Lone Survivor: The Sorcerers' Scourge Series: Book One Page 5

  Diana looked at me askance. “With regard to the ranch operations, we already have a full staff. But when it comes to fighting sorcerers, we never seem to have enough eager warriors. Tell us about your past experience as a fighter.”

  I was about to admit I didn’t have any when Tess stood up. “Dread liege, his experience is limited, but he’s remarkably strong and highly motivated. He hasn’t used his magic much to date, but Laura, Maggie, and I believe he has the heart of a lion. I’ll make sure he grows the teeth and claws to match.”

  Diana whispered something under her breath to Crystal, who snickered. Neither seemed willing to give me a chance.

  Katie smiled at me, however. “Ian, why don’t you approach the bench and let us decide for ourselves how powerful you are.”

  “Excellent suggestion,” Diana said. “Approach.”

  I walked forward, and when Diana held out her hand, I shook it. She had a firm grasp, and her hand seem to vibrate in mine. Her face registered no emotion.

  Next I shook hands with Katie, and she smiled at me. “Very nice. And I hear Eilwen O’Rourke is one of your ancestors?”

  “Eilwen was my great-great-great-grandmother.”

  That caused a stir in the gallery. Apparently, she was more famous than I’d realized.

  Lastly, I shook Crystal’s hand, which was thin and soft. She looked straight into my eyes and asked, “Are you willing to risk slavery or even death to protect me?”

  I knew that if a magical fight went bad, the loser would become the victor’s slave. But some sorcerers preferred to kill every opponent.

  While I held her hand firmly, I replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

  She looked at me sideways. “Are you Arapaho?”

  “Osage. Are you part Indian?”

  She pulled her hand away as though I’d somehow insulted her. “No, but I grew up near the Wind River rez in Wyoming. Return to your seat, sir. What else do you have to say on your behalf?”

  “Nothing.” I returned to stand between Laura and Tess.

  “The council will retire to consider your request,” Diana said.

  The three of them entered a room behind the bench and closed the door. I sat between the two women and asked them what they thought.

  “They’ll never turn down a fighter,” Laura said, “particularly not after Tess’s dad left us for a much better salary a few months ago.”

  Tess frowned. “I’m almost as strong as him.”

  Laura beamed at her. “All I’m saying is you can always use some help. And who better to help fight than our very own Ian the Barbarian? Best of all, you get to train him exactly how you like. Make him your bitch.”

  I wasn’t sure how to take that, but Tess laughed, so I assumed it was some kind of private joke.

  A few minutes later, Diana and the other councilwomen returned. When they were seated, Diana said, “Ian O’Rourke, please stand.”

  I stood. My stomach flipped as I awaited word of what would happen to me. If I lost out here, the nearest witch community was somewhere in California. I knew no one on the West Coast like Maggie.

  “Mr. O’Rourke,” Diana said, “we accept you on a probationary basis for a maximum of thirty days. If, during that time, you demonstrate a willingness to fight skillfully on our behalf, you will be allowed to stay.”

  “Let it be so,” Katie and Crystal said at the same time.

  Diana rapped her gavel. “May Brigid have mercy on us all.”

  So, they had doubts about me, which was fine. I had doubts about myself. And while I trained, I’d get a chance to get to know these crazy Boulder hippies better. It might turn out that I would benefit from their stalling as much as the clan would.

  Laura took my hand. “I’m sure it’ll work out great. Let’s get lunch.”

  Damn, I was getting fond of her fast.

  My two guardian angels took me to the dining room, where the food was excellent, much better than the cafeteria food at OSU. Then I remembered that these cooks were witches, and they could use magic to improve taste.

  I used the opportunity to ask more questions. “Where are all your men?”

  “We have only ten men out of fifty adults here,” Laura said. “The problem is that most of our boys leave for the coasts when they turn eighteen. The risk of being forced to fight on the coasts is much less. We’re a small clan, and we can’t pay much to hang on to the few talented fighters we do raise. So, be happy. As a new guy, you’re going to be incredibly popular.”

