The Attack on Ardholm

Lucas Cainswright shifted his weight uneasily on the tree branch he was perched upon, squinting against the setting sun. He had been up here for hours and, despite his most fervent wishes, had exhausted all pretenses of a comfortable watch when night had begun to fall. He distinctly remembered Joss telling him this would be a simple reconnaissance mission. "Just a quick there and back." he'd said. The fact that Joss had bribed Lucas with free weapons-work without provocation should have tipped him off. Instead, here he was, in the dead of night, some eighty feet off the ground, still watching the settlement that lay a half-mile to the north.

"You really need to keep those shields up, brother. I can practically hear your bad attitude."

Lucas cast a derisive glance to his partner for this little excursion. Gideon, the handsome, dark-skinned man similarly seated on a wide branch opposite of Lucas, did not return the look. Begrudgingly, Lucas followed Gideon's advice and made sure his psychogenic shields were at full strength, keeping his thoughts private.

"Shield work is one of your specialties, isn't it? Man, and now you've dropped the ley-line." Gideon gave his head a slow, exaggerated shake. "Does working an official assignment really chafe that much?"

"These shit details are why I don't work official assignments, Gid." Lucas should have known better than to let Gideon's prodding get to him, but the man was incessant. "One delirious refugee says that he's 'fleeing the evil in Ardholm' and now we're stuck here for who knows how long. I mean what are we even looking for?"

"Oof." Gideon made an exaggerated look of disgust. "I was going to let the foul language slide, brother, but after calling me 'Gid' I'll have to let Erin know about your potty mouth." Lucas rolled his eyes so hard he was sure they did a full rotation. The last thing he wanted was a dressing down from Erin about manners.

"That refugee's name is Derrick, by the way," Gideon continued, "show a little respect. He lost people trying to reach Cadence. And as for what we are looking for, how am I supposed to know? I'm just here because officially we are supposed to have two people per assignment. You're the Visual, not that it's going do you much good if you keep dropping the ley-line."

Lucas had a perfect retort lined up, but instead simply sighed and brought up his Sight, unfocusing his eyes from the physical world so that he could see the magical energies that ran across the land, gathering into glowing streams that the mages of Cadence had dubbed "ley-lines". As Gideon had said, he was one of The Visual, a designation given to magic users who interacted with magic on a literally visual level. They excelled in magic of a tangible nature and were able to use The Sight, sometimes call Mage-Sight, to see both the natural flow of magic and the ways in which it was being manipulated. Lucas easily found the line he had previously tapped and reached out to, extending the magical energy that was "him" out to it. As soon as his probe tapped into the line it pulled at him, trying to carry his energy along with its current. Lucas had more than enough practice with ley-lines and was prepared, reversing the flow to siphon off a small amount of energy back into himself. This allowed him to use magic without draining his own reserves. It would tire him out mentally if held long enough, but it would spare his body the physical strain.

Satisfied that his channel was well anchored, he willed the energy into his physical body, directing the power into his left eye. Dropping the mage-sight, he steadied himself as his vision lurched forward towards the settlement of Ardholm, magnified by the spell he had woven. It wasn't a spell really, though that was the common term. There were mages who practiced magic through incantation, surely, but Lucas had never quite understood how that worked. The key to manipulating magical energy was a strong will; you had to mold magic into doing what you wanted. Not that there weren't limitations. Usually, Lucas simply visualized what he wanted to happen and it did, though he was loathed to admit his imagination had run away from him a time or two, with some fantastic results. The way Erin had described it to Lucas, spells allowed mages to use mnemonic association to focus their mind on what they wanted the magic to do. Lucas had thought that sounded a lot like that PEMDAS thing he learned in grade school, which had never proven to be useful in his adult life.

A small flutter in the ley-line's current snapped him out of his musings. Since he was magically anchored to it any other attempts to siphon energy would be noticed, though the mage would have to be accessing the line close to where Lucas was. This, however, felt different. It was as if the ley-line was being repulsed by something, like two similarly charged magnets. It was the smallest of nudges, but the feeling was unmistakable to Lucas.

"Be on the alert, Gid. Possible anti-magic near the ley-line. Probably just an imp pack, this close to a settlement, but still."

