Chapter 56
FIFTY-SIX
JACK
Jack pivoted on his heel. It wasn’t a single scream; it was two. Furthermore, they weren’t screams of terror, they were roars of battle. Abigail and Elizabeth were locked in deadly combat. Abigail had crossed her white mage swords overhead, blocking Elizabeth’s blow.
It seemed Jack wasn’t the only one with a wand that extended into a staff. The younger Ahab sister had the same weapon. Hers was covered in ancient runes and glowed a faint yellow.
A crackling and sizzling fumed from the impact area where the weapons met.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Abigail screamed at her sister. “It’s me! Wake up!”
Elizabeth’s eyes were alive with yellow magic and madness. She pressed down with her staff, forcing Abigail to a knee. Elizabeth withdrew her attack and shot out an open hand. An invisible blow that sent her sliding backwards on the armory floor struck Abigail.
“You won’t hurt me because you’re weak,” Elizabeth laughed as Abigail struggled to regain her feet. “You’re all weak.”
Jack ran to place himself between Elizabeth and Abigail. “I won’t let you hurt her.”
“’Let me?” Elizabeth repeated. She shook her head. Her yellow blazing staff shrank in her palm back to the size of a wand. “Jack, out of all of you, I feel sorry for you the most. You have no idea what’s been done to your father; how he’s been resurrected and how he still remembers who he is.”
Jack heard her words, but his brain was still processing what she said. How could his father be alive? An empty pit swallowed Jack’s stomach. His mouth went dry.
“You’re lying.” Jack said the words, though hating how weak they came from his mouth. “He’s dead. We all saw him die.”
“So was Brenda Emerson.” Elizabeth smiled.
She shrugged as if she didn’t care if he believed her or not.
“Leah Noble has mastered the art of magic unlike anything you have ever seen. She’s brought your father back from the dead, Jack.
Wizards and witches are too few in the Outland.
She wants you to join us. You can be reunited with your father, all you have to do is say yes. ”
“Kid!” Saber, supported by Abigail, made his way to Jack’s side. He had also picked up a mage sword he used like a cane to help stabilize his broken gait. “She’s lying to you. Don’t believe her. She’s trying to warp your mind.”
“Am I?” Elizabeth grinned.
Jack’s mind was working on overdrive. He was almost sure Elizabeth was lying, but she had a point. Leah Noble had the means to bring someone back from the dead. What if she had brought his father back?
“I’ll go with you.” Jack dropped his hands to his sides. “But Abigail and Saber go free.”
“Hmm…” Elizabeth tilted her head from side to side in rhythm, like she was actually thinking about the offer. “No deal. They die here.”
Elizabeth’s right hand holding the wand shot forward, and a beam of yellow magic sprung forth.
Jack was barely in time to do the same. An emerald green beam of magic came from his and it intercepted Elizabeth’s just in time. The stench of the burned vampire soldiers filled the room now, along with the acrid smell of burning magic.
Sparks erupted from the nexus where the two beams of magic met between the sorcerer and sorceress. A ball of yellow-green energy was beginning to grow between the wizards. Heat radiated from the point where the two streams met.
The call of energy grew and grew into a sphere of destructive magic so powerful, Jack shuddered to think what would happen when it erupted. Hot sweat ran down his face. He held the beam in place, but even with the help of the wand, he was feeling the fatigue of using such intense magic for so long.
BOOM!
The sphere erupted in an explosion of brilliant light. Jack’s instincts took over, and his eyes shut. He felt his feet leave the floor as a hot wave of energy picked him up and threw him across the room.
The next few moments felt like a nightmare. His hearing was completely gone, a low buzz the only thing that came despite his being pulled up from the ground by Abigail. He could see her mouth moving, but no noise came out.
All around the armory, the room was on fire. A small section of the armory wall had even been blown apart. Saber appeared at his other side, his mouth moving like Abigail’s, but no words breaking through the ringing in Jack’s ears. Saber was a mess of blood and wooden shards, but he ignored that.
As one, the three members of the New Order stumbled from the armory and out into the palace courtyard.
Jack saw Abigail look behind her. He understood why.
She still loved her sister and was searching for a sign that she, too, had survived the explosion.
Jack wanted to comfort her, but at the moment, they had their own set of problems. All around the courtyard, guards and servants ran to put out the flames.
Saber pointed with a gloved hand to a waiting carriage on the other side of the palace gates. Two horses, spooked by the explosion, bucked and pulled at their ties.
Jack’s head drummed with pain. The worst headache he had ever had began to settle in. There was no time to check himself for wounds. The three would-be thieves were at the gate. Using the last of his strength, Jack managed to boot himself up and over.
Saber took the reins of the carriage, leaving the inside to Jack and Abigail. Together, the wizard and the warrior fell inside. With a violent jerk, the carriage was off.
Jack and Abigail sat in the carriage, still stunned by the night’s events, each left to his or her own thoughts about family.