Rich Boy: Growing Pains - 8. Chapter 8

"That's it, Colin, hold it right there," Worthington told the sweating young man in a gentle voice. Colin's pale, hairless chest was shiny with sweat as he knelt on the cold tile of the shower floor. He buried himself deep in Brigg's ass, and he was trembling with the effort of not moving at all, stretching his mage abilities deep into Brigg's mind. The human was whimpering loudly, and Worthington double-checked the wards on the bathroom, not only keeping people from entering but sound from escaping as well.

"Oh yeah, I feel it." Colin's voice was low and sultry.

"Okay, hold him there," Worthington said gently and observed both with his mind and his eyes as Briggs hung just on the verge of his orgasm, right at the cusp of the moment, but going neither over it or backing away. In moments he was screaming at the top of his lungs, begging for release as his body trembled.

"Fuck this is good." Colin breathed as he pumped out and back into Brigg's ass. "I can hold him there like this for a while, right, even if I shoot?"

"Yes, go ahead, finish up," Worthington suggested. It would be easier that way for Colin to concentrate. The shorter redhead did just that, growling as he continued pumping into Briggs and then groaning as he shot his load. Briggs was reduced to whimpering by this point, and Worthington felt the first warning signs even as Colin grinned crazily while pulling out. It had been six days since the campers arrived, and poor Briggs had been the subject every night for Colin's lessons. The tall, extremely lean geeky fellow was not having the best of summers, but at least he remembered none of these nights.

"What's that in him?" Colin asked in a slightly out of breath voice that stirred Worthington's own cock. Watching Colin work had him horny as hell, just as it did every night. He had to admit that Colin was a natural at this, taking to the ways of a Dark mage, the use of sex for power and control as if he'd been doing it all his life. Jamie had complained once or twice that Colin's progress had been stilted, but these lessons he did not have any problem with at all.

"He's approaching insanity," Worthington said softly as Brigg's body stopped twitching and he collapsed on the cold tile, drool starting to come out of a corner of his mouth. "If you hold him at this point much longer, he'll break. Some people can take it longer, others can't. He's one of those that can't."

"Figures," Colin said as he lifted his hand and wiped some of the mess off of his softening cock. As he wiped the gunk off on Brigg's butt cheek, he released the next spell Worthington had taught him. The fine web of magic settled into place over Briggs's mind, and Colin released the hold on the older guy's orgasm as it fit into place. While Briggs groaned with the release of his body, his mind jolted, locking the web into place.

"So that does it huh?" Colin asked with a grin.

"Yes, that adjusts his personality." Worthington agreed. "The key points here are that you can do it through pain or pleasure, but he has to be on the border of insanity, and that the adjustments take time. You'll see the effects in him within a day or two."

"I got it," Colin said with a smile. Worthington watched as he exerted another tendril of magic and Briggs got up, heading to the toilet where he proceeded to clean up. Colin was getting good at this, able to do it now without saying anything verbally. "Nice of you to make his personality nicer while we're at it."

"I told you, you're not going to fuck him up with this," Worthington said sternly. "We'll be doing enough of that over the years as it is. If you don't have to harm someone, why bother?"

"Yeah, but what does it matter with him?" Colin asked. "He's just a mundane."

"A mundane is still a human being, Colin." Worthington snorted. "Would you treat a dwarf that way?"

"Fuck no," Colin said with slightly wide eyes. "The fucker may come back and kick my ass across the mountainside. Only a fool messes with dwarves."

"Even mundanes are capable of kicking your ass if they catch you off-guard," Worthington noted and was pleased with the sudden hooded look over Colin's pretty green eyes. That meant he was thinking about what Worthington had said.

"So, you're still pretty worked up," Colin said with a glance to Worthington's crotch. He was wearing nothing but a pair of silk bikini briefs, and his cock was pretty damn hard still. All it took was a nod, and Colin was on his knees in front of him, pulling the cock out of the underwear and swallowing as much as he could.

