Fists of Justice (Schooled in Magic #12)

“The Mimics are spells,” Sienna said, when she’d finished. “At what point, Emily, were you going to tell the rest of us?”

Emily winced at the cold anger in Sienna’s tone. “The Grandmaster – the previous Grandmaster – believed the information was better kept secret. He feared that sorcerers would start trying to duplicate the spells if they knew it was possible.”

“And yet, you also found a way to stop them,” Sienna added. She still didn’t seem happy. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Emily said. “A simple dispelling charm should work against a Mimic.”

Master Wolfe had definitely been a genius, she thought, as Sienna reeled. It had shocked her too, when she’d first realized the truth. Hardly anyone would reach for one of the simplest charms in the spellbook when confronted by a Mimic, let alone think to use it. But if one already knew the secret, dealing with a Mimic was easy.

“I tried to dispel Justice,” she said, outlining everything that had happened in the temple. “It didn’t work.”

“It might not be possible to stop it,” Sienna said, slowly. “If it absorbs magic and it’s largely immune to physical attacks…”

“They’ll run out of people to sacrifice, sooner or later.” Emily grimaced as a nasty thought occurred to her. “They didn’t create an entirely autonomous creature, either. Justice seems to have limits. I think they need to make some preparations before they let him go out to hunt.”

“Those staffs,” Caleb said.

“I think so.” Emily kicked herself, silently, for not thinking of it first. In hindsight, scaling up the chat parchments so they could channel power was an obvious trick. Aloha was going to be furious when she found out. She’d invented the chat parchments, but she hadn’t taken them any further. “I think they use Justice as a source of power for spells, channeled through the staffs.”

“So we force them to drain their power,” Sienna said. “Just like facing a necromancer.”

“Justice has a lot of power.” Emily paused. “He’s also not particularly intelligent.”

“You think,” Sienna warned.

Emily nodded, curtly. Given time, Justice would grow into an intelligent being…or, at least, that was what she’d taken from the scrolls. Janus and his comrades really hadn’t known what they were doing. And when Justice did develop intelligence, all hell would break out. He’d know what he’d have to do to survive and he’d want to do it. Beneficence might simply be the first city to be sacrificed to keep him alive.

“Perhaps you didn’t use enough power when you tried to dispel him,” Caleb suggested. “We could all try.”

“It’s possible,” Emily said. “But the notes suggested that dispelling him would be very difficult.”

She wished, suddenly, that she had a battery. She could have used it to power a dispelling charm and aimed it at Justice. It might have been enough to counter any protections built into the spell matrix. But his magic-absorbing aura would make focusing the charm difficult. She might accidentally feed him instead. Perhaps, if she pushed the charm a little further…

I need time to think, she thought. Sienna was talking, but Emily barely heard her. And perhaps some more rest.

Frieda nudged her. “Emily?”

Emily looked up. “I’m sorry, I was miles away.”

“I said that I will not leave my daughter in their hands,” Sienna said. “And we do not have time to waste. We have to take the offensive.”

“I must agree,” General Pollack said. “The longer we delay, the stronger they get.”

Emily glanced at Markus, who nodded. She agreed. Justice was steadily tightening his grip on the city. More and more people were surrendering to him as his constant presence wore down their will to resist. And there was no way to evacuate the city in the hopes that Justice would starve. He’d just cross the bridges and walk into Swanhaven or Cockatrice.

We could blow up the entire city, she thought. The nuke-spell glimmered in her mind, a mocking reminder of a power she didn’t dare use. But would even that produce enough power to destroy him?

“We might be able to limit his reach,” she said, remembering the cobwebs she’d sensed in the temple. “Cutting him off from his supporters and warding him might be enough to limit his power intake. He’d start to starve.”

And if you’re wrong, her thoughts mocked her, you’ll lead everyone to their doom.

Frieda cleared her throat. “We attacked them once,” she said. “Will it be so easy to attack them a second time?”

“It wasn’t easy,” General Pollack said. “We lost fifty men in the attacks.”

“And Marian,” Sienna said, quietly.

“They knew we were coming,” Frieda reminded him. “General…getting close to the temple a second time might be impossible.”

Emily nodded in grim agreement. It hadn’t been easy to slip through the guards the first time, even though Janus had implied she’d been allowed to enter the temple. She supposed he could have been bluffing, but he’d had no reason to lie. Now, with their temple damaged and their reputation tarnished, the Fists of Justice were unlikely to let anyone anywhere near their god. Getting close enough to do some damage might be impossible.

We’ll have to think of something, she thought.

“We could try to lure Justice out of the temple,” Markus said. “Perhaps we could start pushing the protesters back from the banks. They’d have to do something to remind everyone they’re in charge.”

“We could go after the staffs,” Frieda offered. She winked at Emily. “They break as easily as wands.”

“That would work.” Emily glanced at Sienna. “Can you get a rough idea of Marian’s location?”

“Very rough.” Sienna shot an odd look at her husband. “Everything is a blur.”

General Pollack looked worried. “I’ve never heard of anything that can cut a blood tie completely,” he said. “You should be able to find her.”

“There are some forms of disownment that would cut all the ties,” Sienna said. “But I’d have to do the rituals to make them work. Marian couldn’t do it, let alone an outsider.”

“And you might kill her,” Caleb said, quietly.

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