Wilder Mage (33 page)

His attention turned to following Tiarra, but the people in the fairway erupted into bedlam. Someone screamed and the frightened crowd tried to flee, running and falling in every direction.

Flames, lava-bright, hit his shield, curling around his body. If he had been unprepared, he would have been ablaze. His shield of air and water hissed, but sloughed the flames away. With a negligent flip of his fingers, Justus turned the Fire element in on itself and toward the scowling man on his right. The man’s grimace of concentration changed to one of fear as he quickly dropped the Fire element and stumbled back. Justus’s elements roared into life. The man’s body lifted with the invisible fingers of Air, and Justus threw his arm out like a pitcher in a softball game, spun his body around, and the man tumbled into the collapsed canvas tent in a confused heap with the other mage. He heard the groans over the noise from the screaming crowd.

Justus felt the gathered magic on the other side, another unfamiliar imprint of magic, and a blast of Air hit him hard. He turned into it and leaned into the pressure. The gale-force winds the adept generated split to either side of him, like the prow of a ship breaking through a rough sea.

Through it all, Justus could hear the cries of the stunned and frightened humans. Though the midway had been emptying rapidly, the blast of magic tumbled the remaining people to the side.

It left him standing alone in the middle of the street.

Justus held firm, and the screaming wind slipstreamed to either side of his shield. Even as he raked the whirlwind of energies into his palm, he felt the other mage—the familiar signature, the one he knew. Dayne’s element, Fire, joined the party.

Comparing the first adept’s use of the element was like comparing a lit match with an oil refinery fire. A very large oil refinery.

In the twisting energies, Air combined with Dayne’s Fire and formed a roiling cyclone, a blast furnace roaring around Justus. It sought a weak spot in his shield of Air and Water. The gathered energies battered against him. Heat grew until it scorched his uplifted arm. Blast furnace Air stirred with invisible fingers through his hair.

Dayne stood on his left, his chin tucked like a boxer, his hands extended in front of him, as if handing something to Justus. He saw no recognition in the intent eyes framed between Dayne’s fingers. They were cold, alien.

He set his teeth and tried to concentrate his elements, fearing to immolate Dayne if he turned the streams of Fire back on him as he did the other mage. But his choices were becoming limited. When Justus heard the sounds from the collapsed tent, the stirrings of the two mages, he knew time was against him now. Dayne’s command of Fire was enormous, nearly at Justus’s level of talent. With the adept using Air, Justus could feel the buffeting and heat. When the other two adepts joined them…

The energies Justus pulled from around him were more than he had ever tried, and the earth trembled with the scream of magic. He was out of time. To protect Dayne meant he would lose Sable. And probably his own life. The two mages staggered from the heap of canvas and began to gather their elements. Justus prepared to hurl his elements.

He stiffened when another mage gathered the Air and Earth elements. Through the swirling gouts of Air and Flame, a figure rushed Dayne, slamming into him. Dayne staggered and fell with Macy on top of him. Dayne’s Fire element disappeared.

Another Fire element erupted, weaker than Dayne’s talent. The Earth element made the gravel in the midway tremble, and the surface of the street began to rise under his feet.

But these adepts were not Dayne. And Justus was out of patience.

The clouds over Justus’s head boiled, the sky opened up, and Heaven came down.

Water, a massive deluge, poured onto the fairway, smothering Fire, throwing Air into small puffs of wind, and drowning Earth. For a while, there was nothing to see but the gray curtains of his elements together with Water.

Justus heard one of the mages choking and coughing. He gathered the man into a solid coat of Air and held him. The other two sputtered to his left, and Justus wrapped them as he did the first one. He bound them all together and, with a flick of his hand, sent the watery twist of Air into the distance. Far away.

He saw a human with a cell phone, another with a camera. With a negligent motion of his hand, sparks erupted from the cell and then from all around the street. He could smell the scent of ozone and carbon as people dropped their fried cameras and equipment. Justus spared some regret for those who may have sustained injury, but he heard the sirens in the distance and he had other concerns for the moment. He forgot the humans when his eyes fell on the two mages left on the fairway, Macy hunched over Dayne, cradling his head in her lap.

