Taz frowned up at the tall young man. He was smirking as he
brandished research around like a sword. “I think I’ve narrowed down places it
could be.” He lisped. He had a really annoying thing going on with his voice.
It was too high for a guy and while he spoke quickly and without struggle it
was clearly quite hard for him to pronounce the vast majority of what he was
saying. Every word was a garbled mass of lisps and speech impediments and it
took a few minutes after each sentence for Taz to work out what he had actually
said. The Welsh accent was kind of annoying as well. “I think it could have
been any of these five locations, but it’s not specific.” He smoothed a map out
on the small table in Nemone’s living room and smiled. It had some markings
that nobody really understood, other than him apparently. There were five
people gathered there. Nemone Debonair-Penguin herself was curled up on her
sofa in her pyjamas with a book, not really paying attention to the Welshman,
Diamond Romeo. Diamond would be in charge of planning and bargaining. An
American woman beside Taz would be in charge of navigation. Her name was Sniper
and she was an elemental. The other three were just added muscle and basically very effective plan ruiners. They were down two people, a pair of friends who were always late and had only wanted to tag along because the fifth person present had actually let slip where she was going.
Daemon Scaroe was Nemone's best friend and spread out on her front on the floor. They were chattering happily and practically ignoring the others. Diamond finished talking and frowned slightly. "Girls, please." He sighed. Of course, this was just the beginning.
When Carmichael Hauter and Benedict Electrolytic arrived, the others had already given up waiting, planned fully and gotten dressed properly, getting ready to go to whatever vehicle Sniper had parked around the corner. Hauter and Electrolytic were making their way up the driveway just as the others walked out the door. Hauter had his blonde hair scraped up in messy spikes, personal music loud enough for Nemone to feel the damn vibrations coming through the large clunky headphones. He was listening to 'I like to move it'. Beside him, Benedict was playing some stupid video game on some stupid handheld device and chewing on a piece of gum, mouth flying wide open with every movement of his jaw. That would have been fine. They were both fine apart from what the darker-haired boy was wearing.
"Ben, I said clothes that won't draw attention!" Daemon yelled exasperatedly. He didn't look up from his game, but Mike took his headphones off with a smile. His eyes were trained on Taz.
Diamond led the group to a large jet plane. He was a wealthy man and had bought the thing with money he probably would have otherwise wasted on more facial piercings. He already had his upper lip and his septum pierced, and he probably had a few tattoos beneath the long-sleeved shirts and thick jackets. Sniper frowned. "I thought we weren't going private. I thought we were getting plane tickets. Where's my car?"
"Change of plan." The Welshman replied airily, ignoring the question completely. He was aware of the glares on his back. He ignored them as he climbed the steps to his jet, showing Kiba Sniper the cockpit and introducing her to the pilot, an old contact of his. She was to live out her role of navigator here, throwing away the original plane schedule she'd written up. The rest of the team took seats in the comfy plane. Nemone and Daemon looked, frowning slightly as Hauter half-forced Taz Bow to sit with him and Electrolytic. "I feel sorry for her." The Child of the Spider muttered to her Necromancer friend. Daemon nodded, grinning.
Elsewhere:
Bayside Absurd grinned. His grin was one that frightened Awesome Dude and Hiro Phantasmagoria, but Martina seemed unfazed. He too had a speech impediment, but it was less noticeable than Diamond's. "They're approaching." He muttered before turning his eyes sharply to the other two men, "just as you said they would..."
Awesome shrugged. "My sister gets in a lot of trouble. I've been keeping an eye on her as of late."
Hiro gave him a withering look. "Benedict and Carmichael tend to have their mouths wide open and always on boast mode."
Absurd nodded. He had a slight accent. German. He was a lot shorter than the rest of the people in his group and it really annoyed him. They were protectors. Two British men, one German and one Dutch woman who, quite frankly, hated each other. They had been friends once, but Awesome was stupid, something happened that turned Absurd insane and Phantasmagoria had a tendency to kill people who didn't deserve it. They all felt Martina was too touchy. They stood side by side on the edge of a ledge and amazingly Hiro didn't push anyone over the edge. They had a rather large view from here. It was surprisingly mild for the way the sun was shining. Absurd flipped open a phone. "Sky. Martina's got the course change to happen. We need you to head them off. I think it's a black jet plane belonging to a man fitting the description of one of their lot. Martina believes she has a photo of all of those we're after. She'll forward them to you." He listened briefly to the irate man on the other end of the line, smiling. He nodded to Martina and she took her own phone.
