Realms of Shadow - Lizz Baldwin [24]
Two steps into the bedroom, the archwizard realized that something was wrong, and he began to cast a spell. The assassins unloaded their crossbows, and the man screamed, dropping the gadget in his hands and stumbling toward the bed, his spell lost on his lips.
Cy watched as the wizard fell to his knees, and Lume let out an excited yelp and bolted into the room, his dagger in hand. Shadow was holding his hands against his chest and looking at the ground. He was bleeding quite heavily.
"Well, well, well," intoned Lume. He was standing a few feet away from the archwizard with a large smile on his face. "If it isn't the mighty archwizard Shadow. Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to kill you?"
The man looked up from his position on the floor, and he finished mouthing the lasts words of another spell. He glared up at the captain as the magical bolts jutting from his body shot back out, sailing across the room and striking the assassins who had shot them. Every one of them fell to the floor, dead with a bolt buried in his forehead. Shadow continued to bleed, and he put his hand out to steady himself. His skin turned quite pale.
"No. Frankly," said the wizard, "you have a lot of competition when it comes to assassinating me."
Lume didn't waste any time. He crossed to the wizard and pushed him to the floor, taking the wand from his belt with one hand and placing the edge of his dagger to Shadow's throat with the other.
"Well allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lume, and I work for Olostin."
"Yes." Shadow coughed hard. "Yes, I recognize the name. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine." He turned to Cy. "Is this the wand you spoke of," he asked, holding up the crystal-tipped rod.
"It appears to be, yes."
The captain took a step back and turned again to the archwizard.
No longer under the watchful eyes of a band of assassins, Cy lunged at Lume with his dagger. "Die, you pig!"
The captain sidestepped the blow, but he stumble-stepped to one side.
Cy swung again at the older man's back. The enchanted blade sliced through Lume's leather armor, opening a long, bloody gash in the captain's side.
"You stupid fool," Lume hissed.
Pulling his saber in a flash, the captain made two Quick slashing attacks.
Cy parried the first blow, but the second landed just below his wrist, knocking his dagger from his hand.
Lume swung again, and Cy struggled backward, avoiding the blade but falling back over the bed. Cy landed on the floor against Shadow, cradling his wrist where Lume had cut him.
The captain leveled the wand at the two men on the floor.
The archwizard struggled to breathe, but he laughed anyway. "You can't use that. You don't know the command word."
"You're wrong, wizard, and now I'm going to destroy you with your own toy." Lume smiled down at Shadow. "Ironic that you could spend so much of your life perfecting a tool such as this-" he shook the wand-"only to be killed by it in the end."
"You don't know what sort of forces you are messing with." He coughed, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth.
"Neither did you." Lume straightened his arm and spoke the word Cy had repeated for him back at camp. "Shadominiaropalazitsi."
Once again a column of rushing dark gray plasma flowed out of the wand. It headed straight for the prone archwizard, coalescing into humanlike forms along the way. As it jetted forward, the stream of shadows split into a curling mass. Shadow raised his hand instinctively to protect his face, but this time, the shadows broke into individual swirls, and twisted, wavering forms spread out all over the room. They filled every corner and place of darkness.
Now spread out, the shadows began to collect again, forming a cyclone around Captain Lume.
Lume screamed, "What's happening? What's going on?"
"Don't you see, you fool?" explained the archwizard. "Don't you recognize any of those shadows?"
"No, no, I don't." He swung his dagger in wide, swooping arcs. "Stay away from me," he screamed. "Stay away, you hear."
Shadow