Twilight of Kerberos - [Shadowmage 01-03] - The Shadowmage Trilogy (Shadowmage; Night's Haunting; Legacy's Price) (95 page)

Twisting in mid-air, Adrianna looped and spun to avoid the Preacher Divine’s attacks, all the while continuing her own rain of destruction down upon him. Together, they traded magical blows and counterpunches in a fearsome display of arcane skill and power.

T
ELLMORE HELD UP
a hand to halt his small column of soldiers. Cocking his head to one side as he drew the prism from a concealed pocket, he tried to work out who was fighting and how they were faring.

“Two – no, three wizards ahead,” Tellmore said quietly to Renauld. “It would appear we are the last to arrive.”

“So long as we are the only ones to leave. I’ll be a great deal happier when they are dead,” Renauld said.

“One using natural magic, the other... something else. I can guess that would be the Vos agent, though.”

“You said there was a third?”

“Yes. Faint, but it is there. Trying to avoid battle, not face it head on. Our Shadowmage, I fancy. If he is not waging full-blooded war, we may be lucky.”

“Especially if the other two take each other out.”

Tellmore nodded. “Well, it has been known, Sir Renauld, it has been known. However, I won’t count on it. Come, let us see what confronts us.”

As they reached the great hall, Tellmore heard the gasps of astonishment from the men-at-arms as they saw the huge interior but he immediately focussed on the pitched battle between Adrianna and the Vos agent.

The Shadowmage was using her magic to stay airborne and mobile, proving a difficult target to hit as she dove, unleashed an attack and then twisted out of the way of the inevitable reprisal. Below her, the Vos man was using his staff to block her attacks while delivering his own. That at least answered the question of the fourth practitioner of magic and the strange divinations Tellmore had gained from his prism.

Tellmore could plainly see the folly of the man’s position – he might be well matched against the Shadowmage while his staff remained at full power, but such items had a habit of fading during prolonged use and he would not bet a bucket of horse dung on the man’s future after that. Frankly, the odds would not be good as they stood right now, if Adrianna’s reputation was anything to go by. One slip, and the Vos man would be dead.

He could not see Lucius from his vantage point, but that did not surprise him. No doubt the Shadowmage was hiding, seeking to gain an advantage over his opponents or, perhaps, simply escape.

“Spread your men out,” Tellmore said to Renauld, and the order brought a frown to the knight’s face.

“Your pardon, Magister, but will you be able to protect us if we are strung so far out?”

“It is a risk, but one worth taking, I think. They are too focussed on their own battle at the moment, giving us the upper hand. You stick with me, and we’ll go down to pick our time to attack. Your men will be safely out of the way until we are ready to act. Make sure they keep their heads down, and we can catch everyone off guard. Think of it as an ambush – with a bit of magical support from me, of course.”

Renauld smiled as he considered the plan.

“I like that, Magister. We’ll see it done.”

“Good, good,” Tellmore muttered, as much to himself as the knight, who busied himself giving orders and directing his men to their hiding places.

Tellmore then directed his full attention to Adrianna and the Vos man, watching their battle, studying their methods and abilities. The potential within Adrianna was readily apparent, and Tellmore did not look forward to confronting her. If possible, he would evade her completely; that was not cowardice, just common sense.

The Vos man he was more comfortable with. With any luck, the man would be killed by Adrianna or otherwise have his staff, his only source of magical power, completely drained in his duel. If Tellmore picked his time correctly, there would be no danger there.

Casting his eyes across the other bridges and plaza, Tellmore could see no sign of Lucius.

The presence of Adrianna and the Vos man complicated things, certainly, but Tellmore clung to the hope that, somehow, his course of action would suddenly appear clear and simple.

S
KIDDING TO A
halt inside one of the stone buildings ringing the plaza, Lucius fought to control his breathing lest it give him away. There was little chance of that, given the cacophony of Adrianna’s duel with the Preacher Divine.

Entering one of the houses, Lucius inched forward to take position beneath a window. Through its perfect transparency, he could see the centre of the empty plaza and, while he could still feel the tug of the Guardian Starlight suggesting he make his way there, it was depressingly far away. Simply sauntering across the open ground would be suicidal.