Diamond's jet:
Carmichael had his hand resting on Taz' thigh. Benedict had exchanged a few words with the Australian Mage and after trying to explain what he thought was a simple statement about eight or so times, he gave up and turned to the window, muttering something about her being mentally retarded. Hauter elbowed his friend and gave Taz an apologetic look before turning back to the half-blind adept. "Be nice." he whispered.
"She is though. She's really thick."
"So are you. I'm surprised you're not trying to be her new besty."
Benedict stuck his tongue out as a response.
"Listen Ben, she looks alright. No matter what you think, I'm getting a girl on this trip. Might not last long, but if she's as thick as you think, is that making it easier or is it more of a challenge?" They were speaking too quietly for Taz to hear. Benedict gave his friend a look.
"You'd better not mean using her for sex and discarding her, right?"
Carmichael groaned. "Don't pull the morality card on me, Ben. Please."
"You're a dick."
"You're the one who has a daughter he refuses to have anything to do with."
"But I'm not a slut."
The blonde glared coolly at his friend before going back to flirting with the Australian girl.
Diamond was asleep, face pressing against a window. Nemone had given him a makeover earlier with a bit of make-up 'borrowed' from Taz. Now she and Daemon were having another of their insane conversations.
"I should become a parody writer, like Weird Al." Nemone decided, looking a little smug.
"I think that would suit you." Her Scottish bestie agreed with a nod.
"It would be a great way to channel my weirdness."
"Other than everything else you do?"
"Yeah, liiiiiike...running around in circles screaming 'WHEE, I'M A FIRE ENGINE MADE OF MAGIC-POOPING ELEPHANTS!'" She threw her arms in the air as she yelled.
Daemon hesitated. "Well, at least if you go into parody writing you'd seem normal to other people...but then where's the fun in that?"
"Me?" She gave her friend a look, "seem normal to people?" She then made a worrying noise that attracted the attention of the other three. "This is the moment where I throw a cat at a Transformer and down a gallon of bleach."
Daemon smirked. "As I thought."
There was a pause. "This is the bit where I have a fit because I just drank bleach..."
"Oh shit." Grinning, the Necromancer girl lifted her hand to her ear, held in the supposed phone shape. "911, you dawg, I need some swag up in here to cure ma nig up in here!"
Nemone laughed a little and did the same with her hand. "911, what the fuck is yo emergency, caller?"
"This girl gon went and drunk bleach."
"Man, what the fuck an idiot. Okay calla n'shit, where the fuck is we bustin this ambulance?"
Daemon hesitated and shrugged and they dissolved into giggles. When they realised Hauter and Electrolytic were giving them looks, they laughed harder.
-----
A man was waiting near the landing strip. Diamond left the plane last, wiping his face on a wodge of toilet paper from the bathroom. When he took the tissues away and saw the man, his face sort-of lit up and sort-of looked dismayed. "Sky!"
"Di!" The large man stepped forward, crushing a cigarette underfoot. "Pretty sure last we met I was taller than you..."
"Not anymore, matey. How'd you find me this time?"
Sky Darkthunder was a Sensitive who trailed a select few people around the world with warnings, threats, hidden weapons or just to ask for money. With Diamond, it was usually to ask for money. As a result, the skinny Welshman had done his best to separate himself from his large friend. Sky spoke with a Yorkshire accent.
"It took a lot, the kind of a lot I wouldn't go to unless it was really important. You're going after...The Amethyst of Abra-something...right?"
Diamond's reply was to glare.
"Right." Sky grinned and clapped his hands together, chocolate brown eyes taking in those gathered around the two old friends. "Don't."
"Pardon?"
"Di, don't hunt this thing." He grabbed his friend's hand. "I'll put you in the hospital if I have to, just please don't. There're things protecting it...things no-one can get past...things that kill, please Di, you'll be first dead. I know you will. Your magic isn't offensive and you're bones are so brittle!"
He pulled his slender fingers away from those of his friend. "You smell like weed and vodka and you look like you're high."