  Tess rolled her eyes. “Maybe, if you can convince Crystal to fix that broken nose and the cut on your forehead.”

  She didn’t seem inclined to do me any favors.

  I glanced around the room to see who lived here. Most of these women seemed to be older, at least as old as my mother and aunts. “How many folks our age here?”

  The two women looked at each other. “Not many,” Tess said. “Maybe five, including Laura and me.”

  A woman pushing a cart came by and handed me a small vase with a white rose for our table. I smelled it before I set it down. The fragrance was cleansing. Some parts of this life were perfect.

  For a month, at least, I would be safe. And I’d already developed two really nice friends. What more could a guy want?

  Then Tess said, “Eat hearty, Farm Boy. I’m going to work your ass off. You’re going to become the most fearsome fighting machine Colorado’s ever seen…or you’ll die trying.”

  -o-o-o-

  LAURA HEADED OFF TO handle some injury on an outside playground, and Tess took me to meet the residential manager, Tito Martinez. Finally, I saw a man here. He seemed to be the one who kept everything running, and he picked out an apartment for me. Tess showed me the building I would live in, which was the same as hers and Laura’s. That was convenient.

  I opened the door and stepped inside. It was much nicer than the apartment I’d rented during college. Here, the ground floor contained a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a small office. The walls needed decoration, but it was otherwise furnished. Upstairs, there was one bedroom, another bathroom, and a storage room.

  I thanked the Lord and the Mórrígan for watching over me so well. They’d given me a chance to prove myself, and I had to make the most of the opportunity.

  “This is fantastic,” I told Tess. “I left Oklahoma with a few clothes, my cellphone, and a little money. I expect my checking account has been frozen, but it only had a thousand dollars in it.” I checked my wallet. “About ninety bucks left. Any idea where I might get some more clothes, cheap? Goodwill?”

  “I could give you a few dresses, but you’re too big.”

  “Plus, I prefer shirts and pants. Sorry, I’m not that kind of boy.”

  “You’re my bitch now.” Tess smirked. “I could force you to do a lot worse than wearing dresses.”

  Hopefully, she was just trying to scare me. “I doubt a dress will impress any sorcerer.”

  To my surprise, she said, “Good point. Let’s go back to Tito and see if he has anything lying around.”

  The short answer was, not much. I did get more clothes, but my new wardrobe included torn blue jeans and two rock concert t-shirts. At least in the morning, I’d be able to wear something clean.

  Tess needed to teach a training class, so she left me to find my way back to Maggie’s house to collect my stuff.

  -o-o-o-

  WHEN I GOT THERE, I thanked her for all her help. Her connections had given me a potentially big break.

  By dinnertime, I was back at the ranch, wondering who these people really were.

  I put away my few possessions in my apartment and then went to find my only two friends in this community. They were both sitting with Tess’s mom. When I hesitated to get closer, they waved me over.

  Before I sat down at the table, I introduced myself properly to Katie. Then I asked, “What’s the next step for me in this magical world?”

  Katie patted me on the arm.
Welcome to your new home. I’m from Oklahoma, too, many years ago.”

  I wanted to ask her about that, but she continued, “That was before most of the witch clans were pushed out. As for next steps, you’ll need to formally accept your calling. You have latent power, but it won’t do you much good until you connect deeper with your magical core.”

  “How?”

  “You’ll find a special place—make it somewhere extraordinary, because you’ll treasure that moment for the rest of your life. Then, we get to beat you up.”

  I laughed at her teasing. “There are some great meadows up by Maggie’s house that have high peaks in the background. I love nature. That should help me get into the right frame of mind.”

  “Sounds good,” Laura said. “But if you’re a nature nut, I know a much more scenic spot. Brainard Lake isn’t far, but, bless the gods, it’s gorgeous. I could show you.”

  I felt a glow inside. “Fantastic. When can we go?”

  “Day after tomorrow,” she replied.

  “That area is amazing,” Tess said. “I’d go with you, but I’ve got too many classes. You and Laura will manage fine.”

