Lyn Gala
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Flying Swords, chapter 24
🕑 Added 2025-08-30 23:58:46 +0000 UTCLeander had once thought that Cadell radiated darkness, and that had never been more true. He stepped out of the shadows radiating menace.
“Cadell,” Leander whispered.
“Leander,” he replied in an amused voice. “Druwolf ordered you killed, but whether that is painful or easy is up to me. You’ve always had a healthy strand of self-interest, so don’t disappoint me. Where is the child?”
Fear crawled through Leander’s soul. He knew how much pain a human being could endure. He had inflicted it when he had thought torturing someone else would save him. He’d left some part of himself in Druwolf’s basement, but he was desperate to hold onto the life that remained him. The thought of dying inspired such terror that Leander couldn’t breathe. What was Salem compared to that?
Leander jerked. No. He would not betray Shanlin. He was Leander’s son now. Leander’s to protect. Leander’s to care for. He would destroy the world before letting Cadell touch him. His emotions warred with each other.
Xi lunged forward, launching himself from the floor in an attempt to tackle Cadell. Before he had covered half the distance, he collapsed to the ground with a cry of fear. For a moment, the fear eased from Leander’s mind and his determination to protect Shanlin roared to the front of his mind.
“Emotions! He’s controlling emotions!” Leander shouted.
Cadell laughed. “I am far beyond mere manipulations of emotions. I can make you choose one option over another. I can pull on memories, force you to relive your worst fears. I can lock your soul into a memory that will shred your sanity. The mind is my playground.” Xi writhed on the ground, trapped in Cadell’s powers, and Leander’s legs were trembling with weakness.
“Luckily, I am trained to control emotions,” Heng said, and he leaped at Cadell. Xi fell silent as Cadell turned his powers toward Heng. Heng hesitated, but he didn’t pause. Unfortunately, he had been thrown so far back that he had a lot of ground to cover. Cadell pulled out a gun and fired.
The shot echoed through the empty warehouse, and Leander stumbled back. A second later, he realized Heng was sinking to the ground, and he darted forward. “Heng!”
Leander was on his knees at Heng’s side, a hand pressed over the hole in his t-shirt, the green fabric turning red from the blood.
“I didn’t think you cared about anyone,” Cadell said, a sneer in his voice. Leander ignored him, reaching for the wisps of magic in the air for anything that could help with healing, but he had let go of most of his magic when he had attacked Vaughn. He wasn’t like Heng who could pull magic from within or even like Xi who was always surrounded by shadows.
Leander looked over, and Xi was crouched on the ground–huddled like a child and shivering in fear.
“Where is the child?”
Leander sat back on his heels. “Why do you care? He’s a child.”
“I am not a cartoon villain. I don’t plan to monologue before shooting you.”
“Usually the villain monologues before the hero defeats him.”
Cadell chuckled. “Tecca said something very similar. Then Druwolf shredded her mind while she screamed. Heroes are lies told to an audience who wants to believe in a fair world. But you and I live in this world, Leander. Give me the boy and your death will be fast. I’ll even give your lover a quick end.”
Heng caught Leander’s wrist, but he had no words of advice as he lay bleeding out on a dirty floor.
Cadell stepped forward, his gun pointed at Leander. “I can rip it from your mind.”
Fear grew like a bubble in Leander’s chest that pushed out all the air, but he clung to logic. “You thought I was working with Tecca when I wasn’t. If you could take answers from a mind, you would have taken them out of her.”
“Druwolf was a little too angry for patience. After all, that one had corrupted his most profitable blood mage.” He gestured toward Xi as he cowered on the ground. “But you will tell me the truth.”
“Fuck off,” Leander snarled. “He’s safe and you’re never going to be able to get to him.”
“We’ll see about that.” Cadell reached for Leander, and by instinct, he put up his hand as if to protect his face. It was a futile gesture since flesh wouldn’t stop a bullet, but instinct didn’t follow logic. Cadell grabbed Leander’s wrist and hauled him to his feet. Leander scrambled to keep up as Cadell dragged him to the wall. He pinned Leander by his throat and pressed the gun to his head. “Who is Officer Masur working for?”
“Creek? The police.” The question didn’t make sense and Leander glanced over to where Creek, or Xi as he was known as now, was still huddled on the ground. However, his shaking had lessened some. Leander needed to distract Cadell to let him recover. And he needed to do it fast. Heng was dying.
“You are delightfully stupid,” Cadell said. “But assuming you are an idiot, you can earn an easy death by telling me where the boy is.”
“Why do you care? He’s a child. Even if he saw something, he’s too traumatized to say anything. He won’t even talk about his birth parents.”
Leander’s fear transformed into raw, bitter terror that made his legs shake and he felt the warmth as his bladder lost control. The emotion wasn’t real. He knew it. This was Cadell’s power, and Leander had to hang on to logic, but he couldn’t with every fiber of his being screaming with horror. Then the emotion eased.