Outside, the magical duel came to a sudden end. Briefly, Lucius felt guilty as he found himself hoping it was Adrianna who had fallen; he might have a chance in open confrontation if it were the Preacher Divine who had survived.

Any such wishes were quickly dashed as a breeze fluttered through the building, quickly building up to a gale. Dust began to drift down from the ceiling as the entire building began to shake violently. A giant crack caused Lucius to peer up through the descending dust as light penetrated the ceiling through cracks that quickly spread across its surface. With a wild wrenching movement, the ceiling gave way, breaking apart as it tumbled onto the concourse.

Adrianna rose into view above him. Her fire-scarred face held a baleful look.

“You will not escape me again, Lucius,” she cried out above the howling of the gale. “The Guardian Starlight is mine!”

“You have become twisted, Aidy. You are the
last
person who should have it!”

“It has corrupted you, don’t you see, Lucius?” Adrianna said as the gale died down and she drifted towards him. “You do not have the knowledge or the will to control an artefact of the elves. It would be better if you simply gave it to me.”

“It doesn’t want you. I know that much. Whatever this thing is, it chose me. It is in my blood, Aidy, that is why it wanted me. I have some connection to the elves, however diluted by the years since their passing. No amount of study can replace that.”

“You are wrong in that assumption, Lucius, very wrong. Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the inclination to school you further. Hand it over to me now or, I promise, I
will
kill you.”

So saying, Adrianna’s eyes blazed with an unholy light. Lucius raced for the door only to find it blocked by the Preacher Divine.

“Harridan!” the Preacher Divine screamed as he ignored Lucius and gestured with his staff towards the airborne Shadowmage. A jagged bolt of brilliant white light erupted from his staff and struck Adrianna full in the chest, sending her spinning through the air to fall out of sight in the plaza beyond.

The Preacher Divine seemed to notice Lucius then and, as his gaze travelled to the Guardian Starlight, his eyes gleamed with desire.

With a flick of his wrist, Lucius sent his dagger tumbling pommel over point in an arrow-straight throw that ended with the weapon embedded in the Preacher Divine’s shoulder.

Grunting with pain, the Preacher Divine staggered back. Lucius threw himself through window and tumbled to the ground outside. Rolling with the momentum, he bounded back onto his feet and raced for the next building.

Nearby, Adrianna was getting to her feet.

Anger flooded into her heart, and Adrianna embraced it, feeling its energy. It boiled and erupted, raw fury flowing through her veins, binding itself with the rush of magic she summoned. And she rose into the air again, her hair forming a wild halo around her head, fizzing with sparks of arcane energy.

T
ELLMORE AND
R
ENAULD
had managed to advance nearly the full length of the bridge without having attracted any attention, and the wizard found himself daring to hope that he might just accomplish his mission by picking the Guardian Starlight from the dead body of one of the combatants. He had seen Renauld throw more than one unnerved glance at him as they witnessed the titanic magical furies unleashed close by. Adrianna had pulled the roof off one house, shortly after to disappear from sight as the Preacher Divine blasted her with magic, and Lucius had dived out of the small house to sprint to another building, no doubt to lay another ambush.

Tellmore then saw the agent of Vos stagger out of the roofless building, clutching at a dagger buried in his shoulder. They both saw one another at the same time, but pain slowed the Vos agent’s reactions and Tellmore released his spell first, a hastily cast enchantment designed to coat the man in a web of magical strands that could bind or crush him as desired.

The Vos man waved wildly with his staff, just catching the edge of the incoming spell with enough force to turn it aside. Before either could call upon another magical attack, Renauld charged, shouting out to their men-at-arms as he raised his sword to strike.

“Renauld, no!”

Tellmore reached out a hand to stop him, but it was too late.

T
HE WAR CRIES
of several men caused Lucius to frown and he cautiously peer over the top of a stone. Racing down two of the bridges leading to the plaza were armoured men sporting the colours of the Baron de Sousse.

