Undeath and Taxes (13 page)

8.

Arch had barely gotten his words out before the chimera charged, barreling toward Albert as it let out a series of sounds that were like a roar mixed with a grunt. My assistant was, thankfully, quick to adapt to the unexpected situation. He leapt out of the way in a motion more graceful than I’d have suspected Albert being capable of. In fact, I very much wondered if it was his zombie capabilities that let him dodge so well, or some sort of assistance from the sword. Either way, while I was watching Albert frantically scurry about, Neil was having a very different reaction to Arch’s announcement.

“You son of a bitch!” The young man, who, in all fairness, was similar to Arch in both appearance and stature, pulled back his right fist and took a swing at the agent. Arch’s reaction was so fast that even I had trouble following it. He easily moved his head out of range, grabbed Neil’s arm, and tossed the amateur mage over his shoulder, where he landed in a heap.

“I’ll let that slide due to circumstances, but if you attack an agent again, you need to be ready to kill or be killed.”

“Who says I’m not?” Neil spat, pulling himself up from the ground. Before he could get close enough to attack Arch again, Amy was standing between them. I don’t think any of us, even Krystal, could have made Neil back down the way Amy did. She said nothing, merely staring at her apprentice until he lowered his fists. The glowering stare refused to come off his face, however. Evidently, it was enough for Amy, as she turned to face Arch.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Despite her still shiny hair, Amy had an aura of dominance I’d rarely seen on her. I realized that, probably for the first time, I was seeing Amy Wells, master mage and alchemist, angry. Given what I knew about her intellect, and that an ancient dragon held her skills in esteem, I found myself hoping that either Arch minded his tongue or the rest of us had time to clear the blast radius.

“He won’t get that’s sword’s full power out unless he’s in a life or death situation,” Arch replied, not a single trace of apology in his tone. If anything, he sounded vaguely annoyed by our reaction. “It’s nothing personal, just part of doing a thorough test.”

“You could have told him the truth; given him adequate time to prepare,” Amy said.

“With new Weapon Bearers, it’s more about intuition than practice or skill. The less prepared he was, the more likely he’d be able to use the sword.”

“Likely?” Neil said, eyes somehow narrowing even more than before. “As in, he might not be able to do it?”

“Weapons of destiny are smart, but not omnipotent. It wouldn’t be the first time a new wielder has gotten taken apart early on.”

Neil looked like he was going to try and charge Arch, Amy or no Amy, but a sound from inside the arena tore his attention away from the antagonizing agent. It was Albert, letting out a yelp that sounded as if he were in pain.

We all looked back into the arena to find Albert hobbling away from the chimera. Given the dark stains on the right leg of his jeans, along with the visible tears in the fabric, it looked like one of the tusks had managed to tear a chunk out of him during the charge. Albert was at no risk of dying from blood loss (you needed to separate the head from the body to bring down a zombie), but the wound was clearly slowing him down. If he didn’t take the offensive soon, it was only a matter of time before the chimera tore him into so many shreds even Neil wouldn’t be able to put him back together.

“I have to go help him.” Neil was staring into the arena with an expression unlike any I’d ever seen on him before. His eyes were wide, his hands clenched, and his jaw set. Neil was always a bit impulsive and quick to react with aggression, like his swing at Arch before. But this was different. This wasn’t Neil flying off half-cocked. This Neil looked like he was ready to go to war.

“Can’t allow that. Albert has to be tested on his own. Adding in another magic-wielder invalidates the test,” Arch replied.

“Then I won’t use magic!” Neil spun around, clearly torn about taking his eyes off Albert. “Without Amy nearby, I can’t use it anyway. That should preserve your precious test.”

“Even if you’re not wielding it, you exude the stuff. You’ve been training as a mage long enough to know that. You going in there changes the magical composition. End of story.”

While they bickered, I watched as Albert narrowly escaped another charge. This time, however, the stinger-tail managed to spear him in his lower back. He let out a muffled yelp and pulled away, losing a fair bit of flesh in the process. I was reasonably certain that zombies didn’t have to worry about venom, but when dealing with magic, nothing was ever cut and dry. I glanced back over to find that Neil had heard the cry and seen the blow. His face darkened as he turned to Arch with new resolve.