Lucas closed his right eye, turning his magnified left over to where he felt the disturbance. The thick leaf coverage of early summer in a forest full of tall, old-growth boughs made seeing beyond the canopy impossible, but when combined with mage-sight it was a useful scouting tool. This fact alone was one of the main reasons Lucas had avoided official assignments. Visuals found visual augmentation quite natural, which should be unsurprising. Any mage could do it, honestly, but the natural talent of a Visual made them peerless scouts, and the last thing Lucas wanted was to spend most of his time out in the wilds.

Gideon had no quick response to being called "Gid" this time. Instead, he gave Lucas a small nod and closed his eye, focusing. He was an Intuitor, unlike Lucas in that he did not have the gift of Sight and could not physically see magical energy. Instead, he could "feel" sources of magic without any kind of typical sensory input, much like a sixth sense or kind of telepathy. Intuitors, or "Ones of The Intuition" as they like to call themselves, were much rarer than other types of mages, yet much more valuable in that their sixth sense couldn't be turned off or deceived, as far as he knew. This made Gideon a perfect match for Lucas on his assignment. Lucas was simply glad Gideon wasn't as stuffy as other Intuitors seemed to be, though he would never say so out loud. Erin might give him a simple lecture over his language, but he shuddered to think what would happen to him if he ever called her stuffy.

"I don't feel anything out there. If there is a pack of imps, they are using the ley-line to mask themselves."

Lucas gave a snort of frustration. His mage-sight wasn't revealing anything either. He scanned the forest floor, looking in earnest for the kind of empty void an anti-magic beast like an imp would leave. Nature had magic too, every living thing did, from the trees to the moss to the aminals in between. What that said about anti-magic creatures like imps though, Lucas wasn't sure. He tried not to think about it.

He turned his attention back to Ardholm, scanning the perimeter of the small settlement. It was a small collection of houses in the middle of the ancient forest that stretched around it for miles. Lucas shook his head at the notion of "ancient forest." Less than two years ago, this village had been a quiet neighborhood of upper-class homes, nestled in Lucas's hometown of Cadence. Lucas supposed "Hometown" was a modest term. Cadence had once been a proper city, spanning over 40 square miles and home to hundreds of thousands of people. Now, Cadence boasted less than a dozen square blocks and was only home to a few hundred. The cataclysm, if that's what you could call it, had changed everything, literally. This forest, for all of its ancient growth, was younger than most of the surviving citizens. Still, pockets of the city remained, such as the village that lay nestled in the valley before him. Modern homes had been reclaimed from the forest and the citizens had even cleared the streets and sidewalks, though likely no vehicles would travel down them again. Modern tech was the one thing no one would risk restoring.

Ardholm lay in a pocket valley that a tall ridge, also a new feature to the landscape, had carved out of the forest. Lucas was east of Ardholm, at the mouth of the valley, and was halfway through following the ley-line as it wound around the village's perimeter when he caught sight of a figure hiding in the tree line. It tried to quickly slink back into the foliage but Lucas was able to get a good look before it was obscured by the ground cover. His stomach dropped instantly, there was no mistaking the profile. Gaunt pale skin stretched over an almost human skeleton as stark white hair hung limply past its shoulders. Its naked torso and arms were sinewy and thin, with tattered rags barely covering the frame of the woman it used to be. Powerful legs contrasted the upper body, modified with an extra knee joint, the skin and muscle past its first knee giving way to the gleaming metal socket of its second. The legs ended in a robotic foot sporting two clawed toes, with another claw protruding from its heel, giving the creature a raptor-like quality. But most disturbing were the eyes. Lucas had nightmares about those eyes. Empty sockets stood where eyes should be, showing only cold, dim, red lights in their place, a trademark of the dark forces that the creatures served.

"Ah, hell." Lucas said under his breath.

"What is it?" Gideon whispered urgently. "Imps? Thralls?"

"Ruineer." Lucas said cryptically

This time it was Gideon's turn to curse.

The duo quickly made their way to the forest floor. If a Ruineer was stalking Ardholm, it not only confirmed what the refugee had told them back in Cadence, but it meant that a much larger danger was soon to present itself. Ruineers were not mindless creatures that fed on magic, like imps, but were engineered by a mind deranged enough to twist the human form, melding it with machines. They had one purpose, to kill mages. The only time they deviated from that directive is when they abducted mages, women specifically. Every second they wasted was someone else offered up to become the next Ruineer. Lucas watched that happen, once. He vowed to never let it happen again.

