The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Taliesin Govannon (best free ereader .txt) 📖

that she could say in answer to my words, those surprised me most of all. I smiled back, and then she was gone.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                I hope that Tiffany knows that I’m not a total pothead!

                The thought occurred to me as I lit up another in a succession of joints. I really should have been blazed beyond belief, but my Sorceress-level metabolism meant that a dose of THC that would have put even Jack down for the count would give me a mild, but pleasant, high that would fade quickly if not constantly re-enforced.

                So yeah, I smoke a lot of weed, but it’s not like I’m trying to escape from life. Deal with it without going bonkers, maybe.

                Perhaps it was the fact that I was the only one smoking for a change. Katsu, Gaia, Tiffany, and Raina had gathered for a formal meeting of the Order of the Stag, and I decided to sit in. They were all sober and ready to work.

                I looked around at the room we were gathered in. It was one of the unused rooms at the mansion, and Vincent was already decking it out to be the Order’s headquarters. A large world map, as well as an equally large white-board, were hung on one wall, while a large oval table ringed with comfortable chairs dominated the center of the room.

                It looks like something out of a World War Two film!

                “Okay ladies,” Raina said, opening a notebook, “let’s begin. What do we know about the assault on the South African compound?”

                “Uncle Jex’s compound was hit with four teams, one for each warehouse type, so they knew where we were going to be.” Tiffany reported. “The commander found electronic surveillance equipment in the facility later, so we’re not looking at any inside informants, at least.”

                “How many people did your Uncle lose in the battle?” I asked. I was afraid to hear the answer.

                “Amazingly, we only lost a single guard in the firefight.” Tiffany said, relieved. “The invading squads were a total loss… those who didn’t fall in battle ate cyanide capsules and died before they could be questioned.”

                “That needs to be a priority.” Raina said. “We need to catch one of the sentient ones, like a human, for questioning. Tracing things back after the fact hasn’t been working out so well for us.”

                “They won’t talk easily,” Katsu said next, “Not if what Jack tells me about the assault on the house earlier in the year is true.”

                Ah yes, I thought, right before my ascension to being the Sorceress. "They were a Russian team," I said, "top-ranked in the world. A couple of them were still supposedly on active duty at the time of the raid."

                “Russians don’t talk easily.” Tiffany said. “A lot of the mercenaries are controlled by the Russian mob, and they know that if they crack under torture, then their families will pay the price.”

                “I can get them to talk,” Gaia said, smiling, “and it won’t involve torture, so it’ll be information you can trust.”

                “How did you guys deal with the assault?” I asked Gaia and Katsu. “I know how Tiffany and I got out, but never heard about you guys.”

                “The suite locked down when the shooting started.” Gaia answered.

                “It was tough enough to survive a nuke attack.” Katsu added.

                “I wanted to go and help, but Jexo was prioritizing our safety.” Gaia continued. “Once it was all over, I got us home.”

                “Sorry I wasn’t there.” I said.

                “Don’t sweat it.” Gaia said, smiling. “It was boring where we were. Besides, I hear you took a couple of them down!”

                “Yeah, Tiffany and I were a pretty good team.” I replied, grinning. “That reminds me,” I continued, turning to Raina, “I wanted to talk to you about including Tiffany in our training exercises.”

                “Really?” Tiffany asked, leaning in.

                “Yeah.” I said, shrugging. “I mean, you and I work well together, and Raina and I have become pretty good at double-teaming the beasties, so if we combine everything… “

                “I can see it.” Raina said, nodding. “I mean, even having a spotter to direct us where to blast next could make our efforts more coordinated and less chaotic.”

                “And Sargent Collins here is trained to work as a team.” I said, smiling at Tiffany.

                She smiled. I could tell that she liked the idea.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                “Pull!”

                Tiffany hit a series of switches, releasing a stream of round paper targets into the air. In a matter of seconds, Raina and I brought them smoldering down.

                “Pull!” I said next, and we did it again.

                It had been two weeks since the Solstice ritual and the birth of the Order of the Stag, and Raina and I had spent a chunk of each of those days training. Since we had a third person to run the targeting machine, Raina and I had been able to team up at dealing with threats, her with her Fae magick and me with my elemental powers. We had gotten to the point where we could alternate our shots to take down an entire clip… almost fifty targets… down in seconds with perfect precision.

                “You guys are an incredible team!” Tiffany exclaimed as she watched the final targets burn up.

                “You’re a part of that team.” I said, pointing at her. “Don’t forget, you’re our spotter.”

                I thought back to a couple of nights before when Jack had unveiled his training drones. Each had a dim LED light on it, and our goal was to blast them before they could touch us. To inspire us to do well, each drone delivered an electric shock if they touched us.

                “Yeah, my black ass would have gotten singed way more if it hadn’t been for you.” Raina said.

                “Yeah, but I don’t shoot cool looking light or fire blasts like you guys.” Tiffany said,