Page 123 of An Archer's Reckoning

The Arch Mage gripped the back of his head. His hand came away coated in blood. His voice shook when he spoke. “I do not know. Nothing should be able to shake this tower, especially while your shield stands.”

Another violent tremor knocked me onto my back.

“Everyone out!” the Arch Mage shouted.

Wide-eyed Mages scrambled to their feet and toward the stairway.

Neither Quin nor I moved.

“Declan, go. I will defend the tower,” Quin pleaded. “My place is here. If we are ever to retake our country, the people will needyou. Go!”

The sound of men screaming below filled the chamber, and Quin’s eyes lowered. He stood slowly and hobbled to the center of the circle, motioning for me to step aside. The gold-and-silver symbols embedded in the floor flared to life. Quicksilver light swelled around Quin, bathing him in a brilliant, shimmering aura that oozed with a life of its own. His eyes blazed, renewed, and his form straightened to its full height. He uttered one final admonition before starting an incantation whose words strayed well beyond my understanding.

“GO!” Quin’s quiet voice now boomed and echoed through the chamber.

As I left the circle, Órla launched from my shoulder and out the window.

I started back, then turned toward the doorway. As I reached the opening, I ran headlong into a tall woman in black riding leathers and a black cloak. Lustrous black hair trailed down her back, and the golden-threaded Phoenix on her chest glittered, though no sun shone where she stood. She sneered at me, then swatted me aside with a silver staff.

I lay stunned against the wall.

“Velius, it issogood to see you again. I was but a child when last we met.” The woman spoke in pleasant tones, as if she had just returned home from a long holiday. She raised a palm, and fire bloomed, forming a head-sized ball. It danced and crackled as if begging for release. She stepped to the edge of the circle.

To my ears, Quin’s voice sounded strangely distant, yet also roared in the small chamber. “Who are you, witch? Why do you threaten this sacred place?”

The womanlaughed. “Oh, Velius, really? It has only been a thousand years. How could you forget me so quickly?”

I pressed myself against the wall and crawled toward the door.

“Irina?” Quin staggered back, his eyes wide. “How . . .”

She cackled again. “I vowed to repay each of you for your . . .kindness. As I recall from your lessons, Mages keep their promises.”

Without warning, she threw her arm forward and down, slamming the flaming ball into the circle at Quin’s feet. At the same time, her Telepathic Gift screamed in discordant notes that somehow made it into my mind. I was sure they reverberated in Quin’s head. “You stole my parents, my friends, and my life from me. Now I will take everything from you!”

The tirade seemed to disrupt the normally unflappable Arch Mage.

His quicksilver shell evaporated.

Irina stepped forward and ripped the connection to the river of magic from his grasp. It roared up through the tower and flooded into her. The bloody gems of her crown glowed like seven gory suns, and the walls of the tower shook.

With her right hand, Irina gathered liquid flame and thrust it back into the tower’s center. It raced over Quin, devouring his body with ravenous hunger. What magic remained within theArch Mage swelled, and in one last act of defiance, exploded outward, knocking Irina off her feet.

The force of the blast and quaking of the tower threw me through the doorway. I tumbled feet over head down the winding stairs, gaining my footing midway down and staggered the rest of the way until I fled the building.

I gaped at the horrific scene before me.

Kingdom soldiers raced from building to building, herding Mages in their cerulean robes like cattle. I ached at the look of resignation in their eyes as they gathered.

Hundreds of bodies lay broken and bloody, scattered across the grounds.

“Declan, run! You have to get away from the tower!”Órla screamed.

I hobbled as quickly as my aching, wounded legs allowed.

The groaning and grinding of stones dogged my every step.

Fist-sized rocks and razor-sharp shards rained down, forcing me to use the last of my magical reserve to shield my head.

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