Mirror Bound

When the ward dissipated after the knot was untangled, he had his hand on the lock immediately. He let us watch again, and unlocking it was a matter of moving the mechanism with magic rather than a key.

Of course one needed to be able to see inside the lock to do that, but both Lukas and me could do that. The lock also gave way to Paul's magic, he was still glowing with it, but only to sight now, and it seemed to me he was still using his own internal energy.

I asked: 'Why don't you use ley-line power, won't this weaken you slowly?'

He was surprised I'd checked, and replied: 'We know this mage is not sensitive to magic energy, but using power from outside my own stash gives off a clearly visible sign, so I'd rather not do that until my own reserves are emptied.'

I hadn't known that, that would make having a focus handy after all, unless that would show up too. I asked, and Paul replied that energy from a focus was personal and not visible from the outside. I was thrilled to see him use so much magic, and show us how it worked as he did it. This raid was turning into a field-trip pretty quickly, and it was fun to see him use magic to remove every obstacle in our way.

Lukas went in first, and we followed, closing the door behind us. Paul even set his own ward on it, not leaving anything to chance. His was blue, and quite beautiful, looking like a well-forged chain of interlocked human hands.

Somehow, breaking in to the factory was exiting rather than scary, I followed Lukas and Paul was behind me, so I felt quite safe. The door to the factory itself was locked, but not for long. I thought Lukas would probably find some uses soon for this newly found skill.

Within minutes we were crossing the hall with the machines, it was huge, though in the dark it was difficult to see exactly how high the roof was. I checked everything with sight, using Paul's energy to save my own and not give us away to spying eyes with sight, and so he'd be able to see what I saw through the connection of our minds.

The machinery was normal, everything seemed normal until one door glowed in the sickly red colour of corrupted magic, it had a ward on it. I wanted to have a closer look with a bit of normal light, but Paul asked to first free the faeries, so we moved on for now.

We were across the hall in a few minutes and Lukas opened the door to the office-area. Stepping inside, he took a turn to the right, he knew exactly where to go. We did not check out the other offices, apparently Lukas was convinced all the photographs would be in the owner's office. I continued to look about me with sight, but nothing weird showed up.

Lukas now waited before a door, and asked me to double check it. I didn't see a ward either, so he opened the door and went in. Paul created a light, and soon the guys had collected four plates with photographs of trees off the walls.

Checking in a general way with sight I found a fifth, and then we could do nothing but check all the closets and drawers for the sixth plate and any other objects that might contain souls.

Paul soon came across the altar, and with the same revulsion as when he beheld the sickly red power signature, he told us he'd destroy it just before we left. The owner would certainly feel that and raise the alarm, so we needed to get out quickly after that.

I was searching a closet when Lukas called for us, I turned around and saw him standing next to an open closet, looking in. He pointed at another plate, asking: 'Is that one of them, it seems magical, but I'm not sure?' It seemed part of a construction, another kind of altar, and I didn't dare to touch it like that, it seemed warded as well as clearly holding a soul.

Paul came over and told us that this was the soul currently in use to power the mage. The photograph could not be saved, the plate would have to be destroyed to set the soul free.

So we continued our search, found two statues that might possibly contain souls as well. We didn't take a good look at any of them, just shoved them in the bags with the photographs, Lukas and me both carrying one bag with several objects. Paul now started with the photograph in the closet, reducing it to ashes with what seemed to be pure magic power.

Then he went on quickly to the altar, but that didn't give in as easily. As he hit it with raw power, black tendrils came out of it and attacked him. It looked really dangerous, but Paul didn't even twitch and continued his destructive task. The tendrils latched on to him, but couldn't find a hold, they tried his face, his neck, but soon the altar was ashes as well, and the tendrils dropped to the ground, writhing, until they, too, were ashes.

Job done, Paul wiped his forehead as if he had been casting a difficult ornament, then came towards us and signalled to leave. In the hall we met our first resistance, apparently there was a night-watch after all, because two men in uniforms tried to stop us.

