The clearing erupted into activity, with Gabral and his captains shouting orders and men scrambling for weapons and armor. Shadows jumped in the flickering torchlight.
Kevlin paced near the forest's edge and peered into the darkness. So many sentinels. Could they really be allied with Tanathos? Rhea and Bajaran were, but could there be so many others? What else could have dragged them into the wilderness?
“Move,” Harafin urged Gabral. “Get everyone back.” Leander hovered beside Harafin near the central fire, his right hand occasionally clenching at empty air as if grasping for his hammer.
Soldiers scrambled into their saddles and Kevlin breathed a sigh of relief. They were going to make it.
Wrong.
An arrow of white-hot magic shot from the darkened forest and struck one rider in the chest. The resulting explosion catapulted him from the saddle. He tumbled to the ground, a limp, unmoving corpse.
“Go!” Harafin yelled.
Flanked by Leander, he ran toward the trees, but was still fifty paces away when a second bolt of magic shot out of the woods.
The glowing projectile ricocheted off an invisible barrier with a surprisingly musical twang and careened into the night sky.
As Harafin charged through the ranks of soldiers, right hand glowing with power, men scattered out of his way. Two bolts of green magic flashed from the trees toward Harafin, but he deflected them away. A third struck the ground right in front of him, blasting dirt into his face.
While he pawed at his eyes, Leander stepped in front of him and snapped his fingers, calling forth his mighty hammer. He held it at the ready, as if to knock any further bolts of magic from the air like he had done with the Grakonian crossbow bolts in Baldev.
They were out of time. The men were too spread out and Harafin was only a single man. Even he couldn’t hope to hold off so many attackers alone until the soldiers were safely away.
Kevlin was only twenty feet from the trees.
Time to spin the Wheel.
He sprinted toward the trees, drew his sword, and shouted a wordless battle cry.
“What are you doing?” Leander shouted.
“I’ll slow them down.”
I’m insane.
Kevlin ran on, swinging his sword wildly to draw the attention of the hidden assailants.
The ghostly white figure of a sentinel stepped from behind a tree five paces away and raised an arm toward him.
This had better work.
A spear of red-gold magic shot from the unknown sentinel’s hand and struck Kevlin in the chest. The magic crackled like dead leaves, flared, and disappeared. The familiar sensation of warmth began spreading through Kevlin as the amulet captured the magic and poured it into him. The scent of clover hung in the air around him.
Kevlin leaped at the surprised sentinel, driven by the thrill of still being alive as much as by the influx of energy. The man reacted too slowly and Kevlin drove his sword deep into the man’s chest. Hot blood poured over his hand and its sharp, coppery stench triggered a flood of memories of past battles.
The sentinel shuddered, his face locked into a shocked grimace and his mouth moving wordlessly as he toppled to the ground.
Kevlin stared at him for a double heartbeat, fighting to center his mind and stem the tide of memories that threatened to sweep him into battle rage.
I just killed a sentinel.
For years he’d wanted nothing so badly as to thrust a sword through a sentinel’s guts and watch him die. Killing this nameless enemy brought none of the anticipated satisfaction, though. He wasn’t sure what he felt.
He tried to kill me. That’s enough. . .for now.
Two more sentinels emerged from the deeper shadows under the trees to either side of him, magic blasting from their hands. Light half-blinded Kevlin and his ears rang with an angry buzzing, as if he’d stuck his head in a giant hornets’ nest. He raised a hand to shield his face, gritting his teeth against the unnerving sound.
The light faded and he marveled that he still stood, unscathed by the attack.
Thank the Lady for the amulet.
The two sentinels stared, as surprised by their failure as the first man had been. Kevlin embraced the battle fury surging through him and lunged left, captured magic boiling down his limbs and setting his muscles thrumming with power. He swallowed the terror that bubbled through him and slashed the throat of one man who was already raising a hand to cast another spell.
The sentinel fell back with a gurgling cry, and Kevlin spun toward the other sentinel.
A woman.
She stood, glowing hands half-raised to cast another spell, her face a mixture of fear and determination. Their eyes met for a second, then she glanced down at her fallen companions who lay twitching in pools of their own blood.
“If you surrender, I won’t kill you,” Kevlin said. He’d fought many battles, but couldn’t remember ever having killed a woman. He’d rather not, if it could be avoided.
