Chapter 4
The Seece Street train station was a big marble building, just like all of the other buildings in this part of Kiiren. Trains came and went here at all hours of the day and night, and I had never seen the place completely deserted. Thankfully that was true of tonight, even with the unseasonable cold. A train bound for the eastern suburbs of Kiiren arrived in short order, and the bronze coins I still had were more than adequate to get us on board with hot drinks in our hands, coffee for me and a nice smelling herbal tea for Kir. It helped that the trains all basically ran for free inside of Kiiren. I hadn't even finished my coffee when the train arrived at Fallia station, the closest one to my apartment. It was still a short walk away, but I was hoping that the short walk would give me time to make sure there wasn't anyone watching the building before I went in.
Predictably, once we got within sight of my apartment building a shadow shifted in an alleyway that we were passing. I put a hand out to stop Kir from walking forward as a figure emerged from the shadows. They were of an unremarkable height, not really short or tall, and they were wearing a black hooded cloak which obscured most of their features.
"Not a step further," the figure said, in a voice that was just barely deep enough to not let me decide if they were a man or a woman. I folded my arms, annoyed.
"And just who are you?" I called to the figure in the black cloak. They slowly moved forward, appearing to drift along.
"That’s none of your business," black-cloak replied, moving through the bright circle of a nearby street-light. I could now clearly see that there were deep red lines on the black cloak, though I couldn't tell if they were in any discernible pattern. They came to a stop in the exact center of the circle of greenish light, motionless. There was a flash, and their eyes were now clearly visible as they were glowing bright orange, casting a fiery glow over the rest of their features.
Crap. We were facing a Pacted magic user, here, in the middle of the street outside of my apartment building. This, I thought, would be difficult. My sword might not cut it, no pun intended. But nonetheless I had to act, so I reached back underneath my cloak and unsheathed the sword, bringing it up in front of me with a grimace. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kir starting to panic.
"I don't suppose we could talk this out? Strike a deal instead of fighting here in the middle of the city?" I asked, taking a couple of experimental steps forward. Black-cloak smirked under the cloak.
"That depends. What are you offering?" they asked. I kept on walking, holding out a hand in Kir’s direction to stop him when I started to hear his footsteps following mine.
"I'll pay double whatever you're getting paid to do this," I offered. Black-cloak chuckled.
"I am sure you could afford to, but I'm not in this for the money," they replied, and with absolutely no preamble they raised their arms into a casting stance and began speaking in a voice that was too quiet to hear any words, but just loud enough for me to hear the cadence of it. They were casting in a quick cadence with a lot of pauses - the kaboom explosion-ey type of magic.
Ah, crap.
No more subtle movements. I charged. The caster didn't even blink an eye and easily dodged my first swipe, nimbly dancing out of the way. Another swipe, which they ducked and dodged away from, and I caught a couple of the words from the chant.
"Boil, blood of the Pathy..."
Well. This certainly wasn't good. Magic can't directly kill, but it can— and does— damn well hurt a lot, and the aftermath was never pretty. I'd seen skilled sorcerors destroy the equivalent of an entire city block with this particular spell. This was beyond reckless. I needed to stop black-cloak, and now. Unfortunately, black-cloak was really nimble, dodging every one of my slashes or stabs and never missing a word of the spell. Finally, they reached the last line of the spell, and I abandoned the idea of trying to stop them. Instead I turned and ran the heck away, grabbing Kir’s arm and pulling him along with me as I passed him. I ignored his surprised noise and made straight for a nearby alleyway. When we got there I pushed Kir ahead of me into the narrow space between the two buildings.
"Boil, Firestorm!" black-cloak shouted, and I practically dove into the alleyway as a stream of magical fire erupted behind me. The stream connected with the road just behind me and created a large crack in it, debris spraying the walls of the two buildings, but somehow missing the tiny alleyway.
Before I could even begin to comprehend a new strategy for getting past the sorcerer, Kir suddenly grabbed my arm and turned me to face the rest of the alleyway.
"We have company," he informed me. Indeed, we did. Standing at the far end of the alleyway, about twenty feet away, was a very tall, very big man. Dark-skinned, muscled arms were folded over a huge chest, tree trunk sized legs spaced evenly apart. He was almost the exact opposite of the sorcerer outside, wearing white clothes that would probably have been as loose as a potato sack on someone that wasn't built like a mountain. His face was shadowed, but I got the impression that he was grinning.
"Greetings from the Boss," he called in a ridiculously deep voice, managing to sound casual, as if he just spent all of his free time hanging around in dark alleyways. You know. Just assassin things.
"That's getting old," I replied, my tone grim. Behind us, I heard the sorcerer out on the street start to chant again, just as the tall man at the end of the alleyway began to run toward us, his huge legs covering far too much distance for my liking.
