Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate - Jeff Inlo (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

her body. The streak of deadly energy crackled as it knifed toward Lief. As the bolt made contact with the ground, a dazzling explosion of violet light lit up the desert darkness and a boom of thunder rattled the rocks nearby. Sandy debris clouded the area where Lief stood as the sorceress pulled her arms back to the sides of her body.

A mere instant after the echo of the thunder clap subsided, another arrow streaked toward Tabris. This one came several paces to the right of where Lief had previously stood. As the dust settled, Lief’s outline became more apparent in the darkness.

“That will only hasten the time it takes for you to run out of energy,” the elf baited the sorceress. “Keep it up, do not stop. You said you can reach us from where you stand, but I am beginning to doubt it. With each spell you cast, you grow weaker. Your time is running out.”

“Imbecile!” Tabris shrieked. “You have no idea of the extent of my power. I can cast thousands of bolts of that power before I weaken. You can’t dodge forever. You are not faster than the lightning.”

Lief shook his head with obvious scorn toward the sorceress. “I do not have to be faster than the lightning. I only have to be faster than you.”

“Let us see if that’s true.”

Tabris pressed her hands together once more. Indiscernible words crossed her lips that were snarled in anger. As a violet diamond formed at her pressed palms, her body shook and trembled. The magical shape glowed brighter with each passing moment. When she flung her arms toward Lief, the purple diamond exploded from her hands not in one bolt, but in four. The streaks of energy cut across the dry air and pulsated with even more radiance. As they struck the ground, they exploded into much larger blasts of power. These separate fields of crackling energy joined with thin streams of electric arcs creating a wide field of interlaced magical force. Once the streams surged the four fields together, the entire area exploded in one massive burst.

At first, Ryson could see nothing, his vision spotted from the after effects of the blast. As the flashes died away and his sight quickly cleared, he peered into the enormous smoldering crater that resulted from the explosion. Very little remained beyond Lief’s charred and broken bow, a few shattered arrows scattered among the rocks, and tatters of a burnt and shredded cloak. There was no doubt in Ryson’s mind that Lief’s body had been obliterated by the blast.

“Lief!” Ryson shouted out in agony. He wanted to run to the center of the crater, but his legs would not move. Sorrow kept him frozen as his mind reeled against the loss of a friend.

Tabris smiled with brief satisfaction. She turned her attention away from the smoking rock and watched in glee at Ryson’s torment.

“I guess I was faster then him after all,” she taunted those that could hear.

The joy in her voice left Ryson beyond angry. His emotions boiled and he nearly shook with rage. He stepped away from Holli to create a clear path between him and the sorceress. He knew he could not reach Tabris at the moment, not while the storm barrier between them still stood, but he also knew that Lief was right. The sorceress could not maintain the energy shields forever. He would only have to wait for the moment they fell, and he knew he could avoid her blasts indefinitely, no matter how large she made them.

“You’re not faster than me,” he growled.

Tabris eyed the delver with caution and quickly placed her hands together. “Careful, delver. Do not do anything rash. No, I am not faster than you, but then again I don’t have to be. At the moment, you can’t reach me, and I will not waste time or energy on trying to strike you. I am aware of your speed. I am also, however, aware of the other elf’s condition. She has many powers, it’s true, but right now she has exhausted her energy. She is no match for me. And then, of course, there is this pathetic human by me. He is also your friend. How easy would it be for me to extinguish his life? How long can you stand there, delver? At what moment will you make a mistake and miscalculate what I might do. Eventually, I will strike you down, just as I struck down your friend.”

Tabris paused for a moment as a devilish grin washed across her face. She took a quick glance at the reader on the ground in front of her and then toward Holli still on her knees. Her smile grew as she made an unholy offer.

“I make a deal with you, delver, one that I’m not going to give you much time to consider and no time to argue. I’m going to cast a single energy bolt spell at where you stand. You will be able to dodge it easily if you so desire, but that would leave us in the same position we are right now. If, however, you accept your fate, allow the bolt to strike you and end your life, I will spare your other elf friend. I will allow the female to walk away. All you must do is surrender yourself to death. Do so and I will even let her escort the reader out of the desert as well. Your life for theirs. It’s a simple bargain.”

Ryson tried to shout out, but Tabris would not listen. She made her offer clear. “There is no argument. I am casting the spell now. You will not get a second chance. If you dodge the bolt, I will kill them both. If you don’t they will live.”

Tabris pressed her palms together and began to whisper the words of the spell. She watched Ryson intently, wondering if he would fight off the instincts to survive and sacrifice himself, or if he would leap away and allow the next bolts she cast to strike down his friends. The violet diamond returned to her hands as she prepared to finish the spell.

