Chapter 66

The horse proved easy enough to recruit to our cause, which was a relief. I hadn’t ridden many horses at that point; they were rare creatures in the Horde’s territories, since we tended to use mackies and mammoths instead. Girdan had given me a good lashing for the joyride I’d taken on one of his mares, my only prior experience.

Mariko sat behind me as we trotted back the way we came, her arms wrapped around my torso, which was a bit distracting.

When I jokingly mentioned this, she replied, “It is simply a relief to be able to touch anything at all.”

That refocused me on our mission. If Fera was out for the king’s hide, then finding the king would get me partway there. I simply had to figure out where he was before it was too late.

The technology jammer and King George’s frailty would keep his security detail from getting him out of the shipyards altogether. So, if I were a rifleman and preparing to defend myself against an orc charge, where would I set up shop?

Not one of the ships; most of them had their gangplanks withdrawn, anyway. There were machine shops and other buildings, but I settled on the largest, shiniest office building. They’d had a Harland and Wolff executive with them, and he would likely suggest it for the familiarity. The building was also covered in clean windows, unlike the grimy shops, giving them the best view of what was happening at ground level.

My guess proved prescient as we approached the entrance. The lovely glass wall that provided a view of the lobby had been shattered.

“Blast! Fera’s already here,” I said as I dismounted.

“Perhaps the soldiers broke the glass?” suggested Mariko as I helped her down. She pointed to some bits of brass among the glass shards. “There are some bullet casings over there, but no sign anyone was shot.”

“Why the devil would they do that?” I countered. “They had that executive with them; surely he has a key.”

She pointed to a grey box by the main door. “They probably had security cards instead. With the circuits jammed, they are nothing but plastic.”

“I see.” We had used similar devices at the Tower, but I still assumed older methods. “I suppose they can get a royal pardon, given the circumstances.”

“I am glad you feel well enough to joke,” said Mariko, clutching her trembling right hand.

“Gallows humor is how I don’t run away screaming,” I said as we carefully stepped around the reinforced glass shards. I didn’t care to find out that this stuff was able to beat our fabricata enhanced boots. “You should try it! It’s quite relaxing.”

“I am happy to leave that to you,” she said.

“I suppose I am the best at it,” I said, trying to project a confidence I didn’t feel. After all, Fera had managed to get the drop on me twice in one day. She was a slippery one, and I’d been casting spells all morning, while she’d mostly been content to let her minions do the hard work. I’d have to husband my magical reserves carefully.

All the more reason to rendezvous with the King. Devils are much less bulletproof than orcs, and those Yeomen had managed to down a good share of them.

The lobby was rather dim in the scant sunlight; the building had an overhang above the windows, blocking out most of the natural light.

“Merlin’s Lantern,” said Mariko. Her steady left hand became the focal point of a magical light.

“Thank you, my dear. Stay on your toes; if we could track the king, then so could she.” I chanced a quick sniff to see if my Mimic Scent could pick up anything. It would be a poor idea to zone out when Fera could be around any corner.

The results weren’t conclusive. I caught a vague scent of sulfur, but that was being broadcast over the whole facility thanks to Fera’s charged fabricata. The minty odor of Mariko’s magic was also interfering with my tracking.

“Let me borrow your hand a moment,” I said, gently guiding Mariko’s aim across the floor.

“Of course,” she said as I treated her like a human flashlight. “They couldn’t have gone far, though. Not with King George slowing them down.”

“Yes, I imagine he’d much rather take the elevator,” I said. “Keep an eye out for any shards of glass they might have tracked in.”

“Oh, I know right where they went,” said Kiyo.

I might have let out a brief shriek. More of a yelp, really. It certainly was a manly sound.

Kiyo emerged from the gloom, a sullen frown on her face. “There goes the element of surprise,” said Kiyo, sticking a finger in her ringing ear.

“Kiyo!” said Mariko, darkening the room for a moment as she rushed to hug the shorter girl. “We were so worried! Where did you go?”

Kiyo didn’t try to squirm out of Mariko’s loving embrace; she looked as relieved as I felt, and I couldn’t help but join in.

Damn, whoever ran this building needed to fire the cleaning staff; the dust made a tear come to my eye.

I stepped away; somebody had to take Merlin’s Lantern duty if Mariko was too distracted. Definitely wasn’t an excess of sentiment.

Kiyo finally pushed the older woman away. “When that demon bitch and an army of orcs captured you guys, I figured I had two options. I could either go down in a blaze of glory, or go get help. It wasn’t going to be much of a blaze without Bernadette, so I picked option B.”

