Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1)(52)

For a brief instant Tennat turned to the others, giving me a moment of reprieve from the gut sword. ‘Get it together. Burn these things to ash before they try to escape!’

But Pan’s spell was starting to fade. His concentration, which had been phenomenal considering the situation, was finally breaking. There were lines of blood on his face and hands and belly from where the squirrel cats had leaped on him. Nephenia was exhausted too, from trying to keep a shield around him. I saw her eyes as she turned to plead with Tennat to stop attacking me and help protect Panahsi. I guess I must not have looked too good because she started screaming at Tennat.

He didn’t care. He’d found a moment and an excuse to rid himself of the monster he hated most, which turned out to be me. In my entire life I’d never been in this much pain. My inner organs were being compressed and twisted – things which weren’t going to be repairable. I looked up into his face, ready to plead with him. He liked it when people begged. Maybe if I …

Suddenly Tennat’s eyes went wide and then his mouth opened as if he were about to say, ‘Oh.’ He dropped to his knees and behind him stood Nephenia, holding the stick that Pan had used to hit me. Tears were flowing down her cheeks. She’d just betrayed the people whose support she needed most so that she could save me. She didn’t look happy about it.

I tried to stand up, to reach out to her, but my legs wouldn’t support me. It was all I could do to kneel there on my hands and knees and see the battle come to its conclusion. Panahsi was done. The combination of our fight earlier and the pain from his wounds had left him unable to concentrate enough to cast another spell. Six of the squirrel cats surrounded him, ready to pounce and tear him to shreds. A few others crept around Tennat’s prone body, sniffing at it and baring their teeth, the stripes of their fur an angry black against the pale silver sand of the oasis. The rest were stalking towards Nephenia.

‘Stop!’ I called out. ‘Leave her alone.’

‘Stay where you are, kid,’ warned the squirrel cat whom I had, in my infinite wisdom, freed from his cage earlier, setting off this entire disaster.

I crawled on my hands and knees towards where Nephenia stood, shaking, terrified by the creatures in front of her whose entire bodies seemed to vibrate as they waited for the moment to attack. One of them turned suddenly, rearing on its hind legs so that its eyes were at the same level as my own. It opened its mouth wide and let out a growl that carried the scent of blood and an overabundance of rage. There was no doubt in my mind that these animals were fully capable of killing us.

‘Back away, kid,’ the lead squirrel cat chittered. ‘I owe you a debt for springing me out of that cage, but you’re on your own if you get between us and our prey.’

‘She didn’t attack you, she just—’

‘The bitch shocked my insides with her lightning,’ he said. ‘She’s going to get what she deserves.’

Nephenia was staring at me, no doubt wondering why I was talking to dumb, angry animals who just chittered and growled in reply. Panahsi looked as if he was having trouble staying on his feet. Tennat had woken up but wasn’t moving. I saw the first creep of a smile on his face and saw something reflected in his eye. A light. I glanced behind me and saw lanterns come to life in one of the houses off the square. Evidently the quieting spell had started to fade and someone had heard the ruckus, or else they’d woken up and seen the glow from Panahsi’s fire spell. It wouldn’t be long before people came to check on what was happening.

‘There are people coming,’ I said to the squirrel cat. ‘As soon as they’re close enough to see you they’ll summon the master mages. You’ll all be killed!’ I did my best to emphasise the importance of that last word.

The leader made his little huh-huh-huh laugh and started towards Tennat. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll be done with these three long before anyone gets here.’

Whatever else the creature was, he wasn’t very nice. I suppose I might not be either if I’d just been tortured.

As scared as Tennat was of the squirrel cats, he reserved his anger for me. ‘You’re a traitor, Kellen. Everyone is going to hear –’

He was interrupted by a voice from the darkness behind us. ‘If you’re going to concoct a story, always best to make it one folks will believe.’

I swivelled my head to see who’d spoken, my brains being too addled at that moment to make it out. At first all I could see was a dot of red light floating in the darkness. Then I made out the tiny trail of grey-white smoke rising from it. The figure stepped forward out of the shadows and Ferius Parfax came into view, a smoking reed sticking out of the side of her mouth.

‘Well now,’ she said, her customary smirk firmly in place, ‘you must be just about the cutest little bunch of critters I ever laid eyes on.’





22


The Deal


The squirrel cats growled and pawed at the sand as Ferius approached. With every step she took I thought for sure they would attack. She, on the other hand, had no such doubts. She just swaggered towards us. ‘Kellen, would you do me a favour and tell the little buggers that I’m not the enemy?’

The animal in the lead chittered furiously. ‘Tell the Daroman bitch to take a walk if she wants to keep her eyeballs.’ He sniffed the air. ‘If she really is a Daroman, that is.’