Ch.8

Do not meddle in the affairs of mages, for they are powerful and you would look good sitting on a lily pad. – Street Proverb

Turner studiously avoided looking down. When a guest of wind started her swinging she was barely able to squelch a full blown panic attack. "Well, on the plus side, the fall will probably kill  me before I drown," she muttered to herself.  Then to her joy, a cheerful voice rang in her head.
 "No worries, mate. The sharks’ll get ya long before ya drown."
"Oh thank you very much, Vixen,  that makes me feel so much better," Turner said sarcastically. Then she wailed, "Get me down!"
"Workin’ on it, mate!"

Vixen and Karina  studied the situation carefully.  Turner hung by her wrists, suspended  over the water from a huge cargo crane.  There was no sign of Lank or Turk, but they were obviously there somewhere.
Vixen glanced over at Karina. "Ya ready?"
Karina nodded. "As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do it."
As they approached the area in front of the dock, Lank stepped out from behind a crate. "Ya got da necklace?"
Karina reached into her jacket pocket and held up a case. "Right here. Let my chummer go."
"Open it first," he replied.
She opened the case and  showed him the necklace. "Now let her go."
"Put it down on da ground and step back," he said.
Karina dropped the necklace and backed up, keeping  her eyes on the ork. As the case hit the ground, she heard a scream. She glanced up in time to see Turner plummet from the crane. She quickly cast a levitate and  caught Turner before she could hit the water. Then she moved her over to a warehouse and dropped her onto the roof, just as Lank whipped out his pistol and opened fire.  Karina and Vixen dived for cover behind a crate.
"Gotta split up, mate," Vixen gasped. "Luck." She leapt to her feet and dashed across the open area, firing at Lank as she ran behind a pile of crates. He chased her, trying to get a bead on her.

Karina cautiously raised her head, trying to spot Turk. She screamed in fear as she spotted him barreling down on her position. She turned and ran, leading him deeper into the maze of crates on the dock. She zigzagged through the aisles frantically trying the lose the troll. Finally she turned into a dead end and was trapped.  She ran to the end of the aisle and placed her back against the crates.
The troll stopped and casually leaned up against a crate blocking her escape. "Well, chica, it’s jus you and me now i’nt it?" He laughed. "Hey, ya ‘member I told ya if ya fragged wit me, I was gonna  hurt ya so bad ya’d beg to die? Well, ya fragged me, chica.  Bad move. I’m gonna do ya like I done yer chummer.  And den I’m gonna rip yer heart out and eat it." She cringed away from him as he moved towards her, laughing at her tears. Then he backhanded her into the crates and reached down and grabbed her by the hair.

Karina’s head slammed into the crates. Turk grabbed her hair, and something inside her snapped. She shrieked in rage, cast a levitate on him, and threw him away from her with all her mental strength. She screamed, this time in pain, as a handful of hair was ripped out of her skull. Her head swam from the drain, and she struggled to maintain consciousness, knowing that if she passed out the troll would kill her.  She fought it down and turned him upside down, bashing his head into the concrete.
"That’s for Hawk and Michael!" *Slam!* "That’s for me!" *Slam!* "And that’s for Turner!" *SLAM, SLAM, SLAM*
 She continued beating his head into the ground, lost in rage,  until Vixen ran around the corner.
"Mist, ya can stop now! He’s dead, mate!"
The words finally registered and Karina dropped the body. She looked up at Vixen blankly. Then she shrieked again at the sight of Lank standing behind Vixen. The ork stared at her in horror for a moment before turning to run. The hellblast she threw brushed his back as he dived for cover.

Lank moved quietly down the aisle of crates. He saw the girl dash around a corner and followed her. Then, as he rounded the corner, he stopped and stared in horror at Turk’s lifeless corpse. His skull was crushed, blood and brains splattered on the ground. ‘What da frag did she do to him?’  This slip of a  girl stood there in a dead end, only a few bruises and a scrape on her cheek and his partner dead at her feet! When she looked up at her friend, she saw him and gave a piercing shriek. Lank felt his stomach turn over as her face took on an animalistic appearance. Her eyes unfocused for a spilt second, giving him enough warning to dive for cover. He yelled as a wave of heat washed over his back. ‘Oh fragging drek!  She’s a mage! Johnson’s not paying me enough to go up against a mage. Gotta get out of here!’  He ran back the way he had come. As he ran past the crane he kept enough presence of mind to scoop up the necklace before he headed for his bike.

