The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (top 10 novels of all time .txt) 📗

Using what Jack called my ‘Jedi powers’, because of the pushing and pulling similarities between my powers and George Lucas’ ‘force’, only supercharged by over a year’s experience of being the Sorceress appealed to me in a nostalgic way.

                Focusing on the door poised to swing inward, I connected to my full power. The four elemental powers of air, fire, water, and earth… sealed with the fifth element of spirit, conjured by love… resonating in my body, I felt myself connect with the heartbeat of the living Earth. I looked to Raina, who’s eye glowed with green Fae energy, and nodded.

                A perfectly synchronized internal three-count later, Raina and I released our energy towards the steel door. I pushed with all of my might, and Raina pulled.

                The sound of breaking metal echoed like a gunshot in the humid jungle, sending a flock of birds not bothered by the initial battle fluttering to get away as quickly as possible. With a groan that signaled just how long it had been since the doors were opened, they slid far enough for us all to enter walking side by side.

                The vibrations in my body ebbed away, and Raina’s eyes returned to normal. “We are some bad-ass Witches!” Raina said with a grin.

                “So, nobody coming to rush out at us?” Gaia said, her eyebrows raised. “After the dirty dozens welcomed us by trying to bash our heads in, there’s nothing to stop, or even slow down, anyone who gets by the perimeter defenses?”

                “I hear no movement inside.” Angelique said, her vampire senses finely honed after sixteen hundred years.

                “They’re all dead.”

                Everyone froze, and we turned to see where the voice had come from. Tiffany was staring blankly, her voice sounding not entirely her own.

                “What did you say?” Angelique asked, looking more serene than confused like the rest of us.

                “Everyone inside… " Tiffany said, her face becoming distressed. "… they were ordered to not be taken alive, so they… they killed themselves once the door failed." She screamed and then collapsed.

                Vincent was there in an instant, catching her before she could hit the ground. I arrived not long after, taking her hand. I felt a strong pulse in her wrist, and I relaxed a little.

                “Tiffany? Honey?” I said, rubbing her hand. After a moment of this, her eyes fluttered and opened. Her eyes locked with mine, and I could see what she was thinking.

                It was bad.

                Ever the soldier, Tiffany stood after a few minutes, assuring us that she was ready to move on. We took our positions, with Angelique in the lead and Vincent bringing up the rear, lines of defense in case of any traps, and entered the mountain stronghold.

                We soon found evidence of Tiffany’s grisly vision not far inside. A glass booth, probably some kind of control center for the warehouse inside, contained two fresh bodies. The uniformed men looked more military than malicious magickal lodge, and the foam around their mouths spoke of cyanide capsules… something that we had seen when trying to take our human attackers prisoner before.

                “I get the feeling,” I said, looking at more bodies as we went deeper into the fortress, “that this was more than just a violent, abusive magickal sect.”

                “You’re right.” agreed Raina. “This feels connected to our mystery attacker. In a big way.”

                We walked through warehouse after warehouse, each filled to the ceiling with all manner of weapons, both mystical and mundane. I whistled low as we passed a palette filled with surface-to-air missiles.

                “What in the hell does a magickal order need with that kind of firepower?” I wondered out loud. “Is this normal?”

                “Nothing about this day has been normal.” Angelique responded. “But come… let us focus on our objective.”

                We walked through a succession of smaller rooms, each with a growing level of electronic security. Nothing that the designers of the facility had cooked up could compete with our Jack-Ace-in-the-hole.

                “Standard touch screen security,” Jack said remotely, “probably still set to factory defaults. Start by taking off the control panel… “

                As Jack walked Gaia and Tiffany through the electronic lock picking protocols, I looked around the room that we found ourselves in. I saw all manner of magickal replacement alphabets written on the sides of wooden crates, some I recognized, others still a mystery to me.

                Oh, this one’s in Theban! I thought, seeing the twisted letters favored by British Traditional Wiccans. I know this! Okay, let’s see… I studied the letters closely. T… d… d. I read. Non-original name. Origin unknown.

                My interest piqued, I opened the wooden box. Inside was a golden medallion, a triple-spiraled triskle imprinted on each side.

                Ooooh, pretty! I took it out of the box, memorized the inscription, and put the golden disc in a pocket in my dress.

                Okay, I got my souvenir I thought, now let’s get the crystal thingy and go home.

                Almost on que, the next room had only a few crates surrounding a pedestal with a green crystal behind glass. Tiffany and Gaia set about to follow Jack’s instructions as I turned to Vincent.

                “So what do we do with the stuff in here?” I asked.

                “We have a contract with the Wood Fae," he replied, "they transport the bulk of the items here to our various holdings all over the world, and in return, they get to keep a few select items for themselves. They usually pick things that I wouldn't want to have the responsibility of watching over anyway, so it all works out."

                The glass case lifted, and the crystal we had come seeking was ours!

                It was time to go home.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                “That was almost too easy.”

                Tiffany plopped down on the sofa across from me as I took a hit of post-mission relaxation-time weed.

                “Easy?" Raina said, hitting her bong beside her. "You call that easy? Next, you're going to say that they