I did notice that she’d gotten a pistol from somewhere in a borrowed, slightly loose holster. Likely from one of the Yeomen, which was a good sign.

Kiyo let out a long sigh. “Thank goodness Plan B worked. I was worried they were gonna, like…” She trailed off, her meaning obvious, scanning the lobby to avoid looking at us for a moment. “Hey, is anybody else with you? I was kinda hoping for more cavalry.”

“No,” I said, “we told them to stay away. Wouldn’t want to give Fera too many bodies to jump into.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty smart,” said Kiyo, a slight grin playing across her face. “Didn’t make a difference, though.”

That was when I noticed the sulfurous stench increasing around us. Oh, bloody Hell!

Mimic Scent had given me a moment’s warning as Fera drew the pistol from her borrowed holster. Not enough time to cast a spell, or I’d have given her another dose of All Heal.

I still had options, though. Going in for the hug before had brought me closer than Fera might have preferred, and with my advantage in height and reach, I was able to seize her wrist and force the barrel of the gun away from Mariko and I. The pistol barked twice, sending my ears ringing.

I had to give it to Mariko, she caught on quickly. “Spectral Web!” A translucent blue thread wrapped itself around Fera’s face, blinding and muting her in one go.

Once I’d relieved Fera of her weapon, I twisted my fingers into a familiar casting position. “All Heal!”

Fera jerked as the spell coursed through her stolen body. I couldn’t see her face through Mariko’s web, but she made a muffled retching sound. She kept it together, but it was easy enough to grab ahold of her and pin her down.

I couldn’t say that I had a proper plan, exactly. My combat instincts were all based around the enemy having a body I could wound. If Fera hadn’t been cheating, it would have been easy to overpower the slim woman and deliver the coup de grâce.

Still, I’d been mulling over how to resolve this situation on our ride over. I’d been able to keep Mariko alive on Fera’s last forced exit, which meant that I might not have to use Sergeant Lakhdar’s nuclear option. I’d simply have to make inhabiting Kiyo intolerable, which meant that this was the perfect time for some dirty tricks.

“Mariko, whatever you do, don’t hold back if this works! All Heal!”

I didn’t even get a chance to touch Kiyo before a dazzling light filled the room. Judging from the lightshow, Fera had thrown in the towel. On the plus side, Kiyo could probably skip her annual physical that year.

Runes flew around Mariko’s hands as she drew a bead on Fera’s reforming body. “Magic…” She interrupted the spell with a startled gasp.

Blast it all, this was not the time for an attack of conscience! I tried to turn to do the job myself, but Kiyo grabbed my wrist with a desperate strength that surprised me. The blue webs had dissolved enough that she could speak.

“Magpie! She isn’t here alone!”

A triple-burst of gunfire lit the dark lobby, and then the back of my uniform, still mostly intact, went iron-hard as the bullets struck me between the shoulder blades. The armor held, but the unexpected impact sent me to the floor, gasping for air.

That was all the opening our opponents needed. Doors on either side of us flung open and dark figures rushed us. A wizard with the wind knocked out of him is a wizard without options, and I was struggling to breathe after that hammer blow to the back.

A powerful pair of hands seized me from behind and slammed me to the floor; judging from Mariko’s pained squeak out of view, she’d suffered the same fate. I couldn’t see Mariko from my angle, but Kiyo was seized and pinned before my eyes.

“I wonder,” I grunted at the green-skinned brute holding my arms behind my back, “how I didn’t smell you from across the room.”

“This human thinks he’s funny,” said the orc. “Though, how’s he know Demonic?”

Dante stepped out of a nearby closet holding an oil lantern. He adjusted his oddly-angled hat, which he’d somehow kept in the chaos. I noted that he had one of the Yeomen’s rifles slung across his back, it’s smoking barrel explaining one mystery.

“This one’s that traitor we told ya about,” said Dante, sneering down at me.

“I see,” said the orc. “Sorry, you humans all look alike.”

Dante ignored him and pointed out of sight. “Hey, you, you don’t got a human to worry about! Tend to Mistress Fera!”

“Can’t believe we’re taking orders from one of them,” muttered the orc as he closed in.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Thank you, Dante,” said Fera, still out of my line of sight. “Our Father Below, I hate riding that girl. She’s so noisy!”

“You’re welcome to stop any time you like,” I said.

Dante gave his boss a quizzical look. “Why’s she still breathing? Ain’t no way you’re keepin’ her alive at this point! Malthus gave up his chance. Hell,” he said, setting aside his lamp and unslinging his rifle, “say the word and I end our Magpie infestation for good.”

