Anilyia (16 page)

All of that became very unimportant when
Tathan heard words of magic coming from the woman. He looked to see
the magical wind blowing her hair and cloak back, revealing a
burgundy dress with golden runes sewn throughout.

You could tell the power of a spell by how
much of a draft was created upon the user. Tathan perceived that
the spell the woman was casting would be overwhelming. To add to
the fact, Steve the Black Squirrel leapt to safety in order to get
away from the line of sight.

That was enough for Tathan to dash up the
steps as fast as possible. The wound protested and released more
blood into his shirt. The resonant voice that had graced his ear
just a moment earlier became sinister with the hissing of magical
phrases. Her voice was heavy with power ready to be unleashed.

Just as Tathan was about to reach the top of
the stairs, the voice stopped and a split second of stillness
filled the room. Fear gripped his heart as his foot touched the
floor of the hall. He hurtled toward the bedroom door as fast as he
could.

The roar of magic filled the air, traveling
up the stairs behind him. Tathan took another hard step toward the
room he had come from. Only one more would be needed to get to the
door and safety.

The spell ricocheted off the wall next to
the stairway, blasting the glass out of the window. Tathan could
hear crumbling stone. There was an acrid tang hinting of death and
weakness.

Another step, still thrusting toward the
door. Sickly green and black tendrils of magic licked his hair and
began moving ahead of him as the spell continued after him.

Tathan hit the door and burst into the room
as the tendrils bit through clothing into his skin. He could feel
them crawling through his hair and along his scalp. Weakness
exploded within his body and he felt the urge to lose his breakfast
from nausea.

With a strength born from years of surviving
adversity in the streets and alleys of hard cities, Tathan pulled
away from the wisps and leapt through the window. The magic had
reached its limit and could not follow him.

Weakness nearly overwhelmed him, but Tathan
managed to gather a last burst of strength to tumble as he hit the
ground, breaking the worst of the impact. His breath was knocked
out and dizziness threatened to overtake him. He reached out and
activated the ring he had acquired in the Rojuun caverns.

The ring of invisibility worked instantly,
obscuring him from the vision of anyone who should look in his
direction. He knew it would last for about an hour, enough time for
him to escape. There was a haziness to his body when he looked at
it, so he knew the ring was working. To anyone else, he would be
invisible.

What he didn’t know was if his dripping
blood would reappear on the ground. He knew from testing the ring
with Liselle and the others that he could still be heard. At some
point, he would have to stop rolling around on the ground in pain,
gasping for breath. At the moment, taking deep gulps of breath was
the only thing he could do. Spots were floating through his vision
from pain, loss of blood and the leftover effects of the spell.

Tathan had been shocked at the sight of a
human-sized squirrel. Its eyes had looked just like the woman’s.
She must have performed some sort of enchantment upon it. He heard
chattering from the window and saw Steve the Squirrel and the woman
looking down in the direction where he knelt. There were blood
droplets that could still be seen leading up to where he was, but
it looked like the fresh drops were invisible. Tathan didn’t know
how long they would stay that way.

He struggled to his feet and began stumbling
away. Any minute they would come down the stairs and attempt to
find him. When Tathan looked to see if they had gone back in, he
saw Steve the Squirrel hanging half out the window. Squirrels could
leap from tree to tree and apparently jumping from a second story
building was not difficult for one as big as Steve. The animal hit
the ground a short distance away from where Tathan had landed.

Tathan wondered why in the world the woman
had named the squirrel, and why Steve? Not that it mattered. A
freaky black squirrel was jumping out a window to crack him like a
nut. Why the woman called it Steve really wasn’t important in the
scheme of things.

It sniffed the ground where Tathan had
landed. Tathan honestly had no idea whether or not squirrels had a
good sense of smell. He staggered down the street as silently as he
could while clutching his side. The wound was severe and loss of
blood was making Tathan light headed. He would prefer to lie still
and moan until someone took care of him, but that wasn’t going to
happen.