Instead of answering, the woman spun and ran into the darkness.
So be it. Kevlin gave chase.
Sentinel robes might be good for many things, but running was not one of them. Nor was hiding. The woman’s white robe seemed to glow in the deep shadows, drawing him like a beacon. He closed on her fast. It would be over in seconds.
Why doesn’t she just surrender?
She burst through a screen of bushes and stumbled out onto the trail leading to the fort. There she turned, her face triumphant as Kevlin leaped out onto the road beside her.
He started in surprise, having been so focused on running her down that he hadn’t noticed the other four enemy sentinels. Two pairs of white-robed men flanked him on either side, mere paces away. They stared back, appearing equally surprised to have him appear in their midst.
“Kill him,” the woman screamed. She raised her hands and light coalesced into her. For a single heartbeat, her entire body blazed like the sun, glowing with every color imaginable. Light shimmered around her in a breathtaking rainbow.
In that second, while she manipulated actinic energy, she was the most beautiful thing Kevlin had ever seen. Time seemed to slow and Kevlin stared, transfixed.
Then she flung open her hand. The same brilliant light blasted out from her palm in a crackling ball of fire that seared the air with its supernatural heat. His lungs burned as he tried to draw a breath, and his face began to blister.
The ball of flame flared blindingly as it struck.
Then it disappeared.
Kevlin stood untouched in the trail, his entire body shivering both with awe at what he’d seen and from the new influx of power he'd absorbed.
The woman shouted a vile curse and raised her hands again.
Enough. Kevlin lunged and slugged her in the side of the head with the hilt of his sword.
She dropped like a stone.
At the same instant, the other sentinels struck. Magic blasted into Kevlin from all sides, blinding him with its brilliant flashes of light. Energy snapped and whipped around him, deafening him with concussive thunderclaps.
He ducked against the light and shouted, a guttural cry of fear. The amulet might protect him, but it couldn’t erase the terror of standing alone between four sentinels in the darkness while they tried to rip him apart.
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The air crackled with power. Dust blew up from the trail, then blackened to powder as magic vaporized it. The air tasted stale, lifeless, and smelled like a charnel house.
Magic flooded into him, a boiling river that churned through his torso and roared along his veins. His body swelled with power until it nearly overwhelmed him. It felt like drowning, and he couldn’t hold his breath against it.
He panicked.
“Stop!” He shouted so loud it hurt. His arms tingled with so much strength that he felt he could throw the accursed sentinels back to Ingolf if he could get his hands on them. He turned toward the pair on his left, threw out his arms, and pushed the magic away.
A wave of pure white light erupted from him in a solid wall. His skin burned as the power passed through it, and out of him. A heavy thunderclap shattered the air. He clutched his ears and shouted a wordless howl.
Whatever Harafin’s planning, he’d better hurry. I can’t take any more of this.
His blast of magic tumbled the two sentinels to the ground, temporarily stunned.
Kevlin spun back to the other pair, who had paused in their attack. One, a heavyset fellow with a florid complexion, pointed at Kevlin and said, “Halimaw tactics, lad.”
A bush next to Kevlin ripped out of the ground and slammed into his back. He staggered.
Bushes? Who kills someone with bushes? The thought seemed ludicrous.
The sentinel raised a hand, and fire erupted out of the air around Kevlin, blinding him and blocking his view. The amulet captured magic and, although the flames licked to within inches of his face, they didn’t touch him.
The heat did. It seared his skin, and he had to hold his breath to keep it from scorching his lungs.
Something heavy struck him in the side, and he stumbled through the wall of flames. More magic poured into him from the amulet.
The two sentinels turned toward the forest, and light coalesced inside of them as they focused actinic energy. Kevlin glanced in that direction to see what they were doing.
A foot-thick sapling swayed, lifting slowly from the ground. It groaned like a living thing, and its roots thrashed as if fighting against its fate.
That’s just not fair.
A slender figure leaped from the forest right behind the sentinels.
Ceren.
She struck the back of the heavyset sentinel’s neck, right at the base of the skull, with the hilt of her sword. He collapsed. The other sentinel spun toward Ceren, and she kicked him in the groin.
