I was toying with this story idea and really want to expand the story. Here’s a flash version for now.

Rescuing The Children

Wilton handed the reins to his wife, Ruth. “You understand the plan?”
She nodded, “You’re going to break into the mage’s temple, get Helen and Jimmy and get out. I’ll drive around to the other side of town and meet you.”
Wilton rubbed his temple. “I’m sorry I ever decided to come into this forsaken town.”
She rubbed his back. “We didn’t know the mages here wanted young teens for their dark magic. Are you sure you don’t want me to add my power to yours?”
Wilton sighed. “I am. Black magic can blow back. I don’t want you soiled by it.”
He reached to wipe a tear from her cheek. “Wait for us as long as you can, but if there’s a problem,” his hand squeezed hers, “run the wagon out of town.”
Ruth started to protest then nodded. “Go get our children.”
Wilton jumped from the wagon, disappearing into the shadows of the street leading to the Mage Temple. She flicked the reins and headed to the meeting place.
At the temple, the only stone structure in town, there were no visible guards. “Warded,” he thought. He shielded himself then felt out the wards, one at each corner of the building. He applied pressure and felt the nearest ward break. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. He hurried across the street. He wondered about the ease with which he broke that ward. He hoped it was a measure of the town’s mages, and not a trap.
If the temple was a standard design, the mages would need a basement room, a space with bare earth as the floor. The nearest basement window had a light ward on it which he dispelled before it could scream. The lack of response worried him. Two broken wards should have alerted someone by now.
He slid through the window, crouching against the wall, listening. They could be distracted by a ceremony, he thought. He pushed the worry away. He produced just enough blue light to see the door on the opposite wall. Once there, he tried the latch, it wasn’t locked. Letting the glow subside, he opened the door a crack. The hallway was dark, so he slipped through, creeping along the wall to his left. He wondered if the dark temple might be set up in a counterclockwise pattern. He hoped going left wasn’t a mistake.
The hallway turned right. After a few steps a light showed ahead. There were voices chanting and the light grew. Wilton shrank into a doorway on the left wall. A procession appeared. Two acolyte torchbearers were in front, turning left. Two mages followed and his heart stopped. There were Helen and Jimmy, dressed in black sacrificial robes followed by two more torch bearing acolytes. The chief mage, alone behind the acolytes, was followed by three more mages.
When the procession turned the corner, Wilton leapt out of hiding and snapped the last mage’s neck, guiding him to the floor without a sound. He followed the procession into the ceremonial chamber and as the mages and acolytes moved around the central sacrificial pit, he blasted a wave of magic around the room, knocking the acolytes out and stunning the rest.
Wilton shot a healing wave to his children, who began to get up. The quickly recovering Chief pointed his staff at Wilton, shouting words of power. Wilton brushed the blaze of sickly green magic away, burning his hand in the process. He shouted to Helen and Jimmy, “Get up, get out the door, go left and wait for me!”
Helen wiped her eyes, grabbed her little brother by the arm, dragging him to his feet and ran to the door. The Chief sent ball after ball of the sick, green power toward Wilton as he backed toward the door. He grunted with the effort of holding the shield he’d put between the children and the Chief Mage. The other mages began stirring, he needed to move quickly. He pulled magic through the earthen floor and hurled it at the ceiling. It began collapsing on the mages as Wilton dashed into the hall.
Helen and Jimmy waited at the door the procession came through, Jimmy leaning against the wall. Wilton could hear the mages behind him, some screaming for help. The Chief was organizing them quickly.
“Hurry!” Herding his children through the door, closing it behind him, and up the stairs, he pulsed power at the lower doorway. Stones fell from the ceiling against the door.
“That won’t hold them long,” he pushed the children up the rest of the stairway. “Let’s go.”
Helen pulled the still unsteady Jimmy. Wilton tried to watch ahead and behind. The stairway ended in a hall, the main door in front of them. Helen opened it and a ward shrieked. She pulled her brother through and ran down the front steps. “Dad, which way?” she screamed.
“Right,” he pointed. He set a ward on the front door. It wouldn’t hold long. He ran after them. “Go!” he shouted, “Straight through town.”
They ran the few blocks to the edge of town. Helen shouted, out of breath, “Dad, I can see Mom!”
He looked ahead, a shimmer of green was between Ruth and him, “Stop! Helen, stop!”
She grabbed Jimmy’s arm and slid to a stop, dust from the street filming the green barrier. Ruth was on the other side, eyes closed and chanting softly. Wilton skidded to a stop next to the children. While she worked to open the ward, he turned to watch the street. He saw the mages coming just as he heard his wife sigh.
“Children, get on the wagon. Wilton, let’s go.”
He sprinted to the wagon seat. Ruth was already there. He slapped the reins, “Hi, hup, hup!” The horses began to run, Ruth watched behind. Behind the driver’s seat, the children were holding tight as the wagon bounced over the ruts in the road. She turned to them, “We’re away.”

The End
996 Words
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