Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [112]
When it struck, she felt a mild vibration, nothing more. Thank Mystra for those mantle rings.
The archmage sneered. “Your paltry protections cannot spare you forever.” She spat the words out of her mouth.
Kestrel stared at Mordrayn, still dumbstruck in the presence of the sorceress. She realized that Mordrayn was actually speaking-not using her mind’s voice, as they’d witnessed previously. Was this a sign that her connection with the Mythal was indeed broken?
Have faith. Anorrweyn’s gentle voice entered Kestrel’s thoughts. Even now, I am one with the Mythal and work to turn its power against our enemies.
That’s all very well, Kestrel wanted to answer, but what do I do in the meantime? As if in response, she heard her companions hurrying toward the ledge from the back of the underground chamber.
Mordrayn lifted her claw once more, this time pointing it into the cavern. “We’ll see if your friends are so well protected.” She aimed her hand at Athan, who led the advance. “Back for more of my attentions, Athan? Some men just can’t get enough.” A bolt of lightning raced from her talons to strike him. The vigorous fighter staggered under its force but did not fall.
The bolt did not stop there. It arced to Corran, then Durwyn, catching all three men in a chain of electricity. When it reached Ghleanna, however, her spellstaff absorbed the charge. Ghleanna tapped the staff twice on the ground to send the bolt streaking back to Mordrayn herself. The electrical charge left a hideous burn on the cult leader’s scantily clad chest.
The archmage screeched in outrage. “I’ll pry that staff out of your dead hand!” She threw her head back and shouted in a voice that echoed off the stone walls. “Pelendralaar!”
Kestrel finally shook off her fear. Three of her companions were injured because she’d stood here like a halfwit and let Mordrayn get the upper hand. With passing regret for her lost magical dagger, she drew her twin blades from her boots. Their familiar hilts felt comfortable in her palms. She hurled the blades at the archmage.
They bounced off an invisible shield and fell harmlessly to the ground. She uttered a stream of curses-would nothing go right for her? Two more weapons gone and all she’d managed to do was capture Mordrayn’s unwanted attention once more.
The archmage turned her baleful gaze on Kestrel. “What an annoying little gnat you are.” She raised her dragon claw again. Kestrel prayed her mantle rings could withstand the continual assault.
Ghleanna’s spell, however, was faster. The half-elf passed her arm in an arc, then pointed at Mordrayn. A blast of swirling ice crystals sprung from her hand. The frigid air formed a cone that enveloped the cult leader. Mordrayn let fly a string of foul epithets as she shook with cold.
“Not dressed for the weather, Kya?” Athan goaded. The knight’s hair yet stood on end from the shock of Mordrayn’s lightning bolt. He neared Kestrel’s rope-somehow spared by the Protector’s holy fire-and a moment later was lost to Kestrel’s view. The rope grew taut. He was ascending. Corran followed close behind.
“Perhaps this will warm her.” Faeril opened her palm to loose a searing ray of light. The beam sped straight toward the archmage. A mere foot away from her, however, it sputtered out.
Mordrayn laughed, a spine-tingling cackle devoid of cheer. “A child’s spell!” She swept her dragon arm broadly. “Let me show you how grown-ups play.”
A cloud of greenish-yellow gas formed in front of her, rapidly growing until it reached some thirty feet in width and brushed the recess ceiling. The fog’s noxious odor left Kestrel nauseated by its proximity-she dreaded its effect on anyone who breathed it directly. Mordrayn curled her red lips into a perfect O and, with a small puff of air, sent the cloud drifting off the ledge toward Kestrel’s companions.
Before the gas reached him, Durwyn released an arrow. It was a blind shot, as he couldn’t possibly see the archmage clearly with the cloud between them, but it whistled through the air directly at Mordrayn. Like Kestrel’s daggers,