When I got back to the kitchen, the cleanup was going on. I walked over next to Nate and whispered to him, “What’s this I hear about a training session going on this morning? I think you forgot to mention it when we were discussing things earlier.”
“Like that idea, do you, my dear?” he replied. “Yeah, we want to try to get them a little better equipped before they go round two with the warlocks.”
“This warlock seems to have a freezing spell that works pretty well. I really think we would be best off if I could say a spell that would protect us all from that,” I informed him and waited for him to tell me no.
It was something that popped into my mind just before going to sleep, and had been bothering me. What if all my friends were frozen in place out there on the battlefield? I hoped I could get past the spell, but they wouldn’t be so lucky and if I had to reverse the spell, I wouldn’t be on my feet to help fight.
“I know, but, Avery, we need you at full strength. What if saying the spell wipes you out again?” he asked.
“I really think that’s just something we’re going to have to deal with. I’m not going against someone else’s magic, just protecting you guys against it. If the warlock tries to use the spell on you, maybe he’ll fly through the air like I did and end up incapacitated for a while.” I thought things out enough that I had a good counterpoint to his immediate denial.
“I’m sorry to say that I like this idea,” Rick said, joining us. “If we’re all frozen, that will leave her vulnerable to attack.”
“Fine, you can say a protection spell, but you need to do it now in case it knocks you out.” I gave Nate a warm smile for giving in so easily.
“Okay, just a second. I have to think about exactly what I want to protect against. I really think the spells are the key thing. I think if you guys can’t duck under energy balls, you’re just going to have to deal with the pain. I don’t want to do anything too complex.”
“I agree,” Rick said. “We should be able to move quickly enough to dodge them, since we’re expecting them.”
“Protect the guys against the warlocks’ spells, and protect them against anything the warlocks may compel.”
The second I got that last word out, my head started hurting enough that I dropped down to my knees. I could handle a decent amount of pain, but not jackhammers. I needed to find a way around those as soon as possible. I stayed on the ground for a minute, and then shook my head and stood back up.
“I sure hope that means the protection is in place. That looked like it was a doozy,” Rick said while he tried to stabilize me.
“Yeah, it didn’t feel all that great. Hopefully, it’s the last one before I learn more on how to control things.”
“I think I’m going to insist on it being the last one. You can’t keep doing this to yourself. It’s getting worse each time now,” Nate said.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” I retorted. “Sometimes you know I don’t have a choice. We couldn’t walk in there and leave you guys open to that kind of attack. You have to be able to fight, since I won’t be able to use magic.”
“I know, but I don’t have to like it,” he said.
“The training going on today, where will it be and how soon will it start?” I asked, hoping to change the topic to happier ones.
“As soon as you’re ready. We want to leave for the meeting in about four hours, so that’s all the time you have to teach them everything you know,” Nate replied. “I hope you’re good at condensing things down to just the essentials.”
“And the location is in the basement. They have a gym set up down there that will work well enough for a little sparring,” Rick added.
“Cool, lead me to the basement stairs. There’s no time like the present to get things started.” They turned me around and pointed me to a door off the kitchen.
I expected a dark, dingy place, but on first inspection, the blinding glow of fluorescent light was anything but dark. I saw three wolves already down there, busy working on their weight machines. It looked like it was basically set up like a weight room.
I didn’t see any cardio machines. I hoped they liked to do their running outdoors, because weightlifting wouldn’t give them the stamina needed for a training session with me. The area did have a nice open space where I thought I could do some damage.
“So, who wants to go first?” I asked those already in attendance. I assumed the other locals would show up eventually.
They looked around at each other, and evidently came to a silent agreement that the biggest of them would take a stab at me to begin with. I was honored they didn’t decide to let the little one try to take me on, to make sure they didn’t break me in two. My use of the word little was only relevant to the situation. The smallest guy in the room was at least six-foot-two.
“I’m Alan, the alpha of our group,” the wolf said.
“Nice to officially meet you, Alan,” I said, sticking out my hand to shake.
He grabbed it, but instead of shaking it, he flipped me around until I was lying with my back to the ground. He fell down on top of me, with his hand around my throat trying to choke me. I should’ve known the alpha would try to look good in front of his followers.
It wasn’t the worst case scenario for me. He saw my display with Rick before, so it was really silly for him to think just like that he’d won. I levitated us both off the ground and spun us, so I was the one on top.
On the way back to the ground, I took one of my throwing knives out of my pocket and pressed it to his throat. I made a small cut as payback for the choking and he let go of my throat. I didn’t move my blade until I had calmed down. I didn’t like hands around my throat, and eventually Alan would pay for it.
“You won’t just be dealing with physical fighting today boys,” I said as I got up from the ground. “The warlock I dealt with before was weak in that aspect, so you’ll have the upper hand if you can get close enough for hand-to-hand, but the chances of that happening immediately are slim.” I looked around and saw the rest of the wolves and my family had joined the group.
