Banished: A Katrina Baker Novel 01 Read online

  Banished

  A Katrina Baker novel 01

  Author: D. L. Harrison

  Copyright 2017. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Table of Contents:

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  “Mom!” I screamed down the stairs into her lab. I didn’t like to go down there, mostly because it wasn’t a safe place for the unwary. My mother was a supervillain, a mad scientist in fact, they called her Havoc which should explain a lot, and I’d almost been killed more than once in the past by her varied and nefarious inventions. You’d think she’d put a door up here to kid proof it, but I refer you back to the supervillain moniker.

  “Kat nap. Your mother isn’t here. She had umm, things to do,” my father said nervously as he walked up behind me.

  My father was also a supervillain, they called him Braindrain. He wasn’t all that powerful, but he was really good at finding out information he shouldn’t have. More like a white collar supervillain.

  My name was actually Katrina, and my father had the irritating habit of calling me Kat nap, and then giving me lectures about my behavior. Apparently, I was too good, and I didn’t quite fit in as a supervillain. He usually waxed poetical about calling me Wild Kat, or some other stupid supervillain name if I ever lived up to my family’s legacy.

  It was all my mother’s fault of course. I’d found out when I turned twelve that she’d screwed with my DNA while I was still in the womb, apparently with the intent to juice up my father’s mental abilities and make me stronger. Problem was it worked, too well, and the empathy would stop me every time I tried to do something bad. How can I possibly enjoy hurting someone or taking from them when I can feel their pain?

  I couldn’t even be cruel to animals, because I felt their pain and thoughts as well, much less humans. Telepathy and empathy weren’t the only things I got either, I had telekinesis, and other mental powers, which still eluded me at times. Okay, most times. But in my defense, most of my focus and learning has been on telepathy and empathy, since those two were strong enough to drive me nuts with a city’s worth of thoughts if I couldn’t block out most of it.

  Until I was thirteen I had to wear a thought blocker necklace my mom created, until I could shield on my own. Even then it’s taken me five more years to really perfect those abilities.

  Dad was about to go around the corner toward the stairs where I stood. Three, two, one… I cringed.

  “Katrina! What are you wearing?”

  I sighed, apparently my father’s desire for me to be a young supervillain woman at the age of eighteen, did not include the sexy black cat suit I was wearing. I wasn’t the hottest girl in a super suit out there, but there was no such thing as an ugly super, either hero or villain. He wanted me to be a modest evil supervillain, perhaps dressed in a potato sack, lest someone lust after his little girl. It was annoying, because that was one of the only things I liked about supervillain women, they knew how to dress sexy.

  I wasn’t that tall, or that gifted around the chest, which was annoying, couldn’t my mother have amped up my boobs a little when she mucked with my mind DNA?

  But I digress. What I did have was a perfectly proportioned body which was in perfect shape and toned. We, supers, generally had very good genes that way. Yes, I still had to exercise, but not nearly as much as a normal would to maintain my figure. I had long red hair, with a tinge of blonde in it, and big brown eyes. Everyone tells me I’ve an attractive face as well as a graceful willowy body, but it was also true that I wouldn’t steal the focus of a room when I walked in. Except maybe in this outfit, which hugged every curve. As a super though, I was just average.

  But wasn’t that what a supervillain did? Stand out and do what they wanted?

  I sighed and tried for the redirect, “Dad, focus. What do you mean mom is busy? She promised me she wouldn’t miss my graduation which is in two days. She better not get arrested again.”

  I still hadn’t forgiven her for missing my eighteenth birthday three weeks ago. She’d gotten arrested the day before, and it had taken her three days to cook up a mind control gas to escape the prison for supers. She was pretty good at what she did, a top of the heap mad scientist, but no one stood a chance against the hero Omega. He was invincible, strong, fast, and could fly. If all that weren’t enough, he shot energy out of his hands.

  Nothing could hurt the guy, or even stop him for more than a second. A nuclear blast might wake him from a nap, but even that was up for debate. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, I knew his secret weakness because of how strong my telepathy was, but I wouldn’t tell anyone. I made an absolutely terrible supervillain.

  He glared at me as if to say we weren’t done discussing my clothing choices, and then shook his head in denial, “Not this time, your mother’s going to take him out. She should be home by six to take you to the mall to pick out a graduation dress.”

  I frowned in concern, I really hoped not. I was graduating school with his son Anthony, and had a huge crush on him. My parents didn’t know of course, and would throw a fit if they knew. No self-respecting supervillain would ever date a hero. Anthony was a lot like his dad, both in temperament and powers. Not to mention the cute face and muscled body, and his deep powerful voice made my knees a little weak.

  It would be really awkward to say how sorry I was that my mom killed his dad, and then ask for a date. It was just impossible, really.

  I was a bad supervillain, but I knew if I became a hero instead it would crush my father. He was kind of evil, but he loved me and disappointing him or mom was the last thing I wanted.

