Unknotted

Parking Lot Brawl and Grill Guards

Rokan

A silver sedan sped past us. There was nothing special about the car, except its excessive speed, yet it drew my attention. I kicked into a sprint, ignoring our plan of stealth. Tydeus wordlessly match my pace. Five minutes had passed since Chet had dropped us off and lured our tail away. Too soon to expect him to return with that issue handled.

The sedan took a hard right into Chubby’s parking lot.

My feet flashed over the ground. We sped past half a dozen businesses in a strip mall. I tore across the mall’s parking lot entrance. A car slammed on its breaks, tires screeching. I leapt and tumbled across the hood, hardly breaking stride as I raced for the diner.

The sedan had parked in front of Topaz’s truck. An unfamiliar redheaded troll was slamming a young enchanter, who clung to her neck, against it. It rocked sharply with each hit, but the boy wasn’t letting go.

Tydeus dashed ahead, around to the front of the sedan. I followed.

Near the sedan’s front bumper, a woman was belly down on the ground. An enchanter pressed his knees into her back, twisting her neck so she met his gaze. Utterly enthralled, only awe filled her expression. Those vacant topaz eyes I recognized immediately.

These enchanters must have had orders from the Broshot family to take Topaz in. That couldn’t happen. Who knew if the Broshots would lift the embargo if dynamists captured her. Not to mention Keadan would lose its chance to obtain the Tide Reverser.

Before I reached her, Tydeus had dropped low and charged the enchanter. Using the guns concealed at our hips would have been too risky; there were too many civilians peering through the diner’s windows and, if these two were sent by the Broshots, shooting them wouldn’t earn Keadan any favors with the dynamists. Tydeus’s shoulder jammed into the enchanter’s side, tossing him to the gravel. Topaz didn’t rise, her eyes still staring blankly at the enchanter.

“Take her,” Tydeus snapped at me. He dashed over to the troll, who had fallen to her knee, face darkening as the boy didn’t ease up on his chokehold.

I did as I was told. I grabbed Topaz by the arm and pulled her to standing. She swayed, but I kept a steadying grip on her bicep. She was dressed in jeans, ball cap, boots, work gloves, a faded long sleeve T, despite the warm morning. Her hair was blond, face plain. Something about it felt…off. As if I was looking at a painting that was a little bit unrealistic. Except her eyes, distant and detached from the reality, were very real.

I contemplated snapping her out of the enthrall, but this was the most compliant she had been since we had met. Like this, she was actually pleasant.

Fishing the phone from my pocket, I called Chet and guided Topaz quickly away from the chaos. I couldn’t see much of the fight past the silver sedan. Until the troll rose, lifting the young enchanter above her head. The boy flailed his arms and legs like a dying bug. The troll’s mouth was twisted into a fierce scowl, lips pulled tight over her tusks and red eyes as angry as an uncontained wildfire.

“That’s not how you treat a lady!” Her muscles bulged, then she threw the enchanter. Her aim was admirable. The youngster crashed into his companion. Gravel sprayed around them on impact. The youngster groaned, rolling on top of the one who had broken his fall.

“Get off me,” the enchanter snapped, shoving at the boy.

The phone pressed to my ear continued to ring. I had marched Topaz to the entrance of the parking lot and scanned the street. Chet, his timing impeccable, peeled around the corner in the red jeep. I hung up.

An engine roared behind me. I jerked my eyes away from the approaching jeep and back to the lot. The enchanters were still untangling themselves, the boy struggling to reclaim his bearings to the annoyance of his companion.

The troll, eyes narrowed and green skin looking yellow with an angry flush, had Tydeus pressed against the truck. Her fingers were curled into his shirt. The truck’s door was open, and a gremlin peered out, cheering, “Crush him, crumpet!”

“Shut it!” She released Tydeus with one hand and smoosh the gremlin in the face.

I slammed a bare foot down, reaching for my coavani knot. I feared Metallia would have me still cut off, but magic pulsed under my sole. I pushed it, and the earth rippled from me, growing stronger as the wave built. The sedan creaked and rocked as the wave rolled under it. Then, as if I was shaking out a carpet, the wave snapped to an end beneath the troll. The force threw her back into the car beside the truck, her hold on Tydeus breaking. The car’s alarm chirped to life.