Karina’s head spun and she sagged back against the crates. Her vision blurred, as she felt a raging headache start up behind her eyes. She slid down to sit on the pavement and curled up in a ball, shaking from reaction and drain.
Vixen knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ya ok, mate?" she asked.
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Karina rested her head in her hands for a minute, fighting down her nausea.  Then she climbed wearily to her feet. "Let’s go get Turner and get outta here."
*Click skkkkkkg*  Turner’s voice came over weakly on the micro-transceiver, broken up by pain-filled gasps.  "Does anyone … on our side … still have a heartbeat?"
Vixen exchanged glances with Karina.  "Yeah, mate."
There was a slight pause.  "Did we win?"
Karina nodded, forgetting for a moment that Turner couldn’t see her.  "Yeah."
"Are they dead?"
Vixen sighed.  "Turk is."
"Did he suffer?"
Karina glanced at what used to be a troll and shuddered.  "Yeah."
"Good."  Her voice sounded fiercely glad.  There was a long drawn out sigh, then, silence.
Karina blinked.  "Turner?" She glanced over at Vixen. " I think she just passed out." She walked a few steps and then stopped. She looked at Vixen, her face white as a sheet. Then her eyes rolled up as she pitched over backward.
Vixen jumped to catch her, easing her down on the pavement. "Ah, drek, Mist! Not now!" She dug through the medkit until she found a low level stim patch. She slapped it on Karina’s neck and waited until it took effect.

Vixen paced up and down the hall outside the clinic.  She glanced up at the chrono  on the wall. 03:00, five minutes since the last time she had looked. She dropped wearily into a chair set against the wall. Somehow she had gotten Turner and Mist awake and into the car. Then she had driven like a madwoman to get them to Potshot.  She leaned her head against the wall and shut her eyes. ‘Just rest for a minute. Only for a minute.’

Turner was a mess. Broken nose and cheekbone, three broken ribs, a cracked ankle, crushed hand, both shoulders dislocated, internal bleeding, water in her lungs, and severe bruising and  shock. The trauma patch Vixen had slapped on her had saved her life. No doubt about it.
 Mist was a better, only a concussion and scrapes and scratches. Potshot had left her in Blaze’s capable hands while she attended Turner.  She sighed and turned away from the bed.
Blaze put a gentle hand on her shoulder.  "You’ve done all you can, luv. Now let time and magic finish the job." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "At least they got her back and she’s alive."
"Just barely!" she snapped. "God, how can people do things like this to each other?"
He shrugged. " I don’t know, luv. Just try and remember that there are good people too, and those are the ones we are fighting for."
She laid her head on his shoulder in mute apology. "It just hurts."
"I know."
She gently pulled away and checked on Karina. "Still not awake."
"I didn’t think she would be. She drained herself pretty badly. She’ll be fine, though. I healed the concussion so you can let her sleep. Now I’m gonna go check on the other one. She was pacing the hall last time I looked." He grinned. "Wanna bet she’s passed out by now?"
Potshot shook her head. "No bet lover. If she is, bring her in here and we’ll put her in the other bed."

Lank sank down on the pile of rags that served as a bed and looked around the small dingy room. A cold breeze blew through a crack in the window. He shivered as the breeze blew across his burned shoulders. He reached into his pocket and brought out the necklace case. ‘Least I got this.’ His bellow of denial rang through the building  as he opened the case and saw the cheap plastic necklace laying on the black velvet.
He hung his head. ‘That’s it. I’m dead. Johnson’s gonna send dem after me and den de’ll kill me.’ He shook his head. ‘Unless dey can’t find me. Yeah, das it. Gotta fade. Now. If I don’t check in, it could be months before Johnson figures it out and den I’ll be clear.’  He stood up and looked out the window. It was going to be a long night. He turned around and started gathering his things. Then he headed out and faded into the night, heading deeper in the Pulyallup Barrens.

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A special Thank you to my beta readers,Norcumi , "Incognito" and Maven.

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