Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3) (9 page)

Sunday, June 5
^th
, 2016, 7:33 AM

Breakfast was a startling event for me.  I was used to a
little more peace before my morning coffee.  When Sierra and I went downstairs the
dining room table was already piled with bacon, sausage, plates of eggs, ham,
and mountains of toast.  There were a number of good morning grunts as Derik,
Clint, Katie, and Gerald didn’t pause from their eating efforts to even say
hello.

I’d have been a little concerned as the rest of the pack
came down behind us, the way they were chowing down and all, they were silent
but for the din of the plates, silverware, and the sounds of voracious eating
was remarkably disturbing.  But I could feel their welcome through the ally
bond which made the single minded ferocity of eating their meal seem not quite
as… odd.  I didn’t see coffee so we moved past the table and into the kitchen
and I grabbed a couple of empty cups. 

Selene and Suzy seemed to be cooking up the last few plates
of food.  A whole box of eggs that had come with six dozen sat empty on the
counter, along with several empty wrappers of one pound packages of bacon, and
a number of similarly empty sausage boxes.  The pack food bill much be
astronomical.

“Good morning.”

Selene and Suzy murmured a good morning back as I poured a
couple of coffees and handed one to Sierra.

Selene asked, “I couldn’t help but notice there was no sound
from your room last night, does that mean we don’t need to get a witch in?”

I shrugged, “That’s fine, I can only block out sound when
I’m here, but I won’t need to when I’m not so… no reason to bother with it I
think.”

She nodded, “Better go in there, if you’re too slow you
won’t eat in this house.”

I laughed and walked back to the dining room, not entirely
sure if she was joking around or not.  I noticed Todd was finally back, and
wondered how his date went with Aiya, but wouldn’t ask.  We moved around the
table to two empty seats and sat down.  I looked around and realized they were
seated in the pack’s hierarchy of power, me being the exception of course,
they’d left an extra seat next to the third chair for me as Sierra’s mate.

Sierra and I sat, and dug in.  I wound up grabbing the toast
and making egg, sausage, and bacon sandwiches.  I might have to start working
out outside of walking if they fed me this well, of course, I could maintain my
body weight and musculature with power, but that seemed entirely too lazy of
me.

Eventually the tide of werewolf hunger receded, and the
grunts were replaced by actual words.

Katie said, “So Gerald finally agreed, Clint and I are going
this morning.”

Gerald snorted, “It was either that or listen to you
complain all day yesterday.”

“So the four of us?”

Katie nodded cheerfully, “Otherwise there won’t be enough to
go around.”

I got the impression she loved a good fight, which wasn’t a
surprise after she volunteered to be bait last time.  Clint was obviously over
his head, but just as obviously happy to be there based on the look of
affection and excitement they shared. 

Clint asked, “Do we have a plan, or?”

Sierra replied, “Not yet, Ben knows where they are, but Tara
will have a better idea of what protections and spells we’ll be up against.”

I nodded, “They’re in their coven house north of
Indianapolis.  I don’t know much more than that though.  I used fire magic to
trace them, which means I can’t pick out thoughts, intentions, or protections. 
We’ll come up with something when we get to Tara’s, but whatever it is, we need
to hold back until we break their protections.  A fast surprise attack won’t
work.  It’ll be pretty dangerous as well even then, they could have inactive
spell traps lying in wait as well as inactive wards to weaken enemies just
waiting to be powered.  Add in eight witches backed into a corner throwing personal
spells and using their best enchanted items and it’s sure to be a fun time.”

Katie snickered, “That does sound fun, if slightly insane.”

I nodded.  Wolves would hold a speed and strength advantage,
and if they got their hands on the witches physically it would be all but
over.  The trick would be getting them safely in range.

Derik asked curiously, “I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned
sparing any of them, isn’t it just Cyndy who is obsessed with draining and
killing Tara?”

I sighed, “I’m not all that happy with the need, but it’s
different than last time.  Carrie, Todd, and Darren were good people under the
iron control of a bad alpha, and forced against their will.  While not all the
witches in the coven started out bad, they’ve been shaped and remade into
Cyndy’s image.  They aren’t under a spell anymore, as spells were used to
change them. 