It had only been a few days since he'd lost his virginity, but Colin was definitely coming along like a natural. He even managed to take Worthington's entire load without choking and smiled as he put Worthington's softening penis back into his underwear. He had a big smile on his face as he stood up and they kissed.

"Thanks," Worthington said softly as he broke the kiss.

"No, thank you for teaching me," Colin said with a smile and turned to head back to the dorm. Worthington slipped off his underwear and turned on one of the showers as he released the wards on the bathroom. Counselors had to take their showers after campers, and he actually preferred to do it at night, after these little sessions.

The truth was that Colin worried him. As he lathered up under the hot shower, he thought over Colin and what lay at the root of his concerns. Colin had a very slippery sense of ethics, and at times bordered on actions that Worthington thought of as evil. He could not fool himself that Colin wouldn't slip over the line, but he had to think of a way to show Colin why he shouldn't.

Once he was fully trained, Colin would be able to ignore Worthington's instructions on ethics. Putting compulsions on him wouldn't do much good either. He wasn't as strong as Worthington was, but he was strong enough, and Worthington's own experiences showed how useless compulsions could be in the long run. Instead of keeping Colin from slipping into evil, they would all but guarantee it when Colin slipped through whatever controls he put in him.

Instead, he had to find some way to make Colin care, like the way he was doing with Dechaun. The boy and several others in his group were coming along very nicely. He understood the importance of putting money aside, and how not spending more than you had coming in would result in more money being available for spending. It was a principle far too few people understood and would be enough to help lift him out of the poverty he lived in now if he followed it all his life.

Briggs coming in and showering barely bothered him at all, but Colin coming back in to clean up himself did distract him. The truth was that Colin was more problematical than even he was willing to admit. Their relationship was proving to be very odd. At times they were close, like friends, at others it was very mentor/pupil, and still others it burned with wild lust.

It wasn't love like he'd felt for Jeremy, nor the brotherly love he now felt for Jamie who still was not really talking to him. Even as he shut off the water and exited the shower to get his towel, he realized he was getting hard again just seeing the red-haired guy in the shower. Colin had a way of moving that was just so sensual that it set off his hormones, but unlike with Jeremy or even some others, there was no desire to cuddle after orgasm.

The honest truth was that he wasn't able to figure out what was going on between them, and that scared him more than anything.

"What are you thinking about?" Colin said when he came out of the shower just as Worthington was finishing drying off.

"You," Worthington answered honestly and felt weird inside when a bright smile lit the guy's face.

"I like hearing that," Colin said as he began to use his own towel to dry off.

"I bet you do," Worthington said as he wrapped the towel around his waist and left the bathroom. He donned a clean pair of underwear, this time blue boxer-briefs and climbed into the small bed. Before closing his eyes and letting sleep take him, he did a quick check to make sure the boys were all asleep, and that his wards were all in place. It was a quiet night, and he drifted off to sleep before Colin had returned from the bathroom.

The next day was their daylong hike up to a small lake that was near the camp. They set out with two other dorms, all boys, and headed up several trails that the staff guide seemed to know fairly well. Worthington's dorm was in the middle of the group of sixty-odd boys and seemed to have the least problem keeping up with the pace the staffer set.

This morning all the counselors were carrying extra supplies, mostly because they were carrying the food and cooking supplies that they would be using for lunch once they got to their destination. Before setting out they'd made sure all their campers had everything they were supposed to have, including swimsuits on under their clothes. Supposedly this lake was fed by melted snow, and while quite cold it was crystal clear and perfect for swimming.

The hike was long and hot. Worthington was sweating more than he expected by the time they reached the clearing that held the rather small lake. At least the air at this elevation was a little cooler, and there were plenty of trees to offer shade from the sun beating down on them. He spent the first ten minutes up there making sure all of his campers were drinking bottled water they'd brought with them, and did the same himself.

