Moments later bothdaggers appeared to rise off the ground and began circling her asif watching for a breach in her defence. Melanie crossed her wristsand whispered an arcane word. The tortoise inlays glowed brightlyand a small disk the size of a dinner plate of arcane energyappeared on each wrist. Her eyes glowed a dull purple colourmomentarily and she adopted a stance with one disk facing forwardand the other covering her back as she slowly rotated, looking forsigns of the invisible controller of the flying daggers.
Both daggers attackedsimultaneously, but deflected off an invisible shield around herbody. She reached down and unsheathed a throwing dagger from herboot, and holding it firmly adopted her defensive stance, slowlyturning, watching and waiting. The daggers resumed their circularorbit around her but increased their velocity until they seemedjust a blur, then suddenly struck like angry hornets at her head.She ducked reflexively, and they passing over her head. She heardsome arcane words, her mind went blank and she fell unconscious tothe ground.
The leader appeared andwalked over to Melanie with a dagger in his hand as Rob rose andpropped himself up against the wall.
‘If I were you, Iwouldn’t touch her,’ suggested Rob.
‘Why? You haven’t gother to protect you now. What are you going to do about it?’
Rob smiled as iftalking to a friend and his eyes momentarily pulsed with a dullpurple.
‘She wasn’t trying toprotect me. She was trying to protect you, my good friend. She wasafraid I might hurt you, but I won’t because we are friends. Youand your unfortunate friends attacked us by mistake! Someone gaveyou the wrong information.’
The leader’s expressionchanged from one of aggression to one of friendliness as his eyesglazed over.
‘Yes. Yes you’re quiteright. We were mistaken. I’m sorry about this.’
A whistle shrilled asseveral members of the City Watch came running round the corner anddown the street towards them.
‘I hate to tell youthis. The town watch sergeant said some terrible things about yourmother. I think you should you go and have a stern word with him,’Rob suggested.
‘Did he!’ said theleader. ‘I’ll fix that bastard!’ And he dashed off towards the townwatch, shouting expletives at the sergeant.
Two of Melanie’sassailants rose and hurriedly hobbled off down the street in theopposite direction from the town watch. The other three layinjured. Rob limped over to Melanie, touched her forehead and shewoke instantly.
‘What happened?’ sheasked immediately, noticing that Rob’s eyes were still brown.
‘He used some stunningmagic on you. He’s quite friendly now and has decided to fight thetown guard rather than us.’ Rob smiled.
‘Damn!’ said Melanie.‘I was too busy watching those flying daggers. I must have let myguard down. You had to use your talent didn’t you? I’m sorry.’
‘The daggers were anillusion to keep your mind occupied while the fellow used someother magic on you. You’ll have to be careful of that infuture.’
‘Let’s go,’ saidMelanie, jumping to her feet and grabbing Rob by the arm.
‘Wait a moment!’ Robcautioned, as he fumbled in his pocket for a magical stone. Momentslater there was a surge of magic and they were teleported directlyto the backdoor of Granddad’s shop.
‘Thanks,’ she said.’ Iwasn’t looking forward to explaining to the Watch that we were theinnocent victims.’
He smiled and openedhis hand to reveal a transport stone. ‘You know Granddad’s motto.Always be prepared.’
‘Why didn’t you damnwell use it earlier?’ she asked, a little annoyed, as she crossedher wrists, dismissing the arcane shields. ‘I wouldn’t have had toinjure those idiots back there.’
‘I’m sorry. Normally Iwould have,’ he replied, ‘but when my legs turned to rubber andcollapsed under me, it triggered such strong anger that I couldn’tthink of anything other than trying to get it under control.
Then, with a smile,‘That new style of shield work was very impressive.’
‘Thanks.’ she replied,excited that she had had a chance to show off her new skill.
‘These are the shieldsI trained with. They were included in the training fee. They work alittle like a Levi disc. They have both repulsion and attractionfields. You can use them to repulse people or objects away fromyourself, or to attract objects that have been directed at others,so that they miss.’
‘It’s a good thing Iwas there, Rob. Is your problem getting worse?’
‘Unfortunately it is,Mel. I’m having terrible mood swings too, and it’s taking much moretime and effort to block them. Sometimes lately I’ve been fallingasleep and not waking up for days. When I do finally wake up I’mtired. Can you believe that?’
‘Have you told anyone?’she asked.
‘Granddad knows butsays nothing. There’s something wrong with me but they can’t doanything Melanie.’ replied Rob.
‘I think you shouldtalk to them about it, Rob. I felt your rage this time and itscared me.’
‘I’ll think about it.Let’s go inside - the others will be dying to see you and hear yourtales.’
Rob hugged Melaniewarmly, whispering his thanks once more; then faked a weak smile ashe unlocked the rear of the shop, so that she could enter throughthe back door. It was great to have her home again. Inside they raninto his mother, Tina, who was overjoyed to see Melanie again,embracing her with an enormous hug.
‘You’ve come back to usat last,’ she cried.
‘I’ve only been awayfor a few weeks, Aunt Tina,’ said Melanie. ‘But it is good to behome again.’
Moments later,Granddad, a middle-aged man with silvery hair, neatly trimmedbeard, sparkling eyes and wearing an infectious smile, appeared outof nowhere with arms wide open for a warm hug. He hurriedly closedthe shop, put on some water for hot drinks and disappeared again.Five minutes later he reappeared with Melanie’s grandmother and herparents, who carried large plates of cakes and pastries. Afteranother round of hugs and kisses they all sat around asking herquestions about her trip, talking, eating, drinking and laughinglike old times.
For a brief moment intime, the family was together again and happy. That was, until Robfelt his anger rise again. His fingers on his left hand all meldedtogether and then melted to form a spherical blob of flesh at thewrist.
