The Resistance by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Author:Kristine Kathryn Rusch [Rusch, Kristine Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: WMG Publishing
Published: 2012-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

FORTY

Matthias stared at the burning boy. He could feel the boy's fear — or was it his own? He wasn't certain. The boy was arguing with the man he had pulled closer to him, a man whose presence Matthias hadn't even been aware of.

Things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand if Denl, Jakib, and Tri hadn't come up here, knives drawn, to attack the boy. They had thought somehow that Matthias was in danger. They had gotten within a few feet of the boy and he had turned into a fireball. Matthias had tried to calm him and to leave, and the boy had gotten even angrier.

He was protecting Fey.

Matthias shuddered.

The boy burned brightly against the dark night. The fireballs were smoldering on the mountainside — fortunately, there wasn't much grass — and the air smelled of smoke.

"If you don't want us to leave," Matthias said, "you have to tell us what to do."

He wasn't sure he wanted to give the boy that much power, but it didn't really matter. The boy might ask him to work with him again, and Matthias would refuse. He didn't like this meeting, didn't like this boy, didn't like the fear that rolled through the air like waves.

Another fireball launched. Matthias ducked as it whistled overhead. It landed behind him with a thump.

"Coulter!" the new Islander said. "Stop."

But he couldn't stop. Matthias knew that. The fireballs were out of his control. They seemed to be coming from his fear.

"What do you want us to do?" Matthias asked again.

"Leave my friends alone."

"Fer godsakes, Holy Sir," Denl whispered, "Promise ye'll do that."

"All right," Matthias said.

"And don't lie!" the boy shouted.

"I'm not," Matthias said, even though he was.

Another fireball shot through the air, this one coming directly toward him. Denl and Jakib jumped away. Tri crouched, his hands over his head.

Matthias had had enough. He stood as tall as he could, and he held up a hand.

The fireball hit a spot about three feet from his hand and bounced back toward the burning boy. The boy caught the ball and extinguished it.

"Stop this now," Matthias said. "This has gone on long enough."

The boy shot another fireball at Matthias. This one didn't feel out of control. It felt deliberate, as if the boy were aiming at him. Matthias kept his hand up, and the ball bounced against the unseen barrier, flaring against it for a moment. It was almost as if it had hit glass.

Like the opaque wall that had formed inches from his hand in the cell with Burden, all those years ago. The opaque wall that acted as a shield, that had protected him from Fey attacks.

Matthias brought his hand down. His heart was pounding, and not from the fireball attack.

— The Fey call me an Enchanter. I don't know what the Islander word for me is. I suspect it's lost."

— You have a great magick, holy man.

— Someday you're going to have to believe in what you can do.

— If a person squints, he can see magick energy flickering off another person.

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