The staffer, a guy in his mid-thirties, named Jim Robers then called everyone around him after he'd set some things up and began to demonstrate how they were going to cook their lunches. Worthington hid his response behind a serious expression even as Dechaun and the others of his group expressed their amusement with the idea of cooking hamburgers on the bottom of tin cans. Still, when the time came, and they were all told to break out their supplies and do the same, he made sure his campers did what they were told and didn't start a forest fire.

Not that a forest fire was likely to be allowed to burn for long when there were three Adept-level mages along on this trip. Jim Robers didn't know that though and made himself quite busy going around and making sure all the sixty-odd young campers and their counselors were appropriately careful in how they set the small fires under their can and cooked their hamburger patties. When Worthington finally bit into his, he had to admit it wasn't that bad, especially for something he had cooked himself.

Then it was time to ‘clean up,' and Jim Robers was quite the avid environmentalist in making sure there was ‘no trash left behind.' Worthington caught the underhanded reference to the child education law and smirked a bit to himself. Once Robers was satisfied, he announced it was ‘swimming time,' and many of the boys started shucking their clothes to head for the water. He did notice that about half of them didn't, and most of those were black campers.

"Why aren't you in the water?" Worthington asked Dechaun who was standing there fully clothed, watching the others who were in the water.

"I don't swim," Dechaun said gruffly.

"So, you don't have to swim to get in the water," Worthington said. "It's pretty shallow."

"I don't like the water," Dechaun said with a shudder. "It's too easy to drown."

"You're afraid of it," Worthington said in surprise.

"I ain't afraid of nothing." Dechaun spat.

"Well then, come on," Worthington said in a challenging tone as he bent over to take off his boots and then shrugged out of his jeans.

"Shit, he wasn't lying." Dechaun giggled as he eyed the bulge in Worthington's black Speedo. "You like looking at all these boys? Is that why you're hard?"

"I'm not hard," Worthington said with a grin and enjoyed the wide-eyed look on the boy's face.

"Fuck." Dechaun shook his head. "I still ain't going in there."

"C'mon, I want some company in the water," Worthington said gently while exerting just the tiniest of influence.

"Oh alright." Dechaun sighed extravagantly and began to strip down. He was wearing a pair of board shorts underneath his pants and followed Worthington into the water. The entire time they were in the water, he never strayed more than a few feet from Worthington, but at least he was in it and smiling as he got into a splash war with a few of the other campers from their dorm.

When Worthington got out of the water a half hour later, Dechaun followed him out, but sat down on the beach area near the water's edge, relaxing in the sunlight. Worthington headed back to where he had put his jeans and boots, waiting until he dried in the air before getting dressed. He was sitting on the grass, tying his bootlaces when he felt Jamie sitting down next to him, also fully dressed.

"His parents had him on a tight leash all those years," Jamie said softly. "I think he got in the habit of seeing how far the leash would let him run before it jerked him back. He does the same now all the time, testing to see how far he can go before you jerk him back."

"I've seen that." Worthington frowned but accepted the olive branch his brother was holding out to him.

"Don't let him get too far before you jerk him back," Jamie suggested.

"He is my responsibility now." Worthington retorted.

"Yes, he is," Jamie said with a sigh. "Do you miss it at all, now that it is gone? The closeness?"

"Yes and no." Worthington shrugged and accepted the change in topic. "You know I love you no less than before."

"Same here," Jamie said softly. "It feels like I can be my own person now though, and I like that."

"So do I, but I miss having you around all the time," Worthington admitted. "Even with the barrier, you were still there, just on the other side. Now it's like I have to search you out to feel you and it's uncomfortable."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one." Jamie smiled softly. "Have you thought about the future at all? Is this going to change any of our plans?"

"I have thought about it a bit," Worthington answered. "Unless you see the need to change anything, I don't. We'll be moving into our house next door when we get back, we've got the castle at Clairville, and after our last year of High School, we go to Yale just like we planned. Is there anything in that you want to change?"

