Cousin?

Bullshit.

"All right, Brenna," I said calmly, ignoring the implications of her words for now. "Step away from the box."

"Or what?" She planted her hands on her hips and pouted. "Are you gonna to try to spank me, cuz?" She giggled. "Bring it on. Hecate!"

Hecate - definitely the dark catgirl's name - lunged forward at Athena. Their swords met with a ringing clash and they were at it again, swords whirling and whistling through the air. Athena had more room to move now, and it was quickly obvious that she had the advantage of reach and strength. But Hecate, I think she was an Elevated panther, was faster. They were surprisingly evenly matched.

Artemis circled to the right, trying to get a clear line of attack.

"I admit, I was surprised to find out you had two familiars," Brenna said, shedding her cloak to reveal a tight black dress made of black leather, velvet and lace with artfully ripped skirts under a calf-length black canvas coat. "I suppose I should look into getting a second one myself."

Without warning, she flung a bolt of fire at me. This time I was ready for her, and it splashed harmlessly against the translucent blue shield of energy I raised before my outstretched left hand.

"Fire?" I asked incredulously. "In here?"

"I don't care about the train or its passengers," Brenna replied with a negligent shrug. "Only about this chest and its contents. That was a very nice shield, by the way."

"Thanks." Before she could move, I sent Anima coursing down my staff and a bolt of blue-white lightning licked across the mostly empty baggage car towards her. She lifted her left hand and with a gesture nearly identical to mine caught and dispersed the lightning on a circular shield of shadowy energy.

"Lightning," she said in a bored tone of voice. "How very responsible of you." Another bolt of fire flickered to life in front of her hand and whipped down the length of the car towards me.

I intercepted this one with a sphere of water, resulting in a billowing cloud of steam that obscured the space between us somewhat, and sent a matching bolt of fire back towards her. It sped through the steam with a hiss. Rather than deflecting or stopping it, she caught it in her hands - actually just reached out and gathered the fire to her like she was catching a ball - and bounced it from hand to hand. "What happened to being responsible in your spellcasting? I could use this fire to ignite the car."

"I rather figured you'd be able to stop it," I replied dryly, thinking fast. "And you won't do that as long as you're in the car."

She smiled, and something about the smile made me shiver. Then, without a word, she caught the fire in her right hand and tossed it negligently to the side. It struck the wall and curtains to one side of a window. The curtain immediately caught fire and the wall started to smolder.

"Or maybe you will," I said, shocked. She really was crazy.

Through all of this, Athena and Hecate exchanged blows. The ringing of their swords filled the train car and made my ears hurt. Every time it looked like Athena was about to get the upper hand, Hecate would pull out a new acrobatic trick to evade the blow. Every time Hecate drove Athena back, Artemis was right there, claws and fangs flashing. It was Artemis's claws who drew first blood, making Hecate howl in fury and redouble her attacks.

"Bother," Brenna said in annoyance. "I don't have time for this nonsense." She made a twirling motion with both hands in front of her, gathering fresh fire into a sphere before flinging it towards me.

This was obviously a more powerful spell. Possibly even explosive. I took a chance and created another glowing shield of force, angling it towards the already burning window. With a weird crackling noise, the fireball deflected away from me and crashed through the window. A moment later there was a flash and a bang, and all of the windows on that side of the car shattered inwards as the car itself rocked on its wheels.

"You're insane!" I blurted in surprise.

She grinned. "Possibly. Fun, isn't it?"

By way of response, I threw another bolt of lightning towards her. As she dispersed the energy on another shield, I followed the lightning with a blast of pure force. But she either sensed it or saw the rippling in the air that marked its passing and moved to one side. My force blast instead blew open the door behind her instead. She waggled her eyebrows at me comically and bent to pick up the chest.

"Bugger!" I spat, and filled the door with a field of invisible force just in time for her to bounce off it after scooping up the chest.

"So eager to fight!" She exclaimed, giggling as she turned to me again. "Have you been spoiling for someone to test your skills against, cuz?"

"Why do you keep calling me that?" I asked angrily. We were evenly matched in skill when it came to throwing and deflecting basic combat spells, though the way she’d caught my firebolt…that was something I’d never managed. It was time to see how creative she was. So I cast another spell, conjuring loops of rope that coiled on the floor around her feet, entangling them and locking her in place until she could get clear of them.

"Because that's what you are!" She laughed, seemingly unperturbed. "What a delightful spell, I'll have to try that one. Have you seen this one?" She hissed something in Latin, and the ropes transfigured into a writhing mass of snakes, which turned and started towards me.

Cobras, I realized after a moment. Lovely.

Artemis beat me to the punch, wading into the mass of snakes, paws slapping and jaws biting. In moments, she had dispatched every last one of them; the spell had been so focused on me that the magical snakes hadn't even recognized the danger to them.

Brenna pouted. "That's not fair!"

"Fair?" I asked incredulously. "Really?"

She shrugged. "I need to get another panther, I suppose. You've got two familiars, I only have the one."

I stared at her blankly, honestly not sure what to make of her. Finally, I settled on simply saying, "How about this? I'll drop that forcefield if you walk away without the chest."