Sky straightened out and returned the glare. "Okay, maybe I've been smoking or drinking-"
"You have a problem and I refuse to fund it."
"But I'm still a seer."
"Your mind is addled by fumes and units and nobody knows what to trust, whether you're giving insight to a genuine vision or knowledge or if you're just drunk."
Sky looked offended. His hand balled into a fist and Diamond's eyes widened. He stepped back, trying to hide behind Kiba and Benedict. The Northern Mage ran his eyes over the gathered seven and punched a lamp post instead, howling when his knuckles broke. Carmichael smiled a little.
"I know that guy. He's always high."
Sky locked himself in a toilet cubicle. He flicked his phone open and dialled Absurd's number. "Told you they wouldn't trust me. They didn't believe my story. Plan B, you four are up."
Absurd made a disgruntled noise and threw his phone on the floor. Awesome jumped and Hiro arched an eyebrow over his coffee. "They've landed and Darkthunder has failed us. Where's Martina?"
"I'm here." She replied from right beside him.
"Right...must be going blind..." He got up. "We're going to head them off across St Andrew's."
"The field or the hospital?" Hiro asked, other eyebrow arching beside the first. The German Mage gave no response and led the way. The boys exchanged looks as they got up to follow.
St Andrew's Field, country unknown.
Benedict hated long walks. Carmichael was walking ahead, hand on Taz' bottom. He hated walking alone as well. Those two were walking together, Daemon, Nemone and Diamond were walking together...he glanced around, trying to locate Kiba and moving subtly to walk beside her. "Hey." He said.
"Hey." She replied with a slight smile. Encouraged, he smiled back.
"Cold, ain't it?"
"Yeah." She looked around a little awkwardly.
He sighed. "So why do you want this gemstone thing?"
"The Amethyst of Abran-K'uhl? It's got quite a legend behind it. I want to uncover its secrets...me and a few others. Cat Love Historian and Themon Hurrell. Nice people. What about you?"
Benedict shrugged. "Curiosity. First to see if it exists, then to see if it's as powerful as everyone says. If it's guarded, that's how I know there's something worthwhile at the end of this tunnel."
There was a group of about five Mages ahead blocking the way. Nemone stopped first, frowning. "Aren't you my brother?" She asked, question directed to Awesome. The Mage didn't smile at her, or give any sign he'd heard her. He had promised Absurd he wouldn't go easy on her, provided he could get close enough to use his magic. His was very close-combat and he would have a lot of spiders to get through.
Absurd stepped forward with a smile. Sky was with his group, looking guilty. "Nemone. I never thought I'd see you again. How are you? I hear you're hunting dangerous things."
Hiro Phantasmagoria was eyeballing Hauter and Electrolytic. They knew each other well enough. The two best friends knew neither of them would want to go up against the Asian Necromancer. Benedict decided there and then that he wanted to fight the stupid-looking one, which was unfortunately Awesome due to his dress sense and general lack of emotion. They knew already that there was going to be a fight. With Hiro there, there was always a fight.
Absurd smiled wider. "We can't let you do that, Nemone. I may be considered mad as a bag of cocker spaniels, but I'm not going to let anyone rush into assured suicide. You see, I trust my companions here, who all say the same thing about this item. It is too well protected."
She rolled her eyes. "We have an expert at disabling security measures, Bayside."
"We're protectors." Martina stated, narrowing her eyes. "We're doing our job and protecting."
"Us or the amethyst?" Kiba asked innocently.
Nemone and Daemon started walking again. Daemon moved first, and Nemone followed uncertainly. Awesome and Absurd moved to stop them and the Necromancer girl waved her hand, the first shadow conducted to slam the short German Mage out of her way. The other protectors closed in on the two as Sky helped Absurd to his feet.
Daemon smirked. "I'll take the Necromancer, you take the short one."
Nemone hesitated before nodding, grinning and spewing a black sludge down the short one's front. He jerked back with a shout of disgust, and then a whimper as it turned into a mass of large spiders. His palm crackled with energy as he tried to get rid of them and he didn't see Nemone approach or the elbow come smashing into his jaw. Rolling her eyes, Martina went to assist him, only to be distracted when a bit of balled up paper was thrown at her. She turned and saw Taz approaching. As a sensitive, when it came down to fighting, Taz relied mainly on hand-to-hand. She was obviously weaker than Sky, but felt she could take Martina. Definitely not Awesome. She'd met him before and knew his magic type. She was pretty sure she didn't stand a chance. The girl enemy was a mystery.
