Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer #3) - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,78
the enchantment, then tossed it, sending it near Asaran’s feet.
She waited, but this time, the blast didn’t strike the way she had expected.
That was odd.
Jayna took a step forward, heading toward Asaran to see if he was going to get up, then the blast struck, tossing her back and slamming her into a wall.
She got up slowly. Her head was ringing. She shook herself off.
When she looked over to the fire, Asaran was gone.
The blast should have tossed him away from the flames and the hearth, but she found nothing as she swept her gaze around the inside of the room, looking for him.
She did notice a little bit of smoke, a tracing of energy to suggest he might have disappeared, but nothing else.
Sorcery built, and Jayna turned to see Agnew standing, hands twisting in a complicated pattern.
“You don’t need to do that,” she said. “I was just trying to—”
The blast of wind started to strike.
Jayna reached for power, calling it through the dragon stone. The energy flowed out and around her, creating a buffer against the wind. It was barely enough for her to withstand the force of Agnew’s blow.
“You dular would dare come in here and attack me?” Agnew had a thin, creaky voice.
She knew he was old. Even in the Academy, there were stories about Agnew and his age, mostly said in jest, but not always. He had been situated in Nelar for decades, his post one where he had felt he could offer the most help to the people and serve the Society. It was part of the reason Char had been so eager to work with Agnew, wanting the opportunity to spend that time with somebody who had such experience and knowledge. And now this ancient sorcerer was angry with Jayna.
“I’m not a dular,” she said.
She had to focus on the power within her, holding on to the barrier. Through the dragon stone augmented by the bloodstone, she thought she could hold out, that she could withstand any attack he might make, but using the bloodstone to draw the smoke off had weakened the ring enough that she wasn’t sure if she could. She felt a strange resistance through the ring that limited her ability to call upon its power.
“Dular,” he sneered. “I saw what you were both trying to use on me.”
“Both?”
She frowned, cocking her head to the side, and regarded Agnew for a long moment. Did he really think she had been using enchantments, and that Asaran had been using an enchantment? Could he really not have known that he was an Ashara?
He might not. Knowing what she did of the sorcerers, along with his fear of the dular . . .
A blast of power struck her.
This was a lance of light, pale white and streaking toward her. Jayna reacted as quickly as she could, creating a spiral of power around her and pushing downward with as much energy as she could through the dragon stone, but she couldn’t draw as much as she needed, forcing her to use a hint of sorcery. The combination created a bit more of a barrier and had thankfully secured it around her, holding steady.
When his lance of light struck, it sizzled, then began to creep around the barrier, reminding her so much of the way Asaran had constricted around her barrier earlier.
She pulled on power, borrowing from the dragon stone and the bloodstone. She needed that additional strength. She continued to constrict that power, sending it through the ring, forcing as much out of her as she could. The light that Agnew had forced upon her started to squeeze, twisting up and around her barrier, snaking around it no differently than Asaran had snaked around it. The energy he used was forceful and violent, and she had to find some place deep within her in order to withstand it.
She had to fight, but she didn’t know if she had enough power. She knew she could still push though, and she had to tamp down the smoke within the bloodstone to draw more energy through the dragon stone. That would hopefully be enough to give her access to greater power once again.
It was difficult to do so while holding on to the protection around her, but Jayna forced her attention to split, and she focused on the smoke within the bloodstone, compressing it. As she felt it starting to shift, she jammed power all the way through it.