“Some of them weren’t bad people when they started out, but
now they all enjoy the power that comes from sacrifice and dark magic.  Beyond
what Cindy did to the coven, dark magic tends to change the practitioner as
well.  They are… twisted, sadistic, dare I say evil, and can’t be freed from
it.  If we killed just Cyndy, they might or might not come after us, but they’d
definitely go on killing innocents and draining any other loner witches they
could find, and I’m not prepared to let that happen.”

Derik grunted, “Fair enough, and it will be less dangerous
that way.  No holding back.”

Carrie was frowning, “I thought magic was magic.  Not
inherently evil or good.”

I smiled, “That’s entirely the truth, there is no evil
magic, just dark spells.  It isn’t the magic that twists the caster, or what
makes it dark magic, it’s the application or spell.  If you drain a person’s
life and power, it gives you that power but also changes you.”

That didn’t really apply to me, since I’d just taken
knowledge from Jaben, not power or life.  But things like mind control, I
objected to them morally, not because it would damage me.  Well, not physically
anyway, it would change who I am though, I swore I’d never do that again.  A
mesmerizing compulsion was bad enough, but sometimes I wouldn’t get a choice in
that one.

I was glad no one questioned the knowledge I seemed to have,
that I didn’t a few days ago.  I’d learned a lot about light and dark magic
from the grimoires I’d absorbed into my mind, all from the point of view of
light witches of course, not all of it had been magic, some of it had been
insights and instructions from powerful light magic coven leaders.  I wasn’t
exactly going out of my way to keep secrets, but I also didn’t want to be the
one responsible for the secrets of the powers of an air sorcerer to become
common knowledge.

I hoped my trust in Tara wasn’t misplaced, or I’d have every
witch in the world after me for knowledge.  The gift had felt right though, and
if nothing else she would hide it simply because she didn’t want others
learning of her new magical trove and trying to take it from her.  Secrecy
truly was the best defense for both of us.

Breakfast wound down and broke up.  I went back upstairs and
finished getting ready.  I was in a pair of jeans and t-shirt this time, no
need for business casual on a witch hunt.  Sierra was dressed in a dark blue
curve hugging sundress, and open toe sandals.  I couldn’t help but stare for a
moment at her curves and beautiful face, and her wavy chestnut hair was getting
longer as well, almost down past her shoulder blades now.  Her gorgeous brown
eyes were glowing under my gaze.  The more time we spent together, and the
closer we got, the more beautiful she seemed to become to me.

Sierra smiled and swayed over to me, “See something you
like?”

I nodded, “You make it hard to focus at times love.”

She grinned, “Mission accomplished, just make sure you’re
focused later.”

I winked, “I’ll do my best.”

I knew we needed to go, but I took a minute to kiss her
rather thoroughly, and based on the hungry and sexy look in her eyes I’d done a
good job of it.  She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the door, and muttered
something about incentive to get back in one piece, but I didn’t catch all of
it.  Still, it was gratifying to know I had a similar effect on her.

There were people in the store, and I thought it would be
rude to appear without notice in her work room, so I brought us all to my
office, after checking that no one was in the area, and had the magic take us
there.  I couldn’t afford to get sloppy, using air to travel was becoming
second nature, it would be too easy to not take it seriously and slip up in the
age of cell phone and security camera’s.

It didn’t take long for the four of us to reach Tara’s shop
and she came out to greet us.  She was back in a dress this time, elegant and
flowing with her long red hair coifed on her head.  Her green eyes were hard as
granite and she was obviously ready and more than willing to kick some tail. 
She waved us into the back, and we followed her silently.

She smiled after shutting the door, “Welcome, and thanks
again for the help.”

Tara was looking right at me when she said the word thanks,
and I felt a sense of relief that she was going to be subtle about the whole book
thing.  She turned and grabbed three black collars off the table, and explained
what they were as she handed them to Clint, Katie, and Sierra.

“These are personal wards, I put them on a collar, and you
can see the material will stretch when you shift.  I’d advise you to not depend
on them, in fact, pretend you aren’t even wearing them.  A witch has to
constantly channel energy into wards when they are attacked, something you
can’t do.  So they’re good to absorb a spell, maybe two, before they fail. 
Still, it’s a just in case, try to avoid all magic anyway, and don’t even think
of trying to charge through it.”

Katie growled, “We got the point, take no chances, thank
you.”

