Ob Universe 1 Obsidian 2 - To Light A Candle by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey [Lackey, Mercedes]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2004-04-10T20:55:25+00:00

HE reached the edge of the square and stopped. Hed never seennever imagineda sight like the one which greeted him. Bodies were everywhere. The cobblestones were slick with fresh blood. The houses that bordered the square were in ruins, burning. The well had been smashed, and water was sluicing over the stones, making the footing treacherous.

Cilarnen could see that the Wildmage kept trying to cast some kind of spellhe could actually see the energybut the Demon kept breaking the spell before it could form. It could not strike the Wildmage, but others werent so lucky. Cilarnen saw flesh crisped to ashand worse. Even while he gaped at the fight in shock and horror, he saw the Demons magic strike a young Centaurs hindquarters, and watched the flesh turn black and fall away from the bone like hot fat.

It should have made him sick. But somehow seeing what the Demon could do didnt make him more afraid. It made him hard and still inside; more determinedand more angrythan he had ever felt before. He stepped away from the wall hed been hiding against and out into the Square.

Cilarnen raised his hand, summoning the power of the High Magick.

And the Demon burst into flame.

Burn! Cilarnen commanded, putting all his will into the demand, all his anger, all his fear. When he felt himself falter, he merely had to allow himself to see the dead and the dying scattered about the Square, and his fury welled up in him again. Never mind that a Mage was supposed to conduct all spell-casting in sublime detachment from everything and everyone; this rage gave him power he didnt even know he had.

He did not stopa candle could not will itself to extinguish, but the Demon couldbut willed Fire again and again

until, suddenly, unfamiliar weakness drove him to his knees.

And the Demon, its body charred and blackened, dropped from the sky.

?

WIRANCE felt the tingle of unfamiliar magic, and suddenly the Demon burst into flames.

For a moment he thought it was a trick, a trap, but then the Demon roared with pain, flailing wildly in the air as it sought to extinguish the flames that raced over its body.

Wirance glanced toward the edge of the square, following the line of magic stretched across the sky, and saw a slender human youth pointing his hand at the Demon, his whole body rigid with concentration and fury.

I dont know what youre doing, boy, but keep it up!

Kardus hurried to Wirances side, forcing his way through the press of warriors. In his hands he held a thin length of shining white cord.

I think the Centaur Wildmage began.

Pray, Wirance said grimly, and readied his spell.

The Demon had stopped fighting now, and hung in the sky, a burning ember, its wings skeletal, its body ash and bones. But the moment the strange burning spell was lifted, it would begin to heal, and in moments it would be wholeand more savage than before.

Wirance waited for the instant the light of the burning spell flickered out, then struck with his own.

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