  “You’ll have a terrific time,” Katie said.

  Laura beamed. “We can take horses.”

  Better and better. “I’d love the chance to ride the mountain trails.”

  -o-o-o-

  Thursday, September 5th

  I SPENT THE NEXT morning setting up my apartment and getting to know the people who dropped by to thank me for risking my own neck to save theirs. For some reason, they were thrilled to hear me talk like that.

  To celebrate my arrival, Tess and Laura decided to take me to lunch in Boulder. I thought they meant a restaurant, but we ended up at a food wagon that sold BBQ on a pedestrian mall a couple of blocks from Boulder Creek. We sat at a nearby picnic table and ate smoked pork and baked beans from paper plates. The food was delicious, and I started to feel bad about how much I’d run down Boulder in the past, back home.

  While we ate, Tess and Laura tried to explain magical fighting. We started with the basics—magicians could fight spells, fists, and staffs. We couldn’t use magic to hurt non-magicians, but we could heal them.

  Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a greasy-haired guy wandering down the mall toward us carrying a long staff.

  Maybe he was a hiker, but I was taking no chances. The ladies’ backs faced the guy, so I interrupted Laura to point behind them. “Is he anyone we need to worry about?”

  Tess looked nonchalantly over her shoulder and then froze for a second.

  “Shit! I left my staff in the car,” she said.

  We’d parked a couple of blocks away, so it wasn’t practical to get it now. I wasn’t sure what to do next, and I looked at Laura. Her brow furrowed, and she patted Tess on the back.

  Our master of arms wiped some BBQ sauce off her fingers, stood, and took a fighter’s stance. Her jaw was set and her eyes narrowed as she locked in on the sorcerer.

  He was wearing blue jeans, a Broncos jersey, and gym shoes. If he hadn’t been carrying the staff, I would’ve taken him for another homeless man on the mall.

  “I challenge you for magical power!” the guy said and then froze into place.

  I stood, too, ready to help.

  Laura motioned for me to sit back down.

  “The guy outweighs her by forty pounds. She’s unarmed. I can’t stay back—”

  Laura held her hand up to cut me off. “Don’t cramp her style. All magical fighting is one-on-one.”

  “What can we do to help?” I asked.

  “Not a damned thing,” Tess said. “If I lose, run for the car.”

  “Why is he frozen?”

  “He formally initiated the attack,” Laura said. “He can’t fight for ten seconds. She gets time to prepare herself.”

  The man was stocky and muscular but not as tall as Tess. His frozen grin told me he was sure of the win.

  She had balls of titanium, didn’t tremble a bit.

  I couldn’t understand how they could fight in the middle of a busy pedestrian mall, but nobody seemed to notice them glaring at each other.

  After the sorcerer unfroze, he swung his staff like a baseball bat, aiming at her head. Instead of ducking, she grabbed the end as it came around and tore it from his grasp. Then she flung it aside. It landed in a large bed of chrysanthemums surrounding a tree.

  She punched the guy’s face, rapid-fire. One right jab connected with the man’s nose, snapping his head back. Blood poured down his face.

  He seemed to have been caught by surprise. She got a half-dozen punches in before he brought his own fists up to deflect her blows.

  “Shit!” he yelled and tried to hide behind a large, empty kiosk.

  “Go get him!” I yelled back.

  People stared at me but they didn’t seem to notice the fight.

  Laura held up her hand to stop me. “Magic shields the battle from the public, but not us,” she said. “We can’t draw attention to them. I know it’s hard to simply watch and pray.”

  Tess peeked around the corner of the old wooden kiosk, and the sorcerer punched her on the nose. She staggered sideways from the force of the blow.

  Before she could recover, he pointed a finger at her and yelled some sort of spell. A flash of blue lightning hit her in the chest, and she froze in place. While she was motionless, the man punched her twice more on the nose. It started to bleed freely.

  I jumped up to help but ran into an invisible barrier. What kind of sick world allows a man to beat up a woman?

