Runemaster: The White Witch Pt. 01

They became an intricate weave of strike and counterstrike, neither one of them giving ground to the other and unable to land a decisive blow, their enhanced bodies soaking up the punishment. Rafe knew he was going to lose though, having this many runes running took a lot of power and he wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer.

"Nat a little help here please," he called, dodging another right hook from the Fae before unleashing his own.

"It's coming just hold out a bit longer," he heard the witch call.

Natalya hadn't been still. The moment she had dropped the barrier and Rafe had taken the fight to their assailant, she had dashed for her storeroom. Ever since Alexis had disappeared, she had felt something was wrong, a darkness clouding her coven. To have it confirmed that the entirety of her coven was dead besides her, it was a sorrow beyond words. They had not been what you would call close, but they all respected each other, worked well together, building a name for themselves among the best potion makers and enchantment crafters in Undertown. The witches you went to if you wanted healing or protection.

Her laugh was bitter as she started rummaging frantically through her supplies.

They hadn't even been able to protect themselves in the end.

Tossing crates and boxes aside, quickly scanning their labels as she desperately tried to find what she needed, Natalya kept an ear on the fight. Rafe was holding his own for now, but she knew even his rune powers had limits, he couldn't fight indefinitely. He needed her help. Not the help he came for, but it was the help he was going to get.

Moving one last box, Natalya finally found what she was looking for. A solid wooden crate, firmly locked and sealed, it sat tucked into the back of one of her storage shelves where it couldn't easily be reached. Fumbling for the thick glove that was attached to the outside of the crate, Natalya slipped it on while muttering a quick incantation to unlock the crate.

Carefully opening the crate, Natalya slowly opened the lid to reveal a silvery black powder clinging to its interior.

Iron Dust.

Just the thing when you needed to deal with Fae. They couldn't stand the touch of it; pure cold iron was far more deadly to them than any weapon or magic she or Rafe could wield at this point.

"Anytime now Nat!" she heard Rafe yell from the main room of the store.

"I'm coming!" she yelled back.

"Is now really the time for that?" was his response and Natalya briefly considered letting him wait a bit longer before actually helping.

The loud smack followed by the crash of more of her shelves collapsing had her reconsider and she rushed back into the store proper, her focus gem held tightly in one hand and the iron dust cradled carefully in the other. Rafe was groggily climbing to his feet from under a new pile of wreckage, blood streaming from a cut along his face. The Fae had managed to finally get a blow through the runemasters defences. Natalya could see the lights of Rafe's magics had become much dimmer. He wouldn't last much longer.

"Your friend should really consider paying attention to what he is doing rather than making jokes," the Fae smirked at Natalya as she returned.

"His attempt at humour has cost him and now you are mine."

"I don't think so asshole," Natalya scoffed.

Holding her gloved hand face up, Natalya showed her opponent the iron dust in her palm.

"I've got a present for you Fae," she smiled viciously at the other woman before bringing her focus crystal up still clenched tightly in her other hand and beginning an incantation.

An orb of wind formed itself around her fist, the gem allowing Natalya to focus her magic quickly and she hurriedly unleashed her newly formed whirlwind upon the dust. A cloud of silver black particles shot across the room to envelop the Fae.

The scream the creature emitted was inhuman, the empty monotone in its expressions abandoned as it expressed its pain in a shrill, ear-splitting shriek. Rafe fell to his knees and Natalya soon followed, hands clamped tightly to their ears as they tried in vain to block the sound reverberating through their skulls. The Fae twisted and flailed as it screamed, the iron dust torching her skin like fire, each speck a pinprick of agony burning into her body.

Flailing wildly, skin and clothes aflame, the Fae fled from the store, the piercing screams following her, and Natalya could only look on as the Fae ran straight to the railing and launched itself over and into the waiting abyss.

"Nat," Rafe gasped after a moment of shocked silence, "what in the actual fuck was that?"

"Well, I'm gonna take a wild guess, but I'm fairly sure that was a Fae on a mission to kidnap me and it decided to kill you along the way for shits and giggles," Natalya replied flatly.

Rafe couldn't help but laugh, the hearty sound filling the wrecked shop.

