Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1)(93)

Reichis got out from under me and ran back into the forest. I felt a twinge of resentment at his utter lack of gratitude, but I forgave him a few seconds later when he emerged from the trees behind our opponents and gave Ra’dir a deep gash in the back of the leg before disappearing back into the underbrush.

‘Get the nekhek,’ Pan’erath ordered, rising up from the ground, blood on his forehead and iron in his eyes. ‘I’ll deal with the Sha’Tep.’

The shifting blackness around his hands grew and slithered out towards me, reaching for me. Okay, this is it, I thought, as I dug my hands into my pockets and brought out generous pinches of the red and black powders. ‘Carath,’ I said, uttering the simple breath spell as I flung the powders into the air towards each other. My fingers took on the somatic shapes, aiming the resulting explosion into Pan’s lightform. It blew apart and he fell to the ground, winded.

‘How …?’ he began, looking up at me.

‘I told you before, Pan. I’ll never be Sha’Tep.’

‘You’ll never be Jan’Tep either,’ Ra’fan said, his bleeding hand outstretched towards me. Somehow he pushed through the pain and shock of his wounds and cast a chain spell that wrapped itself around me, paralysing me where I stood.

Reichis appeared again from the underbrush and raced for Ra’fan, but this time Ra’dir was ready for him. He fired off another blast and the squirrel cat had to pull up short to keep from running right into it.

‘Reichis, run!’ I shouted.

He hesitated as if he might stay, but I think he realised the odds had turned sour on us. ‘Sorry, kid,’ he chittered, turning back into the darkness before Ra’dir could try again.

Ra’fan gritted his teeth and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he clenched his fists. Damn … he’s not just trying to bind me any more. Every part of my body was being squeezed, crushed by the force of his will. I was sure I heard my ribs creaking as the invisible chains tightened around them. ‘You’re done, Sha’Tep. I’m killing you. Now.’

‘I’m afraid I still have some need of him,’ Ferius Parfax said. In the periphery of my vision I saw her struggling to stay on her feet as she flung one of her steel cards straight for Ra’fan’s eyes.

It flew in a perfect line, only to disappear into the watery light emanating from Pan’erath’s hands. ‘This is your fault, Daroman.’ I’d never heard his voice sound so cold, so hard. ‘You ruined everything.’

The tendrils of light set themselves upon Ferius, pulling at her hair, her hands, bending her fingers back too far. I tried desperately to reach into my pockets for more powders. If nothing else, I might be able to create some kind of distracting flash.

‘I don’t think so,’ Ra’fan said. The squeezing around my ribs grew tighter and I couldn’t take in a breath any more.

Tennat, evidently having finally overcome his fears, started walking towards me. ‘It’s over now, Kellen. You played all your dirty little tricks and now it’s time to say goodnight to the world.’

He spread his arms, uttered a word, and in an instant I was completely blind.

I heard Ra’dir say, ‘Keep an eye out for the nekhek. It’s still dangerous.’

Tennat practically giggled. ‘No, it isn’t. My blinding spell covered all of them. The moment the creature shows up, we burn him.’

Something dropped heavily to the ground a few feet away from me. Pan must have dropped Ferius, I thought.

‘It’s enough,’ he said. There was a weariness to his voice. ‘Let’s bring them back to the council. They’ll stand trial for what they’ve done.’

‘No,’ Tennat said.

‘We agreed—’

The sound of footsteps accompanied Tennat’s voice as he walked the last steps towards me. ‘You may have agreed, Pan, but the rest of us have different plans.’ My eyelids closed reflexively as thumbs began pressing against them.

‘Tennat, no!’ Pan called out.

‘Look!’ Tennat said, scraping with his thumbnails at the paste covering the markings around my left eye. ‘Look at the marks. It’s like my father said: Kellen is a shadowblack.’

The forest went silent. I heard the sound of more footsteps coming closer, so close I could feel breath on my face. ‘So it’s true,’ Pan said. Something wet hit my cheek just below my eye. Pan had spat on me.

‘We take him to the council,’ he said. ‘They need to see what he’s become.’

‘They can see from his corpse,’ Tennat said, and I felt him gripping the sides of my head again.

‘No. I said—’

A brief sound of scuffling ended when Ra’dir said, ‘You’re still new at this, Pan’erath. You don’t understand how wars are fought. Think of this as the fifth test – the one every war mage has to pass.’

Tennat’s thumbs pressed ever so slowly against my eyes. I would have screamed, but the chain spell wound its way over my mouth and Ra’fan squeezed what little air was left in my lungs. This is it, I realised. I’m going to die now. For real. Forever.

Tennat’s voice crept into my ears. ‘You deserve this, Kellen. For being a liar and a cheat. For all of—’

He screamed so loud I went deaf for a second.