Tara nodded slightly, and then turned to me, “Are you sure
they’re at the coven house?”

I tried to relax, it still wasn’t easy for me to do the
subtler magic that fire sorcery was capable of.  I was more powerful in air,
but I’d been an idiot to completely ignore fire for so long.  I found the
emotional connection, it just felt like the right one, there were literally
thousands of connections off of everyone in the room.  I followed it back.

“Yes, I just checked again.”

Tara sighed, “That’s going to make things harder.  This is
just tentative, so anyone can object if they want when I’m finished, but I do
have a plan of sorts.  Okay, when we show up we need to take down the active
protections from outside.  Then I need everyone to protect me while I cast a
spell that will… ward their traps.  In other words, I’ll surround all their
inactive traps with my own magic so they can’t be activated.  At that point,
they’ll sense what I did immediately and try and dispel it.  At the same time,
as soon as my spell is successful, we rush the house.

“Hopefully at least half the coven will already be involved
in a spell to clear my magic, and we can rush the house.  It will be my and
Ben’s job to try and counter their personal magic and any devices they are
wielding, and it will be yours to close in.  A witch’s ward won’t stop physical
attacks, but they could have a personal trap ward, say anyone that physically
touches them will get electrocuted.”

Clint snorted, “That sounds just peachy.”

Tara nodded and smirked, “That’s what the personal wards I
made for you are for.  It should deflect that magic, assuming they even have
it, and let you take them down easy.  But only if it’s still active when you
reach them.  I expect though that once their down to their personal wards and
magic Ben and I will be able to take down a few while disrupting their magic.”

I interjected, “I can also shield them a bit, as long as
they don’t get too far from me, two hundred feet or so.”

Katie frowned, “It’s a well thought out plan, and thank you
for the magic, but it seems rather complicated.  I’ve seen Ben torch things,
once the wards are down, can’t he just set the house on fire?  We can pick them
off as they run out.”

Tara shook her head, “Ben can use fire and air against the
witches, and even against the active protective wards when we begin the attack. 
But the house itself has… inactive wards that an earthquake, or fire, or water
would activate.  The more fire, the more fireproof the house would become. 
Worse, he’d be breaking the spell I cast over the house to prevent those wards and
many other traps from working.

“He might be able to overload those wards, eventually, but
it would be like a bomb going off, a mushroom cloud right outside of
Minneapolis wouldn’t be subtle at all, and we’d all wind up dead.”

Sierra asked curiously, “How do you know they have those?”

Tara frowned, “I grew up there, that’s the same coven house
they had when they killed my mother, and I fled from before I turned sixteen.”

She turned around and grabbed a basic floor plan, and
pointed to a large room in the back.

“This is where they’ll most likely be, it’s the ritual room
where their power is the strongest.  Any other ideas?”  Tara added wryly, “I’m
a store owner, and a relatively peaceful witch.  I’ve never planned an assault
before, I just happen to know the layout, the magic, and the enemy.”

Clint grunted, “It’s a good enough plan to start with.  Just
remember the battle never goes to plan, be ready for the unexpected, and if you
think the enemy will do one of three things, they’ll always choose the fourth
option.  I think we’re about as ready as we’ll get.”

I nodded, “There are some woods behind the house, I’ll take
us there, are we ready?”

They all nodded, and I took a deep breath.  I called on air
to take us all there…

Sunday, June 5
^th
, 2016, 9:33 AM

Some plans go awry a little bit into a mission, some
actually go to plan for the most part with a hiccup or two.  In this case, the
plans were shot as soon as we arrived in the small wooded area behind the
house.  With air being blocked, and only fire to lead me here, we were
completely unprepared for what awaited us, I certainly didn’t see any of it
coming.

I had a couple of seconds to look around before it all went
to crap.  The house was about two hundred feet away, my sphere of air magic
just reached the edge of the wards which I couldn’t see past.  The sun was
behind some clouds, and the light was fairly dim because of that despite the
hour.  The house itself was a bright yellow color, which tickled my sense of
irony.

Seconds after we arrived however, the clouds in the sky
started to congeal, and formed a storm.  I could feel the magic of it at work,
the water, fire, and air magic combining.  What I couldn’t feel was the earth
magic that was causing the ground to start rumbling, and which called lightning
from the sky.  The three werewolves stripped quickly and changed, I was about
to start hitting the house wards with a mix of fire and air magic to bring it
down, when the ground below us exploded, throwing us all in random directions. 
Whatever it was, it must have been all earth magic, because I hadn’t felt it
coming at all.

