Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,195

dodged the jets of fire. As some of the vampires slipped in among them, one of the Driven panicked, releasing a wind-wall.

The deadly winds destroyed the nearest vampires, as well as some of his fellow sorcerers. The human defenders faltered, and the vampires farther out could sense their weakness. Uttering a series of high-pitched clicks, the undead called for more of their own to join the incipient feast, and more came scrambling out into the street.

Through it all, Linus Ethelgren stood laughing, his cheeks flushed with excitement. He was having the time of his life. As the undead tide rose, threatening to overwhelm them at last, the ancient wizard lifted a hand up to the sky. Argent sparks shimmered in the air around him, becoming silver blades that danced in the air. They cut through everything and everyone near him, sorcerers and vampires alike, but those blades that struck flesh remained in their targets. Lines of silver turyn flashed back from them to their creator.

Ethelgren’s spell was just beginning.

The power coursed into him and flowed into the second layer of his spell construct. Grinning like a madman, the wizard lifted his hands and brought them together in a thunderous clap with his fingers pointing outward. An actinic beam of devastating power lashed out, cutting through vampires and buildings with equal ease.

Slowly, gleefully, Ethelgren began to turn in place while his silver beam continued to chew through everything it’s path. He seemed intent on making a complete circle.

Will couldn’t see how far out the beam went, how much it could cut through before petering out, but it was much too far for their own safety.

Laina barked a single word. “Darla!” The Arkeshi responded instantly, moving to stand closely beside her mistress. Meanwhile, Laina’s earth elemental began building another dome, thicker, denser, stronger than before. At the same time, Will dismissed the chameleon effect and started constructing a force-dome spell. Given the direction of Ethelgren’s turn, his beam would reach them in just seconds, and he doubted the earthen wall would stop it, for the silver power was already eating through stone and wood buildings with equal ease.

The wall of force appeared just as coruscating, argent power tore into Laina’s defense, which predictably turned out to be very little defense at all. In theory, force effects were utterly impervious to physical effects. Mass, momentum, inertia, these things meant nothing to force spells. They were immovable or irresistible, depending on their design.

But magical energy was a different matter. Will’s spell would require a commensurate amount of power to match the spell that was about to slam into it. Laina, I need your help. He had already extended his outer absorptive shell and started drawing in power as quickly as possible, but it was unlikely to be enough.

The earth elemental was already busy, and Ethelgren’s spell had completely disrupted its body. Laina directed the turyn of her fire elemental into Will’s spell, shoring it up just as the silver beam struck.

The world went white as the beam washed over them. The earthen dome was gone in an instant, and Will felt the force-dome shudder, signaling its imminent collapse. The power he and Laina were channeling into the protective spell was nothing compared to the power Ethelgren had sent against it, and Will suddenly understood why.

Not only was the mad wizard’s spell fueled by the turyn of those who had been impaled by his silver blades during the first phase, but the beam itself was a ripsaw of turyn currents. Power wasn’t merely flowing outward; it was flowing back in a high-frequency current of devastation. With each high-speed pulse outward, the beam destroyed whatever was in its path, and with each complementary return, it stripped away the turyn of the living and the dead in that same path, fueling its continuation.

While it looked like an ordinary—if flashy and extraordinarily effective spell—in essence it had the same terrible power as a strategic ritual performed by a multitude of casters at the same time. It was clever and devious, and the fact that Ethelgren had originally designed it only highlighted the mad wizard’s absolute genius.

They were outclassed on every level, and Will knew it down to his bones. Their defensive force-dome trembled as the fear