Awesome ran in to assist Hiro. He was winning his fight anyway, but sometimes the protectors played unfairly. Daemon was being backed up step by step, barely managing to deflect or dodge Hiro's sharpened shadows. He was careful to not give her a single chance to recover and strike back. As the brunette Mage ran in to hold the girl still, Hauter and Sniper charged him, slamming him to the floor. Hiro looked a little stunned and his aim went off, a mistake he hurried to rectify.
Benedict wasn't sure which way to go. Taz and Martina seemed equally matched, he couldn't tell with the two fighting Awesome yet. Nemone was fighting an arachnophobic and so easily winning as all Absurd was doing right now was flailing and screaming. The absolute last thing he wanted was to go up against Phantasmagoria. The Necromancer's back was to him, though. It was perfect, right?
Taz aimed a roundhouse kick to Martina's side. It made contact and she grunted, but didn't lose balance or even stumble as the Australian Mage had hoped she would. The Dutch girl's hand crackled with purple energy and she fired, however Taz dived to the side with a squeak of fear and it shot dangerously close to Kiba, who turned and pushed at the air. This time Martina stumbled. She sent another stream of energy at the elemental and hit her square in the chest, sending her flying. Hauter had removed his scythe from the golf bag in which it was hidden and was using it to keep Awesome away with a mix of both shadows and the blade itself. He turned with a swing and his foot caught the side of the fallen girl. He fell heavily on her and on his scythe. She was winded and kept down a few minutes more. He groaned, his shoulder throbbing. Awesome grinned and tried to take the scythe, but Hauter kept a firm grip on it. Frowning, the brunette mage crouched down and locked his hand around Hauter's wrist. The Necromancer screamed as the bones shattered and the scythe was easily taken from the grip of that hand. Awesome tried to break it over his knee, hurt himself and smashed the damn thing on a rock for about a minute. Hauter held on as best he could. If he let go, the shadows in the scythe would tear the bone-breaker apart and the Necromancer didn't want to witness that. He was being dragged around and couldn't regain his proper grip on the thing or use the shadows to knock Awesome away. The handle began to crack and his eyes widened. His arm felt like it was being wrenched from its socket. There it went. The handle snapped in two, Carmichael's arm dislocated and as his magic flew back into him he fell back into the mud. Awesome looked at the bit of scythe he had in his hand. It was the bit with the blade.
While all this had been happening, Diamond had been cowering. Sky had been right. With bones as brittle and easily broken as his, he couldn't really afford to get into a fight. He saw a clear run through the throng of fighting bodies and made a break for it, only to have Sky step in his way. It was too late to swerve away as the muscular Sensitive swung a punch, but thankfully the Linguistics Mage slipped on the mud and skidded on his back. He was too low down for Sky to hit and slid between his legs, which were planted firmly on the ground, far apart. He scrambled up before he'd fully stopped skidding and continued to run as Sky found his feet were stuck.
Hiro turned as soon as he'd recovered from the electric shock and sent a blast of his own back. Benedict was already running and barely avoided being cut into pieces by the attacking shadows. As it was, they raked painfully across his back, shredding his robes and drawing blood. A shadow from behind stabbed through Hiro's shoulder and he turned, furious, sending a shadow slicing into Daemon's side. She went down with a scream. Nemone was distracted by this and stopped kicking Bayside, who was kept down by the spiders anyway. She instead sent the spiders after Hiro and stepped over towards Martina, changing into her spider form. Hiro sliced through the spiders and she changed course to fight him, doing her best to get him away from her best friend. Taz was in trouble as well as the Dutch Adept knocked her down. She didn't get back up when a harsh kick was dealt to her stomach. Satisfied, she turned and found herself instantly face to face with Kiba.
Absurd slowly got to his feet. Hiro was on the floor now that three people had ganged up on him. He was trying to stem the bleed from the injury Daemon gave him and defend himself at the same time. Daemon fell away, her own injuries weakening her. Benedict was clearly in a lot of pain as well. Awesome was reluctantly sneaking up on his sister. He found a point between the armoured plates of the spider form and dug the scythe in deep. She let out a shriek and collapsed backwards, returning to normal. The German Mage shrugged and pulled a gun out of his jacket. Hiro leapt to his feet and swung a punch at Benedict's face, which he blocked, and then pulled out a small knife and stabbed him. "Hiro!" Bayside bellowed, furious. They did not want to kill them, just warn them.
