RS, Author, Novelist on Nostr: #Writever 10.10 — Joker, 10.13 — No Kill Rule (Code) Huffing and puffing, throat ...

#Writever 10.10 — Joker, 10.13 — No Kill Rule (Code)

Huffing and puffing, throat on fire, I reached the school. The sky had lightened enough that I was able to kick the fence correctly on the first try. The mesh curled back, clanging and rattling. Weekend and early, nobody was around.

I heard a whistle and hopped back just in time for a razor dart to miss my nose. My heart skipped a beat. Detective Curio, the constable who'd been tracking my career as an enforcer, wand in hand, boosted himself over the fence and softened his landing. Nice trick, if you knew it.

I limped along a brick path toward the janitor's shack, ready to dash to the gym, despite the sprain, as Curio called out, "You know, I'm missing on purpose, right. Resisting arrest I /am/ justified taking you down."

I shot a bolt of fire. He dodged easily as I shouted, "I didn't kill anybody!"

"Of course not. You're a famous joker. Still a criminal. Who /knows/ if you've never murdered someone? Maybe you don't announce your failures?"

I'd killed nobody. It wasn't ethics—well, not entirely. Some ancestor had gotten ridden by a forest wood-kami, so godly blood ran in my veins. I couldn't do wanded magic; I waved one only to hide my disability. I simply performed magic by thinking it, but that magic couldn't directly offensively hurt people, let alone kill. Wood-kami magic was about "heartfelt" laughter and being "green," best I understood. It made fighting, well... /challenging./ As an enforcer, I frightened people into paying up or following the boss's orders. Any reported broken noses and legs are strictly a ran-into-a-wall thing. Godly magic didn't require me to be innocent or pure, mind you. Being part wood-kami brought new meaning to the word "wood," and "having wood," and my bed partners approved when I shared my magic with them. I approved too, come to think about it.

I saw him swish his wand, grabbing a dart in his magic from a quiver, before accelerating it. I sprinted suddenly toward the gym, then yelled as shooting pains shot up my leg and tried to trip me. My sudden vector change helped me dodge the dart, before I grabbed the door nob.

A dart banged the metal door thumping closed behind me.

My shoes squeaked against the wood. Curio's foot falls thundered as he closed behind me. At the ball court centerline, I whirled around.

"Come on! The commissioner just wants an informant. She'll cut you a de—"

Yeah. Get the boss to kill me. Great strategy!

I flicked my wand. He dashed left, misdirected. The golden oak floor ignited, a few feet short of the bleachers, into a wall of flame. Before he could magically dash back, I made another fire roar to life midway into the shot box. His eyes went wide as I made a lifting gesture. A third wall of two-story-high flames rose to complete the triangle, close enough that I had to ward the heat from my face with an arm.

I couldn't hurt anybody directly, but destroying property /tactically/ wasn't a problem.

I limped into the loo, nevertheless pulling the fire alarm before I'd entered. Inside, I stuffed my specially tailored black silk hoodie cloak in my messenger bag. I shucked towels and used the saturated makeup remover sponge with practiced speed, removing the clown paint from my face. Clowns were scary, but I was especially so—considering the psychotic smile I drew and the natural forces I wielded. Scarier was the tip of my nose bleeding from a razor cut. I'd have to heal that and the sprain. Kami magic worked quickly, but still took an hour or so. I left with a towel pressed to my nose.

I looked at the gym. I'd taken less than a minute. The alarm wailed.

"Shoot," I grumbled. I found conjuring next to impossible, but it was worth a try to douce the gym in water. I shouted the mnemonic, made the hand-gestures, and imagined the equations—at which time a rush of wild magic from my heart made me stumble into a wall.

The sound of a cloudburst sounded through the gym doors. Water sprayed from under the space at the threshold, and squirted knee-level between the doors. A flash followed simultaneously with deafening thunder.

Curio cursed and yelled as I heard him bounce off the door in a wave, splashing away in the surging of water. He must have gotten through the flames, so my impulse to save him was well justified.

"Well that worked better than expected," I muttered. Of course it did. Forest wood-kami blood: naturally! Overkill, but /no kill,/ too. I shrugged as I limped to the back exit before the fire team arrived.

I hoped the school was well insured.

[Author retains copyright]

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