16. Dark Magic
CHAPTER 16
Dark Magic
ALIA & SHEN
Alia
T he building in question was a plain, two-story thing that blended in with the the row of gray and tan buildings crusted in salt and grime. There were quite a few people running around, going home from the docks after a long day fishing, clamming, building, or whatever else they were doing.
There were two people in front of the doors, one with a dark hood that I couldn’t see beneath, and the other lounging against the top step with blue-green hair.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“The two left will not leave the post. They have two shifters up top to sniff out any inconsistencies?—”
“Which is the reason Doc sent this,” I said, pulling out a vial of what I called no-smell-em.
“Precisely. Care to give a bit of a distraction?”
I stared at the two mages. A slow smile crossed my face. “I’ll give you a distraction. You have two pes and a boot?”
Shen
She worked quickly. She pulled a strange substance from her cloak—how much did that cloak hold?—and stuffed it in my boot.
“The thing about dark mages is how they connect to Source,” she mumbled as I stood, half-watching her work and half-watching the pathway where the elves will return.
I could have easily dispatched the two dark mages. It was my plan, in fact. But I did not want Alia to see me like that yet. She would. She would see the darkness inside me. I could not bear her eyes being shaded with horror and fear as they had been in the beginning. She no longer jumped for a blade when I moved, and I wanted to keep it that way for reasons I did not wish to explore too deeply.
So I gave her an option she did not entirely know she had.
And it had the added benefit of bringing out a side I did not know was buried beneath the warrior shell. The more I learned about her, the more I realized she wore strength like armor.
“They connect through a twisted pathway which can be disrupted. And these two need blood to continue practicing, so they are weakened right now.” She added two copper pes to the boot. She counted softly to three and then threw the boot into the street.
She covered her ears.
I did not react in time. The sound was a mix between a screech and glass shattering.
She got up and dusted off, sending me a tiny smirk as I opened and closed my jaw, trying to restore my hearing by popping my ears.
She strolled up the street, pulling her cowl up as she went. “Hey guys, heard there was a kidnapping happening around these parts. Couldn’t pass up a good fight.”
The two mages exchanged glances. One had their hand on a blade at their waist, and the other leaned casually against a wall, though her eyes were scanning and her coiled muscles were ready to pounce.
“Who are you?” one asked, raising his hands as if to keep us from coming closer. The girl stayed slouched against the wall, ever watchful.
“Just a friendly neighborhood Red,” she said.
The girl straightened. “You aren’t wearing the Red Hood,” she said, squinting.
“Wanna test it?”
“Not really,” the guy said. “But we ain’t got a choice.”
Alia cocked her head. In that moment, she exuded a magnetism I do not think she realized she held. “There’s always a choice. It may be between two crappy decisions, but there’s always a choice. And who knows, maybe neither one of you has access to Source.”
The man muttered “Pechin’ Reds” beneath his breath and then froze.
No wonder Reds were so very feared. I’d heard Reds could also separate the shifter from their wolf. I had not put much thought into that old tale until now.
“You two have a choice. I send you packing with a few well-placed punches to make it look like you gave a fight, or my friend here could feed your blood to the earth. Either way, doesn’t make a difference to me.” Alia shrugged, picking dirt from beneath her fingernails with a blade.
I stepped forward, allowing my fangs to show from beneath my hood and a fierce growl to erupt from my throat.
The man took a step back.
“Alright, we don’t want no troubles,” he said, keeping his hands up and off his blade. Smart man.
“You two wanna punch each other?” Alia asked, rather politely.
The woman groaned. “My last black eye just healed,” she groaned.
“Wasn’t that the fifth one in a row?”
She glared at the man.
It pleased me that Alia was along to prevent a slaughter. Did not take much to realize these two were not a bad sort, they were just pawns in a greater scheme. Just like me, although much more innocent than I.
They slugged each other. Alia blew a dart which hit one in the shoulder and the other just above the collarbone. They went down in a heap.
“Well d?—”
Displaced air at my back was the only warning.
Alia
I turned to Shen, expecting to see a tiny glimmer of a smirk. Instead, I saw a massive form behind him a split second before a sword came down, glimmering in the scant light.
Shen moved .
As in, I’ve never seen someone or something move that quickly. He was a blur, dodging what should’ve been certain death. His body twisted, and before I shouted a warning, he had the figure on the ground and a blade at the figure’s throat.
“Look away,” he growled, but I couldn’t. I watched as he slit the elf’s throat.
He stood with his eyes glowing, and in that moment I saw his darkness. I saw the animal beneath the man.
And it terrified me.
He put the still blood-slicked knife in his fingers point first and threw. I felt the wind off the blade as it sailed past my ear and landed with a meaty thwack just behind me. A grunt and a thud sounded immediately after, but I could not take my eyes off the predator before me.
He was protecting me now. Yet what if the one who held his leash pitted him against me or my family? I didn’t know who would win.
My blood chilled in my veins even as I felt the dying need of the elf behind me.
A different need slipped past my barriers and branded itself against my soul. I tried to hide the wince. After two consecutive deaths slicing into my soul, this need felt too much like continuously dipping a gash into ale.
I glanced back at the two mages where the need originated from. It was unusual in that it was linked to safety and tinged with unease. It being this sharp meant it was a life-or-death situation.
My Gift didn’t work like that, though. It told me when someone was in pain or in need , but it wasn’t clairvoyant.
The zing of an arrow met my ears. I dove for cover, but I wasn’t the target. The arrow pierced the male mage. Rage thawed the ice in my veins until my heart pounded fire through my body. They would kill an already subdued individual? Why?
I loaded a glass ball into my blow gun.
“Close your eyes!” I shouted.
Then I blew. The light which flashed nearly blinded me even though I’d turned and covered my eyes with my hood. I blinked away bright spots and dove for the mages.
Shen was at my side, pulling me inside the door.
“Them first!” I shouted.
He grunted, staring down at me with emotionless eyes. Then he hoisted one mage over his shoulder and dragged the other by the tunic.
When we got them inside, he unceremoniously dumped them.
I looked at the one with the arrow through the heart. There was nothing to be done for him. But the woman, she still lived.
Half the need abruptly stopped pulsing. It was as much a sorrow as a relief. I choked on a sob. It felt as if I’d killed him by my own hand.
“Get it together,” I whispered to myself. “The other still lives.”
I didn’t know what to do. The archer was still out there?—
“We’ll bring her.”
I turned to find Shen had already grabbed her and put her over his shoulder once more. The single nod I gave couldn’t convey my surprise.
We ran down the passage, my footsteps reverberating, Shen’s nearly silent. There were paintings on the walls depicting old men in wigs from a time before the king and princes came to power for each magical and unmagical kind.
A figure suddenly stepped out into the hallway.
Dressed in a red cloak.