Chapter Five. “Forty Nine...Fifty!”

“...Another magic style is Wild Magic. In contention to High style, Wild magic uses a very lose structure. There is little vocalization and the focus is more on the emotional state of the caster. This is, I am told, a very basic and dangerous way to practice magic as the magic may read things in the caster that he/she is not aware of. Wild is mostly used by the Forest Elfish tribes ...”

Excerpt from “Observations of Magic” By Simon Fullstar.

“Forty Nine...Fifty!”

Zach heaved open the door and threw himself through, Gun first.

“Stop right there...”

Time slowed as the three figures turned towards Zach. An elf was squatting beside the crate, half turned towards Zach. In his hands a set of lock picks and a slim throwing dagger. The tallest was a powerfully built human, an assault rifle ready. The short, stocky figure, Zach now saw was a Dwarf, Stood with his feet planted and half reaching for an SMG hung over his shoulder, looked to be a walking armory as a multitude of weapons were strapped to his person including a grenade launcher, assortment of knifes and a Pistol or two. But looking past them though, towards the other end, where Cathaleen should be, was a closed door.

Zach groaned inwardly, as with a ‘kachak’ the world snapped back to itself and he was flinging himself behind a stack of crates. Rolling into a ball, Zach tried to shield himself from the flying slithers of wood that were thrown about as bullets tore into the wooden crates. “Fifty. I SAID FIFTY! FIFTY!” he yelled to no one in particular.

“Forty Seven...” Cathaleen counted to herself as she lent against the outer wall of the car, her revolver ready. “Forty-“. The count was ripped from her head as the sudden staccato burst of automatic weapon fire blazed loudly. “DAM!” Cathaleen cried in a shill shout. Turning to the door, she kicked it open and slid in. A large man stood, shooting at a pile of crates at the other end of the car. An Elf, taking cover by a create was concentrating on something in his hands and a stocky dwarf stood, pointing an SMG at the pile of crates, and fumbling for a grenade launcher that hung from his side.

Without thinking, Cathaleen took aim at man and squeezed the trigger as she rushed for the cover of the crates. The shot missed the large man, shredding the air by his ear, but it was enough to divert his attention. He gave a yell and turned.

“There are two of them! Orori, get rid of the other one”

The dwarf nodded and turned, changing the clip of the SMG and walking towards where Cathaleen hid. “Dam, this is the second time that I’ve been in this situation. And it’s all HIS fault!” Cathaleen thought to herself as she pulled the hammer back. “Looks like I’ll have to rescue his sorry ass again after this!”

“So she finally gets here and what dose she do? She misses” Zach complained to himself stood into a crouch. He rocked back and forth on his heels, getting ready to run to a better position when he heard someone chanting in a He had leapt out from behind the crates and twisted, bringing his guns around before his mind clicked to what the chanting was. Magic. Someone was casting a spell. He tried to pull the trigger but something was wrong, his body wouldn’t move. With a sickening realization of what was happening, he hit the floor and sprawled like a rag doll.

“I’ve got him” The elf said as he stood, “He’s not going anywhere”. From what Zach could see from his frozen place on the floor, The Elf walked towards the human who nodded. Orori was moving towards a pile of crates at the other end.

“Here now, lass. Your friend is caught. Come out now. There are three of us to one of you. Be bad odds for anyone.”

Zach concentrated on the magic bond that kept him from moving any of his limbs, trying to figure out how they were made so that he could somehow break the hold they had on him.

“I’m coming out. Don’t shoot!” a voice came from behind the crates. Zach tried to look up, but from where his head was held by the spell, he couldn’t see Cathaleen throw down her revolver and step out.

“Who are you?” the human asked cautiously.

“I heard some bangs and I came to see what it was...”

“And why would you do that? Are you working for the Railway?”

“No”

“Who do you work for?”

Zach heard Cathaleen laugh “I’m not going to tell you”

Zach mental fingers brushed the spell. Back tracking he found the spell and examined it. It was a pretty simple spell, but it was effective. It blocked the target from moving there body, leaving them as helpless as a puppet with the strings cut. As he was taught many years ago, Zach relaxed his mind, preparing to slip the bonds of the spell off, he stopped as Cathaleen came into his line of sight, her eyes flicking to his so quickly he wasn’t sure that they had moved. Zach readied himself for what Cathaleen was planning...which could have been anything.

Cathaleen snapped her eyes down to meet Zach’s, and then back to the man. She hoped that Zach would play along and not ruin everything.

“You’re a Geohound” the big man asked, not really a question. The Man’s and the Elf’s hand both lingered on there weapons.

Cathaleen smiled slowly at him. “Oh relax. I’m not here for you.” She negligently waved her hand at the crate that the elf had been picking. “I’m sure that there’s a suitably large score in that box? I want fifty percent, and I’ll forget you ever existed”

The man looked thoughtful. “What about him?” he said pointing to the prone figure of Zach.

Cathaleen deliberately lent to one side and looked down at Zack. “What about him?”

“He with you?”

“He’s working for me. Hired muscle. Dumb as two short planks but useful in a fire fight” Cathaleen continued. She was on a role with this and if he had any sense, Zach would keep his mouth shut. She cocked one eyebrow and pointed to his figure. “Err...What is it that you’ve done to him? Is it permanent? He is kind of expensive”

“He’s held by magic. And he’ll stay that way until were gone”

Cathaleen smiled again, “Don’t trust us?”

The man laughed loudly, “Trust a Geohound?”