The impact lifted him off the ground and he fell face-first in the dirt, clutching at himself and writhing in pain. Ceren kicked him in the head and he stopped moving.
Kevlin ran to her. She turned to him, panting, her emerald eyes sparkling with excitement.
“What are you doing?” he demanded. “You could’ve been killed.”
“Oh, so you’re the only one who can do something brave?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She tossed her hair and gave him that look, as if trying to remind him of his place in the world. “They were too focused on you. I was in no danger.”
Another sentinel emerged from the trees ten paces up the trail, behind Ceren. He wasted no time in pointing a glowing finger at them.
Ceren had no protection.
Kevlin lunged past her just as a spear of red-gold magic sprang from the man’s hands. Kevlin ran right through it, so far beyond fear that he didn’t even cringe when it struck.
The sentinel tried to retreat, but Kevlin closed on him fast and slashed him from shoulder to thigh. Blood spurted from the deep wound and the man tumbled to the ground. Even as he fell, he threw a blast of magic right at Kevlin’s face, momentarily blinding him.
When Kevlin recovered his sight, the sentinel lay on the ground, clutching at his wounded side. “What in the name of the seven gods are you?” the man asked.
Kevlin kicked him in the teeth.
With a terrifying crack of splintering wood, a large branch snapped from a heavy oak tree nearby.
Shield!
In a heartbeat, Kevlin formed the image of a broad shield in his mind. The magic burning in his chest exploded out of him, forming an amber-colored shield of light just as the heavy branch whisked through the air in his direction.
The branch collided with his shield inches from his head. The shield shuddered from the blow, but held. In his mind, it felt like someone had punched him in the kidneys. He winced. He’d never imagined having kidneys in his mind.
By the Lady, I hate magic.
Voices shouted in the darkness as people crashed through the dense forest. The other sentinels were coming fast.
Kevlin grabbed Ceren’s arm and pushed her up the trail at a run, just as trees and bushes began shaking nearby. The sentinels seemed to have realized they needed to attack him indirectly. He and Ceren couldn’t get back to Harafin through the woods, so they raced up the path leading toward the fort.
A crowd of shouting sentinels emerged from the woods behind them and gave chase. Bushes, branches and even a few rocks launched through the air after them. Kevlin deflected the debris with his glowing shield, quickly gaining mastery over the mechanics of moving it around as he fought to protect both Ceren and himself.
Magic surged through him and flowed out through his hand to fuel the shield. He’d absorbed a huge reserve of power, and wished he could just push it all away.
It filled him with euphoria, but he hated the false feeling and worried it might draw Savas again. He gritted his teeth and held the magic in, kept it focused, and even admitted it was a good thing Harafin had taught him the spell. Hopefully he’d never have to use it again. He hated every second of it.
More shouts, and several bolts of magic shot from the trees to his left.
Uh oh.
More sentinels. Harafin had said there were a dozen of them, but he’d hoped the others were farther behind. Kevlin tried increasing his pace, but it was hard to maintain his shield and move at the same time, so he settled for a frustratingly slow trot back along the trail.
“Where are we going?” Ceren cried, her face pale and terrified.
“Away.”
Bolts of magic pelted his back, and power surged through him in a barely contained torrent despite the energy he was using to fuel the shield. Thank the gods they were all aiming at him rather than Ceren.
He tried to increase the size of the shield, and even to angle it to protect them better, but the effort felt like trying to mold clay with his knees while blindfolded. Sweat dripped down into his eyes as he struggled with the unaccustomed effort.
A sentinel stepped into the trail and pointed at Ceren. A wall of golden light appeared just in front of her.
She couldn’t stop, and ran into it. It wrapped around her, immobilizing her.
“Let her go,” Kevlin shouted.
The sight of Ceren imprisoned sparked his rage and he could think of nothing but punching the man’s face. The energy boiling in his chest reacted.
A huge ball of amber magic, shaped roughly like a fist, shot from Kevlin and slammed the sentinel headlong into the trees.
Ceren's golden prison flickered and disappeared. She gasped and staggered forward. Kevlin caught her arm.
“Thanks,” she panted.
A tree crashed to the ground right next to him, shaking the earth and blasting dust-laden air up in a wave. Not a sapling, but a tree. A big one.
Kevlin stared at the massive trunk still quivering inches away, and tried to swallow. His mouth felt parched and his legs shook.