Lukas kicked the first, hard on the leg, and the guy dropped like a stone, leg no longer able to support him. The other stood frozen, and I saw Paul fire a ball of raw power at him, visible only in the magical range.

The guy clearly didn't see it coming, and when it hit him he dropped like a stone, clutching his head. I made a mental note to ask Paul how to do that, it seemed much more appropriate to stun a person than to singe him with fireballs.

We rushed on, but we still had that warded door to check, and as we drew closer to it, I started to feel the source of Paul's revulsion myself. This was an abject form of power, it felt of great suffering. Paul removed the ward from the door as carefully as the first ward and as quickly.

Lukas opened the door first and nearly buckled, his face anguished as he moaned: 'I can't stand it, the feelings rush me, there is someone suffering down there.'

Paul caught him and explained: 'It's your empathy, you're picking up every emotion down there. Do you want to stay back or shall I show you how to reinforce your shield?'

'I need to come with you, please help me to shut it out,' he replied. A moment of contact between Paul and Lukas, and Lukas' expression became slightly less pained, and in another moment he was able to go on. Of course it didn't bode well for what we were going to find behind that door, and that proved to be entirely true.

We took a deep breath and stepped beyond the door, Paul in the lead.

There was a short corridor, with doors on either side and a door at the end. All the doors had barred windows, and what we saw through the windows defied description: each room was a cell, with one or more children on the edge of puberty in them.

They were asleep in a tight heap or keeping an anxious eye on the door, feeling our presence. We checked all the windows, and concluded there must be nine or ten children in total, and every single one had a strong magical talent on the verge of developing.

To my surprise Paul didn't try to free them. I asked him why, and he said: 'If someone is here, there will be a fight, and they'll be safer in those cells.' Whereas Lukas was still suffering with the fear and the desperation that clung to the very walls here, Paul was getting very angry, which I could understand very well.

This was his quarter, children were mistreated under his very nose, and he hadn't had an idea it was going on. Who knew for how long this black mage had been at his perversions, cunningly hiding his evil practices for years from Paul's elderly predecessor by a cunning spell that hid his magic from guardian powers.

Well, not anymore, I could easily see that. I realised that if all children here had talent, the mage was probably harvesting their powers for his own use! I knew Paul knew, so I didn't say it out loud, instead we advanced on the door at the end of the hall. I could feel the horrible thing that was going on in there right through the door.

Someone was in terrible pain, and a nauseating presence was working magic. Paul didn't stop for a heartbeat, a single burst of controlled magic splintered the door and he strode right in. I put up and extra shield and looked behind me how Lukas was doing. He was holding up, though barely, face determined, knife out.

As our eyes adjusted to the gloom, we saw a larger altar with a teenage child bound to it, clearly in agony but not physically, mentally. A robed figure was moving sinuously in front of it, and I could see clean, blue power flowing out of the child, not into the black mage, but into a kind of large black stone.

The child screamed again, and Paul called out a challenge to the mage, it was spoken in a strange language, I guessed Latin, and as he spoke he erected a blue shield over both the mage and himself. The child stopped screaming instantly, cries fading to whimpers, and Lukas was with it, her, in a few steps.

Dropping his shields he touched the girl, free to use his talent to relieve her suffering, but he would need power to do so. Paul was out of reach, and the need for hiding was over, I could not imagine anyone condoning this demonic practice.

So I reached out for the nearest power-source and nearly vomited in abject disgust. The power I had inadvertently touched was the filthy perverted stolen power, harvested by the black mage and stored in what was supposed to be a node.

But no mere human, let alone a mage with no power of his own, could build a node, and the result was a sloppy and leaky pit filled with vile stolen power. I realised that this was the source of the phosphorescent patch in the wasteland, and the reason this mage kept that land in desolation: he had heard of mages using node-power and wanted such a convenient store of magical energy for himself.

The magical power leaking out of his perversion of a node was spilling into the river, undoubtedly killing the fish and even humans along its course downstream.

