In Plain Sight

“My shield slowed it down some,” she said. “Got me in the hip. Doesn’t…doesn’t seem too bad. Hurts like crazy, though.”

“Stay put then,” Alex said, moving to the corner. “Where is he?”

“Don’t bother,” Sorsha said, her breathing shallow. “He’s got some kind of magical shield. A charm of some kind, powerful one too.”

“That means it won’t last long,” Alex said.

The ringing gong sound filled the air again and the castle shook.

“What’s he doing?” Alex asked.

“Hitting the central levitation spell with a crowbar,” Sorsha said. “Mus… must have a spell breaker rune on it.”

“Multiple ones,” Alex said with a nod. “Each time he hits a spell, the rune is spent. How much longer can your spell hold up?”

“Don’t know.” Sorsha shook her head.

Alex took off his hat and laid it on the floor, then inched up to the corner with his weapon at the ready.

“What are you going to do, Alex?” she whispered. “Please tell me you have a plan.”

Alex nodded but didn’t respond. A moment later the crowbar hit the spell again, ringing like crystal. This time the note wasn’t a pure ringing tone like it had been before; this time it sounded flat, sour. The moment the blow was struck, Alex leaned around the corner. Davis stood over a large purple incantation in the center of the room. He held a heavy crowbar of some greenish metal in his right hand with runes of fire running down its length. Alex could see the one on the end unraveling as it was discharged. Davis would only be able to use that spell breaker so long as he had runes to charge it, but with at least four charges left, he was likely to succeed in smashing the levitation spell. Already the spell was spinning slowly, like some immensely tiny galaxy, but with a wobble that made it look sickly.

The floor shook, and Davis held on to the next tiered level. Alex braced himself against the wall and brought his pistol up. Davis’s gun was tucked into his holster. He caught sight of Alex just as the room stopped shaking and dropped the spell breaker, going for his gun instead.

Alex fired.

The bullet slammed into the magical shield and it glowed bright yellow for a moment, a perfect sphere around the FBI man.

Alex fired again.

This time, when the sphere glowed, Alex could see cracks spreading out from the point of his bullet’s impact. Davis’s hand closed around his pistol and he jerked it free.

Alex fired.

Davis’s shield shattered with enough force to send the spell breaker spinning away from him and the bullet went through and struck him in the right side of his chest. Alex fired again, and the second bullet caught him in the stomach.

Despite being hit twice, Davis fired back. He wasn’t in much of a condition to aim and his shots went wide, but they did force Alex back into the cover of the hall.

“How?” Sorsha asked but Alex just grinned and shrugged. “You lying rat,” she grunted a moment later. “You told me there wasn’t a spell breaker rune on your gun.”

“There isn’t,” Alex said, picking up his hat. “The runes are on the bullets.”

He pushed his hat around the corner and Davis put a hole right through it.

“That’s pretty good shooting for a man as badly wounded as you are,” Alex called. “You know that belly wound has to be treated soon or you’ll die.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Davis gasped.

“Your plan’s a bust,” Alex said. “Miss Kincaid warned the other sorcerers. They’ll be waiting for those spies you sent up to them. No one is going to die. There’s not going to be a sorcerer war in America.”

“Oh, ye of… little… faith,” Davis grunted through the pain.

“Don’t pull my leg,” Alex said. “If you try crawling over to your spell breaker, I’ll have plenty of time to lean out and finish you off. Give up now and I’ll see you make it to the hospital alive.”

“So your sorcerers can strip my mind of all its secrets?” he said. “No, thank you. Besides, you’re wrong about my plans being done for. The spell holding this castle up is unraveling. It is drifting east and south right now.”

“Empire Tower,” Sorsha gasped.

“That’s right, Sorceress,” Davis said. “This levitation spell should last long enough for us to reach the core, and then…boom.”

“Is he right?” Alex looked at Sorsha.

“Imagine if all the stored energy in Empire Tower were released all at once,” she said through clenched teeth. “The impact of my house falling on the tower would shatter the spells that contain its power. The sudden release of all those forces at once would be like the Halifax disaster.”

“That left a crater over two miles wide,” Alex gasped.

“Think of that, scribbler,” Davis said, his voice weak. “Everyone in America will blame that… on the sorcerers. There will be a war, just of a different kind, as you drive your magic wielders out.”

Alex ducked his head around the corner and pulled back just as another shot rang out.

“All I have to do… is sit here and wait,” Davis said. “I may not have… much time left, but this spell has… even less.”