“Tell them about what the warlock you battled had up his sleeve,” Rick suggested.
“He used the energy balls a lot, but he also had some red lava like energy streams he tried to use, and he was able to call ice daggers from the ground to throw at me like shrapnel. When I was able to get in close to him, he couldn’t fight at all. I don’t know if these guys will have that as a weakness, but getting in close is probably your best bet. After all, you have to be pretty close to cut off their heads,” I instructed.
“We know you can all fight physically well. For this training, we’ll have Avery throwing fireballs at you that you’ll have to try to dodge and get in closer to her. She can use any natural magic she has to try to keep you away, so be on your toes,” Nate added.
“Let the games begin,” I said, producing my first fireball and throwing it into the crowd of wolves. I had them programmed to a temperature that wouldn’t burn, just sting a whole lot, as my first victim was beginning to realize as he rubbed his chest.
After about thirty minutes, they’d gotten better at dodging them, but were still making no progress towards me, because I kept myself moving and had fun throwing objects into their way if someone got too close. It really was quite enjoyable, well for me and the spectators it was anyway. The guys had started yelling out suggestions to try to assist, but the fact that I could hear the suggestions was pretty much making them null and void.
Another half an hour went by and I levitated myself up to the ceiling, so they had no hope of getting to me. I thought we’d had enough practice and should probably let them rest up for a little bit before we left.
“I believe that’s her cue to call the practice to an end,” Nate announced. “You guys did well. When she uses her powers like this, none of us have gotten her either, so you shouldn’t feel bad about not getting to the prize.”
“Yeah, and it seemed like she kept the fireball sting down to
a minimum. You should feel them at full blast,” Rick said.
The wolves were all tuckered out and collapsed to the ground to catch their breaths. I chose to remain on the ceiling, just in case the alpha thought to try to overpower me again. As my daddy liked to say, “My parents didn’t raise no fool.”
Slowly, one by one the wolves got up to hopefully go take showers. When they were all gone, I floated myself downward until my feet were back on the mat.
“Dollface, all I got to say is you look fierce when you go all fireballs of fury. I really hope to never find myself on the receiving end of one of those when you’re really mad,” Kyle said.
“They’re the one thing that might one day stop me from being such a smartass around her. That one she hit me with a few days ago really hurt. I have to remember to never make fun of her intelligence again,” Rick said, rubbing his chest in the spot he still had a big burn.
He should’ve been able to heal the wound easily, so I thought he was leaving it on purpose. I had no idea what demented purpose he had, but there had to be one in his slush-filled brain somewhere.
“Serves you right comparing my brain to a goldfish’s,” I said.
“Like I said, it’s on the lists of things never to repeat.”
“If I don’t want the warlocks to be able to smell me from my hiding place, I better go get a shower of my own,” I said, heading towards the door.
“Avery,” Joseph said, stopping me. “Thank you for the training today and the spell I heard you’ve already put in place to protect us. As you saw, the guys are great at hand-to-hand, but would’ve had no chance against the magic.”
“It’s what I’m here for, Joseph. This group we’re forming has to be based on sharing information. I’ve been in battle against a warlock before, so I’m our resident expert for the time being. That means it’s my duty to help train the rest of you on what to expect,” I said. It was a speech I’d said before, and I would probably have to say it again many times before getting it through their thick skulls.
“Nevertheless, I still thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Joseph.” I said as I ran towards the shower to make sure I wasn’t stopped again.
I took a little bit longer that time, to relax after all my strenuous hurling of fire. Okay, it didn’t really take that much out of me, but the general atmosphere made me sweaty. When I was done, I put back on my clothes from earlier and my motorcycle boots. Since they were steel toed they were good for kicking butt.
When I got back downstairs, everyone looked like they were ready to head out. They were loaded down with guns and knives, nothing like the really heavy artillery Nate had back at the house, but it didn’t look like we were just heading to a picnic.
“So, Avery, you and Vinnie are going to hang back a ways. Liam will direct us towards the warlocks and I will telepathically send you where we think a good location for you is. We’ll find a place where you can see the battlefield and test out your abilities under the radar,” Nate instructed me.
“Yes, sir,” I said, giving him a salute. We went outside and climbed into pack vehicles. We didn’t want the motorcycles to alert the warlocks of our arrival, especially mine and Vinnie’s.
“You ready for this, Vinnie?” I asked. Out of all of us, he was actually the one in the most danger. It took a lot to kill us uniques, but not so much to either short or break apart a robot.
“I have a backup hard drive at home, all you have to do is rebuild me if something goes wrong,” he said with a smile.
“Good enough for me,” I said, and put the car in drive. I had the general sense of where I was going and had my own personal GPS sitting next to me. Warlocks, here we come.
CHAPTER 17
Warlocks never play fair