More sounds of spells discharging came to his ears and he decided to move away from the source, figuring the longer he spent in hiding, the more chance that everyone else in the hall might wipe one another out.

He crept out of the shop and his attention was immediately drawn upwards. Floating about thirty feet in the air, in complete silence, Adrianna looked the very vision of his worst nightmare.

Her skin was a deathly pale, while her hair streamed behind, twisting and sizzling with raw, untempered magic. It was her face that scared him the most, though. For once, there was no anger in it at all. She was completely devoid of any emotion and he knew in that moment that she was more dangerous than she had ever been.

Adrianna’s head whipped round and her cold gaze nearly froze him in place. Instinctively, Lucius grasped the Guardian Starlight and plucked it from his belt, brandishing it as he called upon his magic.

He felt the threads of power running inside his mind’s eye and called upon the power of the blackest of them, the one that felt chill to his mental touch. It throbbed and grew as he hastily sculpted it into shape. The arcane presence of the Guardian Starlight was a beacon in his hand and the spell flowed through it, magnified and focussed as it soared towards Adrianna.

Caught within the spell’s binding power, Adrianna stopped in mid-air and Lucius channelled every ounce of energy he could summon into it, feeling his skin grow cold as ice crystals formed in his hair and his breath steamed from his mouth.

Adrianna shrieked as the threads of magic wrapped around her, sapping her vitality and ageing her before Lucius’ eyes.

“It did not have to be this way,” he managed to say through gritted teeth.

That was enough for Adrianna to find the briefest gap in his spell. She broke free in a dazzling pulse of magic, sending waves of dust spiralling away from her and causing Lucius to stagger.

Raising her hands, she let loose a long, keening wail of anguish, the rising crescendo building into a spell of terrible potency.

Lucius hastily erected layers of invisible magical barriers between himself and Adrianna, hoping that the Guardian Starlight would aid him in maintaining their integrity when she unleashed her onslaught.

He did not have to wait long. Head snapping down, Adrianna uttered a single word of power and the air above Lucius groaned. Glancing up, he saw roiling black smoke gathering above him, spreading outwards like clouds driven by a storm. It rained fire.

The breath was sucked from Lucius’ lungs as the fire flayed his clothes and skin, and set his hair alight. Feeling his skin begin to peel, Lucius reeled blindly. Every inch of his body seemed to boil and there was no relief.

Then, it was gone.

Lucius did not move for a long time. The fingers of his left hand showed signs of life first, twitching as he slowly extended his arm out, searching.

The Guardian Starlight was gone.

H
OPING THE
P
REACHER
Divine’s staff had all but spent its power, Tellmore left Renauld to bury his sword in the man’s chest in order to search out the two Shadowmages. He stopped short when he saw Adrianna floating towards him, her deadly intent clear, but she was then distracted by something she saw behind a row of buildings beyond his line of sight.

The power he saw Adrianna release then all but took his breath away. He had never seen the like.

Tellmore’s mind flicked through dozens of incantations as he approached the area Adrianna had devastated. She had disappeared from view, but he had no illusions that she wouldn’t rematerialise soon. He tried to think fast for a spell to use against her.

T
HE CRYSTAL AT
the tip of Alhmanic’s staff had begun to fade, and he had been reduced to parrying blows from the Pontaine knight’s sword with its shaft, an undignified treatment for a relic. Every movement brought pain as the Shadowmage’s dagger, still buried in his shoulder, began to grind against bone.

Alhmanic knew he needed to withdraw, to allow the staff to regenerate. Without it, he was utterly outclassed by the mages present here.

But he was not willing to return to the Anointed Lord, may he be graced with serving her forever, empty-handed.

Alhmanic limped backwards a couple of steps, and held up a hand as if pleading for mercy. The knight backed off slightly, his sword held at arm’s length in the traditional Pontaine signal for surrender.

“Your staff, sir, drop it,” the knight said.

Alhmanic managed a nod. He made to cast the staff aside, but whipped it up suddenly, smashing it against the knight’s sword to throw the blade to one side. Then he thrust the staff forward with all his remaining strength, so the butt thudded right between the knight’s eyes.