A few minutes later, I saw Shadow and her squad…plus her healers and their two policemen…coming across the grass towards me. She wasn’t trying to hide. She was leading.

  “I think she’s a winner now. She’s on top of her world. Not hiding, but leading. Good for you,” I thought as we met. Then I spotted a hole in her pants…definitely a bullet hole, with some blood around it. Her left hand was clutching something.

  “It looked like that sword sticking out of their Granhombre’s chest was yours,” I told her. “I won’t ask where it entered to get that angle. I hope you remembered to clean it afterward. Thoroughly.”

  We all laughed over what I hadn’t quite said.

  “Y’all was right. Diagonal cut. Took that arm with the phone clean off, and Phil here grabbed it and ran. I heard their boss say to kill tha kids. He was gonna die for that.”

  “I think Bhaarrt made sure he was dead. Very dead. You did it. You’re a leader now. I think we all leveled up…some more than once. I’ll bet Blackheart has STEALTH now. And she’s a new member of your Sneak Squad.” Blackheart blushed when I said that.

  “She did, Will. Thank you. Thank you for…for forcing me to do it. Didn’t think anyone would listen to me. ’Specially not adults. I had three bullets in me.” She opened her left hand. Three mangled slugs lay in her palm. “Ima keepin’ these. I felt Mel’s healin’ after each one. Even afore she found me hidin’ under a truck. Didn’t know she could heal and run.”

  “Didn’t know I could neither.” Melissa smiled wide. “I saw her cut that arm off and hit their boss. No way I was going to let someone that brave die with how they were shooting at her.”

  Mel, or Nurse Melissa, as a quick REVEAL STATS told me, had definitely earned her place today.

  That’s when Bhaarrt and Ingrid joined us. His breastplate and shield were speckled with scattered dents and smeared with blood, but I didn’t see any holes. Blaze wasn’t far behind. Chief Brown was talking with Gar-Kosh and his wife, Agra, as they made their way over to us.

  When they reached us, I saw more blood on Gar-Kosh and his shield…but none of it looked like his. He slapped his left shoulder in salute. “Lok’tar ogar, Warchief. You made glorious victory for the Horde today.”

  “It was a victory for Eddington, not the Horde,” I reminded him. “Besides, we had too few people to be a horde.” He laughed. “I’m not sure how glorious it was. But thank you, Gar-Kosh. And you too, Agra.”

  “Will,” Chief Brown said. “I didn’t believe it would work. I felt silly, singing and sort of marching, but I felt that Bard’s magic. Father Stoddard’s too. I saw it on my stats. Magic is real. We can’t do things the old way anymore. Too many people would’ve died.”

  He stopped, looking down at the flattened grass beneath his feet. Then he let out a deep breath and looked back up at me. “I don’t like it…but I can live with it. The bad news is, they killed three of the hostages before we could heal them. We’re sending people to find and rescue the kids.”

  “The guy who had the phone is still alive. He told us where the kids are…he figured we’d do more than just stop the bleeding if he told us. Course, with Bhaarrt and Gar-Kosh standing over him dripping someone else’s blood, it didn’t hurt either. Wasn’t police intimidation…they didn’t say a word. Just…dripped on him.”

  That also got a laugh from everyone.

  “Ingrid. How’d we do? Anyone dead?” I asked.

  “Not on our side. We all lived,” Ingrid said, beaming. “We had more than enough healers…none of our people died before we could HEAL them. We all leveled. I’m almost Level 4. Thank you Will, and everyone for your shielding. It kept us alive when they first opened fire.”

  “You’re welcome. Seems like all I do is shield people. I ought to change my title to the ‘First Shield Mage’.”

  That got a few chuckles and a groan. I won’t say who groaned.

  “I got most of my experience from defending, not attacking. I only got off one or two shots… that was it. They didn’t do much damage.”

  “Will,” Blaze said, hugging me, “you did your best. We lived. Most of them lived too. We saved almost all of the hostages…and we’ll get the rest. You saved Eddington.”

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  Shaking my head no, I corrected her. “We saved them today. All of us. What about tomorrow and whenever things spawn?”

  “We’ll deal with that when it happens. The Irregulars and the other guilds will help until people can defend themselves,” Blaze said, then asked, “Are you coming with us?”

  In the not-far-enough-away distance, I saw two groups heading my way. One was walking fast. The first pair were running.

  “I don’t think I can,” I said. “The mayor and some other politicos are heading this way…and so is that reporter. I knowthey’ll want to talk to me and be seen with me. Chief, you don’t get to leave either. Remember, you were officially in charge of this.”

