so quietly when they’re so large?
Now Raedren was holding both orcks again, with barriers and binds. It was an impressive feat, especially against enemies as powerful as orcks, but Gavi knew it couldn’t last.
She picked up her sword as she rose, her mind spinning with sudden vertigo. She gripped the side of her head. Calling Mazik and the Blue Boar was still an option, but she could hear explosions from inside the camp and could clearly pick out the distinctive glow of Mazik’s spells. If they could come, they would have done so already. Gavi and Raedren would have to deal with this themselves.
*
Mana the color of an orck’s skin flew at Mazik, crashing into his barriers with an ear-splitting crack. Spells pounded his defenses, but he remained standing, completely unharmed.
“Who the hell are you?” snarled Jewels as he charged, mana curling off his right fist. Mazik ducked and stepped back into the tent. His opponent followed.
“That’s what I’d like to ask you.” Mazik drew a second dagger and slashed at Jewels’s chest with both blades. His opponent’s barriers turned them aside, but Jewels backed away, more hesitant now. “How are you working with orcks? I thought they hated all humans.”
Jewels’s lip twisted in a sinister smile. “They do. Don’t worry about that. You’ll be dead soon.”
“Oh man. Seriously?” The other man attacked, forcing Mazik toward the other side of the tent, where the Blue Boar and Red Feathers were fighting. Mazik took the opportunity to lob a spell at the orck. It exploded against her shoulder, giving the Blue Boar an opening to deliver a staggering right cross. “You’re going with clichéd villain dialogue? This is like a bad play. I’ll be dead soon?” Mazik lunged at Jewels, drawing a long cut on his right arm. “Ya wanna bet?”
Jewels opened his mouth, but Mazik didn’t give him a chance to reply. The other man gasped as Mazik buried the heel of his boot in his stomach and shoved him to the ground. Mazik could tell that Jewels was powerful, but not as powerful as he was. Mazik’s robes flapped as he hopped from foot to foot, his grin taunting. “You’re out of shape, old man.”
“I’m not old.” Jewels lunged again, his fist outstretched—and the spell that exploded when he struck Mazik’s barriers temporarily wiped the smile off Mazik’s face, at least.
Mazik flipped one of his daggers into a reverse grip. “So, what’s your plan? If you’re trying to hit all the clichés, you need to monologue.” Mazik heard the material of the tent move behind him, and turned to see Red Feathers running out of the tent. The Blue Boar followed her. An orck, running? No—don’t underestimate her. She’s one of the smart ones.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Oh, really?” Mazik pointed at the wall of boxes he and the Blue Boar had hidden behind earlier. “Then you won’t mind if I incinerate all those pricey baubles, will you?”
Jewels tensed. Mazik leapt to the first conclusion that came to mind. “Seriously?” he blurted out. “You’re using orcks to steal? I’m impressed, as well as astounded, by your stupidity. Couldn’t you live like a king with a bunch of orcks at your beck and call?”
“I will, soon enough.” Mana swirled around Jewels, and he redoubled his assault. It looked like he was trying to force Mazik outside, away from the loot—so Mazik decided to do the opposite. He sidestepped his opponent’s blows, delivering repeated slashes and explosive spells as the other man struggled to keep up.
There was a loud battle cry outside—and then another. Mazik froze, and his blood ran cold.
Jewels sneered. “That was—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Mazik pointed his dagger at Jewels’s face. “Mazik Blast.”
While Jewels howled as mana ate away at his barriers, Mazik hurled his extra dagger at the man’s stomach and sprinted for the front of the tent.
The situation was as he had imagined. Red Feathers hadn’t been running from the Blue Boar. She had been running toward something.
That something was reinforcements.
On the other side of the clearing, a few paces away from the bonfire, were two orck warriors. They were facing their leader and the Blue Boar, and their weapons were drawn.
Mazik cursed. He had blown out the side of the tent earlier specifically to attract attention. He began kicking himself. “How long can you hold them?” he yelled. “A little more time and I can take this guy down!”
The Blue Boar grunted. “Do what you must.”
Mazik stared at the superhero, then swore again. He should have finished off Jewels instead of talking to him—though to be fair, even with all the hits he had landed, he hadn’t scored a good one past the other man’s defenses.
That wasn’t going to stop him from trying.
“Mazik Missile Barrage!” Several bolts of mana slammed into Jewels, one after another curving through the tent’s entrance and striking the man. Jewels shouted a spell, and barriers appeared around him, which lasted until the second-to-last bolt collapsed them.
“G-get them out of here!” sputtered Jewels, scrabbling to hide behind the front flap of the tent.
“Stay inside,” snapped Red Feathers. She turned to her warriors and shouted at them in an unfamiliar language.