Lucas and Gideon quickly made their way down to the forest floor to prepare to move into Ardholm, Gideon tending to their rations and first aid while Lucas verified their weaponry. Lucas unholstered the revolver on his hip, rotating the cylinder and aiming down the sight. The gun, which called itself "Vixen," sent him back warm feelings of eagerness. Her blued metal frame and wood grip gleamed in the fading light. She was in top condition, as Lucas maintained her daily, but she hadn't seen action in a few weeks and was almost giddy at the prospect. Lucas was caught off guard, he still wasn't used to the way Vixen spoke to him, nor how human her presence felt. He, like a few others of Cadence, had a gift that allowed him to know a tool's purpose and condition simply through touch, but Vixen was special. She wasn't the only weapon to have a mind of their own, but it seemed her original owner had left quite an impression on her. Every tool had a purpose it was created for and a weapon's, simply put, was to kill. Vixen, though, had also been created to protect, a virtue her first owner had died to uphold. This seemed to impart a special will into the weapon, and she had chosen Lucas to see that through. Lucas reholstered Vixen, rendering her eagerness a quiet presence on his hip. He unsheathed Gideon's knives from his pack, examining the keenness of their edges. They were in fine condition, unsurprising as Gideon rarely had to use them. He was a true mage, through and through, and his talents made it hard for an enemy to pin him down. Lucas had only seen Gideon use them once, but that had been enough to instill confidence.

Gideon was just about finished going through their supplies. Lucas double-checked his garments for disrepair and was unsurprised to find none. His jeans and t-shirt looked brand new and his boots were sturdy and dry. The long black jacket he wore seemed out of place in the summer heat, but it did more than a fine job regulating his temperature. They may not have had the means to produce clothes the way they had before, but magic meant that a skilled seamstress could make clothes ten times as sturdy, and, like his jacket, give them properties that were never possible. They wouldn't stop a bullet or a barrage of mage-fire, but Lucas was glad of what extra protection they did offer.

Confident that they were prepared, they set out toward Ardholm at a trot. Lucas dropped the spell in his eye, enhanced sight would do no good on the move, but kept his connection to the ley-line. Gideon had the hood of his cloak up, eyes focused on the ground in front of him. He would be the one to warn them of incoming danger. They navigated the thick forest at a good pace, and not ten minutes later broke through the tree line. Lucas was stopped dead in his tracks by what lay before him. The village was a scene of carnage. Bodies lay in the street. A few screams could be heard, though distant. The house to Lucas's left was ablaze, the heat stinging his skin. He looked around, bewildered. He had been watching Ardholm all day! Not a single thing was out of place until he spotted the Ruineer. How could...? He felt Gideon tug at his sleeve, and Lucas turned to see the man down on one knee, breathing heavily.

"It's a glamour," Gideon panted, "tied to a node under the village."

"It's what?" Lucas asked angrily as he bent down to help Gideon to his feet. "You alright? How did we miss this?"

"I'll be fine, just need a second to adjust." Gideon shook his head as if to clear his mind. "Like I said, the spell is tied to a node, keeping it powered. The ley-line doesn't just surround Ardholm, it pools up here, like a reservoir. Arrgh!" Gideon growled in frustration. "I knew something was off! There was way too much energy emanating from this place to make sense. Stupid!"

Lucas cursed, trying to take in Gideon's words and the destruction around him. A place with this much latent energy would surely have powerful mages or at least a fair amount of those with potential. That explained the Ruineers, but they couldn't have cast the glamour, which meant another, talented, mage was involved, and that did not bode well. Lucas snapped into action.

"We need to get as many people together as we can. There has to be some fighting back. You start on the other end of town, I'll start here. We meet in the middle. Can you manage?"

