Mage Dissolution Page 3

“You think this is the first time I’ve had a gun pointed at me?” I enquired. My response and the grin plastered across my face must have unnerved him as he glanced nervously about and was obviously reassessing the odds.

  “When you’re ready.” I offered.

  “Place your hands on your head!” one of the soldiers behind me ordered in gruff German.

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” I casually replied to the soldier without taking my attention away from the other Mage.

  “You’re crazy!” the other Mage said, “Your shield won’t last long against this!”

  “It’ll last long enough.” I said as I looked over the soldiers surrounding me. They clearly had no doubts, they wanted to do this, which meant that they had been horribly unprepared for the consequences of what they were about to attempt. I strengthened my shield around myself, which seemed to signal to my opposite that it was time to begin.

  “Fire!” The Mage ordered gruffly. I could tell from his tone that he now wasn’t so sure he was doing the right thing. I felt the sharp staccato of gunfire bounce off my shield. I wasn’t concerned though, I barely even noticed it through the power I was pouring into my defence. The noise the shots were making against my shield was incredible. They obviously weren’t worried about the local police interfering or investigating the noise. I waited, as they piled more bullets against my powers.

  “You waste your ammunition, “I said as they ran through their first clip of ammo.

  I had hoped that they’d get the hint that gunfire wasn’t going to win this fight, but this didn’t seem to do the trick. They hurriedly reloaded. My opponent was looking at me in horror, obviously amazed that I was able to absorb such a punishment. What he didn’t know was I had been subject to this kind of abuse before. About two years ago I had been involved in an altercation in my home city of Melbourne. Police and swat teams had shot at me with very similar rifles. It hadn’t been a problem then and it wasn’t a problem now.

  Actually that wasn’t quite right – It wasn’t a problem just yet. My opponent was right about one thing – my shield couldn’t hold forever. I could feel myself weakening and the impacts from the bullets getting closer and closer to pain. My shielding skills were probably my most advanced techniques. I could now raise a shield more powerful than even Renee who had been my teacher at one point. Every time I was forced into a scenario where I was required to utilise my powers past what I had considered to be my limits, I found that the magic adapted, and the next time I used those techniques they were greatly enhanced.

  The more magic I used, the more powerful I became. The counter balance to that was, the more magic I used the more I craved to use. It wasn’t just a psychological need, I went through actual withdrawal symptoms if I didn’t use for a few days. It was like a drug. A drug I could use every time I flexed my fingers.

  I was beginning to feel the bullets now. They impacted against me like tiny little pin pricks of pain. I’d have to do something soon.

  The look of shock and disbelief on the Mage’s face as he saw the amount of gunfire that my shield was taking made him very easy to predict. I could tell the moment that he had determined that he should intervene. It was obvious from his facial features. I didn’t need to see the tell-tale rise of Mana down his arms as he formed the telekinetic thread.

  I leapt into the air over his thread and launched an attack of my own. With trained precision the soldiers altered their shots to follow me. The gunfire ricocheted off my shield as the soldiers struggled to keep pace with me. My attack smacked down on my opponent and sent him stumbling into the middle of the ring of soldiers.

  My opponent shrieked as my strike impacted with his shield. The combined strength of the ricocheted gunfire and my strike penetrated his shield. He twitched several times and red blotches appeared on his chest. Weak idiot, I’d all but guaranteed him what would happen should he choose to stand against me. One of the soldiers, obviously the leader, called out and gunfire ceased.

  “Take your wounded and leave while you can,” I grunted gesturing towards the fallen Mage.

  “I cannot do that!” he replied in crisp military German.

  “It will mean your deaths if you don’t.”

  “I cannot do that!” he repeated, sticking to his rhetoric. You almost had to admire the stupidity of it.

  “Your call,” I shrugged as I raised the thread that would end his life. I didn’t have much choice here, even if I pulled my strike, a Mana thread at this range would still probably be fatal to someone without protection. But I never got the chance to launch my attack.

  A loud bang and an explosion of white light rocked through my shield. The pain tore through my brain like a needle through my vision and I gasped and threw my hands over my eyes.

  I fell back onto my side and attempted to scurry away, my shield fell and I waited for the inevitable gunfire that would finish me. I had been lured into a trap. One of the other Mages must have hit me with something while I was distracted, perhaps the Mage I thought I’d taken out as he’d jumped over the wall. I had no idea what he’d hit me with though, it must have been powerful to get through my shield. If I wasn’t in so much pain I would have shouted out my rage. It was the height of stupidity that I had allowed this to happen. My fury rose to compete with my pain as my mind struggled to regain the necessary control to utilise my powers.

  My eyes were blinded by the imprint of the light and a ringing resounded in my ears. I could hear, but everything sounded like it was coming from a long way away. I couldn’t hear gunfire, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t about to.

  I shook my head to clear it. I needed to see! My desperation lent me strength and allowed me the necessary power to throw off a quick Scry spell. What I saw surprised me.

  The soldiers were all in varied states similar to mine. Only the captain of the group remained standing and he was calmly advancing on me. He appeared to have been yelling something, but I couldn’t hear it. He looked pissed off and was pulling out a side arm from his holster.