I chose to go straight up, and the air shield I’d placed
around the wolves seemed to keep them safe as they went flying.  Tara looked a
little dizzy when she stood up, but otherwise was unharmed as well.  In the
meantime, where we had been standing, there was now a creature made of earth
the size of a large gorilla.  It was disturbing because I couldn’t feel it at
all.

I mean, I could feel the shape of it, it was in my sphere of
air now, but I couldn’t feel a lick of the magic that animated it.  It was pure
earth magic.  I nailed it with fire and air magic, sending a firestorm of power
in a line of fire and air that supported each other.  I also fed the heat and
light back into it, so it looked more like a spear of darkness.  It impacted
the creature and took an arm off, along with most of its shoulder.

It completely ignored me, and went for Tara as a new arm
started to grow out of its upper body, fueled by the witch’s dark magic no doubt. 
I hit it with another shot and took off a leg this time, and it fell to the
ground a few feet away from Tara, the wolves growled at the thing, but held
back unsure if they could even harm it.

Tara pulled out a piece of copper and started chanting as the
thing tried to get back to its feet before its leg fully regrew.  I admit I was
kind of bugging; I’d never seen anything like it before.  Tara though, seemed
totally calm, almost regal, as she stood there in a dress and chanted in her
confident sonorous voice.

She spoke the last few words with a harsh finality, and
threw the copper at the golem and it stuck in the dirt body.  A second later I
felt and smelled ozone, as two strikes of lightning accompanied by booming
thunder fell down from the dark witch’s storm and struck the center of the
golem, right where the piece of copper was.  The entire thing exploded apart. 
I was flooded with adrenaline, and rather relieved when the thing didn’t come
back together.

I was kind of impressed, Tara had turned their own power
against them.  I wouldn’t betray Sierra, but I couldn’t help being a little
turned on by her casual display and command of power, not to mention her
dress.  I dismissed it all with a guilty thought and turned my attention back
to the house now that the dark coven’s initial attack had failed.

I slammed my power into the wards, and wondered what my
allies thought of it.  If it weren’t for controlling the light, they would see
a twisting rope of air, that was on fire, pounding into the house and wards. 
As it was, it looked like a rope of pure shadow as I fed my anger, fear,
inappropriate lust, the heat and light, and even the gases from the fire itself
back into the fiery maelstrom to make it as hot and powerful as I could.

I had to back off for a minute, as I redirected the
lightning the dark coven sent down on us from above.  I couldn’t control
lightning myself, because it had components of fire and earth, but I could
adjust the path it took by insulating the ground with the power of air, having
it strike the tops of the trees around those on the ground, instead of finding
a path between them.

Tara was chanting again, though with a glance I saw they
weren’t fighting anything else, so it must be directed at the house.

I did have a thought though.  The house was protected from
fire, air, water, and earth with wards.  But explosions had secondary effects,
like compression or shock waves, which are actually sound.  Air shields would
stop one, but wards against pure magic wouldn’t, since it would be a side
effect of what I planned, and not part of the magic at all.

I built a ball of fire next to the house, right by where
their ritual room would be according to the hand drawn floor plan Tara showed
us.  I kept pouring fire into it, raising the temperature, increasing the fire,
at the same time I compressed it tighter and tighter with air.  I could feel it
burning away the main active wards, and I kept it up.

As soon as the wards fell, I released the part of the air
shield facing the house, making it a kind of shaped charge.  The explosion was
enormous, and the house wards Tara had warned us about absorbed the intense
heat and rush of air, but the shock wave literally blew a jagged ten-foot
diameter hole in the side of the house.

I didn’t think of myself as a violent person, but I have to
admit I’d enjoyed that a lot.

I stopped then, because Tara finished chanting and sent her
spell at the house, coating the inactive wards and various traps in her own
magic so they wouldn’t activate.  I knew any more attacks would have to be
directly against a witch, or I could accidentally burn her spell away.

The good thing was, we didn’t have to go through the door
single file, we were literally staring through a hole in the side of the house,
at the now open mouthed coven standing in a circle.  Their shocked stares
lasted less than a second, and they all went for their pockets while Sierra,
Clint, and Katie charged.