Gideon's breathing had slowed, and he shook off Lucas's hand. "I said I'm fine. The magic here is thick but I should still be able to blink. Meet you soon." And with that, he was gone. Lucas nodded confidently. Gideon's talent for short-range teleportation, or blinking, had no equal. Gideon was right though, the node under the village complicated things. Lucas was no Intuitor, but even he could feel the magic in the air, like a heavy cloth enveloping his body. He tried to put it out of his mind, looking around for any sign of survivors. The house to his left was the one ablaze, and he could see the orange glow and smoke of other fires in that direction. There was no way to put them out, he saw no water in sight he could manipulate, and even a mage like Gideon couldn't create matter on the fly. The homes on his right appeared to have been largely untouched, and he immediately headed for them, determined to rally as many survivors as possible.

Before he could reach the first home, its front door burst open and figures came tumbling out, falling down the front steps to land sprawling at his feet. Lucas shrugged off his pack and rushed to help them but one figure, a middle-aged man, sprung up and gathered the other two to him, a young boy and a girl Lucas guessed was in her mid-teens. They huddled together, clearly terrified. Lucas reached them as another man came backing out the door. He jumped down the steps in one leap, gesturing straight at Lucas. Lucas brought his mage sight up immediately and saw the man's spell sail past him to grab hold of the flames at Lucas's back. The mage squeezed his fist tight in a grabbing gesture and pulled, bringing a spiral of flames across the street at a blazing speed to slam into the doorway he had retreated out of, causing the front window to explode in flames. Lucas covered his face as broken glass and terrifying heat showered him. He grabbed at people at his feet, shouting at them to take cover behind him. Over the din of roaring fire and breaking glass, a scream sounded, like that of a banshee, high-pitched and piercing. Lucas's hand went to Vixen immediately. The scream grew in intensity and the form of a Ruineer hurtled out of the front window, wreathed in flame, its wraith-like face contorted, its eyes red hot coals of malice. Lucas brought Vixen up and fired twice, putting some extra power behind each shot. The first shot ricocheted off the Ruineers leg with a metallic twang, but the second caught it straight in the chest. It hit the ground hard, tumbling over itself. Stunningly, it regained balance mid-roll, metal claws raking against the pavement in order to lunge again at the man hurling fire. It was at his throat in a second, wiry hand ripping through flesh. The man's eyes bulged in surprise as blood sprayed out of his ruined neck.

"NO!"

Lucas turned just in time to see the middle age man spring to his feet, his face a mask of rage and pain. The man made to rush the Ruineer, but Lucas caught him, throwing him back towards the children.

"Don't!" Lucas commanded. "Stay back with the children!"

The man fell back by the children, and Lucas brought a shield up around them in a dome, keeping them trapped in place. He looked back at the Ruineer. The commotion had grabbed its attention and it dropped the dying man on the ground in a heap. It screamed again, making Lucas's blood run cold, but it didn't rush him. It eyed the people huddled under Lucas's glass-like shield, studying the young girl in particular. Lucas spat on the ground in disgust.

"Hey!" He half-yelled, half-growled, placing himself squarely in between the Ruineer and the family. "You want her? You'll have to kill me first!"

The Ruineer didn't hesitate and sprung forward with incredible speed, hands bared in attack, screaming in defiance. Lucas brought Vixen up to his waist, fanning two quick shots at the monster. They both hit their mark, one destroying the creature's jaw and the other impacting with its chest but doing nothing to slow its advance. Lucas braced his left arm in front of himself, calling another, more tangible, magical shield in front of it. He barely had time to brace when the Ruiner crashed into him, the shock sending pain down his arm and into his shoulder. He endured and, pulling magical energy into himself to augment his strength, he swung his shielded arm wide, flinging the Ruineer off of him. He spun to follow it, stabbing Vixen out in front of him, channeling the magic in his body into her. Lucas pulled the trigger and fired two more powered shots. He could feel Vixen's righteous anger at the Ruineer, she hated these monsters as much as Lucas. She would not miss.

The Ruineer barely had time to right itself before one of its left knees exploded in a metallic screech. The other shot took its right arm off at the elbow. No blood poured out, and the Ruineer simply howled in anger again, feeling no pain. Lucas wasted no time, quickly striding the few paces to where the abomination lay. He kicked it savagely in the face, sending it onto its back. Slamming one boot on the Ruineer's chest, he brought Vixen cleanly in line with its head and pulled the trigger, executing the Ruineer with Vixen's last shot.

