My Path to Magic 2: A Combat Alchemist by Irina Syromyatnikova Page B

money on its maintenance, and each and every transmaster, by its definition, can be operated by any mage. That's why some mage disguised as a school "security guard" was able to modify the perimeter.
    "We need to get in!" the policeman persisted.
    "Then go get in or shut up, if you want my help!"
    Strictly sp eaking, I would have easily turned the perimeter off, if not for its huge size and indoor location. To surround it with an anti-averting curse, I would need to work through the walls of the neighboring houses populated with people. They would have to be evacuated for that, but time was running out. I thought of covering the school with a strong suppressive curse that could knock out everybody inside, but then I would put the health of the young hostages inside at risk. No, I had to find a simpler and more elegant solution; for example, I could send a zombie inside and turn the perimeter off. But where to find a corpse? I doubted the policemen loved their work so selflessly as to provide me with one of their own bodies.
    However, an elementary school was not Gugentsolger's bank, and the Key Sign, surely, was located in the standard place: not far from the entrance door, in the room of the security personnel or near the desk of the guard on duty. Within arm's reach!
    I needed a mouse. I knew a spell which scared rodents, and it wasn't difficult to modify it to beckon them. I moved aside from the noisy and bustling crowd (I had to show a fist to the policeman who wanted to follow me), found an air vent leading to the basement of a nearby building, and a moment later caught a required mouse. To strangle the animal was trivial. It remained to find a carrier for my disintegrating spell.
    I twisted off a brass button from the uniform of the nearest cop, stuffed it into the mouth of the animal, and then raised the tiny corpse with the simplest revivifying spell (the one that ensured its basic moves and primitive eyesight were under my control). The police did not catch me red-handed; the zombie-mouse was almost indistinguishable from a live animal, and there were no magicians among the witnesses.
    The zombie-mouse passed the barrier without any problem and leaked through the gap under the door. The protective perimeter barely noticed my necromantic creation - it was too subtle; the only oddity was its strange way of moving. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the mouse climbed up the table with keys; its little eyes hadn't dried out yet, and the zombie easily discerned a bulging disk of the Key Sign. One touch - and the Sign was dispersed as a powder - simply and effectively.
    The reddish-yellow haze of the averting perimeter died out.
    "Follow me!" I created a sound-absorbing shield in front of myself, not believing that the cops could move noiselessly; the disadvantage was that I heard nothing, too. Our appearance became a surprise for the singers. Without delay, I applied a paralyzing curse, which I had prepared in advance, to all the people standing upright; it didn't touch children, who sat on the floor. Thus, I quickly and efficiently knocked out the terrorists without hurting hostages. That's how a real combat mage operates!  The school was immediately filled with angry cops. I turned around trying to figure out what ritual the terrorists intended to inflict - to no effect. Anyway, we didn't give them enough time for that.
    "Children, st and up, make pairs, and - out! Corporal, help them!"
    The policemen diverted from the stunned terrorists and started helping children.  The kids were mostly boys of ten to twelve years old, members of the school chorus. Suddenly I was frightened by the thought that they just did rehearsals there, and I paralyzed their favorite teacher of music. And now, because of me, these kids would suffer from shuttered nerves for the rest of their lives. Likely, there were no whites among them.
    While the policemen were taking the children outside, journalists began to gather at the school. Still,