Lady of Poison_ The Priests - Bruce R. Cordell [59]
He'd been saving one last spell of healing, holding onto it for a desperate situation. The current situation qualified, he decided. Without Ususi's aid, he doubted his spear alone would see him through the conflict. That's when the temptation thrust up from his subconscious, like a bubble of poisonous gas seeping to a swamp surface. He could call on his heritage; he could use his talent. He could end the threat then and there.
"No," he uttered out loud.
It was too much. He'd sworn to himself…
Thrusting the thought from his mind, he bent and recited the spell of healing on the fallen mage. With Ususi's magical arsenal at hand, there would be no reason to bring his talent into it, but the temptation, awake once more, settled into the back of his mind, waiting.
Ususi groaned, her eyes fluttering, when the bluish gleam of his healing magic faded from her skin.
"Up and at 'em," Marrec cajoled. "We're about to have company. Why don't you show them the hot end of a fire blast?"
Ususi mumbled something, then took Marrec's proffered hand. He helped her to stand, but her grip was weak and shaking. His healing spell had brought her to consciousness, but he realized the woman was still hurt
Her eyes widened, and she pointed behind.
Marrec whirled in time to see the last ooze man fly from the still-open portal mouth, its flapping wings spattering droplets of muck. When it saw Ususi and Marrec, it crowed in delight then croaked, "Anammelech is coming! Anammelech is coming!"
The twigblights, their courage restored by Ususi's weakness, pressed them from the other side. They were only twenty or thirty feet away and moving closer with a determined step, if constructs of dead tree branches can be determined.
"Ususi, take them," Marrec whispered.
He grabbed up his spear once more, and cast it at the screaming muckman. The shaft flew wide, missing the darting, yelling creature by inches.
Ususi steadied herself and began speaking. Her low tones climbed in octave, and with a rush she managed to force several sounds out of her mouth simultaneously. A wave of red flame was born from the path of her waving hand. The semicircle of fire grew in height and width and rushed away from her toward the returning twigblights. The fiery front broke over the creatures like a true wave. Marrec could feel the heat even from where he stood, as five of the creatures caught fire immediately, sending streams of oily smoke into the sky. The crackle and snap of burning twigblight was loud. The remaining three creatures danced away, apparently in full retreat.
"Way to go, Ususi," he congratulated the mage. She graced him with another of her rare smiles.
The muckman continued its disturbing chant about the imminent arrival of Anammelech. It opened the distance between itself and Marrec, wary of Justlance's sudden return to Marrec's grasp.
Without warning, the creature exploded.
Ooze and odiferous mud splattered Marrec and Ususi. All that remained of the muck creature was a crater-like circle, its circumference formed by its remains.
"Well… that was convenient," opined Marrec after a few seconds of examination.
Ususi studied muck crater, concentration wrinkling her brow. She said, "That was no accident."
"You think it blew itself up on purpose?"
She responded, "The master calling home his familiar, perhaps."
"Messy way to say, 'here, boy,' don't you think?"
Ususi sighed, "Do you make a joke of everything?"
"Only when I've just escaped death by a nail's breadth," confided Marrec, grinning.
"You know, I have noticed you don't always joke.
"Hmm?" Marrec raised an eyebrow.
"Most of the time you speak simply, even like a commoner, but every so often your speech lapses into a series of formal proclamations, like 'Flee or perish!' or 'Now you shall meet the cruel end of Justlance!' It is… interesting," finished the mage.
Marrec opened his mouth to respond, but Ususi spoke up again, saying, "It is a habit I've been studying. It is my theory that you slip into that manner of