Page 167 of The Shadow Wand

I cry out as Vogel’s Shadow limbs punch into me in an explosion of pain, Lukas’s shield fracturing, the violent assault quickly followed by the ghastly feel of Vogel’s power slithering into me and around my lines, his invading Shadow rooting me to the spot and wresting away my control over my own body. I’m trapped inside Vogel’s Shadow magic, trapped within his terrifying thrall as wraithlike Shadow smoke rises all around me.

But then, as I stare into Vogel’s cruel, soulless eye, my fear gives way as an explosion of pure fury sparks then detonates inside me. Fury for the Lupines. Fury for little Fern. Fury for every last person who is running for their lives because of this monster.

Fight back, everything inside me screams as the fury whips through my lines and ramps up my magic. Fight Vogel with every last shred of magic inside you.

Throw off the thrall.

Vengeful energy rises, like an inescapable tide, as I pull in a deep breath and gather my power against Vogel’s shadowy grip, my fire rising as my earth magery arranges itself into killing spears.

Eyes fixed on Vogel’s eye, I exhale hard and force my power toward him in a savage rush.

The image of Vogel’s dark tree shatters, his Shadow power flying off me as I break through his paralysis with a stinging burst of agony.

Suddenly and shockingly freed from the thrall, my power whips through my lines, rapidly dampening the pain. I grit my teeth, tighten my grip on my rock, and slam it straight into Vogel’s eye.

The huge Vogel scorpio rears back with a furious shriek just as Lukas advances, swinging his sword in a flashing arc that cleaves straight through the beast’s neck. The scorpio scuttles sideways then crashes to the ground as Lukas hacks at it in a blur of motion.

The smaller scorpio closes in, jaws snapping, but I’m ready to fight now. With a snarling cry, I swing my arm at it, aiming my rock at its mass of eyes. The creature flinches, dodging my attack, still pinning me to the wall as its jaws click and a fierce battle cry sounds behind it.

Valasca leaps onto the creature’s back, throws her arm around its neck, and slices her blade clear across the thing’s large compound eyes. The scorpio rears backward, Valasca hurled off its back as it releases my arm. Dark ichor sprays from its head, the beast shrieking so loudly that I fear my ears will burst.

Abruptly freed, I lurch away from the scorpio as it levers its forelimb back at me, its limb colliding with the rock wall and just missing my shoulder, as two more scorpios close in and slash their forelimbs at Valasca.

A brilliant flash of golden light rays out from the portal.

“It’s charged!” Chi Nam calls out in Noi.

Valasca turns just as the largest of the remaining scorpios closes in and slashes its serrated forelimb at her with blinding speed. A metallic streak arcs through the air as Lukas’s sword slices through the limb and sends it skittering away before it can impale Valasca. Another scorpio limb swoops toward Lukas in a blur, the forelimb’s knife-edge slamming into his shoulder in a spray of blood, the blow knocking him to the ground as my heart bolts through my body.

“Lukas!” I scream, lurching forward just as Valasca darts toward me, her expression ruthless as she grabs rough hold of my arms, swings me around, and shoves me headfirst into the portal’s rippling lake of gold.

Part Four

CHAPTER ONE

VONOR

ELLOREN GREY

Sixth Month

Northwestern Agolith Desert

Everything flashes gold as I fall through the portal’s shimmering depths. My hands slam down onto night-darkened stone as I collide with the ground, fine sand coating my body in a choking cloud.

I cough and whip my gaze across the scene, wildly disoriented.

I’m on a greatly elevated ledge and encased in a translucent, runic dome, a dramatically surreal desert landscape with lurid, blood-colored sands splayed out before me. Giant, arcing red rock formations and smatterings of bulbous trees mark the view as far as I can see. They’re washed in dim ruby light that emanates from the blazing stars and moon, which are not glowing their familiar white but a luminescent crimson. An impossibly long band of dark clouds is massed along the entire eastern horizon, lightning scything through it.

Desperation for Lukas roars through me.

I force myself to my feet just as Chi Nam rushes through the portal interior, golden rays blasting from a runic frame that’s now marked on the mountainous ridge before me. A bloody Valasca bursts through next, dragging an even bloodier Lukas, a burst of his untethered affinity fire hitting me like a hot, violent wave.

“Lukas!” I cry as I rush to him and he drops his sword and staggers to his knees.

I fall to one knee beside him and grasp his arm as I take in the deep gash that’s slashed clear across his chest and shoulder. His tunic is shredded, his power lashing and untethered. He’s frighteningly pale, his normal deep-green shimmer reduced to a sickly white-green.

A chittering shriek sounds from the portal as a scorpio’s massive forelimb thrusts through its shimmering center, and I flinch protectively over Lukas just as Chi Nam lunges forward and slams her staff onto the portal in another explosion of golden light. The portal’s rippling interior vanishes in a shower of yellow sparks, the serrated limb thumping to the ground beside her.

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