Half a foot, and it would have squashed us into jelly.
Time to go. Really.
Kevlin released the shield, grabbed Ceren’s arm, and sprinted as fast as he could up the trail, dragging her with him. The sentinels gave chase and debris rained down on them. One large branch slammed into his right shoulder, and pain lanced all the way down his arm. Magic then rolled up into it, and the pain subsided.
Ceren cried out and stumbled, nearly falling. A rock had struck her thigh. She clutched at her injured leg and tried to run, but could barely stand. Tears glistened in her terrified eyes.
Kevlin swept her up into his arms and cradled her against his chest, barely slowing in his mad dash. He drew upon the magic pounding through his limbs, using its strength not only to keep going but to speed up.
We’re going to die, he realized. They couldn’t run fast enough. Ceren clutched at him and buried her face against his neck as she shook with fear.
Her terror triggered rage in him. It was his fault. She’d come to help. He couldn’t let her die.
Slowing his pace, he concentrated on the raging power in his soul. A little shield wouldn’t do. With anger strengthening his will, he cast aside his fears and envisioned a large, bowl-shaped shield resting over him.
Do it, he commanded the churning power. By the gods, do it.
It obeyed. Magic poured out of him to form a huge, amber colored shield.
He ran on, with the shimmering bowl over his head, gasping from the effort. His body trembled from the strain, but he growled with determination and forced himself on.
The forest shook and trees groaned. Dust and leaves lifted into the air, making it even harder to see. His shield held as debris rained down.
Please, no more trees. If one of those hit directly, they’d be dead.
The trail turned sharply, illuminated by flashes of light, and he took the corner leaning so far over he nearly lost his footing. The debris subsided, but he didn’t slow. Still sprinting, he raced out of the trees and into the clearing. On the far side, hidden in the gloom, loomed the fort.
He slowed. Torches burned all along the wall, clearly visible even half a mile away.
“Tanathos knows we’re here,” Ceren said in his ear.
Had it been a trap all along?
“We’ve got to get back to Harafin,” Kevlin decided.
He turned back toward the trees, but a bolt of silvery magic shot out from them and struck the shield directly in front of his chest. He winced at the mental jab as his shield deflected the strike.
A long line of white-robed sentinels stepped out of the trees to face him. A woman at the center of the group declared, “It doesn’t matter how many souls you’ve stolen. You can’t stop us all.”
She talked like she thought he was the enemy.
Oh, no.
Could they really have messed things up that badly? He opened his mouth to speak, but the sentinels raised their hands and bolts of white-hot magic shot from every palm.
His shield shattered under the simultaneous impacts of so much magic, and half a dozen bolts slammed into Ceren.
She screamed in terror, and the impact rocked Kevlin backward. Bright light seared his eyes, and magic crackled all around them like lightning, arcing from Ceren to himself, and back again. The sharp scent of ozone burned his nose and set his blinded eyes watering.
Despite the tumult, dazzling lights, and smoky haze that surrounded them, he could feel nothing but Ceren’s body trembling against him with fear.
In the next heartbeat, the amulet absorbed all the magic and poured it into him, a torrent of power so vast it nearly lifted him off the ground. He bellowed, his voice magnified so loud by the energy that several of the sentinels clutched at their ears.
Ceren screamed again and punched him in the shoulder. The magic thundered through his soul, a storm of energy with which he could do all things. At the same time it tore at his body, seeking a way out.
It wanted to kill him.
Kevlin threw his arms wide and Ceren dropped to the ground with a squawk of surprise. Magic raced down his arms like liquid fire and exploded out his fingers.
Lightning-like sheets of raw energy shot from his hands and lit the night like the return of the sun. The ground rippled and dirt shot into the air. Trees splintered behind the sentinels as energy whipped back and forth through their ranks.
The sentinels reacted with impressive discipline. Several shouted in surprise, but all reinforced their shields to block the deadly energy.
One of them failed. The man screamed, a long, terrified shriek of mortal agony that rose to an ear-piercing crescendo as fingers of lightning punched through his body. His scream cut short abruptly, and he fell straight to the ground, as if every muscle had been liquefied.
Kevlin hauled Ceren off the ground, slung her over his shoulder, and fled into the clearing.