Drawing back in disgust, I knew I needed to find another source quickly, for Lukas would not last long without energy, his talent would start devouring his life-force.

Reaching out a little further, I found a ley-line with clean power, and I accessed it and touched Lukas to feed him the clean power. His state was not as bad as I'd feared since his focus had supplied quite a lot of energy.

Still he accepted what I offered gladly, and once our link was established I didn't need to spend lot of concentration on keeping him fed. I started to look around how Paul was doing, and whether we were still safe in this hell-hole. Within the shield, fireworks were already in full swing.

I could see Paul standing opposite the evil mage, sickly red fireballs dripping off his blue tinged shield-within-shield. It clearly held easily, and the returning blue bolt encompassed the red tinged shield totally, fraying the edges already.

Apparently, Paul was holding his own, so I checked how Lukas was doing. The girl had stopped projecting agony, the worst pain seemed to have stopped as Paul distracted the mage draining her, and she was now holding tightly to her saviour, as Lukas was trying to get some sense out of her.

'Do you know how the doors to the cells open?' he asked her. She nodded, and he continued: 'Can you be very strong for a moment yet, wake your brothers and sisters out there and set them free, then lead them outside?

When this is over we will talk again, and you can tell me everything, and we will find your parents for you, but your captor is not beaten yet and I need to help.' She nodded again, skipped to a hook on the wall and ran off straight away.

The resilience of children was so amazing, I had a hard time believing it. But Lukas was right, this was not over yet, and we turned our attention back to the arcane battle.

Watching the magical battle going on inside the shield, it was clear the evil mage was no match for Paul's superior power and knowledge.

Paul's shield cutting off the power of his adversary, the red bolts were losing power fast, dissipating before they even reached the blue shield. Paul shrunk the shield to just hold the black mage, still cutting him off from his power and preventing him from using magic altogether.

He turned towards us, asking: 'Did you free the children? We can go outside now, this one's done working magic,' when the man caught in his shield pulled a gun out of his belt, aimed it at Paul, and shot him in the back.

Paul dropped like a stone, and as I rushed towards him, the shield capturing the mage dissipated with Paul's consciousness or even life? I didn't know.

Then, everything happened at once: the mage, torn between finishing Paul with his gun, aiming at me or contacting his disgusting power again to level the three of us, hesitated for an instant, in which Lukas rammed him in the face with his rock hard head.

Dismissing the mage from my mind I clutched at the still form of the dearest thing I had on this earth, quavering with the idea of finding him dead.

Chapter 34

I found him alive, but unconscious and gravely hurt. The bullet had entered his back at the height of his lungs, and I knew that if one of them was hit, he'd most likely not survive.

Shutting out my gibbering fear I used my magic to feel his situation. I plunged into a living, moving stream, recognising the flow of blood from Lukas' horns, the different particles floating around. I searched for the wound, and found it, bullet still lodged inside staunching the wound for now, but it would have to be removed with all the danger of bleeding and infection.

It had fortunately missed the lung which I was thankful for, but I was way out of my depth here. I could not even repair metals yet, let alone a living being where everything moved around. My fear was rising again when I felt a comforting touch and familiar presence and Lukas was there with me. He connected himself to me and spoke softly: 'Please show me what is wrong and give me the power, I think I can help.'

I welcomed his touch and connected to the ley-line, showing him the lodged bullet and the potential for bleeding. Ripping Paul's familiar linen shirt, Lukas touched his back on both sides of the wound, and let his talent take over. He started with the bullet, slowly but inexorably working it out with magic, much like the turning of the key in the lock but way, way more careful.

As it came out, blood gushed out with it, so much of it I nearly despaired. I took off my black scarf and held it over the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. In the meantime, Lukas had repaired some of the internal damage, using the squares in the blood to knit the torn flesh together. Power was pulled out of him at an incredible speed, but I managed to keep up with it for now.

Now the bleeding slowed to a trickle, and though Paul did not regain consciousness, he did not fade either. But Lukas was totally done for. Recharging with making love was totally out of the question in the lion's den, an accomplice might turn up any moment now.

