In Plain Sight

He looked up at her, as if he were about to respond, but there was no life left in his eyes. Sorsha just sat there, weeping openly. Alex reached out and closed the old man’s eyes.

“Sorceress,” Alex said, trying to rouse her from her grief.

He didn’t have to say anything further because at that moment the entire floating castle trembled and shook. Alex stumbled to his feet and put out a hand for Sorsha, pulling the Sorceress up.

“Where are your spells that keep this place flying?” he asked as she stumbled against him.

“In a vault in the basement,” she said, pushing herself away from him and starting off toward the back of the grand staircase.

An elaborately carved door with painted panels hid a wrought-iron staircase that spiraled downward into the dark. Sorsha kicked off her high heels, then took the stairs two at a time. As she moved down, lights on the inner pole of the stairway lit up to guide her passage.

Alex plunged after her. At first the spiral stair was encased in a wall of rock all the way around, but after he’d gone down a story or two, the rock fell away and it seemed like the stairway floated over a vast, dark expanse.

When Sorsha hit the bottom, lights bloomed in a cavernous room that turned out to be Sorsha’s workshop. Large closed doors occupied one entire side of the room and a massive crane on a metal track sat just inside. Pallets of boxes lined one wall of the room with iron bar stock on the other. A long row of tables ran down the middle of the room with a line of bars, waiting for Sorsha to enchant them.

The Sorceress gave no heed to the workshop, turning and sprinting in her stocking feet to a simple door set in the far wall of stone. Beyond the door, a stone passage ran along straight and then curved to the right. Several doors were set in the wall at various points, but Sorsha ran by them without stopping. At the end of the corridor was a simple, square room with papered walls and walnut wainscoting. On the far wall hung an enormous vault door, at least six feet in diameter and two feet thick. It stood open, revealing a short hallway beyond that led to a wide room. The outer plating on the door had been blasted away and Alex could see the mechanisms that operated the lock.

The sharp sound of a crack, not unlike a gunshot, sounded from inside the vault and the castle shook so hard, Sorsha slipped. She almost fell, grabbing on to Alex’s left arm in an effort to stay upright.

Alex gasped and felt the blood drain from his face. His ribs were healing faster than normal thanks to Iggy, but they hadn’t healed completely. Pain sprouted from his side and spread through his body, making his fingers and toes tingle. He swore, and Sorsha realized what she had done.

“Sorry,” she said, releasing his arm. She moved forward, across the vault threshold. “Stay behind me,” she said.

Alex was about to protest, but Sorsha had already moved into the short hallway. Beyond the end of the hall, he could see the intricate patterns of dozens of spells, swirling slowly. Some were blue, while others were purple, green, orange, and occasionally white. Ethereal tendrils of energy emanated from some, reaching out to join them with others, forming a net of pulsing cobwebs overhead, like a dome. The floor was cut into broad steps, like an amphitheater with spells laid out on each level going up.

Sorsha reached the end of the hall, then stepped out into the main chamber. She raised her hands, and power crackled through her fingers.

“Davis,” she cried, lowering her hand and sending a bolt of greenish lighting off into the room. A sound like a hammer hitting shatterproof glass rang out and Sorsha raised her hand again. Before she could strike, two shots rang out. Alex saw the first shot hit an invisible shield around the Sorceress and it flashed with light at the impact. The second round hit the shield and shattered it. Alex flung his good arm up over his face and turned away as decaying fragments of the shield hit him. Most just slammed into his suit coat and vanished, but one sliced across his cheek, and he felt blood dripping down his face.

Sorsha cried out and Alex turned back in time to see her fall. He couldn’t tell if she’d been hit by the bullet or by shards of the decaying shield, but she clamped her hand to her hip. Another shot rang out as she fell, but it missed its target. Alex darted forward and grabbed Sorsha by the arm, pulling her back into the hallway. He stepped over her and pulled his pistol from his pocket, waiting for Davis to approach.

A booming impact followed by a sizzling sound like a broken electrical cable rang out and the castle shook again.

“Get back,” Sorsha gasped, her face a mask of pain.

“You hurt bad?” he asked, still covering the end of the hall. Sorsha forced herself into a sitting position, a grunt of pain escaping her lips.

“I’m not hurt good,” she gasped, once she was upright.

“Funny,” Alex said. “How bad is it?”