Apprentice (The Black Mage, #2)(29)

A thundering roll broke from above and the sky lit up. Screams filled the air as the Mahj soldiers nearest fell to the ground, writhing. Bright yellow shards of lightening tore across the air, crippling each man and woman they touched.

In an instant the remaining soldiers had fallen. Twenty quivering bodies thrashed against the sand as flesh and bone exploded, covering the air with a thick, crimson mist that reached our line up a quarter of a mile away.

"What have we done?" Ella's voice quavered. I didn't know how to answer. Fear had taken complete hold of my body. I clutched the reins, hands trembling and panic coursing through every inch of my skin. Hysterical sobs were threatening to break, mourning the last moments of my life. I was a coward.

The raiders had slaughtered twenty soldiers in a matter of seconds… And now, now they wanted to kill us.

This wasn't a battle – it was a massacre.

And I wasn't the only one who thought it. It was clear in the dread that filled Caine's expression that he hadn't prepared for this outcome. Darren had gone white as the sand. Eve's eyes were wide as saucers and Ian and Lynn looked like they were ready to faint.

I tried to speak, but fear had lodged itself too deep in my throat. We couldn't run. The raiders had horses, and they knew where we camped. They knew we had Darren.

We had to stay and fight.

"S-shield Darren," Caine finally stammered. "We need to p-protect the Crown!"

"No! We need to…" Darren's protest fell on deaf ears.

Another deafening boom and the ground below us caved and shuddered, just as a bolt of lightening shot out from our right. Instinctively the entire faction cast out. Our magic was a large purple globe that crackled and moaned.

The raiders' magic rippled against our magical barrier before finally fizzling and sliding down to the scorched earth below.

"Pain cast!" Caine gasped. "Now!"

"We can't just hold this casting forever!" Darren argued. "We will waste all of our magic!"

"We need to target the raiders one-by-one, like you did to me in the mock battle," Lynn said.

"Leave the second - and third-years here, we have ten of us. We can take them on ourselves!" That was Jayson.

"Our best chance is all of us!" Ian protested. "We have more together than them!"

"But they are as strong as mages," the quiet voice was Priscilla. Even she was afraid. "We are only apprentices."

"Whoever wants to run, run. I'm staying."

"No, Darren, they'll kill you!"

"I'm with the prince."

"Me too."

In the end everyone was staying. And we were all fighting.

The first thing we did was dismount – there was no advantage on moving ground and our horses would only hinder us in battle. We quickly laid out a plan of attack, Caine and Darren plotting the course. The rest of us held onto our casting… but the barrier was starting to smell like molten rock. There was a tinkling like glass whenever lightening touched the same spot twice.

It would not hold much longer.

"Now!"

On Darren's command we released the casting and separated into two parties: those who could pain cast, and those that couldn't.

The group that couldn't formed a running barrier, long casting arrows and javelins with as much force as they could.

The raiders easily deflected their attacks, choosing in turn to send off their own missile assault of arrow and axe. Lucky for us, weather castings like lightning were too costly for the enemy to maintain.

Meanwhile the rest of us stayed behind. Using whatever blade we had on hand we dug deep into our palms, summoning as much warm air and sand as we could. There was loose earth everywhere: plenty of debris for our casting. We thrust our castings together, allowing the joint power to fuel our magic.

Our dust vortex began to cut across the fissured plains, fast and deadly in its course. The other apprentices were ready and ducked to the side, allowing the tower of sand to pass. The raiders beyond hastily threw up a barrier and dropped their long castings, unable to see anything beyond the fast whirlwind of sand that was blinding their sight.

But then they made a mistake: the raiders cast lightening.

With the heat of the raiders' own magic the vortex's particles fused together and melted. Sand had conducted their lightning, and within seconds the whirlwind transformed into a petrified web of sandglass.

It shattered their barrier.

Searing hot glass streaked out like jagged claws from the sky, piercing the raiders closest. Cries and screams followed. Several collapsed. White dust and blood rose up in a pillowing cloud, a hazy red clotting the air.

The non-pain casters of my faction charged forward while the rest of us released our magic.

I knelt shakily, retching into the sand. Others around me were doing the same. We had reached the end of our limits. If we tried to cast again we would end up unconscious. I took a deep breath and then froze.

There was a rustle to my left.

Darren stumbled out onto the field, determined to help the rest of our faction. I watched him, wishing I could follow suit. How was he still standing?

The prince always did have more magic than the rest of us.

Glancing out at the battle ahead I could see the odds had shifted. Ella and Loren stood out clearly with Caine, and the three of them were leading an assault on the remaining raiders. Five apprentices, including Darren, were close behind. Only three of the raiders still stood - but they were burned so badly they were having trouble casting.