“That,” Cadell said as he took a step back and rubbed his left hand against his pants, “is a mere fraction of what I can do. I can make you suffer in ways no mundane could. I can keep you alive for days. Weeks.” He kept rubbing his hand. The motion caught Leander’s attention and instinct made him reach out with his magic. He felt the peanut’s magic clinging to Cadell’s hand, but it was moving sluggishly, as if his skin were molasses that the magic was trying to push through.
Maybe it was the fear or the lingering touch of Cadell’s magic, but it took Leander several seconds to realize what he was feeling.
“Are you so afraid of death that you would rather linger here, even if survival can only lead to pain?” Cadell sounded amused.
Leander gathered all his control and tried to push aside the fear that skill held him in its teeth. Heng’s life hung in the balance. Xi was still shivering on the ground. But he could do this. He pulled the magic from the peanut shells around his wrist. The shells crumbled as Leander pulled every atom of life remaining in the rough made bracelet. The peanut aura was rich with life and promise, offering to enhance the power of any elixir, but Leander was going to use it for a much more nefarious purpose.
“Come, come. There is no need to make this difficult,” Cadell said, and Leander pushed the peanut magic down Cadell’s throat. Halfway down, the magic caught on the sides of Cadell’s throat, and Leander had to push harder.
Cadell coughed and took a step back, his gun still trained on Leander.
“I will never give you Salem,” Leander said. He noticed that Cadell had never used his Chinese name or Leander’s either, so their identities might still be secure. Maybe. Either way, he was not going to give this monster any information, even if he was already dying.
Cadell cleared his throat, took a breath, and then coughed again. His breath came in wheezes and gasps.
Leander showed his teeth in a smile devoid of humor. “You’re allergic to peanuts.” Cadell had released his hold on Leander’s emotions, so Leander straightened up as the fear started to ease.
“No.” The word was thready and weak, but Cadell kept his gun trained on Leander. That was fine. Even if Leander died, Shanlin and Xi would be fine, and Xi could get help for Heng. Druwolf, however, had lost two strong enforcers and his second-in-command. That should make him think twice about trying to find Shanlin again.
“Yes,” Leander said. He was gleeful about being the one to end this specific monster.
Cadell raised his arm a half inch, and Leander threw himself to the side. His effort to avoid being shot would be worthless, he knew that before he even twitched, but he had to try. Instead of landing a few feet away with a bullet through his chest, Leander flew across the room, arms flailing before he crashed into the far wall. He twisted around, and watched Cadell drop his gun and sink to his knees, both hands clutching his throat.
“Leander!” Xi ran toward him, hauling him to his feet before brushing dust off his hand from the crumbled remains of the bracelet Shanlin had given him.
“Check on Heng!” Leander said. He hurried toward his friend, his legs still shaking.
“How did you do that?” Xi asked. “You moved faster than I could see.”
“I don’t know,” Leander said. He ignored Xi and pressed a finger to Heng’s neck.
“I’m alive,” Heng said, his voice pained. “And I lent you my magic. Magically enhancing physical movement is almost as easy as cleaning,” Heng said, and with a wave of his hand, he dried Leander’s pants.
Leander snorted. “Like I care about that. How do we call for help?” Leander knew the emergency number was different, but he couldn’t remember what it was.
“One-two-zero for ambulance,” Heng said. He took several deep breaths. “Xi, you should flee.”
“What? No!”
“You are American,” Heng said. “The American consulate may learn of you. Lian has a Chinese identity. You must flee. Once Xi is gone, call one-one-zero for the police.”
“Lian,” Xi said, his tone making it clear that he was protesting this.
“Get back to our room. Get our bags and call the Nei’s,” Leander said.
“But Lian.” Xi glanced toward Cadell and then toward Vaughn. Leander had killed both. While the Chinese government accepted those with magical powers, unlike the American government, they would not approve of murder. The fact that magic was the murder weapon would not improve Leander’s position.
“We’ll be fine,” Heng promised. Xi did not look convinced.
“Go,” Leander ordered.
“I will protect him,” Heng said.
Xi did not look convinced, but after a second, he stood and started backing away. Leander took Heng’s phone and dialed 1-2-0, asking Heng for specific directions to the warehouse when he realized he didn’t know where they were. When he looked up, Xi was gone. Only then did Leander call the police. He had no idea how they were going to explain three dead bodies, but he trusted Heng. He just hoped that Heng’s confidence was justified. The Chinese police were not pre-disposed to be forgiving of foreigners.
Comments
Lyn Gala
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it.!
Lyn Gala
Leander’s powers are impressive, but he can be disarmed rather easily. That might be an issue to address in the future. And I’m glad the fight worked for you.
Mandy Lancaster
Wow! Shanlin's bracelet saving the day was awesome! Then even bleeding out Heng saving Leander. Really fantastic, nail biting fight.
Emely
Fantastic chapter. Looking forward to finding out how Heng plans to get them out of this.
