I came out of the trees and started up a grassy slope, wind blowing in my hair, the overcast sky above. To my left, I could see the bright lights of the White Rose estate. These grounds felt like the size of a national park, but it meant that I had more space to hide, and that was to my advantage, not theirs. For a second I thought that I’d lost them.
Then I heard the arrh-arrh-arrh sound from behind me, followed by the sound of crashing vegetation. It was close—too close. I ducked behind a bush, blending into the shadows and looking back down the slope.
A shape moved in the darkness under the trees. It looked something like a huge dog, but the proportions were wrong, the shoulders too large. Its lines were solid light in the futures: a construct. There were men with it, though, catching up fast, and they weren’t constructs. As I watched, the shape came out onto the slope and started trotting uphill, head low to the ground, heading straight towards my hiding place.
I calculated quickly. The thing was faster than me; if I kept going, it’d run me down. Maybe I could take it out and lose the men . . . but the light beams of more torches were appearing below . . .
No other choice. Silently, I drew out my dispel focus. I’d only have one shot at this.
The construct was still closing in. It had slowed down, and as it reached a distance of thirty feet from the bush it stopped. Shit. My dispel focus was a touch-range weapon. I held still.
The men were climbing the hillside, closing in on my position. The wolf construct was holding still. Three of them caught up, then five, then six. More were coming. “. . . in there?” I heard one say.
“Can’t see shit . . .”
“. . . a mage, right?”
They began to spread out, circling. They were wary, but that wouldn’t last long. My only cover was the leafy bush, and as soon as they circled far enough around they’d have a clear line of sight to me. I looked into the future, and—
—there. I pulled off my cloak, stuffing it into my pack. One of the men saw the movement and shouted something, the beam of his torch darting out towards me.
Pale brown light split the air, forming a vertical disc, lighting up the startled faces of the men. The light solidified, forming a gate, and Caldera stepped through, coming down onto the grass. She dismissed the gate behind her, called up an orb of light in her hand, and looked at the men surrounding her. “Hey there,” she said. “Seen a diviner around?”
I grinned and took a step forward. Caldera turned instantly, shining the light on me. “Caldera, I have never been so happy to see you in all my life.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Caldera jerked her thumb at the ring of men surrounding us. “Who are the goons?”
“That’s him!” one of the men shouted. “Get him!” He charged Caldera from behind, and as she began to turn he stabbed his shock stick into her side. Blue-white light crackled as the energy discharged into her body.
Caldera finished turning and stared at the man. He looked down at the stick, then up at Caldera. Caldera picked him up, lifted him over her head, and threw him. Not a martial arts throw, more the kind of thing a football player does with a throw-in. She got the same sort of distance too. The man went flying away into the darkness with a long trailing yell that was cut off a couple of seconds later by a thud.
The other men stared down at the flight path their companion had just described, then turned back to Caldera. “Anyone else?” Caldera asked.
There was a rustling, shuffling sound as all of them took a step back. The construct held its ground, staring at us, until one of the men called something and it retreated as well.
Caldera turned and walked to me. “You were supposed to be intel support,” she said. “How do you keep getting into this shit?”
I sighed. “Would you believe I was just following orders?”
More people were gathering downslope. Another one of the wolf constructs had emerged from the trees, and I could hear shouts and see arms pointing in our direction. Caldera still had her light spell active, clearly illuminating us in the darkness. “I hate to be a downer,” I said, “but I think they’re coming back for another round.”
“That’s okay,” Caldera said. “I brought some friends.” She took out her communicator and spoke into it. “Beacon’s lit. Gate when ready.”
“Got it,” a familiar voice said from the disc. “Sixty seconds.”
The men started advancing again up the hill. They moved slowly at first, but we were illuminated by Caldera’s light and they could see that they outnumbered us ten to one. There were three of the wolf constructs now, padding heavily through the grass, black eyes locked onto us. The men still didn’t have guns out, only the shock sticks, but there were an awful lot of them. They closed to sixty feet, then forty. Someone shouted, “Go!” and the wolf constructs arrowed in, the men following behind. I took a step back, bracing myself . . .
And then a gate opened beside us, this one flame-red, lighting up the night. Figures came stepping through: Landis, wreathed in flame; Variam, his face bright and eager; Luna, her wand in her right hand, whip coiled and ready. The men hesitated, shouting. The constructs didn’t. The first construct came face to face with Landis and was just starting its leap when a fireblast exploded it in midair, the wave of heat so intense that I felt it twenty feet away. Red-hot pieces of construct went rolling across the hillside, sending smoke rising up from the grass. “Verus!” Landis said cheerfully. Two more men had been behind the construct and were wavering; he gestured and a spell detonated with an explosive whump, sending them both sprawling. They scrambled to their feet and ran. “Saved a few more for us this time, excellent work. Any friendlies?”
Caldera was fighting to the left; to the right, Variam and Luna were taking on one of the constructs. Vari was holding it at bay with a wall of fire while Luna struck with her whip, the silver mist of her curse lashing eagerly into the construct’s body. I was in a tiny oasis of calm at the centre of the circle, everything happening at once. “Just Haken, he’s at the house—uh, there are two more mages at least, Vihaela and Cerulean. Cerulean is working for White Rose, he’s somewhere around invisible—to your left!”
Landis gestured and one of the White Rose men who’d been in the middle of drawing a gun suddenly screamed and dropped it. The gun hit the grass with a hiss, glowing with heat. “Cerulean, eh?” Landis said. “Never did trust the bugger. Be a good chap and spot for me, will you?”
I looked through the futures, saw gunfire. “Group at the bottom of the hill, your one o’clock. They’re aiming for Vari.”
Landis lifted a hand and a glowing ball of dark red energy formed above one finger. He frowned down at the people below who were sighting on Variam. “Should have taken the hint, boys.” The glowing spark flew downhill, disappearing into the night.
Fire bloomed, followed by a clap of thunder. For an instant everyone on the hillside was illuminated in fiery red, then a wave of hot air rolled over, making me stagger. The three men who’d been about to open fire were gone. In their place was a circle of scorched and glowing earth, shapeless masses burning at the centre.
The men still standing broke and ran. To the right, the construct Vari and Luna had been fighting tried to leap; Luna sent a pulse of some kind through her whip, flashing into the doglike body. The construct staggered and collapsed, its animating spell misfiring as Luna’s curse set it against itself. Vari burned away its head with an incineration spell. “Boss!” he called at Landis. “They’re running!”
“Let them go,” Landis said. “This was just the small fry. Verus?”
“They’re gone,” I said, scanning the futures. “Can’t sense any mages or adepts. They must be back at the estate.”