Nanoprep 2017 Day 13: Magic Larry
By Robin de Voh on 2017-10-23
Larry shot a fireball from his hands, which would have smacked her right in the face, had she not dodged out of the way just in time. She was floating a few yards above the ground and still had complete control over it, something he was hoping was not the case.
He was hiding behind a car and was thankful for this fight happening in a car park. At least there were enough places to hide.
A bolt of electricity shot his way. Middle-aged as he was, he dodged more by accident than on purpose, as he tried to move deftly to the side but found himself tripping over a metal beam. He slammed down on the ground, and a searing pain shot through his back.
Fucking dilapidated car park, he corrected his previous happiness about the location.
"Goddammit, woman!" he shouted, now hidden behind the rubble the metal beam was sticking out of, "why does it always have to be like this?"
She laughed that shrill laugh of hers, and from the distance and direction he could tell she was circling him. He had to keep her talking if he was to get out of this alive.
"Still sounding like a harpy!" he shouted. Her response was another bolt of electricity just feet from his head, followed almost immediately by a second.
He turned to see her rounding the rubble from a good distance. He noticed that she was partly obscured by a screen of moving electric particles, shooting little bolts of electricity from one to another. It was just enough to make it difficult to see her.
Smart girl, he thought to himself, but two can play that game.
He held his hands together and built up the heat. Being a fire mage brings certain benefits. When the heat had built up enough, he compressed it suddenly to push the oxygen out. A black, superheated ball of ash formed. When he pulled his hands apart, a cloud of ash formed around him.
Another bolt of lightning suddenly hit him in the shoulder, sending a searing pain through his upper torso. His teeth clenched as the current went through his head. He groaned but kept a scream in, then lunged into a roll out of his current position. The cloud of ash both stayed behind and followed him, spreading as he moved. His head throbbed from the hit.
He scurried like an animal, trying to get away before she could bolt him again. As he did, she was following the front end of the ash cloud. She'd seen Larry pull this trick many times, so it wasn't going to confuse her that much.
He shot a fireball at her while running between pillars and heard a yelp.
"Haha, getting too hot for you?" he shouted while still running as fast as he could.
"You know it isn't," she shouted back, "and I'm going to hurt you real bad once I catch you!"
That sent shivers down his spine. He knew that if she said that, she meant it. This was going to end badly, he realized, feeling his shoulder throbbing in pain. He ran out of breath not too long after, but had managed to find his way into a side room. He jumped in and slammed the door shut. The ash cloud would remain outside for a while too, and hopefully it would take her a while to figure out he'd found cover.
His heart pounding, his breath ragged and his right arm pretty much out of commission, he realized he had to bargain.
"Stop!" he shouted. "Can we talk about this?"
Silence.
"Come on! Let's talk about it, there's no reason to hurt each other any further!"
"Fine! But you have to apologize first," she finally responded.
"Alright, I'm sorry!"
"And what are you sorry for?" she said, with that annoying tone he didn't like. The one where she knew she was right and about to win the argument. It almost made him not want to admit to anything, but that would just prolong the fight.
"I'm sorry for using your books for target practice! I shouldn't have done that!"
Silence again. Then the sound of footsteps. At least she'd landed, but she was eerily close to the door now.
"Drop the ash," she said through the door. She sounded calm, but in a scary way. Commanding, he would say.
He dropped the spell, causing the ash to disperse and fall to the ground and then opened the door.
"Let's go home," she said, "but you're replacing all of those books with nicer editions."
He sighed, then nodded.