Fred 02 Undeath & Taxes by Drew Hayes

Author:Drew Hayes
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: REUTS Publications, LLC.
Published: 2015-07-26T23:00:00+00:00

8.

Arch had barely gotten his words out before the chimera charged, barreling toward Albert as it let out a series of sounds that were like a roar mixed with a grunt. My assistant was, thankfully, quick to adapt to the unexpected situation. He leapt out of the way in a motion more graceful than I’d have suspected Albert being capable of. In fact, I very much wondered if it was his zombie capabilities that let him dodge so well, or some sort of assistance from the sword. Either way, while I was watching Albert frantically scurry about, Neil was having a very different reaction to Arch’s announcement.

“You son of a bitch!” The young man, who, in all fairness, was similar to Arch in both appearance and stature, pulled back his right fist and took a swing at the agent. Arch’s reaction was so fast that even I had trouble following it. He easily moved his head out of range, grabbed Neil’s arm, and tossed the amateur mage over his shoulder, where he landed in a heap.

“I’ll let that slide due to circumstances, but if you attack an agent again, you need to be ready to kill or be killed.”

“Who says I’m not?” Neil spat, pulling himself up from the ground. Before he could get close enough to attack Arch again, Amy was standing between them. I don’t think any of us, even Krystal, could have made Neil back down the way Amy did. She said nothing, merely staring at her apprentice until he lowered his fists. The glowering stare refused to come off his face, however. Evidently, it was enough for Amy, as she turned to face Arch.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Despite her still shiny hair, Amy had an aura of dominance I’d rarely seen on her. I realized that, probably for the first time, I was seeing Amy Wells, master mage and alchemist, angry. Given what I knew about her intellect, and that an ancient dragon held her skills in esteem, I found myself hoping that either Arch minded his tongue or the rest of us had time to clear the blast radius.

“He won’t get that’s sword’s full power out unless he’s in a life or death situation,” Arch replied, not a single trace of apology in his tone. If anything, he sounded vaguely annoyed by our reaction. “It’s nothing personal, just part of doing a thorough test.”

“You could have told him the truth; given him adequate time to prepare,” Amy said.

“With new Weapon Bearers, it’s more about intuition than practice or skill. The less prepared he was, the more likely he’d be able to use the sword.”

“Likely?” Neil said, eyes somehow narrowing even more than before. “As in, he might not be able to do it?”

“Weapons of destiny are smart, but not omnipotent. It wouldn’t be the first time a new wielder has gotten taken apart early on.”

Neil looked like he was going to try and charge Arch, Amy or no Amy, but a sound from inside the arena tore his attention away from the antagonizing agent.

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