“No!” snapped Fera. “That isn’t the plan.”

“Mistress, be reasonable. We need to end this.”

“I…” Fera trailed off. “Who are you to question me?”

“The man who set up your whole backup plan,” he replied, his frustration overriding his instinct to toady. “The one who kept telling you Malthus wasn’t worth the effort. Why are any of them still alive? You caught ‘em twice, and they broke out twice.”

“I said, that isn’t the plan,” she growled.

“You’re actin’… what the Hell happened to your face?”

“Oh my,” said Mariko.

Despite the heavy hand shoving my head into the tiled floor, I managed to turn and face my tormentor.

Fera’s eyes had changed before during my failed attempt to free Mariko. I hadn’t had much chance to think about it; it could have been anything from her trying on a new look to a useless quirk of the spell. Besides, she’d mostly been riding different people or disguised as me during this whole battle. This was the best look I’d gotten at her for some time.

Now, though, she was out in the open. She was still recognizably Fera, but there was definitely a new ingredient in the mixture. Even in the flickering light of Dante’s lamp, the change was obvious. Her charcoal skin had lightened a bit, taking on a purplish hue. Before, she’d simply borrowed Mariko’s eye color, but now they bore the same almond shape. Her blonde hair had gained a dirtier shade, almost reminding me of Heida’s color, and moreover, it had arranged itself into a familiar side braid. She had also lost a few inches of height, and there was something about her lips that was Kiyo-esque.

I smirked as I noticed that her horns had reduced in size and lost some of their tight curl. It was a bit of karmic justice for my own lost horns.

Fera rested a hand on her cocked hip. “What the devil are you going on about?”

“Somebody care to lend her a mirror?” I asked, smiling despite myself. Whatever else happened, I’d left my mark.

Chapter 67

I hadn’t expected anybody to take my suggestion seriously, but Dante produced a pocket mirror for Fera. He really was an attentive manservant.

“What in the…” Fera reached up, probing at her cheek. “Malthus! Explain yourself! I know this is your doing!”

“I’m just as in the dark as you,” I said.

“That spell!” she said, snapping the compact shut. “It wasn’t just an All Heal, was it? Where did you pick up transformational magic?”

“Not from your father, I assure you,” I said. They’d always seen fit to treat me like a blunt instrument, spell wise. I’d had to seek out healing magic to keep myself patched up. “It was simply a spell designed to sort out body and soul. It’s hardly my fault you were intruding in somebody else’s body at the time.”

Fera cursed to herself. “You’re so proud of yourself. This will take fifteen minutes to sort out with Fleshwork, so you’ve accomplished nothing.”

“It looks good on you,” said Kiyo, her face fully free of the Spectral Web. “Makes you look less like a plastic bitch.”

Fera snapped her fingers and the orc holding Kiyo to the ground tightened his grip. The demoness seemed to enjoy her pained gasp.

“Did that affect me at all?” asked Mariko aloud, to nobody in particular.

“Dunno, Sheila,” said Dante, patting his stolen rifle. “We’ll check it in the autopsy.”

I struggled in vain against the orc’s iron grip. I made a note that whatever else happened, Dante’s end wasn’t going to be too clean.

He turned to face the transformed Fera. “Mistress, this is serious! Dark Lord knows what else that magic did to you. We need to kill these three, off the King, and get out of here while we can. If the bloody Divine Blade got here through the tech jammers, then sky’s the limit.”

With any luck, Mr. Maki and some of his most accomplished students were working to cut that problem off sooner than expected.

“Are you giving me orders, Dante?” said Fera in a voice as warm as a glacier.

“N-no, mistress,” he said, gulping audibly as he realized just how much he’d spoken his mind. “I-I’m not tryin’ to get above my station. Just letting you know about the situation.”

“That’s what makes you a good servant,” said Fera, patting his cheek almost affectionately. “You’re detail oriented. I am, too, so don’t forget your role again.”

“Y-yes, mistress,” he said.

Fera spun on her heel and started walking towards a flight of stairs. Proving that she did have good help, Dante barked orders to the orcs. As far as I could tell from my position, there were six all told, dressed in the same guard uniform as their slain fellows.

“You left a reserve,” I said. “I see Daddy Girdan taught you well.”

“Aw, how sweet, Kas… Malthus,” she said, playing with her magically braided hair a moment before she started to unravel it.

Oh, I knew that body language well. Mariko really had rubbed off on her. It also didn’t strike me as coincidental that Mariko had killed those orcs after I’d scrambled the two of them, even if it was with tears in her eyes.

