Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
JACK
There was no time to come up with a battle plan. Jack and Abigail stood back-to-back, facing down the guards who had chased them from the inside of the bar, as well as those who had been unluckily waiting for them in the alley.
“Take them!” ordered the soldier leading the group from inside the bar. He was young for a commanding officer, clean-shaven, a boyish look of excitement in his eyes. “Take them, now!”
Jack could feel Abigail tense behind him. Back-to-back, her hips lowered against his, the muscles in her back tightened.
Jack allowed the familiar magical warmth to race across his body. Green flames erupted from his hands as the first set of guards arrived.
Jade flickering flames of magical energy hit each of his targets in the chest, sending them careening into their counterparts behind. Jack trusted Abigail to hold her own as he moved to finish off the soldiers on his side of the alley.
He had the easier of the two tasks. The guards Jack faced were those simply out for a smoke.
Four were half drunk, without weapons, and totally unprepared for a fight.
He struck the two remaining guards, who struggled to their feet, across the temple and jaw.
The magic covering his fists added an extra layer of toughness to his hands.
When Jack’s blows landed, he didn’t even feel the impact.
What he did feel was the familiar drain of energy.
When he didn’t have an item such as a wand or a staff to channel his magic through, the act of using any magic became ten times as tiresome.
How Leah Noble was so strong as to not require any kind of magical item was beyond Jack.
A grunt from behind made him change his train of thought. Abigail was already bleeding from the right corner of her lip. The meager amount of training she had received from Sloan wasn’t enough to fend off the group of trained soldiers.
It was only Abigail’s resolve to stay free and to find her sister that carried her through this fight. Jack raced to action. Five soldiers stood on Abigail’s side, all armed and ready to kill if need be. One of the five was already on the ground, thanks to Abigail. The other four pressed in.
A muscular-looking guard saw Jack break off from his own fight to come and help. He raised a long-barreled rifle to his shoulder and took aim.
There was no room to maneuver in the narrow alley. In a raging rush of energy, Jack forced the magic in him to his hands. Emerald flames shone bright as he crossed his forearms in front of him and did his best to make himself small behind this untested barrier.
BOOM!
The shot from the soldier’s rifle rang out loud in the alley, echoing off the brick walls. Jack felt the impact of the bullet strike the magical force around his hands and bounce off. Jack and the soldier looked at one another, each just as shocked.
Jack was the first to recover. Pushing both hands forward, he channeled a beam of magic. It hit the soldier square in the stomach. The soldier doubled over and fell in a heap to the gravel ground.
Jack was sweating. His heart pounded in his ears. He was testing the boundaries of his magical ability now as he prepared for the next engagement.
To her credit, Abigail was still on her feet. She fought like a woman possessed, biting, scratching, and kicking at the last three men who had her pinned up against the alley’s far wall. Two of the soldiers held her, while the third was failing to maneuver her wrists into a set of manacles.
Jack kept his hands burning bright with the magic.
He struck the first soldier in the back of the head.
The soldier crumpled. Jack brought his fist down onto the next soldier’s jaw, sending him to his knees, where he hit him once more in the nose.
Blood squirted everywhere as the man rolled on the ground, both hands on his broken nose.
Abigail had an answer to the last soldier. It was the young commanding officer. He looked at the two, taking a step back, the empty manacles swinging in his hand. “Wait just a minute now, I had the opportunity to fire on you and I didn’t. You owe me?—”
Abigail took a step forward and sent a powerful kick to the man’s nether regions. Whatever he was going to say was lost in a high-pitched gasp. He fell to his knees, grabbing at his crotch.
“Let’s go.” Jack finally allowed the magic coursing over his hands to fade. He was exhausted, but they had to move.
“Go where?” Abigail pressed the back of her left hand to her bleeding lip. “We don’t have any friends in New Hope.”
“We might have more than we thought.” Jack motioned to her to follow as he made his way down the alley.