the same one I had used on the adder. I didn’t release, didn’t look away or flinch, until the brackenbeast was nothing more than a large pile of ash.
I waited for the shift and the pull of the world to reject me for my merciless killing. I had upset the balance and killed unnecessarily. There would be repercussions. But when I didn’t feel the turmoil, I wondered if I had finally crossed a line and feared for my soul.
“Eden, stop Aspen,” I ordered.
She used a blast of wind and sent Aspen flying into a wall, causing him to black out. Once he lost his concentration, the summoning portal began to close, but it was too slow. A dark being made of burning embers could be seen approaching the portal.
Allemar stood up, and I knew this was going to be a battle between the two of us. I wasn’t sure if I would survive it.
“Eden, I need a snare,” I whispered so only she could hear.
“What?” She began to panic, eyes as wide as saucers. “No, no, no. Please, not me.”
“Do it!” I demanded.
Eden patted her dress, reaching inside her pocket for a piece of chalk. She quickly weaved an invisibility spell around her, then shimmered as she disappeared. It wasn’t a strong spell, because I could see her fading in and out as she began to sketch sigils on the floor in front of the portal, but I hoped it would be enough.
Allemar sent a bolt of lightning toward me, but with a wave of my hand, I reversed it and shot it right back at him. He ducked, and the lightning incinerated the top of the golden throne.
“Impressive,” he said. “Just think how powerful you would have been if I trained you instead of your mother.”
Xander tried to come to my aid, but with a shake of my head, I stopped him in his tracks. He looked angry, but I didn’t have time for his interference. He disobeyed and moved to strike, but I quickly cast a holding spell and forced his boots to stick to the marble.
As I moved, I passed a candelabra and waved my arms, compelling the flame to grow like a dragon and attack Allemar from behind. He turned and smothered the fiery dragon until nothing but a puff of smoke remained.
I cast my eyes to the symbols and saw that, in her haste, Eden had drawn the wrong character for snare and instead wrote “hare.” A roar came from the portal, and I could smell the sulfur from the daemon as it approached. Keeping my teeth together, I gritted out the correction and attacked Allemar again, hoping to distract him from Eden’s work. I could see her invisibility spell was wavering.
“This is child’s play.” Allemar yawned, and I circled the room, putting him closer to Eden and in front of the portal. “I would have thought this would be more of a challenge. I’m bored. Let’s end this, shall we? What the—”
He’d noticed the waning invisibility spell and saw Eden just as she finished the snare and crawled away.
Using the distraction, I blasted him backward. He fought the attack as his feet crossed into the spelled circle, but when he tried to move, he was trapped inside.
“Oh, this is more like it!” He laughed and looked down at the trap. “This is what I expected from a daughter of Eville.” His face turned critical as he took in the work. “Although, if you wanted to hold me longer, you shouldn’t have used this character.” He pointed to her mistake.
“Oh, come on!” Eden whined as even her enemy began to criticize her spells.
“It won’t hold me forever.” Allemar grinned evilly.
“I don’t need forever. Just a few seconds,” I said. Closing my eyes, I quickly weaved the same spell my brother had used, but backward, activating the spell to bind his powers, similar to what he had done to me with the enchanted shackles. He tried to send a spell my way, but nothing happened. He was powerless.
Sending a blast of power at him, I pushed him through the portal to the other side into who knew where. Gritting my teeth, I sent all of my energy into it, envisioning a thread of light weaving stitches back and forth over the opening and pulling the portal closed, but I didn’t think it would be enough.
The smell of sulfur and smoke billowed out, and I heard the groan of the daemon as it approached the portal opening.