She held the hunter, murmuring, “Don’t think. Stay calm. Think of smooth waters.”

She looked up at Justus and held one finger in front of her lips when he started to speak. She shook her head, and he drew back from the fierceness of her gaze.

He stopped when he heard a whimper behind him.

A man groveled in the dirty water of the drowned street, and Justus barely recognized Wesley. The self-confidence had oozed away like the mud from the asphalt, his wet hair clung to his skull, and a thin stream of blood trickled from a cut over his eye. Wesley hazarded a glance over his slimy shoulder, and his eyes widened at Justus’s flat stare. For a moment, Wesley held still, like prey under the hard glare of a predator, but then he broke and scrabbled in the mud to flee. He gibbered, stumbled, and slid around a building on the fairway.

Justus turned away.

Without hope, he threw his senses outward and was not surprised when he did not feel Sable. He clenched his teeth until he was sure the enamel would crack.

Her essence was gone; he could not sense her.

Macy held Dayne mostly upright, moving away slowly, her arm around his waist. She looked back and jerked her head at Justus to follow them. He kept a ten-foot distance between him and the couple and followed them through the wet street.

The street was nearly empty. The strange procession of mages dodged the remaining people and emergency personnel. An EMT strode to the limping pair, asked a question, and Dayne shook his head, but did not speak. The emergency worker frowned, but allowed them to continue walking from the fairgrounds. Justus saw Dayne point and murmur something to Macy. She nodded and they turned to the open ground away from the houses and parking lot. Soon, they were on the edge of a field of eight-foot high corn stalks.

Justus trailed behind them.

“I gotta rest for a while,” Dayne said. His words slurred into another moan, and he dropped unceremoniously under an umbrella of corn.

He felt Macy reach for her element, and Air flattened an area around them the size of a fifteen-foot radius.

Incredibly, she huffed a soft laugh and glanced at Justus. “Crop circle,” she said. “Aliens are always the answer to everything.”

She looked back at Dayne, and her face cleared of any laughter. She shook her head and her mouth trembled. “It’s like needles being jammed into your head, into your ears and eyes. Fighting the compulsion.”

Macy suddenly whipped around to face Justus. “You had better be worth this.” She gestured her hand in a vague semi-circle. “All of this.”

She knelt beside Dayne, putting her arms around his bent shoulders as another groan slipped from his set mouth.

Maybe, Justus thought, he could do something. After all, the ward stone had shielded Sable. Maybe it would shield the hunter also. At least he could try.

Macy looked up when Justus stepped closer, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her look turned to concern when he started to reach for Dayne’s shoulder. She shook her head and opened her mouth.

Justus had no patience remaining for her or Dayne and gestured roughly in a cut-off motion. He focused on his ward stone and thought of a shield. Similar to the one he used with Sable.

His outstretched hand touched Dayne’s shoulder.

Lightning broke into his skull, and for a moment, the pain cut him like the device Tiarra had set off to find the potential adepts. Very similar, but not quite the same.

This was worse.

Aware he was lying on the ground, Justus didn’t know how he had gotten there. He didn’t remember falling when the pain struck him. He opened his eyes to Dayne’s flat stare, and two things struck him: the absence of pain in the mage’s face, and Justus was at Dayne’s mercy.

Without breaking eye contact, Justus levered himself into a sitting position, and Dayne watched his progress without expression. He was aware of Macy hovering between them. And the shield of Air she had woven between him and Dayne.

To protect whom, he wondered.

“Hurts like a son of a bitch, don’t it?”

Dayne’s voice was rough with remembered agony. Justus didn’t dare move his head. The throbbing headache was starting to subside, and blinking his eyes was bad enough. Nodding his head was beyond his capabilities.

Dayne tipped his head to one side. “You got quite a skill there, hiding from all of us. I am guessing it has to do with being unbonded to Tiarra.”

“Yes,” Justus said slowly. “Part of it.”

He tested his mouth, using his tongue to see if any teeth were cracked. He tasted blood, but no broken teeth.

Dayne grunted and rolled to his feet. He stared down at him, and Justus felt his jaw tighten.

Dayne glanced at Macy. “You can release the shield. It’s okay.”

