Ra’dir and Ra’fan were more experienced and knew not to flinch, but Tennat suddenly fell back – right into them. ‘Get out of the way, you idiot,’ Ra’dir shouted, trying to shove him aside to get a line on me.
I dived to my right, rolling awkwardly over my shoulder but managing not to drop the cards or slice my own palm on them. As I came up on one knee, I flung two more. One sailed harmlessly off into the darkness, but the other caught Ra’fan in the leg. He gave out a yell and stumbled forward into Pan’erath.
A burning sensation passed my left ear as one of Ra’dir’s spells flew by. If I hadn’t still been in motion, he’d have set me ablaze instead of the tree behind me. I kept moving as fast as I could. This isn’t going to work for long, I reminded myself. War mages train to hit moving targets.
I ran behind the trees, flinging cards as I went, trying to keep the group close together and prevent any one of them from getting a line on me. A lucky throw sent another card spinning into Ra’fan’s left hand, a thread of blood appearing where his palm was cut open. He wouldn’t be casting any chain spells for a few minutes. It’s working! I thought. Then a shape of almost black light enveloped me and I found myself pinned against a tree. Pan’erath had finally cast his own spell.
I’d known this was coming of course. If I’d prepared pinches of powder instead of the cards I could have blasted the shadows apart, but that wasn’t my plan. I guess now I find out just how reliable squirrel cats are. ‘Reichis, now!’
For a second nothing happened. The others had just started to relax when a chittering voice said, ‘Okay, but you’re really going to owe me for this.’ A dark shape swooped down from the treetops onto Pan’s head. I watched in sick fascination as Reichis covered Pan’s face with the furry webbing that stretched between his front and back limbs while his rear claws drew gashes into the back of Pan’s neck, causing him to stumble back, screaming in pain.
I felt the shadow release me and flung two more cards to keep the others from grabbing Reichis.
‘Get him off me!’ Pan shouted.
‘Lousy torturing skinbag,’ Reichis growled. ‘Let’s see how well your blood magic works once I’ve ripped your eyes out.’
‘Reichis, don’t!’ I screamed.
Fire flared in Ra’dir’s hands as he prepared to blast the squirrel cat out of existence. I wondered if he cared that he was probably going to kill Pan at the same time. Reichis didn’t take any notice, his complete commitment to revenge outweighing any sensible fear he might have. I launched the remaining cards at our enemies, desperately trying to distract them. I missed them all, except for Ra’fan, for whom I was seriously starting to feel some sympathy, since I’d now hit him for the third time, this card lodging deep into the muscle of his shoulder. ‘Damn it!’ he screamed. ‘Blind him, Tennat!’
‘My name is Ra’ennat,’ his brother insisted, but in the chaos and confusion he couldn’t summon the concentration to make the spell work. Still haven’t learned that you can’t cast spells when you’re scared.
Ra’dir had a lot more training and composure though. He fired his spell, eyes on Reichis. The squirrel cat leaped off Pan’s face, but his left side still got caught in the blast and his fur caught fire. I took off at a run and by some small miracle caught the squirrel cat mid-air. I curled into a ball and tumbled forward to roll on the ground, smothering the flames with my body. From the burning sensation on my torso, I guessed I wouldn’t be growing any chest hair for a while.
Reichis got out from under me and ran back into the forest. I felt a twinge of resentment at his utter lack of gratitude, but I forgave him a few seconds later when he emerged from the trees behind our opponents and gave Ra’dir a deep gash in the back of the leg before disappearing back into the underbrush.
‘Get the nekhek,’ Pan’erath ordered, rising up from the ground, blood on his forehead and iron in his eyes. ‘I’ll deal with the Sha’Tep.’
The shifting blackness around his hands grew and slithered out towards me, reaching for me. Okay, this is it, I thought, as I dug my hands into my pockets and brought out generous pinches of the red and black powders. ‘Carath,’ I said, uttering the simple breath spell as I flung the powders into the air towards each other. My fingers took on the somatic shapes, aiming the resulting explosion into Pan’s lightform. It blew apart and he fell to the ground, winded.
‘How …?’ he began, looking up at me.
‘I told you before, Pan. I’ll never be Sha’Tep.’
‘You’ll never be Jan’Tep either,’ Ra’fan said, his bleeding hand outstretched towards me. Somehow he pushed through the pain and shock of his wounds and cast a chain spell that wrapped itself around me, paralysing me where I stood.
Reichis appeared again from the underbrush and raced for Ra’fan, but this time Ra’dir was ready for him. He fired off another blast and the squirrel cat had to pull up short to keep from running right into it.
‘Reichis, run!’ I shouted.
He hesitated as if he might stay, but I think he realised the odds had turned sour on us. ‘Sorry, kid,’ he chittered, turning back into the darkness before Ra’dir could try again.
Ra’fan gritted his teeth and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he clenched his fists. Damn … he’s not just trying to bind me any more. Every part of my body was being squeezed, crushed by the force of his will. I was sure I heard my ribs creaking as the invisible chains tightened around them. ‘You’re done, Sha’Tep. I’m killing you. Now.’
‘I’m afraid I still have some need of him,’ Ferius Parfax said. In the periphery of my vision I saw her struggling to stay on her feet as she flung one of her steel cards straight for Ra’fan’s eyes.
It flew in a perfect line, only to disappear into the watery light emanating from Pan’erath’s hands. ‘This is your fault, Daroman.’ I’d never heard his voice sound so cold, so hard. ‘You ruined everything.’
The tendrils of light set themselves upon Ferius, pulling at her hair, her hands, bending her fingers back too far. I tried desperately to reach into my pockets for more powders. If nothing else, I might be able to create some kind of distracting flash.
‘I don’t think so,’ Ra’fan said. The squeezing around my ribs grew tighter and I couldn’t take in a breath any more.
Tennat, evidently having finally overcome his fears, started walking towards me. ‘It’s over now, Kellen. You played all your dirty little tricks and now it’s time to say goodnight to the world.’
He spread his arms, uttered a word, and in an instant I was completely blind.
I heard Ra’dir say, ‘Keep an eye out for the nekhek. It’s still dangerous.’
Tennat practically giggled. ‘No, it isn’t. My blinding spell covered all of them. The moment the creature shows up, we burn him.’