"I've fucking missed you Nat."

"As you should have, I'm fantastic," Natalya smirked back.

Rafe climbed back to his before moving to Natalya and offering her his hand, enjoying even this small contact between as she took it and he hauled her to her feet.

"U-Sec is going to be here any minute, there is no way that they missed all that commotion," Rafe said, moving closer to the door and peering from the dark interior of the shop out into the street.

There was a crowd gathering already, some of them pointing into the shop and others peering over the rail where the Fae had taken her dive. He couldn't see any U-Sec uniforms heading their way yet though.

"We need to get out of here Nat," he said.

"We're sitting ducks here and I'm not sure the fall would've killed that Fae," he continued.

"Oh, I'm sure it didn't," Natalya agreed bitterly, "that much iron should've turned them into a corpse on the spot.

"The fact it kept upright and moving? That was a damn powerful Fae."

"Then we definitely shouldn't wait around for it to come back," Rafe replied.

"Why are you so eager to get out of here Rafe, what's going on? You didn't answer me before," Natalya asked him curiously.

"Oh, you mean besides the fight to the death I just had with some sort of Fae?" Rafe said sarcastically.

"Well, there is the minor issue that a McCallister has returned to Steelhaven, I found her for the Greys, they massacred an abbey full of nuns to get her, but Lord Greys daughters apparently betrayed him, helped her escape and because I saw all of that I'm now on their hit list," Rafe let out in a colossal rush.

Natalya just stared blankly at him in shock and Rafe winced, "Sorry."

"The Greys are after you?" she asked.

"Yes."

"The same Greys you work for and control most of the city you live in?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck Rafe? You came here instead of getting the fuck out of town? Are you insane?" Natalya yelled at him.

"This is my home Natalya! I ran away before! I tried to fit in and be a good little human!

"Instead, I end up working for the fucking Greys and now they want me dead! I wasn't going to run again; I wasn't going to abandon my home and leave it behind! I wasn't going to leave..." he yelled before pulling up short before he said something he shouldn't. He had no right to say that.

"Wasn't going to leave what Rafe?" Natalya demanded heatedly.

"I..." he tried to say it. I wasn't going to leave you.

But he couldn't. He couldn't give her hope. The Greys were hunting him, and she obviously had her own problems. This Fae, the murders of her coven. That was enough for her to deal with. He couldn't drag her into his mess as well. He'd been right earlier; it was a mistake to come to her.

"I need to go," was what he ended up saying and he could see the disappointment in her eyes, that she could tell he was evading her.

"The Greys will have people in U-Sec, they can't find me here Nat, it would put you in too much danger if they did. I can't stay here."

"Then why did you come to begin with?" she asked in exasperation, coming to stand next him and looking into his eyes.

"Because if I'm going to fight then I need to protect myself and you're the only witch I trust in this city that's strong enough to create the protections I want," he told her honestly.

He reached for her, but didn't quite touch her skin, his hand hovering mere millimetres from the pale beauty before dropping away.

"I'm sorry I came; I shouldn't have come back."

"If you hadn't, I'd probably be dead Rafe," she dismissed his apology, "I'm glad you came back, I'm happy to see you again, truly," she smiled at him, and took his hand in hers.

Her smile turned sad for a moment before disappearing altogether.

"But you're right, you need to go. The Greys can't find you here and I can't come help you right now. I need to stay here, I need to deal with this mess, talk to U-Sec.

"Undertown might not be your home, but it is mine," she told him, "I need to deal with this properly."

Holding his hand tightly, she pressed herself against Rafe, luxuriating in the feel of his body against hers for a moment and enjoying the immediate reaction she could feel in him before stepping away from him completely.

"I'll come see you when I'm done with U-Sec ok? I'll come look at your wards and then we can go our separate ways again. I owe you that much for saving me here today," she told him.

"Natalya, I..." Rafe started but she cut him off.

"U-Sec is coming Rafe, you need to go. I'll see you later," she interrupted him firmly.

Rafe looked at her helplessly but peeking out the door he could see she was right; in the span of their short conversation several U-Sec officers had started converging on the store. If he waited any longer he would be stuck and if he got stuck then he was a dead man.