We had left the guard stunned, he might turn up, though I wondered if he'd support his employer once he knew what was happening here. I was still desperately trying to think of something to do when I heard George and Marcus call for us.

I called back, and they soon reached the room where we were. Shocked and concerned, they took in the situation, and George said with authority: 'I'll carry Paul, Marcus you support Lukas and Melissa, do you have the photographs?' I nodded, and he said: 'You take those, if you can walk. I'm taking you home in our carriage, and Marcus and Frances can free the faeries.

I was amazed to find them here, so I asked: 'How did you know we were here, what is going on out there?' Marcus answered: 'We were waiting for you to come out with the photographs, when an arcane fireworks display appeared to our sight.

We knew there was trouble, so we kept an eye on the gate, and when it was over and no-one came, we decided to go in and investigate. We saw Paul's ward on the gate, and inside the factory we were met by a band of children, tired and emotionally drained, but eager to get out.

A watchman was talking to one of them, a girl who looked marginally better, and she told him they had been held captive and abused by a man he recognised as his employer, and that three people had freed them. The presence of the children and the state they were in convinced him that something was not right, and he allowed us to go where the children directed us they had been kept.

I advised the guardsman to send the children to my wife waiting outside, she could calm them like no-one else and keep an eye on them until their parents could fetch them or a place could be found for them. You see, they were all supremely talented, we could both see that.

By now, we were in the main part of the factory, and soon we were outside. Lukas was getting worse, he desperately needed to pay the price of the healing, and I was glad to see a carriage waiting for us in front of the building.

The situation really needed someone with authority, so George changed his plans to Marcus coming with us and him staying behind to resolve the situation, then free the faeries. It would be a long night for him, but he was certain to handle this well, he was a very important player in city matters, by reason of his title, but also as successful businessman.

Paul was lifted in the carriage, Lukas climbed in by himself, I got in after I handed over the bags with loot, and we were off. Checking on Paul I found him stable, though he was still unconscious, his pulse was strong and his breathing was normal. The bleeding had stopped altogether, though the remains of his shirt were soaked in blood.

Having assured myself he was no longer in real danger after Lukas' healing, I turned to the latter. Lukas was not hurt, he was just suffering from reaction shock, his eyes glazed and his reactions slow. I touched his mind to see if I could supply him with some energy to replenish what he had lost, and he eagerly seized the contact, but he was not lacking magical energy that could be supplied, his nerves were just overextended, his newly awakened talent had taken a lot out of him.

Before we knew it we were on our own doorstep. Marcus carried Paul to bed, then went back to the factory to help his parents. When he was gone Lukas wanted to go to bed as well, so I helped him out of his clothes and into the bed.

Thinking of making some of that restorative tea for him I got up, but Lukas reached out for me, and suddenly the full force of our connected minds hit me. We'd been too busy and distracted so far, but now things had quieted down and we both realised the intimacy of the connection our minds had. I quickly removed my trousers and shirt, and snuggled up to him, feeling his weariness as if it was my own.

We lay together in close mental contact for who knows how long, kissing slowly, feeling each other's skin, smelling the other's scent. Slowly, I felt the intensity of our love fill up some part of him that was emptied out, and I could also feel a little life come back into him, his colour improved, his reactions speeded up. Now his attentions became a lot more intense, I could feel his need flare up, and my own answered. We kissed a lot more intently, and I sat astride him and felt for his erection, suddenly eager to feel him inside me.

Guiding him in, I felt not only the electric shock of him touching the eager hot place inside me, I also felt the warm flesh closing in on his sensitive penis, and his reaction to feeling my heat. I was like an unending circle of ecstasy, his fire and mine strengthening each other.

I felt myself moving in and out of that incredibly good place, so warm and close, but I also felt the hard flesh touch me inside, generating electricity each time it did, the combination driving me totally insane with lust and bliss, and feeling his reaction to feeling both sides of the experience on top of it.