“I don’t doubt it,” said Turnball, and put his boot on her throat.
From his pocket he pulled what looked like a penlight.
“This looks like a penlight, doesn’t it?”
Holly could not speak, but she was guessing the slim cylinder was
something more sinister than a light.
“Yet it is quite a bit more than that. You may have guessed that
black-magic runes are something of a hobby of mine. Illegal, yes, but
almost everything I do is illegal, so why start worrying now? What this
little laser does is burn the rune directly into the skin of the person I
wish to enslave. No magic necessary. So long as I have the
corresponding rune on my person, then you are in my thrall forever.”
Turnball showed his thumb to Holly, the one with Vishby’s rune still
inscribed on the pad, the magic of which could be transferred to her
now that Vishby was dead. “And guess what, my dear? A free slot just
opened up in my organization.”
Root activated the laser and hummed for a moment until the tip
turned red, then he jammed it into Holly’s neck, branding her with his
binding rune. Holly bucked and screamed in a black-magic fit. “Not so
gentle as the touch,” noted Turnball, stepping out of puke range just in
case. The fit lasted less than a minute, leaving Holly rigid on the floor,
breathing abnormally fast, eyelids fluttering. Turnball licked the blood
rune on his own thumb. “Now, Miss Short, what say we go and kidnap
a warlock?” Holly stood, arms stiff by her side, eyes unfocused.
“Yes, Captain,” she said.
Turnball clapped her on the back. “That’s more like it, Short. Isn’t it
liberating not to have a choice? You just do what I say, and nothing is
your fault.”
“Yes, Captain. Most liberating.”
Turnball handed her a Neutrino. “Feel free to kill anyone who gets
in your way.”
Holly checked the battery level expertly. “Anyone who gets in my
way, I kill them.”
“I like these lasers,” said Turnball, twiddling the rune pen. “Let’s do
someone else. Tell the bot to pop young Fowl out of his bubble, Unix.
It will be nice to have a pet genius.”
Unix dragged his finger across the touch screen, and Artemis
flopped gasping to the floor like a fish out of water.

- The Atlantis Complex, Chapter 9