Book 2, Chapter 1

Adrian was not ready to face his friends, so he turned towards where the music was coming from, figuring he could blend in or chat with strangers.

A hand planted firmly on his arm. It was not festive contact, and he looked around into Steve’s cold and shrouded eyes. Steve was stronger, much, much stronger.

Alarm bells rang; there was not an iota of celebration in those eyes. Then there was the strength. Not a little stronger, not fifty percent stronger, but more than twice as strong. The man had changed; last time he was not so strong. The eyes had a quality of murder. Darkness formed in his fingertips involuntarily.  Steve’s sword towered above him with the second hand holding the hilt below his waist so the tip was over a meter above Steve’s head.

Flee or fight. Could see Steve see magic? A sneak dark missile could disable but would Steve’s reflex be faster.  Could he avoid the sword? Would running even help.

Flee, Fight, Talk. Talk. A surprise magic attack might work, but only if Steve was blind to magic. Steve acted as a bodyguard and to do that he would have to see magic. Identification confirmed that fear. Surprise attacks would not work, fleeing would not work, was the dark side of the town being revealed. Had Sally acted now that he had killed the Bird? Eliminate the competition?

Adrian would not believe it. Sally was not like that, Graham was not like that, and his read of people could not possibly be that bad.

Maybe it was just his weird mood inflicting him. Something related to almost dying so often. Seeing conspiracies and horrible motives when none existed.

“What are you doing here, Steve?”

“Protecting you,” Steve answered, his eyes peering around.

“I just killed the Bird. I think I'm pretty safe. Plus, I can run from anyone with my shadow steps.”

“There is a mage killer.”

Simple direct statement. Steve's carriage had not changed. His eyes continue to flick around, examining everything around.  All business and focus. He was not even making eye contact.  “Let's move,” Steve grabbed him and pushed him back towards the Roasted Quail.  “You are in front.”

Bracing the legs and back. The shove Steve gave was massive, and despite the attempt to hold his ground, he stumbled forward.

Strength differential. He probably intended it as an encouraging nudge.

With the previous physics, it would have left a bruise in the morning. Stopping and looking back, defiantly.  “I'm not doing this.” Today he needed anonymity. Going to the Roasted Quail was the opposite of that.

“It is called a Lucu Tackama,” Steve had switched to a double handed grip on the sword.  It was still resting partially on the shoulder and soaring above his head. Everyone kept moving around them, though a small space in their immediate vicinity had opened up.  A man with a drawn two-handed weapon barely registering as noteworthy.  Four weeks ago people would have been running away in the streets from the obvious mad man.

Looking around himself. With his abilities, it was like it was still daylight. There was nothing threatening nearby.

“It has taken up residency somewhere in Wagga.”

Regional knowledge came up as a blank.

“It hunts at night and targets the strongest magic users that it can find. That is you. The faster we get to the roasted quail the faster we are safe.”

“I..”

“Just move,” Steve snapped. Gesturing in front of him.

Steve looks stressed and at the best of times he was not that talkative. Best bet was to get to the Roasted Quail and get the full story from someone else.

People shouting everywhere around him. They were cheering The Bird’s death. The Bird he had almost died killing and apparently immediately afterwards there was something else hunting Wagga. Why couldn't things work out better? Anguish gnawed with some more tears beading on his eyes. Why?  Why was everything so hard?

It should not be his problem. Hadn’t he done enough? The Mud Wolf packs, the Eggercough slugs and the Bird.

It is not my problem.

The town would have to deal with the Lulu or whatever it was by themselves. In three or four days he would leave this place for good and travel to Melbourne. Stick to the plan.  Gain the flame sprout magic from the salamanders progress intelligence and decide on the upgrade path.

A hand planted on his back. Suddenly he was flying, lifted completely off his feet. The ground was below him; the wind whistling through the air, all the breath blown out from his lungs.  Crashing through the crowd; his hip hurt from where it had connected with a man’s head, his foot whacked a short girl. There was no way he could land on his feet.

Shit!

Steve must have activated his skill and pushed him with the strength of six men. Falling now, the ground rushing towards him, hands reaching out to slow the momentum. It felt like the collision with the ground broke his arm, but after having many breaks recently it was probably just a strain of some sort. There was none of the floppiness that went with the break.

Pushing up to his feet, a dark missile forming between both hands. Steve was swinging his sword wildly at something. It was like ET, or at least a terrifying mutant ET. A humanoid with grey skin, dagger-like claws, enormous eyes, an abnormally long neck and no hair anywhere. It was short and skinny and even with the long neck he was taller.

With a flick of thought, he traced a line from the dark missile in his hands towards the creature. Nothing fancy aiming for a knee in order to slow it down. The thread touched the monster, and the creature sent out a wave of magic with an odd resonance.  It touched the line of power that he had drawn and swept up to the missile in his hands.  Whatever the creature did disabled the mana in his hands and only the weeks of practice saved him from having it blow up in his hands. In desperation he vented most of the magic, but a component of the missile shattered and some fell onto his leg.

The effects were less painful than his imagination had led him to believe. The monsters he had used dark missiles on had almost seemed like a hot poker and slammed into the point the spell hit. In reality, it was not like that.  Instead of a terrifying spreading of exquisite pain, there was one off impact like someone had hit you and then a spreading of weakness.  It had started as a tiny point in his thigh before spreading across the whole muscle. The leg felt like it would collapse at any moment, or possibly that the entire muscle would be torn from the bone if he made any sudden movements.