“I am exercising my right as the creator of that magical being to intervene for his safety. He is my creation, and I have the right to tend to him when injured, so long as he has not broken any laws. If you try to stop me, you’re in violation of the Mage Treaty, and I will spend the rest of my life bringing down every manner of bureaucratic hell I can find on top of you. And I don’t think you’re the kind of guy who likes dealing with red tape and sanctions.”

“Now that was a good threat,” Arch said, knocking some ash off his cigarette. “The only problem is that you aren’t really a mage, so you can’t exercise that right. You’ve still got your training collar on, which makes you a bound apprentice. Those don’t have the rights of mages, so I’m free and clear as far as the treaty goes.” He let out a long breath of smoke. “I might hate all that shit, but I’ve been around long enough to know the ins and outs of it. Better luck next time.”

Neil’s face fell as what he’d likely considered his trump card failed to faze Arch even the slightest bit. He turned to look back at Albert, who had just used The Blade of the Unlikely Champion to block a tusk that would have gored him through the stomach, and found Amy had moved around to meet his gaze.

“Apprentice,” she said, the purple glow in her eyes suddenly darkening. “This is a test of your master, and there will be consequences for failure. No matter what you think you should say, you will answer my question honestly. Why do you wish to save your creation? Why are you set on keeping Albert safe?”

“I’m supposed to protect . . .” Neil’s first burst of words fell away as his face grew calmer. “He needs . . .” Neil stopped again, and a small vein bulged near the top of his forehead. The young man took a long, deep breath, then looked his teacher, his master, dead in her temporarily oddly-colored eyes.

“Because I need Albert. As much as I pretend I’m the one looking after him, the truth is that I was lost when he was gone. He’s the one who props me up, who lets me feel okay enough with who I am to still function. I know mages are supposed to be bastions of internal strength, that’s how we wield the arcane forces of the world, but the honest truth is that I’m not strong enough to lose him. I wasn’t then, and I’m not now. He’s my best friend. He’s all I’ve got.”

“You’re wrong on several accounts, Apprentice,” Amy said. “Internal strength does not come from existing without weakness. It comes from facing our weaknesses head on, by admitting they exist and refusing to let them rule us.” She paused for a moment, a slight smile breaking through her serious expression. “And, more importantly, you are wrong about being alone save for Albert. You have much more than him. You have many people who care for you in this world.”

Neil gave a small nod, but said nothing.

“Still, I don’t think that’s any reason to let one of them slip away.” Amy reached into her coat and produced the small stone I’d seen her digging around for earlier. She whispered some words that I couldn’t understand, but that made me shiver all the same. The stone began to glow. With exceptional care, she touched it to the front of Neil’s collar, which immediately parted at a previously invisible seam and fell to the floor.

“Congratulations, Journeyman,” Amy said, putting the rock back in her pocket. “Though you still have much study under my tutelage left ahead, you are now a true mage, and entitled to the rights provided to all of our kind.” She turned to face Arch, all kindness flowing off her face like rain through a gutter. “I assume there’s no problem anymore?”

“There’s a hell of a problem, actually,” Arch shot back. “Are you fucking nuts? Do you realize what you’re saddling that kid with if you let him go down there?”

“His presence in the trial means that, for all intents and purposes, he is bonded to Albert so long as Albert wields The Blade of the Unlikely Champion. Because their magics were tested together, they are required to be together for the duration of Albert’s tenure as a Weapon Bearer. Yes,
Agent
, I am very aware of what happens if my student enters the arena.” She turned to Neil. “Is any of that a problem for you?”

“Hell no.”

“Didn’t imagine it would be.”

“There’s still the—” Arch was cut off as Krystal stepped in front of him, the expression on her face leaving no question about whose side her allegiances fell on.

“Quit stalling. They outplayed you. Get over it. Now shut the fuck up and just watch.” She turned to Amy and Neil. “You should hurry, Albert’s getting slower.”

Neil glanced down and realized that Albert had sustained two more wounds while he was dealing with Arch and Amy. “Shit! I’ll never be able to run down there in time.”

“Neil, the first lesson any mage should know is this: we never bother with the meandering path when there’s an express lane open.” She pulled out the water bottle I’d seen her sprinkling powder into earlier. It had a slight blue tint to it now, though I had no idea what that signified. “This will let you take the direct route. Now hurry.”