  “How? It’s impossible. There’s a reason he’s called Omega, he’s invulnerable,” I crossed my fingers behind my back. My dad was a telepath too, but hadn’t been able to get past my shields and spot a lie that way since I was thirteen. But he could still study body language, and was an expert at it.

  He grunted in agreement, “You’d be right, if she was going to try to kill him like all the other times she wouldn’t have a chance. She’s taking a different approach this time. He’ll be alive, but so far away it won’t matter.”

  The imagined conversation with Anthony updated in my mind. Sorry my mom banished your dad from Earth, want to go on a date this Friday, maybe a movie?”

  I sighed, totally impossible.

  “Alright dad, I’m going to my room.”

  I walked away and he said sternly, “And change into some decent clothes while you’re in that room young lady!”

  I rolled my eyes, went into my room and opened the window. Then I jumped.

  I mentioned that I sometimes have trouble with my telekinesis, I fell about fifteen floors until it finally kicked in, and I went flying off. I had to find and stop mom, before
she got arrested, killed, or worse, banished my dream guy’s father from the Earth.

  I figured I could find them fast with sweeps over the city using my telepathy, but that turned out to be unnecessary. The first clue, was the large swirling vortex of light and wind above superhero headquarters. The second clue was my mother flying next to it in one of her crazy supervillain suits cackling with laughter as Omega was being sucked slowly toward it. He was obviously trying to fly away, but didn’t quite have the power to do it.

  I was torn for a minute, if I saved him I’d probably be disowned, yet I knew I’d never make it as a supervillain. Plus, I really wanted that date with Omega’s son. I rocketed toward the building with a thought. I reached out with my mind and crushed the machine in my mother’s hands, and her face went livid, but also drained of blood at the same time. I realized my mistake when the vortex started to wobble and become unstable instead of closing altogether. Apparently, she’d needed that machine to open and close it in a controlled fashion, and flashes of energy escaped it and started to strike the nearby buildings starting fires, breaking glass, and I could hear the screams and feel the panic from the citizens.

  Crap. I was so getting grounded.

  When I got close enough, I reached out with my mind and grasped Omega who was almost inside of the vortex and I reversed direction, and pulled with all the mental power I could muster, which was considerable. I thought maybe between the two of us he would escape, and my mental conversation with Anthony was updated.

  I sighed softly as he looked down into my eyes with an admiring and loving smile, “Oh Kat, your amazing and so beautiful, thank you for saving my father, I’m sorry he put your mom in jail, but would you like to go out Friday night?”

  I grinned, and held on tighter as I pulled his father away from the wobbling vortex, and then he must have gotten far enough away to escape the powerful pull, because my mind shot him into the sky like a slingshot. Then I heard my mother’s wail of despair, she’d been so close to winning this time, and it was her own daughter’s, my fault, that she hadn’t.

  One of the reasons I have trouble with telekinesis is it requires total focus on what I want. If I’m not sure I want it, or my mind wanders even a bit, it cuts off, or does something wonky. Usually it works for flight easily enough, because I’m not suicidal enough to want to crash into the cement, but other things, especially if they’re mean things, just don’t work.

  Which is what happened when the guilt struck at my actions, and I was no longer sure if I should have done this at all. My mother was going to miss my birthday. My father would be devastated when he found out that I’d done something so heroic, and had gotten mom arrested at the same time. Not to mention while I was in this suit, in public, it would be all over the news no doubt.

  I was a total disappointment to my supervillain parents. My telekinesis cut off at the worst possible time as all these doubts struck me at once, and right as the wobbling vortex of energy and wind started to collapse, I was sucked in.

  As I was tossed around and spun about like a kitten in a dryer, my last thought before I passed out was that no good deed went unpunished. Why hadn’t I listened to my father?

  Chapter 2

  I woke up and moaned, and not in a good way. I had a splitting headache and felt like I’d taken a ride through Satan’s blender. It also occurred to me my hands were secured behind my back, and I was lying on the ground.

  It also smelled like ass in here.

  I opened my eyes, and found myself in a jail cell that was reminiscent of the dark ages, or at least how I’d pictured it when I learned my history. I looked around, or tried to, because as soon as I moved my head I was struck by dizziness and wanted to yack, which wouldn’t have been pretty.

  I took deep breaths until the dizziness passed, and then opened my eyes in a squint, and looked around carefully with slow movements. I was pretty sure I had a concussion, but my super healing should take care of that fairly quickly.

  I was in a jail cell of some kind, and lying on straw of all things, like I was a horse or something. There was a bucket which was where the unholy smell was coming from. That was it, other than that it was just three solid stone walls, and what looked like iron bars. Past the iron bars there were two torches on the wall in the hallway, only one of them was lit.

  Straw, torches, a bucket for a bathroom? Where the hell had my mom sent me?