"You like the castle a lot," Jamie said softly. "Would you mind if I didn't spend as much time there the rest of the summer? You're thinking of spending most of the summer there, right?"

"I am," Worthington admitted. "Any reason why you aren't?"

"Jean Grassley." Jamie smiled. "She's pretty, and I think she's been smiling in my direction a little bit more than she would if she wasn't interested."

"Be careful," Worthington warned his brother. "Her father could cause a lot of problems if you deflower her and then dump her."

"I'm thinking of taking things slow with her." Jamie shrugged. "She's still in training with her gift, you know, and she's fairly strong already. It might be possible she'll be a good wife if she can understand…well, you know."

"Yes." Worthington agreed and started to consider the matching of his brother with the eldest Grassley daughter. That would not necessarily be a bad thing if she understood that there was no chance in hell of her ever keeping Jamie faithful to her bed alone. Both of them were quite aware that staying faithful to any one person was not something that held their interest. In the silence that followed Worthington's agreement, they shifted closer together until their shoulders touched. In fact, Worthington's entire right side was touching Jamie, and it was good to feel his brother against him.

"Shit, you two really do look like twins when you're sitting there like that." Mike Kellam said as he walked up to them. He was the counselor of the third dorm that had come on this trip and was still wearing a pair of mid-length blue trunks, and his dark brown hair was falling into his eyes as it dripped water.

"Don't even think about shaking that head of yours and getting us wet," Jamie growled.

"How is it you always know what I'm thinking?" Mike laughed as he sat down on Jamie's other side, albeit a good foot away.

"I'm psychic," Jamie said with a laugh.

"That explains it." Mike laughed. "So, I hear your Badgers are still leading in points there Worthington. What's your secret?"

"Whippings every night." Worthington joked and was pleased that both of them laughed.

"I'll have to remember that." Mike laughed. "Hey, I heard you guys ride bikes."

"That's right," Jamie answered for them.

"You ever ride dirt?" Mike asked. "My cousins and I do a lot of trails out in Chandler."

"No, just street bikes," Worthington answered. He remembered how Steph had been riding a dirt bike when they met, and he'd leeched some of the guy's riding abilities while having sex with him. That was something he didn't do anymore but had given him a lot of skills in things he'd have never learned on his own.

"You should try it." Mike offered. "Or are you guys just speed freaks?"

"I'm just a speed freak," Jamie admitted with a laugh.

They kept on talking about bikes, and different styles of riding for another good hour, and Worthington found it was enjoyable. He'd forgotten amidst all the serious talks that had been his life lately how nice it could be talking about something rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

This is just relaxing. Jamie's thought entwined with his own for a brief moment, and he found himself sighing at the familiar touch against his mind. We get so caught up in the Mage's Council, dwarves, people trying to kill us we forget what it's like to just be normal.

You're right. Worthington said as he stretched out on the ground and relaxed into the conversation until Robers came over to them and suggested it was time to get the boys out of the water and get ready to head back to camp.

The hike back down the mountain was less challenging than going up, and Worthington noticed how much more subdued the campers were. The truth was they were probably exhausted, and he wasn't surprised that when they got back to the camp most of them flopped down on their beds and fell into a light nap. With years of experience at this, the camp staff had not scheduled their dorms for any other activities before dinner, and Worthington found he had some free time to boot up his laptop and check his e-mail.

Master Sinclair,

We have been unable to find out anything more of value about those who attacked on your birthday. I have been asked to express his Majesty's assurances that we will continue our investigation.

Yours truly,

Governor Lokar

There were a few other e-mails, including a whole series from Brandon who had found some time to keep up-to-date on business. At least the two mages that they had hired from Jones's recommendation were taking the workload off of him. Brandon was doing an adequate job, but they were fully trained in their fields, and proving to be quite capable in taking the majority of the workload off of Brandon. Randall Smythe had approved the suggestion to move Sinclair Enterprises operations out to Arizona and would be coming out to Clairville to inspect the premises himself.

