Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1)(91)

‘My name is Ra’ennat now,’ he replied.

Great. Everybody has a mage’s name except me.

I felt Ferius reach out to grip my arm. There was no strength to it. ‘Kid, soon as I make my move, grab your sister and run. I’ll keep them—’

‘You’re half dead and flat on your back,’ I whispered back. ‘What kind of “move” are you planning to make?’

She sounded oddly offended. ‘I’ve still got moves.’

‘Come on, Kellen,’ Panahsi – no, he’s Pan’erath now – called out. ‘Step away from the Daroman and don’t make this worse than it needs to be. We know all about the conspiracy. We know how she and your uncle plotted to use the nekhek to destroy our clan’s magic.’

‘It makes sense if you think about it,’ Tennat said. I had no intention of calling him Ra’ennat. ‘If our clan lost its magic, you wouldn’t really be a cripple any more, would you?’

I rose to my feet. ‘You’re a liar, Tennat. Your family knew what was going on and you –’

I was interrupted by a groaning sound and turned to see Shalla, still draped across the horse’s back, her body shivering and convulsing. I started towards her. ‘I’ve got to get her home to—’

I was knocked off my feet by a blast of force. ‘You stay away from her!’ Pan’erath shouted. When I looked up at him his face was full of righteous anger. He thinks he’s protecting her. From me.

I finally understood what was going through Pan’s mind. He wasn’t ganging up against his friend. He was facing off against the classic villains of all our childhood stories: the foreigner spy, come to tear apart the clan; the nekhek monster, foul teeth hungry to pierce the flesh of Jan’Tep mages and destroy their magic. And the most nefarious of all: the traitor Sha’Tep, who would deliver his own sister to his clan’s enemies out of bitterness and envy. Pan’erath was the hero – the young mage who’d assembled a coven to save the helpless princess. It all had such perfect symmetry. ‘You’re an idiot,’ I told him.

Ra’fan uttered a word and my arms pinned themselves against my sides, crushing my own ribs.

‘Don’t,’ Pan’erath said. ‘Save the spell for the nekhek.’

I don’t think Ra’fan liked being ordered around by someone who’d only been made adept a few hours before, but he complied and I felt the crushing grip fade away. ‘The monster’s probably already fled back to its lair,’ he said dismissively. ‘We should just—’

‘We do this my way,’ Pan’erath said, taking a step towards me. ‘Surrender, Kellen. I promise I’ll speak for you to the council. I don’t want to see you hurt.’ Winding tendrils of light, red this time, formed around his hands as his fingers traced tiny symbols at his sides in preparation. ‘Or we can duel, and I’ll do my best not to kill you.’

He’s so proud of his lightshaping spells, I thought. He won’t be able to resist the urge to show them off. But Pan hadn’t seen me use the powders and he didn’t know what I could do with them. Fire could burn through his lightshapes. If I was fast enough, I could end the fight in one shot. Our people’s most ancient laws would demand that the others let us go.

Of course, one look at the way Tennat, Ra’fan and Ra’dir were glancing at each other told me they had no intention of honouring the terms of any duel. So there’s no way my one spell is going to get me out of this alive.

‘That’s a really tempting offer, Pan,’ I said as I walked very slowly to kneel beside Ferius. I closed her waistcoat against the cool night air. ‘But you shouldn’t have attacked my friends.’

‘Kid, this is a terrible plan,’ she whispered.

‘Quit calling me kid,’ I said, palming the deck of steel cards I’d taken from her.

I stood back up and turned to face the four of them. ‘No more duels, Pan. No more rules. No more games. I’m giving you one chance, because …’ Because we were friends once. Because you waited a whole year to take your tests just so I wouldn’t be alone with people like Tennat. It seemed hard to believe that he’d once valued my friendship so highly. All that was gone now. ‘Get these three morons out of here and help me clean up the mess Tennat’s father made before our whole clan really is in danger.’

The early crest of Pan’s lightshaper magic slithered and grew around his hands. ‘I’d rather see our people disappear from the world than take orders from a Sha’Tep weakling.’

For a moment I tried to think of something to say, some way to break down the wall between us, but there wasn’t one. Pan’erath was a Jan’Tep mage. I was a Sha’Tep traitor. That was all there was to it. I looked out into the tops of the trees, still not seeing Reichis but having no choice but to hope he was somewhere up there. Wonder what he’ll charge me for this. ‘In that case, gentlemen, I rescind my offer. I’m going to kick all your asses and then I’m going to save our people myself.’

When you’ve only got one good spell it’s hard to resist the urge to use it. After all, the powder magic was the most powerful weapon I had, and neither Pan nor the others had seen it before. With any luck, I could take them by surprise and maybe even knock one or two of them out of the fight at the outset. Even more though, I so badly wanted to show them that I had my own magic, that I was as good as they were. And then what? There was no way I could hit them all fast enough. Ra’dir’s war-mage training meant he’d be prepared for surprises, and Ra’fan would use one of his chaincaster spells to bind me the second I fired off the spell. Fine, I thought. Card tricks it is.