Sharon Green by The Hidden Realms

Author:The Hidden Realms
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-12-28T13:56:11+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Bariden watched Sarvallo walk past him, but in full truth he was watching his opponent more carefully. During his time in the last few worlds he’d noticed a tendency in himself to hesitate when it came to using magic in combat, a tendency he never showed with weapons. That had to be a result of the disapproval his ability in magic usually produced in the people around him, but the time for diplomatically soothing people’s fears was over. If he didn’t start using his skills in the right way, the mistake could end up being fatal.

And he also had to push away all worry about Chalaine. Hesitation had never been one of her problems, and she was as capable as anyone he had ever met. That in itself didn’t stop him from worrying; only the admission that he couldn’t help her worked the trick. Along with what would happen if she won and he didn’t. He had an idea about what was ahead, and a suspicion that if he didn’t do exactly right they would both be lost.

“Get ready,” Sarvallo called as he reached the sidelines and turned again toward them. Some of the people near Bariden twitched, but no one actually attacked by mistake. Most of them were so keyed up, they’d expend every ounce of their strength in the first few minutes of the combat. After that they’d be vulnerable to anything including heavy breathing, and might even get knocked out of the competition by accidently coming in contact with something from the combat next to them. Weapons practice had taught Bariden when to conserve his strength-and when not to. He’d play it as it came, for once trusting completely in his overall ability.

“Begin,” Sarvallo suddenly announced, and more than half the entrants immediately did just that. Spells were muttered or shouted with’or without gestures, lightning and thunder flew and crashed, and in one instance the ground even shook. Bariden, ignoring what was going on around him, noticed that his opponent was doing as he was and simply watching. The man seemed ready to defend against anything thrown at him, but wasn’t attacking immediately himself. It could be worse than bad luck if Bariden’s opponent had also thought out a plan beforehand …

But then the man’s expression changed, and Bariden knew he’d hit good luck rather than bad. The man, like him, was big and blond but, unlike him, had seemed to be hoping his opponent would be one to waste his strength in immediate, all-out attack. When he realized Bariden wasn’t going to be that foolish, his face twisted with fury, disappointment, and frustration, and he immediately launched his own first attack.

Which wasn’t bad as that sort of thing went. A dozen daggers came flying at Bariden, living daggers with eyes which attacked by themselves. If they couldn’t reach him they were supposed to drive him back, and the attempt might have worked with someone else. But Bariden’s wizard-formulated warding was not about to let anything

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