The Four Realms (39 page)

She noticed Joseph tense as she pulled a rope away, and at first thought it was from pain where his binding had cut him.
 
But she looked up to see Lavaria standing in the doorway.

"The trouble with humans," the elf said, "is that even their walking is loud."

Maureen stood up, burning with anger.
 
How dare this woman do this to Joseph?
 
How dare her people hurt and kill her friends?

Without really thinking, she blurted out, “why did you kill Ernest?
 
What did he ever do to you?"

Behind her Joseph roared, a terrifying sound like a cross between a human and a lion.
 
His muscles flexed and the last of the ropes securing him snapped, whipping at the air and causing Maureen to jump back out of their way.

Joseph lunged forward, grabbing Lavaria by the forearms before she'd even had chance to realise what had happened.
 

He spun round twice like some form of Olympic hammer throw, Lavaria stretched out in front of him under the inertia, before letting go.
 
Maureen watched as the elf flew across the room crashing into the far wall with such force that she dented the metallic wall of the cold storage unit.

Joseph held out his hand "Come on, Maureen.
 
Let's go."

They almost collided with Psyninius, the blonde elf they'd encountered at the farm, as they exited the locker.
 
The elf looked up in horror as he saw the troll thundering toward him and had no time to react as Joseph punched him in the face.
 

Had he been human Psyninius would have been out cold, but Maureen saw that elves were made of sterner stuff, as he just fell to the ground clutching at his bloody nose.

Maureen tried to point Joseph toward the roller shutter door, but he was already heading in the direction of the shop.

There was no way Maureen could run faster than the elves.
 
She reached into her pocket, grabbed one of the stems and recited the incantation for the earthquake spell.
 
She technically didn't need to hold the plant to cast, but she found there was something reassuring feeling that plant turn to dust in your hands.

The ground started to split open, as if some large mole was about to tunnel its way out.
 
Cracks then shot out across the length of the storeroom, and the level of the ground shift a little.
 
A more practised or experienced wizard would have been able to thrust sections of earth ten foot up, but Maureen was a novice, and all she needed to do was cause the ground to undulate enough to cause the metal shelving units to topple.
 
This they did.
 
The sound as the racks toppled and fell grew to an ear splitting din.
 
Joseph and Maureen had to avoid a falling rack before breaking through the plastic curtain that separated the storeroom from the main shop.
 
Behind them Psyninius was climbing, jumping and leaping to avoid falling racks from all sides.

Diversions
, Maureen thought.
 
Don't fight, just cause diversions
.

The spell, however, had cost more than she expected, and worry filled her, as she felt in her pocket and found that it had cost most of her remaining supply of plants.

Joseph didn't seem to be waiting for her, and Maureen felt she was going to have to tell him to slow down.
 
She couldn't keep this pace up indefinitely.
 
Back home she doubted she'd be able to manage this pace at all.

A bolt of electricity arced over their heads, hitting some jars of jam on a shelf.
 
They exploded, red jam flying everywhere.
 
Maureen and Joseph instinctively ducked behind the aisles, a task much easier for Maureen than for Joseph.

"Block them," Maureen heard Gardpoul's voice call out.
 
With that the area just in front of the revolving doors burst into controlled flames.

"Careful idiot," Psyninius's voice shouted. It sounded a lot closer.
 
"Just keep them from escaping, don't burn the shop down."

Maureen couldn't let the elves catch up with them.
 
She clutched at the remaining plants in her pocket and sighed.
 
This would probably use all her remaining stock, but they wouldn't escape otherwise.
 
She whispered the incantations and her counter-curse caused the floor to freeze and the fires to die down.
   

"Come on," she said to Joseph and ran forward, the troll following closely behind.

Electricity shot overhead again, landing where they had been crouched down a moment before.
 
A sack of corn exploded into popcorn.

It was very obvious to Maureen that the elves were much more advanced with their spell craft.
 
Whereas wizards would cast a spell, it last for a set amount of time and then expire, the elves were more skilled.
 
The slow re-emergence of the flames - nothing more than the size of that you'd get from a gas stove currently - showed that they could maintain spells over much longer durations than humans.
 
By the time Maureen and Joseph leapt over the flames, they were already a couple of inches in height, melting the ice around them.

Maureen was about to say the revolving doors were locked when Joseph thrust a foot into one of the panels.
 
It snapped off the central spindle, giving Joseph just enough room to squeeze through.
 
Maureen followed closely behind, slipping through with much more ease.

A small patch of grass growing out of a crack between the road and a wall was enough for Maureen to fuel her own wall of fire.
 
She ran over and grabbed at the weedy clump before casting the spell.
 
It wouldn't last more than thirty seconds and certainly wouldn't be as controlled as the elves', but it would help slow them down or waste whatever plants they carried on them.

"Come on," said Joseph, unimpressed by Maureen's efforts to slow down their pursuers.
 
She must seem very slow to him,
 
even at her fastest she couldn't keep up with the troll's mighty strides.
 
She could only go as fast as she could.
 
The problem was that the elves were probably quicker than her as well, and stopping to snatch any passing weed would just slow her down even more.

Even so she'd find herself breaking the stem off a plant whenever she passed someone's window box.

The road passed through a residential area, terraces of flat roofed, two story Edwardian townhouses facing onto the streets.

"We need to find somewhere to hide," Maureen said.
 

Joseph pointed at a set of stairs at the side of one of the terraces.
 
"Up there," He said pointing to the roof.

Maureen looked behind her and saw the elves running down the street some way behind.
 
