Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling (49 page)

As the door opened, the sudden howl of the wind from the open window and the holes in the roof rushed in and the sounds of questioning passengers behind them filled the air.

‘What the hell?’ Liz said as she paused in the vestibule and looked at the damage all around them.

‘Ignore it, Liz, we’re going to have to use…
it
, I think,’ gasped Fran.

‘I know, that’s fine,’ Liz replied, defeat etched on her face.

‘Come on then, while we still can.’

Fran took the lead and pelted through the vestibule and into the next car where they could see Gentle Water fighting a group of men with swords, but Amanda was nowhere to be seen. Gentle Water also had a sword, one of the enemies weapons by the look of it, and he was holding off about seven of them.

This train car had clearly been modified by the Inquisition for their use. A couple of meters in from where they had entered there were two benches, one on each side, flat against the walls, between these Gentle Water fought the full complement of Crusader Knights. A little further on there were some tables and chairs, the golden book lay open upon one of those tables, and at another a gagged Stephan sat in a chair which he sat secured to with cable ties.

Vito stood next to Stephan, his sword drawn while Mary stood further back, watching the events unfold.

The men fighting Gentle Water took little notice of the girls as they entered the carriage, the pair of girls paused to take in the scene before them, before looking back to see that Raven had stood up and even now approached them. Fran looked at Liz and said;

'Now or never, come on.'

Fran led the way as they ran to the side and dodged round the fight by jumping onto a bench against the wall and then over a table before dropping to the floor on the other side of the fight and standing a short distance from where Vito stood next to Stephan.

‘How very heroic! And what do you plan to do to save your friend here?’ Vito asked the girls as he pointed the sword at Stephan’s neck.

Fran held out her hand to Liz, who took it in hers and looked at Stephan. He looked beaten and bruised, but otherwise alive. ‘Are you alright?’ Fran asked, ignoring Vito.

Stephan nodded and mumbled something through the gag.

‘Then brace yourself,’ Fran said, and looked at Vito.

In the past, she and her sister had found out through the levitation of things that they had some kind of power, Magic or Psychic power of some kind that allowed them to do things, move things with their minds, but it was only small things, nothing big, unless they were both upset, and then it got a little more powerful.

It had happened only a few times, when both of them were upset or angry, and in their rage, something would fly across the room and smash into the wall.

It had only ever been done on purpose a couple of times, but they believed they could use it on Vito today.

Fran looked upon Stephan and saw the pain and hurt that these bastards had inflicted on him and tears ran down her face. She could feel the rage and hatred boil up from within, these people were scum as far as Fran was concerned, and they deserved everything they had coming to them.

She could feel the same hatred and bubbling energy through the hand of her sister, and knew it equalled or perhaps even surpassed her own.

‘And what exactly should we brace ourselves for then?’ Vito mocked as he looked into the eyes of these two girls and no doubt saw nothing but hatred.

Fran concentrated hard, screwed her eyes shut and let out her rage in a scream at the top of her voice. Somehow, Liz did the same thing, synchronised with her sister.

The blast of energy was invisible, but the effects were all too real as, with a deafening bang, Vito was lifted off his feet and sent flying through the exploding side of the train as though he were nothing. Bits of chair and table, chunks of train and lots of other debris exploded outwards blowing a huge floor to ceiling hole in the side of the train car.

The wind roared into the carriage as the lights flickered and the brakes slammed into place bringing the train to a long and screeching halt that sent everyone standing sprawling to the floor.

For a brief moment, silence filled the Inquisitors carriage.

Angel caught the nearest chair back as the train braked to steady herself and then looked up at the three Inquisitors she had been following from 2 cars back. She had found them staggering from a lavatory with a few nasty bruises, no doubt the work of the Arcadians.

The Knights also glanced back and noticed Angel just a couple of steps behind them, the nearest one frowned, slowly realising that Angel was more than just another passenger and tapped the nearest Knights shoulder. Angel wasted no time and was on them like a shot. She moved quicker than was strictly possible in the laws of nature and with one hand, took hold of the nearest knights clothing and threw him clean through the window with a smash of shattered glass.

Passengers suddenly screamed and surged away from her and the second two Knights as they pulled hidden swords from their long coats.

Angel dodged the clumsy attack of the nearest Crusader and released a blast of energy at the Knight. He stumbled back into his companion from the force of the attack, grunting as he did so, but the Knights Aegis held firm, deflecting the worst of the magic away.

The Knight let a mad grin spread over his face.

‘Another of Satan’s whore’s, just in time for the fire of righteousness…’

But Angel wasn’t listening, she had already prepared for this fight by using a more advanced form of Multitasking and had split her mind into several parts, each one whole and complete but all of them working seamlessly together. Using her alternate minds she had magically moved a revolver that had been strapped to the inside of her thigh, to her hand, at the same time another part of her psyche called on more magic to harm the Knight, this time the Magic pummelled through the Knights weak Aegis and ripped several lacerations into his body. But Angel wasn’t finished there; the final section of her mind reached out to the minds of several nearby passengers and took rudimentary control of them.

Suddenly both Inquisitors found themselves being pelted with bottles, MP3 Players and Laptops as the helpless passengers threw anything they could get hold of at them.

As the knights struggled under the barrage, Angel stood tall and relaxed.

‘Don’t mess with the big boys and girls little man,’ she purred as she raised her gun and pointed it at the nearest Knight. The tiny revolver crackled with energy, and let out an almighty rapport as she pulled the trigger.  The Knights body disintegrated in the blast, scattered to the walls in a mist of red. With a second blast, the chest of the final Knight exploded as a 1 meter blast hole appeared in the door to the next carriage behind where he had stood.

