Magic Rises

that he swung into my field of vision. His face was grim, his mouth a hard flat line. He hefted the gladius as he walked.
    I took a deep breath. Saiman or not, the power word was my only option.
    Tremblay raised his sword.
    Something snarled, too sharp to be Derek. The crustacean creature dimmed. Its legs flailed helplessly. The hypnotic glow blinked and vanished. The hold on my body broke.
    I lunged forward, breaking into a sprint. Tremblay swung the gladius to parry. I batted his sword aside, buried Slayer in his left lung, sliding it between his ribs, and withdrew. Tremblay’s mouth gaped in a shocked O.
    A werewolf leaped into view, sailing through the air as if he had wings. His claws scoured the creature. Magic boomed, nearly punching me off my feet, hurling the werewolf and the dying creature to the ground.
    Tremblay coughed, dropped his sword, and clamped his hand to the wound. The veins on his neck began to bulge. Probably a collapsed lung. I shoved him aside.
    Ahead the female mage lay on her stomach, her hands in the air. An enormous black hound stood over her, his teeth on the back of her neck. A ghostly light rippled over his sable-black fur.
    Ha! About time.
    To the right, Derek’s prone form sprawled on the glass. The magic creature lay next to him in two glistening wet piles. He must’ve torn it in half. That was where the blast I just felt had come from. Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead, Derek.
    “I give up,” the woman croaked. “I give up, don’t hurt me.”
    “Derek!” I called out. Please be okay, boy wonder. “Derek!”
    He sat up slowly and shook his shaggy head.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah. Head hurrrrts.”
    I exhaled and walked up to the woman. Grendel looked at me and growled low.
    “Drop it.”
    He didn’t move.
    “Trash, Grendel. Drop it.”
    Grendel opened his jaws and sat.
    “Good boy.”
    I pulled a plastic tie out of the pocket on my belt and wrapped the mage up. “I feel a shiver of magic from you and I’ll cut your head off. Do we understand each other?”
    She nodded frantically. “No, I’m done. I wasn’t wild about this kidnapping plan anyway.”
    But she’d gone along with it. And when Tremblay told her to give the signal that would’ve exploded Saiman’s head with a charged arrow if Derek hadn’t taken out the shooter, she gave that signal without the slightest pause. If she was looking for sympathy, I was fresh out.
    “Your dog transforms,” Saiman said.
    “Brilliant deduction, Mr. Holmes.” I petted Grendel’s huge head. He was a black dog, a mystic hound. Trouble was, he transformed only when he felt like it.
    “I can’t help but point out that I’m still confined,” Saiman said.
    I glanced at Derek. “Will you let him out, please? He’ll just keep whining.”
    He scrambled up the slope of the Mole Hole, up the building, and along the beam, running on his oversized feet, his shaggy body silhouetted against the moon and the ruined city.
    I checked my side. The katana’s blade had left a shallow gash. It bled quite a bit, but my shirt had absorbed most of it. I pulled gauze from my pocket, pressed it against the wound, and pulled my shirt over it. I took a flask with kerosene from my belt and backtracked, pouring it on anything resembling blood. Once blood was separated from my body, I could no longer hide its magic.
    Derek reached the end of the beam and crouched, untangling the chains.
    I struck a match. The trail of kerosene caught fire.
    “Do hurry,” Saiman said.
    Derek raised his clawed hands. The cage plummeted twenty-five feet to the ground and bounced, chipping the glass. The metal door popped open.
    “Ow.” Saiman shouldered his way out of the cage. He towered over me, a full eight feet tall. “I don’t suppose you’ve brought anything nutritious with you?”
    You’ve got to be kidding me. “Slipped my mind.” Being a polymorph, Saiman needed a huge amount of calories for his metamorphosis. The fight with his kidnappers must’ve drained him dry.
    Saiman sighed. “Regrettable.”
    “You owe me.”
    “I’m well aware of that, thank you. Although in light of recent events, I believe the dog should get the lion’s share of the reward.”
    “The dog is my employee. I mean it, Saiman. You owe me a big favor. One day I will call to collect.”
    “Suddenly I feel less secure than when I was confined,” Saiman said.
    I grinned at him and walked away, leaving his kidnappers to Saiman’s tender mercy. Some men might have