The next time he glanced over his shoulder,
he saw that the woman had jumped out of the window and was tumbling
to her feet. Tathan wondered if anyone used stairs anymore. It
wasn’t fair that a sorceress should be so athletic, but they had to
stay fit in order to survive the magic that channeled through their
bodies.

Tathan managed to get to the end of the
street, looking back to see what they were doing. It seemed
squirrels
did
have a good sense of smell, because it was
looking in his direction and sniffing the air. The blood trail was
beginning to show up on the ground, the invisibility effects
wearing off much quicker than he had hoped.

The mysterious woman saw the blood
re-appearing and smiled cruelly. When she began casting another
spell, Tathan took off down the new street in the direction of the
inn. His body ached from both the wound and from jumping out the
window. A lingering effect from the first spell sapped strength out
of him and breathing was still difficult. It wasn’t the first time
his body had tried to drag him down before. Tathan knew a person’s
spirit was much stronger than their body so he forced it to move
faster, intending to push on until he was safe or dead.

A roar echoed behind him and he looked back
over his shoulder again. More of the black and green tendrils shot
from the other street, low to the ground. It was a shock when the
tendrils turned in his direction and began swarming toward him.
They were like ravenous worms crawling over each other in search of
a soul to rend.

The spell had done something to him, because
Tathan felt a sudden urge to fall down and give in. Fear welled up,
bursting through the weakness to give him new energy. Tathan
ignored his wound and began running as fast as he could. With each
step, the weakness receded and by the time he passed the next
intersection, he could see the tendrils withdrawing back to where
they came from. He was very thankful that the spell had a limited
range.

Tathan made it to another intersection, but
was already gasping for breath again. He looked back just in time
to see Steve burst onto the street. The squirrel’s muscles bunched
and he closed half the distance with another leap before stopping
to sniff Tathan’s blood trail.

Black fur glistened in the daylight as Steve
stood on his hind legs, sniffing the air. Its tail quivered in
anticipation and forepaws were held up against the chest as though
begging. The claws were not like a normal squirrel’s though. These
were razor sharp and gleamed dangerously.

If Tathan kept running, the squirrel would
run him down from behind and kill him with those claws, so he
stopped and drew his sword instead. Gasping for breath as quietly
as he could, Tathan crouched in readiness. He held the blade in his
right hand while clutching the wound in his left.

Steve lowered forepaws to the ground and
began stalking him. It could hear its prey and kept turning its
head in an attempt to see him too. Tathan readied to leap to the
side and slash at the creature. If he could avoid the claws long
enough, Tathan knew he could kill Steve the Squirrel.

“Steve! No, come back here!” The woman
yelled from behind the squirrel with fear in her eyes. Steve turned
to chatter at her in angry protest. It gave Tathan a clear shot at
the neck. The problem was that he didn’t have any extra energy to
run forward and lunge, so he just stayed still while holding his
injured side.

“Stay!” she told the squirrel, running up
the street rapidly. Tathan’s sword would be of little use against a
spell. He tried desperately to think of a trick or way out of the
predicament.

“Halt!” a dual toned voice called from the
right. Three Rojuun warriors came into the intersection with
long-knives drawn. Two moved toward the squirrel and one female
guard toward the woman. “An unauthorized use of powerful magic has
been noticed from this location! Only benign magic may be used by
humans in Puujan. Put your hands atop your head and shut your
mouth, human!”

The speaker who moved toward the woman was
short for a Rojuun, about six and a half feet instead of the
customary seven to eight feet. All three wore leather armor made
from the hides of a cattle-like creature deep in the Rojuun
caverns. The tops were yellow and the leggings were a deep burgundy
color similar to the dress worn by the sorceress. Tathan absently
mused that even their armor had to be colorful and artistic.