"Sorry! Instinct!"
Bayside shook his head and took aim with his gun. He shot Kiba Sniper in the foot and knee of the same leg. "Okay!" He called as she fell, "Fall back!" His team regrouped around him and he smirked. "We'll let you live...except you, kid my associate just stabbed, but we didn't want to see you die, honest. This is just a warning. Keep going after this thing and a lot worse will be dealt."
The thing about Diamond was he had a lot of contacts. Midnight Madness was a user of science magic. It was difficult to know whose injuries to prioritise under the circumstances, but she decided the indignant Hauter would be left until last. Taz didn't require any healing. The worst she would have would be a few nasty bruises. She wasn't a perfect healer, but she was good. Even so, it was suggested neither Daemon nor Benedict get into any more fights too soon. They sat on the field for a short time and had something to eat.
"So...what now?" The Welshman asked, hoping they'd say go home.
"I still want this jewel." Daemon stated.
Taz nodded. "Me too."
Diamond sagged a little. "Oh. I think it's cool and an interesting thing to study and all, but..." He was suddenly aware the others were staring at him, waiting for him to give them some reason to kick him out or berate him. "I'm not much use. If we have to fight again-"
"You got the doc here." Carmichael muttered.
"You're all plans and shit." Benedict agreed through a mouthful of blackberries. Sniper pulled a face as he spat over her.
"I don't feel safe."
"Then leave." Kiba suggested.
"He's staying. He's...of use..." Nemone stated. Diamond's eyes widened fearfully.
"You're planning something. What are you going to do to me?"
She ignored him and turned to Midnight. "Do you fight?"
"A little." She replied with a shrug.
Nemone smiled politely. "even if you don't, we can keep you nearby for emergency purposes if that's okay."
Carmichael shook his head. "We still pushing on with this?"
Nemone sighed and looked round at her team for confirmation. Daemon clapped a hand onto her shoulder. "I'm persevering. I need this thing."
Benedict smirked. "I'm still interested."
Diamond shook his head. "Two who can't fight...I'll...I'll stay, but I know you're planning something, Nem, and I will find out what it is and will not stand for it."
Benedict laughed. Taz smiled. "I'll stay on. I didn't get too badly hurt, I feel good about this thing."
Carmichael shook his head, but now it seemed he was having second thoughts about ducking out. He turned to look at Kiba, smiling sleazily. She gave him a slightly disgusted look and the smile died instantly. Sniper turned to the others and smiled. "I'm still in."
Carmichael sighed. The others looked at him and he shrugged. "Sure, why not? All the lot of you are doing it. I have to make a call first though, get a new weapon...one with a stronger staff...if we can make that detour, that is."
"How far?" Kiba asked, leaning forward a little.
The Necromancer shrugged and moved away a little to make a call. Everyone attempted to listen in. He shot them all his best glare when he shuffled back. Diamond turned to Kiba, who nodded.
"I got it."
Daemon grinned. "To the plane!"
The plane had been destroyed by the protectors when they turned tail and ran. They had a duty and they were going to see it through no matter what they had to do. There was a pile of tickets for some airline back to the individual countries of each Mage. It looked like Absurd had done his homework. Diamond's eyes narrowed. "Dude, that was my best jet."
Nemone turned to Daemon. "Uh...can plane tickets be exchanged?"
"Yes." Sniper answered for her. "It can cost though."
"My research stuff was still in that plane!"
Benedict was playing his video games again, seeming not to care that most of his belongings had still been there as well.
-----
A pretty blonde girl stood behind the counter, half-asleep. Hauter just stared at her for a few seconds. "Uh, Tex?" He finally asked. She jumped and looked at him, now seemingly wide awake.
"Oh, Michael."
"Carmichael."
"Oh yes, sorry. Need a favour?" It sounded like he came to her a lot. "And no, I won't sleep with you."
Benedict and Diamond started laughing. Carmichael sent them a death glare and the half-blind Mage laughed harder.
"My weapon broke."
