Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) by Honor Raconteur Page B

still hung about in the air, coating his skin and hair as he moved, but he ignored it. Instead, all of his attention was focused on the interior of the mansion.
    While he could hear a great many running footsteps thumping around, and voices calling out panicked orders to each other, no one was within immediately sight. Shad didn’t pause but went straight ahead and to the first corner, sword at the ready. Nothing but white walls, tiled floors and expensive furniture was around. Even some of the furniture had been overturned in the haste to deal with the invaders. His ears tracked the sound of footsteps as people followed him inside at a dead run.
    “Bornemeier, location?”
    “I count three renegades on this floor in the south section,” he rattled off promptly, eyes still on the triangle in his hands, “five below in the basement, and the rest on the very top floor in the northeast corner.”
    “Alright.” Shad made some rapid decisions, mostly based on people’s experience and fighting ability. “Loewy, you deal with the ones in the basement. Bos, Rossi, Tyvendor and Janae, you deal with the ones on the top floor. We’ll deal with the ones on this level. Oh, Sloves—stay with me, I’ll need you to keep track of Bornemeier.”
    At this, the young Wizard lifted his head and protested with a pout, “Captain!”
    “You’re too busy reading that thing to pay attention to where you’re going,” Shad shot back acerbically. “You need a keeper. Alright, people, move!”
    They pelted out, going in different directions. Shad trusted them to not make any stupid mistakes and went for the renegades on his floor. Oh, and the Dom. He mustn’t forget the Dom. Audax would be quite upset with him if they didn’t handle the Dom.
    The main foyer, which they had to cross to get to the renegades, had a massive staircase that flowed down into it. From the balcony above it, several young maids and footmen were tossing anything that came to hand. Pots, vases, walking canes, and even one person had a whole drawer of cutlery they were letting fly as if they were daggers. Shad had to dive behind another corner to avoid being stabbed by a spoon.
    Audax, panting a little from the mad scramble, flattened against the wall behind Shad. “You can’t tell me this is normal for sieges.”
    “Once the invaders actually breach the interior walls, anything is fair game,” Shad assured him with a maniac smile. “Actually, I approve. This is highly creative.”
    The prince didn’t quite roll his eyes, but it was a near thing. In a terribly dry voice, he drawled, “You’re bleeding.”
    Shad barely spared a glance at the nice, long rip in his shirt sleeve. “I know. You owe me a shirt. Bornemeier, anything you can do about our armed gallery upstairs?”
    He clearly had no idea, just judging from the wide-eyed look he gave Shad. “Um…”
    This was the other reason why Shad kept the kid with him—thinking quickly on his feet was not his strong point. “Can you make anything in their hands stick?”
    “Oh!” Bornemeier gave a rapid shake of the head. “I can do that, sure.”
    “Then do it.” Shad covered him long enough for the Wizard to step out and fire off the spell. Once he did, of course, the attacks abruptly stopped as no one could get the “weapons” in their hands to leave their grips. While they tugged in frustration and tried to scrape their hands free, Shad led his trio straight back under the stairs and to the right.
    Shad had made it all of two steps into the hallway behind the stairs when he spied three Priests heading his direction. Unlike the first mission where the Priests had only cowered, these were armed with a bo staff and short swords. They were still young, only in their early twenties, but had the robes of full Priests on. To attain that rank at their young age, they had be somewhat skilled at least.
    When they saw Shad, they instantly drew their weapons and assumed a guard position. Shad positively