The train steadied after the sudden breaking and everything went quiet for a moment as the passengers all looked around, trying to see a reason for the abrupt stop.

Nate watched Yasmin rise from her seat and gently place her empty glass down on the table.

‘It’s time we joined the festivities my Apprentice,’ she said, and set off walking down the train. As she moved, her trouser suit outfit shifted and flowed over her body into the form fitting catsuit she normally appeared in while black mist, like ink-drops in water flowed off her body like a living cape.

Nate fell into step behind her and kept pace as Yasmin strode forward. Her powerful magical nature both hid them from view and also cleared the path before them without her having to do anything. Although no one looked at them, everyone just stepped out of the way and let them pass so that her pace never changed.

Amanda ducked as the Knight pulled a gun from nowhere and fired at her. At the same time she used her magic to smack the gun sideways making the shot go wide but still it bounced off the edge of her shield.

Shocked at the Knights attack Amanda immediately let loose with her Magic again and fired off a second bolt of lightning. The powerful energy hit the Knight Inquisitor full in the chest sending him flailing backwards. He landed and rolled to a stop, alive but unconscious, his charred chest smoking.

Amanda let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed for a moment, her legs going a little wobbly.

‘Jaysis Gentle Water,’ she said to herself, ‘talk about in at the deep end, and what the feckin’ hell was that explosion?’ Amanda then noted that the train had come to a halt right in the middle of an Aqueduct. The long two track bridge straddled a wide valley, the floor of which was hundreds of feet below the height of the track.

‘Typical,’ Amanda muttered to herself with a wry smile.

Fran jumped to her feet after having fallen from the sudden stop and ran over to Stephan where he still sat in his chair.

‘Oh Steph, it so good to see you, are you alright?’ she said as she hugged and kissed him, tears streaming down her face.

‘I’m fine Fran, I’m fine. Can you untie me?’

‘Of course,’ she said and looked at the cable ties. ‘I need a knife or something.’

‘Over there, look, that guy on the floor.’

Fran looked round to see one of the Inquisitors unconscious on the floor, there was a knife strapped to his belt, so Fran darted forward and removed it from its sheath.

‘Careful with that,’ Stephan said as Fran gently cut the plastic that bound Stephan’s wrists. As she worked, she saw that the female Inquisitor who was with Vito must have caught the edge of the blast and was now out cold against the far wall of the carriage. She also noticed that Liz had walked over to the book and watched as she closed it and picked it up, hugging it to her chest.

Stephan’s bindings were cut seconds later and he rose from the chair, falling into an embrace with Fran who hugged him back, hard. A simple hug had never felt so good, so she closed her eyes and relished the embrace of the young man she loved.

Nate followed Yasmin into another carriage, the Inquisitorial car was not far ahead now, and Yasmin’s pace was purposeful, but not rushed. People had been surging away from these end carriages, this particular one was basically empty, just a few people darted for the door Yasmin had just stepped through, ignoring her and Nate as they went.

He noted the smashed window and blasted doorway at the far end of the car that had been splattered with blood and understood the terror of the passengers that had been in here. They had seen some violence only moments ago judging from the freshness of the gore and the Crusader Knight body parts that littered the floor..

But they didn’t pause, they continued on through the car, until half way through, to the surprise of Nate, she stopped.

Nate felt it a second before the side of the passenger car exploded inwards scattering seats and debris everywhere, bouncing off the walls and force shields of the two Magi.

Vito leapt into the opening brandishing his gun and sword.

He rose up from his landing crouch and stepped further inside, his tattered clothes hanging limply about him.

It was only by the Grace of God that he had somehow managed to grab the side of the bridge and stop his fall into the valley below. The train had braked and eventually came to a stop as Vito dragged himself back up onto the bridge, and made a brief prayer to the Lord, asking for God’s Grace. He had felt the power of the saviour flood into him, making him ready to take on the demon spawn that had attacked him.

Furious at the attack by the two witches he unleashed some of that power on the carriage in front of him and had jumped inside.

Vito suddenly realised he wasn’t alone and looked to his right at the pair of figures who stood there looking at him. The closest one wore a form fitting black outfit that might as well have been a second skin it was so fitted. This deep black cat suit looked wet in the flickering lights of the train car as they faltered from the explosion while black mist fell from her body and seeped over the floor around her. The woman’s face had a severe look to it, angular with cheek bones that could chop wood. She looked at him, her head cocked to one side with curiosity.

The man beside her though, he recognised that one with his tattooed arms and short cropped blonde hair. This had been the wizard who had attacked and killed his men in London.

Slowly his eyebrows dropped into a frown and his mouth twisted into a vindictive smile. He didn’t know who the woman could be, but he didn’t care, they were both Devil Spawn and he would end them here. Filled with his God’s Grace, he turned to face the pair and to bring God’s judgement upon them.

‘I’ve just about had it with you witches, may god have mercy on your soul,’ he intoned in a righteous voice.

‘Really? You want to do this?’ asked the woman, a slight amused smile twisting her lips.

Vito didn’t answer with words, instead he took two quick steps and leapt at Yasmin, brandishing his sword while firing off a quick burst with his Semi-Automatic Pistol that glowed with Angelic energy. The rounds slammed home into the woman’s Aegis, but stopped dead, the bullets Magic dissipating like little exploding fireworks as they hit.

Vito’s Godly power carried him far through his leap, and half way through it, he called on God to help him, to surprise his foes with His might. Vito teleported two meters closer to Yasmin in a show of Angelic might.