The others, though, must have had other opinions.
Arrows flew through the air.
They hit two of the keiler right between the eyes.
The beasts staggered for a moment and then fell, and then all was rage and light. Gerard swept his staff back and forth and light burst forth. The other three keiler twisted around. Shield yourself now and the smith. I will get everyone else.
It was Woltan. I hastily pushed a green globe of protection out around me and Cullen. It was just in time because suddenly a wave of fire washed over us, scorching the trees around me. There was a moment of pause, while Gerard looked to admire his handiwork, and then two more arrows flew, striking the keiler who had stopped to stare in fear at the burning forest. Move to other trees quickly.
I grabbed Cullen’s arm and pulled him with me to another tree, leaving a bare unscorched patch where we had stood. I saw the two keiler stagger — one was hit in the eye, the other in the neck, and the boar-man staggered as it tried to bat away the arrow. The two fell.
There was a cry of rage and Gerard raised his staff again. I raised my shields both mental and physical and opened my mind to see everyone around me. My other hand was on my sword, ready to draw it.
Gerard did not have time to move the staff.
A green bolt of living mother wood shot forth from the crossbow of Arboris, and it struck true, hitting not Gerard but his staff, with a great explosion of sound and light and fire and thunder. I watched the staff splinter and explode with my third eye; and Gerard staggered back, and the keiler crouched down, and prepared to run. The soldiers fell down, and we fell upon them. Our swords flashed with green and white fire.
The soldiers cursed and staggered back, seeing nothing but the swords, and then they fell too, and died. Gerard had pulled his own sword. He looked around wildly, and, his eyes unfocussed, spoke a word of power: SEHEN.
His eyes focused on me, and they glowed with red magical fire — two red orbs of anger, and he spoke.
“You will pay for the staff, for the book, and for the keiler. We meet again, Anders Tomason. I hope your parents are well.”
He smiled sardonically, and raised a blade that glowed red in the dark night with malevolence.
I nodded, and then my sword swung and clanged against the other and a shock ran up my arm, and there was a great blast of thunder and I saw Gerard’s look of surprise too, and felt Carolina in my mind. You aren’t ready for this, Anders, but he isn’t either. There’s a huge demon in there who is twice as strong as me but he’s not too clever.
I had no time to think about anything. With every blow I felt weaker, but Gerard staggered as well. I wanted to speak a word of power but figured I had neither the energy nor the concentration necessary. Gerard must not have either, or he would have already slammed me. I tried with all my might to keep my mental shield up, and raised the green shield of the tree mother as well. Then Gerard dealt me a great blow. The sword loosened in my grip. I staggered and fell, and the sword fell by me.
Gerard’s sword slammed against my green shield. There was a great flooding of green light. For a moment I thought I was dead but I realized it was the tree mother in the shield, absorbing the energy of the blow and stunning Gerard. I grabbed at my side and felt the sword in my hand and Carolina with me. Jumping up, I dealt a blow to Gerard, who staggered back, his sword loose at his side. Then Kara was there at my side, and Woltan at the other. Gerard spoke a word, and it was a curse, but it flew away in the wind with him in a whirl of red smoke. Blinded for a moment with a red flash and a smell of burnt sulfur, when I regained my sight we were alone in the dark night.
There were dead bodies all around us. Dead keiler and the two dead people.
Woltan spat. He has gone to rejoin his master. We would do well to get out of here.
We left the bodies to rot.
Maybe they deserved a burial, but we had no time.
We followed the fluorescent path of the road, but kept close to the side, ready to flee or hide again in the trees.
I walked alongside Woltan. And the tree mother?
Their attention for the moment will be on us. The more we move, the more they will be distracted from her. Besides, we cannot defend her against greater forces unless we get help from the Kriek.
I fear too for your forgotten city.
Perhaps we are better defended. He would certainly have more to gain from us. But his hatred for the forest is great. I’m sure the Tree Mother has helped you appreciate that.
Her magic is different from his, isn’t it?
Woltan sighed. A long time ago magic split into two branches; there was the chemical, with its devils and sulfur, and there was the natural, with its fresh earth, its herbs, its flowers and trees and faeries. Most magicians have some balance between the two, but much of the natural magic has been lost. Meanwhile, magicians like the one we fought –
Gerard, Gerard is his name –
Like Gerard, or his master, the dark lord, have brought their study of the dark and chemical to a higher level than any other. But they are more and more estranged from everything natural and living.
But it was in his shop