Athena and Hecate, who had been rapidly exchanging clashing blows which Brenna and I had been speaking over, leaped apart and stood staring at one another over a space of about ten feet. The resulting silence - except for the normal sounds of a train in motion and the crackle of flames - was like a physical pressure on my ears.

After a long moment, Brenna shook her head. "I can't do that, cuz. I need what's inside it."

"You can't have it," I replied flatly, drawing up more Anima for another spell. But I was at a disadvantage while I held the shield keeping the door blocked in place, and from the grin on her face she knew it. Casting the entangling ropes spell had been a strain while holding the shield in place...I wasn't sure I could do it again, or completely block a spell if she sent another one at me.

"Certainly I can." She snapped a word and a tightly controlled blast of force struck me on the hip before I could block it. The blow spun me off balance, causing two things to happen: First, she had a clear moment in which to turn and head for the door again as she held off a snarling Artemis with a gout of flame from her free hand. Second, I lost enough of my concentration for the force spell blocking the door to fail.

She went through it, calling over her shoulder, "Hecate, let's go!"

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The Elevated panther caught Athena's shieldblade between her two curved short swords and twisted hard. Athena, who had been pressing forward in a thrusting move, ended up driving the chisel tip of her blade into the wall of the baggage car, giving Hecate plenty of time to break off and follow her mistress.

With a snarl, Athena pulled the blade free and went through the door right behind Artemis and barely two steps ahead of me. The next car towards the back of the train turned out to be a half-empty passenger car, and people were already on their feet in alarm as Brenna and Hecate made their way towards the back of it. A few people moved out into the aisle in front of us, only to jump out of the way again as Artemis practically roared at them.

Ahead of us, Brenna blew the back door off the car with a force blast and made to go through it.

<> I snapped. As my familiars dropped to the floor, I said a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening in the hopes that the next car back might be empty. At the same time, I released the Anima I'd drawn up and thrust my staff towards the retreating forms.

Early in my spellcasting lessons, Master Tremane - Jonathan, I need to get used to calling him Jonathan - had impressed on me the importance of learning to mix elements in combat spells. A blast of wind could stop someone in their tracks. A burst of force could knock someone down. A blast of wind combined with a burst of force could lift someone off their feet and knock them a good twenty or thirty feet back for half the amount of effort that doing the same thing with pure force or pure wind would take.

The bolt of lightning that left my staff was effectively wrapped around a lance of invisible force. My timing was perfect - the conjoined spell struck Brenna squarely in the back as she jumped across the small gap between the cars. I heard her cry out in surprise and pain as her body smashed through the door into the next car with a crash. Hecate, caught by the edge of the lightning, cried out and crashed into the car wall beside the door, then dropped to her knees, dazed.

Artemis and Athena were on their feet - or paws - in an instant and charging towards the back of the car. Before we got there, Hecate had regained her feet - however unsteadily - and disappeared into the next car.

As we passed through the door into the next car, I took in three things. First, Hecate was helping a slightly singed and dazed Brenna to her feet almost halfway towards the back of the car. Second, Brenna was fumbling an obsidian-bladed knife with a leather-wrapped handle out of the now-open chest. Third, and most importantly, the car was completely empty except for us.

Artemis got there first, leaping and hitting them like a cannonball, knocking them apart and landing beyond them. Athena arrived right after her, flipping her shieldblade around and bouncing the squared-off side of the blade off Hecate's head like a cricket bat, sending the Elevated panther reeling into the empty seats to her right.

But Brenna recovered before I cast another lightning bolt. Maybe it's because I was getting tired already, but Brenna shrugged it off without a sound, simply taking it and shaking herself with a grunt. Maybe she was just more used to pain than I was.

Whatever the reason, she slashed out at Artemis with the knife as Artemis jumped back from her, catching my familiar across one shoulder and leaving a thin ribbon of red that began leaking blood as Artemis yowled in pain. Then Brenna turned towards me, pointed the dagger at me and hissed something sibilant in Latin. The spell she was casting seemed to make the air shiver and grow heavy somehow as a streamer of darkness began to wind its way out of the dagger. It slowly coalesced, taking the form of a huge smoky-black serpent. It was easily half the length of the car and a foot around as it dropped to the floor silently, its tail whipping around and catching Athena in the side hard enough to send her sword spinning from her hand as she slammed into the wall opposite Hecate with a cry of pain.

"Athena!" I cried out as Artemis yowled her protest from the other side of Brenna.

Brenna laughed. It was an unsettling, almost unhinged but still full-throated sound. There was an unholy joy in it that raised the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck. "Now THAT is power!" She crowed happily. "Kill her!" She called to the snake.

It turned its eyes towards me and began to move forward. On the other side of it, I saw Hecate rise and move to Brenna as Artemis slipped out of sight between two rows of seats behind them.

My head, side and back ached and the pain from my familiars was a dull throbbing in the back of my mind. A bloody great snake made of smoky but somehow solid darkness was bearing down on me, and my cracked mirror-image was still giggling madly over the obsidian-bladed knife she was holding above her head in triumph.