People were screaming, some in pain and others from fear.  Steve was roaring and most people were producing their weapons.  Multiple people were sprawled on the ground, some from when Steve had thrown him. His elbows, knees and hips throbbed from each of those collisions. Another line of opened space traced a line in the direction the monster had come from. It had come from the roof of a nearby house.

The monster moved away from Steve and came for him again. Somehow he still clutched his spear. How he had managed not to impale himself or others was a mystery. He waved the tip between him and the creature. If it was to leap at him, he would impale it.

It looked like it was about to kamikaze. Then Steve’s sword flashed through the space it had occupied. Mutant ET rolled to the side.  Moving to try to get Adrian between itself and Steve.

The earth spike started under the monster's feet.

Weird.

There were no claws present on the feet. Three nailless long toes with a fourth toe jutting out at right angles like a thumb. It was not the feet of a killer. They were however big and represented an excellent target.  Shock rocked through him as the same wave of power disrupted the building Earth spike. There was no power backlash this time, but little cracks in the bitumen spread out from where the earth spike was supposed to have emerged. The mana he had invested like with the dark missile was just lost.

It is disrupting my magic.

Lucu Tackama

Considered non-sapient through there is debate whether this is the right call. This creature mates for life and when it has young, it will voraciously defend its territory, hunting down and assassinating the strongest magic users in the area relying on physical prowess to beat its victims. It is deadly against magic users because of the ability to disrupt magic and most times reflect the damage back onto the user or at least create damaging backlash.

Large eyes make it a nocturnal hunter and it typically will engage in only one and if particularly stressed two fights per night. It has a tendency to engage in open spaces to maximise its agility advantage.

On a visceral front it was more than twice as fast as him, three times stronger. It was not something he could hope to kill, only delay.

The Lucu had successfully positioned itself opposite Steve. Why the hell hadn’t the loot chest given him spear mastery instead of a useless archery skill? Instinctively he knew that spear mastery would have let him taken this creature one on one. Instead, he was helpless with only the point of his spear keeping the Lucu from attacking. Concentrate, was he supposed to watch the shoulder or the eyes? A clawed hand lashed out, and the Spear was torn from his grip. Then Steve’s hand grabbed him and pulled him behind the other man's back. This time he moderated the strength.

Maybe Steve had noticed the creature had paused when presented with the spear because he utilised the massive blade like a spear, holding it in front of Adrian to keep the creature from leaping into attack.  The mutant ET’s mouth open, showing the flat teeth of a herbivore, a weird juxtaposition after predatory dagger-like claws to have the teeth of a cow staring back at him.

The monster was watching the sword and then slapped a claw forward. Neither shoulders nor eyes gave the movement away. Steve however was clearly watching the arms because as it moved with its lightning quickness he rotated the Sword and the claw ran into the sharpened edge with the significant momentum of its own strike.  The creature hissed, drawing back its arm with a claw missing and green blood falling to the ground.

The battle had taken only seconds and the crowd of drunk people around were responding.  A fire missile sizzled through the air to hit the back of the creature before the mana fell away with none of the heat hurting it.

The creature hesitated, and Adrian could see the indecision in its eye. Steve kept the sword dead steady. Somehow the enormous weapon was not even wavering despite the impossible strength that would take.

New physics

A rock hit the back of the creature. An older woman had thrown the first thing to hand. Swords were being drawn, a young girl started charging with an axe. More green blood splashed on the ground. The gigantic eyes of the Lucu peered around, assessing what was happening. Another drop of blood, but it would probably be the last as the inherent healing caught up with the damage. More flat teeth, a growl, a grimace or a smile, it was hard to tell. Then it spun and fled, moving like an Olympic Sprinter along the path it had entered.  Exploding towards a nearby house and leaping up like a high jumper on springs. Both of the broad feet landed on the roof and it went up the tiles as easily as running along flat ground.

So quick

Lay of hands fixed the area of weakness where the dark missile had affected.

Steve lowered the sword he was panting slightly. “Move.”

There was a healer present already moving in to heal those who had fallen. Adrian moved to join, knowing that his one cookie cutter healing spell even though weak compared to his offensive magic could contribute to the cleanup.  But Steve was in his personal space. Blocking access to the man bleeding from the skull where his scalp had split upon impacting the broken leather around Adrian’s own hip.

“Move,”

Briefly he considered ignoring him, but looking up Steve’s eyes were unyielding. More healing magic was flaring around him. They would heal those who were hurt in moments. With an internal shrug, he turned and jogged towards the roasted quail. This was not a battle he was going to win. Plus, the thing had come to kill him. Getting away as quickly as possible would save their lives if it came back. Steve had described it as a mage killer hunting strong Magic users, so it targeting him made sense. It was unlikely that there were many stronger than him magically in Wagga.

“What can you tell me?”

Steve grunted.

“Like what can we do about it?”

“Hurry”

Someone else would have to answer his questions. Extracting more from Steve would be like extracting water from a stone.

A short time later, he walked into the restaurant.

Dave was at the door acting as security and gestured for him to wait.

Steve had a hurried conversation with him. It was about the Lucu. Dave’s face went dark in anger before turning to look straight at Adrian.

“Not the reception you hoped for?”

“You think?”