49

I didn't care where I hit the thing, so long as I hurt it. I aimed at the center of the rising creature, and pulled the trigger. The recoil brought the gun up in front of my face and I turned sideways to ready a kick as I worked the bolt again. The RedCap was bleeding heavily and got up slowly as I readied the pistol. “Stop!” Yelled Cobb as he ran towards me. “Stop!” “Why?” I yelled back at him. The creature reacted to Cobb's voice and turned, lurching into motion at a staggering lope. I didn't hesitate and shot it in chest. The creature tried to scream but only a wet gurgle came out and it collapsed in a wet, mucousy heap.
Cobb ran to the creature, anguish on his face, and then it closed, and when he looked at me I could see the cold anger underneath the calm face as he straightened up. “You bloody-minded mortal excrement”, Cobb said through gritted teeth. “That was our best chance to find out what was happening here.” “Cobb, I think keeping myself in one piece is more important! You don't like it, tough, you got me for this service, so you're stuck with me!” I shot back heatedly. If he was wanting a confrontation, I was more than ready. I'd reloaded the pistol and I had it hanging next to my hip. At this close range, if he tried any magic, I'd put a bullet in him before he even had the spell started.
He stared at me as if trying to force me to wilt, and I just glared back at him. From down below us, Kent yelled up. “Hey Fernie, can you get the first aid kit in the trunk? Kevin got a slash along his arm and I'd like to clean it and get it bandaged if you two are through yelling at each other.” “Okay, I'll be right down” I shouted back. I walked past Cobb and went down to the car and opened the trunk, and got the kit out. When I got to the two men, Kent had a blood soaked shirt wrapped around Kevin's arm, and Kevin was looking pale and pained. I handed Kent the first aid kit and watched as he pulled the shirt off and used the tape to hold the wound together, then wrapped it in gauze to hold the tape in place.
“I don't think we're going to throw spells today Fern. He needs a doctor to look at that arm.” I ground my teeth and although I wanted to finish this, he was right. “Okay, we can go over to Pictou and have him looked at there.” Kevin was able to get up and walk to the car, which was good, he hadn't gone into shock from the attack. He didn't complain of any burning or itching, so I didn't think there was any poison in him. Cobb did not come down to join us for the trip and I didn't going to wait for him.
We pulled into the local clinic, where the staff quickly looked Kevin over and they prepped him for surgery. He'd had a number of larger blood vessels cut along with nerve damage, so the doctors wanted to get those re-attached as quickly as possible. There was a staff magician on duty and he would help in binding the wound up and encouraging healing. Magick is great but major changes take major amounts. and rebuilding an arm is not as trivial as it sounds.
Kent came over to me while we were waiting for Kevin to get out of the surgery. “You want to get get him or should I?” he said to me as he sat down and stretched. “I'll go” I told Kent. “I asked him along and no telling what's gone on since we left him there. I'll pick him up and get us a room for the evening. No sense in driving home today.” “You mean he's going to stay with us?” Kent looked at me and his eyes asked the question 'are you sure that's a good idea?' “He's part of this now, and I still want him where I can watch him. Now more than ever.”
I drove back out to the bridge, and arrived at near sundown. Cobb was waiting for me at the spot where Kent and Kevin had set up their septacles. He had obliterated each one. That was a good idea actually, as they had been casting when interrupted, and no telling if any residual magick had been caught in them. He didn't move as I pulled up, and only after I had stopped the car, did he rise and approach. “Come to retrieve your things Fatelli?” He asked with a slight sneer to his voice. “Actually yes, though seeing you again made me wonder why I didn't wait until tomorrow.” “You would leave me out here, human?” he growled angrily. “Just what I'd expect.”
“You expect to be left here?” I said very sweetly, and started the car back up. “You can stay if you want, I'm going back to Pictou.” He got in the passenger seat without a word and said nothing, but just stared straight ahead as if he was a statue. I think it was his way of trying to make me nervous, but in truth I found it pretty funny, him staring like some gargoyle.

48

I set up at the remaining end of the bridge. I had to link my spell to the echoes that Kent was going to call up. I built my septacle, my seven-pointed star, in sand, and used chalk to scratch the symbols for concentrating the magic. Kent set up at the base of the bridge on the last spit of land. Once he had set his septacle, he began the steady work of calling up the echoes of the bridge. Kevin was next to go, he worked his septacle alongside Kent's, and technically, he had to finish up first. Kent's spell would only stretch to the barrier unless there was a way through. This was a twelve kilometer long bridge, and we'd be really pushing our limits to get these spells to work.
Once the hole and the echoes were set, I would cast the linking spell and both Kevin and Kent would tap the power in me I couldn't touch, and pour the magick into their spells to create a solid 'ghost' of the original bridge. Cobb was supposed to create a glamour to hide the ghost and obscure any magickal trace. The coordination was a little tricky, but Kevin and Kent had worked together for years which helped immensely. My job would start when Kevin and Kent finished. Cobb would be last, assuming we all got our parts done and nothing interfered.
I listened to Kevin and Kent's chanting, and scanned the area with binoculars to see if I could see the creature before it got close enough to effect us with the fear aura it projected. A scan of the are over the water and back landward showed nothing around us, and a scan of the sky showed nothing flying around us either. Cobb was fiddling with something back at the car and I looked through the binoculars to see what he was doing. He pulled his duffel-bag from the car and was hauling it away from the car into some heavy brush along the remains of the bridge.
I got out my father's old T/C contender. It's a little bolt action pistol that came in many calibers, and my dad liked the heavier ones for target shooting. WIth a scope on it was close to a rifle in accuracy. I got out four bullets and put the first of the 7.62mm rounds into the chamber and closed the action. I set the other three about an arm's reach from my knee and upright so they would be easy to spot and pick up. I may not like guns but I grew up around them and know how to use them as well, as did a lot of kids after the magick came back and society was forced to rediscover some old skills in order to survive. In Halifax you'd be hard put to find someone who hadn't seen any practice with a rifle or shotgun.
There was a sudden flapping nearby and a dark blur skimmed past me and dropped on Kevin. He grunted under the impact and then I heard screams and a snapping bone. I ran to the edge of the bridge that overlooked where the two of them were set up and I braced against the edge and aimed downwards, seeking a target to shoot. Cobb came running and had a sword in hand as he leapt to the policemen's aid. The fear suddenly rolled out of the creature and Kent wailed like a lost soul and dove away from Kevin. I saw Cobb stagger into view and he kept trying to go towards the creature. I grabbed the pistol more firmly and the spell that I had put on the pistol to banish fear steadied me, and I lined up on the creature, looking for an open shot.
Kevin was still screaming and I pulled the trigger to scare the thing off him. The bullet hit the concrete near it ans spalled cement chips into the air, peppering the thing, surprising it and causing it to leap airborne and look my direction as it heard the roar from the T/C pistol. I loaded up another bullet and just finished closing the chamber when the creature flew up over the ragged, broken lip of the bridge and arrowed straight for me. There was no time to aim and I punched with the pistol, and pulled the trigger when I felt the muzzle impact something.
The roar of the pistol was almost drowned out by the scream of the creature as the bullet plowed through it. It staggered sideways and smashed into me as I tried to relax and roll with the impact. Its momentum carried it past me and I scrambled up, covered in a sticky, bloody mucus, and looked back to where the remaining two shells might be. By a bit of luck, they were untouched and still upright. I Picked them both up and worked the bolt action, the spent casing flipping out over my knuckles and away. I dropped a round into the pistol and slammed the bolt home and slapped it down as I simultaneously brought the weapon up and aimed at the creature.