Chapter 8

The stone walls of the ancient cottage shook as light and sound washed over us. Dust and debris drifted down from the patchwork ceiling, clouding my vision of the single room. My ears hurt from the cacophony of sound, but I could still hear the others.

"The wards held!" Argondian shouted. "Moretti, reinforce them!"

"What the hell was that?!" Simon shouted as something slugged into the side of the cottage. Some of the stones along the front wall seemed to buckle from the blow.

"It's Katya!" Argondian repeated. "She's using her enchanted rounds!"

"So she's sided with Salvago, too?!"

"Woody! Woody!" Anya shouted, trying to make me focus my eyes.

"Incoming," Moretti said calmly. A second later, another wall of light and sound hit, brightening the windows and door. The entire cottage reverberated with the pressure of the attack, and more of the roof fell.

"I can't see her!" Simon shouted, right before he shrunk back from the window as a spiderweb of light crackled in the threshold.

"Stay away from the windows!" Argondian repeated. "Katya has spell-breaker rounds that can punch through my wards! That first one got through!"

His words were punctuated by a series of shots striking the windows and doors, more spiderwebs of light appearing as each bullet struck, trying to punch its way into the room.

"They're holding," Moretti said, a slight strain to his voice as he held one hand aloft. Whatever he was doing seemed to have strengthened the wards Argondian had put into place. "But not for long."

"Let me know if another Arcane round is inbound," Argondian said with a pained breath. "I'll put more into the wards."

"Woody!"

"Which one is the Arcane round?" Moretti asked.

"The one you warned us about before!" Argondian shouted, even as the wall behind him shook as more magically enchanted bullets tried to break through the stone.

"I wasn't warning you about the bullet," Moretti corrected him. "I was talking about those two."

Nelson was crouched in one corner beside a window, and dared to sneak a peak out. He was quick, but only a second after he pulled his head back, another crack sounded against the ward in the window.

"Peña and Somboon are coming on foot," he announced to everyone.

"Are they still outside the stone wall?" Argondian asked, his voice panicked.

"Yes," Nelson replied. "But they're coming fast. Somboon especially."

I thought back on the Thai warrior from the graveyard, and his quick movements that seemed enhanced by magic. He'd looked a little bit like an azure version of the Flash, as the static electricity had rippled across his legs as he ran.

"Woody, please," Anya begged, and I finally realized she was trying to help me.

"I'm okay," I said, even though clearly I wasn't.

"You need to meditate so you can heal," she said urgently, her head ducking against me as another of those Arcane bullets shook the cottage, the explosion of sound something akin to artillery shells. The pulse that accompanied their arrival seemed to ripple through me. The walls seemed to shift as well, and I wondered how much longer they'd last.

"Need to get… the bullet out," I wheezed out. My skin felt clammy, and when I moved slightly, I could feel the pool of blood squishing beneath me.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Anya asked.

Before I could think of something, Moretti was there. He pressed down on my chest with his right hand while holding the metal one above my wound. "This is going to hurt."

A second later, his power thrummed. The metal zippers on my jacket all lurched up at once, just as the metal bullet in my shoulder was wrenched out of my body by a powerful magnetic field.

I might have screamed.

"It's out," Moretti said, dropping the slug onto my chest before moving back toward the front.

"Okay, Woody, meditate," Anya insisted in my ear, even as she unzipped her jacket.

I wanted to, but seeing the leather coat lurch up under Moretti's power had given me a better view of where the bullet had struck me. The zipper on the left breast pocket had tugged up, showing the hole that had pierced the pocket there.

The pocket where I kept Sal's wooden box.

"Sal!" I screamed, my voice panicked as another Arcane shell hit the cottage. I reached for my pocket, and felt where the snakewood box had shattered under the force of the bullet. "Sal!"

"He's here!" Anya yelled, her own tone urgent as she tried to bring me back from the edge of full-blown panic. "He's here!"

I managed to look up at her, and saw where the little guy was perched on her shoulder. A trill escaped his wedged head as he looked down at me. He was covered in blood, but he seemed to be okay. I realized it wasn't his blood but mine, and felt somewhat relieved. He was okay.

It seemed I was not.

