In the courtyard beyond, Richard’s footsteps faded from earshot. I knew we had only seconds. “You don’t want to be working for Crystal,” I told the apprentices. “If she—”
Crystal spoke over me. “Take them both.”
And all hell broke loose.
Darren and Sam fired at the same time. Darren’s spell was death magic, negative and kinetic energy woven together into a bolt of darkness, while Sam’s was a blue-white flash of lightning, there and gone in an instant, travelling flat across the earth in a path real lightning could never follow.
I’d already started my jump back, catching Anne by the arm and pulling her with me. The black-and-white bolts split the air where we’d been a second ago and the crack of the discharge hammered my ears, stone dust filling the room.
By backing off we’d broken their line of sight; we had about five seconds before they made it to the door. Anne was already running for the stairs, cat-quick, as I pulled a pair of golden discs from one pocket. Two flicks of my wrist sent them bouncing to either side of the doorway, then I was running after Anne, taking the steps two at a time. Two steps, four, six, eight, and I heard running footsteps from behind. Without turning, I called out the command word for the discs.
Magic flared behind me, a wall of force coming into existence to block the entrance to the windmill. An instant later Darren slammed into it, the thud muffled through the barrier. I didn’t look back to see how much damage I’d done. Up.
Ground floor, first floor, second. My heart was racing, feet hammering the stone. Crystal could sense us through the walls; she’d know what we were doing now and it would all come down to who was faster. Anne held back at the ladder, letting me take the lead, and I scrambled up, wooden rungs under my hands turning brighter in the light until I came out onto the roof of the windmill, wind buffeting my clothes and hair.
There was a shadow there, wings unfurled, and it reached for me. They’d sent it to block us in, but just an instant too late. I ducked under the arm, slammed the point of my dispelling focus into its torso, and felt the spell discharge into the construct’s body. The shadowy figure shuddered and came apart, disintegrating into black smoke as it fell towards the grass below. I felt Anne’s presence behind me as I darted across the bridge, towards the wall and our way out, taking in the situation at a glance.
One more shadow on the wall ahead, three more in the air, wings flapping as they headed towards us. Darren was down by the door trying to smash his way through the forcewall; I couldn’t see Crystal or Ji-yeong but Sam was up on the wall ahead and to the left, blocking the tower door that was our way out, lining up a shot. I didn’t know how he’d gotten up to our level so fast, but it was too late to change the plan. I charged.
Darren and Sam saw the movement and reacted, but if there’s one thing divination magic is good for, it’s dodging attacks. I saw the bolts coming, skimmed past the futures in which I was hit to pick one of the handful where I wasn’t. Electricity and death magic cut the air with a crack, hitting the spot where I would have been if I hadn’t broken stride, and then I was over the bridge and onto the wall and facing the shadow. Constructs are strong, tireless—and predictable. I let its first grab fall short, closed under the second, caught the shadow’s arm, my fingers sliding over the weird alien texture, spongy and dry and smelling of dust-bones-ash, then I was twisting it around to block a third deathbolt from Darren below. The shadow jerked as the kinetic energy ripped through it and I kicked its body off the wall, smoke trailing from the hole in its torso as it went tumbling down. And then I was alone on the ramparts with Sam, solid wall to my right and a sheer drop to my left to the grass below.
Sam stood his ground. It was the first time I’d gotten a good look at the lightning apprentice, and as I closed the distance I had what felt like a long moment to study him: slim and quick-looking, blond hair combed back, blue eyes nervous but not afraid enough to run. He threw another lightning bolt and I had to throw myself into a roll this time as the blue-white energy flashed out from his hands, electricity stinging my shoulder and leg as I came back up. My hand was going to the hilt of my knife but a spread of futures flashed before my eyes, electricity leaping down the metal blade and into my skin, and I changed motions mid-draw. The shock shield came up around Sam at the last instant, crackling white, but it was my armoured forearm that slammed into him and the spell-mesh absorbed the discharge. Sam went staggering back, teetering on the edge of the drop, and I moved in to finish him.
And everything went wrong.
A mental blow hit me. I’d been bracing myself for an attack from Crystal ever since we came up into view, but this wasn’t the domination attempt I’d been anticipating, it was a blast of pure psychic force. I had an instant’s warning, then the attack was hammering into my mental defences, raking my thoughts. I felt Sam readying another attack and twisted right on instinct, but this time he didn’t send lightning, he turned into lightning, and with a crack and a smell of ozone he was gone from in front of me, leaving only a purple afterimage. Another deathbolt from Darren went hissing past and I could hear the wingbeats of shadows, only seconds away. All of a sudden we’d lost our momentum.
Behind me, Anne was duelling Sam. He’d re-formed on the wall next to her, and she managed to catch him before he could get out of reach. Green light flickered and Sam staggered, but it had been a stun spell, not meant to kill. I felt the surge of another mental attack, and this time it wasn’t aimed at me. Anne reeled and Sam braced against the wall, levelled a hand at her while she was still disoriented, and hit her in the chest with a lightning bolt from five feet away, blasting her right off the wall and into space. I froze for a second, shock and terror jumping through me as her wide eyes met mine, then she was falling, thirty-five feet straight down to the ground below, hitting the grass with a thump.
Shit! I started to turn back but the shadows were landing on the wall now, one ahead and one behind, and I had to duck away. Dispel focus wasn’t recharged. Below, Anne was struggling to rise; Crystal was striding across the grass towards her and she hit her with something else, making Anne’s head jerk back. Three shadows landed around Anne and began punching downwards, their movements mechanical, steady. Anne disappeared in a sea of rising and falling blows.
With a snarl I got my knife into the first shadow, ripped it open from stomach to chest. Black smoke billowed out but it only bashed me backwards, nearly sending me into the claws of the second. Crystal was hitting Anne again, Darren was circling for a clear shot, and I knew with a sudden ugly sickening feeling that we’d lost. Three more shadows were flapping closer, blocking my route to Sam, who was charging a spell behind them. The only route left was the doorway behind me at the end of the battlements, and in a few more seconds that too would be blocked.
I turned and ran, dodging past the last shadow to sprint out of sight into the darkness.
I fled through the castle, and the apprentices followed.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in combats over the years, and most of that time has been spent on running away. It’s an underrated combat strategy with some very definite advantages. It does admittedly carry the risk of being shot in the back, but generally speaking most people can’t aim and run at the same time, which means that once they decide to chase you, attacks mostly come out of the equation and it becomes a contest of speed and information, which suits me just fine. It can actually get kind of fun after a while, as long as you’re faster than the other guy. All the excitement of a fight, none of the worry about having your internal organs carved out.