Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

Five of them. As she walked toward the middle of the clearing, she looked around, spotting five humanoid shapes hidden from plain sight behind the undergrowth. There might have been more since she doubted her spell could see through solid wood, but she suspected there were five of them waiting for her. They continued to wait as she stopped, right in the centre of the open area, waiting for them to make their move.

She heard whispering. Snatches of sound reached her eyes, not loud enough to be deciphered. Time stretched on. If they had laid an ambush here, why were they not closing in? Something had gone wrong with their plan?

Someone dropped a Light spell right on top of Nava. It illuminated the entire clearing just as the five men stepped out of cover. A couple of them were carrying lengths of pipe; not exactly the preferred weapon of a sorcerer. One had a spell assistance handgun, and that one was Zayden. It might have come as a surprise, but it did not. None of them were in armour, probably because walking through the campus dressed for battle would have drawn attention. Even carrying the armour in a case and changing out here might have looked odd since everyone knew what the cases looked like. So, no physical armour, but they might have spells active, just as Nava had.

‘Zayden,’ Nava said. ‘How interesting that I’d find you out here. And you brought friends.’

Zayden grinned. ‘Don’t try to call out. There’s a radio jamming spell working on the whole clearing. Who’d have thought a support spell could be useful?’

‘Everyone with a brain. That would be Radio Noise. It can be a quite useful assassination tool in the right hands. Stops anyone calling for help, as you’ve done here, but you can attach it to your target so they can run but not get away from the spell.’

‘Huh, you learn something new, I guess. You’re going to learn that taking this job was a mistake.’

‘Mm. So, just so I’m clear on the details… You all have alibis?’

‘There are eight people all ready to say we were with them when this happened. And our ketcoms aren’t here, so you’ll get no evidence there.’

‘And you plan to smash my ketcom in the fight, of course.’

‘Of course.’

‘You don’t intend to kill me?’

‘Beaten and humiliated is enough.’

Nava nodded. ‘I agree, though I’d imagine that the administration will kick you out of the school.’

‘Trying to intimidate us with your oh-so-amazing reputation?’

‘Not at all.’ She glanced back over her shoulder quickly at a sound from behind her. ‘Oh, six against one. Hello, Booker.’

‘Hey, Captain. Nothing personal, you know? Well, that’s actually a lie. It is personal. You shouldn’t be leading the SSF.’

Nava nodded and turned back toward Zayden. ‘Are you going to do this or not?’

‘Sure, Captain.’ Zayden delivered the word with as much sarcasm as he could muster. ‘Get her!’ He raised his pistol.

Nava raised her hand and a pulse of energy left it, hitting Zayden in the bicep of the arm holding his weapon. He let out a shriek as the Magic Bullet tore through the muscle, leaving his arm hanging and his pistol on the ground at his feet. Three Concussive Force spells hit her from the left and from behind. None of the damage made it through her Armour spell’s protection, but the impacts were enough to toss her two metres across the clearing in such a random direction that she fell. Yelling loudly, the two men with the metal pipes, probably both running Might spells to enhance their strength, charged at Nava, weapons raised.

Unfortunately for them, that meant one of them ran through the spot where Nava had been standing. The clearing exploded into a mass of electrical arcs. The only people spared were Booker, still outside the area of the Lightning Mine, and Nava, safe inside her armour. Three of them were now unconscious: Zayden and the two pipe guys. That still left another three, one of them Booker in his armour.

Twisting on the ground, Nava launched another Magic Bullet, blasting the leg off one of her opponents before he could launch another attack. She heard ‘Shit!’ from somewhere to her left; that had to be Booker. Another Concussive Force spell smacked into her side, this one significantly stronger than the previous three, but still not enough to penetrate her armour. It did shunt her across the ground a couple of metres, which resulted in the Slice spell the other man cast only cutting the grass where she had been. Stabilising herself, Nava returned the favour, slicing through the meat of the man’s thigh and instantly dropping him to the ground where he rolled around, screaming and grabbing at his shredded leg.

There was no immediate attack from Booker and Nava rolled to her feet to look at him. It was difficult to tell through the helmet, but he looked like he was in shock. He was standing there, one hand raised in her direction, without casting another spell. ‘W-what are you?’ he asked, his voice shaking. ‘Why d-didn’t the mine spell go off when you w-walked over it?’

‘Just lucky, I guess,’ Nava replied. ‘Now, I’m going to give you a choice. You can surrender, in which case I’ll arrest you. You can run, in which case I’ll disable and then arrest you. Or you can attack, in which case I’ll treat you as a substantial threat and kill you. What’s it going to be, Booker?’

‘Fuck you!’ Turning, Booker started to run back down the track.

Nava raised her arm. He was in armour. She did not know whether he had also activated his suit’s embedded Armour spell. Her Slice cantrip might penetrate, but she could not be sure. A pulse of energy left her hand, flashing against magical armour but continuing into Booker’s right thigh. A small globe of white light expanded out from the spot where it had hit. Skin melted. Muscle burned. Booker let out a