"Fuck," I managed to say. Eloquence, thy name is Spikora. I shoved Kir behind me and raised my sword, lowering myself just a bit into a defensive stance. Kir said something but I ignored him, focusing my mind desperately on trying to figure out a strategy to use against the rapidly approaching giant man. The big guy threw a punch with one huge hand, and I heard the sorcerer reach the final line of the spell again. Since they completed it just a few minutes prior they could speed-cast it now, unfortunately for us.
I cursed under my breath and dropped the sword to catch the giant's fist, barely managing to stop it before it connected with my face. He grinned in his hood and threw his other fist at me. Gritting my teeth against the impact, I attempted to block the swing with my left arm. I did block it, but the momentum made my arm knock into my head anyway. I swayed to the right, slightly dazed, feeling the heat from the spell blossom dangerously close to my back. I was suddenly jerked to the right and pushed against the wall of the alley, snapping me out of my daze. My eyes focused and I saw Kir duck a swing of one of the big guy's huge hands, scoop up my sword, and stab it at the big guy's abdomen. The big guy just batted it out of the way, chuckling. Kir made another stab at him, and this time the big guy just grabbed the sword by the blade in what he undoubtedly intended to be an intimidation tactic. I swore and readied myself to charge him, when Kir did something that neither of us were expecting.
" Stun," Kir shouted. His cobalt eyes glowed a bright blue, and a sudden arc of electricity shot out of his hand, through the blade of the knife, and straight into his opponent. The big guy jerked back, but the electricity made his hand convulsively tighten onto the blade instead of letting go, and the energy crackled through his body, leaving him with a rush of sound and energy that gave me a little jolt of static electricity even though I was a few feet away. Dazed, singed and slightly smoking, the big guy just turned to look at me, then at Kir, and then fell over backwards, sword slipping out of his hand as he went. Everything was perfectly still and quiet for a second, and then the big guy twitched and coughed a little. Kir finally let out a long breath, and I followed suit, realizing that I had been holding my breath, too. Kir bent down and wiped the blade of the blade clean on the now unconscious man's white pants, offering me the handle wordlessly.
"So, air magic. Without a chant. Is that your specialty?" I asked, taking the blade back from him, wincing when I got another small shock from it.
"Sort of. I'm mostly specialized in defense and support magic," he replied.
"In that case," I started, hooking a thumb in the direction of the chanting that had just begun again outside of the alley, "Can you think of anything to use on the mage out there?" Kir nodded.
"Yes. I'll need a chant for it, though," he answered. I took a deep breath, and nodded.
"All right, I'll buy you time," I said. I stepped toward the end of the alleyway and reached into a pocket inside my cloak, pulling out the dark wooden box I'd won from the first auction earlier today. I hastily ripped open the box and practically slammed the bracelet onto my left wrist, jabbing the green jem with the index and middle fingers of my right hand.
" Defend," I breathed, and the rune set into the gemstone glowed bright white. Kir looked surprised, but when I met his eyes he just nodded and took up a caster's stance, arms bent slightly and raised in front of him, eyes closed in concentration. I heard him start to chant something under his breath in a language I didn’t know—Xianese, probably.
I bravely stepped out into the alleyway, getting the full picture of the caster. They were casually bouncing a ball of fire between their hands. When they finally spotted me walking toward them, they sneered.
"So the mouse has finally been chased out of her hole, eh? But where's the prize?" they asked. I just gave them a look guaranteed to intimidate weaker opponents. Black-cloak didn't even flinch, of course, but then again they were holding a ball of pure energy between their hands, able to be thrown at their own leisure. Of course black-cloak didn't look intimidated. We stared each other down for a few seconds before I dashed forward as fast as my feet would carry me. If black-cloak was taken aback by my startlingly reckless move, they didn't show it. They just raised their hands above their head, and I stopped, growing pale, as the one ball of energy suddenly split itself into five balls of energy. Oh fuck.
With no warning at all, black-cloak sent the first fireball my way. With a yelp, I dodged to the right, rolling and shielding my face from the shrapnel that the miniature fireball kicked up. I righted myself just in time to lunge forward and dodge the second fireball. Three more to go, and then they would have to start chanting again. The third fireball flew at me, and I started to run, jumping cleanly over it and ignoring the tiny pinpricks of pain as small, sharp rocks jabbed into my ankles. Landing smoothly, I continued my momentum, dashing straight at the sorcerer, sword at the ready.
I slashed at them with my sword, but they dodged to the left and sent another fireball at me. It was too close to dodge, so I folded my arms in front of my face, hoping that the armlet did what I think it did. The armlet did, and then some. The fireball stopped inches from me, colliding with a sudden green dome of energy in the air and sending a shower of green and orange sparks off in every direction. The fireball pressed against the sudden shield for a second before abruptly changing directions and careening back towards the caster.
