A Dragon's Ascension - Ed Greenwood [95]
"Snakes!" Hawkril swore. "Horns of the Lady, her hair is full of snakes!"
Embra frowned, held up the wand, and murmured something. The wand seemed to glow for a moment, and then darken a little. Its tip crumbled away as she pointed her other hand at the fast-approaching sorceress.
There were suddenly plumes of sizzling flame in the air behind Tshamarra, curling and writhing things that crackled, smoked, and fell to the floor to twist and burn. Embra kept her hand leveled and will intent until every last snake had been purged from Talasorn tresses.
As the sobbing sorceress plunged into their midst, and Craer flung soothing arms around her to wrestle her to a swaying stop, Embra bent her gaze on the doorway Tshamarra had returned through, and murmured another phrase that made the wand in her hand darken from end to end, and lose a lot of its length in crumblings.
The Talasorn sorceress wept uncontrollably into Craer's shoulder, and the procurer rocked her and muttered soothing words with a strange expression on his face. When Glarsimber grinned at him, Craer calmly raised one hand in the corkscrewlike twisting gesture whose rude meaning is known from one end of Aglirta to the other.
A moment later, an expected sight met Embra's watchful eyes: three Serpent-priests appeared in that doorway, smiling coldly as they surveyed the room. Embra sent their- flaming serpents back at them in a fiery hail that made them draw back in alarm and embark on hasty spellweavings.
Tshamarra fell silent, and then moved in Craer's arms, seeking freedom. When he gave it to her she patted his shoulder in silent thanks, gave him a red-eyed smile, sniffed loudly, and turned to face her tormentors-in time to see one of them gasp and reel back out of sight, as Embra turned the flames he was battling into something else. The Lady Overduke smiled tightly as the wand she was holding crumbled entirely to ash and trickled away between her fingers.
The stricken Snake-cleric was still falling when a second Serpent-priest received the crowning surprise of his life-literally. The longfangs none of the priests had noticed scuttling across the ceiling and down the wall above their doorway chose that moment to swing down into view with a jagged piece of rock as large as a man's head held delicately between two of its legs. The speed of its swing gave the released stone more than enough force to crush the top of the priest's skull.
Spitting blood from several places, the man crumpled, knocking over the third priest-and that was when it became apparent that there were other Serpent-clergy behind, who were growing impatient at not being a part of all this reeling and dying. They pushed forward into the room, hurling gouts of magical fire from their palms-and the longfangs came scurrying back across the ceiling, skirting the great gap, to hang upside down about Hawkril, who gave him a grim smile, and said, "Swords out, all. 'Tis time to take a stand-'twon't be long before Bloodblade himself gets here, all blood and thunder, and we'll be fighting for all Aglirta. Again."
He glanced up, and added, "No swords for you, old man. Stay a beast for now-'tis safer."
"Old man?" Sarasper growled, the maw of the wolf head blurring briefly into a human mouth. " Who's an old man?"
Hawkril snorted, but said with a grin, "My apologies. I mistook you for some other lurking longfangs."
"Gods, but this throne room's seen more than its share of blood spilled," Craer said wryly. "Now, unless I'm mistaken, it's our turn to wash the tiles red."
"Raulin, to me," Embra said quietly. "I need someone to ward off hurled things coming my way, and to hand me all this gathered magic as I need it."
Tshamarra held out the helm to her, and then to Raulin, and then back at Embra with a grin, and the Lady Overduke wrinkled her nose at the Talasorn sorceress and jerked her head at the young bard to indicate where the armor should be bestowed.
"If you ladies are