The other mage held out his hand to him. Justus hesitated briefly, and the man grinned suddenly. “No, I don’t feel any needles in my head right now. Don’t worry.”

Justus took his hand and allowed the hunter to pull him gingerly erect. He fisted his hands and held them at his side when Dayne looked at him curiously.

Macy stood by Dayne, laying one hand on his arm. “Did I hear Tiarra’s orders right? Before she…left with Sable?”

“She said she didn’t need him anymore.” Dayne gestured at Justus.

“She has Sable, and if she can turn her, fire up her emotions, she will have the assistant she needs,” Justus said.

“For what reason?”

“For power, I suppose,” Justus said.

Macy frowned. “She is crazy, you know.”

“No, she isn’t.” Dayne shook his head.

“Actually, yeah, she is,” Justus said.

Dayne and Macy turned to Justus, startled. He looked up at the evening sky and sighed. Where would Tiarra take her, and how long did he have? Somehow, he didn’t think Sable would give in very easily.

He brushed off his jeans and gestured to the night sky. “We’d better get back, round up our vehicles. What about your helpers?”

He started walking through the tall corn with the hunters following him.

“What? Oh, those thugs? I don’t know. How did you leave ’em? I wasn’t exactly paying attention at the tail end of our party.”

Justus shrugged his way through the itchy corn. “They should be okay. I wasn’t looking to kill anyone.”

He heard Dayne guff a laugh, but after that, the hunter was silent until they reached the edge of the field.

“I rode with them, so I don’t have a car,” Dayne said.

Justus didn’t answer, but started to lead the way to the parking lot, then stopped. “Oh, crap,” he said. “Shit, I left my car in the way. I bet they towed it to hell and gone.”

Macy slipped around them. “I’ll check. You guys stay here. If I have to use magic, it won’t trace back to either of you,” she said. Macy walked away without waiting for an answer. Soon, they were alone in the brush.

Justus cleared his throat. “She’s quite a woman, your wife.”

“I don’t think I could live without her.”

“If it wasn’t for her…” Justus trailed off. He swallowed. “She is special.”

They were silent.

“Sorry, by the way,” Dayne said.

“You didn’t quite kill me. Either time.”

“It’s my job. What can I say,” Dayne said. He stirred.

“I can feel Macy’s signature,” Justus said. “She isn’t very far away.”

Dayne looked at him, his brow furrowed. “You feel adepts and can shield them. Like me and Sable?”

Justus nodded, and Dayne didn’t speak for a minute.

“Why do you say Tiarra is nuts?” Dayne asked quietly.

Justus looked at the distant horizon with unseeing eyes as he thought about his answer and the pain it always brought him. It was ancient history, or should be, but the memory always did this to him. Justus sucked in a breath and again felt for Macy. She was getting closer, probably in a vehicle, by the speed she was traveling.

Justus looked at Dayne’s concerned face and figured it was time to trust someone.

“She was forced into her magic. Raped.”

Whatever the Imperator expected, it wasn’t that. Maybe a guess or a theory. Maybe even an opinion, but not that truth. His eyes widened and mouth dropped open.

“How do you…how do you know?” said Dayne.

“I felt it. Not when it happened, but after. And she kinda told me.”

“Told you.” Now his face held shock. Dayne gaped. “If you were that close, you must have…”

He stopped.

“But you aren’t bonded,” Dayne said.

“No, she didn’t know what I was until afterward.” Justus laughed harshly. “
I
didn’t know what I was until afterward. I was seventeen, and it was my first time. And here was this gorgeous woman, who seemed willing. It was only after…” He didn’t finish.

“Wow,” Dayne said. “Hell of a thing. Bet you were surprised. Hell, I’ll bet
she
was surprised.”

“She tried to bond me then, but I was shielded and didn’t even know it. She reached out to me, and I instinctively used Air to push her aside and then literally flew out of there and left her screaming.”

The memory came back to him, the way his eyes stung as the sweat dripped into them. And her words that seemed to tear from her throat and into his brain.

“Don’t you know what you can do?”

Justus shied from the memory and concentrated on the approach of Macy as she drove up to them. Dayne wasn’t looking at his wife. His contemplative expression was on Justus.