The Sports Captain's Tale полностью

Magic flared, again. I blinked in shock as spells hurtled towards us from the other side … what? Had we somehow wound up caught between two teams? James raised his hand and cast a flurry of stunning spells, only to find himself targeted by at least five or six enemy players. James was good, very good, but all it took was one spell getting through his defences to put him out of commission. A wave of seeking spells were rushing towards me, making it harder to cast any spells without drawing them onto me. We were down two players and yet we’d barely laid eyes on the enemy.

“Move,” I snapped, pointing the others north. There was a stream there we could use for cover … I hoped. The groundskeepers could have redirected it too, if they were prepared to invest the time and magic. “Don’t stop for anything!”

Karen screamed, her hands clawing at her eyes. I swore. A blinding spell … that was dirty pool, even though it was technically legal because it wasn’t actually illegal. Technically … whoever had cast that spell would still be in deep shit. Sergeant Wills had never been impressed by rules lawyering and he’d probably order the caster thrashed … if the asshole was lucky. I gritted my teeth, then cast a locomotive spell of my own at the ground. The mud heaved, then arced up in a tidal wave and flew at the enemy position. They’d be drenched in mud … I hoped, vindictively, that I’d accidentally picked up and thrown a stone too. The thrashing would be so worth it.

I grabbed Karen’s arm. She hit out at me, striking my face. “It’s me,” I snapped, as more spells flashed after us. We really had been caught in the middle. “Hold still.”

I cursed the caster under my breath as I tried to undo his hex. Never mind the sergeant. I was going to pummel him senseless when I figured out who it was. Blinding spells were nasty, all the more so because the victim could easily hurt themselves while trying to get it off. Karen was lucky she was a magician. I’d seen the spell used, back in my childhood, to put mundanes – powerless mundanes – in their place. It had always been effective. Grown men could be reduced to sobbing children by a simple spell a mere firstie could cast …

Blue light flicked over her body. She froze, bound in place by a carefully constructed set of hexes that would take several moments to remove, moments I didn’t have. I cursed again and muttered a quick apology, turning and running into the foliage. She’d be safe enough, just out of the match for the moment. She wasn’t going to be pleased, afterwards, but what choice did I have? We were bleeding players like mad. If I was lucky, I’d have a chance to slip back and free her – and the others – before time ran out.

“They sniffed us out,” Mark said. He and Jerry were sheltering Mildred, who was casting a handful of deflection spells. She looked as if she was on the verge of fainting. “Damn them. That was clever.”

I nodded, curtly. “This way,” I ordered. There’d be time for a debate over what we’d done wrong – and they’d done right – later, after the game. “We have to hurry.”

Mildred looked unwell as we staggered onwards, the sound of spellcasting behind us fading away. I hoped that was a good sign, but … something was wrong. My mind turned the question over and over again, unsure what was really happening. I could buy one team ambushing us – the transfigured dog trick had been clever, and I’d never even considered the possibility – but two? Had we gotten really unlucky? Or …

The ground seemed to explode in front of us. I threw myself down as another volley of spells flashed overhead, then cast a shield as best as I could. The barrier wouldn’t last long – I’d be astonished if it stood for more than thirty seconds – but it would give us a moment to catch our breath and react. Jerry was already casing spells of his own, aiming them over the barrier and …

… a spell caught him in the back.

I swore out loud as he melted into a worm. There was no time to counter the spell … Mark grabbed Jerry and carried him as we tried to get out of the second ambush, only to be caught himself a moment later. Mildred was crawling on her belly, moving as fast as she could … it wasn’t fast enough. An invisible force billowed out of nowhere, caught her by the legs and yanked her into the air. She screamed as the force started tugging at her shirt, trying to expose her breasts.

Raw anger shot through me. I charged forward, wrapping myself in a wave of pure magic and casting spells as if there was no tomorrow. Two players fell, stunned; the others opened fire on me, raining spells on my magic until it started to splinter. Mildred’s yells cut off, abruptly, as my defences failed, a final spell locking my body solid. I tumbled forward and hit the ground, the impact driving me into the mud. It was over.

That bastard, I thought. I’d missed the signs earlier – it had been inconceivable – but now it was all too clear. He got all three teams to gang up on us.