Chapter 53

The screaming interrupted her make-out session, leaving Jessica confused and annoyed. She straightened her clothing as she slid out of the broom-closet, Akira a moment behind her, both of them blushing a little at the interruption.

Jessica liked Akira. She didn’t think he was husband material, but he was great for catching up on all of the things that she’d missed out on due to her illness on Earth. She thought everyone needed at least a few practice boyfriends to get things out of the way. But at the same time, she really did like Akira. He was a great boyfriend so far, and if things continued on that way she saw no point in dumping him.

Thoughts for another time, she reflected, as another scream from outside caught her ear. She turned to Akira, who was also straightening his clothes out.

“Isn’t Tom supposed to be evolving people right now?” Akira asked. “I think it came from by the crystal.”

“Right,” she agreed. “Let’s go help.”

“Are you sure we won’t get in the way?” Akira asked.

“I’m a level thirty sorceress and you’re a level ten magic swordsman. I’m certain we can be useful somehow,” Jessica pointed out, and they ran off towards the entrance of the Adventurer’s Guild Hall.

What they found outside was mayhem. Most of the audience to the awakening ceremony had run off, but the ones that remained were all trying to kill each other. Three armed minotaurs stood vigil over Grant and Tom. Tom seemed to be injured, his shirt torn off as Grant administered first aid to the boy. Jessica frowned as she realized that there was quite a lot of blood.

She ran over towards them to see if she could help, but the minotaur blocked her path.

“They won’t listen to anyone but Tom,” Grant shouted over the shouting of the crowd. “And he’s passed out. Jessica, watch out, they might be targeting you too--”

At that moment, someone from the crowd charged her, knife in hand. She flexed a muscle that wasn’t really a muscle, activating her level thirty skill to send the attacker flying. He landed on the ground and rolled twice.

Telekinesis was handy, she reflected. It was the latest Skill to have awakened in her, and she was still getting used to it, but her practice with her other abilities was helping her master it quickly. The attacker tried to get back up, but he’d twisted or broken something in his leg and was decidedly less threatening with a limp. Another member of the audience, Duncan Seethring, intercepted him and began beating him with knuckles that were already bloody and raw.

“How can I help?” Jessica shouted to Grant.

“Just make sure nobody approaches,” Grant answered.

“What the hell is going on?” she asked.

“Some sort of conspiracy,” Grant answered. “I don’t have the details, Jessica, and I’m busy trying to save Tom’s life right now.”

“Right, sorry,” she said.

A flash of lightning filled the clearing, and one of the minotaurs exploded in gore as it was struck. Jessica cursed, her hearing suddenly impaired, as a new player entered the field. A mage in his middle years with a salt and pepper beard paused to collect his breath a moment. The run from the mage’s school had taken more out of him than the spell; he wasn’t accustomed to such physical exertions.

Jessica sent a burst of telekinetic energy at the new attacker, who managed to get a shield of force up just in time to protect himself. She frowned. Her force abilities were the least trained of the four elements that she currently controlled, but she wasn’t quite ready to zap the man with her fire quite yet.

She sent a lob of magic just before the mage’s shield, which was strong enough to create a visual distortion in the air, then she detonated it into a burst of light and sound. The mage cursed and covered his eyes, allowing the shield to slip. Jessica sent another telekinetic blast that caught the mage in the ribs.

The mage flew through the air and landed badly, just as the previous attacker had. Still, he got back up. Jessica unleashed another long-distance kick at him, but the man got his shield back up in time. She was in the process of sending another flash-bang attack at him when he retaliated with more lightning.

She dove to the ground as the attack passed over her head. Too far over her head; the man was still blind from her earlier attacks. Jessica cursed. If he was playing for keeps, then so would she.

She unleashed her Fire Mastery skill in full force, engulfing the man completely in flame. He cried out in surprise, but his shield held. Jessica held the flames against him for a moment before dropping them to see the effect, and was disappointed to find that her target was unscathed.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Worse, others arrived from the same direction as the mage, and she recognized the motions and chants that they were preparing as the beginnings of magic spells. She’d used up almost a quarter of her mana, and there was little chance that she’d be able to take down all of these new attackers.

“We have to run, Grant,” Jessica said. “We’re outnumbered and I can’t hold them off--”

“What are you idiots doing?” a voice called out. “You fools are on the same side!”

Nora stepped out of the guild hall and gave the newly arrived mages a stern look, which she shared with Jessica as well.

“They blew up one of Tom’s minotaurs,” Jessica objected.

