The counter-offensive group fell in behind Case’s shield. John felt acutely aware that they had no cover from the sides, but hopefully they wouldn’t need it.

  Cortez poked Case, “Can you make this more of a chevron shape, cover our flanks?”

  Case grit his teeth, “Short version is no. Haven’t practiced enough and just moving this thing is an immense strain as-is.”

  “Gotcha. Yan, Samantha, be ready.”

  John had a passing familiarity with tactics from reading old war novels and history classes in school. Assaulting troops with an elevation advantage was horrible. Case's impregnable magic made it a little better, but still nerve-wracking. People kept glancing at the bushes and trees on the hill, certain mages would leap out. That was, of course, impossible. Their magical senses would reveal any attackers at this range, and John was willing to bet on this crew against pretty much anyone that couldn't immediately level a city block. John met Jen's eye and flashed her a thumbs up. She grinned and wiggled a vine at him.

  John kept his head on a swivel. His magic senses went further than anyone else, so he’d have to help spot. The majority of the mages who’d ambushed them were ‘behind’ them, attacking vehicles further back in the convoy. Only a couple remained on the hill, and they fled from the auras moving on them in concert. Bizarrely, the assaulting party found themselves at the top of the rise with no issue.

  The view from the top of the hill cleared up any confusion they’d had about the tactical scenario. The ambushers on the opposite sides of the hill were trading fire with police officers, national guardsmen, and the convoy’s mages. The convoy elements on the ramp had retreated back down to the street. A few people in the enemy’s ‘rear’ turned and hurled magic at the shield, but none of the disparate magics were the right stuff to give Case any trouble.

  For their trouble, Cortez, Yan, and Samantha repeated their earlier maneuver. A burst of Samantha’s godawful mana disoriented the enemy combatants, then Yan blinfded anyone still looking. Cortez stepped around the shield and fired. Four people went down before Cortez had to duck back into cover. A searingly purple blob of mana barely missed Cortez. It hit a tree behind the vanguard, seemingly to little impact. When a different, lichen-colored bolt whacked the ground next to it, sections of bark fell off. The bark segments had separated into perfect little letters and symbols that clacked to the ground.

  John suppressed a gasp. What the hell type of magic would do that? And what would it do to someone's body?

  Cortez conferred with Case, “Will your shield defend against whatever the hell that was?”

  Case shrugged, “Only way I'll know is to try it out. I'll give plenty of warning before my shield collapses or anything.”

  Yan and Samantha both looked a little nervous, and John couldn't help but agree.

  Down below, a gigantic metal plate floated down to reveal one of the fifty caliber guns. Gunfire erupted as the ambushing mages who'd been suppressing the convoy's heavy weaponry became distracted. John was glad that this part of the convoy had a few mages capable of shielding the vehicles. Several destroyed fifties were visible, and the relief force could only pray the gunners were alive.

  Cortez gestured for them to advance down the hill, trying to hammer the ambushing force against the convoy. This side of the hill had significantly more ambushers without magic. John could understand the general strategy they'd intended. Isolate the scariest mages in the vanguard, then shake the less protected rear until firearms and other valuables fell out.

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  More the pity for them. Cortez was terrifying, and the other mages in the vanguard were at least capable. The vanguard mages surged down the hill as the convoy's combatants pressed the advantage and fired. There was still enough light to obviate the worst of the friendly fire risk, and the ambushing forces were being routed. Blood flowed down the hill, and John momentarily considered trying some magical first aid to take a prisoner, but discarded the idea just as quickly. He'd be charging into about a dozen overlapping fields of fire, magical or otherwise. His only recourse was to grimace and try to ignore the sensation of vitae running down the hill.

  A small group rushed the vanguard detachment from their left, but Jen and Yan set into them as soon as Cortez called them out. Yan blinded them, then Jen gave each a solid drubbing with the rebar. They were all still alive, but cradling broken hands and knees. John was hopeful that they'd be able to spare at least a few people.

  Any mage firing on their position was swiftly targeted by the fifties down below. None of the mages had invisible mana like the heat and ice mages, so any attempts to return fire exposed their positions. Soon enough, the ambushers began to flee.

  Almost as soon as the retreat began, the convoy's forces ceased firing. John glanced at Cortez.

  “Rules of engagement. We're on a fairly loose leash, but slaughtering retreating mages is a little beyond what we can justify. Ultimately, they haven't hurt many of us.” Cortez explained with a clipped tone.

  Cortez's radio crackled. He listened for a moment then pointed at a particular APC, “John, go. Someone's badly hurt behind that vehicle, they need your magic if they're gonna live.”

  John bounded out from behind Case's shield and ran down the hill. He arced slightly, keeping the hill between him and the retreating force. The amount of blood he felt nauseated him, but he pressed on. He skidded to a stop in front of the indicated APC.

  A national guardsman grabbed him and guided him to a wounded police officer. Some of the paramedics buzzed around, holding supplies but with worried expressions on their faces. John could feel the man was hurt, but couldn't tell what ailed him.

  A paramedic turned around and grabbed John's arm, “You're the guy with the healing magic, yeah?”

  “Yeah, what's happening?”

  “This poor bastard got hit with some sort of mana, now his pulse is all out of whack. We can't figure out what's actually wrong with him, but his breath smells awful and he has some sepsis indicators. We figure the mana poisoned him.”

  “Yikes, ok.”

  John knelt next to his patient. His magical senses had no insights for him, so he laid a hand on the officer's sternum and pushed mana through his system and out of his palm. He could dimly feel the mana interacting with something beneath the officer's skin, but no specifics. John used his off-hand to check for a pulse and felt the weak, fluttering pulse even out and strengthen.

  Concerningly, his patient's breaths grew strained and almost wet. The paramedics looked quite concerned, but John's mysterious sense for a person's health him the man was improving. He kept the gentle flow of mana going, until the officer began to cough and tried to sit up. John took his hands off the man and sat back on his shins. The officer jolted up, turned his head, and hacked out an absolutely hideous wad of mucus. The little packet of disease looked like pure respiratory evil, and actually had a tiny aura of its own. The officer scrambled away from it, fully aware now that John had extracted whatever 'it' was.

  John resisted his urge to pull his gun out and shoot the thing. He had no idea what it was, for starters, and it was another brand-new magical phenomenon. He grabbed a paramedic by the sleeve, before they also drew away.

  “Can you get me a urine cup or something? Maybe an evidence bag? Something sturdy but we won't mind being contaminated by …. whatever that is. Thanks.”

  Patient forgotten, John knelt down by the little mucus blob. He poked it with a finger, and felt his mana rally to repel a foreign influence.

  “Ohhhh-kay, definitely not safe for the normal people.”

  The paramedic returned with a urine cup, and John deposited the blob in there. He sealed the cap and stuffed it in a pocket.

  Cortez and the rest of the vanguard detachment made it down the hill. Cortez immediately went to the national guard squads to debrief and see about getting the convoy moving again. The paramedics, corpsmen, and even a few cops rushed out to the hilltop to save whoever they could. Mages went with them, because there were still several auras active on the hill. John assumed those auras' owners were half-dead, but mages were dangerous regardless. He was happy to be able to sit back for a moment. When Case and Jen showed up, he practically collapsed against the highway median. He closed his eyes and tried to recover from the last half-hour.