"I'll see you later then," he said slowly, watching her to make sure that she acknowledged him.

When Natalya nodded her agreement, he took one last moment to drink her in. The long white hair, the pale skin, the tight black clothing. They'd just fought a battle in the middle of her store, and she still appeared as nothing short of perfection. He would never see her as anything less.

Tearing his eyes away, Rafe fled at her urging. Making his way into the storeroom where Natalya had frantically searched for the iron, he dashed through it and out the back door into the service alley that ran behind the businesses on this ring. Choosing the direction away from the approaching officers of the law, he ran into the dim shadows of the alley and left Natalya and the wreckage of her store behind him.

Natalya watched him go. The man who meant so much to her it hurt. The man whose touch she craved after two years apart and could still feel the ghost of it upon her own. The man who had run from her once before and now she had urged him to do it again. This time would be different though. This time it was for their benefit. This time she wouldn't run from it either.

The next few hours were going to be a pain. Her coven was gone, three highly skilled witches slaughtered and a brazen attack on her store. U-Sec were going to want a lot of answers. Answers she didn't know and couldn't possibly give them.

Taking a moment to school her features, Natalya looked at her reflection in the glass of the shop windows, ensuring that she looked suitably shaken and shocked before stumbling out the door to meet the first of the U-Sec officers scrambling onto the scene. It was time to sell her story.

Rafe was getting anxious. It had been hours since his escape from Nevermore and he still hadn't seen or heard from Natalya. He'd easily made his way through the service alley without trouble, circling almost a third of the ring away, he'd made his way back into the bustling public promenade via a maintenance passage.

He'd re-joined the crowds without issue, mixing with the public he'd allowed himself to be carried along back towards the entrance to Undertown he'd come through. He'd had no issue returning to the tunnel that led to his bunker either, no lurking thugs or monsters, no bullets or magic launched from out of the dark. It had been almost a disappointment after the sudden rush of his fight against the Fae.

He'd settled back into his bunker, resealing the trapdoor, and rechecking all his other runes around the building above and on his door into the bunker. They'd all still been intact.

He'd cleaned his revolver. He hadn't used it at all, but it was still the prudent thing to do. He was sure he'd be getting use out of it soon enough.

After that he'd treated his face and checked himself for any other wounds that he might have missed in the blur and adrenaline of the fight.

When he sure there was nothing else he could do, he had rested. The fight with the Fae had left him drained, powering so many runes to put him on that level was a big effort. Only time and rest would recharge his battery as it were. He could only hope the damn creature didn't show up again soon.

He'd napped lightly for an hour before getting back up. Using his phone, he'd checked the news for any reports regarding the attack on Natalya's store and there had been nothing but vague statements on U-Sec investigating the disturbance and its possible links to the murders of several witches. But nothing about Natalya herself or any mention of him being present.

So, he'd settled in to wait.

But now. Now he was anxious. It felt off, he should have heard something, anything from Natalya by now. If she said she would come see him and check the wards then she would. She was not the type of person to go back on her word once she gave it. She still had his number he was sure, just like he'd never deleted hers. She would have contacted him if something had changed. Something was wrong. Had the Greys got to her? Had that murderous Fae?

He couldn't take it anymore. If something had happened to her because of him, Undertown was going to be meeting a whole new breed of monster.

Grabbing his gun again and making sure he had a mix of silver and regular bullets, Rafe headed for the trapdoor again. Defusing the wards and unlocking it he dropped back into the darkened tunnel below his bunker and started heading straight for Undertown.

Adrenaline, fear, a smouldering anger, and an almost primal need were coursing through him. It was Natalya, everything was so much more intense when she was involved. It made him feel more alive.

He made it to the entry way to Undertown in less than ten minutes, his worry for Natalya driving him forward faster than usual. The walkway was far less crowded now that it was later in the day, most of the inhabitants of Undertown already having made their way home after a busy day. Rafe powered through the thin stream of people, almost aggressive in the way he pushed his way forward, his thoughts totally focused on finding Natalya.

He didn't notice the pair of men that detached themselves from the wall behind him and start trailing in his wake, nor the elf that joined them from the opposite side of the walkway. All three tracking him like hounds on the hunt.

