The Book of the Blade (Vesik 16) by Eric Asher

Author:Eric Asher [Asher, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Eric R. Asher
Published: 2020-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“Tell the sage to come back here,” Beth said. “I have an idea. I’m going to need both of you, and probably any other shadow folk you can gather.”

Sleeper nodded and closed his eyes.

Cornelius narrowed his gaze. “What the hell are you up to?”

Beth looked down at her hands and then up to Cornelius. “Remember when we summoned them in the coliseum? Even though we are here, our power still reaches them. Look out at that ocean, Cornelius. It’s gone. Even as we stood here, this place changed. So what happens now? What happens if we summon them now?”

Sleeper opened his eyes. “I’ve called to the sage. Whether or not she returns to us rests in her decisions.”

“What do you think?” Beth asked, turning to Sleeper. “If I summon her with the same magic we used in the coliseum, what will happen?”

“Now that we are whole again?” Sleeper looked off into the distance where the hunched form like a mountainous oil spill slowly gained its feet. “I cannot say. I am not sure if your powers could reach us when we are whole.”

Cornelius frowned. “You think the change will dilute our magic?”

Sleeper wrinkled his brow. “It is a possibility in this place. I do not believe it will affect you so dramatically on your own plane, but the sage could likely speak better to that idea.”

Cornelius pondered those words for a moment and then gave one sharp nod. “It’s worth the risk. If that thing comes this way, none of us will have to worry about it.”

Beth watched the creature’s form change. Its back straightened until it looked more like the shadow of a fire demon than the oily spill of an Eldritch thing. It was impossible to comprehend the thing’s size at such a distance. But Beth had little doubt it would’ve dwarfed most of the mountains in Missouri. Small mountains, yes, but to face an enemy that size was a terrifying prospect on the best of terms.

Her grip tightened on the hilt of her dagger. She flipped her left arm over so the healed palm faced her. Beth placed the blade against her flesh and drew it in a quick slash. As the blood welled up, she touched the tip of the dagger against her skin again and drew another line in the opposite direction, then connected the two at their base to complete a summoning triangle. She looked up at Cornelius.

Her mentor nodded, and Beth struck the center of the triangle, drawing a deep line across her flesh nestled in between the old scars of the protection rune she’d once drawn for Ashley.

The world tilted sideways.

Beth expected the hurricane of power like when she and Cornelius had summoned earlier to battle the lamprey creature. What hit her was an order of magnitude stronger. It felt as if her skin would boil away, as if she could feel every cut she had ever put into her body, every sigil, every rune, every ward.

Fire consumed everything she was, but then the pain receded, and her focus concentrated into one tiny vision.

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