Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4) Read online

  CONJURED DEFENSE

  Titles by J.C. Jackson

  Terra Chronicles

  Twisted Magics

  Shattered Illusions

  Twice Cursed

  Conjured Defense

  CONJURED DEFENSE

  A Terra Chronicles book

  by J.C. Jackson

  Shadow Phoenix Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, public or private institutions, corporations, towns, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Conjured Defense

  J.C. Jackson

  Copyright © 2019 J.C. Jackson

  Published by Shadow Phoenix Publishing LLC

  ISBN-13: 978-1732283534

  Cover designed by J. Caleb Design

  To my husband who wanted me to expand on a simple idea.

  Chapter 1

  The icy air cut through the thick layers of clothing I wore. I always seemed to end up in these types of situations in the cold. I hated being cold.

  I took a deep breath to bring myself back to the problem at hand. I watched silently from my hiding spot as those who hunted me stood below. If they kept with their previous pattern, they would soon pass, following one of my false trails. My window of time to meet up with my partner on the other side of town grew shorter each time I stopped like this.

  Once they cleared out, I tucked my loose dark auburn strands under the hood and behind my long Elven ear before I dropped back down to the ground to continue. The snow made it difficult to hide my movements so I stuck to more public roads, keeping my invisibility spell up, hoping the new footprints would be overlooked among the other traffic.

  In the distance I spotted two people wearing Terran Intelligence Organization coats. I fell in line behind an Elven woman, following her footsteps. I brought my scarf up over my nose and mouth, holding my breath as they approached. My invisibility spell would not hide the condensation.

  “Gods, can’t anyone get eyes on this girl?” one of the men complained.

  “It’s like she’s a ghost. I’m starting to think Ketayl isn’t even out here. She’d be the smart one of us if she decided to stay inside somewhere warm.”

  “Shouldn’t we check the side streets and alleys? I’d assume she’d travel there than risk being spotted on the main road.”

  “She’s an arcane caster. I have no idea what she’s capable of. Besides, the teams scouting those areas haven’t had any luck either.”

  If they were becoming this lax about searching for me, it was to my benefit, but I still could not let down my guard. My luck there would be someone more observant waiting closer to my destination.

  I looked for some cover. I needed a break from using my invisibility spell.

  Glancing down the alleys as I went, I spotted one which appeared to have what I needed. Checking to make sure the path was empty as far as I could see, I darted down it, kicking the snow off my boots as soon as I hit clear pavement.

  I quickly ran a trail into the nearest doorway before I carefully backed out and continued down the covered alley as soon as I stopped leaving a trail. Using a quick flight spell, I got myself up onto the roof top patio area of the restaurant I passed.

  Taking a moment to survey my surroundings, I heard commotion below.

  “She must have come this way.”

  “Those could be anyone’s footprints. They probably belong to someone who works here.”

  Keeping my invisibility spell in place, I peered over the edge, but the two were out of my sight under the overhang.

  I backed away and sighed. There might not be any rest here.

  “Should we check it out?”

  “Let’s ask if they’ve seen her. Otherwise I see no reason to search the place.”

  I rolled my eyes and moved farther onto the patio. I needed to rest.

  Shivering, I huddled down in a corner of the bar where I would be out of sight of anyone inside and anyone possibly looking for me from a higher vantage point. Then I released my spell. I just needed a few minutes to recover and then I could keep going.

  I moved my coat so I could check my watch. Frowning at my empty wrist, I forgot I left it behind since the battery died a couple of days ago. How much time did I have left?

  Why did it have to be so cold? And why did I have to go through this so soon after Silver and I returned from Ghost Forest? We had not even been back a full week.

  My thoughts were interrupted by voices below. “How in the Hells has no one seen her?”

  “Do you think we should ambush her at the meeting point?”

  “We need to catch her and get the information she carries before then. Can’t involve her partner - both of them would be more trouble than we can handle.”

  “At this rate we won’t catch her at all.”

  “Fine. Let’s search toward the meeting point. Doesn’t sound like anyone else is having luck either.”

  I sighed. Great. Just great. Now I was going to have to expend even more arcane energy to get past them. I doubted they were the only ones considering ambushing me near the meeting point.

  How was I supposed get past all of these people?

  I ran through scenarios in my head, searching for the best solution. Preferably something without conflict.

  Closing my eyes for a moment, I stretched my senses out, hoping there was a pocket of concentrated arcane energy in the area. After a few moments, I located one near the meeting point. It should be enough to give me a boost. The hard part was getting over there.

  If only I could teleport, but I could not risk running myself so low on arcane energy. Not with so many looking for me.

  The cold kept me from resting too long. I put my invisibility spell back up and continued.

  The main road swarmed with TIO agents. I paused, unsure if I should attempt my previous method of getting by them.