That’s odd, thought Mazik, staring at Jewels. But most of his attention was on the more immediate problem of the orcks bearing down on his ally. Mazik didn’t exactly like the Blue Boar, but the self-proclaimed superhero was facing three orcks by himself, and those weren’t odds Mazik would have wished on his worst enemy. Well, not most of them.
Mazik hadn’t been wasting time. Another spell was forming in his free hand as he stared at Jewe
ls—and then he spun and aimed at the charging orcks. “Here, let me help you. Mazik Missile Massacre!”
Twenty-plus spells exploded around the orcks’ eyes and faces, giving the Blue Boar a much-needed chance to put space between himself and his adversaries. Red Feathers tried to break away and head for the tent, but the superhero threw himself at her, forcing her attention back on him. Mazik turned to Jewels—and found him gone.
“Crap. That one’s probably my fault.”
Cursing up a storm, Mazik dashed back into the tent, and found it likewise empty. His eyes glowed as he ran to the hole he had blasted in the tent earlier. There was no one outside either.
Thump thump. The sound was coming from inside the tent. Mazik turned back, but didn’t see anything. Does this guy have invisibility magick too?
Mazik stared hard, watching for anything, any movement or detail that might give away where Jewels had gone. He stared—and then saw something move at the top of the ladder that rested against the central tree trunk.
The platform overhead. Of course. Mazik chastised himself for assuming magick when there was a simpler answer available. Sneaky bitch.
Before Mazik could do anything, the front flaps of the tent opened, and Red Feathers charged inside. Mazik threw himself out of the way, his shoulder glancing off a stack of crates as the orck leader’s hand scythed through empty air.
Red Feathers didn’t wait for him to recover. She tried to grab him, but Mazik hopped and rolled out of the way, a burst of force magick carrying him out of the orck’s reach. He came to his feet near the central tree. He kicked the ladder away, then pointed high on the walls.
“Mazik, uh, Cutter!” A straight beam of white-hot mana cut into the tent’s sides. Mazik grabbed the tree with his free hand and spun around it like he was pole dancing. His spell cut a jagged line through the tent. As he completed his circle, the walls dropped, falling over the boxes of stolen valuables—and Red Feathers too, temporarily blinding and entangling her. Only the small platform above remained obscured. Now if Jewels wanted to come down, he wouldn’t be able to do it without being seen.
But Mazik didn’t wait for the walls to finish collapsing. As Red Feathers howled, he sprinted through the crumbling entrance, a spell forming as he moved.
Mazik watched as the Blue Boar fell. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Mazik watched as the superhero’s right arm flopped at an odd angle, and he could see the blood seeping out of the numerous cuts in the man’s costume. One of the orck warriors was stepping back as Mazik emerged, the other raising his blade to finish off the Blue Boar.
Mazik didn’t hesitate. “Hey, you orck pieces of shit!”
The orcks turned to look at him.
Mazik raised his hands to his eyes. “Mazik Flash!”
As the night sky lit up like a supernova had touched off in their midst, Mazik’s other spells struck the orcks, forcing them to defend. Mazik dashed between the blinded orcks and picked up his equally blinded ally. He slung the Blue Boar’s good arm over his shoulders. The two of them rose with a grunt, and, with the air of someone invoking a spell, Mazik barked, “Get out of my way!”
Force winds whipped out, catching the orcks in the shoulders and shoving them back. Mazik ran through the gap, dragging the Blue Boar with him.
*
Gavi loosened her grip on her sword, and forced herself to take a breath. “Can you hold them for a second? I’ll think of something.”
“Sure.” The strain of casting so many powerful spells was beginning to show, both in his voice and the way his arms were beginning to shake. Green bindings wrapped around both orcks, holding them at bay.
Gavi stepped closer to Raedren, her back nearly touching his chest. She was tall for a woman, but Raedren still had most of a head on her. Gavi took another deep breath, trusting him to protect the two of them while she thought.
I don’t have enough attack power. Maybe if I had more time I could do enough damage to kill one of them, but Rae is going to run out of mana long before that happens. That means … that means we need something else, something outside of us that can help do that damage.
Gavi looked around. There was the forest, the jail, the edge of the camp nearby. She thought about the loose logs in the jail walls—and then her eyes fell on Leafy. He had been lurking in the trees, waiting for someone to try to rescue the hostages. He’d gotten the drop on her, and if it weren’t for Raedren, Leafy’s surprise attack would have crippled her there.
Gavi felt a Mazik-like grin spread across her face. Got it.
“Rae, let them go and follow me!” Gavi turned to run, but stopped when she realized that Raedren wasn’t following. He seemed dazed on his feet, barely standing. Gavi grabbed Raedren’s hand and ran, dragging her fatigued friend toward the jail.
Gavi angled for the left side of the building. She looked behind them, and watched as Raedren’s binds fell away from the orcks. Leafy bellowed, and the two orcks charged. And they were fast.