She was about to question if going up was a good idea, but Joseph was already half way up.
 
His bulk meant he had to angle his body sideways as he did so, wedged between wall and rail.
 
Maureen sighed, swallowed her reservations, and followed him.

The top afforded her a lovely night time vista of the city, lights twinkling under the full moon.
 
The garden furniture set out on the roof terrace suggested that others enjoyed the view on a regular basis.

"No time to look," ordered Joseph as he started running along the roof.
 
Maureen followed, although within a few strides Joseph was outpacing her.
 
She saw him take a jump and drop out of sight.
 
Had he fallen off the building, had he jumped two stories to the ground?
 
Had he left her?

It took her a full minute before she'd made it over to where he'd jumped, her lungs now burning from the exercise.
 
Here the terrace dropped to a single story a set of stairs leading back up to continue the third floor terrace.
 
Below Joseph was waiting impatiently.
 
Upon seeing her, he indicated for her to jump.
 
"I'll catch you," he said.

There's no way I can jump down a single storey
, Maureen thought.
 
She decided that she'd go back and down the stairs, and was about to do so when she looked behind her and saw the elves running in her direction.

She looked back at the jump.
 
It was impossible.
 
There was no way she could even vault over the two foot wall that lined the edge of the terrace.
 

A fireball in the shape of a dragon's head shot past her, wide enough of its mark that Maureen didn't have to evade.
 
A wasted spell in Maureen's opinion.
 
Still, if it depleted their stocks of plants that was a bonus.
 
But they were gaining on her and the next spell might be more accurate.
 
She was trapped.

"Come on," urged Joseph.
 
"Jump."

Maureen thought about what spell she would cast in defence if they shot another fireball her way.
 
Something air-related maybe; some form of air blast.

She looked down at Joseph below her, then back to the advancing elves.
 
She twiddled the plant stem between her fingers, and sighed.
 
This might not work.

She whispered the incantation, and steeled herself.
 
The elves slowed down, noticing the build-up of wind, waiting to see what spell had been cast before deciding on the appropriate counter-curse.
 
But this spell wasn't aimed at them, Maureen had targeted it at herself.

A gush of air threw her up and over the wall.
 
Maureen looked down and saw Joseph running across the lower roof trying to position himself underneath ready to catch her.
 
But she flew over his head and toward the further, higher terrace.
 
As Maureen felt the plant turn to dust in her hand, she realised that was so many things she was yet to fully comprehend.
 
Every spell had a cost, and some plants were more efficient than others.
 
Some spells could also be scaled, a larger fireball for more plants.
 
But whilst Maureen understood that this was possible, she lacked detailed knowledge.
 
She was still an amateur, but by God, for a couple of seconds as she flew over the single story building to the roof opposite, she felt like the most powerful wizard on earth.

She braced herself for impact, worried about the upcoming tumble, but in the end she landed so softly, it was like stepping off a bus.
 

Joseph came up the stairs to meet her.
 
His voice was a mixture of breathlessness and wonder.
 
"That... was amazing."

"I'm out of plants," Maureen said, before chastising the troll, "don't do that again."

Joseph just nodded, taking the comment the way it was meant.
 
Maureen looked behind her to see the elves carefully jumping down off the roof.
 
"We've only bought ourselves a little time."

They set off once again, Joseph staying at Maureen's pace this time.
 
That might not be enough, as the elves soon appeared to be catching up.
 
There was a whooshing sound, and at first Maureen thought it was another fireball.
 
But it was only when Joseph darted behind her and winced in agony that she realised the elves were firing arrows.
 
She looked up and saw the shaft sticking out of Joseph's back.
 

She shrieked.
 
"Joseph!
 
Are you all right?"

He was obviously in pain, but he wasn't slowing down.
 
Not life threatening then, but it still made Maureen's blood boil.
 
It was probably best that she didn't have any plants at that moment, as her rage would have made her stop and throw every spell she had at their pursuers.
 

Instead, she held her tongue and focused on the way ahead. Behind she heard Psyninius scream, "don't shoot them you fool, Lavaria wants her alive."

They were running out of roof again, and the elves were now so close that there was no time for hesitation.
 
Who builds a terrace of two story houses and then places the occasional one story building along it?
bemoaned Maureen.
 
Before she even had time to wonder how she'd get passed this one, she felt Joseph pick her up mid-stride, hold her close to his chest, and jump.
 
She closed her eyes tight as they flew over the wall and down a storey to the roof below.
 
Joseph rolled as he hit the ground trying to break his fall, but the impact was too much for the roof to take, and as he did so, it caved in, throwing the rolling Joseph and Maureen down into the building below.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN - Magellan

Darwin came around to the rhythmic plodding of someone half carrying, half pulling him along.
 
He could sense the rise and fall of their footsteps, sense his feet being dragged along the ground.
 
He was being supported by a single arm, which was thrown over the shoulder of whoever was carrying him.
 
It ached at the strain of supporting his whole body, but didn't hurt anywhere near as much as his face, which stung and felt puffy.

He tried to open his eyes, only to find the one next to his cut cheek swollen and impossible to open. His other eye tried to focus.

They were walking down a corridor, slightly smaller than the tunnel they'd walked down when first entering the complex.
 
He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see that Cassidy was out front holding a torch, Ryan - still just dressed in his boxer shorts - at her back with gun in hand.
 
The little shit, Darwin thought.
 
First opportunity he had, Darwin was going to kill him, whether Cassidy protested or not.