Bloody idiot! he thought, waving his hand and suspending the contents of a cauldron that had been dumped above them once they entered the room.

"It's a trap!" Tyrinn shouted after rolling away from the now non-existent danger.

"You don't bloody say!" he snarled back, tossing the dangerous-looking liquid aside.

Sedgewick glanced around the room. The dim moonlight from the windows allowed him to pick up signs of movement here and there, but it was too dark to make out much more.  Well, since the element of surprise is out the door...

He smirked. "Now ladies-" 

A potion vial sailed towards him. Sedgewick flicked his wrist, sending it soaring at top speed back towards its owner.  Seconds later, a scream of pain pierced the air.

"We all know how this is going to end.  You've made an adorable attempt to hold your own, and I do congratulate you on that, but sadly-" A fireball appeared at the end of his staff, illuminating his face in an eerie light. "Your playtime's up."

"What are you doing? We're outnumbered," Tyrinn whispered beside him, clutching his staff like a lifeline.

"Shut up Tyrinn, this is the most fun I've had in weeks," he whispered back before turning his attention again towards the dark room. "Now come along nicely, and you might actually survive this encounter. Which is more than others who have faced me can say."

He felt, rather than heard, a crackle; the sensation of someone's magic essence being twist in an unnatural way as it called on the dark, forbidden powers.

"SORCERESS!" Tyrinn cried as he rolled to avoid the coming blast.

Sedgewick met it head on.

His hand flashed forward, and an orange glow enveloped the mass of black magic, stopping it inches from his hat.  The unnatural creation twisted and turned like an errant toddler in an attempt to overpower the spell holding it hostage.

Its efforts were fruitless.

"That was going to hit my hat."  A fireball shot off his staff and split into pieces that flew into the old lamps hanging from the ceiling, flooding the room in light.  Three dozen witches came into view, some crouching behind abandoned crates, other leaning over the walkway stretching across the building.  They appeared poised and ready to strike, or at least they would have if the light hadn't suddenly blinded them.

His jaw clenched as he stared at the woman who he sensed had cast the spell. "I like this hat."

"You don't scare us, mage," the auburn-haired woman said.

A knife clunked to the floor, and one of the witches fled towards the back exit.

"Redyna!  Get back here!"

"I did not sign up to die today!"

"You coward!"

"I do believe this belongs to you."  Sedgewick swung his staff forward and the magic holding her spell rushed towards the sorceress. Halfway through its flight, Sedgewick dismissed his own magic, and the remains of her black magic landed at her feet, snuffing out like a dying coal.

"Perhaps it is a good thing you're as pathetic a caster as you are. If you had any talent, that might have actually hurt you."

Her eyes sparked with rage, and she readied her hands to fire off another blast.  "Get them!"

It was then they attacked in droves.

Sedgewick raised a barrier just in time for a half-a-dozen knives to crash against it.  He dashed deeper into the room, blasting back vials of potions as more knives crashed against his barriers.  Fire blazed about him as he ignited his staff and swung around, hitting an assailant behind him.  She hit the floor screaming, but three more quickly took her place.  Several others rushed towards him, and Sedgewick found himself surrounded by a dozen or so witches.

"Surrender, mage.  You're outnumbered," said the sorceress.  The dark energy emanated off her like heat from a fire, easily recognizable to one such as himself.  Contrary to bardic tales, this was a good thing.  If he could sense it, that meant she wasn't skilled enough to keep her unnatural abilities hidden.  Not that he needed any more evidence of her obvious inexperience.

"It would take far more than you lot to intimidate me.  You think casting a bit of black magic makes you powerful? Please. You're nothing but a child playing with forces you cannot begin to understand."

He narrowed his eyes and smiled.  "Let me show you what real power looks like."

He twisted a ring on his staff and a six-inch blade sprung out the bottom. The sorceress raised her hands to fire, and some of the dumber witches rushed in with potions and knives raised.  Sedgewick dropped to his knee, and stabbed his staff into the ground, sending off an energy blast that sent the entire circle flying backwards.  Wrenching his staff out of the ground, he twisted around and fired at a crate some of the other witches were hiding behind.  A blast of Tyrinn's green magic shone behind him, but he paid it no mind.

It was moments like this that he lived for.

His body seemed to thrum alongside his magic as he gave in to the feeling of his powers rushing through him.  Fire crackled around him, and shrieks pierced the hot air as the spell ignited the cloaks of his enemies.  Crates and pieces of wood lifted off the ground, only to crash into anyone who thought she could hide. 
Some fool in the walkway above threw a knife at him.  He caught it with his essence and melted it in his hand, the drops of metal dripping from it like little comets careening down towards the land.  Focusing all his energy into his staff, Sedgewick slammed it down onto the floor.  A vortex of orange magic blasted out, and propelled him up onto the walkway.  The few witches remaining there fled as he set the walkway ablaze.  A burst of black magic spiraled towards his back.  Sensing it, he twisted around and raise a barrier.  The spell disintegrated on contact, too weak to break through.

"I don't know why you keep attempting that."  He jumped off the walkway and cushioned his fall with his magic essence.  "It hasn't exactly proven the most reliable."

For a brief second, panic flared in the eyes of the novice sorceress.  Her witches were scattered, and even those who had fled outside were being brought down by the yellow glow of Mydel's magic.  The crates and beams that had once been tables and cauldron holders for her guild were smashed and ablaze.  Sedgewick could see her resolve wavering.

But then it hardened.

She fired off one last burst, and dashed towards a door at the back of the warehouse.

Sedgewick once again stopped her spell in its tracks and rushed off after her.  She torn open the door, not even bothering to close it behind her.  Not that it would have done her any good.

Sedgewick skidded to a stop inside the door's entrance.  He had assumed that the door led outside, but instead found himself in what appeared to be another segment of the warehouse.  The room was pitch black without even an open window to let in the moonlight.  He briefly considered setting the lamps alight like he had earlier, but without the moonlight, he couldn't even tell if there were any there.  Lighting a fireball on his staff would mark him out as a target.  Then again, it's not like he couldn't sense her pathetic blows...

He lit the fireball.

Immediately, he sensed another blast flying towards him.  He caught it with his magic and sent it spiraling back in the direction he felt it came.  As he stepped deeper into the room, Sedgewick sent the fireball circling around him in an attempt to light up a larger portion of it.  A dim silhouette of the woman came into view.  He smirked. "Now I must admit, this has all been very entertaining, but I would like to get some sleep tonight so why don't you just surrender, and we can hurry this whole thing--"

A searing pain coursed through his body and brought him to his knees.  He tried to scream, but no sound emerged from his throat.  His fireball extinguished and darkness swirled in front of his eyes, indistinguishable from the murky blackness of the room.  Blood thrummed in his ears, and he felt as if a beast had been set loose inside him, tearing him apart at his very core.  Then as quick as the pain came, it vanished.

His anger, however, ignited.

Letting out a growl, Sedgewick stumbled to his feet, and swung his staff forward, releasing another energy blast.  His magic was a blur of orange light as it tore the room apart, and slammed the sorceress against a wall, crumpling her to the ground.  Seeing his opponent incapacitated, Sedgewick turned his powers on the door and blasted a gaping hole where it once stood, flooding the room with light.

"TYRINN!  I've finished cleaning up your mess, now get in here and clean up this one!"