Atomic Mage by Garrett Carter (short books for teens txt) 📕

his head as Drake's smug look turned to glee, and just as suddenly to shocked surprise as he caught the spear in his power and making a small adjustment to its density and direction, and sent it back to its creator.

A grunt left Drake as he was impaled through the gut as the spear was driven into the ground leaving him propped up in a kneeling position.

"That was stupid Drake I just...MOTHER FUCKER." Cade began before another spear of rock impaled him through the chest.

Surrounding himself in a shield he dissolved the spear that was lodged in his chest, the wound healing quickly after a few moments of whistling air escaping his lungs.

"Fucker caught me monologing."

Chastizing himself he watched Drake's mental body grimace as he struggled to pull himself off the spear Cade still held in his mental grasp.

A feeling of someone tugging on his power was the only indication of the mage's actions, a simple force of will was all that was needed to retain his control.

"So the painful way it is, do make sure to answer my questions to your best ability or we are going to be here all night, ok?"

Finishing his smug request Cade watched as spears of rock and car-sized boulders smashed against his shield.

"See you back in the real world," he said as Drake let out a pained roar as he sent a house-sized portion of the plateau flying towards him.

As he left the slaver's mind Cade flipped the asshole the bird a second before the boulder connected.

Eve of Battle

Coming out of the soon-to-be-dead slaver's mind Cade smiled grimly into Drake's furious eyes as he immobilized the slaver in his grip.

He was still wary of flying projectiles, the looming boulder of stone fresh in his mind before he had an epiphany.

A cruel smile spread across his face before he implemented his plan.

"Now before you try anything stupid let me say this, I'm going to ask you questions and each time I have to repeat myself or stop you from trying to hurt me or my mates, I will paralyze a limb permanently, we clear." He told the incised slaver.

"Do your worst," Drake replied with an impudent grin.

"Oh I plan to," Cade said his cruel grin back in full force.

Reaching out with his power he followed the slaver's nervous system down from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

Taking control of the spikes still lodged under the slaver's grey fur, he vibrated them quickly.

As Drake began to scream in pain again, he dove back into the slavers nervous system.

With the mage's nervous system laid out before him, its long twisted paths overlaying his view of Drake's furry body, he began to break the connections at each joint.

The connections broke one by one under his gaze until Drake stopped screaming.

He released the now still slaver from his mental grip as he started phase two.

The look in Drake's eyes at the sudden ending of the excruciating pain almost caused him to chuckle at the bewildered look.

"Try lifting any limb for me if you could," he asked the slaver in a polite tone.

Drake's face scrunched up as he sought to use the severed connections to move his body.

A petty feeling of pride grew in Cade's cheat as a look of horror bloomed on Drake's face as he realized the predicament he was in.

"Why, why not just kill me?" The mage asked once he got over the initial shock of being a quadriplegic.

"So I could do this," Cade answered with a humorless smile.

Drake began screaming as his body thrashed in pain as he healed the slavers spine allowing him to feel the sharp metal spikes stirring up his body.

Once again severing the man's spinal cord and removing the sensation of the pain caused by the spikes Cade began his questioning.

"Now you will answer my questions, or I will turn on the pain again understand?" He asked the shivering slaver.

"Yes ask all you will and I will answer just... please don't do that again," Drake answered his eyes rolling in his canid face.

"Alright let's begin," Cade replied with a grin.

Drake's mangled body was a mess utterly at odds with the serene smile on the mage's face as Cade finally ended his questioning of the slaver.

He had spent two hours pumping the slaver for information, from how many people they would be up against when assaulting the camp, to how magic worked in this world.

Cade grimaced as he ripped the slavers body to pieces, as he retrieved the metal spikes he now knew were made of mithril.

A thrill had gone through him as he realized the massive deposit he had pulled a tiny amount off to make his house battery and the reinforcement on his skeleton was that mythical metal.

His initial skepticism as the name and properties of the metal matched the stories from back home paled in comparison to its worth.

The price Drake had paid for the spikes had been astronomical.

"Gonna have to think of a way to make some Procs off of that tidbit of information." He mused to himself as the bearer of that information's shattered corpse drifted downstream, Procs being the currency of this continent.

One thing he would have to figure out was what to do about the slaver's stranglehold on the region.

Drake's information had brought the elation on finding out that he was sitting on a figurative gold mine to a screeching halt.

The slave trade in the southern part of