Robert Montgomery was dreaming. In the dream he went through the crowd, by-passing dancing people and flitting skirts. Dim music was playing, a song he could almost recognise.H
Heheaded for the balcony. He knew that the girl will be there, waiting for him, like always. Just like he almost recognised the song, he almost knew who the girl was, too. It felt like when a word was on the tip of someone’s tongue, so close to speak it, and couldn’t nonetheless.
The woman was standing on the balcony, showing her back to the arriving man. Her dark curly hair was in an elegant bun at the top of her head. Robert could see her back, the dress left it free and made the long scars visible on it. Robert knew that, or remembered that the girl will turn around in any second now, she will smile at him and her smile will shine over the flickering lights of London behind and beneath her. And then he will finally know who this woman was, the woman who keeps coming back to haunt his dreams.
Robert did not wake up as soon as his phone went off. Instead, the deep vibration sneaked into his dream, made the walls and the floor shake. He tried to reach after something that wasn’t there and tried to protect the girl who wasn’t there either. Then his eyes opened and he was in his apartment, laying on his bed.
The room was half-lit with the light of the phone screen and the name on it: Benjamin. According to the screen, it was a bit after three in the morning. Robert answered, putting the caller on speaker.
‘Someone better be dying,’ he groaned.
‘Someone might be very soon, bro. The Carano bitch is kicking our asses right now!’
And indeed, Robert could hear cries, some banging and roaring noises through the phone. The typical sounds of a magical fight.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The noises continued and then Benjamin started to shout.
‘Ouch! Not cool!’
‘You okay?’ asked Robert, already out of bed and putting on the first pair of pants he could find, his sweatpants from his gym bag.
‘Yeah, she barely caught me… You coming?’
‘Where are you?’
‘Camden High Street, next to the market.’
Robert tried to put on his coat and some shoes at the same time, naturally with no luck whatsoever. The fact that the shoes both were the left ones of two different pairs, wasn’t helping at all.
It took a minute to finally get dressed. Now he wore sweatpants, trainers, a bright yellow hoodie with the phrase “Don’t panic!” written with red letters on it, which were in harmony with his red hair. He then added his usual dark grey trench coat, which was not going well with the rest of his outfit at all. The long striped scarf and the silver-headed cane with all the carved magical Runes on it only made things worse.
‘S***, Teodore is here too,’ heard Robert from the phone ‘That’s bad, really really bad…’
‘On my way, hold on,’ said Robert ‘How many of them?’
‘I don’t know, five or six, it’s dark and messy here.’
There was a deafening bang and Robert was sure that he actually heard it, without the phone. He burst out of his apartment, ran down three flights of stairs and out he went into the cold, foggy night.
His car parked right across the road. He forgot his keys, but there was no time to go back.
‘Bloody hell, that was f****** close…’ said Benjamin, then: ‘One of us is down, bro. Can’t see who. Hurry up!
Robert raised his cane. A Rune was lit up and the car door opened with a quiet click. Robert sat in and touched the dashboard with the silver head of his cane. The engine started up. He pushed the cane aside and backed out from the parking space.
‘Gotta go, Rose just ran into the market and two Carano’s after her. Hurry!’ and with this, the connection was lost.
Robert gunned the car and barrelled down the empty street. He took a sharp turn at the small local park and tore along the sleeping houses on two sides of the road. He sped down a few short, narrow streets, and was glad that there was no traffic. Then took a completely illegal turn across a bus station. During the whole time, he saw only one other car, a silver Prius. After he left the bus station he just had to keep the steering wheel straight all the way until Camden Town. The whole journey was less than ten minutes, thanks to the non-existing traffic.
He parked the car in a back street far from the Market where the battle was raging. Then he made a quick search and pocketed every runestone, magic ring, amulet and charm he could find. He grabbed his cane, closed the car and off he went.
Camden Town was uncharacteristically quiet in this hour. All the regulars, both tourists and drug dealers were sound asleep. There were no beggars and all the overpriced shops, bodegas and kiosks were shut down for the night. Even the pubs and nightclubs had their last call a long time ago. The shop fronts were colourful even though there was nothing to light them up since someone killed all the street lights. Robert could see some of the always-changing graffiti above the entrances. He didn’t like the shadows along the way so he raised his cane and gave a spark of energy to the Rune of Light. The silver top of the cane lit up with a pale white glow. It wasn’t much, barely enough to see the moving man in a dark doorway.
In magical fights, the most popular one was the Rune of Movement. It was the very first Rune they taught for young sorcerers and to throw something at someone’s head with it was almost as easy as it was with your own hands. The only problem was that avoiding the flying thing was just as easy, and Robert didn’t even waste any magic to do it; he simply ducked. The empty wine bottle exploded behind him on an iron shutter with a loud crashing noise. Then he lazily stepped aside and let the second shot, a big, black garbage bag following the bottle.
Robert closed his eyes and gave a fat energy burst to the Rune of Light. His opponent cried out as the flash blinded him, and Robert didn’t wait for him to recover. He swung forward and simply knocked the other man out with his cane.
