The Power of Ten

Chapter 4-105: Tit for Tat

Shiv didnt jump or run when the car skidded to a halt on the street next to her. She did move away from the curb, and with a gesture sent her bag of groceries drifting off to the side.

Three Amazons piled out of the car, grinning and their fists armored up as they bounded quickly to surround her.

Shiv just watched them moving to hem her in, and backed up against the wall of Jutterbys Flowers there. Pryssia. What do you think you are doing?

Just sending a message on behalf of a client who wants to remain nameless, the Amazon grinned, a stunning Slavic woman with the glowing skin, full figure, curves, and great health all Amazons had in common. She was several inches taller than Shiv, considerably more attractive, and far stronger.

Is that so? Shivs flat voice and eyes never wavered. Her fingers snapped, and she abruptly vanished from their encirclement, even as they were raising their fists.

Damn it! Howd she Cast so smoothly? swore Pryssia, whirling around, and looking up and about for a sign of her. She couldnt have gone that far! Where is she?

On the other side of their car, flat on the ground, Shiv calmly cast the Vanish spell to follow up her Jaunt, and faded from sight.

As the Amazons fanned out quickly, the completely invisible Shiv sat up, flipping open their gas tanks cover, unspun the cap, and removed a slender now-invisible vial from a reinforced sheathe inside her coat.

The seal on it was styrofoam. It dissolved in gasoline. She dropped it in seal-first.

She tapped it closed, and sprinted across the road, ignoring the traffic that was slowing to watch the three eye-catching Amazons in their revealing leathers and long hair and whatever they were doing.

She was heading down the alley on the far side of Miss Kalamas tea shop when the car blew up behind her. The driver screamed, set afire by the explosion, and clawed her way out of the inferno that was engulfing the car. The stunned Amazons picked themselves up off of the ground and watched her burning body rolling on the street, trying to extinguish the flames eating away at her.

Shiv thumbed her phone, hit the speed dial, and waited for it to ring, which it did quickly.

lo? Sama asked from the other end, and Shiv belatedly remembered Sama didnt have any Caller ID programmed.

Sama, I just had three Amazons ambush me in front of Jutterbys, on behalf of someone who would prefer not to be named. I blew up their car and driver, but Id rather not leave it at just that?

Eryllians? Samas voice was very unfriendly, and Shiv could suddenly hear sounds of motion at the other end.

Pryssia, Nona, and Sigrid, Shiv confirmed.

Ingrates. Be there in sixty seconds. If they run away, tell me the direction.

Shiv had walked into the back of the tea shop across the street from the start of the fight, startling the women baking cookies there, and totally ignored them, since they were focused on the car that had exploded across the road. Shiv grabbed a muffin and filled her own cup of tea, left a ten on the counter for the startled server there, and sat down smoothly at the comfy table with the best view of the situation.

They are giving their driver a healing Potion, shes pretty badly burned. She was speaking in Dwarven, nobody around her understood what she was saying... except the young dwarf stopping in for an early brunch run, probably from the accounting office down the road, based on how he was dressed. He gave her a curious look, she gave him a quintessentially dwarven shut-up-and-move-along gesture, and he looked away sharply, pretending he hadnt heard anything.

Master Vrunes was thataway, so Sama should be coming by..., Shiv looked up sharply from the ground approach, and her lips twitched into a hard smile despite herself.

---

Sama hit the back of the florists roof, jumped up again, and was probably forty feet in the air when she began her plummet, coming down right on top of the burning car blazing so energetically, golden hair trailing behind her like her own custom cape.

The glass that hadnt shattered did so when she came pounding down upon it, smashing down the roof of the car to absorb her plunge, and causing glass and fire to scatter even further in all directions.

The three Amazons bolted to their feet at the crunch of the impact, bracing themselves when they saw someone standing in the middle of the flames of their ruined car.

Sama came down the windshield, golden hair swirling in the heat, punching her foot through the remnants of the glass without a care, and leaving solid indents in the hood as she stepped forwards.

Pryssia and her kittens, Sama mused aloofly, watching the Amazons tense up as golden lights coalesced over her fists, doubling their size and more. Someone who would prefer not to be named paid me to come over and deliver a lesson to you. She slammed her fists together, an action like pistons coming together, and the crack of it sounded very, very much like shattering bones. You fucktards couldnt get it in the ring and wanted more of me outside of it. Dont worry, I wont ask you to give up your contract.

Her smile was very, very wide, displaying all eight canines.

The driver was on the ground, but the worst of her burns had been healed away, and she started to reach for her shoulder holster.

Please draw that gun, Sama purred, and a deadly two-tone quavering series of notes rose as Tremble slid out a few inches by herself from her back-sheathe.

The hand going for the gun froze.

Tremble, She comes! Sama laughed, coming right in on them without the slightest hint of fear, her terrifying cackle seeming to throw all the bones on her face and her teeth into relief as she went at them.

Bone crunched. Women screamed. Terrific impacts of inhumanly strong fists meeting flesh rang out, and Sama cackled in glee as she waded right in.

Nona shrieked as her gauntlet slammed right into Samas fist, and something discharged right back through it, instantly pulverizing every bone in her hand, wrist, and forearm. It was flung back, flopping uselessly.