Regardless of how pretty the armor was
Tathan knew they were deadly with those knives. The mysterious
woman knew it too. She stopped in her tracks and began casting a
new spell. Steve leapt in Tathan’s direction, but instead of
attacking him, the squirrel flew over in an attempt to get away.
The two Rojuun who had been approaching the squirrel crouched
defensively, watching in stunned surprise.

“Do
not
cast another spell, human!”
the Rojuun speaker yelled at the mysterious woman. The squirrel was
quickly forgotten as all three guards dropped a pair of knives and
cast swift defensive spells. It was something Tathan hadn’t seen
before, so he watched closely. He couldn’t figure out what they did
specifically, but shimmering, translucent shields of energy large
enough to cover their bodies appeared between them and the
woman.

It was just in time to protect them from the
blackish green wave that crashed against and around the shields,
like poisoned water crashing against a beach. The shields protected
the Rojuun for a moment, but the spell acted like a real wave and
began moving back. The shields only protected the Rojuun from the
front.

It knocked the guards off their feet. They
screamed in agony, dual vocal cords piercing the air. Wherever the
acrid green water touched, it burned armor and skin.

Tathan only saw part of this because he was
at the edge of the wave. He had just enough time to leap onto the
wall of the building he was next to and desperately grasp the ledge
between the first and second floor. His right hand still held the
magical sword he wasn’t willing to lose. The act wasn’t in time for
him to avoid the wave completely and he felt liquid magic burn his
right foot to just above the ankle. His scream was nowhere near as
impressive as the ones made by the guards.

The wave washed back to the mysterious
woman. She re-captured the energy then turned around to run back
the way she had come. Tathan couldn’t hold on and fell to the
ground, landing on his good foot. The pain he felt was
overwhelming, threatening to overcome his senses.

Screams continued to come from the Rojuun
guards who lay writhing in the street. Other guards were running
toward them to help. Tathan noticed that cobblestones where the
wave had washed through were etched by it.

Blackness was threatening to overcome
Tathan, caused by pain and blood loss. The foot that had been
touched by the wave was screaming at him with every nerve, while
the cuts in his side had become a dull throbbing.

He reached into a small pouch in his shirt.
Tathan had acquired an extremely dangerous, addicting, yet powerful
drug in the form of a seed. When taken, it gave the user an
astounding burst of energy. He had managed to avoid the addiction
that normally came with it, but kept a few for times when his body
just wouldn’t work without help.

The effect was almost instantaneous when he
placed it under his tongue. A yell emitted from his throat as pain
erupted even worse than before. Rojuun guards that had just arrived
looked in the direction of the yell, but couldn’t see him. Then the
pain washed away and adrenaline took over.

The injuries didn’t heal, nor did the
bleeding stop, but Tathan was able to ignore them. That was good
and bad. It was good because he was able to run away from where the
Rojuun, and now human guards, were gathering and searching for
whatever had yelled. It was bad because his heart was racing
faster, which made blood flow more quickly from the wounds.

The seed made his vision sparkly. Wings upon
the buildings of Puujan began to flutter and flap. Soon buildings
were flying through the air. A few of them ran into Tathan as they
flew by, causing him to slap at them and wave his arms around his
head while yelling gibberish. Then there were people everywhere who
talked and laughed at each other while buildings flew around on
their pretty wings.

He ran into people who wondered aloud what
had happened. The ring still made him invisible, but he forgot how
to turn it off. “Liselle!” he yelled in desperation. People turned
to look toward the voice, wondering where it came from. The
buildings were flying further and further away. His vision was
getting darker and less sparkly. He called out for Liselle again as
he fell to the ground, wondering if he would ever see her
again.

Vevin stood, frowning. “Do you hear that,
darling?” he asked, looking north toward the other side of the
plaza. “Tathan called your name, he sounded distressed.”

Liselle stood up immediately, looking in the
direction Vevin indicated. She hadn’t heard anything nor did she
see anything. However, Vevin’s hearing was vastly superior to any
of theirs.