‘Montgomery!’ shouted someone, and Robert realised that he might have been a little too… Well, flashy. It was Teodore, the loyal henchman of the Carano family, nephew of Don Carano. He never missed a fight. He was almost as tall as Robert but skinnier with the elegance but deadly movements of a hunting cat. His long, pale face was framed by jet black, shoulder-length hair. As always, he was wearing all black clothes what made him look like some kind of wraith in the darkness. On every one of his fingers, there was a ring with glowing Runes on them, showing that he was ready to fight.
However, Teodore did not feel the urge to use his magic. He just picked up his last victim, a broad-shouldered kid and threw the unconscious body at Robert, who had to catch him with magic in mid-air in order to save the kid and himself from the impact.
All this was a diversion as Teodore was already there, moving with inhuman speed. His blows kept falling all over Robert, trying to find a weak point on his rough magical shield. Even with that, Robert could feel the strength of the punches, pushing him back step by step. He raised his cane. There was a flash of light, but then Teodore grabbed the cane and threw it away. The next hit landed on Robert’s shoulder, leaving his left arm numb.
Teodore leapt forward to finish the job, but suddenly collapsed next to Robert as he stepped aside. Teodore’s senseless body hit the ground with a big thud. Robert looked at him grinning; he was proud of himself despite his aching arm. It was the price he paid for getting close to Teodore so he could drop the runestone in the other man’s pocket. The stone was carved with the Runes of Dream and Order. Teodore will be asleep for the next ten to twelve hours and Robert was nice enough to put him aside from the middle of the road. He wasn’t nice enough to be careful though because his shoulder was still in pain.
He was about to check on the kid who played a cannonball earlier when he heard a sudden, loud cry in the silence. He hesitated for a second before he burst into a run towards the scream. He ran across the bridge over the canal, past the first building, his long trench coat floating after him. Halfway through he found his silver-topped cane and picked it up.
Camden Market was the soul of the neighbourhood with the hundreds of small shops offering anything a tourist could ever dream of. It wasn’t an actual market, nor a building, but a chaotic maze of alleys and corridors in several levels, some of them with a roof, some under the sky. Jewellery, art, clothes, food and many more at one place, with dozens of subcultures around from tattooed punks to victorian ladies in corsets, holding lace parasols. In the daytime, there was a huge crowd of food-offering merchants and tourists. So many tourists that real Londoners decided to avoid the place years ago.
Now, at half-past three in the morning, the market was empty, except the three silhouettes dancing around in the lights of the flashing spells. It was a bigger, open place, cornered by tall buildings on three sides, only open from the front, from the street’s side where Robert stopped for a second before he threw himself into the battle again.
Robert recognised one of the Carano-sympathizers, a huge, bald man named Vittorio. He and his friend were trying to strike down Rose, this fragile, pretty blond girl, who gave them a good run for their money even though she wore a tight black dress and high heels. She had a meter-long Rune-carved stick, a usual weapon of every henchman who can do magic but also likes to give a smack on the head. Robert had just seen another man on the ground and guessed that the stick belonged to him.
The smaller man noticed the new challenger and sent some nasty-looking curse to Robert’s direction, who dodged it and thudded his cane down. The cobblestones teared themselves up from the ground and charged the man. They couldn’t hit their target, as he winded up a magical wall to defend himself. It wasn’t enough, because the real attack came from behind, in a form of a bench, which swept his legs and as he landed on the ground, the cobblestones rearranged themselves around his hands, trapping him.
‘Hey, you,’ Robert said to the last standing man, ‘Vittorio, right? This is your chance to walk away in peace. Just put your weapon down and…’
Apparently, Rose had a different idea about how to negotiate as she shot a bright red spell hitting Vittorio in the face, rudely interrupting Robert. The thug staggered back and fell.
‘Thanks, sweetie,’ said the girl with a small smile, ‘They were not gentlemen. Not at all.’
Vittorio, the “not gentleman” decided that one concussion is not enough to ruin his night and raised his Rune-carved stick, the exact copy of the one in Rose’s hand and he sent the loose bench, to give her back the favour. Rose couldn’t see it coming as she faced Robert. The heavy furniture almost broke her head but in the last second it came apart and two identical pieces flew past the girl’s head on both sides.
‘I said, put it down!’ roared Robert, with a voice sounded like an oncoming thunderstorm. It seemed like not only the Runes on his cane, but his eyes glowed up as well. Vittorio tried to stand up when his stick exploded with a loud crack. Then he cried out, and collapsed again, seemingly without a reason.
‘What’s happening?’ asked Rose.
‘I am forcing him to relive his absolute worst memory. Vividly. Again and again,’ answered Robert coldly.
‘Well, stop it then, it looks awful!’ ordered Rose. She sounded scared, which was enough for him to came back to his senses. He lifted the curse and sent the sobbing man into a dreamless, merciful sleep.
Rose stared at Vittorio for a couple of more seconds, then shivered and looked back to Robert.
‘Benjamin is in that way, just on the other side. I think,’ she said, ‘Let’s go.’