His father's soul-bonded attorney was apparently doing as well as could be expected a year after the death of Worthington's parents. Jones had warned that soul-bonded often committed suicide after their partner's death unless they were immersed in work that left them feeling some sense of closeness to the deceased. Worthington hoped that Smythe would accept the offer and move out here. He was one of the few connections to his life before Arizona that did not have any real negative connotation. Smythe had always been a calm, authoritative presence in his family without any connection to the negative things his parents had done to Worthington.

It was in the middle of writing a response to Nick Wooten's inquiry regarding living arrangements for those staffers with family that he lost his connection to the satellite. It had happened once or twice before, and he went into the connection manager to have it refresh its scan. When it failed to detect any signals, he bit off a curse and saved the e-mail as a draft before rebooting. Just to make sure, he plugged the laptop into a wall socket so that it would have plenty of power.

He'd noticed the other night how quickly the satellite antenna depleted the extended-life battery he had with the machine. Normally the battery would last for up to five hours, but using the satellite antenna, it barely lasted two. He'd only been using it for an hour, and it had charged all night, but it was better to be sure.

When the machine rebooted though, it still didn't detect any signal. Nothing he tried managed to bring in a satellite signal, and he bit off a curse at the technology. It wasn't vital that the e-mail go out right away. It could even wait until he got back from the camp in a week. With that thought, he put away the laptop and locked up his locker. There was no sense in tempting anyone into trouble for stealing the machine. They'd just be caught and get into deep trouble for their efforts.

"Hey." Brandon's voice from the doorway was just a whisper so as to not wake the sleeping campers. His glossy black hair was growing out some and Worthington was thinking maybe suggesting crew cuts not be a part of the hazing ritual for the MR at the end of the summer. He liked his soul-bonded's hair when it was grown out a bit.

"What's up?" Worthington asked.

"Have you tried to connect to the ‘net?" Brandon asked. "I was in the middle of an e-mail and lost connection. Now I can't seem to get a signal at all."

"I had the same problem," Worthington assured him.

"That's odd." Brandon frowned.

"Don't worry about it," Worthington said. "Nothing is so important it can't wait until later tonight or even when we get back."

"I was e-mailing Tom." Brandon frowned. "He misses me."

"I thought you, and he broke it off," Worthington said with surprise.

"Yeah, well, like I said, he misses me." Brandon smiled. "He figured out the bitch doesn't put out anywhere near as much as I do and complains about shit all the time as well as expecting him to spend all his money on her."

"Stupid woman." Worthington laughed, barely remembering to keep it quiet. Brandon came in and set down on the bed next to him.

"She is." Brandon agreed. "He sent me this e-mail that was like three pages long and going on about how sorry he was for not seeing how much better I am, and not hanging out with MR as much and letting her lead him around by the balls all the time. I was going to make him beg for me to come back to him though and then the signal cut out. Very frustrating."

"Yes, I would imagine that it would be." Worthington had a very difficult time not laughing aloud at Brandon's expression.

"Yeah, well, you got a new fucktoy with Colin." Brandon retorted. "Um, or whatever it is between you two. The way he goes at Briggs makes me wonder sometimes. The poor guy doesn't understand why his ass is so sore lately. He thinks he's got hemorrhoids or something."

"I think we'll be giving him a rest for the remainder of the week," Worthington said softly.

"It might be a good thing unless you want to show Colin some good healing spells," Brandon suggested.

"I can heal surface wounds no problem." Worthington reminded him. "It's the…"

"What?" Brandon asked as he saw the look of surprise on Worthington's face.

"The wards," Worthington muttered as he tried to concentrate, casting out his mage sense in all directions but concentrating on the area where his sense told him something was wrong. "Have you seen Colin?"