'Tex' arched an eyebrow. "Weapon?"
"The scythe."
"Oh, that one, right." She ducked down under the desk briefly and came up with a little book. "In a hurry?"
"Yes."
"Right, you're in luck then." She was American, had braces and wore glasses. "I can fit you in." She arched an eyebrow at the others there with Hauter.
"Uh...Everyone, this is Texas Parasol. She's a weapons smith and yeah." He paused and looked at the number of people behind him. "Tex, these are a bunch of weirdoes I'm travelling with for selfish purposes."
"Your purposes are always selfish purposes."
He turned to the others again. "She knows me so well."
It was only half an hour later that Texas returned from the back room with a gleaming scythe of death. Hauter jumped up with an adorable squeally noise, taking the scythe and handing her money. He didn't check what amount, but whatever he'd paid her, she seemed happy with.
-----
"My coat sucks." Nemone muttered. The snow on the mountain battered the explorers and hunters relentlessly, but they were all wrapped up warm. The opening to the cave the amethyst was supposedly inside stood wide open. It looked easy enough, so with a shrug they went for it. That was when the armoured man dropped down in front of them. As he stood, he spoke. "I am the Dream Reader." He unsheathed a scythe and Nemone decided he looked like a Cleaver. He advanced on them, eyes narrowing beneath the helmety mask thing he wore. He was overweight but very menacing as he was. Daemon turned to Diamond and Midnight. "You two stay here. You're emergency backup."
Diamond nodded fearfully and ducked behind a rock. Midnight followed his lead. Daemon smiled confidently and turned just in time to bring up a shield to block Dream Reader's strike. This was an unplanned and unforeseen thing for which she chose to blame the Sensitive if she died from this. A blast of orange energy hit him in the shoulder, and there stood Bayside Absurd. "We told you this thing had protection! We told you to stop hunting for it! Even if you defeat this one, there's no guarantee you'll defeat the next!" He blasted Dream Reader again as the armoured man turned to the newcomers. "Go away, for god's sake!"
Daemon saw the wide open cave entrance with nothing guarding it. Being her, she sprinted for it, and she was pretty sure Taz and Kiba followed suit. The four protectors scattered as Dream Reader reached them. Hiro used the shadows to sweep himself up and hide Awesome as the bonebreaker fled up the winding path behind him. Bayside and Martina both jumped off their ledge and landed near Diamond and Midnight. The man with the scythe turned back round and went back for Nemone's group.
Nemone and Carmichael had fled. She had tears of fear streaking down her face and was hyperventilating. He had gone pale and was shaking. They both looked round when they heard the shrieks.
Daemon had tripped and brought down Taz with her. The girls were in a tangle on the floor and Dream Reader was above them. He swung down the scythe, but instead of being struck by the blade, the girls were covered with a spray of blood as Benedict scooted to a stop between them and the scythe wielder. The man's body fell and the two girls gave a mix of screaming and disgusted noises, attempting to scramble away, completely freaking out. Hauter stared in shock. "Benedict...BENEDICT!" Awesome Dude rested his hand flat over where Dream Reader's shoulder blade was and shattered it, distracting him well enough to give the girls a clean getaway. Nemone blinked and suddenly her brother's head was rolling away from his crumpled body. She did the same sort of screaming thing as Carmichael, with her brother's given name. "Aidan!"
Martina had followed Kiba into the cave and was now dragging her back out and blasting at spiders. It looked like the Elemental was dead. Taz saw the spiders and turned to run the other way, hiding near and clinging to Diamond. Diamond and Taz didn't like each other, so he just gave her a look. He noticed a familiar slender figure, and then it seemed someone had stabbed Dream Reader. Two people pulled blades from the corpse and there stood Hauter and Parasol, eyes locked.
Daemon was in the cave now, creating a ring of shadows, sharpened at the front, to cut a groove through the spiders. The spiders were clearly venomous and they couldn't scale the shadow wall. Hiro took a running leap, using his own shadows to give him a boost. He pulled a shield up over their heads when the arrows came at them. Daemon smiled her thanks to him and then they saw something that made them stop.
Daemon came out alone. The amethyst was hidden in her coat pocket. Not that anyone else would ever be told as much. They would just be told by a truly freaked out Necromancer girl about how Hiro died and all the gore and the arrows and spiders and such.
