The Magic of Recluce - L. E. Modesitt [213]
His fire trickled away against the black coolness I held around me, and his hands dropped to his waist.
He tried to raise one hand, again, but that shiny dark hair had begun to silver, even in the instants since the reflective shield had isolated us.
Whhhhssssttt!
Another blast of fire slashed at me from Sephya, spraying away from the shield I had thrown around Antonin and me.
Click.
Antonin had a short bronze sword in his hand, although wrinkles were appearing on his face. Behind Antonin, Sephya drew a thin blade. She edged toward us.
I dropped down and dived for the floor, grabbing one half of my broken staff and flinging it at Sephya.
Clunk!
“Ohhh…shit…” The staff fragment dropped inside my own shield’s edge, bouncing on the white marble, stopped cold by the tiniest residual order it bore.
Give me your energy…give it to me… Antonin’s thoughts clawed at me, demanding the sense of self I had wrapped in the blackness I held.
Now…give…give…
Like a vise, his thoughts encircled me, within the circled shield I held.
I am Lerris…I am me…me…Just as Justen had taught, I hung on to myself.
Whhsstttt… Antonin’s fire was barely more than the fireball in his fingertips earlier, but it burned at my face, and I squinted.
Sephya advanced slowly, as if unsure exactly what to do.
Thwick!
Antonin sliced at me with the short sword. I rolled away, getting my feet under me, concentrating on keeping the shield around us both.
Give! Give!… Like a white hammer, that demand pounded at me.
I circled away, concentrating on being Lerris, holding that barrier tight around us.
The chaos-master’s hair had turned totally white, and began to fall like snow.
Hssstttt! I reeled backwards, a searing pain across my shoulders, feeling like I had been slashed from behind.
Clank!
“Oooo…” Sephya exclaimed. The blade she had held lay on the floor, white-hot from trying to pass the shield I held.
Thwick.
I skipped sideways, losing part of my tunic to the copper blade as Antonin used my lapse of attention to strike.
GIVE…give…
Thwickkk!
I dodged again.
Twickk!
…and again…
“…think…smart…” mumbled Antonin. “You’ll never go home now…you know too much…” His words slurred, and his hands were shaking, and the short sword dropped as if it were too heavy to hold.
Give… The last thought was nearly plaintive.
Whhhssstttt!
Still another of Sephya’s firebolts flared against the shield.
Clunk…
Antonin lurched toward me again, after dropping the now-too-heavy sword.
I dodged, but not quickly enough, as his fingers ripped at my forearm. Each fingertip felt like a brand across my arm, and I forced order at those chaos-dripping burn wounds, shoving Antonin back at the same time.
“…damned…”
I gulped as I looked at the white wizard. The hand that had clutched at me—burning three white scars that still smoldered—that hand shriveled into ashes. And the black imprint of my hand on his shoulder burned through the white robes. As I gaped, the white-clad figure staggered, shriveling and collapsing onto the marble in a crumpled heap.
Whhhhssstttt!
“Noooooooooooooo!”
Sephya’s scream echoed through the great room.
Since she had been unable to penetrate the shield I ignored her, ignored the searing in my arm, and concentrated on keeping the shield intact until the heap that had been the white wizard was truly dead.
Thhuuurruuummmmm… A low roll of thunder rumbled on and on, as if it radiated from where I stood, rolling outward like ripples from a boulder cast into a pool.
…thuuurrrummmmmmmmmm…
CRACK! A blade of lightning flashed outside from a cloudless sky, and I flinched, but clutched my thoughts tight around the shield.
…thhhurruummmm… The growling in and under the skies, and the lingering echo of the single lightning bolt, rolled and kept rolling outward and away from the castle, until the thunder and the lightning were mere echoes far out across the Westhorns.
Not merely physical, those sounds had carried far beyond my hearing, and I shivered.
With a deep breath I dropped the shield and turned toward Sephya. She had squared her shoulders.