  No, I would never be able to hold my breath long enough and I needed to move fast. I went back down the alley, quickly navigating between buildings, dropping my spell. It sounded like they had given up checking the back alleys for me.

  The town’s smaller size made it harder to hide, but it still contained enough narrow channels between the buildings I could get past the agents on the main street. Turning a corner, I slid to a stop at a wooden fence.

  “I think she came this way. The tracks look fresh.”

  I turned in time to see two agents come around the corner.

  The Human man grinned. “Looks like we scored.”

  With wide eyes, I took a step back as the two approached. My chest tightened and my breath came faster. I could not get caught. I needed to get out of here. I looked around frantically, continuing to back away from them until my back hit the fence.

  I held out my hands, putting up my shield spell to give me more time to think.

  The man who had spoken walked into the shield and bounced off, making my spell show its hexagonal pattern momentarily.

  “What in the Hells?”

  His partner laughed at him. “Caster, remember?”

  “It’s cheating is what it is.”

  The fence. I needed to get over the fence. They had not called in my location. I should meet no one on the other side.

  Using a quick flight spell, I got over the fence, but my hood c
aught and tore on the fence. I fell and landed hard on the ground. My thick clothing and the snow provided little padding.

  As soon as I heard the agents curse and climb the fence, I threw up my invisibility spell and created an illusion of myself running down the alley.

  I sighed in relief as they chased my illusion before I climbed back over the fence and continued on, releasing my spells. At least those two were easy to distract. It would not be long before they were back though.

  I swung back toward the more populated streets. I put up my invisibility spell again and worked to create false trails for a few minutes before hiding my tracks in others.

  Commotion sounded behind me. Agents came out of the alleys, looking frustrated. Their new hunts began as they followed my false trails.

  I needed to stay calm and move carefully. Only a couple more blocks.

  Silver leaned back against a long, fully enclosed, black truck. His braid fell over his right shoulder as it always did and he wore his armored jacket. The cold did not seem to phase him.

  I scrunched up my nose at him. I already missed my hood.

  As I got closer, my partner pulled out his phone and looked at it, but I caught his eyes glancing up around him. What he saw was out of my current view.

  My guess was some of those agents planned to ambush me at the meeting point. I concerned myself more with what Silver’s reaction might be. I did not want anyone to get hurt.

  I took my time approaching, careful of my foot placement so I did not draw attention while soaking up the arcane energy from the concentrated pocket. Silver’s eyes flicked up in my direction when I stood across the street from him. Then he looked both left and right.

  I stopped and turned anyway, in case there were agents behind me. There were, but none coming in my direction. They focused their attention on the alleys and in the opposite direction.

  Why were there so many people?

  Silver pushed himself fully back to his feet, shoved his phone back into his pocket, and got in the truck. Had I missed my window to get out of here?

  One street. I needed to cross one street and I could leave this frozen hunt.

  I pulled my scarf up over my nose and mouth before I moved a little closer to my goal, pausing to see who was on the street. Both sides of the cross street held agents all looking toward the truck Silver was in.

  So close to getting out of here. I wished I had a way to communicate with my partner. There had to be something I could do to turn their attention elsewhere.

  I glanced back down the street behind me and considered my earlier distraction. How far could I get them to chase an illusion? How fast could I get in the vehicle so I remained unseen?

  Even with being in the pocket of concentrated arcane energy, I would run myself low getting out of here. At least I would not need to teleport far.

  I created an illusion of myself again, peeking out an alley down the right hand side of the street. Immediately it was spotted and I directed it toward myself and then back down the main part of the street.

  Agents yelled, calling out my illusion’s location. Others whose attention had been in the opposite direction turned and helped with the chase.

  My illusion turned down the alley with the fence. As soon as the last of the agents I spotted on the roads passed me, I teleported the short distance into the back of the truck, landing hard.

  I heard Silver turn. “Ketayl?”

  “Go.” I released all of my spells and stayed put. I shivered and hoped my partner thought to turn the heat up.

  I watched the buildings start to move slowly.

  Several seconds passed before my partner asked, “You okay?”

  I sniffled. “Cold. Running low. I’ll stay back here where I’m out of sight and the windows are dark.”

  “Just rest. I’ll get us home.”

  I listened to the sound of the heater blowing, having no energy for conversation and thankfully Silver seemed to understand that.

  ~*~

  The sound of the back hatch of the truck opening startled me. I picked my head up to look out the window. Where were we?

  Silver stood at the back. He folded his arms. “You certainly took your time. I thought I was going to have to leave.”

  I rolled my eyes and scooted out of the back, which was awkward with the heavy winter garments. “The snow made it difficult.” I glanced around at the underground parking garage we were in. He got us back to the main office as promised.