  “Hey, wait a minute. You’re the Warchief, not me,” he fired back.

  “Yeah, but I did this under your command and authority. You’re my boss. Deal with it.”

  There was more laughter, which even Chief Brown joined in, as the groups arrived. Shadow and her squad, Blaze, and at least a third of the people we’d fought beside left to rescue the hostages. I saw Father Stoddard going with them.

  ***

  Vanessa Tarcheski, the TV reporter, was the first to reach us. She wasn’t quite running at that point, but she moved fast and was breathing hard. Kevin, her cameraman, bounded along behind her, sort of hopping more than running.

  “Maybe this is an Air Mage thing?”

  “This is Vanessa Tarcheski, Fox News 3,” she said breathlessly into her portable mic. “I’m here, live, with the people who organized and fought the Battle of Eddington.”

  Wincing, I could feel the capital letters when she said Battle of Eddington.

  “We have Eddington Police Chief Jackson Brown and the man they’re calling their Warchief, William of Brinsford. I understand that’s not his real name, but his Game Name.”

  I nodded, but didn’t speak. Instead, I looked at Chief Brown and made a quick hand signal toward him. Him first.

  She took the hint.

  “Chief Brown,” she began, turning to him, “I’m told you’re in charge of the defense of Eddington against both hostile people and magical monsters that may appear in the future. Is that true?”

  “It is, Ms. Tarcheski,” Chief Brown said, slipping into his cop stance, hands resting on his gun belt. “Eddington’s been lucky…its people stepped up immediately. William here was the first to help…even before the President made her announcement earlier today.”

  He looked straight into the Kevin’s camera. “These gangs weren’t the first threat. The first was a Mentalist who tried to control the mayor, the city and county councils…and the rest of us in the room.”

  “What happened to them?” she asked.

  “Her. She’s under medical sedation and supervision in a location I won’t name. If she wakes up, she can control people around her and escape. Until our mages can make wards to block magical and mental powers, we don’t have a safer option.”

  “Chief Brown…is that legal?”

  “Our city and county legal teams say it is…for now. It’s like keeping an injured felon under guard in a hospital. We’d do the same for wounded combatants on the other side of today’s battle…but mostly, we don’t need to.”

  “You don’t need to? Why? Did you kill them?”

  He laughed. “No, ma’am. Just the opposite. We healed them. Those who didn’t take a magical class when the Game began…we can hold them in normal jail cells. They can’t use magic to escape. The rest…we’re sedating until we can decide what to do.”

  “There is a magical way, but no one’s that high level yet. We’re asking the courts for permission to use sedation until we can build secure containment.”

  “That makes sense. I’m sure our viewers will be glad you’re following the law as best you can. What are your plans now?” She asked.

  “Now? Clean up. Then decide who we hold, who we can release, and who might switch sides now that they’ve seen us fight. We’ll need more parties to protect Eddington.”

  “I see. We watched you stand there and let people shoot at you. How did that feel? Do you trust magic that much?”

  “I do now,” he said, smiling as an ambulance siren wailed in the background. “Scariest thing I’ve ever done. I tried to get out of it, but Will here talked me into staying. Reminded me I’m in charge. And he was right.” He said, looking at me and shaking his head.

  “The second time…it wasn’t as scary. I knew everyone had my back. I knew they couldn’t hurt me. I think that broke them as much as our charge did.”

  “How many times were you hit?”

  “Two or three, maybe more. I haven’t checked. Nothing got through the SHIELDs and my vest. I felt the healing before the shots even landed. I’d have survived even if something had gotten through.”

  “That’s truly amazing, Chief Brown. One last question. When you turned back the second time, you shouted something. What was it, and what does it mean?”

  “Lok’tar ogar,” he said with a big grin. “Victory or death. Gar-Kosh can tell you more...or ask our Warchief.”

  “Who’s Gar-Kosh?”

  “Big green guy with the shield and ax over there. That’s him. He and his wife are Orcs. Hard to miss. They can explain it.” he answered, pointing at Gar-Kosh and Agra, who were talking with Sir Andrew and Bhaarrt.

  “He must be the green man we saw moving impossibly fast along with the bigger gray man and someone in full armor. You’ve got some very interesting allies, Chief.”

  Laughing, he replied, “Yes, ma’am, we do. Get used to them. There’ll be more…and not all of them will be as friendly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got prisoners to process. The Warchief can take it from here.”

  “Thank you, Chief Brown. That was Chief Jackson Brown, Eddington Police Chief. Now we go to Warchief William of Brinsford.” She turned toward me.

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