They walked straight out of the Black Cauldron's entrance and into a nearby alley. Behind them, Abel could feel the presence of two sorcerers following closely.
He and Daniel slipped into the narrow alley. Abel reached into his backpack and pulled out his wand, then pointed it down the alley ahead.
"Notum Me Non."
A soft white light emanated from the wand, spreading as an invisible barrier across the entire alley. The effect was immediate—a couple of pedestrians who were walking past suddenly seemed to remember something important and changed direction. A guy who'd been about to cut through the alley just... kept walking. The magic ensured nobody would stumble into their business.
Abel positioned himself in the middle of the alley with Daniel beside him, waiting.
The two sorcerers didn't take long to arrive. They walked into the alley casually, and when they spotted Abel and Daniel already waiting, something flickered in their expressions—surprise, maybe? The taller one, lean with sharp features, smiled. It was a polite smile. Professional.
"Please, don't misunderstand our intentions," the tall one said smoothly. "We're not here for any unpleasant business. We simply want to have a conversation with you both. That's all."
"Yes, exactly," the shorter one added, stepping slightly forward. He had a rounder face, more muscular build. His smile was equally practiced. "The exchange office in the Black Cauldron has become... unreliable lately. We observed that you two moved with purpose, that you knew what you wanted. That suggests to us that you're not inexperienced." He paused, his eyes calculating. "We thought perhaps we could have a mutually beneficial discussion about magical knowledge. What do you think?"
The words were polite. Reasonable, even.
But Abel could see it clearly in their eyes. The way their gazes tracked his movements. The subtle tension in their shoulders. The slight curl at the corner of the tall one's mouth—not quite a smile. They weren't here to talk. They were evaluating him, deciding if he was worth the effort.
"Communication," Abel said carefully. "You mean sharing magic?"
"Not exactly," the tall one said, his smile never wavering. "Each person's magical training is unique. Even if you inherited a strong tradition, at your age—clearly quite young—you likely haven't fully explored what you're capable of. We have considerable experience. Decades, in fact. We thought perhaps we could... guide you. Help you understand your own potential better. Surely that's worthwhile?"
It was a well-practiced pitch. Smooth. Almost convincing if you didn't notice the lie underneath.
Abel laughed—actually laughed. "So basically, you want me to hand over my magical knowledge and you'll give me advice in return? Is that what 'communication' means to you two?"
The tall one's smile remained, but something cold entered his eyes. "You seem very confident for someone so young. I wonder if that confidence is warranted."
"Maybe," Abel said, and he could feel Daniel tensing beside him. "But I'm not interested in finding out with you two."
The shorter one's expression hardened slightly. "That's disappointing. We were hoping you'd be reasonable about this."
"Here's the thing," Abel said, taking a step back and putting distance between himself and Daniel. "You two are obviously decent sorcerers. You've got technique, experience, years of training. But you're also predators. You found two people you thought you could pressure, and you followed them here. You're hoping that if you make the right threat—with the right smile, the right words—they'll be scared enough to cooperate."
The tall one's smile finally faded. "You're being disrespectful."
"Nope," Abel said. "I'm being honest. And I'm also done talking."
He raised his hand, and both sorcerers moved simultaneously. The shorter one made a sweeping gesture with his arm, and two massive trash bins at the entrance to the alley suddenly flew upward, spinning toward Abel and Daniel. They were heavy, filled with garbage and stinking waste—the impact would be brutal.
Abel raised his wand.
"Protego."
The barrier appeared instantly, a solid wall of invisible force. The trash bins hit it and bounced backward with tremendous force. The sorcerers barely managed to dodge their own attack—the tall one moved in a precise, dance-like pattern, his hands rising to meet the rebounding trash with an invisible cushioning force that brought them safely to the ground.
It was a competent defensive move. Fast reflexes.
But Abel was already moving.
He snapped his wand forward and spoke quickly: "Gravitas Minuo."
The spell hit him like a rush—suddenly his body felt light, almost weightless. He wasn't floating, but the reduction in gravitational resistance meant his muscles could move faster, push harder without the normal weight constraints. It wasn't superhuman speed. It was just... what a human body could achieve if physics were slightly less demanding.
He sprinted forward.
The tall sorcerer had just stabilized the trash bins when he looked up and saw Abel already closing the distance. His eyes widened—he hadn't expected the response to be so immediate.
Abel drove forward, pivoted low, and swept one foot between the sorcerer's legs while simultaneously grabbing his robes at the collar with his right hand. Using the man's own body weight against him, Abel pulled sharply in one direction while driving his right elbow upward in a vicious arc.
The elbow strike caught the tall sorcerer clean under the chin.
The impact was devastating. The man's head snapped back, his body went limp, and he collapsed immediately—fully unconscious. It wasn't flashy. It was efficient. It was the kind of move someone makes when they actually know how to fight.
The shorter sorcerer had a half-second to react before Abel used the fallen man's body as a shield, holding him upright just as the shorter one started casting something—probably trying to create distance with a blast spell.
Abel's wand came up from under the unconscious man's armpit.
"Stupefy!"
The red bolt of light shot out, precise and powerful, striking the shorter sorcerer square in the chest. His spell fizzled. His body convulsed and he dropped hard, completely unconscious.
Abel caught the tall sorcerer's falling form and gently lowered him to the ground, then pointed his wand at the man's face.
"Petrificus Totalus."
The man's body went rigid, frozen completely.
The whole thing had taken maybe ninety seconds.
Daniel stared at Abel in genuine shock. The two sorcerers—experienced predators who'd probably done this dozens of times—had been dismantled with almost casual efficiency. One moment they were moving, the next they were either unconscious or stone.
"That was..." Daniel started, but didn't finish.
"Yeah," Abel said, breathing normally. The Gravitas Minuo was already fading from his system, and he could feel the weight returning. "Not too bad."
He looked at the two incapacitated sorcerers with something that wasn't quite pity. They'd been decent fighters. But they'd made the fundamental mistake of assuming Abel was just some scared kid they could pressure.
They'd found out otherwise very quickly.
END CHAPTER 15