Page 22 of The Dryad Storm

Mavrik tugs on her arm, and Gwynn stumbles into a sprint, tears burning her eyes even as renewed purpose grips hold, the two of them dashing toward the dark alley where she prays Bloom’ilya and Ee’vee are still waiting.

Please be there, please Ancient One let them be there, Gwynn petitions as she and Mavrik bolt into the long alley and her eyes adjust to the dark.

A soft emerald glow flashes into being from the tip of Mavrik’s wand, and relief lashes through Gwynn to find the girls still huddled there, backs pressed to the alley’s dark wall.

Bloom’ilya’s pale rose face and little Ee’vee’s sky blue expression morph into startled looks at the sight of Gwynn and Mavrik barreling down the narrow alley toward them. The girls’ gazes snap toward the Wanted poster affixed on the wall across from where they’re huddled, Mavrik’s evilly rendered face glaring from it.

Gwynn catches Mavrik’s horrified look as they slow and his gaze passes over the girls’ mutilated ears. He drops to one knee before them, and they recoil, eyes flicking from him to the poster and back to him again as Ee’vee hugs her threadbare fawn toy and begins to cry.

“I’m Mavrik Glass,” he tells them in a tone so compassionate it catches Gwynn off guard. “You’ve probably seen my picture—” he glances over his shoulder at the poster “—well, pretty much everywhere.” He dips his head in a gesture of apology. “Nota flattering one, I’ll give you that. But I’m certainlynoton the side of the Mages.” His gaze turns fierce. “I’m onyourside. And I think you should come with us.Quickly.”

For a split second, the girls hold his intense stare. They look to each other, then to Gwynn as if seeking reassurance, little Ee’vee’s lip quivering as she hugs her toy.

Pulse thrumming, Gwynn nods encouragingly and holds out a hand, and the girls leap to their feet.

Wasting no time, Mavrik sweeps skinny little Ee’vee up in one arm, while Gwynn grasps quick hold of Bloom’ilya’s trembling hand. Multiple bootheels pound at their rear, men’s voices shouting to each other. They all turn, Ee’vee letting out a fearful shriek as several Mage soldiers run into view, wands drawn.

“They’re here!” one of the Mages bellows.

Mavrik points his wand at the soldiers and hurls a spell at them before the Mages can get one out. Glowing green vines lash from his wand’s tip and fly forward several feet before expanding into a tightly woven shield that spans the alley’s width, walling them off.

“Go, go, GO!”Mavrik urges, and they launch into a run toward the alley’s far end.

An explosion sounds behind them, and a galvanizing jolt of fear races down Gwynn’s spine as they dart into a faster sprint and Gwynn glances over her shoulder to find Mavrik’s vine wall igniting with silver gray flame, the strange fire burrowing into the ground instead of flaring up like normal fire.

Dread fires through Gwynn.Demonic Shadowfire.

The dark fire is streaking through the ground toward them, two Mages with glowing red eyes and Shadow horns appearing through the smoke where Mavrik’s barrier just was.

Their sulfurous eyes lock with Gwynn’s, and recognition shocks through her as she sights them through their glamoured forms—it’s the same pyrr-demons she and Sage encountered, so many years ago...

The demons bare their teeth in predatory smiles, and the taller of the two raises a hand.

Before Gwynn can cry out a warning to Mavrik, pain strafes through her lines, and she’s frozen in place. Invisible bonds seem to be hooked into her lightlines, holding her captive. The scene around her blinks out, save for the two glamoured demons, the taller demon’s terrifyingly multitoned voice searing through her mind.

WHERE IS THE WAND, MAGE WHORE! WE KNOW YOU CAN TRACK IT!

KILL HER!the other snarls.BEFORE SHE CAN JOIN WITH OTHER LIGHT BEARERS!

NO!the taller demon shrieks.LET HER LEAD US TO THE SECOND WAND OF POWER! THEN WE DEVOUR HER!

Then they’re palpably rooting through Gwynn’s thoughts, burrowing through her mind, their power scorching around the image of the Wand of Myth pulsing there, and her resurgent sense of the Wand drawing ever closer...

“Gwynnifer!”

Mavrik’s sudden grip around her hand and the potent flash of his Level Five power around hers cuts through the demons’ thrall. The world snaps back into focus, her free will flooding in just as a blast of the demons’ steely fire explodes against a translucent green shield Mavrik must have conjured while she was enthralled, the shield’s Varg-emerald color shimmering to gray.

Panic shoots through Gwynn’s veins as she tightens her hold on Bloom’ilya’s hand and Mavrik pulls them both into a run, Ee’vee still gripped in his arm. “They’re glamoured pyrr-demons!” Gwynn cries

“I know!”Mavrik fires back before leading Gwynn and the terrified girls toward another alley the moment his shield falls, twin bolts of silver gray fire narrowly missing them as they duck into the alley. Mavrik lets go of Gwynn’s hand, redraws his Varg wand, and aims it over his shoulder while growling out a spell, blasting another shield into being, this one a wall of emerald flame.

A ground-shakingboomcrashes against the shield, and its green flame pulses gray.

“That’snot strong enoughto hold them off!” Gwynn yells as she parses through her knowledge of demonic magic with rapid-fire speed.

Not waiting for his response, Gwynn lets go of Bloom’ilya and grips Mavrik’swrist, ignoring the rush of prismatic sparks racing through her lines while wresting hold of the demon-spell-blocking rune stone in her pocket. Drawing it out, she thrusts the stone against Mavrik’s wand. “Draw this rune’s power through your shieldnow!” she cries.

Their eyes lock in a flash of alliance, comprehension igniting in Mavrik’s gaze. He snarls out a spell, and a second wall of roiling green power bursts out of his wand to form a second shield, this one translucent emerald, against his wall of graying fire.

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