“The monsters are in the city square!” the mage exclaimed. “Of course I attacked! If those things go on a rampage, there could be dozens of deaths!”

“You idiot!” Jessica exclaimed. “Tom Controls monsters! He spawned it in his own defense! When you attacked it I thought you were one of the assassins!”

“What? No, Master Ubo sent us to help!” the mage argued.

“So the first thing you do is blow up one of the defenders! You idiot!”

The mage who had attacked without asking questions was about to say something else when one of his companions who had just caught up put a hand on his shoulder and said something. The mage frowned, then bowed apologetically. “Forgive me, Sorceress. I acted rashly.”

“I’m not the one that you cooked into roast beef! Apologize to the minotaur, not me!” she exclaimed.

The surviving minotaur bellowed at the mage, and he backed off. “My, uh, my apologies.”

“Is anyone a healer?” Grant asked. “We need a healer as soon as possible. The bleeding has mostly stopped, but I don’t know if that’s because the wound has closed off or if he’s running out of blood.”

“I’m a healer,” a young woman, one of the arrivals from the mage’s college said, stepping forward.

Someone from the audience charged at her with a knife, but another mage cast a spell on him and he collapsed to the ground unconscious. With the second mage escorting her, she arrived at Tom’s side and began ministering to his wounds, the minotaurs showing enough intelligence to let them through.

The melee in the audience was swiftly dealt with by the mages, who resolved the situation simply by casting Sleep on anyone who was still fighting. Jessica waited impatiently as close to Tom as the surviving minotaurs would allow her to get; why they allowed the healer through but not her she couldn’t guess.

“What level is the boy?” The healer asked.

“I believe he’s level thirty-nine,” Grant answered. “He said he was down to a quarter of his health when he lost consciousness.”

“The system’s estimations are not always entirely accurate. One does not necessarily die at zero health,” the healer said. “The boy is strong. My magic has stopped the bleeding and sealed the wounds. He should survive.”

Jessica let out a sigh of relief.

Moments later, the city guard arrived. The unconscious crowd members were hauled off to the dungeons for questioning, as was a morose Toth, who still had Tom’s blood on his hands. Anaxis arrived at this point, but was able to contribute little. A stretcher was produced for Tom. Akira, Jessica, Grant and Anaxis carried him into his office in the Guild Hall, where guards were posted at the doors and the healer continued to see to Tom’s injuries.

Tom had lost quite a bit of blood, but he had gotten the attentions of a healer quite quickly in the scheme of things, and had a relatively high level. Between the healing magic and the natural recuperative powers from being almost level forty, the healer was confident that Tom would survive.

~~~~~~

King Fenard returned to the capital quickly after the event and spent the next two weeks putting out fires. It was hard to say whether or not the attackers were successful. They had killed six of their targets and caused a massive outbreak of fear and distrust in his city. The most important targets had all survived, including Fenard himself, Tom Weaver, and the other leaders of the Adventurer’s Guild and Mage’s School. A number of merchants and other officials had been caught unawares, however.

One of the heroes from Earth was instrumental in the aftermath. Nora Simmons, whom Fenard had never heard of before, revealed her class to be the elusive Mind Mage, and she was able to quickly separate out the conspirators from those who had simply gotten arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The conspirators weren’t done causing mayhem simply because they were behind bars, and they answered all of their interrogations with lies, flinging accusations at innocent people and trying to extend the damage their attacks had caused by undermining pillars of the community with accusations of treason. Nora Simmons cut through all of that.

However, the woman had her own sense of ethics, and while she was quick to identify the innocent people who had been caught up in the maelstrom, she refused to participate in the more vigorous interrogations. Or to use her powers on anyone who had been tortured.

Fenard thought at first that the woman was rather over idealistic. But then, when he was informed that her powers caused her to share some of the pain of others, he changed his mind. Regardless, he quickly came to rely on her.

Of course, he never did meet her face to face, but she screened all of his guards, and those that he sent to Weaver Estate to watch over the convalescing Tom. A few were promoted on her advice. A few were stripped of rank or ejected from the guard entirely based on her word. She refused to reveal what prompted those latter instances, except to say that they had nothing to do with the conspiracy.

Once the initial investigation came to a conclusion, the outcome was undeniable. They got the answers they were expecting from the leaders of the conspiracy. While most of the would-be-assassins and participants in the resulting mayhem were local, the instigators were from Velund. Those who were captured admitted under questioning that the orders had come from Galya herself.

With a heavy heart, Fenard declared war on Velund.

And then he began signing death warrants for the conspirators. The headsman would be busy in the coming days.