The Unchained Mage by Catherine Griffin
Author:Catherine Griffin [Griffin, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-14T18:30:00+00:00
CHAPTER TWENTY
ASHE FROZE. THOUGH Maia’s flame had been no brighter than a candle, without it he was blind. Only a few yards away the globe-lights of a room blazed into the corridor, but the illusion of darkness resisted the light like thick, oily fog. He could barely see Maia crouching ahead of him. His heart thudded.
‘Maia? Are you all right?’
The darkness pressed in, and fear with it. He couldn’t move. Invisible death hung all around, but worse than that, worse than anything was the thought of Maia bleeding out, and dying, and leaving him in the dark, alone.
‘Krail’s name, Maia, say something.’
He heard her breathe, her robe shifting.
‘I’m all right,’ she said shakily.
‘Are you hurt?’
‘Give me a moment.’
He crawled forward. At least one wire was between them, and he wasn’t sure where it was. He should have watched her more closely. She’d ducked under it though, so if he kept low he should be safe. He pressed himself to the floor until he reached her side.
A candle flame flickered into life in her palm, illuminating her face.
He sighed. ‘What happened?’
‘I caught my shoulder, but it’s not bad.’
He tested the space around her with his pry bar, and finding no wires, helped her stand. She grimaced. In the gloom, he couldn’t see any injury.
‘We’re nearly there,’ he said. ‘I’ll lead. Hold my arm.’
Together they covered the last yards of corridor, testing every inch for wires, until they stepped into the lighted room beyond.
Ashe stopped, swaying. Blood rushed to his head. ‘Praise the gods. We did it.’ Impulsively he threw his arms round Maia, laughing in dizzy relief.
‘Ow,’ she said.
‘Oh, sorry. I forgot.’
The room contained a single long table with chairs arranged either side. A tapestry on the wall depicted Deon battling a dragon, though instead of his usual sword he seemed to wield a lightning bolt. Gold and silver threads glinted among the still-bright colours.
Ashe guided Maia to a seat.
‘My shoulder,’ she said.
The wire had caught her back, slicing through robe and skin, leaving a palm-sized patch of raw flesh awash with blood. Ashe winced in sympathy.
‘Can you bandage it?’ she said.
Ashe tore strips from his tunic; it was none too clean, but they had nothing better. ‘You’ll have to…’
She loosened her robe and he helped her pull the rough fabric over her shoulder to expose the wound. Under the robe she wore only a thin shift. Heat rose to his face. He averted his gaze, focusing firmly on the wound and the task of bandaging.
Her face was tense with pain, and pale, almost grey.
‘How come magi always forget how to make things?’ he said. ‘Like the razor-wire or the lights? Didn’t they write anything down?’
‘We aren’t always forgetting things.’ She winced. ‘The manufacture was difficult and expensive, and few people understood the whole process. Besides, would you really want to see hayan knights armed with razor-wire?’
She had a point there.
‘Leer-Fyth was the last great mage of the Golden Age. There was no king then. All the high nobility of the Flight had descended to bands of warring hayan stealing each other’s cows.
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