That told me I couldn’t count too much on Fera’s mercy, but even her manservant was questioning why she hadn’t just killed us and been done with it. Before, it had made sense, since she wanted me to play executioner. Now, I wondered exactly what her game was. It seemed best to play along for the moment.

Not that I had too much choice as the orcs frog-marched us up the stairs. In an enclosed space like this, we wouldn’t be able to avoid their raw strength with spells, and one of the brutes had stolen my newly looted scimitar.

But, the gears in my head were already turning. Dante said they hadn’t offed the King yet, but Fera and Dante wielding the Yeomen’s weapons was… distressing. More deaths for my conscience, unless Fera’s whims had extended past us wizards.

A problem for later. If Fera was satisfied to wander around without a human shield, well, I simply needed an opportunity. If I could take her down, the orcs were likely to bolt for their longboats; we mostly kept the lower classes in line with fear, rather than true loyalty. I doubted they’d push too hard for revenge if they saw that the cause was hopeless.

The second floor was brighter than the lobby had been, since there wasn’t an overhang to block out the sunlight. As we made our way up the stairs, I noted that the orc hadn’t properly restrained me. Orcs don’t entirely understand spellcasting (the Horde didn’t exactly want the lower races knowing too much about magic), so while he had my wrists bound, I could still wiggle my fingers. From the glimpses I caught of the pair manhandling Mariko and Kiyo, his fellows had made the same mistake.

It seemed like an oversight, but then, Dante couldn’t have anticipated having to catch us three times when he stole those magical bonds.

We came to a wider hallway and I ended up alongside Kiyo.

“Kiyo,” I whispered in Japanese, hoping that our enemies wouldn’t know the lingo. “When me say, anvil magic use.”

Kiyo’s brows furrowed as she parsed my gibberish, but she nodded. “On what?”

“Monster hold you,” I said.

Her eyes widened. “Uh, that’d crush me.”

“Trust me.”

She nodded once, though she didn’t look any less nervous.

I refocused my attention on Dante and Fera. I just needed a good opening to carry out my plan.

Mariko must have overheard us as she broke her silence. “Fera, you do not really want to do this.”

The demoness stopped in front of a door labeled as a conference room and spun around. “Like Hell I don’t!”

Mariko met her gaze without flinching. “When Malthus cast the All Heal on us, our minds linked. You felt so betrayed by Malthus in those moments.”

Fera scoffed at that. “Yes, because he was turning on me and his homeland. He literally betrayed us.”

“It was more than that,” said Mariko. “I think you actually care about him. You were hurt that he chose me over you.”

Fera’s face screwed up. “What? No, of course not.”

“I was in your head,” countered Mariko. “I knew how you felt when he looked at you. The way your heart skipped a beat when he forgot it was you a moment.”

Mariko could be oddly brave in moments like this. Perhaps she was on to something. Either way, if Fera was annoyed, that only served to buy us time.

“Jesus Christ, is Magpie a freaking incubus?” said Kiyo. “Ms. Edwards, Mariko, Gabby, everyone’s freaking obsessed with him!”

“It’s called charm,” I muttered to myself.

Fera ignored us. The way she scowled at Mariko, I was worried the Japanese woman would end up with a Bloody Lance through the head.

Instead, Fera burst out laughing. “You complete idiot. Ka… Malthus mentioned you a few times in his reports home, you know. He thought you were a moron for being so naïve about devils.”

Mariko inhaled sharply. “What?”

“You’re putting it a tad harshly,” I said. “Besides, I know better now.”

“Punch him,” said Fera to one of the unencumbered orcs. One of the brutes with a crooked nose carried out the order, and I saw stars.

“Kasasagi!” wailed Mariko.

“And that is the difference between us,” said Fera, jabbing her finger in Mariko’s face. “You actually care what happens to him, even knowing how little he thinks of you. What you see as love, I understand is a physical itch that there are a hundred ways to scratch. He’s nothing but a wayward possession; a handsome enough possession and a decent lover, but still property I’ll discard without a care.”

“He’s my possession now,” said Mariko. “W-well, I mean we belong to each other.”

“That’s why I’m going to have fun taking you apart in front of him,” he said. “You, Kiyo, and the king. I know he actually cares about you all for some reason. I’ll show him why that was a mistake. Then, I’ll put him out of our collective misery, like a defective puppy.”

Aha, so my theories about her inheriting some of Mariko’s mercy were overblown. She was simply practicing good old fashioned demonic revenge. I set aside that little bit of sympathy I’d been developing (damn my soft human heart) and got ready to go for the jugular.

