Don’t blame me, stupid, Laina shot back.
A silent explosion of light followed by howling screams, heralded their proximity to the latest battle. Darla moved closer to the building they were passing by, and Will matched her example. The Arkeshi eased forward to look around the corner, then blurred into motion.
A vampire hurtled around the corner at speed. The creature was in full flight. Though Darla couldn’t match its speed, her long knife, inlaid with silver, moved in line just quickly enough to cut a deep, smoking slash across the vampire’s thigh, sending it into a tumbling roll.
Will sent a force-lance into the creature’s head as it started to rise, then he blocked the rush of a second monster coming around the corner. Brought to a violent stop by Will’s point-defense shield, the vampire was stunned for a second, during which Darla’s blade moved with perfect efficiency, cutting across, over, then down, severing vital tendons in the wrists and arms of her opponent.
Before the thing could stumble back or retreat, Will sent a force-lance through first one, then the other leg.
Laina had only just begun to react, and more of the creatures were spilling around the corner as what seemed to be an endless horde swarmed toward them. Darla looked back in panic. “Run!”
Slow to start, Laina wasted no time once she realized what was happening. A brief command sent her earth elemental into action, and a dense, earthen wall grew up and over their position, keeping the vampires at bay.
Will had been about to start a force-dome, but seeing what Laina was doing, he switched tactics. He had time now.
“We’re trapped,” observed Darla.
“Not for long,” Laina announced. “He’s got something special planned.”
Don’t spoil it, complained Will as Ethelgren’s Illumination came together above his palm. “Close your eyes,” he warned, then released it. Inside the enclosed space, the radiance was searing, even through closed lids, but after a few seconds the glowing orbs moved out through the solid walls and beyond, to where the vampires were trying to dig their way through.
More howls announced the deaths of the bloodsuckers in closest proximity, and more screams followed as the orbs continued outward. “That spell is perfect for these things,” Laina enthused.
You can thank Linus Ethelgren for it, Will informed her. It’s one of his.
Never mind, she replied, changing her tone. Now that the orbs were out at a distance, she had her earth elemental lower the protective dome. The street appeared empty except for noxious dust swirling in the breeze.
They hurried around the corner, and at the other end of the next block, they saw what had sent some of the vampires running in fear. A tense battle was still in progress as the younger, frenzied vampires swarmed over and around a small contingent of the Driven. From what they could tell, there had been ordinary soldiers with them, but those were already face-down in the dirt. Linus Ethelgren stood in the center of the melee, untouched, his glowing white coat shedding radiance in all directions.
The coat was a potent protective spell, and while it didn’t harm the vampire beyond a short distance, it was strong enough that any that slipped past and tried to engage him quickly burst into flames.
Aside from watching, the ancient wizard did little besides cackle as men and vampires fought and died. Elementals raged, sending gouts of flame to consume some of the undead, but the creatures were unbelievably fast. The unwary were caught, but many others dodged the jets of fire. As some of the vampires slipped in among them, one of the Driven panicked, releasing a wind-wall.
The deadly winds destroyed the nearest vampires, as well as some of his fellow sorcerers. The human defenders faltered, and the vampires farther out could sense their weakness. Uttering a series of high-pitched clicks, the undead called for more of their own to join the incipient feast, and more came scrambling out into the street.
Through it all, Linus Ethelgren stood laughing, his cheeks flushed with excitement. He was having the time of his life. As the undead tide rose, threatening to overwhelm them at last, the ancient wizard lifted a hand up to the sky. Argent sparks shimmered in the air around him, becoming silver blades that danced in the air. They cut through everything and everyone near him, sorcerers and vampires alike, but those blades that struck flesh remained in their targets. Lines of silver turyn flashed back from them to their creator.
Ethelgren’s spell was just beginning.
The power coursed into him and flowed into the second layer of his spell construct. Grinning like a madman, the wizard lifted his hands and brought them together in a thunderous clap with his fingers pointing outward. An actinic beam of devastating power lashed out, cutting through vampires and buildings with equal ease.
Slowly, gleefully, Ethelgren began to turn in place while his silver beam continued to chew through everything it’s path. He seemed intent on making a complete circle.
Will couldn’t see how far out the beam went, how much it could cut through before petering out, but it was much too far for their own safety.
Laina barked a single word. “Darla!” The Arkeshi responded instantly, moving to stand closely beside her mistress. Meanwhile, Laina’s earth elemental began building another dome, thicker, denser, stronger than before. At the same time, Will dismissed the chameleon effect and started constructing a force-dome spell. Given the direction of Ethelgren’s turn, his beam would reach them in just seconds, and he doubted the earthen wall would stop it, for the silver power was already eating through stone and wood buildings with equal ease.
The wall of force appeared just as coruscating, argent power tore into Laina’s defense, which predictably turned out to be very little defense at all. In theory, force effects were utterly impervious to physical effects. Mass, momentum, inertia, these things meant nothing to force spells. They were immovable or irresistible, depending on their design.
But magical energy was a different matter. Will’s spell would require a commensurate amount of power to match the spell that was about to slam into it. Laina, I need your help. He had already extended his outer absorptive shell and started drawing in power as quickly as possible, but it was unlikely to be enough.
The earth elemental was already busy, and Ethelgren’s spell had completely disrupted its body. Laina directed the turyn of her fire elemental into Will’s spell, shoring it up just as the silver beam struck.
The world went white as the beam washed over them. The earthen dome was gone in an instant, and Will felt the force-dome shudder, signaling its imminent collapse. The power he and Laina were channeling into the protective spell was nothing compared to the power Ethelgren had sent against it, and Will suddenly understood why.
Not only was the mad wizard’s spell fueled by the turyn of those who had been impaled by his silver blades during the first phase, but the beam itself was a ripsaw of turyn currents. Power wasn’t merely flowing outward; it was flowing back in a high-frequency current of devastation. With each high-speed pulse outward, the beam destroyed whatever was in its path, and with each complementary return, it stripped away the turyn of the living and the dead in that same path, fueling its continuation.