"He was walking with one of the female counselors," Brandon said with a little bit of alarm in his voice. "I assumed he was going to lose his virginity with women."

"Probably," Worthington muttered and frowned at the idea of what the guy could have done that would have set that particular ward off. He and Jamie had set wards over the grounds of the camp just in case, although only the dorm buildings had real defensive wards. They were only here for two weeks after all and just needed basic protections instead of the more extensive protections on their home. This ward that was softly chiming on his head was a warning ward, which only went off for someone trespassing with harmful intent on their mind.

Jamie? Worthington sent mentally to his brother.

I'm in the dining hall helping set up for dinner. His brother answered immediately, and his mental voice held similar concern. You're closer? Any idea what it might be?

It might be Colin testing his leash. Worthington answered. I'll go check it out. Brandon's here with me.

Good. Jamie answered. I'll find out where Carl is and have him stick near me in case it's something else. Give me a shout if it's something serious or you're having problems handling whatever Colin is doing.

I will. Worthington replied and got up from the bed. "C'mon, let's go check this out."

"You got it, boss man." Brandon joked, teasing him with the nickname his campers were using for Worthington.

The camp was full of activity as the campers who had not gone on the lake hike played various games from badminton to soccer. It was noisy and filled with the sounds of kids having fun. Worthington and Brandon waved to a few of the other counselors, and Mr. Hall as they passed them and headed up the trail towards the observatory platform at a fairly fast walk. They were just past the platform when they saw a seventeen-year-old female counselor with long blond hair and an ample bosom stumbling down the path towards them.

"Are you okay?" Worthington asked as they reached her. She mumbled something, and he grabbed her arm with a little concern. Colin had good taste in who to lose his virginity with females with, but he'd thought the boy would be more careful than to leave the girl like this after he was done. He extended his mind into hers; finding the expected memory wipe, but what he also saw sent great shivers of trepidation through him.

There was the expected trace of Colin's magic in her mind, lowering her inhibitions and inflaming her lust for him, but Colin had not performed the memory wipe. That was done by the strange mage whose signature he could not recognize. He'd never seen it before, and it explained the alarms in his wards. Colin would not have set them off just seducing the girl and sending her on her way with a wiped memory.

"Go back to camp, and find Jamie in the dining hall," Worthington growled to the girl, reinforcing his command with magic. She took off at a near-run while he shared what he'd found with Brandon. Their link snapped into place even as they both took off at a run up the trail.

The little clearing where Colin had been fucking the girl was just a minute's run on the other side of the hill and Worthington had barely worked up a sweat when the broke into the clearing. Colin's jeans, underwear, t-shirt, and boots were still in the pile where he'd put them while getting ready to have sex, but there was no sign of the red head in the clearing. Then he caught sight of a pale flash of red in the distance and took off towards it with Brandon close on his heels.

He didn't hear the sound of something landing near him, but the effect on his mind was instantaneous, and he nearly lost his balance as his mental shields scrambled. Brandon collided with him as he stopped, and instead of pushing away, wrapped his arms around Worthington's waist, so they were as tightly together as possible. With a flex of his mind, working around the effects of the government-devised scrambler, Worthington cast shields he'd been developing ever since his first run-in with government mages.

After that experience, he'd kept two of the government's scramblers that messed up the mental shields of mages quite effectively. His time spent studying the devices was well rewarded as he managed to raise shields that were effective against the scrambler's effects around both Brandon and his own mind. Then he raised physical shields just in time as something impacted against the shield and fell to the ground at his feet. A quick glance found what looked like a tranquilizer dart lying there with a smashed tip.

