“Here,” Aleah handed me the necklace back. “Zara’s in a room next to a woman, and Han’s still in the bed.”
I nodded and thanked her before placing the necklace around my neck. I turned to Brooke who was speaking with Axton and Isla. They and four others would go with Brooke while Jay and Lena went with me and four other orcs. Seven each. We would take their usual black cars to the location, and each group had two practitioners, both with powerful objects, and tools ready at hand.
“Alright, if we’re all ready, then we can begin,” Brooke said and led us to the elevator. We headed up, and I took calming breaths as we did. I had been in fights before but this was different. This was a rescue op, and things could go wrong. I didn't know how guarded they’d be or what defenses they’d have in place.
Calm down, you’ve got this. Zara’s counting on you.
I was also worried about Han, but Brooke would handle that, and she had more experience when it came to action than me, and with the enchanted gear, I knew she could probably beat me in a fight.
When we made it up top, I was shocked to see all the orcs in armor and weapons, although I probably shouldn't have been surprised since they were under assault, although it seemed things had calmed down.
“How is up here?” Brooke asked a nearby orc.
“No losses so far,” He said, ”and DOSA sent some people to patrol around the area.”
“Aleah should be up soon,” Brooke said. She led the way out, and towards the back of the building. It was full night now, and if not for my enhanced senses I would have had some trouble seeing. There were no lights out in the nightbouroud which meant they had to have some way of seeing in the dark. Maybe some enchantment or alchemic potion or pill. Night sight and dark vision was cheap enough to get. Two cars waited, but unlike the normal black four-wheelers, these were heavily enchanted with a ton of protection. Enough to survive, and crush a tank. “Nice aren't they,” Brooke said. “Each costs a ton to enchant and most of the magic is kept dormant until we really need it. Then we power them up. You could survive a missile strike in one of these things, and come out undamaged. They’ve even got a mode that camouflages a lot of the magic.”
As the orcs entered the cars, Brooke walked over and gave me a hug. “You’ve got this, Rick. Get Zara, and I’ll get Han. We’ll meet back here, and trade tales over some food.”
“That sounds… nice.”
I walked away, and took a seat in the car, next to Jay who was driving. “You track, I drive.”
I nodded, and we were off. I pointed him in the direction, and I thought the trickiest part was getting out of the neighborhood first. I was worried we’d run into a DOSA patrol, but the way we took out was quick, and Jay had turned on camouflage mode, and I could only sense a bit of magic now. More than most vehicles, but nothing too crazy. Nothing a rich practitioner or some other para might not have.
We drove through street after street, and I realized we were getting further and further away from the downtown area, and center of the city. In fact, soon we were out of the city proper, and on the edges. We passed a park, and I pointed him left and left again until we came full circle.
“That’s it then,” Jay said. “She’s in there.”
A park again? First with the auction and now this? Considering the mayhem that had happened the last time I was in a park, I wasn't eager to head in, but what choice did I have? I couldn't leave Zara to whatever fate her captors had planned for her. One good thing about the area was the lack of people, especially at this hour. It was the middle of the night, and with our black armor and car, we blended in well.
“Alright, Rell, do your magic.”
Rell was a female half-orc mage, and it would be her job to sense any hostile magic, traps, and such. She was more utility than firepower which was Gary’s main job. During the drive, I'd spoken with some of the others, and Gary by far was the oddest. He was overly cheery, and seemed to love talking about battle magic. We’d had a conversation about the uses of fire, and how it was often used poorly.
“I’ll help,” I said, and Rell nodded.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
We moved up to the entrance, and Rell shook her head. “Nothing yet, but hold on,” She pulled out a sphere, and tapped a symbol on its surface. It glowed blue, and Rell’s eyes glazed over for a second. “An alarm, not mana, but it’ll trigger the moment we pass through.”
“We’ll climb over. How about that?” Jay asked.
“No, that’ll work, and I can create a sphere around us to block sound and smell, and make us invisible at a distance.”
“Good, then we’ll go with that.”
One by one we climbed over the fence, which was easy with my magic, and enchanted capabilities. We landed inside, and Jay had us move in a tight half-circle formation. Rifles were up and I had my pistol ready.
The park was quiet, and every now and then Rell would stop, use her orb, and whenever she spotted some magic, we either moved around it, or she nullified it. However it got harder the closer we came, and we soon realized we wouldn't be able to just sneak in.”
“Too much magic,” Rell said. “We’ll trip at least one alarm, and I sense life in the distance.” “She tilted her head. “No one nearby.”
“Same,” Gary said, and through the dark, I could see that he was still smiling away as though we weren't in the middle of a dangerous rescue mission.
“One alarm tripped won't cause too much trouble,” I said. “I can make a static illusion and add some repeating sounds. A cat or dog? Or are the alarms too sophisticated for that?”
“No, they're very basic. There is a large number of them, but none are overly complex.” I wondered how she could tell since it wasn't mana, but I guessed it was a function of the orb she had.
“Then let's move,” Jay ordered.
We passed a small group of trees, and as we did I formed a pattern. A simple illusion of a cat that would last for a few minutes. Despite no one being close by, I assumed someone would come to check it and they’d hear the cat and assume that was it, but just in case they checked further, I added different meows, ranging in pitch and volume. It would sound like cats fighting which happened at night.
As we closed in, we were forced to move slower and slower until we finally arrived at a big problem. “No way we pass this without triggering attention. This is advanced, and we're close now. I sense… at least… two dozen people.”
“Twenty-seven,” Gary said. “I think.”
“And they're all magical,” Rell said. “I… I think they're witches.” She seemed confused, as was I.
“Witches,” I muttered. “Zara had nothing to do with witches, apart from…” I tried to remember the name of the witch we’d met when we’d gone on our date. Amy, Ashley? That was it.
“We can consider that later, for now, we press on, and prepare to fight.”
I tightened my grip on my pistol, and the others sharpened their focus. Gary wiggled his fingers, and I sensed mana gathering in a pattern, a large amount of mana. My eyes widened when I realized what the spell was and just how potent it would be. He met my eyes and smiled. “I had a hand in developing the shock rods. I’ll start us off with a bang, nothing to kill, just… disable.”
Jay nodded and turned to Lena. “You and Rick focus on finding Zara. Me and the others will cover you and fight if needed. It might turn out that we can breeze through this.”
“Too much magic,” Rell said with a shake of her head. “There's gonna be a fight.”
“Then let’s fight,” Gary said.
****
“You sure this is it?” Brooke asked as she looked stared at the warehouse across the street. She and Isla were on a roof while the others were close by, staying hidden for now.
“That's what Neil said,” Isla replied. “She’s in there.”
The warehouse was large, and their other practitioner Ruby, a half elemental-half orc, had said she sensed potent protection and numerous sorts of alarms. She was currently getting ready to blast through them, both physically and magically. They also had plenty of anti-magic gear.
“What's the plan?”
“We can’t really sneak in,” Brooke said. “Too many alarms, and you said Neil sensed people just behind the door.” She considered her options once more, but no matter how she thought, this was going to turn into an assault, which suited her just fine. With their gear and training, she wasn’t too worried. “Tell Axton to start things off.”
“Of course, Chieftess.” Brooke could hear the smile in Isla’s voice. The other had also taken to calling her chieftess which was fine by her, just odd. It’ll happen eventually, might as well get used to it now, even if it's just for today.