Arcane Entanglement (The Mage and His Brute #1)

Chapter 45

Evander and Viggo twisted on their heels.

Shadows danced around Renwick as he fled towards the other end of the station. The dark mage had unleashed his wind magic to aid his escape.

“Shit!” Viggo cursed.

He moved, his long strides eating up the distance to the opposite platform.

Evander willed his battered body to life and bolted after the Brute, wind magic lightening his steps. Behind them, Rufus started shouting orders at the Met officers who’d just turned up.

Evander caught up with Viggo seconds later.

“Don’t fight this!” he barked.

The Brute shot a puzzled glance at him when he drew level.

“What do you—?! Bloody hellfire! ”

Viggo’s eyes rounded as the power of the wind buffeted his body and propelled him forward. They burst out of the station onto Villiers Street and looked around wildly.

Viggo pointed. “There!”

Renwick was on the footpath of the railway bridge, heading for the south side of the river. They sprinted after him, Evander’s lungs burning with each gasping breath despite the elemental wind carrying him.

He’d nearly exhausted his reserves of magic trying to stop the runaway train.

Barges and boats moved sluggishly in the currents below them as they pounded the walkway after Renwick. The dark mage reached the south embankment, jumped down, and vanished in the warren of alleyways connecting the factories and mills crowding the riverfront.

Evander wondered briefly if they were being led into another ambush.

Trap or not, we have no choice but to go after him!

From Viggo’s tight face, the Brute had had the same thought.

Letting Renwick escape wasn’t an option.

“Don’t slow down!” Evander yelled.

Viggo nodded grimly.

Magic surged through Evander as he manipulated the wind and brought them safely to the ground when they leapt. They took off in the direction Renwick had vanished, boots striking packed dirt and cobblestones.

Buildings pressed in on either side of them as they navigated a labyrinth of passages, the walls shutting out most of the late afternoon sunlight and casting them in ominous twilight.

“Can you sense him?!” Viggo shouted as startled figures cursed and jumped out of their way.

Evander narrowed his eyes. “I can!”

He accelerated and took the lead, following the scent of dark magic Renwick had left in his wake. It brought them to a section of the embankment lined with wharves and warehouses.

Evander slowed as they neared a deserted junction. The wisps of sinister power he’d been tracking had faded on a breeze blowing from the south. He stopped, his heart racing and his chest heaving with his breaths as he spun on himself and scrutinised the alleyways.

“Did you lose his trail?” Viggo asked guardedly.

“Yes.” Frustration knotted Evander’s belly. “Let me try something!”

Viggo watched tensely as he called on his fire magic and sent sparks dancing through the air. Evander stiffened when one of the streams of elemental power he’d cast out reacted to dark magic a moment later.

“This way!”

He twisted and bolted down the passage on his left, Viggo on his heels.

Their footsteps echoed against grimy walls as they approached a warehouse on the edge of the water. The building soared before them, cast iron windows catching the setting sun and smokestacks etched against an orange sky.

The oppressive weight of corruption hanging in the air pressed in on Evander like a suffocating shroud.

“Be careful,” he warned Viggo as they reached the entrance. “This place reeks of dark magic.”

A muscle jumped in the Brute’s jawline.

They slipped through a gap in the heavy doors.

It took a moment for Evander’s eyes to adjust to the gloom inside the warehouse. The interior was a maze of towering shelves packed with boxes and crates arranged over three floors, all connected by a central staircase and two goods lifts. Dim light filtered through the grimy windows beneath the roofline, the rays barely piercing the shadows in the eaves and between the murky aisles.

The air was thick with dust and the cloying scent of dark magic.

Evander’s scalp prickled as they moved deeper into the building. They cleared the ground floor before proceeding to the south-facing stairs, Viggo in the lead.

Every creak of the wooden steps they climbed set Evander’s teeth on edge. Renwick had to know they were in the building by now.

There were no signs of their foe on the first floor.