Breathing heavily, Lucas moved away from the Ruineer. It wasn't his first time killing one, but it was his first done so cleanly. The realization made him a bit sick. Ignoring the thought, Lucas looked around, straining his ears for more sounds of fighting but all that could be heard was the roaring of flames. He flinched at the sound of muffled voices and someone pounding their fist against earth, and turned to see the family he still had trapped under his shield. Sparing one more look around for danger, he let the dome dissipate. Lucas strode over to where he had dropped his pack, fishing out ammunition for Vixen and quickly reloading. He holstered her and turned to face the family, who were all staring at him in either awe or fear. Lucas couldn't tell which. He addressed the man who was caught between watching Lucas and staring at the body of the dead mage.

"Can you fight?" Lucas asked gruffly.

The man snapped his attention back to Lucas. "I'm sorry." He said timidly, visibly confused. "Can I-"

"Can you fight?" Lucas asked again, with more force. "Are you injured? Disabled? We need to move and find as many people as possible, and I need to know if I have to protect you alongside the children."

The man began to rise to his feet. "Well..." He glanced over at the fallen mage one more time, "I think I can do that. Yes."

Lucas extended his hand to help the man up and pulled him in close so as to keep his voice reaching the children, whispering hoarsely into the man's ear.

"Listen. If we are spotted by another Ruineer it's going to come for us. They will try to kill you and take the children. Do you think your friend died for that to happen?"

"No!" The man wheezed angrily. "No I won't let that happen. My husband..." The man glanced at the dead mage one final time. "...he wouldn't want that.

Lucas winced internally, thinking he had been too harsh, but pulling away to look the man in the face he saw a new fire in his eyes. Lucas nodded at him and bent down to pull his camping hatchet off his pack.

"Then take this, and be strong for them. Now we need to move."

"Yes. Thank you, uh..." The man trailed off.

"Lucas."

"Lucas. Right. Thank you, Lucas. I'm David. We can help you look but-"

David gasped as Gideon appeared with a slight woosh of displaced air. Lucas held his hand out to steady the man and turned to Gideon. It had only been a few minutes, surely he had not checked the rest of town yet.

"Fantastic!" Gideon exclaimed. "You found more! And that," Gideon gestured at the fallen Ruineer, "is fine work! I found two families myself, they are waiting in the center of town. Only saw one other Ruineer and managed to avoid it. We should go before it circles around."

"We should go? Are you crazy? Surely there are more people here! We can't just leave them."

"No, there isn't." David said from behind Lucas. Lucas turned to face him, confusion full on his face.

"I thought we were the only ones left. These monsters have been here every night for days, killing or kidnapping anyone they can find. Tonight was the worst of it. When the screams shouting died down, we thought we had made it, but when we went to run it was just... waiting for us. That...that, what did you call it? Ruineer? It was on us the minute we tried to flee."

"Look I didn't name the damn things, I just fight them!" Lucas's anger flared, and he threw his pack back to the ground violently. He was too late. Again!

"They can sense mages," Gideon said as he shot a look at Lucas while holding his hand out in a calming manner, "and they are cunning. It knew you were in the home and simply waited to see what you would do. But he's right, Lucas. There's no one else. The others I found said the same. If we don't leave, now, the Ruineers could come back." Gideon put extra emphasis on the end.

"Fine," Lucas said throwing his hands up, "Go get your group and let's leave. I'll look at undoing the glamour in the meantime."

"Don't. It'll take too long. Lucas, listen to me." Gideon stared him straight in the eyes, devoid of his usual joviality. "Brother, we need to get these people out of here. We simply need to go."

Lucas set his jaw, hands balled into fists at his side, ready to explode in frustration. Then, caught a glimpse of the children huddled on the ground, eyes still wide with fear. He hung his head for a moment, eyes closed.

"Alright." He said finally, sighing heavily. "Let's go."

An hour later, Lucas and Gideon found themselves trudging through the forest back toward Cadence, a total of nine survivors in tow. They were all in a pitiful state, battered, hungry, and tired from the ordeal. Gideon had felt no signs of pursuit, something Lucas was grateful for, but in the back of his mind he knew; no pursuit meant the Ruineers got what they came for. He thought about the woman in Cadence, fighting for her life as the healers tried to reverse her attempted transformation. He had been too late then, as well.

"Never again." Lucas said to himself, staring back at the once-again peaceful illusion of Ardholm.

Never again.