The jeep, tires screeching on the packed earth, slammed to a halt in front of me. Chet leaned across the passenger seat and smirked. “You actually caught her. I’m impressed.”

I bristled. “Of course, I caught her.”

Chet’s face scrunched up with doubt. “Well… you did fail three times. Guess fourth time’s a charm for you.”

I lifted my eyes skyward to ask the Core to grant me patience. Pulling the back door open, I shouted over my shoulder, “Tydeus, come on!”

But I hardly needed to shout. He was leaping over the sedan and sprinting toward us, the troll hot on his tail.

I turned back to shove Topaz into the back of the jeep, only to find the blasted representative from Ruani. Travers, face blue and green with bruises, was bound, gagged, and buckled into the seat.

“What’s he doing here?”

Chet pointed a thumb toward Travers. “That was our tail. I caught him.” His grin widened. “On the first try.” He winked and I responded with a flat stare.

The tide changed. Magic drew away all color. Everything became muffled.

“Travers?” Topaz whispered, her enthrall lifting. Tides, the Core couldn’t have waited a few more seconds to switch off the magic?

Whatever disguising potion she had taken, wore off. Her blond hair darkened to a reddish brown and her height shortened until she was level with my shoulder. Before I caught a glimpse of her face under her ball cap, she tensed in my grip and dug her heels in. Honestly, expecting to put her into the jeep without a fight had been too much to ask. But I had a firm grip on her. This time, she wasn’t escaping.

She planted a foot on the step rail and bucked against me, her back slamming against my chest with a force that staggered me backward. Tydeus appeared at Topaz’s other side and tried to help push her into the jeep.

“Get her in already.” Chet reached around the seat to grab her leg. “Time to go.”

“I don’t think so.” The troll, her hair purple and build bulkier without her disguising potion, grabbed me by the back of my shirt. Without the strength of my beasts form, she yanked me away as if I was nothing more than a kitten. I hit the gravel, hands scraping across the sharp rocks. I jumped back to my feet. The troll kicked Tydeus in the gut, knocking him to the ground, and shouldered Topaz like a sack of potatoes. She darted back across the lot and tossed Topaz into the truck’s driver seat.

“No!” I raced after them. I couldn’t lose her again. Blast it!

The truck roared and lurched forward. The sedan was blocking its way; there was no escape—

The truck shot forward into the sedan. Its massive grill guard rammed into it like a tank. Metal crunched and groaned. The rear of the sedan swung around, spraying rocks. The enchanters ducked behind another car as the gravel pinged off metal and cracked windshields.

The troll swung into the truck bed. Then Topaz jerked the wheel to the side, swerved around the sedan, and aimed that grill guard my way. I couldn’t make out much of her face through the tint of the windshield, except the gleaming challenge raging in her eyes.

My muffled dominance rose to meet it.

Only for a moment though. Until reality hit that she would actually run me over. I dove aside and the truck zipped past.

“Sorry!” the troll shouted, giving me a regretful frown. She clung to the side of the truck bed, her back pressed against the rear window. “Keep trying! She’ll come around eventually!”

The woman veered the truck’s path again. She either needed corrective lenses or she intentionally aimed for the jeep. It was no match for the monstrosity attached to the front of this woman’s oversized truck. She rammed the jeep so hard it flipped on its side.

“Chet!” I scrambled for the jeep, but the crack of a gun fire sounded. Instinct threw me down, face first, hands over my head. Five more shots fired.

Tires rumbled against dirt as the truck swung out of the parking lot and tore down the road.

With heartbeat thundering in my ears, I checked myself over. I wasn’t hit. Cautiously, I lifted my head.

The older enchanter, face livid, snatched the gun from the boy. He smacked the kid on the back of his head and shoved him toward the silver sedan. I jumped to my feet and ran out into the road. I caught a glimpse of the truck’s rear as it whipped around the corner and vanished.

“Tides!” I shoved hands in my hair, turning back to the jeep. Toppled as it was, with the tide out, the hope of pursuing was slim.

The sedan ripped past, nearly clipping me, and sped down the street, its hanging rear bumper screeching along the ground. My hands tightened into fists, until the enchanters turned in the wrong direction. I shook my head; at least they had lost their prey too.

Chet’s head poked out of the window of the passenger seat. He held his hand to the side of his head, blood leaking through his fingers. His eyes were scrunched against the pain. “Guess the fourth time isn’t the charm for you either.”