"Woody, meditate," Anya urged me.

"Somboon's approaching the wall!" Nelson shouted, having shifted positions so that he looked out the other side of the window.

"Tell me when he's there," Argondian said.

I started going through the mantra my friend Olivia had taught me, trying to put myself into a state of meditation. At the same time, I concentrated on an image of the apple seed, the object I associated with my healing. I felt Anya unzip my jacket and tug my shirt up. Her own jacket was unzipped, and she pressed herself down against me, trying to maximize our skin-to-skin contact. That had always seemed to help.

"Now!" Nelson shouted.

Before he finished saying the word, an explosion sounded outside that completely broke my concentration, right as Anya kissed me and began feeding.

The pain went away for a second as a feeling of bliss washed over me. I moaned in relief, but it was short lived. In an instant the pain came rushing back, as did the chaotic sounds of battle around me.

"Woody, meditate!" Anya shouted, her voice cracking. She'd stopped feeding when she'd realized I wasn't meditating. My head swam from blood loss and the emotional whirlwind.

"That took care of him," Simon said. "He's down, but not out. Peña is holding off— shit!" he cursed as a quick staccato of rounds pounded against the warded window and wall he was standing beside. "How is she that fast with a rifle?!"

Nelson slid across the room to my side, sitting opposite of Anya. "What are you talking about? Meditation?"

"He needs to meditate, but he's in shock!" Anya shouted, even as another explosion rocked the cottage. A section of roof collapsed over where Penny and Argondian were situated, and I heard them coughing.

I felt movement at my side, and then Nelson's head was beside mine. I could feel his breath on my ear as he began chanting. His left hand held my right, and I felt him wrap his bead bracelet around my wrist. His chant continued, a soothing sound that seemed to make all the other sounds disappear.

With the world fading away, I concentrated on my own mantra, and then Anya was kissing me. Whatever remained of the pain disappeared, and I was floating on a sea of pleasure. My vision went white—

— as I stared up at a midsummer sun at noon. I lifted a hand to shield my eyes, and it helped somewhat. I blinked away the glare from the light, and tried to look around at the clearing I found myself standing in.

It was a pleasant enough place. The sky was blue, the clouds white and puffy. The grass was the greenest green I'd ever seen, and there were flowers there made with colors I'd never imagined could exist.

I was naked, which didn't seem right. I could feel dirt beneath my feet, and I looked down to see I was standing on a path. There was grass to either side, and as I looked up—

—an explosion rocked the cottage, causing part of the wall to collapse. Anya pulled away from me, gasping, leaving her bare chest heaving. Her eyes were pure platinum, and she shuddered with pleasure.

I blinked away my confusion and waved away the cloud of dust that had enveloped me as the stone around us crumbled. It didn't even occur to me that I shouldn't be able to move that arm, on account of the bullet hole in my chest. But since that seemed to be gone, it didn't really matter, did it?

"Whoa, settle down," Nelson said beside me.

"I'm fine," I told him, sounding much more sure of it this time. I sat up, and he blinked in surprise.

"—now," Moretti was saying. He stood behind one section of the front wall, between the door and a window. His left arm was lifted, the glove removed to reveal the metal hand as he faced it outward.

Another thrum sounded, and then the constant barrage of bullets striking the cottage finally ended. A distant boom sounded, but it was nowhere near us.

"Can you hold it?" Argondian asked, looking to him.

"… for now," the man said, a grim look of determination on his face. "But I have to concentrate. Which means I won't be of much use if they come in here."

"We'll handle them," Simon said, shuffling to his feet. I saw him roll his shoulders, and look to Nelson, who nodded. The bald wizard still seemed a little surprised at my condition.

"I'll help," I said, standing up. The others all looked to me, their eyes widening. Even Moretti blinked, which broke his concentration for just a second. A bullet struck the cottage, and he turned away, frowning as he returned his attention to his task.

"How?" Penny asked, looking fatigued from working on Argondian. The wizard himself looked much better, if not fully whole. His eyes were narrowed as he looked between me and the vampire, any playfulness gone.

"Don't worry about that now," I said. "What's our situation?"