  I quickly attempted a shield spell, but the effort of that along with the Scry spell was too much. I could barely maintain the focus for the Scry, and only the deep seated terror of not being able to see allowed me to summon the necessary strength for that, a shield was definitely beyond my skills right now.

  I raised a thread to knock the gun from his hand and hoped that I’d be able to get out of there before his comrades came around properly. It was probably a moot issue anyway, as the Mage who had brought me down would probably finish me off soon anyway.

  I latched a thread onto the gun and pulled, but it didn’t move, I was simply too weak. The captain grunted at the effort of retaining his weapon and stood over me.

  This was it.

  “You should have surrendered.” He sneered.

  “I couldn’t do that.” I gasped in pain as the motion of my jaw moving sent pain rocketing through my skull. I could almost make out the Mana signature of the Mage who had finished me, they were coming from some distance away, but they were moving quickly. I couldn’t quite see them properly without moving the Scry, but they were powerful. No wonder I had fallen to them.

  “You shouldn’t have come alone.” The soldier grunted, as he flicked his finger across the pistol to remove the safety.

  The Mage became visible to my Scry, and they were indeed powerful. There was no shame in falling to them. I breathed out. It was over.

  “Who says I was alone?” I whispered.

  The captain’s face screwed up in confusion at my statement. His confusion turned to shock as the pistol was rocketed from his hand. Unfortunately, he squeezed his finger during the attack and a round went off.

  I caught the bullet on the left cheek. All in all I was pretty lucky actually. If the gun had not been moved it would have been an execution shot straight to the centre of my forehead – game over.

  As it was a small spray of blood covered my vision and I fell back again in time to see the captain’s body shudder
as an impact sent him flying across the clearing. He landed with a sickening thump against the far wall, not far from where one of the Mages had fallen.

  The newcomer casually walked past several soldiers who were attempting to recover their weapons. They didn’t seem at all concerned by the soldiers. This wasn’t overly surprising as they were protected by a powerful shield. The interloper leaned down over me and smiled.

  “Twitch.”

  “Renee” I whispered gratefully. I hadn’t seen Renee in about four months. I didn’t even know she was in Berlin.

  “You got yourself into some trouble this time,” she commented as she pulled me to my feet. She extended her shield to surround me. She needn’t have worried though as none of the soldiers who had regained their weapons looked interested in pursuing the fight. One soldier actively threw his weapon to the ground and backed away slowly.

  “I always seem to find the best trouble,” I grinned as Renee looped one of my arms over her shoulders. I hurt everywhere.

  “We should go,” she muttered. “You’re in no condition to continue this.”

  “I agree.”

  The soldiers seemed to agree too, at least as far as I could tell.

  * * * * * *

  “What the hell hit me?” I grumbled as I probed my damaged cheek.

  It was several hours after the fight and Renee and I had retreated to her hotel room. I still had a soft ringing in my ears, but my vision had returned and was able to function relatively normally. I really didn’t want to have to go to hospital. That would be really inconvenient. I’d been fortunate in the past that I’d never been seriously injured enough that I required medical attention. However it was obvious from today’s effort that my opponents were escalating things.

  “A Flash-Bang,” Renee replied.

  “Flash bang?”

  “Yeah, a grenade that sets off bright light and noise, used to disable combatants,” She dabbed antiseptic on my cheek. “One of the soldiers threw it at you.”

  “Oh, that explains why my shield didn’t help.” Shields don’t stop light or sound. They only stopped physical or mana based attacks. This was worth considering. I wondered if I would be able to alter my shield to protect me from this in the future?

  “Though it probably affected you far less than it did the soldiers, it was pretty funny to see actually. He threw it and pretty much everyone fell down. I get the impression they’re not supposed to be used at that close range. ”

  “Probably not, no,” I smiled wryly, “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself though.”

  “If you weren’t so busy show boating, it wouldn’t have happened,” Renee replied crisply as she finished patching me up. “Well, it’s not pretty, but it will do the trick and you do seem to heal quick. I think you’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks”

  “Don’t mention it,” She smiled and kissed me on the forehead, “I’m glad you’re okay. You’re getting pretty scratched up. You’re not so much of a pretty boy anymore.”

  “Oh? You’re going to trade me in for a younger model? Someone less banged up?” I tentatively probed the wound on my face.

  “Oh, definitely,” Renee smirked. “I like them young and pretty.”

  “I’m sorry to be such a disappointment,” I said playfully.

  Renee wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in close. She was obviously through playing. I hadn’t seen her in such a long time and if truth were told I had missed her horribly. I had no idea what the ‘status’ of our relationship was and to be honest I was a little scared to ask at this point.

  Every time I broached the subject Renee would wave me off. I knew that she loved me, but I was wondering if that was enough. Is it ever enough? I knew I loved her, but that didn’t stop me from gallivanting around the world trying to kill her grandfather and rescue my cousin.