Black-cloak dodged out of the way with a startled gasp, and I used the opportunity to make a dash at them, slashing with my sword. Black-cloak dodged back, of course, the nimble fucker. This was getting me nowhere, but at least now there was only one fireball left to contend with before black-cloak would have to recast the spell. With that in mind I moved in close, pressuring them with the sword. After a few swipes I realized that black-cloak was actually trying to keep the fireball away from the sword, so I changed directions with a well-placed step and jabbed at the fireball. Black-cloak fell backwards to avoid me stabbing the fireball, and I lunged after, going at their throat. But, like I said... nimble.
Black-cloak did a totally unnecessary backflip, the annoying bastard, and launched the last fireball. I raised my arms and stepped directly into the path of the fireball, the green shield knocking it harmlessly away into the air this time. I felt the metal of the armlet suddenly flash with heat against my skin. The armlet, it seemed, came with a price. It was fine for now, but if it was used against a more powerful spell, the armlet could overheat or even explode and that would be a bad, bad thing for me and the long-term viability of my arm.
The good news was that black-cloak was out of fireballs, and I had the upper hand. I lunged for them before they could even start chanting again. This time, black-cloak was a little slow and only barely dodged, and my sword caught their hood, slicing through part of it. Black-cloak went into a tumble and jumped up, glaring at the slice angrily. With a sigh they reached up and ripped the hood off entirely, casting it to the side. Black-cloak had blonde hair with streaks of red and orange in it, cut into quite an impressive mohawk. It was also very distinctive. I had seen it before. There weren't too many Pacted magic users that could sling around Firestorm spells in these parts in the first place, but the mohawk settled it. My opponent was Viria of the Flame Guard, one of the most notorious freelance mages in these parts.
"I didn't think that the Flame Guard rented themselves out as thugs for hire these days," I called. She just frowned and raised her arms to start chanting again. Since this is the fourth time in ten minutes that she's cast it, though, so an orange inferno sprang to life so quickly that I literally didn't have time to do anything other than stand my ground and raise my left arm to defend against the fireball that I was sure was going to be careening straight at me. But it didn't. The fireball shot sort of toward me, but it wasn't until it was nearly past me that I realized Viria wasn't actually aiming for me.
She was aiming for Kir.
Kir, who had just stepped out of the alleyway, the golden light of a spell glowing around him as he prepared to cast it. A fireball the size of my upper body was flying at him, a fireball of the same magnitude that had left a gash of molten stone in the cobblestone street that Kir had just stepped onto.
"Idiot!" I gasped, though I wasn't sure just which one of us I was talking about, and dashed toward him. He was obviously not paying attention to his surroundings, and instead moving very precisely and intently to get into a position to finish casting his spell. Even if he snapped out of it and ran for cover now, there wouldn't be time!
I dashed forward as fast as I could make my legs take me and managed to make it to Kir just before the fireball did, praying that the armlet wouldn't explode. That was the only thought I had for several seconds once the fireball hit the shield. The shield stopped it completely, but instead of bouncing it back the fireball hit and exploded in different directions, the heat surging out into the cold night air and then vanishing. The gem on the armlet flashed a bright, searing white, and the armlet itself heated up to a point that was nearly unbearably hot against my wrist. I gritted my teeth against the pain and tried to focus my mind on anything else.
From behind me, Kir cast his spell. I couldn't hear the words over the roar of the fire spell, but I could see him thrusting out an arm, and tendrils of golden light flew away from him to zip straight over toward Viria. The golden tendrils coiled up Viria's legs, across her torso, and up to her neck in an instant, locking in place and turning white with a flash. Her eyes widened and then suddenly glazed over, her posture going slack as she crumpled to the ground. The fireball suddenly winked out of existence and the armlet began to rapidly cool down. Breathing a sigh of relief, I sank to the ground and pulled back my sleeve.
Kir made his over to me and watched in horror as I gingerly removed the armlet, wincing. The skin was definitely burned, an ugly red color uniformly in the shape of the armlet.
"Sorry..." Kir said. I just shoved the armlet back into a pocket in my cloak.
"Not your fault," I gritted out.
"No, I mean...I cast the spell on the big guy in the alleyway, too. I didn't want him to suddenly wake up and attack us from behind. So if I hadn't done that first..." he started. I just ignored him, planting my right hand on the cobblestone street and trying to stand up. “Trying” being the key word - my body definitely protested. I didn't realize just how much energy this fight had cost me. I got about halfway to a standing position and simply slipped back down, making an annoyed and pained sound.
"Are you okay?" Kir asked, offering me a hand to stand up. I sighed.
"I'll live," I grunted, taking his hand and letting him pull me up. I looked over to the crumpled heap of Flame Guard sorceress. She was still breathing, but had that dazed look on her face. The coiled light was still there, holding her in place, it seemed. It was a stunning spell of some sort, but I had never seen anything like it.
"What spell is this?" I asked him.
“I only know the name in Xianese,” he explained. “It’s called Tan Guen.”
“Interesting. So how long does it last for?” I asked.
“About ten minutes, unless I dismiss the spell manually,” he said. I nodded.
“Great, let’s get to work then.”