Cathaleen smiled and shrugged. “Fine then, open the box and let’s see what it was that you jumped this here train for”

The man nodded to the Elf, whom moved back to squatting by the crate and picking at the lock. Cathaleen looked in askance at the man, “Why are you picking it? Why not blow the lock off?”

“What’s inside is valuable and fragile. Blowing the lock off could damage it.” The Elf said without turning or getting up. The soft "Shnick" of the locks tumblers falling into place was just audible over the train. Pushing the lid back, The Elf picked something up in his arms and stood up, holding it against his chest with both hands.

“A book?” Cathaleen looked at the Elf, then at the man, “All this over a book?”

The Elf, still holding the book against his chest, set it down on the top of a stack of crates and opened it, “Not just a book, Geohound. This book belonged to one of the Seven High Mages, Súrion Celegorm. He was a brilliant force mage.”

“So it must be worth something then?”

“Our employer is ready to pay a considerably large sum to have it in his collection” the man said.

“If it’s so important, why is it on this train then?”

“Its being moved in secret. It’s to be put in a museum. An exhibition on the High Mages I believe”

“I guess by the way that you’re doing this, the museum would not take too kindly to it being stolen before they got there little ol’ hands on it?”

“No they wouldn’t. But that won’t matter”

Cathaleen put her fists on her hips and cocked her head to one side “And why’s that?”

The man’s face twisted into a half smile as the Elf scooped the book into a backpack and slung it over his shoulders, “Because at the next stop, when they open the car, it ain’t going to be here”

Cathaleen widened her stance and smiled back, “Want to bet on that?”

The man’s gun came up; the dwarf tightened his grip on the SMG. “You’re going to try to stop us?” the man looked a little shocked, then threw his head back and laughed. “With you’re Gun down for the count? And without a weapon?”

Cathaleen smile grew, “What was that about not trusting Geohounds?”

The man looked confused and then his eyes widened in shock. “If you wish to keep your brains in your head drop your weapon and tell the Elf and the walking armory over there to do the same” came Zach’s voice from behind him as he held one of his semi-automatic pistols to the back of the mans head.

There was a clatter as the man dropped his riffle to the floor, and then as the Elf dropped a pair of knives and finally another as a grumbling dwarf placed his SMG, grenade launcher, a brace of knives and a two pistols.

Looking past the man, Cathaleen grinned foolishly and waved. Zach rolled his eyes and sighed. “What happened to going on the count of fifty?” Cathaleen suddenly looked hurt, a face that Zach was pretty sure she was faking. “You went in all guns a blazing BEFORE I got to fifty!”

“Is it so hard to count the fifty?”

“Do you even know HOW to count?”

"I'm not the one who was late and then Missed!"

"It was a warning shot, alright?”

“Warning? Who where you warning? Low Flying Dragons?!”

Well, it worked, didn't it? Are you still alive or not?

Zach turns slightly and points at the stack of crates he was hiding behind. The stack has been ripped to shreds by automatic fire, “Only Just!”

“You’re the one who DIDNT WAIT TILL THE COUNT OF FIFTY!”

The three would-be thieves stood off to one side, trying to keep very much out of the argument as it quickly became a shouting match and looking at a loss for words.

“Counting of fifty doesn’t work as you walk over the top of a speeding train!”

“Y’know I did save you ass!”

It was at this point that the man opened his mouth to speak, but all he got was glares from Zach and Cathaleen as they both, in tandem turned, “Shut Up!” This, of course took there attention, however tenuous it was, from the other two.

With a quick kick, the Elf pushed aside Zach and was sprinting out of the door, Zach pounding after the lithe figure. The man wrapped his arms around Cathaleen, pining hers to her sides. Cathaleen, not to be taken by surprise, kicked hard at his shins, causing him to drop her and back off a little. Still fuming, Cathaleen span on her heels to face him and square toe punted him. With a small groan the man slowly found his way onto the floor, curled into a small ball. Turning again Cathaleen faced the Dwarf. He stood there looking back, “Better be to helping your friend, Lass”

“And leave you here, alone?”

“Someone had better be making sure this one doesn’t get away” he prodded the now quiet figure curled on the floor with one steel shod boot.

Cathaleen thought for a moment, “Ok. But you best be here when I get back!”

With a nod from the Dwarf and picking up her revolver on the way, she charged out the way the Elf and Zach had gone.

Zach ran after the elf back up through the train. He couldn’t shoot the elf because he might hit the book, and if he did that Cathaleen and he would lose any reward that would be gained by returning the book, that and Cathaleen wouldn’t let him live it down.

Sprinting down the rear passenger car, the elf spun in a flash, throwing a dagger back at Zach. As quick as a flash, Zach threw himself to one side, his hand coming up, and closing over the daggers hilt as it passed. Slowly Zach stood back up and faced the elf down the length of the corridor.

“You’re pretty fast” The elf said.

“Not so bad you’re self”

The elf bowed mockingly, his emerald eyes never leaving Zach. They stood still, looking at one another as Cathaleen came up behind Zach.

“ZACH!? Are you ok?” Cathaleen came up slightly breathless from the sprint.

“Fine. You aren’t getting off this train with that book, so hand it over.”

“My employer would be most upset if I didn’t return with it”

“Heh, I guess he’ll have to live with it” Zach mouth curled into a wolfish grin.

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Well that’s the end of this chapter. Please Read and give a Review as I seem to have very little of them :(. Well, I thank you kindly for you’re time people.