"Moretti is casting a magneto-kinetic shield to stop the bullets outside the wall," Argondian said, finally tearing his eyes away from Anya's heaving chest. It seemed that whatever interest he held in my recovery had only momentarily broken through his perverted ways, and he'd taken the opportunity to get an eye-full while he could. "But we've still got Somboon and Andrés to deal with."

"Somboon isn't looking too hot," Simon said. "Between that explosion, and Penny's attack earlier, I'd say he's just about had the worst day of his life."

Argondian glanced at his apprentice, clearly interested in hearing more, but there wasn't time.

"Alright," Nelson said. "Serg, can you shield us on the move? Long enough to get back to the vehicles?"

Moretti hesitated only a moment before nodding.

"Good." Nelson turned to Simon. "Sy, you've got Somboon. I'll take Peña. Woody, Anya," he said, turning to us. Anya was just standing, having finished zipping up her jacket. "If you guys can support us, then Penny will be in charge of getting Argondian out, and we'll break for the vehicles as soon as they're clear."

Elegant it wasn't, but it was the only plan we had. The rest of us nodded, and prepared to head out.

"I'll go against Peña," I told Anya. "You help Simon with Somboon." I wasn't sure what help I'd be against a wizard of Peña's caliber, but I figured Anya's speed and strength might be able to counter the Somboon's enhanced speed.

"Alright," she said with a nod, casting a worried glance at my blood-soaked shoulder. "Be careful."

"You too," I told her as I zipped up my own jacket. "Sal, stick with her, and take it easy" I added to the little guy on her shoulder. He nodded, and remained in his smaller size. He'd recuperated a lot from his encounter with the Hound, but I didn't want him risking it.

As I got ready for a fight, I cursed myself for leaving my helmet and mask in my bag in the back of the truck. Traipsing across the island with them had seemed bothersome, but now I was regretting that decision. At least I had my gloves and a few of my weapons. I drew the two foot length of steel from the sheath on my back and braced myself. My legs were practically shaking from the adrenaline rush of Anya's feeding and my healing session.

Everyone moved to the door, and then the fight was on.

Simon and Nelson were the first out the door, each with an arm raised defensively. Simon had his left up, while Nelson had his right out as if to ward off evil.

It was probably a good thing they went first. Because as soon as they were in sight, Somboon and Peña were running into the yard, their hands raised to cast spells.

The Thai wizard thrust his right hand forward, and a bolt of lightning shot out in front of him, aimed at Simon. The wizard kept his left hand up, but also raised his right as his thumb worked the rings on his glove. In a flash, the lightning struck an invisible wall in front of the younger wizard, before breaking through. The bolt licked forward like one of those glass plasma globes, only a dozen times thicker and dangerous.

I watched as the lightning struck Simon's right palm, and the guy flinched as it impacted. But rather than simply dying like I would have, I watched as he instead curled his fingers around the crackling energy, before it dissipated in his grasp, much like a certain green Jedi had done.

I'd never been so jealous in all my life.

While Simon was busy recovering from that attack, Nelson was dealing with Peña's earth-based assault. All of those stones I'd seen scattered about the ancient yard were suddenly hurtling at the bald wizard. A few simply rolled across the ground like high-speed bowling balls, but the majority of them came on like Major League fastballs.

The staff in Nelson's hands twirled back and forth, weaving through the air faster than I could believe. It spun about, seeming to blur as the wizard advanced. At first I wasn't sure what it was supposed to be doing. Peña was still a dozen yards away, and there was no way he could stop all of the projectiles with just the weapon.

But I was most assuredly wrong.

As the first stone approached, a half sphere of white light appeared in its path, striking the stone away. It shot out to one side, as did the next dozen, each met with its own small shield of energy that formed just as the staff ends snapped around their position. It was as if the staff were a baseball bat that could hit any ball within yards of it, the spins of the wooden rod mirroring half a dozen invisible quarterstaves made of pure power.

When the last was deflected, Nelson rotated at the waist and thrust forward with the tip of his staff. A white half-dome of energy appeared as it struck Peña in the stomach, sending him flying back before he'd closed within five yards of the staff.

Not giving an inch, the rest of us charged forward, hoping to catch the more experienced wardens off-guard.

