Origin (Scales 'n' Spells 1)

Gunter threw something to Cameron, and he caught it handily. A messenger bag of some sorts. Alric watched for a moment in confusion, not sure what his lover was up to. Although the idea of Gunter and Cameron working on anything together frankly alarmed him. Gunter didn’t really understand the idea of limits.

He had no time to question, no time to watch further, as his attention was abruptly yanked away. His clan was attacking the compound from all sides, bellowing fire in either short bursts or long streams. The Jaeggi had expected this and were throwing up various shields or ducking into warded areas, avoiding the flames as much as they could. They retaliated with their own attacks, and magic flew fast and furious. It looked like fireworks going off, the colors vivid even in the daylight.

A deadly fireworks display. Even as Alric watched, one spell hit Sasha, and she went down with a shout of pain, landing hard on the roof and caving in the structure. Heart in his throat, he stared fixedly in that direction until he saw her head come up. Only then did his heart unclench. Thank god, she lived. Hopefully with injuries she’d heal from.

“Oh, you fucking did not.”

That was Cameron’s voice. Alric searched frantically for him, head jerking this direction and that, appalled he’d lost track of Cameron for even a second. There he was, far too close for comfort. Why the hell had Ravi not flown him out of here?!

Alric had no chance to either demand or ask as Ravi swooped in even lower, too low for comfort. He dropped Cameron the last two feet and his lover rolled with it, coming up smoothly to his feet as if he and Ravi had practiced this very thing a hundred times. (If Alric found out that was the case, heads would roll. Ravi’s, to be precise.)

Cameron thrust both hands into the messenger bag and yanked out two large vials, like overgrown test tubes. They were full to the brim of various things, mostly liquid and light, although precisely what Alric couldn’t discern. Cameron raised them high overhead and then threw them sharply down, breaking the glass into shards and the contents spilling in every direction.

Just what was he about…? Alric watched with his heart in his throat. He wanted to tell Cameron to go, but he knew this man. As long as Alric was pinned like this, Cameron wouldn’t abandon him. Just as Alric could never leave him behind. But if Cameron had a plan, Alric couldn’t see or understand it.

What kind of magic did Cameron plan to use that he thought powerful enough to overturn at least two dozen mages?

Cameron lifted both hands and he called. Alric felt that call right down to his soul because he was part of it. His lover was calling on every magical element within reach of him, every speck of every realm. Alric stared at him in awe as raw power wrapped around Cameron like a lover’s embrace, lifting his hair and swirling it, a light pouring out of him all of his own. It was as if Cameron demanded every powerful filament of the world, every trace of good power it could offer.

And the world answered.

Alric’s heart beat in his throat. He’d never seen a mage do this, even during the heart of the war. Nothing was visible of Cameron but his silhouette, that’s how much power swarmed around him. Surely he’d burn out at this rate. Surely this was too much for any living being to hold. “Cameron,” Alric breathed, both awed and enraptured by this man who held his heart.

The rest of the courtyard was not oblivious to Cameron’s actions. In the thirty seconds he’d taken to drop and pull power to them, they’d realized he was once again free and in front of Alric. Someone screamed in raw panic, “GET HIM! WE HAVE TO STOP HIM!”

Cameron’s head turned ever so slightly, Alric could see the motion if not his expression. Cameron spoke the spell with cold finality. “Klak AESE!”

All of the power he’d gathered flowed out like a riptide. It flew across the courtyard’s grounds, splashing up the sides of the buildings and flowing over the tops of the roofs before disappearing out of sight. Alric staggered a half-step as the trapping spell holding him broke without warning, leaving him free once more. Every other spell in range of Cameron’s magic suffered the same fate, all of them breaking and dissipating like ash in the wind.

Alric stared down at Cameron in disbelief. Had he just overpowered an entire clan’s strike team with nothing more than willpower and whatever he’d scrummaged up out of Gunter’s research bag?

Shaking the thought off, he lifted his head and bellowed, “TAKE NO QUARTER!”

The dragons roared approval and dove back into the attack. With no magic barring their way, it was a short-lived fight in the extreme. Panicked screams died off quickly as bones broke and heads were bitten off. Alric stood guard over Cameron in a protective stance and snapped up one who came too close, catching him by the neck and shoulders and throwing him against the side of a building.