Sama parried with an elbow, heard two of Sigrids fingers break, backfisted her across the jaw, leaned over backwards almost to her heels as Pryssia punched in, and lifted the eldest Amazon right off the ground with a foot right in the jaw that could snap the neck of a bull. She torqued and twisted, and Nona, actually coming in with her other fist, shrieked as Samas foot came around like a steel beam, crushed her right knee on the way to sweeping out her legs, and as she fell, she could only stare at the golden bludgeon coming right down on her face and driving her into the asphalt of the road with a wet crunch.

Sama reached up to grip Sigrids incoming fist, and noticed it was spiked as she did so, the four inch-long blades punching right through her hand. Sigrid started to grin, and then Samas hands flickered, and bludgeons unfolded into cleavers a bit more than an inch long.

Sama closed her fist, and the blonde Amazon screamed as the golden finger blades punched through her gauntlet and right into her hand, cutting completely through her palm.

Sama blurred through a feint so fast Sigrids automatic parry sent her broken hand flipping into nowhere, and Sama tore down through her leather breastplate and the skin below in a bloody spray of finger-claws.

Her clothing hanging open and four inch-deep parallel furrows down her chest, Sigrid stumbled back, clutching at her chest as scarlet stained everything.

Might want to use that Potion, Sama said out of the side of her mouth as she strode towards Pryssia. Going into shock, the nearly-eviscerated Amazon behind her fumbled at the metal vial at her waist.

No spikes, Sama observed on Pryssia, and finger-knives became bludgeons again. By the way, Cursed wounds. She can stop the bleeding, but they arent going to heal until tomorrow morning. Enjoy your day of misery.

Was your contract worth it? Mine sure was! TREMBLE, SHE COMES!

Two tones rang out in quavering series, and Pryssia tried to snarl and retaliate, but it was too little, too late, and she had been here before, so it was more like a wince and a whimper...

------

The scorched driver started to scoot backwards as Sama idly kicked Sigrid in the temple, knocking her down the road. The empty vial clattered on the ground, and the bloody wounds werent bleeding out anymore, but she ended up top-high, completely exposed to everyone passing by.

Sama just turned her eyes on their driver, who froze instantly at the sight of that wicked cursed eye, and how all the skin on Samas face seemed to have been sucked right down to the bone.

Go on and call for help, Sama said, little edges in her voice, like knives on the ear, and all those canines suddenly looked very prominent. Ill stay right here and wait.

I-I, the woman stammered.

Of course, if you cant call anyone, youre totally useless, and you can join the others.

The driver looked at Nona, her face a flattened mess, head driven into the asphalt; Sigrid laying out there, bloody and completely exposed; and Pryssia, face down on the same street in another crater, both of her arms shattered in several places and bones jutting through the skin.

She clawed for her phone and hastily dialed a number. She was visibly praying and tearing up as she stared at Sama looming over her, golden hair swirling as if it was alive.

It rang, and a woman answered. Hello? Stacey? Why are you calling?

Sama calmly held out her hand. Stacey almost dropped the phone as she handed it over.

Matriarch Cordelia, this is Sama Rantha, Sama said calmly, and continued right on, ignoring the shocked breath at the other end. Three of your little goddess-juiced wussfraus were sent out to deliver a message. I was dispatched to deliver a counter-message. Your little snot-nosed, crying, singed attendant was nice enough to call for some help for them, as theyre in a pretty bad way right now. Theyre all beat up and kinda half-naked and bleeding in front of Miss Jutterbys florist shop. You might wanna send someone down to help them out a bit. Dont bother healing their wounds until Renewal tomorrow morning, either.

Now, youve gotten the message I was sent to deliver. Your girls didnt quite get around to delivering theirs. Do you have anything you want me to pass on?

Shiv killed one of ours. We wanted her to know that we knew, the Matriarch of the Eryllian sect here in St. Paul replied coolly after a moment.

Oh, okay, Ill pass that on, not that she gives a shit about offing someone who tried to murder one of her little brothers. As professional message-deliverers, I trust we can let this matter drop here? Because otherwise theres going to be some personal deliveries required, and the delivery fees are totally killer around here.

As long as they can recover, we will let this go... but we will not forget, came the stern voice at the other end. Samas bone-screeching little chortle broke any impact it was supposed to have.

Thats fine! Ive a good long memory, and no sympathy for your bunch of harpies. My next message will involve freeing up a bunch of Amazon Pacts and sending a bunch of faithful souls off to the Queen of Storms at the same time, a charitable two for one.

Sama clenched her fingers, and golden hand-razors cut the cell phone into five precisely-cut segments. Driver Stacey could only watch them fall and clatter to the ground, sparking.

Encourage them to keep this up, Sama told her calmly, as the burned and terrified driver stared up at her. Youll have a Pact for yourself in no time. Just dont take the Amazon Level, or youll act just as overzealously stupid as they do.

Sama glanced over, saw the out of place bag of groceries nobody had dared get close enough to grab, and glided over to pick it up. Unhurried, she skated on bare feet down the sidewalk, heading to the Blakhamar place to deliver the bag.

Sirens were less than a minute out as she glided away... and nobody would dare take advantage of Amazons, anyways...

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