Anya was gone in a flash, the Desert Eagle in her left hand firing while she closed on Somboon. The wizard was forced to shield himself in a sphere of electrical energy, much as he had in the graveyard.

But Simon was ready for that. After thrusting his right palm out straight, the wizard curled his fingers into a grabbing motion before wrenching his hand back. As he did, the wall of lightning crackled and split, the energy drawn toward his gloved hand.

It didn't break down completely, but there were enough fissures to allow a few of Anya's shots to break through. The bare-chested and badly burned Thai wizard shook as the rounds tore through his body, and he dropped to one knee as Anya leapt at him, her sword raised for a killing stroke.

I didn't have time to watch what happened, as my own battle finally began. Peña quickly regained his footing after the blow Nelson had given him. His left arm shot out, still holding the gnarled staff of wood. But this time his spell caused a series of earthen spikes to shoot up from the ground right in Nelson's path. The bald wizard barely skidded to halt before he impaled himself on them. But the spikes hadn't formed in front of me, and I quite suddenly found myself facing the massive warden one-on-one.

"Anda-ehtë," I hissed, holding the two foot rod out to one side as I ran. At the spoken command, another foot of engraved steel shot out on the pommel end, while a slim foot-long blade snapped from the other. A small guard followed the spearhead out, and a grin graced my lips as I closed on the wizard, issuing a second command. "Saiwa-nasta."

As I swung the blade around toward the warden, the staff thrusting forward, the spearhead began to glow red-hot. Q and I had spent a lot of time and effort putting the spear together, lacing it with several metals and numerous spells. A swartalf crafter my roommate knew did the finer work for us, so that the spells spell drew power through me, not from me. I had no magical ability myself, but I could cast spells that others had prepared, and the staff would pull the necessary power from the world around me.

I heard a warning shout behind me, but didn't hear what was said. My concentration was on the warden, who was swinging his own blade down at mine. The two weapons crashed together, a clarion bell ringing across the field as they met.

I think Peña's eyes might have widened as I successfully blocked his attack. Not giving him time to recover, I twisted the spear in my grip, allowing the small guard high up to catch on the edge of the warden's blade, turning it away. With a twist of my body, I was inside his guard, pushing the sword away as the pommel turned toward him. The warden began raising his left hand, the gnarled staff no doubt preparing to unleash something particularly nasty at me.

Which is why I hissed another command, "Saiwa-talma," that turned the rounded pommel at the end of the spear into a red-hot brand. It struck the Warden in the knuckles of his left hand, burning his skin upon contact. The pain was enough to make him lose grip on the short staff, and he reeled backward, caught off guard by the sudden ferocity of my attack.

Peña might have been an experienced Warden, but he'd clearly underestimated me. And you should never underestimate someone that's been trained by a goblin in physical combat.

Not letting up, I pushed out with the blade, keeping his sword engaged. I let the spearhead slide a little bit further down the blade, allowing me enough room to snap the pommel at the warden's head. The red-hot steel smashed into the side of his face, the sound of sizzling skin accompanying the sudden stench of burnt meat.

The man's mouth opened to scream, but no sound came forth.

Before he could recover, I pulled back slightly, and then drove the pommel into his throat. His head snapped down and his eyes bulged as pain rocked him. His grip on his sword wavered, and as soon as I felt it falling away from my own blade, I pivoted, the swing of the blazing steel preparing to take his head off.

It should have been a killing blow. Instead, the man sunk down, impossibly fast, and the blade swept a few millimeters over his head. My eyes widened, as there was no way he could have knelt that quickly.

After another moment, I realized he hadn't.

The earth mage had made the ground beneath his feet dip low, a sinkhole appearing out of nowhere. All the earth that went missing below him was suddenly thrusting up from under me, and I found myself wobbling on a column of dirt and mud that propelled me into the air.

The wave of earth beneath me shifted, and I fell backwards, sliding off the back. I landed with a thud, and looked up just as the mound began to topple toward me. I pulled my spear tight to me as I rolled, and only barely managed to skid out of the way before a metric ton of soil crashed down with a resounding boom.