  “What happened to your coat?” Silver examined where I had torn the hood from the collar.

  “I got caught on a fence.”

  My partner shook his head.

  Shivering, I rubbed my arms. It was cold in here.

  “Come on. Let’s get you warmed up.” Silver put his arm around my shoulders, gently guiding me toward the exit.

  The ride up the elevator was silent. My partner escorted me to a conference room. He went to the side and poured a hot drink.

  “Sorry you had to wait so long,” I said quietly, rubbing my arms.

  “I would have waited past the designated time if needed. I didn’t like the idea of you being out in the cold like that.”

  “We wanted to give them a chance,” a male voice said. “Looks like we might have to make it harder for you next time.”

  Startled for the second time, I spun on my heel. Rorek stood there with his arms crossed. The Dwarven man was the one who organized this training exercise.

  Rorek stroked his long brown beard. “You made some of the best trackers in the business act like rookies. Not an easy feat. Granted, they haven’t been put up against an arcane caster like you before.”

  I rolled my eyes and sat down, huddling into my large, thick coat. “Can we do this when it’s warmer next time?” I asked.

  “Then they’ll never catch you,” Rorek said with a smile.

  I shook my head.

  Silver put a steaming mug down on the table next to me. He reached for the zipper of my coat.

  I batted his hands away. Apparently this exercise put him in overprotective big brother mode. “Leave it alone. I’m cold.”

  “Ketayl…” Silver sighed. “You’ll warm up faster if you take it off in here.”

  I grumbled at my partner, but let him help me out of the heavy garments. Then I drank the tea he made for me.

  “You’re always so cranky when you’re cold.” My partner smirked at me.

  “I can’t wait for them to get back and we review how close you passed some of them,” Rorek commented as he moved around the room, turning equipment on. “Not to mention they weren’t supposed to ambush you at the meeting point.”

  I closed my eyes and clamped my mouth shut before I said something I would regret. I just wanted to get back to my work. I needed to get back to finding if there were any other necromancers out there.

  “Do you have her things?” Silver asked.

  “Oh, right!” Rorek said.

  I opened my eyes as Rorek rushed to get the box he made me deposit my phone and other personal items in before the exercise started. I was grateful to have my boots back. The big heavy ones loaned to me hurt my feet.

  I dug my phone out and glanced at my missed notifications. Sitting up straight, I almost knocked my mug over. “I’ve got to go. Lockonis messaged me hours ago.”

  “I’m sure she remembered you were doing the training simulation today,” Silver said. “Just relax and warm up.”

  I shook my head, downing the rest of the hot drink faster than was wise and cringed as it burned my throat.

  “You don’t want to stay and listen to them whine?” Rorek asked.

  “Probably better if I don’t. Let me know if there’s something I can do better next time.” I shoved my feet into my boots and left.

  Chapter 2

  “Hey, Ket, I was wondering when you’d get back. How do you feel about being a test subject?” Lockonis asked with a broad smile as I entered what the cyber team lovingly called the “dungeon”. T
he only illumination in the room came from the many screens mounted to the walls and on their desks.

  My stride slowed as I eyed the fiery red-headed Elven woman. “I… uh…” I looked back at the door I came through, wondering if I should leave. I clearly remembered the last thing I tested for her and I hoped I never needed to test the arcane restraint again.

  “Relax, I’ve been wanting the big guy to give it a try, but he’s stubborn.” Lockonis signaled me over.

  If she was attempting to get Vince, the director of the TIO, to try something, it could not be that bad. She led me to a desk in the back, past the cursing Gnome woman with pink pigtails, to a Halfling hidden in a mostly-dark corner office. He worked on some electronics under a desk lamp and sat surrounded by gadgets of all shapes and sizes.

  “Tonky, you got the stuff ready for Ket?”

  “Yeah, just give me a moment.”

  “I’ll leave her with you then.” Lockonis patted my shoulder and left.

  I rubbed my shoulder to get rid of the sensation. She could have at least told me why she called me down here instead of leaving me to worry about what she wanted me to test.

  Something sizzled and smoke rose from the board he held. I took a step back. The acrid smell gave me little hope.

  He fanned the smoke with his hand for a moment before turning to me with a broad smile. “Ready to try out some new toys?”

  “I guess?” Not that I needed any more to deal with.

  “Give me your phone,” Tonky said with his hand out.

  Reluctantly I dug it out of my pocket and relinquished it. A new device was deposited in its place. I examined the watch-looking thing curiously. Its square blank face was far bigger than my last watch.

  “I left most of the settings on default so adjust them to your liking. I’ll forward information to you about it.” The watch dinged a second later with a message from Tonky.

  I fussed with putting the watch on, toying with it while he gathered items from around his desk. What was the purpose of this?