Red Magic - Jean Rabe [139]
Galvin decided he would do nothing to prevent the miners from finishing off the wizard. The druid had intended to kill him anyway.
The nearest slave raised his pick higher, and in a quick, fluid motion brought it down upon the prone body of the Red Wizard. But the pick stopped with a loud thunk inches from the wizard's back, as if it had hit something hard yet unseen.
Galvin watched the miner's mouth drop open in shock as Maligor quickly rolled away from him. In one movement, the Red Wizard leapt to his feet and cast out his hand, sending a bolt of energy into the slave's chest. The slave was hurled backward, a gaping hole burned in the center of his body.
Then the wizard turned his attention to the other slaves.
"Fools!" he shouted. "You all will die for this!" Maligor began twirling his fingers about in the air, and the slaves dropped their picks and whirled to run from the room.
Galvin's path with the darkenbeasts had taken him behind the Red Wizard, who was oblivious to any threat from that direction. Separating from the mass of darkenbeasts, he dove toward the wizard. He slammed his extended claws into Maligor's back, and the Red Wizard fell forward again. The druid continued his flight, rejoining the rest of the darkenbeasts.
The maneuver had bought the slaves time to flee from the chamber, which further infuriated the wizard.
This time when Maligor rose, his black eyes seemed to burn, and a trickle of blood flowed from a broken nose. Galvin decided to press his attack.
Through his pain, Maligor spotted a single darkenbeast heading his way, claws outstretched. The Red Wizard sensed the creature was not one of his own, and he marshaled his powers and pointed a finger at the beast that dared to assault him.
"Die!" the Red Wizard shouted.
Simultaneously Galvin felt a tearing in his gut, an intense torment that rivaled anything he had previously suffered. His darkenbeast form shrieked in response, and he fought to stay conscious and on course. Part of him rebelled and begged him to flee, but the human in him forced himself to concentrate on the Red Wizard and on all the pain the madman had inflicted upon the animals in the tower back in Amruthar.
Maligor's eyes bore into the darkenbeast's, and he raised his hands again, chanting words the druid could not discern. Red darts flashed from his fingers and found their mark in the darkenbeast's breast.
The darkenbeast floundered, struggling to stay aloft under the new wave of misery that shot through his body. Then he dove away from the wizard, losing himself in the cloud of darkenbeasts and hoping the wizard's magic could not reach him there.
Galvin realized he couldn't physically best Maligor; the Red Wizard was far too powerful. A bolt of lightning from the wizard's hand punctuated that sentiment and nearly bisected the druid, missing him by inches and sending a shower of rocks onto the floor below. However, it gave Galvin an idea.
The druid concentrated, focusing on the rocks about the Red Wizard and draining himself to the point of exhaustion. The elder druids who had schooled him a decade ago had taught Galvin how to manipulate the earth in various ways, ways Galvin was loath to use. This was a necessary act, however, and might be the only way to defeat Maligor, he thought.
Galvin's mind sang to the rocks, to the mine, in the words of the first druids. The music poured from him, echoing off the veins and filling the chamber, rising above the beating of the darkenbeasts' wings into a whining, deafening pitch. The dazzling, shrill strain swelled until it became overpowering.
The music continued to pour from the druid, the stone, the very earth. Maligor thrust his hands over his ears, trying to shut out the sound so he could concentrate. But the music was too strong.
As the druid's song became louder still, the cavern wavered and began to groan. The ground quaked under the pressure of the mountain above, which had begun to tremble menacingly.
Maligor screamed as rocks began to fall from the ceiling, smashing into his