14
Tariel cried out as Sallara blasted her with a green wave of magic. Instinctively, she threw up her own hands, and a lavender shield flickered into life, deflecting most of the blow. Still, the force slammed her into the wall, and Tariel’s vision blurred as the back of her head knocked against thestone.
“Tariel!” Riann cried. He lunged in front of her, but another bandit engaged him, and he was forced to defendhimself.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Sallara stalked forward, her fist encased in glowing magic. She tried to blast Tariel again, but this time Tariel ducked the raw magic. It hit the wall, and the passage began to shake, rocks crumbling from theceiling.
“You’re going to get us all killed, Sallara!” Wellion roared as he ran his sword through another bandit. He and Riann had killed six now, but more kept coming around the corner. Just how many had Sallara summoned? The entirekeep?
“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you decided to abandon me,” Sallarasnapped.
“Enough!” Tariel flung out a hand and sent a flurry of bats into Sallara’s face. They were an illusion, of course, but Sallara screamed, stumbling back as she desperately swiped the air around her, trying to fend them off. Tariel barraged her with more of the fake bats, strengthening the illusion to make them seem real, as if their leathery wings and small claws scraped at herskin.
“I know what you’re doing!”Sallara screamed, her irises flaring as her eyes opened wide. A magical glow encased her entire body, then rippled outward in a pulse that destroyed the illusion. Her hair whipped around her as if she stood in the middle of a gale, and she raised her hands toward Tariel again, preparing for anotherattack.
“STOP!” Wellion shouted. He threw a fistful of powder on Sallara’s face, and just like that, her power winked out and died. Snarling, he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her against the wall. “Is this really what you want, Sallara? For our last moments to be painted in violence anddeath?”
“You’re a traitor,” she spat, ripping her arm away from him. “Violence and death is the only end youdeserve.”
Sallara pulled a green vial from her sleeve, and Wellion’s eyes widened in horror as she smashed it to the ground. “Hold your breath!” he cried as noxious green fumes billowed up from the floor. “If you breathe this, it will killyou!”
“Enjoy your last moments,” Sallara said, her laughter echoing down the hall as she raced back up the path. The remaining bandits were already on their knees, clutching their throats as their skin turned a mottledyellow.
Utter terror clenched around Tariel’s own throat as she beheld them, especially when Lord Raffis and Natha began towobble.
And yet, she felt fine. And Riann did not seem to be affectedeither.
“Take my hand!” she cried, rushing over to Raffis and Natha. She did not wait for them to answer, but seized them each by the hand and hauled them to their feet. Gritting her teeth, she drew up on her reserves of magic and sent a pulse through each of them, driving back the effects of the poison. “So long as you hold onto me, you will not beaffected!”
She turned to seek out Wellion, but the bandit had raced ahead, trying to outrun the deadly fumes. Tariel hauled the others behind her as she ran after them, Riann bringing up the rear to fight off any more bandits. The fumes were insidious, rapidly spreading through the passageways, and Wellion slowed, his own skin turningyellow.
“Go…on ahead…without me…” he gasped, bracing himself against the wall. “I…won’t…makeit.”
“Don’t be daft.” Riann slung Wellion over his shoulder. “We’re not leaving withoutyou.”
Riann took the lead, pumping his legs as fast as he could while Tariel and the others followed behind. She tried to send some healing magic into Wellion to hold off the effects of the poison, but she was already spread thin with the other two, and it was difficult when she couldn’t actually touch him. A headache pounded at her temples from thestrain.
“Look!” Lord Raffis cried. “Moonlight, upahead!”
“Look out…for the colored...bricks…” Wellion rasped, his eyes heavy-lidded.
“Watch out!” Riann skidded to a halt, and Tariel slammed into his back. She instinctively released the other two, but thankfully, the smoke had mostly dissipated this far away. Peering around Riann’s bulk, Tariel saw what Riann was lookingat.
“Nearly all of these are colored,” Natha said in a hollow voice. Her eyes had a dead look to them, red-rimmed from crying. “And they’re barely wide enough to stand one foot on, never mindtwo.”
“I believe the idea is to tiptoe across,” Lord Raffis said, eyeing thestones.
Tariel looked closer. They formed a mosaic that matched the intertwined snake and sword—Lord Traize’s houseemblem.
“Carefully,” Lord Raffissaid.
“Verycarefully,” Riann added. He looked around. “Can someone hand me a rock? Preferably a heavyone?”
Natha wordlessly handed him a stone roughly the size of a man’s fist. Riann chucked it onto one of the red bricks, and a spike shot up from a small hole in the ground, knocking the stone onto one of the blue bricks. This one did nothing, but Tariel thought she saw it move, and she wondered if it might give way completely if one stepped onit.
“The idea,” Wellion said weakly, “was to prevent intruders from charging into this passage. It’s especially difficult to navigate when one is wearing armor, even light armor like you have,” he said toRiann.
“And I get to wear armorandcarry you,” Riann grumbled. Tariel sucked in a sharp breath as he gingerly placed one foot on a plain brick. “Think I’m going to need to adjust you abit.”
