Magic Ink V: The Third Reality
Prologue

Wolf and I burst into the militia barracks room to find it an absolute shambles. All of the homemade bunks had been pushed back to create an open space at the front, and some were now broken and others had fallen over. There was a dead woman on the floor near the door with a musket not far from her outstretched hand, and two little girls, maybe three and a-half or four years old, were crying over her body.

What really stopped us, however, were the two young women who had been tied to the posts supporting the roof with their hands over their heads. The two British officers there had stripped and whipped them until their backs and thighs were a bloody mess after raping them.

"Surrender!" we both shouted in loud voices, as the two Lieutenants turned toward us. The one on the left had just cut the girl that he had been abusing loose from the post with a large knife. He looked at us with disdain and a sarcastic grin, noting that we didn't have any visible weapons, and plunged the knife into the girl's belly and ripped it across. The other Lieutenant was just cutting the second girl loose with another knife.

"NO!!" Wolf screamed in shock and anger, as both of us brought our arms up, activating our power rings, and poured hot Magic power fire into both Lieutenants, obliterating their heads. Both bodies instantly burst into flames as Wolf and I rushed forward to rescue the girls from them. I could feel that Wolf was in a panic over what had happened to the first girl.

"Cast a freeze spell on her!" I shouted at him. "I'll cast a preservation spell also!" I added, as I reached the second girl, pulling her away from the blazing Lieutenant's body and keeping her from collapsing. My shock, as I touched her, was almost more than I could stand. How could this be, I wondered? She had a powerful Talent, but as I quickly realized, she had absolutely no training in Magic, and no idea of how to use the Talent that she wasn't aware that she possessed.

I was so shocked, in fact, that I nearly forgot to cast the preservation spell on the other girl. Wolf was frantic and calling for me to hurry to help him. The girl that I was holding up was crying hysterically and ready to collapse. She was also shaking violently from the punishment that she had been subjected to, the trauma of seeing the other girl eviscerated, and lastly from the cold.

I was in a quandary and couldn't move. I had more things that needed doing than one man/boy could handle at one time. I needed to help Wolf take care of the other girl. I also needed to check on the men, who had come with us, to ensure that the fort was secured, and then create a defensive shell around it. The girl that I was holding needed to be treated, but none of my Mage Sisters, or Cousins had arrived yet. She also needed to be covered so she could warm up.

All of this needed to be done at the same time, and yet I couldn't release this sweet young girl to do any of them. I desperately needed to protect her at all costs, as I had never met a young woman with her level of Talent, who wasn't a close relative. I not only couldn't, but wouldn't allow anything to happen to her, she was just too precious to me.

With all of those problems and indecision on my mind, that was the instant that Ken and Kell materialized in the barracks room along with four young women who I didn't recognize!

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