Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,85
be together long-term, she had to show him that she could be the partner he needed, not some wimp that had to be protected all the time.
More than that, though, she needed to stand on her own two feet and help. It was her deepest nature to offer aid—of whatever type she could—when there was trouble. While she hadn’t been in too many combative situations in her life, she was learning through her adventures with Jim that she could contribute. Perhaps in unexpected ways, but she definitely could make a difference.
Helen walked closer to her side of the shield wall to confront the woman. She had a few things to say, and if this situation was going to end badly, she at least wanted to have her thoughts heard before it happened.
“You sister was a cruel and evil woman, Maura Dunlevy,” Helen said in a clear voice. “I’ve never ended a life before. I’m a healer. I save life and value it, but I don’t regret what the Lady’s power, working through me, did to Otalla. She kept her youth by killing others, and that is one of the definitions of evil in my book. She needed to go on to the next realm, and I was the instrument of sending her there.” Helen paused while Maura steamed and launched useless attacks against her shield wall. “I’ll do the same for you, if you continue to attack.”
“Oh, I’m so scared,” Maura said in exaggerated tones. “You hide behind a shield like a coward, instead of fighting me mage to mage.”
Helen wasn’t going to fall for Maura’s taunts. She would not play this game by Maura’s rules. She’d watched her brothers learn battle magic and knew that way lay certain defeat. Helen would not be distracted into doing something stupid or dared into idiocy.
“I do not attack. I defend. You can lob mage bolts at us until the cows come home, if you want, but I’m not going to dance with you. I’m a healer, not a fool.” Helen kept her expression serene, knowing it would really bother someone like Maura to see her unruffled at the threat she posed.
“What you fail to realize is that I’ve only been playing with you up to now,” Maura said after a long pause, during which she seemed to regain a bit of her emotional control.
Helen feared what that might mean. She was in the open, right near the line where the roadway began and the grassy area ended. The trees were behind her—too far to get to quickly without protection. If Maura made a move that dissolved the shield, Helen would be all too vulnerable.
Jim was off to her right. Somewhere. She’d sort of lost track of him while focusing on Maura, but Helen knew he could take care of himself. Heck, he was probably better equipped—even without battle magic—than she was for this kind of confrontation. He probably had some plan in mind, so the longer she kept Maura talking, the better chance he had of pulling off whatever it was he was trying to do. Helen certainly hoped he had a decisive move up his sleeve, or this was probably going to end badly.
Maura was conjuring something, keeping her focus on Helen and the shield. She was gathering her energies, and Helen actually felt them as a slimy sensation over her skin. She shivered, unable to help herself. Whatever Maura was planning, it was going to be bad. Helen only hoped she could withstand it.
When Maura let loose with her spellcasting, several things happened simultaneously. Helen felt like everything went into slow motion as Maura launched shield-cracking energy bolts at her shield wall, one after the other in rapid succession until the wall could stand no more. It went down, and then, all hell broke loose.
Helen got hit with more than one of those slicing, painfully sharp mage bolts, the energy cutting her skin to ribbons, even as she fell to the ground. Helen put her hands out, calling up what energy she could from Mother Earth, trying to form a little bubble of protection around her huddled form, but it wasn’t quite enough to keep out the continued attack. It did help, a little, but she was still catching the occasional glancing blow, and she couldn’t move from the spot. She was terribly exposed, and Maura moved right up on her, standing over her like some sort of avenging demon.
Helen looked up, meeting the death she saw in Maura’s eyes