Page 87 of Tusks, Tails & Teacakes
Lira knew his remark was meant to be cutting, but she didn’t care.
Vaskel withdrew a pair of blades and assumed a crouch, fire dancing behind his ice-blue eyes. “You should have stayed dead, spell-caster.”
Malek sighed. “I should have killed you before you got here. No matter.” He flicked his hand, sending a beam of blue light toward Vaskel.
The Tiefling pushed Korl out of the way and dove forward, but Malek recovered quickly, flicking his hand again, blasting Vaskel back into a wall of shelves.
With a roar Lira had never heard, Korl lunged for the mage, knocking him on his back. Before Lira could scream a warning, Malek raised his hands from where he lay sprawled on the ground.
As if her hands were moving of their own volition, Lira thrust them toward Malek, sending a blast of energy across the room and killing whatever spell he’d tried to cast. His head swung to her, his eyes wide.
“I knew it!” Sass cried, producing a menacing curved blade from her waist and grinning at Lira.
Lira stared at her own hands in disbelief for a beat then she looked up as Malek pushed himself to his feet. He swung one arm wide, aiming for her, but Korl caught his elbow mid-swing. Malek used his other hand to blast Korl back, and the orc flew beyond the pool of light, slamming into something hard in the dark.
Sass surged forward with her dagger high, but Malek flung her aside with a twitch of his wrist.
Then he turned on Lira again and smiled. “Look who’s alone again.”
Before Lira could attempt to use powers she hadn’t known she possessed, a blur of white flew at Malek, attaching itself to his neck.
The mage shrieked as Crumpet bit his throat, his claws tearing at the papery flesh. Black blood dripped down Malek’s neck as he attempted to pull off the flutter-stoat. When he finally succeeded, Crumpet hit the floor with a thud and lay still.
Lira didn’t think. She hurled all her rage, all her hurt, all her fear directly at Malek. Searing white light poured from her hands and the mage went rigid, his feet lifting off the floor and his mouth opening as if he was attempting to scream. Then he went limp, still suspended in her blinding beam of light.
Lira didn’t realize she was screaming until Korl put a hand on her shoulder. “You can stop.”
When Lira did, she collapsed into his arms.
Fifty-Three
“I don’t thinkapple dumplings have healing properties,” Sass said as they gathered in the great room and Lira fed a revived Crumpet bits of a dumpling that hadn’t made the cut to be sold at the faire.
“That’s what you think,” Lira said without taking her eyes off the flutter-stoat. “All pastry has healing properties.”
“I agree with that.” Korl’s voice was low and even as he sat next to Lira on the long bench.
Lira looked away from Crumpet to smile at him. “Thanks.”
He nodded, knowing that the thanks was for more than just sticking up for her pastry. After all, he’d been the one to tie up Malek and drag him to the dungeon at Greyhelm Castle.
“If that’s the case, can I get an apple dumpling here?” Cali sat in one of the overstuffed chairs with a healing poultice on her head.
“Your head needs more than some apple wrapped in pastry,” Iris said, but her tone wasn’t unkind. She’d been more worried than she’d let on when she’d been trying to revive Cali, and she’d given the Tabaxi strict instructions not to confront any more dark mages on her own.
“Rude,” Cali said in a stage whisper and then winked at Lira.
The two women laughed, even as Cali complained through the giggles that laughing made her headache worse. They hadn’t talked about everything that had happened in the cellar, but Cali knew that Malek had killed Pirrin and would have been willing to kill every one of them.
At least it explained why they’d all had the feeling they were being watched. Malek had kept his eyes on all of them, waiting for his chance to pay them back for what he perceived as their abandonment. But his ultimate goal had been the same as Lira’s—the book.
“That took some effort,” Vaskel said as he emerged from the cellar covered in a fine layer of dust. “But here it is.”
He strode to them and heaved a sizable iron box onto the table with a thud that shuddered the wood. “You didn’t tell me the book was so heavy.”
Sass stood up to assess the box. “Or that it was encased in iron.”
Lira left Crumpet happily devouring the apple dumpling and walked to the box, touching a hand to the cool exterior that carried traces of the red clay it had been encased in for so long. She unhooked a small pouch on her belt and produced a key, sliding it into the lock.