‘No. Here, take these,’ Robert took off his trench coat and put it on her shoulders then wrapped the scarf around her neck too ‘I parked behind the underground station. Find whoever you can and wait for me at the car. I’m going to fetch Benjamin.’
‘Are you sure? That Carano bitch is somewhere around. You might need my help,’ Vittorio groaned in his sleep. ‘Or maybe not,’ shuddered the girl.
It was like daylight all of a sudden, and flames rose to the sky behind the building next to them.
‘Go!’ said Robert strictly and didn’t even checked if the girl followed his order, as started to run. There was an alley leading into one of the markets food courts. It was supposed to be closed, but someone knocked over the barred barrier. He ran along the corridor and found himself in a flaming hell.
At least three food stall were burning, giving enough light to see the whole food court with its benches, kiosks and tables surrounded by an upper balcony of small shops. And there was Benjamin, ash on his pale face and in his blond hair, throwing fire at a girl, who stood in the middle of the flames, smiling and unharmed.
She was Jenna Carano and she was beautiful and deadly. Her curly hair, like a dark glory, was flowing around her head and the reflection from the fire was dancing in her big, brown eyes. For some reason, she only wore a black bra under her oversized leather jacket letting Robert see her cleavage and flat belly. Her black jeans were torn at her knee and around her wrists, there were silver bracelets with shining Runes on them.
Robert was standing there, staring a moment longer than he should have been, and his reward was two small black spikes flying towards him. He deflected them and shouted: ‘Enough! Give up, Jenna, it’s two of us against you.’
Her answer was a sweet laugh and a spear, what she formed out of the smoke and ash of the fire. He knocked it aside with his cane, then tried to cast a smart and complicated spell. It was a masterpiece and would have been a quick victory for him if only Jenna hadn’t stop him halfway through. She made a tentacle out of the smoke, which grabbed Robert’s cane and thrown it into a burning bodega.
‘B*******!’ said Robert in an annoyed voice, then he had to jump out of the three new spikes’ way. They sounded like hail on the roof as they hit the ground behind the spot he was standing a second ago. He made it to another bodega and took cover behind it.
‘Ben! Are you okay?’
His brother was still standing, tattooed Runes glowing on his forearm as he tried to get a blow in on the girl. Then Jenna hit him with something and he flew back and landed on his back. He groaned and rolled behind another stall.
‘For f***’s sake,’ he said ‘Do something, bro!’
‘I’ll try,’ answered Robert, searching in his pockets for anything useful, ‘You take care of the fire.’
Benjamin nodded and closed his eyes.
‘Come out boys, let’s finish this!’ said Jenna almost singing the words ‘I won’t hurt you… that much.’
It started to rain, oddly only above the burning kiosks. Robert knew that his brother couldn’t make real rain, so it had to be the water from the canal behind them. Meanwhile, he found a ring with the Rune of Movement on it, which was a good start. He would give one of his arms for something more powerful, like the Order or Mind, but all he could find was a tiny flat stone carved with the Rune of Voice on one side and the Mirror on the other. He had lots of other charms, tricks and instant spells in his coat, but he forgot about them when he gave it to Rose. Somewhere far away sirens cried.
‘Cops are coming, bro, we gotta bail,’ said Benjamin. Robert nodded.
‘You go, I’ll cover you. One, two…’ At three, Benjamin jumped on his feet, sent a beam of fire to Jenna’s direction and ran for it. Robert stood up, too, and used the Mirror to defend himself from some black spikes. They flew back and ceased to nothing before reached the girl.
Then there was an unearthly scream, deafeningly loud and even though Robert tried to direct it to Jenna, his ears still started to ring. The girl was on her knees now, covering her ears with both hands. He saw an empty beer bottle and decided to put an end to the fight, but before the bottle could hit Jenna at the head, it turned into sand. Robert noticed the glow of the Rune called Memory on Jenna’s bracelet and was truly amazed by her way of thinking.
The screaming stopped when something huge leapt onto Robert’s back, knocking him off his feet. He dropped the stone and it disappeared in the darkness under a kiosk. Before he could even turn his head to see where is the beast, fangs sunk into his arm. He shouted because of the sudden pain and the ring of Movement on his finger exploded with a shock wave and pushed the dog away. It worked and Robert raised an invisible wall around himself. The thing tried to bite and scratch it but couldn’t get through. Robert stood up and looked at the attacker. It was a huge hound, size of a bear, the one what was somehow always around Jenna Carano when the fight started. Its fur was black and shaggy and looked like it was made out of shadows or plain darkness. Still, the dog was real enough to draw blood, thought Robert as he examined his bleeding arm.
Jenna dusted herself with a smug little smile and looked at him from the other side of the magical barrier.
‘Look at the great Robert Montgomery, bleeding and beaten,’ she said mockingly. Her Italian accent was stronger than usual.
‘Always a pleasure, Jenna,’ answered the man. The sirens were close now, then they stopped and car doors opened and closed. ‘Finish it next time?’
‘You bet,’ grinned the girl then burst into a run. The dog followed her and they were lost in the shadows. Robert sighed and left as well before the police could catch him.
