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MOONLIGHT
With Elric gone, fresh clear Moon magic rushed into him. It washed away the hurt of his shoulder and leg and loosened his still tense and trembling muscles. Sels rolled over and sat up. His shoulder oozed sap through a burn in his shirt. He could move his arm a bit, but it hurt.
However, his leg was a bigger problem. It was bent at an awkward angle below the knee and even the slightest attempt to move it sent new agony shooting through him, despite the magical rush that was distancing him from the pain.
To distract himself from looking at his leg, he examined the room. Arara’s terror tickled his mind and he could see her fight with Elric was not going well. He needed to do what he could to help her. But whatever it was he’d have to do from where he was.
The symbols on the floor crawled with magical power. As he watched the magic flared up, flowing out along the carvings then curving up in a single bright line of magic that hurt to look at. The line veered away and through the door.
Through the bond he saw Elric cast a spell just as the magic reached him. Elric was using the circle to augment and strengthen his magic; he had to find a way to awaken the Jegera and get them out of the circle, or Arara was done for.
Fire came into his hands at his command, powered by the bounty of sky-metal that was still a sharp, sour lump in his mouth. He left it there, it was easier than holding it.
Rather than the usual shades of red and orange, this fire burned purple and blue. The purple blaze crawled out of his palms and along the floor, ready and eager to devour. When it reached the first line of carvings it was repelled. Sels grit his teeth and willed the fire forward. It pounded against the barrier, but was unable to get through. He sent the fire questing out along the edge of the circle, probing for weakness.
A hand clamped down on his shoulder and he let out an ear-piercing shriek.
“Shush, it’s just me!” Sesay hissed at him and crouched down beside him. “Your leg,” Sesay reached out a hand towards it and he could see her mouthing the words to a healing spell.
Sels grabbed her wrist with his good hand and pulled it away before spitting the star-metal into his hand so he could talk. “No time, we’ve got to destroy that pattern now or Arara and Ottont will fail. He’s using it to make his spells more powerful!”
At Sesay’s puzzled look he elaborated. “The circle is drawing power from Recka and the Jegera.”
Sesay turned to look. “It’s protected,” she said, pointing to the burned line of his fire on the floor as it quested around the circle. “Normally I’d never be able to break one of Elric’s shields, but he’s spread himself thin.”
She stood and stepped over Sels with care. When she got close to the edge of the circle she stopped, took a deep breath, and reeled off a complicated string of syllables while gesturing with her hands. She finished with a shouted word so infused with power it made Sels’s teeth ache. The protective shield around the carvings sparkled. Cracks formed around where Sesay stood, racing out along the dome until the entire structure was covered in them. It shattered and vanished, as if it had never been.
As it fell, Sels’s questing fire raced inside, merrily burning. Acrid smoke filled the room, black and greasy, as the flames consumed the symbols. The heat evaporated the water in the blood until it too began to burn. The heat was suffocating.
While the flames grew, Sesay dashed inside the circle towards the middle where Recka and the rest were beginning to stir. Recka staggered to all fours, and looked in horror at the purple flames burning all around them.
Sesay reached Recka and dropped to her knees, burying her face into his ruff with a muffled sob. Recka twisted, licked her face, and nudged her up onto his back. The rest of the bewildered Jegera fell in behind him. Sels reached out and parted the flames for their escape.
*****
ELRIC’S ICE-BOLT RICOCHETED off the wall to Arara’s right, leaving a frozen streak in its wake. Arara put on a burst of speed. There was a point on each stride where her feet left the ground and Ottont instructed her to push herself forward at that point, making each step the equivalent of four.
That worked until they reached the corner, where the corridor curved sharply. On the next step Ottont propelled himself ahead of her, jumped, and twisted so that his feet hit the far wall. His claws dug into the wood with a creak, and he launched off, losing almost none of his momentum.
Arara skidded underneath him, scrabbling at the floor as she tried not to hit the wall. By the time she got her legs underneath her she had lost her lead on Elric. She put up a force-shield between him and her but he blasted through it like it wasn’t even there.
The mental backlash hit Arara, tangling her legs and sending her into a nose-dive into the floor. Before she’d even stopped sliding Elric was on her. Only a judicious use of a force-push deflected his swinging cane, which whooshed by only a hair’s breadth from her head.
Ottont was racing back down the hallway towards her, and he mentally hit Elric’s hand. The cane spun out of Elric’s grip and bounced down the hall where it impacted with the head of his assistant behind him. The Kin dropped to the floor, senseless.
Magic crackled around them, making Arara’s fur stand on end. Through the bond Sels shouted a warning that Elric was gathering his power. She looked up and Elric’s delicate Kin features were twisted with rage as he chanted. Arara whimpered, more in reaction to getting a stab of pain from Sels than fear.
White flashed in front of her eyes as Ottont threw himself bodily at Elric. At the same time Arara dove into Elric’s mind with all the strength she could muster, just as Ottont had instructed her. Once inside Arara ripped and flailed, throwing subtlety to the wind.
Ottont’s claws hit Elric right in the chest. Inside his mind Arara felt his pain as the claws penetrated his thin robes. She felt herself getting swept away by Elric’s mental defenses and struggled to tear her mind away from his. Sels helped her keep a grip on herself as she pulled herself free from Elric. The last thing she felt as she broke away was teeth on Elric’s throat, tearing it out.
*****
ASSISTED BY BOTH RECKA and Sesay, Sels limped into the entrance hall. His leg still screamed at each step, and only the hands at his shoulders kept him upright. With the circle destroyed and Elric dead, his throat ripped out by an enraged Yaka, the power of the false-sun spell had broken. Without the Sun to power Sesay’s healing magic Sels would have to wait until morning to have his leg fixed, something he thought he’d never be glad to hear.
Both Sesay and Sels had felt the massive outpouring power let loose at Elric’s death, they guessed that the whole city had. As the group slowly made their way back out, soft moonlight was all that illuminated the dark halls. Once outside Sels couldn’t help but admire the star filled sky. He’d never noticed how pretty it was before.
All the Jegera and Yaka lifted their heads to howl at the sliver of the moon visible overhead. Sels had the strangest urge to join them, but contented himself with admiring the way that the starlight lit up Sesay’s smile.
The carriage waited where they’d left it. As they all piled inside Sels though he heard cheering and music, but a stab of pain from his leg pushed it from his mind. It was a tight fit with all of them. Arara ended up on the floor in front of Sels, balancing his injured leg on her shoulder. Recka was tightly packed in next to Sels, with Sesay sitting on his lap. The three Jegera who’d been in the circle were arranged on the floor. Elric’s two Kin assistants sat on the opposite bench, along with the bonded pair who’d attacked them in the hallway.
As the carriage vines pushed up and off his leg was jostled, but the rest of the trip was short and uneventful. They all piled out in the courtyard, which had been lit with sun flower lanterns, to find a double line of Alpha-Guards awaiting their return, Yegra among them. The guards all stiffened and presented their necks as Sels and Sesay exited the carriage.
No one said anything as two of the guards lifted Sels down to the ground. The Kin and Jegera prisoners were led away without comment. Once the carriage was empty the guard commander approached Sesay.
“Elric?” he growled.
“Dead,” Sesay placed a hand on Sels’s arm. “We left him in the mansion. Take that,” she waved to the carriage, “and go retrieve the body. Quietly.”
Moments later the carriage crawled away, vines flashing in the moonlight.
