Curse of the Shadowmage - Mark Anthony [102]
The shadevar only grinned.
As though removing a burning cloak, it shrugged its spiny shoulders. The glowing tendrils of magic fell to the ground. There they sizzled for a moment, then went dark. Morhion stared in horror. The spell had not worked!
He had been certain that the key to the ring's power lay in using a spell that contained elements of both light and dark. Yet had been terribly wrong. "Run!" Morhion screamed. I'll try to hold it off as long as I can!" The others only stood behind him, frozen in terror. In his mind Morhion prepared a spell of lightning, though it would likely be useless against the powerful creature. Spiked tail twitching, the shadevar advanced. "You would defile the king," it hissed poisonously, raising a clawed hand to tear Morhion's throat out. "Now you will die."
Morhion shouted his incantation, knowing he did not have time to finish it properly. The shadevar brought its curved talons down in a slashing arc. The blow never landed.
So swift it was nearly a blur, a lithe form heaved itself up over the edge of the pinnacle's summit and launched itself at the shadevar. The blur collided with the spiny creature, knocking it off balance so that the shadevar's strike went wide. One sharp talon just grazed Morhion's face, tracing a stinging line along his cheekbone. The mage stumbled backward into the others.
The shadevar's assailant backed away. It was the Harper Hunter, K'shar. The half-elf's clothes were all but shredded. His dusky bronze skin was bruised and torn. Blood matted his pale hair. Yet his golden eyes blazed with light. He had survived the destruction of the onyx bridge.
The shadevar recovered its balance, digging clawed feet into the stone on the very edge of the pinnacle's summit. It turned its eyeless face toward K'shar, slit-shaped nostrils flaring. "Fool!" it shrieked.
"Defiler! You cannot harm me. I will rend your flesh to liquid with that of these other mortals."
"Truly?" K'shar mocked. There was no fear in his expression, only a feral eagerness. "Very well, creature. I will make it easier for you. I will not try to escape. On the contrary, I will come directly to you."
Before the shadevar could react, K'shar dove, curling his lean form into a tight ball and rolling toward the creature. The half-elf struck the thing's legs forcefully, knocking the shadevar off balance. The creature's obsidian talons made a hideous screeching noise as they scrabbled against the edge of the precipice. The thing nearly caught itself. Then the rock crumbled under the terrible force of its clawed grip. With a piercing shriek, the creature toppled backward.
They watched as the shadevar fell through the air and plunged into the center of the glowing lava pit far below. The ancient creature's cries were cut short as it sank into the pool of magma. A roiling cloud of crimson fire burst out of the pit, then dissipated. After that, there was no sign of the creature. Even shadevari were not proof against the hellish fire of molten rock.
K'shar rose to his feet.
"How did you survive the fall into the chasm?" the mage demanded.
The half-elf shrugged. "I did not fall. I managed to grab a ledge a few yards down, then pulled myself up the cliff face to follow you."
"You saved us from the shadevar," Mari said in amazement, approaching with Ferret and Kellen.
The Hunter regarded her with his startling eyes. "You are wrong, Al'maren. I killed the creature because it was in my way, that is all." A wistful smile touched his lips. "Would that I could be as free as you, Renegade. Perhaps one day I will be. But at this moment, duty to the Harpers binds me still."
In a single fluid motion. K'shar reached out and pulled
Mari's sword from the sheath at her hip, then lunged toward the basalt throne. The Hunter moved so swiftly that the others had no time to react. They could only watch in horror as K'shar pulled the sword back, then plunged the sharp blade deep into the heart of the jet-black chrysalis.
Twenty
Mari screamed.
She tried to move, tried to dive for K'shar and