  I tried to get my arms free and they jingled with the sounds of chains. Someone had chained my arms behind my back, and it led to the wall. I managed to lift my head a little and look down, there were iron manacles around my legs as well. Where the hell was I? Where had my mom planned to send Omega? Lastly, how could I get back home, where my parents would kill me, and I’d hopefully get that date I’ve been wanting with Anthony?

  “Hello!” I yelled out, not sure if I wanted to meet the one that chained me, but I had to start somewhere. Plus, even chained up I was far from helpless, especially now that my mind was clearing. Super healing came in handy for situations like this. Although I had to admit, this particular situation was a first for me.

  A man walked down the hallway and looked at me. He wore a burnished breast plate with a weird symbol on it. It looked like a woman in robes, with a glowing sword held high above her head. He was fully armored, and looked like a body builder. I imagined it must be heavy. He also had a long sword at his belt, along with a type of dagger. It was pointed and round, maybe a poniard? He had his left hand up above his chest, holding a small medallion with the same robed woman and sword on it. His right hand was rested on the pommel of his sword.

  It had been a while since my class on ancient weapons. Either way, the guy looked like a well-built normal on his way to a Ren fair.

  “Hello?” I finally asked, when he just stood there and stared at me.

  He got a confused look and said five words that were nonsense.

  Of course, I wasn’t on my Earth anymore. Probably dumb to think he talked in English. I sighed and lowered one of the filters on my mind, my mental shields were well built, and subtle enough to read a mind without lowering all the protections on my own mind. I slipped into his, and absorbed his language, and what he had said. Which was kind of freaky, he’d asked if I was a dark witch.

  Language was easy, it would take hours to absorb the rest of his knowledge, and by the look on his face he wasn’t going to wait. The one thing I did figure out was all this iron around me was because iron interfered with magic, and I only learned that because it was in his public mind. Of course, what I did wasn’t magic. What freaked me out was I was apparently on a world where magic very much did work.

  I muttered, “You’ve got to be shitting me,” and then in the man’s language, “No, I’m not a witch, I’m not from here, I was… banished, accidentally, from my world. My name is Katrina.”

  He frowned, “I am Gerard. How could you be banished by accident to my world? Are you sure you’re not a spy from Chilik?”

  I was able to glean from his mind that Chilik was an evil mostly non-human kingdom from the south. I was right by the border to Chilik in the human kingdom of Trelin, in the town of Southwater. So named for all the nearby ponds and lakes. Though there were exceptions in Chilik to the non-human thing, apparently dark witches, dark mages, and dark clerics dwelled there, as well as captured Dwarven, Human, and Elven slaves.

  There were good witches, mages, and clerics as well of course, they lived here in Trelin. Trelin was kind of surrounded, it had the Dwarven mountains to the east called Belirith, the elves to the west in a forest city called Gwienidd, and another human kingdom to the north called Jendas that wasn’t considered evil really, but wasn’t exactly friendly with Trelin either.

  There were no equivalents in my language for the monsters that dwelled in Chilik, so my mind assigned fictional races to them, goblins, orcs, and demons. Really, it was close enough from the images I pulled from his mind anyway. I was so going to apologize to those gamer geeks for being such
a bitch to them when I found a way home.

  As far as the symbol on his breastplate and medallion, that was foremost in his mind. It was his goddess Ictia, the goddess of battle, and the man before me was Gerard the paladin. A kind of warrior priest. Again, I stole the word paladin from the stupid role playing games back on my Earth, they weren’t really called that here, but that fictional being from my world was the closest analogue.

  Gerard was far from being noble and pure like the game paladins, but he was devout to his goddess, and he was a fighter with both sword and magic granted by his goddess, so I figured close enough. He was also a border guard of sorts, in case of an attack from Chilik, he would help the village guards fight them, or send for help if it was a true army attacking, and not just a raid.

  Apparently Southwater being the southernmost town and on the border meant they got attacked often. It also had a large log wall around it, like a fort, but bigger.

  He believed if I tried to cast an evil spell on him, his faith and pendant would protect him. Who was I to say he was wrong? Too bad I didn’t cast spells.

  I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. Truthfully, I kind of wanted to curl up in a ball and cry until Mom made something in her lab to come get me. Surely she wouldn’t leave me here? She couldn’t ground me or disown me otherwise.

  On the other hand, I’d smashed the controller, and the vortex had been unstable, there was a chance she had no idea what world I’d ended up in. I’d have to figure out a way back on my own if I could. Maybe a mage could help me? I kind of doubted the gods would help a misplaced supervillain from another world, one who wasn’t very good at villainy. I sighed, I just hoped there was a way home, if I was stuck here…

  I cut off that line of thought before I started to cry. Generally, I was pretty confident, but this situation made me feel helpless.

  “My mother is… complicated. Let’s just say she was trying something new in her… laboratory, and I got sent here by mistake. No, I’m not a spy, I’m not even from your world, but I may be stuck here for a while, and I might need help getting back. Maybe a mage can help me? Can I get out of here now? It really stinks in this cell,” I added plaintively.