I moved forward though the air toward the house from about
twenty feet up, making sure to keep my mate and friends in my sphere of air so
I could shield them.  Tara walked forward confidently, and was chanting yet again,
this time she held a bone.

I sent a small sphere of dark fire straight for Cindy, if I
could take her out perhaps their joined magic would fall apart.  It hit her
wards, but didn’t get through.  By now they were chanting as well, but three of
the witches were taken down by the throat before they could finish, as Sierra,
Clint, and Katie launched themselves through the large hole in the house.  I
could feel the magic eat through the shields I had erected, and tried to steady
them as I sent another larger bolt of black fire and air at Cyndy.

I don’t know if the ferocity of the wolves’ attack
distracted them, or if I had just weakened her wards to much with my last shot,
but this time my attack burned into her chest, and after a moment turned her
into a pillar of fire.  I put it out with a thought when I felt her die and the
wolves turned and dove for the next three of the four dark witches left
standing.

Sierra was hit by something, and sent careening across the
room, although the shield of air I was holding around her didn’t break.  Clint
and Katie were hit as well, but only redirected and slowed slightly, and their
jaws bit deep into their target’s sides as they took them down.  Perhaps those
witches were just weaker than the one that Sierra attacked.

I turned to the one that hit Sierra but before I could do
anything, Tara finished chanting and once again used the dark witches’ own
storm.  I was shocked when a searing lightning bolt was pulled right to Tara’s
hand, but then it was redirected and forked from her raised hand at two of the
remaining witches.  It went through their personal wards like a hot knife
through butter, and roasted them on the spot.

The only two left were the ones trying to fend off Katie and
Clint.  They hardly needed the help, but Sierra was up by now, and darted in
and took Clint’s opponent by the neck.  The last one followed quickly after.

Tara laughed in relief and humor before she looked at me,
“Did you have to blow a hole in the wall?  It’s going to be harder to cover
up.”

I snorted and returned to the ground next to her, as the
wolves ran out, no doubt going for their clothes.

“That lightning trick was impressive, at first I thought it
was them hitting you.”

She grinned and winked saucily, “Nope, I’m just that good.”

I laughed and walked into the house, I burned the corpses,
blood, and other viscera to ash, and then took the ashes away with air.

Tara pointed at the wall, “Can you destroy those?  They’ll
be warded.”

I nodded, and grabbed the dark grimoires in air and floated
them off the shelf.  I started a fire inside the bubble of air holding the
books and it contained the fire inside of it.  It took a good fifteen seconds,
and then they went up all at once, my air containing the exploding fire.  Then
I leached the heat away and released the ashes.

She frowned, “I wish we could burn the place down.”

Sierra hugged me from behind, I knew she was okay from being
thrown, but it was a relief to scan her with air magic and find nothing wrong. 
I pulled her against me when she stepped around and tried to take my hand.  Katie
and Clint came back inside too.

Sierra asked, “Where are the wards?  Maybe we could tear
that part out?”

Tara frowned, “The fire wards are in the walls, inscribed in
the wall studs.  We’d have to knock down the whole house, and even then the
studs or anything near them won’t burn until we break each ward.”

Well, that does make covering up a hole in the wall for no
apparent reason complicated, not to mention if anyone tries to demolition the
house in the future they may become suspicious when the house eats the
explosives.  I walked outside while I reached for information about resonance. 
Sound, oscillations, all of that I could create with air.  It wasn’t something
I’d looked at before, but the information was out there. 

A house’s walls resonate between twenty and twenty-five
hertz.  The question was, would I be able to build enough of a resonance wave
vibration to literally shake apart a whole house.  Although, strictly speaking,
all I would need to do is cause the studs to crack and split, breaking the ward
lines carved into them.

The rest followed me out as I tried to do just that.  The
four of them stared at me with puzzled expressions at the intent look on my
face, until the sound of cracking and splintering wood filled the yard.  The
house creaked and looked like it might just fall in on itself, with most of the
supports torn apart a good wind would probably do just that.  Now they were
looking at me with their mouths open, and I just winked and tried to be
mysterious.  It wouldn’t be nearly as cool if I explained how I did it after
all.

Then I set it on fire, and it burned merrily…