quickly unsheathed as Quoi Zhon reaches for one of the silver stars strapped across her chest and I start a rapid retreat backward, my pulse hammering in my chest.
On instinct I flinch sideways as Quoi Zhon’s hand jerks forward, and I lose my footing.
I fall to the ground, and a streak of silver strafes the side of my scalp as it whizzes past, a stinging pain exploding in its wake just as Kam Vin’s sword slices in a wide arc along the back of Quoi Zhon’s legs.
Quoi Zhon falls to her knees, her neck jerking back as she cries out in pain. And then her eyes snap back to me, full of rage-fueled determination as I frantically resume my scuttling retreat backward.
Quoi Zhon reaches for another star as Kam Vin slams an elbow into the woman’s arm, the silver star flashing with reflected firelight as it drops into a patch of smoldering embers. Then Kam Vin strikes the back of Quoi Zhon’s head, and the sorceress collapses facedown on the sand.
Chi Nam slams the bottom of her rune staff onto the ground, and there’s a loud crack as a brilliant flash of blue lights the world. The light quickly clears to reveal Chi Nam surrounded by what appear to be countless spears made of sapphire light, hovering around the white-haired sorceress and pointed at Hung Xho and the sorceresses who seem to have aligned themselves with Hung Xho and against me.
Kam Vin, Ni Vin, and Chim Diec all have silver stars aimed at Hung Xho and her allies. Hung Xho and the sorceresses bracketing her have drawn rune swords that glow menacingly bright with sapphire light. Clearly at a deadlock, the sorceresses launch into another volatile debate.
My heart pounds against my ribs and blood trickles down my neck as I watch the two armed groups face off, knowing full well that my life is at stake. My instinct for self-preservation kicks in, and I glance at the charred ground, searching for a wand but finding neither my Wand nor the wand Chim Diec gave to me.
I immediately realize how futile this search is.
If, by some miracle, I could find a wand that wasn’t incinerated, what exactly could I do with it? Level it at all of them and kill my allies along with my enemies? As well as all of the remaining horses? I would be left alone in the desert, where I would probably starve to death.
I’m the most powerful Mage to ever walk Erthia...and I cannot use a wand to protect myself.
A few more minutes of furious discussion ensue as I pick up a sharp rock and ready it as a possible weapon, my heart thundering against my chest. But then, to my great relief, Hung Xho and her allies lower their weapons then throw them to the ground.
Chi Nam taps her rune staff on the sand, and the glowing spears disappear in a flash of light. Hung Xho snipes at both Chi Nam and Kam Vin then indicates me with a slice of her hand. Suddenly, the two young sorceresses beside Hung Xho run in my direction.
Fright jolts through me and I scuttle backward, readying my sharp rock for throwing, only to lower it again when the two sorceresses simply lift the semiconscious Quoi Zhon and carry her toward one of the surviving horses. I stare as that half of our group—the half that wants me dead—loads themselves onto three of the horses, snarls hate-filled words at me, then gallops away.
Four sorceresses remain, huddled together and talking in hushed tones.
Ni Vin’s face is tense with indecision as Kam Vin makes a case to young Chim Diec. Perhaps a case for my life. Chi Nam calmly leans on her runic staff and listens.
Every now and then, Ni Vin’s gaze wanders toward her mare’s charred, mangled corpse, and pain twists her face.
Remorse spears me. Ni Vin’s mare. Her beloved mare.
Unexpectedly, the mare I thought dead comes to life with a gurgling shriek, head slashing side to side, foam spraying from her mouth. Her eyes fly open, her dark gaze wild with terror as she begins to writhe in agony.
My mouth falls open as my chest seizes.
Something has to be done. She can’t be left to suffer so grotesquely. As if locked in a nightmare, I glance around and, through the thinning smoke, my gaze catches on a slim, pale shape.
The Wand of Myth.
It lies on a raised, flat stone not far from my feet, unharmed, as if it’s offering