  Was love enough for me? I had my doubts. Something else always got in the way. Renee pulled me down onto the bed, her legs wrapped around me and rolled me over onto my back. Her eyes blazed with need as she loomed over me and pulled her blouse over her head. I kissed her stomach as she arched her back against me, grinding herself into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and felt her lean back against me. I playfully peppered a trail of kisses across the curvature of her stomach until I reached her neck. She growled as my hands played across her back and undid the clasp to her bra, letting it fall free. My hands slid down her back grasping her buttocks as I rolled myself forward on top of her. She writhed beneath me, my weight pressing down onto her. I could see the annoyance flash across her face as I assumed a dominant position. I knew she didn’t like that. Several kisses across the arch of her neck stilled her complaints. She wrapped her arms around me and held me against her. With her trademark devilish smile her hands reached down for the clasp of my belt. I leaned back to allow her access and with a deft movement she launched herself forward, pushing me onto my back.

  I couldn’t help but grin at the triumphant expression on her face as she leaned into me and kissed me deeply while her fingers finally unclasped my belt buckle.

  Our lovemaking wasn’t hurried. We took all the time in the world. All our cares and the concerns were brushed away. For one shining moment we were simply two people in love, two people in the act of love. My injuries were forgotten in the heat of our passion and my doubts and fears were washed away. I wasn’t a Mage anymore; she wasn’t gifted. I was a man and she a woman. All else was foam on the waves.

  When we were done, Renee lay in my arms, her breathing slowly returned to normal. As her breathing slowed the real world intruded. I knew that this brief respite, however pleasant it was, was merely a diversion. As Renee rose the flow of Mana across her body reminded me that there was no escape from who we are and what we are capable of. We were Mages, we weren’t meant to have a normal life.

  Seeing the tell-tale flare of a Mana particle on my lover’s naked hip made my worries and doubts return.

  The sound of Renee in the shower filtered through the room and I briefly thought about joining her, but that would simply lead to more lovemaking and I wasn’t in the mood anymore. The Mana particle on her hip bothered me more than I cared to admit. In the split second that I had seen it my body had reacted with caution. My initial reaction had been to a raise a shield. It was horrifying. The act of lovemaking is one of the most tender and vulnerable moments in the human experience and the Mana had taken all that from me. In that one moment my lover had become an enemy – someone to be feared, to protect myself from. It was sick. It was truly abhorrent. Had others of my kind managed to find true love in each other’s arms without the sense that their lover represented a threat? How can you truly love someone if your subconscious secretly thinks them a danger to you? Can any love overcome that?

  Renee returned to the bed and nestled in as I wrapped my arms around her. She seemed blissfully unaware of my earlier moment of panic. If she had sensed that something was wrong she gave no indication.

  “You realise I’m going to have to go after that damned accountant tomorrow. I can’t let this go.” I said. Renee stiffened in my arms.

  “I know,” she said softly after several seconds, “He’s going to be locked down in his offices pretty tight though, it’s going to be difficult for us to get to him”.

  “Us?”

  Renee hadn’t yet taken any active part in my obsession as she called it. This was definitely new.

  “My Grandfather is definitely out of the country and I’m not going to let you march in there and make a mess of things again.”

  “So you’re going to march in with me and help with the mess?” I teased gently.

  “Only if things go badly,” she replied primly, tucking a pillow under her head and pulling my arm more firmly across her body.

  “Trust me, they always go badly. Always.”

  I didn’t sleep for quite some time that night. I suspect that Renee didn’t either.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I grunted as I hit the ground at s
ome force. My knee gave way and forced me into a forward roll. I came back to my feet with force and rose in fury.

  “That was graceful,” Renee commented as she landed behind me elegantly.

  “Shuddap,” I grinned, “it was a long jump.”

  I glanced around nervously as I assessed our position. We were standing on the roof of one of the main accountancy firms in Berlin. I hadn’t wanted to do this. Assaulting a building in the CBD sector risked attracting unwanted attention, but I was sure that my quarry would be locked away inside. If we did this right we’d be in and out before anyone was the wiser, unless things went wrong.

  If things did go wrong, I’d have a suitably large audience for my screw up, but I could deal with that.

  After the events of yesterday I was sure that the accountant would be bunkered down in his offices. They wouldn’t be expecting us to assault a whole building to get what we came for. Fools! Truly they had underestimated my stupidity.

  We had just leapt from a larger building onto the top of this one. It had been quite a jump, but Renee was right. It had been nothing that I shouldn’t have been able to cope with. I was getting sloppy.

  A security camera swivelled to face us. I could only hope that no one was monitoring the security system right now and the camera movement had been automated. Either way it didn’t much matter as I turned and knocked the security camera from its mounting, sending it sliding across the roof. Renee shrugged and smashed in the door to the fire exit.

  “Seems funny, breaking into your own firm,” she said wryly.

  “Your own firm?”

  “I have been here before you know.”

  “What? On the roof?” I asked with mock innocence.

  Renee flashed me a cheeky grin as we both entered the fire escape. We were heading down to level seventeen. We were pretty sure that’s where he would be hiding out.

  “Explain to me again. Why we didn’t just teleport into the building?” I asked as we descended our fourth flight of stairs. The stairs were lined up in a very tight format, which didn’t allow us to simply soar down the centre of the column.