A pulse of malevolent energy washed across Evander’s skin when he and Viggo reached the landing to the second floor. His heart thumped painfully as he brought forth a barrier of defensive wind magic, ready to repel whatever attack Renwick might send their way.

Every instinct he possessed told him they were likely walking right into the dark mage’s trap.

They reached the top of the staircase and moved quietly towards the closest aisle, only to freeze when a low chuckle echoed through the cavernous space. They whirled around, trying to pinpoint its source.

“Welcome, gentlemen.” Renwick’s voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. “I’m glad you could join me for this momentous occasion.”

Evander fisted his hands.

“He’s using shadow manipulation to mask his location,” he told Viggo in a low voice.

Viggo scowled.

“Stop hiding and show yourself, you cowardly bastard!” he shouted.

“Ah, but where would be the fun in that, Brute?” Another chuckle, closer this time. “Besides, I’m rather busy at the moment. Perhaps you and the Ice Mage would like to see what I’m working on?”

Evander’s pulse stuttered when dark magic surged around them.

Crates and boxes exploded before he could react, showering him and Viggo with splinters. A violent storm swept through the building, raising a whirlwind of dust and debris that obstructed their sight.

Evander’s gut twisted when dark shapes lunged at them from the turbulent currents.

Viggo cursed and stumbled backwards. “What the devil are those?!”

Evander’s blood ran cold as he studied the apparitions from behind the shield of wind and ice he’d raised. Made of pure darkness, they were vaguely humanoid in shape and carried a stench that made his stomach roil.

“They’re shadow creatures.”

Viggo shot a taut glance his way. “Is this another kind of shadow manipulation?”

Evander nodded stiffly. He’d read about shadow creatures in arcane texts, but had yet to see them in real life. He realised then that he’d severely underestimated Renwick.

Only someone whose powers were nearly equal to that of an Archmage could bring shadow creatures to life.

One of the monsters dove for Viggo.

The Brute reacted instinctively as it breached Evander’s barrier, his fist connecting with its face in a split second. To his shock and horror, his blow passed right through the apparition’s dissipating form. The shadow creature rematerialised a moment later.

Evander released the shield and called on his fire magic. Globes of dazzling flames exploded into life around them. The creatures recoiled, their shapes flickering in the radiance.

“Viggo, we may be in over our heads,” Evander said in a fraught voice. “If I’m right, Renwick could make scores of these creatures before we get to him!”

The Brute’s face hardened with determination. “Then we’ll just have to fight harder and find the bastard, won’t we?”

Viggo’s grit tempered the worst of Evander’s fears. He took a deep breath and allowed elemental power to rush through him. Static sparked on his skin and hair.

Lassos made of wind and fire formed in his hands.

The shadow creatures shrieked and attacked.

Evander grounded his legs with earth magic and spun the elemental weapons around his head. The whips tore through the monsters, shredding them until they were nothing more than fading wisps of darkness. Viggo guarded his back, his immunity to magic a physical barrier even if his attacks proved useless against the creatures.

Sweat beaded Evander’s forehead as the battle took them deeper into the warehouse, the shadow creatures coming at them on an endless tide of darkness just as he had feared. They rounded a corner and found themselves in an open area.

What Evander saw made him stop short in horror and had Viggo cursing out loud.

In the centre of the space stood a massive contraption. It was a nightmarish fusion of magic and metal some twenty feet tall. Tubes and wires snaked across the floor and connected to a circle of dark, pulsing crystals.

Evander’s breath locked in his throat when his gaze found the source of the sinister magic powering the device. There, suspended inside a web of crackling dark energy above the monstrous machine, was Renwick.

The dark mage’s eyes were closed, his face a mask of concentration as he levitated on a buffer of wind magic. Power poured from his body, feeding the machine below.

“What in the blazes is that thing?!” Viggo snarled, his fists clenching at his sides.

“It’s an explosive device.” Evander’s pulse hammered in his veins. “With this, he could level half the southern embankment!”