“Thank you,” Neil said, unscrewing the cap from the bottle. “For . . . for just everything. Thank you, Teacher.” With that, he knocked back the bottle and drained the entire contents in mere seconds. He dropped the water bottle to the ground, took off running, and leapt—

—directly over the edge, with a floor that was fifty feet below.

9.

Despite what even a cursory understanding of gravity would lead you to believe, Neil did not immediately plummet downward toward inevitable injury, if not death. Rather, he drifted down lazily, like a leaf swept off a tree heading toward the ground at its own leisurely pace. It was then that it all clicked into place for me: the water bottle, Amy’s odd behavior, her question to Neil, all of it.

“You knew this would happen.” I glanced over at her, just in time to see her knock back a small vial of orange liquid. When she lowered her head, her eyes had changed color to match the same hue as the liquid she’d just swallowed. “ When we were sitting on the cots, you already knew Albert would be in danger and Neil would have to jump in and save him.”

“Actually, I’ve known something like was coming since meeting Neil and Albert,” Amy replied. She walked to the edge and stared at her student’s slow descent—he was nearly halfway there. Neither Albert nor the chimera had noticed him yet, but that wouldn’t last much longer.

“How could you have possibly known a thing like that?”

“Because Albert shouldn’t exist,” Amy said, her voice a bit softer than before. “Raising a zombie takes tremendous magic, the sort that no one, not even a prodigy, could manage just by picking up a spellbook. The bond they share would account for some increase in power, but to pull back a soul as fully-functional as Albert’s would take a veteran necromancer with ages of experience. Thus, I was forced to conclude that some other magic property had given Neil’s ritual a bit of a nudge.”

I very much wanted to ask her for clarification, though obviously, there was an explanation that stood out as having the most potential; however, before I could ask her, another voice tore through the arena. It belonged to Neil, and it was packed full of concern, desperation, and fear.

As well as a tremendous amount of magic.

“
Mortus Aurellius
!” Neil lighted to the ground with his hands raised, gesturing to Albert, who was barely getting away from a stab of the chimera’s tale.

“Neil?” He jerked his head over in shock, a lucky move that actually made it so a rogue swipe of tusk missed taking his noggin off. “What are you doing here?”

“Duh. I’m helping you kick this thing’s ass.” Neil took a brief moment to catch his breath, then began waving his hands and letting out another spell. “
Merricort Stravinci
!”

I wasn’t sure what this one did, but I could already see the effects of the first—they’d been apparent as soon as he cast it. Albert’s flesh was knitting back together at an accelerated rate, his wounds closing over like they’d never existed. Vampires have exceptional regenerative capabilities, and Albert was healing far faster than I could have managed, even with a fresh swig of blood.

The chimera had turned around and was eyeing both Albert and Neil, clearly deciding which of them to take out first. Both were stringy and small, though the one with the sword had obviously annoyed it by dodging about. Of course, the fact that Albert could dodge made Neil seem like a more tempting target. The soft voice of my inner predator, the instincts that came with being a vampire, whispered insight into how this creature, formed of pain and magic, was thinking. It was, to say the least, very disconcerting.

“You shouldn’t be down here!” Albert yelled, splitting his attention between the chimera and his friend. “It’s dangerous.”

“Which is exactly
why
I’m down here. You’ve been letting that thing treat you like a chew toy. Did you really think I wouldn’t intervene?”

“This is my problem to deal with. I’m the one who drew the sword; I’m the only one who has to get hurt.” Albert was practically pleading now, though I wasn’t sure what good he thought his words would do. Even if Neil changed his mind at that exact moment, he’d still be just as stuck in the pit.

“Albert—and I mean this with love—fuck that, and fuck you for saying it!” Neil turned his attention completely away from the chimera, staring at his friend across the small distance between them. “Your problem? I’m the one who has to pick up the pieces and go on living without you. I’m the one who has to try and cope with a world that doesn’t have my only damned friend. I won’t do that, Albert, not ever again. Like it or not, your problems are my problems, and if you’re in deep shit, then so I am. We’re in this life, battle, sword, all this fucking craziness, we’re in it together.”

It was a heartfelt, if unnecessarily crass speech, and it would have been moving to all of us, if not for something else that was already moving. When Neil had turned away, the chimera had made its decision, and was bearing down on him from across the arena. It moved more silently than I might have expected, the dirt muffling its hooved footsteps as it barreled toward the young necromancer.