“Time’s wasting, mistress,” said Dante, moving up alongside her, drawing his stolen weapon. “Say the word, and—”

Fera whirled around and shoved him to the floor, sending his rifle clattering to the ground. “And I told you to know your place!”

That was the opening I’d been waiting for. As my vision cleared, I twisted my fingers. “Kiyo, now! Lechtar!”

Electricity flowed from my bound hands into my orc. I gave the spell enough juice to make it lethal for a human, which meant it was more than enough to stagger my captor.

Fera had been focused on punishing Dante, but she spun about quickly. “Bahadour!”

Unfortunately for her, I’d anticipated the move and was already tumbling away. Fera wasn’t really a warrior, and she’d telegraphed the spell badly. The stunned orc behind me hadn’t been ready, though, and Fera’s friendly fire cut him down with a meaty thud.

“Hephaestus’ Anvil!” said Kiyo, surrounding her captor in a halo of blue light.

The plan went off better than I could have hoped. I’d wagered that since these orcs were part of Girdan’s chosen, they were bound to recognize even the more obscure human combat spells. Not wanting to be pounded flat like our targets back in Japan, he released Kiyo and ran back for the stairs.

“I’ll be back once it wears off!” he shouted as he went.

I let him go, since there were still four of his fellows and Fera to contend with.

Our opponents hadn’t expected us to make a break for it, which worked to our advantage in the cramped hallway, since they couldn’t coordinate well. My squad mates joined the fray in their own ways.

Mariko focused her affinity, and her captor yelped, his hands smoking as the top layer of his thick skin turned to hydrogen gas.

“Mariko, over here!” I shouted, interrupted as one of the orcs rushed me. His size worked against him, though, as his overhand swing with his oversized scimitar left his weapon caught in the ceiling.

It didn’t help me too much, as he still bowled me to the floor with his shoulder.

“To Me!” shouted Kiyo as she scrambled forward. The spell was designed to move smaller objects, but the dropped rifle skidded a few precious feet along the floor towards her. No sooner had it reached her hands than she dropped to a crouch and leveled it at Fera.

“Don’t vanish,” I managed, worried about friendly fire.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” grunted Kiyo.

The devil’s hands were already busily casting, beating Kiyo to the punch. “Teifenshold!” Kiyo’s burst of fire ricocheted off the magical barrier, but she’d forced Fera off the attack. Dante also scrambled away on hands and knees.

The orcs were much less impressed by the mundane weapon and advanced in on Kiyo, though I had my own worries. I narrowly rolled out of the way of a stomp from my opponent.

“Spectral Web.” The one-handed spell proved its utility again as I fired a mass of blue threads into my attacker’s face.

Despite her earlier promise, Kiyo disappeared a moment before one of the charging brutes could grab her. She winked back into view in his rear, and his archaic metal helmet proved no match for the best of human engineering. The thick-skulled demon wasn’t dead, but he collapsed to his knees, shrieking a pained bellow that loosened my bowels.

Mariko had gone for a different strategy, turning her affinity against the floor between her and the orc she’d transmuted before. The tile flaked away like smoke from a flameless fire, and when he stepped forward, the floor collapsed under his weight, leaving his right leg stuck up to the knee.

That left two unencumbered orcs at close range with us, and they’d apparently decided the two ladies were the easier targets. One seized Kiyo’s smoking rifle barrel with no concern as the hot metal seared his hand, wrenching it from her grasp.

The other had come up on Mariko from behind and struck her square in the face with a meaty fist. She spun around and slammed into the floor with a muted gasp of pain. I was the only wizard on his feet, and Fera was doing something with her free hand from behind the translucent tower shield.

I fired a barrage of Lovely Fireworks at them, since the light spell was fast and easy to cast. It gave Mariko a chance to fall back… which she didn’t take, still stunned by the blow.

Fera wasn’t idle, though. “Liktfeil.” A beam of light slashed through the air. I didn’t have time to dodge this attack, but the one-handed spell didn’t penetrate the armor around my raised forearm. The rune-enhanced fabric was split and ruined, though.

This situation was exactly why wizard squads had two duelists; with so many enemies about, I couldn’t properly screen the others by myself, and they weren’t good enough in a melee to protect themselves. Where was Gabriella when I needed her?

Ah, right. Shot by a round from Kiyo’s Bernadette, and Our Father Below knew how she was faring.

Thinking of the brash woman did give me a bit of inspiration, though. With both my allies prone and surrounded by standing orcs, I had a perfect opportunity to use a newly copied spell.

“Magic Mortar!”

From the look of surprise in the orcs’ eyes, they knew this one too.