Nelson was already running past, and I lost sight of him as I pushed myself up. I was facing the others, and took a second to see how they were doing.

Penny was leading Argondian out, the old wizard limping along with an arm around the girl. Moretti was beside them, although his attention was elsewhere, focused on keeping the shield up. The occasional boom from an Arcane round exploding in mid-air washed over the sounds of combat.

Anya was down on her knees, cradling her hands in front of her. Smoke drifted from her forearms, and it looked like her fingers were burned and blackened. I noted that one of her swords was shattered into pieces beside her. Sal had leapt to the ground and grown in size, taking a defensive stance between her and the Thai wizard.

Simon had taken up the fight against Somboon, but was having trouble countering his Thai dha sword. The younger wizard had pulled a shield and war-hammer seemingly out of thin air, the materials of which looked oddly opalescent. There was an unearthly quality to them, and it was hard to place exactly what type of metal they were made from. To be honest, they didn't look like metal at all.

Somboon swiped his sword down at Simon, and the wizard had to back away as the weapon tore through his shield as if it weren't there. The bottom half of it simply sloughed off, and by the time it hit the ground, it was nothing more than a formless pile of goo.

Another swing of the sword destroyed the odd war-hammer, but Simon thrust his left hand forward again, and a pop sounded as Somboon was thrown backwards when the air burst between them.

Whatever the spell had been, it had a similar effect on Simon, but at least he was expecting it. He rolled across his back, and came up in a crouch. As he did, I saw something flow from his sleeve into his right hand. The liquid substance seemed to take shape in his grasp. By the time Simon had finished moving, he held an assault rifle in his hands, and the quick staccato of rapid fire sounded across the clearing.

The rounds tore into Somboon, devastating his already damaged body. He fell to the ground, and after only a moment, fell still.

The exchange had been fast, taking no more than a couple of seconds. But seeing Somboon go down caused me to remember my own fight. I spun around, looking for Nelson, and saw him take a boot to the chest. The wizard rolled with the kick, but wasn't ready to block the downward swing from Peña's blade.

My quickly thrown spear took the old Warden in his left side. The red-hot blade punched into his stomach with surprising force, causing him to spin to one side. His swing was thrown wide, narrowly missing the bald wizard.

Nelson was already on his feet, his staff held before him. Peña wrenched the spear from his side as he staggered backward. His arm drew back as if he were going to hurl it at Nelson, but I thrust my right hand forward and shouted another command. "Pel-forma!"

The words triggered the summoning spell laid into the spear. A silver ring adorned each of my ring fingers, crafted in the same swartalf forge as the spear itself. The three were bonded together, and with the command, a spell shot out, pulling the spear back to the ring on my right hand.

The weapon slipped from Peña's grip, spinning in the air as it headed toward me. I caught it as I started forward, and the warden's eyes narrowed as he looked around, sensing the tide had turned against him.

The earth mage moved his left arm in a sweeping motion, and a half dome of clay formed around him, shielding him from both Nelson and myself. Our advance slowed, and then a rumbling sound shook the ground around us. We both rounded the protective earthen shield to see Peña as he slid away, the turf beneath him rolling as if it were a conveyor belt.

I saw that he'd retrieved his gnarled staff, and the wizard looked back at us with a slack and emotionless face as his spell carried him away. The man didn't even have to run; the ground itself transported him to safety.

A rumbling to one side drew my attention, and I saw two more stretches of rolling land. The first carried Somboon out of the yard, and the second, smaller wave carried his sword. The two were whisked away, moving faster than we could run.

I started after them anyway, but Nelson grabbed my arm. "No. The shield," he said, gesturing outward.

I nodded, and let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. If I'd given pursuit, I likely would have run out of the protective barrier Moretti had made to protect us from the sniper fire. Instead of trying to finish the fight, I was left to watch the wardens escape.

"Let's make for the vehicles," Nelson said as the others joined us. I went to Anya's side, and wrapped an arm around her as she stumbled on her feet, her hands in ruins. Sal had returned to his normal size and crawled up onto my shoulder, since his box and normal pocket were ruined.

Together we fled, surrounded by wizards, the Arcane rounds bursting overhead until we rounded the hills, where the air grew blessedly silent.