“Move, you dumb shit!” Krystal screamed, hands cupped to her mouth in a desperate attempt to mimic a megaphone. Despite the distance, her words reached their target, and Neil suddenly snapped to his surroundings. It was enough to get him mobile, but unfortunately not enough to let him dodge entirely.

A tusk tore through his side, a few inches below his ribs, sending blood spurting into the dirt and Neil tumbling to the ground. Finally given a chance to do some real damage, the chimera didn’t hesitate. It leapt atop the young mage, a dark tornado of snapping jaws and pounding hooves. Neil managed to get his arms up in a feeble defense, but it would only take seconds for them to be shredded into uselessness. Fortunately for Neil, the chimera didn’t have seconds.

There was no scream of warning or anger, which was the sort of thing that might have given the chimera time to react. Instead, it was suddenly seized by strong hands—ones that looked as though they might be gripping its very spine—lifted off Neil, and hurled across the arena, where it slammed into the stone wall with enough force to leave several small cracks. It was clearly still alive as it limped back to a standing position, but it obviously realized it no longer had easy game to attack.

Albert, tufts of fur still clinging to his hand, stood between his friend and the monster, looking at it with the sort of expression I’d never have thought my cheerful assistant capable of. He swung the sword once, then gripped it with both hands as he locked eyes with the beast.

“Holy shit,” Bubba muttered. “Are zombies always that strong?”

“Not usually.” Amy shook her head. “Neil’s first spell was to regenerate Albert’s flesh; the second was to increase his speed and strength.”

“I didn’t realize necromancers could do that.” Given how little I knew about magic in general, I had no qualms admitting my dearth of knowledge.

“It’s much harder with other undead, but with a zombie they’ve created, it’s different. The two share a bond, they’re connected. It’s like Neil is casting on a piece of himself.”

“That’s the thing about zombies,” Krystal added. “On their own, they’re basically no trouble at all to put down. But you pair them with a necromancer, especially one who cares about their creation, and they can be some of the toughest bastards this side of Hell.”

“Looks like he’ll get to see for himself.” Arch was still watching the fight carefully, with his same neutral expression. I wondered, just for a moment, how much of this he’d guessed would happen. Then I heard movement, and my attention was drawn back to the fight below.

The chimera was circling, trying to find a way to get at the injured Neil, but Albert was keeping pace with it every step of the way. His hands tightened on the sword’s hilt, and it may have been my imagination, but it seemed to me the blade was glowing a bit brighter than before.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Albert said, his voice still gentle, even as he stared at the blood of his friend on the chimera’s lips. “I really don’t. I don’t like hurting anyone. But if you try to touch my friend again, I’ll do it.”

Either the chimera didn’t understand him, or it didn’t believe him, because it grew tired of circling and finally opted to take the initiative. Backing up a few steps, the chimera charged, its hooves pounding up a cloud of dirt as it tried to mow Albert down to get at the young man he was defending.

“I’m sorry,” Albert said, digging his feet in. From the outset, it was clear; he didn’t intend to dodge this time. He readied the sword and kept his eyes on the hungry monster bearing down on him. As it drew near, I feared for a moment that Albert had suddenly frozen in terror, as he stayed put even when the tusks were only inches away from his newly healed flesh. Then, in a motion so quick a single flick of the eye would have missed it, Albert swung sword with all his might, catching the chimera directly in the head.

There was a blinding flash of a light, and I mean that quite literally. All of us were momentarily rendered incapable of sight, rubbing at our eyes and the spots that refused to clear. When they finally faded, we looked down, expecting to see a scene of gore and death.

What we actually found was quite different, and exceedingly unexpected.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Arch said, peering into the arena. “Never seen that one before.”

“Ditto,” Krystal agreed. Bubba and Amy nodded their agreement, while I just stared in confusion.

Down in the arena were a still bleeding Neil, a very confused Albert, and technically no sign of the chimera. It had vanished, almost entirely. The “almost” was a necessary addition to the descriptor because, while the chimera was certainly gone, there were three new things in its place.

Nestled in the dirt and apparently sleeping was a panther cub, a baby boar, and what I greatly suspected to be a scorpion egg.