  Luckily, some kind of ward kept him from hitting her again. Amazingly fast, she stood erect, ready to fight back. She was one tough witch.

  “There are basically no rules,” Laura whispered in a stuttering voice. “They use a brutal mix of spells and street fighting.”

  Tess pointed at him, and a bolt of green lightning shot from her hand to his face. He screamed in agony, but once again, no one around us seemed to notice. A little girl ran past them chasing a tiger swallowtail.

  This was a side of Tess I’d never imagined. I knew she was strong, and I’d hoped her magic was powerful. But I hadn’t expected anything this vicious. My stomach lurched as the sorcerer kicked her side again, but she deflected that blow with a raised knee.

  Both of them wobbled on their feet. Tess shook her head as though to clear it. Then she kicked him in the groin and punched him several times in the nose. The last blow knocked his head back to hit the side of the kiosk.

  Damn! They fought hard. Laura hadn’t been kidding when she said there were no rules. My throat tightened as I worried. Did Tess really have a chance against a guy this big?

  “She should strengthen her magical ward to keep him away,” Laura said.

  Instead, with a pointed finger, Tess shot out a ball of red lightning that engulfed the man’s head and torso. The odor of burning flesh and hair filled the air.

  The bastard roared and writhed on the ground, rolling to try to smother the fire. While he was down, she kicked him in the head, and he scrambled away and vomited. She held her hand out again, and another bolt of lightning froze him in mid-barf.

  She blew a snot rocket that was mostly blood out of her nose onto him. Yuk.

  I fought to control my voice. “Is this what a magical fight is really like?”

  Laura blew out a deep breath. “Afraid so. She usually doesn’t get hit in the face much, but this bastard is tougher than I thought.”

  My whole body shuddered in sympathy for how much she must be hurting—such incredible violence.

  The fire burned out, leaving the sorcerer’s whole upper body red.

  “Give up, asshole!” she yelled.

  But he staggered to his feet. His massive left hand grabbed for her, but she twisted away, span, and drove the back of her shoe into his groin.

  He howled as he bent over. Tess drove a knee into his head, snapping it back. He drop
ped to the ground, out cold.

  I started to cheer but caught myself in time. Woo hoo!

  Tess sat next to the guy and gasped for air. He stayed motionless.

  For a few seconds, I couldn’t move. I’d never seen anything like this before. I couldn’t even remember a movie this violent. But I was expected to live in this bloodthirsty culture. It didn’t seem possible, but I had no options.

  On the plus side, Tess seemed to have come out of the fight much better than the sorcerer. She slowly rolled to her feet and bent over, still breathing hard.

  Laura and I jumped out of our seats and ran toward our champion.

  With closed eyes, Laura placed her fingers on each side of Tess’s nose. She murmured to herself, and Tess’s face changed back to what it’d looked like before the fight.

  “Where else are you hurt?” I asked. “Actually, I can’t believe you’re alive.”

  She was still breathing hard, but she smiled at me. “I’m expecting…you to fight this hard for us, Farm Boy. Welcome to your job.”

  Laura was apparently satisfied that Tess was okay, because she checked out the sorcerer next. After she had cradled his head in her hands, he came to. His skin was definitely red, but I saw no second- or third-degree burns on his body. The hair on his head had vanished, and the odor of burning flesh was still lingering. She stopped the bleeding from his nose.

  Laura asked Tess, “Do you want me to fix his face or let him suffer for his arrogance?”

  She shrugged and said in a gravelly voice, “Leave the wounds sore.”

  Laura left him holding his face with his hands.

  “To be honest,” I told Tess, “you still look pretty beat up.”

  She shook her head. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And a lady doesn’t like to hear that she doesn’t look her best.”

  I hadn’t meant that she was ugly or anything. She was a classic Irish redhead. “You’re amazing.”

  She looked at me with an odd grin, but I followed up. “I’m not hitting on you.”

  She was a remarkable woman, but I wasn’t looking to start a romance with my fighting teacher. Laura did interest me, but I had no way of knowing whether anything might come of that.