Strengthening the shield that was now protecting him and his Channel, Worthington cast a barrier at the camouflage-clad figure that was fleeing with a nude Colin thrown over his shoulder. The man, or at least Worthington assumed it was a man bounced off the barrier and dropped Colin as he fell backward. There was the flash of a shield around the man, and so the stun bolt that Worthington sent towards him was more powerful than necessary. A shower of sparks indicated the shield had deflected it, but the next bolt broke through the shield just as the man was getting back to his feet. This time he crumpled to the ground, his hand outstretched to the still-motionless Colin.

"Kill him!" The shout rang out, and Worthington's mind went to defense as the sounds of guns firing cracked the late afternoon air. His shield held under the first several rounds, but he was forced to draw more power through Brandon and reinforce it before they opened fire again.

Mage shields could protect a mage from bullets, as mages had known for a long time now. Worthington was dismayed though to find that his lessons on protecting himself from bullets had not been exaggerating over how difficult it was when there was more than one gun or more than one bullet at a time. Power poured through him and into the shield as he struggled to just keep up the shield. Movement in the distance, towards where Colin lay warned him someone was trying to reach them, and he threw up a hasty shield over Colin. It wouldn't do much but should stop anyone except a mage from taking him, unless they started firing a machine gun at that shield too.

The distraction almost proved fatal as something thumped into the ground near him and started spewing out a cloud of white gas. Not taking any chances, he wove a new shield underneath the shield protecting them from bullets. This one was even more difficult to hold than the one stopping the bullets, and more dangerous in a way. It was so tightly woven it would stop gas from penetrating, but it also stopped air from getting inside as well. If he were forced to hold it too long, they would suffocate inside the shield.

The shield that protected his mind from the effects of the scrambler also prevented him from calling Jamie for help. If they were still entwined with the Sinclair consciousness, he could have simply thinned the barrier between them and his brother would know about his danger, but that was gone, and he could not call for help. Brandon was trembling behind him as there was another thump, and this time his shield nearly collapsed from some type of explosive grenade followed by another hail of bullets.

When bolts of power followed that from a mage, Worthington began to feel his muscles tremble in fear. There was a strange taste in his mouth, and he realized that despite all of his power, he was about to be defeated by the attackers. Bullets traveled extremely fast, and when they hit a shield, they had all the force of that speed. Stopping them, or even deflecting them took a good deal of power.

Brandon was reaching out to the life that was around them, pulling in more power as he had been taught, but he would soon be running dry if Worthington had to shield against grenades, bullets, and mage bolts. With a sigh, he tried to detect where the attacker was who was firing grenades. That one was taking up more of his power for defense, and if he could take that one out, it might give him enough breathing room to grab Colin and beat a hasty retreat.

His bolt was ready and would penetrate whatever shields had been put on the grenadier when a flood of power washed against his senses. Panic rose in him until he recognized the source of that power, and that it was now flinging mage bolts at his attackers, beating them back.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Several voices cried out, and he thinned his shields as the attacks against them ceased. A blast of power destroyed the scrambler as soon as he saw it, but he had to wait until the gas cleared before he could take down the last shield. The air he was breathing had gone very stale by that point, and when he was at last able to take a breath of fresh air, it tasted sweet despite the acrid stench of gunpowder and smoke from several small fires that Jamie was using magic to put out. Carl was standing over the shield protecting Colin, and Worthington let it fall so the blond could take a look at the fallen red head.

"Thank god you showed up, bro," Worthington said when Jamie finished putting out the fires and smiled at him. Brandon had gone to help Carl lift Colin who was still out, and they were carrying him towards the two Adepts.

"When the girl reached me I tried to contact you and took off as soon as I realized something was stopping me from getting you." Jamie shrugged. "Impressive little fight here."

"Yes, and this tells us that it really was the government that attacked us the other week," Worthington said with a finger pointing to the destroyed scrambler.

"Well, let's get back to camp and see if we can get some help up here," Jamie said with a sigh. Worthington nodded and ignored his trembling legs as he took over for Carl in helping to carry Colin. He hadn't lost the fight, and he kept reminding himself of that as they made their way back to camp.