They followed him several yards back as Rafe made his way into Undertown proper and onto the commercial district rings. They kept on his tail as he made his way down and level and headed towards Nevermore, not letting him leave their sight for an instant.

Rafe paused as he approached Natalya's shop, stepping out of the small amount of pedestrian traffic, and taking a moment to look it over. U-Sec had barricaded the place off. Black, and yellow tape fencing off the entrance to the store as well as a small area around the inner railing where the Fae had launched herself into oblivion. There were no U-sec officers in sight, and it was pretty easy to tell that the whole place was empty. Natalya wasn't there. He could only hope that she was still on the top ring and inside U-Sec headquarters.

Turning to head back upwards, intending to visit the top ring himself and see if he could find Natalya, Rafe reconsidered calling her. He'd dismissed it as an option already because if the wrong person overheard her talking to him than that was just as bad for her as seeing them together, not to mention the fact that U-Sec might not even let her answer it to begin with. But with her continuing lack of contact the more it felt like things already had gone bad.

Pulling out his phone and starting his trek upwards Rafe decided to just go for it. Flipping through his contacts and scrolling for Natalya's number, Rafe was caught completely unaware when the barrel of a gun was jammed into the small of his back.

"I'd put the phone away if I was you Mr Newark, there ain't nobody you can call that's gonna save you now."

Rafe froze and cursed himself. Fuck! He'd been completely blindsided. Way too focused on Natalya and not paying anywhere near enough attention to his own surroundings. He focused on the voice, trying to pull any detail he could from it, to see if he recognised it.

Male, deep and somewhat phlegmy, it rang with a casual confidence that could only come with experience. He could smell the stink of cigarettes that surrounded the man behind him and Rafe guessed he was probably older than himself. A seasoned operator. That meant he probably knew what he was doing, and he had let him get the drop on him. Double fuck!

Rafe could only do what his mysterious assailant said, slowly lowering his phone and putting it away into his pants pocket.

"Excellent choice Mr Newark," the man continued, "now you and me are gonna take a little walk alright?

"You try to run, and I'll shoot you right here an now, don't bother me none.

"You try and use any of that fancy rune stuff of yours an I'll shoot.

"You go an try and pull that piece you got sitting under your arm and I'll shoot. We clear?"

"You got it," Rafe replied without hesitation, there wasn't much else he could do with the gun jammed against his spine, he needed at least a bit of space if he was gonna risk his magic.

"Now, let's keep walking, nice an easy and we'll duck into this nice an convenient maintenance tunnel that's just ahead alright?" the unknown man said once Rafe complied with his warning.

Rafe did as he was told, starting to walk at a steady pace around the ring and drifting towards the maintenance passage as he was directed. Getting off the street was ok with him, if he didn't have to worry about bystanders then there was a lot more he could do with his magic, and he didn't have to worry about any of them getting shot or hurt.

As they edged closer he tried to turn his head and get a look at his captor, but the man jammed the gun harder into his back and growled at him, "Keep looking ahead Mr Newark if you please."

Rafe grunted and kept walking. His thoughts were racing, trying to figure out a plan, some way out of this mess.

Turning into the side passage, the goon directed him along it and into a similar service tunnel to the one that ran behind Nevermore and he'd used earlier to escape. They went maybe twenty meters from the entrance and away from the possibly prying eyes of any passers-by when Rafe was instructed to stop.

"Turn around Mr Newark and get on your knees if you please."

Rafe did as he was bid, turning, and kneeling before the man who had ambushed him and getting his first look at him. His guesses had been fairly accurate. The man was older than him and carried himself with the air of confidence that could only be earned by experience. Dark clothes, dark eyes, short brown hair. Nothing about him stood out, he may as well have been any other guy on the street.

What did surprise Rafe was the second man and the elf standing back at the entrance to service tunnel. He hadn't detected them either. He really had been distracted by thoughts of Natalya. This situation just got even more out of hand. He could only assume they were armed as well, so even if he could overpower this goon, chances were the other two would mow him down before he even got close. He might be a tank by human standards thanks to his runes, but he wasn't bulletproof.