Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,145

humanity, or the lack of it, when I was in the middle of hunting down another living creature.

“The bulk of his people have gathered there. Maybe you should wait. We can hide among the trees and wait until he is alone before attacking.”

“Can’t. He’s not going to leave his people. Right now he’s confident that I’m the only one who knows he’s the one with the information. He thinks that I won’t hunt him down while he’s surrounded by other Svartálfar.” Reave was almost right. Facing the dark elf nation alone was suicidal. They were warriors, born and bred. If the world didn’t stand on the brink of war, I might have considered Duff’s suggestion. But I couldn’t wait. Time was slipping away from me.

I did have one thing in my favor. The Svartálfar were fantastic liars and deceivers, Reave being among the worst. I was hoping to use that fact against him.

“Time for you to head back to your own people. I need to handle this alone.”

Duff’s face crumpled as he looked over his shoulder, back the way he’d come, and then at me. He was debating following me. Hobgoblins were sneaky little devils that could get in and out of most places using a mixture of magic and cunning.

“If anyone has a good shot at capturing you, it’s the Svartálfar and we both know it,” I said with a frown. “I won’t be able to help you if things get ugly. Even if I survive this, I won’t be the only warlock in the area. Get out of here. Tell your friend that we’re even now.”

Duff nodded. Lifting higher into the air, he gave me a little wave with a sad look before disappearing into the woods.

I was alone in the darkness, which now seemed to crowd closer despite the glowing orb hanging overhead. The wind ruffled the leaves and the sound of chirping crickets and frogs could be heard, but the world I knew slipped away from me. There was no rush of cars, no electric hum of appliances, no shuffling of people’s footsteps or the brush of fabric. I was a warlock alone in the domain of the elves.

Tapping down the fear clawing at my heart, I took a deep breath and drew in a swell of the energy circling around me. The spell was a simple one. I had been to this cave on more than one occasion, but I had always walked the long trail back to it. That, I would not survive tonight. The path was a narrow one, with a steep mountain on one side of it and a sharp drop-off on the other side. The trail ended in a type of bowl as you stepped into the cradled embrace of a wall of rock on three sides and a thick copse of trees directly behind you. While the trail was long and winding, the worst part was the climb up to the cave I had always called Rock Coliseum, as the ascent was a steep bank of broken rocks that slid out from underfoot as you climbed. There weren’t many places that were worse for a fight with a dark elf in Red River Gorge.

I released the energy with a word. It swirled around me before plunging through my chest. The glowing orb went out and darkness consumed the world. A second later, I was speeding through the trees, but I couldn’t feel the biting wind or the sharp brush of tree branches as I passed. I was reduced to little more than energy as I flew to my destination almost as fast as a thought.

My flight came to a screeching halt and my feet settled on a large flat stone at the bottom of the sharp rise to the cave. Again, I raised my cupped hands to my face and blew, creating another light orb, but this time, when I flung it out into the sky, it multiplied until more than a dozen hung in the air, lighting the area. The dark elves stepped silently out from behind trees and stood in the black mouth of the opening in the rocks that formed the cave.

“Hear me, King of the Svartálfar, I have no quarrel with your people. Send out Reave and I will leave without striking at them,” I shouted. My voice bounced off the high rock walls and echoed back toward me before becoming tangled in the line of trees at my back. For nearly a minute, there was