Spellslinger 4: Soulbinder by de Castell Sebastien

Author:de Castell, Sebastien [de Castell, Sebastien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2018-10-03T23:00:00+00:00

37

The Golden Passage

I followed the others through Azir’s shadow passage. When we neared the end of the black road, they each took up a position, readying their abilities for whatever dangers awaited us. Tournam’s shadow ribbons weaved in a figure-eight pattern in front of him. Diadera stood next to him, her swarm of black freckles darting above like angry wasps seeking out their target. Ghilla coughed up a cloud of smoke that hardened into a shield at the front of our line ‘You see anything out there, girl?’ she asked Suta’rei.

My fellow Jan’Tep closed her eyes, revealing the blackened lids. Her brow furrowed, and the markings from her eyelids floated away, coming together like the wings of a butterfly before darting out into the fog at the end of the onyx road. ‘It appears to be deserted,’ she said after a few seconds. ‘Which I suppose makes sense for a desert. Something could still be hiding out there though.’ Her fingers twitched into the shape of an ember spell, reminding me that in addition to her shadowblack abilities she was also a proper mage.

‘Let’s hope so,’ Tournam said with a grin. ‘After that last debacle with a damned mage I need something to take my aggression out on.’ He gave Diadera a jab with his elbow. ‘How about you?’

She returned his smile. ‘Oh, definitely.’

With their myriad abilities they made a formidable team, and yet Tas’diem had beaten them all, stringing them up like animal carcasses with his shadowblack tendrils. The six of them had so much raw power compared to the paltry collection of tricks a spellslinger like me could bring to bear. Why had one crazed mage – no matter how powerful – been able to ensnare them so easily?

They rely on their abilities , I realised then, remembering how the lessons Ferius had taught me – each and every one of them – came down to thinking your way out of trouble instead of using brute force. Ferius had no magic, only her training, her tricks and her daring. The thing about a good trick, though, is that it lets you use an opponent’s strength against them, rather than relying on your own. Tournam, Ghilla, even Diadera, always drew on their shadowblack first, as if it were a compulsion. No , I realised then. It’s panic. For all their bravado and banter, the shadowcasters lived in a constant state of fear, always betting their survival on the very thing that made them outcasts, never taking the risk to rely on their wits or on each other.

‘Kellen, are you ready?’ Butelios asked. The big man’s oily black tears were returning to his face, sliding up his cheeks and back into his eyes. It made for a disconcerting sight.

‘We need to go now,’ Azir said, jaw tight and his young forehead lined from strain. At his feet the onyx road was beginning to fragment. ‘The abbot’s sent us on too many missions lately. I can’t hold the road much longer.’

‘Well

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