The two humans reached the jail maybe six steps ahead of the orcks, with Leafy in the lead. “Rip the roof off and throw it at them!” Gavi shouted, pointing overhead.
Green mana yanked the tent-like roof off the jail and threw it at the orcks. Completely blinded, they both came to a stop. A black stone blade thrust through the material as the guard began cutting her way out.
Gavi let go of Raedren’s hand and gripped her sword in both. Squaring her feet, she took a deep breath and lunged at the blinded orcks. Mana sparked beneath the animal skins, and Gavi could feel her sword sink into flesh. Leafy howled.
“Not enough. Let’s go!”
Gavi and Raedren disappeared around the front of the jail just as the orcks tore the animal skins off their heads. Blood dribbled down Leafy’s chest as he gave chase.
“What now!” yelled Raedren as they turned the next corner, circling the jail.
“Tear the upper logs down on top of them after we pass! They’re loose!”
“Got it!”
Gavi led them around the building, circling it as fast as they could. Heavy pieces of wood flew off the jail behind them, crashing into the orcks. Gavi heard them roar in surprise. The two humans hurtled along the back side of the jail, hurdling over the bottom log Raedren had yanked out earlier as he filled the ground and air behind them with obstacles.
They made it halfway around the jail again, back to the front, before Gavi heard the orcks snarling something in what sounded like a language. Orcks weren’t smart, but she had never expected them to do this forever. “Do this side, and then we’re going straight!”
Split logs rained down behind them as Gavi and Raedren ran away from the jail. There was a tent ahead. Gavi ran along it until she found the entrance, then dragged Raedren inside. She disappeared just as the orcks came around the jail—on both sides, this time; they had split up—and saw them enter the tent.
The orcks charged. Not bothering with the entrance, Leafy ripped stakes out of the ground and lifted the side of the tent to enter.
Gavi’s sword buried itself in the orck’s chest, right next to the injury from her previous attack. Before the orck could retaliate, Gavi pulled the sword out and hopped out of range.
“Bring the tent down!” said Gavi as she ran for Raedren, who was on the other side of the tent, holding up the side like Leafy had. The guard tried to come in through the entrance, but green winds met her—and then the tent tumbled down, ripped from where it was tied to the tree overhead, covering and blinding the orcks again. Footsteps ran past them, back the way they came.
The orcks recovered more quickly this time, cutting through the tent material, their weapons held at the ready. They found Raedren alone, running back toward the jail, only halfway there. Leafy bellowed and pursued.
Raedren turned, green mana forming a silhouette around him, and the logs at his feet rose into the air. Raedren hurled a dozen of them, firing them like ballistae, and though they lacked the auras that would have made them more effective against barriers
, the sheer kinetic force of so much mass crashing into them brought both Leafy and the guard to their knees.
As the last log rolled to a stop, Gavi cut her way out from the collapsed tent behind them. She rounded the still-standing tree that had originally supported the tent, and which had just protected her from Raedren’s assault.
Gavi oriented herself. The guard was to her right, still on the ground. Leafy was straight ahead, staggering to his feet, his barriers in tatters. Leafy bellowed—which covered up Gavi’s footsteps nicely as she dashed forward and sunk her sword into the orck’s back, skewering him through the heart.
Leafy froze, trying to turn—and collapsed.
While the corpse twitched, Gavi skirted it and rejoined Raedren. “Good job.”
“You too.” Raedren held out his staff. Gavi crossed her sword with it in a salute.
Now only the guard orck remained. While the hostages clambered out of the ruined jail, Gavi rubbed her shoulders and neck. She was tired, tense, and was having to force her hands to stop shaking from all the adrenaline and fear. She also couldn’t help but notice the green dome that was dissipating around the escaping hostages—even with everything else he had been doing, Raedren had made sure the rickety jail couldn’t fall inward and hurt them. “How’s your mana?”
“I’m nearly out. I’ll need to channel after this. I should be able to help you finish this one, though.”
Gavi nodded. “First things first, then.”
The guard approached slowly, more hesitant now.
Gavi forced away her exhaustion and raised her sword. “Ichn ir ukk—Swiftness!”
*
Mazik could hear shouts behind them as the orcks began to recover. Still supporting his stunned ally, he dragged the Blue Boar to the outermost edge of the camp. Blood kept dripping from the costumed hero’s wounds, forcing Mazik to keep stopping to kick dirt over their trail. They took a right along the camp’s perimeter, and stopped at a tent on the opposite side of the encampment from the jail.
Mazik pushed open the front flaps with his foot and guided the Blue Boar inside. They flopped to the ground on the opposite side of the central tree trunk, next to a smelly pile of leathers.
Freelance Heroics (Firesign Book 2) Page 17
