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

the right one was purple and swollen closed. There were bruises along his jaw and cheekbones. Blood was clogging one nostril and his nose was out of shape, suggesting a break. Being naked from the waist up, the bruises across his stomach were obvious and large. Reaching up, Courtney unlocked her helmet and lifted it off her head. ‘Courtney? What are you– Am I hallucinating? Wait… That’s Nava?’ He nodded his head backward in the general direction of where the explosions could be heard every so often. He could do little else because he was cuffed to a pole in the middle of the tent.

Courtney bit back a sob. ‘Yes. Yes, that’s Nava. Who else?’

‘It’s true,’ Mitsuko said, following Courtney into the tent. ‘The cavalry has arrived.’ Pause. ‘Maybe that should be the artillery.’ Her eyes scanned over Kyle and she forced herself to sound business-like. ‘Courtney, you can unlock those cuffs, right? I’m sure Kyle would like to be out of them.’

‘Right,’ Courtney said, circling around to Kyle’s back.

‘I have Kory,’ Nobuyuki said over the radio. ‘He can walk, but that’s about it. They’ve been injecting him with Down.’

‘Damn,’ Mitsuko muttered. ‘Have they been using Down on you, Kyle?’

‘Uh, yeah, I think that’s what it was,’ Kyle replied. ‘I feel like I’m drunk. Except without the pleasant, uh, aspects. Is that you, Suki?’

‘The same,’ Mitsuko replied, frowning. Down was a drug given to magicians to suppress their ability to cast spells. Effectively, it caused confusion which made it harder to cast; usually, someone injected with the stuff was entirely unable to work a spell for several hours. The confusion also made interrogation easier, which was why it was the control method of choice when you needed to question a magician. If you just wanted to stop them casting, you gave them a sedative or put them in a suppression field.

There was a click and Kyle moved his arms from behind him, rubbing at his wrists.

‘Can you stand?’ Courtney asked.

‘If you’ve got a way out of here,’ Kyle replied, ‘I’ll crawl there if I have to.’ Having said that, he climbed to his feet a little laboriously. ‘I can stand. How are we getting out?’

‘Mel and Chess are securing our transport,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘We’re stealing one of their contragravs.’

‘Mel and…’ Kyle shook his head. ‘Gang’s all here, huh?’

‘They volunteered,’ Courtney replied. ‘They volunteered to come save a friend.’

‘What about Kory? Uh, First Lieutenant Kory Greyling, I mean.’

‘Nobuyuki’s taking care of him. Let’s go before someone realises Nava is just the distraction.’

Somewhere in the near distance, something exploded. ‘That’s just a distraction?’ Kyle asked.

Mitsuko shrugged. ‘Well, you know Nava. Once she gets started…’

~~~

Nava’s senses followed her enhanced Magic Burst through a phalanx of troops to the man at the back who was about to fire a man-portable missile in her direction. Roughly in her direction. Maybe she should have let him do it and watched the carnage. Instead, she hit him in the chest just as he fired. Her target and a few people around him vanished almost entirely. The missile was caught in the blast and its engine sputtered and died about ten metres from its launcher. And then it exploded. Messy.

From the radio chatter, the others had located Kyle and Kory, but it was going to take a while to get them to the vehicle. Maybe fifteen minutes or so. Nava allowed herself an inward smile, not allowing it out even though no one could have possibly seen it. She had another fifteen to twenty minutes to work with before she was going to have to retreat. How many of them could she take out in that sort of time? Only one way to find out…

~~~

‘Done,’ Rochester said. ‘With only a ketcom portable interface and wireless comms.’

‘You’re a genius, Chess,’ Melissa said.

‘I wouldn’t say that…’ Rochester preened a little anyway. ‘Actually, the security on this thing is pitiful. If you didn’t know what you were doing, I’d imagine it would present a challenge, but I do know what I’m doing.’

‘Misspent youth? You never did say why you learned to crack computer systems.’

‘It was a reaction to bullying. You know the theory that bullies are cowards and they’ll back down if you fight back?’

‘I’ve heard it said.’

‘Well, me fighting back with my fists was never going to work. I found that securing blackmail material by hacking into their personal computer systems worked just as well. Possibly better.’

‘That’s nasty. I’m a little impressed. I’d never have thought of that. Then again, I was never bullied.’

‘Never?’

Melissa shook her head, though she was still invisible and he could not see it. ‘I just avoided anything which might cause me to be. I think some of the girls in my class wanted to bully the shy girl, but the shy girl would vanish before they got the chance. I’ve never been good at confrontation.’

‘Isn’t confrontation precisely what we’re doing here?’

‘Hm. Maybe I’ve got better…’

~~~

It was slow-going. Neither Kyle nor Kory could move at anything more than a brisk walk. There was the added complication of remaining hidden as they made their way around the edge of the valley.

Nobuyuki was in the lead, with Courtney and Mitsuko helping the two injured men behind him. There were frequent pauses as they waited for soldiers to move away. It seemed as though the Befreit commander was starting to gain more control over his troops. The better ones were starting to search the camp for signs of further intrusion.

Periodically, another ball of flame or sphere of light would be visible in what appeared to be random points through the camp but concentrating on the north side. ‘That’s our new recruit?’ Kory asked. ‘Nava Greyling? She’s taking on an army singlehanded and I think she’s winning.’ He was not exactly a seasoned Greyling himself. Mitsuko figured he was in his mid- to late-twenties. His body appeared to mostly consist of lithe muscle, and he was probably pretty attractive under the bruises. His hair was the kind of blue-black you