With Tabris’ attention so fixed upon the delver, Reader Matthew was able to struggle up from his one knee. He kept his hands palm down against the cool grass-covered ground of the oasis. He was already within the barrier that blocked Ryson from reaching Tabris and so he had an unbounded path to the sorceress. With all his remaining strength, he used his hands and his one leg to launch himself toward her. In that brief instant, he caught her totally off guard as he wrapped his arms completely around her.

Tabris’ hands were still locked together at her chest. With the reader’s arms clamped around her and his own body pressed against hers, she could not release her arms. She had just finished reciting the spell but found herself completely unable to release the magical energy that continued to swell between their two bodies.

“Release me you fool!” she screeched.

Matthew’s arms only pulled tighter around her. “Not today. I told you faith was stronger than magic and I guess I finally have the faith to defeat you.”

Tabris struggled to free her hands, but she could not break the hold of the reader. The glow of the violet diamond doubled then tripled. It began to swirl and soon it encased both Tabris and Matthew. In one climactic burst, the energy imploded on them both. Tabris’ body was torn apart by the internal blast and the force threw Matthew heavily against a large boulder.

With Tabris dead, the wind barrier collapsed and nothing stood between the oasis and the delver. Ryson sprinted to the side of the reader and dropped to his knees so he could lift his head from the ground. Something felt very wrong with Matthew’s body, as if it was much too yielding and offering almost no resistance to Ryson’s grasp.

“Matthew? Can you hear me?” Ryson asked wondering if the reader could even answer.

Matthew’s eyelids flickered, but his sight seemed out of focus. His eyes rolled about in all directions as if searching for a moving target behind a shifting screen. “Ryson?”

Ryson knew in that moment there was nothing that could save the reader, yet still he wanted to help his friend. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Actually there is,” Matthew offered in a hollow, raspy voice. “Tell Consprite that faith is no fairy tale.”

Ryson bit down on his lip, but managed to tell the truth. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell him. He’s dead.”

“Then I guess he already knows.”

“I’m sure he does,” Ryson replied through a hard swallow.

Matthew’s eyes stopped rolling about. They fixed on a position in the sky and for one last moment there was pure clarity in his vision. “Do you see it? Within the stars, not all of them… but some of them are more.”

Ryson turned his head skyward and looked into the twinkling mass of light overhead. In this darkness, many of the stars seemed to almost mesh together into one mist-like cloud that sparkled with purity. One point of light, however, appeared to separate itself from the rest. It grew brighter, its intensity magnified. It looked almost as if the star was floating down from the sky, gently lowered by a cool desert breeze.

Matthew’s last gaze fixed upon this star and the moment before he died he recognized the face of an old friend imbedded in this light. He could clearly see the features of the interpreter that had died on Sanctum Mountain.

“Stephen?” Matthew questioned as a smile folded across his lips. “It is you! I am ready.”

Reader Matthew died with those words.

As if Matthew’s death was a cue for his entrance, Enin appeared out of the darkness and placed a hand upon Ryson’s shoulder.

“His faith was strong as will be his reward,” the wizard said.

Ryson wanted to cast off the wizard’s hand, but instead he held to Matthew. He managed to speak what he was feeling. “You could have prevented this, all of this.”

“No, I couldn’t. It was his time, as it was Lief’s time. I’ve known that for many days now. There is nothing I could have done to prevent it. The important thing is that they met their fates in a way we could all only hope to—with courage, with determination, and with faith. If you wish to be angry with me, you have the right, but don’t diminish how these two chose to meet their own end.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” Ryson admitted in an angry response.

He could not continue. The sadness in his being was suddenly overwhelmed by a familiar feeling, a feeling that was much larger in intensity than it had ever been in the past. The dryness he had felt many time before washed over him in waves. It dove into his core just as it flushed him of every emotion. This time, the sensation did not just vanish. It stayed with the delver and it pointed out a being of great power that was now laughing with hysteria.

Enin did not even have to ask. His own link to the magic allowed him insight into what Ryson was sensing. The wizard’s own spirit grew cold at that which was unfolding before him. He had now realized that while he had indeed been using balance as an excuse, that didn’t mean the concept didn’t exist. He knew the equilibrium had just shifted.

“Baannat,” Enin whispered. He quickly moved toward Holli and placed a hand upon her forehead. He concentrated on opening a connection with the elf and let a fraction of his own energy flow into her. It was enough to restore her.

“You should be able to