A small random excerpt, as usual...

  Thanks Theo,” I said, as I pushed on the door to my room.

  “Don’t stay up too late reading,” he admonished me. “I know what you’re like with books.”

  I nodded, and opened the door, sliding quietly into the room I shared with Gisel and Ella. I could see both of them were already abed, with Gisel snoring away. No doubt she’d been at the beer again. I walked over and pushed her onto her side, which quietened her down a bit.

  Making my way back to my bed, which was next to the window, I slipped off my robes and slid into it with a grateful sigh. It had been a long afternoon, but a worthwhile one. Old Mazzoo was a treasure trove of information and magical goods, I could browse his store for a month and still not have enough time.

  We had spent the rest of the afternoon relaying our stories. Well, actually Theo had taken his turn first, which had taken the time up. We would go back there, tomorrow probably, for me to have my go. At least the old fellow had given me the communication magic tome.

  Not only that, Mazzoo had given us some necklaces that we could, and had, attached the communications crystals to, for ease of transportation and use. I had a spare to give to Gisel in the morning. He also showed us how to call each other one at a time or simultaneously, and a way to send a kind of whistle to attract the attention of the others carrying the matched crystals. I wrapped my hand around mine, now hanging around my neck. I wondered if my transposition magic would be up to making a set for myself, or adding one to the set we had, for Ella.

  When I had started back at the academy in Silfen my transposition level had been ranked very low, low enough that I hadn’t even bothered mentioning I could use it when people asked about my magics. However, since then I had been practising, and it had improved considerably. Back then it was a level four, but now I estimated it was a low, maybe even a mid, level two.

  I touched the Crown of Knowledge gifted to me from Phire’s treasure horde, - I changed its form into a thread of cotton around my head when I went to bed – and wondered if it was partially responsible for the increase. In the back of my mind I was scared it would become an addiction or something. Plus my pride wouldn’t allow me to just rely on a crutch to use my powers, so I tried to only draw on it when it was really needed. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if it had some long term side effects. Despite this, it was much too much of a powerful item to discard.

  Never mind. I closed my eyes and eventually drifted off into an uneasy sleep. My mind was still working on the zombie problem, plus all the stuff I had seen at Mazzoo’s place was swirling around in my thoughts, so it was hard to get a good rest.

  Sometime later, my eyes shot open.

  That was it! I had an idea for the zombie issue!

  “Way to go brain!” I whispered to myself, sitting up and looking around. It was very early morning, I estimated. Both Gisel and Ella were just lumps in their beds. I lay down again, refining the idea that had suddenly come to me.

  Yes. It was a bit tricky for sure, but I couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work.

  I sat up again. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep now, without trying it out, but Gisel would probably beat me up if I woke her now.

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  The carriage area! The place we had left our wagon was a big and empty building. I could even do some work in the wagon.

  Slipping out of my bed I pulled out a long black hooded robe I sometimes used for walking around at night. Ella called it my ‘stealth cloak’, which was half a joke, but it was also not inaccurate. I used it when we were camping mostly, in cases when I needed to make toilet in the middle of the night. Being full length, hooded, and black, it was already fairly good concealment, but I had cast several stealth magics on it, as well as a silence spell, which really did make it a good ‘cloaking’ cloak. Not as good as Gisel or even Ella’s scout stealth of course, but not bad either.

  Sliding my feet into my shoes, I padded over to the door and, quietly as possible, slipped out into the inn beyond.

  I made my way downstairs and outside through the side door without encountering anyone. Walking around the wall to reduce my visibility I made my way to the large building housing the carriages. I was locked, but it was a simple lock, and a bit of mind manipulation dealt with that easily enough.

  Inside was lit only by the lowest of illumination, and it took me a minute to locate our wagons. When I did, I had a shock.

  Someone was rummaging through them! Several someones!

  I snarled. Whilst the trading we were doing was a cover for us, Tomas and his family relied on it. Plus, this was our shit!

  I pulled in mana and was about to go all Theodore on them, when I stopped myself. Time to test what I had learned today! I reached into my cloak, located the communications crystal hanging about my neck, and tapped it the way I had been taught. Both Gisel and Theo’s should now be whistling, although I wasn’t sure if Gisel still had hers in her space.

  Never mind. Time to deal with some intruders.

  Scowling, I sneaked forward, only to, almost literally, bump into a masked shape standing in the gloom. A guard!

  The man shouted in alarm as I nearly tripped over him. Leaping back I threw a ferocious mind attack at him, rather stronger than I had intended to, due to my alarm.

  His head blew up.

  “Fuck,” I muttered, stepping even further back to avoid the splatter as the now headless corpse dropped to the floor.

  There was no time to worry about it though; the now dead lookout had done his job, and more shapes were approaching. I could see knives, coated in black, in their hands.

  The fact they weren’t shouting, were wearing clothes that were hard to see, and their weapons were dulled, told me this was a professional gang. This was no time for restraint!

  “Wind blade!” I shouted, casting a strong attack at the two nearest to me.

  “Shit!” one cried out, batting at my spell and ducking. Whether it was his reactions or something else, but my attack missed, slicing into a wagon behind him. His friend wasn’t so luckily, and cried out as one of his legs was sliced off in a clean cut. He fell to the floor wailing, blood spurting out over the floor from his injury.

  A knife bounced off my wards.

  “Fuck!” I said, diving to one side and launching an area Mind Bomb spell. The spell wasn’t lethal, or even the strongest one I had, but it should at least slow down anyone nearby.

  Indeed, two cries of alarm and the sound of a couple of knives being dropped meant it had hit home.

  However, my initial target was still on his feet, and coming at me fast, knife held in a very professional manner, I couldn’t help but notice.

  “She’s here, it’s just a little kid!” he shouted.

  “I’ll show you who’s a little kid!” I snarled, and lobbed a fire lance at him.

  The flame streaked out, throwing light all around, and hit him square in the stomach.

  “Shit,” I said. He had been thrown back, but the spell hadn’t taken. He must have some good protection on him.

  “Fine.” Time to up my game, see how good his defences really were. “Mind Destruction!” I cast one of my strongest single target mind spells, which mean it was one of my strongest overall.

  That did it. He screamed and fell to the floor, hands going to his face as my magic ravaged his mind.

  Something hit me from behind, and pain lanced through my body.

  “Bitch!”

  I managed to throw myself into the air with mind, landing on the roof of a nearby wagon, even as I started to struggle to breathe. Something was stuck into my back! I’d been stabbed, I realised, as I fell to my knees on top of the wagon.

  “Mizza!” I heard a cry as my vision started to fade.

  “Theo,” I croaked.

  Then everything went black.