Bugger. It was time to take off the kid gloves. At least the car was empty. Wizard MacMullan had said he thought fire was the proper element to destroy this dagger. After all, nothing dispels shadows better than fire. And one good conjuration deserved another.

It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to show off a little and prove that I was this crazy young woman's equal even without a special focus. Honest. I had only the vaguest idea of how to safely destroy the ritual dagger Brenna now held. But I knew she couldn't be allowed to keep it and, most importantly, I couldn't trust her not to try casting some other horrible spell if I simply disarmed her.

I shifted my staff to my left hand, raised my right above my head, and drew in Anima through my staff. I did it as quickly as I could, gathering and shaping it in my mind.

"Éan ar thine!" I cried, my voice echoing a bit with the force of the spell I was constructing. A ball of rolling fire exploded to life above my up-stretched right hand, growing by the moment and suddenly unfurling into a fiery bird. Its beak was sharp and curved, its talons wicked, its wings and tail feathers graceful.

The conjured phoenix spread its wings as I threw it forward, trailing the flames it was made of behind it. Its wingspan was wide enough to leave burned trails on either side of the car and shatter the windows its wings brushed against, and its cry was a shriek of fierce anger. The phoenix sliced through the serpent as if it weren't there, scattering the shadows it was made of with seemingly no effort at all and continued on towards its caster.

My conjured phoenix descended on it, wrapped its talons around her arm and hand, and bit into the dagger. The ensuing explosion was blinding, deafening and flattened me against the wall at the front of the car.

When I opened my eyes again, I was cradled in Athena's arms. She, in turn, was leaning against the wall that had stopped my unintentional flight so abruptly. "Mistress?" She asked quietly.

I groaned, "Ow."

She relaxed and let her head drop back against the wall as Artemis slunk out of the seats beside us and dropped her head on my lap. The wound on her shoulder was still bleeding sluggishly.

I raised my head...and discovered that the back third of the car had been blown open to the sky. The roof and walls were simply gone, splintered edges showing where the explosion had sheared them away. The floor was scorched, the carpeting still smoldering a bit, and the very tail end of the car was completely missing. I could see the last two cars falling behind us in the distance. The nearest one was smoking, so I imagined the explosion had caught a piece of that one as well.

The floor, thankfully, appeared to be intact. I thought I saw the dagger lying on the scorched floor near the end of the car, but from where I lay against Athena I could see no sign of Brenna or Hecate.

I rose stiffly, my whole body aching and sore. A quick glance showed me that both Athena and I were intact and bleeding from dozens of tiny injuries - probably shrapnel from the blast. But nothing serious enough to need immediate attention.

With a little groan, I dragged myself down the length of the car, limping a bit. My hip, where Brenna's force spell had hit me, felt bruised and stiff. It took me a few moments to get there, but finally I looked down at the remains of the dagger; a fire-blackened hilt with the splintered remains of the obsidian blade emerging from it. I sensed no energy at all in it, which was good enough for me. It would never be of use to anyone ever again. I scooped up the remains and dropped them in a pocket of my coat.

I looked around as Athena came to stand beside me. "Brenna? Hecate?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure, Mistress," she said quietly. "The blast knocked me out for a few minutes too. You were out a bit longer. They were both gone before I woke up."

<> Artemis said quietly. <>

My brain, still a bit scrambled, took a moment to appreciate how her grammar was improving.

"Thanks, pet." I sighed. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again."

I walked back to the front of the car and dropped into one of the remaining seats there. Athena dropped into the one beside me a moment later, her sword held in one hand, my staff in the other. Artemis dropped her chin onto my knee and sighed.

"Not a complete failure," I said finally. "She didn't get away with the dagger."

"Very true, Mistress." Athena was silent for a moment. "Why was she calling you 'cousin'?"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure, pet. I suppose it's possible...I know nothing about my father, after all."

<> Artemis said stoutly.

Athena and I exchanged a look. We'd both seen the resemblance between Brenna and myself.

<> Artemis added quietly. <>

I smiled tiredly and ruffled her ears gently.

One of the train's security guards finally arrived, peering through the shattered door with a Magearm pistol in hand. Probably a stunner. "Mage Kinnear?" he asked warily.

I raised my hand wearily. "Present."

His lips quirked into a smile for a brief second, then his serious expression returned in full force. "I have instructions to aid you and your familiars. Where's your assailant?"

I gestured over my shoulder with my thumb. "In the next car, I think."

He looked past us, then back down to me. "There...is no next car anymore, ma'am."

I smiled faintly. "Then you can help by bringing us a first aid kit."

"Yes, ma'am."

We must have looked quite a sight getting off the train in London two hours later: Battered and bruised, clothes singed and smelling of smoke, a few visible bandages and sticking plasters on Athena and me, and all three of us moving stiffly and gingerly. Hollis, bless his heart, was waiting with a cab and met us on the platform.

"Alys?" He asked in surprise. "What happened?"

"We had a bit of trouble," I said. "I'll tell you on the way home."